A Dream Job

What can be a dream job for me? In the past until this year, whatever was my current job had shown a potential to be my dream job. Why did I say that? Because at one point, I enjoyed what I was doing. But when a job starts to control your life, it cannot be called a dream job. That happened to me recently so I decided to quit.

Of course that is not the end. In 2010, I will have a job but not a regular one so I'm not expecting to receive a regular salary. I will train people, a task I have enjoyed since I started working. Before I decided to quit my current job, I thought I would train people, including my staff. Since they were scattered to the sites of different clients, I have designated Saturday as a training day. But I noticed they were used to always consider Saturday as a rest day or a day to unwind. I could not pursue my plan for a regular training day.

This 2010, I will be training people who are not yet computer literate. In other words, I will be training mostly older people. I have done that before, trained old nurses about to retire, and doctors too. The hardest part was to teach them how to use the mouse and I had only 3 days to do that because that was the time of the Y2K scare, or the Year 2000 scare, where all computer systems should be running in Windows which accommodates 4 digits for the year while the old system accommodates only 2 digits, therefore the year would become 0. The scare was that all automated machines using the old systems would no longer run, so elevators would stop, even the clocks, LOL! My old students were able to learn in three days, thanks to Solitaire, LOL. Well, I had no choice because that was the easiest way to teach how to use the mouse.

Maybe my dream job is really training people. Not only will I be training about computers next year but also about health and wellness. I will have to research a lot but I'm excited because I can help people. Perhaps when you think of helping people while achieving your goal or dream, you will always succeed, and I know I will.

The Gondola

When I was in Singapore in 1989, I wished to ride the cable car at Sentosa but that wish was not granted. Thus riding the cable car remained a dream. Until I was at Ancol's in Jakarta with my Tiens' Lion Network Int'l. co-delegates. I was just looking for a place to buy some handicrafts and I read at the Smile magazine of Cebu Pacific Air there is a market for that in Ancol's.

I did not expect that Ancol's is a place like Sentosa, and there is a cable car too, called The Gondola! At last, my dream to ride a cable car came true! But I was scared at first, because I have fear of heights. That ride is one thing about Jakarta that I will never forget. That one-day tour of Jakarta plus the 2-day Weekend Seminar given by Lion Network Int'l, which I didn't expect to be so grandiose, will last a lifetime of memories of Jakarta for me.

The travel to ITALY

During the first half of this year, my dream was to travel to Italy, to watch the Novo Concertante Manila where my son and daughter are members, compete in a contest. But that would only be possible if I won the Lotto, or would be qualified as a finalist in a photo contest I joined, because the finals would be held in Italy. Those two conditions would of course be very hard to achieve so it is anybody's guess that it is almost an impossible dream.

I had a lot of travels this year though, but domestically and work-related. I had no choice because I need to work and my work requires me to travel. One way or another, those travels gave me wonderful experiences. They were in the following places:

I - Iloilo in the Visayas of the Philippines
T - Tanza (a barrio near Silay City, Bacolod) in the Visayas
A - Angeles, Pampanga in Luzon of the Philippines
L - La Union in Luzon and Lapu-lapu in Mactan, Cebu in the Visayas
Y - Yakarta

That last one was Jakarta, of course (LOL), and a travel abroad. It was an incentive trip not from the company I work for, but from our upline in Tiens Group, Agus Tri Laksono, who is the Father of one of the education network groups of Tiens or Tianshi, the Lion Network International. I've been a Tiens member for more than a year now, and since we use Tiens or Tianshi supplements and gadgets regularly to prevent illnesses, my rank went up gradually until I achieved the incentive trip promised to me by my upline.

Sometimes one big dream overshadows the many blessings given to us by God, which sometimes are rare opportunities and experiences that are more timely, than what that one dream we were longing for, can bring.

Pleasing a special needs child

Last night, I dreamed that my seven-year-old Lyca could talk. In reality, that seems impossible at this point in time, but someday I'm sure that dream will come true. At present, Lyca could dance well. Since she couldn't use her feet yet for dancing, she uses her head, and she dances as well as the dancing fountain featured here. She very lively moves her head left and right with her arms also dancing to the rhythm of the music. It's surprising how she's able to do that since she is blind and doesn't have an idea how other people, or even the dancing fountain we watched, with her maybe just listening, could dance.

