The free file hosting account where I placed my buttons for the Pagelet, my songs I recorded, and several other stuff is no longer in service. Dang! This means I'll have to be updating my blog again, but I can't remember which ones are gone. Is this God's way of saying, "Host your own blog Dick." I don't really know. In any case, I'd have to be updating this more often now. What a sad, sad, sad thing to happen. It makes me wanna cry.

Boxstr.com is becoming OpenDrive.com which is basically the same file hosting site. I wonder what happened.

Quote of the Day:
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Today, Typhoon Santi will be making its grand entrance to our lovely city. The day before, it was advised that its strength was that of a Signal No. 2 Typhoon, and all elementary and high school students had to be sent home. Unluckily for us, employed young professionals, as I had been for a few months now (Gawd, how I love how that sounds!), we were still required to come to in to the office. Although nothing tremendously freaky was daunting upon us since yesterday, “the sun was up, the skies were blue, and everything was nice, except you.” Wait, wait, wait, wait! Wrong line! Wahaha! But you get the picture. Yesterday, everything was better.

From the depths of the abyss, darkness wraps me in its inescapable clutches, but here I am, borne again and resurrected. I have born the unbearable breathlessness of blog-less life. I have stretched my pseudo-elastic patience to lengths I have never thought possible to exist. I have been a prisoner of what almost seemed like eternal slumber but slave to its cruel and ironic fate of restlessness and unease. I have been dead.

But today I changed it all. I heard the soft cries of willowing whispers coursing through silent breeze in those foggy nights. Little by little, it fed me through the pain-staking hunger I had epically endured. Soon it gave me enough strength to break through the herculean force that kept me in heavy shackles through all these days. I have finally seen the light, something that was totally in-existent from where I came from, AGAIN.

Hi guys, it is very unfortunate that until this very day, our internet connection at home is still under repair. I could only steal enough time in the office to respond to a few comments and visit a few blogs each day. It is a very sad thing that this catastrophe had to befall on us. Nonetheless as a responsible blogger that I am (or at least trying to emulate) I will try to update my blog somehow.

But then again, this is what I can offer you for the mean time. Just think you haven't heard this yet. And enjoy this as much as I enjoyed composing, recording, and singing this song.

Quote of the Day:
A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel, or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at any moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. -- Jim Morrison

I have been away from my blog for a long time, a week, more or less. And it made me feel very detached. I was active in interacting with other bloggers in the blogosphere though, and it was a very enriching experience meeting other bloggers, talking to them with ‘forum’-esque proportions in their own territorial domains, bugging and teasing each other.

You’re in my arms and all the world is calm, the music playing on for only two. So close together and when I’m with you, so close to feeling alive. A life goes by, romantic dreams will stop so I bid mine goodbye and never knew, so close, was waiting, waiting here with you. And now forever, I know, all that I wanted to hold you so close. So close to reaching that famous happy end, almost believing this was not pretend, and now you’re beside me and look how far we’ve come so far we are so close. Oh how could I face the faceless days if I should lose you now? We’re so close to reaching that famous happy end, and almost believing this was not pretend. Let’s go on dreaming for we know we are, so close, so close and still so far.

Image by angelofmayhem via Flickr

Image by joiseyshowaa via Flickr

Time flies, regardless of whether you are having fun or not. That's the fact that we almost always seem to forget.

I haven't been able to update my blog for quite a number of reasons. You really wouldn't want to know all of them. Just know this, I am no longer a bum.

However, even though I haven't been able to post new and interesting entries recently, I did try to come up with these things I like to call "Pagelets".

What are Pagelets?

Image by Dr Case via Flickr

I found this from Rob's site. Well, I just couldn't help it. I needed to re-blog this. Please visit his site to check our more from him.

Winning, of course, is in itself a debatable concept, for losing is still winning, although it’s winning something else. But now’s not the time to discuss that. Let’s go to the very core of the word itself.

Winning a game needs precision in moves, decisive attacks, and passive manipulation of the opponent’s pieces. This practically applies to any game, be it for children, in business, and even in poker.

Image via Wikipedia

I played poker with a friend last night, and man was he good. We put on our poker faces, like we always do, placed our bets, and started the game. It was as intense as it can get.

Of course, it’s not the type of game where you could really prepare for an attack, right? I mean, once the cards are dealt, it’s practically up to you how to play them.

Luckily, my poker face isn’t that easy to decipher. Raise a brow here, pout lips, take a deep breath, and look at him intently. Look back at your cards, take a one-second glance to the side, then back at him, back to your cards and then back at him.

I don’t really know what those glances mean, but they sure convey something. Something that he doesn’t know, ‘coz for all obvious reasons, I don’t either.

I’m playing an Ace and a King, both of Hearts. They were really good cards, and I could feel that sense of security and assurance even before we rolled in our first bets. I play safe and call in every time we start a game. The flops are turned, giving us an Ace of Clubs, Ten of Hearts, and Three of Spades.

It wasn’t intentional that the mirror had been positioned behind him; it was a really old mirror that had been hanging on my wall for ages already. Nor was it intentional that he had set up the poker table in front of that mirror. It was even more purely coincidental that the reflection showed he holds in his hand the other pair of Aces. It was a losing game for me.

Flopping a pair of Aces has no chance of winning against his Three of a Kind. He raised the bets. It takes a while for me to make a sound. Heavy drops of perspiration are already building up my brows now. I had to bluff. I check and raise the bets, doubling it. Risking this much is worth it, I believe. He calls it in.

It seems as if my heart was beating faster than the flapping wings of a flying hummingbird. But I had to keep my poker face on. Composing myself, I take another deep breath, keeping blood to flow through every part of my body, allowing as much oxygen to supply my already pounding heart.

The fourth street is turned. A Jack of Hearts appears. Was it a sign from God? I had no idea.

Drafts of cool night air rushes through the window, but somehow, it fails to win over the extreme heat I’m feeling. I wipe of the sweat off my face. He checks but I raise the bets. He still has the best hand in the game so far. He still has to play the game, and calls it in.

The intensity of the game is still rising and who knows when it will reach its climax. I see drops of sweat already forming on his face. He briskly wipes them off. That is all he can do now.

With poker faces still on, we exchange blank stares. Two amazing players bashing up against each other, not knowing how much experience each one has. It’s really an intense game.

What are the odds of drawing the Queen of Hearts on the fifth street? It is the final piece of my winning set. I am seconds away from getting my Royal Flush. He knows that all too well!

We struggle to keep our selves appease. The building squalls within us are becoming unbearable by the second. The fifth street is slow being drawn, but just before we could even see the card’s face, the power goes out.

…

Nah, the power does not go out. But I’m holding you guys off a bit. I’ll get back to you guys when I know what card has been dealt. For now, I’ll leave you with this.

Image by fithtyfithty

Did I hit the Queen of Hearts? That very thin, extremely minute and incredibly slim chance? I’ll tell you soon!

Quote of the Day:
"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." -- Michael Jordan

I've contacted Inca about her works a few days ago, and she had gladly sent me her masterpieces. I have always been a fan, so without further ado, Inca's Gallery.

I especially like the last one!

All of these were done in 2008.

She says:

I had a drawing class and a photog class. Yung graphic thing, experimenting lang yun hehe.

The photo with me in it is part of a self-portrait triptych that follows the "See, hear, speak no evil" phrase. Instead of "evil", I decided to put the things I didn't like seeing, hearing, or speaking of.

The other 2 photos were taken at a historical site for a class project.

She will continue to make more! And we will be expecting more! Thank you Inca!

Quote of the Day:
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe." -- Anatole France

Simple point & click enrichment of your blog posts (and emails). In real-time, while you type. We suggest tags, links, photos, and related articles. You save time and aspirin.

5M+ pictures, 5M+ articles. 10M+ possibilities.

Zemanta Live Writer plugin screencast from zemanta on Vimeo.

Basically, the video tells you more info than I could. I just couldn't show you how I use it, but you say the video so I guess that would be enough. It's really fun to use. It just gives you easier access to stuff you'd want to incorporate in your blog. You should try it.

