Hearts Month

Sharing with a you a post on romantic love I made for our common blog, I Think Therefore I'm Write, a couple of years ago.  Wow! How times flies! I suddenly miss my ERMG days with the girls and our countless anything-under-the-sun conversations.  Our favorite topic, as this post and most of the contents of the blog would suggest, is love.  Those were the days when I would wake up every morning excited to go to work and don't mind staying late at the office to be with the girls--definitely among the best days of my life. It's a blessing that we were at the right place at the right time to be with each other.  I miss being with them everyday, but I'm thankful that we're able to make time to keep in touch and still be part of each other's lives

Philip Yancey's description of romantic love below is my favorite. Romantic love is an elusive topic, but Philip Yancey's description is relatable. I especially like how he used "common grace" in this context. I'm reminded of Jean Valjean's scene in the movie Les Miserables when he was overwhelmed by the grace, hope, love, and forgiveness that he experienced (in a non-romantic love context) when he sang Suddenly (I love this song!). I was moved to tears while watching that scene; grace is indeed amazing, a beautiful gift from God, and an overwhelming experience.  

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Boracay sunset

I just wanted to share Philip Yancey’s description of romantic love. It is an excerpt from his book What’s So Amazing About Grace? when he briefly touched on the subject.

For many, romantic love is the closest experience of pure grace. Someone at last feels that I—I!—am the most desirable attractive, companionable creature on the planet. Someone lies awake at night thinking of me. Someone forgives me before I ask, thinks of me when she gets dressed, orders her life around mine. Someone loves me just the way I am…

 …About the same time, I fell in love. It felt exactly like a fall, a head-over heels tumble into a state of unbearable lightness. The earth tilted on its axis. I did not believe in romantic love at the time, thinking it was a human construct, an invention of fourteenth-century Italian poets. I was as unprepared for love as I had had been for goodness and beauty. Suddenly my heart seemed swollen, too large for my chest. 

I was experiencing “common grace,” to use the theologian’s term. It is a terrible thing, I found to be grateful and have no one to thank, to be awed and have no one to worship. Gradually, very gradually, I came back to the cast-off faith of my childhood. I had experienced the “drippings of grace,” C.S. Lewis’s term for what awakens deep longing for a “scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

On Faith and Hope

Beautiful song.  I’m thankful for this reminder of God's faithfulness at times when my vision of the future is obscured by anxious heart.  I know it will all make sense in the future.  I’m excited to see how God will work in my life. 

YOU'LL COME

By Hillsong

I have decided I have resolved

To wait upon You Lord

My Rock and Redeemer Shield, and Reward

I'll wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise

You'll come to us

As certain as the dawn appears

You'll come let Your glory fall

As You respond to us

Spirit rain, flood into our thirsty hearts again

You'll come

We are not shaken we are not moved

We wait upon You Lord

Mighty Deliverer Triumph and Truth

We wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise You'll come to us

Certain as Your word endures

Chains be broken

Lives be healed

Eyes be opened

Christ is revealed

Lessons from Happy Aquarium

It’s been over a year since I stopped playing Happy Aquarium.  It’s mainly because around two years ago, my laptop of more than five years has unsurprisingly started to fall apart.  I was also really busy, and so my free time was reserved for loved ones and rest. Since then, I stopped playing the game until yesterday.

I chanced upon the Happy Aquarium icon yesterday when I checked my Facebook account.  I clicked it to check whether it would take a long time for the page to load as it did before.  I was thrilled when it didn’t! The first that thing I noticed are the many enhancements it now has compared to the features available when I last played the game—the light switch, large tank, hybrid fish variety, and nursery tank, among others.

Needless to say, playing Happy Aquarium is among my favorite past times.  When I first started playing it in 2009, I’d spend at least an hour online everyday to clean my tanks and watch my fishes grow. The goal of the game is pretty simple—earn XPs to advance to the next level (which comes with some perks like unlocking some items available for sale) and collect coins (and pearls) to be able to buy more fish, props, and tanks.  The simplicity of the game and its calming effect are the features that make me look forward to play the game day in and day out. 

While waiting for my fishes to grow (and at the same time realizing that I’ve spent too much time playing the game!) a while ago, I asked myself “what can I gain from playing this game when I could have just read something or cleaned my room, for example?” It then hit me that the lure of the game is its reward system—it is similar to how we achieve our goals in life. 

Values such as diligence, hard work, dedication, perseverance, and patience are rewarded in the game.  A player who religiously cleans the tanks of others (to earn 2 XPs vs. 21 XPs per click in cleaning one’s tank) and feeds the fishes of others (which earns minimal coins as compared to harvesting the coins in one’s tank) values the marginal benefits of working with extra effort when optimal options have been exhausted.   Enterprise is also encouraged, as one can profit from buying fish at a low price and selling high once the fish becomes adult (and has been trained for a higher price).  

I was also reminded of the saying “no man is an island”.  Aside from the benefits of having neighbors for added potential to earn more XPs and coins, having neighbors, who once in a while write you messages and sends you gifts, give one something to look forward to and make the toils of repetitive work bearable.  For the more competitive and output-driven players, the tedious task of cleaning every single tank and doing things efficiently for extra XPs become goals to stay ahead of the game.

In the past two days that I’ve started to play the game again, the pleasant memories came back to me.  I was reminded of simple joys of decorating my aquarium, checking out my neighbors’ tanks, buying fishes and props, hunting for treasures, receiving surprise gifts, naming my fishes, playing with friends and family, and waiting for the fishes to grow.  This is why I’ve decided to check my account at least weekly to unwind.  

         

My new tank. This is where I grow my fishes for sale. I love how the colors blend!

Let's Go, Buddy!

The Robinsons Supermarket Fit & Fun Wellness Buddy Run is going to be my first official race for 2011.  I haven’t been joining races as much as I wanted to, because it has become a luxury for me ever since this happened and registration fees started to skyrocket.  Good thing we only had to pay a minimal fee for this run, because it’s a company event and so the fee is subsidized.

Our 10K race kits.  Mine is the yellow one.

For those who have to pay the regular price, the good thing about this race is the freebies. Unlike other runs, the Buddy Run gives away grocery items and other finisher treats instead of the usual loot bag.

I’m also very excited, because it’s going to be my first official buddy race with Memots.  I’ve ran a good 4 K with Memots at the UP oval in one of our practice runs for our first 21K run.  It was fun, because for the most part we were chatting about random things. Although we had to stop before we finished the second round--no thanks to my abdominal pain due to improper breathing.

 With my running buddy

Another fun part of joining this run is we get to choose our team name.  It took us until past 6 pm when we finally agreed to our really cool team name.  It’s top secret; but as a treat to those who read this entry, below are some hints:

Good luck!

When Small Things aren’t Small

Early this morning I got upset on my way to work. It’s one of those days when all is well until you realize that someone took advantage of you (I hate being short-changed!).  If you’re one of my colleagues, you’ve heard several stories about my bus-ride horrors and how I dealt with such situations.   This morning,  instead of confronting the issue, I let it pass.  Little did I know that by not doing anything about it would trouble me a few minutes later!  

When I caught myself being upset over something petty, I was reminded of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s closing words in his book The Black Swan: 

I am sometimes taken aback by how people can have a miserable day or get angry because they feel cheated by a bad meal, cold coffee, a social rebuff, or a rude reception…We are quick to forget that just being alive is an extraordinary piece of good luck, a remote event, a chance occurrence of monstrous proportions.   

Imagine a speck of dust next to a planet next to a planet a billion times the size of the earth.   The speck of dust represents the odds in favor of your being born; the huge planet would be the odds against it.  So stop sweating the small stuff.  Don’t be like the ingrate who got a castle as a present and worried about the mildew in the bathroom.  Stop looking the gift horse in the mouth   --remember that you are a Black Swan…

Indeed, when you think about it, our very existence is a miracle in the grand scheme of things.   The many things I ought to be thankful for--the countless daily blessings that sustain life--are sometimes overshadowed by everyday disappointments and ill feelings; which is why the challenge for me now is to discipline the mind by focusing on happy thoughts, blessings and grace-full moments.  

Self, Happiness, Love

Sharing with you my favorite excerpts from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground*--there’s so much wisdom in these lines worth pondering.      

In every man’s memory there are things he won’t reveal to others, except, perhaps, to friends. And there are things he won’t even reveal to friends, only, perhaps, to himself, and then, too, in secret.  And finally, there are things he is afraid to reveal even to himself, and every decent man has quite an accumulation of them.  

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People like to count only their troubles, not the good things in their lives.  If they looked properly, they’d see that everybody has his share of happiness allotted to him.   

  *****

Love is God’s mystery and should be hidden from outsider’s eyes, whatever happens. This makes it holier, better. The husband and wife respect each other more, and a great deal is founded on respect And if there has been love, if they are married for love, why should love cease? Isn’t it possible to keep it alive?  It is a rare case when it’s impossible.    Besides, if the husband is a kind and honest man, how can love pass? It’s true, the feeling of the early married days will pass, but the love that will come afterwards will be still better.   Man and wife will grow close in spirit; they’ll share in common all their doings, they’ll have no secrets from each other.  And when children start coming, the hardest times will seem happy, so long as there is love and courage. Work goes like a song, and even if you have to deny yourself a piece of bread once in a while for your children’s sake, life’s full of joy all the same.  After all, they’ll love you for it afterwards; so that you’re really saving for your own future.     