Lyca would like to be strolled around often, and I guess it's about time we replace her stroller. I saw a travel pram fit for her in a very educational website for baby's things, though the pram I was saying is suitable for children of all ages.

It was just a few months back when Lyca could sit easily from a lying position without falling back. The play pen she still uses until now helped her to achieve that. I also saw several cribs or bassinets from the same website I was saying.

Lyca knew that we enjoyed watching the dancing fountain of Eastwood City Mall. Listening to the amused expressions from the people around her is enough to make this special needs child enjoy too. Only a little more exercises to achieve balance while moving, our dreams for her to dance with her feet and run as she pleases will soon be achieved.

A dream to inspire

When I was trying to update my Dreams List a year ago, I realized that I have a new dream that was not yet on the list. I'd like to be an inspirational leader. It was not really a new dream because since five years ago, I've started to be one but it was more an obligation than a dream. I hope to continuously inspire people, thus that dream was created. It is the main reason for my continuous effort to write inspiring posts in my blogs.

To achieve such dream is not easy, there were times I'd like to leave that task of inspiring people to well known personalities who already gained popularity in that area like John Maxwell. But it seems I am always placed in a situation where I also have to perform that difficult task of inspiring people. In my blogs, I sometimes feel I am running out of inspiring posts because I now have a regular job that steals all my time from other noble tasks. But recent developments in my job are now whispering to me that big challenge of leading people to a noble 'cause and inspiring them to carry out their part in fulfilling a great mission.

The nice thing about that is I can now stop asking questions why in the past few years I can't find a job until I was suddenly offered a job in a company I never thought will give me an opportunity to be employed again. The progress of events is amusing, I can't help but think that I might have a mission, and yes, I can feel that now.

Memories, Dreams, and the "State of the Nation" song

In 1984, one of the most popular songs was "State of the Nation". That was more than twenty five years ago, and at that time, I was employed in a private agency servicing the Bureau of Internal Revenue of the Republic of the Philippines. This private agency was the Revenue Information Systems Services Incorporated or RISSI. I could remember taking part in a dance number of some ladies of RISSI to the tune of this "State of The Nation", so playing back this song will surely bring back many memories. Along with these memories were the dreams we once had, some fulfilled, some never achieved.

I see them marching off to war
They're looking so heroic
I'm told they won't be gone for long
But that's a lie and they know it
Ten thousand gone they won't return
Never to be seen again
Strategic games is all we learn in the end
But they say:

Don't you worry about the situation
(A message from the telephone)
They out there fighting for the state of the nation
(I'm waiting a chance to come home)
They always have to fight the alienation
(I realize I'm fighting alone)

When nightmares memories fades to dust
We'll get back on our feet again
This war has nothing to do with us
But somehow we're still involved in it

Well...

Don't you worry about the situation
(A message from the telephone)
They out there fighting for the state of the nation
(I'm waiting a chance to come home)
Well, Don't you worry about the situation
(A message from the telephone)
They always have to fight the alienation
(I realize I'm fighting alone)

There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place I don't want to be anywhere else

There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place I don't want to be anywhere else

There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place I don't want to be anywhere else

There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place I don't want to be anywhere

Don't you worry about the situation
They out there fighting for the state of the nation

Don't you worry about the situation
(A message from the telephone)
They always have to fight the alienation
(I realize I'm fighting alone)

They out there fighting for the state of the nation
(I'm waiting a chance to come home)

They always have to fight the alienation
(I realize I'm fighting alone)

There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place like home

2009 World Cup of Pool Champion

The champion of the 2009 World Cup of Pool was Team Philippines, or the tandem of Efren "Bata" Reyes and Django Bustamante.

In the past, whenever there was a local billiard competition where the two were opponents, I didn't know to whom I would side because both of them were my favorites.

If there was one thing in the history of sports that was a dream come true as far as I'm concerned, it was the team-up of these two great billiard champions. Once again they made the Filipinos proud by regaining the championship of the World Cup of Pool.

My Spanish Dream

I had high grades in my Spanish subjects in college, my first grade was 1.25 followed by 1.5 the next semester. But I was not really good in Spanish so my relatives would ask me how I got the high grades. The answer? Because I was good in singing Spanish songs so my Spanish teacher could always count on me to participate in her events that usually included a singing group.

Singing Spanish songs had been one of my secret dreams, but I realized that even by just listening to a dream choir like Novo Concertante Manila singing Spanish songs, my dream is fulfilled.

