I Think That's All There Is.

REMAIN OPEN.

BE IT. 

IT'LL COME.

LOVE.

Had this perfect chance to tell a story, to be sad about it and laugh about it at the same time with my Joyologists..

Life is indeed Good,
Liz

Feliz Navidad

Sharing a great video from the PS22 Chorus... wonderful music.. wonderful voices... I was teary-eyed after watching it. It may have been the elusive peace and serenity that I so is still searching for myself which goes out to the ultimate wish I have for our country and the world.


To love.
To life.
and beyond....

Merry Merry Christmas Everyone. =)




-dani/liz/danisa

Secrets.

Do You Wanna Know Why I so Love the Guy?

Stumbled on this very nice article about the Mrazman himself.....simply explains why I definitely love this wonderful storyteller....

Ten years ago, Jason Mraz had a few t-shirts, some paper fedoras and a dream. He stuffed them into a worn backpack and travelled cross-country from his home in Virginia to California – a musical gypsy with a desire to share songs and expose his eyes fully to the world. His flawlessly accurate and controlled voice began making love to music in the coffee shops of San Diego; it now resonates in stadiums from Spain to South America. The words that come out of him feel divine. He plays with them like a kid in the mud with absolutely no fear of getting dirty. Life is messy. Mraz knows it. But prose can provide perspective, even clarity. His songs are part dictionary, part Mad Libs, but more than anything, Mraz’s messages serve as ambassadors of comfort. If life’s jar is full of tails-up pennies, his music can help flip them over. Mraz is a missionary of love carrying a songbook that beckons people to give it and receive it freely. His map is full of proud pushpins, and his mind filters those experiences into enlightened wordplay that redefines wonderful. Mraz’s music is happy and hopeful, and engineered to help us all hug it out. And the best part of all… he has no plans to ever unpack that bag.

It’s the morning before Mraz kicks off his ambitious Gratitude Café Tour – a 50-date, international “celebration and awakening disguised as a tour.” But first, a final tune-up in Pennsylvania opening up for Dave Matthews Band. There’s a lot riding on these shows. Mraz has to prove he’s worthy to stand on modern music’s elite platform. The success of his third album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., placed him there alongside industry heavyweights Chris Martin, John Mayer and Jack Johnson. Staying in the ring with the big boys, though, means bringing Ali-like power and poetry to the mic every night. My first question to Mraz was intended to be a mental jab to test his preparation. His answer knocked me out cold. “What did you fall asleep to last night?” I asked him – assuming he’d say lyrics to a song, a portion of the routine or thoughts on engaging the audience. Instead, he responded, “I fell asleep last night trying to define the word cult.” And from there I quickly learned that there are no ropes that can contain this man’s wisdom.

Mraz is a sushi-loving vegan who is into Buddhism, acupuncture and herbal remedies. When he’s not on the road, he lives with his cat in an unglamorous part of San Diego County surrounded by avocado trees, owls and coyotes. His solar powered home is always open to other artists who are encouraged to make music, cook or paint as they please. It’s a commune for creativity and is just fifteen minutes from the beach. World tours are built around the winter waves and his passion for catching as many of them as he can. He reads books about all types of religions and civilizations because he believes knowing a country’s history makes going to museums in Italy, drinking French wine and walking on Chinese soil FEEL better. Mraz is an avid photographer who released a travelogue of untouched Polaroids of people and places called a thousand things. He takes snapshots wherever his tour takes him, so that he can “slow down and SEE more on the walk through life.” When he gets sad, he puts on classical music so that “feeling down serves a purpose.” His favorite song of all-time is Maria Callas’s “O Mio Babbino Caro.” It makes him thankful to be a romantic. He believes in music’s invisible power, especially when it comes to shaping a child’s mind. That’s why money from each one of his concert tickets sold goes to Vh1’s “Save the Music” program. All these loves. All these truths. All these passions. Their sum has added up to some people claiming that Jason Mraz is into cults. “Why is that a bad thing?” he asked himself as he lay in bed that night. “I fell asleep realizing how cult is really just another word for culture, and if someone were to examine cult in a negative way, well then that’s them separating themselves from someone else’s interests. Because, I feel like the more I learn, the less I know. So if I only learn certain things, I’d sort of be trapped in a box, and I don’t want that.”

Listen to the music of the moment.
People dance and sing.
We’re just one big family.
And it’s our God-forsaken right to be loved.

