Randy Crawford

April 30 Midweek Musical

Huggybear's Favorite Songs By Randy Crawford 

One Hello 

Taxi Dancing 

with Ric Springfield 

People Alone

Photo courtesy of whosdatedwho.com/

Rebel

April 26 to May 2

Office Politics

Solidarity and Goodwill

Small Minds

Freaking Ironic

Resignation Letter

Army of Angels

Never-Ending Saga

Office Politics

March 15, 2014

Saturday

"Why aren't joining the sports fest?" she asked.

"I can't," I said. "I got a lot of things to do."

"The success of the sports fest is dependent on the number of people who will come," she told me. 

"I just can't," I told her.

"I thought you want to get promoted."

"I've lost all interest."

"Do you want to be an agent forever?"

"No," I said.

"Boss has already spent fifty thousand," she said. "What would you do if you were Boss and you already spent a lot of money on this?" she asked. 

"I wouldn't have organized it in the first place," I said. "I might have taken a survey first to see who would join."

"The majority would join," she told me. "How would you force the minority?"

"First of all, I don't believe in forcing people."

"What if everybody has that kind of thinking?"

"No they don't," I said. "One of the greatest lessons I learned is that it's a waste of time to dwell on hypothetical scenarios."

"What if you were the supervisor, how would you deal with someone like you?"

"I'd be proud to handle independent minded people," I declared. "I'd give them total independence."

"Even sacrificing rules?"

"Especially!" I said firmly. "Morale is more important than rules!"

"You seem to have issues with authority."

I just shrugged.

"By the way," I said, "has my vacation leave been approved?"

"You keep asking too many favors, and we're only asking you to join the sports fest for one day," she said. "You don't even join our company outings."

"I didn't know that going or not going to the sports fest is a factor in approving my leave."

"It is a factor." "So if I don't join, then I wouldn't get my leave?"

"It's not our obligation to give you leaves," she said. "This is a favor we're granting you."

"I won't come."

Solidarity and Goodwill

March 19, 2014 

Wednesday

This is my text to my buddies RG and GD in Luzon, letting them know what I've been up to lately in Cebu

It was do or die. I've finally lost my patience with my power-tripping supervisor.

Last night, I went straight up to the Senior Operations Manager. It was a trending buzz. 

A lot of people were encouraging me. A lot of them are doing it secretly because they're afraid of retaliation and I understand that. I'm humbled by the overwhelming shower of solidarity and goodwill.

Small Minds

March 19, 2014

Wednesday

This is my text reply to my friend CB who asked what happened when I went to Human Resources to ask to be transferred to a different supervisor last night

HR is useless. They are nothing but bureaucrats who only think of rules. I made it very clear that it's a serious issue and they told me to talk to my supervisor. Just like that. As if nothing. I don't think they're even listening to what I've said. Bureaucrats are stupid.

Freaking Ironic

March 19, 2014

Wednesday

Text to JC and NJ

I find it freaking ironic that my two closest friends, whom I love like brothers, are both absent during my most critical moment.

So I'll tell Tony Stark to send you an army of remote-controlled Ironman prototypes unless you treat me for lunch. Jarvis, extra rice! 

Ironman 3

Resignation Letter

I'm glad they didn't accept it. I was ready to leave but I wanted to stay a little longer.

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm resigning because I'm sick and tired of dirty office politics.

I had the misfortune of being assigned to a bureaucratic supervisor who doesn't even have a single iota of leadership.

I can overlook the fact that she plays favorites but I cannot stomach the way she deals with people who don't suck up to her.

My demoralization began about two weeks ago when she called and sent me harsh and accusatory text messages outside office hours about one of my calls which I never even got to listen to. She did that before to one of my colleagues, one of the many who had since left because of her. That person was sick and his girlfriend answered the phone. The supervisor asked too many personal questions in what is a blatant disregard for professional etiquette.

The supervisor needs to be told that she has no right to intrude into other people's personal lives.

Last Friday came the last straw. We had settled that particular issue but she continues to exaggerate her influence. She threatened to block my vacation leave if I don't go to the sports fest. I told her I can't because I have so many other things to do. I didn't give any details because I won't permit her to invade my life outside the office.

She said she grants vacation leaves as a favor and she's not obligated to approve it. She said my refusal to "compromise" is "a factor" in her decision.

This incident alone is enough to push me to leave. She unjustly accused me of asking too many favors. I countered that the only thing I ever asked was to transfered to a different account because I don't want to be under her anymore. She even listed that as a favor even if she blocked it. When I got to the midnight shift when Dhanish asked for volunteers, she said I owed her a favor because she approved the schedule.

With this culture of political patronage, it's clear that merit will not be the basis of promotion of those under her. The supervisor will even have the gall to say that an agent's growth in the company is through her blessings, a favor granted to those who say only what she wants to hear.

Our coaching sessions have been characterized by irrelevant questions and hypothetical nonsense. She asked me how I would handle an agent like me. I declared that I'll be proud to lead independent-minded people. But the fact of the matter is, every person is unique.

Leadership is about bringing out the best in people by giving them the freedom of individual expression, not trying to intimidate them to conform like brainless sheeps. I told her morale is more important than rules, that how her agents feel is more important than what her boss says. She said I have issues with following rules. Be that as it may, I believe that if a person forces others to be submissive, then he or she has no business handling people.

A true leader is on the side of those under him, even in defiance of the superficial whims of those in positions of authority but has no right to be.

There's no reason to stay anymore. Why work in a place where government mandated benefits are treated as personal favors? There's no point in rendering 30 days because the supervisor will block it, anyway, out of spite for this letter. She will find a way to retaliate even if, by some miracle, I get transferred to a different supervisor.

I have challenged the authority of power trippers many times in the past, and I know how vindictive they can be. The atmosphere in the workplace is now poisoned. I want to be clear about this. I hope whoever reads this won't be like that supervisor during coaching: focusing on insignificant details and completely missing the big picture. This is not about vacation leaves, sports fests, surveys, account transfers or even hostile coaching sessions.

It's about abuse of power.

Sincerely Yours,

Jonathan Aquino

Army of Angels

March 19, 2014

Wednesday

This is my text to JC and NJ, my two closest friends in my current job at this point of my journey, working my way around the world

I'm officially out. The Operations Manager said that since they can't transfer me mid-month, I'll report directly to the head of the supervisors for the rest of March. By April, I'll be with a new team. I won because I'm on the side of the Good. An army of angels will protects from witchcraft, revenge and black propaganda.

Add caption

Never-Ending Saga

March 20, 2014

Thursday

My best friend RG in Manila has known me for almost two decades and he's a witness to my never-ending saga against bullies and power tripping authority figures. This is my reply when he texted, "Ayan ka na naman (There you go again.)"

What I did is the trending topic in our office this week. I'm glad it gave others the courage to tell the SOM their pent-up grievances against their own TLs. If only for that, then it was all worth it. The result is I'm now under the TLs' TL whom I really respect and trust, and I got a new station beside a window with a great view of the glittering mountains in the distance.

I've always wanted this set-up. The Law of Attraction really works.  "Do you know The Secret?" I would ask, refering to Rhonda Byrne's book. A lot said no, but they got really tittillated because they thought I was sharing new juicy gossip.

This April, I'll get my new official TL, and chances are, it will be one of my good friends and solid allies here. He's a true leader. I'm not a follower, not by a long shot, although I could be the best team player you could ever have if I'm with the right people. If I were to be under someone, he should have true leadership qualities to earn my respect and loyalty. He's also from Manila, a graduate of the Ateneo like the National Hero, the incumbent President and Chris Tiu. Our joke is that he's Blue Eagle and I'm Red Horse. I want him as my TL and I'm planting the idea in their minds but without any mental tricks.

I will not use my telepathic powers to gain advantage. Besides, 99.99 percent of the time, they don't work, anyway. All I want is peace and quiet in the workplace so I'll still have the energy to pursue the important things in my life outside work. You know me, I don't even have enemies (although plastic people don't like me) and I instantly bond with decent and broadminded people.