One key thing to note is that this plugin is not browser exclusive. It allows integration to almost all browsers, Firefox, IE, even Chrome and Safari. So regardless of what platform you use, Zemanta can be installed.

This plugin also works for various e-mail clients, including Yahoo Mail and Google Mail.

Feel free to throw your comments and suggestions about these new widgets.

Future Update: I will be incorporating a page for you to be able to contact me. It will be ready very soon.

Enjoy my site!

Quote of the Day:
"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible -- and achieve it, generation after generation." -- Pearl S. Buck

• Copy the award image above.
• Pass it to the bloggers whom you think are deserving for this award.
• Leave a message to them.
• Pass as many as you want.
• Leave a comment to the person who give this award.

I'd really like to take this time to thank DedeAndro for this award. It is now my pleasure to pass this award on to the next deserving blogger.

And the award goes to... *drum roll* kim.

Thanks for giving me a wonderful experience with your blog. You made me feel a lot smarter with your posts. And it's not because we had a past relationship *cough* i am not that much guilty anymore! *cough* that I give this award to you. I really wish you would continue to write. I enjoy your emo-ness, NOT bordering on suicidal. Just know that you will always be original and no one can take that away from you. Not even that Joy girl, whoever she is. I'll still be a fan.

Now, it's your turn to pass it on. That gives me an excuse to force you to continue to blog. Please, when you make a post about this, make it as interesting as the other posts you made! Cheers!

As promised, I have uploaded my song so that everyone can listen to it.

Get the lyrics here.

EDIT: Media already available. Click here to listen.

I have been listening to a lot songs lately and they've got me singing. My latest creation to date: Open Up.

I have been so inspired that after writing this song today, I immediately recorded it. And for added bonus, I added an accompaniment; and with further extra, I attempted to add backup.

Unfortunately, our internet is going wonky again, and would not allow me to upload my new song. I will try to upload it again tonight and hopefully it should be available by then.

I first heard his pieces from his Multiply site. So I immediately emailed him to allow me to publish his works on my Blogger.com. He gladly agreed and sent me his music files.

What I will be offering you tonight will be two musical scores he created for a play in school. Not much detail has been given to me about the nature of the play but in one of our correspondence he mentions:

" these songs are for a play.
ok first was for the creepy theme... then my friend, Kyle's group mates said that it was too scary... the play is of a love-story that has a ghost in there somewhere.. like the ghost was in love with the girl or something...
so i made the second file i sent u... i tried to make a median between love-story-ish and scary music..."

Play List:
1. Christopher Graham - Web Theme
2. Christopher Graham - Ghost Love

I hope you enjoy!

Quote of the Day:
"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -- Berthold Auerbach

JS-Kit ECHO is basically the latest commenting system launched (Public Beta) last August 6th, 2009. Adding rich, interactive features for any blogger's site, this has been their goal.

Echo is.. the way to share your content, and watch the live reaction. Embed it on your site – replacing your old commenting system – and you get:

• Real-time – Watch people react to your content live – without refreshing the page!
• Social Gestures – Echo captures the Social Gestures relating to your content including comments, likes, star ratings and more!
• Stream – Echo simplifies the presentation of conversation to just two levels. This simpler, cleaner style helps people keep track of contributions and engage in parallel conversations.
• Hyper-Distributed – Visitors share your content with their friends across all their favorite social networks at once – broadening the conversation and driving new traffic.
• Aggregated – Echo captures conversations related to your content from across the web and places them on your page.
• People – Echo allows people to connect to your site using their profile from the worlds most popular social networks. Users can even bind multiple social media accounts together.
• Multimedia – Echo items can include safe HTML, photos, and video for a richer conversation.
• Multiplied Engagement – Echo increases engagement by providing more ways for users to get involved and express their opinion.

I haven't fully maximized it's feature yet. I just read about it over Dede Andro's blogsite, and thought it would worth the while trying it out. It would take some time to be familiar with it though. It's pretty much easy to use and navigate around with. One thing that makes this commenting system interesting is the function that allow reply threading, unlike the old commenting system that comes along with blogger.com that basically keeps the replies in a single chronological order with very little interactivity.

