You're still normal!

One day in a breakfast meeting with my co-author, who is the owner of several business establishments here in the city, I spoke about a predicament preoccupying me lately.

Should I be thinking about how to make more money than how much I'm earning now? Am I already too old to plan about my career which is synonymous to income, considering that business plan or career path will cover 10-15 years?

Then, he told me, "You're still normal."

He said if I would receive a million right then and there, I might be ruined.

True enough, I don't know what to do with such big amount of money!

Let nature take its course. We all dream of a good life and need more money than what we have. But it doesn't mean that's what we want right at this moment. Good life is relative. What is good life for you, anyway? For money is but a by-product of our so-called success or should we call it fulfillment.

If one dares to venture overseas for a huge sum even without an inkling of his or her job and life there, he or she may not linger especially upon reaching at the (big word) CROSSROADS.

One must be prepared whatever risk he or she may take whether in search for a greener pasture or for a meaning or purpose of one's existence.

I finished my breakfast not only with a full stomach, but a full heart and clear mind. Maybe, we all need even a single breakfast with a friend or someone who's not akin to us, to destroy some cobwebs in our minds.

Only to be reminded that amid pressures and anxieties, we are still normal. Live life each day!

(reveal your thoughts to me at lorie.cascaro@gmail.com)

Moving on

It's time to do the real thing now that you already know what you really really want to do for the rest of your life.

Just wake up early, read and read, write and write, laugh and laugh, run, swim, climb and bike, then get enough sleep.

Experience life today!

Fairy tale as it is

They said fairy tales are for children. They believe in them but when they grow up, they started to discover reality.
I'd never believed in fairy tale even when I was a child. But, it just dawned on me that if I were to choose to believe like a child again, I would believe in fairy tale. After meeting once again someone from a long lost childhood, I decided to keep that child in me.

But then, reality never fails to slap my face! Fairy tale is just as it is... If you want to avoid nervous breakdown then keep your feet on the ground and GROW UP! So as part of being sane and appearing to be mature, I suddenly summed up everything there is in a song.


Fairy Tale

It seems what I believe is not true.
There's really no "Me and You".
It's nothing more than just a dream.
No amount of hope could make it real.

Maybe the chance came too late.
Everything's in place. We can't change fate.
Meeting you is not a chance at all.
It's just to see how high my hopes fall.

Let me swim into your thoughts.
Let me stay there for awhile.
Let me hold your hand to feel your soul in me.
Let me keep this fairy tale in my memory.

Sometimes I'd like to think
that we could make North and South meet;
we could swim through the ocean;
we could walk through the clouds.

Sometimes I'd like to believe
that you're the prince in my dreams;
that what I believe is true;
certainly, it's me and you.

Let me swim into your thoughts.
Let me stay there for awhile.
Let me hold your hand to feel your soul in me.
Let me keep this fairy tale in my memory.
Let me keep this fairy tale in my memory.
Let me keep this fairy tale in my memory...

Maggots in my mind

Leave as much as you want to stay
Eat up all my preoccupation until nothing's left
As you take my brain, include my heart.
Race through my lungs until I stop breathing.
Seep through my veins until every strand is blue.
Clog my heart until it stops beating.

Leave as much as I want you to stay
Take away all of you that's left
in my heart, in my mind.

As you decide to leave, leave me a scar
like the tattoo on my calf.
Leave it black, black as my lungs.
As you leave, leave at once.
Never leave a couple of squirming worms
in my veins...

Because it doesn't matter now
If nothing's left as you leave.
A single memory that you've been here
is enough souvenir
like the tattoo on my calf
forever embedded in my skin.

Half-time

It's been awhile since I haven't thought of spending some time for myself. I guess, I need to go out and bathe under the sunshine (the hell with El Niño!). All of us need a break from all the routines and hectic schedules.

I just want to swim! I want to feel the embrace of the sea once again. I want to feel the sand on my soles and the warm breeze on my skin. I miss doing these things! This is a great therapy to my soul.

Taking such time for oneself is also a chance to transcend from situations.
Some call it the "half-time" like in the basketball game. This is a wonderful time to search for meaning of one's existence. It's the moment to clarify one's goals and strengthen the commitment to pursue and actualize these goals.

I badly need my half-time! See you there!

Alon at Dalampasigan

Alon kang dumampi
sa pisngi ng dalampasigan ko.
Ang dagat na naghatid sa'yo
Ay s'ya ring susundo
sa paglisan mo.

Kasing saglit nang isang nakaw na halik
ang iyong pagdating at pag-alis...

Hinding-hindi kita sisisihin
sa pagguho ng kastilyong buhangin,
sa pagbulahaw sa tahimik na sa kaibuturan
ko'y humihimbing...
nang ika'y dumating.

Huwag mo rin sana akong sisisihin
kung sa paglisan mo'y iyong tatangayin
mumunting bato, sabay sa kumpas ng hangin.
Tila mga kamay na ayaw nang bumitaw
habang ikaw nama'y sa malayo nakatanaw.

Ganunpaman,
ikaw pa rin ay lilisan.
Subalit, hindi kita sisisihin dahil ika'y alon
at ako'y dalampasigan...

Sisisihin ko ang buwan
Tanging ang buwan lamang.

Before Christmas

Because of the prevalent concept of consumerism during Christmas season, people tend to forget one significant World event of the year. We are supposed to commemorate the International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2009, fifteen (15) days before Christmas day.





Honoring one's human right is greater than any Christmas gift. The basic rights for a decent shelter, clean and nutritious food, and a job to sustain a living. Even if our times do not blatantly portray the vileness of a violent regime, they are but continuation of the perennial plight of the poor people. No one of power and control of the nation's wealth dares to become Santa Claus to these unfortunates, underprivileged.

International Human Rights Day is celebrated before Christmas for us to realize that the spirit of Yuletide season is empty if we remain indifferent to the calls of our fellow men.

Join the march of about 5,000 Filipino laborers, students, professionals, women, Moro and Lumad people, church, and employers of public and private offices in Davao City on December 10, 2009.They will be chanting to call for justice of all the victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration.

(For details of the event, email me @ lcascaro@yahoo.com.)