God Bless Japan!

Yo!

Watching the television has never been this depressing. Amidst the sad stories i really liked one story of CNN on a certain Japanese who lost his home. Instead of sulking he went to his restaurant and cooked food for his fellow victims. He fed them for free.

"Why do you do this?" CNN asked and the man just smiled and said. "Its makes me happy"

It makes him happy. You just have to admire him. Instead of pondering about his future, he instead fed his fellow victims for the simple reason that it makes him happy. How many people can do that? Losing almost everything and instead of trying to earn a little he even gave everything he had left.

I can relate to him, for two years i have been writing for free and really feeling good when some readers do like my story. Just like that Japanese man he would eventually have to charge for the food he is cooking. Because you cant live by mere thank yous and admiration. The sad part, when I started to charge for my stories a lot were angry and they didnt understand.

I envy that Japanese man, when he starts to charge for food again, they wont hate him. They would understand. That is how Japanese people are. They care for each other and they dont put a fellow country man down.

Just look at their discipline after the calamity. They line up without complain for food ration. Here in the Philippines its chaos. People would line up but they would try to get ahead or try to hoard if possible. Japanese people are behaved and they help each other.

If there are people who dont get food, they dont complain. They understand easily that there is no more to pass around. If that happened here it would already be chaotic and people would be rating and complaining. So now you know why we are still a third world country and why they are a first world.

I really loved seeing the Japanese people giving priority to their elders. A young man deciding to give his food ration to an older man. His reason, "He needs it more" he said. Yes there are some Filipinos who can do that but its so rare. Maybe it happens when there is no crisis, but in Japan it happens everyday crisis or not.

Japan may be in disarray right now but they will rise up once again. They were destroyed after that Hiroshima incident but look where they are now. That killer quake and Tsunami may have put them back down but hey they have discipline.

Its not good government that makes a country great. Its the people. Even if Japan is experiencing hardship right now, even if their economy falls, they will still be a First World Country in terms of their People.

You just cant envy them. Ang galing nila sobra! Kahit sira sira na mga bahay nila, kahit wala na pagkain pipila parin sila with no complain. Kung anong meron happy na sila. Sobrang disiplinado at sobrang mahal nila ang isat isa.

Pinoy kaya mo yon?

Ciao!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulitox/

Godzilla rises....

Yo!

Turn off the TV and stop watching depressing news! Yes Japan did experience a terrible strong quake. At first report it was an 8.8 magnitude, then a few minutes later they have edited their reports and say it was 8.9 in magnitude. Then finally they say it was 8.4.

But all news around the world stuck with the highest, 8.9 magnitude. You have to wonder why they didnt want to report the real magnitude of 8.4. To sensationalize! What do you expect? That is how the media works.

So how strong is an 8.4 magnitude quake? Majority of the Baguio people should have an idea. Several years ago, 1990 to be exact, we had a 7.7 magnitude quake here in Baguio. Well they kept changing its numbers too and say it was just 7.2.

No matter what the number was, IT WAS FREAKINGLY STRONG!!!

I was strolling along Session road, my usual path from school. I do remember it was day light saving time and i was a cleaner at class. So with DST the time was advanced by one hour. I cant imagine what would have happened if it was not DST. We could have been inside the classroom...all students would have been.

So as i was walking, a street vendor started to shout "GINGGINED!" and she was holding on to her small seat. I was not fluent on Ilocano back then yet so i didnt know what she was saying until the earth shook.

Oh no it was not the usual cradle type shake. It was a really strong shake that would make you lose balance. I really fell down, well almost everyone did. We could not even stand up because the quake just kept on getting stronger.

The parked cars on the downward sloped Session Road were even moving! The buildings were really swaying. We were so damn scared we just had to stand up, holding on to each other even if you dont know them. Everyone just helped each other to get up and we all ran towards the center isle to avoid the buildings.

Safely at the center the earth just kept shaking wildly, while a lot of people were praying and crying, some of us was staring at one building, we were watching it sway and a few seconds later the first floor was gone. The building lost one floor but it was still standing.

I was alone that time, so i decided to go home even if the earth just kept on shaking. I saw my "Lolo", i call him lolo because he was the mentor of my dad. He was not really my grandfather. He was on the other side of the fence. "Nandon kotse ko sa baba, antayin kita don" he said. Great! Now i have a ride home since we were neighbors. The problem was the earth shook strong again and there was this guy from the City Hall office using a megaphone telling us to move away from the center isle since it was made of metal and the electric wires could snap and you know what comes next.

