September Ends

"A little of everything makes a big difference."

We learned so many of life's lesson in the past few days of September and I hope that lessons learned may not just be a tragic stamp of history but rather a reminder that there is long path to making the country a safer place. The sign shows that there is hope with each person reaching out deep in his pocket and trying to do as much as they can to help alleviate the difficulties lurking around. People are nice by nature amid all the complications and pretensions the world has to offer and their compassionate nature has radiated so brightly the past few days and this should be a good first step.

"Life is simple if you know how to value the main essentials."

My friend asked me what I'd save in case of a calamity. My answer was simple, I'd save myself first and the people with me and I care about. If I have to choose certain items, I'd go with my wallet, phone and some food to increase my chance of survival. Wallet for contingencies, phone for contingencies and food for nourishment. If there were more time, I would do what an auditor do in an inventory count, go for the high valued items. Life's choices are simple if you know what you want.

"The Path of Wisdom Lies Within"

I'm recently on a fortune cookie overload just trying to find a certain bit of wisdom on how to motivate myself which has been lacking as of late. I figure that the load is twice as heavy when you don't feel like doing it. I somehow hit certain peak in my immediate goals and made it difficult to look for new goals. I realized that I'm the type of person who always wants to shake things up... always looking for new milestones to finish... and searching new beginnings... That's just who I am... I'm not someone who rest complacently and just go with the flow... Always ready to step up or step forward to another direction... I think that's how fast the world revolves no, change is so constant that adoptabilty to situation is much needed... That's my motivation... Flexibility amidst the changing dynamics... and new beginnings will come in time...

Speaking of new beginnings, it's gonna be a new month shorty.

Thoughtless Thoughts: "It's better to give than to receive but always leave some for yourself cause if you give too much, you lose a part of who you are and become incomplete"

Trapped in MOA

This is a first being stuck away from home on the heels of a devastating calamity and while the moral of the story is that better stay at home when there is a incoming typhoon, I guess this was still a nice experience to note down.

We have planned a Tagaytay getaway for the weekend as part of Arlyn's birthday celebration but upon picking up Arlyn and Ruth (Anna was lucky enough to pass on today due to an exhaustive work schedule), we decided to shift someplace nearer due to the rains. We decided on Mall of Asia and just a few hours in MOA, we got SMS on the various floods in the Metropolis. TRAPPED!!! Main strategy: Movie Marathon til the floods are out. Breakfast, lunch, two movies and still the rains and the floods are there. The mall closed earlier though still a lot of people were stranded. My phone's battery is n rapid decent with all the updates on the road conditions.

Dark misty skies... unending rain... and people trapped in a mall with shops and stalls closed... It seemed like a perfect centerpiece for a Zombie movie. How to survive a zombie invasion??? That isn't really the dilemma but how to survive for hours in the mall without much to do. It served as a nice time to catch up and just bond and if I had to be stuck in a mall, I'm glad I am amidst friends. If you were stuck in a mall, who would you want to be with??? hehe... Had to conserve my battery by just using SMS and no mobile Facebook (that's a difficult task) and had to stock up on foods and drinks. It was nice that there were still shops that are open.

Come to think of it, we were real safe that we were trapped in a mall instead of some place else as this was the biggest rainfall in decades and probably in my lifetime and this has already caused so much havoc around the country. I realized another aspect which I haven't paid much attention to... Some resources are limited (e.g. food, communication and transportation) and the limited nature of some items makes them real important. The little things make big difference and are needed to be valued.

We had our escape a few minutes before midnight. The roads were dark, the flood was tolerable but the traffic was still a bit terrible. We had our way home a little past midnight and I was glad to be home... and being trapped no more.... =>

Thoughtless

Over the weeks I have tried to come up with thoughtless thoughts and I did enjoy coming up with ideas on just about anything. It wasn't always the typical thoughts but it was certainly ideas I do believe in - something true and something aligned to my emotions and experiences.

I have run out of ideas. "Thoughtless." The problem was everything was starting to become a routine. A half-awake zombie just trying to survive the day and surviving was a tough task - always a test of patience. I should find new goals and new ways at getting things done and keeping things exciting. I was somewhere in between taking big steps and staying in a familiar comfort zone but a step forward would always be a welcome change.

