To Have and To Hold

I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe that it is a union institutionalized and blessed by God from the beginning of the world (remember Adam and Eve?). That does not mean I enjoy attending weddings, however. Actually, it is not so much the wedding ceremonies itself as much as it is having to dress up and all the formalities involved.

On second thought, perhaps it is partly the program proper, too. Most weddings are a bore (to M.E. at least). All traditional and stuff. It is just not my cup of coconut juice (I do not like drinking tea or even coffee.)

So far, in my thirty-something years, I did enjoy attending one particular wedding (not to say that I did not enjoy the other previous weddings I attended; just that this one was truly enjoyable for me in spite of certain circumstances which I am about to relate . . .). And this is regardless of the fact that I went alone and knew no one else there–save for the bride (Neva) and groom (Dan) (who were, of course, too busy getting married); the official videographer (a friend of mine, Shierdan Pamintuan, was also busy); and a friend who, for some reason still unknown to me, apparently does not want to be friends with me anymore (proven by the fact that I was ignored and avoided all evening).

I was slightly late for wedding ceremony. I missed out on seeing Neva walk down the aisle. (Wish I had gotten there earlier.) But I did see them saying their "I dos" and everything else after that. Having come late, I decided to sit in a pew at the back of the church. A few minutes after I sat down, along came several other late-comers, all unfamiliar people to me but, all important and/or significant enough to Dan and Neva (I am guessing they were since they were at the wedding, too).

After the church wedding at Santuario de San Jose (where two of my youngest sisters also had their elementary graduations), I headed alone to the Crowne Plaza Galleria for the wedding reception.

At first I found myself sitting all by my lonesome at table number 24. It was my fault for failing to send Neva an RSVP earlier (I only texted her that I was coming to the wedding that morning, at around 10 A.M.).

A little later, I was transferred to table number 23. There I found myself sitting with a table-full of perfect strangers, our only common link being Dan and Neva. In spite of that (being with strangers–which is not really much of a problem with me anyway), I found myself having a great time watching all the goings-on.

It was great seeing everything unfold quite so perfectly–having known how much effort Dan and Neva have put into their wedding preparations. I have been updated with the details of that thanks to Neva’s Multiply account as well as Dan and Neva’s wedding website.

I had a great time just watching things happen–everyone seemed just like Dan and Neva, serious and comical both at the same time. The videographer’s (Shierdan) onsite AVP was perfect, matching Dan’s choice of music ("Panalangin" by the Apo Hiking Society). (Click THIS to view Dan and Neva’s videographer onsite AVP!) Even better was the photographer’s (Mimi and Karl) onsite AVP. Neva’s chosen song, "I’m Yours" by Jason Mraz, was a fit down to the T (of the word "perfect")! In fact, I liked the song so much that I researched Mimi and Karl’s website for their cellphone number and texted just to ask for the song title that very evening. (Click THIS to view Dan and Neva’s photographer onsite AVP!) I knew Dan and Neva were "busy" and most probably exhausted by then and should not be disturbed just for something as trivial as a song title. Not on their wedding night anyway. Nor on the morning after that.

There was a post-wedding party after the reception but, I did not stay for that anymore. Before going down to the parking area to pick up the car I was driving, I stopped by the Fotoloco booth outside the reception hall and had a few pictures taken (of course, alone). It would have been fun with somebody else. It was a tad awkward making funny faces when I was just by myself and a few others were lined up behind me to have their pictures taken, too.

Dan and Neva’s wedding changed my attitude towards attending weddings. Not that I am looking forward to attending more weddings in the future, unless I have to, or unless I actually know the person getting married (I have been to weddings where I knew neither bride nor groom–to accompany my mom).

I have realized that weddings could be both memorable, sacred, and fun all at the same time given the proper ingredients. 

Now I am looking forward to attending Dan and Neva’s renewal of vows (whenever that may be). Haha. I hope I will still be invited then. And I do hope I will still be around to accept the invitation. 

Note: This wedding happened February 2, 2008–one month ago this coming Sunday.

Eyes Wide Shut and Burning

I am typing this with my eyes closed, occassionally peeking to check if I typed my words correctly. So far, so good.

For the past several nights, I have been sleeping past my declared bedtime of 12 midnight.

Saturday night was GSB Night, after which I spent a few hours with Cecile and Guy just eating and talking. 

Sunday night, I think I just couldn’t sleep.

Monday night was spent at Ascott in Makati with siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. 

Tuesday night was again spent at Ascott, as it was my aunt’s, uncle’s, and cousin’s last night in the Philippines. (They left for their home in North Dakota yesterday morning.) It was also another aunt’s birthday. Thus, we spent the night feasting and chatting. My mom and her two sisters must have missed each other quite a bit–they talked about ages past and old, old memories up to about 2 A.M. It was only then that we all got to go home. I had to stay awake as I was the designated driver for the evening. 

