Tag Archives: Thought Bubbles

Remembering

As we cap the celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, the Weekly Question will focus on our departed loved ones. No, I am not asking you to play favorites with the question.

Who among your dearly departed hold(s) a special place in your heart?

My Answer:

I can not really say who among my dearly departed relatives hold a special place in my heart. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents are not with us anymore. I have only seen one, among all four of them, when they died. I miss them all.

My paternal grandfather, Dada used to be active in church activities that some of our relatives thought he must have missed his calling and would often tease him as “Father Porong”.

My maternal grandmother had magic touch in the kitchen. She can cook meals that one would never forget. It just that we didn’t live with them so I was not able to study how she did these things. In fact, I think nobody in the family got her special culinary talent. Except maybe my father who is now not fond of cooking anymore.

My maternal grandfather was a very hardworking man. He would wake up at the crack of dawn and go to work in the field. After lunch, he would sit on the hammock hanging below the house. He would then go back to the field with his cart, pulled by a carabao filled by root crops and vegetables.

My maternal grandmother stayed in the house and did housework. She would sometimes get herself busy playing solitaire or one would find her sitting on her rocking chair by the window facing the direction where my grandfather would walk from the field.

I miss my grandparents. I really wished I was able to stay with them more, especially my maternal grandparents. Now I know why my mother permitted me then to travel to their place by myself when I was as young as 12 years old, to be with them. To enjoy fun times with them, to learn from them, to spend time with them. Because I was young then, I enjoyed playing with my cousins rather than spending time with them.

Alas, we can’t turn back the clock and do things that we would have wanted to do with them.

To avoid regretting not doing these things, perhaps it is time to change how we treat our loved ones by spending more time with them and keeping them closer to our heart, before time runs out.

May Liwanag Nga Ba?

Its Thursday once again. Time for Litratong Pinoy which serves as my “weekly editorial” for this blog.

The theme for this week is LIWANAG meaning light or the absence of darkness.

I thought that this post’s title “May Liwanag Nga Ba” reflects best the global financial crunch that we are experiencing.

People are losing their jobs, their homes, and their bright futures are suddenly dimmed. The financial woes are not stopping.

People are altering their lifestyles to be able to survive with lesser resources and if possible, save some for the rainy days.

People are panicking, withdrawing their investments and bank deposits and putting these in what they think are “safe” places, away from the banks whose integrity they now doubt.

The worst is not in sight and if what the financial analysts say that this is just the beginning of a financial Armageddon, how would we know the answer to “Where do we go from here?”

I hope you have not felt that you have over-extended yourself during these times.

Huwebes na naman, araw ng Litratong Pinoy, ang aking “lingguhang editoryal” sa aking blag.

Ang tema para sa linggong ito ay Liwanag o kawalan ng kadiliman.

Naisipan kong gawin ang titulo ng aking lahok na “May Liwanag Nga Ba?” upang magnilay-nilay sa pandaigdigang krisis sa usapin ng pananalapi at pamamalakad ng kalakal.

Maraming tao ang nawawalan ng trabaho, tirahan at ang kanilang kinabukasan ay tila ba isang madilim na pangitain. Ang problemang pang-pinansiyal ay tila ba wala nang katapusan.

Ang mga tao ay nag-iba ng pamumuhay gamit ang mas kakaunting ari-arian na kung maaari sana ay makapag-ipon para sa kinabukasan.

Naguguluhan ang mga tao. Marami sa kanilang may naitatabing salapi sa bangko ay kinukuha na iyon at inilalagay sa lugar na sa kanilang paniniwala ay ligtas sa mga bangkong ito, ano’t anuman ang mangyari.

Hindi pa yata natin natatanaw ang pinakamatinding dagok. Wika nga ng mga eksperto sa pananalapi, ito ay simula pa lamang ng Armageddon ng Pananalapi. Paano natin sasagutin ang tanong na “Saan tayo patutungo?”

Welcome To My Life

I have several songs in my laptop which my brother transferred when we came to visit them a few months ago.

I love listening to the many songs in that album, songs which I know those who are in my age bracket would definitely not want to listen to because some of these are not ear-friendly, with lots of guitar solos and drum bashing. I used to be a fan, still am, of some of the rock artists who play heavy music.

Anyway, there was this song from Simple Plan caught my attention, which used to be one of my least favorite MTV feature songs a few years back. The song is simple and can be sung easily. But what finally caught my attention were the lyrics. Here are the lyrics in full version and here is a video of the band singing the song.

Here are a few lines from the lyrics:

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked when you’re down
To feel like you’ve been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one’s there to save you
No you don’t know what it’s like

Weekly Question: What comes to your mind and what do you feel about the lyrics of the song “Welcome To My Life” by Simple Plan?

My answer:

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When We are Old

I have meant to write a post with photos about the poem “When You are Old” by William Butler Yeats. This has been sitting in my notepad for months already.

I can not precisely remember the reasons why I haven’t made it in a post but foremost I remember is that I do not have photos of people who were well beyond their golden age. This stage I can think of several photo images but the one I thought would be very apt would be that of the setting sun.


Finally I had photos (several taken with permission to publish) but I decided to put these in a commentary/post I have written about people beyond the golden years who still work hard for their families. Not because they love doing it but because they have no choice.

Why so?

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Freedom

Sunday marks the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.

I was a toddler when that happened in 1971 so I have no first hand experience of this infamous historical event.

People went missing, especially those who blatantly exposed themselves against the abuses of the government. Abuses were done to people who rose up and let their voices heard. Everyone was vulnerable, and hurt and felt betrayed.

Today, its a different world we live in. For me I think there is too much freedom, not that it is bad. It is good, in fact I enjoy the benefits of living in a free country.

My thoughts about having too much freedom is based upon the fact that people take advantage of this freedom by abusing it. It seems to me that the youth today are not as hardworking and as concerned with their future as well as their country’s future.

For me freedom is being able to do what one enjoys most but at the same time recognizing that there are limits to some of the things that can be done, or said.

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My opinion, anyone can voice out theirs as long as these are done in manners that does not hurt others.