My Life according to Barry Manilow

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST or GROUP, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to people you like and include me (presuming I’m someone you like). You can’t use the band or artist I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Re-post as “My life according to (band or artist name)”…

Pick your Artist:
Barry Manilow

 (Click on the song title to watch video or read the lyrics)

Are you a male or female:
Shadow Man

Describe yourself:
One Voice


How do you feel:
Ready to Take a Chance Again







Describe where you currently live:
Somewhere Down the Road

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?   
New York City Rhythm



Your favorite form of transportation?
A Little Travelling Music Please

Your best friend?
Can't Smile Without You

Favorite time of the day:
Weekend in New England

You and your best friend are…



Old Friends 

What’s the weather like?
When October Goes

If your life were a TV show what would it be called?
The Best of Me 

What is life to you?
If I Should Love Again

Your Relationship:
Could It Be Magic?

Your fear:
Some Good Things Never Last

What is the best advice you have to give?
I Made It Through the Rain

Thought for the Day:
Look to the Rainbow

My motto:
If We Only Have Love

Thanks to Orman Manansala for the tag! 

In-my-face reality check for this year

Thus far, these are the events in my life this year that I will cherish and learn from -

1. made several new blogger-friends and numerous bonding activities with Soccsksargen bloggers,
2. 2 friends unfriended,
3. reconnected with former colleagues and students and a cherished college friend,
4. estrangement with my sisters on its 3rd year,
5. enjoying fun moments with my apos (4 and counting),
6. completed my Neil Gaiman's Absolute Sandman collection (thanks to National Book Store's price-cut sale),
7. traveled by air to Zamboanga City (thanks to my brother Napoleon Jr.),
8. running out of space for books trawled from Booksale, National Book Store and Bibliarch, 
9. loving my LG Cookie cellphone with wifi,
10. trying to get my groove back with my MBA thesis proposal,
11. continuing harassment from UBoFroH (Ugly Boss From Hell),
12. hair fall leading to further receding hairline (sorry Pacman, your hidden soldiers shampoo didn't work for me),
13. looking forward to NDD Batch '73's 37th reunion in December,
14. finding out that my dentures make my diet more effective,
15. had my TV repaired and replaced the irreparable electric fan (unscheduled blackouts, grrrrr!),
16. replaced my Compaq laptop with Acer Aspire,
17. discovered Robinsons Place-Gensan as my tambayan during the summer 12-hour blackouts,
18. winning blog contests (thanks to Orman Manansala and Aunt Ludi Bakeshop!),
19. pressing palms with then-candidates Noynoy Aquino, Adel Tamano, Darlene Antonio-Custodio,
20. getting Aiza Seguerra's autograph on her CD,
21. helping out in developing Little Dubai's ambiance,
22. enjoying Razon's Halo-halo despite my lactose intolerance (it's a miracle!),
23. scrimping on my budget to give friends books as gifts,
24. trekking to the coffee plantation in Purok 8 Kinilis, but not quite reaching it (but resolving to do it again in December),
25. getting books on my wishlist from high school batchmates,
26. enjoying numerous unforgettable meals/snacks with friends (satti, kebabs, sashimi, etc.),
27. infuriating experience with an internet troll;
28. told off two acquaintances who use the fact that we know each other to scam some money from me and others,
29. learning that my brother is very sick in prison and getting help from friends to facilitate his treatment,
30. getting kisses from my apos,
31. enjoying the Tunafest up close,
32. getting news about newborn babies of friends,
33. praying for friends and their families,
34. watching the live performances of Richard Poon, Sitti, Juris, Aiza, Duncan, Nina, Wendel Ramos, Rocksteddy, and Christian Bautista,
35. meeting Archt. Jaime Daez of Fully Booked/Bibliarch,
36. watching Shrek Forever After in 3D,
37. experiencing the Sagittarius Mining Inc.'s discovery tour,
38. cooking tofu/tokwa for my midnight snacks,
39. watched the entire season of Haven, TV series based on Stephen King's Colorado Kid,
40. read Rafe Bartholomew's Pacific Rims,
41. went to Davao City to buy Stephen King's Under the Dome,
42. relishing strawberry and kiwi iced tea at Coffee Club 101,
43. enjoyed the TV movie version of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth,
44. getting my first taste of Krispy Kreme (thanks Priscy!),
45. rediscovering NY Fries and Dips at Robinsons Place-Gensan,
46. nourished by fruit slush drinks,
47. finding long-sought books by sheer serendipity,
48. earning $2 from Adsense for my two blogs,
49. glad to have put on hold my plan to buy a motorcycle because a lot of scooters are being introduced now,
50. getting a pair of progressive bifocals that allows me to read and watch TV at the same time and that becomes sunglasses in sunlight,
51. still saving for first trip outside the Philippines,
52. reading the new translation of Jose Rizal's novel, Noli Me Tangere Penguin Book edition,
53. having friends who are blessings to my life, and
54. zero lovelife

Life is colored by our choices

We have heard and read this countless times: Life is what we make it. Some people go through their lives blaming everything and everyone (except themselves) for whatever happens to their lives. Until they run out of things and people to blame. But by then it may be too late to realize that God will not be asking them - What have others done with your life? but what have YOU done with the gift of life I gave YOU?

Life is full of choices. You only need to make one (at a time). Right or wrong, it's a choice you make. Live with it. If others can't live with it, it's their choice. People try to maneuver your life according to where they think it should be led when it's their lives they should lead instead. Bullies try to make your life miserable because they want it to be more so than theirs (so they can feel better about themselves).

Leading your life is like looking for a book to read. Like life's choices, there are myriads of books to choose from. There are books that once read, you want to keep forever. Some books are good for one reading; some for always. Some books you borrow to find out if you will like them; some you borrow only to return them if they're not to your liking. Some books are so good you share them so others can partake of them.

Bullies are like some directors who adapt a book into film which turns out to be totally different or awful from the original. Friends are like some directors who adapt a book into film which makes it look like the original is literature.

How will YOU write the book of your life? Will it turn out to be a trashy novel or a mishmash of adventures and misadventures or literature? Will your book of life be kept in a dusty bin or cherished forever and always?

Dear FutureMe

Dear Gilbert in the year 2011,

I know you are not surprised why I would write you in the year 2011 when you're 55. So wipe that smile off your face because I admit, it is no accident at all - the letter and the choice of year.

We were born on November 11, 1956: 11th day of the 11th month in the year of which the last digits add up to 11. That day was a Sunday and that makes us a Sunday's child (according to an old nursery rhyme: Sunday's child is full of grace). Parang tayong si Mama Mary. :-)

In numerology 11 is equivalent to 2 (1+1) and in our life, we noticed the emerging pattern that we ran the gauntlet of our first experiences:

• first grade had to be postponed for 2 years because we were too young at 5 to be enrolled (remember how Mama used to tease us about not being able to reach our left ear with our right hand because our arm was too short going over our head?)
  
• being the firstborn son, nephew, and grandchild of our Mindanao-based clan (remember how we rebelled in sophomore college against the family simply because we got tired of being a role model for our siblings and cousins and wanted to lead our own life and assert our self and personality?)
  
• first graduation from grade school (we cried our eyes out because our parents did not make good on their promise to give you the exclusive Tupperware blue bag with multiple compartments that would have made us the envy of the freshmen class in high school)
• first love and heartbreak (our girlfriend Mae was not welcomed by the clan because our elders feared we might be forced - by shotgun - into early marriage. Remember how they would tease us about seeing her - which made our heart skip a beat - and then tell us how kinky her hair was, show short she was and how she waddled like a duck? If only they could hear our heart breaking into pieces. . .)
• first career choice and frustration (all through grade and high school, we wanted to be a doctor or writer/journalist only to be frustrated to learn that these courses were offered only in Manila-based universities and our parents couldn't afford to send us to study there)
• first college course (hunched over the astigmatism-causing accounting ledgers and worksheets in class while our teacher was busy taking furtive peeks down the blouses of our female classmates, we realized how b-o-r-i-n-g a day job as an accountant could be and promptly shifted to Management the following sem)
• first job and tyrant boss (true, we were recruited a month before graduation to work for a multinational company only to find out that the payoff for the generous pay and prestige was a slave driver of a boss who acted like a brown American to the hilt)
• first trip out of Mindanao to Manila (the Compania Maritima ship we boarded was in the eye of the typhoon lashing at Manila and tilted dangerously to the left when we approached Corregidor Island, and upon reaching Quiapo, we had to wade through waist-high floodwaters while trying to balance a large suitcase on our head and hold on to Papa's hand so we wouldn't get lost in the mad rush to ride a jeepney to Balic-balic)
• first teaching job in a private college (we had to write features for Mod and Mr. & Ms. Magazines to augment our meager income and found ourselves being suffocated by the compartmentalized thinking of the administration which refused to acknowledge that we could be a good Management teacher and writer/journalist as the same time. Remember our disbelief when all the published articles we wrote got no credit in our ranking and promotion?)

Strangely enough, after those first experiences, the ones that followed were easier to deal with. Sure, we can laugh about these first experiences now. But be assured that I brought these up because they are a significant part of the first half-century of our life which I lived through and survived, with grace, if I may say so. :-). They were my badge of courage. And I have survived those growing up years.

At 55, you are now well on your way to enjoy the second half-century of our life, your growing old years. Your face and body now bear the marks of the passing of the years. Remember that each scar, line, ache and pain are well-earned and well-deserved.

Unlike me, you will be guided by the lessons accumulated from my first half of our life. I can not give you any assurance that your second half of it will be any better than mine. But I believe in you, in us.

Always remember our ultimate goal: way beyond being a good teacher, writer or journalist, we want to be remembered as a good person.

As you start the second leg of your trip through life, I leave with you the last few lines of Desiderata: And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

I love you, I love us!

A big bear hug from

Gilbert in the year 2007