pictorial

serge, the kapalmuks

the scarf and the ski google i used to wear in japan are now useless in the philippines until the kids in my house found a new purpose for it. this is my dog as he gets ready for a foreign trip. or so he assumes. this is the first time i saw my dog in a 2-piece. to tell you, i didn't see the actual shooting for this until i opened my computer and had these images flashed before my eyes. i was amused, but never really laughed until i saw where the scarf and google 'landed' after this doggie pictorial... (see images below)



niece and nephew, the kapalmuks juniors.

i love my home... :-)

the bomb

sandy beach, sept 05, tacloban city

vintage bomb. wp-81. evidence of war. my hometown is a depository of such war remains. one was found in the beach resort near my house. some fishermen caught this bomb in a fish net. brought it on land. and made a show out of this. everyone was curious. no matter how the soldier guarded this relic, people still managed to get hold of it.

i was told the bomb remains active even after a hundred years. and yes, that bomb was. i noticed smoke billowing from the bomb. but we didnt feel any fear. instead, we were awed. we saw a vintage bomb "on live". we felt a sense of being part of the history of my country. that was 1945. and today is 2005. sixty long years, and it seems only yesterday. but that was bygone. no point of crying. after the bomb experts took "home" the remains of war, our day went on. we swam. we enjoyed. we frolic. after all, this is my place. the beach was inviting.

and i think this is the way life should be.

wanted

you get what you see. interested? email your CV to syrob_2p@yahoo.com. first come, first serve.

flowers in the yard

it is just one of those days. nothing extraordinary. so common. one hurries off, mind preoccupied of the day's business. write a report. meeting with a client. sales qouta to meet. now eyebrows meeting, face sagging, more wrinkles getting noticed. this defines the routine of most human beings in my place.

except me. i saw flowers and saw them all in a place uninviting. i saw flowers being spit on by a man walking by. i saw flowers being trampled by dogs playing. and when i took notice, i saw these all. and i saw these all in a yard in a sidewalk.

for sale

for lack of things to do, or better yet, for lack of better things to do, or more accurately, for doing not the better things, here is what our office has come up when i was away. who says we are not productive? or who says we are not encouraging entrepreneurship among the locals? this is the way it is now, part 2.

today, i have consumed 3 packs of moby caramel puffs, 5 pieces of green mango, sinagmani, yakult and happy peanuts. my stomach has bulged geometrically, whatever does it look like. i like my job. and i say it one more time, this time shouting.

so my day ended with one more pack of moby. 24 minutes more, and i am off to my beloved place - the street. see u tomorrow.

d way it is

shadow, 8/19/05, basey, samar

after more than a month of hiatus, i am back. this is the way it is now for me. i am back to my old work, i am back to my home country. and i am feeling different. the philippine situation is hotter than expected - hot in weather and more hot in this impeachment brouhaha. my office situation is worst than ever. sooner i will try to write about this. but this is home, and i love it to be this way.

so hello to everyone.

tokyo

today is our last day in tokyo. i don't think it is the place that i am starting to miss. i think it is the company i have kept for 2 years...

all the best for everyone.

my final bow

photo by rudy (indonesia), june 29, 2005

a bow is either a commencement or a culmination of a certain chapter of a particular event. in japan, that bow could mean a greeting when meeting someone or a gesture of thanks when it is time to say goodbye. in my case, it means goodbye to the pain and pleasure, loneliness and joy, friends and foes, anxieties and excitement of my 2-year sojourn in a place aptly called the land of the rising sun. my bow also signals of another opportunity to take, another race to run, another life to live.

it was indeed 2 fruitful years. i was blessed.

(it is now 3:03am, i am still packing my things. at 12:51pm today, together with other JDS fellows, i am leaving for tokyo. i have accumulated so many things such that my 2 pieces of luggage already exceeded the limit of 40kgs. i have to repack, and leave some things, essentials and nonessentials alike. one friend texted me saying u can never really bring all, if at all u can bring things once you leave this world. she's right.)

after all

june 29, 2005, sawarabi hall

let now the pictures speak for me. it's not in the diploma, sir, it's in the day to day experiences and the company i was, am and will be with.

____________________________
a little later...


NPO farewell BS, June 29, 2005, shiozawa

and more experiences... i am blessed with a good company while i have my sojourn in japan.

congratulations to my friends!

packing and eating and more eating

the good thing about leaving is that goes with it is the fare-you-well dinner invitations. in between packing my things, i don't need to think twice to go for free dinner. (this is one sure antithesis of economic belief that in this world "there is no free lunch.")

_______________________

fishing park, echigo yuzawa, 6/27/05 photos by daniel and leah

together with leah and daniel, we got to fellowship with the takahashi family (and their friends) in a fishing park in yuzawa town. barbecue for lunch, plus the chance to go fishing in a river, there is no need for me to proceed to PhD. (hey they paid around 2,100yen for the equipment, what can my fisherman friend in the phil say about this?)

______________________

alpo no sato, echigo yuzawa, 6/27/05

the bonus for this time-to-say-goodbye was the chance to climb (hehehe gondola de) the alpo-no-sato of more than 2,000 meters high. it was raining but it was great. a cone of ice cream in the rain and in the mountain at that gave me a different high.


_________________________

beside the river, yonuma, 6/26/05

the church also gave us (graduating christian students) a nice barbecue party near the river. (this river is my haven in times of loneliness and celebration, often come here, but still the name of this river remains 'anonymous'.) we rendered our last song (as a BS group) during the sunday service. the song was timely for all of us as it tells us to "dare to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus." i am starting to miss my church here. God has been wonderful to us.

_________________________


well, a dinner like this in uonuma murakami (muikamachi) after the bbq party won't do us harm, so off we went in the evening. thanks to our church pianist who knew where to find a nice place to hang out and eat. salamat sa donor.

_____________________

6/25/05

this was in kita no yada, famous among iuj for its okunomiyaki, yamato style. dinner courtesy of channa from cambodia.

____________________

6/25/05, photo by daniel

and this one was in cafe west in muikamachi. ah this time i paid.

____________________
thanks also to the countless dinners with leah and daniel, hai from brunei, yusril from indonesia, mirzo from tajikistan, soib from uzbekistan, prof. nakamura, prof. kuroda, filipino parties, aoki sensei, isahaya san (oh thanks a million) and all those patilaw dinner by cambodia and vietnam. my decision for the month of june to stop cooking (tipid and diet) served me right. almost everyday, i get a free meal from either one of them. kahit wala nang diet basta libre...

mga tawo, mga pato, ngan mga isda

zenibuchi park, muikamachi, june 22, 2005

pagkatapos han akon pinakalast nga exam ha iuj, nadesisyonan namon lumakat ngan kumadto ha muikamachi, pasyada la. usa na naman ini nga kabatunan han akon hingyap nga pumara hini nga park ngan magpicture picture. sobra tulo na ini kabulan nga akon hingyap. kada miyerkules, gin-aagian ini namon everytime nakadto ak ha shiozawa, kaso waray time pag-undang dinhi kay may appointment ko man, ngan an pagbalik ko ha dorm, gab-i na liwat. salit kada agi ko hini nga lugar, pirme ko ginsisigngan ak kalugaringon, "someday..." timing gud duro ini nga amon kalakat, natuman na it akon pangarap.

(it ak title marisyo, ambot kon paano ko ini irelate ha akon pangarap hehehe)

an bukatkat

bukatkat iton, pero an right pix mga lanterns iton ha may mga bukatkat

gindul-ong ak yana ni sekiya san pag-uli kay busy hi sensei para iya meeting yana nga weekend ha tokyo. pero kay nakaschedule man ha am kalendaryo it pagkita hit mga bukatkat ha kabukiran yana nga gab-i, tapos di man maaram hi sekiya san kon hain ito, so drive ghap hi sensei iya sarakyan pagguide ha amon kadto hini nga mga bukatkat. 2 cars, just to see these bukatkat. bisan hya busy. (hayy pinas, kay ano ba nga dire man sugad ini ak life...)

masirom na it paligid. harani gad la udog ha balay nira sensei ini nga lugar kon hain may bukatkat. nasurprise pa ngani ako pag abot nam hini nga lugar kon hain may bukatkat kay napulo la siguro nga bukatkat it ak nakit-an. dire pa gud nagpurondok. waray ko nala hira sumati hit mga bukatkat didto ha culaba hadton bata pa ako. salit hi sekiya san nala ak ginpicturan ngan ini nga mga lanterns (bagan dagko nga bukatkat). pero marisyo ghap ini nga experience yana nga gab-i. nakakadto ak ha kabukiran han japan.

