Chillax!

Waaahhh! It's been a really long time since I have written in here. Unfortunately, this one will be short. But who knows, maybe this post will motivate me to write a bit more often.

Anyways, I just really wanted to share a little something. Sort of my appreciation for the friends I have. As much as I wish I had a girlfriend to spend some time with, someone to report to (not really report to as if I am whipped, but at times, I am just the type of person that wants to speak to her after a long days work and just let her know I've missed her and stuff like that) or simply give a tight hug. Sadly, reality is I currently do not have that. But that's perfectly fine, it can wait. 

Tonight, I spent the night with a couple of my brothers. Though I already know this, it emphasized to me just how happy I am to have friends like them. My last few moments at work was somewhat rough, I just wanted to go home and watch the Hockey game and I was sort of exhausted. But finally getting home and watching the Habs game with Pyro and Ninja was great. Cheering on each goal, complaining when things did not make sense, for me, it was just great to share one of the things I love with them. We ended up the night with a long drive, and ate at Wendy's. Heck I wasn't even that hungry. But being out at night seems to be the time I am most relaxed and have my mind at peace. And to chillax with them tonight, somehow, just made me appreciate even more the fact that I have great brothers around me. 

It must of been a weird way for me to realize such thing, but nothing beats these positive emotions. Now if only I can find that girl I would love to have tightly in my arms then everything would be perfect! I'm kidding! I believe that time will come, and I am happy with the life I am living.

"The best things in life come in threes, like friends, dreams, and memories." - Mencius

God is by my side

God is by my side. This line I have been using a lot quite often. Whether I am going through difficult times or not, I can still say that God is by my side. At the end of the day, I just can't help but pray and say thank you. How? Why? It's hard to say, but through many of my different experiences in life, there is just this feeling that somehow he was there to support me and that there is a reason behind these happenings. 

I still remember my earlier experiences. I remember when I was little, I did not really want to go to church. The time felt like it wasn't moving and boring. But what do I know, I was but a little child. At least for me, the process took some time. I remember one time, I was telling my little brother (who was probably 5 or something) to tell Mommy he didn't feel like going to church. Yeah, I used my brother because I did not want to be scolded. It worked very rarely. Then as I become more conscious about the things I did, and my mom wanting me to participate in Church activities, the more I felt like there was someone watching (in a positive way). It's a weird feeling, it's hard to explain. But many things my pastors would preach would actually get stuck in my head. I believe that my attendance in Church has help shape my personality. For example, swearing, there was a time when I swore a lot. I learned that swearing isn't really a good thing, and yes, I still swear from time to time when in frustration. But I learned that swearing isn't a right thing to do. So  this is what I did when I was younger, whenever I a swear word would come out my mouth, I would say I'm sorry Lord at least 3 to 7 times. Up to this day, if I feel like I have sinned, or done anything wrong, I would say "I'm sorry" at least 3 to 7 times, heck what I would usually do is say "I'm sorry" 3 times in 3 different languages, English, Korean, Tagalog. So that's a quick recap of my early days.

Now let us go to my Teen-Adult days. The paragraph above was the Child-Teen days. Here, my belief is still growing, and becoming a bit more stable. Attending Church was no longer being a big deal. A big help to this was thanks to a great friend I used to have. I still remember the first play I participated in. I was the "King". There was this part of the script where I had to get angry, hit the table hard and stand up. MAN! It's  so memorable, I still remember the congregations reaction. But yeah, one of the most important events that has occurred for me during this period of time was the baptism. This is a baptism you choose on your own accord and you are to be submerged under water. I was hesitant at first, but i gained more confidence and my faith in Him was stronger than ever. I knew I had God by my side. I still remember the speech I gave before (or was it after) the baptism. I talked about Love. What I said went something like this.."You know that feeling when you are so in love with someone, it's a feeling you cannot explain. Well that's how I feel right now." After that speech and after being submerged, I felt refreshed. My past has been buried  and I was born again. A feeling I doubt I will ever forget. 

And now comes my early adulthood to today. I won't lie, I have not been as active as in my Teen-Adult time. But whenever I do participate, it's something I tend to enjoy quite a lot. For example, a few years ago, for Christmas, we would prepare a Filipino Choir and prepare a few songs for our Christmas event. I really miss those days when we would gather weekly to practice as a group. At first, I enjoyed to participate because I love music and love to play the guitar. After the first performance, I realized it was more than that, it was one way for me to serve the Lord. So as the years go by, I would enjoy to perform for the love of music, and for the Lord. I am really sad that the Filipino Choir has somewhat faded. But I plan to bring up something for the next event. Even if it just starts with me and my brother performing. We gotta start somewhere right? 

Outside church however, I was able to implement many God related things to my daily life. Today, I thank God for practically everything. When I get really angry and frustrated, I just don't get frustrated with myself, but I speak with God. Even if I may do it in an "angry" way, I think I do this because I feel like I am connecting with Him and speaking with Him. I also believe that it is thanks to Him that I stand where I am today. The roads were rocky and not always easy, but I know that Jesus was by my side this whole time. I still remember this story I read and heard from a friend. It's a story of a man's dream, where he walked on the beach side. There were two sets of footprints on the sand which represented this person's various stages in life. He spoke to God and asked, where were you when I needed you? He replied and said something like this "During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.". This has marked me big time.

I can go on and on about how my life grew in this manner. But for those reading this, you may already know, if not, now know just how much Jesus plays a part in my life. I know I still have a lot of work to do as his Child, but slowly and surely, I am working through this. After all, He is the reason for where I stand now, and I am happy. No matter what happens, He is my Strength and I know that He is always by my side.

(Abundant Life Faith Church, this is where I go every sunday ^_^)

If one day you pass by this place, feel free to visit, you are all welcome. =)

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”" - Hebrews 13:5

Year in Review 2012

I may be a bit late, but I did tell myself that I will make a post highlighting some my most memorable moments of 2012. Many ups and downs occurred during this year, however we have to look at the bright side. There were actually many great things that happened for me on the year of the Dragon that just passed so it will be difficult to post all of them, so I will be writing on topics that pops in my head first, so I may be missing quite a few.

The year started off with my family and Rochie's family going to Toronto because we had a wedding to attend to in early January. I had a great weekend there. Even the drive to Toronto was a unique and memorable experience. The weather was insane, it went from light rain, to freezing rain, to snow, to snow storm, you name it! But we arrived there safely. It was great reuniting with my relatives there, especially with one of my very special friend Ann. Though we were there only for the weekend, we did not waste a single minute and enjoyed each of it. It was a great way to start off the year of 2012.

I wanna continue with school. If you read my blog, then you definitely know that the year of 2012 is the year I graduated in Tourism. I went through a lot in terms of education, but finally, I graduated and found a job related to what I have studied. You know, we tend to say  "I hate school", or "I just wanna go home" when in the classroom. But after taking a year off in order to save money for school, the more I realized just how much I actually love school. Not that I love to study, it's a difficult thing for me, but I simply love the fact of being in school, meeting new people and learning new things. It's a great feeling for me.

And this brings me to the job I currently have. Finding a job was quite difficult. After graduating, I went in the Philippines, so I was afraid that taking a month or two off would make things more tough when looking for a job. Luckily however, after a week or two of struggle, Sunwing Vacations gave me a call and got an interview. Special thanks to Jeff (Pyro) for taking me to the interview which went very well. The next thing you know, I got hired. I have been working there for roughly 4 months now. So how do I feel about my current situation? I will be honest, I have mixed feelings. Though I am grateful I have a job where I am gaining experience in my domain. It's just that, because you work in an office, you are sitting practically the whole day. I am someone who needs to move, so staying still can sometimes drive me insane. That aside, the job is great. Co-workers are great and it has a pretty interesting atmosphere (in a positive way). I can see why I may be able to stay there for a long time, but in the same time the opposite. So what is my future? For now I will wait until my contract ends. Once that is done, if they keep me, then I will most likely stay and gain more experience, then we shall see where I go on from there. If they cut me, well at least i gained important experience. So looking in the long term, what I hope for is probably get a job at the airport...or maybe become a teacher in this domain. But like it says in the bible, worry not about tomorrow, tomorrow has its own worries. Let's keep it at that. Live now, and let God take care of the rest. So overall, I am satisfied with where I stand.

(My Desk at work)

I mentioned the Philippines in the previous paragraph, so why not follow up with that. I won't be writing much regarding this because I already have a post recapping each week I spent there. Before the Philippines however, we had a huge birthday celebration for my aunt. My cousins from Winnipeg and Italy came over. I also wrote about that in one of my posts. It was such an amazing weekend. Feel free to go back and read that post. But to make a quick recap about the Philippines, I did not want to leave Montreal, I wanted to stay here and find a job as soon as possible. In the end however, I decided to tag along with my family. I am glad that was my final decision. I reunited with a bunch of my relatives, got closer to them, and created lots of great memories. If you want to know more about my trip, simply check my post history and you will find it there. There were many other things I wish I was able to do, but overall, it was great going back. 

(A resort we visited during our stay)

I think I will end my review with none other than Gaming. As many already know, gaming plays a huge role in my life. One of my gaming life revolves around Call of Duty. Though Modern Warfare 3 released in 2011, it continued strong in 2012 because of the people I play with, especially my SoW brothers, and of course Ryan (Soulja). CoD just keeps getting us closer and closer. Black Ops 2 released in November, and for me and my friends, it was a rough start. Many of us weren't getting into it due to its issues. Though as it got resolved, many simply got busy and our schedules just didn't match. As for me, frustration continued to grow until I got the WiiU version. That version just feels totally different to me, and feels like this was the CoD I was expecting of Black Ops 2. As for the PS3 version however, things are starting to shape up. Many of us are starting to gather at night when possible and having many great laughter. I believe our reunion and having a blast for CoD is going to be returning very soon.

Call of Duty aside however, many great things has happened if you are a Nintendo Fanboy in North America. On the handheld side of things, you have a bunch of choices awaiting you such as Resident Evil Revelations and Kid Icarus to name a few. And for home consoles, you have Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story that finally made it to store shelves in North America. These are amazing games, especially Xenoblade Chronicles which is MY game of the year of 2012 and now one of my favorite games of all time. And of course, the release of the Wii U! This is a great console, the Miiverse is simply awesome! I can't wait to see what developers will do in the years to come, especially from Nintendo. But to end this gaming year, I want  to talk very quickly about the gamepad. The gamepad may feel weird at first, but with some getting used to, it's great, especially for shooters. Just keep in mind that not all shooters play the same. Just like how Battlefield and Call of Duty will feel different even if you use the same controller. But other than shooters, I think it would be great for RPGs. But let's just wait and see what comes along. "MONSTER HUNTER"!!! Sorry I got caught off guard.

(My gaming station in my room)

I think I will end this blog post here. It might turn out to be super long that you may get bored and just click [x]. But here's a bonus! Some may be curious about my love life...;) well...2012 was not very special in terms of that topic. But hey, you gotta be patient. Though watching all these Korean shows did make me wish I had someone to lean on or to take out on a date. Oh well, good thing I have amazing friends to lean on and hang out with. Who knows, maybe I might meet someone special in 2013, if not, well, that's fine. I'll let God take care of everything.

(A picture my cousin got us to do during new years eve...)

SO! That's that for now. I'm sure there are many things I probably missed out on, but for those whom I shared special memories with, you guys already know them. 2012 was a great year, and I pray to have an even greater 2013. I wish all of you the best for this new year. Bring it on 2013!

"Keep all special thoughts and memories for lifetimes to come. Share these keepsakes with others to inspire hope and build from the past, which can bridge to the future." - Mattie Stepanek