A sparkling 2009

Traditionally, New Year is a time for an optimistic attitude, new goals, and New Year resolutions. But this New Year, however, we are surrounded by gloomy news. The global economy in crisis, layoffs, bankruptcies, takeovers, hunger, poverty, natural disasters, war in the Middle East…the list seems endless. I contemplated at the slow-moving traffic this morning and wonder what this year is in store for me. Fluctuating situations at work make it difficult to feel secure. My sense of what is worthy is shifting and I know I have to make adjustments to accommodate the changing environment in the office. There are times when I feel that my current life seems confining. I feel hemmed in by my job, friends, obligations, responsibilities.

But just the same, I believe it’s a question of choice, not destiny.

Now, more than ever, I need to seek out and create my own sparkle. I need to make goals and resolutions that will inspire and motivate me to expand my horizons and break-free from whatever limitations I have, literally and figuratively. I need to polish my skills, create opportunities for myself when it’s possible, and drop the "I can't" attitude. I owe it to myself to continue nurturing my sense of awe and wonder, revitalize my spiritual interests, get uplifted by inspiring people, places, and imaginative works---to allow myself to appreciate life to a greater extent.

Simply put, I’m rejecting the idea of an inevitable gloom this year, and seek a positive, shiny 2009!

P.S. The video was my first attempt at using my camera's video. It was confusing so please bear with me.:D

Happy New Year!

This is the New Year party my friends, family and myself went to celebrate the New Year. The Makati City government organizes the countdown party every year. It used to be held at the intersection of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas but for the past 3 years or so, the party had been happening at the Ayala and Makati Avenue intersection. Local bands provided the entertainment and ABS-CBN covered the event. There were booths where food and drinks were sold. Vendors walked around selling beer and soda in cans. Makati hotels had their own booths for their guests. Mimes and dancers spiced up the crowd of merry-makers, and fireworks lighted up the skies when the clock struck 12 midnight.

It was drizzling the whole night. Some people brought umbrellas, and I wore a hoodie but a lot of revelers braved the light rain. Families gathered, friends bonding, tourists dancing while drinking beer. I always enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the New Year's party where people gather to have fun, forget our troubles and differences for a while to celebrate the New Year, the proverbial chance to start anew. It's a symbolic gesture to express our hope for the coming year, and our faith that whatever happens in 2009, we'd be able to persevere.

Here's to a New Year of renewed hope and strength for the challenges ahead! Rock on!

One fine day

One Fine Day by Natalie Merchant

There are days when I feel my solitude expands and the surrounding noise passes through me without disturbing my equilibrium. It feels like standing on top of the highest mountain, the inconceivable vastness of the world embraces me. I am filled with hope, even when I don’t understand the depths and surprises of fate. All I know is that there are always new dreams, new friendships, new loves, and beauty still undiscovered by these eyes.

These are the days that I hold dear. Everything is clear, and I am unafraid. Like a deep-rooted and drought-tolerant tree, I stand confidently under monsoon rains and hot suns.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

~Oscar Wilde

I am continuously humbled by an unexpected joy, by a resilient spirit, by a child’s simplicity, by an unwavering faith, by the changing of the seasons, by an unconditional love, by an ever-renewing gratitude, by an unsolicited tenderness, by life’s possibilities.

Like bees gathering honey, I collect the sweetness out of people---the simplest gesture of kindness, a kind word, a smile from a stranger, a sympathetic ear, a warm hug, a sincere compliment, a small act of caring, open arms, and an open heart. They sustain me when it's raining in my soul.

In life, there are disappointments, failure, tears, loneliness, betrayal. But there’s also happiness, friendship, successes, laughter, love. I relish the days when I can appreciate the joy of breathing, or walking on a bright morning. I delight with whatever remains in me.

Summer rain

I've been praying for rain, and my wish was granted! It rained on my way to work this morning...oh, how beautiful to see the rainfall and remember how it felt to dance in the rain. Rain that rinses the grasshoppers' wings, leave crystal drops on a spider's web, and would possibly bring back the dragonflies to my mother's garden. I hum to an oratorio inside my head---I don't know why, but it's Handel's Messiah; rest my cheek on the glass window feeling the water trickle down, kissing the base of my neck. I'm not letting my hopes dry along with summer.

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. ~ Langston Hughes

Pregnant with possibilities

I like the phrase and the sound of it. Pregnant with possibilities is what I’d like to be in the Year of the Rat. In my mind, there’s a picture of a psychedelic butete burping letters from its mouth --- P O S S I B I L I T I E S. Each letter bubbles on the surface of the water and turns into gorgeous men parading on the beach. I am the only person on the beach---judge and jury of this parade. It's Raining Men is playing in my iPod. :D

Kidding aside, I approach the New Year armed with lessons learned this past year and inspired by possibilities. There have been a great many things that happened to me in 2007, but I had blunders as well as things that I tried but fell short. In 2008 onwards, I’d like to focus on life's possibilities and develop a kind of optimistic hunger to try something new.

This year, I would like to be fearless in many areas of my life, make mistakes, take chances again…been a cautious observer for so long. At the back of my mind, there’s the fear of failure, disappointment, pain---but if I’ve learned something all these years, it’s ‘what won’t kill you makes you stronger.’

Life in a rat race is getting dull and exasperating, not to mention brain-numbing. I’d like to take it slow this time, take nothing for granted---‘suck the marrow from the bones of life’.

“To be a better person” has been my personal slogan for so long. I’d like to stop getting better, and start appreciating what I am. I’d like to give in to a little temptation once in a while, stop trying to make everything rational. I’d like to doubt again in order to test my convictions.

Yes, I’d like to live deliberately from now on…it’s about time!

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. ~Lily Tomlin