August 28, 2021 - Move marathon this chill Saturday morning... Here's my 2 cents on the TV series Designated Survivor S2E4.

With all the political and terrorism issues the Designated Survivor has been up to until it wraps up to its 2nd season finale, there is one episode na tumatak talaga sa akin. It’s not about how President Kirkman resolves and confronts critical issues at the White House, but it’s about a scene on Season 2 Episode 4, subtitled Equilibrium #DesignatedSurvivor scene between a top senior White House staff Aaron who is a Mexican, and Nadia, also a Mexican who works as an aide to an American senator who pushed on legislative matter relative to US-Mexican labor issues specifically on undocumented Mexican immigrant workers in America. Nadia reminds Aaron that there are Mexican families (and relatives) on the other side of the border.

Nadia to Aaron: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒊𝒕.

Na-pick up ko dito is that: 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 and must 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄.

No matter what we have accomplished, no matter how busy we are at work or what we have been up to, we should look back to where we are....𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑠, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠.

Well, the redeeming part here before the episode ends, is that Aaron with his guilty conscience is finally reconnected with his heritage.

2You and Gloria Perez Baay

𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝

 

"𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚." The last two lines from my favorite classic novel, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐘𝐄 by J.D. Salinger, which until now, no movie adaptation has ever been made. Well, maybe because the novel is a little bit 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 (𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠), and 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 , written through the lens of a 16-year old Holden Caulfield who is suffering from alienation and social anxiety - 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬i𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

As the novel progresses, I can see Holden's black and white view of the world gets challenged both by his own mistakes and by his interactions with other people.

𝐀 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦.

 

Is it worth the squeeze?

Jabs give us extra protection from the risk of getting seriously ill due to covid while strictly following the MPHS is still the best recommended protection.

Friday night, I could hardly breath dahil sa sipon at konting ubo. Wala na yatang na-diagnose ngayon ng sipon at ubo, lahat na yata covid. I was alarmed, and this morning I did my way out to find some vitamin C, and all I could get was a bunch of lemons.

I have no juicer, so I have no choice other than sliced them and squeezed off, so I could extract its juice. Mahirap mag squeeze. But after all the squ

eezings the byproduct was a lemonade. Nilagyan ko ng konting asukal. Ang sarap ng natural juice…I did all these every after meal through the weekend, at ngayon medyo nawawala na sipon at ubo ko. Yes, these lemons is worth the squeeze to boost my immune system and get rid of covid and its virulent variants.

Lesson in life: Patience + hardwork = success. When life throws you lemons, make a lemonade… and, lemonade needs all the squeezings.

#Worththesqueeze

In the beginning was a bat . . .

 

19 July 2019 BC (Before Covid)

*The bat depicted in the photo is only a toy.

In the beginning was a bat. And the bat was with covid ...and covid broke loose and became a pandemic.  Eh, What happened to the bat?

Boracay's Fruits Bats have declined rapidly the last three years, from 2,976 in 2016 to 418 in 2019, a more than 86% decline! One of the reasons for the decline being that people hunt them for food, which occurred specially during the island closure in 2018 for lack of food. It is not only illegal to hunt, catch or kill Fruit Bats, but it also not good for humans to be in contact with them.

The Fruit Bats of Boracay is the reason Boracay island is so green as they stand for 90% of reforestation on cleared land, planting most of the trees, so let them be the reforesters they are, and do their job to keep Boracay island green. Stop eating or hunting Bats!

No bats= No Trees

No Bats = increase in mosquito = increase in mosquito related diseases like dengue

On Teen Suicide

Done reading the fourth novel that deals with the sensitive topic on teen suicide. It is sad to note that all the teens in these books suffered pain and depression because of bullying. Depression is a mental disorder that when left undiagnosed and untreated, the teen tends to end his or her life which seemed like the only way to relieve it.

Meanwhile, their best friends or families were left raw and grieving, full of sadness and anger and regret and questions that will never be answered.

There's only one thing that bothered me: the guidance counsellors in all of the four books seemed not at all helpful, (before and at the time of death), even if they got hints that a teen has suicidal tendencies.

Self

 

Four fur paws

siblings, playmates

yet unique

each burning with inner fires

of laudable ambitions

each seeking to shine

above the rest

seeking individuality ever forward

one entirely lose,

lengthen the distance behind

unbind and set free

towards self –

the supreme quest of all!

Stairway

 Poetic License Collection #4

STAIRWAY

by: Alvin E. Lauran

I have climbed

to the top of the greasy pole

but I will do more

up to and beyond

the limit of prudent sanity

a very pulpable hit.

Bondage of Innocence

 Poetic License Collection #3

BONDAGE OF INNOCENCE

by: Alvin E. Lauran

a tale to tell

blindly scattered by virtues of old

dead memories merit perpetuity

power corrupts innocence

plunge in reckless reckoning

deeply steeped into the quagmire of truth

perpetually delved to wanton forgetfulness

not a flame flickers in a pasty crest

oh yoke of thy youth

trustees of posterity

still bent in false obscurity

denunciation of the young

like a summer morn

leaping from place to place

over oblivion.

Never walk alone

I thought I was the first person who walked through this trail. Turns out, there’s someone who came before me.

Someone who walked this path and knew the sacrifices that came with it. That, even if we get lost, it’s never too late to find our way back . .

And when we do, we often appreciate it even more. In the end, we know we’re on the right path when the people we love choose to walk it with us.

But what happens when we find ourselves on a path someone has walked before and warns us of the dangers that lie ahead? I have to believe when that happens that we can choose to walk it differently.

And not walk it alone.

