Today is the anticipated arrival day of yet another typhoon visiting the Philippines.  The news says this is going to be a super-typhoon having a wind of at least 150kph.  


As one of our task to be of aid to the community, we were assigned to render an overtime work to monitor the movement of the storm and most especially to monitor the general situation of the local governments.  We are in a coastal area so that is one of the gravest considerations.  We are not so worried about lands slides since the mountains in our locality still have lots of trees.  But we are hoping to survive this typhoon.


Since the typhoon "Ondoy" wrecked havoc in my beloved province in 2009, I am here in the office right now, with the only intent to be able to help the people in any little way I can.  Sending information as to the location of the gravely affected communities is for me, constitutes a big help to the people.


Now is the start of our monitoring so I have to focus on the work now. I am leaving you with the lyrics of the song Bangon (Rise Up) written and sung by Rico Blanco  dedicated to the victims of typhoon "Peping".


Enjoy!


BANGON (RISE UP)
Pinaluhod tayo, (we were forced to our knees)
Sa isang hagupit (with one wrath)
Niragasa, sinalanta, (pushed, damaged)
Pinaluha (brought to tears)

Humupa ang unos, isang bahaghari! (The disaster had stopped, one rainbow)
Dala ng bukang liwayway- (brought by the dawn)
Pag-ibig, Pagkakaisa (Love, Unity)


BANGON (RISE UP)
Pilipinas kong mahal (My beloved Philippines)
Akay ang pananampalataya sa may kapal (Armed with faith in the Almighty)
AHON (STAND UP)
Buhay sa yong dugo (Alive in your blood)
Ang tibay na tatak ng tunay na Pilipino (the strength which is the mark of a true Pilipino)

At nagising ang bayanihan* (and unity was awaken)
Milyon milyon naging isa (millions became one)
Walang kami (there is no us)
Walang kayo (no YOU)
Walang sila (no THEM)
Tanging ligaya (the only joy)
Ay pag alay ng sarili sa iba (is giving oneself to others)

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rico_blanco/bangon.html ]
BANGON (RISE UP)
Pilipinas kong mahal (My beloved Philippines)
Akay ang pananampalataya sa may kapal (Armed with faith in the Almighty)
AHON (STAND UP)
Buhay sa yong dugo (Alive in your blood)
Ang tibay na tatak ng tunay na Pilipino (the strength which is the mark of a true Pilipino)

Bridge:
Hindi ka namin iiwan (We will not leave you)
Hindi tayo susuko! (We will not surrender)
Lulusong tayo't magtatagumpay (We will move forward and succeed)
Magtatagumpay! (We will succeed!)

BANGON (RISE UP)
Pilipinas kong mahal (My beloved Philippines)
Akay ang pananampalataya sa may kapal (Armed with faith in the Almighty)
AHON (STAND UP)
Buhay sa yong dugo (Alive in your blood)
Ang tibay na tatak ng tunay na Pilipino (the strength which is the mark of a true Pilipino)

Coda:
Lahat nitong mga pagsubok (All these challenges)
Ay ating kayang lagpasan (we shall overcome)
Lahat nitong mga pagsubok (all these challenges)
Ay ating kayang lagpasan (we shall overcome)

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/rico_blanco/#share

I miss Michael Jackson. I have always admired him and loved his songs you know. Before he passed away, he was still able to create another song and this is one of the. I love listening to this song because it reminds me so much of him. 


I bought a DVD of his concert and let the kids watch him dance, sing and perform all the stunts at the concert stage.  They adore him!


This was the song that played following his death.  I am so happy to hear this played in the airwaves because I miss his voice.  I heard this song when I was driving back home and increased the volume of the stereo.  Ever experienced that feeling of suddenly hearing the sound of a familiar voice? That was how I felt.


This is exactly how I felt when I saw a very familiar face in a social website while browsing at friend's page.  I said goodbye to this person at the height of my personal crisis.  During those times, I saw that being in a relationship has more complexities than solutions to what I have been going through.  To cut the long story short, I wrote a message to this person.  I felt ignored. I let it pass. Days passed and I decided to add the person as my friend.  I went overboard, my profile was blocked.  It was a deadlock for me.


My heart was crushed!


Days and nights passed and still this person filled my mind, including my dreams.


Then I decided, this is it! This has got to be it. I will message her again and express my apologies for hurting her. 


I haven't thought that messaging her again was difficult, but I felt relieved. For the first time in my life, I told her sorry and asked for her forgiveness.  Although forgiveness is still far from reality, I felt a new energy passing through my veins. It felt liberating!  As if I saw someone smiling genuinely at me.  Never mind the embarrassment, never mind the anger I may receive from the other end, never mind my dreams about her, because somehow I was freed. 


Now I am just waiting to be forgiven.


My liberty started to materialize when I said to myself that I will message her again: This is it! This is it because she may either forgive me or assure to me that I no longer exist!


To end, there goes the story of yet another adventure!






This is it - Michael Jackson

This is it, Here I stand
I'm the light of the world
I feel grand
Got this love, I can feel
And I know, Yes for sure it is real

And it feels as though
I've seen your face a thousand times
And you said you really know me too yourself
And I know that you have got addicted with your eyes
but you say you're gonna leave it for yourself
Oh
I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn't my plan
I never thought that I would be your lover
Come on baby just understand

This is it
I can say
i'm the light of your world
run away
This is it
we can feel
This is real
Every time I'm in love that I feel

And I feel as though I've known you since a thousand years
And you tell me that you've seen my face before
And you said to me that you don't want me hanging around
many times wanna do it here before
Oh yeah
I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn't my plan
I never thought that I would be your lover
Come on baby just understand

This is it
I can feel
I'm the light of the world
This is real
This is it
feel my song
And I can tell you feel that way

And I feels as though I've known you for a thousand years
And you said you saw my face yourself
And you said want to go with you on a while
And I know that it's really for myself
Oh yeah
I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn't my plan
I never thought that I would be your lover
Come on please dear understand

I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn't my plan
I never thought that I would be your lover
Come on dear please understand
Oh yeah

I never heard a single word about you
Falling in love wasn't my plan

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

"What would you buy with extra money you save?"

This is just one of the few questions that a professional like me asks in this state of life and in the modern age.  We ask this question because with the additional costs of transportation and communication, we are not really sure if we could have a savings at all.  Finding a way to save is not easy and when it comes knocking on your door, grab it!

At this age of economic globalization and multi-national corporations, we are caught in a web - a web that holds us to where we could find greener pasture - causing families to be separated miles apart.

Communication is the way to bridge that gap.  Talking and chatting for hours make one feel that somehow they are near.  Then again, it entails a big expense! Just compute.

Hook, line and sinker because lucky for us we have Straight Talk on our side, with great savings in mind.

I love the idea that I feel richer with Straight Talk because I cut my cell phone bill in half. You have to be crazy to be on a contract these days when you can get everything you need without one.  Everything you need to get updates from your loved ones is there. You get to talk for 1,000 minutes or send 1,000 messages and get another edge with your 30MB of web data, at half the cost. You can talk about anything, everything. No more shortcuts, no more omitted letters in a text message, no more postponing on the good news that needs to be gotten across.

And what can you do with your savings? A lot! Call a friend more often. Invite them over for a pizza or bring your family to a fancy restaurants or get another plan for your loved ones.  Imagine unlimited calls, text, picture messaging and web for a whole year, for only $499.00!  You can also choose from a wide variety of phone options.

Hook, line and sinker, don't delay.

This is my entry for the day and I got to go to call my mom ;-)

Todo lo que necesitas

 

Watch the video below and enjoy your savings!

 

To end this entry, I feel like singing with Dolly Parton...

Gimme straight talk, straight talk...

straight talk and we'll gonna be alright.

 

(Read the rest of the lyrics in the link provided below.)

Enjoy Straight Talk!

Lyrics of the song STRAIGHT TALK

http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/parton-dolly/straight-talk-7784.html

This is the first time that I am writing about a beauty pageant.  This is the first time that I commented on such contest because it's been a while since I watched or monitored it.  It just so happened that I adore Shamcey so much, a fellow UPian! (UP - University of the Philippines)  It is only today that I've proven that when God loves you, He will give everything to you like Beauty and Brains ;-)


Miss Universe of 2011 has been crowned to Leila Lopes of Angola! What a beauty indeed! God created this beauty for us to appreciate and of course, give back the honor to the One who created it.


I didn't get the chance to watch these beautiful ladies modeled because our working station does not have a television set. I just relied on the updated text message from my beloved.  I was the first in our office to know who the winner was. Thanks to SMS!


We are for Ms. Shamcey Supsup of course. She topped the polls prior to the pageant.  The question to her was: 
which I answered, not knowing what her answer was.  "Would you change your religious beliefs to marry the person you love? Why or why not"


I answered No. Being trained in the legal way of answering questions, I qualified my answer: Religion is a way of life. Marriage is also a way of life but not as deep as religion.  I chose my religion because I have lived all my life with the belief in my God and I will not be happy with a person or an act that is being forced on me and it will not be abruptly changed by someone I barely know.  Marriage is a lifetime commitment but my religion will go with me beyond my grave. (I forgot to say "Thank you" since we don't use this in the bar exam. haha!)


