Think Tank

Read more about it at this site:

http://mythoughtsarebuggingme.blogspot.com/2009/03/weekends.html

Read more about it HERE

I just finished reading Breaking Dawn last weekend and had nothing else to read so, I am currently reading this book by Philip Yancey: “Where is God When it Hurts?”. Sounds emotional, eh? Just borrowed it from one of my officemates/dgroup sisters, Kate. It’s a bit a heavy read because you have to be really alert and awake when reading this.

Being the nerd that I am, I like how the facts were well investigated/researched. On the first part of the book, it talked about how we should be grateful that we can experience pain. Physically, this is the time when our body’s screaming at you and telling you to STOP and take a rest. Or change something about your lifestyle. Like when we feel headaches or when we have sudden stomach pains - this should be a wake up call for you, to have yourself checked and see what’s actually wrong with your body.

On this book, he also mentioned that some diseases (that I never knew about until I read this book!), the people inflicted by it, never ever experience or feel any pain. Limbs literally fall off because they don’t feel that something’s wrong with that part of their body and that it’s too late for them to have it fixed. It was striking to know too that some become blind because they cannot feel the water that they use when they wash their faces, that there are times when, the water’s too hot and they use it to wash their faces. Since they can’t feel anything, they don’t see the need to close their eyes while waching their faces with scalding water!

It was horrible learning about this - horrible to learn tha this is what our brothers and sisters experience, the ones inflicted with Leprosy. I have always thought that this disease was never about being numb — what I knew as that, it was CONTAGIOUS. I’m not sure where I got that - I think it came more from the movies/tv shows that I watched when I was a kid.

What do you think about this:

To be able to feel pain, or to be too numb to feel it?

There are still a lot of good stuff in this book that I’m reading, and most definitely, I’ll be sharing it with you.

When I run into some really good stuff, I’ll just post it here.

See ya!

I cannot seem to satisfy my thirst of reading. This week alone, I’ve been reading so much that I feel like a dehydrated soul whose thirst never goes away. These are not just books we’re talking about, but also articles, ebooks, news on the internet. What happens is that, when I can’t concentrate on a book, I just read from online.

I’m no big fan of long reads online but I was able to find Time.com’s feature where they ranked the TOP 10 of everything! I learned so much that I have so much to talk about when I’m with Pol or with my sisters and friends.

Lately I have become curious about what’s happening in the US, the recession and all, and of course, how many people are being laid off from these big corporations/companies. One news I was totally surprised about was Iceland’s (as in the country) financial collapse!

Here’s what the article said:

“Three major banks, 300,000 people and zero liquidity. It’s not often that the wealth of an entire country is wiped out. But Iceland almost managed that when its currency, the kroner, got caught in a freefall created when investors bailed. Its billions of dollars of Euro-denominated foreign debts became unpayable. Caught in the middle: depositors in Great Britain and Germany, who were lured by rich rates being offered by Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki and Glitnir Bank hf. The IMF is providing a $2.1 billion loan while Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark will provide a further $2.5 billion. German also coughed up a couple hundred million, which will be used to make German depositors whole. Iceland is even talking to the Russians for help. Iceland is broke, but it’s got geothermal heating, so at least no one will freeze to death.”

Read more about the other companies who just got snuffed out because of the recession here.

Yan

I think it was just a week ago when I learned about some message board where my name was FULLY printed, some person who “flamed” about me. Really, I didn’t know how to react, but, at some point, it kinda makes you think that there will always be people who wants to take you down. They don’t realize that with that kind of attitude, they will never be successful in any call centers.

Go ahead, look for my name, see how many ungrateful agents we have in our account –

Whine, whine, whine. Complain, complain, complain.

if i should keep this blog or this one.

What do you think?

Yan ang una kong inisip noong nakatanggap ako ng email sa office about exploring marine life on an intro dive. Una kong inisip,

“Eh pano kung di marunong lumangoy??”

At sinagot naman nila agad - di naman kasi must na marunong ka, kelangan talaga, wag magpa-panic while underwater.

Ayun, tinry naman namin and it was the best experience I have had so far, very unforgettable. Man, it’s totally a different, beautiful world down there! 

I’m sure you also want to try it, right? Well guess what? Sa mga curious at trip mag underwater adventure, please contact me if you want details on (Scuba) Diving. The divers who went with us on our intro dive is offering a very cheap amount for Open Water dive course in which after you will be certified.

When you say certified, this means that you can dive ANYWHERE you want.

Open to IBMers –Please send me a message if you’re interested, curious or want to know more.

(But if you’re a non-IBMer and would want to avail of the cheap promo, send me a message too!)

Thanks Yan

****

On the inserted pic, that’s me and the diver

That was the question that went through my mind while on our trip to Bauan, Batangas. Me being very curious about the ocean when I started snorkeling (in Galera), I was excited to see some peeps at the office offering discounted rates for Intro (Scuba) Dive.

They started sending out teasers about Preserving Marine Life (which I was unable to go), and they they sent an email about the dive. I was one of the first people (well, I thought!) to respond to the email, asking questions like:

-Does it matter if I don’t know how to swim?

-Can I bring non-IBMers?

-Will we be wearing wetsuits?

-Is it scary?

