THE NEXT ACT

Obvious it may seem, many of us have regarded what have transpired over the previous year. We all had ups and downs. Some had more ups and some had more downs but I guess that will be subject to one's outlook. Opera in the Garden for me is the start of establishing my highlight of the year. Rehearsals kick started in January in preparation on the big event in March. Those were the days were I had pages of music sheets to study. I prefer that I home study in addition to what had been thought during rehearsals since it was potential that I might not catch all up. Most of the time I study before a music was thought. This Year, on the big day itself, the weather was mean that we were not given the chance to sing in the garden and so it was decided that we held them in ASB stadium. One good thing about it was that the acoustic was great. Adele concert. My wife won the Adele Concert tickets when More FM chose her submitted recorded voice singing an Adele song that I acc...

I believe anybody has something to show and be proud of. I am no exclusion in saying that I have some tricks under my sleeves worth checking. But sometimes I am not so keen on showing of. I am not alright when people misconstrue that my action is all bragging where in fact I am just happy showing what I can do. Some people find what I am capable of as a threat. And just by saying that sounds like I am full of myself. Anybody is a threat with anybody. But come to think of it I find that people who are threatened are not so quite secure in what they have. I know people who are on top of their game yet they are being demoralized by others who have something that they don't have. I'm okay with exhibiting my talent just to my pleasure. The same thing when I was doing something when I was a kid. When I was kid I did what I like doing. Sometimes, no one needed to know what I was capable of doing. I was just in my room, in my secluded place, in a small corner, sitting in a small plas...

I deactivated my Facebook account temporarily.  I am now free from its hold and I got more time to do things important to me that I have unheeded doing like blogging most of the time . Back in the days when Facebook hasn't been invented blogging was the forefront of my social media postings. This I realized at the start of writing this blog. I just woke up, grabbed my smart phone which has been always on the side table or just on the bed beside me or under my pillow. My phone serves also as an alarm clock among others like stealing my sleepy mode to end up being wide awake in the middle of the night. Looking at the apps in my phone, now that my Facebook is deactivated what is the fuss on checking the phone? I check twitter and Instagram which do not last long compared to Facebook. And then here I am......blogging.

When I was a boy I grew fond in drawing. Everywhere I went I got a pencil and paper. I was drawing at home and in school during break time. And I became good at it. Almost every time that I was with my paper and pencil doodling in the classroom some of my classmates were peeping over my shoulder to see what progress I made. I liked drawing old school superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Tarzan, Korak – son of Tarzan (I never heard of him in decades). This has led me to my obsession to superhero comics. I saved up to buy them. And because of my fondness in comics, I made my own comics with superhero characters I created. One school holiday, my cousin connived with me to rent my comics to our other cousins. He would do marketing and I would keep on drawing comics. I made it a point that every comics was open ended so they would look forward for the next one. It was in the two series of my comics when my aunt found out that we were trying to con our other cousins and she got upse...

Many thanks to EJ who made this movie and to my loving wife who made so much effort to collect and compile all the photos and videos. This movie, which was exhibited during the surprise birthday celebration is a compilation of my photos throughout the years and videos of my friends and loved ones who gave their heartfelt wishes for my birthday. Thank you, Isadas Family for keeping us always in your prayers. Thank you, Neil and Family. Thank you for sharing Sean's talent in piano playing on my birthday. Thank you, Raul and Cynthia. What you've said was heartfelt. Raul is always my David. Thank you Dom and Family. The trampoline is still there. Like we are always be there for each other wherever we are. Thank you Ed and Cel. Thank you for adopting me during the times when I was just by myself in NZ. Thank you Ed, Luz and Edmar. Thank you for allowing Claire and JC to hangout in your place after school back then Thank you, Elaine. I like your lipstick color! You are w...

I was driving and listening to my playlist of Christmas Songs.   Christina Perri was on.   I sang along having a jolly good mood.   We're hanging mistletoe And hoping that it snows I close my eyes and then I can still remember How to get back, home   Let all your memories Hold you close No matter where you are You're not alone Because the ones you love Are never far If Christmas is in your heart   I was heading to two roads that fork.   My usual road is the left road for it runs closer to my home.   And then at the spur of the moment I thought of going the other road for a change.   It is a little longer route but what the heck.   I don’t see any harm.   Choices such as this don’t leave any stress or anything.   Unless I am counting every litre of the petrol, I may perspire while blaming myself what the heck am I thinking?   But I got sufficient petrol.   Wine Red (The ca...

I haven't ridden the roller coaster since Euro Disney of my ancient self until I rode with my son who was doing it for the first time. He tested the water first. Oberving how the passengers who went ahead of us. Finding that they are still alive he hopped in to one of the cars and he got the thrill of the life time. I got the thrill as well but not the ride but how I see my kid's thrill. I had my moments and energy of being so charmed with the loops, the scare and adventure in my hey day. Not anymore. Now I won't do it for myself. I am too old for this. The palpitation rate says "A-ah, take it easy".  I know my limits. The ride is just a few seconds I thought. And to my son it would have been a slow motion moment which may  take one frame per minute to delight. I ride with and for my son. Let' do it!  And there yah go.  That few seconds sucked away the liquid in my throut I thought I needed a drink. My whole head complained a bit which is not case in my younge...

It had been a long awaited dining experience with a craving that had never gone ahead. We have attempted in the past to satisfy the cravings by improvising the dish with pork mince, pork crackers, fresh onions, fresh bell pepper and mayonnaise which we succeeded in coming near to the enjoyment of the taste of sisig. We have been contented with it and we almost have forgotten that there is a better life. But that better life of enjoying sisig takes you to head back  home which will take you to its origin in Angeles City or spending a nice night out in Trellis combining the spoon full of sizzling wonder with San Miguel Beer. O man.  Let's make this happen at home in NZ. I have kept my faith up so as to realise everything will fall in to place.  True enough God is good, our path crossed with one who would be willing to come up with a genuine dish. Once I was told that what we needed was a hog's head, the quest was on to find the head. Nah! It was  not exactly ...

One thing I remember in my first days in NZ was that I got freckles or people might see me as a frecklish guy.  Coz since they were knowing me for the first time and they had no idea who I was before, I presumed that they knew me as a guy with freckles or with acne scars. No one had asked what it was which  was a give away understanding they thought it was a natural feature of mine.  The truth is I was supposed to arrive in NZ a month earlier if not for the chicken fox.  Yes I got chicken fox which I needed to heal before flying to Auckland.  O that chicken fox hurt terribly.  I stayed in my parents home since I did not want JC to catch it.  I endured it for first two days and following days are healing wounds while finishing the three DVD boxes of  the TV series Six Feet Under.  To me it was a blessing that I got it when I was still in the Philippines.  I could not imagine if I got it when I am already in NZ alo...

In my past blog I have said that I began to appreciate small conversation with chatty strangers whom I come across in different places. The reason why small conversations with strangers might turn out to be good is perhaps that there is a minimal amount of knowledge of each other and most likely the topic would be limited to things, events and basic infos.   At least it would start that way until the nasty stuff might kick in such as people bashing. But before it happened, time is running out and both of you need to go on with your own separate ways. And you parted happy. I began to realise that if I would just see the person I am talking with in a perspective of what I see him/her now and not he/she was before or what unreliable others say about him/her, the conversation between us might be interestingly good. The Now is the gauge to measure, not the Then and most likely not the Next. If the Now personality is still as bad as you fairly perceive, bail out before. It is a waste...

The other night, Da Vinci Code was shown in TV2. I did not watch the whole film that night for the reason that I have read and watched it for how many times. But I got to watch the first minutes of the Louvre Scene. I was not in it for the indulgence of the gruesome murder of Jacques Sauniere or the clues within the Da Vinci’s paintings but the gratification on bringing reminiscences on my fantastic journey inside the Louvre. There are so many remarkable places in Paris. Louvre is definitely one of them. The Louvre, the palace full of famous artworks is so huge that it will take the whole day touring inside. One of the main attractions was the famous Mona Lisa. I was advised to go straight to where Mona Lisa Painting was before I ran out of time seeing it. And so that was the plan. There were arrow signs pointing to where Mona Lisa was and that made the whole endeavor much easier. But it was not as easy as I thought it would be when I kept on being held back by other enticing artworks...

Being obsessed with accolades would mean not allowing anyone to do the job even in the midst of doing another job. The praise hunger fella has difficulties delegating other jobs with the fear that the attention would be stolen. The poor guy tries to do a one-man-band not minding the tension and the time wasted. He tries to afford a frame of mind of all knowing so as not make room for others to grab the stage. I was a victim of these obsession when I was the director, script/libretto writer, melody composer of a 2-hour musical play Darklight sponsored by the community I used to belong. The story was inspired by C.S. :Lewis Book entitled Screwtape Letters. I also used the character of Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood in the story and the situation where Screwtape advising Wormwood how to be an excellent devil. It took almost one year of preparation with some spices due to some difficult interactions among the staff, crew and management not to mention the hang-ups within me who was still...

