making a difference...

i truly admire people who are successful, famous and rich who are making other people's lives turn for the better and one of them is George Clooney. he said that in Darfur the longevity of life of people there is only on the 30's while here in the U.S., it is at the 80's and that is unacceptable. voted twice as the sexiest man on earth, his body is not only sexy, his mind as well :) and same as Brad Pitt who has a project in New Orleans helping Katrina victims. yes, that U.S. devastating hurricane here, not that sexy star noted at the moment, laughs. oh well. 30 versus 80, that is a very big gap...so many people are dying young bec. of violence, bec. of being poor and bec. of self imposed habits like drugs, drinking and smoking. maybe they want to play Russian roulette with their lives, i dunno...and to all unsung humanitarians in the world, i salute you. nothing could bring a heartfelt smile or brings genuine joy than knowing that you've touched someone's life and turned it around for the better, like what my own benefactor did for me :>... and we must not forget our former president Bill Clinton here as well with his works at CGI, the Clinton Global Initiative, who is helping a lot of poor people around the world... he deserves to have that Nobel Peace Prize like the one given to Al Gore, maybe in the future :)

"old age is the best gift only if you're healthy and lucky enough to get there" ...i read that somewhere...how true, but the young use it as a weapon against older people without thinking that they themselves will get there someday "if" they won't die young on their 30's or younger like these unfortunate folks living in Darfur...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clooney

summer's spell...

summertime and a church by Vincent van Gogh...truly a master painter of his time, amazing! art is a window through one's soul, the painter's, in this case :) same as in other kinds of discipline be in literature, ex. poetry, or in creative arts as in pottery which i consider a muddy architecture made by hands which make houses for my plants for one thing so that's why my eyes are glued to every different kinds of pot's art out there, laughs.

summer is hot

winter with its silence and coldness that abounds
as if it's telling me don't speak for no one is around
spring with its chirping singing birds a nature's lullaby
as if it's telling me i am happy that or when you're around
autumn with its majestic colorful blends that binds a heart
as if it's telling me hold tight for it will fall and it will be gone
but summer when smiles and joys are here once more
i hear laughter of children which i can enjoy
i hear the buzzing bees and smell my roses my hands' toil
the grass, the greenery is a sight to behold
summer's spell, summer is here, the time i was born
summer is hot...summer, you come first in my heart :)

on a lighter glimpse...

the muse then as world war II ends...this picture is the famous picture of a sailor kissing a nurse. it was taken August 14, 1945 at Times Square during the celebration of the Victory over Japan in World War II. i love this memory pic. posted here to lighten up the somber ambiance of what a memorial day is. and strange as well for every memorial day since I've been here in the U.S. hmn...that will be about 2 and a half decades now :) the weather also is mourning every time. if it isn't raining, there are black clouds above and the sun is nowhere to be found. sadness, sadness and sadness...which i don't mind. I'd like to feel the heavy memories of the families of the soldiers killed in wars and there are sooo many of them...we went to the cemetery yesterday to visit my departed father in law and my sister in law who died in her 40's of cancer...there is no fiesta nang patay celebrations here...all the dead are remembered on memorial day, a veteran killed or just a plain person who passed on to the next life...

unsung heroes...

memorial day is this coming monday...prayers for our fallen soldiers. like fallen leaves...the difference is their lives were taken by violence and given in sacrifice so we may live in freedom and peace...

what a pianist...his memory lingers and had touched hearts like mine...a tear was shed when i googled him and found out that he died 2001...his music is perfect to my ears and to a lot of others as well...insanely beautiful piano pieces. i won't be tired playing it over and over again, all day and all night if i have the time...and he looked a little bit like jhong, my cousin in California :)


detached and never will be back
you've taken your last gasp
forced by the coldness around
you've fallen and rot you must
as all of us does when our time comes

a cycle of bloom and bust
a turn from gold to dust
like a haunting lullaby that's gone
like a moving melody that ended
for it wasn't meant to last

goodbye dear leaves so prim and lust
hello to another one this year a bunch
but as the wind works and the warmth departs
sadness and only memories are left behind

the smile that i had when i looked up
the awe and the grandeur in my mind
now only remnants of a song that i loved
like footsteps drowned and lost in the sand
erased by the blowing wind, so hard
covered by the suffocating grains...so sad...

