If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback (NikkiLBaq)

My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day's a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by

That first step you take is the longest stride
If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day
Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you'll never live it twice

Don't take the free ride in your own life
If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?

Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce of memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love

If today was your last day
If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin' stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side

Para Po

I like taking jeepney rides. Not only they are cheaper and breezier but also because I get to observe typical Pinoy commuter's behavior and especially humor. For the past 12 years of commuting in Manila, I only got one major bad encounter (my bag with nothing in it got snatched in Cubao and I wasn’t also cautious that time). I consider that a pretty good statistic of commuting in Metro Manila.

Last Saturday, I was on my way to the land of mangoes (Manggahan) for a night of poker with Noe and Jerry. I took my favorite bus to Ortigas then I got off at Robinson’s Galleria. Near EDSA shrine (a place where I should’ve been that morning), I took a jeepney to IPI. From IPI, I needed to cross to take another jeepney to Libis.

Anyway, after getting off at IPI, a young man with a big red bag approached me. My initial reaction in situations like these would be to move away from any suspicious looking stranger but the “lost look” on his face did it for me. He asked where he can get a ride to Libis. Since I was on my way to Libis, I told him to go with me. Just when we are about to cross the street, a girl with a piece of paper approached me and asked how to get to Greenmeadows (the address on her piece of paper). I don’t know how to get there myself so I told her to ask the jeepney driver. At this point I was thinking, this could be a modus operandi, but both of them don’t look like scheming persons. So I took my chances and since I felt really crappy the night before. I thought nothing can make me feel worse, not even innocent-looking muggers. Seriously, they really look lost and they didn’t appear to be conniving kids prying on hapless moi.

So three of us, like classmates on our way to school, crossed the busy and dark stretch of Ortigas Extension. When we got to the other side, I asked the girl to ask the driver how to get to Greenmeadows. It turned out the jeep would pass by the verdant meadows of Greenmeadows. So we all “boarded” the jeepney, this motley crew of "lost individuals". The first to get off was the girl going to Greenmeadows and she thanked me profusely before getting off. After a few meters, I had to get off but the other lost kid, who still looked lost, glanced at me with questioning eyes. So I told him to get off near the very big billboard of noodles and he said “Salamat po”.

I felt the quizzical stares of other people in the jeepney after I said “Para po”.

moms at work

My brother Bob sent me an SMS telling me that my Mom is talking to someone on the phone when she mentioned a word that I’ve used a little too much for the past few entries……..COW SURFER.

full circle

A few months ago, I wrote about an American couchsurfer (whom I’ve never met) who looked for Cambodian friends, Meg and I met in Baphoun Temple. I thanked the good soul, Ben Ranta, for helping me look for the kids. Now, I get to catch up with Samon and company. It turned out the kids still sell books, scarves, trinkets, and a lot of other stuff in front of the temple. As for Ben, I knew he was on his way to South Asia after covering pretty much of South East Asia for the past few months.

To my great surprise, Ben emailed me last November 13, saying he’s in Makati! My Makati! (not really mine but I’d like to consider it as that) Ben would like to meet up. It turned out on a last minute-whim; he decided to swing by the Philippines for a few days. He was on his way to India via Hong Kong when he found out that there are cheap flights from HK to Manila. Thanks to low-cost carriers, the world has really become flatter and smaller.

Here’s how we met. On November 14, Ben and I were supposed to meet at 11:30 in McDonalds’s Glorietta. The ubiquitous arches have been a very helpful landmark wherever you may be. (I remembered meeting my first CS host in a McDonald’s too.) It was 12 noon and he wasn’t in sight. Since he has no mobile phone, I couldn’t reach him, I had no choice but to wait for him.

A little after 12, I got a call from an unknown number, it was him and he couldn’t find me in McDonald’s and he said he’s in SM. Uh-oh…… there are several SM malls in the Metro. What if he’s in a different SM? I heard alarm bells as far as the Makati Fire Station. Half-expecting he was in SM Manila, I was glad to hear he was in SM Makati. So, I told him to stay put and I’ll just go to where he is.

I finally found him under the golden arches, different set though. Then, Ben and I had Chicken Joy in Jollibee.

This story came full circle. From Manila > Siem Reap > Michigan > Siem Reap > Manila. Or simply put from Jollibee> McDo > Jollibee.

with Ben and Vangie, CS Manila member

deluge 21 years too late

When I was a child every summer vacation was spent in my grandma's place. When I was 8 years old I got really sick and the doctor said it was contagious. The doctor advised me to stay home. It was summer vacation, a time when I could play all I want, when that news was like the end of the world for me. But I didn't cry. It's not my fault I got sick.
After a few days I felt better, so I ran next door to play with our neighbors' kids. I was so excited after having been stuck in my grandma's house for several days. They were riding their new bike and I got excited because I didn't have one and I've been wanting to learn. While I was waiting for my turn with the bike, the kid's mom arrived and requested me to leave. She said I can't hang around with her kids because I might make them sick. I understood her point. I just ran home and cried. Oh the bitterness of rejection. Thus, I psyched myself for rejection, that way I won't get disappointed.
After 21 years of being accepted most of the time, that same feeling of rejection hit me but I wasn't sick this time. And the deluge, that never happened before, came 21 years late. And my fortress of solitude turned out to be an overcrowded bench in the park.
I realized that when I expect, I'll eventually get disappointed. I can easily forgive but it takes a while for me to forget.
'Nuff said. 'Nuff drama.

tutti frutti

Whenever I meet Couchsurfing friends who are visiting our beloved country, I encourage them to go outside Manila that is if they have the luxury of time to do so (of course they have). Because our country has a lot to offer outside the metro.

