How God has to speak to me when I refuse to read the Bible

God: Stop squandering the potential I gave you… Stop underachieving… Have some pride…
Joan: Wait. In what? In school?
God: School’s a start, yeah. Stand back (starts streetcleaner).
Joan: Pride? What happened to humility?
God: Humility isn’t actually humility, unless you’re good enough at something to be humble.

Joan: So, my true nature is to be a catalyst? That is mad anti-climatic.
God: Anti climactic. Anti-climatic means you’re against the weather.

Ted: I’m gonna do what that guy couldn’t, I’m gonna take the plunge… Well, I guess that’s not a perfect metaphor since… for me it’s falling in love and for him it’s… death.
Barney: Actually, that is a perfect metaphor. 

I was watching How I Met Your Mother and Joan of Arcadia, and I am actually learning something.  Will expound later.

Ahead: 30% Melancholic Side Kicks In

What happens to you when your bestfriend finds a boyfriend a few months after you broke up with your boyfriend? 

You go mad! Crazier than before!  The most nonsense stuff in the world makes more sense.  You start contemplating about your suicide, walking in the dark places to be held up and hopefully killed, don’t look at both ways when crossing the street, be more reckless, and the only time you talk to God is asking him to kill you.  That’s what happens.  You HAVE to be happy for her, but you can’t because you keep looking at your sorry self and wish you just get back together with your ex.  She will be gushing about how cute his brothers are, that she’s gonna be part of his family, and you will just die inside.

Really.

Die inside.

That is what is happening to me.  I am going mad and dying inside.  And I know the only answer to all this heart ache problem is God, but ick, I cannot go Hallelujah now. You will not find me in any church any day soon and I’ll try to console myself with boxing and being mean to her.  

I am selfish.  But I can’t help it.

Hello God

I am jogging by myself in Ultra this Saturday.  You are welcome to join me.  I don’t know if you’d like to be with me since I’ve sinned the same sin for n times already.  And I don’t really want to go back to you only to mess up again.  So yeah, you can jog with me if you want to.  Also, if you can kill me someday soon, I’d appreciate that.  The swift-painless death God, not like the long term disease you placed in me the last time I asked you to kill me.

Thank you.

Samurai X

I took a pic inspired by Samurai X last Sunday and wow, memories flooded me.  I remember the long hours I dedicated to memorizing Heart of Sword, and how I cannot, for the life of me, sing Sobakasu.  I spent lots of prepaid internet hours searching for Samurai X images, and pining after Sanosuke Sagara. Haha… high school days, I love it!  With Sum 41 in the background, I’m happily reminiscing prom days.  When people asked me which days were happier, I would answer without a doubt that college days were happier.  But come to think of it, high school, with all its innocence, puppy love, sitting on the grass after dismissal with your skirt around you, buying gello and a ham and cheese quesadilla on Friday from your savings for the week, was not as bad as I thought.

Lessons in Sales

One thing I think is important in putting up a business is that you have to believe in the product. 

I tried selling insurance and necklaces to my officemates , and it is very tiring.  I am not a sales person, and I tend to be shy.  It’s a good thing the necklaces were really pretty and sell themselves.  But my reaction was more on pushing the inventory rather than customer satisfaction.  I keep on thinking about profits and commissions and not on the benefit the product will give to the customers, which I think is wrong.  To be able to sell, I need to overemphasize the benefits of the product to people.  That is definitely something I should work on.

Sigh

I remember Pastor Peter telling us to hold blessings lightly.  So that is why I can let you go.

 I remember the time I was telling J to let go of his girl because she isn’t a believer.  And I remember his friends’ advice, to not think about God when it comes to relationships.  “Mga ganyan dapat hindi na iniisip,” they said.  And now, I do want to take their advice, to forget about God, get back together and be happy.

But I can’t.  I guess years of forgetting God and putting you first has taught me that we won’t be really happy without God’s blessing.  I know God has a good plan for us, and we will have the best of love if we trust Him.

So if God tells you to come back for me, will you dance with me? A waltz perhaps?

