The Bleachers and The Umbrella

My first photoblog...








I hope those pictures say it all...

Enjoying my internship so far.

Spending my vacation-slash-internship here in Benguet.

Unfortunately I am not able to give the details since I have a very limited time here in Baguio. We're going back to Philex Mines community in few hours.

But I promise to share all my experiences as soon as I get home. All right.

Hehe, senseless post.

I am Leaving

I'll be having my internship at Padcal, Benguet. In the next 10 hours, I am leaving. I am excited, sure, but I am somewhat sad about it since I can't spend my summer with my family and friends. We had our first get together in Batangas though. But the heck, of course that's not enough for this summer. After all the strains from my academics, I deserve more indulgence than that. Yeah boy, I do.

Oh, well.

Aside from the training, I do not know if I can still manage to do other things. I even don't know if I have internet access there. Oh noes, having no internet access would be as boring as watching GMA's TV programs (LOL). So I just hope I have. Anyway, the company is Philex Mining Corporation. But wait, I'm not going to mine gold there.haha. Of course, my training would be chemical engineering related -- stuff like separating metal from its ore. All right, before I get too technical, I'll have to stop there.haha. So speaking of metals, just in case you are searching for online store of steel bars for aerospace purposes, here's the link: aerospace metal alloys. I wonder if Philex Mines does metal alloys. Well, never mind.

Spam Messages Are Not All Spam. So Be Careful.

Someone has spammed me this. Even so, I took time to read it and got guilt-struck. And I hope, after reading this people, you'll be able to reflect on what the message says.

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Are you a pleaser or a servant?

Jesus said, "And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. . . " Mark 10:44-45a (NKJ)

Serving others is a biblical command that comes with a promise that if we humble ourselves in service to others that we will be seen as "first" in the eyes of God. Who of us doesn't want to receive God's approval and enjoy the rewards of His favor? But many of us who are naturally inclined to serve can slip into a pattern of doing it out of fear of rejection or desperate need for human approval.

How can we tell the difference? How do you know if you're serving for the right reasons? Here are some clues:

PLEASERS. . . measure their worth and identity by the response they get from others for what they do. They tell themselves, "If I'm a good person people will approve of me."

SERVANTS. . . recognize that God values them so much that He created them with unique gifts and abilities that can be used to help meet the needs of others.

PLEASERS. . . often neglect their own physical, emotional and spiritual needs. They often feel guilty if they take time to relax, do something just for fun, or buy something for themselves.

SERVANTS. . . recognize that they, too, must have adequate rest, nourishment, and encouragement in order to be strong enough to contribute to others.

PLEASERS. . . are often motivated by guilt. They say yes to many requests in order to make up for some sin or failure (real or imagined) they haven't forgiven themselves for. Sometimes they feel guilty just because they believe they are inadequate or inferior to others in some way.

SERVANTS. . . are motivated by love. This could be love for the person or cause that they are serving or simply love for the Lord. Out of gratitude for God's love and forgiveness, they allow Him to love others through them.

PLEASERS. . . act out of need for recognition and attention. They want to be perceived as selfless, but, truth be told, they like impressing people with how busy and indispensable they are.

SERVANTS. . . act out of a desire to please God. They see their efforts as a response to the Lord's command to serve others. Their goal is to hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" They can be content behind the scenes because they know God sees it all.

PLEASERS. . . often give mixed messages. They say yes to requests and take on more responsibilities, but often complain that they have too much to do.

SERVANTS. . . say yes only when they are able to sacrifice their time or resources willingly and cheerfully, and say no when they are at their reasonable limit of obligations.

PLEASERS. . . often struggle with feelings of anger and resentment because people don't appreciate how much they sacrifice to meet the needs of others. They receive an unhealthy satisfaction from being a "martyr."

SERVANTS. . . are able to serve for the joy of serving and aren't as dependent on the appreciation of others to determine their feelings and attitudes about their service.

PLEASERS. . . feel that they can, or must, do it all alone. This is partly because "if you want something done right, you do it yourself" and partly because they're reluctant to "impose" on anyone else to help.

