Ondoy Relief: offering a hand…

Even after the floods have subsided, it is not yet over.  Time to help out now…

Donations are being accepted at the Phil. National Red Cross chapter office nearest you. Ours is at ATC, Alabang:

Go, go go, Pinoy youth power!: Classes are suspended for a week. There is no reason for them NOT to help out now…

The relief goods ready for distribution: We just hope they will recycle the plastic bags though…

My donation: With just Php 500, one can buy canned goods, noodles, bottled water, biscuits, soap, shampoo, can openers, candles – at least 5 bags worth of relief goods that 5 families may desperately need right now.  One can buy groceries at the supermarket in ATC, and just drop them off at the Red Cross Office in front, near Nat’l Bookstore.

BTW, medicines are also urgently needed: paracetamol, antibiotics, analgesic, oral rehydration salts, multivitamins and medications to treat diarrheal diseases.

If you do not have any material stuff to offer, you can volunteer in sorting, packing and distributing relief goods.  Just.. help… out.  It’s the least you can do…

 

crying time with 1 liter of tears

Another jdorama to be shown on GMA (starting tonight May 25) is the 2005 mini-series, 1 Liter of Tears (Icchi Rittoro no Namida).  It is based on the inspiring 1986 book that contains diary entries of Kito Aya whose youthful dreams and happiness were shattered by a cruel degenerative disease, putting a slow and tragic end to what could have been a bright and promising life.  The jdorama version (there was also a 2004 movie on this) starred Sawajiri Erika as Ikeuchi Aya and Nishikido Ryou as Asou Haruto.  It differs from the book and movie by adding a love angle to it in the form of Ryou.  It was a nice touch–resembling that other tear-jerker “A Walk to Remember.”

The real Aya (right): “I write because writing is evidence that I’m still alive.”

If you’re going to follow the drama on TV, better prepare your tissue box and hankies for the rest of the coming weeks.  I was crying my eyes out as the story unfolded, giving me a good dose of badly-needed catharsis (the last time was when I watched–for the nth time–Full House! *blush* don’t ask me why…it’s such a long story).  We all need a good cry once in a while. Besides, according to research, crying is a natural process and a great form of stress reliever. But for me, when I have a good cry, I get in touch with my human side. Sometimes when you steel yourself up for work and life’s challenges (especially when you are expected to be objective and uncompromising), you tend to be stoic and unemotionally absent. Watching tearjerkers like 1 Liter can help me do a Spock–to channel my inner human hidden inside my otherwise Vulcan demeanor.  (^.^)

Going back to 1 Liter, I could relate with it since I went through a similar crisis– losing a loved one who happened to be my mom. She suffered a stroke at age 51, became paralyzed and was bed-ridden for several months before she passed away a year later (around the same time as the real Aya). It is a difficult ordeal that you wish and pray that no family would ever have to go through.

And I cry most easily when I see grown men weep.  My heart just breaks watching the lovable dad (played well by Jinnai Takanori) shed tears watching his daughter go through the ordeal, knowing there is little that he can do.

Ryou (left) is such a terrific actor, too.  His crying scenes were real and heartfelt.  With his dark looks and emoesque charm, he is one talented actor that will definitely go a long way.

The songs play an important role in the series, too.   We may not know the language but they give the emotional scenes more power to pull even the most stubborn of all heartstrings: Only Human by K (ending theme), Konayuki (Powdered Snow) by Remioromen (Aya and Haruto’s love theme); and March 9, also by Remioromen.  Since it is my LSS of the week, the latter is what I want to share with you, along with the lyrics (English translation can be found here) and song for your sing-along pleasure.  Have a good Catharsis! \(Ｔ‿Ｔ)/~sniffles~

Sangatsu Kokonoka (March 9)

Nagareru kisetsu no mannaka de
Futo hi no nagasa wo kanjimasu
Sewashiku sugiru hibi no naka ni
Watashi to anata de yume wo egaku

Sangatsu no kaze ni omoi wo nosete
Sakura no tsubomi wa haru he to tsudzukimasu

Afuredasu hikari no tsubu ga
Sukoshizutsu asa wo atatamemasu
Ookina akubi wo shita ato ni
Sukoshi tereteru anata no yoko de

Arata na sekai no iriguchi ni tachi
Kidzuita koto wa hitori ja nai tte koto

Hitomi wo tojireba anata ga
Mabuta no ura ni iru koto de
Dore hodo tsuyoku nareta deshou
Anata ni totte watashi mo sou de aritai

Sunabokori hakobu tsumuji kaze
Sentaku mono ni karamarimasu ga
Hirumae no sora no shiroi tsuki wa
Nan daka kirei de mitoremashita

Umaku wa ikanu koto mo aru keredo
Ten wo aogeba sore sae chiisakute

Aoi sora wa rinto sunde
Hitsuji kumo wa shizuka ni yureru
Hanasaku wo matsu yorokobi wo
Wakachiaeru no de areba sore wa shiawase

Kono saki mo tonari de sotto hohoende

Hitomi wo tojireba anata ga
Mabuta no ura ni iru koto de
Dore hodo tsuyoku nareta deshou
Anata ni totte watashi mo sou de aritai

 

goodbye for now?

