In Response to Tired!

Yesterday, I was writing about a blog that complains about my lack of motivation and a prayer of desperation. Funny, my prayer was granted.

I had a talk with a former student of mine. We talked about a lot of stuff in 30 mins. I realized it is good to know how accomplished my student, former, is - knowing that I was once a part of her life and vice-versa. It's nice to hear her struggles in achieving her dreams and how mature she deals with them. Talking to her makes me know and understand her more, and I get the excitement to see her succeed because something tells me, she will.

And it suddenly dawned on me. I found my motivators!

Social Networking: Is it building or burning bridges?

Social Networking is the fad today. Majority, if not all, of urban population knows or even have an account on facebook. If you don't have one, are you even from this planet?

These social networking sites are venue to put all, even congest, all our experiences. It is where he can keep track of how we were years ago and how well we are now. We store pictures and videos, even the random ones. We post memorable moments caught on cam. We update our friends, and even the non-friends, as to the life we are living. From time to time, often, most of the time, we write our thoughts and what we are doing at the very moment. Basically, our account becomes a looking glass to our self. Really?


These kind of sites are superficial. It does provide the viewer a picture of who we are, at least, a scratch on the surface. It doesn't penetrate to the core. If you are looking to expand your range of friends, try spending time with them. (wait, let me read naruto first... and because I'm bored to what I'm writing, remind me why I wrote this blog)hahahaha

Tired!

Man, I can't even begin to imagine what will I become... I've been in this cycle long enough to get very acquainted with the feeling but not enough to console me that this feeling is temporal. I feel so useless and depressed, maybe. I've read a lot of books on seeing life positively, but why can't I? To always believe in the goodness of others, sorry I just can't see it in everybody.

I'm a mess but should I lie to myself that I'm in good shape just to look at me positively. And in turn, look at the world in a brighter vision?

Life always has problems and these problems are fleeting, so Bro. Bo says. But Bro, these problems of mine are not familiar, they're like the ebb and tide of the sea. Here now, gone later, and it's back. Perhaps, I haven't solved them and haven't learned the lesson these problems want to teach me. The fact that I know that some problem exist, I know that I need to do something about it. However, I lack the motivation to do it. I get excited to solve it one day and get lethargic the next. This always remains unsolved.

So I pray in desperation that God would listen and answer my prayers. Lord, give me the motivation, then let me see it, let me appreciate it, give me the strength to fight against discouragement. So that after all these, I can see my worth.

Purpose Driven Job

I think most people, if not all, at a certain stage ask this question “What on Earth Am I Here for?” People long for purpose. As this question starts to bother us, we immediately go to the nearest bookstore and look for books that could give us the answer. In fact, I have a book by Rick Warren called The Purpose Driven Life. It is helpful alright, but I only read up to Chapter 10. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t found my purpose yet, but I feel I’m on the right track.

                Anyway, my work involves problems. Currently, I am a Guidance Counselor. I hear many problems of students and problematic students (who cause problems to their teachers). Sitting on my chair, in my office, I ask myself “Am I fit to be sitting on this chair?” For sure, there are better counselors out there. I know there are more hard working staffs that are passionate about helping kids. There are people, who can sacrifice their leisure just to give focus on the problem at hand. I ask again “What can I offer?”

                What I have is the time. What I have is the opportunity that others don’t have. I don’t know really my purpose in life, but I strongly feel that doing the best that I can in this opportunity given to me is a good purpose. And I have decided to stick on that.

                How about you? Are you doing a purpose driven job?

Living-Leaving

I’m about to turn 25 this year. Is it safe to assume that I have consumed ¼ of my life? Maybe. When I was young, I used to hear someone dying of old age. They reach around 90 years old or so. I thought then that when a person reaches 100, then he reaches his cut-off age. It is okay to die. Well, time seems to move faster these days, everything moves faster these days, cars, money, relationships, and life among others. The average death age is 55. That’s almost half of what I assume to be the length of my life.

I’m about to turn 25 this year. So, is it safe to assume that I have consumed ½ of my life? Maybe. I have read blogs and posts that goes, “By 30 (yrs old), I should have done…” Why wait for 30? We don’t know when our time comes. If we badly want to do something, don’t wait for tomorrow to come. Do it now. Of course, we all need to live by our means, beyond that would be shortening our life also. Let’s do what we can do now and let’s do the best because we don’t know if it may be our last. I’m not saying not to set goals. Goals are important and they serve as guides. But goals are goals. Let us live today.

