alin?

Likas sa tao ang pagpili. Kasama na dito ang pamimili ng kung anumang higit na mas magaan o mas magbibigay saya o mapagkukunan ng lakas na mga bagay, lunan o tao, personal man na kilala o hindi.



Minsan sa buhay mo, hindi mo man gustuhin o kahit sabihin mo pa man na dahil matalino ka kung kaya’t hindi mo na alintana ang mga kaakibat na suliranin dala ng pamimili, natatapat ka sa pintuan ng mga pagkakataon at panahon na gaano man kahirap sa loob-loob mo o kasakit sa iyong natitirang ego, kailangan talagang mamili ka dahil yun at yun lang ang pinaka-una at pinaka epektibong paraan sa paglaya.



Minsan kahit simpleng tanong lang at siyempre simpleng sagot lang ang kailangan ay doon pa tayo nabobobo.



Alin ang mas masakit : ang magmahal ng taong alam mong may mahal na iba o ang umasang balang-araw, suntok man sa buwan tingnan, ay mamahalin ka rin nya? Di man sa paraang inaasahan at pinakaaasam mo, at least sa paraang alam at kaya lang ng inirog mo.



Alin ang mas matimbang: ang sabihing mahalaga ang isang tao sa’yo dahil yun ang tama o ang sabihing mahal mo ang isang tao dahil yun ang totoo?



Alin ang mas madali: ang mahalin ang taong mahal mo ngunit alam mong hindi ka mahal o ang taong hindi mo kayang mahalin ngunit mahal na mahal ka?



Alin ang mas may kabuluhan: ang kasalukuyang relasyon na umabot na ng halos limang taong puno ng away-bati at ng mga gabing ayaw kang patulugin dahil naninimbang ka kung mahal ka ba talaga nya tulad ng mga malamlam nyang mga pangako o ang masilakbong pag-ibig na tumubo lang sa talulot ng bulaklak ng bagong natagpuang pagkakaibigan?



Alin?

happy find

I cleaned up my room today and chanced with an old book I got from a garage sale 5 years ago. It’s called Living, Loving and Learning by Dr. Leo Buscaglia. The book is actually a collection of Buscaglia’s speeches and talks over the years of traveling across countries and visiting campuses and churches to deliver inspiring talks with topics just about anything between love and life as a whole. His books are actually categorized as self-help books. It may not seem to be a technical term for books that has sold many copies over the years and still gaining Buscaglia recognition and respect. Whatever label befits it, one thing is sure – this book is a worthwhile read.

Perhaps, these books are called self-help books because the readers are inspired by the author’s anecdotes of fun and misadventures that are embedded with wit and that natural flair of a boy who had a very rich childhood.

Living, Loving and Learning has become my refuge and I could even trade it for my religion and the things I believe in.

The book will leave the reader with an indelible message of hope, love and life in general. It will encourage the reader to find solace and meaning in little things and being happy and fulfilled about it can be the one’s Nirvana.

Buscaglia’s unsurpassed unique writing and speaking brings different hues to the rudiments of rhetoric. His way of narrating things resembles like one who is talking to a friend about his summer vacation. His words come to life as the reader savors line by line, page by page.

Obviously, rediscovering this book is a happy find. For the next few days, it will lie next to me in my bed or it will be kept under my pillows. Or anywhere at arm’s length so it will come handy to me whenever my soul needs the quiet time or when my spirit asks for rekindling of my inner flame.

the art of free running

I passed by one time a vacant lot along Maharlika Highway where culverts, boulder rocks and metal scaffoldings are all piled up and by the look of the place, I inferred it was a tambakan of construction supplies and equipment. In fact there was a rustic bulldozer in one corner that perhaps have been not in use for a couple of years since some parts of the operator’s seat have been invaded by wild vines in the area already. But that was not the catch of the moment in the scenery. I couldn’t take my eyes from a group of boys, six-teeners perhaps, who were jumping off and over the culverts and running all through out the area like unleashed monkeys of some sort. I thought they were just playing a different version of the luksong-baka I used to play with my cousins and my childhood friends in the neighborhood.

I mused myself and decided to linger some more just to spur the moment. Andun na rin lang ako, aba’y makinood na nga. I also used to perform gymnastics in my elementary intramurals complete with the ball and ribbon exhibition on the floor so I thought these young boys were good at jumping over the culvert and off to the scaffoldings for a quick hand swing and then jump to the ground in a calculated footing. I thought these boys were amazing. And I could do that too. Lolz.