journal ko

journal ko to ngayon araw na to, linggo. galing ako ng yokohama. mapalad akong naimbitahan ng program coordinator ng trip na to ni isayaha san na may anak na magandang dalaga, cute ang mukha, simple manamit (pero wow), ang ganda ng legs, kahit parang nakatsinelas lang sya, swabe pa rin tingnan at inggles speaking. sayang lang di kami nkapapicture na dalawa, busy kasi sya sa pgguide sa kin sa loob ng hall, pgkuha ng tiket, at inihatid pa ako sa special na upuan for nonjapanese speakers. Bago kami nghiwalay, sinabihan ko sya na maganda sya. at sabi nya gwapo rin daw ako. ngiti sya. ouch. banat uli ako. you look simply stunning today. sabi nya: you have a nice polo. wow, iba na to. hirit pa ako. everytime i see you, you look more beautiful. iba na ang sagot nya...iniba na ang usapan. nahalata na. hehehe

yon lang....

deep sleep

in economics, the law of diminishing returns applies in economic activities. i am not sure if this also applies in this blogging-blogging. but when i visited my blog neighbors, i found out that their entries have long been dated. waning interests? winning boredom? and we simply diminished to occasional blogging. as the need arises.

wala lang siguro inspirasyon. or just maybe we fell into a deep sleep. and tomorrow, another entry to think about. hope it will be.

remembering ginza

ginza, tokyo, may 6, 2005

i've been to ginza many times while i was staying in tokyo for my first 2 and a half months in japan. then, ginza did not appeal to me as a must place to visit since i found the place too vain for a street boy like me. when i say street, i mean it as a place where the street children are. ginza sells items with brand names, not a tiangge, and therefore you expect prices which can cause headaches for a salary man. it is just too much a place for me.

however, during the golden week, i was invited by my host family to spend a 4-day holiday, all expense paid, with them. one night in a hotel around this place. now the place became memorable to me, not because i could now afford to shop in this area, but because once in my life, i had spent a good memory with my host family. what with the oysters in 4 different courses in one dinner which were ordered for me to consume. blurp!

_____________________
remembering the family


tsurumaki family plus me, saitama home (pic taken using kohei's fon)

i have known them through jice which organized a homestay during our nihonggo class in 2003. since then, we continue to communicate as we share the same interest in photography. kohei san, the father, holds a wide range of interests from IT to philosophy, he is also a street boy like me in his university days. (he spent 8 years for his undergrad studies). he seems to have an unconventional mindset, uncommon among japanese (di sya bagay sa iuj), but perhaps he could be passed on as a true blooded UPian. other than that, i also share the same interest with the boy, tatsufumi kun, as he talks too much, likes to sing (he taught me one japanese song) and very lively. during my stay in their house, he served as my waiter, assistant, playmate and he taught me 300 types of car which he identified by memory. at the age of 3, he already read hiragana. when his father asked him for a shinkansen look, he gamely formed his face to look like it. kohei's wife, yumi san, is a japanese literature major.

they are a wonderful family. this is the same family who surprised me by sending a dozen of 1-liter pineapple juice, del monte at that, and 8 bottles of 1.5-liter coke, after the earthquake. why del monte? because they had remembered i told them once that i like del monte pineapple juice. wow.

thanks a million to them for the opportunity.

______________________
remembering the house



the archi-design of their house suits me well as i am planning now to build a house of my own in a very small residential area i have in my country. it maximizes the small land area they have, giving attention to functions and colors. however, the price doesn't suit me well --- 45mil yen, and that was 1o years ago.

______________________
remembering the hotel


annex daichi hotel, tokyo, and view from the room window

a wide room like that and in tokyo at that, i felt like solomon in modern times. i am used to sleeping in a bench in a sidewalk, or in a train station, and having a hotel room is not something i desire for, but staying overnight in a place like this for free, i felt like an heir of the kingdom of bill gates and queen elizabeth combined together [exageration supplied]. this was a gift, and that gesture made my stay unforgettable.

