In Windsor, Canada...

at St. Alphonsus Church recently where on the right side is the image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. I was lucky this year, when the mass was over, Jerry, the maybe 70 something church usher let me in the church balcony and allowed me to take these pics. a very nice man and even the music player guy let me took his pic just like that with a smile :) of all my annual visit to this church at this time of year, 2010 is the best ever :> and Jerry told me the story of St. Tegulus. A true bone of this saint is inside his wax image, newly opened for public viewing again because a woman then on the process of kissing the glass she did broke it and a man paid for its repair not too long ago. so now it can be viewed again because before it was closed for awhile...

when love can't last...

the controversial marriage of the new prez' popular sis might be ending soon for real? proof that love needs to be nurtured and taken cared of not only at the beginning but always. it is like a plant that needs watering for it to grow and be alive...it needs a connection not only in personal or physical terms but also in emotional terms or else love is just unreal, a fake, an illusion or a lie...no one can live in pretense because first and foremost it is you yourself who is victimizing yourself. love conquers all, true, but love needs truth for it to live long and for it to last a life time. respect your love, value it and sacrifice for it. that is true love or else it's just a fake which deserves to end the sooner the better by all means. for why prolong your agony? unless you have a very valid reason and money or financial reasons don't count :)

roses in my garden, now :)

winners and losers, lovers and betrayals, our lives...

in the garden of paradise adam and eve were created, amidst flowers and streams, lakes and mountains. without malice they roam around naked and bare, without a piece of clothing, without a house. around them were animals, plants and all the kingdom of goodwill, love and abundance. no worries, no tasks, no jobs and no enemies and no rants...

one day a snake of satan tempted the couple, eat this apple and you will be God, yourselves. you will invent, you will compose, you will create anything as your mind and your hands can make. you will fly to the moon, sail the ocean, conquer the skies, build towering skycrapers and awesome dams. you will stop the ticking of time and make your face forever young...

in your life span there will be ambitions, wishes and wants, ladders to climb and expectations to match. you'll be tested to stay true and be human but created in the likeness of God, you'll govern, you will love. you will interact, you will dance with the times, you will swim with the tides and fight the good fight. you will be tested if you love, you will be punished if you lied as you will be crowned if you last...

as the end of times draw near, you will assess your life, you will pause and think, reinvent yourself if you wish. you will ask, am i a loser, a winner, a lover of people or a sinner or a saint, a user an abuser or a helper. am i a lifter, a downer, a betrayer of trust or a faithful at heart that is a gem as good as gold or a diamond. am i a song that a bird will gladly tweet after a rain, after a storm, after a hurricane or after an oil spill...

there is an end to life, there is an end to strife, there is the last step in a staircase or a ladder going up. there is a bus or a train, or a car or a jet that will propel us and get us to our destinations at hand. but there is the way, the path that is both divine and on human hands, you just feel it and listen then decide. yes, there are the signs in your life on how to be a winner, a loser, a sinner, a saint or otherwise. our choice to make, our hands to pick and our minds to make it happen but it is all in God's hands...if you will be a winner at the end, or a sore loser... but don't you think that at the end we will all lose for we will all bid our goodbyes to this beautiful planet, pretty earth and we will all be eternally gone...

"dahil sa iyo" nat king cole...

thanks www and for people's tweets, a classic pilipino song sang by an icon. well, what a wonderful song, it is truly is :> now how will elvis and michael would interpret this song? that is the question and the answer is, we will never know for reasons of mortality...but we can imagine it :)

we remember...the sadness that never ends...

In that cold playground...

