Happy New Year 2008!

The New Year is coming.  

It is time to start life anew. 

The old self dies, 

and a new one is budding. 

So hail to a new hope, 

bravo to a renewed sense of purpose 

and cheers to new adventures, 

Happy New Year!

Search For The Perfect Christmas Tree

This happened many years ago but it is as fresh in my memory as if it were just yesterday.  We were tasked to search for a suitable branch that will be used as a Christmas tree in school.  No other place could be better than Mabuhay, a mountainous barrio in town.  So with provisions and a bottle of rum, we started walking into the woods.  Within the cluster of trees, a nice branch beckoned, and we scrambled to get to the top of a tree.  I had the bolo to chop it off.  As I positioned for a secure hold, I noticed buzzing and sudden hotness in my left ear.  Before I figured out what stung me, a swarm of hornets flew over.  I dropped the bolo and followed it down butt first.  Everybody scrambled towards the river including the hornets, forcing us to test our lung power as we hid underwater to ward off the flying stings.  A minute passed by and my ear ballooned like an elephant’s.  On the opposite bank, we spotted another suitable candidate.  We chopped it off immediately.  And in order to admire it fully, I tried planting it on the ground, breaking the branch in the process, and everybody howled in dismay!  So back we go again in search of that elusive Christmas Tree.  Then a perfect branch appeared in the distance, we got it and held on as if our lives depended upon it. We crossed the river again with the Christmas Tree in tow.  I thought the river was shallow until the water lapped way over my nose and I began swimming, and the tree slipped off my fingers. We watched helplessly as it was carried by the current downstream. For a time it was submerged in the water and we thought we lost it again. But a few meters ahead by the bend, the tree bobbed and we swam towards it. Ah, behold, the perfect Christmas Tree!

Season’s Greetings!

Hello my friends all over the world! It is Christmas season, the most wonderful time of the year. It is time for dreaming and realizing dreams. So I wish that all your dreams come true and may the new year bring happiness, joy and prosperity beyond your expectations! It is also the time for love and generosity. So give it all you got. And like the star above, let yourself shine for everyone to see.

Bright Lights

I slept in the plane from Salt Lake City in Utah on the way to Burbank in Los Angeles. Halfway through, I awoke to a magnificent sight: a colony of super bright lights emanating from the center and stretching outward to the dark arid emptiness of Nevada. I was looking directly down on Las Vegas! Like a priceless tiara, it is the beckoning, bedazzling, enchanting, jewel of the desert.  

Stretched Limo

Pardon me, but I think the stretched limo is a ridiculous car. The most concentration of these cars no doubt is Las Vegas. They clog the streets especially at the corners. The limo should be placed in the same category as 16-wheelers called rigs with restricted access at the freeways. Now that’s a thought. I even saw a hummer limousine! And who’s riding, Arnold Schwarzenegger? I heard he has a collection of these gas-guzzler-monsters. Hmmm, Maybe.