and then the rain had stopped

a sudden gust of wind blew as if there's no tomorrow
as the branches of the sycamore tree wiggled
danced and played forced by the hurricane's teeth
the loud thunder came after a bolt of lightning
and then the pouring rain dropped on the roof tops
you could hear it, you can feel its anger in your gut

for a brief period of time you thought
that the end is here, that the sun had left
and only the dark black clouds would remain
but you're wrong for the rain had stopped
and the sun begun to shine again, with its golden rays
reigning, as the horizon started to smile once more :)

rain and sunshine come alternately in our lives, like that rain and sunshine that mother nature yearly gives us...as arteries and veins move blood in our body to make us alive, same as rivers, lakes and oceans sustain and nourish us...these my friend are not illusions or are not plays. they are the true backbone of our lives...no abuses, no uses but pure simple give aways of one true force out there above that truly cares for us :) so have you ever been used? laughs. if ever, let's pray that the use and the abuse will now stop...a walk on the sunny side...or as the sun came...and as the sun lights my way... by Vincent van Gogh as a funnel had collected some raindrops during one sad stormy day...

summertime thoughts...

thanks for your visit :)...with my own favorite shots... and the two bottom ones are my own plants :) with me living in the western world now i can surely indulge in the company of flowers and cultivate them to my heart's content. it is a feeling like no other. i grow them with my bare hands and sort of like a little accomplishment of my life although really helping others which is one meaning of my name according to that book of names, is the ultimate happiness for me. sadly right now i can only help myself and some people here and there much to my dismay. that's why i dream the impossible, that tons of money will come and drop into my lap one day for believe me i don't have any big problems spending it :) imagine the smiles that i can have coming from lots of people that will benefit from it. a feeding place for the hungry, a resting place for the homeless and the weary, a money bank for the poor but intelligent young minds for their college education and of course a beach property for my relatives and friends to enjoy esp. during summertime, although really i don't need it for my brother owns a beach already, near Patar beach mind you :) so we can just develop that...that's why i like the beat and the rhyming of this song. lively and lovely! now if i can only hit that lotto now, laughs. but the problem is that i don't play that much, only when the jackpot is big enough. and yes, even our national hero, Jose Rizal played the lotto then :) so definitely there is something in that lotto thing, laughs. a ride to your dreams. yup, that's the one. only though, if Jesus and Lady Luck had looked at you :>

pink roses reign :)

pink petals as they

sweetly caress and grace

our busy lives

proud and prim

as they gently

sway and dance

with the passing of time

***

under the shimmering sun

they look lovely and hypnotic

as a soft buzzing bee

all glorious and scented

and as natural as can be...

***

roses shots from the Shrine of the Little Flower Church i took last year. roses are winners :) Guns 'N' Roses, hmn, i'll definitely choose a rose :>

JOY is Patar Beach :)

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=465901 ...very nice article, thanks to you :)

happy mother's day mamang :)

i wonder what will my mother do with the pathetic 100 USD that i gave her. yup, it could have been more, 1,000x more or more if i hit the lotto. but sadly i did not so she'll just have to budget that measly amount. hmn, hair, check... maybe to dye it, laughs. but a wig will give her no chemicals and all she'll have to do is just comb it and pin it :) but you can't teach old folks what to do, try it sometime...you'll be better off or with success telling her the opposite, have you heard about reverse psychology? that will work, laughs. what else... i know she loves to put her money err waste it and have it stolen by those cheating casino machines that are pre-programmed to take more than to give more...it is a business after all... no... it is a legal way to rob you with your hard earned cash. who ever invented or thought about this is the real genius i think...how about the thought of stealing your own money with your very own consent :> all in the disguise of fun, right! but any who, whatever she'll do with it i did my part, laughs. she is better off than me for what i usually get is a card and a hug, that's about it :) and i am not complaining here, laughs. oh well. and yes, before i forget, happy mother's day to all of us moms, or at least let's all try...(^_~)...and btw these are my own tulips as if you cared :) google's artists are very creative, thanks :)
***
and HAPPY B-DAY MIKE :)

