Friends through time! Friends at anytime
Hello, it's 3 AM. And I just want to write.
So I just woke up a while ago because I'm hungry. Usually I really need to wake up at this hour, earlier or later a bit, because I really need to eat unless I'm too tired to even realize my stomach is empty again.
Lol. Ectomorph folks and those that have a very fast metabolism could relate to me.
Anyway, I woke up and was surprised with the MUPH 2022 Winning candidate and I realized, Yeah, last night was the MU coronation, and as I scrolled, I also realized I hadn't formally bid my goodnight last night. Maybe I fell asleep again without realizing it.
Then, at one moment, when I scrolled down, my phone made a notification sound. It's a message.
And yeah, before you think that it's weird, nah, it isn't. The person was my best friend. And I'm pretty sure he already knows I'm hungry again. And I just miss him. But not in a romantic way or the like. I miss him and I miss our other friends too. I miss the bond and the occasional get-together, and the philosophizing and chill talks.
We rarely go out because we are all very busy with our lives and seem to be hustling now, especially since we are all starting to carve out our future career paths at various universities. It's a big leap of change from being grouped together in one city in one school, and suddenly we're leaving our home town anytime soon. We will be scattered and be required to socialize in different fields.
As we progress, we realize that responsibilities are adding up, and although it is still there, the humor we have for each other in doing silly things starts to vanish, so we tend to be contented and be normal in talking at different time zones. Concidental Like, talking with them isn't really in your daily routine and you are able to catch up with each other once in a blue moon.
And I just missed them all.
Sometimes I wake up at this hour and we will catch each other awake. He was doing late school work. And I just woke up to eat and refuel, and we will talk about life, sometimes about chemistry or calculus and integration and differentiation.
I love the way we grow, the way our minds have been shifted from time to time. I just have a few friends. I'm very selective with them. Not because of their skills, popularity, or wealth, but because they're theirs. The genuineness and the authenticity that they carry
But my best friend is the closest I have. We're both straight, but our relationship is clearly platonic. I have been dating for quite some time now. He dates too, quite a few times a year.
We both have our own different lives and we struggle with dealing with them also. But the funny thing is, even if that happens, the malice and curiosity you get from people staring is really funny, especially those miserable ones who like to talk about people's mistakes or the mistakes they presume that people have made or are starting to make.
When dogs don't know you, they tend to bark a lot. Sometimes it's true for those who claim to know everything, but their presumptions are all anchored on nothing. Good morning! 😊
Love Context: Age doesn't Matter
Hello, this is your Angel, Thain. Again, this is one of those past essays I wrote, probably when I was still in high school. This one is entitled "Age doesn't matter." Happy reading.
Relationships these days have gone so far to even upgrade their standards. Or is it society that tells us so? You can't say or do anything legitimate without being chastised by some and judged by all. In other words, your actions are being monitored. Anomalies sprang, and eventually the customs were twisted.
Age is another factor that may have brought spectators onto the line. For some, this word comes with a curse, which makes it appear more intriguing, especially when relationships are the trend. But is it really wrong for us to judge an 18-year-old girl who's dating a 29-year-old boy? Does age really matter? ...
Age is just a number; maturity is what really matters in a relationship." -Annette Szproch
Many of those shocked by Szproch's statement were And whether we admit it or not, not everyone agrees with it, but somehow it's true. There are 20-year-old people who act like they're 15. And there are some 15-year-olds who decide like an old man. Thus, in psychology, it was found that a man thinks 5 years younger than his age while a woman thinks 5 years older than her age.
And there are times when this seems evident. However, I still agree that your maturity isn't being determined by your age but by your experience, as has been said by Ziad Abdelnour. Since we all have unique kinds of life, we should therefore be aware that we ought to have distinct experiences that may seem different from others.
Love and happiness should be the only determining factors when it comes to entering into a relationship, not age. All relationships must be governed by love, as the saying goes, "Love conquers all". Maybe couples like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham, who have a 20-year age gap, might agree with me when I say that everything begins with love. After all, we are imbued with the notion that love must be the reason why we fall for someone, why we confess and why we marry.
However, when it comes to marriage, things like bills, parenting, principles, and morals should also be discussed between couples. As the elderly say, marriage isn't a joke. It is not happiness at all. Vows dictate that a couple must stay together even in the hardest times. In sickness and in health, in wealth and in poverty, this should be fulfilled till death do couples apart.
Every couple's struggle remains the same for everybody; it isn't limited to those who have the same age. Both sides can argue about jealousy, violence, being irrational and dominance. The only difference it would make is how these two rise above it all. Perhaps those of the same age are more likely to divorce, or vice versa. There are also couples who are of the same age who tend to click together because they have the same wavelength. same level of understanding and take on things.
Relationships are necessary. Even in ecology, we've talked about the various levels of relationship that each organism has. In the social context, this could be indicated mainly as the starting point of living the next chapter of one's life. But note that not everybody who starts with an unmatched piece always ends up the loneliest. Maybe for some, age really matters, but for me it doesn't. Relationships are driven by love, and no age can define a person's ability to love, considering, of course, that one really feels love, not lust, or attraction.
The Father Who can provide Immeasurably More!
Hello guys, this is Thain.
So I've been so busy the last few days that I've forgotten to craft articles.
Well if you might ask, the articles I've crafted which were published here recently were already drafted in my notes. But honestly, I haven't drafted some new ones.
Anyway, I just want to share what happened on Sunday, April 10, 2022, and, of course, the Good Friday service, as well as some of my insights regarding the Lord's Message.
So on April 10, the church celebrated its 31st birthday. Yes, the church in our city was established in the year 1991 through the efforts of faithful servants of God who have dedicated their lives to doing church planting and missions.
We have adapted the theme IMMEASURABLY MORE in relation to the passage written in Ephesians 3:20.
