Delights and dismays.

The reality of life's cruelty has been revealed to me. You could never be safe in the streets, even when you are with somebody. Two of my cousins, one residing here in Cubao and the other, in the Quezon province (who happened to stay here in QC for a quick vacation), fell victims to a bunch of heartless members of the budol-budol gang. You know, those gangs that approach you and sort of hypnotize you, then you find yourself giving your valuables to them. Their ipod, cellphone and watch were taken by the cruel guys. We were frantic because the culprits separated my two cousins on purpose (while they were under the hypnosis). We could not find one of them! The other managed to make it to a nearby barangay hall, thanks to a kindhearted tricycle driver. We were anxious because we couldn't find my other cousin (the one from the province). His cellphone was taken, so we did not have any contact with him.

So we went to the barangay hall and then to the police station, where we reported the incident. This case was never new; they probably handle cases of budol-budol victims almost everyday. However, I noticed that they responded rather very slowly and lousily; and it took us a few hours before they accompanied us to get the CCTV of the restaurant where the robbery happened (which was never shown to us, in our dismay). Such a reality pissed me. Has this always been the system in the country?

My tito and his employee went out to look for him on the roads of Cubao. It was already dark when we found my cousin - there at a 7-11 branch in Cubao. Thank God he was safe!

One might call it mishap, yet there are so many things to be thankful for. Only material things were taken to them - you know, stuff that could easily be replaced. They were not harmed physically, and the mental exhaustion it caused them did not last very long. In fact, we were already joking around upon heading home after the long day. Also, thanks to this incident, I now had an idea on how the budol-budol works. It caused me to be a lot more cautious, especially when walking alone. All these things happened for a reason, indeed.

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I got the chance to meet a "long lost friend." He was a high school friend and after high school graduation, we never had the chance to see each other or even communicate for a long time. I really missed him. Back in high school, he used to accompany me home. We used to talk until the wee hours of the night. He shared his innermost thoughts with me and mine with him. Those were the carefree times that I really missed.

But after HS graduation, the line was suddenly cut. We got busy for a while with college. Now that the hectic times have passed, I figured that it is about time to meet again and catch up on each other's lives and whereabouts.

The great thing about friends is that they are always there no matter where you go with your life. They never forget you and they will always stay the same for you. So when I asked if we could meet, immediately he managed to free his schedule from any other activities. After five years, we met again and had lunch. It was like nostalgically reliving the high school days.

I came to realize that I was the "long-lost one," not him. He has always been there, waiting for an update from me and longing to tell his stories. Five years had passed and yet, I did not try to communicate. I know that the two hours of eating and chatting we spent cannot make up for the five years that I was lost. But, this is a good way to start. And to make up for the lost years, I am planning to be his friend for the many years to come.

'Til next time, buddy. ;)

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I watched Tanging Hangad Ko, a thanksgiving concert for the 20 years of Hangad Music Ministry. To my delight, it was a free admission concert, plus I had four other Lisieux buddies to tag along with.

The show was very good! The concert was spontaneous in a good way - there was even no very structured entrance-exits, the singers were free to wipe their faces after the songs, one even brought a camera and took a shot of the audience. They were free to do their own hand gestures and interpret the song with their varying but seemingly united facial expressions. They were free to weep their hearts out in the song numbers (and weep some more singing that tribute to the great Paulo Tirol, who was flying to the US the next day). Of course, the quality of their voices was flawless, as usual. The group had me have goosebumps hearing their songs.

What I also found interesting is the striking resemblance of Hangad to my dear community, the UPLB Lisieux Music Ministry. Like Lisieux, they started as a small group of singers who wanted to sing in the Mass. Their mandate is also to serve God through music.  The members are like my own brothers and sisters in the community.And ho ho ho, their concert seemed a lot like Alay Musika. Imagine the nostalgia I felt.

Because of this, I feel that I miss choral singing. How couldn't I? I was singing nonstop in the choir for three years and more. Add to that my involvement in the choir back in high school, which caused the spark to fall in love with music even more. There is a certain thirst in me that only singing for God would quench. And seriously, if my (hopefully) frequent visits to Lisieux would not suffice, then I might consider auditioning to a  music ministry. Hangad? Bukas Palad? A music ministry in my own parish? Hahaha IDRK and Lord, I entrust this to Your hands. HEHEHEHEHEH.

Highly unlikely but not totally impossible.