Refuse To See

There have been a few good times when I sense that some people are portraying the very opposite of what they are inside. These situations have lead me to ponder on the thoughts of someone being able to have the luxury of having to wear a mask and eventually get away with it - and trust me, it's nowhere near being healthy.

Recently, I've been on another roller-coaster ride - one that's involved more than just the usual solo-shotgun ride life usually asks me to be on. This time, the only reason I got involved is because I see the responsibility I have in making someone see things in a better light. It isn't even assured of winning the Right-Thing-To-Do award, but for all it's worth, there's a possibility that continuing with this charade would lead to worse repercussions in the future. Perhaps this is one of the ironies of being an optimist - you pessimistically ask people to be an optimist too.

In your everyday lives and monotonous routines, you may have been privileged enough to notice that the ones who strive to become better than most are usually the ones that delve into their personal worlds more often than the usual. Probably because their outside influence is not coherent with their inner long-term goals, we may never know the real reason for this. However, it becomes such a hindrance whenever they sacrifice the very essence of success and social standing by going into one's own world and constantly be in denial for things that are really right in front of them. Yes, we all go through hell every once in a while - this is something that no one is exempted from. However, how we handle this 'hell' and how we plan on looking forward to reaching nirvana can and will define us - in more ways than one.

People who've gone through [bleep] in their lives know that in everything you do, you will always have a choice. A few follow the saying of "if there's a will, there's a way", or even the simple cliche of "it's never too late". Even more people go ahead and make their own one-liners, albeit these don't really go far from the main point of it all. What's that point, you ask? It's that point that gets shouted out by the genuinely happy people alive, and it is this - happiness is a choice. It always has been, and always will be.

For all the decisions we make in our lives, none has been more important than the decision of which thought to constantly have. Perhaps this is why optimists have an edge over the not-so-positive. They're the ones that already feel like they are in their nirvana, so when it does come, they are more than ready to accept the responsibilities of being there, of being someone who's happy and thankful for everything they have.

Seriously, if you didn't already feel like winning the lottery way before you actually did, would you have been able to properly handle it when it did come?

I didn't think so.

_____________________________________________________
be nice to the world, and the world will be a lot nicer too.

Investment of a Click

Thank you for taking time to click on the link that brought you here. It won't take you long if you plan on reading the whole post though, I'll just be posting some of my one-liner thoughts here.

"they say that once you decide to become vulnerable, chances are good that you will eventually pay the price for it...

..guess what?


....i did pay the price. big time.






.....but you know what?








......for some unexplainable reason....








.........it was worth every second." :)


________________________________________
i'll be there.

Lost Chances

While it may be true that the lessons we learned in the past, along with the resolve to do better despite these shortcomings, have a way of improving the present-day 'you', there can always be times where we encounter a situation that just opens our eyes and shouts into our hearts something we've long tried to hide. For some people, this may be some sort of trivial, immature habit that just keeps coming back. For the unfortunate few though, this little comeback may involve matters that affect more than the literal - it also affects the emotional.

Of course, I'm not going to talk about the clique of people that gets cast out in society because they're either too worried, or they're just plain misunderstood. This post will certainly touch the 'emo' side of things though, but to look at it on the general level of 'emo' would be depriving yourselves the chance to relate to a real message hidden between these lines. So here goes.

Entitlement is something that's gone from being exclusive, to just plain self-proclaimed. It is this certain two-sided characteristic that allows confusion to come into the picture, and eventually make it's mark on a few good people. How can you really give a clear definition of entitlement? Are mutual feelings good enough to allow you to be secure in a relationship? Can passed-along talk about people and happenings be enough to conclude that something is really happening the way you interpret the situation? These are just some questions that I've come to face the past two days, and quite honestly, I believe they're not healthy at all.