If the world could sing in perfect harmony, Mraz’s “I’m Yours” would echo pleasantly through its canyons. The Bob Marley-like chord progression coupled with Mraz’s delightful delivery floats peace, love and joy down life’s river. Mraz calls it his “happy little hippie song,” and it has plucked the perfect string in so many hearts. “I’m Yours” took twenty minutes to write in 2004, and what Mraz thought would simply be a B-side acoustic demo, has now become the longest-running song in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100. It’s the only song to top all four U.S. radio airplay charts, and is currently the third best-selling digital single of all time. A classic like that has the potential to become Mraz’s “Brown-Eyed Girl,” a great over-requested song that just scratches the surface of his brilliance. But his songs are in a constant state of evolution and are rarely performed in the same way. “There’s always a way to change it up,” he says. “If it remains fresh for us, then it will definitely be fresh for the listeners as well.”
Half of the songs Mraz writes happen organically from grabbing a guitar and messing around with melodies. Sounds burst from his mouth first, and out of that exploration, words are born. He often types frantically filling page after page, then like a newspaper editor whose reporter buried the lede six feet deep, he slashes the text and moves it around until the story is told exactly the way it was intended. The other 50 percent of Mraz’s music is born through a process dubbed “The Songwriting Challenge.” It’s a game he plays with other musicians like Bob Schneider, a prolific songwriter out of Austin, Texas. Schneider will pick a word or phrase like “sewing machine,” for example, and then Mraz will have a week to write about that subject. There are no winners or losers, just pride on the line. As for this particular challenge, Mraz kicked its ass. “So first, I did an outline about what a sewing machine does, metaphorically, subjectively, objectively – and then I paired that up with the emotions that were happening in my life at the time,” he explains. “The result was ‘Details in the Fabric,’ which talked about Mother Nature’s sewing machine and how we’re all weaved together along with our emotions. Shit happens, you know, and that’s probably just the fault of faulty manufacturing.”

Calm down. Deep breaths. And get yourself dressed…
Instead of running around and pulling all your threads,
and breaking yourself up.
If it’s a broken part, replace it.
If it’s a broken arm, then brace it.
If it’s a broken heart, then face it.
And hold your own. Know your name.
And go your own way. And everything will be fine.
  
Mraz’s breakthrough hit was called “The Remedy.” It was released in 2002 on his debut album Waiting For My Rocket to Come. Its upbeat sound helped it become one of the biggest jams of the following summer. But locked in the dance groove was this inspirational message: “I won’t worry my life away” – words first uttered from Mraz’s best friend, Charlie Mingroni, who was battling a rare form of cancer. The two met in 9th grade chorus, and as Charlie lay hairless in a hospital bed going through chemotherapy, he told a muted Jason, “Don’t worry; living through this is going to be the best thing. It is a gift.” Charlie was born on the 4th of July, and as Mraz drove home from that outlook-changing visit, he saw fireworks off the highway at Disneyland. “The Remedy” had written itself by the time he hit his front door… “We will cure this dirty old disease. Well, if you’ve got the poison, I’ve got the remedy.” Charlie beat cancer.
Jason grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Coming from the country meant mowing the lawn, NASCAR and cigarettes. Cable TV and sidewalks did not exist. Jason’s parents divorced when he was young, but each left their musical imprint. It was Motown and Doo-wop at Dad’s place. Mom preferred Nat King Cole and Barry Manilow. On Saturdays, Jason brought out the boombox to breakdance in the backyard. By thirteen he was writing his own lyrics and fine-tuning his voice in choir. After high school, Jason moved to New York where he studied musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. He taught himself how to play guitar in college and cracked up his friends by improvising songs on the spot.  He knew he was called to be a musician, but instead of standing in lines to audition for parts written by other people, Jason wanted to create his own job.

Impressed by the storytelling of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Neil Young, he longed to hit the road and see the American picture they had painted. So Mraz quit school and took that chance. He admits that he was scared during that drive to San Diego in 1999, but it didn’t take him long to figure out how to share his gift. There was family waiting to be discovered inside those coffee shops. He met his musical soul mate, Toca Rivera, early on at Java Joe’s. They’ve been harmonizing ever since – Mraz on acoustic guitar, Rivera on drums. Their vocals waft through the air on fan favorite “Sleeping to Dream,” like a beautiful perfume. They’ve played Cupid so many times over the years with the endearing ballad. At a recent stop on the Gratitude Café tour in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mraz and Rivera called a couple onto the stage. They danced slowly to the soft serenade. Then the man stopped turning, grabbed her hand and slipped to one knee. Whatever emotional control the crowd had, was now gone – as the entire stadium erupted. With or without the spectacle, the weight of Mraz’s songs often creates zero gravity moments and feelings like that.

After his breakthrough success, Mraz admits the follow-up felt a bit like cramming to finish a homework assignment. Mr. A-Z reached number 5 on the charts and earned a Grammy nomination; however the album slipped under the radar a bit. The lyrics were as tight as ever, and songs like “Life is Wonderful,” “Wordplay,” and “Geek in the Pink” bleed Jason Mraz. But his soul didn’t get stamped on the disc the way he had hoped. So after a world tour to support the album, Mraz took a break from the music industry altogether. He went back to the coffee shops and played every Sunday night. We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. was born out of his reconnection with the human experience. The title came from a drawing by Glasgow artist David Shrigley. Mraz stumbled across the piece while traveling in Scotland, and was so moved that he borrowed the words and had Shrigley design the album cover.
The music on the record is his finest. It mixes jazzy horns with hip-hoppy scatting and soothing strings with delicate vocals. It’s Jason Mraz exposed from the inside out – his heart in full bloom. In “Love For a Child” he copes with his parents’ divorce by offering encouraging words to those who’ve experienced childhood neglect. “What about taking this empty cup and filling it up with a little bit more of innocence. I haven’t had enough,” he sings. He taps into his vulnerable side on “If it Kills Me,” and a keg full of emotion pours out in an ode to a potential lover. In “Lucky,” the Top 10 duet with Colbie Caillat, the artists paint love’s portrait like Klimt’s Kiss.
When it comes to dating, Mraz’s only trouble is time. Music is his number one commitment, so it makes sustaining serious relationships tough. He admits that he has a lot of faces for his love songs, and says they’re always changing – sometimes during mid-show revelations. But he most certainly has just one muse for his sultriest track, “Butterfly,” which also serves as his concert closing rump shaker. At 2:28 into the track, Mraz hits the bridge: “Doll, I need to see you pull your knee socks up. Let me feel you upside down, slide in, slide out, slide over here, climb into my mouth now.” He then loses the ability to speak English and invents a new and sexier language out of scat. It gets things so steamy that firefighters from several counties answer the multiple alarms to extinguish the blaze – but can’t.

So who is this woman? Well, Mraz met her during the year it took him to write the new album. He had joined his buddy Bushwalla’s band – playing guitar and singing back up. She stood across the stage from him and sang harmonies, too. “And so in the band we found ourselves flirting with each other through the music,” Mraz says. “Then it evolved into a little romance off stage. She was also an amazing Burlesque dancer, so I would go to her shows where she would sing and strip tease. She was extraordinary, and she just had me entirely, even though we knew we couldn’t really be a couple. But she brought out a rhythm in me and a soul in me that allowed me to create a song that could be played at gentlemen’s clubs – that was risqué and painted a soundscape for this woman in my life to dance to and celebrate her raciness.”
While that relationship will likely sizzle in his memory forever, he has hope that one woman’s hand will fit his just right someday. “A Beautiful Mess” was written in her honor. It is a brilliantly crafted song full of patience and love’s contradictions – a perfect first dance. If Mozart had strung words together instead of notes, he would have created this masterpiece. “Even after we find our soul mate or our life partner,” Mraz says, “there’s still going to be a give and take, and we should celebrate the light and the dark. ‘A Beautiful Mess’ is there to acknowledge that there’s going to be some ugliness, but there’s going to be a whole lot of beauty. Getting married is going to be a beautiful mess. We’re going to make kids and we’re going to have a hell of a time raising them in this crazy world, but we’re going to do it. One of us is going to die before the other, and it’s going to be horrible, but we’re going to be there for each other. I think that’s a really powerful thing to think about when you get married – to really acknowledge that I’m willing to love you entirely.” It’s a song that doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to.

