I Love Women

Our company just gave out free doughnuts today in celebration of International Women's Day, and while the happy gesture was mildly corrupted by Fellow Pao's signature insinuations (haha), I still found myself doing some introspection...

(And no — I am well aware, assured and secure on my 100.07% male gender/sexual orientation. Thank you.)

How did women affect/influence my life?

Here's a list:

I'm a Lover and a Warrior

It's been an eventful day: doing the laundry, showing up for muay thai training, rushing a design revision for some friends' wedding invite, dropping by the office to copy some important files for the kids ministry (and unwittingly forgetting to unplug the flashdrive from the computer), downloading while eating/wasting (relatively) time at Burger King, traveling to Alabang, attending the YA fellowship there and of course the post-activity coffee and laughter, then finally off to my current residence in the metropolis.

It's been a fun day. And because of that, I feel sad.

Confessions of an "Unlonely" Loner

[And another repost from my old Multiply account. Yes, I'm on lazy mode.]

Single, but never alone. What does it really mean?

Several years back, we were tasked to carry on the leadership of the Single Adults Ministry (SAM) in our church. I always love to do the visuals and promotions, and with the help of our then-new digital projector and PC (which ran on a 256mb RAM, and a proud 60gb HDD), I'd take time to tinker with ideas and stuff.

One of the challenges then was thinking of a good concept on how to promote the SAM. I mean, what is SAM all about? Looking at our small group, it wasn't exactly a pretty sight: most had relational issues - that meant both those who had relationship problems, and many of those who wished they had a relationship. But as the weeks go by, I realized a question: What makes them come back and stay?

Single, but never alone. It was both an idea and a challenge - yet something I myself didn't understand fully.

3 Lovely Thoughts for the Loveless (on Valentines Day)

[A repost from my old Multiply account]

Thankfully, nobody's pestering me this week about Valentines. I'm not trying to be a stuck-up person (God knows how natural I can be at that, nyahahaha) - but seriously, the marketing hype during this season is soooooo annoying. I mean, what does it mean to love, really? And so I thought, "HEY, why don't I write my own ideas about it?" So to give myself a little bit of peace, here goes my three-piece of advice:

The Extreme Middle

It's already the second week of the impeachment trial of the Philippine's Chief Justice. And like before, opinions are getting polarized. And even Christians are finding themselves not only between whom to side with (prosecution versus defense), but also between involvement and apathy.


It almost feels like a sports event. And oh yes, my Twitter friend AmicusCuriae is acting just like a typical sports fanatic (though she denies being one):

To which, another Twitter user asked me frankly whom I am siding with.


A question which made me sympathize with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.


Who am I siding with?

SSSH: The Radical Art of Shutting Up by Shouting

Sssh.


Contrary to common knowledge, this is probably the real first word we ever learned as babies. But sssh, adoring parents wouldn't like that, won't they?


As much as we'd love to enjoy life, let's admit it: there are so many rules and laws from the day we were born, and probably more will be enacted until the day we die.


Don't do this. Don't do that.


Don't wear this; don't wear that.


Don't say this. Don't say that.


Don't behave like this; don't behave like that.


Sssh.

Here We Go Again

And so we started another new year. Hooray!


And again, a lot of us were excited — as usual.


And a lot of us, again, wore a poker face as we consumed the celebratory meal. As usual.


And then there's a lot of us who just faced it again with worries. Worries about end of the world stuff, worries about impending economic crises and job instabilities, and worries about possible calamities that can strike anywhere, anytime.


Like that's unusual.


And then, there's me.