At 11pm of the last Friday of July, I went into a 7 hour journey to Baguio to attend my first conference in 3 years. Arriving just in time for the first session, I again journey along with my 3,000 (more or less) brothers and sisters in a weekend that left us wanting more.

In a society that emphasizes on beauty, we sometimes envy other people's good looks, and we grew more worried about our own imperfection.

But if we think about it, there's no one life that is perfect, everyone has a lack of something. Imperfections are there in our lives. So rather than fret about it we should learn to accept it with open arms.

...If there are no hardships, we will be complacent 

...If there is no depression, we cannot emphatise and console who are less fortunate

...and if we have everything, what's left for the others?

So don't go around envying others. Count your blessings, even those little imperfections. Having cracks to let happiness flow to others is a beautiful thing...Let go of your worries and keep the faith to the LORD and life will be much happier.

“We were trained to say: “We are sorry for your lost.” Now we know it didn’t give much comfort as we lost one of our own.” These were the words of Gil Grissom of CSI in one of their episodes where they “lost one of their own”. I was so touched by that episode…misty eyed even. I am such a sucker for team drama (although CSI is not your typical soap yet I love the drama in it)… I do get drawn to their melodramatic life in and out of the case. They were a team…no a family…much like us in the office.

We don’t see each other just as officemates…we were friends…brothers and sisters…

What the CSI team experienced, we are experiencing too but in REAL LIFE…the fun, the camaraderie, the love and now the LOSS.

Yes, we just lost one of our own…a co-work, a friend, a brother of more than three years.

It’s hard to explain how it feels… the emptiness that it brings…the sorrow… the pain.

We are still in the denial stage, I guess. We didn’t know want happened…It’s so sudden, its like a lightning striking our very core…

Going to work is never gonna be the same again…

Yet, we are comforted with fact that he is in a better place now

Well, he’s actually still with us… (in denial or not)

… we still have the memories of his smiles, silly jokes and his love for life. He loved his work, his family, his friends …and we love him just as much.

…he’s one of us and will forever be in our hearts

Goodbye my Friend, Goodbye… till we meet again…

Random pix

ChudiBear II my precous gift from Engr. Eric...I will forever treasure it...thanks Brother!

Happy Chinese 牛Year!

A new year...

New beginnings...

New Hope...

with God's Grace, things are looking great...

just gotta' have more faith!

Same time last year I was in my own little world where everything around me brought me joy. I couldn’t care less if I was sleep deprived, not that it was anything different from my real world… I don’t sleep that much anyway. But in there the lack of sleep nor food & drink does not bother me… I was too excited to think about food. My adrenalin rush was on its peak. All I needed was to feel, breathe and live the Taiwan air (well, not that its clean air or something). Being there, away from work and stressed and the possible heartaches to yet to come was more than enough reason to take that much needed trip and of course just the thought of breathing the same air as the lovable four guys we fondly called F4 makes you want to canned the Taiwan air.

Everything there was so surreal…Everything happened so fast. One minute I was line with a couple of friends next thing I knew I was in a pool of thousands of screaming fans in an outdoor concert. 20,000 people were there, how did we ever fit in there? Looking for friends is like finding a needle in a haystack. And yet there was no other place I would rather be. We were practically treated to two shows, the rehearsal and the main concert. I don’t remember staying in one place that night. We were up and about as my King circle around the stage. When the show was over I would have thought that the excitement would at least simmer down but I couldn’t be MORE wrong. The next day’s activity made me more hyped up. Sans the long wait, no food ( I don't have an appetite that day) and hot weather, the Sunday line was the best ever. That very same line allowed me to come face to face with the four gorgeous faces, not that I haven’t seen them, but this was different… up close and personal…Its like seeing them in a whole new light. I was tongue tied half of my stay in stage,star strucked even, just contend on looking up on my King’s face but it didn’t matter.  My moment happened… those lovely little eyes, the smile, the sweetest thank you and the gentle handshake… its all in there. Nothing could take that away from me.

In year 2009, I have said to myself that its time for me to make a step to move on. Past is past so to speak but I needed to make an exemption of my Taiwan moment. My moment in Taiwan was my safe haven…it gave me the strength to get through he emotional roller coaster ride of the past year. Whenever I feel down and down right lonely I get back to that moment wherein my world seemed to have stop and made every feeling wonderful. So until my next memorable trip, I would gladly hold on to my moment… wish to see me there, again!

RANDOM THOUGHTS: