Some thoughts on Web Blog

GOING BACK TO THE TIME when I planned and wrote my first blog, that was in June this year only to appear another post in November as you can notice on the gap on my archive here at the side bar of my blog. I was really worried as I imagined myself publishing my own blog could just be a disappointment as my own creation could be read or seen by anybody given the thought that I am an unremarkable writer. I am an ordinary person myself praising the works of others and trying to create one unknowingly if it is a boon to my credibility. Call it an intellectual curiosity, I find reading these posts of some bloggers to be remarkable and worth reading. The works are polished and well crafted. This self consciousness and reservation in my capacity dissuaded me to the point of stopping my interest. Eventually, I stopped publishing my first post but just saved it in a draft with the hope of reviving again in the future. However, when my impulse seized me, seeing a personal place in this "world wide web" is really fascinating. It takes a lot of courage to publish your own personal journal. With no rules or barriers however, compositions, good or bad to the visitors, is your own way of presenting to the best that you can. But looking at some blogs myself, I found some to be simple, candid and straight by adding pictures and designs. With beautiful images it can enhance our imagination. On top of that, the designs of the blog through templates can be fulfilling despite the simplicity of the creation.

I KEPT ON BROWSING A LOT IN THE WEB. I found some blogs accidentally on some links at Google entries in its pages. Sometimes I see some familiar names or blogs that were recommended by some friends. With the Internet, anything is possible as voluminous informations update continuously as you can see on the pages of information as you enter your search. In fact, by adding a source of information like creating your blog can be searched at the web by searching a name or a link that would open your site. This excited me as I could open a site of a friend living somewhere in California or a town mate who publishes his activities in New Jersey. I was so interested of these sites that I regularly visited them. The thought of making a blog site myself was still in my head but still, with great reservation. Until a friend challenged me to make my own site. I said to myself, if anybody could make one, why can't I? I suppose, depending on any format of your blog, whether it be a social one, a diary, an art gig, a scrap book, hobby, travels, creative writing or any craft. Designing the site with a preset of templates, selecting fonts or size of your letter, merging images with text. All these takes a snap once you are onto it.

FINALLY, I PUBLISHED MY FIRST ENTRY with an experience in my youth. It was actually my first creation in June that was stalled in a draft. "On the road to manhood" is a very short anecdote of less than 400 words in 2 paragraphs. Of course, there are many experiences that you can share but for me it was centered only on two things I practically liked and feared when I was young: our farm and my fear of snakes. I realized that writing can be fun and easy for the purpose of conveying your story. With your creativity your two paragraphs could add more and it becomes a masterpiece as you progressed in your writing. Adding some pictures in our place like, how our town got its name, the Dankalan beach, our school and Rizal beach. Adding some narrative on these pictures can result to a resourcefulness of the story. For now, I create my post on anything that I find worth interesting. Fr. Eric Castro, a graduate of San Jose Seminary from Ateneo, our Parish Priest was a great help. Through his suggestion, I added a chatterbox and a visitor counter in my site to be more interesting and functional for the viewers. You can visit his site at http://mmjparish.blogspot.com/. His blogs are very inspirational. My inhibition and self consciousness is just a thing of the past now. Learn to be bold and creative if you plan on making a blog spot yourself and don't be damn to be shy or intimidate you! Who knows? creating blogs can make a talent out of your creativity.

LAIYA BEACH: OUR HOLY WEEK GETAWAY TRIP!

LAIYA BEACH, Our Easter getaway trip!

We live in Makati and Holy Week is a long and dreary week of church activities. Also, the humid hot summer brought uneasiness throughout the day for us. With the long tedious waiting of the Easter, it made us to contemplate on going somewhere where we could unwind and relax, a getaway I suppose. So, we went to Laiya Beach in San Juan, Batangas last Saturday, April 8, 2007 for an Easter early trip. The place was highly recommended to us by a friend of Babylin, my daughter-in-law. The beach is white sand and the scenery is captivating. With all the busyness of a city life, we also wanted to escape the summer heat and had waited for a long time into a reality. All of us in the family came. My eldest son, Ponchie came with his lovely wife, Babylin, my two beautiful daughters, Agatha, Aurora, my sister-in-law, France and her only daughter, Justine, my sweet wife, Edith, and my self, of course. We rented a van, an Izusu Crosswind because our car could only hold for 5 people only. The van was the most practical choice for the trip since it could accommodate all of us 8, sitting comfortably with ease for the long trip. We prepared and cooked the food on the eve of the trip. Edith prepared her favorite special Pancit Canton and spicy, hot Bicol Express. Babylin cooked her delicious special dried Pork liempo adobo. Not to be outdone, France, made her Fried Chicken a'la Chicken Joy. We brought lots of snacks, soda drinks and mineral water. We set the alarm clock at 3:30 am for our early trip. As we slept, we could not wait for our eyes to open for excitement.