Another thing you need to take heed, is the fact that every comment comes with an avatar, and unless you edit your profile, an ugly blank faceless image would be displayed. Anyhow, adding in a small photo isn't such a troubling chore. You can actually log in with any of the following IDs:

-- OpenID
-- Blogspot URL
-- Facebook Account
-- Yahoo Account
-- Google Friend Connect
-- Twitter Account

Or you can also use, if you have any, JS-Kit Account or Haloscan Account. If you don't have any of the aforementioned ID's, which I highly doubt, you can create a New JS-Kit Account. Simply select this from the drop down list (it should on top of all the mentioned login IDs).

How to login? Oh, just click the Admin drop down menu and choose login and you're all set.

Well, I guess those would be the basics. I'll be monitoring how this system would turn out. Hah! I'm one to say, someone who gets a lot of hits and countless comments in a day. Yeah right! But in any case, just to prepare and pave my way to the future success of this blogger page, I'll keep it up.

If you happen to check this commenting system out, feel free to voice out your opinions. After all, this commenting system has been installed for that purpose.

Song List:
1. Last Song - A Capella
2. Let The Pain Go Away - A Capella
3. Open Up - First Draft
4. So Close - Cover

Quote of the Day:

"The belief in a thing makes it happen." -- Frank Lloyd Wright

Song List:

1. Last Song - A Capella
2. Let The Pain Go Away - A Capella

I find it really curious to wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly get hit by a blogging inspiration. How weird is waking up at early dawn, around 4AM (yes, since by MY definition, night means the whole duration of your sleep, considering you aren’t a vampire, e.i. you sleep like everyone else starting in the late evening and waking up at early morning the next day), hearing the DJs on the radio talking about the previously famous (and now made even more famous because of his sudden death – on my birthday nonetheless) MICHAEL JACKSON where somehow they also managed to mention GRAVITY somewhere along the course of their discussion about something I couldn’t really remember (yes, I listen to the radio – Monster Radio, RX 93.1 – even when I sleep, so don’t you dare tell our landlady that I’m sorta, kinda, but not quite wasting precious electricity, which by the way is an energy resource that needs to be conserved due to scarcity issues and whatnot – I know, I’m not perfect).

So, as I looked at the wall clock staring blankly at me with hands pointing at an angle which would supposedly mean a few minutes past 4 in the morning, my mind rushed through thoughts much like a scheduled virus scan which suddenly pops up when you least expect it, searching through banks and banks of memory for something that you don’t normally find on occasion. Only this time my mind was going on auto-pilot searching the best ideas I kept about Gravity and all. Then… after a second or 30, Gravity sunk its imprints on to my very core. I could only imagine how drastically different our lives would be without it, how worlds would unimaginably crash into each other’s orbits (or would there still be any) without it or fly infinitely away from each other without it (whatever!), and how cosmically chaotic everything would be without Gravity.

Well, that’s just me thinking about a life without gravity (but then again, the omniscient and boundless God we believe in would probably think of something to tie it all again). Let’s just limit our fictitious thoughts to the time when we suddenly lose the force of gravity to the time before God would give us something to replace it with and make things better again.

OK, moving on. Remember how gravity attracts two objects with mass? There’s supposedly physics involved in it; I’m sure you can google it yourself. The point is this force exists to make things stable, to give some order into our own existence; why no matter how high you throw the ball, it’ll always fall back to the ground; why no matter who you are, how high your status is, we all still hit the ground hard when we fall. That’s all there is to it, really. No matter how much you build your life on something, it will always come (sometimes even crashing) down. Alright, for those optimistic ones, think of it as something like, no matter how busy or hyped up or high your life becomes (in terms of career, love, money, or whatever), it will always fade down into ease someday. Life becomes a roller-coaster because of Gravity. Basically, Gravity makes our life more interesting!

And like Death, Gravity is another one great equalizer. Like Death, no one escapes Gravity. Like Death, Gravity has its force on us, and we are powerless to defy it. We can dare resist it, but ultimately, we will all fall, and die.