The gate opened with the usual rickety click
In procession are cars following a hearst so dimly lit
Inside lay a body cold, breathless, lifeless and stiff
At peace without suffering now as it reached death

Cars of friends, relatives, love ones moving slowly at a lazy pace
The deafening silence of everyone is deep without pretense
With tears held back and with heavy shoulders drawn
As if no one wants to be near here on their own

Gathered in close proximity in a cloud filled day
As raindrops start to fall at the beginning of the ceremony
You can hear silent sobs as it gets to be louder
As they bid their goodbyes to a dear lost loved one

The wooden casket was heavy and wide
The hands that held it were full of warmth but tired
Slowly they lowered it to that hole underground
Down under six feet where that wooden casket stopped

The final home for a body that's flat, burnt out
The forever resting place of a life worn out
That cold playground where no one is around
Where only absence, emptiness and silence abound...

on 6-25-'09, at 2:26 PM one year ago, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead...his fame and fortune contributed to his very early demise. his fame because he can't just take avail of what you and me can in an ordinary setting, that when we're sick we can just go in a hospital without fear of being mugged by the paparazzi. his wealth allowed him to buy drugs that are not supposed to be dispensed outside a hospital environment. he was medically naive and did not get the proper medical advice, attention and care that he could have gotten so easily with his amount of money. i never thought that he can perform as well as he had done then in the past not because of his age but because of his health. he appeared so frail and so thin then. one year after his death, his dad, Joseph Jackson has filed a wrongful death case against Dr. Murray, the doctor who was around him on his last day on earth. there is a conspiracy theory as well that he was intentionally killed because of greed, because of money which is kinda sad if you think about it. death does not discriminate, rich or poor, somebody or nobody, with talent or not, a legend or a lesser human being, young or old, if one's end is reached, one will have to bid farewell, one will have to go down the earth of just simply vanish forever and never be seen alive again...i still shed a tear, less tears but the sadness is still the same for an incredible superstar like no other. Elvis was big, but Michael conquered the world...

President Noynoy Aquino, P-noy in short...

when stars line up for you, you will be called...who could have thought that the distant son of the slain late Senator Benigno Aquino will become President of the Philippines following her late mom's footsteps? the former dream of the late senator was fulfilled not only once but twice. here goes that sweet taste after suffering, pain and martyrdom. the sacrifice which his family had endured was matched with two presidencies...mother and son, the first that i knew of anywhere. here in the U.S. was father and son, the bushes...just thinking...but a very engaging interview. although if the men anchors here in the U.S. are in this lady's position i bet the questioning won't be as soft as it may seem. then maybe we could get more in depth part of the new prez's brain. here there is not much pressure i think. this interview seemed like a breeze for him...

and yes, like everyone else i also have some wishes that this new breed of leader should put his eyes on. first, the airport which is his dad's namesakes should be uplifted in a way that it is really almost comparable to a developed country's airport. first impressions matter and it starts with the first thing that a tourist will touched down. clean restrooms with toilet paper ha...second, an honest, safe mode of transportation for them to their hotel destinations without being mugged, taken advantage of or things stolen from them. third, at his first day, he should set an agenda of what his legacy should be which will be done in six years. his mom lived here in the U.S. for sometime and so pres. arroyo herself to study, so in a way they both must have known and feel that living here in the U.S. is really simply living humbly without ears of superiority. an example, in the philippines MD's are like Gods but here even a nurse has a voice and seen as in level with MD's even inferior in educational background, laughs. now i remember my benefactor telling me that she should have sent me to be an MD instead, laughs. but i could not have lived here in the U.S. if ever, so... i hope pres. noynoy aquino will always remember that time will go so fast that it is just a matter of time that his term will end too. will he be able to govern a country that is so far behind in progress compared to his asian neighbors. the trick is to move this country into a parliamentary form of government, with a prime minister and a president for check and balances purposes thereby causing the elimination of most corruptions in government. this is really the only way to progress and only then that the philippines will rise and be rebuilt and be a country that we can all be proud of. but now we can only hope. hope springs eternal but action will propel that hope into reality, sadly...and pls. as i've said before leave his popular sister alone :) this lady is just one of us. we all sin only in matters of intensity as we are all responsible for our own actions. and sinners and saints, we are all loved by God, let's all remember that. instead of putting our foot down to those who are really down on their knees, how about lifting them up instead. who knows if you will also be in that same predicament in the future, just sayin' :)

