Twisted

Happy New Year!  

Time for resolution making, a habit that almost everyone has, but keeping it is another matter.Â

What’s mine for this year is to keep myself  ’grounded’  totally. Meaning to say I have to keep myself abreast with what is truly going on in my environment and not be idealistic all the time. I guess that is why people get stressed out so easily, keeping up with the ‘Jones” in this world.

So some few tips to keep yourself sane and keeping your resolution:

1.  Be realistic with goal setting.

2. Make a real schedule of what you want to do and write it down then follow through with your actions.

3. Remind yourself that all around is God’s provision, be conscious about it and be appreciative.

4. Resolutions are made to improve oneself, keep that i mind if you want to your BEST.

5. If failed at some point in following the resolution, keep on doing it. Failing means you just need a little more help.

I hope whoever would read this will be inspired. God bless us all in this new year with blessings unlimited.

Christmas season ended in a whirl. I must have been so busy and tired that I have almost missed it. Glad that God is 24/7 with no call waiting to boot.

So, what is with this one day that almost everyone in this world look forward to? Maybe the gifts or the lights or maybe half expecting a Santa would pop up in front of the chimney, which by the way we do not have. I guess when we try to dissect this day we would end up questioning ourselves why  on earth are we rushing about?

God knows we should be rushing about remembering the reason for this season.

So again, looking back what is the reason for this season? One word… Love.

Why love? Love for who? How was it shown or given?

For God so loved the world that He gave us His beloved son…that is the why, who and how answers.

And so,the next time, Christmas comes along, remind ourselves about it and stop rushing.

I dislike going to wakes, because I have to armed myself with lots of tissues. No matter if they are related to me by blood or not, the tears just pours out.

Got to attend a wake last Feb. 14, 2008. Valentine’s Day….One of our church’s pastor and his wife got killed in a car accident. They had just dropped off their kids in school and was on their way to church when BBBBang!!!! their car was hit by a bus. I would believe the speed of that bus was over its limits because their car was terribly wrecked. I was informed about it by my husband on text and it did not quite sink in, until when i attended.

That day I was expecting me and my husband to be preparing for a romantic getaway but it was farthest in our mind to be attending a wake. It was just the past Sunday our church celebrated its 30th anniversary and the pastors each shared their thoughts about it. From a very heightened celebration to a sudden fall in the senses, the sudden passing away of our pastor, Pastor Kevin and his wife left a wake up call to all of us.

All who attended had mixed emotions. Some were trying to capture the last time they had an encounter with the couple, others were deep in their thoughts why God had to take both, and what will happen to the kids, and a handful who had never met them share in the church’s grief of a lost member. The eulogies shared by those who knew them best was heartbreaking especially when one of them was tasked that day by Pastor Kevin to prepare three flowers for his wife shared hers. And one shared how both couples were in life, with three words…Knowledge,Skill and Character. Such gifted people yet God chose them to have a date in heaven. In a twisted view, they had the most romantic date in the world.

MIND YOU, I am not saying this is how God wakes us up everytime. And it is not for me to question how God does things. After having read about the little girl in the Bible who had lost her family and was taken by the enemy to be a slave, it opened up my mind how God acts on some things and how we as humans should react. The little girl became the servant of Naaman’s wife. Naaman is a powerful leader who had successfully won battles for Syria but he was a leper. This little girl despite her circumstances shared her faith by professing about God’s healing power. In which the man took action by searching out the prophet Elisha and as the story goes he became well again completely. He even vowed to worship the living God.

For those who believed in the Bible which I would strongly recommend, the little girl’s action was plain stupid some would say but for me she was brought up well by her family in that even in any difficult circumstance, even in that loss her faith withstood all difficulties. This is like a wake up call that God is in control and our life is temporary. Like a thief in the night, at the blink of an eye everything ends….even if we are in the middle of doing somethings or otherwise.

I guess I am reminding myself that always …in order to better prepare those around me once I am ‘scheduled’.  To live life to the fullest is one thing Ilike to do but I believe it will never happen, maybe for a day yes but never a lifetime.

The night before Valentine, knowing it is a day of hearts and I wanted something special for that day I asked my hubby to be “creative”. And so the morning came, after giving me a peck and greeting me ‘Happy Valentine’ he went off to work. I had a scheduled meeting at lunch that day and asked him if he wanted to go with me. We were to commute since the car was not available. He was readily game with the commute, knowing he have not done so since his college days…which I have to say has been years ago.  I was afraid for him because everytime we go out people had mistaken him for a foreigner…and it causes trouble on its own which I will just leave it at that. After the meeting we went home thinking, ahh this is how ‘creative’ he can get. Somehow I did not push it but was glad that he exerted effort.I was then set for a Valentine snack date with my son and we had it in Jollibee. The father tagged along too. By this time  I  received the news about the tragic accident our church’s pastor and his wife had. My husband asked me if I will go to the wake and I said ok but in my mind I was thinking, do they have kids? Who will take care of them? Why?