A BEAUTIFUL MESS
by JASON MRAZ
You’ve got the best of both worlds
You’re the kind of girl who can take down a man,
And lift him back up again
You are strong but you’re needy,
Humble but you’re greedy
And based on your body language,
And shoddy cursive I’ve been reading
Your style is quite selective,
Though your mind is rather reckless
Well I guess it just suggests
That this is just what happiness is
Hey, what a beautiful mess this is
It’s like picking up trash in dresses
Well it kind of hurts when the kind of words you write
Kind of turn themselves into knives
And don’t mind my nerve you could call it fiction
But I like being submerged in your contradictions dear
‘Cause here we are, here we are
Although you were biased I love your advice
Your comebacks they’re quick
And probably have to do with your insecurities
There’s no shame in being crazy,
Depending on how you take these
Words I’m paraphrasing this relationship we’re staging
And what a beautiful mess, yes it is
It’s like picking up trash in dresses
Well it kind of hurts when the kind of words you say
Kind of turn themselves into blades
And the kind and courteous is a life I’ve heard
But it’s nice to say that we played in the dirt
Cause here, here we are, here we are
We’re still here
What a beautiful mess, this is
It’s like taking a guess when the only answer is “Yes”
Through, timeless words and priceless pictures
We’ll fly like birds not of this earth
And tides they turn and hearts disfigure
But that’s no concern when we’re wounded together
And we, tore our dresses and stained our shirts
But it’s nice today. Oh the way it was so worth it!


When I caught up with Jason Mraz next it was in San Francisco at the Outside Lands Festival. That’s where my definition of cult (culture) became crystal clear as I watched him spread his magic over that hallowed field. Because there in Golden Gate Park, on the lawn that Janis, Jimi and The Dead helped sprout, Mraz showed me music’s ultimate power… tens of thousands of people committed to a performance, willing to wipe away any woes in order to sing, dance and love the person next to them. Smiles stuck around as he led the crowd in call-and-response scatting, and jaws dropped as he stretched his vocal range from Barry White low to opera soprano. When Mraz broke into Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” the masses rejoiced in unison. “Every little thing, gonna be alright…” they all sang, and at that moment it really felt like it would be. It is music that sets Mraz’s spirit free in order to move us all. “A song can make you feel like you were meant for something,” Mraz says. “It can put the words in your mouth for you. I’ve decided to make that my mission as an artist – to create music that is relatable, and very human and very accessible – music that provides comfort that says, ‘Life is hard, but it’s hard for all of us, and we’re in this together.’ The more I travel around the world, the more I see that people want the same thing – to be happy. I hope that everyone leaves one of our shows feeling lifted and loved.”

credits to:

Written by: Ben Bamsey

Photography by: Harper Smith

ARTWORKS Magazine: Fall 2009

You are more than songs.... more than words.....

You indeed is Inspiration Jason!

In Awe, In Gratitude, In Love, 

dani

on Perfection...

“Some of us fuss so much over making the 'right' choice, but in life, all that's really needed is to make any' good' choice, believe in it, go through with it, and accept the consequences.”

Been singing this for three straight days now... keeps on ringing in my head.

Socrates, Millman and Me....

Dan Millman: Life has just three rules?
Socrates: And you already know them...
Dan Millman: Paradox, humour, and change.
Socrates: Paradox...
Dan Millman: Life is a mystery. Don't waste time trying to figure it out.
Socrates: Humour...
Dan Millman: Keep a sense of humour, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure.
Socrates: Change...
Dan Millman: Know that nothing stays the same.

The ones who are hardest to love are usually the ones who need it the most.

(source: The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman)

Me: Amen.

 D.

It Was Nice Seeing You Again...

Spending a day with your best friend will never go wrong with an unending beautiful, everything under the sun conversations before a sweet, delectable dessert at Starbucks.

Oh and really I am freaking lucky, since I won two movie passes from the office spiff! Yay!:)

Now that she just came back from a vacation in Abu Dhabi, it was indeed a great time catching up with exchanges of her stories and mine. It was nice to know that she had that wonderful time with herself with grand views of beautiful castles and extraordinary establishments that we won't be seeing here in Manila. She was excited with my stories in Music and the new people in my life as well. And though she will be seeing this movie for the second time, it was all worth it. I, having all my energies focused on the film and she, having an amazing hours of sleep inside the cozy movie house.

Now, we eat, pray and love….

 "Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation." 

I guess the question at the end of the day is... WHEN do we cross over?

Life As We Know It,

D.

Disclaimer: This movie is highly recommended for people who are open to change and ultimately, LOVE.

Let it Go....

Let go (by *December Sun)

 

 

 

 

It All Ended with Ginger and Cinnamon

When I am happy, I cannot write. However, I would, with all my heart, regret if I won't write on this one glorious moment. This direction would be a start of something new for me and for all who is a part and will be a part of it.

