I Miss Japan!

I want to go back to Japan. I want to explore it more.
I'm still learning the language. Its so fascinating!
The whole Japan is fascinating. One of my friends was
telling me stories about his stay there and they are all
pretty exciting... a culture full of contradictions!
I like that!

I like their food, their cities, their transportation,
their language. And they are so polite. You just have
to learn their language though because just a few knows
how to speak English or knows English. Its such a nice
experience though, trying to learn their language.

I really want to go back there. Maybe by 2009 I can
go back. I'll be preparing for that.

Alone or Lonely?

I just felt lonely all of a sudden.
I felt this little ache in my heart?

I don't know. Just a feeling of sadness.
I'm not the kind of person that gets
all mushy about boyfriends or that
"love stuff". But, I keep wondering
when will I meet the person who I
will spend the rest of my life with.

Wala lang. I don't know. It's a
weird feeling. I'm just not used to it.

Weird...

Photo Journal

I did a series of photos lately and posted it on my
Photoblog. I call it my Photo Journal.

Check it out and please leave some comments.
Please help me by being constructive with your
comments so I can improve.

Thanks very much!

Click here

restless

i am feeling restless again.
i want to do a lot of things.
don't know where to start.
not enough cash.
just need to organize.

Information Please

I just got this forwarded email today. Very touching...

When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother used to talk to it.

Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person - her name was Information Please and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anybody's number and the correct time.

My first personal experience with this genie-in-the-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway - The telephone! Quickly I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. Information Please I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.

A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information."

"I hurt my finger. . ." I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's home but me." I blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?"

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger."

After that I called Information Please for everything. I asked her for help with my geography and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math, and she told me my pet chipmunk I had caught in the park just the day before would eat fruits and nuts.

And there was the time that Petey, our pet canary died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was unconsoled. Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers, feet up on the bottom of a cage?

She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."

Somehow I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone. "Information Please."

"Information," said the now familiar voice.

"How do you spell fix?" I asked.

All this took place in a small town in the pacific Northwest. Then when I was 9 years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back home, and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the hall table.

Yet as I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me; often in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.

A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour or so between plane, and I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information Please".

Miraculously, I heard again the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn't planned this but I heard myself saying, "Could you tell me please how-to spell fix?'

There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess that your finger must have healed by now."

I laughed, "So it's really still you, I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time."

"I wonder, she said, if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls."

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.

"Please do, just ask for Sally."

Just three months later I was back in Seattle. . .A different voice answered Information and I asked for Sally.

"Are you a friend?" "Yes, a very old friend." "Then I'm sorry to have to tell you. Sally has been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago." But before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?"

"Yes."

"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down, Here it is I'll read it 'Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean'."

I thanked her and hung up. I did know what Sally meant.

From Japan

We got back from Japan a few days ago.... and Japan is truly amazing!

I love it!

Will tell stories and maybe post some photos soon!

I'm still high from my experiences there.

I will definitely go back there soon.

Beautiful Japan

I am finally able to go to one of my dream vacations.....

............ i'm going to JAPAN! .... Woohoo!!!!

i'm going with my sister and my dad! so kewl!

i cant wait!

allergy test

i just had my skin allergy test a few days ago, and just as i have
suspected, there are a lot of things that i have to avoid. and it
includes my favorite foods! argh! chocolates, ice cream, pasta
and cheese.... huhuhu....

and the few fruits that i like eating, well, i am not allowed to eat
them too.... huhuhu....

but, i am most allergic to is dust, dust mites, molds, insecticides,
cockroaches (this is ok though because i am afraid of them. hehehe),
pine trees ( good luck to me 'coz we have lots of them around
our neighborhood) and grass. Great! i can't stay outdoors and when
i'm inside our house and store, everything has to be super clean. Just
my luck!

in our house, my bed, pillows, surroundings, airconditioning and
electric fan has to be cleaned ... and vacuumed once or twice
a week. *sigh*

i feel like i'm too sick and i don't like that feeling at all. it's a good
thing though that i went to a specialist already because the doctor
told me that i should have gone to a specialist a looooong, long
time ago so that i could have been 'cured' from my allergies by
then. she (the doctor) told me too that its a good thing that i
had my allergies checked because from all the symptoms that
i told her, my allergies could have alleviated to asthma and
that could've been worse for me. *whew*

oh! and then my cousin texted me and asked how my allergies
were and what were the findings. i told her that i was not allowed
to eat chocolate. and then she reminded me that we had a pact,
along with my other cousins, my sis and bro, that we are all going
to the Chocolate Feast at Manila Peninsula this December.
i have been looking forward to that for years... aaarrrgghh...

