My Sumilao Night Sky

My Sumilao Night Sky
Or wherever I may be, you never fail to seduce me, Ms. Luna

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Free Once More

Today I finished the song I was writing three days ago. The content of the song came to me when I saw through an online post that a friend of mine who lost her boyfriend last August due to cancer is still grieving and still misses him big time. Also on that same night somebody texted me that a friend of ours was in the ICU because of surgical complications. The next day, he passed away.

The song is really about people who lost someone important in their lives and are imprisoned by the grief that sometimes causes happy things like singing or dancing to be stripped off their joyful quality because sadness burns people in grief from the inside. It is for people whose hearts seem to have passed too along with the deceased loved ones.

But eventually and in time, all people who are grieving will take flight and be free once more and they will be able to hope again and when all the pain goes away.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Thank You Daren and Daniel (D&D Custom Guitars)

It's my D&D Custom Guitar. She's sleek and makes great music. Her name's Effie (Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games film) because "that is mahogany!" Haha. Actually the guitar body is made, according to my research, from mahogany and spruce while the fretboard is rosewood.

These kinds of guitars are perfect for girls and women (or men too) who like me prefer slimmer, lighter acoustic guitars (with steel strings) that have smaller frets.

I sought the help from my friend and along with his friend they were able to get Effie for me and my life has been changed already. Haha.

Thank you friend! and to your friend as well! Woohoo :))

Thank you Daren and Daniel!

Feel better by making good music or listening to them.

Harry's Games and the Potter Hunger

I have read at some site that a mother was really concerned when her son finished Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy because after reading the three books he didn't seem to know what to do with his life and he seemed afloat. But in reality, this diversion may not yet be the end of a such dreamy state because he still has two other films to look forward to.

The seven books from J.K. Rowling book series on the other hand have been my ultimate source of distraction for the past couple of weeks. I have read some of the books before when I was younger but it was just until very recently that I have read them from Books 1 to 7, watching the corresponding film after reading each book. I know I may sound such a loser for a lot of Potterheads out there since I watched all films when they came out of theaters but have just read them all finally when I'm 21. But I think it was timely because I was more equipped than I could have been when I was 12, when vocabulary and comprehension would have been more difficult but suspension of disbelief easier. Although after finishing all books and watching the films again, I was somehow like that woman's son--distracted and drifting. I was too when I finished The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and the Mockingjay.

It was with difficulty, similar to what I experienced while reading Collins's The Hunger Games to completely accept the differences between the book and the film. I am hopeful though that Catching Fire, when released in theaters by November 2013, to give justice to such an albeit brief, very riveting, wonderful sequel in the trilogy.

But of course all directors and producers and their teams have a lot to consider, logistically speaking.

Harry Potter had seven books, one amazing author, eight films, four film directors. I am not knowledgeable about the film industry, its ins and outs (so pardon me) but I saw how the first two films (Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets) were so similar in various aspects I attribute it to a certain Columbus flavor. At the same manner, the last four films (Order of the Phoenix, Half-blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows 1&2) were very Yates while Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban had a different feel to all the rest of the other films as well as Newell's Goblet of Fire. 

But it doesn't matter when you have the seven books to explain a lot of things that were not shown in the films. Successors to the film directorship had to, I obviously assume, tweak their films based on the differences between book and film that their and their screen writer predecessors have made. 

For example, Mundungus Fletcher should have been very crucial to the fifth book of the series since he was part of the Order. However, it was only until Deathly Hallows Part 1 that he was made present, introducing himself to Harry at the Privet Drive. It was a bit worse not having been introduced (in the film) to a complete set of Weasley siblings (read: Charlie Weasley). The Weasleys are my favorite pureblood characters. Too bad Bill's encounter with Fenrir Greyback was not shown in motion picture. But at least his handsome face and ginger hair were given birth to the second to the last film or else there will be no wedding.

How I wanted to see S.P.E.W movements and the tiny hats and socks in the Harry Potter movie franchise.
Or Harry's seventeenth Golden Snitch cake.
Or Nymphadora's change of patronus and her struggle to make Remus finally give in.
Or the ghoul at the Burrow's attic.
Or Ron's remark on saving the house-elves.