I’m about to turn 25 this year. So, is it safe to assume that I have lived most of my life? Well, life is not about the length of the time you lived, but lives you touched with the length of life given to you. Life is what we make it. Let us make the best out of it. Live simply. Live happy!

The Prestige

Prestige pertains to glamour. In magic, it is the part when the audience applauds the magician for an awesome and baffling performance. This reminds me of how much I enjoyed watching The Prestige starred by Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Piper Perabo, and Scarlet Johansen among others, about three years ago.

            The movie involves great cast and the plot was well-planned. I never got to a conclusion that The Professor really had a twin. I think this is the part where the character of Michael Cane would tell me “I told you so!” Well, aside from its magical treats and the beauties of Piper and Scarlet, I think the movie tells us so many things about life. One is life is full of magic. Cliché. It tackles subject about achieving ambitions and how it can be a danger to oneself if not checked. It talks about relationships created and broken in the name of ambition. It talks about revenge. It talks about loyalty. And it can go on and on…

            I would like to put the spotlight on ambition. So, to what extent is ambition healthy? And what are the signs to know that it is not?

            Ambition is good. It becomes a guide as we journey in this life. It becomes the Polaris and we are all bound to follow it, lest we get lost. Look at yourself right now, are you following the North Star, are you wondering which of the stars in the sky is North Star, or are you pretending to be following the North Star even though you know it’s the northern tip of the Southern Cross? We get lost as we live, and we get by easily if we try to find the North Star again. So, what is your ambition? Many dreams of achieving the top and as they do, they perform their task extraordinarily well to get a breath of the air on top. You see, you work hard for the ambition to happen. This means, ambition motivates us. It gives us fuel to go on even if the only reason to continue is the ambition itself and nothing else.

            I have a friend, who is so conscious in her romantic life even though she doesn’t have one. She is an introvert and holds on to her conservative principles amidst the liberated world. She sometimes pity herself because what come to her are (let me think of kinder words to describe them.. aha!) men who are ugly in all aspects. Jerks they call it. I know she is not desperate although all signs point that she is. Well, one day she met an old friend and told her about a person who can be a probable prospect (if there’s such a phrase probable prospect). Now, she got excited about it and started asking me about this guy and somehow the circumstance led me into inviting “the person” in Facebook to be my friend because he is an acquaintance of mine and then suggesting her to him. To make the story short, because of her ambition to have a boyfriend so badly, she invited “the person”. She didn’t wait for a facebook match-making application. She had an ambition, and she does things that lead her to achieving that goal. We don’t know the ending of HER love story but we learn that ambition is something good. It pushes us to do something that we would have not done without ambition. As of this writing, she sent me a message saying “OMG! He sent me a message! My crush sent me a message!*panics*” You see my point.

            So this is the part where I lay my opinion on how ambition becomes unhealthy. It has always been a fundamental fact that indulgence of something too much doesn’t give anyone any good. A lot of movies have portrayed the wrath of too much – of obsession. Let’s take it from The Prestige. Both The Great Danton and The Professor are guilty of obsession. Danton was obsessed to be a few steps ahead of The Professor. So he searched everywhere to get hold of the ultimate magic. True he got hold of the machine that duplicates anyone or anything that gets hit with its whipping voltage but on the process, he threw away his relationships with his loyal friend and illusion consultant and the love of his beautiful assistant. In the end, he died ungracefully. The professor on the other hand, in the aim of protecting his “Act” he never revealed to his wife that it is his twin brother that sometimes takes over his place in the family which becomes the cause of tension because his twin brother does not love his wife. This reaches to the point where The Professor’s wife hangs herself. In the end, as events turned into a complex web, The Professor died along with his greatest trick.

            To wrap up, ambition can be our driving force or can be our force of destruction. Whichever force you prefer, your choice.

When I Miss Something...

Nostalgia is not an unfamiliar feeling. We all miss something. We go to the beaches over the weekend when we feel the hot breeze of the sea inside an air-conditioned office. We go to the movies and watch love stories when our friend tells her story about how he met a guy and both of them fall in love. We go to the sidewalks when crispy patas taste like tempura. We take master's degree when we miss school. There is so much to say about the things we miss. The making of this blog is due to Miss!