There must have been some reason why I loved being a hibernating caveman for the past summer break - it was only then that I could take some time to think about people, about life, without any outside interference and outside influence. And I was lead to thinking that all would be alright once I stopped being a caveman. But what really happened was that I was more than fortunate to have a blessed group of people that welcomed me back into society. I came to realize that only a few days back, because as I went along the daily college-related chores, I found myself lost again. There were a lot of things I didn't want, a lot of things I wanted to change and improve. What was hard though is that a system is more than capable of eating you up once you delve yourself so deep into it. And boy, did I get to receive a big slap on the face for this.

You can't blame people for overreacting to certain events - some of which have no basis at all and are conjured upon by the most tactless, selfish of all people. This pretty much makes the challenge a tad bit more...challenging. The real test couldn't come any sooner. All those hours of contemplation and resolve will finally get to meet it's better match - and only a fight to the death can prove it's value and show us it's true worth.

I don't want to go into general conclusiveness, but for all the bullshit that I'm going through for it, this must be pretty much worth it.

For something that's got the capability of bringing people to new heights, I just want to get this over with.

___________________________________________________
here we go again.

Looking At The Globe, Not The Sun

I hope this doesn't get viewed as a political hotbed of an article.

For the most part of the past few decades, we can always adhere to the fact that indeed, people can connect to one another in more ways than how you can position yourself in bed to sleep. With the advent of mobile phones, easier access to the internet, online video conferencing - and get this, cheaper air fares - there has never been a time when the comfort levels of trying to connect to one another have been this high. It's like a trend, but only in some similarities because trends eventually die out. This thing we're having? Oh, it's growing alright. And it's growing bigger than you think.

Welcome to globalization.

Communication has always been vital to the survival of a race. Animals have their owns ways of communicating, sending signals of warning when they know a predator lurks, or give off scents and smells so as to attract their would-be mates. In the case of the dominant primate walking on two hind legs, our best and most efficient way of communicating has always been words. Whether they be oral or written, morse code or podcasts, shortened text or long text, words have always been the main critical aspect when it comes to proper communication and responsiveness.

Most of us might not know how many words we blurt out from our thoughts in a day, but if we did try to trace it, we'd find ourselves in a rut. You see, the simple act of asking yourself how many words you've spoken are words themselves - you'd be like a dog chasing your own tail and feel exhausted for nothing at all. Words have become so dominant in our lives that due to it's enormity, we fail to recognize it's very power.

The internet has been the main culprit of the Information age - it allows us to do things never thought possible a few centuries back. You got a friend living halfway around the world? You won't have to take a plane just to do something so simple like saying "Hi!" - you can just log-in to your Skype account and start your video calls in just a few clicks. This is ease of use tuned to the personal rhythm. This is the power to spread your message out faster than you can say it. Dangerously, this can also become the New World Order. And surprisingly, this has been the best thing that's happened since birthdays were conceived as a celebration.

Our efforts to connect to people have turned from being a hassle to something that we're drawn to do. The concept of having instant communication regardless of the geographical gaps has endeared many people, and has also been embraced by the general public. Our thoughts become words. Words become conversations. Conversations become brainstorm sessions and moments to cherish. And once we get a hold of the power of words coupled with the benefits of technology, who knows.

The New World Order may just be within our reach.

______________________________________________
life has a way of making us fall in love with it.

A Kid's Game, with Implications

Applicable to almost everything in this life, the best way to handle your approach is to expect the worst, yet still hope for the best. It is this double-edged sword version of how to handle events in your everyday lives that has proven to be the most efficient way to get an acceptable outcome to whatever endeavor you wish to undertake. Surprisingly though, it's also the most boring way of doing things.

Back in the last year of my elementary school career, I can still vividly remember me facing a small confusion of interpretations for a single adjective - ambitious. Before I got to that point, I had always thought that ambition was something we all should have. Similar to goal-setting and forward thinking, being this kind of person allowed us to gauge whatever we wanted to do and have a meter for how much we still needed. To me, in my innocent sixth grade train-of-thought, ambition was something that's acceptable to have, maybe even a need-to-have characteristic.