It was a Good Morning

Joey: nakakatuwa ka naman na hindi ka defensive sa beliefs mo

Joey: usually kasi yung Christians na kilala ko ganun

Joey: i mean like youre open to questions of other people

Nellie: di ko rin ma explain bakit… (in fairness, na alala kita pag pray even before you brought up the BS thing) God was preparing me for you… kaya siguro cool lang ako

Joey: hahaha

Joey: well i did ask Him to tell you i was coming

Nellie: Whatever joey! peace tayo … yeah, go ahead and question… you’ll find your answers

Joey: haha i actually doubt that i will i doubt that anyone does… because if everyone had the answers, they wouldnt need to believe.

Joey: but im happy with the way it is

Joey: it feels better to believe than to know

Nellie: lalim dude…

Joey: hahaha

Joey: kung di mo magets kasi… sabihin mo lang… ieexplain ko naman eh

Nellie: WWAAAAH… you’re still a meanie!!!!

Joey: hahaha

Joey: pero ikaw na ata yung favorite Christian ko so ikaw na lagi kong iinisin

A Seven Headed Dragon is Headed to Destroy Me

And I don’t know what to do.

Wise Words from Heroes

“For all his bluster, it is the sad problem that a man cannot choose his trials.  He can only choose how he will stand when the call of destiny comes, hoping that he will have the courage to answer.”

 

“The sun rises on a new dawn, yet few of us realize the debt we owe to those responsible for this, to those who dwell among us anonymous, seemingly ordinary, whom destiny brought together to repair, to heal, and to save us from ourselves.  And they’re still out there, among us, in the shadows, in the light.  We pass them on the street without a glance, never suspecting, never knowing.  Do they even know yet, that they are bound together by a common purpose, a glaring reality to be extraordinary?  And when destiny does appoint them, do they hide from it?  How long can they dwell in the shadows before either fate or their own flawed humanity draws them out into the light?  And how will they know what awaits them when it finally does?”

An Aging Bull Can Still Be A Raging Bull

Some good news for the people who invested in stocks: Taken from NY Times, comments in blue.

 Last week, US stock market’s bull (upward market; counterpart is the bear market) did something that only 4 other stock market rallies since 1942 have accomplished: it lived to see its fifth birthday on Oct 10. AND it doesn’t mean that this bull is much closer to being put out to pasture.  Bull Markets do not die of old age, an analyst said, nor do they tire in their twilight years. “It’s sort of like human demographics,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at S.& P. “You know how they say that if you make it to age 65, there’s a great chance you’ll live to at least 85? Well, if a bull market makes it through Year 3, and then Years 4 and 5, the sixth year turns out to be very, very good.” 

However, Chief Investment strategist at Wells Capital Management said that this market still has a way to go.  Although the bull has staying power, it is not terribly strong by historical standards.  This also is now the second-longest, correction-less rally in stock market history. (Corrections are basically the market’s way to pull down the exaggerated price to its right price. It’s a small price to pay if we don’t want a downward trend)

 It may seem counterintuitive, but corrective sell-offs can be crucial to the longevity of a bull. Think of them as tiny tremors. Small sell-offs in the market, like tremors, are thought to alleviate some of the pressure that builds up in the market. If there are enough of them, a big quake could be prevented. “The longer you go without a correction of at least 10 percent, the greater the probability that any future correction will turn into a bear market,” At the end of the day, bull markets aren’t killed by market forces. Instead, it’s the underlying health of the economy that determines the market’s longevity. 

Well, first things first, we are looking at the US economy because how they fare will affect us.  If they had a bad day in the stock market the previous night, our stock market will also be bad today.  

 Well, the Philippine economy is good so far.  And I hope that our market is mature enough in case the US goes to a bear market (Related Article Excerpt: When the midsummer credit crisis unfolded and global stock markets sank, emerging markets were praised for their resilience. Their comparative strength was taken as a sign that economies in the developing world could make it on their own and were no longer dependent on exports to the West. – NY Times).