Monday, March 12, 2007

Moonlit vigil



As a child I discovered a garden
Where I could hide myself
Whenever I'm absent from life.
As a child I hid a sun
So my way could have light
And my silence a friend.
- Mario Frangoulis, TON EAFTO TOU PAIDI
- (translated from Greek)

On March 3, the Youth Ministry (where I'm a member) of the local chapter of the Oasis of Love went to the Pelaez Sports Center for the World Youth Day Cross Visit. The WYD cross that is on its way to Sydney for the 2008 World Youth Day was here in our city for two days. Young men and women from and around the city were called to have a vigil. We were supposed to stay there overnight, but since I was feeling weak due to my recent bout with colds and fever, I had to leave the vigil at around twelve midnight. I wish I completed that vigil. I really do.

There were parts of the program that called for all the lights to be turned off and for us to be silent. In those moments, I remember my stargazing nights with my childhood barkada (my neighbors). When I was a child, we can only get two channels. And when there's nothing good to see on TV, the barkada would all go outside into the barren streets (dirt path, really). We had this neighbor who had Bermuda grasses (or is it just grass) in front of their house and we would all go there and sit down and talk. We talked about anything. Talked about the day before. Talked about what happened earlier on the day. Talked about our future, our hopes, our dreams. After a while we'd get tired of talking and we'd just stay there and be under the moon and the stars. In silence. Some of us would lie on our backs (which on hindsight might not have been hygienic, but then again we're just kids) and some would just sit and stare blankly at the empty lot on the other side of the road.

In that WYD Cross Vigil, in that brief moment when the lights were turned off, and there was nothing but the moon that lighted the surrounding, when everyone was called to be silent, I remember my childhood friends and our little moonlit vigils as young kids with nothing important to do. I miss them. I miss those times.

He and himself as a child...
They'll stand together

And see passing by like rivers
Moments that never grow old,
And the faces
That have turned themselves into streets and centuries,
And the dreams
That have dug through the years' hideouts.
- Mario Frangoulis, TON EAFTO TOU PAIDI
- (translated from Greek)

Daughtry

[Daughtry]
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
- Chris Daughtry, Home


I'm not really into rock, but I'm loving this album by AI5 finalist Chris Daughtry. It's entitled, Daughtry. I love all tracks, but my favorites are the first five tracks. Now if I have to pick just one favorite track, it would have to be track three, Home. This is like a rock album that makes sense.

I also like AI5 finalist Kellie Pickler's album, but I don't like Katharine McPhee's debut album. I don't think those who voted for McPhee are very happy with her debut album. I can't find the McPhee I saw and heard in the AI5 finals anywhere inside the album (or maybe that's her point? I don't get her). Contrast this to Pickler's debut album. What is likeable and loveable about Pickler is inside her album. I was rooting for McPhee to win AI5, but based on their albums alone it should have been Daughtry who won AI5, with Pickler as the runner up.

Home

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

Well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love, it makes true.
And I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.

Wisdom



For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding.
- Proverbs 2:6

Note to self: Don't put your happiness in someone else's hands.

***

Note to self: Don't let your free-time dull your brain by watching too much TV. Learn two new languages. Learn Spanish, the language of Spain. Learn Ruby, the language of happy programmers (supposedly). Starting tomorrow if possible. Or how about tonight?

***

Note to self: You really must finish reading Veronika Decides To Die. It's not your book, you just borrowed it from a friend and you should be rereading Harry Potter books one to six by now. That's over 2,000 pages of Harry Potter to read before July 21, 2007.

***

The eight of us: Mae, Eric, Chris, Michelle, Ealbert, PJ, Bimbo, and me. We were supposed to watch 300 last Friday. But we ended up just having dinner at PJ's house. The six of them: fish, rice, fish, Coke, pineapple, and water. I hope we'll push through this Friday.

***

If for every kind word you say you are given one peso, and for every unkind word one peso is taken away from you, will you then be rich or poor?

Tsk tsk tsk... Last week, just because of this person, I would have been on the streets begging for pesos. I remember the 90-10 rule. And it's time to fight back. Time to be happy again.