My officemate said he has a brother who is also into the same new found sport. For the more courageous type of teenagers, I suppose. He said it is called free running. It has long been practiced in western countries as a past time. Although it is often times confused with Parkour, another discipline of movement from one place to another and follows a more established philosophy and discipline such as reach – meaning to quickly access places or elevation that may seem impossible to achieve and escape – meaning to run away from chasers or attackers, free running however has followed a unique philosophy and purpose of the movement. The goal of free running to keep on moving from one spot to another elevation without going back.

With these basics put in mind, free running can be incorporated with the runners own movement and style thus achieving the aesthetics of the movement, which happens to be the ultimate purpose at the onset.

Free running uses the obstacles in the environs to execute the tricks and stunts and the challenge of execution is another ingredient why this new form of freedom in physical art execution has taken the popular culture by storm. And because this is considered as an art form, its proponents do not yield to the idea of making free running as a competitive sport as it will diminish its aesthetic purpose.

This can practically be used to keep one’s body in the right form and I would like to believe that executing the course of movement does not only entail agility and strength but also some serious brain cells so that movements are executed well and ends in a calculated landing.

Akalain mo ba namang biglang nagkaron ng philosophy and aesthetics ang dating luksong-baka lang.hehe. I think I will try this new passion sometime and see if I can lure my friends to try it too. Watch out Gagambino!

Here is an amateur video of siblings, Yan-yan, Gogo and Momo Noel going loco with free running.

Treat

Every Saturday afternoon, just about when the sun is caught between mid-afternoon and dusk, I always find time to visit Rizal Park. It’s a family leisure park just across the famous Sto.Nino Church in Tacloban City, a metropolitan city along a fish sanctuary, north western part of the Leyte Gulf. For a yuppy like me who would choose to exhaust myself with work during the long weekdays, a lazy visit to the park is already a treat that could not amount to any. While some will muse themselves over window shopping in the city’s department stores or kill time inside the theater with the latest cinema, a quiet time in the park has become my religion.

I always pick on the wooden benches between the swing area and the huge fountain. I sit there clandestinely as if I wait the floating debris inside me to settle first. Then I let my eyes pass through the images before me: a family in a weekend picnic over pansit bihon, puso and barbeque; a young couple in their blossoming sublunary love; a group of teenagers packed on one corner of the park goofing around while another clique of young blood enjoys the guitar. Some pubescent are biking while still some play badminton. Some children flock the swing and slides and just somewhere under the low hanging Gemelina tress, I thought it was a lovely sight to see a young father guides his infant to start walking on solid ground. The child’s feet were woggly but they were covered with white soft walkers. When the child started to make his first step, his little fingers held his father’s thumb tighter as if seeking affirmation for his father’s love and security. I thought the father felt it because his face showed up a radiant smile. And so the child attempted for the second step and then the next step, and the next step after that. Soon the little unsure tip toes became little paces of determination. In turn, the father was indulging his young son with more little steps as they walked beside each other. When I saw the ecstatic feel on the young father’s face, I thought my heart melted. Something inside tickled my kindred spirit.

For a hopeless romantic such as I am, these are the moments that say I love being human. I love the feel of the grass when I step on it barefoot and how I enjoy the ticklish touch. I love the smell in the air of the newly baked ensaimada of Panaderia San Pablo or the inviting crispy crust of bibingka in Paterno. I love ginat-an and the beauty of the collision of the colors from several root crops bathed in the milky river of coconut cream. I am in love with the countless lazy walk along Magsaysay Boulevard and how the serene acacia trees bring petal showers of pink when the lazy wind whistles to the beat of the howling waves of Kankabato. I am just madly in love with everything in this city that may have been small or less important but speaks enormously how the city started from a quiet community to a bustling metro now.

Today, the city has started implementing the electronic traffic system in the metro and eventually in the city outskirts, as planned. This improvement was born with many other good signs of modernity. Two giant malls are expected to be operational by January 2009. Another international call center outsourcing agency will be in business by October this year. These and many more will determine the new pacing of the city lifestyle. While I’m not against the progress of the city by the bay, I am on the other hand afraid to see that the Taclobanons get lost in the process of the urbanization. I am scared that people will soon forget their identity as a group of people and soon become oblivious with what used to be good: bibingka, ginat-an, Mags, Kankabato and the lazy afternoons in the park.

We need to remember what used to be good for it might hit us in the eyes and fail to recognize it. We need to search our hearts and recall its own beauty after all, what used to be good brought us to how we live now, what we believe in and why we keep the faith even to the littlest of our own causes till now.