These Days

Reflections.  I am adding this topic to this blog and it will be my notes from church service or daily Bible reading.  It will be my way of reviewing the lessons and also sharing them. :) I Wanna Know What Love Is The main verse from last Saturday's preaching was John 13:34.  It says:     "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Today, we have so many definitions of love.  Some of them silly, smart, serious, funny, etc.  This one I remember from when I was very young "Love is like a bubble gum, kung mopilit, makabuang."  Yup, Bisaya. :) Translation of the second part "pag dumikit, nakakabaliw."  And so many others...  Mostly, they are focused on LOVE the noun, LOVE the feeling. Here we are reminded of the other facet of the word LOVE, which is as a verb.  Jesus said, "love one another."  In fact, this is not optional.  It is a command.  Utos....

I'm ashamed to say that I've just read this classic.  What did I do all these years that I did not manage to pick up this book?  OA. :)  Anyway, I was inspired by the Tim Burton movie (to be released next month) that I searched for this in Project Gutenberg.  I downloaded the e-book and read within a day.  Light reading and yet very enjoyable, even for someone my age.  Haha!  It's never too late, folks. I subscribe to Vanity Fair on Google Reader and one article yesterday was on the movie Alice in Wonderland .  I just found out that this is not actually an adaptation of the book, but rather a sequel where Alice returns to Wonderland as an adult.  ( Here's the interview with the writer .)  Interesting!  I think the folks that expect an adaptation might be disappointed but those who know (like us!) will be more receptive. I am looking forward to the movie.  I hope I get to watch it. :)

Project Gutenberg .  I learned about this site from Jessica Zafra's blog .  It's a treasure trove of e-books that are FREE to download.  For the record, I don't like reading e-books very much.  I prefer the tactile experience of a book in hand and  flipping the pages.  I already stare at a computer screen almost 100% of the time at work so hard copy is my preference for leisure reading. BUT, I can read e-copies of short stories since I can go through them in one sitting. Today, I read The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov.  I love how accessible these works are in this age.  There's no excuse for not reading! :) To help the cause, I signed up to proofread the computer-generated texts of book scans so they can be converted to e-books.  One more thing to do during my spare time.  (What spare time?)

I have an email subscription to Worldwide Freelance Writer.  The feature article for today is worth-sharing.  Even though I work until almost 12MN, I still get up early in the morning for the simple reason that I really can't sleep anymore.  I am a morning person but I don't write in the morning.  I read the Bible first thing.  Maybe I should write after that. Anyway, here the article. Why So Many Writers Are Morning People by Jennifer Carsen You've pulled all-nighters. You've burned the midnight oil. You've worked through the wee hours. It's what lawyers do (as well as law students, though generally more pizza is involved). But what I'm suggesting is a radical departure from this. I'm suggesting that you carve out time to write in the morning - when the sun is on its way up rather than down, when you're daisy-fresh rather than dog-tired. You may be wondering how you can do this, especially considering that you're bleary-eyed after all those late...

1 - First New Year in Makati. Date with Rich at SM North. My first time to see the Sky Garden. We wanted to check out the electronics but most of the shops were closed. Ate at Amici instead. Later in the evening, we brought Neil to the ER at Makati Med. He bumped his forehead on the floor and sustained a huge contusion. He was crying in pain so we had to have him checked. He was xrayed and thankfully, there were no serious injuries. We were released on the same night. 3 - Dinner with Karyn and Jong. 17 - Watched Avatar at SM MOA IMAX with Caloy and Charm. 24 - Coffee with Mil at Greenbelt. Bumped into Mona, Paulo and family. 30 - Massage and haircut. :) Church: VCF Prayer and Fasting Week, joined another small group. Still attending at Alabang even though we are living in Makati. Books read this month: "The Road to Cana" by Anne Rice "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell "Leadership 101" by John Maxwell "The Five Dysfuncti...