The children start growing up, and you feel that you are setting an example for them; that even when you die, they’ll carry your thoughts and feelings inside them all their lives, for you’ve bequeathed them of your image, and they will grow up in your likeness.  So you see, this is a great duty, and how can the mother and father help but get closer? Some people say it is a hardship to have children.  But who says so?  It’s a joy from heaven!

*Translated by Mirra Ginsburg 

2011 Challenge No. 2044258

This was emailed to me last Wednesday morning.  It made my day.

Thanks for sharing, Memots!

It's an invite from Memots to start training for our first 21 K run this year.  Although I still don't want to leave the 10 K comfort zone, this gave me something to look forward to.  

Memots and I want to make our half marathon run as fun and safe as possible, and so cutting corners is not an option.   With this goal in sight, we've decided to run regularly and do things gradually.  Not to mention our intention to religiously do our warm up/cool down routines every run.

Tomorrow I will start my training.   On Wednesday night, we are scheduled to run in UP.  We are also planning to register for our first 2011 race this March.  I'm so excited! 

Now I  have a very good reason to start sleeping early.

Season of Love

Wow!  It's been more than three months since my last entry!  Time indeed flies when one's preoccupied with so many things.   But it's never too late to revive the blog. And what better way to start the 2011 blog calendar on a February than to have a (drum roll please) --vday special!

Vday surprise from (in alpahbetical order) Anna, Bavs, Ms. Dana, and Sir Gene.  Thanks for the love! 

Slowly but Surely, I Hope

I injured my right knee last May as I trained for my first 10K race. Come the day of the race, my right knee was still injured. Although I was lucky to finish the race, I do not want to experience the same kind of physical pain—not to mention the anxiety of the moment—in my future races.

As I prepare for the Adidas KOTR run on the 24th, I was able to evaluate my training habits  in light of what happened last May and tried to correct the training don’ts that I employed. Looking back, my first 10k run taught me that there are things one cannot rush—and that includes preparing for a race. It is just that I sometimes get too excited in trying out something new that I overlook constraints that matter.

By Stuff No One Told Me
For more illustrations, click this.

Let me share with you some techniques that I have learned (the hard way!) from my previous race experience. It has been over a month of training, and so far the following methods are delivering results—no signs of my previous right knee condition with prolonged jogging (i.e. 50 minutes of non-stop running, the longest so far).

1. Long Hiatus – I had to refrain from running/jogging for over three months to give my right knee sufficient time to recuperate.

2. Warm Up – My pre-injury warm up routine includes the five/ten-minute walk and not-over-two-minutes stretching exercises, if it happens (I skip doing stretches whenever I wake up a few minutes late). After the injury, a serious warm up routine is now obligatory. I also adjust the warm up routine depending on the target mileage/jogging time on schedule.

3. Light and Slow – There is a need to resist the tendency to speed up when the adrenalin rush kicks in (it is usually at the start of the jog for me). Sometimes I do not realize how fast/slow I am going, especially when I am jogging  alone. After the injury, I have learned to pay attention to my body and to adjust my movements accordingly.  This technique also best applies to uphill routes.

4. Stick to Schedule – When I started to train for the KOTR run, I followed the five-minute-run-on-week-one routine—pattered after Sir Gene’s Recovery Attempts from ITBS—that has a weekly five-minute progression for the succeeding weeks of training. Although I had to modify my weekly progression after a month, the incremental change is based on how my body is catching up; what is important is that the weekly increase is not  too drastic. The difficult part comes at the end of the running session, because one might feel that the body could still handle a few more rounds/minutes but one has to stop nevertheless. The other difficult part is foregoing other running opportunities scheduled before the race.

5. Cool Down – The temptation to change clothes, prop the legs up, eat, and bathe is so strong after a long run. This is why before the injury, cool down meant walking for not more than five minutes before heading straight home. Only recently have I incorporated proper cool down into my routine, which includes a ten-minute walk and stretching exercises. This probably explains why I no longer feel dizzy and sore after a run.

6. Change of Route – There are two uphill routes in our neighborhood. When I trained for my first 10K run, I always took the one that has a steeper and longer uphill route for two reasons: it is a longer route and I feel safer—home owners wake up early in that side of the neighborhood. This route, being the more challenging one,  must be avoided without due preparation. During the first five weeks of my (KOTR) training, I managed to avoid the longer route. It was only last week when I was forced to take the longer route—thanks to the dog that greeted me on my usual route as I was warming up. The next time I take the longer route, I just have to make sure that my steps are light and slow.

