Jumping for Joy: The Dolphin in Me By: thepulpyorange No comments

Me and my big mouth once blurted to you my dear readers that I was a mermaid (Check this out, Royal Dolphin). For that lem'me share a very well written article by someone, my former swim mate just share and posted it on my wall. It's "Date a Girl who Swims", date me?! chosss!! hehehe!

I'll also post pictures last sports fest. Wala Lang! Enjoy!

Date a Girl Who Swims

Date a girl who swims because she’s a happy girl and she finds joy in the simple things. Show her a photo of the beach and her eyes will sparkle. Write her name on the sand and she’ll feel like you gave her a bouquet of flowers.
Date a girl who swims because you can always take her to the beach even when she has her monthly period. She relishes the sand, the sun, the waves, and the marine life. Take a walk with her along the shore barefoot and she’d appreciate the conversation; she’d enjoy the sand tickling her toes; and she’d laugh heartily as the wind blows her hair. At moments of silences, she closes her eyes as she listens to the calming sound of the waves. When she opens her eyes, she appears more relaxed and she flashes that big grin of contentment.
Date a girl who swims, because she possesses natural beauty. She doesn’t need a sexy two-piece swim wear to flaunt her body. Her strong core, wide shoulders, and toned arms and legs shine through any clothes she wears.
Date a girl who swims. Understand that her dry hair was damaged by chlorine, the sun, and salt water. Date a girl who swims, because even after 4km of swim training, she still looks fresh. Date a girl who swims, because she has both natural grace and determination.
Love a girl who swims. Her sun-kissed skin is evidence of how much she could love a hobby or a sport that she dumps the notion that white is beauty. She could do more than get a tan for someone she loves. Love a girl who swims and who would do run trainings because of her coach’s instructions. She will run the required miles even though she’s not as comfortable on land as she is in water. She will do anything for her love of swimming. Likewise, she’ll do what it takes to show her love for you.
Love a girl who swims because she is as calm as a lake. She’s at peace with herself. Love a girl who swims and you find serenity in a beautiful woman. She’s as serene as a pristine beach. Love her even though she gets upset. Everyone cracks up sometimes. Love her through her PMS, and she will love and understand you just as she’d understand angry waves during a storm.
Love a girl who swims. She will love you like she loves the water. She can laugh with your shallow jokes and can listen to your deep, pensive monologue about your highly technical work.
Love a girl who swims. She may be physically strong, but take care of her fragile heart. Don’t pluck her from balanced aquatic-terrestrial life and just leave her because you’re insecure of her strength. When she starts to love you, you become her new home and source of strength. When things go rough, don’t just abandon her. That’s like capturing a carefree fish from the ocean, putting it in a bowl, taking care of it, and leaving it to die.
Love a girl who swims. Be expressive with your feelings. Tuck a note inside her swim cap. Pick her up after her swim trainings. Treat her to a hearty, protein-packed recovery dinner after her speed drills (Don’t be surprised that her appetite is as big as yours. Then you start to wonder where she stores the food in her body.). Propose to her in the most romantic way you can think of and make her feel like she’s  a Disney water princess.
Marry a girl who swims. No need for a fancy honeymoon at a five-star hotel with an infinity pool. Just take her to a private beach and she’ll be happy. Marry a girl who swims. With arms toned and core muscles strong, she’s fit to cuddle and carry your baby for long hours.
Marry a girl who swims. She will teach your children how to float and glide on water. She’ll let your children paddle through the water on their own until they get to relax in the pool while she keeps a close watch. She’ll let your children be free to play with other kids and support their other endeavors, but she still keeps watch to guide them as they grow up.
Marry a girl who swims and be loyal to her. When both of you grow old and gray,  you can simply watch the sunset by the beach. Smile at her. Observe her. She’ll flash back that same smile whenever you took her by the beach years ago. She’s still that happy, content, care-free swimmer you loved and always love.

 After awhile getting back to a familiar place, felt awesomely good. It just brings back memories and adding up more to it. Swimming might not into me but having it once in my life, not be the best but surely one of the happiest. And freestyle I go... Zoooomm!

The Big Gathering By: thepulpyorange No comments

It's my first KCon ever. Due to some unexpected event I need to cut short my two days of amazing experience which was held at SM Arena and SMEX. We bought our ticket online, sign how techi our generation is. This mind opener is only for 900php, really cheap after experiencing my the Conference.We have some investment that we need to take that may help us to grow more as it may open doors to good opportunities.

Unfortunately we came late at the venue. We printed the e-mail confirmation and handed it to the usherette that gave us the official passes and KCon baller band as well. There are different streams that you may choose from, me?! I chose PRAYER and SINGLES, why?! because that's what I do and that's who I am!! :D

For Kerygma Conference starter all participants are gathered at SM Arena. Since we came late we haven't seen the performance of Emanuelle Worship, a famous Christian band from the land down and under. I just so love people with a lot of passion in what they do. And that's how Emanuelle Worship performs, everything are from the heart and it just move me. However for this event, i haven't witness it. That You Tube will be a big help to this disappointment anyway.

As we enter the arena, we are in general admission by the way. a girl with her sunnies was on the stage doing her talk. We chose the best seat, though from where I was, it seems that she was Thumbelina (hehehe! that far!) after sometime I learned that she's Ms. Roselle Ambubuyog. Roselle is visually impaired but finished her  school (in all level) with flying colors. Her disability didn't stop her to achieve things, to aim higher. A very inspiring story that made me believe that dreams do come true if you fight for it, if you have the right reason and if you believe that you can do it.

After getting very inspired a performance from Kerygma 5 get my hands clapping wildly. Hilarious when I saw five men in super heroes costumes. Wolverine with his six pack abs dancing the Gangnam style, funny isn't?! And then the fantastic light show, I really don't know how he controlled the laser light, bending it, twisitng and then creating some complicated image out of it, coolio??!! Until he called "the man" Mr. Bo Sanchez, to try it himself.

Bo Sanchez never fails to put me in awe with his words. Sometimes I feel like a little school girl, feeling fuzzy by just looking at him. I dunno I really feel like that whenever I saw people who are very passionate in what they do and touching lives with their effortless doings.

The big gathering is just a beginning as Bo said it "greater things". We are meant to do greater things because God made us that way. This two days is about knowing our Creator more and I'm all excited and giddy about it! 

To greater things!!! 

Cheers!!

Halloween @ The Office By: itserinne 1 comment

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of its original title "All Hallows' Evening"), also known as All Hallows' Eve is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows. According to some scholars, All Hallows' Eve was originally influenced by western European harvest festivals and festivals of the dead with possible pagan roots, particularly the Celtic Samhain. Others maintain that it originated independently of Samhain, and has Christian roots.

   It's that time of the year again where most of the shows on TV would have something to do with things that you really don't want to watch when you're alone in the house.  Most of the time I love watching scary movies, documentaries relating to haunting and the like. But actually being alone in an apartment building with the familiar sound of the Twilight Zone being played on a loud volume would scare anyone away.

   And since we at the office love scaring ourselves, a Dress-Your-Floor-Scary event was held. I haven't actually looked around to see the other floors Halloween theme, but ours was so grand, I can't stop taking pictures of it.     

 

   The classic Dracula theme : Trivia!!!! Count Dracula is a centuries-old vampire, sorcerer, and Transylvanian nobleman, who claims to be a Székely descended from Attila the Hun. He inhabits a decaying castle in the Carpathian Mountains near the Borgo Pass. Unlike the vampires of Eastern European folklore, which are portrayed as repulsive, corpse-like creatures, Dracula exudes a veneer of aristocratic charm. In his conversations with Jonathan Harker, he reveals himself as deeply proud of his boyar heritage and nostalgic for the past times, which he admits have become only a memory of heroism, honor and valor in modern times. 

  

   The Haunted House Theme : As per Wiki Trivia : A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Parapsychologists attribute haunting to the spirits of the dead and the effect of violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide. More parsimonious explanations for the perception that a house is haunted include misinterpreting noises naturally present in structures, waking dreams, suggestibility, and the effect of toxic substances in environments that can cause hallucinations.

     The Cemetery. As per Wiki:  A cemetery is a spatially defined area where the remains of deceased people are buried or are otherwise interred. The term "cemetery" (from Greek κοιμητήριον: sleeping place) implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground.

     Ghost hunting is more fun in the cemetery (I'm saying this first-hand, my cousins and I love scaring ourselves and going to cemeteries at random just to ghost hunt.) Since it's a place where the dead lies, tales of spirits lurking around is rampant.

    Other than the pretty(spooky) floor decors, we also have our Managers dressing the part of zombies, Sadako and Frankenstein. And a few office mates as ghost, ghouls and goblins to complete the whole ensemble of the haunted floor. 

    It's just too bad I wasn't able to witness the entire scare-me-to-death presentation, But the decorations scared me, more of fascinated me enough so I think I'm good.

    

A Thank You By: itserinne No comments

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer. 

                                                                                                           --- Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

   Long over-due THANK YOU post. I was supposed to do this ages ago, but I always forget to take pictures of my birthday card. Anyone who knows me personally is aware how I'm such a cry-baby. I cry at very little things, most especially about compliments and personal messages.

   I'm a collector of random things. Notes passed during classes (I've kept one starting when I was in Elementary, hmmm maybe I'd do a separate blog on my Sentimental Clutter.), scratch papers (those with the infamous FLAMES and HOPE), and greeting cards in particular.

   I've been receiving HUGE birthday cards, when I say HUGE, I mean it literally. My teammates are the sweetest, they'd really make an effort if they want to. I'm not sure if this was last year or the year before (why don't people put a date on this birthday card). This is sooo cute I carried it all the way home to San Pedro regardless of the bad weather.

Aside from the huge card (really, I loooove the card), the messages inside made me teary-eyed. I'm not Casper, so I really don't go around greeting tons of friends. So I appreciate it when people I seldom talk to greets me on my birthday. It just means I'm not as unfriendly as I think I am (or maybe these people are just too nice, ^_________^) 

   The second year of the HUGE birthday card giving. This time I wasn't expecting anything, really. But I still got one. 

   This card is as special and as huge as the first one, and I'm glad that the same people (if not all) has written me messages and a few additional people, see I'm not the awkward turtle that I suspect myself to be. 

   So since this is a thank you blog, I want to THANK the people who took their time to write me a message, even if it's just a simple Happy Birthday, I greatly appreciate it. 

   And most of all thank you to these people who made my birthday a month long celebration. 

picture courtesy of Daddy A, blurry as it may be still I want to post a memory

This is much better

Me, my Birthday cake and my HUGE card

Celebrating With Spirits (Literally) By: itserinne 1 comment

   I was born during the month of August, while most Filipinos would remember this month as a month of eternal rain (okay, I might be exaggerating), I often associate my birthday to the Buddhist's (more popular in Japan than anywhere else) Obon Festival because I'm weird like that.

   As per Wiki : Obon or just Bon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori. 

Obon during the late Edo Period

   So, in short my birth month is a Ghost month. It's actually not the entire month of August. Obon usually occurs between July 15 to August 15. Usually the end celebrations starts on August 15 and last for 3 days. Japanese have celebrated this festival since at least the 7th Century A.D. Although many events have changed and now go by different names, certain traditions remain. During the festival, everyone cleans their home and provide special foods such as fruits and vegetables in front of a “butsudan” (The Buddhist families altar). The butsudan is decorated with flowers and paper lanterns (chouchin) and with precise and delicate offerings.

   One of the common events during Obon is the Bon Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), a disciple of the Buddha, who used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. He discovered she had fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering. Greatly disturbed, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha instructed him to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The disciple did this and, thus, saw his mother's release. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother's release and grateful for his mother's kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or "Bon Dance", a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated. 

    The festival ends with Toro Nagashi, or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits' return to the world of the dead. This ceremony usually culminates in a fireworks display.

 Toro Nagashi (floating paper lanterns) are also common customs of Obon. People gather at the river on the evening and send off a tiny floating paper lantern, lit by a candle inside, each lantern lantern representing one ancestor as he or she joins the cavalcade of lanterns, floating down the river to the sea. Traditional Japanese beliefs state that humans come from water, so the lanterns represent their bodies returning to water (traditionally the sea in this case) 

   Since I'm an avid anime fan... All this knowledge (the above accounts are technical knowledge, okay I've researched them. Thanks to Wiki and Google) are just taken from anime. My favourite traditional practice during the month of August and Obon is the 100 Ghost Stories.

   In Japan, the month of August is the time where people worship their ancestors through an event called 'O-bon'. Prior to this, the event has become the gateway for the dead, as well as frightening stories about them. After a long time of worship, high summer is the season for ghosts.

  For this event you only need: A quiet room, candles, contestants, stories, a bowl of water. And it was said that you shouldn't break the story telling until you reached 100 or else something bad would happen. (Refer to XXXHolic's Episode 10)

Woodblock prints depicting ghosts

  Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales) was a popular parlour game during Edo period Japan.

The game was a simple one. In a room, as night fell, one hundred candles were lit. Guests and players gathered around the candles, taking turns telling kaidan. After each kaidan, a single candle was extinguished, and the room slowly grew darker and darker. The process was an evocation, with the final candle believed to summon a supernatural entity.

The origin of the game is unknown. It is thought that it was first played amongst the samurai class as a test of courage, and later became fashionable amongst the townsmen.

A true popular phenomenon, the popularity of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai combined with new printing technology created a boom in the publication of kaidan-themed books collecting appropriate tales from every corner of Japan and China. Books in this genre often used the term Hyakumonogatari in the title, and in fact the published tale’s popularity continued long after the fad for the game had faded.  

   Last year, I celebrated with my co-ghost month birthday celebrants. For this year, it's a bit solemn. Spent most of the day with Padre Pio and two of my soul sisters, Orange and Lany. It didn't rain during the day, but when evening came it rained quite heavily even after I prayed for it not to rain (maybe I should've done a sun dance and the cliche 'alay ng itlog' thing). 

PG Mode ON! (*^^*)

   Maybe my birthday wasn't as eventful as the actual Obon Festival, but my cousin and I did enjoy telling horror stories, when I say 'horror stories' those are stories of our childhood. Hmm... so maybe it wasn't as uneventful as I thought.