i truly love chocolates!

well, i am still under observation, so maybe when December
comes my allergies might subside by then and i would be
allowed by my doctor to at least attend ... and eat ... at the
Chocolate Feast.

this is like, forced diet for me. *sigh* however, thats good for me
anyway because i think my health has been failing lately and
i really have to loose weight, so i truly need this. i have to start
exercising too. i'm just too lazy. hehehe.... but, anyway, i think
this is a good start for me. i tend to forget to take care of myself
when i am working. the signs have been there but i just keep
putting them aside. i think my friend is right. i have become a
workaholic. but, then again, that's a different story.

lomo-forever!

oh my gulay!

my sister and i just bought a HOLGA Camera!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

and it was cheaper than the one I saw in HongKong and
the one being sold here in the Philippines. we just have
to buy film so we could start shooting. Woohoo!

good thing too that the film for the HOLGA Camera is
being sold at Fuji Film here and they can also develop
it here. Another, Wooohoo!

i now have three (3) Lomo Cameras. FishEye 2 and the
Action Splash (with 4 lenses).

can't wait to try the HOLGA Camera! we're going to buy
the film this Sunday.

now, if I could only find the photos I took with the FishEye 2
camera, i'll post some of them here. i just love playing around
with those cameras. very kewl!

rejuvinating bangkok

i was in bangkok, thailand last week and it has been a rejuvinating experience for me. it has opened my eyes and ignited this spirit within me that i have been looking for.

the kindness and spirit of the King,

the wonderful and stimulating sights of bangkok,

the niceness and spirit of the people of bangkok,

they are all so inspiring!

its no wonder that there are a lot of people and tourists who keeps going back to thailand. it is such a lovely place.

i will definitely go back there. i love it there!

direction

i am lacking in direction right now. i'm a bit lost. i've lost my passion. i just want to go to a secluded place, surrounded by nature, and just.... meditate? nah, maybe, just let my mind wonder around for awhile. maybe by wo(a)ndering around, i'll be able to find something. i cant seem to find any meaning to what i have been doing lately. actually, i know what i am doing and why i am doing those things. i just lost my passion. my mind is muddled. i am mentally-, emotionally-, and physically-drained. its hard for me to get up in the morning. everything just seems so hard to do. i want to get away... away from everything right now.

i look horrible... i feel horrible! and i'm bringing it to our store. i think my staff feels it too. i don't want them to feel it, but its there. i just cant help it.

i know i should be feeling wonderful because there have been a lot of blessings coming in. i just don't know why i am feeling like this. i'm in a rut.

hopefully, our trip to bangkok will help me. change of environment, change of ambiance.... just simply a change from my routine.

could my meds be affecting my moods? i think so. i need to flush them out of my system immediately. i need a change. i need to change soon or i'll go insane!

business is business....

giving trust in business is sometimes hard to do. you think that you have formed an alliance, or at least, a friendship with a co-business owner, and then they stab you in the back. in the end, their true colors will appear and its all upto how you will be able to cope up with their betrayal. their friendship with you is just a facade, a means to get the information they need for their own business. i thought this person was different. unfortunately, she's just one of them. full trust could not be given to her. she'll ask for your trust, and i gave it to her. we had an agreement, but that agreement only lasted for two months on her part. i guess, when greediness comes in, trust is just shoved into a corner.

business is business still for her.... no friendship and trust required. only backstabbing and greediness are needed.

my first post

at last, i am able to write something here...

well, actually, i still have nothing to write. my mind is still clouded. i'm just bored and wanted to try this blog. i'm not much of a writer or a blogger. i don't think that anyone would be interested to read my posts. although, i like reading blogs. hopefully, i can make mine as interesting as theirs. if not, well then, i'll just have to improve myself then.

my mind is clouding up again. must be the meds i drank for my allergies. i'm so sleepy! but, here i am, still at work. good thing though that my staff can do all the stations here at the cafe now. i can just relax and just supervise their work. but, i'd really like to go home now and sleep-off the meds i took. it doesn't help too that i still have skin allergies. its been 4 days already and my allergies just wont go away. *sigh*

eniwez, have to go. or i might fall sleep.