________________________
remembering other things

i do still remember the song tatsufumi painstakingly wrote in a piece of old paper which afterward he gave to me. at 5, he could now write well. i remember the italian restaurant for my last dinner and the never ending order of pizza and pasta, coffee and juice and cakes. i thought then that it was my last day on earth for i had eaten the most and the best. i can't forget the long walk from akihabara to ueno station, stopping at every shop we passed by (not literally, of course). i do remember the never ending talks and the long talk in the platform while waiting for the shinkansen. when i get back to my home country, i shall always remember.

this piece is written to tell that if there is one thing i am proud of, it is never of having a certificate for master's degree, but having a friend like kohei san and his family.

untitled

til now, i still dont know the name of this river park. i ate my lunch here today, june 7, 2005

this is iuj in real life. simple world can be so much wonderful. just take a walk around (in my case i took my bike), open your eyes wide, and don't analyse. don't simply look at the lily in the pond, see it; don't simply hear the sounds of the natural wind, rushing river, and the bird, listen to them. in doing so, it is certain that you shall experience the 'awe' of nature. and don't be in a hurry, lest you miss a lot of happenings around. enjoy.

kiss

along the street, near the river, iuj, june 5, 2005

beautiful world, really. sweet. kilig. charming. this was my world yesterday. and the rest of the story is mine.

food disaster and other events

_________________
yakisoba

i cooked the main dish for our lunch today

when aoki sensei arrived in NPO hotel a few minutes after i arrived, he excitedly announced that i, yes i, me, myself, would be cooking yakisoba. (what?!!!) oh well, yes i know yakisoba, it is like yakitori. (that comment was uttered under a delirious situation.) of course, i have to impress them that i am not only good in eating, but in cooking as well. (oh mom, please help me!) under his guidance, sweat and all (hehe), i managed to do well until i placed the soba into the mixture. i thought of how good the relationship was among the soba because they were sticking to one another. they were just sticking and refused to glide, soften, like the way i saw them in "real life". some were formed like balls, others like a group of telephone wires, the likes. i had to use a wooden laddle to mix them until the soba were refined, broken, cut into pieces. oh my! some were cooked, some were not, some were halfcooked. oh well, i served them anyway, and sprinkled nori all over. it looked delicious. it really LOOKED delicious, until i actually placed a chopstick-full into my mouth. that was it, i waved my white flag and said sorry for messing up. i could not eat the soba except the meat and the vegetables. then aoki sensei told me it was his mistake, he forgot to tell me that i needed to boil the soba first. oh well... he and sekiya san had to eat them all, which they did. thank you.
____________________
goldfish in a pond


while aoki sensei prepared the dessert and sekiya san washed the strawberries, i consoled myself by looking at the pond with lots of gold fish in it. in my mind i was imagining this goldfish being grilled or barbecued. i'm sure it would have tasted better for a lunch.
___________________
playtime


the kids came after we ate our lunch. i ended up watching them play gundam in the playstation. there is a special girl named mahu-chan, 14 years old, who is so makulit. she could not get the vibes of the others because she has a world of her own. there is also another kid named taira-kun, who kept on walking here and there, and teasing and testing mahu-chan's patience until world war III broke out. atsuya-kun didnt mind the commotion, he just played his gundam while kohei-kun kept on 'cheering', referring to the enemy as "mahu san hahahaha dead! dead! hahahah" hayy buhay... bagan marisyo man la.
_____________________
this is a store, even if it is not


sekiya san drove me back home. while waiting for the green light, i saw this building and wondered if this is a house, a store, or an office. only if i could read the sign. i don't know why this got my curiousity. and i hate it for wondering this way. what is it to me, anyway? green light, please, green light.
_____________________
nin-gyou


when i arrived in my room, i immediately took this japanese doll from my bag, and had it posed in my table for its first pictorial. i bought this today in a flea market in iuj, costing me 800yen. nice omiyage (present) for my family.

nice day...

all about tooth and toothache

prayer partners and friends,

i'm out here in NPO "hotel". after our bible study last night in shiozawa, we decided that i should spend my night here because my tooth, which could not wait until july, was having a tooth day. that means i have a terrible toothache. my sensei called immediately a dentist for appointment, and had me scheduled today at 9:30, too early for them to fetch me at iuj. so after our discussion last night, we went back to iuj to get my things, shirts and all, then back to the hotel. of course, i was smiling. aside from sleeping again in my old baby crib, that would also mean -smile smile smile- eating superb japanese food, and, fyi, it's home cooked.

i was hesitant though to visit a dentist at this time. first, the expenses. consultation alone is already 2000 yen (1thou pesos), much more the treatment. the assurance of my sensei that he would pay did not help me ease up my concern of shelling out more than 1 month of my salary back home, and, second, to think in 1 month time i'm already home. but pray still i did, because my tooth is really having its day. and it is showing no sign of slowing down.

the dentist clinic is located far from my place, though we have one near iuj. but this dentist is the father of the little boy i play with almost every saturday. so the connection helped a lot in my decision to go. truth to tell, i was praying that he would do it for free. no harm in praying anyway. (in times like this, i could no longer afford for any extra expenses. im going home soon, and that means financial insecurity now.)

aoki sensei took time from his work, and brought me to the clinic. when we arrived there, the dentist was polite enough to welcome us. he was unusually alone, had no staff so he apologized for messing up in filling up info sheets of whatever kind. he's not used doing it. he was alone and no staff because today is a holiday for his clinic, so his secretary is on holiday. and the dentist was kind enough to open the clinic for me! when i wrote my name on the sheet, the dentist made mention like: "ah boris san, itsumo kohei..." i understood it as kohei, his only son, always talks about me. that made me smile. at least i know i have touched one soul while i lost my way in this land of the rising sun.

my tooth was x-rayed. my, i was thinking again of the cost. i was feeling sorry for my father for that means the little amount- and i mean a litlte amount- i spared for him would be spent for this tooth. i joked to aoki sensei before i went to the xray room if i should smile while the dentist took a "picture" of my tooth. that eased my burden.

in our broken language, the dentist made me understand the situation, and the things to be done. and that means more than one visit. and that means more than 2000 yen, consultation alone. my tooth needs root canal something (i dont know the exact term), and replacing the tooth crown with a metal something. since we dont have enough time (be home in july), so he will only treat my tooth by cleaning it, injecting something, and what more. in 3 weeks, 1 visit per week.

and so in 1 hour i was done, just for today`s visit. another one next week which he told me would take more than 1 hour. he gave me medicine as pain reliever, no too cold too hot drinks, and i should use only the other side of my teeth for eating.

the bill shows a 2,867 yen amount (and this is only the beginning), insurance already considered. i shelled out 3,000 yen. the moment i placed the yen bills into the tray, the dentist took it, and gave it back to me, smiling and saying something i only understood one word, and it was a name: kohei. whatever that meant, i suddenly realized that the dentist was no longer a dentist to me, i saw him now as the father of kohei who looks up to me as his big friend. and kohei's father's name is nakajima san.

"a man reaps what he sows." a bible verse (galatians 6:7) i will never forget. thanks to my God who made all things possible.

in christ,
boris

(thanks to nakajima san. thanks also to my church in urasa who started it all for me. then to aoki sensei who broadened my japan experience.)

__________________
post note:


kohei kun and his butteflies (with s KL, with s) in his house

after lunch, sekiya san took me back to urasa church because sato sensei and i planned to distribute tracts in muikamachi. while i was walking from house to house in muika, i saw kohei kun walking from school to his home. he was surprised to see me and he brought me to his house. he refused to let me go without me having a coffee for a few minutes. i said yes, and i was glad i said so. this time, i went inside their house, really a big house, very modern the interior. i gave one tract to his mother, who seemed to understand what i was doing. (btw, this morning i was in their clinic, adjacent to where they live.) though surprised to see me back, his mother was happy to see me with her son from school and gave me a warm accommodation. it must have been very lonely for the boy to live in a big house alone. nakajima san joined us after a while. kohei showed me his butterfly collections, one from malaysia (the name was morpho something, a big butterfly, royal blue in color) and the ones he's holding (in the picture) are from the philippines. (his mother's father went to the philippines way back.) i promised kohei if he goes to the philippines, the only thing that we do is to catch butterflies and beetles (another of his favorites). [to KL: if kohei will go there next year, as a sidetrip, i will catch too my own 'butterfly'. but whether kohei will go there or not, i will still catch my own butterfly.]

i have a very wonderful day. God is good. i'm glad Jesus paid all my shortcomings in life.

boredom breaker

i got a good audience tonight, and a good laugh. imagine the pencil sticking to my hand. could david copperfield do that? i learned the trick when i was still in my elementary. and i got to do it again during my master's. it happened during coffee break. the lecture in my international comparative management class bored some of us. so while we were in the corridor having our time out, i got to perform this pen-sticking-to-my-hand in a group of captured audience. it amazed me to know that it amazed them. of course, i didn't tell them my secret. i wonder if one of them tonight would dream of doing it on his own. gambatte!