At the Star Toll with Mt. Banahaw in the background
It was 4:30 am as we waited Ponchie and Babylin at the corner of the street where they lived. As soon as they finished embarking all their stuff I drove the van and headed for the C5 road entry just across Market, Market. It was still dark and cold as the light was beginning to emerge on the horizon. Edith and France were checking all the things if everything was in order. Vehicles were still few as we headed straight for the SLEX entry at Taguig. We could see the flooded lights at a nearby NAIA airport as a plane above us approaching the runway for landing. As we passed the Bicutan exit, I could see the traffic was already swelling and the speed was beginning to slow down. It was a Black Saturday and many people were expected to troop to the beaches in time for the Easter celebration. At Susana Heights, Ponchie asked me to pull over at the Shell Station for a quick breakfast at the McDonald's. We noticed many parked cars as I maneuvered the van at the driveway just in front of the McDonald's. Many people were coming in as many were coming out for the early breakfast. Edith and I hurried for the next shop at 711 to buy a bag of ice tubes for our Coleman. Then we joined our family in their seats as we ate our breakfast. I sipped my brewed coffee as I finished my pancake. Everybody was ready now!


The Mt. Banahaw and the Southern Tagalog Access Road (Star Toll)
We left Susana Heights Shell Station at 5:45 am with the hope that we could reach San Juan early but we also noticed that the traffic was beginning to be awful as it slowed down. As we approached the final exit at Calamba Toll, a long queue of vehicles could be seen far away. The situation was becoming worse, a big trouble was heading our way. It took us 10 minutes to reach the booth for our toll pay. Ahead of us were many buses and 10 wheeler trucks. As we neared the Sto. Tomas exit, there was a bottleneck of many vehicles as we turned right and made a round curve going to Sto. Tomas highway. Inch by inch, we were able to endure the traffic flow as all the motorists braced their way on for a faster speed. We were waiting for the right-turn sign of the Star Toll to appear going to Lipa City. We were uneasy and restless as the time could be our constraint for this trip. As we moved on, the traffic was faster now as we surpassed the bottleneck from the rear. In a few minutes, the Star Toll was ahead of us. We were driving as fast as 120 kph as few vehicles were headed this way to Lipa. It was a beautiful morning as humidity was beginning to rise as the temperature level could be felt inside our van . We enjoyed the view from left to right of the highway as we gazed the idyllic beauty of Mt. Banahaw on our left side.

The Lipa Cathedral

I did not imagine how progressive Lipa was until we have seen it with our own eyes. After the Star Toll, we turned left going to the main proper of the city. To my mind, this was a rural milieu that would conjure not to expect to be a flourishing city, but as we moved on, the city with a laid back charm to the first timers, is a place to behold. As poverty abound in Manila by the sight of numerous squatters and beggars in many areas, in Lipa it was nil. We observed people to be decent and going their way for a busy living. Business is thriving and the place is clean and pollution is almost naught. Perhaps, it is the industriousness and the steadfast of these Batanguenos. They are a legend in their own traditions and norms, always frugal, with entrepreneurial spirit. We drink and enjoy the world class coffee that comes from Batangas. Babylin told me to turn right and stop at the corner of the Mercury Drug Store just as we passed the Cathedral of Lipa to our left. Her directions proved right as we asked a helpful man. This is the way going to San Juan, Batangas. I drove straight ahead with an arrow sign, "to San Juan". The place was unobtrusive to any traveller and definitely you will be lost if assistance is not possible. We noticed many tricycles plying their rounds to the streets of the city. This is the normal way of traveling around Lipa, very fast and fun. We passed and stopped at McDonald's as the call of nature reminded us. Aurora, my daughter, could not find her nasal spray in any Mercury branch in Manila before we left had to look again in a nearby Mercury and she got it.

Manuel Baldemor's One man exhibit in Megamall

MANUEL BALDEMOR, SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE EXHIBIT

I just love visiting art galleries at the 4th floor of Megamall where I often hung out. I have been very keen on eyeing lots of paintings especially my favorite works of famous filipino painters. I have seen many works of these in books, exhibits, magazines before. Believe it or not, I can spot a painting of Joya, Luz, Magsaysay-Ho, Alcuaz, Ben Cabrera and many more just by gazing at them at a distance. Every artist has his own style. I have some paintings myself at home of Ben Alano, Sofronio Mendoza and Judy Salamat and Miguel Galvez. They may not be familiar to anyone but their works can be seen and annotated in Philippine Art books and online.

These galleries carry different filipino artists in their show rooms according to their own genre. There are new filipino artists who are beginning to excel and shine to the likes of filipino art lovers. These are Belleza and her children, Fatima and Marcial; Antonio, Malang, Toti Cerda, Morales and many more. Painting can be very expensive these days especially from the artists that belong to the old masters like Amorsolo, Hidalgo, Luna and many others. It can fetch 6 to 7 digits of your bank account easily in order to own one.

The later artists like Joya, Legaspi, Kiukok, Anita Magsaysay Ho, Edades, Sanso, Onib Olmedo, Arturo Luz, Ben Cabrera are less expensive but can be very rare to be seen in these galleries since the rich and famous had bought most of their works and when you see some in these galleries, these were up for sale as a turnover for buyers who invested early on for future windfall. It is a good investment but learn to choose from these artists.

ART CENTER, MEGAMALL

A one man show is always on exhibit at the Art Center on the same floor where these galleries are located at the Megamall. I had the chance of visiting at the exhibit of Manuel Baldemor recently. Using my dependable Nokia 6630 as my camera, I made many shots that I uploaded to our PC at home. Manuel Baldemor by the way is a multi talented artist. He is a painter, sculptor, print maker and book illustrator. I had seen some of his works before but it did not impress me much.

The simplicity of his art intrigued me as any one would suggest that it is a work of an ordinary artist. For obvious reason, there are some works that regularly hung in some galleries that carry his name. I came to realize that I was wrong. As you look at his works closely, he infuses colors and blended well by good execution of his brush strokes. His style is mostly landscapes depicting an effect of a childlike art that can easily seduces the eyes in its barest form. It has very basic lines and his range of pallet colors are glossy and a very comprehensible art indeed. At some point he embossed his paint too thick to add impact on his subject.

All his paintings were done in acrylic. It reminded me of Van Gogh's landscapes. I guess, there is a similarity of art here. All his exhibit works were done in France this year. On these paintings were scenes from Cote d' Azur, Marsailles, St. Tropez, The basilica of St. Therese of Lisieux, the French Reviera and Paris.

UNICEF'S CONTRIBUTING ARTIST

The one thing that impresses me most of Manuel Baldemor is that 30 of his designs were contributed to the UNICEF's reproduction of Christmas greeting cards. He was continuously chosen for straight 17 years as a contributing artist for the yearly designs. A remarkable feat considering that there are many artists worldwide competing for that honor. His international accomplishments extends to different cities of the world exhibiting one man shows for his works including Tokyo, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Singapore, Vienna, Munich, London, Dusseldorf, New York, Copenhagen, to name a few.

MY SERVICE IN MARY, MIRROR OF JUSTICE PARISH, COMEMBO, MAKATI

MARY, MIRROR OF JUSTICE

"Service is essential and indispensable to God as it requires us to be a part in evangelization"

It is an honor and a privilege to serve as a Lay Minister in our Parish, the Mary, Mirror of Justice in Comembo, Makati City. I am serving God first and foremost. Also, I am serving the church assisting the Priest in his Ministry giving Holy Communion to the faithful and the sick. Through the encouragement of Fr. Eric Castro I did not hesitate to accept his invitation to join the Seminar for the Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Communion at the Arzobispado de Manila in Intramuros, Manila. But before that, I finished my PREX Seminar in our Parish as one of the requisites of becoming a Layman to join in any service of the Parish.


My wife Edith is also a member of Greeters and Collectors in our Parish. She has been serving in her ministry for more than 3 years now. She has been my best inspiration to join the service because she is very consistent and conscientious in her duties. On every Sunday that I hear mass, I usually go along where Edith is scheduled to serve. Whether it is at 5pm where the service is in English or at 9am where it is the Children's Mass or in any hour where she is scheduled to serve. My wife's spirituality is so infectious that in the process I urged myself to serve the Parish in any ministry.

Service is very essential and indispensable to God as it requires us to be a part in the evangelization. Without the help of the Laymen, Priests would be useless and ineffective in performing their ministry. It is our duty to serve in the church whatever we can do to help. It is an act of piety and devotion to God. By this way He will be generous with His blessings to us. He will protect and guide us in every way. When I thought of following my wife Edith in her service, I decided that my service is my way of renewing and communicating with the Lord.

The first thing that came to my mind was to serve as a Minister of the Holy Communion. Being a Minister of the Holy Communion is like being a priest because, after him, no one can give or perform of giving a communion except a Lay Minister. It is a job of trust, confidence, honor and piety that must characterize in a Lay Minister. He will be holding the Sacred Host, the flesh and blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. The main function of the Lay Ministers is to assist the Priest in giving the Communion and facilitate the flow of the Liturgy of the Mass in the process. Also, he will be performing to give Communion to the sick.


Right now I am happy with my service. My duty is on Sundays only as I work on weekdays. We are 15 Lay Ministers in the Parish. We have a monthly meeting at 3rd Saturday to discuss our schedules, activities, birthday celebrations, concerns and functions. Fr. Eric Castro is very supportive to us. He could be stern or serious in any point of interest of any agenda but it is only a way of pointing out what is right especially in our service. On the lighter side, he can be fun. He even conducts a weekly jogging for us. We also have recollections and fellowships. Bonding is very important in our ministry in order to promote camaraderie among ourselves. Fr. Eric is a good inspiration to me in my service. Apparently, there is only one thing that I will be sad is when he will definitely leave us.The seeds of love had been planted in our hearts and surely we will miss him. 

A lay minister is preparing a Sacred Host to give Holy Communion to the sick

Me and my wife Edith