me and my so-called Life...: May 2009

May

I Am

One boring day, I was randomly choosing new songs to sync into my iPod when I came upon a Hilary Duff song entitled “I Am”. It’s one of the songs in her self-titled second album and not really that known to many people. I used to listen to it, actually. I like the beat, the moderate tempo and some of its ironic lyrics. I instantly clicked the play button to listen.

The song describes a real person. It describes the real you, the real me, the REAL us. We think our life is complex but the truth is it’s rather simple. We love but we still hate. We get lonely but most of the time, we still laugh and smile. We are in touch with reality but at the end of the day, we still keep our wildest dreams and hopes inside our hearts. We fear a lot of things yet we still believe we are strong. Sometimes, we doubt ourselves but still think we can do it. Well, my point anyway is that this is us, our nature. I think you’ll find a part of you in the song. I know I did!!

You may think I’m corny by saying these things but I still believe that everybody can relate to the song, whether you’re a tough guy, an old lady, a pessimist, girl-next-door, or an average joe. I know it worked for me. Whenever I listen to this song, I feel like all my mistakes are erased, that I’m perfect just the way I am. I can do something others can’t, I fear something they don’t.

In some ways, we’re not really that different from each other. Everybody has flaws, doubts, and especially fears… but sometimes we conquer everything in our way. It’s not always the negative side of us. I may not be Einstein but this I know for sure, God is a perfectionist. He wanted everything he created to be perfect, including us. And he did just that by making us imperfect. By accepting who we are, we’re perfect in His eyes.

Before I become melodramatic here, I’m going to stop this now. For the experience of embracing your whole you, you can listen to the song and read the lyrics. Trust me, the song’s about YOU…enjoy…

I Am - Hilary Duff
FREE MP3 DOWNLOADS @ MP3-CODES.COM

Lyrics Hillary Duff lyrics - I Am lyrics

May

PROPHECY

Labels: high school, ICS, prom comments (1)

(unabriged)

It has been a very tiring day. I came home exhausted. It felt like a dementor sucked all the happiness and energy out of me. Upon reaching the house, my mother instantly asked me how my day was. I wanted to shout “HELL” but instead, I calmly muttered “Fine”. She said something about dinner. I didn’t understand her so I ignored it and went straight to my room. Without changing my clothes, I crept to my bed. I took my iPod and put the earphones in my ears letting the music drown my sorrow and weariness. The next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.

I woke up with a start. I heard a loud annoying sound and wondered what was making the noise. It took me about a whole minute to realize that it was the phone ringing. As I was getting out of bed, I remember dreaming of coming home from school tired. I was still half asleep when I went to get the phone. I heard a jolly voice at the end of the line. Turns out, it was Lian Molina or better known as Lee Molina in Hollywood. He invited me for some brunch. He said he wanted to treat me before I go on my trip so I happily accepted his offer. His words brought everything back to my memory. After non-stop work, I asked for a few months vacation and I decided to travel around the world.

After looking for a quiet area, we found a restaurant called “Rembrandt’s Hub”. The place was certainly new to us but we knew that the name meant something to both of us so we decided to eat there. Once inside, I was astonished to see a lot of familiar faces. There was Mervin Fajilan, Oriel Declarador, Clariza Pujol, Edgar Allan dela Cruz, Warlino Castro, and Katrina Cayetano. At first I thought I was only imagining things but then Mervin, or at least the person I thought was Mervin, pointed at Lian and me and shouted our names for everyone to hear. The next thing I remember, I was being dragged to their table. I was speechless. I could not believe my eyes. I started talking to everybody, asking a few questions. I found out that Mervin and Oriel are now working as programmers for the Microsoft Company while Clariza and Edgar are both computer engineers for the same company. Warly and Kat work for different corporations. Warly creates websites for Hollywood movies while Kat is now a lawyer based in Sullivan and Cromwell Law firm, the third best law firm in the US and ranked no. 15 in the TOP 100 Law firms in the world. Lian asked why they were all at the same place. They said that they meet there at least twice a month. I began to feel younger and more comfortable. I think it was the ambience inside the restaurant or the fact that I was around my friends again. Nonetheless, I got curious why they chose that place to meet. They all smiled playfully and called someone by the name of Jen. I saw Jenine Paragas emerge from the back and walk towards us. Oriel said that she is the owner of the restaurant. She joined our table and stayed for awhile. After eating and chatting, Warly invited Lian and me to join them watch the play “A Midsummer Night’s dream” in the New Amsterdam theatre. Since I had nothing to do the whole afternoon, I said yes. Unfortunately, Lian and Jenine could not come. They both had work to do. After saying our goodbyes, the gang and I moved along.

Outside the theatre, there was a huge teaser poster for the play. And there they were, Chryselle Mallari and Julee Soriano. They are the leading actresses of the play. I was too stunned to move. Suddenly, Kat tapped me and pointed near the entrance. Standing there was Eileen Esplana, Irene Laurel, Kevin Daduya, Allen Ace Jakosalem, Perlene Tullao and Aerone Duenas. I practically ran to meet them. I greeted them and they merrily greeted back. They were there to watch the play too. Once inside and properly seated, I could not help but ask them about their current lives. Eileen, Kevin, and Irene are now working as software engineers of the famous Apple Comp., creating new softwares for the company’s new products. Perlene and Aerone decided to take pharmacy to the next level, so they now work for the Pfizer Company, developing new medicines. Allen is now an animator in the Universal studios. He said he and his team had created animated movies that became successful worldwide. He even invited me to visit Universal studios and I promised I would the next time I get a chance. Just as I was about to ask some more questions, the lights grew dim indicating that the show is about to start.

The play was hilarious. It was so good, Chryselle and Julee’s scene received a standing ovation from almost everybody. The show lasted for about 3 hours. When everybody on stage already took their bow, the place grew completely dark. When the lights went on again, Warly was not on his sit anymore. He was already onstage kneeling before Chryselle and asking her to marry him. Chryselle said YES. This time, this scene received a standing ovation from everybody.

After saying my congratulations to Warly and Kring and saying goodbye to everyone, I took the subway and went home. Since I was already packed for the trip and it was still early, I decided to watch some TV. A wrestling match in WWE caught my eye. The winner was holding his championship belt high with pride and delight. I quickly recognized the champion. It was Christian Palma. His enemy tried stealing the belt but Christian was just too fast and too strong for him to handle. In the end, Palma walked out with the belt on his waist. Completely satisfied with the result, I switched to another channel. I watched the news for awhile. According to the anchorwoman of CNN, the new Disneyland Germany was almost done, ESPN will be holding a fair in Germany, the Miss Universe competition will be held in Australia, and a foundation against poverty will be holding a concert in Italy for their advocacy but the most shocking of all was that the anchorwoman was Michelle Arispe. After watching the news, I became sleepy and went to bed. I thought all the news I heard would mean nothing to me, but I was totally wrong.

It was early when I boarded the plane. I was still tired from yesterday so I decided to rest for a bit. Before I could even close my eyes, I heard a loud shriek from behind me. I looked around and saw Joseph Jonathan Grech and Al Aradani Ibrahim. When Grech saw me, he let out yet another deafening scream. Grech was so excited, he kept on screaming and screaming. Three flight attendants tried to hush him down but he only yelled more because the three stewardesses were Suhkjit Sohal, Danica Vismonte, and Fei De Lara. Then, we heard a scratchy voice talk and say that we were about to take off. This time, everybody went quiet, even Grech. Danica then told me that one of the pilots was Jared Russel Bautista. Since Grech went quiet already, the three went their separate ways to attend to the other passengers. I found out that Grech is now the editor-in-chief of a famous Tourist’s magazine in the US called LEISURE CITY while Al is now the captain of the cruise ship, Radiance of the Seas, a ship owned by the Royal Caribbean International. It was fun seeing my old friends again but when we finally reached France, it was time to move along.

I stayed in France for three weeks. I visited a lot of historical landmarks but my favourite was the Eiffel Tower. One tiring afternoon, a day before my departure for Germany, I bought some fashion magazines and ate at this famous restaurant near the tower. I ordered some food and browsed through the pages of the magazines. I almost spat my drink when I saw that the models for the Gucci ad are Krizia Anuba and Katrina Francisco. My outburst caused a commotion that two women came up to me saying that they were the owners of the resto and kept asking me what happened. When I looked up, the two women were Charmaine Vergara and Ruby Sto. Tomas. I told them I’m fine and asked them to sit. While talking, the waiter turned the resto’s television on. It was a cooking show entitled “SIMPLY VINNIE”. Ruby and Chamy told me that Vinnie Larraquel is now a famous chef in France and hosts his own cooking show aired once a week and that Krizia and Tin are now the leading models for the Gucci Company. We enjoyed chatting and exchanging stories. It was already late when I went back to the hotel. I packed my bags and went to bed. The following week, I was not in France anymore, I was in Germany.