What happened then though was that our religion teacher gave us a group of adjectives that were considered negative, and we had to cross out the ones we didn't want to have. Guess what? The word 'ambitious' was on that cloud of words, and my memory still has that moment of silence and question clearly imprinted as if it happened yesterday. It didn't lead me to start an outrage with my teacher though, but the flood of realizations more than made up for that.

It was here that I started to look into the eyes of duality - that to everything negative, there is always a different point-of-view that would allow us to look into the positive side of things. Similar to that simple questionnaire, it was a simple way of looking at the adjective in the view of the ones who viewed ambition as the cause of selfish endeavor and treachery, or the one where I originally had it - ambition was an inspiration that could be a great factor of getting you to where you want.

Of course, we are taking into account the capability of everyone to have enough respect to recognize the viewpoints of everyone else. While it is a given that the difference between trust and respect is that trust is earned while respect should be given freely without any strings, a lot of people still refuse to open their ears and look into the other side of the glass - they're trapped in looking at a mirror and can't see past that. Instead, all they can see is themselves, and sadly, that won't really get you far in any race. Not even a race where all you're competing against is yourself.

P.S. I've just posted the first article on a new blog site of mine. You can check out Redial Here, and hopefully you'd be following that blog soon when it gains momentum. As of posting though, the server is down, yet if it still is by the time you're reading this, please check back again for your first view of that site. Thanks!

_______________________________________________________
forever is a many-splendored thing.

On Softs and Sweets

Have you ever experienced working on something so hard, eventually finishing it, and in the end when you're supposed to celebrate, you find it hard to move just because you feel burned out? I just did.

Though to tell you the truth, this is simply something that's purely physical - the joy and excitement is still there deep in the complex networks of nerves we sometimes refer to as the brain. What I may be just pissed about is that without the recognition of such an accomplishment through (at least) a mini-celebration, things seem to be incomplete. You know, those moments where you just get to look back and shout your heart out because you did something. Or a small get-together because you know things are better that way. Then again though, it's been a staple that we rarely bake our cake and eat it too - though I've never believed in that too much. All you need is a little motivation, a bit of an inspiration, and some well-placed thought, and you can play the role of the genie in the lamp and grant your own wishes too.

A few weeks back, I was itching to get my own domain, and get another one for the school community site for a project some of my friends and I are working on. I did the research, calculated the costs, forum-hopped, and even plurked my way to getting the best possible deal out of what I had.

Then came yesterday.

In one day, and for the price of a little over a month's worth of hosting, I got two hosting accounts and two domains. Yes, I did. The first was an account I asked a friend to buy for me, because one hosting site was having a promotion which I jumped on right away. The second one was, shall we say, a blessing.

One of those sites is already up and running, being already indexed by Google in barely just a day and a half of existence. It's an online community portal for the college I go to, and I hope the team we're putting up can keep this site on track with the goals we originally meant for it. You can have a look at the soft launching over at UP Batibot, and get to read my post on the new enrollment procedures while you're there. It's really bare for now, so just check back in a few months once the site would rock your information gathering minds out.

The second one, which I am still disclosing for the moment because it's still under construction, will be a personal niche-ish blog I'm planning to run for a good while - a main site that will hopefully be a nucleus for the other projects I've lined up. I'll keep you posted on that, so I'll greatly appreciate it if you follow me.

It's been a great summer so far. And the sad part of it is that it may just end tonight. Enrollment, along with the rough experiences one goes through, will happen tomorrow. Talk about bittersweet, because I may just not be ready to face society too soon, but yet I have to admit that I do miss people. I'm also excited to meet up with a good old friend tomorrow night, too, a summer long plan we had that's going to be hopefully realized a good number of hours from now.

For a good part of my life, I've always reveled in taking the soft side of things - that way, one could just fit in whatever situation they are brought upon. But as with everything, it has disadvantages. And those disadvantages may have gone too far right now. There's a quote from a crappy movie that's been imprinted on my mind for a while now, and it simply says what simple logic can explain - if a man wants something he's never had before, he's got to do something he's never done before.

