Buhay sa Ibayong Dagat

Marami na akong naranasan,
Marami na akong napuntahan;
Ilang beses nang naparusahan,
Ilang beses nang naiwanan.

Mahirap ang maging mag-isa,
Tumira sa bayan na walang kakilala;
Minsan ay mawawalan ka ng pag-asa,
Minsan ay bigla ka na lang luluha.

Minsan ako ay napapaisip,
Punan ng isipan hanggang sa pag-iglip;
Sa aking binatana ako'y sumisilip,
Malayong tingin at malamim na isip.

Ngunit hindi lahat ay malungkot,
Hindi rin lahat ay nakakatakot;
Minsan nga lang ay nakakabagot,
Lahat ay mapapawi kung alam mo ang sagot.

Alak at sigarilyo aking kakampi,
Sa masamang araw at malamig na gabi;
Walang kayapos at walang katabi,
Ngunit ako ay hindi magaatubili.

Kinabukasan nakakilala ng kababayan,
Mga bagong mukha at bagong kaibigan;
Ang iba naman ibang bayo ang pinanggalingan,
Nagbigay ng sigla at katuwaan.

Maraming kaisipan ang natutunan,
Maraming bagay ang pinagdaanan;
Pinalakaas ang pananalig pumunta sa simbahan,
Kumuha ng lakas sa pinanggalingan.

Ang buhay ay sumigla at sumaya,
Lahat ng bagay naging kaaya-aya;
Ang kalungkutan biglang tumiyaya,
Tumibay ang dibdib dahil sa pananampalataya.

Lahat ng bagay ay ay dahilan,
Siya ring nagdadala sa paroroonan;
Biglaan man o dahan-dahan,
Kailangan lang ang katibayan.

Rainbow

A lot of depressions, a lot of setbacks, a lot of obstacles that may take you aback. Gloomy moods, senseless agonies. This is not what I want my life to be. So many complaints, too few steps taken. Always whining no fighting.

This is life. This is what we do. This is how most people see and face reality. This is how most live. This is what everyday looks like.

A lot of people do not face challenges head on. A lot hide under the table. Some behind daddy' pocket. Some hide somewhere else. Depression predominantly hinders us to bounce back. Everyone needs a rainbow after a gloomy, rainy day.

For those who needs inspiration, let me share you something. Something worth your while. Something that will make you realize that "life is full of challenges" but "we are living in a world that's beautiful".. It is a simple song by a popular band in the Philippines, their name is South Border...

Check this out:


"Rainbow"

Fallin' out, fallin' in
Nothing's sure in this world no, no
Breakin' out, breakin' in
Never knowin' what lies ahead
We can really never tell it all no, no, no

Say goodbye, say hello
To a lover or friend
Sometimes we never could understand
Why some things begin then just end
We can really never tell it all no, no, no

But oh, can't you see
That no matter what happens
Life goes on and on
So baby, just smile
'Coz I'm always around you
And I'll make you see how beautiful
Life is for you and me

Take a little time baby
See the butterflies color's
Listen to the birds that were sent
To sing for me and you
Can you feel me
This is such a wonderful place to be
Even if there is pain now
Everything would be all right
For as long as the world still turns
There will be night and day
Can you hear me
There's a rainbow always after the rain

Ohh, whoa

Hittin' high, hittin' low
Win or lose you should go, yeah yeah
Getting warm, getting cold
Weather could be so good or bad
But baby this is life now don't get mad no, no, no

'Coz oh, cant you see
That no matter what happens
Life goes on and on
So baby, please smile
'Coz I'm always around you
And I'll make you see how beautiful
Life is for you and me

Take a little time baby
See the butterflies' colors
Listen to the birds that were sent
To sing for me and you
Can you feel me
This is such a wonderful place to be
Even if there is pain now
Everything would be all right
For as long as the world still turns
There will be night and day
Can you hear me
There's a rainbow always after the rain

Life's full of challenges
Not all the time we get what we want
But don't despair my dear coz I know now
You'll take each trial and you'll make it through the storm
Coz you're strong my faith in you is clear
So ill say once again this worlds wonderful and
Let us celebrate life that's so beautiful, so beautiful
Ohhhh

Take a little time baby
See the butterflies' colors
Listen to the birds that were sent
To sing for me and you
Can you feel me
This is such a wonderful place to be
Even if there is pain now
Everything would be all right
For as long as the world still turns
There will be night and day
Can you hear me
There's a rainbow always after the rain

If you want to see the video, check the link below...


http://youtube.com/watch?v=gWtrkp0IUFs

Banging and Rocking 2K8

New Year comes with new hope, new dreams, new trial, new friends and new experiences...

