Tig-sulat pud baya ko…

"You cannot change the past, but the future is a different story, and it should start somewhere."
–Little Children

Jokes–

cushions the heart

from pains strong blows

evidence ‘nough

the coward knows

to covert pains

painful truths, hide

the inner one–

hidden, guarded

and masked with fun.

To hide the truth,

feelings, all ills

‘Neath laughter’s creep

pretend you are

always happy,

always funny…

they will not see,

the grim and grime…

Melancholic?

Oh no, you’re not

Joker, you are.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality
questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according
to the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung as published in his 1921 book Psychological
Types (English edition, 1923). The original developers of the indicator
were Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers.

The Visionary

Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving

As an ENTP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you
take things in primarily via your intuition.  Your secondary mode is internal,
where you deal with things rationally and logically.

With Extraverted Intuition dominating their personality, the ENTP’s
primary interest in life is understanding the world that they live in.
They are constantly absorbing ideas and images about the situations they
are presented in their lives.  Using their intuition to process this
information, they are usually extremely quick and accurate in their
ability to size up a situation.  With the exception of their ENFP
cousin, the ENTP has a deeper understanding of their environment
than any of the other types.

This ability to intuitively understand people and situations puts
the ENTP at a distinct advantage in their lives.  They generally
understand things quickly and with great depth.  Accordingly, they
are quite flexible and adapt well to a wide range of tasks.
They are good at most anything that interests them.  As they grow
and further develop their intuitive abilities and insights, they
become very aware of possibilities, and this makes them quite
resourceful when solving problems.

ENTPs are idea people.  Their perceptive abilities cause them to
see possibilities everywhere.  They get excited and enthusiastic
about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to
others.  In this way, they get the support that they need to
fulfill their visions.

ENTPs are less interested in developing plans of actions or making
decisions than they are in generating possibilities and ideas.
Following through on the implementation of an idea is usually a chore
to the ENTP.  For some ENTPs, this results in the habit of never
finishing what they start.  The ENTP who has not developed their
Thinking process will have problems with jumping enthusiastically
from idea to idea, without following through on their plans.  The
ENTP needs to take care to think through their ideas fully in order
to take advantage of them.

The ENTP’s auxiliary process of Introverted Thinking
drives their decision making process.  Although the ENTP is more
interested in absorbing information than in making decisions,
they are quite rational and logical in reaching conclusions.
When they apply Thinking to their Intuitive perceptions, the
outcome can be very powerful indeed.  A well-developed
ENTP is extremely visionary, inventive, and enterprising.

ENTPs are fluent conversationalists, mentally quick, and enjoy verbal sparring
with others.  They love to debate issues, and may even switch sides sometimes
just for the love of the debate.  When they express their underlying principles,
however, they may feel awkward and speak abruptly and intensely.

The ENTP personality type is sometimes referred to the "Lawyer" type.
The ENTP "lawyer" quickly and accurately understands a situation, and
objectively and logically acts upon the situation.  Their Thinking
side makes their actions and decisions based on an objective list
of rules or laws.  If the ENTP was defending someone who had actually
committed a crime, they are likely to take advantage of quirks in
the law that will get their client off the hook.  If they were to
actually win the case, they would see their actions as completely fair
and proper to the situation, because their actions were lawful.  The
guilt or innocence of their client would not be as relevant.  If this
type of reasoning goes uncompletely unchecked by the ENTP, it could
result in a character that is perceived by others as unethical or
even dishonest.  The ENTP, who does not naturally consider the
more personal or human element in decision making, should take care
to notice the subjective, personal side of situations.  This is
a potential problem are for ENTPs.  Although their logical abilities
lend strength and purpose to the ENTP, they may also isolate them from
their feelings and from other people.

The least developed area for the ENTP is the Sensing-Feeling arena. 
If the Sensing
areas are neglected, the ENTP may tend to not take care of details in their
life.  If the Feeling part of themself is neglected, the ENTP may not value
other people’s input enough, or may become overly harsh and aggressive.

Under stress, the ENTP may lose their ability to generate possibilities,
and become obsessed with minor details.  These details may seem to be
extremely important to the ENTP, but in reality are usually not important to
the big picture.

In general, ENTPs are upbeat visionaries.  They highly value knowledge,
and spend much of their lives seeking a higher understanding.
They live in the world of possibilities,
and become excited about concepts, challenges and difficulties.  When
presented with a problem, they’re good at improvising and quickly come
up with a creative solution.  Creative, clever,
curious, and theoretical, ENTPs have a broad range of possibilities in
their lives.

_____________________________

Careers for ENTPs

Whether you’re a young adult trying to find your place in the world,
or a not-so-young adult trying to find out if you’re moving along the
right path, it’s important to understand yourself and the personality traits which
will impact your likeliness to succeed or fail at various careers.  It’s
equally important to understand what is really important to you.  When
armed with an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, and an
awareness of what you truly value, you are in an excellent position to
pick a career which you will find rewarding.