So I immediately got up, paced my way through the quiescent silhouettes of my room and curiously searched the internet. Interestingly, I found out that Michael Jackson is still special, despite his being him. He may not have escaped Death, but he surely found an ingenious way of defying Gravity.

Wanna know how he did it? Check this out.

Scan through it. The images will tell you everything. Notice the Jackson et al under the United States Patent label on the upper left!

Rest in Peace, MJ. You've had a hell of a roller-coaster life. You've reached the highest height of your career, and you may have faced the most troublesome ones in your life. You definitely went up, and you're also definitely going down in history.

Last night, the 9-day (actually night) novena for my mom had finished. It’s been 10 days since we cremated her body and placed her ashes inside a box. You could only imagine how a human body could easily be reduced to a handful of dust. It’s already been 14 days since her last breath, and tomorrow, on my birthday, my mother who was with me for 22 years would be 15 days dead. It’s ironic really, for me to be celebrating life on the one hand, when on the other, I’d be mourning my mother’s death. But it’s really that simple, life goes on. Come to think of it, death does so too. But then again, we’d have our philosophical differences here and we’d end up discussing something else when in fact I’d like to talk about another.

Anyway, I’ve been on blog/text/chat/email sabbatical for a week. I guess it is part of the ritual that people do when they experience a life-turning event. And for me to talk about it in such a casual tone now would lead you to think that I’ve been able to cope well with everything I’ve had to face. I’ve been strong, thanks to all of your support. I really appreciate your warm texts and messages of encouragement and concern. Although I wasn’t able to reply to all of you, know that I really am very grateful and I feel so lucky to have you as friends. I’m taking this time now to say thank you to you all.

This is actually a day delayed blog entry. The thing is, yesterday, we lost our internet connection due to whatever reason globe can think of (or maybe they did have some technical problem or perhaps it was just the regular system maintenance). In any case, I wasn’t able to share this with you the day before.

I believe you can say that this would be another start of my blogging escapades (yeah right!), since I think I’m now ready to get back on track and pick up from where I left everything off. I’d like to think that new things have opened up to me despite the others that have closed.

Last week, I started work with Azeus. If you don’t know what that is, google it. Google is your best friend (next to what’s-her-name). Anyway, it’s been a mix of fun and tough lessons. Yeah, we’ve been training for more than a week now. And tomorrow, we’ll have our final exams for this specific lesson that I am not telling, ‘coz you might say that we’re such pussies having a hard time on something that you find easy to do. Spare me the criticisms, I’d rather not hear what you have to say (so it won’t hurt me) – based on a personal experience that I haven’t been too keen on forgetting. (Talk about bitter!)

I am supposed to be preparing for that exam now, but knowing me, I’ll always have the time of my life for anything and everything (that I want, that is).

Yeah, I guess that’s what’s been keeping me busy all this time, keeping my mind off things, and giving me something else to look forward to. But you know what, no matter how strong your façade seems, there will always be that weak spot that when hit would make the whole fortress crumble. Yeah, I cried. And I guess I needed that.

…

But hey, I took some pictures while we were on break earlier, and look at how the view is like on the 29^th floor.

That’s it for now.

What do most people do when they’re sad? They cry. But do you know what’s even sadder than that? It’s when you cry alone.

I’ve come to realize that being away from a lot of people you care about makes you a lot less surrounded by people who care for you. That’s the irony of it; you really would have a hard time finding someone to lean on especially when no one is leaning on you as well. Well, that really is a sad story, and it really isn’t uncommon.

There is a good side to all this though. You don’t have to carry the burden of other people’s lives. And at the same time, you don’t have to trouble anyone else to carry yours as well. Although, I’ve heard of this thing called equal sharing but honestly, this doesn’t really happen, in my real life at least. One would always be ahead of the other, one would always give more and take less, one would always be better, and one would always win. What about the other? Well, I’ve also heard of this saying, “That’s life, live with it.”

