We’ve always been an unconventional family, having become a mixed group of relatives, neighbors and childhood friends that have come together throughout the years.  We have been bounded by blood, love, support and loss through our years as a family.  Even if admittedly we only get this complete during the holidays, more or less you could say that we are a tightly-knit bunch.

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I was reading up on this (idle at the office at the moment) yesterday

How to turn a Windows PC Into a Mac

By the end of the day my PC’s desktop looked like this

Neat, isn’t it?  I didn’t even have to resort to hackintoshing my PC hehe

I skipped the Windows Blinds part though.  Being a PC user all my life, I never got used to the minimize-maximize-close buttons…  So I had to be a little creative and just looked for some Mozilla Add-ons to get the look for my browser.  I also deployed some Yahoo widgets as you can see

Anyway, just some nice stuff

Nephew came in from the US last night and got the belkin one for pasalubong

One down, three more to go!

Meet my Nike+ mini me hehe

It’s a nifty program on Nike+ that creates this cute animation for your facebook account.

See it on my facebook now

Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength. - August Wilson

I was inspired by this quote today because doing self-reflection these recent days, I have discerned that I still sometimes cringe at the thought of some bad memories.  Sometimes the feeling of embarrassment is still there even though it has been such a long time since these things have happened.  A case of temporal embarrassment, you might say.

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This is my current wishlist - in the gadgets and accessories category hehe

The Timex Ironman 50 Lap Sleek watch for my interval training - for my runs

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The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. - Mitch Albom

Sometimes you find yourself at an impasse.  You are left with questions like What do I do next? or What is the meaning of my life? and there are no concrete answers.  I find myself in such a predicament.

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Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. - Hebbel

This is true, but passion isn’t always a good thing.  I’ve always been passionate about things.  Yes, even the petty things and arguments.  I would defend my case, however minute, with passion.  The typical Arian - we may not always be right, but we’re never wrong

That was the case before.

Today I caught myself yielding during an argument.  It felt interesting.  It’s true what my life’s mentors said (sisters and brothers, by blood or otherwise), that you learn more about yourself when you don’t answer back

Pick your battles.  Life is too short to make it all about waging war against the world.

Have a great week ahead everyone!!!

This run posted a lot of challenges - Rock and Run.  It rained BIG TIME, and had strong headwind… so when I said challenges, I meant CHALLENGES

My only regret about this run is that I wasn’t able to record it on my nikeplus, the rain and all… but I got to test my rain/trail shoes hehe

I’m mighty proud of myself and everyone of my friends who finished their races

I read this somewhere and I relate to this big time

Stability is an illusion; everything is fleeting, there is no sense in grasping, and no time for labeling! So therefore, don’t just live the present, savor it! - Migs

I always say that uncertainty is my most hated feeling, but on the other hand, not being certain means there’s more possibilities in something than I can think of - a way for the universe to surprise me, to surprise us beyond our imagination

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

This I impart to my friends who are stressed out today, a lot of them are for some reason

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

As for me, I am daunted by the task in front of me.  So, I deem this quote applicable

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect It’s successful outcome. - William James

Oh God, help us…

Ok, it’s the Philippine Independence Day today and I went to Global City to run for the Independence Day Run.  It’s the first race that I attended by myself, without my BLUR friends, so I don’t have a lot of pics.

After running my 5K I had to run back to the office to get my camera and take a few shots

I’m happy about this run because it was fun to do a new route, and I managed to stick to my running strategy

I love you; not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. - Roy Croft

This is one of those wala-lang-posts because I’m just feeling it.  The funny thing about love is that great distance never diminishes its meaning.  Sometimes it lies in silence, but it’s there.  If it’s with the right person, that is.

Throughout our lives we deal with heartaches, and we ask the universe in all our defeated voice one question - Why?  When love finds you, when you’re ready to receive it, there you’ll find the reason why.  Or it finds you

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. - Buddha 

I found that the times when I feel true contentment and peace is when I just stop and sit still, and try to exist in the moment.  Those have always been my moments of clarity.

You see, the past always brings with it regrets, and the future, uncertainty.  I’m not saying that we should not plan for the future or learn from the past.  No.  What is essential for us not to do is dwell on it, or be crazy paranoid about it.  I am always guilty of feeling this way, but I have learned to press that “STOP!!!” button in me and not be entangled in my own temporal distortion.  People can’t exist in the past or the future, much less try to exist in all three tenses.  But sometimes (metaphorically) we try to.  We get  stressed and confused, and ultimately end up moving in circles.

Speaking of time, I had a realization this morning.  This career took me away from my parents and family - the people that matter.  Now some of them are gone, and those years (early 2000 to 2005)  are time that I can’t get back.  This leads me to wonder - At best I will be waiting for another year for my career to go somewhere.  If so, then is this going to be another year wasted?  If that’s the case, then am I doing a disservice to the people that mattered in my life who are not with me anymore?

For one split second, she almost turned around
But that would be like pouring rain drops back into a cloud
So she took another step and said
“I see the way out and I’m gonna’ take it”

I don’t wanna spend my life jaded, waiting
To wake up one day and find
That I’ve let all these years go by wasted

Excerpt from the song Wasted by Carrie Underwood

Time is precious, but it definitely holds more meaning to people who have experienced loss.  Unfathomably more precious.

Having after-lunch coffee with friends today, I was surprised when one of them made a very astute observation.  She said that I seem to be happier today than the past days.   I just almost nodded in agreement, almost because I did say something but it’s unintelligible to me now.  I guess I became curious with myself why it was so. Then I realized that it was the comment that I made over lunch. The topic was loss.  I said that the most devastating events in one’s life, in the magnitude of losing a loved one, is the kind of problem that will make you drop other problems, however important they are to you at that moment.

This revelation has always been an emotional breaker for me - something that makes me stop for a moment and put everything in perspective.  Nowadays, when everything seems all too grim, I just stop and tell myself:

You know what Angelo, this is a droppable problem.  I will drop these inconveniences, however bad and big they seem, when there are problems about the things that really matter to me - like family.

I don’t ever want to catch myself making such a big fuss about trivial things, only to find myself re-oriented with what really is important.  The universe always has a way of making you realize what’s important, to keep you in line.  When I was younger, I would learn it after the fact.  You know, after going through hell and back.

In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back. - Charlie Brown