It has been two weeks since my arrival and nothing surprising has happened….YET! One afternoon, I was taking a stroll down a street when I came upon a crowded bookstore. An author was signing books. The author was said to be hailed as “JK Rowling of the Philippines”. Curiosity got ahead of me, so I bought a copy of the book and waited in line to get it autographed. When it was finally my turn, I was stunned by what I saw. Or better yet, by whom I saw. The bestselling author was Alyanna Lazaro. We hugged and we laughed. The moment was too good to be true. After her booksigning, Ally took the whole week off and she became my constant companion. One time, we went to the grand opening of Disneyland Germany. After the ribbon cutting, the engineers and architects were introduced. We were both dumbfounded when we saw
Jomar Paredes, Alyssa Sanchez, Greg Aniceto, and Katherine Faye Ando. Jomar, Alyssa and Greg are some of the engineers with Greg being the head while Faye is one of the Architects who designed the theme park. Ally and I went up to them. We all went to this old-fashioned café near the park which is, to my surprise, owned and managed by Helen Seriosa. Before going back to the hotel, Greg invited all of us to the ESPN fair the next day. The fair was a tribute to all the award-winning athletes around the globe. Since we had nothing planned, Ally and I agreed to go.

The fair was spectacular. There were a lot of fun booths and so many famous athletes everywhere. When we finally saw Greg and the others, he was with a lot of recognizable faces. With him was Iya Boto, Millet Manabat, Fermin Basco, Jerome Lingad, John Lozada, Joshua Cruz, Macky Lising, Jake Galingana, Gabriel Delos Reyes, Charles Lemen, and Marc Reginio who were all professional athletes except for Iya. Millet is now the captain ball of the Women’s Volleyball team. One of her team members is Fermin Basco. They led the team to victory during last year’s summer Olympics and won first place. The same thing happened to the men’s volleyball team led by Charles. Of course, the basketball team brought fame to our country too. They were the champions during the Summer Olympics which also happened last year. It was the first time that the Philippines’ basketball team ranked no.1 in the tournament. Lozada, Lemen, and Manabat were all MVPs. Marc Reginio’s sport was different. He was now a Formula One racer and only recently he won first place in a competition held in Japan. As for Jerome, Rubik’s Cube became an official game in the Olympics and he was a gold medallist for the said contest. Indeed they all brought fame and pride to our country. Iya was not part of any team but she was there because as a young fashion designer, she had just released her own clothing line and Fermin Basco is now her model for Iya’s sporty deisigns. She pointed to my back, and sure enough, there was a huge billboard and a picture of Fermin in her cutest volleyball outfit. The ad had a tag below saying, “If you can be sporty, you can be flirty..” We tried every booth, ate to our heart’s content, and talked non-stop. It was already late when we said our goodbyes.

I stayed in Germany for another week before deciding to go to Italy. Alyanna went with me to the airport. Before I boarded my plane she gave me a book. She said it was a manuscript of her next book. She wanted me to take a look and tell her what I think. I promised I’d keep in touch. Now I’m off to Italy.

I had a throbbing headache when I checked in at this luxurious hotel in Rome. I went straight to my room and slept. When I woke up, my bags were not in my room. I got so furious I demanded to see the manager. A woman and a man approached me and asked me what the problem was. They were Marijoy Galicia and Eric Abajon.When I saw them, I was taken aback. I found out that they are the co-owners and managers of the hotel. I calmly told them the problem and they promised to take care of it immediately and I agreed. Sure enough, my luggage was returned to me after an hour. They even gave me a backstage pass for a concert sponsored by the NEW HOPE foundation which was against poverty. The pass was given to them when the foundation held a meeting in their hotel. It would be a waste not to use the pass so I went to see the concert the following week.

Backstage, I met Jamie Rodriguez and Asther Macarangal. Jamie is now based in Australia but the foundation asked her to be their spokesperson while Teng is the director and the choreographer of the concert. They led me to the lounge where the stars who will be performing are relaxing. There was Rihanna, JT, The Click Five, Kelly Clarkson and many more stars but I got star struck when I saw Ernest Florendo, Juanita Geronimo, and Raschelle Fabrigas. Juanita is the frontwoman while Ernie is lead guitarist of their band known as Apathy. Raschelle is now famous internationally for her rnb songs. “WOW!!” was the only thing that came out of my mouth. I watched all of them perform and I had so much fun. The concert ended with Jamie’s speech and she was well received by the people. For the next two weeks, I spent time with my friends. And on our last day together, we held a private party in one of the rooms of the hotel. It was to celebrate each and everyone’s success. The following week, it was time for me leave. My next stop: Australia.