No matter how you look at it, there would be no happiness without the experience of sadness. So in the Theory of Equal Exchange (goes hand in hand with The Universal Cancellation Theory) that Paelo, a friend of mine has developed (and thanks to Carlo for blogging about it), I think this would also apply. Happiness is always at the expense of someone else’s sadness, at least if not at your own expense. Well, I guess, expense is too strong a word, when what I really mean is the experience of happiness is found as an expression of opposition to the experience of sadness, whether yours or that of others.

Therefore, as my consolation, I’d like to think that whenever I feel gloomy, it’s good to know that somehow, somewhere in the vastness of our existence, there exists someone who feels the exact opposite to what I’m feeling. It’s either that or sooner or later, I’d feel the exact opposite of what I felt.

But then again, I could keep on discussing this for as long as I could; but what I really just want to say is this. It’s really hard to say, “Goodbye,” when you barely said, “Hello.” And that’s what’s keeping me in pain. I could not say, “Goodbye Mama,” simply because I never said, “Hello Mama, I love you!”

Quote of the Day:
"The wounds of love can only be healed by the one who made them.”
Original: Amoris vulnus idem sanat, qui facit. -- Syrus Publilius

Day by day, the world is aging. And as it goes down this inevitable path, change accompanies it. In every possible way, we are part of that changing process be it for long-term or not. What are we doing to change the world? A lot of us don’t even stop and wonder how our actions cause such changes. But then again, thinking about how our small decisions and choices affect the whole lives of each living and non-living thing on this massive piece of rock floating casually but at the same time so precise with its every movement in the immensity of our universe, isn’t such an easy feat. So in response, I propose to think small and let the effects ripple a hundred fold with everything we do. Just like dropping a piece of rock in the middle of the lake, let each little thing we do resonate not only through space amongst persons but also transcend through time across generations.

Charismatic as it may sound; I think this is how we all should think, to leave a significant legacy that helped make the world a better place.

Alright, I’ll cut the crap. I’m not really that aggressive about changing the world. Let’s be honest, not all of us are that hard-hitting when it comes making a global, let alone nationwide, impact. But somehow it worries me that there are a lot of others like me, or perhaps even worse. I really wouldn’t say I’m the one of the totally worthless type of those ungrateful citizens or one of those totally pathetic and callously passive sloths. Right, I still have some heart and sensitivity in me, and I’m definitely sure, there are others like me. And to those who are at the lower end of the concerned-ness spectrum, I call you to make a stand for yourself, to help change the world.

Fine, perhaps going out to peaceful demonstrations is not our kind of game, yet. So let’s start something small, work our way up to more assertive and compelling acts, and leave our so-called legacy upon this lovely land we tread.

How about starting by being grateful about every little thing that comes our way? I mean, having this kind of positive disposition would tremendously change the way we look at our daily experiences and perhaps that of others. Imagine being thankful to each person that does a good deed to you, and meaning it. I just realized how we sometimes take our mom’s delicious cooking for granted, for instance. How much would it cost us to say thank you for the scrumptious meal? “Thanks mom, the meal was delicious. I really loved the tender meat.” Or whatever it is that made your meal sooo delish! Well if your mom doesn’t cook that well, then at least be thankful for being fed. Just be thankful. ;)

Earlier today, I had a haircut, and you know how hair salons have to shampoo and condition your hair first before actually trimming and styling your hair, right. Sometimes, the one giving you the shampoo and the whole conditioner treatment also throws in a head massage. And you’d want that. It’s relaxing. And it makes you feel good. It put a smile on my face, and I immediately thought of being thankful to the lady giving me the shampoo, conditioning, AND massage. Right after she was done, I instantly put on my best grateful smile and said thank you. “Thank you for the massage, I know others don’t throw in the extra service.” She just smiled, and all went well. After the stylist was through trimming and styling, they’d have to rinse my hair. Oftentimes, that’s all you really get, a simple rinse. But this time, the lady earlier threw in more shampoo, conditioner, and even a few minute head massage. And I thought to myself, for the simple smile and the act of gratitude, I got this.

So I was thinking, what more could I get and do for the world if I magnified that simple gesture?

. . .

Quote of the Day:
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -- William Arthur Ward