In spite of the news of a typhoon that would hit the weekend afternoon four days ago, the never ending quest on when will our schedules will meet, and the scarcity of time to rehearse, finally, we've shared the same tune as we dive into the pursuit of our long lost passions and dreams. Words weren't enough to describe what had happened last weekend. It was just-- a BLAST! I realized that one way or another it maybe the universe and fate telling us, not to worry at all because each one of us is sourced with a gift.

To Francis, Alec, Lea, Nathan and Gel:  

You guys were awesome and prolific!

We went home at around 5AM after a nice hot soup and woke up noon hitting the Shang to watch an Italian movie at the Italian Movie Fest--- for free!!!! :)

(Loved it! Ginger and Cinnamon after a share of humble banoffee pie)

We won't worry our lives away,

Liz/ D.

And the only Answer is YES!!!!

D.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure

TED really makes me thinking... 

I have been watching this clip over and over again and find it amusingly inspiring. I jotted some ideas of Ms. Rowling about the benefits of failure and this is what I got...

1.Once you take the wheel, the responsibility is with you.

2. Poverty entails fear,and stress and sometimes depression it means a thousand petty humiliation but    climbing out of poverty by your own efforts that is something to which you pride yourself and poverty itself      is romanticized by fools.

3. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success.

4.  Failure is meant to scripting away of the inessential.

5.  Some failure in life is inevitable it is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might not have lived after all in which case you failed by default.

6.  Personal happiness is knowing that life is not a checklist.

7.  Life is difficult and complicated and beyond anyone's total control and the humility to know that will enable you to survive this vicissitudes.

8. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not and therefore the fountain of all invention and innovation. in its arguably most trans-formative and revelatory capacity, it is power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we never shared.

There were a lot of good points that I would have not jotted down.... Hear for yourself and be inspired!

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.


D.

Gotta go Back to Work....

This kind of hit me right in the face...



"You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." — Ray Bradbury




(Oh... and yes, I am writing again....)



D.

FYG - A Campaign To Change The Course of History

Letting go of melodramatic/dramatic ranting and posting in the meantime....

I'd like to share his video on change - now that the Philippines is in the brink of taking another chapter in the course of history.... 

ENJOY and most IMPORTANTLY, BE A PART OF IT!!!

FOUR YEARS. GO.

I am what I am and I will be the change my country would like me to be. 

dani

In a Very Unusual Way, You've Made Me Whole

I remembered this song back from the days that my ears won't shut till I hear something so soothing... sometimes putting me into a sort of trance then fall asleep. I'm actually in the hunt for a DVD of this movie now. Nicole Kidman is just so ethereal. The song and the scene--- surreal. (Pardon me for the conversation parts..it may or may not be accurate)

UNUSUAL WAY

In a very unusual way

One time I needed you

In a very unusual way

You were my friend

Maybe it lasted a day

Maybe it lasted an hour

But somehow it will never end

Claudia: These women who come up that pedestals for a kiss... they're just fantasies.
Guido: No you misunderstood.

In a very unusual way

I think I'm in love with you

In a very unusual way

I want to cry

Something inside me goes weak

Something inside me surrenders

And you're the reason why,

you're the reason why

You don't know what you do to me

You don't have a clue

You can't tell what it's like to be me looking at you

It scares me so that I can hardly speak

Guido: She's an inspiration...
Claudia: I can't keep playing that part.
Guido: But I fall in love with you everytime...
Claudia: When there's a camera between us?
Guido: No...
Claudia: He's not a real person, Guido, this man you describe, he doesn't know how to love.  

In a very unusual way

I owe what I am to you

Guido: There was a time once when on location, on some terrible hotel, you were in the room directly above me. I could hear you're walking above and all through the night, I wanted to rush up the stairs and hammer on your door till you open...
Claudia: Why didn't you?
Guido: I don't know... i don't know.

(lines that Nicole didn't sing but is included in the song: Thought at times it appears I won't stay I never go)

Special to me in my life

Since the first day that I met you

How could I ever forget you

Once you had touched my soul?

In a very unusual way......You've made me whole.

Another version that I really love was sung by my all-time favorite Joan Cano of the UST Singers.



Stupenda... Bellisima... Kaunis...

still in a trance,
dani

To a Friend Who Inpires me to Write and Make my Music Take Flight....

If you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just...passes you by.

--MBFW Michael O'Neill

I'd like to share this letter which was originally written two years ago and modified last August 17th 2009. Now that I am out of options and out of aces and even frustration eats me alive and exhaustion envelopes my world,  I won't give a damn because without a single doubt, I know in my heart, I am totally free.

