Steady Rush. February 2013
Title: I Like You To Be Still
Artist: Luis Bacalov (Read By Glenn Close)
34 plays
I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
and you hear me from far away and my voice does not touch you.
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth.
As all things are filled with my soul
you emerge from the things, filled with my soul.
You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream,
and you are like the word Melancholy.
I like for you to be still, and you seem far away.
It sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:
Let me come to be still in your silence.
And let me talk to you with your silence
that is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring.
You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations.
Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid.
I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
distant and full of sorrow as though you had died.
One word then, one smile, is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it’s not true.
Dodiongan Falls, Iligan City | 042013
Finally.
It took me awhile to convince some friends to join me in a nature adventure trip to this falls and thankfully enough for whatever reasons they had, their adventure juices finally gave in! It’s been a long time that I’ve been itching to say, TOUCHDOWN DODIONGAN FALLS!
The trail to the falls can be quite challenging. It involves a lot of trekking as you would come across boulders of different sizes that you need to climb and rocky streams that you need to cross. If you really are the outdoorsy type of person you would definitely enjoy the way to the falls. Just follow the stream and in more or less 20 minutes, you’ll reach the beautiful falls.
I appreciate how the place is still pristine. You get to appreciate nature better when it is devoid of any human constructions: just plain trees and mountains and the gentle sound of the waters, birds and crickets.
As we arrived, we were greeted by the graceful fall of waters to its green basin. We then found a spot for our things and hurriedly went for a swim! Just as we were about to eat our lunch, it unexpectedly rained and as soon as it stopped after 15 minutes, we gathered around and shared our lunches to each other. The rain did not hinder us from the joy of enjoying the fresh waters. We swam to our heart’s content!
Watch our adventure: Click here!
How to get there:
From city proper:
- Ride a jeepney (Dalipuga, Sta. Felomina or San Roque Line) and drop off at the Barinaut crossing (fare is 9 Php)
- Ride a habal-habal and tell the driver to take you to Dodiongan falls (fare is 30 Php)
- Start your trekking and follow the stream to reach the falls!
P.S. Just a quick back story. I actually defied my doctor who did not allow me to go on the said trip because I had mild asthma but when you honestly know that you are good to go and your body can handle it well, then off you go! :D For the love of adventure and nature!
Photos by: Kim Romero
Hoping that I can give you more than what you’ve given me and make you both proud at the very least. Thank you dear lily and charley!
Theoretical Framework
At some point, I knew that I would inevitably engage myself in conversations about making crucial life-altering decisions. By now, I have helplessly acknowledged the fact of actually having reached that point or just almost. And the two straight unusual coffee sessions could perhaps attest to that.
Dearest folks, I might just have a non-serious case of graduation jitters.
Little miss sunshine as I consider myself, I never fully grasped why people get way too scared of the future. I constantly remind myself that the future is full of bright hopes, full of immense possibilities but also full of provoking challenges. And whilst that was my faithful line of positive thinking years ago, it all hastily faded away not until two weeks back when reality gradually dawned on me that I am actually graduating in college. And voila! It was another story for little miss sunshine doubter! It is truly in these kinds of times that I have finally understood where those afraid people are coming from.
Indeed, the future is pretty scary.
Its daunting capabilities are even worsened as we (admit it or not) choose not to acknowledge earlier some of life’s important questions desperately begging for our answers or just even only our mere attention. Nevertheless, those questions that we often set aside in the past are now slowly surfacing, hauntingly demanding the fullest of our attention. And you cannot just simply flee away as life poses to you the greatest question it has set for you at this specific moment: What comes next after college?
I am not quite sure if there’s an exact universal answer to this but I reckon the answer is simple. Too simple perhaps that we tend to doubt its simplicity. In our deepest innards, I know that we all know the careers we want, the desires of our heart and our guts are yelling at us to go there, follow and live those dreams. BUT! There’s a big but like a huge wall that appallingly stands in our way as if making these simple decisions really complex. These intoxicating buts that are lurking around the corner are in the forms of the doubts of our capabilities, the uncertainties of what lays ahead, fears of failing expectations, and significant familial circumstances that cripples the power of the simple and honest answer that we have for ourselves.
