I remember being given an assignment for the holidays back in High School. We were (t)asked by our Homeroom adviser to list down all of the thing we wanted to improve on ourselves for the year 199?. In simpler words, make a New Years Resolution. Back then, I thought it was a silly thing to do. Not anymore. Now that I have grown a little older and a little wiser (hopefully), I actually like making these so called "resolutions." I know a lot of people gave up on it. Like they are resigned to the fact that they will break one or two or all of 'em before even thinking about February. So what's the point? Well, the point is trying at all and getting back up again if we happen to fail. And we WILL fail. We we're built that way, like it's hard-wired into our very system. That is being Human. And part of being human is the desire to constantly improve ourselves over and over again. Who was it that said, "We will keep on changing until we can no longer change." I think it was from a movie I saw when I was young... or not. These memories are all a jumble to me.
Anyway, Here's to a better you and a better me this 2008! Cheers!
Showing posts with label Childhood memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Childhood memories. Show all posts
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The title says it clearly. I'm not a big Christmas fan so this will be the closest thing to a christmas blog entry I can come up with.When I was a kid, I loved the christmas season for the long holiday it came with but I totally dreaded the school christmas parties and the family reunions that I just HAD to go to only because it was the normal thing to do for a kid. It may sound extreme but think of it this way. It is never fun to be meeting old relatives when their idea of catching up is a "your cousins are better than you" sermon. The line "What can you expect from (insert absentee aunt or uncles name here)'s kids?" has burned it's marks in my young mind. After the sermon, we have to swallow what is left of our pride and line up for our annual Quezons, Osmenas and occassionally, Roxases. Talk about power tripping. I wished the ground would swallow me up and spit out my bones. The queasy feeling I had in my guts during the ride to the place is akin to knowing you are on your way to getting your ass kicked in a school yard brawl with the judo club captain. Speaking of school, Im glad I'll never get to open up another stupid picture frame as a christmas gift from someone in my class. I mean, a picture frame is something you give to someone you know nothing about... someone who is just a little better than a complete stranger, not someone you've been in class with for the past year or three. Come on! It would have been special had they put our photos in it instead of some blonde guy with perfect teeth. And what's with the fashion show? Where was it written that you HAVE TO wear the latest in kiddie fashion on primary school christmas parties? It was strange to me when I was nine... I wouldn't tell you what I think of it now.
The truth is, I don't hate Christmas. What I hate is how cheap we have made it to be. I am in no position to tell you what Christmas is about but I know what it isn't. Families don't come together on this day to put each other down. Ninongs and Ninangs arent cash machines to take money from. Christmas is not about parties. It's not about the Noche Buena or the gift giving or the new clothes.
well, that's it for this months rant. Reading back on what I wrote, I may have been unfair in describing our family reunions or the christmas parties in school. I have always been the odd one in the bunch. I must have been just looking at it wrong. I might just be an Ebenezer Scrooge after all. Except that I ain't an old miser, and I don't believe in ghosts.
American Pie
Don Mclean
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.
Don Mclean
A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.
We were cleaning out some old stuff a couple of days ago when I found this old guitar pick. It was THE first guitar pick I bought around 12 years ago during my garage band years. It was the one I learned the basics with. I had mixed feelings the moment I held it between my thumb and index fingers just like I would when I was playing. It's been years... I have not played the guitar in years. The last time I was in a band, I was singing... I was writing... I have given up on the ax long before I have given up on the music. Probably because like most of the things I do, I think I wasn't good enough to be taken seriously. Looking at this worn out guitar pick, It makes me wonder. Had I kept on believing... Had I kept on working on it... Had I not given up... Could things have gone a little differently?
Photo available for FREE download. Just click the Picasa logo
After a stressful week, I figured a day by the sea will clear my head. Off we went to Manila Bay one Saturday afternoon to soak up some of the sea air... and a lovely shot. The sea lends me a moment of peace from the daily grind.When I was a boy of seven years, My family took a trip to Bohol. I remember being afraid of the sea before the trip. Probably because the MV Doña Paz tragedy was big news back then. Or I probably watched a lot of Swiss Family Robinson... I don't really remember. I overcame my fear halfway through the trip and fell in love with the sunset and the sea that kisses it goodnight.
A high resolution copy of this photograph is available for FREE download at stock.xchange. and Picasa. I can also send it to you if you ask real nice.
If you we're somebody around my age you would have already deduced that I ripped my blog's name off from the now defunct kiddie show, Sesame Street. It was from a song called "That's about the size." I chose this particular line because it means a lot of things for me. For one, it identifies me with my generation. I believe every kid who lived in Metropolitan Manila in the 80's to the early 90's would remember this song... in their sleep. It probably has the most memorable tune out of all the early sesame street songs (second only to the main theme and right up there with 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12.) Most of all, I found it brilliant that the song encourage kids to look at things differently. I took it to mean that all of us should look at things by "where we put our eyes" and not take something as an absolute truth of the size of things. It taught us to have our own perspective. I maybe taking the song out of context but... THAT IS HOW I SEE IT... and that is why I named my blog like so. And that is why I write the things I do.