Now my goals are straightened out. I can clearly see where I am heading. Time has shown me the best and the worst---- of people, of situations, and of incidents.  There may be more of it, but what the heck, I can face them all. I have you in my heart and for me that's more than enough. You inspired me to gather myself together letting me realize that there's more to life than living within the realm of my past. I’m taking one step at a time to build trust again, to build our friendship where I had put smudges on. You once put distance to the friendship and to something that has been a work in progress and in turn, I don’t have a choice but to understand. I’ve blown as many chances most likely as one could ever imagine.

You admitted in an instance that you cared more than what a usual friend would do. And that coming straight from you, I am someone who's dear and special. How could I forget the moment you said those words as my heart leaped yet how could my heart accept too when you tried to push me away? I was puzzled and got mental glitches since I don’t know what steps to make and what approaches to take which is unusual since I had been so flexible with people and situations. I’m no blabber mouth but still I felt I said too much. You might have gotten sick of me or of love, that, I don’t have any thoughts on, no idea whatsoever. Till, I felt that everything was slowly slipping away. No options but to let it be. I don’t own you and I can’t even say that there is us nor was us. Then, there was silence.

Well, we had our own reasons of doing so. You are you and I am I. I was weak and I lost track of my values. I was so numb to understand your way of showing how much you care and I mistook your silence for indifference. I became dumb as I accept the blow by blow accounts of my selfishness to love and to life. These confessions maybe hard for you to accept, and it’s okay, I know in time, you'll understand.  

You are, for the longest time now, have been the best realization of what can I do and what I am capable of. You’ve always believed in me. I had the so-called paradigm shift because of the thought of you.  I have lingered too much on heartaches too and made everything hard for myself. I may not be a part of your plans and of your everyday journey for now, you may have dropped everything that we've started or even say that there is certainly nothing to start with, yet the hell I care, I am, and will always stay, as promised, without any second thoughts.

Setting expectations now and not meeting it in the long run will just result into shitty what ifs and what might have beens. Yes, I’m trembling now and you may not know how I’ve missed you. I don't know what lies ahead and what's in store for me, but in my best, I will make sure that everything I do will be a journey towards you. No rush, no buts, no tries, only sure steps with wiser values and infinite feelings of passion and perseverance.

I want to rediscover us. Until we meet again...

I really don't know if I blew the chance, the truth, that is right exactly in front of me-- destiny that is. It was too close, too close that I can't even hold it. A precious gift that I can't even afford.

 Now, I'm down to absolutely

But still I am LUCKY,

dani

Happy Earth Day!

Thank you for not giving up yet, Motha! I am still lucky to belong to the generation where there are still people who is part of the "making up" and who still can appreciate beauty and your majestic views. For those who's still a part of the continuous destruction, shame on you!

I will follow through everyday, in any way i can. I will be a part of the MAKING UP.

l

Loved google today... nice :)

Running for the Earth,
dani

How did I get so busy?

And now we're in!

In my commitment into spreading random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty, I found myself inviting people into engaging themselves into sports-- the one part of my being that I left for a while due to the nonchalance that I give to my health and life.

I've been working on getting in the race and unfortunately I missed the registration for the Earth Run. It was a blessing that another race is still open-- the National Geographic run. Well, both will happen on the same date. It's like hitting two birds with one stone, I mean, being with my friends and at the same time, giving myself back to Mother Earth, now not alone... together with my love beings! :)



This is just so little. It is just one small step that I can do for now. I am taking it one day at a time and what makes me tremendously happy is that I know in one way or another I’ve influenced and will influence a lot of people into giving themselves more-- whether for the Earth or for their family, for my family and for the others. Anyway, going out of my shell, constant conversation and meeting new people now never fails to amaze me after all.

There is really more outside than watching my favorite Koreanovela... :P

These activities kept me busy the past two weeks:

1. WORK. (This i can never disregard.)



2. Being in awe all the time. (Kept beautiful grand views of the Metro)

may it be night...






or just as the day breaks in...



3. Celebrated Birthdays and being with Yayie :)





Happy Birthday Yayie! (April 8th)

4. Watched a cortege of centurions and Jesus wanna bees (during the Holy week)







5. Celebrated Easter and Thanksgiving with my High school chums and new friends.







I'm definitely looking forward on my run for the Earth and my badminton weekends with Teton and so as weekdays with Raymond.

I will continue to give myself more in keeping and building relationships. I will commit myself into loving even if people won't or will agree into that commitment.

At the end of the day, i will rest.... Grateful and Happy.



