Hiro

I've watched all the 18 episodes of Heroes. I've never followed any TV series for the longest time. We are without TV for almost 2 years it was just recently that we had. Thanks to dsl I was able to watch and complete this series. Heroes is brilliant!

I love Hiro Nakamura. I love him not just because he is Asian, I love his character, as he is sincere, honest and totally down to earth. He just makes me smile. Sobra. I can just go on raving about Hiro. Among all the powers these "ordinary" people have, I would love to have the one that Hiro has--teleportation. Although spontaneous regeneration like Claire Bennet or invisibility and telekinesis and flying like Peter Petrelli are nice to have too.

By the way, have you guys passed by C5 there is this huge Maldita billboard and the model looks so much like Peter.

I can't wait for episode 19th they say it will be released on April 23 pa.

Phil Blog Awards 2007

The Philippine Blog Awards 2007 is tonight March 31 at the RCBC Plaza in Makati. Some of my favorite Pinoy bloggers are on the finalist.

I hope next year I can attend the award ceremonies. It would be good to meet the people behind the stories, pictures and everyday blog entries.

Congratulations to the winners.

La Luz, Laiya Batangas

in sickness and in health

For the past 10 days our lives have been on a roller coaster. Baby Isay got sick two weeks ago with fever on and off so we went to the doctor. She got her first blood test which confirmed bacterial infection. After one week of antibiotics, she started having fever again now with vomiting and severe diarrhea. I was really really scared.

Last Thursday, we brought her to the emergency room and she was confined for acute gastroenteritis. But we were really scared that she was dehydrated already when we brought her to the hospital last Thursday. We were in the hospital for two days. Thank God she is now Ok. She is recovering. I was only able to send sms to few friends.

Thank you to all those who prayed for baby Isay to get better. Thank you very much for your prayers. She is now ok and I believe recovering well. We are home this Sunday.

No one can tell us what caused this, Dr. Lajo said it was viral. And maybe something she ate or put in her mouth. The last thing I remember she ate was taho before she got the fever. I really felt bad that I wasn't able to prevent this. But I guess there will always be the risk. I understand the responsibility of us being parents to a child totally dependent for everything that she needs. It breaks my heart to see her suffer. Now I realize that indeed it is a great responsibility to care for a child.

I need to nurture a strong spirit for her. She is just 9 months old and I am looking forward to many more years of learning together. I am learning lessons that cannot be taught in any university. Life totally shapes into a new dimension when you go through difficult times. It is different from all previous trials as this one experience is with my own child.

I look forward to the days when we can all travel together and see the world. Grow old gracefully and see my baby grow to be healthy. There will be a time that we will climb mountains together. I can't wait.

Endless possibilities

I am truly excited at the thought of endless possibilities. There are no boundaries. I guess sometimes the only limit to what we can truly become is our imagination. I read an old entry I wrote in my blog (and it is good to be reminded) that the blueprint of our lives start with our thoughts and ideas. What you believe to be true can become so indeed. Because we unconsciously give it energy to take form. And the universe will follow through. Whatever it is that we think of. In my own daily pondering, I guess also from my limited experience, these thoughts came about. I believe in the concept of "mantra" the thing you repeat constantly will "be". This can either be positive or negative. But what is it there to lose if I try to be positive more often?

We had dinner at BC (barangay culiat) with good friends. It was a night of many conversations. It was good to hear Alan S. share about his recent insights about "what makes our present." An unconventional answer is the "future." The things we anticipate affects our present moment. It was a long conversation and maybe I will share it in a future post.

One insight is about Ash Wednesday, during this time of Lent, we are reminded "from dust to dust" from nothing we became something, someone and many many more possibilities.

waiting to exhale

Recently, I've found myself in this state. Waiting to exhale. I know this is very stressful. I try not to do it. But apparently, I find myself in many situations where I do hold my breath. Sometimes when I write a sentence, I exhale just at the end or pause after writing a phrase. There are many instances. All of these involve waiting. It surprised me that the nanosecond that you wait before you exhale sometimes seems like an hour or more. Waiting for a hello at the other end of the line. Waiting just after you turned over that fried fish. Waiting for a thought to become an idea. There are many more. It just seems that these nanoseconds of waiting build up to become stress. Sigh!