portrait

faces of friends, captured by my olympus camedia. from top, reading direction: kohei, japan; yoshiko san, japan; daniel (asrul in real life), malaysia; leah, philippines; channa, cambodia; binh, vietnam; unur, mongolia; hau, vietnam; mirzo, tajikistan.

morning

morning in spring as seen from my window, may 26, 2005

japan has been known as the land of the morning sun. i was told that sunrise really could be so red as in its flag. ive been here two years but til now i havent seen such red sunrise. who would see it when the sun rises at 4 am? only this morning i got to get a glimpse of it because i slept at 5am. but yet it was not red, it was blue. since i am surrounded by mountains, i get to see the fullness of the morning sun at around 8 or 9 am. the mountains cover its first morning glorious beauty.

i am always thankful of the unfolding of a new morning. that means a new day, another day. i am thankful because i get to live again one more day of my life. and with a morning like this (in the picture), i am not losing the wonder of the day. what then would my day be like? how would i spend it? what surprises would i get? this is another exercise of my faith to go through another day.

i have one more day to live. and i am learning to live one day at a time. how long will i live to see one more morning? i dont know. only one thing is certain now, that i am ready to see the passing of another day, and ready to welcome a new morning. that i am ready to see the passing of my life, and ready to welcome a new life eternal.

"filled" trip

grabe ayos it ak adlaw yana. naglaba ak kanina nga aga while sige basa emails, mga news konohay ha inq7, philstar, malaya, journal ngan abante-tonite, exactly in that order gud. tpos back to inq7 to watch clips from gma7 while listening to music han akon sony hi-fi (nga ha pagkayana gusto ko na ipuspos kay "no disc" na pirme, ambot naano na ini.) after gma7, parong an sony, pamati na lwat ako ha dzas 702 ha internet while reading blogs, rereading blogs, etc. tpos laba, luto lunch, tpos pack up na hini nga mga forex boxes. asya it ak aga.



field trip kanina, may 25, 2005

han udto, nagfield trip kami ha uzhuoka (tapang la ito nga ngaran kay kalimot ak) diversion river (shinano river, the longest river ha japan) harani niigata, bis lugar di ak maaram. enjoy kami duro sige picture picture. for the first time, and i hope the last time, nahulog ak camera, try ko pgsalo, napakulob lugod ako, nauntog ak ulo ha bagan kudal ha rooftop han office hini nga kanan diversion. upay nala wray naguba ak olympus. olympus man gud. mahulog nala an tanan nga ginpicturan ko, ayaw la ini nga camera unta. tpos pag uli nam, umagi kami ha fish market. pumalit ak shrimp nga sinugba, mais nga makuri i-describe it rasa ngan gugti nga octopus. picture picture na lwat.

pag abot ko iuj, pasado alas 6, naghulat na ha ak an japanese para han english bible study, so kadto naman ak ha shiozawa. marasa na lwat am dinner. naabutan alas 9 am discussion. tpos invite na lwat ak nira kadto ha yokohama yana nga june 19, mayda daw gathering ini nga ira grupo nga mayda english interpreter. wray anay ako nagcommit kay dire pa klaro kon libre. i cant afford to go on my own kay damo ak expenses yana para mga padara hini nga mga balikbayan boxes. pinoy man gud ako. plus mga payables pa related ha graduation. pero ginbalik balik pagsiring nga isahaya san is inviting you. siguro libre gad ini. one day la ata, balik la pgkagab-i.

after hini nga BS, dul-ong na ako tiuli ha iuj. may kasabot ko pa alas 9pm, birtdey sankay ko. pero late ako umabot. wray hya bisita kay sunday pa kono celebration. kay birtdey man, siyempre may ice cream. tsika kami until 2 am. baga kami correct, pulitika am gin storyahan. ngan damo nga jokes.

past 2 am na ako nakabalik ha room ko. download pa ako mga pictures. surat hini nga blog. pagkita ko hit ak katre, damo mga gamit kay wray ko katapos knina an pagsulod ha forex box. hay gin itsa ko nala ha salog ini nga mga kon ano ano la. yana alas 3 na han umagahon, tapuson ko na lwat ini nga akon blog, nga makaturog na ako.

ayos gud it ak adlaw.

choice

anybody can tell me what kind of a flower this is?

alone or in a crowd, which do you prefer? or sometimes alone, sometimes in a crowd. it's a choice actually. but whatever your preference is, whether solo or in a company, always be beautiful in God's eyes. just like these flowers.
___________
good night.

