yes, you!

(from postsecret again)

i can totally relate!


(from postsecret)

selfless

One of those wooden prayers commonly found in Japanese temples and shrines.



(from PostSecret)

mayen's turn

good luck 'yen! ma-mi-miss ka rito for sure.

a bucket of tears

I loved how the Brits handled the story and how it ended. There are a lot of Madonna Decena's all over the world and each has a story to tell. Hers is just one. There are some who are on the verge of a breakdown, and some who are still dreaming for the day that everything falls into its proper place.

No Happy Ending

"This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together.

This is the hardest story that I've ever told
No hope, or love, or glory
Happy endings gone forever more
I feel as if I'm wastin'
And I'm wastin' everyday"

I'm wastin' everyday.... I'm wastin' everyday.... I'm wastin' everyday....

The Beauty of You

Dear beloved friend,
Because of you, I am.
Because you loved me,
You cared for me
You listened to me
You let me choose
You let me talk
You praised me
You comforted me
You forgave me
You understood me,
and when you didn't you tried to.
You let me cry and you cried with me.
You loved me
and you inspire me to Love.
all this you did,
simply because of the Beauty of You.
Because of this, You gave me back Myself,
So this is now my gift to you.

For a while, I kept this only to myself. That's how much I treasure this "little" gift.

To Be Civil About It

As you travel through, there will be people whom you just don't want to be in the journey ever again. These are the people who think differently but won't listen, insensitive, stubborn and close-minded. They have a certain way of shutting you down. They make you question your self-worth for nothing, not even offering something constructive.

Of course, they may not be really bad and they could even succeed in defending themselves (again, by shutting you down with your argument, get it?), but there is just something in them that is irritating and makes you want to scream at them to change or else get out of your sight.

Having one around you makes you appreciate even more the people who are part of your crowd(you know, those people who make you feel good, who make you grow, who treat you the right way, and most importantly, who bring out the best in you). To hell with it, let your feelings show. One doesn't have to be friends with everyone ain't it? To be civil is enough.

Final piece of a puzzle

Here is an excerpt of an essay written by Krisanne Alcantara posted on February 09, 2008 in the Youngblood section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

"The Philippines is such a charming, enchanting, endearing mess of a country. Nothing really seems to fit, yet it all does."
...
"And to the lost souls, the confused “citizens of the world” like me who may be reading this: Don’t lose hope. As the famous saying goes, “Life is a voyage that’s homeward bound.” In other words, no matter where or how far you wander, don’t fret -- you will one day end up where you belong. Take it from me."

Finally, somebody had put into words what I exactly feel about the Philippines. May our tribe flourish!

Bargain Sale

Here is one thing that I love about Japan: sayonara sales. It is a known fact that people come and go, but here in Japan, it could be sweet for those people who are left behind. I stumbled upon one good bargain this week. Interested parties can check out the things from the website of Mari who is leaving Japan in a few weeks. This is just my way of helping. I bought some stuffs myself.

Happiness is Elusive?

I was so happy in this pic that I thought it would be worth posting. After all, it isn't always that such a feeling can be captured in a shot. And besides, these two people in the picture are two of my good friends in Osaka. It would be great to post their faces here. :)

Cotton Candy

Lost Souls

The following was posted in the Youngblood column of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Last updated 02:17am (Mla time) 11/06/2007.

Lost souls
By Eda Lou S. Ibasco

I died several years ago. I died dreaming. It happened a few years after college.

During my undergraduate years, I used to dream a lot, literally and figuratively. Dream, believe, survive -- that kind of thing. I used to find R. Kelly’s song cute, romantic, inspiring, uplifting, enervating (ugh): “I believe I can fly, I believe I can soar.” I sincerely thought that if I was good and got good grades, and had great dreams, life would be easy. I would soar above the clouds in happiness, peace and contentment. I just had to be good, be nice, work hard and try to please others as best as I could.

To read more of this article, click here.

Los

Bon voyage buddy...

bouncing back

Snoopy said this: "What do you do when the girl you love more than anything else is taken away from you and you know you're never going to see her again for as long as you live?? What do you do??" Snoopy immediately answers himself: "Back to eating!"

I wish I have that appetite for food(Japan made me eat less!) so that I could say the same when two of my best friends would finally be out of Osaka. But, I'll be fine and I have made this list of things that I can possibly do to cope up with whatever emotions that normally go with this kind of changes.