Thanks for my battery-operated fan in times that I need a good sleep during the rotational power outages.


dani

Lie in Peace

It's been said that it's better to let someone think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it. For the past week, I tried to be as silent as possible, as fluid and as nice as I can be. Maybe that's one way of me dealing with sadness or one way or another, opening my mind to the one glaring lie which is YOU.

In times like these, when everything seems to come out in the open like fireflies in the dark, when one lie leads into one truth to the other, "looking up" is bestest option I grab. The views just shut me up even the most silent aspect of my heart.





I will continue to be silent than to destroy. I'd rather keep singing than to say anything that would hurt. I will forge ahead and leave it all behind.






Keep safe and peace out.

Youtube, Music and Me

Everyday is a view of awe as I traverse the busy avenues of green I walked on too. Having music on your ears helps a lot into enjoying it more and savoring the beauty of people and looking up, gives me the bumps on how significant each and everyone is. It's defeating the undue sadness that sometimes hit the very me. And darn! Mr. A-Z has really influenced me a lot. Positivity. Grace. Gratitude. I am learning to practice it and i know it will eventually be a habit.

I was doing my usual youtube surf when I stumbled at my own video. What the frog! The friend who posted it didn't even inform me that she posted the wedding video where I sang. It was comedic! The I'm yours cover of some sort. I was laughing all the time while watching it. Sometimes it's kind of weird watching yourself doing the stuffs that only certified artists and musicians do. I'd be a little selfish this time and I wouldn't post it here. I think I have to disappoint you a bit and satisfy the narcissus in me.

Since I was a kid, I am exposed into music. My dad can sing and play the guitar and my mom is a part of a chorale group back in her college years. I sang into various school activities and sometimes do intermission numbers for math contests and on awarding ceremonies. Teachers then were really encouraging students to step up and follow their dreams not to mention we were so gullible too believing everything even if you sound horrible. I was a part of a chorus group that was so promising; unfortunately, we were dissolved after winning a contest held at the CCP. (I was just watching various chorale groups before and performing at the Main Theatre of the CCP is a dream come true, an experience that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.



I stopped singing. I mean singing with a group or singing in front of people I do not know. I would sing while taking a bath. I would sing inside my room. I would sing while walking, though I can only hear myself. I would sing in my station while I take pleasure in my everyday tasks at work. But no, not in front of a big crowd.

The year was 2009, where I unleashed the thick face and sang again in front of hundreds during the Christmas Party. The feeling was so awkward but I am there already. It’s either to do it or not to. I want to try it again. And looking back last year, it never failed to put a smile on my face. And Grace, my manager, my boss, I owe you big time on the untiring encouragement and support. No kidding. I can see you years from now as the best stage mom for Sophie and Ngab. :)



And then again, seeing my face in youtube, brings back the memories of wonderful performances. Flashbacks. Seeing me holding my mom's roller brush and performing in front of a mirror at three years old and the time when I sang Whitney Houston's 'The Greatest Love of All' before my classmates back in 3rd Grade which gave me the 1st honor medal. (Thanks Ms. Ortega!), and to numerous exhibitions I did-- both terrible and applauded. Everything is for all the people who watched especially for mom and dad and to the Supreme Being who bestowed this miraculous talent.

This gift that I have, I am deeply humbled. I am Loved and so are you. You are well provided for. Be a gift for you and for others. It’s not every day that you get to thank the people who ridiculed and criticized you in the past and who is still doing so until now. If not for them, have you had that courage to improve and learn more? So as to the people who appreciated the person that was you and what you have become. Gracias.

I hope this voice will find its home again.



Marvelous credits to my dad for letting me learn the guitar back in 6th grade.

La la la la life is wonderful,
dani

Of Writing and Joga

Sometimes blowing your chance can be very devastating; sometimes it serves as a blessing in disguise.

I am thankful today to a friend who always encouraged me to write-- my everyday musings, my unusual ranting, the bestest passion I get and I give, the perennial whining and complaints that I do and just everything that flows and triggers the compelling force inside.

In this state, I didn't have the energy to move. It's as if wanting someone to help me blink and breathe. I gazed at my trembling fingers and guarded it as it stroke every letter in the keyboard. I looked at the ceiling and thought that it may have been my fault after all. I've violated you for how many times. Let you pass by when everything else was okay and when nothing more or less really matters but you and me.