"on boys and bikinis"

surprised? go just check it out. it's one good read. linked without permission.

hitched

after dinner last night with the cambodians who prepared a very green, very oishi meal, we watched a movie in the lounge. we were joined by our common friends from uzbekistan, holland, egypt, jordan, china, sri lanka, and vietnam. and the title of the movie was? ennnnng engggg engggg..."the bachelor".

hahaha the movie was for me although i dont have 100 million dollars to get girls go crazy over me. but i like his words of proposal to the girl when he said: you win! and i may add: i lost! this is what getting hitched is all about. maybe?

i envy the flowers now which look so compatible and cute together. buti pa sila.

when i was in my teens, i had this idea of what kind of a girl would i marry. when i reached my teens part II (twenteens, that is), i already had a picture of who the girl was. now, (HEY I AM STILL A CALENDAR BOY!), i am asking: WHERE is the girl! more of a punctuation mark than a question.

i wish i were jimmy who ended up a hudred million dollars richer and with anne, exactly in that order.

flower chorus

flowers in shiozawa farm, may 21, 2005

yesterday i volunteered to help aoki sensei work in his farm. we planted mushrooms in the logs that we cut last snow filled april. i've never been a farmer in my life, though i wish i were and imagined how free would have i been from nonsense bosses. working with nature, or being with nature, always gives me a different high and a sense of freedom. there's something in it. maybe a sense of awe.

who would not be awed when all around me i could see wild flowers/backyard flowers just growing practically everywhere. aoki sensei toured me to every corner of the backyard farm and showed me spring flowers in full bloom. such colors!

michael collins of apollo 11 is right when he said: "the moon is so scarred, so desolate, so monotonous, that i cannot recall its tortured surface without thinking of the infinite planet earth offers: misty waterfalls, pine forests, rose gardens, blues and greens and reds and whites." (carrying fire)

green

iuj in green, may 17, 2005

green na liwat it iuj. baga na hin pinas. ayos gud it Ginoo, gin-andam na ako pag-uli. kunbaga, transition na ha ak it pagchange han color han paligid. ha pinas man gud, pirme green ha bug-os nga tuig.

presko it green nga color. pero ha iba, bastos daw ini nga color. ambot kon kay ano. pakiana ko la, kay ano nga green man it grass?

pero balitaw, di na gud la maiha, mauli na ako. excited gad kay back to where i belong naman liwat ako. mahusay gad udog it pinas, it sistema la, masumo. bisan ha ofis ko, waray naman la kadigni-dignidad, bagan di kami mga professional. puros la tsismis, pandaot hit igkasi ngan kon ano ano pa nga mga hungkag nga istorya. yana kono adto na hira ha garahian na-ofis kay nasunog man gud it amon opisina last december. waray daw pundo pagconstruct hit bag-o nga building. rason ba ito para magin garahian na it am workplace? salit, it am output, kon may output man, baga liwat tambutso it quality. kon magrent la anay hin workplace? di daw pwede kay bangin igreclaim han leyte province an area. maiha naman gud ito nga gincontest han provincial government an ownership. bati ko, ginbabawi han leyte province an lugar. dire liwat nasugot it ak ofis kay maiha na daw hira dida. baga hira mga bata nga nag aaway hit usa nga candy. kunbaga, naimagine ko, kon yana nga aga magrelocate ak ofis, pagkagab-i, sekretohon dayon nga kuhaon han leyte province an lugar. hahaha mas maupay pa an kinder ha alpha-omega learning center kay maaram mag istorya hin tuhay parti hit ira mga balon. kon nag aagaw-agaway man hira hit ira balon, at least maintindihan kay mga bata hira. hay buhay.

sige la, damoon ko nala pagpicture hit lugar didi ha japan. kon masumo man ako ha pinas, kitaon ko nala ini nga mga pictures. ngan ipaawa hit ak mga kaopisina. kitaon ta la kon dire hira mag-green with envy.

