Road to True Love

Roads can lead to different places—fun places, scary places, weird places.. But there will always be a point where we have to see the end of our road—Death Street. Its been a week now since we’ve attended the burial ceremony of my spiritual lola, Lola Ibang. Its still clear in my mind how Lolo Angel lamented for Lola. Its like losing half of his life, or should I say his life. Its really heart breaking, but one thing I’ve realized was the fact that the cliché vow “til death do us part” is possible. Its beautiful. Its romantic. Its true love…that even in the road of death, Love will always be present. Goodbye Lola. We love you.

Valentines Day

February 14, 2009

Sto. Rosario Angeles City Road during Valentines 2010. It is filled with vendors selling flowers, balloons and other presents.

Kung Hei Fat Choi and Happy Valentines.
Sharing you my favorite Christian Love song:

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Repeat CHORUS

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Repeat CHORUS

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for

-end-

Love. It is manifested in different ways. But as for my Valentines day, Love will manifest as Love for my parents. Here's an album of my Valentines 2010 Shots. Some were taken at Marquee Mall as they showered rose petals all over the crowd. Its a nice view, but its really difficult to take pictures that time, instead I took a video.

Click image to view album

Rest

February 13,2010

Our travel in life can exhaust us. We need to rest. Even a car or a machine needs rest. That reminds me of my digicam's battery every time it shows the "BATTERY EXHAUSTED" sign every time I shoot pictures consecutively.

Today, no matter how tempting it is to go outside, I've decided to stay home, lie in my bed, have a movie marathon and eat one of my favorite comfort food--Corned Beef. It felt like Im back to being a grade school student. I love the feeling.

Don't overwork. Take time to rest. Grab your comfort food. So that for your next journey, you'll be strong as Superman.

-end-

How to prepare Corned Beef ala Darby in 5 minutes

Ingredients:
> Purefoods Corned Beef
> Sky Flakes or Fita Crackers

Instructions:

1. Prepare the frying pan.
2. Put the Corned Beef in the frying pan. I recommend that you will use Purefoods Corned Beef.
3. Dont add oil, garlic, onions etc.. You will spoil the taste of the beef. Just heat the beef.
4. Wait for 2-3 minutes.
5. Prepare the crackers
6. Decorate the crackers for better look

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:7 "EAT YOUR FOOD WITH GLADNESS"

A Paradigm Shift

This picture was taken inside a cab as we travel to La Trinidad, Benguet.

The Road to Baguio- A Paradigm Shift
February 11,2010

The nature of my work is travel. I spend more or less 8 hours a day in a public utility bus every time Im tasked to do field works. Eight hours? you think its boring? Its not. The road that leads to work is an opportunity for me to learn new things. Its an opportunity to meditate, to have quiet time and to renew my mind as I see the glorious environment outside the window. Here's a lesson that I've learned the hard way inside the bus:

This day, I need to go to Baguio. Baguio City is 5 hours away from home so I can say that its a really really long ride. I entered the bus and chose a comfortable place in the middle seats. I sat near the window for the view. I have my seat, I have my window and I have my view. No one can take this comfort away from me.

After a minute, 4 elderly people entered the bus--3 grandmas and a grandpa. They were noisy especially the grandpa who seemed to be bragging that he can endure the cold temperature inside the bus without using a jacket. The grandpa sat in front of my seat. He kept on talking and bragging. I had a bit of an irritation that time but I just ignored it. As I've said, Im comfortable--I have my sit, my window and my view. Until he inclined his seat leaving me a limited space and a disquieting state.

That time, I really hated the old man. I cant complain and I dont know why. I cant sleep, I cant move freely. For 5 hours, Im annoyed with the old man and im irritated with the entire situation.

Twenty-minutes before reaching Baguio changed my paradigm towards the man and probably towards life. I saw him holding a handkerchief in his forehead and another handkerchief in his right hand. The hanky on his hand is filled with blood blots. He wiped his nose and I saw more blood in his hands and hanky. That view broke my heart. :(

What if the old man has a serious disease? What if he's going to Baguio to enjoy the remaining days of his life? What if his bragging and noisy personality is a way to survive life? I dont know. What I know is that the man taught me a lesson. The lesson of love.

In our road to life, we will meet strangers, difficult personalities and people that will push our buttons. The question is, are we going to love them in spite and despite of?

-end-

Here's some pictures of my "side-trips" at Baguio and La Trinidad. Click the pictures to open the entire album.

Click image to view the album

Click image to view the album

The Road Not Taken

We are all part of a huge traffic.

All of us are travelers. Each has its own road to take. But most of us, including me, has chosen the "go-with-the-flow" road. We are in the road that leads to complacency, mediocrity or an average life. We are settled with the standards of this world. We must be like "this" to become like "that". Everything is bounded, limited and just plain dull. If most of us are traveling that road, we are just contributing to a huge traffic.

I love the verse from the Holy Bible, found in Jeremiah 1:5. It says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Wow! We are set apart.

I believe that God created a special road for each of us. We have a road custom-made just for us. All we have to do is to step out of the traffic and start journeying the route our Creator designed for us. Easier said than done, but if we ask God's strength, we can surpass everything.

This blog is about the journey to my road. Dont worry, this will not just be about what happened to me in the journey, but also the realizations in the heart of it.

Lets explore and step out of our comfort zones. Lets take the scenic road instead of the short-cuts. Let God add color to our lives. More adventures and adrenaline rush for you, my reader!

Before I end this, I want to leave a short poem written by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference

Thanks :)

I took the picture above last December 29,2009 at Calasiao, Pangasinan. Calasiao is the home of our favorite Puto. FYI