A chorale's fulfilled dreams

This month of July, Novo Concertante Manila's dreams were fulfilled! Several of us shared the same dreams for this chorale, where my daughter and son are members, to win in the international contests which they participated in Austria and Spain.

Through the website of the organizer in Torrevieja, Spain, we were able to watch the Certamen Internacional de Habaneras y Polifonía live! Novo Concertante Manila won first place in the Polyphonic category in this contest. But I love listening to their songs in the habaneras category too, I wish I can post that part here too. The video here is the chorale's pieces for the Polyphonic category.

My Dream Bag

To travel to different places had always been my dream. This July, I dreamed of traveling to Europe to watch the choir where my children are members, Novo Concertante Manila, compete in two contests. That was not fulfilled because I suddenly got a job, and of course, you cannot achieve two unrelated big dreams at the same time. But my new job brought me to Davao two times since my employment, and some places outside Metro Manila. For the next two weeks, I will be traveling north of Manila and that can include Baguio City, the coldest city in the Philippines.

Every time I travel, I always think of the most appropriate bag that I can use, but it seems I haven’t found what I want because I keep on buying new ones. I need to bring my laptop all the time, but I want a fashionable laptop bag. Though there are times I’d like to look very professional but I also want something light.

I’m sure there a lot of people like me, and I have a good news for those people and other travelers, because I found a website that will answer our idiosyncrasies about luggages and bags. I’m talking about Shopwiki’s website and the nice thing about it is it gives you a lot of helpful information about luggages and all kinds of bags, including designer handbags.

Going through this site of Shopwiki is a dream travel in itself. A lot of learning awaits us all, aside from finding the dream bag you and I are looking for.

Aspire One

Yes, I was aspiring to own one small notebook, and you'll see that in my "Dreams List", my very first post in this blog.

I was actually forced to get one because my new job entails a lot of travels that will need a laptop. My first one would be heavy for me to bring along wherever I go.

A smaller laptop was a dream maybe almost two years ago, but I believe I finally got it at the best time. It is lightweight, has a 2GB RAM, and a 160 GB hard disk capacity. I haven't imagined it to be that powerful! I even got a free external DVD drive!

I'm just a little worried about the price of this small laptop, because the price can be the lack of time for me to post entries in my blogs. Didn't you notice that? It's now almost the end of June, and this is my first and last post for this month! I just hope not, and that the situation now is only temporary.

Dream car for a deserving soul

The first time I attended a seminar in Tianshi Phils. with a doctor as a speaker, I was amazed with the big number of attendees, and I wondered why. During the seminar, the speaker announced when would be his next seminar, which was the following month. I hoped it could be earlier because I looked forward to learning more. It was from this speaker whom I first learned the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, and how it differs from Western Medicine. He answers all questions with clarity, and whenever he sets a date for his seminar, he dedicates his whole day for it, so he could answer all questions or give advices even after the seminar. He always shares a soft copy of his lecture, he himself copying from the laptop to our USB drives. He encourages people to share whatever they learn and would jokingly say "if you don't share, you'll have cancer", and then would smile.

It seemed that joke was very effective, because as much as I could, I shared whatever I learned from his or the other speakers' lectures, some through my blogs.

Until it was announced that he is one of the two awardees of a series 3 BMW car, for the rank he attained in Tianshi Phils. and the whole Tiens Group. He said he wished it would be a series 7 instead. That was last year.

The awarding of the BMW was originally scheduled in February but was moved to May. Two months before that, I read in a Tiens magazine that BMW turned over more than a hundred of series 7 BMW cars to Tiens Group. I told myself, that model was the doctor's wish but maybe the next batch of awardees will get that model.

Until the awarding took place, just last night. The awarded car was a series 7 BMW, and it was a dream come true for a deserving soul. Maybe the funny quote of Dr. Hector dela Cruz can be revised a bit, so it should be "If you don't share, you'll have cancer, but if you share, you'll have your dream!".

A dream to succeed

I am now starting to use again the expertise I have gained when I was in the corporate, more than what I have wished for this year, as far as my career is concerned.

The present scenario where I am now working was unexpected but I'm glad I was hired because of the basic reason that I knew how to handle the problems that are second to nature to that scenario, and present solutions.

The hard part is the scenario I am talking about can cover the whole world, unlike my previous exposure which is just one corner of the world. The people involved can have different cultures, protocols. or laws. That is the challenge, and my dream is to succeed in that challenge.

A Dream World

What can be a dream world? Many would imagine it to look like a paradise, but more people would be contented to imagine a world without wars, and just wait to see the paradise in heaven.

Realistic people, however, might say that wars will always be a part of the world, and they can even be a part of a dream world since it is sometimes after the wars that the world becomes a better place to live in because disputes are settled.

A dream world can be a place where nobody is hungry, I bet everyone would agree. There was a movie in 1973 titled "Soylent Green", one of the first eerie movies that I've watched. The year is 2022. New York City has become overpopulated with 40 million people and pollution has caused the temperature to be risen and all natural resources have been destroyed, leaving 40 million people starving. The Soylent Company has created a new food product, Soylent Green. It was later discovered that a component of Soylent Green is the processed body of a dead person.

I'm just glad that the "Soylent Green" fiction will never happen because there is now a so-called "21st century food", Spirulina, a blue-green algae that will save the world from hunger and malnutrition. Like in the movie, cookies can be made from it. It will even save the world from epidemics because this superfood can kill viruses.

Now we can imagine a true dream world of the future, a world with healthy people, and movie producers planning to produce a movie similar to "Soylent Green" should think twice because the movie will surely flop.

The Daily Dozen

To help make our dreams come true, John Maxwell recommends a dozen exercises:

1. Examine your life at the moment. The first step toward making your dream come true is to find out where you are.
2. Exchange all of your little options for one big dream.
3. Expose yourself to successful people. Birds of the same feather flock together.
4. Express your belief in your dream. Write it down or talk about it frequently.
5. Expect opposition to your dream.
6. Exercise all of your effort, all of your energy, toward the dream. It’s worth it. Pay the price!
7. Extract every positive principle that you can from life. Constantly be on the lookout for anything that will enhance that dream.
8. Exclude negative thinkers as close friends.
9. Exceed normal expectations to make your dream come true. Dreams are not achieved by average energy.
10. Exhibit an attitude that is confident.
11. Explore every possible avenue to reach your dream.
12. Extend a helping hand to someone who has a similar dream, and both of you will climb together.

A "therapist"

Early in September last year, I published a post in this blog about a new dream, which is simply to learn a person's acupoints. This was the last paragraph I wrote in that post:

"Among the dreams I ever thought of, this seems to be the simplest, but can be a most challenging one because of what it can achieve after I learn. I can save lives, even my own life! Isn't that wonderful?"

I'd like to say now that on the contrary, it is not that simple. There are 2,000 acupoints, so when can I ever get to learn all of them? The only way I know is to immediately apply through actual therapy, whenever a group of acupoints is learned. Using the Tiens Acupoint Treasure or "Tong Bao", which is a needleless acupuncture gadget with a 400 gauss magnetic tip or beam, I started with myself. With a pressure that is bearable, the tip is pressed on the acupoint for 5 seconds, rotated clockwise for 10 seconds, pressed steadily for 5 seconds, and then rotated counterclockwise for 10 seconds. That process is one cycle lasting for 30 seconds, and 6 cycles should be completed for each acupoint. The action of this magnetic tip simulates that of an acupuncture needle as the process is performed. Though I was taking supplements which I knew helped a lot in my wellness, I believe that the procedure hastened my expelling of phlegm, when I had cough and colds during the cold months late last year.

Becoming a professional therapist was never in my thoughts, not even in my dreams, until this year. The irony is I cannot find time now to perform the acupuncture therapy on myself. I usually do it for my special child to clear her liver "chi" (qi), since she regularly takes drugs for her cerebral palsy, and now for my sister-in-law who has cataract. The treatment for cataract involves several acupoints, so that the whole treatment takes one hour and four cycles are done for each acupoint instead of the usual six.

I am not yet a professional therapist, but I'm on my way to become one.

Fitness as a goal

A totally normal blood test result will make my dream to be healthy come true, since I've seen that the supplements I've been taking are helping me, but probably some changes in my activities also helped, like my once a week commuting and walking to and from a church. Since the rest of our household share the same dream to be healthy, we have resolved to schedule an at least once a week serious walking for fitness. Fortunately, the best place to do that is just near our house, and I'm talking about the University of the Philippines compound in Diliman.

My husband, sister in-law and I have started walking last Saturday, and tomorrow, which will be our second Saturday to do that, my daughter will join us. Next week, we definitely have more time for walking since Monday is a holiday here in the Philippines, but more members of the household would like to join us.

That goes to show that fitness as a goal, which can benefit every person, can be contagious and motivating, and that means there is a big chance for that common goal to be successfully achieved.

A healthy dream

The healthy dream as a title of this post has a literal meaning because it really concerns my health. Years ago, my cholesterol level had always been high and since I learned that women over 35 will always have high cholesterol level, my goal had been a high "good cholesterol or HDL" and low "bad cholesterol or LDL". That is not something I should be proud of however, so it was just a goal and not in my dreams list.

Until I've started to test the effects of the Tiens supplements I was taking. I started with Chitosan for cleansing for two weeks only and my low HDL and hign LDL were reversed. After cleansing, I tried Cordyceps and Spirulina separately. Both gave good results because they both lowered my cholesterol level. In my last blood test, my sugar, uric acid and cholesterol all decreased. My cholesterol is now just .5 away from the normal value. I believe that the synergy of Cordyceps and Spirulina will finally make all my blood chemistry values normal. That is something I should be proud of, so I am now including it in my dreams list. It was an impossible dream, but not anymore.

Did I dream of Venice?

I was trying to research for an interpretation of my dream in my sleep last weekend (Friday or Saturday), which was one of the weirdest since I started blogging. There were just two scenes in my dream.

The first scene was on a sidewalk that looked like the one beside the building of the last company where I was employed (the one with a Cafe in front of the building). On the road beside that sidewalk was a "flood". I can see just that part of the sidewalk so I can't tell the extent of the flood, it was just that the water looked "whitish" or "soapy without suds". What was weird was that there were tables and chairs on the sidewalk and people were eating there joyfully, one of them was my female officemate a long time ago.

Another scene was another flooded part of the road, I was looking from afar on the same road where there was no flood maybe because it was higher. I can see that the water was clear because I can even see the stones under the water. I was thinking maybe we can swim there but I was not serious because it was a road.

I've read a book about the meaning of dreams and this was what I've read:
=> Flood means there is or there will be overflowing of emotions. But as I've said, there were only portions with flood in my dream.
=> The road is the highway of life.
=> Water can have different meanings, depending if it is dirty, clear or whatever.
=> Stones mean stability, so that would be a good meaning since I saw them on the road, which is the highway of life, but I wonder what the clear water meant. It could be good also, I suppose. Can anybody help me to interpret that scene?

I was left with the interpretation of that sidewalk with the tables until I remembered our travel in Preveza, Greece, where there were restaurants with tables outside, just beside the port area. I researched for photos hoping to find a view similar to my dream to show it here it my blog so people can help me interpret my dream. It was awesome to find a very similar water (whitish or soapy) that I saw in my dream, though my dream was a much closer view of the water and sidewalk with tables and people, no boats or other objects. The photo shows the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.

Follow your dream!

My dream to go to Europe this year with the choir of my children was dependent on my winning a Lotto, but my winning a photo contest that I discovered on the web lately, will also give me the chance to at least go to Italy. This is the country in Europe I wouldn’t want to miss in case I’ll be blessed to go to this continent the second time around.

The photo contest was really a very inspiring news for me, so I’m now very busy selecting photos for my entries. There are a lot of good amateur photographers, but I shouldn’t lose hope. If my destiny is to go to Europe this July, then I will win. The last time I went to Europe, it was with the choir of my son but we only went to Greece. It was a priceless experience though, an AMAZING GRACE , because the choir of my son won three golds and the grand prize, and more than that, little miracles happened.

My son and daughter’s current choir, the Novo Concertante Manila, will be participating in a contest in Spain and they should leave on July 5. The photo contest’s finale will be on July 10 and 11 in Italy. This coming July, the Feng Shui forecast for both my daughter and me (Monkey and Snake) is a windfall luck. When I’ve read that earlier this year, I was thinking maybe the choir will win, because they will be in Europe for three weeks, but how about me? Maybe I will win the Lotto!

All I can do now is pray hard because it’s not only the Lotto I am counting on this time. It’s nice to know there is bigger chance for my dream to come true. That goes to show that seriously following a dream will open doors to make it come true!

A forgotten dream

Sometimes the dreams in our sleep remind us of dreams or goals that we seem to have forgotten. Last night, I dreamed that I was about to go to U.S.A. The reason was not clear in my dream. When I woke up, I was still thinking about it till I was reminded of a goal or dream I intentionally have forgotten because of lack of funds for transportation. It has been a dream to bring Lyca, my special needs child to an Elks center in the U.S. for children with cerebral palsy.

Maybe I should pursue that plan, or at least start to study the possibility of pursuing it. What remains in the adoption of Lyca is the registration of her birth using her new name but we still have to wait till the 30 days is over, from the day the finality of the court's decision was released. I haven't even checked yet how long we should wait but time flies and for all we know we should already be attending to the registration of her birth.

I'm now very careful with every cent that I get and that is probably the reason why I've ignored to think about that plan though there's a possibility a real property where we have a share might be sold this year. I think I've connected that particular plan too much to winning the Lotto to cover the expenses, because just before that dream in my sleep, I was thinking of a new dream to put up a Wellness Center if the real property I was talking about will be sold.

My dream last night has somehow enlightened me to prioritize people like Lyca, over new business plans. I just hope and pray that God will continue to lead me to the right path, even through the dreams in my sleep.

A Dream Blog

I've been wanting this "Dreams List" blog to be a dream blog, in terms of content and readership. I know this is hard to achieve, but let's see. My dreams may also be the dreams of others, but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of dreams that are not on my list. A car for instance, is not on my list maybe because I don't want to drive anymore, but it is the dream of many so I've been looking for that dream car that we can talk about here. Just wait and see!

In the meantime, maybe by the time I publish my next post, I have changed the template of this blog to 3-columns. It looks more professional to me, and that's how I want my dream blog to project!

The unexpected

The unexpected is not part of anyone's dream but I was filled with several unexpected events the past two days that even caused me not to be able to post in my Dreams List blog on time.

I really waited for Valentine's Day before publishing a post, thinking I might be able to come up with a great post for Valentine. Before that day though, some "unexpected" situations or events happened. I and my two friends decided to meet in a restaurant, but on our way there, I saw another restaurant where I was able to try some food that I liked so much. I described them to my friend who was with me and she started to crave for them. When we met our other friend at the agreed restaurant, we decided to transfer to the other restaurant I was talking about. We walked more than a block to get there, but when we reached the place, there was a sign that the place was not open to public because of a previous reservation. There was another popular restaurant nearby so we decided to just settle there.

That was the first "unexpected" situation. The second was when we got our bill, we found out that the drink alone costs Php500. It was an exotic drink and since it goes with a teddy bear that can be given as a Valentine gift, the price might be reasonable, I told my friends.

On Valentine's Day the next morning, I gave our special child the teddy bear and she was so happy. She hugged it tightly and I was surprised when it said "I love you" twice. That was the third unexpected event, and suddenly, the drink became priceless to me!

More unexpected situations followed but I've already published them in my new blog "Amusing Tips", so just link to the story here.

A dream can be so focused and the dreamer very determined and decided to realize it. Until the unexpected happens which can totally erase a dreamer's dream. I was one of those dreamers. Were you one of us?

Unconditional love

I declare this month of February a month of dreamers! Most will say because it's the month of the hearts but that reason alone is not logical, so I'd like to add the global economic crisis as a reason.

So where do you "dream" to date your sweetheart? That will be cheaper, right? And it can be more romantic too, just talking about a dream place and dream food and drinks with him or her.

For others like me, dreaming about winning the Lotto is enough, but it leads to more dreams unimaginable (LOL)!

Well, this is also the best time to prove how much you love a person, and the greatest love of course, is the unconditional love. This economic crisis is not too bad after all, because lovers now have the opportunity to prove it's not the material things that matter because their love is unconditional.

Some good things never last

Years ago, I almost became a member of the official choir of the company I worked for, which at that time was the biggest corporation in the Philippines. But what the company really wanted was a "dream chorale", so professionals in the music industry were hired. After a few rehearsals, the San Miguel Master Chorale was ready to perform in public. It was indeed a dream chorale and I became one of their followers, trying my best to watch every performance of this chorale.

Until the inevitable had to happen. Streamlining of the workforce had to be implemented and the chorale was not spared. At least everything was done to spare the group because I could still see the members of the chorale in the company premises even after I was retired and our department was dissolved.

It's sad that some good things never last, so while they are still existing, we should take the opportunity to enjoy them. I had the chance to shoot a video of the chorale during one of their informal performances for the employees and what I'm sharing here is one of my favorite Tagalog songs sang by the chorale, "Sana'y Wala Nang Wakas". I don't know how to exactly translate this title to English because the subjects or pronouns are implied, so it can mean to say "I hope this will never end". But some good things never last, and have to end.

However, the dream can go on, and those members of the San Miguel Chorale will someday be part of another dream chorale.

Barack Obama can be a hero

For the first time in history, the world unites with a common dream: for the newly elected President Barack Obama to make the necessary change that will free the world from economic crisis.

Feng Shui followers should know that the year 2009 is a very auspicious year for leaders like Barack Obama. This is therefore a very good year for President Obama, not only as the President of U.S.A. but as an inspirational leader, and start the challenge of changing the world and be a hero.

The year 2009 is excellent for every leader if he or she has the desire and determination to succeed. To begin with, every leader should have a strong sense of self worth and confidence. Those are statements from Feng Shui readings.

However, if a leader becomes overly ambitious, he or she will encounter harmful obstacles. That is again true for every leader, and just because of that Feng Shui reading involving "The Commanding Star" for this year, how I wish all leaders are Feng Shui believers so that they will heed to that warning.

Dreams for 2009

Here are my dreams for 2009:

1. To win in Lotto! If I win the jackpot, I will go to Europe with a choir and my family, while the major part of my winnings will be properly planned for Lyca, my special needs child's program in the U.S. (if still necessary), and the organization of a foundation for artists and poor children with cerebral palsy next year.

2. To be a contestant in Deal or No Deal (LOL), and if I win a big amount, I'll continue my Interior Design course.

3. To earn more from my blogs, but this will only happen if you'll continuously visit them (please).

I can't believe only the above 3 are my dreams for this year. Maybe because I knew that my more important realistic dreams are about to come true. What are they?

1. To own a Tiens Dream Bio-energy Health Mattress.
2. For Lyca to be able to walk.
3. For Lyca to be able to talk.

Deal or No Deal

A dream that has been lingering for over a year now is for me to be selected as a contestant in Deal or No Deal. Just very recently, two contestants were offered a million pesos but they rejected the offer because four million was still on the board. What was disappointing was one ended up getting only 150. The other contestant ended up with 25,000 but was offered the one million twice! Maybe there were a lot of watchers who, like me, wished they were the contestant and have accepted the one million offer.

This is already the third season of the show that I've been waiting to be called as a contestant but maybe it's just not my time yet. The host of Kapamilya Deal or No Deal, Kris Aquino, in my opinion has already given the smartest tip, after the first 2009 show where one million was offered but rejected: "When the offer reaches one million, choose Deal", unless there are still other millions on the board.

So if you're chosen as a contestant, think of us, the TV audience, aside from yourself! Make us happy for you, regardless of your current status in life! Inspire us to dream some more, that someday we will be there too, and win a big amount like you did! I think I'll have a headache if another million is rejected if two numbers like 10,000 and 4,000,000 are left on the board!

Festival of Choirs

This Christmas season, I have really wanted a festival of choirs right here in my blog, but unfortunately, I don’t have a real videocam to make that project worthy. I can’t help though to feature Christmas carols in my previous posts, and some of the events of Novo Concertante Manila where my children are members, were my best sources.

I was able to attend two events involving two among Ateneo de Manila’s choirs too, and though my videos of some parts of those events were not good enough since I just used my cellphone, I cannot end this season without featuring videos of those choirs in just one post. Next year, if my dream to have a real video camera will be fulfilled, I can probably feature more posts of several choirs.

In the meantime, here are the choirs caught by my Samsung U600 cellphone's camcorder this Christmas Season, and they are among the Philippines’ best choirs:

Ateneo College Glee Club at the new Eastwood Mall – We Wish You A Merry Christmas:


Novo Concertante Manila at Holy Family Parish, Kamias - El Guayaboso:


Ateneo College Glee Club at the Church of Jesu - The Lord’s Prayer:


Ateneo Chamber Chorale at the Church of Jesu:


Novo Concertante Manila with University of Makati Chorale at the Holy Family Chapel, Eastwood City – Diwa Ng Pasko:


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!