Last night (Wednesday), I was at the Central Luzon  Conference (CLC) Media Center until around 11 P.M. I spent the entire afternoon and evening on the computer, typing some stuff for this coming Sabbath’s special program at the Araneta Coliseum. I wore my contact lenses at first but, removed them later when my eyes started feeling flamed up.  Too late, I guess. Because now I can barely keep them open!

It must be all the late nights I have been keeping. Then, wearing contacts lenses was just like adding insult to injury.

I intended to stayoff the computer for today and just glue my eyes shut. Haha. Not that easy for me to. I think I will try a little harder to accomplish that after this. My eyes must be the most abused part of my body (I think I already wrote about that in one of my earlier blogs.).

Well, I should end this. My eyes are burning even with both of them held tightly shut. 

Tell the world . . . N-O-W!!!

Do not disregard this message.

This message is for real.

This will happen sooner than you think.

This will affect you.

This will affect your entire family.

This will determine your entire future.

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JESUS, the King of the Universe, IS COMING.

Yes, He is coming. And that IS certain.

Do not believe what the skeptics say.

The Bible CAN be trusted.

Read it N-O-W, while the gates of your probation remains open.

Read it N-O-W, while there is still time.

Read it N-O-W, while eternity is yet within your reach.

The world as we know it does have an end.

And, it WILL end very, very, very SOON.

Get to know Jesus now.

He ALONE saves.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

If you care about your family, friends, relatives, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, enemies . . . share this with them.

Tell the world!

Jesus IS coming!

Call for Entries: Beyond the Stick Photography Competition

Photography buffs and anti-smoking enthusiasts (like M.E.), take heed:

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines is calling for entries to “Beyond the Stick,” a photography competition focusing on the socio-economic harms of cigarette smoking and the tobacco epidemic.

“Beyond the Stick” is an open-category contest, with one division for photographers and graphic designers, and another for photojournalists in amateur, advanced amateur, and professional levels. Deadline for entries is on March 18, 2008.

The first-prize winner for each division will receive P40,000, and P20,000 and P10,000 for the second and third prizes, respectively, along with trophies.

Visit this page for competition guidelines.

Going . . . Going . . .

The countdown has begun. It’s just a matter of time now. How much time? Of that I am still unsure. But, pretty soon, I will be leaving my i.ph blogs completely. 

Like I mentioned when I started my blogs, blogging is all-therapeutic for me. At the same time, it is all-experimental. Well, I am at a stage of the experiment where I found it time for me to have my own domain name (already bought one) and web host (temporarily "hitching" a host with our company’s host space). I have already started experimentally tampering with HTML, etc. and was able to come up with a fairly decent, albeit narcissistically inclined and still temporary website. Having zero web designing/developing skills, that was a major accomplishment for me already. However, I will still refine it. Change the entire look and feel of it. I don’t want to use my pictures in the entry page–not only does that seem rather narcissistic to me, it will most probably also disencharm potential visitors from entering into the deeper recesses of the website.

I have already set up my photo gallery. But the pictures will come only when I have my Nikon D80 on hand already (Click THIS and THIS to read my previous posts on that topic.)

I have also arleady set up a blog there. Though I have yet to customize it.

I am a newbie at all of this so it is a rather slow process of trials and errors and accidental "discoveries" and unexpected results.

I am still contemplating whether I should repost all of my previous i.ph posts in my new website, or if I should just leave them here as is. But, I am leaning more toward tagging them along as well. All the time and effort that will take makes me wish I had not posted pages and pages of stuff here.

Feel free to message me about these matters. I do welcome tips and help and even money donations! (Haha.) I do enjoy asking questions and, of course, having them answered. That is the fastest way for me to learn at the least amount of time.

Going . . .

I decided to attend what could be the first and last GSB Night of my MBA student life. (Click THIS to read my previous post about it.)

It happens tonight!

I’m set to meet my classmates-slash-friends (Cecile, Joselle, and Leila) and carpool with them to the venue. At the venue itself, other classmates-slash-friends will be there to "party" with us, too (Dave, Janice, Maristel, etc., etc., etc.) My former professor, Guy Concepcion, will be there too. He even sent out an email to our class (the class I had with him last term) and literally ordered us all to go. 

Right now, I’m just at home, curled up to the heat of my laptop–alternately reading the Bible, reading several online and printed resources, and blogging my thoughts as they hit me. I’ve felt sluggish for days. And, just this morning, my abdomen started cramping up (perhaps due to the cold water I used at the latter part of my ritualistic bathing process). 