SERVANTS. . . recognize that others may actually enjoy helping and can accept that others have abilities that will contribute to accomplishing a goal - even if they don't do it the same way.

PLEASERS. . . have low self-esteem and are often threatened by others who might be able to perform as well or better than they can. They may criticize how others do things in order to make themselves appear more competent.

SERVANTS. . . have high "others-esteem." They appreciate the gifts and abilities God has given to others and delight in how the variety of gifts in a team of servants works together for a greater result.

PLEASERS. . . feel overly responsible for the outcome of their efforts. They tend to try to control or manipulate the way people respond to their "help" and become frustrated when people don't cooperate. The resulting sense of personal failure contributes to their feelings of low self-esteem, guilt, and resentment.

SERVANTS. . . do what they can and leave the rest to God. They understand that God is in control of the timing and circumstances of achieving a goal, whether it's changing a life or organizing an event. They "let go and let God."

So, are you a Pleaser or a Servant? It comes down to two things: attitude and motivation. The Scriptures give us some guidance on how we should approach our opportunities for service:

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.John 15:12-13 (NKJ)

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:10-11 (NKJ)

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Make sense? Now, which are you? Do you know your real self now?

Contemplate...

Random Topic: Ink Cartridges

Who would dare to purchase ink cartridges online? Well, definitely not me. I don't find it convenient since there is already a nearby store of ink cartridges here in our place, which is just a five-minute walk from our home. And besides, with all the shipping costs, I think it would be more costly to have it purchased online.

Oh well, for those of you who are willing to do it so, just give this inkjet cartridges online store a try. They offer high quality ink cartridges products like that of Canon, as well as Epson Ink Cartridges. And to make it even more enticing (haha), they have a free-shipping promo everytime you spend $39 (or more) worth of products.

Hmmm...shall I change my mind? LOL.

When Melancholy Strikes...

Lights off.
12:28am on my watch.
Everybody's found rest along with a summer rain.
Inside my room, listening to somber music.
Everything was darkness,
Except for the bogus light that came from an entity brought about by human intelligence.
I looked at the mirror and I can't see my self.
Seriously, I can't see the real me.
Perhaps due to the ambiance's saturation.
I looked again.
I recognized a different person.
I saw a gush of tears.
Copious emotions were coming out of that person's soulful eyes.
Would you tell me who I am?
Would you tell me where I have been?
And please, tell me what I have become, would you?
I was trying to understand what had happened, but I failed.
I tried to recollect from the past but it's just purely contrite thoughts I was getting.
When will realization come into existence?
Would it take longer than the time for a theory to become a law?
I wish it wouldn't because I want it now. I need it now.
But that's the way it is, as whispered by a psyche of nowhere inside me.
I need to get through a lot of sacrifices.
A lot of proof should be defended.
I wish I just have to draw a line.
I wish it's just as candid as singing a song.
I wish I could have just listened to a subtle violin passage.
Oooh how I wish it could be as easy as that and everything will be all right...

Expanding My Network

Though some of my friends consider me as a very people person, for me that isn't entirely true. It's true in a sense that whenever I am faced to a bunch of people, I know how to handle myself in front of them. I talk to them. I am being folksy, and I make sure that I'd be as humor-sensible as I could. haha. The truth is, I summon a lot of self-confidence whenever that happens, and sometimes it makes me quite spontaneity-deficient. But honestly, despite that fact, I still don't consider my self as a person who likes meeting new people, a lot of new people rather. I don't seclude myself from the people around me though. And as a proof, I joined different social networking sites as though I'll be meeting new friends. Yeah, I know there is a huge difference between real people and online people but sometimes online people tend to become more "real" than real people. I hope you're getting what I am up to.

The newest social networking site I discovered that I'm now starting to enjoy is the acobay. What I want in this site is that networking happens by people searching for the "stuff" they want and eventually get connected to other people who like the same "stuff" as well, and not by people searching for other people and from that, may or may not create a connection out of random stuff. I do not know if the former's better but the latter, as far as I can see from the old existing networking site, became a way of stalking people. LOL.