And other stuff that I wanted to ask about until one of the organizers said that I have to sign up ASAP, else I won’t have a slot. And I did, and included Pol on the list.

It was around 2-3 weeks before the trip and it was one of the things I was looking forward to. Having been B U R I E D with work and doing the same thing over and over again — I just needed a break. Although it was just a day tour, I knew it’ll be lots of fun! I had no idea what I was going to do.

I’ll talk about this on my next entry — while wondering how it went, check out my photos about the dive.

Tata!

I’ve been to other concerts before and have never experienced this — most of the time, when you watch a concert this is what you do (well at least this is what I do):

1. You would want to carefully see what the vocalist looks like, or if the band members are as handsome as the vocalist.

2. You prepare yourself with the energy that’s about to be unleashed as you sing along with the songs that you’re familiar with.

3. If you don’t know the song, you scream like crazy anyway just because you’re thrilled to be there, watching these artists perform LIVE

4. You usually jump and scream like hell because you’re cheering for the band

5. You gush and tell your companions how good they are and how much you love them.

BUT IT WAS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE LAST NIGHT.

I arrived Cubao via MRT, straight from Pampanga. When I went down the stairs connecting Gateway to the dome, I was surprised with how many people were there at the entrance area - and they were all lined up! I finally found my sisters and we went inside Araneta as early as 6pm. We found our seats and while we were waiting inside, videos were being shown. I realized that it wasn’t really a concert, but a worship event. Wow, I said to myself, sing and praise for 2 hours. God will be very happy tonight.

I have never seen the dome packed. All tickets were SOLD OUT — so just imagine how packed Araneta was from Lower box up to General Admission. From where we were sitting, the seats were filled to the brink! I mentioned that God will be very happy - because this sea of people will be praising and praying to him all night!

And it started — I tell you, this is the only concert where I didn’t care who was playing, who the vocalist was (well I looked at him too). You knew it wasn’t about them (the band) because, they show the lyrics of their songs on the screens so everybody can sing. And EVERY SINGLE PERSON was singing at the very first song to the last. It was all about thanking Him for everything, praising Him for being good and for blessing everyone else. I have never sang, prayed and jumped and raised my hands like this, in my whole life.

At some point, you can see that the singers of the band aren’t even singing anymore, they just kept playing while everyone else was singing. Imagine those sea of people, jumping, praying, arms raised to the heavens, singing to the top of their lungs!

Really, it was an experience that me and my sisters will never ever forget. We are grateful that we were there, part of all of this.

The vocalist even read some verses in the Bible in between songs and prayed a whole lot while we sing. He even said something like, “The youth here in the Philippines are incredible! I hope that when we get back, there will be a bigger building to accomodate everyone else.” Cheers and loud praises can be heard all throughout.

The last song I remembered that they played was “One Way” - everyone went wild and happy. I still get goosebumps just remembering it.

Hay, grabe. We went home and my sisters agreed that it was an experience. They too, noticed that it wasn’t really about the band, but the prayers and singing.

Funny, I have a backache now and my legs feel tired. I know why - it was all because of the jumping.

I am still high. I have realized how blessed we all are and that we have a lot to offer to help. And most of the time, I sing this to myself — This is one of my favorite songs by Hillong (they didn’t sing this though):

So blessed, I can’t contain it…
So much, I’ve got to give it away,
Your love taught me to live now…
You are more than enough for me.

Indeed, His love is overwhelming. Indeed, we are blessed. God is good.

I got this from one site because it summarizes everything:

“The night was riveting, as the stadium filled with thousands of voices, eyes raised heavenward, and created an expectancy that welcomed the very presence of God.”

(This picture was copied from a different site — but this was the same scenario at the dome!)

___________________

Postscripts:

I think it was 2 months ago when my sister forwarded me an email that Hillsong will be coming over here to Manila. Having been listening to their songs for awhile now, not really familiar with all of it, I told her that I was interested in going. So, it was decided that we’ll all go (me, with my sisters Wenna and Aileen).

I admit, before I started attended this church, my faith was size of a pea. We were raised to go to church every Sunday and go through the mass. My sister has been consistently asking me to go with her to CCF and I never went with her. One day, I went with her and I was OVERWHELMED.

I have always known that singing is one way of praying. I found this in CCF. I never saw myself listening and learning from a pastor - and I did. Everything that they say, I absorbed like everything else is new to me. I welcomed it. I felt like I was hungry for it. I was. I am.

I’m a work in progress.

(as in "b*tchin’"!).

post is titled as such because:

:: I think I am burned out that I can’t stop b*tchin about going to work

:: I wanna go on a long vacation to the beach (thus, I wanna go "beachin’" if there’s such a thing

:: I am b*tchin about the stuff that I have to do at work, but never have enough time to finish it

:: it’s too hot in the morning and afternoons to sleep before I go to work at night

:: we have to speak English at work even if everybody seems to be talking in English with the Filipino accent (ever heard of that? go to the office and listen!)

:: "I am broke but I’m happy." and I cannot help but hope that it’s already payday.

:: I can’t help b*tchin’ about the summer heat … blame it on Global Warming!

Oh well, I’ll just sleep this off. Yay! It’s almost the weekend!!