Shattered

Misunderstandings within political organizations are inevitable, even if its constituents are working bearing strong religious norms. But what will happen if the pillars of the organization, the big bosses, as they say, made decisions that resulted to major community division?

I remember the day when my mom and dad took home the latest "reproduction" of the Last Supper and hang it on our kitchen wall. I was 10. They explained to us that starting that day, we will be saying graces before every meal.

New house rule, I thought.

Little by little, I realized that my parents have been members of Couples for Christ (CFC). It was a meek organization then of couples who wanted to evangelize other families to have a closer relationship with God. Our whole family became a part of the community as they have different sub-organizations like Kids and Youth For Christ. I WAS even an active member of Youth For Christ.

Almost everything about it was presented to me as a perfect organization for the Filipino family.

After more than a decade, Couples For Christ and its sub-organizations gathered millions of members, including couples from other countries. This lead to opening more doors to building movements which focused on giving BETTER living environment for the Filipinos. One of them is Gawad Kalinga, which had a vission of building 7 million houses for poor but deserving families. It was the central movement of CFC. The vision was perfect.

For the past weeks, the rift between the leaders of CFC had been the main topic within our household. They've been hushing about it, but the alleged reason of this rift? GK issues and misundestanding among the newly elected leaders.

"Basta kung sino yung naka-side sa simbahan", my mom replied when I asked as to which side they are. As I understood it, with this division, one side is the only one working with and for the church, and the other isn't. I kept on asking my parents to elaborate the issue and explain both sides over the weekend, but they insisted that the good side is the one who's side is with the church. I know I do not have any right to have an opinion about this issue since I am not really an active member of the community, but what will happen to those couples who's side is "the one not with the church"?

I saw Tito Tony Umlas last night. Of course, he asked what was my parents' say about the issue. I asked him about my dilemma, and then he shared that since CFC is one the verge of division, the " other side" will be forming another group. Like a renewed CFC.

My eyebrows raised here.

Then he continued that his primary concern lies on the new members of CFC witnessing this struggle. Definitely a big concern. Tito's opinion was same with mine: not to have sides since everybody have one goal as to why they are part of the CFC Community: to serve God. 

Everyone have their opinions. Everyone have their own sides. But if you are working for God, is it really right to even have a side, when both sides have their own positive intentions? Isn't it just enough to be focused on the service and the mission work and not have sides?

Teen Choice Awards 2007

Started as a documentary about The 21 Hottest Stars Under 21 back in 1999, then evolved to The 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 back in 2001, my favorite awards show for teens and teens-at-heart (like me, hehe) is back with the 2007 Teen Choice Awards.

Minus the fancy brooches and cufflinks, stars young and old paraded the red carpet in their most comfy clothes to honor those who were voted by the majority of american tweens, teens and not-so-teens (the voting is open for everyone) in the field of music, movies and sports. Highschool Musical took home most of the night's surfboards as the sequel of the TV movie phenom was awarded as the favorite summer tv movie, and its stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens were commended as Male Hottie of the Year and Best Newcomer respectively.

Performances by Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, and Fergie rocked the event.

Other celebrated winners were the movie The Pirates of the Caribbean which won four surfboards, MTV's The Hills got three and Justin Timberlake who won the Ultimate Teen Choice award making him the artist who won the most surfboards (21 from the previous years and 2 this year).

I wonder when will this kind of award happening here in the Philippines? I know there are these kinds of awards from local teen magazines, but I hope they will produce a fun show and be aired in a local TV station, like this one, in the future.

photo by Wireimage

Professional Blogger

My application for blogging gigs was approved week ago. You can now call me a professional blogger.

Before you raise your eyebrows as to why I am only writing about it now, I've been in a state of frustration before I became a BONAFIDE correspondent of a website that provides users with post assignments. For the past three days, I've been exchanging e-mails with moderators to fix my account name and password credentials because I've been having trouble logging on to their system. I finally got to log in yesterday. They haven't given me any assignments in particular, but I am expecting a downpour the coming days. The salary is not really much, but it's all good since I would be paid extra doing my favorite hobby. :)

I went to Megamall last Saturday with Peng and watched Hairspray. I went to their house around 2pm. I shared new things about me while she prep up. We left Rizal around 3pm and found ourselves at French Baker eating an early dinner an hour and a half later. We bought our tickets after. Our screening was scheduled at 7:15. There was an on-going music and art festival at the Megatrade Hall, so we decided to check it out first. We thought it was free, but there was a 100-peso entrance fee so we decided to bail. We just drool and sighed on all the clothes and the shoes we checked out during our window-shopping session.