7. Gait Adjustment – I still do the impromptu remedy that I discovered during the Nature Valley run. This technique eliminates the need for new shoes and knee band.

You're Only a Day Away

 

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3: 22-23

Vintage Comeback and Style

I attended the talk titled Fashion 911 yesterday given by my friend Esther. The talk had three main parts--vintage comeback, must-haves, and look for less. The talk is an update of the Do You Want to Be Stylish? Have You Found Your Personal Style workshop for students and young professionals held last November.

The Speaker: Esther Ong

The talk started off with a description of vintage style followed by a brief background on the eras that defined vintage style as we know it today. The speaker gave examples as to how socio-political events then influenced style and fashion. For instance, floral prints and earth-tone colors were typical of the hippie culture that advocated back-to-nature way of life. The puffed/padded sleeves symbolize women prowess that has its roots in women rights movements that consequently empowered women over the years.

The background on puffed/padded sleeves reminded me of Lady Gaga. It all makes sense now.

Esther stressed that the contemporary vintage look is the current fashion trade. Boutiques such Top Shop, Zara, and Mango have incorporated the vintage designs into their pieces. Aside from floral prints and puffed/padded sleeves, vintage style must-haves include brown belts, sailor/nautical/navy designs (i.e. stripes), and denim, among others.

The speaker shared practical advice on achieving a vintage look for a fraction of the original designer price. The tips were useful, since Esther was able to name establishments to visit and which brands to look for. Her personal favorite is SM department store, because of its up-to-date collections and quality items. The basic technique is to take advantage of price differentials by finding chic but inexpensive alternatives.

Identical beadwork design from Zara (left) and a department store-bought top (right)

Congrats, sis!

Stubborn Dry Cough

It was early last year when I first started to have allergic reactions to dust, smoke, and certain scents (i.e. cologne/perfume and chemicals/solvents). The allergy cough went on for months, because I delayed checkup. You see, I don’t like checkups for two reasons: I don’t like going to hospitals, because the sight of sick people—especially the older ones—depresses me; and I don’t like taking medicines, because I have reservations about western medicine. I always preferred doing it the natural way—fluids, rest, natural sources of vitamins. When my parents finally succeeded in talking me into seeing a doctor, the coughing was healed after a week of treatment.

Lately, I’ve been coughing again—the same kind I had last year. Once again I tried to avoid checkup for reasons stated above. However, after two painful months, I had to come to terms with reality that no amount fluids, rest, and vitamin intake could cure it; especially because I commute to work and the air pollution in Metro Manila is really bad (the early morning/late afternoon Ortigas skyline view from my area would attest to that).

And so I caved. Besides, last year’s treatment was effective.

My first appointment with the (same) doctor was last July 17. The doctor prescribed medication for allergy/asthma and antibiotics (since the day before I caught a cold). I was also advised to sleep early and avoid stress. The follow-up checkup was last Saturday, wherein I learned that the coughing is caused by asthma. Aside from what the doctor prescribed the last time (sans the antibiotics and cough syrup), he also prescribed inhaler, which I refuse to take because I fear that the side effects would do more harm than good. Antihistamine et al. should do it for me, at least for one more week.

Checkup 1 Medication

For the one-week challenge, I resolve to: take my vitamins and medicine on time; sleep early; avoid cold drinks/food; avoid sweets; avoid strenuous activities.

Intramuros

Raewyn invited me to join her and Migs (her classmate in photography workshop) in a photo shoot in Intramuros last Sunday. I was excited to go, because the last time I went there is when I was still in college to take pictures and jot down notes for a school project. I remember that I enjoyed the trip then, although visiting Intramuros this time for leisure and leisure alone is more fun.

Intramuros 1

Intramuros 2

This photo shoot is different for two reasons: It is my first time to take pictures of someone willing to pose for me (with concept, props, and make-up); and it is my first time to ‘model’ for someone. I was really impressed by the talent of my three models--Raewyn, Lee, and Migs. I felt like working with pros--they were willing to follow my directions, not to mention their ability to smize and pose. Meanwhile, I was uncomfortable in front of the camera. I just could not pull off a serious or candid orchestrated look. Perhaps it is because smiling is my reflex response in front of the cameral; and I prefer spontaneity during pictorials.

Raewyn 1

Raewyn 2

Raewyn 3

Raewyn 4

Lee 1

Lee 2

Lee 3

Lee 4

Me - By Lee

Street Fighter-inspired fight scene

Lee and Migs

I enjoy being with fellow hobbyist, because it is always a learning experience. Some of their inputs and perspective are not something you can learn from books and tutorials. Their eagerness to try something new inspires me.