Every moved away, one strong quake and we were all moving back to the isle. It was like dancing cha-cha, when the quake subsides we would move away from the isle, when there is an aftershock we would all go back at the center. LOL!

What made it worse was the sky became dark and it really rained hard. My heart was pounding, i was afraid but there was no point in screaming and crying like what others did. I just had to go home. So i walked amidst the rain and aftershocks. I saw people coming out of windows using tied blankets, most of them were even naked. Oh that building was a hotel...then i suddenly remembered the toy store. Oh yeah, our favorite toy store and i wanted to go there but then i saw...it was the floor that the building had just collapsed on and it was even across the fence.

So i continued walking, and i saw lots of people gathered at Melvin Jones football field. All kneeling and praying to God. I could have joined them but i just said my own little prayer. All i asked was he guide on my way home.

It was going to be a long and lonely walk but i think God answered my prayers immediately. I saw my schoolmate with his mom and brothers. They too were heading home and it just so happened our houses were on the same direction.

We walked, we never felt tired. Maybe it was adrenaline. It was a long walk really then once they were close to their home my godfather and his family drove by. They saw me and offered to take me home.

So i got home. i was not shaken, i was not scared anymore. There is no point in being scared. You just have to plan for the day when it stops. Baguio was in ruins for a long time. It took us a long time to recover but look at us now.

So stop worrying and stop thinking of scenarios. If calamities happen, they just happen. You just have to look forward to the things you want to do after it.

Am i stone cold? Nope, i just have hope that there will be a brighter day ahead.

Always remember shit happens.

But there is always hope.

Ciao!

My flickr album

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulitox/

Bespren

"Hide and Seek"

"Never Alone"

"Lifeless"

Yo!

Two years ago i wrote Bespren. It was a story that has been playing on my mind for a very long time. So that time i do remember i did a casting call at Plurk and so i got the characters from the people who replied.

To be honest i was too busy at that moment since i was writing three stories at the same time. That was the time when i broke my two fingers. So for Bespren i really didnt post what was written on my scrap pad. I twisted the story a bit but lazily encoded just for the sake of the readers.

So you could check my other blog and see that the story is not well written. Aminado naman ako i did not encode the true story. You cant blame me because i had bigger plans for this story. This year i decided to finally encode the true story.

It has 25 Chapters. Total kilig from start to the end. I just did a little edit, i made the story more recent since the time it was conceptualized was two years ago.

262 pages in total. So if you would compare from the one posted on my blog, the scrap copy only had 100 plus pages. Now can you imagine what would 160 pages more would be like? But like my first two ebooks there are too many untrusted people out there. Nakakahiya kapwa Pinoy pa.

Sharing is not caring when it comes to intellectual property rights. The ebook is done and i dont care if it rots on my hard drive. I dont want to sell only a few copies and have hundreds read them due to pirates.

Not worth my effort if that happens. If it rots it rots. At least its in my terms.

So let me just share a few pictures that i have taken recently.

Enjoy!

Ciao!

My Flickr album

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulitox/

Images after the rain...

"SOLACE"

"MORNING DEW"

"Sunbathing"

"Mispollenation"

Yo!

And so it has been raining every afternoon for the past few days. It spoils the Session in Bloom but who cares?

The good thing about an afternoon rain that extends to the night is you get a refreshing sight in the morning. So here are some samples of the shots that i got the past few mornings.

There is really something mystical about the rain...and so i shall write about it soon.

Ciao!

Butterflies....

Yo!

As i was encoding Bespren (Complete) i suddenly felt so much buterflies in my stomach. LOL

Yes the original and complete story is a major kilig to be honest. Im giggling like a little gay boy nyahahaha. Anyway as i was encoding...i decided to make the story up to date. So its easier to relate to. It may seem that it is newly written but not really. The story has been set a long time ago i just added present twists LMAO!

I took a break a while ago and i was so lucky to find lots of butterflies around the neighborhood. So here are the sample pics again.

Thats it for now...

Oh did you know i have a Xtinct X10 Mini phone! Oh yeah! Its so Xtinct ahahaha.

Ciao!

March Madness

"Gimme some love"

"Separate Lives"

"Dancing Bird"

"Camouflage"

"Wassup"

Yo!