At the movies, Peng was teasing me because I was singing along with the songs in Hairspray. Sabi nya, pinipigilan ko pa raw e kabisado na yung mga kanta, hehe. We really enjoyed it, and we really unleashed the high school in us as we went gaga over Zac Efron's smooth moves. As the credits roll, we both said that we should take a picture infront of the movie poster. There was one with just Zac in it, but we didn't dare. We just posed infront of the poster outside the movie house. I'm not finish writing the review yet. I'll update this post and put the link when I'm done.

update: You can read my Hairspray review here.

Mandy does Rihanna

I had goose bumps the first time I heard it. They belong to two very different genres, but in my opinion, Mandy really did a great job covering Umbrella. Her version is less catchier, but more laid-back and refined. Plus the lyrics of the song is more audible in this version.

Brush Updates

I finallly have a tinsy-winsy time to update. I have been swamped with a lot of things the past week that I never really stopped and wrote anything. Well, I write for a living, but you know what I mean. This post is random.

I am attending sessions on Basic Java Programming for two weeks now. And I still can't get the hang of it. Most of it are still so Greek to me. The codes and how it works. But it's really fascinating whenever we do the exercises and see all these codes in action. It will be over within the next two weeks.

Our PlayStation Portable has been upgraded. Zaide installed five games in it: 2 versions of Streetfighter, Tekken, a game which had dragons on it, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I focused on playing HP and Tekken. I love Goblet since there are stages and you unlock the next stage when you complete the Tri-Wizard tasks. With Tekken, I love the rush of kicking someone's butt, hehe :)

I have a series of back and leg pains for the past week. And that's because Brush, my ever-fluffy cat, invaded my bed! I cannot have a decent sleeping position since she wanted to really be in the middle of the bed whenever she sleeps. She scratches me like crazy whenever I bump her head or any part of her body, so poor me had to adjust my position every now and then. Not only that she sleeps in my bed at night, she also likes to lie down and just stay there almost the whole day. Not that I am complaining that she discovered the comfort my bed gives, but I just wish she can adjust to sharing the bed with me, and not scratching me when my foot is on the wrong side of MY bed. :)

Hairspray is out today. I hope I can watch it this Friday :)

Father's Fairy Dust

There was a time when I was about 6 that I really thought I've had fairies and elves as friends.

I was really fond of playing Langit,Lupa and Taguan. It was exhausting! Poor old me would end up falling asleep in the couch and then waking up in my bed the next day. Wondering how I end up in my bed when I was clearly aware that I slept on the couch, I made all these different scenarios: maybe a fairy showered me with fairy dust that made me float in the air, or elves carried me from the couch to my bed. This happened a lot of times that, one night, I decided to pretend I was asleep to see and finally meet Tinkerbell and Dopey.

An hour... two hours... three hours have passed and still no sign. I started to get frustrated, when suddenly,

"O, dito na naman nakatulog si Zobel..."

After a subtle kiss on the forehead; two warm, strong arms lifted and carried me to my bed.

My father was my fairy.


Thinking about it right now, I realized that I came to love writing because of my father and that memory when I was 6. Before I discovered that he was the one carrying me every night, I would always write about the things I imagine; stories about the haps and mishaps whenever the fairy or the elves lead me to my bedroom. All of that because my father discreetly carried me to my room while I am asleep.

And for that, and for the million other things you've done for me, I thank you, Papa.

Happy Birthday! :)

Andrea

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEA!

I miss you. I can't remember the last time we chatted, so it means it's been a loooong time since. Good luck with everything. I know you're busy with school. I hope we can meet sometime and catch up.

*mahigpit na birthday yakap*

Club Dredd with Jollybug

I went to Club Dredd last Friday with Jolly. Yup, the-former-5-and-Up-reporter Jolly. We've been chatting through YM for a while now, and he'd always been the Jolly I met during 5 and Up's 7th Anniversary episode shoot in Fontana some 8 or so years ago. The one who always have this enthusiasm about music. Oh, the MTV and Alanis sing-along days! I was actually glad to see him last year at the RX 93.1 booth doing the job he loves the most: playing music and sharing his insightful thoughts about it by being one of the Radio One DJ's. Well, he's not really a full time DJ nowadays, but he visits the booth and be on-air once in a while.

He's a big fan of Up Dharma Down (UdD), and been wanting to watch the band play live and meet them, especially Armi, in the flesh. So I told him that UdD will be at Club Dredd in Libis.

We were both excited about the gig. It was my first time to go out after three months of hiatus and Jolly's first time to watch the band play live. I met his friend Enzo. Enzo was with his girlfriend, Vanessa. They're also a huge fans of UdD. The gig was scheduled to start at 10pm. We went in the bar at 9:45, and the seats were empty. We decided to settle though since it's a Friday and we anticipated that the place would be packed.

Jolly and his friends had the chance to meet Armi, Ean and Pol. There were two front acts before Up Dharma Down. The gig started an hour late, but it was all worth the wait. Plus it was a lucky night for all of us because UdD played two new songs from their up coming album during their set :)

Here are videos of UdD's performance that night. Enjoy!

Simpsonized