When I'm asked how I did it, I just simply say, "Would you let others violate your dignity?" I made it clear that I'm not after my TL's head. I'm not here to teach her a lesson. But I hope she gets jolted out of her complacency. It's a learning experience for all of us too.

Jonathan Aquino's Huggybear Diaries

March 11, 2014

Tuesday

It was sleeting as we drove through Mango Avenue in Cebu.

"Have you heard the news?" my companion asked me.

"Nope," I said.

I don't have any idea of what's going on in the world. It's not because I lost touch, but because I lost interest. A lot of the things that people obsess about, like social climbing, have no meaning for me.

An airliner from Malaysia going to Beijing had mysteriously vanished yesterday, he said. There was no trace. All the passengers are gone.

"An entire plane can't suddenly disappear," I said. There has to be, I told him, a rational explanation.

I looked out. There was a light rain and the city was damp like a flower greeting the first rays of dawn.

"Have you heard of the Bermuda Triangle?" I asked. "Ships, airplanes, even an aircraft carrier, all disappeared," I told him. "Everything is a matter of public record."

He doesn't believe it.

Bermuda Triangle

(A BBC Worldwide Documentary)

"Have you heard of the Philadelphia Experiment?" I asked.

First time he did.

"A warship teleported," I said. "Maybe your Malaysian plane slipped into another dimension."

The Philadelphia Experiment

(A History Channel Documentary)

I have another theory.

"It could have been the work of aliens," I said over his groans of mock protest. "Wait, this scientific! Show me a scientist worth his salt who's absolutely convinced we are alone in the cosmos."

Cat Stevens

April 23 Midweek Musical

Huggybear's Favorite Cat Stevens Songs 

Morning Has Broken 

Father and Son 

Wild World 

Photo courtesy of eil.com

Mactan

April 19-25 Edition

Meditation In Mactan

Reviving My Soul

Best of Times

Crossing Mactan   

Meditation In Mactan

March 2, 2014

Sunday

My just friend JC texted me, thinking I was where I wasn't. This is my full reply.

I landed in Lapu Lapu at 7 in the morning. I'm now at the back of Mactan Shrine.

It's so peaceful here, looks like an idyllic fishing village. This is where historians say Mactan chieftain Lapu Lapu killed the legendary Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the sixteenth century.

I saw a man walking in the water towards me. Then I realized that this part of the sea has been drained and the water is only ankle deep. 

It's thirteen past ten in the morning as I write this, sitting on a makeshift lean-to made of nipa in the beach.

An old dog with worn-out brown fur is panting in the sand in front of me, sharing the shade from the merciless sun. I got my footage but my camera battery is dead. The dog, who had weakly wagged his tail while I patted his head but refused my mango ice cream earlier despite his emaciated frame, is dying too.

In a flash of insight, here in the scene of battle where hundreds have died, I felt humbled to accept that I don't have the power over death.

Reviving My Soul

March 2, 2014

Sunday

This is my text to my friend RG in Manila

I'm sitting on a bench in the Lapu Lapu City plaza beside the church, almost noon.

I had to travel.

I felt that my soul was dying from too many irritating elements in the workplace. I try to be as detached as I can, but there those who impose their obnoxious presence. 

I felt revived by being close to the sea as I rode in the inter-island ferry. I just came from Mactan Shrine where I wrote my story about the dying dog and the man walking on water.

I'm under the tree shades as the sun emerged from the white wispy clouds gliding and disappearing across the infinite blue sky. I hear the Mass behind me and the cheers in the volleyball game at the covered court on my right.

Beside me is the empty plastic cup of the calamansi juice I just bought. The small slice of lemon lay at the bottom like a green pearl. It will be gone and forgotten, like I will be someday, but it helped quench the thirst of a traveler. Its selfless existence is its own significance.

Best of Times

March 5, 2014

Monday

I've begun traveling again.

"I'm lust, I mean lost," I joked to my friend JC yesterday in a text. "Little boy lost, huhuhu!" 

I just got a new digital camera and I went to Mactan Shrine yesterday to shoot another amateur travel documentary. I finished early and I was just wandering around Mercado, the large public market in Lapu Lapu in Cebu, watching the local tricycles with their tank-like square sidecars which I haven't seen anywhere else.

I was to go to their house that night, with our friend NJ.  NJ and I are the godfathers of his son and we were there when the kid celebrated his first birthday in Jollibee in Park Mall in Mandaue last October. JC's wife was from Nueva Ecija where I've also lived in 1997 in Cabiao. 

"If you grew up in the province, you'll always miss it," I told her as we stood on their balcony. "The stars are move alive..."

The father-in-law is from Hagonoy, Bulacan where I have also stayed for a while in 2009. "There is nothing to keep me in one place," I once told somebody who asked how come I've been to so many places, before suavely changing the subject. I didn't tell them that I've been to London, where JC had worked. His family is going to Canada. I also didn't tell them I've been there.

"Lie, lie, lie," goes the song. "I'm just a poor boy though my story's seldom told..."

The Boxer 

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

"If you treat me as a visitor, then you treat me as a stranger," I told him, not wanting to bother them.

I always bring food when I visit friends, then I would "eat and run.""

I always think of Oskar Schindler at times like these.

Only his closest friends can see the heart of gold behind the generosity that blinds others with avarice.

Schindler is one of my role models,  a tower of inspiration in a world full of greed. 

Schindler's List

"There is so much you have yet to know about me," I smiled at them.

I feel I'm cheapening, by flashing naked, the things I worked so hard for that I can take pride in. In that sense, I'm not an exhibitionist. Instead, I'm a magician. A touch of misdirection when things are getting too close for comfort. But I'm not illusionist, whose reality is smoke and mirrors. I don't believe in tricks - but I believe in magic.

The more a person understands how I value my privacy, the more I respect I give him. Paradoxically, the more I tend to open up as time goes by. Respect and Trust. One cannot exist without the other. Balance is the supreme law of the universe. Trust, same as wisdom and happiness, to paraphrase the sages througout the eons, is like a butterfly. Chase it relentlessly and it flees ever faster.

But if you let your heart find it, then it will come. 

Crossing Mactan

March 4, 2014

Tuesday 

I've always wanted this: a quiet evening with real people and meaningful conversation.

I was with close friends last Sunday night in  Lapu Lapu in Cebu.  

This is my idea of fun. There's just us. 

 I left around three in the morning. One of them lives near. We were trying to find a taxi to take me to my present lodgings in Cebu City.

"Wait, Lapu Lapu is in Mactan Island," I said. "Where's the Mactan Bridge?"

"There," he pointed. If it is was a snake it would have striked without me even knowing. It was less than a block away. That place was called Menzi or something like that.

"Can we walk?" I asked.

"Sure!"

Off we went.

"This is the Old Bridge" he told me as we traversed the long slim structure to get to Mandaue, another city. The New Bridge is the Marcelo B. Fernan, in honor of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice who came from these parts.

The city lights gleamed before us.

"This is the deepest part of the sea," he said.

I looked down the abyss. We were halfway. Apparently the island is like a valley beneath the surface. A small trawler passed us from below.

"If you saw someone you know drowning there," I asked him, pointing straight down, "would you save him?"

"It depends," he replied.

On the other side, the land inclined. The lights from the houses on the hill seemed compelling, like beacons to welcome weary voyagers. I gestured to them.

"Look at that," I told my companion. "Behind those walls are so many secrets. There is joy, despair, sex, murder."

 Everything in the full spectrum of the human condition lies behind closed doors. Some things are best kept hidden.

"I have crossed a thousand bridges in my search for something real..." I could have written that song. "I have always been a stranger, and I've always been alone..." 

Bridges

Sergio Mendes

(See Huggybear's Favorite Sergio Mendes Songs)

"There's a bridge made of colors

in the sky high above,

and I'm certain there must be

bridges made out of love..."

Jonathan Aquino's Huggybear Diaries

April 4, 2014

10:37 p.m., Friday

This past week, two people having the complete opposite problems asked me for my advice.

One is bored with his girlfriend. I told him that the problem is with him, not the girl. On the opposite extremely, the other is so in love. I told he's destroying his life with a woman who is just using him. My friends know me as honest and straightforward but without hurting feelings. I could be very sensitive and tactful but I don't believe in politically correct nonsense. I call a spade a spade but with a touch of elegance.