I was never an optimist. I am more of a realist that an optimist. At times I can be very very skeptical. But not this year. I just came of a week off back to the Philippines. I was recharged, refreshed and rejuvenated. I was a bit down here in Shanghai. I just realized it when I came back. I was off my game in all things. I took a well deserved breather.

2007 was a year of mixed emotions. Promotion, demotion, redemption and more options. I was given a secret. A secret that I can say turned my life for the better. A secret that saved me from a lot of despair. I became acquainted with the Law of Attraction. Works like a charm. People might think otherwise but for me it creates wonders.

This year I welcomed the new year in another country. With new found friends and a familiar drink. We welcomed this year with cheers. I talked to a lot of people I loved and liked at the same time. I had a few more people in mind but I was not able reach them all, yet I was still happy... Very happy actually. Not the New Year Celebration people will envision. But it is something for the books. Although the fireworks did not match my expectations, I made my own fireworks in my heart. It is bigger than any fireworks man can ever make.

2007 gave me knowledge, wisdom, experiences that made me who I am today. I do not regret anything that happened. The mistakes, the downfall, the heartbreaks, the pitfalls; for it made me better, faster, smarter and stronger. I am not the person that I am today without them.

Bring on 2008, this is my year. I am a rat! Equipped with new knowledge, new language, new wisdom and new outlook... Bring it on!!! Happy New Year to all! May all of your desires turn into reality! :)

My Company, My Life

I feel rusty now. Almost 2 years away from school. 3 months away from work. There are a lot of lessons I put in my heart. A lot of lessons I gave back to my teachers. Not all teachers are educators. I am brought up in a La Sallian culture. I became an educator. I was never a teacher. I was bred to teach minds, touch hearts and transform lives. I am not a saint. I am not perfect.

I have a teacher now. She pushes me hard, and even harder. She is a teacher but not an educator. I know she means well but she never touched my heart. I learn to write a few characters, say a few words but most on my own. It is the people around me that makes me learn better. That is my motivation. They are my educators. They touched my heart and transformed my life. Giving me direction and the motivation to learn. They are the Human Resource Department of my life.

Yes I consider my life as a company. It is true. I graduated from a capitalist environment. I took up Entrepreneurship, Economics and Education. I refer to my double-degree program as the 3 E's. Never I imagined that all were useful to some extent.

In Business, the are 4 main functional areas: (1) Human Resource, (2) Marketing, (3) Operations, and (4) Finance.

The function of the Human Resource Department is to make sure the employees do their jobs and do it well. They make the company run. If motivated they will work for you, fight for you, die for you. They will be forever grateful. Take WalMart for example. The employees are given stock options. They take care of the company because it is theirs. The company made them secure. The company recognized their value. This goes the same as my life. I take care of my friends. I listen to them, help them, love them. In return they love me back. I have been through a lot of situations that people left me. But a lot of them stayed on the lowest low.

Marketing. I market myself to everyone everyday. I sell myself to everyone. Directly or indirectly. Don't get me wrong, I am not a liar. I don't give them what they want to get only. I just relate to them. I have been around. I have been in hell before I reach heaven. I have been broke before I got rich. I am not referring to money. Up to now I don't have much. But my experience, my knowledge and my skills. I may not have the total package but I make up for it. I don't have an 8 pack abs or Einstein's mind but I make up for it. I know my product. I know what I have to sell. I know its strengths and weaknesses. I focus on its weakness and turn them into strengths.

Operations. My office hours is 24 hours. I never closes. As long as I breath, my company is working. I keep my operations as simple as possible. I used to operate in a complex system. My life was like a database flowchart. Yet the database had a lot of bugs. I was like a Microsoft OS. Then I became a Mac. Tried removing the virus. Simplified the ssystem. Operations are now easier. Operations are running well. I live each day as it is. Never plan too hard. I don't make easy things hard.

Finance. Acquire Assets, Dispose Liabilities.Maximize Income, Minimize Expenses. I am not financially wealthy, yet. Money is not real. It is just a piece of paper or a circle metal. My assets are my friends, my family, my loved ones. They are the intangible assets that were given and acquired over the years. I have a few liabilities. I take them to my trash. I don't like to get them back. Once spoiled its dirty. My income is my learning. I learn everyday from everyone, from anything.I gain money, I gain knowledge, I gain experience. I keep my wealth in my brain and heart. This is my bank and no one can rob it. My expenses are my wastes. Time wasted on nothing, mistakes made, errors committed. These piles up to my liabilities. Once i dispatch them I learn and then I obtain income again.

My company is operating not on full capacity but its system improves everyday. It will never close down unless I quit. I am not ready to quit neither am I afraid to quit. When my time comes it comes. Some are afraid. I am not. Don't be. Keep your own company running. Keep it oiled.