Tomorrow might just be a chance I've been longing for. Hey, you'll never know how cold the water is until you start to dip your toes into it. And when you do, someone might just be there to push you into the water with all your clothes on. Right now, the pool has been found - all I'm waiting for is that trusted friend who'd take a good laugh out of pushing me into the water.

And me learning how cold the water can really be.

__________________________________________________
beginnings have always been relative.

Bring In The Olds

The English language has a queer way of giving names and definitions. As what my highschool teacher used to constantly remind us then, the language which you are now using to read this blog post is defined by a lot of rules, adding always that for every rule, there are exceptions to it. Talk about being consistently inconsistent.

There's a current trend that's masking itself as a form of rebellion, of freedom, and of breaking free. You might already have heard some of these making headlines on the news. Even a noontime gameshow has one segment that features the people who follow that trend and pit them against the people who decided to make their lives a little bit more interesting by tracking down and busting the followers of this current trend. However, I'll leave you all to think what you want on that topic, because as it seems today, it can lead to political bickering and mixed emotions. And that's something I do not want to have to deal with.

During the last Cebu Blog Camp, there was a segment by Tonyo Cruz about Citizen Journalism which I took a liking to. I had heard he studied at a UP campus, so there was a big chance I'd be getting his ideas and notions of loving our country and serving our people. There was one part of his talk wherein he polled the audience on whether we still buy a newspaper everyday. I quite remember I was the only one who raised my hand to respond in the affirmative, which then got me a bit thinking.

While it is true that access to the internet has boomed for the past year, and along with that instant access to information and sources, whether it be breaking news or the latest gossip, I still believe in the power of print. All my elementary and secondary schooling years always involved stopping by a newspaper stand on the way to school everyday. It was always me that did the honor of handing the ten-peso coin to our suki in exchange for the local daily. Even if I happened to be falling asleep when we were nearing that place, I'd always scramble to the window just so I could be the first one to get my hands on the newspaper. Trust me, I was that hooked.

It was sort of a routine where I simply went directly to the back portion, where the Sports section was. After reading through each column and article, I then proceeded to the middle part of the daily, where the Entertainment and Tech News were located. After pouring through all these, I took out my ballpen and proceeded on to fill out the crossword puzzle. I was doing this so much that there was a time my dad had to disallow me from being handed the newspaper because I would be too engrossed with it. What can I say - I simply loved reading, even if it meant my head would be spinning after the long ride to school.

Nowadays, I show no mercy when I get my hands on a newspaper. If it were a daily novel, I'd be reading it cover-to-cover and more. However, it saddens me to see that the original classic of distributing news is slowly being eaten up by the advent of the internet. Not that I am against it, because I love the internet and all the benefits and privileges it can give to the people. Mind you, I wouldn't be blogging if I did.

Perhaps this is just a rollover from my past of being someone who treasures people and things a lot (yes, I really hate goodbyes), but the simple newspaper and tabloid have gone through a lot - causing revolutions to start, spreading propaganda for those who knew how to use it, give more life to coffee shop talks, and even be the cause of celebration once a good friend gets featured in the lifestyle section. It's influence has stood out in the best and the worst of times, and honestly, information wouldn't have been as interesting if they used rocks instead of the traditional tree bark.

Part of the reason why I read a lot is the win-win situation it can give - one, being a firm in the belief that you can never have enough knowledge, and second, because we'd be able to improve on proper grammar and spelling. Again, it will be up to you to decide if this goes out to a certain trend today, but all I'm hoping for is that this won't give civilization a need for cleansing once all is said and done. Formality and technicality is something we can all use - it has been the backbone of many successful systems and structures throughout history, and it still continues to be.

Now, can anyone tell me, in the scope of the English language, what you would call news that's old?

I thought so.

_______________________________________________________
you got me smiling after a long time there.