You were with me in my happiest days and the most lugubrious too. You’ve drawn the smile and the funky faces I had. We’ve shared the mundane and the grand views. You’ve contradicted statements and agreed on opinions at the same time. There were things that I greatly abhor that you liked and there were things that you dreaded but I do. You took my silence indifferently and your being outspoken, I detest. And still, amidst everything, here we are--together in same grounds. I knew I didn't blow the chance.

I stopped typing just for a few minutes. I noticed the trembling fingers stopped too. Then blank. Then words. I hated whodunits however I had the urge of using it for now.

And to you who's reading this:

You are my volition - my choice to continue.

You are that friend and you moved me to write. You are my lethargy at times and always my energy to endure.


I dropped the typing.
I hummed.
Joga.



you are you,
dani

The World is Running for Water and Manila for the Earth

If you are thinking on how to put some variety on your stereotype summer escapade besides the exciting plan of going out of town and plunging to the breath-taking beauty of the beach, I advise you to do something apart from satisfying your quench for adventure and fun. I suggest in giving back a little of ourselves to the nature that has nourished and provided us everything we need.



EARTH RUN WORLD APRIL 18, 2010

Recent events had been so concerning. With the summer season here at its peak, doubling the heat with the wrath of El Nino, news here and there of dying animals---on land and in water, dampening of the poultry business, and dams on its critical level state, it dawned into me that water conservation is the primary key---- as always.

And it is in my utmost desire to participate in it.

You may say that the world has tons of water, but did you know that only 5% is available for use? All of us need it; even a plastic water bottle itself needs approximately 21 gallons of water to be able to produce it. Local agencies may have been giving out tips as frequent as possible and government advisories day in and day out being flashed on our TV screens, but a lot is still ignoring it. We can live up to a month without food but without water, we'll be dehydrated and dying in just within a week.

The ultimate crux: It is our fortune. Our most valued resource.



Will you run or wait till it runs out?



EARTH RUN APRIL 18, 2010 MANILA


It’s still more than a month from now. DECIDE.


Where there is water there is life,
dani

Awesome People Updates

Pronunciation: \ˈȯ-səm\
Function: adjective
Date: 1598

1 : expressive of awe
2 a : inspiring awe b : terrific, extraordinary
— awe•some•ly adverb
— awe•some•ness noun

To awesomely introduce to you the awesomeness of the people in my life, I thought of bringing them in and including them in my usual posting.

I've got a few people in mind and this is only one of those ways to give a little tribute to what they've contributed in my life and to others that they may have influenced in ways they do not know.

I knew that it might be a mundane weekend for me since I haven’t received any updates nor affirmation on the date me and Cristine set up for the group to go to MOA to witness the Pyromusical Competition between different countries. Darn! Waiting for replies sometimes takes a lifetime. Oh well, I knew I will not make it again at the competition but it seemed it turned out like a blessing in disguise since I received an invite to go to The 9th Philippine Food Expo at the Megatrade Hall.

He is my kind of chef. My best friend and a confidante when it comes to good food, as in GOOD, HEALTHY food. I came in a little late. It wasn't easy to find their booth. And when I arrived, he already started doing his demo. Goodness Gracious! I didn't realize that it was sort of really a demonstration with seats in front, more of like watching Wok with Yan on TV when I was a kid. And with the help of Sei, my bestfriend too, they were able to pull it off.








We are what we eat and just listening to what he's saying makes me wonder how I so abuse myself in indulging to unhealthy foods. Too much salt, too much sweets and the worst, too much junk. I was a fan of sodas and potato chips and of foods that has no nutritional value at all. My initial objective of going there just to see my friends became an eye opener on how bad my awareness was into eating. Take for example Moringa leaves (malunggay) which has SEVEN TIMES vitamin C that the usual orange drink has, FOUR TIMES calcium than the usual milk and a lot of other nutrients. It's like having a pharmacy inside your home and planting it is like having a drugstore at your own backyard. There may be plenty of superfoods out there that I need to discover.

Here are some samples of his recipes:






Bottomline: I will watch what I eat.

It is a part of my advocacy to committing random kindness and being love-- not only for other people but for me and family as well.

Though it took us just hours to be together-- We ended the day strolling at the mall with healthy watermelon pops.INDULGE!!!




My Gratitude to the ever Fabulous CHEF that I know. Continue promoting the health-conscious buff you have within you. Kudos!

You Are Awesome!




Disclaimer: You are awesome. Unique in different ways. Utilize it to inspire and love the people around you. He isn't the first and defintely not the last. There's more to come. Be love.