G-OGRAPHY: a southeast asian lady travels...

In life you always take risks. However, the payoff can be oh so sweet and so worth it.

This picture was taken last August during a trip to Kauai HI. It's over at Kipu Falls. They also have a rope you can swing on like Tarzan. That's me doing some aerial acrobatics. It took me a long time to jump off. It just seems that when you get older you tend to have a lot more apprehension and worry. The kids that went before me were just swinging like crazy. I love seeing them have so much fun! Ah to be young again...so fearless and invincible.



Kauai is very beautiful island. It's a great choice if you want to be somewhere more serene and close to nature. If you ever go, don't forget to visit the Na Pali Coast.

More pictures here...(just ignore our ugly faces =p)

I'm really getting addicted to Yehuda Berg's Weekly Consciousness Tune-Up. I do not practice Kabblah but these just make darn good sense...

Go Easy



We can all be too judgmental of what we think are our weaknesses. We lose power when we focus on ourselves. All we see is the bad stuff, and then we put so much energy into hiding. This drains us AND it stops others from getting close.

Tell yourself it’s OK today. Whatever it is, however messy. It’s OK. Things could always be worse, and will always get better. It’s OK.

That's her...Former President Corazon Aquino the way I remember her back in 1986. In her signature symbolic yellow outfit, thick glasses, a no non-sense bob cut and that hand flashing her signature L for Laban...which meant Fight!

During a tumultuous time in Philippine history she inspired a nation to fight back against tyranny. She was a widow, a mother and a housewife, yet, by some unstoppable force Cory became the defender of democracy. She united Filipinos and led the historic People Power movement.

I was eight back then but I knew the importance of this woman's work. Growing up she continued to inspire me...to always fight for what is right. We fondly called her Tita (Aunt) Cory because she was a mother figure to us young Filipinos. Looking back if I had been in her shoes I would not have known what to do. Imagine she led a revolution, ousted a dictator, re-established democracy and fought off 7 coup attempts during her tenure as First Philippine Female President!

To say that Corazon Aquino was a strong woman is an understatement. Her faith and belief in what is good propelled her to constantly fight for our nation's freedom. For that I am in gratitude for I still reap the benefits of her legacy. May her soul rest in peace.

Tita Cory...para sa iyo ito. Salamat!



She was Time's Woman of the Year 1986 by the way...



Related articles:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1914125,00.html


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963185,00.html


http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990823/aquino1.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-aquino1-2009aug01,0,4766988.story

LA Times writes: "It’s official: Robert Downey Jr. is still the king of Comic-Con. The actor bounded into the San Diego Convention Center's Hall H on Friday morning, his second trip to massive weekend fest. This time, he was here to promote “Sherlock Holmes” and was welcomed with an even more breathless and deafening response than “Twilight’s” own Robert Pattinson. “I love you guys so much,” he told the raucous crowd. "

It was Saturday afternoon and my friend and I were riding down in an elevator from a roof top Comic-Con party. The elevator stops at some floor...the door opens and lo and behold its ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Iron Man...now Sherlock Holmes the King of Comic-Con. You hear a gasp of air from everyone as we look at him trying to contemplate if there was enough space for him in the elevator. Someone says: "It's ok, we can make room for you Sir" and just like that a big space in the middle of the elevator appeared. THE Downey stepped inside with a companion. Some dude was brave enough to mumble some starstruck compliment about how he loved Downey's work as an actor blah blah blah. And THE Downey just smiled because he was cool and he was IRON MAN!!!

It took super strength for me to not say or do anything stupid. I was looking calm and collected but inside my head I was screaming: "Oh my Lord it's Robert Downey Jr. The guy I've had a crush with since god knows when. Is it really him standing before me? It is! Oh sh*t. No way! Should I take a picture? Should I?". Well, I didn't! Biggest mistake ever. I was too paralyzed to act quickly. Instead I take this lousy picture of a piece of the back of his head as he was leaving the hotel.

Kids when you see someone famous that you really like just ask them politely if you can take your picture with them! I can kick myself in the head now...



Close-up

What’d You Say?



Many of our conflicts come from miscommunication.

Today, don’t let things pass. If something doesn’t feel right, then bring it up. But don’t do it with the intention of proving the other person wrong. Do it with the intention of removing the space, and getting closer to the person.

-Y Berg