I felt the same way when I had hoped to see the feast Katniss and Peeta shared in the cave when she said, "There is no competition anywhere."
Or what an Avox might look like.
I wanted to see so badly how the mockingjay pin was given to Katniss by Madge Undersee and not by Greasy Rae.
I wanted to see Peeta's father holding out cookies for Katniss. 
And the list goes on.

But despite differences of book and film, the author animates her book (perhaps along with her editors, publisher, agents, etc.) while the director animates his film (along with his producers, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, etc.) in their own way. This however has its own setbacks and some are quite big. As they say, you either read the book and spoil the film or watch the film and risk either feeling sad for the injustice to a book (since a book must be really good to be movie-worthy) or you may risk not reading the book at all.

I know that this opinion varies from person to person. There are some books I have read before the film and there are films I have watched before reading the book. The latter situation actually helped me give more details to the faces I should picture in my head or the setting in a particular scene. I am not 100% certain at this point but I am guessing I prefer to have read a book before its film (since book before film is the usual scenario). It may spoil the film for others but I don't really think so since it also presents a story although not in motion picture. The challenge however is when you are too immersed into a book, the film may eventually not turn out the way you have pictured it or expected it.

One thing is sure for me though, as long as a film gives justice to a book's beauty, it remains beautiful to me. However, no matter how magnificent a film may be, if it did great injustice to a magnificent book, I know I will be, hmmm.. sad. Gary Ross's The Hunger Games was in a lot of ways not similar to the book, but nevertheless, it was not unjust.

I am not helpful at this moment nor am I making much sense while listening to Ed Sheeran's song "Drunk" but I just wanted to let that this one out because I know other people have the same dilemma. It's like Rowena Ravenclaw's question on the phoenix and the ashes for it is a circular kind of issue. Book or Film. Film or Book. If you ever get confused, try and make some experiments, read books and watch their films or try watching films before reading their books. At the end of the day, the choice will be up to the one watching or the one reading.

Reading or watching, both strain the eyes though.

Friday, August 10, 2012

To the guy who made a lot of tears fall this past week

You can never cheat on Death and just like what I once read during college (memory not serving me optimally at the moment) that death will never be like a vacation that you can decide when to go, or where to go. It's something more like lottery results that you cannot simple predict if you are a new millionaire or not.

I'd like to think that no one really is a fan of deaths, of course for those who practice altruistic suicide or religious suicides, I can never know for sure. But anyway, a death of a family member or a friend or an acquaintance will always cause, more often than not, feelings of shock and sadness. Depression and anger. Or a feeling that seems to drill a big hollow space in one's heart. A hollow space where someone used to be in it, and then suddenly, no longer there.

I am and will never be a fan. Of course I can never predict my own death or a friend's or a family member's. I am not psychic and neither am I a health practitioner. In this uncertainty of the thief's arrival (whether at night or in broad daylight), I am at least sure of one thing--death affects and scars me in ways I myself cannot fully comprehend. Be it a death of a loved one or friend, and more confusingly if a death of someone I barely know or do not know at all. News such as those, once they enter my ears in the form of sound waves, linger as if a grey cloud on top of my head and following me whenever, waiting to downpour.

I always say, "deaths of people I don't even know affects me a lot, what more deaths of people I know?" I tend to float and my brain seems to be malfunctioning every time I hear stories of people who died or just died. This happened very recently and I have been haunted by the sadness for the last week.

He was 20, and died of an acute version of Leukemia. He survived the cancer a couple of years back, and suddenly his illness was back and took away his life in just two weeks. We weren't that close but we had a lot of common friends, and his brother was my batch mate in high school. In 2009, I had my hair shaved for a program for kids with cancer and it was called I AM HOPE. The head-shaving activity was entitled "Be Brave, Get Shaved." It was an act of solidarity for kids with cancer, particularly for the kids of Ateneo Kythe, the organization that spearheaded the activity. But of course, I offered it to him, my friend who had cancer. Luckily his cancer was on an early stage. I told him that he is one of the reasons why I had my head shaved and that he should get well ASAP. He and all the other individuals fighting cancer are the brave ones who fight and inspire us. At least all at stake was my hair, and the possible embarrassment or queries one ordinary girl with shaved head can get.