Early that night I called my husband and told him there are three reasons why I will not go and recounted it to him but i also added that I will think about it. Right after that call I received a text from a church mate who I rarely meet asking us to attend the wake. Seeing that God might be pointing out something I called back my husband and we immediately left for church.

In all this, I told my husband to be creative but how it turned out was not what I expected  neither did he nor the other members of our church who were all preparing to be romantic that day and became busy with preparing for the wake.

Wow big words for someone from the Philippines who only experienced signal #3 typhoons.! Got to go with my mom to HongKong last Thursday 8/9/07 on board Cathay Pacific. The plane got off on time but due to some turbulence we arrived a little bit delayed.

We took the A21 bus to the city and got off at Nathan Road 50-60+, went to look for our dwelling place – Kowloon Hostel now known as USA Hotel. The whole floor on the 13th were hostels with different owners. We did not stay at the one we booked online because it was super stuffy and super small, although it has a bath. I felt that I will not be able to rest right so we upgraded our room from a US$39/2 person/night to almost US$65/night. The $21 difference was worth it because it was spacious and windows surround. Not much for views but ventilation was way much better. But the Tv has poor reception, the aircon was ok the first night but not anymore on the second. Nevertheless it was much, much better. The staff were ok although speaking their language or mandarin would have more advantage, then you can get more detailed info if you have inquiries. Similar to the small restaurants that we went to, even the Coral Place… we had to point to pictures for them to understand what we wanted to order…

Anyway on our second day after we have achieved our goals in the morning we went around shopping at Sogo, Causeway Bay. Around 3pm, the Sogo personnel asked everyone to leave the premises due to an announcement that typhoon signal #8 was declared. Apparently this alarmed everyone to go to their own home immediately and that all shops will be closed. Imagine the rush, the panic, and the way people really followed the government’s warning despite it. My mom and I followed the throngs of people to the subway. There we experienced having to walk down the stairs that they have because both the escalators and the elevators were full. I have to tell you when you say going down the steps it was really deep…I have never given a thought on how deep a subway is, only then. With our belongings, which was a lot because i have started shopping items for my kids, the weight was doubled while going down the steps and even more so when we had a long wait for the train due to lots of people and delay of the train’s arrival. Finally arriving at Tsim Tsa Tsui station, you can see people buying groceries left and right, bread off the shelves in a blink of eye. Even the bread that I was eyeing was taken off the shelf by another buyer…seems like courtesy is gone out the window once people are on a panic mode… Have I told you that despite my encounter of the above mentioned, in my mind I was still thinking…are these people over reacting a little bit? Because if I compared the weather when I was there and the one I experienced in the Philippines it did not seem at all threatening.

When we reached shelter, I called up a cousin who lives nearby and asked how grave is signal #8 . She told me just to stay put and not leave the building because it has not experienced such an alarm for a long time. She said that all stores closes and so people really stuff up on food just in case the typhoon might stay a while. She also mentioned that incidents of falling debris had caused accidents to happen. After some more chitchats, we said our goodbyes and i called up another cousin who lives in Yu Tong area. We made a previous appointment of meeting at 5 so I was supposedly cancelling but she said it was ok to travel since it is by subway…and so we did. We had a nice evening and then returned to the hostel.

Back at the hostel, news of riot at the subway one or two station way from where we alighted made both me and mom sigh of relief. relief that we had followed our instinct to instantly go home or else we would have been stuck like them… By the way the wind was strong and gutsy the rain was not much though, probably why I said it did not seem like an 8 but more of a 2 for us here.

We came home last night. Hongkong was overcast with grey clouds I guess they’ll be experiencing more rains. I felt I was finally home when I saw my spouse and heard my son shouting gleefully at the top of his voice.

I guess this is it. My first post ever…feels weird…feels like i am writing to myself… but the thoughts are pouring in so I guess lets move on with the show. Ever wondered what to write about? I am wondering now. So far the last letter I wrote was one of complaint. Lost are those days that i wrote friendly and loving letters or stories of magic and fairy tales ( mind you, i did and it was a mixture of many famous fairy tales just like the movie shrek but theirs are comic…should have sold my story then but to who….hmmmm). I asked my hubby one day how to blog, he said just sit down and write. Btw, he created this site for me… Create…sounds like man is trying to be God…”we create” a world that runs on its own… the internet is really becoming virtually REAL. Just like the movie of Pierce Brosnan wherein the computer literally stepped out of its world to be man. I wonder what the next generation would do to add to the progress…. Computer age, digital age, what age are we in anyway? It keeps on moving i have lost tracked.I was reading an autobiography recently and looked at their pics from boyhood to their sunset years. I still can not fathom how one changes from an active individual to an old seemingly useless individual. From a fast paced life to a slow trodden pacing. I still fear that this day will happen to me. What if the progression of technology is too complex for me to learn then i think that is the time my mind will suddenly cease from moving fast. The synapses on my brain would slow down and so will my physical deterioration starts. I wonder how writing it on this would help me in the future, I might not even remember my password then….hahahaha