I can mingle with other people from the books I want to read to the music I enjoy listening to. I also get to know people who like the same movies and TV programs as I do. And people can get in touch through just anything. So there it goes. If you find it cool, I encourage you to join the site and let us all be connected.

On Video Games (again)

Looks like it's my calling to blog this thing. :) I have blogged about video games last year, but now lemme try to give you a more matter-of-factly discussion about different guides with regard to such thing.

I'll start with handheld gaming guides. And of course, I have narrowed down this guide to PSP of Sony and DS of Nintendo. The DS, short for Dual Screen, has two vertically stacked screens (the lower is touch screen) which is very similar to a notebook format. It has a classic standard directional pad; still having A, B, X, and Y buttons along with so called shoulder buttons. However, this Nintendo's console is being phase out due to the arrival of sexy DS Lite. They revised DS into a slimmed down hardware that has the same functionality as the first one but is much lighter and smaller in dimensions. But the good thing is, DS Lite costs as much as DS's price, that is $130. This is relatively cheaper than a $169 PSP (Playstation Portable), which is Sony's entrant to the market. This Sony product sports a magnificent TFT LCD, having a 16:9 aspect ratio and to put it to layman's term...you are like watching a movie in widescreen format. The controller configuration, like Nintendo's DS, is similar to it's original classic console controller -- standard circle, X, square and triangle action buttons along with a directional pad and of course shoulder buttons.

Speaking of controllers, it is one of the necessary stuff to consider in buying the video game console you want. These considerations include but not limited to compatibility, design, system speed, as well as graphics capability. I'll just give you this video game consoles guide link for you to know what kind of system that suits your needs best.

My Birthday Post

So, this is it, my birthday post. :)

I hope I am able to publish this just on time, just before this day, my birthday, ends. Knowing me...who always have a hard time organizing my thoughts, I reckon I won't be able to make it before 12 o'clock strikes. Well, here goes the drama of my day. Yes, I am claiming it...this is my day. Period.

I planned to celebrate my birthday with a good cause. Something that is unique and a celebration that is worth remembering and if not exceptional, at least seemingly extraordinary or quite far from just ordinary. And that after some significant years, if God permits, I have something to recollect from with excessive self-esteem, considering that it was my 21st year of existence on this planet. I wanted it to be memorable. Who knows this would be my last birthday. Life is very unpredictable and we must learn to number our days. We never can tell what a day may bring forth, really.

Ergo, I decided to join an event that concerns about the environment. And wishful as I was, God granted my desire -- my angkan family forged a tie-up event with ecotour, an organization that advocates the importance of the environment. These events were mangrove planting and coastal clean-up in Cavite, my home town.

But, sheering of events is uncontrollable, which is always the sad part. My supposed happiest day of this year, 03-15-09 (I told you about it in my previous post), became, all of the sudden, culpable of the shift of events. 03-15-09! I came home very late, slept late and awakened very late. And oh noes, it just meant I was late in my appointment. I tried my best, my very best, to make it on time. But I failed. Good thing was that I was able to witness a bit of the program. Oh well, trite as it was, "better late than never" is always true. And I'm glad I was still able to celebrate a portion of my day with my angkan family.

This year, I have received more greetings than last year. Yes, I am counting these greetings. Even though the greeting was just a simple "hi happy birthday" or someone just happened to know it was my birthday and he/she felt an urge to greet me out of "pakikisama", as long as sincerity can be felt, well for me that matters a lot. I was remembered, at least. And even for just a minute, someone has flexed a muscle and cared to send me a message through text, or through whatever social networking site. And that also matters to me. And I say, it really really has an impact on me.

So, to all the people who remembered me this day...SALAMAT at pinasaya niyo ang araw ko.

I'll be better now. Less talk and more of listening. Less of being tactless but more assertive. Less of being judgmental but more critical. Less ambitious but more of envisioning. Less of old Joel and more of a better me.

Pre-Celebration Of My Birthday

03-15-09.

This day, without exaggeration, was the happiest day of my year!

I went out with my PI100 classmates (and professor) to a trip that was really really sooooo fun, and yet (guess what?) educative! LOL!

