The Interview With God

I got this from a friend (Thanks Irien!)…

A beautiful presentation is available here

THE INTERVIEW WITH GOD

I dreamed I had an interview with God.
“So you would like to interview me?” God asked.

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity.”
“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?”

God answered…
“That they get bored with childhood,
they rush to grow up, and then
long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money…
and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present,
such that they live in neither
the present nor the future.”

"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as though they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine
and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked…
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons
you want your children to learn?”

“To learn they cannot make anyone
love them.
All they can do
is let themselves be loved.”

“To learn that it is not good
to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn to forgive
by practicing forgiveness.”

“To learn that it only takes a few seconds
to open profound wounds in those they love,
and it can take many years to heal them.”

“To learn that a rich person
is not one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.”

“To learn that there are people
who love them dearly,
but simply have not yet learned
how to express or show
their feelings.”

“To learn that two people can
look at the same thing
and see it differently.”

“To learn that it is not enough that they
forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything
else
you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said,
“Just know that I am here… always.”

-author unknown

Ang Ganda Ko!

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted something here. Almost one year na pala! I guess I've just been busy with pregnancy and then giving birth and then taking care of my now 4-month old baby.

Hmmm, you might be wondering what's new in my life that prompted me to be here again.

Well, wala naman gaano....
Kasi kaninang umaga, habang tinutulungan ko si Yuan na maligo, bigla na lang...

Yuan: Mommy....
Me : Yes?...
Yuan: Ang ganda mo.

He said it in a tone na hindi sheepish, hindi excited, hindi patanong and walang ibang kasunod na salita, na parang wala lang, para lang siyang nagkwekwento. So it came as a nice surprise to me to hear such a compliment from my son lalo na't wala namang special na dahilan, hindi naman kami nag-away, hindi naman ako malungkot, and routine na naman namin na paliguan ko siya, it was just an ordinary time of the day.

So I said "Thank you" and then trying to fish for more specific compliments I asked:
"Bakit mo naman nasabing maganda ako?" (syempre all smiles na ko niyan)
And he said, "Eh maganda ka eh"
And that's it, end of topic.
Hindi ko na pinush yung question ko, tinanggap ko na lang na maganda ako! hahaha! baka makulitan sa akin, magbago pa siya ng isip eh! hehe
Pero to those of you who have heard the way Yuan speaks, you would agree that those simple sentences sounded really, really sweet! :)
And to my fellow moms, you know how heavenly it feels to receive compliments from our children.

So yun lang... on the first day of February 2008, my 5-year old son told me na maganda ako, and I believed him...because children don't lie!!! hehehe,joke!

Seriously, I believed him, not because I find myself pretty but because what my family thinks of me is what really matters to me. :)

Eleven Minutes

..a novel by Paulo Coelho. I love his bestselling novel "The Alchemist" but after reading "By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept" I felt that the author's style may be too serious and spiritual for my liking. Then I came upon this book, Eleven Minutes. Upon reading the synopsis at the back of the book displayed in NBS, I was interested in reading it. But apprehensive that it will end up as a disappointment like "By the River..", I decided to look for an e-book first. I found and bought one from ebay and after reading it, I bought the paperback. At the back of the book, a review says "One of the best books the author has written." In my case, it's one of the best books I've ever read...

As the author has mentioned in his dedication, the book "dealt with a subject that was harsh, difficult, shocking." I guess that's what caught my interest when I read the synopsis, I was intrigue that the author of something as "spiritual" as "By the River.." could actually touch on the topic of sex. He also said that "some books make us dream while others bring us face to face with reality"; For me, Eleven Minutes accomplished both.

Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:

• I've realized that sometimes you get no second chance and that it's best to accept the gifts the world offers you.
• no one owns anything, that everything is an illusion-and that applies to material as well as spiritual things.
• it's best to live as if today were the first (or last) day of my life.
• I can choose to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life.
• I spend all day...longing for work to begin, and when I'm working, longing to get back to the boarding house. In other words, I'm living the future not the present.
• If I can walk on my own, I can go wherever I like.
• life is a fast, dizzying game...it's taking chances, falling over and getting up again...it's wanting to get to the very top of yourself and to feel angry and dissatisfied when you don't manage it.
• If I... had suddenly woken up on a roller coaster...I would feel trapped and sick, terrified of every bend...However, if I believe that the track is my destiny and that God is in charge of the machine, then the nightmare becomes something thrilling...which will eventually stop, but while the journey lasts, I must look at the surrounding landscape and whoop with excitement.
• Yes, perhaps love really could transform someone, but despair did the job more quickly.
• That's what the world is like: people talk as if they knew everything, but if you dare to ask a question, they don't know anything.
• A man doesn't prove he's a man by getting an erection. He's only a real man if he can pleasure a woman. And if he can pleasure a prostitute, he'll think he's the best lover on the block.
• Eleven minutes. The world revolved around something that only took eleven minutes...and yet when they got together with other men, contrary to popular belief, they never talked about women. They talked about jobs, money and sport.
• The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.
• we are each of us responsible for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.
• That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.
• Passion...it's there in the excitement of the unexpected, in the desire to do something with real fervor, in the cetainty that one is going to realize a dream.
• The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.
• I want you however you want to be wanted
• When desire is still in this pure state, the man and the woman fall in love with life, they live each moment reverently, consciously, always ready to celebrate the next blessing.
• It's true that we only know each other when we come up against our own limits, but it's wrong too, because it isn't necessary to know everything about ourselves; human beings weren't made solely to go in search of wisdom, but also to plough the land, wait for rain, plant the wheat, harvest the grain, make the bread.
• In order to master the soul, one must also learn to master the body.
• I felt that pain is a woman's friend...That is the danger. I also felt that pain has it's limits...That is the salvation.
• Pain is frightening when it shows its real face but it's seductive when it comes disguised as sacrifice or self-denial.
• However much we may reject it, we human beings always find a way of being with pain, of flirting with it and making it part of our lives.
• True, no one wants to suffer, and yet nearly everyone seeks out pain and sacrifice, and then they feel justified, pure, deserving of the respect of their children, husbands, neighbors, God.
• Money! A special piece of paper, decorated in sombre colors which everyone agreed was worth something-and she believed it, everyone believed it-until you take a pile of that paper to a bank, a respectable, traditional, highly confidential Swiss bank and asked: "Could I buy back a few hours of my life?" "No, madam, we don't sell, we only buy."
• It wasn't eleven minutes, it was an eternity. It was as if we had both left our bodies and were walking joyfully through the gardens of paradise in understanding and friendship.
• I don't know how long it lasted, but everything seemed to be silent, at prayer, as if the universe and life had ceased to exist and become transformed into something sacred, nameless, timeless.

In 2006, I learned...

This year...

1) I learned that things go beyond your control and sometimes you'll experience one bad luck after another that all you can do is watch each one unfold before you....and that the best way to deal with it is to make yourself as least affected as possible.

2) I learned that a priest is probably not the best person to give advise on marriage...well, at least not the priest from a certain church in Mindanao Ave. who tells the bride and groom that once married, you are not supposed to invoke the right to privacy, you have to be completely open to each other! Sure, spouses have to be open to each other but total loss of privacy? No way! I believe that even though married couples vowed to be "one", they don't really have to share everything. Privacy and having a part of you separate from each other makes the relationship healthier. Well, I can't really blame the priest, he's not married. I remember in one episode of Urban Living, Daphne was showing a Moroccan inspired house with a bathroom that has 2 lavatories opposite each other, and Daphne said "the secret to a happy marriage, separate sinks". If you can afford it, why not? In my case, I'm content with separate closets and separate areas in the dresser.

3) I learned that it's difficult to print a balloon or do any task that requires steady hands while listening to tambalang nicole and cris sa Love Radio. Similarly, ang hirap mag-emote na mataray sa jeep kapag sila ang pinakikinggan. Why? kailangan pa bang imemorize yan? :)

4) I learned that "papampam" means "papansin" and "dyunakis" means "anak", thanks to my dear HS friends.

5) I learned that a single text message can make or break your day.

6) I learned that children are so clever. Once, when Yuan and I are making iced tea, I said to him, "Let's not put ice anymore, malamig naman yung tubig eh"...and he replied "why? it's name is ice tea eh"..oo nga naman...

7) I learned that you have to conquer your fears for your children. The most that I've done to celebrate new year is play with watusi, now I'm lighting piccolos which yuan calls "pansabog". I have yet to gather the courage for theme park rides.

8) I learned that if you want only true friends in your wedding, hold it out-of-town and/or on a weekday! Only true friends will take the inconvenience just to celebrate with you that once-in-a-lifetime event in your life.

9) I learned that it's fun to receive forwarded sms jokes and it's fun to forward them, too as long as naka-unlimitxt ako syempre! :)

10) I learned that people change and I too have changed a lot but having said that, I realized I'm still me in so many ways! hehe, labo. So add ko na yun, I learned na malabo ako! haha

11) I learned that most of us live in the future, not the present. Well, then that's better naman than living in the past.

12) I learned that aging will really get to us sooner or later. Have you ever looked at people older than you and thought "ganyan din kaya itsura ko o katawan ko pag tanda?" Well, this year I've done that many times.

13) I learned that I don't like Shakey's anymore and that I still love the tacos in Pancake House.

14) I learned na kaya ko ring mag-two-piece, kapalan lang ng mukha yan! hehe

15) I learned that paradise is not a place but an experience. :)

Happy New Year! I hope it'll be a better one for all of us! :)

5 years..3 days...Part I

Last December 1, Paul and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Every year we make it a point that we celebrate this special day in our lives. And so our first was a day trip in Hidden Valley and a night in Tagaytay; the second was a day trip in The Farm and a night in Makati Shangri-la; the third was a 2-day trip in Corregidor; and last year, we watched Harry Potter in Glorietta and had dinner in I can't remember where! hahaha! Anyway, this year we decided to make it extra special. By September we have booked our flights and planned our itinerary:
Day 1 - Dec.1
8am - ETA Tagbilaran, Bohol
8-4pm - Countryside tour
4 onwards - leisure time at Panglao
Day 2
6-10 am - dolphin watching/snorkeling in Balicasag
2:30 pm - ETA Cebu via ferry
3pm onwards - Cebu city tour
Day 3
10am onwards - day tour at Shangri-la Mactan
9:30 pm - ETD Cebu to Manila

A month before the trip, I have booked an aircon cottage in Bohol Divers Resort in Panglao and a room at Golden Peak Hotel in Cebu City. A week before the trip, I have booked a Bohol countryside tour with Mang Jun, the tour guide who's highly recommended by several PExers. Everything was well planned, except the arrival of typhoon Reming and many other not-so-good events that I have already told in my previous post. So instead of the above itinerary, we had this...

Day 1- December 1:

After having our Tagbilaran flight, Bohol tour and Panglao accomodation rebooked to Dec.2, Paul and I decided to spend the first of our 3-day celebration in Ayala Center. On the way to Glorietta from MSE (where we left our bags), Paul and I was thinking about where we would spend the night. At the foot of the Ayala center walkway, we had this conversation:

Beng: Sa VC na lang at least sure tayo na maayos at yung branch sa Cuneta, malapit na sa airport.
Paul: Hindi ko masabi kasi di pa naman tayo nakapunta dun.
Beng: Ano ka, nakapunta na kaya tayo dun! VIP room pa nga, na di na tayo umulit kasi sobra mahal.
Paul: Ah, yun ba yung may 2nd floor yung room?
Beng: Huh? Ano'ng second floor? Wala naman tayong napuntahan na may second floor ah. Hmmm...sino kasama mo dun sa may 2nd floor? Ikaw ha...

Oh di ba, ang ganda ng simula ng anniversary namin?! Buti na lang hindi ako selosa. hehehe...

Anyway, after having lunch at Shakey's we watched Borat. We have read very good reviews about this film sa clickthecity, so we expected that it would be good. Well, it was...hmm...ahh...I don't know how I would describe it. The dialogues were pretty vulgar but there were scenes that were REALLY FUNNY. It wasn't boring, but it's not that entertaining either. For me, not worth the P120 ticket. Pwede ka na lang makinood sa kapitbahay mong may pirated DVD, may kasama ka pang kakanta ng "Kazakhstan greatest country in the world, all other countries are run by little girls..." Aray ko! Paringgan ba ang Pilipinas? hehe...

Next movie we watched was Casino Royale, the new James Blonde, este James Bond movie. This one was really good kahit pa di ko type si Daniel Craig. Ang payat kasi tingnan, di tulad ni Pierce Brosnan na parang ang sarap sabihan ng "Hi Bond, let's bond!" hehe. The movie was quite long but there was no dragging moment. Eto, talagang sa sine dapat panoorin. Ganda! :)

After the movie, we bought dinner and headed back to MSE to get our bags. While waiting for a taxi to VC, I bought a stick of squid balls in Ayala Avenue...yummy! I missed that so much and I was so glad to have one again after more than 3 years! Actually, ordinary squid balls lang naman yun pero yung sauce sa Ayala masarap talaga. Ewan ko ba, baka may halong pinaglabhan ng medyas at tshirt na puro pawis ng "pana", kasi medyo maasim na maalat na maanghang! hehe, joke. Pero masarap talaga. :)

We were at VC around 7 pm. Nakakatuwa talaga mga boy sa VC, hindi tumitingin sa guest pag nakikipag-usap. Nung tinatanong ko yung rates, sa floor nakatingin. Gusto kong sabihan ng, "bosing, pwede mo kong tingnan kasi asawa ko naman kasama ko no, hindi ako nahihiyang pumunta dito!" hehe. Siguro iniisip nila lahat ng pumupunta sa ganun eh may ginagawang "bawal". Naalala ko tuloy yung nabasa ko sa isang forum na yung Anito sa Malate eh closed na, tapos may nakapost daw na "Closed for the glory of God!" hahaha!

Anyway, dito na nagtatapos ang kwento ko for Day 1. What happened after we arrived at VC and before we left for the airport is outside the scope of this blog. :)