I did a bit of sending off to my old Pentium 4 Desktop Comp and donated it to EDay. EDay is an event where people will just junk their old computers for a good cause. Being sentimental to all sorts of things which have been attached to me, it is kinda hard for me to send them away. There are so many reasons why we need to get rid of old stuff and one of them is just to clear space. And that is why my old HP had to go. There were other potential amiable items I keep for slushy reasons which I need to get rid off for all sorts of sensible reasons. I guess recalling the time spent with something which has provided good service for so many years makes me cringed a bit when thinking about turning them over. The Lazy Boy which was my first appliance and one of my inanimate companions in an empty living room of a house when I was just starting to settle in NZ is now wondering like an unlawful tenant in the middle of our guest room of our current house. The charger dependent ACER lapto...

I started wearing glasses when I was in high school. I found out that I needed one pair when I have been having a hard time reading what was written in the black board. There was no problem when I am reading a book in my hand. In fact I got a microscopic handwriting which my mother always castigated me about because she said it does not speak much about my confidence, where in fact, I got the habit of writing so tiny because there was too much to write during lectures in school and I always run out of notebooks quickly. This developed my skills in reading minuscule text. I guess I still have that skill thus far when I still enjoy reading pdf files on IPods. But I’d be delighted if I got an IPad. O yeah! Definitely I want it. I have been a fan of book reading since I was in grade school. My favourite hangout when I was a lad was National Bookstore and Alemars (Raise your hand if you recall. No one? Well.). I was a member of Book of the Month Club which got me to order books...

Before I was introduced to Blogger, Multiply, Facebook, Friendster, LiveJournal, there was GeoCities which I used to compile all of my memorable stories and pictures. Now, GeoCities has emailed me saying that they’re gonna shot down the site and no one will be able to visit them again. There are suggestions on how to retrieve them so that I would maybe transfer them another site. But I think it will never be the same. I mean, there were pictures there being published on the same months they were taken and it will not be the same when you have to publish them again as some sort of a part of a personal history. I may be so overdramatic here. But GeoCities has served me very well in compiling them that is why I haven’t given up its service. Now that they are saying “bye-bye” there’s nothing I can do but to pull them out. But first I would like to have the last visit of the site. Come join me: http://www.geocities.com/jonsaint2002/jonsaintfamily.html

Dear Jonathan! Nice to hear from you again! I am Maria Laura the Argentinean woman friend of Jose Maria, and the whole Latin group, who was always in the party's at Mina with her child ... in that time of 3 years old. Do you remember me? I start to work at IHE 6 years ago and I am very happy to be here, 2 days as Social Cultural Officer and 3 days as Alumni Officer. Of course your group 98-99 is my alumni group, I continue being in touch with most of the Latins and I meet with Jose Maria for a good drinks once a year when a visit Argentina. I am doing very well, my child too, he is now 13 so as tall as me but very nice teenager. I hope you are also very well and always with your nice humor and character. Warm regards from Delft! Maria Laura Sorrentino, Alumni Officer UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education Wow! This simple letter returns memoirs when I was doing my masters in IHE, Delft. I was single at that time and most of the friends I hangout with almost every night where ...

What is good about having a Facebook Account is that you get the probability to touch base with your long lost classmates. It all started when a certain guy which I did not recognize in his profile picture by the name of Alex commenting “ If I am not mistaken, you were UST Batch (Bleep) 5 CE. Right?” And then he produced a class picture which included me 60 pounds ago. “O yeah, he is Alex from Class 5 CE. And then a few days after, several of my classmates from 5 CE sprouted and asking to add them in my Facebook Contact List. Amazing! It’s like I feel young again. There is also a feeling that you want to catch up with them and see how they are after all the decades. Ooops! Years. What do you know? Most of us haven’t been in touch after graduation and after the Besavilla Crash Course for CE Board Exam.

I have been hibernating and have been doing well with it. I have not been blogging. I have not involved myself with any activity with whatever Filipino Org we have here in Christchurch. I am successful in detaching myself from any association in my pursuit to dedicate myself with my wife, son and career. Mel from Auckland, an old friend way back when we were still in the Ligaya Community tried to catch up with me through email. He asked me if I already have a support group here. I told him none formally. But I have my family and close family friends who get in touch regularly. I told him I am happy with this setup and I told him I don’t intend to complicate myself in getting tied with certain group and be branded as one of those enemies of the other. When I was a kid, I used to play Kampu-kampo with other kids. Kampu-kampo was a game where two groups owning territorial bases compete with each other by capturing enemies and bringing them in their respective bases. It was phys...

I have been blogging in Blogspot for more than a year now. Well! Well! Well!