Special thanks to Nostalgia Manila for posting this video first and making me remember.
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Special thanks to Nostalgia Manila for posting this video first and making me remember.
I love walking in the rain. I love a steady downpour, not just a drizzle. If it weren't for the expensive camera I was toting along, I would have jumped right in. I wouldn't mind getting my feet wet... or my hair getting messed up. This is one of the moments I was so happy inside that it radiates to my face. When I was a kid in the old hometown, My siblings and I would always find an excuse to play in the rain. All the neighbor's kids were there too, running after our little rubber slipper boats. Walking in the rain reminds me of how carefree life was as a child. I missed this feeling. Come to think of it, It is quite late for rain like this. Considering that it is already july. In our part of the world, the wet season starts in june after an intense summer heat. Rain is the earth's blessing on its parched residents. Photo available for FREE download. Just click the Picasa logo (Pardon the poor quality of the photo... It was quite dark when I took it.)
At 29, when you look at your life in terms of years, you tend to look at it as a small number. Still young. But when you learn to live your life one day at a time, 10,592 days seems a lot. I should have done a lot more with 10,592 days.
I usually write a lengthy reflection whenever this day comes. That was back when I had a traditional paper journal. I dunno.. is it because this one is published online that I have reservations about writing down my darker thoughts for my unassuming readers to err.... read. I sure hope not. I don't want to lose track of the reason why I started this blog in the first place. Anyway, this is just the beginning. I don't know how long this'll go.
Truth be told, I am not an all-out good guy. I may be level-headed most of the time but for most of my life I had so much to be sorry for. I had also harboured a great deal of anger and pain towards many people who have hurt me in the past. I have also done quite a few things I can't be proud of because I was weak in dealing with those hurts. But that was the past. I realized long ago that those hurts are not worth losing sleep over. I cannot let some things that happened long ago keep me from enjoying the rest of my life in peace. It shouldn't keep me from doing more.
You should have done a lot more with 10,592 days. You'll never know if you'll stop at 12,000 or earlier.
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I usually write a lengthy reflection whenever this day comes. That was back when I had a traditional paper journal. I dunno.. is it because this one is published online that I have reservations about writing down my darker thoughts for my unassuming readers to err.... read. I sure hope not. I don't want to lose track of the reason why I started this blog in the first place. Anyway, this is just the beginning. I don't know how long this'll go.
Truth be told, I am not an all-out good guy. I may be level-headed most of the time but for most of my life I had so much to be sorry for. I had also harboured a great deal of anger and pain towards many people who have hurt me in the past. I have also done quite a few things I can't be proud of because I was weak in dealing with those hurts. But that was the past. I realized long ago that those hurts are not worth losing sleep over. I cannot let some things that happened long ago keep me from enjoying the rest of my life in peace. It shouldn't keep me from doing more.
You should have done a lot more with 10,592 days. You'll never know if you'll stop at 12,000 or earlier.
Much as I would like to make a life-changing commentary about our mortal existence (as if) or reveal the secrets of the universe(wow), this weeks blog wouldn't even be close to making sense. I've been sick the whole week ever since labor day. This cough is driving me nuts. I mean, I can't even get four (4) hours of sleep, I feel like a zombie, and I still haven't seen spiderman 3 'coz I don't wanna run the risk of having irrate theater goers turning into a lynch mob upon hearing some hacking cough destroy their, otherwise, fun movie experience.
I should be in bed right now, I should be resting this tired throat. Instead, Im at the office being the dutiful worker that I am. Bumming around with a blog and not even doing a single page of my rather "late" magazine layout doesn't really qualify me as a "dutiful" worker but hey, I'm here, ain't I?
During these times, I remember my Mom. A nurse by profession, she always has a quick remedy for anything that ails me and my siblings. We can never get any excuse to skip class through her. Whenever I pull out the "Mom! I'm sick, I can't go to class" excuse, she comes in my room, armed with paracetamol or mefenamic acid or salbutamol or loperamide or carbosistein or God-knows-what-else. In fact, I remember generic names of medicine more vividly than anything else in my childhood.
I gotta stop doing this now... My head hurts just thinking of my next sentence. Spiderman's gonna have to wait.
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I should be in bed right now, I should be resting this tired throat. Instead, Im at the office being the dutiful worker that I am. Bumming around with a blog and not even doing a single page of my rather "late" magazine layout doesn't really qualify me as a "dutiful" worker but hey, I'm here, ain't I?
During these times, I remember my Mom. A nurse by profession, she always has a quick remedy for anything that ails me and my siblings. We can never get any excuse to skip class through her. Whenever I pull out the "Mom! I'm sick, I can't go to class" excuse, she comes in my room, armed with paracetamol or mefenamic acid or salbutamol or loperamide or carbosistein or God-knows-what-else. In fact, I remember generic names of medicine more vividly than anything else in my childhood.
I gotta stop doing this now... My head hurts just thinking of my next sentence. Spiderman's gonna have to wait.
