Lone Wolf

I am a lone wolf, I prowl the night alone
I seek destiny on my own
I hug the trees and the forest and
Dream my dreams all by my lonesome self

I AM a LONE WOLF!

Museums...museums...museum....

Sometimes  we love our work so much it becomes a source of joy (maybe most of the time) , it becomes play, just like the work I do at the museum....i love the work, i love the place, the museum ! the place gives me some kind of refuge, some kind of peace..and I know most of our visitors derive some joy , some fun from the museum!

To me the  walls whisper, the paintings speak to you, they tell a thousand joys, a thousand sorrows. They beckon one to listen to tales of a hundred years, they open your eyes to your heritage, to the heritage your country and the all our heroes , known and unknown have  bequeath to me, to us! they encourage us to embrace our culture and make us feel and see who we are and make us love ourselves, our culture , our heritage ,our country more...these work of arts stir something inside us.......they tell us the stories of struggles and victories...capturing moments, a moment ......Yes, moments...let this moment be the moment, let this time be the time....the time to open more museums and fill them with artworks that will remind us who we are as a person, as a people!  Let us open  museums, not close them up!!!

Hallowed to Hollowed

...another inevitable?

I am again at a crossroads? I again about to cross another bridge.....the Museo  might soon be closing and from the looks of it...it is inevitable ...again!

I will be going another path?  I am sad, I am afraid but mostly sad..I feel that I have finally found a home, somewhere my heart and soul can sing...somewhere where work is fun , fulfilling and I am in my element...somewhere where I had hoped I will stay for a loooooooong loooooong time ....and yet seemingly i am  just transitioning ......and what a transition!

Melancholy .....a deep deep sadness ...I am leaving a place where I have been for such a short time , but the deep deep sadness  I have belies this...In such a short time, I have found my home, a place where I am comfortable, a place where I work and yet it is also the place I celebrate my being, my soul , my culture, the real me, the me I want...the museum has become my refuge...i am surrounded by my culture, surrounded by the arts , embraced by my heritage ....

i take long walks around the garden of artists, when flowers bloom all year long, the stream an endless song of nature and the light so warm.........the place feeds not only the physical, it feeds the soul ....

This is an intersection of lives, we meet friends , potential friends and just people who are hungry for the cultured life...for a life where our  souls can sing ......... the halls and corridors whisper peace ......they bring a certain peace, a certain enlightenment... the walls have their own stories and the at works bring you to another place, another time and yet you are transfixed !!! this is art, this is culture , this is life ....... real life with real people passing through  ......after all art is not for the rich alone, our lives are our art and my life has become a pat of the art , museum art....

It is where I am as comfortable as I am when I am at home...it is my second home almost my home...but for a short while.....the hallowed walls might soon become hollowed...when the paintings, tapestries , sculptures shall have been removed, nay stripped from the walls , from the nooks , from the corners ...... and i am again removed devoid of the roots that have gown deep......in such a short time, i have taken roots here in the museum and now these roots are to be torn again.........i wonder where I shall have roots again...........life is a journey...it would have been nicer if I can stay a little longer embraced by my heritage....

Our Heritage

.....our heritage, our inheritance.....our way of life...our life...

So who's responsibility is it? When our heritage is our inheritance ? Does that responsibility rest on some person, some entity by virtue of a law? When you have the capacity to preserve, protect that inheritance, that way of life, that culture, that heritage , would not not take on that responsibility, that challenge, just because  the law says that the responsibility rests on the shoulder of another entity?

Would you give up that opportunity to be of service to your country, to your constituents, to the stake holders, to the next generation because the perception is that it is not your responsibility, it is somebody else's? That you turn a blind eye because it is somebody else's duty and not yours? You turn your back on your culture because you found an excuse? You end a chapter just because some law says it it beyond your jurisdiction?  But what is beyond one's jurisdiction if it is about culture, about the way of life , about your inheritance, are there no more sacred thing that one may turn its back to a duty that each citizen, each Filipino is morally bound to do?   In fact, it behooves us .....

What does it take away from you if you do help out in protecting cultural treasures, our heritage ? The protection is for the next generation , for them to be able to enjoy though work of arts the experience that their forefathers were able to experience and which they may no longer experience? To see through the eyes of the artist? To feel what it feels in the olden times, in certain situation, moments that the artist have tried to preserve? Does it take away something from one ?

What drives one's decision regarding culture/ Can we honestly say that it is not our responsibility to protect culture, the arts when we ourselves  can appreciate it? When we surround ourselves with the work of arts , can we say it is not ours to protect? Is one being selfish when one enjoys all these and yet would not care if others  won't be able to?

Can we wash our hands because of a law? Can we turn our backs because we can? Because we found an excuse not to care? Is it not selfish if we enjoy these things and yet deprive others the joy that art brings?

Can we pass on the responsibility to another entity because we can; because of the perceived legality of being able to?

Would one rather not keep something valuable close and nearby? Are we  not better off if our investments and cultural treasures are in our custody and  being enjoyed by all?