Raymond Lauchengco

Huggybear's Favorite Raymond Lauchengco (Tagalog) Song 

Saan Darating Ang Umaga 

See Raymond Lauchengco's English Songs 

Saturday Fun

April 12-18

Magic Morning

Ice Age

Iron Lady

The Gunslinger

Magic Morning

March 1, 2014

Saturday

"Something stronger than the moon above..."

I went home seven hours after I got off from work. The song, from the soundtrack of my life, was playing on the radio.

It's the start of the weekend that I intend to make meaningful.

Somebody asked why did I treat seven people for breakfast.

"Karma," I said. "I'm doing good to offset the bad things I've done in the past,"

Just like glimpses of the secrets of the universe, it just happened like it's a random, isolated event though I knew it wasn't. There's no such thing.

Some of my office colleagues were going out for breakfast after our graveyard shift. They invited me and my buddies to come. I don't have to be a telepath to know they'd asked me to treat them.

"Sure," I said.

It was also a test. I wanted to see who would share, since it's pay day anyway, and who would take advantage. What I saw is what I've predicted. I'm blessed blessed with the gift of clear discernment of character.

I haven't lost my touch, I thought.

"Johnny can afford it because he has no responsibilities," one of them said.

I found that remark exteremely disgusting it made my blood boil. But I kept my cool and forced myself to ignore it. These people don't know anything about me yet they're convinced they knew everything.

I have a lot of responsibilities that I don't tell people for the simple reason that confiding to them is tantamount to an invition to intrude into my personal life. The inner sanctum of my soul is forbidden ground.

After they all left, I went back to the office building, confirming with my buddies JC and NJ about our boys night-out tomorrow evening in Lapu-Lapu after I finish my short film on Mactan Shrine.

My plan was to watch cable movies on the pantry while resting before going to the gym. When I came in, some employees on their break were watching some fashion reality show. I was glad when they left and I switched the TV to Ice Age Meltdown on HBO.

I was laughing with the many funny lines and scenes like when Sid was kidnapped by a tribe of sloths and worshipped as the Fire God-- then was thrown down a volcano as a sacrifice.

One of my favorite scenes is the vultures in a visually spectacular production like a Broadway musical.

"Food, glorious food..."

I can also identify with how Manny felt when he thought he was the only mammoth left as the ground beneath them continued to melt.

I know the emotional abyss of being alone in the world. Somehow, you want to believe that there's someone like you somewhere out there. It's what gives you hope even as the world as you know it is being destroyed right before your very eyes. 

Ice Age Meltdown

I'm not afraid of growing old.

Only those with low breeding and inferior character make fun of age.

But I'd rather die young than suffer the mental torture of Alzheimer's as Margaret Thatcher did in Iron Lady, which was the next feature.

I hope that my mind can transcend it if it comes. I can only hope. Destiny hides even from clairvoyants.

"You are not Prime Minister anymore," her daughter had to remind her," and Dad is dead."

But how many of us really understand that we can never again return to the world where we belong?

"It used to be about doing something," Thatcher said in a moment of clarity. "Now it's about trying to be somebody!"

"You want to change the country?" a friend challenged her. "Then lead it!"

The Iron Lady

I have no desire for fame or political power. I can take center stage in a musical but not in an arena that breeds betrayal and compromises of principles. In that sense, I will not say I'm a leader, though I've had evidences to the contrary throughout my life. But I'm nobody's follower either. I like to think that I still retain the glowing embers of the valiant idealism of my youth.

Yet, if I want to change the world, I will find another way, away from the eyes that see only prejudice. I've lost my faith in humanity. When all is said and done, it all amounts to nothing. I may sound cynical, but the label is not mine, and I'll be damned if I apologize for that.

I seem to be going through a stage of evolution in the past week, I texted my friend CB as my text message became the next chapter in my saga. I told him I was in the gym around noon after my movie marathon, my first workout in over a week.

