How A Bird Changed My Life

Saturday Evening Posts

February 28 to March 6

How A Bird Changed My Life

I believe in freedom. I believe that the most glorious miracle of all is the triumph of the human spirit.

I believe in that “Perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.”

One of my favorite books is the literary phenomenon that transformed the lives of millions: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

The book is a story in itself. One night during the swinging 60s, Richard Bach was walking alone in a California beach. He was a pilot – a special breed of aviator in the same league as Charles Lindbergh and Antoine St. Exupery.

Then from out of nowhere, he heard a voice say distinctly, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull!” The adventures of a maverick bird began forming in his mind. Upon returning home, he started to jot down his epiphany – and the story wrote itself.

But it suddenly stopped.

To Be Continued

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Narrated by Richard Harris

Across The Universe 5

Huggybear's Favorite Songs From The Beatles 

February 25 Midweek Musical 

I Will  

Come Together 

Ticket To Ride 

To Be Continued Next Wednesday

Photo courtesy of YouTube.com

Wisdom Moves In Mysterious Ways

Saturday Evening Posts

February 21-28 Edition

Wisdom Moves In Mysterious Ways

February 14, 2015

I have become increasingly convinced that everything that ever happened to me had, not only a reason, but also a purpose.

I think friendship is not coincidence. I have a friend whom I'll call Judah to honor her privacy. Judah and I were in a training class near the end of 2013 in Cebu.

I would chill with my buddies and she would go out with her girlfriends but I saw that she was one of the genuine people there. That alone, for me, made her stand out. She's also a musician who plays the guitar and one of the few who appreciates classic songs.

I realized there are only a handful in that class of almost forty people who likes to read books. What I found most amazing is that she was the only one whose love for literature is nearly equal to mine.

Judah was the one who lent me Expect Nothing, a book about Buddhism. I found it remarkable that she appreciated it though she's a Mormon.

I have such a profound respect for other people's beliefs. I also have an even deeper admiration for those who are not bound by their creeds.

I've read almost all the books of Dan Brown because of Judah (and also because I'm too cheap to buy my own). She has also lent me Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and a lot of other novels.

To Be Continued

Ender's Game

Ender's Game
Full Movie

Across The Universe 4

Huggybear's Favorite Songs From The Beatles

February 25 Midweek Musical 

Penny Lane 

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 

Obladi Oblada 

To Be Contined Next Wednesday

Photo courtesy of collapseboard.com

A Thousand Summers 6

Saturday Evening Posts

February 14-20 Edition

A Thousand Summers

6

January 2013 came. Then the unthinkable happened: my original vintage Nokia flip phone finally malfunctioned.

I call it Volkswagen because I think of it as an old reliable, like 96.3 W-Rock which had consistently played the soundtrack of my life through the years.

There's a great sense of comfort in that. And in this world of constant change (which is also the title of my all-time favorite Filipino song), I really can't ask for anything more.

I really don't want another phone, and it's enough for me that I knew I can afford one. Naturally, I went to Manuel, my trusted technician friend in Baclaran.

I first met him when I had the Volkswagen's housing changed in 2010. I was then living in Parañaque and working in my first call center at the Mall of Asia.

We were laughing like crazy because, since then, they had moved into four different stalls and I had lived in four different places: Santa Ana in Manila; Tanza and General Trias in Cavite, and Moonwalk in Las Piñas.

And in between, I also lived for weeks in Gwapotel, a public transient dorm at the back of Manila Hotel. Double-bunk beds, like those in the economy section of inter-island ferries, fill each floor like fields the size of three basketball courts.

The things that happened to me and the characters I encountered there can fill an entire volume.

To Be Continued 

"People are strange

when you're a stranger..."

People Are Strange
(Theme from Lost Boys)
Echo & The Bunnymen

"When you're strange,

faces come out of the rain..."

Across The Universe 3

Huggybear's Favorite Songs From The Beatles

February 18 Midweek Musical 

Let It Be 

Across The Universe 

Good Day Sunshine

To Be Contined Next Wednesday

Photo courtesy of lyrics007.com

A Thousand Summers 5

Saturday Evening Posts

February 7-13 Edition

A Thousand Summers 5

A friend from way back asked in Facebook how I was.

I told him I was living quietly, with a clear conscience and no enemies, and that I have been blessed with peace of mind.

The office was almost deserted when I went that night. People came in trickles. One of the bemusing things about holidays is that people who normally ignore you will greet you with enthusiasm and big smiles.

I was pleasantly surprised there was free food, catered. I had a long call, over an hour, when I went for my first 15-minute break.

It was 11:57 p.m., just three minutes to go. I went to the pantry to get some coffee, and on TV was German Moreno about to lead an all-star countdown.

As I went outside, it was already the Big Event. I love the sense of renewal during New Year: there is that evanescent whiff of a new beginning. It seems my life had been a series of chapters, having lived in various places, a book about a gypsy boy whose spirit has also passed from one lifetime to another for thousands of years.

I also see New Year differently now: I follow my own agenda for change. Crossing over is just a passage in time but I still enjoy the season, with a heightened sense of gratitude from all my blessings with their mesmerizing array of appearances.

The Northgate skyline blazed with fireworks, the sounds of celebrations echoing off the buildings. I was leaning on a lamp post, having myself a merry little New Year, welcoming 2013 with "Auld Lang Syne" on my head, joy in my heart and thanksgiving in my soul.

To Be Continued Next Saturday

Auld Lang Syne 
(from "It's A Wondeful Life")

"Should old acquaintance be forgot 

and never brought to mind..."

Across The Universe 2

Huggybear's Favorite Songs From The Beatles

February 4 Midweek Musical 

Hey Jude 

Til There Was You 

The Long and Winding Road 

To Be Contined Next Wednesday

Photo courtesy of americansongwriter.com