Discovering Ourselves

 

It was in my fourth year in college when my instructor Prof. Gualberto G. Montecillo introduced to me the JOHARI WINDOW, as part of the lesson in the subject, Introduction to Administration and Supervision.

My young mind was so amazed with these four quadrants. Minus the blind area where you and others may not otherwise know you, this quadrant of how others know us, yet ourselves know nothing about is quite relevant. So we tend to discover more of ourselves.

There are some things in us that we don’t want them to be exposed in public. We just keep it in ourselves. It may include personal experiences and feelings that we hide and keep it in private, even to our family and closest friends. Others call that – skeleton in the closet. Fear of not being accepted and the fear of not being “in” may sometimes cause why we don’t like others to tell them how we think, and what we have done.

We sometimes feel ashamed and fear of being left out if they would know the truth about our real personality. We tend to hide our emotions, cry in private, and choose to be left alone, rather than broadcast those feelings in fear of what our friends may think about us. Some people are afraid of being called as weird, nerd, geek, or being different from all the rest. People choose to cry in private to hide their deepest feelings and emotions. We wear the mask everyday, looking radiant and joyful, where in fact, we are hurt deep inside. All these are just to hide our real us, afraid that the accusing world around us will judge indifferently our feelings and emotions.

Somehow we discover more of ourselves, our strengths and the things we are capable of doing; principles and values that we care most; tough and difficult decisions to pursue – through other people. Listed here are some of fictional characters who ultimately find and discover themselves through other people. Though these are lifted from a fiction literature, yet I find these insights helpful in our quest of discovering ourselves too – in real life.

American girl Allyson in the books JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE NIGHT, both by Gayle Forman, discovered herself in the process of looking laid-back Dutch actor Wilhem, a year of self-discovery that embarks her into a journey to break herself free from a lifetime of limits in order to find her true passions and even true love.

Cody discovers more of herself when she tried to uncover the mystery why her best friend Meg committed suicide, from the book I WAS HERE, also by Gayle Forman.

Luke and Sophia in the book THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks were able to battle difficult decisions in life through Ira and Ruth Levinson.

Q discovers more of himself, the value of friendship and family while in a road trip to find the missing Margo, in the book PAPER TOWNS by John Green.

All these and more, can also be relevant in our quest to discover who we are. As Luke puts it in book, THE LONGEST RIDE, “Even an accident has purpose and direction.”

 

#Miracle

 

A miracle is something not explicable by natural or scientific laws. But then, how do you explain it? How does it happen? Who or what is behind it?

The feel good movie I have just watched, MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN based on true events and written by Christy Beam made me conclude that everything is a miracle, letting us know that God is here, with us, always.

Anabel Bean, a ten year old Texan girl has been sick, been brought to Boston Children's Hospital for treatment but failed, and sent back home. While at home playing with her siblings, she fall at the hole of the 30 feet tree, and survived. After the fall, both her stomach and intestines were functioning normally as if her central nervous system has been regenerated or reset.

The doctor called it SPONTANEOUS REMISSION just to explain what medical science can't be explained.

On a conversation with her parents, Anabel said she sort of talking to God on that fall experience, but it was different. They are talking to each other without saying any words. And that God told her, she would be healed. Isn't it a miracle?

Sometimes when bad things happen, we tend to lose faith, got angry because of unanswered prayers. We question God why is it happening to us and ultimately doubt His existence. Everyday we should and must have a leap of faith that everything will all come to pass and God is with us, always because nothing is impossible for those who believe...

#MiraclesFromHeaven

What is hotter than summer?

 HOT STORY of the week:

Should I need to post this? Last 2 days ago, ganito halos ang laman ng newsfeed ko. When I woke up last Tuesday, itong ISELCO-2 bill na ito ang tumambad sa akin. Shock and awe! Because... my average monthly bill is 700. Minsan nga 400 lang.

But these past 2 months, bigla namang taas. My May bill was P1,000. Yun pa lang nagulat ako, kasi first time ko mag-bill ng isang libo. Yun pala sign na pala yun na mas lalo pang pagtaas.

Since the shutdown of ABS-CBN last year, wala na akong TV. And, this year, yung aquarium ko tinanggalan ko na ng pump. I turned the ref, off na rin. Wala akong aircon. Basically, isang electric fan lang talaga ang umiikot sa bahay. Sa gabi lang yan, ha... Kasi sa araw, nasa labas ako, sa work. At dalawang ilaw,,, na papatayin ko din pag matulog na. At yung laptop na gagamitin ko lang pag nag-Work From Home ako.

Ulitin ko, it was a Shock and Awe Tuesday for me when I received my electric bill of almost P1,800. Almost triple from my average monthly bill.

And, I decided not to pay yet, kasi pinag-uusapan pa naman ito sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan, sakaling ma-resolve ang issue...

#HPmeal joins the bandwagon

⚡ Can I get the 9 and 3/4 piece nugget meal, please?

#TheHPmeal

Pancit in Aloha

Unleash the pancit craving in me! Now at Aloha Panciteria, fronting the Isabela Provincial Capitol for a late afternoon Pancit Cabagan self-.treat..

Summer's solstice same day in 5 years

I think the summer solstice of the same day occurs every five years. I had this post in my FB Memories five years ago on summer solstice - the longest day of the year..

So this is summer solstice huh? Time check, Philippine Standard time, it's 2 minutes before 7:00pm. But it seems 6:00pm or earlier, still bright, except at the northeastern skies. Ito daw ang pinakamahabang araw this year. Instead of equal 12 hours each, mas mahaba ang araw today. The least we can do now is to enjoy this scientific phenomenon.