A cold creaking sound is the only thing audible on a very stoic and pin-drop silent afternoon, as we opened my friend’s casket. His dead human form now lays in full view to his family and friends who’ll dearly miss him. He was wearing a well tailored tux and his cheeks look so alive that he seemed he’s just dozing off. Good make up," I said to myself. "I still couldn’t believe that he’s dead, and I was given the honor to carry him to his grave. As one of his closests, I am one of his pallbearers, which is by the way a first for me.
As I was looking at my friend's dead body, I begun to reminisce the time we met, recollecting our crazy moments, his vanity & sanity, his laughter, the very time when he pulled me up when I was at my worst… tears begun to swell in my eyes and I started to hyperventilate… And there!Spoof! I woke up from that morbidity… with my heart throbbing very fast; my system sucking all the oxygen it needs; and my thoughts perplexed for the meaning of that dream, my system went in suspended animation for the reason that it was the 3rd eerie dream that I have for the night… Yes THE THIRD… and by far the creepiest. The friend that appeared dead in my REMs is very much alive.
So I decided not to go back to sleep. Who would? Who knows where the dream fairy will take me the 4th time. I turned my lappie on, and went online. After updating my Facebook status to – “... Woke up from a series of ghoulish dreams!!!.” I opened Google and frantically typed “dream meaning” on its search box and whooolah according to http://www.dreammoods.com/ -
“To dream that you are burying a living person, signifies emotional turmoil. Alternatively, it suggests that you are being buried by problems and stresses of your waking life."
Stress? Yes I have my daily dose of it everyday. Overdose to say the least. But by far, the past seven days was one of the most dreadful waking weeks of my entire life. I was under a lot of failures, horrors and in-between frustrations. To add, painful because I just kept it inside my silo. For seven days I was stuck on a crossroad of a life-changing decision. No decisions made as of yet but I’m very grateful for being blessed with a very loving family, encouraging friends and a very loyal team who are very supportive to what I will be deciding on. They are the very reason as to why my sanity is still intact as of now, and continually fills my glass of optimism with MLs of hopes that the sun will still shine on me tomorrow.
image from www.mindcafe.org/
REM Horrible Animations
"Today I Will Be Master Of My Emotions"
To this day I still wallow over my loss, that I get teary eyed everytime I think of my Pop. Indeed grief is a journey, and there are no shortcuts to this travel as much as I want to. Along every step that I make everyday though, people, experience and things will tend to teach you something to make the journey bearable.
As I was manning our SupeRewards (A sales incentive intended to top performers of my team) Big Redemption Day I got this ‘lightbulb-moment’ chance to read Og Mandino’s philosophy in life, love and everything in-between... printed on a calendar posted on one of my direct report’s station. I basically ripped it off and brought it to my station. Then I begun reading… The calendar contains Og Mandino’s “The Scrolls” – as per Wiki this contains time-tested wisdom of the ancients distilled into scrolls.
I found one that hit my very core! A scroll that I’ll bring as I continue my journey… And I want to share it to everyone…
Scroll III : Today I Will Be Master Of My Emotions
And how will I master my emotions so that everyday is a happy day, and a productive one? I will learn this secret of the ages: Weak is he who he permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. Each day, when I awake, I will follow this plan of battle before I am captured by the forces of sadness, self pity and failure.
Today, I will be the master of my emotions.
Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mystery of moods in all mankind, and in me. From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.
Today, I control my destiny, and my destiny is to become the greatest salesman in the world.
I will become master of myself.
I will become great.
Episode #320 - Everyday is A Sunday Evening
One Tree Hill - Voiceovers Done By: Nathan
"There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days."
"Stepping up. It's a simple concept. It basically means to rise above yourself; to do a little more, to show you something special. Something like this. Lucas is gone, but that doesn't mean the season is over. As a matter of fact, I say it's just beginning. You might want to stay out of my way for a while. Life's funny sometimes; can push pretty hard like when you fall in love with someone but they forget to love you back, like when your best friend and your boyfriend leave you alone, like when you pull the trigger or light the flame and you can't take it back. Like I said, in sports they call this 'stepping up'. In life, I call it 'pushing back".'
"You know it's been said that we just don't recognize the significant moments of our lives while they're happening. We grow complacent with ideas, or things or people and we take them for granted and it's usually not until that thing is about to be taken away from you that you've realized how wrong you've been that you realized how much you need it, how much you love it. God, I love this game."
"You ever heard the expression 'The best things in living are free.' Well that expression is true.' Every once in a while, people step up they rise above themselves sometimes they surprise you and sometimes they fall short. Life is funny sometimes. It can push pretty hard but if you look close enough, you can find hope in the words of children, in the bars of the song and in the eyes of someone you love. And if you're lucky, if you're the luckiest person on this entire planet, the person you love decides to love you back."
... that doubt is the greatest gift.
Any change on its way from one place of stability to the next one, passes ...through a period of doubt. Your old perspective has to disintegrate, and doubt comes in for a visit - even if only for a moment, before the new perspective takes root. Doubt is your greatest gift, because from doubt you can go anywhere.
(From Facebook's 'Read Your Message From God')
Parola sa Bagacay Point (Bagacay Point Lighthouse) –
One of the few remaining architectural examples of American colonial architecture, this lighthouse stands at a towering height of 72 feet in an uphill area overlooking the Mactan Channel. This lighthouse was built in 1904 by an executive order by Governor-General William Howard Taft.
The lighthouse has become a favorite playground of photo enthusiasts, subject of Cebuano painters and like the history of this guiding light, this structure has been a favorite backdrop of lovers who are about to tie the knot.
NOW LOOK FOR THE LIGHTHOUSE...
Photo taken by Vicky Montilla-Nepomuceno
T’WAS DEADLY BEAUTIFUL PATTAYA
T’was in November of 2008 when three of my bestfriends Kay, Shelene and Brian went to Thailand to celebrate Kay’s birthday, to think years ago we are just fine celebrating birthdays with just a cake and few candles…
T’was after braving the famous yet confusing Chatuchak and Suan Lum markets in Bangkok, a bumpy ride with a Thai Dumbo at Samphran and a night with a belly full of Tiger beer at Route 66 that made us think our vacation needs an R&R. Yup! You’re reading it right a vacation consumed by consumerism needs rest and relaxation.
T’was not the excitement that we’re going to a not-so remote Coral Island that almost killed me but the nerve-wracking speedboat ‘whirligig.’ During that thirty-minute plus trip I was already recording a scene of me going back to the Philly inside a cadaver bag. All I can remember that time is that my eyeballs we’re literally rolling not only because of fear, but because I’m already frantically searching for an orange jacket… a life-saving vest!
T’was seconds after setting my feet on the sugary sands of the island which made me realize that a trip to a paradise of bliss can never be smooth sailing. Like, the most pleasurable experiences in life are best felt after trials and tribulations. True indeed that, “it is pleasurable, when winds disturb the waves of a great sea…” Lucretius said that!
T’was this experience which made me think (minutes ago) that – I may be wallowing on the kind of stress that I’m journeying right now. But, at the end of this septic tunnel is a white island plucked out from Maldives! Yes! We are always on the anvil; life at any time can become difficult… by trials God is shaping us for higher things... beautiful things...
Life is indeed deadly beautiful.
HOUSEISMS/ HOUSISMS – Dr Gregory House’s Satirical Jabs
Season 1 | Episode 1 (Pilot)
Rebecca Adler: I just want to die with a little dignity.
Dr. House: There's no such thing! Our bodies break down, sometimes when we're 90, sometimes before we're even born, but it always happens and there's never any dignity in it. I don't care if you can walk, see, wipe your own ass. It's always ugly -- Always! We can live with dignity; we can't die with it.
Season 1 | Episode 2 (Paternity)
Dr. Foreman: He probably just moved. Nobody stays perfectly still for their MRI.
Dr. House: Yeah, he probably got restless and shifted one hemisphere of his brain to a more comfortable position.
Season 1 | Episode 5 (Damned if You Do)
Dr. House: I've found that when you want to know the truth about someone, that someone is probably the last person you should ask.
Season 1 | Episode 6 (The Socratic Method)
Luke: Is this a good hospital?
Dr. House: Depends on what you mean by "good". I like the chairs.
Season 1 | Episode 7 (Fidelity)
House: As long as you're trying to be good, you can do whatever you want.
Dr. Wilson: And as long as you're not trying, you can say whatever you want.
Dr. House: So between us, we can do whatever we want. We can rule the world!
Dr. House: Clinical depression. Incredibly contagious. Every time I get around one of them, I get blue.
Season 1 | Episode 8 (Poison)
Dr. Foreman: The kid was just taking his AP calculus exam when all of a sudden he got nauseous and disoriented.
Dr. House: That's the way calculus presents.
Dr. House: I'm sorry - the fact that the sexual pleasure center of your cerebral cortex has been overstimulated by spirochetes is a poor basis for a relationship. I learned that one the hard way.
Season 1 | Episode 11 (Detox)
Dr. House: I take risks - sometimes patients die. But not taking risks causes more patients to die. So I guess my biggest problem is I've been cursed with the ability to do the math.