The middle ground was always a safe place but I guess, we don't always have to be safe. There are risk to takes for rewards to gain. A simple formula that life's rewards are borne out of the risk we take. I decided to shake things a bit and a thought stood out...

Thoughtless Thoughts: "Sometimes we should just let go and let the hands of fate take us to where we should be."

Excess Inkblosgs: I think I'm done with my thoughtless state. Normal mode now.

And Yet Another Long Weekend...

I'm getting used to this... 4th Long weekend in 5 weeks... Can I compress my work hours in 4 days??? haha...

This one was spent mostly unlocking the Lost Symbol by Dan Brown... and midway to the book I had a hunch on one of the mystery in the book and by the end of the story, the hunch was proven to be right... I'm not sure if I was smart enough to unlock the mystery so soon or it was a bit obvious... well, I still did enjoy spending most of the weekend just reading a book... It's one of the challenges I wanted to surpass... It's really difficult reading a book with all the technology around...

Spent Friday @ Nommu for Mascy's birthday... Nice to meet some friends and it's been quite some time since I last saw them... and the next would probably be after a few months with so many people on their exodus vacation to US... Thank PAL for their promo months ago... Too bad, I wasn't book a vacation of my own... but I'll have my time for my own vacation... Enough miles for Oz next year and let's see if I can have Europe as the next destination... Well, that's still a busy season ahead so I'll leave it at that... I'm still trying to squeeze in various Ph destination in the short run...

Then I still have several major expenditures to think about before the end of the year... To Mac or not to Mac??? Should I get a Macbook??? and also thinking of Camera Upgrade... oh well, I still have a few months to make up my mind... or better yet, a few more months to convince myself to save instead... hehe...

And yeah another thought to think about, it's back to work tom... =<

Excess Inkblogs: Happy Birthday She (Sept. 22) and Arlyn (Sept. 24)

Thoughtless Thoughts: "Doing one's job doesn't always bring smiles and laughter for the simple reason that there are always other things that can make us happy..."

Baul Wars

I was real torn on a taking a weekend trip to Baguio or just spend another lazy weekend in Makati... Eventually decided to go for the former... on account of two reasons... 1) replenish our coffee supply and 2) unearthing old pics straight from the "Baul" and trigger a new round of Baul Wars...

It was raining real hard in the city of Pines which combined to the breezy feel translate to such a cold weather... Maybe just a reminder on how I did grow up and loved this place... and aside from the sleep... spent most of Saturday afternoon shifting from one album to another searching for old pics... and to my surprise this was real fun to do... going back to all those memories that are now part of history... and I guess, today's stories are better told with what happened yesterday...

Knowing that I'd probably spend the whole time at home, I was tasked to buy dinner which was a visit at Luisa's Cafe in Session Road... we loved the sweet sauce of their Asado meat their... and desserts... Sans Rival at Sizzling Plate... to date this is still the best one I had... Food of recent past was the flavor of the day with Pork Chop Fried Rice at Marosans... the sweet turon in the corner of New Lucban and T-Alonzo... and the street foods along the way from Bonifacio Road to Session Road... My trail ended at the top of the City, SM for a few items to shop... and the view was just fog all over the place... wanted to walk back home but the cold weather and the rain had me calling for a cab and off to home...

Took the midnoon trip back to Manila... Hoping that the weather goes with me... but with the frequent rains, the heat is tolerable... and though a short visit, it reminded me on why it was a nice place to visit... It still owns an enviable cool weather...

And tomorrow, backlash from the Baul pics posts... hehe... and I'm doing something I haven't done in a month... go to work for 5 straight days as there is no holiday this week... =>

iBlog: Another Monday I Don't Hate

Blogging at midnoon in Starbucks in Gbelt via my iPod is a good sign that This is another Monday I don't hate. Four tiresome days of work and to my surprse another long weekend. The usual sleep all you can type wherein the rainy weather is a perfect backdrop to a visit in dreamsville but on the contrary decided to be a bit healthy this week with a visit to the gym - a place where my lazy bones hasn't seen for ages. Badminton time on Sunday was missed on account of oversleeping. I'm spending my Another I don't hate Monday finishing up some chores and errands. Then there's the usual spending spree during weekends. My funds are so screwed. At least, it's fit and lazy long weekend. Tomorrow is another Tuesday I'm gonna hate. =>