BE NOT AFRAID.

Right now, I'm so inspired. I just read a Time magazine's Commemorative Issue article about the late, great Pope John Paul II.

This is the cover of the issue I read.

When I saw the multi-awarded film Million Dollar Baby with Althea almost two months ago, I asked myself if euthanasia is morally and logically right. If you see your loved one tremendously suffering in his deathbed, begging to remove the tubes sustaining his life, would you do it? I asked myself that question and found it hard to answer but the movie answered it by Morgan Freeman's character deliberately disconnecting Hilary Swank's character's tubes and thus, ending her suffering. After all, it hurts to see someone you love so much toil in immense pain in front of you, right?

Pope John Paul II, even after his death, answered my question. While the U.S. was debating when to remove a feeding tube from the weak, struggling Pope, the Vatican continued to put the Pope on one. Why?

Nancy Gibbs, the writer of the Time article, wrote, "The Pope made his message was clear; that life is God's alone to give - and to take."

I was relieved and surprised to have my questioned answered right there. I know it's difficult to watch someone suffer but listen to this ... last, last Sunday, I heard 6 homilies by different priests on TV. Of course, all of the homilies were about the same topic, they are only related differently by the priests. All of them were completely inspiring and enlightening but one of them emphasized that the road to Heaven is narrow and very, very rocky - that one suffers because God shows him the road to Heaven.

So there, if a situation was put in front of me, when several people would be deciding whether to cut off the tubes sustaining a person's waning life, I won't do it. Because, after all, LIFE IS NOT OURS, IT'S GOD's.

I have a new motto now and the late Pope gave it to me: Be not afraid. Why should I be afraid, anyway? God has given me no reason to be.

I Declare War

Grab your rifles, synchronize the satellites, and get your men moving; I'm declaring WAR! Yes, you heard it right - WAR.

Who wouldn't declare war anyway if two of your favorite NBA teams have lost two games in a row in the 2005 Playoffs? The Sacramento Kings are having a hard time versus Seattle Supersonics while the Memphis Grizzlies also lost to Phoenix Suns. My excuse for Sacramento is that most of the players are from injuries and they lack confidence. The Kings have weak defense; they're a shooting team and they need to improve the defensive half of their strategy.

On my other hand, it's entertaining watching Memphis and Phoenix battle. Basketball fans know that Phoenix finished number 1 in the NBA Season while Memphis is only the 8th seed but heck, the Grizzlies are putting up quite a game. Phoenix is struggling versus the Grizzlies but Phoenix always gets the points at the end.

I'm just so angry right now that I'm declaring war. My teams are going to get up and not lose everything without a fight.

Death to the Sonics and the Suns!
I was going to do the same on the Phoenix Suns' logo but I was stricken with laziness, so I made it for the Sonics logo na lang. Later on, I'm going to post my Sacramento Queens logo but you might steal it from this blog so I'm going to decide pa.

Friends, Tennis, and Benedict XVI

Before I went to sleep last night, I was thinking of what to post here today and I couldn't think of a topic. After all, what I did yesterday was watch re-runs of Friends in videos that I rented for such a cheap price and just hang around in front of the television.

Have you tried watching Friends? Two words: totally hilarious. I know that the TV series already ended with its season finale last year but if there are reruns in local or cable channels, catch it. Try watching one whole episode and you, mark my words, will not stop laughing ... like I was yesterday. Kim, my first sister, was watching the first season with me and she was laughing so hard I was wondering if there already was gas in her stomach ... and, y know, later on there would be much farting in the house and of course that'd be chaos.

Last night, I watched the the tennis film Wimbledon with Mom and Kim. It's a cute movie and you'll appreciate it even though you don't know a single damn thing about tennis. As for me, I've always loved tennis and I'm always updated with the happenings in latest international tournaments. The film had such an effect on Mom that she proposed to send us to tennis lessons if there's something like that nearby. Wow, it'd be awesome learning how to play tennis.

Here's a thumb of the movie poster. I rate this film cute. That's it.

The German Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the 200th something something pope, and the next head of the Church. Now he's already Pope Benedict XVI. They say he is orthodox and that's good, isn't it? Well, a big warm welcome to the new Pope and I'm looking forward to what he will do to improve the world and to widen the scope of Christianity to those who have no faith.

Morphing into the 7th Power Ranger

You know how little girls have big crushes, right? We imagine ourselves the wife of Brad Pitt, the girlfriend of Orlando Bloom, or even the shoes of Michael Jordan. But in reality, we know it really never works. First of all, Brad has a wife, Orlando is engaged, and there is no known scientific (or even magical) procedure turning humans into basketball shoes.

When we were small, we imagine ourselves in the colorful, plastic world of Barbie and Ken, riding our fancy pink convertibles or mounted on our white, groomed horses. As for me, I dreamed about being Batman's Batgirl and morphing into the 7th Power Ranger. Those naughty boys ... they want to be Superman, you know, having that Xray vision can be of great use for more fantasizing. But when we look at it, we can never be plastic action figures or even have superpowers that can turn us into hotshot peeping Toms.

Even though we know that there is virtually no possibility that most of our absurd dreams will come true, it doesn't keep us from dreaming. Why is this? Well, dreams are the fanciest things that are free. You know how we love freebies, right?

Going for Four

Being an attorney someday is my biggest long-term goal since I was in fourth grade. Yes, my mind was already made up that I'm going to pursue law because I've always known that it's a noble job. I'll be able to help people and earn bucks at the side. But lemme assess it: do I really want to be a lawyer? Or is it just the sound of being an attorney makes me think of running rings around somebody?

Like everyone, I've gone through many ridiculous and, at times, absurd ambitions when I was a kid. I wanted to be an astronaut, a marine biologist, a historian, and an architect. Why ridiculous and absurd? First, the Philippines has no spaceport to accommodate its own space missions and in that case, no astronauts. Being a marine biologist is a childhood thing. You know how kids think science is fascinating and fun. Well, to Einsteins out there, congratulations to you, but now that I've gone through physics and chemistry, I'm aware it's not exactly "fun and fascinating." A historian! That's not a real occupation and it's more like just a hobby. I'll be better off to being a museum caretaker than be a historian. Lastly, architecture is an awesome field but I never really was inclined to drafting, schematics, and those blue prints. Dad is an architect. He designs houses but he's really also a geodetic engineer. He's a mathematician but that's him, not me, and so architecture’s also not for me.

If you ask me now what I want to be, I'll give you several answers: a lawyer, a member of the jury, or a legal representative. Sum them all up and you'll get one answer: an attorney.

Ask me again and I might give more answers: a filmmaker, a teacher, a writer ... all of which I'm kind of pursuing this coming June. I'm going to take up BA Journalism first then proceed to law proper in a law school.

I love films and one of the reasons is that filmmaking is a subtle and somehow, meticulous art that I want to change the outlook of Filipino people on films. I don't want them to look at movies superficially but in a dramatic manner like how art aficionados analyze the works of Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Picasso. And some people do that when watching the auteurs, but only some. Most don't.

I want to be a teacher because I think I have that inclination, I adore kids, and it's the profession we often understate. I want to be a writer because I have a unique ( or weird?) way of looking at or into things. As if it's all valid.

So, you see. I'm going to UP, pursuing four of my biggest ambitions. Mom made me promise the other night that I'm going to be a lawyer. That's their dream for me and it's my dream for myself and for the people I'm going to help. So there, I really want to be a lawyer. You know how I just love asking myself questions whose answers I already know.

I WANT ONE!

My Mom and I were shopping at SM Department Store's toddler section, buying baby gifts for Christmas. Babies are a joy to life and looking at their innocent faces, feeling their soft skin, and cuddling their toes and tiny hands are an affection so delightful that you can die happy at the moment.

Okay, OA ako I know.

Then I'm going to quote Natalie ...
"Most of my friends, as soon as we get around babies we're like, 'We want one!' And it just seems so much easier when you get to hold it and it's all cute and cuddly, and not crying in the middle of the night and need to be diapered and all of that."
- Natalie Portman - Hollywood.com (USA), April 2000

Pope John Paul the Great

The venerated head of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome passed away at 3:37 am (Manila time) today. It is a time to look back at the holiness and momentous contributions of Pope John Paul II. It is not a time for regret though 'cause we all know that he's going Heaven, he's going to heaven, he's going to heaven.

It is the first time that I felt grievous for the death of a world icon. I didn't have the opportunity to see him when he visited the Philippines in 1995 because I was just in first grade then but he touched my life and his influence has been immense on billions of people and not only Catholics at that.

Let me enumerate some of his work:
He is one of the factors of the liberation of the Soviet Union. He influenced the restoration of democracy and religious freedom in many countries. He also governed the Catholic Church from solid conservatism, opposed political participation of priests, and explained the issues that continue to divide the Christian churches. He's not only the leader of the Catholic Church but also an esteemed icon of many religions and Christian denominations. And most importantly, he was living example of the goodness of God and he's a great man who cannot be described with only a few words.

I can write endless things about him and there isn't one that's not good. He deserves the title John Paul the Great to distinguish him in history and to emphasize what he did for the world.


That's the Pope gazing out on the Holy Land from Mount Nebo. It was from this site that Moses first glimpsed the Promised Land.

IT'S OFFICIAL

Okay, This announcement is straight and forthright:

It's official. I'm going to the University of the Philippines, Diliman Campus.

It was only Tuesday morning when I made up my mind that I'm not going to Ateneo. I was spending hours and hours everyday since I passed the UPCAT deciding which university I'm going to enter this coming school year. There were days when I felt like Ateneo was for me and there were also days when I see myself in UP. I've always thought I would go for Ateneo but I found myself not really satisfied with my decision. Don't get me wrong, Ateneo is an excellent school but I've always loved UP since I was a kid and I've always believed that everything I was working hard for in school was for UP and UP only.

There were moments before when I told myself that I was going to Ateneo, I almost cried that my UP acceptance would be useless but there were also days when I got up from bed, determined to go to UP, I started to grieve over the lost of Ateneo in my life. I can say that this is the most important and hardest decision I made so far. I can't describe how difficult it is to put yourself between two of the best universities in the country and you are made to choose whether you're going left or right and when you've chosen, you felt like you've betrayed the other and have taken sides.

Natalie Portman made her choice and so am I. She went to Harvard, although she got into Yale.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

You might find this so not unusual for a teenage girl to say but ... I'm in love with Tom Cruise.
Yeah, I know, I know. I sound like a baby crying for goat's milk. But what can I do, who can resist this face?



I don't like the Tom Cruise now though. I just hate him being with the Penelope and his present fling, Spanish-speaking Sofia Vergara. The Tom Cruise I have a crush on is the Tom of A Few Good Men and Born on the Fourth of July because then, he was still the husband of Nicole Kidman which I find extremely cool. Nicole Kidman's like the most beautiful woman in the world lang naman. Tom had a goddess for a wife.

Hey, I'm going have a Tom Cruise movie marathon next week. Want to join me? Just call or tag! I'm serious, y know.