Fast forward three years after, July 2012, I heard there was a relapse and his illness was back. And it was acute this time. He was told that he had to undergo chemotherapy for six months for maintenance. We were all taken aback and I know that I'll never understand the fear and pain his family, girlfriend, and closest friends felt. He had to stay at the ICU and he was sedated during the first week or so after his return to the hospital. We learned that he underwent kidney dialysis and had a minor surgery and he needed three O+ blood donors every day. We blasted through our networks to search for possible blood donors for screening--tweeting, posting on facebook, texting people, etc. He was very important to a lot of people and it was very evident during the news of the relapse, and even until now.



I am not entirely sure of the coincidence but I had a flight to Cebu during the week he was hospitalized there. I was prepared to donate blood since I have done it before twice. I dropped caffeine, increased water intake, took vitamins, and a whole lot more. What I wasn't prepared for was hours before my flight, we was pronounced dead. And it created a hollow space in my heart, and in the hearts of so many other people who he was a part of. I thought I was to go to the hospital, but instead I went to the memorial chapel. Despite the feelings of loss that was in the atmosphere, there was hope and I really felt it during the first night of his funeral service. His parents were thankful, and very positive. His dad personally wanted to create a database of possible blood donors that will help all other kids with cancer. I genuinely felt that his death was his redemption from all the pains and that he left to be in a place with God with peace and genuine happiness.



Kristian Roy, your family and friends believe that you did put up a good fight. And thank you for touching so many lives in your own makulit way here on earth even during just twenty tender years.

Rest in peace. Have a happy, crazy, peaceful rest with the Almighty. We are praying for you.


Friday, June 1, 2012

Perhaps I do have issues

I have had a lot of chances to watch this film. But I prevented myself because I heard it was heartbreaking. A year after the film was released, I tried to watch in on my computer. But I was very reluctant due to the same reason. Now, two years after its release, I finally had the guts to watch it from the beginning until the end. And true enough—it was heartbreaking. Letting go of toys reminded me of my literal ‘squeeze’ since I was one or two. My pillow with a Hello Kitty pillowcase. I realized after watching Toy Story 3, security pillows can also be called insecurity pillows because you feel more secure when you have them with you and you feel insecure otherwise. I love my pillow as much as Andy loved his toys. But we all have to grow up just like Andy. And animated as this second sequel may be, even as I was reading the reviews tonight after the film, my tears still flow like waterfalls. Thank you, Mr. Tissue Paper. Letting go of things we have learned to love is always painful but nonetheless, it is a sign of growth. 

Thursday, May 31, 2012

A Very Big, Secure, and Thick Bubble

Seek your own space where you'll find peace of mind. A space that will enable you to run from all the worries surrounding you. A particular place where you are sheltered inside a very big, secure, and thick bubble that no one can easily pop.

Hold onto the idea of a certain sacred space that is all yours. No one can take it from you. Remember that. You are entitled to that space of peace that you have created.

Live and breathe. And when you have all the air you need, and when you've found all the peace that has been lacking so far, open the door of that very big, secure, and thick bubble and go out. Live and breathe. Experience life by living. Learn. Get hurt. Stand up. Smile. Cry.

When you can no longer hold back because of new found fear and pain, look back. The very big, secure, and thick bubble is still there, with the door ajar.

Enter your space of peace when you need it. It doesn't make you weak. It just proves you're human.

Smile. Live. Breathe. Love.
My hair is dreaded. but it's cleaner now (i just don't have a more recent photo). At least people can guess my name easily. No mispronunciations, no misspellings--just a remembrance of the most popular person with dreadlocks..my namesake and uncle :)