I knew little about Australia. All I know is that it’s beautiful and that it is one large country. One day, I was walking along an empty street when suddenly three kids bumped into me. They were followed by an army of children. All of them came from one huge building and standing outside was Marhiel Mendoza. I came up to her and she greeted me cheerfully. I learned that she owns the building, the Melrose Preparatory School. Since she liked kids so much, she decided to establish her own school. We entered her office and talked, catching up on each other’s lives. She asked me to go with her to the Miss Universe pageant which will be held in the Sydney Opera House next week. Thrilled with the idea, I accepted.

The following week, we went to the Opera house and found familiar people. There was Mary Grace Tan, Bal Pito, Richard Mesa, Dana Sarile, Darren Supramaniam and Marl Castillo. They were there to watch the competition too. It was then only that I found out that Julie Anne Ocfemia was the representative of Philippines for the pageant. Before it started, we chatted for awhile. Bal, Grace, Chady, and Marl are now based in Japan but with different jobs. Bal and Grace are animators and some of their works are being aired in ANIMAX while Chady and Marl creates video games for the NINTENDO company. Dana was hailed as Miss World last year and now she was there to support fellow beauty queen, Julie. As for Darren, he is now the bass guitarist of Hillsong United. The pageant was intense, but in the end, Julie Anne Ocfemia was crowned Miss Universe. Of course, we were all so proud of her. I stayed in Australia for two more weeks before choosing to go back to the Philippines.

“Home Sweet Home!” The first thing that came to my mind when I reached Philippines. After spending some time with the family and relatives, I felt weak and tired so I decided to go to St. Luke’s Medical Center for a check-up. The doctor said it was just jetlag all I need is rest. Hungry after the check-up, I went to the cafeteria and there I found them having lunch. There was Regine Lagasca, Jairuz Vergara, Marvin Serrano, Abigail Diaz, Kate Martelino, Zali Fulinara, Joies Sabilla, and Czarinah Cruz having lunch together. When I came up to them, they were all surprised to see me. It was instant chit-chat. Regine Jairuz and Marvin are doctors for different branches. Regine is now the Director of the International Institute for Neurosciences, Jairuz is the Director of the Institute for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and Marvin is the Director of the Dermatology center. I also learned that Abby is now the Head MedTech of the hospital while Kate, Zali, Joies, and Czarinah are now professional nurses. Our talk was short because everybody had to go back to work so I bid them goodbye and left.

A week before going back to the States, I visited ICS, my alma mater. I was amazed to see my old school. It was completely different the last time I saw it. In fact, the name itself has been changed too. It is now called ICC again because it offers college too. It is now as big and as influential as universities like UST and the likes. Among the buildings, a torn down one caught my eye. I slowly realize that it was the old building my batch used to go to. It was under renovation but since no one was around, I ascended the stairs. As I was going up, I saw old lockers hanging open with old books inside. I found our old room. I saw the old wooden chairs, the dirty windows and the scratched paint. The scene brought back everything. I saw my younger self sitting in one of the chairs and laughing with my friends. Just as I was about to break down and cry, I saw a man slowly come up to me. At first I thought it was a guard but as he was nearing, I realized that it was Geoffrey Tugade. I was so glad to see him. He led me to the cafeteria and we talked. He said he saw me go up so he followed me. I discovered that he once taught Philosophy in the University of the Philippines - Diliman but grew tired so he decided to go to Italy. He had only stayed there for a year when he found out that he still wanted to teach. So he went back to the Philippines and ended up teaching in ICC. I told him about everyone I met during my travel and he said that I was lucky to have the chance to spend some time with our old friends. I thanked him for everything and went home.

I decided that it was time for me to go back to the States so the following week, I boarded a plane. After my arrival, I went to work the following day. I found out that WARNER BROS. Pictures bought the rights to Ally’s best-selling novel and that Lee Molina is up for the lead role. They were offering me the job to direct the film. They said that the movie will be a collaboration between me and Steven Spielberg. The next thing I know, I was talking face-to-face with Steven himself. The only weird thing was, he kept on telling me that it was time for dinner. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I saw my mom waking me up and telling me that it was time for supper. I was in my old room, in my old bed, and in my old uniform. Everything had been a dream. I didn’t know how to react at first but I got through it.

Up until now, I’m still thinking about that dream. Will it come true or will it just stay as a dream? I don’t know the answer but one thing’s for sure, whatever path we choose, whatever road we take, no matter how bumpy or smooth, we will always reach the end of it, and in that end is our destiny waiting to be fulfilled.

Note: This was the Prophecy I made for my batch in High School... Seniors - Batch '07-'08...

To my batchmates: Whatever I wrote here about your future, you're still going to be the one to decide for yourself which path you want to follow... Good Luck to all of us... Love you, guys...

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