To which Shamcey answered: ” If I had to change my religious beliefs, I will not marry the person that I love. Because the first person that I love is GOD who created me. And I have my faith and my principles. And these what makes me who I am. And if that person loves me, he should love my God too, Thank you.”


Like the usual, our countrymen are contented with what Shamcey received during the pageant.  For me, it could have been another crown to the Philippines.  My aunt is mad at me for acting so negatively. She seems to imply that I don't know how to appreciate the efforts of our beauty queen. Don't get me wrong please but I truly appreciate what we have garnered in the Miss Universe. It could have been the crown itself and our sour-graping with what we received in the pageant will only proliferate our attitude of getting contented with what we have.  I am afraid this will just give us the attitude of saying "At least, better than the rest of the 80 contestants" then we will not do anything anymore in the future to prepare even more.  This is typical Filipino attitude.


I am happy for what we have achieved in the pageant but I could have been happier ;-)


I would suggest that next time, we give an answer that has an audience impact; make longer answers and most importantly, hire an interpreter because tagalog construction is different from English.  That is a fact. Shamcey is intelligent, very intelligent, I know that. But intelligence is not equivalent to superior verbal communications especially in a foreign language.


I propose that the Miss Universe Committee (if there is such a thing) should look into the possibility of hiring or training an interpreter for our beauty queens.


Nevertheless, in my heart, I am overwhelmed to know that a lot of people were entertained by the most beautiful women in the world today... and that is all because God created us beautifully... in every single way.


Mabuhay Shamcey!


Lyrics of the song
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera


Everyday is so wonderful 
And suddenly, it's hard to breathe 
Now and then, I get insecure 
From all the pain, 
I'm so ashamed 

I am beautiful no matter what they say 
Words can't bring me down 
I am beautiful in every single way 
Yes, words can't bring me down, oh no 
So don't you bring me down today 

To all your friends you're delirious 
So consumed in all your doom 
Trying hard to fill the emptiness, 
The pieces gone, 
Left the puzzle undone, 
Ain't that the way it is? 

You are beautiful no matter what they say 
Words can't bring you down, no, no 
You are beautiful in every single way 
Yes words can't bring you down, oh, no 
So don't you bring me down today 

No matter what we do 
(no matter what we do) 
No matter what we say 
(no matter what we say) 
We're the song inside the tune 
(yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) 
Full of beautiful mistakes 
And everywhere we go 
(and everywhere we go) 
The sun will always shine 
(sun will always, always shine) 
But tomorrow we might awake 
On the other side 

'Cause we are beautiful, 
No matter what they say 
Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no 
We are beautiful in every single way 
Yes, words can't bring us down, oh no 
So don't you bring me down today 

Don't you bring me down today 
Don't you bring me down... 
Mmm, today

Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/christina-aguilera-lyrics-beautiful-cnc27bq#ixzz1Xpgv7LTQ
LetsSingIt - Your favorite Music Community 

Today marks the 10th anniversary, and death anniversary, of the victims of 9/11 attacks in America.  I remember waking up with the news that America was under attack. It was really tragic and the whole world was shocked to the event that led to the conclusion that a religious was is getting even deeper.  That even also led to loss of many more lives, the torment of many peaceful hearts and the anger of many nations.

Today, as I watch the people from all over the world commemorate their loved ones, the victims as well as the survivors, I was reminded of this beautiful song.  I thought of our society, the whole world, the main reason why we exist, is to enjoy life and savor our freedom.

Freedom is not just from physical bounds but most importantly expressed in our freedom from hatred, freedom from fear, freedom from anger and all the bad elements in the world.

We should be living as a free country, a free individual, a free society but not to the point of hurting others, stepping into the liberty of fellowmen, killing precious lives for the proliferation of humanity.

Hatred should be eradicated and replace it with love for isn't it nice to be able to smile at our neighbors early in the morning? Isn't it nice to be appreciated by your boss in the workplace? Isn't it nice to be recognize as a valuable member of the community for our beneficial contributions? A lot of questions pop up but this is just my simple call of saying: "Our freedom ends to where the freedom of others begin."

I heard that from someone and what I mean is that when I think that I am free to do something, I should also think that another person is likewise free to do somethings.  We should be able to balance these. We should be able to recognize that all people are equally situated and among equals, there should be respect.

Oh well, I'm sounding like a priest giving a Sunday sermon. Live free everyone!

=========================
Lyrics of the song
BORN FREE

Born free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Born free to follow your heart

Live free, and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you look at a star

*Stay free, where no walls divide you
You're free as a roaring tide
So there's no need to hide

Born free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
Cause you're born free