Good Friday?

Today's Good Friday. I've always observed traditional practices during Lent... not this year. To start with, it's not that easy to observe Lent after moving to the U.S. (also, I am part of the workforce now), but I have modified it a bit where I can still attend mass, do the confession, etc. I also abstain from doing something (usually shopping, eating meat) beginning Ash Wednesday and during the season's 40-day duration.

I am from a devout Catholic family. We attended mass regularly, I attended Catholic school from kindergarden through college, my brother was an altar-server, my sister and I were members of "Hijas de Maria" and the children's choir. I was even secretary of the Religion Club in high school. That's right, a club with a lot of praying involved.

Even with that background (which was pretty common if one was raised in the predominantly Catholic Philippines), I always considered myself a liberal Catholic. Liberal in the sense that I (to a certain extent) support pro-choice; I support birth control and contraception; I am all for same-sex marriage. Our mother always respected our beliefs, and gave us the right to walk our own religious paths. I chose the liberal path, taking with me the Catholic "essentials:" the 10 Commandments, knowing the 7 capital sins, support of charity and social justice. I may sound simple-minded and even naive, but it works for me.

So why is this Good Friday different from previous ones? You know when you've been in a long-term relationship and you want to take a breather for awhile... just to take in everything and assess the status of your relationship? That's how I feel right now as a Catholic. It's like you've been together for so long and you're just together because it's convenient and comfortable. Of course, this has been triggered by the whole "Catholic abuse scandals." It just made the question in my head all the more unavoidable: "Am I really a part of that church?" But FYI, I am still a believer, I don't think my relationship with God has changed. It's more like, "do I really want a middle man in our relationship?" Moreso, a middle man who tells you to follow all sorts of things while they sweep all sort of (kinky) things under the rug.

Am I just jumping the Anti-Catholic bandwagon? I don't know. It's one of those "hating-the-establishment" sentiment that I'm feeling right now. Should I explore other organized religion or be a "Cafeteria Catholic?" I really don't know.

One things for sure, I know I'll still end up going to Easter Sunday services. It can't be helped... especially when mom's around.

Not Having the Best Week Ever: Countries on the Pacific

If there's a side of the world one should avoid right now, it is anything that lies on and along the Pacific Ocean. What's going on? Is 2012 coming sooner than expected or is this a marketing ploy from Sony Pictures? Both ideas are stupid and I'm sorry that I even brought them up.

Since last Saturday, three natural disasters have hit several countries in the Asian-Pacific and South Pacific regions and have claimed, about 1,000 lives (with more missing).

September 26 - Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy which hit the Philippines on September 26, leaving behind the worst flooding in Metro Manila in the last 40 years. It went on to wreak havoc on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Septemeber 29 - An undersea earthquake (8.0 magnitude, approx.) trigerred a powerful tsunami which devasted the islands of Samoa and American Samoa in the South Pacific.

September 30 - A 7.6 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island in the coastal city of Pandang. Indonesia has been a hit by another quake earlier in the month and several lesser quakes have been reported since the 7.6 hit the island.

To a quick lesson on tectonic plates, click here.

Growing up in the Philippines, I have experienced typhoons, earthquakes and a major volcanic eruption. We were lucky enough to be living in an area that was not devastated by any of these natural disasters. I could hardly imagine living in Cainta or Marikina right now and my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected in the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Samoa, American Samoa and Indonesia.

Just a thought...

You know that point in your life when you know something's definitely over?

I do.

Wish me luck.

Lesson of the day: Don't ever say that "Korea is gay"

OK, so I'm not trying to start something here. This is really just a "moral of the story"-type of thing I learned from following the K-Pop industry.

WTF Korean netizens! I cannot get over the immense power these people yield in Korea. This is plain internet bullying but in a completely different level (like, X 1000!). In less than five days, someone’s career went kaput because of these no-life netizens. I suppose I could include myself in the demographic, but I refuse to be corralled in with this bat-shit insane group who would go as far as start a petition for someone to off himself.

Anyway, it makes me sad that that this is the event that made me post again. There have been so many things that have transpired from the last time I posted and I can’t believe that the latest “hot talk topic” in the Korean entertainment industry would be the one that made me go back to blogging.

Here are just a few of the (I guess) less important things that have happened in the last couple of months:

· March – had a car accident which totaled my car… AGAIN!
· April – went to the Coachella Music Festival with Joe
· May – Didi passed away a month shy of her 7th birthday *tears*
· June – what did happen in June? Oh shoot, Michael Jackson passed away *tears*
· July – left for a family vacation in Hawaii, where I’m sure I had H1N1
· August – turned 30! (with a precious gift of H1N1, hurrah!) *tears*, LOL, not really

As you can see, the year hasn’t really been great for me (thus, the hiatus). It seems like my Chinese horoscope for the current lunar year is true, I like reading horoscopes for fun and although I don’t necessarily believe in them I like putting coincidences together. Unfortunately for me, my Chinese horoscope outlook for the year of the ox wasn’t very good. Apparently, the ox doesn’t like the goat (my sign) so yeah, it’s been a sucky year. I was hoping that the lunar gods (or whoever’s in charge of “giving out luck”) would give me a reprieve since I turn 30 this year. No luck there either.

At least I get to post on 9-9-9. Happy 9-9-9! What could go wrong today? It’s the reverse of 6-6-6 so I’m sure it’s “happy” rather than “oh-my-god-the-apocalypse-is-coming.” Case in point: I am going to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs show tonight in Oakland, a belated birthday gift from a friend.

Pwede na pala ang Filipino...

I don't get it. What difference does it really make? Like, I can always start rambling in "Filipino", pero wala naman sigurong mangyayaring kakaiba. Huhulihin ba ako ng punong blogger ng Blogspot para ipatigil ang aking ginagawa? I don't think so. Anyway, it's just weird. But then again, I am really a novice at blogging and I am not computer-savvy as well. So this might have something to do with settings... and I never get anything "customized". Templates are fine by me.

But if anyone can hear me, what does this really mean???