I am really fickle minded! LMAO! I said i wont blog but here i am. I said i wont take shots, but i did for the past two days. I said i will not write but i did.

I LIED! Hahahahaha! So sue me!

How can you not take out your camera for a cute dog? How can you not take out your camera when the butterflies are teasing you? You just have to. Oh well i did take lots of shots and here are some samples.

So i decided to take a week of from my Comm works, i was supposed to start them but i made a challenge to myself. I am going to finish them in two weeks so that i would be vacant by the last week of March. Then i saw my scrap pad and i was tempted to encode Bespren.

A lot do not believe that the one posted on the blog was just a scrap and crappy copy. Well i dont blame them because i made sure the story seemed complete. But of course it isnt and i held back the really juicy stuff and major storyline.

As i was encoding Bespren yesterday i just kept smiling the whole time since the whole story came back to my mind. On the blog i held back key scenes, now i know why people only like Pipoy ahahaha. I didnt include the best scenes of Annika. The story is about them two and not Pipoy alone. So the Complete story you get to see the two characters as a whole.

So how many chapters was in the blog? Fifteen and less than 100 pages. So how many chapters does the complete one have? More than 20 but less than 40, with almost 300 pages.

Ho hum i suddenly got bored...

Ciao!

Quick Reaction

Yo!

Just came back home from an eco walk of sorts LOL.

Lesson learned!!! Always be alert and keep your camera on Hahahaha!

Imagine as we were all focusing on a certain object, i just tried to reposition myself to get a better angle and BOOM! There it was, a very rare bird. So what do i do? Alert my companions and tell them about it and risk that bird flying away once it notices the commotion? Or be selfish for the sake of taking quick photos of that rare bird?

Nyahahaha! I did the latter. Sorry guys but i just had to, or else that bird would have flown away. And so i was able to take three decent shots....well i was at speed shot mode, i actually got several but only three stood out. Its just sad because i couldnt move as quickly as i wanted since i didnt want to scare that bird away.

After showing my companions what i got oh boy they were a bit mad but i did explain. So as a sign of good faith i decided to turn off my camera and just accompany them. I sat down far away and BOOM! Bad idea. A really big butterfly landed nearby, i shouted and called their attention. They came running and the butterfly flew away.

"Did you get it?" they asked. Nyahahaha. Even if the GE X5 can turn on in two seconds, i was not able to get a shot since i called their attention. So i sat down again and another butterfly came close. Selfishness has its benefits ahahahahaha.

Ive been taking shots daily since Monday, so its time for me to sit back and go back to what i do best....

So i might not be blogging for a few days as March enters. I am going to be busy with comm works again. As for Bespren...well its just there. I got a new Bespren story by the way. Still thinking about names but definitely they will be best friends. The girl is an aspiring singer, while the guy is just there to always support her. It has a cool twist too ahahaha.

Resbak...its just there. I actually have another story in mind...its about Frank ahaha. Then a vampire, and a boxer and a love story between a human being and an angel or something like that.

I am so going to watch American Idol season ten weekly now! My favorites are Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk, Scotty Mcreery and of course Thia Megia (Half Pinay as they say).

In terms of voice and belting it out i would go for Jacob Lusk, geez you should see this guy sing. He could go really low and then belt it out in a high pitch girly voice.

Casey Abrams is the musician. He auditioned with his blown organ ahahaha. I dont know what that thing is called and i am sorry. It has a piano and you blow it so its a blown organ ahahaha. Then in a solo performance he blew me away by singing and playing a bass. Oh yeah the traditional bass guitar, yeah the big one and not the electric. Damn! He was soooooo good.

As for Scotty, well he has a major deep voice. As deep as under the ocean voice ahahaha. You should hear him. But he is a cowboy of sorts, at 17 and with that voice oh man you should hear him and you wouldnt believe it comes from him. He is more of a country singer but hey he can trade punches if he goes out of his comfort zone.

As for Thia, well what can i say? Pinay yan e! She is really and it even seems she isnt trying that much. I would really agree with her voice coach in Vegas, that terror of a lady did really push her and it did wonders for Thia as she was praised by the judges.

Anyway thats it for now.

Ciao!

I do hope you like the pics. Most of them are at my FB account. Flickr can only accomodate 300MB a month so by March i might post my other pics there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulitox/