Brave

To all you guys out there who are having a hard time expressing who you really are, those who are in a rough position, those who are in the middle of nowhere, those who are trying to pursue their dreams, and even to those who are living their dreams...

I wanna see you be brave.

 

Thank you Sara Bareilles for this wonderful, wonderful song! Please continue making inspirational and empowering music.

Resiliency And The Filipino People

Experiencing typhoons is something every Filipino is familiar of. Every year, the country is visited by several typhoons. Typhoon signals consist of 1 (being the weakest) and 4 (the strongest). Yesterday, the Visayas region, which is the central part of the Philippines, was hit  by super typhoon Haiyan, locally named Yolanda. Provinces, such as Leyte, Samar, Cebu, Capiz, Bohol, and parts of Palawan, were under Signal number 4. Here in Luzon, northern part of the country, most provinces were either in Signal number 2 or 1. In the province where I am currently staying, we were in Signal number 2.

AFP News - This NOAA image shows Super Typhoon Haiyan taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency's MTSAT at 0630Z on November 7, 2013

High waves pounding the sea wall amidst strong winds as Typhoon Haiyan hit the city of Legaspi, Albay province, south of Manila

But amidst this calamity, there's one thing that depicts the Filipino people...RESILIENCY. 

The statement of one commentor (dudesk001) in a news report perfectly describes what it is all about.

"Time to get to the know the hardy Filipino people...unbelievably resilient, long suffering, good natured, uber friendly, loyal, ingenius, and a bunch of survivors.

At the end of the day the Filipinos will just shake off the dirt from their clothes and thongs and go about their business...and SMILE. They do not complain much, they will bear as long as they can.

Maybe this is why they were given the "privilege" of bearing the burden of the strongest typhoon ever recorded.

The indomitable human spirit at its finest."

Stay strong Philippines!

Sources:
Image 1 here
Image 2 here
Stamement here

Don't be hard on yourself. You've been spending a lot of time thinking about the future. Maybe all you need is this: Just enjoy the moment...the present...what's right in front of you.

Hello November

Ten months have passed already. We're now in the second to the last month of the year. Oh, hello

November!

Time runs so fast! But I have no complaints. I'm just thankful because amidst all the challenges and problems I've encountered in the past months, I'm still here standing strong. Through it all, I know that God has always been there for me. He never left me even though there are times that I feel like I do not deserve His love. He never left me even though I'm a sinner. 

Aside from giving thanks, I am also dedicating this day in giving prayers to the souls of my departed loved ones - my lolo and lola in my father's side (lolo is a Filipino word for grandfather and lola for grandmother ), my lolo in my mother's side, my uncles and aunties, and cousins, who were gone too soon. May their souls be in a place of eternal happiness. May their souls be in the loving arms of God. Amen.

Life

What does it mean to live life?

Each one of us has our own answers but no matter what our answer is , there is a force encompassing all of them - the pursuit of happiness.

At this point in my life, my pursuit of happiness revolves around three things, things that I wanted to do, things that I dreamed of.

See the WORLD

Have an IMPACT

Meet my one true LOVE

Image sources:
1st 2nd 3rd

To take the test or not?

I paid P1,900 thru bank deposit last Friday. In the form, it says Check your email after two banking days for your payment confirmation email. So I was expecting that I'll receive the confirmation on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I didn't bother to check my mail yesterday but this morning, lo and behold, I saw the confirmation email (which was sent yesterday night).

In just a matter of one month I'll be taking an exam. I already took it four years ago but I didn't push through with my plan. Honestly, I am not confident right now. I haven't started reviewing yet (the serious type) because I've just left a miserable job and have just started a new work last week. I'm still recovering from the "trauma" the previous job has caused me and still adjusting in my new work environment. I actually wanted to back out and take the exam next year instead. But...maybe I should not delay this anymore. Waaah, one confused girl here! I just hope that if ever I decided to continue, I'll be prepared, calm, and collected on the day of the exam. Please help me God.

I have always wondered 

what it feels to be on the shore 

in a winter season.

Haeundae, Beach Busan, South Korea

*Picture taken by me.

Lately...

Blog Header

This morning I did some tweaks here and there and viola, hello to my new [slightly modified] blog header! I'm not a techie person but sometimes a little change in the blog is a refreshing welcome. Same picture as some of you may know; I just cropped the sides, added a filter and an overlay of banner and text. Got the idea from here but I only used one photo editor, the picmonkey. Finally, a bigger and better header!

Goodbye Dear Molar

The dentist gave me two options: root canal treatment (RTC) or extraction. RTC is more expensive so I opted for extraction. Last Monday I had my molar removed. It was a bittersweet moment actually. I could have saved my tooth but what's done is done. I can never have my tooth back. After a month I'll be getting a bridge (a replacement for my molar, made of porcelain and will be cemented on my gums). I still miss my real tooth, though.

Independence Day

Another bittersweet moment: I had my despedida/farewell party in the lab last Friday. Bittersweet because I'll be missing my colleagues who have been supporting and giving me joy amidst all the chaos in my laboratory life.

Selfie? How about group selfie? Posing and smiling with my GTL family.♥

This is one big card! Each one of them wrote a message and it's really, really touching. Definitely going to miss them. They're not only colleagues or labmates, they're friends and family. They saw what I've been through in those difficult five months. They listened to me when I was down. They were there when I couldn't help but cry. They supported and gave me advice. They made me smile and helped me be strong.

New Work

When one falls down, one should learn to pick himself up and move on with life. An opportunity came and I'll be transferring to a new work. I have to admit, I'm still recuperating from a rough experience but I'm hoping to get my self-worth and confidence back. I'll be starting from scratch but I'm ready for this new phase of my life.

Hope things are going with well with you guys!