1. study nihongo and get certified (i'm still aiming for something pips!)
2. finish reading the books that have been piling up near my bed
3. poke these two friends everyday in Facebook
4. flood their mailboxes with trashy messages
5. make plans for the next 2-3 years
6. live each day with what/whoever i have to cling to (consciously, of course)
7. blog (oh yeah!)

Any other suggestions? :)

Hopefully, the moment i'm gonna meet them again, I'll be a better person inside and out, and everything will be just (if not better) like it was here in Osaka.

Linda

she left today and i've got this song (nope, i didn't write this one) for her and for everything that we shared from day 1 to the last hour when we said goodbyes at the airport.


It's Just Goodbye

The sweetest songs, fade to echoes in the wind
The best of times must end, so a new day can begin
And the dreams we dream that seem so real at night
Must meet the morning light, and vanish from our sight

It's just goodbye
Remember, time was never our friend
We walked the road together, we came to the end
It's just goodbye
Now I won't tell you not to cry
But I swear that what we had won't die
Cause it isn't over, it's just goodbye

I close my eyes, and I still can see your face
I know the truth of us, can't be bound by time or space
And the joy we shared, the magic that we've known
Is something that we own, though we may be alone

It's just goodbye
Remember, time was never our friend
We walked the road together, we came to the end
It's just goodbye
Now I won't tell you not to cry
But I swear that what we had won't die
Cause it isn't over, it's just goodbye

It's just goodbye
It doesn't really matter why
I know what we had, can never die
Cause I'll always love you
Yes I'll always love you, so it's just goodbye

pursuit of happiness

I've finished reading Paulo Coehlo's "The Pilgrimage". And the following line near the end struck me the most.

"the search for happiness is a personal search and not a model we can pass on to others."

enough about telling people how to be happy then.

ups and downs

in a world full of surprises, ironies, extreme joys & sorrows, things too much for one heart, i am convinced that we can never survive unless we get a little crazy...

waiting time

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 and 4: "Everything on earth has its own time....there is a time for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing."

i'm sad and scared while waiting... i wanna cry and weep really hard, send in the rain, lots of rain, lightning and thunderstorms too. i want the world around me to feel what i'm feeling now. this isn't a time for smiles to/from acquaintances, for small talks, for beginnings. this is a time for having someone you could hang on to, a familiar soul. to have and to hold a hand. to hear stories that are a lot worse than my current predicament. i wanna lie on the bathroom floor, and listen to the coldness of the walls. doing nothing, just lying still. knowing that this too shall pass, just like everything else in this life.

i know, someday, someday, the sun will shine again. and not just one, but a thousand splendid suns! but for now, i'll weep in every chance i could have. until i'm ready, i'll cry in movie scenes, in solitary walks, in the memories gathered in the corners of my mind, in the stories that are full of melancholy, of hope, and of life. i'll moan and complain to every known soul i'm going to meet. i'll make them care because in each one's life, some rain must fall and everything on earth has its own time, this is my time and others surely would have their turns too.

it's official, i need somebody now. not just any other friend... but someone who could transport me back to the time of warmth and simplicity, and to the future that is of peaceful and dreamy existence knowing that i have been through it all, including this one...

Ham and Eggs

Are you the ham or the eggs when it comes to your relationship?

I got this analogy from Grey's Anatomy. (I'm catching up with season 3 by the way, and so far, it has never been this good opting for a lazy sunday afternoon, each episode just gets better and better.) And I looked up this idea on the net and stumbled upon the following story:

“The pig and the chicken were on their way to breakfast, trying to decide what to have. When chicken said, ''Let's have ham and eggs.'' The pig then replied, ''That's fine for you, it's a small donation on your part, but it's a total sacrifice for me.''”

So that's it...

In every relationship, we can either be involved (eggs) or committed (ham). For most of us whose relationships are not yet that serious, especially when there isn't any official relationship yet (heheh), it could simply mean that one person is giving more love than the other. Like me, I am infatuated(/in love?) with someone who just doesn't get it. I'm giving the ham, but all I got are just the eggs. grrrr!!!

Love is not for sissies!

But when it comes to my friends, I've always liked bringing in the ham and I just hope my friends would also feel the same. Because I know that I am a giver, and I know what I'm capable of. As some people would say, lovers would just come and go, but friends, they stick with you. Amen...