Ok, if the world is big big tree and if the Philippines is a fruit, Manila is the secondary stem (Thanks Vida!) that connects Manila to the tree…the rest of the world that is. But the fruit is outside Manila. The fruit is the real meat. Of course the heart of the fruit or the seed is the people….the Pinoys. The Filipinos are among the friendliest people in the universe (call it a biased opinion on my race). Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. But generally, we are friendlier than most of our neighbors.

Anyway, I might suggest a new slogan for the Department of Tourism (DOT). More than the usual is acceptable. But putting that alongside Incredible India, Malaysia Truly Asia, Cambodia Kingdom of Wonder, Uniquely Singapore and Amazing Thailand, it doesn’t really stand out. How about? Friendly Fruity Philippines (so much for alliteration). Hmmm… I think I can come up with my own list later.

the best beaches

did I say the best beaches?

the best rice stairway

the best sunset

the best crater lake

torn between pages

Have you tried looking for something and ended up with another thing which turned to be equally as nice if not a better deal?
When I was in Grade 4, I fell in love with Frances Hodgson Burnett's book Secret Garden. (I named my diary in high school Francesine and I was thrilled that my roommate’s name in senior year is Francine.)
While reading the Secret Garden, I rolled on our bamboo floor and try to imagine how that secret garden looked like. 18 years later while loitering in a bookstore just looking for nothing or anything that might catch my fancy……. I found a copy of the book with a different cover and to my even greater delight, Lois Lowry wrote the foreword. (This book is not hard to find so finding a copy is easy but having Lowry introducing the story, that’s a candy treat for me.)
So I got my copy of Secret Garden with Lowry but another book caught my fancy, Flip Reader. It’s a compilation of articles from the now defunct Flip magazine. Since I have this Nikki rule that I only buy one book one day at a time and since I already read Secret Garden, I chose Flip Reader. But I’ll definitely go back for Mary and Colin soon. Maybe tomorrow.

in a garden up north

random thoughts in random

In our own human capacity to love, our emotions tend to have limitations. And in the most altruistic act, our finite minds sometimes see a dark self-serving motive.

We think we know a lot but the universe’s plethora of knowledge will prove… we’ll be found wanting in the Jeopardy of Life. The main difference is there’s no Alex Trebek and there are more than three contestants. You won’t get deductions for wrong answers but there is also no prize money. The race is only against yourself. You are given one chance, one chance at life.

In our search for answers, we tend to hang on to whatever’s within reach. In a moment of weakness, we settle. However, we convince ourselves otherwise. We hold on to the things that we deem as real and yet would fail us in the end. Like the man who built his house on sand, foundation is the critical component of any structure. Foundation, foundation, foundation.

But how it easy it is to write things on paper and how extremely difficult to apply it in the real world. All your life, you’re made to believe your house is built on the strongest foundation of all. But in a minute, everything can change. And in my zest for life, one of my fears is to have that flame snuffed out too soon.

sunset in Sagada

step by step

When significant moments in history happen, you remember exactly what were you doing at that exact point in time. So 30 years from now if I’m still here, I would remember exactly what I was doing when Barack Obama delivered his victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago in front of about 200,000 of his supporters.

On the 5th of November (4th of November in some parts of the world), he became the change that he has been professing for almost two years. Change has come to the world’s remaining superpower, a distinction they may lose in no time, if change as world-shattering like this, hasn’t arrived. But as most would say, this is just the beginning because a lot of work has to be done or undone. But what a start this is.

As the Chinese proverb goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. But this step is no doubt one giant leap for mankind.

a blog's life

Some may wonder why I spend precious time updating this blog. I entered the blogosphere because I’m thinking that this blog is going to outlive me. So I tried to verify the life of a blog. How long do these hosts hold on to the shared thoughts and sentiments of their bloggers? Blogger takes the position that once established a blog can only be released by the person who set it up (The act of releasing reminds me of the book The Giver, that's how they let people go, they release them). Hmm… so I guess blogs are here to stay unless the author releases them.

Thanks Fran (my roommate back in college) for introducing me to this author. I hope you continue writing!

How ridiculous, this need to communicate! Why should it mean so much to you that at least one person has seen the inside of your life? Why should you write down all this, for yourself, to be sure- perhaps though, for others as well?"

Markings, Dag Hammarskjold