that even the moon smiled :)

one night the sky was dark
the dawn was far in sight
the silence was deafening
the stillness can kill a lamb

one dream was to navigate the sky
and to capture the stars
and to live in the planets
of distant reach far beyond

one time the gift came by
with pink laces and red roses
with that wonderful scent
that a nose won't forget

one trip to a distant land
was fulfilled and done
one dream that was in the air
was captured in my hands and stayed
and brought one smile that would linger
forever as time will pass or turn over...

thanks to one kind and gentle heart and that is my virgin mary look alike spanish benefactor :)...i saw the same moon up in the sky while driving to work this past week. it reminded me of what a true smile should be. this gave me one indescribable peace. there are fake smiles around but this one in the sky is the one true one...kudos to you dear artist and thanks for sharing your talent with us. i love it :> but also it reminded me of my dad which is kinda sad...my mom, i was able to get her to see where i live but my dad died so i would never see his smile as he will have looking at my colorful tulips here...but that smiling moon should do it... the same as saya, he certainly makes me smile :) Hisoka Saya, yes, that is the updated name done by J.C. who loves everything Japanese and dreams of living in Japan someday...he is male mom so let's make it a male sounding name, he said, laughs. i don't know about that. but all i care is saya=joy, his first given name from the start..."and i love you so" for YOU... HS, for we truly love you so :) a melodic winner done in piano, what could be better than that bec. we could all dedicate it to our dear love ones who are always near us :) so to our muses, queens or kings, husbands or wives, girlfriends, boyfriends or just plain love ones of our lives...enjoy the music...(^_~)...it is free and it is not forbidden by me for you to listen to it...in fact i'd like to share it with you for i love you as well just by you passing by here, intentionally or not, a true friend with a true smile or not :)
***
and yes just in case you were wondering how i got and learned my English here...it is really done on an everyday basis, like sort of in a street smart way. I've lived half of my life here in the U.S. so this is how people speak here... on TV, at work, on debates, discussions or what have you, laughs. i am in the middle of the true speaking English population, laughs...i don't read books so you could say that my vocabulary is very limited. i learned by ear and not by eyes, laughs. funny and now i remember that i was vilified and put to the ground by a writer or two on how i speak or write my English :? he said he can't tolerate poor English. okay, sorry then but i wasn't born to please you, sir! laughs, pls. bear that in mind :) i may not have an English degree but i am very confident that i write and speak a decent and fair enough to understand English, so with that let's move on...and yes, if you can't tolerate my English, do you think that i care? laughs. i really don't and you better believe that :) just very sorry that i failed to please you but that is not my intention anyways so, thanks just the same though for noticing my poor English, this is according to you...oh well. life is a smile and i intend to live that even how difficult it is sometimes for it is definitely better that way and God pls. help me to be kind always :) now if i went to one of those journalism schools, with my street learned vocab plus text books vocab...my poems? would be definitely better :) now that is my only regret on not reading books, laughs, for i could be on another level on poem writing wise...hmn, i know it's not too late to read but reading books bores me and that is definitely a problem, laughs. oh well. again, even though i don't read i pay attention very carefully and i do listen very attentively to smart people, mind you, laughs. so i learned from them. what could be better than that? :)

joy are these...

my own camera shots that brought happiness and peace...images from my garden here and in the Phil. one vacation time and one spring time. my happiness is very shallow, you can say that :)