Have we become so calloused that we close our eyes to the fact that others need art and culture in their life just like you do?

What are we afraid of? Are we afraid that others can appreciate arts too?

Can we just close our eyes to the fact that  people, students, members benefit from this culture, from this heritage?

Composing a Life

How does one compose a life? Do we compose our lives the way we do our essays. our memos? How do we compose our memos/ we think of technical, not so personal and business like terms? How about our essays?

Do we follow an outline, then fill out the body ? How do we then?

Do we add things , feelings, places , our experiences when we write  our lives? Do we plan so well ahead the moments and episodes we want to live? Can we actually compose our lives so that when we look back we can see the future we once dreamed of?

I guess we can steer our lives in the direction we want to go to, we can achieve the dreams and make them a reality . Maybe luck plays a prat in our lives but so does hard work ,perseverance and all the attitudes that make us who we are! People around us, those who give us a break and those who pull us down. Our lives are compose of all these and more. Karma , what goes around comes around. What we send forth the universe comes back to haunt or help us....such is life....

Let us live to the fullest, let us compose our lives the way we want to..not by the guidelines and limitations people around us may expect ..let us live and compose our lives being a blessing to ourselves and to others....

We compose our lives facing  the cards dealt to us with an attitude of gratitude We become sweet instead of bitter with the life  we live and the choices we made..let us be thankful, after all , those are our choices, our decisions ..no one , nothing to blame them on....

Lives are meant to be lived , lived to the fullest and dreams ? Well, nothing can top the feeling of a dream coming true but let us not  beat ourselves if our dreams do not come true...let us trust the universe that it has a better  plan for us, one better suited to our needs, to our wants..we trust our instincts , we trust the world around us and believe  ! Believe and forgive!!!

Hey life is a dream, let us wake up believing !!

Later ,Mom!

What if you were talking to your 16 yer old son about his plans for his college education ;and that he needs to do  to go to the school of his second choice?  ( he used to like another school in which  he also passed the entrance exams).

Asking him why the sudden change and if he knows that the fees in the school is almost double the fee in the school of his first choice? And that if he wants to go to that school, he needs to find a scholarship, even a partial one and he needs to find one fast! And the only thing you get is, can we talk about this later, Mom? And proceeds to watch "the big bang theory" show? what would you have done? What would you have not done?

Me? I shouted on top of my voice and told him to leave my room!!! Gosh, children !!! oh, I am so sorry, TEENS!!!!!

But the story does not end at that. He left the room without saying anything then just as he was about to close the door to my room , he said "oh wait a minute, I need you to sign this reply slip" My gosh, how do you react?

Me ? I signed the reply slip and collapsed on my bed!!! Darn!!!!

One Item in my Bucket List

Well, i have a secret bucket list, ha ha ha, I have it in my heart and in my future..... I have yet to write it on a piece of paper and shove it somewhere in my  vault of wishes...but I have one....and one item on it is to live in a Villa in Tuscany ,Italy...how crazy is this dream? Far fetched, oh no, not for me.... at least not when you based it to where I have been , to what i have been given in life, maybe not in terms of "millions" or in pesos...but I have been around 2 continents by sheer luck, determination , dream and just faith! So I am looking forward to a future, a near future , living in a villa in Tuscany!!!

And what am I doing to prepare for it? By watching anything Italian. I watched Sofia Loren's "My House is full of Mirrors, part 1 and part 2..I am a fan of the 2 Greedy Italians, this is a show about the travels , the feasts of 2 Italian friends going around , where else , but  Italy!!! Viva Italia!1Ha ha ha!!! I watch the cooking show of Giada De Laurentis and how i love the Italian way of life!!!Natural, fresh ingredients and really really simple way of cooking  and who can resist the beautiful country side!!!  Bellissima! I hope i got the spelling right ! I am sure I am in love with the laid back life, the gusto they show for their life! The food, the wine , the bread, i eat them ...almost every week!!! After all i am a fan of italianni's.   I even try my best to get the accent...i feel it in my bones, my living in Tuscany , in a villa with lavender fields as  my backyard! The wine vineyard as my front yard and just walking and smelling the lovely lovely lavender and olive trees around me!! I can not think of any , more effective ways for the universe not to give in to my dream and give me my one item in my bucket list.....than living the life , breathing the life under the Tuscan sun!!

My walls are even decorated with things of Europe, well, of course if I am living in Tuscany, it would be very easy to go to Paris, gay Pareeee!!  So on the walls of our room, I have the Eiffel Tower, the Church whose name I can not pronounce, much less spell!! ha ha ha...but  I feel it...I am on my way to living a life in a villa in Tuscany.....I have sent my wishes to the Universe...I have sent it though the winds , though the breeze, though the moon light shining above........I can already smell it.....feel the cold wind and hot sun of Tuscany!!!

And in the meantime that I am waiting for the Universe to grant my wishes, I will watch Mamma Mia!!! Feb. 9, 2012......and i will tell you all about it!!!!My , I am one step closer to my villa in Tuscany!!!

Now how can you not love this life I live!!!!