I should review my open water diving. One of the principles of scuba diving is "never hold your breath." This will help you relax in the water, thus preventing any panic. It takes a while before you get used to breathe normally underwater using the scuba. But once you do relax and exhale slowly, you will experience a great time underwater. I also realized that the most ordinary way of relaxing is deep breathing. Conversely, the fastest way to be stressed out is to hold your breath.

When we anticipate things, we tend to hold our breath. While a bit scared there seems to be a time when you hold your breath. Just before plunging yourself into something you hold your breath. I need to re-learn not to hold my breath. Recently I've been holding more often than I supposed to do. I can feel the stress scale going up. I just have to breathe, slowly.

futility of constant complaint

One of the things that encouraged me to climb mountains is the opportunity for me to build character. I know myself. I know that I complain a lot. When I read an article about mountaineering, this passage stuck to me: "the futility of constant complaint." I realized that I needed to change that. Climbing mountains is not an easy task. I love challenges. I want to do things that enables me to go beyond what I perceive to be my limit. After arduous training preparation, I was able to carry a load up the peak. The physical training helped me build strength to carry the load and enjoy the view while hiking. I believe that the experience enabled me to change my ways. My perspective of things shifted. Indeed it is futile to complain. I guess I was trapped to the thinking: "the squeaky wheel gets the oil". But I need to remind myself time and again, that we need to actively find the solution ourselves.

About Banahaw

Since holy week in our local town in Laguna is associated with Mt. Banahaw, I wrote a short story in my other blog Pinay Mountain Chef about old memories in visiting the holy mountain.

International Women's Day

Today is international Women's Day. Mabuhay sa lahat ng mga kababaihan sa buong mundo!

shine!

1 peso flights

Red-eye flights to Bangkok for only P1. True. They said that announcements will come out tomorrow pa. News are going around fast. I tried to log on to www.cebupacificair.com and plan atrip for our family of 3 to Thailand. Two adults and one infant roundtrip to Bangkok travel anytime from June to Dec 2007. Total fare for the 3 of us including taxes 7,822 pesos. Wow I am tempted. But travel arrival time in Bangkok is around midnight I wonder how would Isay be if we go on the trip on Tatay's birthday?

women on fire!

Marathon meeting today. Drawing things that would affect our lives and the lives of people this year and probably the next decade onwards. Anyway here is hoping that things would fall into place. Just have to do our share. After our dinner cum post birthday celeb at Muang Thai, I was happy to be able to relax for the night.

***

As I was watching Oprah, I was inspired by these women: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the first woman president of Africa, the Iron Lady of Liberia. Then there is this little girl named Musu from Liberia. Like always, all the stories that came from Africa strikes a punch into my heart. From Rwanda to Liberia to Sudan.

Oprah continues to inspire me with her passion to help others through the Angel Network. From helping tsunami hit areas, to her pledge to give 10 million for those affected by typhoon Katrina and the way she inspires rockstars like Bon Jovi to follow suit. These and many more.

Another guest this evening was Queen Rania of Jordan. She spoke about her country and people. How the people of the west see the veil worn by women as a sign of opression. This is not the case. Women wear the veil because it is their choice. She said "we should judge a woman with what is in her head not with what she wears on her head". She is teaching her son to be a global citizen to be aware of what is happening to our world.

Then lastly, my former most favorite female artist made a comeback tonight and she is back on the top of my charts. I used to sing over and over "in the arms of an angel..." during the long boat trips to the islands of Tawi tawi. She kept me company during long sunset walks around the island. Lift my spirit at down times and transport me to somewhere comforting. Until many moons passed and I forgot about her. Until tonight, I heard her voice again. Now I am inspired.Sarah McLachlan sang World on Fire.

A music video cost 150,000 US dollars, she made this video for US$15 and the remaining money she sent to Ethiopia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and many more. I was transfixed as I watch the video. I've worked for a while with Oxfam and I saw the stats and the images but this video made more than just a statement. Watch World on Fire here.

World On Fire
Sarah McLachlan

The worlds on fire, its more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
Youre not alone in these stories pages
The light has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And Ill try to hold it in
Yeah Ill try to hold it in

I watch the heavens but I find no calling
Something I can do to change whats coming
Stay close to me while the skys falling
I dont wanna be left alone dont wanna be alone

Hearts break , hearts mend, love still hurts
Visions clash planes crash still theres talk of
saving souls still the colds closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some