I was deeply engraved with our guest speaker's message. Aside from that, he's naturally entertaining, but also because the Lord has spoken to me through his words, telling me to always trust him because he can always do and provide things immeasurably more than what we asked for or imagined. He reminds me that he's a God that could grant us anything in the name of Jesus.
However, acknowledging this doesn't mean that God provides everything that we ask for. Yes, he provides. Even if we haven't asked him yet or prayed to him yet, he already knows what we want. But God knowing us personally also means that he knows what's best for us, and so if what we wanted would lead us to destruction, he would without a doubt deny it. God sometimes uses the response wait to test our faith, to see how much we believe in His power, and to see if what we demand is truly what we need.
Human as we are, we dwell in this physical realm where earthly things and treasures surround us and sustain us. However, our wants differ from our needs. Our lives might be gravely affected if our needs were not met, but want is a different story.
I actually have the time to reflect on the meme I saw after going out of church, which says that money can buy happiness, and I'm tired of pretending that it cannot.
Although this sounds hilarious, it is actually true.
Money can buy happiness, but then again, joy is a different story.
Happiness depends on events. Parties, balls, celebrations, vacations, anything luxurious, bonding, and meet ups. These could make one happy, depending on how they see it. And money can play a role in order to make these things possible. Thus, this also means that there will be times when you will not feel happy.
Joy, on the other hand, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit as stated in Galatians 5:22. You only need the holy spirit to live in you to transform you and to develop your spiritual health, and you will feel joy. Joy is eternal, as much as love is.
However, it is not safe to conclude that when you are already a Christian and the holy spirit already dwells in your being, you won't feel sad anymore. There will be no more tears and pain anymore. No, that is not the case as long as you're living in this world. Being sad, depressed, and lonely is inevitable.
The difference is that you might feel this sometimes, you might get tired and stressed sometimes, but you do not allow yourself to give up on life or the task the Lord has commanded you to do because the Lord is eager to bring you joy.
You have the assurance that things will work in accordance with the Lord's will. Being joyful means being dependent on God. His word and his direction.
When you know that God is your friend and companion, it is impossible to feel defeated. God will never abandon us, but our sins prevent him from blessing us. As much as God is loving, he is also holy, and he cannot accept the existence of sin in his presence.
That is why, when Jesus was crucified, he felt abandoned by God because God cannot tolerate sin. He is allergic to sin, yet he wants us to be reconciled with him. That's why he sent his son, Jesus Christ.
During our Good Friday service, we did not discuss the seven last words, but rather focus on Romans 5:6-8. which talks about how unconditional God's love is. It is really true that a person rarely dies for the righteous. Even if one is the best among the best, righteous among the righteous, one would hesitate to lay down his/her life for him because in this world we just ought to live once. We cannot live again in this world. It is either we dwell in heaven or hell, depending on if you have received salvation and the gift of eternal life.
Yet God, being unconditionally loving towards us, laid down his son's life for us while we were still sinners, powerless and living in the darkness. He loves us so much that he does not want us to suffer in hell because hell isn't for us. It is for Satan and his kind. Then there was Lucifer, who was banished from heaven together with those angels who had rebelled against God.
So if you think no one loves you, Think again. God loves you and he will never abandon you. It is just up to you if you're going to accept him as your personal saviour. You are not a robot. God has given you free will, and I hope that you choose to be with him someday.
What I'm sure of is that whether we have Jesus or not, we all receive his universal blessing. The sun, the air, the water, all these are universal blessings. It is not only the believers who enjoy this, but all.
But in order for you to receive his blessings fully, Come back to him and be obedient to his word. God is faithful to his laborers in his vineyard. And he's also faithful to his children.
God is our Father, and just like our biological fathers, he would provide for his child's needs as long as it could keep him safe. Our prayers to him smell like those of incense. Thus, this is an indication to always communicate with him, to search for him and learn with him, and all this is possible as long as you have the faith to believe that God truly exists.
As Matthew 7:7-8 says, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
May God bless you!
The Art of Story Telling
I love reading.
I enjoy it as much as I want to write. Hence, I've been living my life reading various materials, from articles published in editorials and newspapers, to case studies, theses, and dessertations, to blogs and novels on online platforms. Aside from those written for academe, some works are commended in the public market to generate profit, while others are open to the public and only count views and likes.
In the case of free works, like novels, perhaps I've always noticed that some authors who write mind-blowing plots, have fewer grammatical errors, and tackle societal issues in a deeper context always end up underrated. And I always wonder, why is it that? And why is it easy for some works with a clichéd plot to be read?
Well, if you have the same thoughts, this article might be for you.
The Author's Purpose
In the entire course of studying English Literature and Creative Writing We are constantly told that written works serve a purpose. To begin with, there are the never-ending sets of to inform, entertain, and persuade. We brainstorm for a good topic, outline it in a rough draft, still thinking of what the piece should look like in the end. For example, when I wrote this article, I wanted you to be entertained while also being informed, so I had to stick to that goal until the end.
This is how our minds have been shaped when we think of the purpose of writing inside of an institution. However, when we get out of it and take a step in the real world, this is where we start adding purposes.
The Real Deal
A chef cooks food for it to be eaten by customers. As an author, she writes for her works to be read, and for them to be read, they need to be published. Nevertheless, this sort of reasoning still results in three things: fame, satisfaction, and money.
Almost all career-ending games revolve around those things. Writing isn't an exception. People need stories. Some write it for them and they pay for it. The writer, in return, earns, improves his resume, and becomes satisfied with the outcome.
He wanted them to read it because he thought that the plot was mind-blowing or it would give them lessons in the end. He will earn the satisfaction of doing so. If he wanted it to be read because he needed money, and if the story is that great, then yes, he will have money. It's a give and take relationship with the purpose of coexisting in one realm.
The Demands
Furthermore, because needs are being tested. The demmands of the readers have also played a role in the writer's response. As a result, when the goal is to make money through publishing, one should think about their target audiences or the likes of their target audiences. In my 8th grade, we were taught that in the writing industry, it is either sex or blood that dominates the sales. It's no surprise that erotica and action are among the most popular genres in our country. Few people prefer to read works of substance.
The allusion and the mention of prominent people and institutions also enhance the commendation. No matter how rubbish the work is, just because it employs the names of people who hold an enormous amount of power and class, the piece ends up being the most picked, most read, and most purchased. Thus, the last judge would be your readers.
The Last Judge
Readers are subjective.
You cannot control their thoughts. Thoughts are deceiving and playful too. Your purpose of writing your article might not be aligned with how they see it. As I have mentioned earlier, I might be writing this to inform you, but that might not be the case after you read this. You can say that you were persuaded by my article after reading it, or that you were entertained. This might also result in you rereading this again, waiting for me to update another article, or totally blocking me and not being bothered by my work again.
Nonetheless, I'm hoping for a better response from you guys. This is Thain, and I'll see you guys in my succeeding articles. I actually wrote this a long time ago, but I just found it in my dumps recently.
As always keep safe. You are loved
Thain and the Sugarcane
Hello guys, this is your angel, Thain. It’s been a while since I was able to write articles here.
Did you miss me? 😁
Just kidding.
Anyway, the reason for my absence these past few days is that I went on a little vacation. I don’t know if you could actually call that a vacation, maybe a break or so. I visited my mom’s place. And that is where some of her siblings also reside. Well, they basically grew up in there.
The catch is that the place is not that civilized yet. No electricity, rare signals, and just simple life. Away from pollution and the loudness of car engines, What you can actually hear there are the sounds of crickets in the night, the birds humming in the morning and the occasional mooing of cows.
The house is also isolated from other houses and meters away from the nearest store, but the household owns a motorbike, which they normally use when they need to buy something essential.
It was inside a mango plantation, near a river, and a few steps away from fields of sugarcane plantation. Aside from sugarcane, the place was also dominated by bamboo trees. And there are actually turtles living there. I saw two of them in broad daylight when I went outside to walk around the place.
Nanay said that during mango season, they flood the plantation because they like to eat fallen mangoes. And there are really a lot of them given the geography of also having swamps and low water.
So I stayed there for quite some time, and I just arrived here this morning. Yes! This morning, my phone was dead-bat already, so I had to charge it. The power bank I brought will not also suffice. But that's the great thing about being in there. You won't be able to see what's happening on social media, just pure calmness and serenity for a while.
I actually took some videos during our trek. Since the fields, although just a plantation of sugarcane, vary in altitude, some fields are in the highlands and others are in the lowlands. All the pictures posted here were mine alone, captured during our walk. I could've taken some more landscapes if I had had a battery though.
This one intrigued me while we were passing a series of ponds. It is analogous to scarecrows placed in corn fields, but this one stands in the middle of the pond.
The pond caretaker said that they do that because a lot of birds hunt fish, especially those who are stuck in low waters when they intentionally prevent water from crossing other ponds so fish would swim in a particular area.
Almost all the ponds we passed had this stick with clothes in them, and indeed it was effective, as I spotted no birds in ponds where no actual man was working.
I find it amusing, however, because many adventurous bikers like to take the route on the other side of the pond when they stroll around the city, and I wondered, what if they have come here for the night and come across these scary crows, especially when they are placed in water?
I don't know how they will react! Since there are really some people afraid of ghosts or anything unusual.
After crossing the ponds, we have already arrived in the sugarcane fields, and like I've said, some are placed on high lands and others on lowlands.
And we're walking in the heat of the sun with a 29° Celsius temperature at 8AM. Who knows how much 8 a.m. can hurt?
While walking, I have the time to reflect. There are a lot of sugarcanes thriving to grow, and yes, sometimes people are like sugarcanes too.
Like sugarcane, which grows on almost all classes of soil provided that it is fertile and well-drained, People like us, although we are scattered in different fields by the time we have been planted, crave for an environment that enables us to grow into a full stalk that yields a great product.
We yearn for an environment that provides opportunities for growth and people who will nurture us.Help us by providing us with an adequate amount of motivation and energy to continue. But we know, in the end, that it is always up to us to thrive in the given environment.
Being in a field combined with other stalks one is placed to basically survive and become useful. This means we outgrow some of us.
Some sugarcane receives too much sunlight, some receives too much water, especially when placed in a waterlogged environment, and some receives too much fertilizer in hopes that it is what the plant needs.
But the thing is, people's growth isn't maximized when too much is provided. One may be overwhelmed, stressed and thirsty for the actual need being given too much attention and work.
The other may be drowned, being unable to absorb all the needs given. And the other might manifest sourness and spoilage in its growth as it receives things it doesn't need in the first place.
Like sugarcane, people like us bloom in our own season. When the time is right and the situation is good enough, But provided that the weather is disturbed and cyclones may come to destroy the fields, we are left to thrive on our own. Those who are deeply rooted take as much time to be turned down when the winds blow as those who band together to conquer together.
And finally, the harvest comes, when stalks are cut for sucrose to be produced after a series of grindings. And just like sugarcane, people like us specialize in different fields. Some are like sweetening agents, which make someone else's day, others are like ethanol, which cleanses, some are muscovado, which colors, and others are biomass and biofuel, which serve as alternatives. Ready to take on any role for a system to continuously function.
We had taken a few more steps before we spotted that average-sized bamboo house from afar, and while approaching it, all I could see was solace in the following days.
But now that it's already over, I'm back in our house where noises are everywhere, but at least I have the time to refresh. I hope you had yours too.
This is again your Angel, Thain.Thank you so much for reading.
Being ambitious is fine as long as you're willing to work for it!
Being ambitious is fine as long as you're willing to work for it!
Hello guys, this is your angel, Thain.
And today I just want to talk about being ambitious. So this is relative to what happened just recently, and I just want to share a story about it.
Well, on a normal basis, I don't like kids, or maybe I grew up with the kind of mindset that kids will never like me because I always have this aura that I carry around with me that is "serious" or intimidating.
Instead of beaming in light, you'll often see me with my usual poker face.So the normal approach is that instead of going to me, they suddenly think that
"Hey, Ate is busy and she doesn't like noisy kids, so stay away from her area." Even if I have nothing to do on my desk, I just sit there and scroll through my phone or just think about some stuff.
But recently, these habits of mine, or the stereotype, I guess, that's been placed upon me, have been broken. To put it simply, I found out kids like me and they actually want me to teach them.
The reason why I now tutor kids on how to properly read in English and Filipino. Because, no matter how much we defend it, learning English is really hard. Sure, it is easy to translate, but pronouncing the word correctly or using the appropriate verb or preposition in a sentence is sometimes confusing and intense.
So going back, I started teaching them and I also did a little bit of mathematics, and it was all for free. I just spend time with them every morning on a regular basis, except when things go rough, such as rain is heavy pouring or someone is sick, because it will be hard for them to go to our house.
On one particular morning, after we read some stories and answered some math problems, we sat down and just talked.
The kids are 6–9 years old. They are all girls, except for my little brother. And they really love talking, especially the girl with straight long hair, Cara.
The conversation revolved around topics of profession when one of them asked me what course I was taking currently or what I would want to become in the future.
My brother was quick to say, "Oh, she wanted to become a scientist!"
And they were like, "Woah! Really? What is it like? "
And although my course isn't really like that but closely associated with it, I explained its tidbits to them.
They were fast to reply with the words,
"I want to be a doctor," said Ria. A child who, despite being in elementary school, is unable to correctly read words and identify letters.We were practicing phonetics in the English alphabet.
The other kid, KR, said she wanted to become an engineer, but originally she wanted to become a dentist, but she's too slow in plucking her damaged teeth when it's already the time that they have lost.
Cara wanted to become a police woman, and everybody was like,
"Really? You wanted to become a policewoman, but you're so thin. "
However, she just shrugged it off and proudly said, "I'm going to be a police woman and I will go to the office!"
She even went on saying, "Stop telling me what to do, because I ain't doing that to you!"
KR then said that Addy, their other friend, wanted to become a nurse but she's afraid of blood; and that they would someday build a business together as a group, Addy, her, and Cara, and they said Cara is really pursuing it.
Cara, then beaming with joy, said, "Of course! I wanted to build a salon. " I later learned that this was because she likes tidying her hair. I asked her how she felt about being a policeman since she also wanted that. She replied immediately, remarking,
"I'll work in the office because I won't fight out in the field because that's for men!"
I was quiet for a second because her entire line had literally shocked me.
Well the gyst is we all know that these are just random conversations with kids, but honestly, I can actually reflect on all of them.
There are a lot of major points on which focus could be placed. Such as Dreams! Dreams and visions are our main drivers, which motivate us to continue fighting or to always do our best.
Sometimes our dreams speak to our hearts' wants. It doesn't necessarily check your pockets, but your faith in becoming that person someday.
Although our visions are influenced by our current truths, they spearhead our will. For instance, these kids' truth is limited to their profession being the key to getting out of poverty. When, in reality, your salary can not truly lift you out of the overall poverty trap, even if you work your whole life, you will never get richer unless you venture into business or investments that will leverage your advances.
However being a professional will also help you become more aware of what is really happening in society on a larger scale. It will introduce you to the world market and current technologies and innovation that the world focuses on; which if you are smarter than anybody else's thinks, you might find something interesting here that you're willing to work for and in the future will help you build your own fortune.
Number two, our current truth also allows us to change our course of sailing in leui of inevitable failure in our field someday. Of course, the path to becoming an engineer is difficult, as is the path to becoming a doctor or nurse.It would cost us something very important to us.
Life is a gamble. In order to get anything nice and useful, you need to exchange things. It's always the law of physics that governs us.
Did you want to become a top student? Learn how to become one: study smart, work harder than anyone else, analyze critically instead of familiarizing, etc.
Do you want to become a varsity player? Practice more, do drills, and take your training seriously.
In contrast to that, being hard doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible. Yes, it might be hard, but working to make it easier someday is possible. The chance is never zero, and as long as it doesn't hit that value, there's a possibility that you might win in that area in the long run. Being skilled takes time.
And number 3, which I think is the last, our truths are being influenced by our belief system, and that belief system may be one of the reasons why we need to limit our dreams.
Basically, I don't like mysoginist people, and so the line Cara have said has really annoyed me. I don't want to compete with men, but I refuse to become inferior when compared to the other sex. That's because what I can do in particular has nothing to do with my sex organs, especially in school or work. But in the society in which we're built, discrimination arises.
There are people who teach children that women are inferior when it comes to men, that chances aren't equal for both sexes. Not only are there mysoginists out there, but there are also people who discriminate against others because of differences in wealth and social class.
In our case, we don't all belong to a well-off family, and being able to graduate in 4-5 years with a bachelor's degree is next to impossible. That's why the word "ambitious" is being used to describe those who want to go beyond what society expects them to do.
However, in my point of view, being ambitious should not be taken as a negative word. As long as you're willing to work hard for what you want to become, being ambitious is an understatement. It is not even a degrading word, but rather a declaration that you want your life to be different from what you have now.
It's a declaration of change that you wanted to achieve, and as long as you take a step towards getting there without damaging other people, you simply cannot be stoned. So be as ambitious as you want, and work hard to show those who openly mocked you that you know how to walk the talk.
This is again your Angel, Thain. Thank you so much for reading and as always keep safe. You are loved.
How Agaton brought forth destruction in the Visayan Region
Hey guys, this is Thain and I just want to say something today.
Please pray for the safety of the people in the Visayan Region!
It actually took a while for me to upload this because it's really raining hard here. Basyang, better known by its international name, Malakas, has already entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
Agaton has been attacking most of the Visayan Region over the last few days.Some portions of Leyte now, especially Baybay, are being flooded. Portions of Northern Ioilo, Cebu, Northern Negros Occidental, Aklan and Capiz are also covered by water. Some even experienced landslides.
I haven't gotten an update from my friend yet. Power supply has not been available in their city since yesterday, and I've read updates stating that some portions of their municipality are already flooded as 136 barangays in Capiz alone are drowning in water.
And you guys might wonder that since everything is already a mess here, why am I still writing?
Well, basically, I can't stop this heavy rain from pouring, so what I ought to do should be staying with my family and prepare emergency kits, which we have already done. As a result, we have no choice but to stay safe inside our homes.
In addition to that, this condition has urged us to stay awake, even if the coldness is a great encourager of sleep. Meters away from us, there's a bridge constructed over a river. From time to time, officials are monitoring the water level and we need to keep updated regarding it so we can evacuate immediately in case a flood warning is raised.
Tides are another feature of water forms. During the course of a day, there's a 12 hour high tide and a 12 hour low tide. A tide has the characteristic of lasting for 6 hours a day, so basically there are 2 high tides and 2 low tides every day in alteration.
Agaton and Basyang are also not supertyphoons, but rather they interchange from being tropical cyclones to tropical storms to tropical depressions. This means that it stays longer than a supertyphoon. Staying longer would mean a longer time of heavy rain and a greater possibility of flooding.
This is a province where we might not be surrounded by a lot of buildings, but we're wrapped in water forms. Aside from seas, lakes, and rivers, we have springs and falls from the mountains. That's why in times like this, it is important to stay awake and alert.
As we are all not meteorologists, we cannot just draw conclusions from what we've seen. What we can do is just trust those who know what's happening on a larger scale and listen to them for proper response and operation.
As I type this now, I know there are a lot of rescue operations happening in some areas, with people using social media to leverage help and make the situation bearable for everybody.
This is the very first typhoon of the year 2022, Agaton, which was immediately followed by the second one, Basyang. Sure, it just arrived in April, but it is also very destructive. The last time I heard of Agaton being a typhoon was in 2014.
I was in Panay, in Pilar Capiz. I stayed there after attending a regional school's press conference. A media and journalism-related activity. We've also been stranded there for a few days, unable to go back home because there's no service for water vessels (ferries).
The positive part there was that I was able to meet some people during my stay and during the travel itself, I got to see a lot of places. But now what I can only see is trees and plants laying on the ground. Crops engulfed in mud, herds drowned in water.
I suddenly felt sorry for the farmers and their supposed harvest. The Negros and Panay Regions are primarily agricultural.The places boast numerous grains and sugarcane fields. Some provinces also venture into the aquaculture and fishing industries, which after typhoons, per record, are always left devastated with their boats and fishing tools broken.
I pray the typhoon will leave the Philippine Area of Responsibility sooner. The Visayas have not yet recovered from Odette's destruction last December, 2021, and they're being battered again.
Although resilient, this doesn't mean that people living in the aforementioned regions should face typhoons like this.
Thank you for reading. God bless you all!
The power of starting it NOW and doing it CONSISTENTLY
Hello, this is your Angel, Thain.
For today's article, I'm just going to write some reflections of mine.
So basically, when you guys get to my profile, you'll see that I've already been a user for 2 months, but I just started writing the last week of March, which means, essentially, I've been here writing for just more than a week now, 2 weeks in general.
Yes! delayed, I might say. And I had a really good idea about it.
You know, college and all these responsibilities that just keep popping up, which makes it hard to manage. Up until now, I've been helping myself not focus too much on one thing. Because as much as we consider things important and we label them as a priority, our focus doesn't go along with them most of the time.
We are prone to distractions. We can't deny that. The mere existence of motivational podcasts on Spotify, pomodoro techniques, and app blocking is evidence of how distracted a person can get.
And that person is me. Especially when you grow up with the mindset that multitasking makes you work fast. Which is wrong. Well, if this is applicable to some people, I don't think that it is effective on me. It cannot be, especially if what you're training is focus. Because, like, duhh, it was called focus for reason that you're only putting your attention on an individual. Not many.
For instance, when you're looking at a microscope, you're using knobs in order to focus on a specimen and directly observe it. You don't observe details in its surroundings; you are just looking at the specimen given.
It'd be the same when it comes to us. If you have two tasks at hand and you decide to do them at the same time, yes, you might finish them, but it's either you have used too much time or the results of one of the tasks is not satisfactory.
That is because our brain is wired to focus on one thing at a time. If you do task no. 1 and then shift to task no. 2 and back to one again, it messes up your focus.
Such that when you are fully engaged in task no. 1 and you are really motivated to do it. But you remember, you are also doing another task, so the moment you get back to task 1, suddenly all those motivations have been gone and the information, which you probably haven't jotted down, is lost and you're going to start over again, remembering all those details. See, it is more time-consuming to do that than just to finish task 1 right away and move on to task number two after.
Besides, let's just get honest here: when humans are exposed to a new task or thing, we get curious about it, and as individuals that aren't really born with a lot of patience, they tend to overwork things.
We are excited to see the results, and the feeling is overwhelming us that we designed ourselves to just go at the end right away. We are not lovers of processes, normally. We just get to live with the idea that waiting is essential sometimes.
And that happens to me sometimes. I'm very idealistic that today I want to work. Today I want to finish it because I'm getting a lot of these happy hormones and all. But then the cortisol kicks in and we start to realize that, "Hey, what if the opposite of it happens? "What do I do with it?" "Oh my gosh, I don't have plans?"
Suddenly, we let go of the task, and yeah, "Maybe tomorrow I'll figure out what I do with that and then I'll start with it"
And then tomorrow comes and you actually forget about it. So, what now?What are you going to do now?
Anyways, this is me being late, but maybe not too late to actually share my thoughts. So if you have things to do, do them now or start them now, because it would really help you.
Some might argue that if I do it now, what if something bad happens that could have been avoided if I had waited a little longer?
Then this is where the phrase "do it consistently" can be applied. If you have second thoughts about doing it now, Try doing it tomorrow, but you have to make sure that you're going to remember it tomorrow. Make methods or changes that will encourage you to remember and stick with it.
A routine or a schedule is useless if you don't follow it. Want to do it tomorrow? Set an alarm or reminder and repeat it after your desired minute interval.
In addition to this, a study by one of the psychologists at Harvard, which I actually forgot the name of, says that building a habit usually takes 21 days as well as breaking a habit. So, if you have a written outline of a routine and want it to become permanent in you, practice it for 21 days and who knows, you might wake up doing it all without having to remind yourself.
It's amazing how our brains and bodies have been structured, but It is also important to remember that we are organisms that also gets tired. That's why during your leisure time, rest and do things that make you happy.
We have only 24 hours. If you're sleeping for 8 hours, then you're just left with 16 hours. And you cannot simply choose to sacrifice your rest in order to work. So what we're managing here should be energy, not time.
Whether you like it or not, your everyday life will only amount to 24 hours and cannot be extended. So, learn to complete your task within the time allotted.Practice consistency and train yourself to focus more on the things at hand.
I swear this would make your life easier. I am also going to apply this to myself. I am tired of doing everything in a messy way. Because whether we agree with it or not, being patient, consistent and having a great focus is applicable at times, whether you have a schedule or not. It is just classic.
So this comprises today's article. Please bear with me as I also don't know if this is helpful, cohesive, and organized in some way.
This is again your angel, Thain. Keep safe always, guys. You are loved.
Being Practical or Being Passionate? You Choose!
Have you ever been stuck between deciding what you like and what actually works? What do you really want to do and what actually fits you?
Well, I have. My friends have And it was not a good feeling...
Passion
In several definitions offered by World's Dictionaries, the word "passion" has always been linked to the word "emotion."
It gives a description of being devoted to doing something, being excited and enthusiastic about doing something that distractions are rarely considered. It has been so tied down to love that sometimes we confuse it for hobbies.
Whereas hobbies are only done in your spare time, passion is when your schedule is full but you still make time because you enjoy doing that thing. For instance, you talk with someone because you have time to pass. That might be a hobby, but when you make time to talk with that person, that is a passion. Passion does not wait, it makes time.
It provides attention. If my passion is loving you, you do need to ask me for it. I'll love you in accordance with my will. There is no force to be employed because I love the feeling of constantly loving you.
Then there's
Practicality
If passion has been linked to emotion, Practicality is linked with proven action. The reliability and credibility of this thing is without question. Hence, it was called "practical" because you can trust it to be useful on a daily basis. Such that when a career is practical, it will pay your bills and feed you.
When an action is practical, you do not need to relearn it because you always do the same thing because it's practical. When you're playing safe, betting on a practical action is the most preferable.
**Now why am I writing this one?**
Well, I happen to see dates of admission results coming on the home page of social media groups. And then I realized that, yes, we were like this last year, and now we're seeing new batches doing the same thing we did, applying to colleges, sometimes for clout, sometimes for being out of options, and sometimes for serious reasons.
We can see students with varied perspectives on college-excited freshies and all. And I also remembered how we struggled to choose between your dream campus or your dream course. Or maybe your dream course and the practical one.
I have a friend. We’re actually close. You know, we’re a squad that basically lives in the same village but gets to see others rarely. Some best friends from different provinces get to travel every two days just to hang out, but our group takes a month just to go out and eat with the exaggerated curfew and inability to take some proof that we actually have fun as friends.
So last year, she was really struggling with whether to pursue a pre-med degree or an architecture degree. She said she likes both because she’s always seen herself as a doctor. She wore those robes as a known psychologist because she likes the human mind, but she feared that she would not pass the pre-med exam given.
She also likes drawing, even though she said many times that she’s not good at it. However, she’s very good at designing house interiors. Yet she feared that she’d be compared to her cousin when she pursued architecture because her cousin shares the same passion for art and was quite good at it.
The catch is, her mom doesn’t want any of the two. She wants her to take computer science, as we are now in the digital era and that will be a good career. Relative to this, she passed the admission exam for computer science at one of the prestigious universities she applied to. She didn’t pass the pre-med course exam, but she can appeal.
And she can actually just go on enrolling in an Architecture course because the campus given was a private one, and some private schools during the pandemic didn’t really hold an exam. As long as you can pay the tuition they require, that will be okay.
So she asked me what I would do if I were in her shoes.
Well, basically I do not like the three, so I won’t choose any of them. But seriously, I told her that.
What I added to my answer, however, is that when you’re left with choices that you really want, the next thing you’ll consider is which of these two is the most practical. I mean, I already love both and I just need to pick one, and the edge one can show is its practicality and convenience, not on your part but on the part of those who will support you.
Because let’s be honest here: College is very financially draining and during that time you are expected to study, not work, so who else would support your education but those people around you?
You cannot support yourself, or if you can, you need to let go of some things that you’re used to getting to during the time you’re not venturing out on your own yet.
But if I had to choose between a course that is more practical and one that I enjoy, I'd go with the latter. College is hard enough. Staying on a course that you don’t want makes it even harder.
Well, there are cases where people who didn’t like what they did in the first years have learned to love it in the succeeding years, but when a person has already grown a seed of love for the course, I don’t think she’ll be able to easily forget it and live life without it easily. It’s like losing a part of your soul.
As ordinary beings, we tend to forget things that practicality doesn't offer—growth and opportunities.
Sure, Passion may not feed you or might not even make a good career, but in the first place, passion isn't for work. The money you get from doing what you love is just a bonus.
I am not saying that money isn’t important; it is because we need it. The thing is, yes, it can feed us, but until when? Until things are not practical anymore. Until humanity has already found a new practical thing,
People change. Things change.
What’s practical now can't be practical years later, and you cannot stop it from changing. You can just control you and change you into something that would let you blend with the system.
In the first place, a practical thing became practical because one individual discovered it and did it, and then another person saw this individual doing it and did it too, eventually proving that it actually works. Eventually, it would become the norm for everybody, leading to practicality.
It is through learning and doing what you love that people can bring about a good idea, which later can become the norm. Constantly doing what you always wanted to do allows you to take risks and venture on opportunities that don't promise anything—talk about being spontaneous. In the end, it leaves you with a lesson or with a chance to do better the next time.
Being passionate about something also allows you to uncover what the majority did not do because they opted to do the practical ones. Passion brings you to a place only those who go ahead of the borderline reach. It allows you to experience things that the average person doesn't enjoy.
It may not be luxuries, but it is something that is unique in your field.It is something only a few are able to know. It is not for everybody, only for those who choose to pursue their passion. Hence, although this sounds promising, it doesn't mean that it is all about the nice ones. Candy and Roses.
There might be guns and poison on the journey and you might realize that maybe choosing what the majority does is the right path. But smartwork and determination always get their reward in the end, provided that you sow the right seeds.
If you started with a dark philosophy, do not expect to have something good in the end. A bad tree doesn’t produce good fruit. And this is applicable whether you are passionate or practical—the values and morals that you do practice. Whatever your options are, if you do not use the right tools to get them, you will never get them.
Now my friend is already taking Architecture and she’s struggling a little, but she's a little happier about her decision. There’s nothing wrong with choosing what you love, as long as you’re geared up with the proper tools.
In the same way, there’s nothing wrong with choosing what’s practical as long as you have the dedication to explore and modify it.
And I believe there’s nothing wrong with leaving this article here. I hope you had a good read.
This is again, your Angel Thain. Keep safe always, you are loved.
Pre-marital intercourse: A View from a Teenager's Lens
Hello guys, this is your angel, Thain.
For today’s entry, I would just like to share some things and say a few words about being engaged in s*x before marriage.
Fundamentally, this is my viewpoint and is naturally influenced by several factors that contribute to my overall growth—environment, belief system, shared experiences, norms, and values inside the house.
So I mentioned in the last article that I’m close to transitioning into my 20’s already, which means that I’m already in my teenage years and I’m a college student at a large university whose human capacity might cover up to 10,000 students or more on a single campus.
Within those campuses, culture is diverse; everything, including sexual preferences, orientations, genders, races, and standing in a social structure, is of no conflict. Everybody inside is catered to, and every belief system and norm is respected.
I was just bothered by the fact that people are so surprised when they learn that someone is a virgin at an age where s*x is already prominent, or I mean 18, as some countries really consider 18 to be a stage where you can no longer be called a child, hence frequently mentioning the line "Welcome to legality" when someone celebrates their 18th birthday.
Most people kept calling you innocent with the intent of making you feel bad about yourself. I mean, as much as there’s nothing wrong with penises and vaginas, so as being innocent is. What’s wrong with knowing nothing about s*x when it is never meant for the unmarried in the first place? S*x is made for couples who are bound by marriage. It is a gift for both the husband and the wife. It is not a game that can be played by just about anyone.
This is biblical and this is where I stand and put my faith in. No matter how many people tell me that sex is for everybody, I would choose to believe that it is not. It is for everybody when "everybody" is a couple. In time, the social structure would change its system from referring to premarital as wrong to claiming that it is right, but the word of the Lord would never change from then on until now. It will never fade away, as it is holy and eternal.
Of course, given this belief, it also doesn’t mean that when people around me don’t share the same belief as I do, I literally become frantic and look at them like they’re the worst kind. No way!I basically don’t do that. Even if we don't share the same beliefs, that doesn't give me the right to dismiss or criticize others.It is just wrong to treat people that way.
To begin with, that belief is already widespread; whether in church or in some states, pre-marital s*x is considered a sin; to put it another way, pre-marital is wrong under God's or the law of the land. And it’s a big deal that even in our culture, when pre-marital leads to pregnancy, the man is required to marry the woman or else the case will be pursued as a r*pe.
This belief being widespread implies that it is not classified anymore and almost all are already aware of this. This also means that when people commit pre-marital acts, it is of their own free will. And people are made with free will, or the freedom to choose.
We are not controlled by God; it is by our own will that we move. In essence, you cannot blame God. On the other hand, beingr*ped, cannot be considered a sin in some cases, as evidenced by Deuteronomy 22, which you can read in its entirety if you wish.
So, what do I do when I'm with these people?
I deal with them normally, respond if I need to, listen if they want me to listen and understand. There’s no change in how I treat them. Why should I change my dealings with them in the first place? I was not taught to point out the sins of others when I myself am also a sinner and have only been saved by the grace of God.
I have nothing to boast about my salvation because I did not work for this and I am not the one who’s been crucified on the cross. What I just did was to admit that I’m a sinner, believe that Christ died for me on the cross, and accept him as my personal Savior.
If they asked me about how I see these things, I just said what I needed to say, and if they wouldn’t accept it, it wasn’t my fault anymore. I was tasked with sharing and responding to the situation, not forcing people to grow. Growth is the work of the Holy Spirit, not mine.
Being a believer also makes me a hater of sin, not people, which eventually reminds me to stand firm in my faith and be guided by the word, or else I will also be dragged into things that pull me away from living in the light. As much as there’s a holy spirit, there’s also a spirit of sin which dwells in this world and deceives people.
This also doesn’t mean that I am perfect or that I am holy.
I can commit sins too, but the main difference is that you battle them together with the holy spirit. It is true that when we sin, Christ forgives us as long as we repent, but that doesn’t give us the right to continue sinning. If you’re already a believer, you must already be aware that living a sinful life is not good in the eyes of the Lord.
Concerning punishments, the Lord has designed punishments for every sin, but be mindful that the Lord forgives as long as you repent. Total repentance means asking for forgiveness and turning from your sin 180 degrees. There’s still punishment, but the hope of living a new life is being offered. It is just up to you whether you’ll accept it or not.
So this comprises today’s article. I basically use an asterisk in the vowels of the words "r*pe" and "s*x" as I just started writing this week, even though I have already been a user for 1 month, so I don’t know if this platform filters these words and doesn’t allow articles with these words to be published. If, in any case, you know, please comment down below, that would be a great help. Thank you so much.
This is again your angel,Thain. Keep yourself safe. You are loved. God bless you!
Struggles of Chainbreakers
**You know that feeling of not being welcomed?**
**Not being as good and pretty as others are?**
No matter how much people tell you that it is fine, you have your own beauty, you understand things in your own way and at your own pace, you do need to be like them, but at the end of the day, you stare up at the ceiling and then you realize that still... you are never enough.
**Sucks right?**
At a family reunion, the family members started talking about Jim going into law school, about Ana going to Med School, and then there's you. A college dropout or someone whose grades are slipping. You are seen differently, and then they all start treating you as a disgrace or someone who has lost their soul and needs to be redeemed. What's worse is that you think you're the only hope for your other cousins who are not as gifted as your favorite ones, and you failed to give them an example or a little ray of hope.
Helplessness..
This was always the scenario I saw on various social media platforms. Typically, this comes from former top middle school students who have burned out on college. Those who had constantly set the bars high, and people expected them to still do it in institutions where standards had been changed. And from those "eldest" members of the family who have been carrying the burden of graduating on time and getting a good job in order to pull the family from the locks of poverty. Children who are being treated as an investment or retirement plan.
Yes. This is a reality. To some people, this might sound absurd. But if you come from a barely surviving family or a group of people who belong to a marginalized sector, being sent to school is already a privilege. Being able to have a good phone is already a privilege. And being able to graduate from college is considered a privilege, not a right.
This is somewhat of a toxic culture. A student's upbringing is constantly putting pressure on them. They're made for that, and they're made to be capable of handling that. Which is so sad. It is so very very unfortunate on their part. Especially when you see them being pained in that situation, they don't have any choice but to continue doing that because, along with the mindset of being able to cut the chain of poverty, they were also raised with the mindset that a family never abandons its own kind. That's because blood should always be thicker than water. Be thicker than your dreams of yourself.
Resolutions
So for all those people who are experiencing this kind of situation, Be brave. I would not tell you that everything will be OK in time, because time won't do all the work. You will. You will be the one who has to work for your own wealth because you have none to inherit. You will be the one who will pioneer your future family's fortune. You will be the one who will break the chains of inappropriate discipline and toxic norms in the family. And it may sound like too much on your part, but it will be worth it.
Someday, your grandchildren may thank you for taking the first step toward changing the world in unprecedented ways. And as always, if you won't commit to doing so, there will always be someone who's going to do the job for you. It might not be now, but someday there will be someone who's brave enough to deal with it. As long as it is not okay, there will always be attempts to abolish and change it for the betterment of the majority.
As the popular saying goes, if you were born poor, that isn't your fault. However, if you die poor, that is already your fault. But I would like to add a little to that. Dying poor cannot only be seen in the context of wealth, it can also be seen in how well you lived your life. Were you fulfilled or were you able to become happy before you met your end?
I hope you could say yes to this question when the proper hour comes, this is again, your Angel, Thain. See you on the Next Article!
Keep Safe always. You are loved.
Your Angel Writes Now!
Writing an article alone is easy. To write an article worth reading is not...
Perhaps this is the struggle of every writer. Amateur or not, this conflict tends to be popular all the time, like the Enchanting Pieces played by Mozart and Beethoven during the Classical period.
As I type this now, the idea of this article being trash constantly revolves around my head. Pointing out the possibility of being unworthy of being read. However, as much as I can think of this as cheap, some people could actually see this the other way around. This could mean being informative and entertaining to them.
I am a writer. Not as good as the famous one, but I've been writing for quite some time now. Although it's just this year that I discovered this platform. For years, I've been thinking that people would require you to write something that is popular or trendy, and then, all of a sudden, there's this. A platform that allows you to do both right. Anything that you would want as long as you didn't steal it from others. This is a breather. An encourager A practice ground that will allow you to improve in the long run, but at the same time, won't limit your interest.
As a writer, I do not expect everybody to like my future works, as writing has always been subjective. Some people might like your work, while others find it uninteresting. There's no technique in that. Audiences are governed by their emotions and various sets of beliefs. So the wise thing to do is to write down what you really want with minimal technicalities.
Yes, as a writer, you are free to write what you want, but that doesn't mean that you don't follow the general rules. There are rules in writing, and following them is what sets you apart from ordinary people. For instance, when you write a sonnet, it should come in 14 lines. Because a sonnet is a poem with 14 lines,
When writing a news article, say you are a journalist. You don't write in a first person point of view, saying "I saw the fire." It killed nearly 20 people and injured more or less 50 people. " You don't write news that way, as it will appear as hearsay. What you do is gather facts, form a lead, interview, and follow the structure of writing a news article. You learn to become a news writer because that is different than being a normal citizen.
To end this article, I would like to introduce myself as Thain, not my real name. And I normally write educational and motivational content, which is usually derived from my learning logs and daily write-ups. Most of the topics dwell on the sciences and a little bit of literature. Hence, if you love to read that kind of stuff, feel free to follow so you'll be updated every time I post new content.
Keep safe always. You are loved.
@Black_Angel