I hope I’ll feel better later. I hope I’ll be pepped up for the event. I hope my dress won’t be screaming bloody red! That would be undoubtedly quite shameful.

Oh, and I hope my friends bring cameras! It’s sure to be another one of those Kodak moments!

Revelation 18 and the Riches of King Solomon

I’m a Bible believer so to me, the world as we know it really does have a definite end. The Bible is clear on that, hence there is no confusion on my part regarding that point. What still confounds me is exactly how the things of this world will end–how the end of time will come and the actual events that will transpire at each stage.

There are books on end-time events and prophecies I’ve read which were very helpful and detailed. However, these books seem to have failed to mention the events that are to transpire in Revelation 18. That chapter is on my mind right now. Ellen G. White’s The Great Controversy failed to mention chapter 18. (Or at least I didn’t notice it mentioned.) A. Jan Marcussen’s National Sunday Law also didn’t seem to mention it.

In connection with that, I also wonder what has actually happened to all of King Solomon’s vast wealth. And, just how vast was vast in that case? Was it ever found? Did anyone ever get a hold of it? Or is it still a mystery up to this day? Also, where is Ophir? I read an article on the Internet theorizing that Solomon’s Ophir was nothing more than the pyramid tombs of Egyptian Pharoahs. Was it really just that? Or, was it as another article claimed, a location in South West Arabia now known as Yemen? Or are those two articles completely off the mark? Is the genuine Ophir still hidden from prying men and yet to be discovered?

I’m searching for answers to these questions now. If you have your "theories" and so-called "answers," please do send them to me. I’d like to prayerfully study them and determine if there really is "light" in them. (Thanks in advance to anyone who’ll be sending them.)

It IS Coming!

It’s a done deal. About three to five weeks from now (I do not know the exact date yet), I will be the proud new owner of a brand new Nikon D80 (with a 4GB of SDC and a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW). Why three weeks still? Because that’s how long it’ll take to ship the package from Japan.

I don’t mind the wait. This is an unexpected blessing any way I look at it. (click THIS to read my previous post about this) Previously I said Wilbert offered his own personal deal, making the full amount payable to him up to 4 months after he purchased the camera. Now, he even stretched it up to 6 months and the total package is still only 50,000 Philippine pesos! I’d say that’s already a bonus blessing!

Again, I thank God for using human instrumentalities in pouring out His blessings upon me.

Star on the Rise

I asked Marie Digby some hours ago if she’d like our group to create her official website for her, thinking that www.mariedigby.com was registered to her. She told me the domain name belonged to a crazy fan who’s asking that she pay a lot of money for it.

Wow. That’s one perverted fan, all right! I’d say that’s taking the entrepreneurial spirit beyond the ethical and normal!

I reckon, whoever that person is, he or she is neither a Christian nor a La Sallian.

So, for now, Marie Digby says she’ll focus on just YouTube (click THIS to check out Marie Digby on YouTube!) and MySpace (click THIS to check out Marie Digby on MySpace!).

Her album, Unfold, is coming out on April 8 (click THIS to pre-order album!). Already, she’s quite popular on both YouTube and MySpace. Her song, Say it Again, was even played in the latest episode of Smallville (season 7 episode 12 - Fracture).

Watch out for this girl! Crazy fans in tow or just the normal ones; official website or no official website; Marie Digby’s star is rising fast!

Single Awareness Day 2008

My grandma, Ina, is 94 years old (turning 95 on June 1). For her age, she’s in pretty good shape. In fact, she doesn’t even look her age. She looks like she’s either in her late 70s or in her early 80s. However, looks can indeed be deceiving. She can’t walk around too much anymore. Gravity is just too much for her to defy these days. So she either uses her cane (with a four-footed stand) or her wheelchair to help her.

Since her hospitalization last December, she’s been cooped up at my aunt’s place here in Manila. I visit her as much as I can and take her out at least once a week. Our second outing was last week, Thursday, February 14, 2008. Most people call that day Valentine’s Day. Some others jokingly call it Single Awareness Day. This year I choose to call it the latter.

I picked up my grandma along with her wheelchair and female helper at about 4:00 P.M. She was already eagerly waiting because I had texted my aunt earlier to inform them of my coming. That day we were to once again go to Trinoma, this time to watch the free Valentine’s concert of the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the Sonata String Ensemble. My friend, Gigi, tagged along as well, not wanting to miss such a concert, especially one that was free.

We were early and the Trinoma folks were about 30 minutes late in starting the concert. But, it was worth the wait! The concert was well worth watching. I liked every song they sang, my favorite being You Changed My Life in a Moment.

After the main event, we had dinner before driving Ina back to my aunt’s house. All of us had a good time, especially Ina. As I was about to leave my aunt’s house, she asked me where we’re going to go on our next "girls’ day out."

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