St. Vincent Ferrer @ UST Chapel, miracle worker :)

the Angel of the Apocalypse... one saint extra-ordinaire ...his life was very remarkable...it's worth the read :) pics taken 11-14-'09...during pacquiao's fight with cotto :> and yes, it's not a coincidence that this is the saint that my mother always light a candle to every Tuesday then that i remember when i was young...but not at UST though...Saint Vincent has made or has given a lot of miracles in his lifetime and my mother is one lucky recipient :)

i find peace in gardening...

a garden makes me sane, definitely :)  my garden, June '10...even with a very limited sunny spots and a very small space i do manage to plant several plants, flowering or otherwise...a garden gives me light, peace and happiness...an artist creates artworks. these are my living art captured forever in film :) cool, very cool :> click image to enlarge...

a dream is the light that empowers a life...

Whatever you do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German writer, 1749-1832)

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. — C.S. Lewis (British novelist, 1898-1963)

Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. — James Dean quotes (US actor, 1931-1955)

from one article of mr. w. flores...

an ambition or a dream maybe one's destiny, if it was coated with passionate love, luck and you acted like your life depends on it... without a dream, there is not a push for us to go on with our lives. we get up to fulfill those dreams in a way. we make our wish, or we have ambitions and goals. it's like a destination that we set for ourselves. barring any unforeseen set backs we go on inspired and fueled by our dreams in life :) i dreamt of going to college then coming here into the U.S. to work and live and these were already fulfilled. but i have other dreams as well. will they come true? only God knows as only the future can reveal it to me. believe me i think about my dreams every single day :) and what is that? to feed all the beggars in the street and to house all the homeless in manila and to be the reason why an intelligent mind would not be wasted in this world plus of course not to grow old that quick, laughs. but seriously my wish is to have a lot of money so i can cause a life, many lives that is to not to suffer sleeping at night without a roof over their heads, and their stomach growling of hunger pains for really this makes me teary eyed just thinking about it. i know first hand how to be poor and it is not pleasant and i think this is the way to true happiness, mine, so it's kinda self serving as well, i'll be honest :> i am human so i'd like to be humane, not that i am not now, but more widespread. the reason of my own existence according to my name's meaning is to help, so i'd like to live up to my name in a much more larger scale :)

awesome vatican...

my second top vacation spot. saint peter's basilica, top image...for Jerusalem is not that tamed for pilgrimage plans as of yet, maybe in the coming years. sad that peace is hard to come by in the land of Jesus...the vatican, rome, italy, the official residence of the pope...aerial view :)

when life is feeling low, let's look at the light...and think of the eternal. prayers move mountains as hope is like a seedling of anticipation of a beautiful dawn to come in our path...we make our own destiny with the help of the divine. we curve our own roads and we can make it bumpy or as smooth and shiny as the rising sun. our choice, really...

Pres. Obama's First Oval Office Address

lots of mistrust on BP (British Petroleum) by the affected residents of the southern coastal states after the oil leak explosion... president obama's first state of the nation address touched mostly on this gulf disaster, the biggest environmental catastrophe this country had ever faced...

the world is just awesome...

always there is something big, small or in between that is mind blowing. nope, not that thought of a careless mind or a brain shattering image where one seemingly do not care for his human co-existent or counter part but just caught in the repulsive violence of it all and in the hot funnies of the moment around a harem of cheering women. hmn, would it include you, me and everyone else? i wonder what is the psyche of these people who marvels in the suffering of another human being and find satisfaction in the burning blaze of a fire that is so destructive. what IF the image is their own kin or love one being blown away by a bullet, will still be the same fun and will it also possess that beauty that they admire? i doubt it very much for even how uncaring a person you may think of them if their love ones are the victims of what they are viewing i bet the beauty of it all is gone and this might jolt them into reality that it is never a wonderful scene to see a life blown away into pieces. empathy if you have it will make you a good philanthropist and that you are judged by the way you react, just in subtlety...my take is you are what you've experienced before in your past and you will be in the future of what is your thoughts now...this maybe worth breaking my blogging hiatus for the moment, i just don't know...sort of a eureka moment for me at least...