It's crazy how random slices of ideas you haven't really thought about suddenly come together to form a vision, like pieces of a puzzle. In a flash, you come face to face with a new crossroad in life, a new direction into a more alien landscape, a portal into an alternate reality.

I just finished Stephen King's The Gunslinger last night, I went on in my text message epic.

I'm on a higher quest than Roland's pursuit of The Man In Black. There have been times when my journey has taken me, if at times in metaphor, to wastelands enchanted by evil and ghoulish towns possessed by religious zeal as scorching as the eternal fires of hell.

There are forces more ancient than this world, more malevolent than the human mind could possibly conceive.

"It will be sad to see you broken and set into a blind path," the teacher Cort told Roland. "But the world has moved on."

"I don't like people," says Jake, the young boy who came from a land as strange as that world. "They fuck me up." Same here.

The Gunslinger confronted the succubus who had seduced him and Jake.

"God damn you!"

"No god damned me," said the demon. 

Stephen King's

"The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower"

(Read February 28, 2014)

Roland: Huggybear

Jake: Freddie Highmore

The Man In Black: Tommy Lee Jones

Alice: Julianne Moore

Brown:  Taylor Kitsch

Cort: Michael Chiklis

Kennerly: Tom Wilkinson

Sheb: Donnie Wahlberg

Sylvia Pittson: Shannon Beiste

Roland's Father: Kevin Costner

Roland's Mother: Miranda Otto

Marten The Enchanter: Christian Bale

The Man Touched By God: Donald Sutherland

The Young Roland: Daniel Radcliffe

"In a world that's full of strangers..."

Got To Believe In Magic

David Pomeranz

[Theme from Zapped]

"But I don't think time is gonna heal this broken heart," went the next song on this inexplicable day. It's more significant to me, one that brings me poignant memories of lives gone by. "No I don't see how it can when it's broken all apart..."

Broken-Hearted Me

Anne Murray

"A million miracles could never stop the pain,

I put all the pieces together again..."

Peabo Bryson

Huggybear's Favorite Peabo Bryson Songs 

Love Always Finds A Way 

Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You 

with Robert Flack 

A Whole New World 

with Regina Belle

[Theme from Aladdin]

Beauty and The Beast 

with Celine Dion 

[Theme from Beauty and The Beast]

If Ever You're In My Arms Again 

Photo courtesy of parisjazzcorner.com

Step Up Sinulog 2014!

April 5-11 Edition

Paulo Coehlo

Sinulog 2014

Near-Death Experiences

Wayne Dyer

Paulo Coehlo

This is an excerpt from my story, Paulo Coehlo's "Journeys To Enlightenment"  which first appeared last October 2013 in Philippine Panorama, the Sunday magazine of The Manila Bulletin

The young wood craftsman Elijah is in mortal danger. King Ahab has declared that the entire Israel should worship Baal, the god of the Phoenicians. The idea came from his new wife, Jezebel, a princess from the Phoenician city of Tyre.

An Angel appears to Elijah to deliver an ultimatum. Jezebel tells the King to kill him. Elijah gets ready to face death but inexplicably survives the assassination. The Angel tells him to go the enemy town of Zerapath, which the locals call Akbar, where a widow will take him in until the Lord tells him to return.

Then the widow's young son dies, and the people are about to kill him, convinced that he has brought a curse. But Elijah brings the boy back to life, and they saw that his God is more powerful than Baal who lives in one of the mountains outside the city walls.

"Every man has the right to doubt his task," the Angel tells him in The Fifth Mountain. "But what he must not do is to forget it."

Sinulog 2014

January 27, 2014

Monday

I got up early morning on January 19, 2014 to shoot my film on the Sinulog, Cebu's world famous Sinulog street mardi gras.

That was also when I took my first footage of the historic Santo Niño Basilica since I last went there during the October 15 earthquake that demolished the sixteenth century tower. Then I went making suroy-suroy (going around) from downtown all the way to the Fuente Osmeña circular park to meet up with friends.