Time to put the holiday decors down, store them away, and clean up what needs to be cleaned up.  I don’t normally do NYRs (new year’s resolutions) but this time I need to do some thinking and make some changes.

Packing away the decors and back to the same way it was?… Not if I can help it.

Like…I love blogging (and facebooking).  But I feel there are times, that I’m finding myself spending way too much time on it–time I can’t afford right now.  So stumbling upon this site and reading about it helped me break away from being obligated to blog… (and rethinking about doing away with other addicting internet habits):

1.  I will be busy for my written comprehensive exams. I have a month to prepare for it.  So that means, I will not be blogging and facebooking much until that part of my life is over.  Just thinking about the exams is making me hyperventilate.  Oh, God!

2. Preparing also means cleaning up and organizing my notes… my files… my room… my life. I am such a pack rat, I hate throwing away bits of inane fluff and pieces of scribbled paper, too afraid to part with them for I might somehow need them in the future (which never happens).  This crazy habit has got to end!

To finally get on top of the situation: To borrow (and to butcher) a quote from Sir Edmund Hillary, it is not these  stacks and stacks of notes and documents we should conquer but ourselves (Left)

3. And of course, the mother of all NYR cliches… Maybe… just maybe… lose some weight.  I will not add anything more regarding this.  That’s just that.

So there… I don’t know how to end this. Maybe a little goodbye-be-blogging-whenever-I-can will suffice…

So…Bye! Be blogging soon…if I can! And wish me luck….

 

of naruto and pchie-chan

I’m ashamedly late when it comes to being a fan of Naruto.  It was only during the holiday break that I was able to watch dvd episodes of the said anime series (I’m still in Season 6).  I knew about the craze but I just glazed over this series on the channels where it was being shown and never had the time to really stop and watch it.  And also every time I heard Naruto’s original dubber’s voice, it had always made me wince and ask, “Is it necessary that he always have to scream like that?”

Well, yeah, as I found out–Naruto cannot be Naruto without the screaming voice, the lovable face, and the never-say-die chutzpah.  I love the characters (even the villains), the neat, clean-crisp drawings, and Masashi Kishimoto’s long-running story that promises to reveal so much more as the seasons pile up after another-without ever running out of steam (which I can’t say much with some American TV shows like Prison Break, Lost, etc.).  I love and appreciate its cheesy dramatic score; all the cool jounin/senseis/hokages especially Kakashi (absolutely adore him!); and their friendships, strength and love that are often being put to the test in every mission and in every crisis.

I have even grown to be patient and productive with the constant, ridiculously-long flashbacks (of what I already know about) that each character undergoes every episode–by making use of that time to go to the bathroom, make myself a cup of coffee, and text a friend–all done before coming back to the show– without even missing a beat (in Naruto--even their flashbacks have flashbacks!).

Themes like trust, faith, betrayal and revenge, teacher-student sagas, level-up fighting competitions and fierce-opponent-turned-respectful-friend story angles (and don’t forget the bloody violence and the occasional minor cursing) have been the main staple among Japanese anime and martial arts movies, and Naruto is no exemption to these formulas.  But like a million others, I am still hooked on the series for many reasons.  What inspires me as I watch Naruto battle it out every episode is his drive to be the best, even if he’s all bloodied up and beaten to a pulp. Also, even to the point of sounding absurdly naive, I perceive that the unconditional love the people of Konoha have for their simple village and comrades in arms as well as in peace and to protect those who are precious to them are the values that I hope are being understood and learned by Naruto fans who are mostly the kids of today.  So that they’ll realize that this love is something that they could bestow upon their own homeland and countrymen as well; and that they would grow up to be the best; to fight for what is right; and if it is their time to take over and rule the country, they’ll do so with the same fierce commitment, an unquestionable integrity, and a wisdom that is as pure as a hokage’s.

And don’t forget the value of and victories earned from hard work–and all that literal back-breaking training and practice that Naruto, Lee, etc. had to endure in order to reach their goals!  Which leads me to the real world — particularly about the oldest of all my nieces and nephews–Pchie.  It was like yesterday when she was just a small toddler playing with dolls and wanting to be carried around.  Now she’s all grown up and getting ready to level up and be a part of the working-and-tax-paying force. She has left for the Land of Smiles and Tom Yum soup to undergo more training for her work as an aspiring flight attendant for a certain airline company (can’t say the name–they’re not allowed to talk about it online… which is a shame because it could be full of real-life juicy drama and suspense that are deemed worthy to document and blog about).

Trying out her new uniform (right) and showing off her FA pose.

She has to master a new language and learn a new culture (Hint: It’s where Naruto comes from… No, not Konoha…) and memorize other professional airline data and jargon in a short span of time.

Posting the characters on the wall helps her study at home (Left).

I’ve watched her lose sleep, lug her textbooks as thick as encyclopedias to and from training school, and study (and sometimes cry) her eyes out for the past two months during the first leg of the intense training in Manila.  Like a genin doing chuunin exams, she has passed the ‘preliminaries’ and have to go through more arduous training abroad before she gets to finally ‘graduate.’

Pchie studying hard in their training room (right)

With bated breath and fingers crossed, we are all hopeful, happy and excited for her.  We’ll be praying for your success and safety, Pchie-chan! And as they say in those anime shows, “GANBARE! (Do your best!)”