Shamefully, I don’t have the answers right now for myself and I don’t have the answers for you either. Blame it on my indecisiveness, my lack of self-awareness and self-belief, my lack of self-vision and all other things I don’t know of myself that contributed to this dilemma that I am currently in torment. At this point, I declare that all of this over thinking is too much to swallow. And I’ll hang you a bit. So I stop. Here. I stop –
And get back to the theoretical framework of my thesis that patiently stands by on the other window waiting to be perfected.
Ciao!
Johnoy Danao | BATC Enclave | 020913
For the record, among all the music gigs I have been to, this Johnoy Danao gig is probably the closest to my heart. And it isn’t because it happened in the month of February (you know what I mean) but mainly because 1. his song selection is unbelievably perfect and 2. he undeniably has a gooood daaaamn flawless voice! He caught me even just with his first song - Wildflowers by Tom Petty and from then on, I was floating adrift on mid air. I shook myself in disbelief as he perfectly sang all the songs that I truly loved, as how he was able to give justice to those songs and how he was able to put his own acoustic touch to them. He is definitely the man with exceptional choice of songs: Oasis, Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, U2, Eheads, Snow Patrol songs and a whole lot more. If my belief is right, during the second set, he played more songs than what he ought to be. He even gladly gave in to the request of the crowd and sang a last song as the crowd cheered ‘more’ right after he bid goodbye. (We wished it would never end! hahaha!) So I guess, beneath the good voice lies the passionate and generous soul of his.
And as mushy as it may get, it was the perfect Saturday night that seemed to be unending but nevertheless ended with sheer delight and satisfaction.
P.S.It is because of my obsession of watching pre-nup videos that I stumbled and discovered his music. In the pre-nup video When Mary Met Guido, I heard his not yet famous at that time “Ikaw at Ako” song and from then on, I fell in love. Balik diri sa Iligan Johnoy!
P.P.S. Sorry if the camera flash hurt your eyes.
Photos by Gerald Castillo
Lord of the Flies
The buddy for an hour and a half while my plane seatmates are busily planning over cooking sessions and vacation trips.
P.S. Thank you for one of the many awesome 20th gifts wheresburger!
Title: Shine
Artist: Benjamin Francis Leftwich
164 plays
I could fly you away with me to the furthest place you’ll ever be
We could smoke ‘til the sun goes down and without a sound, without a sound
We’d fall asleep by the big blue sea, with open eyes so we could see
The way it shines for you and I, you know it’ll shine until we fly
I hope you find the love that’s true, so the morning light can shine on you
I hope you find what you’re looking for, so your heart is warm for ever more
Merry Kate
Tonight as I washed the dishes, as I am typing on this keyboard, as I chewed my dinner awhile ago, as I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, a heap of comforting relief and a surge of unexplained happiness is filling me to the brim. It tingles my nerves, it waters my eyes and it deeply moves my heart.
Tonight, a boy, a special boy on his bunk bed havehadwillshall excitedly open advance Christmas gifts from such good generous people.
And boy, I never asked for a thank you from you. An assurance that for the the many coming tomorrows, you will try to become a good person that you are is already enough for me. A promise that you boy would never give up no matter how cruel this world can be to you is more than enough for me. Never give up because God has the best plans for you. It may not be immediate but surely in His own special time.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Uttering those lines to you was the best feeling that I ever did felt in my entire life. No regrets for having said those lines. In fact, I am truly honored.
I just realized that everyday we are given countless chances to save somebody from something. And today my friends and I have decided to save one boy - one soul. But we can only do this much. It’s your turn boy to believe and have faith for your life. Believe and have faith.
Merry Christmas!
And if we could float away,
Fly up to the surface and just start again.
And lift off before trouble just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us in the rain
Just erodes us and see roses in the rain
I still could vividly remember how I really TRIED HARD reading the biography book “Marie Antoinette: The Journey” by Antonia Fraser way back in fourth year high school. But that trying hard part didn’t sustain for that long and seems like it actually shaped my notion of how I started to dislike reading biography books ‘til now.
Aside from my self-confessed love for the Beatles, this book - The Beatles: The Real Story by Julius Fast however changed every notion of boringness I had conceived of reading biography books in general. I believe the main thing to be considered in reading biography books is that you must and should be really interested of the subject to avoid the deathly-trying-hard at all part. After all, its a biography you’re reading, right?
Bonus points! This book is a cheap find from a thrift bookstore!
carpe diem
An itching bucket of thoughts with a pinch of blithe spontaneity. Junior psychology major who marvels life more and more every morning she wakes up and is happy enough to share her usual cup of tea and do hug trees! :)