Youngblood

Stars in my Palms (Published on the Inquirer last March 31, 2012) So here’s the thing. I was hit by the nostalgia bug after seeing photos of my closest college friends having a get-together because in the not too distant past, I enjoyed being with them in similar gatherings. I don’t feel bad. Not at all. It’s just that I miss them. Not just them, but all the other friends I have who are scattered around the country and overseas. And yes, in essence, they are far from me. It sometimes hits me that I have this reality in me—a passion for adventure and a love for the uncomfortable and the unconventional. My heart takes my feet and my dreams carry me wherever; I don’t know where I’ll settle eventually. Some attribute my carefree ways to my being born under the sign of the horse in the Chinese zodiac. I don’t really know for sure about the zodiac thing, but I am indeed carefree. I am always led by the course of the wind here and there. Mostly because of a purpose, and I’d like to think it is a great purpose. I lived 16 years in a small city in the Visayas. Then I spent four years in Luzon for college. And now, currently, I am in Mindanao doing volunteer work for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). I initially thought it would just be a one-year stint here, as indicated in our volunteer program, but somehow circumstances at work led me to extending my stay. Maybe for a little while, maybe for some time, maybe for good—I don’t know exactly. I have always been like a person’s fleeting memory from a childhood past. Sometimes the memory returns like a homing bird to someone’s senses, but most of the time, it’s flying and trying to spread its wings. Funny how recently, a farmer-leader that I work with at my institution told me to hold up my palm. We were attending a market chain seminar for farm products. She was staring at something that seemed quite interesting in the web of my palm lines. She said there were stars formed in the intersections of my palm lines—meaning, according to her research and inquiries, that a lot of people will depend on me and actually need me. Perhaps it’s so. I am working with a confederation of people’s organizations, and the primary group I am assigned to is perhaps the most popular of ARBs in the country. I work as a community organizer and an agro-enterprise facilitator for the farmers’ cooperative. I was assigned to the institution after I applied for a volunteer program. The institution needed a community organizer and an enterprise facilitator for the area, and I was matched with it. Yes, indeed, perhaps I am needed in my work. It manifests in the fact that I was assigned to work here for just a year and yet, because of the “need” and the circumstances, I am very much encouraged to extend my stay. People I work with, farmers mostly, tell me how grateful they are that I am with them and assisting them in their concerns. Some even directly tell me to stay because the cooperative needs someone to continually aid its development. Oh, boy! Isn’t that flattering and pressuring at the same time? Admittedly, I love it here and I love what I do. It may be very stressful and challenging at times but, yes, as a famous Filipino movie line goes, “I care about my job, sir.” I do care about my job, because there are stars in my palms and farmers are depending on me. These are not words of arrogance but an affirmation that I am needed, and in the need, I feel wanted and welcomed and even more challenged to deliver and to fulfill the development concerns of the cooperative. With the feeling of being needed, I discover their potential as farmers and as a cooperative, and I, too, discover myself in more ways than I can ever imagine. It is not a high-paying job. Well, let me correct that. As a volunteer, I don’t get paid at all; instead, I am given a monthly allowance that is just half of what I used to get when I was in college. Some of my college batch mates are working in famous corporations, some also in development work, and others, pursuing postgraduate studies. It is challenging here, yes, but even before entering the volunteer program, I knew what it entailed. Living miles away from home and budgeting a modest allowance—I must say, indeed, I am a fan of the uncomfortable. But I don’t feel bad at all. Instead, if this is any feeling at all, this is truly liberating! I don’t know how long I will stay here or if I will forever be an adventurer treading paths that others would not dare take. But I believe there are two things sure for me: first, that I have been changed forever by the choices I have made, leaving and building new friendships, leaving again and creating new relationships once more; and second, I will always miss the people I love, met and who have changed me in one way or another, because in being quite nomadic and adventurous and passionate to change the world, my physical absence has had its repercussions and consequences. Perhaps I can’t take away from my system my habit of leaving and exploring new things. I don’t leave because it’s comfortable to do so; it usually isn’t. I leave because I dance to the rhythm of my heart and my purpose, and I go wherever God takes me. I know that my purpose is a real purpose in itself because God continually helps shape it. I may miss the friends’ gatherings that I don’t get to attend, and I may miss even more the people who are in those events. But then again I realize that they will always be in my heart. And I’ll continue to go wherever this heart takes my feet, wherever the wind leads my purpose, and wherever God wants me to be. I take with me the people I love and care for as I dance away in loving service. After all, there are stars in the web of my palm lines; I am needed here, and I know the people I left will understand. Leaving has its purposes and I have a purpose to animate. I left, yes. But I left to live—to live for something greater than myself and to be life-giving to others as well. Jemika Kathryn F. Soledad, 21, is a political science graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. She now works in Sumilao, Bukidnon, for Pakisama NW-Mindanao.