ENTPs generally have the following traits:

• Project-oriented
• Enjoy generating ideas and theories
• Creative and ingenius
• Bright and capable
• Flexible and Diverse
• Excellent communication skills
• Enjoy debating issues with other people
• Excellent people skills
• Natural leaders, but do not like to control people
• Resist being controlled by people
• Lively and energetic; able to motivate others
• Highly value knowledge and competence
• Logical, rational thinkers
• Able to grasp difficult concepts and theories
• Enjoy solving difficult problems
• Dislike confining schedules and environments
• Dislike routine, detailed tasks

ENTPs are fortunate in that they have a wide range of capabilities.  They
are generally good at anything which has captured their interest.  ENTPs
are likely to be successful in many different careers.  Since they have
a lot of options open to them, ENTPs will do well to choose professions
which allow them a lot of personal freedom where they can use their
creativity to generate new ideas and solve problems.  They will not be
completely happy in positions which are regimented or confining.

The following list of professions is built on our impressions of careers
which would be especially suitable for an ENTP.  It is meant to be a starting
place, rather than an exhaustive list.  There are no guarantees that any
or all of the careers listed here would be appropriate for you, or that your best
career match is among those listed.

Possible Career Paths for the ENTP:

• Lawyers
• Psychologists
• Entrepreneurs
• Photographers
• Consultants
• Engineers
• Scientists
• Actors
• Sales Representatives
• Marketing Personnel
• Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, or Computer Specialist

I finished "The Picture of Dorian Gray" today…
___________________________________________
"…Genius lasts longer than Beauty."
- Lord Henry Wotton
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
___________________________________________

Now I’m back to the saner "No Logo."

___________________________________________

"It can take 100 years to build up a good brand and 30 days to knock it down."
- David D’Alessandro, President, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance
NO LOGO by Naomi Klein
___________________________________________

Arrgh!

I’d like to post an exceprt from this particular post in my archives:

__________________________

What’s in a name.

It is far better to be sad. Why? Happiness is too shallow for meaning. Happiness is too plain—always longed for, always expected. The summit of elation is purely emotional. A lot pursue happiness only to find out that the pursuit is paired with insatiability. To learn that sulking in sadness is far better than happiness is a skill. Perhaps a desire as well—to soak in pain, to indulge in depression… When happy, one may still have the youthful glow, but one cannot be as wise as the sad one with silver greys. It is far better to be sad… and wise.

__________________________________

I wrote this one a long time ago.  I bet I was sad that time.

(So I won’t wind up this blog, check out this link for the brief account: http://www.visayandailystar.com/2007/April/23/negor1.htm).

_____________________

I’ve always hated goodbyes.  For that reason I was stubborn to give in to a request of making a testimonial to a friend who just died–his killing being politically motivated.  But since I heard the news, I had realizations about life. So here it goes…

Gino was a good friend, though we did not really got close back in college just because I chose to have a "busy" life.  Ika nga nila, kinareer ang college.  But nevertheless, my peripheral vision did not fail to capture his being light-hearted, funny, kind comportment. Buotan jud ‘to siya. As I’ve seen, people really had nothing against him simply because he is sincere and down-to-earth.

It saddens me that it’s only now that I’ve come to think of how good a person he was.  Simply because it’s eulogia. Now I feel bad for having invested my time in pursuing greatness (collegiate laurels, that is) than in people. Now I feel guilty for not really caring if he’s around or not before.  Now I feel downhearted because I never took a chance to go beyond our academic circle and establish lifelong buddy hood.

And suddenly, the person’s gone.  I’ve lost my chance of knowing him more.  I’ve lost that moment of letting him know that he has made an impact in my life.

When someone dies, especially someone you know, you are brought into a contemplative mode.  You have flashbacks of how you’ve met, how you’ve touched each other’s lives…or how you did not.  You have questions about life and its uncertainty.  One thing’s certain though: that person made an impact in your life.

During this time, one great realization for was: legacy.  It may sound hackneyed but legacy for me is not outdated, not anymore.  You don’t make it an ambition to leave a legacy.  You don’t work for it.  It is the everyday things that you do that will make an impact, really.  Not institutions. Not empires. Not foundations.  It wasn’t pompous legacy that Gino made.  But he did make me change my paradigm on how I should live my life, on how I share my life with others, on how I should take a view of life now.

It’s really sad to have lost a good person and a great friend but what comfort it is to know that he is in a far better place now.  Maybe the song “I Can Only Imagine” is an apt ending to this musing. I hope family and friends (if they get to read this blog) will find comfort in the lyrics…I did.

I Can Only Imagine

I can only imagine what it will be like, when I walk by Your side…

I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your Face is before me!

I can only imagine. I can only imagine.

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing ‘Hallelujah!’? Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

I can only imagine, when that day comes, when I find myself standing in the Son!

I can only imagine, when all I will do, is forever, forever worship You!

I can only imagine! I can only imagine!

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing ‘Hallelujah!’? Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!

Surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel?

Will I dance for you, Jesus? Or in awe of You, be still?

Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?

Will I sing ‘Hallelujah!’? Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!

I can only imagine! Yeah! I can only imagine!! Only imagine!!!

I can only imagine.

I can only imagine, when all I do is forever, forever worship You!

I can only imagine.

Until then, Gino.

A Tribute for Gino: http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=PSnyvnSIT9A

This song is hard to sing
Because goodbyes are hard to say
But I know its only for a time
We will meet again someday

The songs we’ve left unsung
Will keep ringing in my heart
‘Til the melodies keep echoing
And help me do my part

To let the light of our love shine
For all the world to see
May your joy and laughter
Become a part of me
And because I have known you
My life will never be quite the same
May your spirit live through me

The times we’ve spent together
All the happiness and tears
All these many special moments
Will make memories through the years

And when its time to meet again
I’ll know you by your name
For a friendship lasts forever
And forever stays the same

We are one, we are one
In the name of the Lord
We are one, in the spirit
We are one in our love
And because I have known you
My life will never be quite the same
May your spirit live through me

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I was in 6th Grade when I first heard this song by Steve Green, Larnelle Harris and Phil Naish.  It has been ringing in my head since then.  I hope it continues to ring true…in my heart…in my life.

___________________________________

All my life I’ve had to struggle to be free
Though I see no end in sight
I stand in line with men
Who made a vow to never stop the fight
And to trust that you can comprehend
A loss you’ve never known
Will take a love that I have searched for
But love I cannot find alone

Lord, teach me to love
Show me how to care for others
Cause my soul to burn within
For the fellowship of my brother
Only You can break the chains
That have held me for so long
Lord, You’re my hope, my only hope
Teach me to love

There’s no power but the power of the cross
That can melt my hardened heart
And show me all the pride and arrogance
That tear our souls apart
For injustice that you suffer
And for our nation’s shameful sin
I humbly ask for your forgiveness
We need to learn to love again

Lord, teach me to love
Show me how to care for others
Cause my soul to burn within
For the fellowship of my brother
Only You can break the chains
That have held me for so long
Lord, You’re my hope, my only hope
Teach me to love

So daily I seek to know the Christ
Who suffered for all men
For in Him I find the courage
To ask again and again

So there. It was a father and son bonding moment–the son poured out, the father listened.

There was no response, but the assurance of support and fatherly love is there.  Somehow, the story told pained the father.  Somehow, the experience pained the son.

The admonition came in days after–an electronic letter it was…

Dear To,

Kamusta ka da?

I was thinking deeply how you have changed.  You see, your Nanay and I are confident and proud of you!  I have implied so much of your character in some of my sermons. We have prayed for you all for God to help you as you prepare and embark yourself into the world. Well, the personal lesson: continue praying for your children.

Maybe you have lots of plans to satisfy yourself, entertain people, and be known.  You have compared yourself with others and due to some failure, tried to cover-up your mistakes.  The disheartening experience should rather make you humble and aware of the saddening consequences of playing or toying with sin.

Your non-committed and non-Christian contacts have contributed much in the lapse of your faith and practice.  Their words may have lingered in your ears and it’s sad they lie embedded in your heart and head.  When circumstances and difficulties create pressures the tongue spontaneously unleash the non-edifying words. It is time now for you neither to be tempted to entertain yourself nor make some human effort to face up with failure. When one does folly he can’t fool God, he will try to fool others and end up fooling himself.

It is time to make up your mind of what you should do with your life- and not rather be enamoured by the position and the privilege of amassing the world’s wealth. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Make your position a platform to share and glorify God before them who don’t have the hope in Christ.

Take a respite wherein you will consider how you could stand up and serve the Lord again with fear and reverence. Be sober and be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, is like a roaring lion going to and fro seeking whom he may devour.

You see if God has gifted with something but due to failure you can’t use that gift or talent you can’t have the abundant life and the joy our program is trying to share for 6 years now.  For Joy is experienced within the context of one’s exercise of his gift or talent.  Therefore, To, make up your mind.  Take this from me with seriousness and humility.  Trust God to cleanse and lift you up and claim God’s promise and renewal.  He has given you a second chance, in fact a lot of chances.  Don’t ignore nor reject it. Wake up and wake others also who may be cuddled now by the enemy’s lullaby.

With prayers,

Tatay

It made the son contemplate and repent.  It made the son move on with a greater purpose in life.  It made the son be proud of a faithful, loving father who became a friend.

So why tell this story?

Let’s say the son was…me.