I'll give you all the details one of these days. But for now, all I can say is that...I am still hyped with the experience we had. Experience that was, sorry for the term, deplorable for those who did not come with us. Awww...sad!

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But...if only "that" did not happen, this day could have been perfect, apparent as it was. And yes, contradicting as it was, this day can be a sad, hapless day should I see "it" from a perspective of bad angle. Grrrr..."that" ruined it all.


Today is my birthday by the way...

Everybody's Changing But I Don't Feel The Same...

I LOST...

I feel sad about it.

Help me get over it would you...

And I'll be fine. Definitely.


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The title is irrelevant to the post. Can't think of a good title for this post and so I just parallelized it to the sound I am listening to while writing this entry. It's a sad sad song...just like what I am feeling now... :(

Oxymoronic Entry

I shan't be posting this one, but it bugs me persistently for about 3 days already.

It's just SAD when something happened that you didn't expect to happen and worse when this "something" was done by "someone" whom you trust and whom you anticipate the least to be doing that "something" and as if all the favors you've done were repudiated.

Oh well, PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE after all. And one thing I learned is that you can't really put your 100% trust to any person -- NO EXCEPTION.

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ANYWAY. No connection to the post at all, but I'm GLAD that my blogger account keeps on grabbing tasks -- sponsored posts -- which means more and more funds to my paypal account! Yehey! :)

Still have one task left in my task bag, so farewell for now :)

Hot! Oh So Hot!

Didn't you feel the climate change lately? From extremely cold to fairly cold and then I think in the first week of February the climate became hot (but in tolerable degree of heat) and now to uber hot!

But wait, that's an indication that summer is coming! Yey! One month to go and I am again free of academics! Whew, can't wait for that! I think this is the reason why I, or we, should not detest the shifting that the climate has undergone. And in fact we should be grateful that we have an urge and we have all the reason now to take a bath (for those of you who don't.LOL), and to take a bath twice or thrice or even more in one day! I know there isn't much more refreshing than to indulge yourself in your ideal standard bathrooms jammed with all the bathroom accessories you vainly needed! Well, as for me, I just simply want to freshen up in kudos showers :)

First Time To Make A Music Video :)

It is always nice to do things that enable you to forget all the strains that knock you down both mentally and physically. Like in my case, I was tuckered out by my academics --almost everyday of sleepless night because of cramming reports, papers, problem sets, and whatnot! Yup! Cramming, it is. How am I able to do things way way before the deadline when almost everyday a new task is imposed on? I don't have a choice, do I? And for that, I think I have already mastered the art of cramming, if there is such.

Anyway, enough for all the grievances!

So, as I was saying, in spite of all the busyness, I am still able to do things that could somehow let my exhaustion pass out even just for a while (although it means another piece of work to toil in).

Let me share to you this music video that we made. Just pardon me for the editing since it was my first time to edit such video. And as for the audio, we had it recorded in my laptop only and I was not able to erase the hiss and noise completely. But I still do expect a little appreciation from you as much as I hope that you will be able to get the message of the song. :)

The lyrics was actually composed by my good friend, Agatha Tapan (who was also the director) and the music was by another good friend, Sylvia Bullo (who was the artist in the music video).

Here:





To God Be The Glory!

I Need Some Enlightenment

02-21-09. I think this was my longeeeest day this year so far. I've been busy all day and yet when I am counting the things that I still need to accomplish, there are still 1001 left. Oh noes! I think there is something wrong with me. Whatever it is, I'm not really sure. Could it be my time management? Or perhaps my time sequencing? The heck, I don't know!

I think I need some enlightenment. Where and when will I ever learn to prioritize things? And do I even know what these "things" are that I should be prioritizing? Do I? DO I?!

Ooops! I shan't be ranting now! What I need is to see things from another perspective. Yeah, I think that's the enlightenment I need. If only this is as easy as and as literal as choosing the right lighting, then the problem is over. And I would probably choose this sea gull lighting, and this fine art lamps. Anyway, I should be studying now, still have an exam tomorrow and haven't started to open my book and notes yet. Seriously. Oh well, for now, I would just settle and rely with the lighting of my room as I spend the whole night in front of my lecture notes.