DeJa Vu

Never in my wildest dreams I ever thought of being a full time student again until now. I had only 2 jobs, plus my practicum, my whole life. I was a public servant, which was a charity thing because I did not earn any money from it; and a Brand Associate/International Business Developer for Naturale Labs. Inc in the Philippines and Thailand. My practicum is being an Educator.

I dedicated all efforts in my line of work and I learned things the hard way.

Now in China, I decided that I will be a full time student. I will try to relax and focus on Mandarin and enjoy life again as a student. You see, as a college student I was very busy that I never had much free time. I took a double degree course and joined the student council and then party at night. I had to endure the pain of having and defending 2 theses at the same week and consecutive days.

Now in Shanghai, I had too much free time. I have classes at 8 in the morning and finish at lunchtime. After that, I do whatever. Play basketball, watch movies, etc. I am living the life of a kindergarten student.

Then I got bored!

I had too much time that I need to do something other than studying Mandarin. I am a practical person. I was never a theoretical, orthodox or whatever person. I am practical and carefree. I want to do things when I want, what I want and the easiest and fastest way possible.

I also need to be busy. My college days are catching up to me now. Whenever I am not busy, I am restless. I go out. Meet people try to learn from their cultural heritages, their stories, their successes and their failures. I hanged out with a Chinese business man, a Singaporean businessman, Thai writer. These people are more than twice my age. I was drinking with them, talking to them and learning their ways.

I felt like I am back in Thailand, doing business with big guns again. People testing my knowledge. People testing my might. People testing if I know what I am talking about. The feeling I love most is when you earn someone's respect. And despite the language barriers, somehow, someway I get it from them.

They do not talk to me like a 23 year old kid. They never tell me you are like my son. They always refer to me as their friend. At the end of each conversation I get a business card. I get their names, contact details and all of those things. Sometimes I don't expect them to remember me since we were drinking but they do. I get a call in the morning from them thanking me for something that I helped them with. It melts my heart to hear such things and even boost my confidence to speak up to these "made" people.

Its DeJa Vu all over again... I am beginning to love it here now... It exceeds my expectations... Good thing I have free time!

23

I never celebrated my birthday away from home. This is the first time. There are some birthdays that I had that sucked. I remember my 9th birthday in 1993 where there was a f*cking typhoon. One of the hardest that hit the Philippines. It sucked so hard since I cannot leave my house since there were roofs flying all over the metro. But the worst of all is that there was no electricity in the whole of Metro Manila.

There are also some birthdays that I had that I wasn't really happy. I thought that this was one of them. I did not tell any of my friends here that it is my birthday. As a Filipino, we usually don't broadcast to the whole world that it is our day. No one does that much.

I went to Suzhou a few hours before the clock ticked 12. A few hours before that, I missed my train. It sucked. I was late. The good thing was 3 of my friends waited for me and then we took the last train from Shanghai to Suzhou. We got there an hour before 12. Usually I had parties on the 2nd of November waiting for the clock to sound and celebrate another year of existence. But this year it was different.

As the clock ticked 12, I got calls from very special people in my life that assured me that this day will be alright. They made me feel that this day was special for me. After that my friends here knew that it was my birthday and greeted me. I felt happy. It may sound like its a shallow feeling but I liked it.

As my day went on I discovered the beautiful sights of Suzhou. We went around, horseplayed a lot and enjoyed each other's company. We even watched Filipino and English TV. Our friends there had cable. Nice!!! We were like mountain people, never watched TV before.

After which, we had dinner. Then these bastards got me a cake. It is a small cake but it felt it was really big as it melted my heart. They sang and stuff. You know the drill...

We went on drinking after that and enjoyed the night. It was a hell of a day for me. I missed a lot of people but I sure was happy.

I Never Lose!!!

I was reading a book... It is very popular all over. The author is not the "best writer" but a "best seller"...

His book makes a lot of sense. So as his thoughts. Learned a lot. Way lot!

In a different perspective, people are always afraid to lose! I am one of them. I am a SORE LOSER up to this day. I never liked the feeling. This is how I felt before. Being turned down to a job, losing a basketball game, fail a class, demotion, being broke, etc.

But then I realized... I never lost! I never lose! Yes you read that right. It is not because I am sour graping again. This is because I learn from my mistakes and they made me who I am today. Sure I make a lot of those mistakes, sure I fall. But then I stand up again. Doing things right the next time. Doing better and better and better.

Now I have a new mantra. I will stick by it forever. It changed my perception on life, on work, on studies on everything!

HERE IT GOES and you can quote me on this:

"I NEVER LOSE! It is either I WIN or I LEARN!"