a music plant...

where music is created as an expression of the inner soul in sad times or in happier times plus those times in between...for life is just a passing parade with music and all. but at the end the music fades as silence will just remain...life is short so i want bright lights on my parade er life :>

life is friends, family and relatives. just talked to my relative manong julian aka yan in london and for ages he's trying to get me to visit him. he said the vatican is just an hour plane away so with france and spain. that got me thinking but not that soon yet. except for rome i really don't have any interest in europe even if it is nearer from my place here. i also talked to edith and jo today, these girls er ladies former classmates of mine, in florida and california are also inviting me to visit them for ages. i've been to california several times, north and south because i have a cousin and an uncle there so i've been there a few times and i am not that interested either. the vatican is the apple of my eyes really...i can't wait to see saint peter's basilica and do whatever i want to do there. my ultimate dream vacation is simple and i'll get there someday, one of these days, sooner or later :) God willing, of course :>

LIFE

how elaborate was your decoration with flying balloons and all. everyone has to look up just to read and understand your commercial. you have a yacht, a mansion made of glass that no one could ever enter and kept warm. you have caviars, champagne and servants, all for pleasure at your lap. the parade is on going, all is glittering. but as the seconds ticked and as the hours passed, everything will be gone, everything will bid their goodbyes. for life is just a passing parade with music and all. but at the end the music fades and silence will just be there, as it remains...forever and eternal...quiet... without music and without a sound...without a movement and without a dance...

and another proof of weird things happening to me...i spoke of bill gates telling larry king recently in his show about the future of computers that they can be able to talk to you, see and feel. now strange, as i said of can't wait to hear my computer talk to me, last night the WOW work computer that i used was talking to me! it thanked me when i plugged it for reserve energy and then spoke back and said it is fully charged. we are the first ever chain of hospitals...(my hospital is 1 of the 8 that made up this non-profit corporation/company, the largest private employer here surpassing even GM) we are the first ever computerized chain of hospitals here in the U.S. imagine that. almost paperless, orders by MD's are entered in the computer, you scan your meds also so errors can be prevented and i've been using these computers, like sort of portable ones with a roller coaster kinda thing that you can move it where ever you please and we have around more than 20 of them in our unit or department. but as i spoke after larry king's show, one of these computers really did speak to me :) right after i was telling anne, my canadian co-worker about what computer can do in the future...but really bill gates is right, it is his line of expertise anyway and the proof to me came too soon :> in my work...so that's that for another weird stuff...i was caught by surprise too because these work computers never ever did that before, to talk, first time ever, even anne was surprised, laughs. gosh! strange, very strange, indeed!

it must be hard to be president

suddenly by fate or by destiny you have the power, the prestige, the attention, the adoration or otherwise by countless people. your air carrier is named after a number, one, which is you, the number one citizen of your land. you are now very, very famous even around the world for you represent your country in every aspect and in every turn. you are put into the fryer to be fried, put in the pedestal to be honored, adored and loved. you'll be in the history books forever. your name and your legacy will be diced by historians, read by scholars and students alike long after you're gone. you have plenty of perks to go along with your job...but i see it as a test of your humanity, never mind your intelligence for in some countries, leaders are not voted for that. it is a test of your will power to run, to discern, and to resists various temptations in your position, financially or otherwise. at the end a president who knew first hand that they have that rare chance in their hands that only a chosen few have been blessed to have and that is to turn around a life, lift a country, govern in honesty and integrity and at the end of his term could look at his face in that mirror and let out a true smile for himself not for others and think about God, then whatever the outcome of his presidency, this man had lived truly, had lived in contentment and is at peace with himself :) getting there to be president is hard, but getting to be or acting to be one real president is a struggle if not a challenge. and only the wise would be successful and only the one with a burning love for humanity would have that vision for success...