paglubog ng araw

urasa sunset, april 2005

nagtagalog hi gary, nagtagalog hi tish. puros ghap tagalog akon ginbasa knina nga blog. yana, tagalog nala lwat akon entry. pero usa ini nga kanta nga paborito ko since college. paborito namon nga magsarangkay. sista la an accompaniment, risyo na amon kinabuhi hadto. meaningful ini nga kanta. timely an message. tupang ligaw an title. kanta ni rez valdez.

malapit na namang lumubog ang araw
dilim ng gabi'y darating na naman
sa paghimlay mo isip mo'y naglalakbay
nakatanaw sa kawalan.

lumipas na naman ang isang araw sa buhay
takbo ng buhay mo'y di mo namamalayan
sa bawat sandaling darating at papanaw
buhay mo'y tila parang kulang.

kayamanan at lahat ng kalayawan
wala pala itong kabuluhan
kung si Kristo ay wala pa sa iyong buhay
para kang isang tupang ligaw.

succession

in kokusai chuo, may 17, 2005


some thoughts before i retire.

for every a 1, there's always a 2, then a 3, so on. from temporal, there is a succession of eternal; from finite to infinity.

r.w. emerson says it better: "God had infinite time to give us; but how did He give it? in one immense tract of lazy millineums? no, He cut it up into a neat succession of new mornings."

for every yesterday, there's always a new morning. then another morning. and then another.

lessons from the river

river in urasa, may 17, 2005

• quoted: a river would lose its song if you remove its rocks
• i couldn't have this entry had i cooked my lunch at 11am (it's now 12:18, was about to eat when i realized my rice cooker has no cooked rice)
• had it not for my class at 1pm today, my writing gana would not have worked (so i have to blog fast, choose what kind of pix to post in split seconds, and layout with one eye)
• river is not only of stones, nor only of water; it must be both; same with happiness
• natural noise produced by rushing water against the stones is soothing and comforting than the noise pollution i heard from rock bands, cars, and fighting planes
• if the flow of the water is blocked by the stones, it sings
• if the flow of the water is blocked by the stones, it detours
• the rushing river ends in the wide ocean
• the rushing river surely starts from somewhere else
• the water flow is volume, but it is never consumed
• it is only dried up when man starts taking care of it
• after this blog, rice is also cooked

wisdom

maple leaves in spring, may 14, 2005, shiozawa parking area

most of us have been into fiery trials. some understand why it does happen to them, but most, if not all, question the wisdom behind this happening. for others, it is an awakening, an eye opener; for some, it is unfair, an incident beyond logic.

here is one guy whose suffering is not uncommon to most of us. job, a familiar character in the old testament, was hit by his enemy to the bone. his children were struck by a calamity and died in the same day, his property was ruined, he got boils all over, he was cursed by his wife, and to top it all, these incidents were approved by a God, his Creator, whom he feared and trusted all his life. it all happened albeit job was described as an upright and blameless man.

yet in all these, job searched for wisdom. his declaration of what wisdom is and the value of it speaks greatly of what we perhaps are looking for these days. i read these words yesterday in job 28.

12 "But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?

13 Man does not comprehend its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, 'It is not in me';
the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed in silver.

16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.

17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.

18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.

20 "Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds of the air.

22 Destruction and Death say,
'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.'

23 God understands the way to it
and he alone knows where it dwells,

24 for he views the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,

26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunderstorm,

27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.

28 And he said to man,
'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil is understanding.' "

i learned something from job yesterday.

bonus

all pix taken in nagaoka city, except the pix of japan sea which was taken in kashiwasaki city, may 8, 2005

when rain pours, it really pours. of course. what i mean is when God blesses, He blesses abundantly without counting what He gets in return. without even counting the cost. at least as far as i am concerned. if i may recall, it cost anyway the life of Jesus to pour out all to me. He already gave His life, what more can He not give?

on the same day i arrived from a 4-day, 3-night honeymoon with the stars, my churchmate invited me for a joyride to a place of my choice. together with my other churchmates, we decided to go to nagaoka city, originally to shop. while we were singing "climb every mountain", we thought of going to onsen in the mountain but the girls refused, so we thought of a park in the mountain. the park was not really in the mountain, but good enough to refresh those who are tired. then we visited the tulip park, and the best part of it was the trip to japan sea. just imagine how my heart was so calmed upon seeing my long lost friend - the sea. it always fascinates. "why does the sea laugh, mother, as it breaks along the shore?"

this trip was a bonus blessing to me. God has already given me life. other than that is an add-on. i could not ask for more.