I got my shots by climbing on bleachers and concrete dividers, not to mention the footbridge. I try to be as proactive and resourceful as I can. The one thing that I find overwhelmingly appalling is the consistent disregard for the spectators shown by the marshals and accredited photographers. Most of my shots are ruined by somebody blocking my view. They're just doing their job, I know. Still, it says something about the local culture. But then again, it's worse in Manila. So I guess it's human nature.

I only learned after the event that my office colleague R was the lead dancer and choreographer of the Abellana High School contingent so I wasn't able to see him. But I'm glad that I've filmed their group's performance in front of the San Carlos University. (I tagged them as the Yellow Birds while editing.). It's also serendipity that I got a clear shot of the stunning performance of the troupe who bagged the championship two years in a row. They are really spectacular.

My 4GB memory card was almost full so I had to edit during the shoot. I had to delete a lot of scenes including Ironman, Loki and other costumed pop culture figures and corporate mascots. But I got the controversial 2Go float: that was fun. Naturally, I got Darth Vader, Darth Maul, the Emperor and the Storm Trooper. I'm a Jedi so how can I possibly miss Star Wars? May the Force be with you!

My favorite performance is the Pandanggo Sa Ilaw traditional dance which I made into my film's first major dance sequence. My favorite float is the Egyptian complete with a Masonic Great Pyramid, the Sphinx and the jackal-headed Underworld god Anubis.

Step Up Sinulog 2014! 

(A Short Film By Jonathan Aquino)

What makes my first Sinulog a bit poignant is that it's probably my last. I sincerely doubt I'd still in Cebu next year. I never even had any idea that I'll be here last year.

Near-Death Experiences

This is an excerpt from my story "What Happens At The Hour of Our Death?" It is a weekly winner in the 2009 My Favorite Book Contest of The Philippine Star

Now it's part of my book "Huggybear's Corner"

The pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were held as the incarnations of the myth-god Osiris. To prove worthy, they are sealed in a tomb deep inside the Great Pyramid. They suffocate, die and were revived.

The white-robed priests record their experiences.. All who went through this ceremony tell of the same journey. A pharaoh would leave his body and glide through a tunnel toward a light. There he will face a life review – and a being of pure radiance.

One of the most consistent and well-documented phenomena in the world are the stories of near-death experiences (NDEs).

The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a hieroglyphic description of an NDE. The Bardo Thödol, more popularly known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, says the soul will meet “the Radiance of the Fundamental Clear Light of Reality.” The Aztec Song of the Dead is the poetic afterlife of the god-king Quetzalcoatl.

Plato describes the NDE of a Greek warrior named Er in Book X of The Republic. Harvard theologian Carol Zaleski compiled tales of NDEs from different cultures in Otherworldly Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experiences in Medieval and Modern Times (Oxford University Press).

St. Paul tells of a Christian who went to Paradise and “there he heard things which cannot be put into words,” in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (TEV). Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg saw the “light of the Lord” during his NDE. Spiritual leaders who were transformed by their NDEs include Calvinist theologian Jonathan Edwards, Native American chief Black Elk, and Hindu guru Paramahansa Yogananda.

If these are just fantasies or hallucinations, then recorded history itself would need to be rewritten

Wayne Dyer

This is an excerpt from my story, "Insights From My Virtual Mentors," which first appeared last July 2013 in Philippine Panorama

Now it's part of my book, "Huggybear's Corner"

Wayne Dyer transformed my life through his bestselling classic Your Erroneous Zones. I admire him even more because he cites Jose Silva and Carlos Castañeda. You'll get orange juice and nothing else, he says, no matter how you squeeze an orange. Same with people: our reactions depend on what's inside us.

When we lose our keys inside the house, we don't look in the street, but we look outside ourselves for solutions like forcing other people to change. If we think we are inherently deficient, then we will spend the rest of our lives trying to fill a bottomless void.

Our reality is from our character: "When you change the way you look at things, the things that you at, changes." One who is without "erroneous zones" knows this is a friendly, not a hostile, universe. All creation is perfect, he says, "including you."

The Secret & The Law of Attraction 

with Wayne Dyer

A "No-Limit" person believes he already has everything within to find peace. "There is no way to happiness," he says. "Happiness is the way."

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Huggybear's Corner: The Amazing Articles of Jonathan Aquino