@JulianaF

@JulianaF 25 November 2021

It's been three months of not being here. I missed writing and missed reading your stories too. Hopefully I may write again soon. I've been sick but thankfully am okay now. Missed a lot of you.

@JulianaF 22 September 2021

So sorry can't post for the meantime, Im sick. Fever and cough plus asthma all in one. Need to take some rest. Hoping that I will get better the soonest, its really hard to get sick during this time. It is also difficult to ask for medical consultation if you have a fever.

@JulianaF 17 September 2021

Kenji *Hello everyone, I have been silent for* *days am too busy with school works. I just finished all of it this afternoon so now I may able to publish it here. But anyway, how are things with you all. Hopefully you are all doing good and healthy. Well, for tonight I will be sharing with you another story. Hope you enjoy this one.* His eyes were once likened to the blue waters of a calm sea - serene, deep, uncanny-as he drowned every soul that dared to meet his unlit eyes in his eternal abyss. He was the vessel of forgotten morals and foul ideologies coated with elegance and glory. Oh, how he adored fear. Disquieted cries, although it is quite a disturbance, it sounded surprisingly pleasant; the sight of petrified animals quietly whimpering while cowering beneath his superiority, it looked rather marvelous perhaps, after his long search for passion and joy, what he sought was lying dormant beneath his very feet all along- the infliction of fear upon sinners. "Careful," he'd say - but one must know better than to believe that he has the capability to manifest even the slightest heed to any other living entity apart from himself. Nothing is more scarier than the polite smile of an emotionless man. His u foreseeable facade of sweet compassion keep hidden with the ever so intimidating state of non-lasting resentment. And he loathed, and loathed, and loathed; how his wrath befell those that desired power was very much the same to the way God blessed him with consciousness - his very own atonement, or so he'd say, as wisdom was never his very own prisoner, he who despised life wholeheartedly but found himself caged and shackled in his own. His God was truly a master in torment, and how he desired to stand firm on the same pedestal. How he ached for the bliss of ignorance. He was a cursed wanderer- lost and alone in a nameless land, abandoned, without receiving love and pity, grief in every minute spent in that hellhole. He despaired, he wavered, but he lived; he chose to breathe until it dawned upon him that he had long forgotten his name. Surviving the life his God plagued him with was by far his greatest victory. It was as though he was standing above all else even those with golden plates surrounds themselves before his blinding majesty. It almost seemed like a glorious victory against God himself. It was power. For once, after what seemed like endless years of abuse, he was powerful. And from then, he never wanted to taste the bitter flavor of weakness ever again. *And so he turned against his God.* *"the bearer of St. Peter's cross*- This was a requiem- a hymn for his forsaken misery now buried the depth of the memories he'd rather forget: the vivid image of a wounded boy weeping before the face of his most awaited tragic death. A lifelong hunger that could never be satisfied was repeatedly chanted like a prayer all to utterly bury his horror into the deepest state of unconsciousness. He worshipped perfection and swore to leave no room for faults. He waged an inner war against his own demons and almost became victorious, had he never loathed the part of himself that embraced his flaws. It was a battle that couldn't be won, but he was left with spoils anyway. *Companionship,solace, a place of his* *identity - home.* *The grace of regret* Dripping crimson blood covered his pale skin like a graceful ornament on an unadorned sheet of satin. At the top of the mountain of lifeless bodies stood a poised figure-unrivaled and majestic-gazing upon what's beneath with eyes lacking of remorse. Although intriguing, the world wasn't worth a second of his unreserved attention. A repetitive cycle was all that it was; it thieved until there was nothing left to cherish. He had grown used to its tragic nature and never once did he spare one room for regret. There was no point in grieving, it was no more than a mere delay on what's inevitable- the retaliation of his wrath. He disliked the annoying sensation of yearning for company, but he let it swallow him nonetheless. The idea of comradeship was merely a fragment of his own selfish desires. He sought comrades as he loathed loneliness, and that insatiable longing for a home was what betrayed him and those he considered his friends. It was fate- the world robbed them of life because they were his. Fate was never one to grant favors for free, and so he brought death upon their heads as payment. There was no else to blame. Not the twisted nature of the world, not the pride that stood taller than it needed to, not even their scarlet eyed murderer. He had no one else to blame apart from himself, but his heart did not welcome regret. He refused to acknowledge it. There was no time to worry over it. There was no point. Regret was more powerful than he anticipated, however, it was rather potent; it was almost similar to a venom spreading rapidly, consuming him alive. Was it as powerful as his mortal enemy's hatred? Ah, he didn't live long enough to find out. *Isolation*. Maybe, just maybe, if he forsakes his heart's desire, then perhaps the world will spare them the consequences. Despair in solitude. *"Together, we are the spider. I'm its head, and you're the legs. My orders are of utmost priority. My life is not. Be sure to make the right decision. I'm only a part of the spider. What's important is the survival of the whole, not the individual." - Chrollo Lucifer, Hunter x Hunter* *End* Lead image credit to mobile.twitter.com It was such a very tiring and exhausting week for me. Our classes had started and I just finished all my tasks just this afternoon, so I wasn't able to post in here. Tomorrow is a weekend hopefully I can post another one. Thank you very much folks for taking time reading my works. Love you all and may you will have a great weekend.I can now start reading your articles.

@JulianaF 13 September 2021

Lucky Guy... Last night after reading some of your articles in here, I decided to write another story and I told myself I may try some light and funny story but I decided not too as am not really good at that genre. So here I am again sharing you another story a thriller one. It's about a man being framed up. I hope you will like this too as much as you like "Dreaming", Theodore, and all other stories I have shared in here. Many thanks to all of you. *I don't have a name. I think I used to, but* *now it's all buried in the darkest corner of my mind, forgotten, abandoned, and neglected. I haven't known my name for so long; these people just call me Lucky Guy for... what, exactly?* Twigs and dead leaves crunched underneath muddy sneakers, and a trail of blood that wasn't his leave a trace of his whereabouts. He didn't do it! He swore to God he didn't do it! Why were they all coming after him with fire and burning hatred in their eyes? They know he couldn't have done it. "Chase after him! That bastard." They shouted in fury, guns and rakes in hand. He felt like a deer running for his dear life from a hungry cackle. His lungs were aching and his legs were begging to stop from this mud running, but he knew that if he stops now, he will never be able to see the light of day again. *Unlike everyone else in this manor, I don't know my origin. I don't know where I came from, or who my parents were. Hell, do I even have a family? I've been here for so long that I could no longer recall. It's quite envious, actually, that out of all of us. I'm the only one who doesn't have a name or a personality. I envy these people who know who they are.* "He couldn't have gone far! Search the ground, his footsteps should still be apparent with all this mud around!" His heart began to palpitate as he held his breath in his hands. They were near-so near-and he no longer has the strength to move another inch away. Why couldn't they believe him when he testified that he's innocent?! "Leslie, please! The women called out to him. He refused to respond-rather, his palpitating heart and his short breaths prevented him to. "Come out and just admit what you've done to Guinevere! We can talk about this." We cannot, was what Leslie thought the more he listened to the women who talk. Leslie was not a moron; he knew that the moment he steps out, he will be dead from those guns and rakes. Guinevere...that woman was awful from beginning to end. Just what had he done to her that she bares so much hatred? *Sometimes, I get glimpses of my own memory, but they're nothing more than just quick pictures passing by my mind, and then I'll forget them again. If I try to remember, my head will hurt. If I try too hard, sometimes I even pass out from thinking. How weak is this body that just from thinking, I lose all consciousness?* Leslie had always known he's not the most attractive guy in town. He was never the center of attention, and he was fine with it; he never liked the attention anyway. Still, did he deserve such poor treatment from the people his age? What was it with difference and diversity that the younger generation loved to pick on so much? What was so fun with being so demeaning towards another person to the point that it drives them to death? He always suffered. No matter what he did, something was always wrong. In this town Leslie grew up in, his existence was a mistake, and every day he was reminded of that. Though the elderly and other older women treated him much nicely, the others roughly handled him. One of the women who bore such hatred towards him is Guinevere. She was pretty and looked like a model. Everybody loved and feared her-leaning more into the fear side, honestly-because she was the epitome of perfection, and being the epitome of perfection came with the special privilege to stomp on the less fortunate ones....like Leslie. *Miss Dyer has done so many check-ups already to see what kind of sickness I have. Maybe it's retrograde amnesia, she asked, but I don't even know anymore. Nothing I do recalls any clear memories in my head. Nothing in my room looks familiar. Every night I ask myself; will I be able to know who I am at all?* *I probably will not.* Guinevere loved to torment Leslie. He was what she referred to as an errand boy. She made him do her bidding, even when he was unwilling to do it for her. She always threatened and pulled on his hair, and sometimes would even break his glasses. However, even when Leslie's hatred was on par with Guinevere's, he never once thought of killing her. Killing her...she did that to herself. Popularity was a curse and it was the curse that drove her to kill herself. She had invited him to her home one night after classes were over, telling him she needed a few home works done. He walked through the front door, not knowing that this would be the last night he would be looked at as the underdog who was always obeying everyone's orders. *I'm so jealous of the other tenants of this* *manor and their stories of their lives. Be it good or bad, it's much better than not remembering. I wish I could remember my life prior to coming here, too.* He found her bloody on the kitchen floor, a large kitchen knife wrapped around her hand. Leslie hurried by her side and saw the stab wounds in her abdominal area. He insisted he should go and look for help, but she grabbed his hand and said, "You wanted popularity that bad, right? You're.... you're getting the popularity you so-deserved." Just then, the front door swung open again, and chatter filled the entrance hall. Guinevere quickly place the knife in Leslie's hands. And with the last of her strength, smeared her blood across his shirt. "Popularity is a curse, and I curse you with this life." She said before heaving her last breath. As if on cue, the footsteps and the chatter stopped, and all eyes were on him. Leslie's mind throbbed with pain and realization, and the blood-curdling scream from one of her friends pierced through his ears. He shot up, dropped the knife, didn't even explain himself, and ran out of the back door. *I kept wondering what my life could have* *been. Who was I last with? What did I do before I came her? Did I receive a letter, just like everyone else after Emma Woods arrived? There's just so many possibilities.* Leslie clutched at his shirt, the uneasy feeling of being caught creeping quickly in his chest. From beginning to end, that was an ugly feeling. The noises began growing louder and more unbearable; he honestly wished he'd just die right at this moment, but not in the hands of these people. "You seem lost." The voice woke Leslie from his anxiety attack. Turning sharply to the side, he saw a man of average height, wearing a faded brown trench coat. He extended a scarred hand and for some reason Leslie was not in the position to swat it away. "And bloody. What the hell happened to you?" "I need to get away." Leslie responded, eyes narrow with fear and desperation. "Th-They're after me, and they're going to kill me. I-I swear I didn't kill that girl...she-she framed me!" The man looked at him as if he was the sanest man on earth, and with a smile, he said, "Are you willing to throw everything on the table?" *I don't remember how I got here in the* *manor, either. I just knew that I woke up here one day, and I had to play the games to survive. It's not like we die here, but that's much more terrifying than death itself, isn't it? I bet a lot of us here just wish to rest permanently.* "I-I am!" The man's lips stretched to a smile so sinister that it sent shivers down Leslie's spine. "Even if it's your name, your life, and your identity?" "Anything! Please, take me away from here!" He might regret it later, but what is he going to regret if he doesn't remember anything? Was the man's thoughts as he evaluated Leslie's desperation to be free from his situation. He grinned wider. "I'm conducting a major experiment for something I've always wanted to try. Agreeing to me will mean that you're permanently my lab rat for this. Are you really sure you're willing to throw your life away like that?" "I have nothing left to live." Leslie replied, voice shaking as he gripped on the hems of his shirt. "I lived an honest life as much as I could, but every time...every time, something goes wrong and I am to blame. That woman, I didn't kill her, and look what happened; everyone is after me because they saw me holding that knife and drenched in her blood. I don't have anything to come back to." Everything in this place hurts. Everyone wants to leave, but even after they walked past the gates, they'll comeback to where they were before. It's an endless loop of hiding and being found, of running and being caught. It's a tiring game of cat and mouse. "Then, you've made yourself a deal." The man extended his hand out again and without a moment's hesitation, Leslie took it. As his mind was beginning to become hazy, he heard the man speak. "What's your name, boy?" "Les..." he trailed, his world swirling before him. "Leslie...Satie..." "My name is Orpheus, but you will remember neither of our names. From now on, you're Lucky Guy." And his world blacked out before him. *Will there ever be an end to this life? I'd love to rest soon.* *End* *Lead image and other images are from Unsplash.... Message of gratitude: Thanks for reading everyone, I am really delighted on those kind words you have said about my previous post. And also I am grateful to my sponsor @Bloghound , thank you so so much dear from the bottom of my heart. I never expected for that, you are so generous and kind. Thank you.

@JulianaF 11 September 2021

Dreaming... ***Isn't it strange? To dream about a dead person and inside your dream they are still acting normally like nothing ever happened.*** Against the evening sky, all the photographer could see in his old house was the crumbling walls that were nothing more than a ghostly silhouette of some previous existence. This place is just an exact replica of what it looks like in the real world. A lot of things have change: the walls are broken, the halls are empty, and it's desolated and lonely. The wind whistled through the trees, bringing with it the laughter of children who once lived there and the caring call of their mother letting them know that dinner was ready. "Claude and I are always playing here." Vividly, he could picture his childhood with his twin brother. The walls didn't seem so grey when he was a boy, neither did they seem so small. In his mind, he can remember this place as though it was a castle where he and his twin brother were princes. The two of them would pretend to fight some ferocious monsters, and young Claude would always go in front to protect Joseph, fearing his younger brother might get hurt. Their lovely parents would glide through the once pristine halls as the king and queen of this kingdom. All of them were having fun together, basking under the bright and open sky outside their humble abode that they always treat as a kingdom. Joseph refused to look away from this place, even when his lips trembled and his shoulders heaved with emotion, he was unwilling to back down. He gently closed his eyes and suddenly a light came out of his vision. There was a familiar voice calling out to him. "Joseph? Joseph! Are you okay?" That boy asked him while holding his cold hands. He opened his eyes and squinted. Seeing the boy's figure made him tremble. It's Claude. Joseph's hands were shaking and his voice was quivering like a feeble grass in the wind. "C-Claude..." He stammered, eyes narrowed in disbelief and longing. "I had a dream-the most terrible dream. I was invited in a huge manor and I couldn't leave anymore. You weren't in my dreams anymore because you've died! "Claude, please don't leave me. I'm scared and it's lonely without you." A lone tear traced down his cheek, and just like that, the floodgates opened. He wept the tears that streamed from his deep blue eyes, and loud, heaving sobs tore his throat. Still, he did not look away from his brother-he couldn't even move a single muscle away from him. Seeing his twin brother again made him feel so glad. After a few years of nightmares, he could finally converse with him again. Claude chuckled softly and drew him back into his arms. "Silly Joseph!" He beamed. "You know I won't leave you, right? I can't leave you, I never can't leave you -because you are a short-tempered person, and a lot of people might have fun bullying you." Joseph pouted as he stared at his brother; it was really cute of his twin, and right now, the only thing that Claude wants to do is to hug him. "Now, now, stop doing that face!" Claude grinned a cheeky grin. "Because mom will prepare pancakes for us later!" He buried his face into the crook of Joseph's neck and embraced him tightly, his soft voice murmuring that everything would be okay as long as they have each other. Obviously, Joseph didn't want to let go; he knows exactly what's it like to have no one. "Uh, Joseph? You can let go now.... We're playing, aren't we?" However, Joseph ignored him instead. "Are you sick, Joseph?" Claude asked. There were no symptoms of any sicknesses, but Joseph was acting strange. He slowly smiled and merely returned the embrace with much sincerity and force. "I'm not sick." "I just want to show my affection." To Claude, seeing his own twins affectionate side was the best thing in the world- comparable to receiving a noble award. Joseph rarely acts like this towards him. Certainly, they play around, but this sweet and clingy side is a different story. "Stand up! Let's continue-" His words were halted by a series of hacking and wheezing, and it nearly felt as if his lungs were being torn apart. Claude masked it with a smile, making it seem as if he's okay, but Joseph had already known of his illness-it was the death of him, after all. "Claude, I want to stay with you." Joseph said, voice nearly pleading when he held his brother's arms tighter. "I also want to be with you ...." The sky was no longer bright and welcoming, and everything turned monochromatic and melancholic, everything except for Joseph. For some old reason, he was the only one left with color. His eyes frantically looked around, desperation seeping in and caging him in a small glass. "Please don't leave me." He begged and begged, but no one heard his plea. The ocean within his eyes started to leak, little water droplets streamed down his pale cheeks. He realized that all of it was just a part of his hallucinations, a sick play that the camera world had brought upon him. It was just a memory-a sick, twisted memory that brings out the masochist in him. Memories are like preserved flowers in thick saffron pages, a gentle reminder of something that had passed. *End* Hope you like the story, and is there any instances where you dreamed of somebody who's in heaven already? *Lead image and other images are from Unsplash.... PS: Once again, many thanks and hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you also to my ever generous and supportive sponsors.

@JulianaF 9 September 2021

Hello again to online learning world...of fun or stress? Vacation is really over, no more movie marathon and drama series that made me sleep so late. Our classes will start this Monday. Hello once again to the new normal, online learning. The new normal, distance learning. It has been a while since the Department of Education announced that classes will resume, but only through online classes or by modular. Philippines among five countries yet to reopen schools. News states that there are few selected schools, around 120 in low risk areas that has been granted permission to pilot face to face classes. It is for kinder to grade three. However, it is yet to happen since some committees opposes to this idea. There are also universities that holds limited face to face classes as it is needed for their course, they are for those who took Medical Technology as their course. We have different stance and opinions in this new normal, some may feel angered from their own experience in distance learning, some may feel just fine with this new adjustment. But let's be real, how was it so far? From a student's point of view, it really is a struggle. At this point, I consider myself as privileged, however, I still have struggles in online classes. What more for those students that isn't as privileged as me? Having an unstable internet connection is not a problem for me, same goes with doing task, however, sometimes they are too many to handle that you do not know what you should do first. Also, when it comes to learning. There's only a limited time to listen to the teachers, and to tell you, I do not understand lessons in just a limited explanation, that is why it was kind of hard for me to catch up. Sometimes, my mind just doesn't work at all, even watching the same lesson in YouTube doesn't help much at all. Teachers struggles with it too, cause they have their own deadlines as well so explaining the lesson twice or more than, that would take much of their time. We have synchronous and asynchronous classes too, so there really isn't much time to ask help for teachers, you just have to do it yourself. Also, procrastination, this is pretty common for everyone, everyone actually experienced this. So there are times you have to stay up all night or pull an all nighter so you could finish your tasks, this might be a problem we should deal with ourselves but it is pretty inevitable. For those unprivileged students, it is much harder for them. I have classmates who doesn't have a good and stable internet connection so most of the time, they missed the discussion. There are times when they cannot understand what the teacher is saying because of their slow internet, also they cannot participate in the recitations, so I really sympathize with them. A friend of mine worries about her grades most of the time, she really struggled a lot with her net provider. Another thing that I've witnessed, I've seen students asking for help through online if they could borrow this much load so they'll be able to attend classes. It was such a hard sight to see, because I've also seen students failed classes because they weren't able to attend/answer their lessons. For what reasons? House work, like taking care of their siblings because their parents aren't there. There's a lot more than that actually, mental health problems, family problems, financial problems, working students, etc. CLOSING THOUGHTS: It has been a year, but some of us still aren't used with the sudden change. However, in this school year 2021-2022, I hope everyone to have a good year even though it is still quite a struggle. Distance learning is hard but with a bit of determination, we will be able to make progress and move forward. *Lead image and all other images are from Unsplash... Message of gratitude: First off, thank you so much dearest friends for having sometime to drop by and read my articles in here. Also, many thanks to @Ling01 for the sponsorship, really appreciated your kindness. And to all my very generous sponsors thank you so much for the support and inspiration.

@JulianaF 6 September 2021

Arabesque No. 1 *Few hours ago I was able to write another story. I was in the mood of writing because the moment favors me and my imagination. The night's so quiet and peaceful and the weather was really cold. So here I am again sharing you another yet beautiful story.* Arabesque No. 1 Such tune I never dared imagine playing but my fingers sways along its pace; gracefully, each trying to reach keys befitting the soothing music. Arabesque No. 1 Such piece I never dared imagine playing but wondered how'd it feel, perhaps. Is it dancing on air with your eyes closed, swaying your body to the intoxicating music? Perhaps it's letting your sink down the warm sand, letting the waves gently hit your feet, arms sprawled apart; feeling the ocean breeze gently brush against your skin. For so long, I've dreamed of time and space becoming the finest point imaginable, time collapsing into one tiny speck and exploding in light speed, seeing galaxies instead of irides. But my fingers could only play Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 on loop. Like it's the only feeling I ever feel the entire time. It's melancholic, drab; and yet it still depicts beauty; such intoxicating sorrow. The melody's a single, flowing line of quarter notes, raising and lowering like ocean waves. The melody bears no real meaning behind it, you just have to have yourself be swept away into a world of color, reflection and imagination; creating it as if it's your owns. "Ophelia" Devon's voice rang through her ears, lids slowly fluttering open; she sat up properly, ceasing any contact with the bleak wall in a jiffy. "Sorry, I must have dozed off." She admits, letting her fingernails gently brush against her scalp, creating friction to slightly ease the throbbing pain reverbrating inside her head. "Yeah, Kita's gonna be mad if he was the one who saw you dozing off." Her ears perked at the mention of her friend's name, a lopsided smile immediately gracing the lady's lips. "Kita, he's like Chopin's music, you know?" "What?" "Simply put, Chopin's music flows like water. It's intoxicating, gorgeous and melodic." "So you're sayin' you admire Kita?" A soft pang suddenly hits her chest, like Cupid shooting her arrows, except, instead of affection, she felt nervousness rising from the pits. She stood up from where she was sitting, waving her hands vaguely in front of her classmates, brows arched in a concerned manner, lips curving into a nervous smile. "Haha, it's not like that. I'm just saying that he's calm, like water, y'know." Do I? Their small conversation was then interrupted by none other than Kita himself; speak of the devil; he knocked on the club room's door before steeping in, citrine hues landing on Ophelia's. "Dev." His voice; calm and soothing, it felt like listening to another piano piece. "Let's go." Lids fluttering to blink as soft gaze turned slightly sharp gazing back at her. "And as for you Ophelia-" she could listen to him utter her name the whole day with that soft voice, how pleasing; "-you'll be left with cleaning duties with the twins, so don't doze off next time." Ah crap. It seems she was found out one way or another. She could only unfetter a laugh. "Got it. Have a safe trip home." With that being said, after exchanging goodbye's, the two exits the room; Kita however, looked back before Ophelia could move about to fix her stuff. "Ophelia." A smile graces Kita's lips. "See you tomorrow." "Yeah, see you." With that, he completely left. For some reason, Kita reminded her of the familiar tune that suddenly plays in her head. Arabesque No.1. It started with Debussy's Arabesque. I remember simply dreaming of it; simply dreaming of playing it with my own hands- until it came to me. Soft and mellow, calm and soothing, it slowly started to play-along with her graceful movements. Looking at him simply reminded me of Arabesque. That's when I realized-Ah, this must what falling in love sound like. Soon, Arabesque slowly started to fade, as our relationship blooms, Debussy's Claire De Lune then started to play-like the moon reflecting over water. I felt like I could finally breathe underwater. "Ophelia" Like that time, Devon's voice fills her ears; however, this time, Ophelia felt slightly swayed, as if remembering something -which she really is. She slowly turns, a sigh unfettering her now pale lips, "Give me a second." she pleads, as she stares over the ocean -sparkling and blue. The cool water laps at her feet, fizzing and bubbling upon the primrose sand. There is this steady warmth along the breeze of the wind. Soon enough, the stars will glow, keeping the day in a pocket to shine all throughout the night. The warm sun bids her goodbye, just like Kita. That's when she remembered what Claire De Lune was originally called- "Promenade Sentimentale." she mutters to herself, the warm breeze gently swaying. *End* **Lead image is from girlinbluemusic.com* **Photo credits to abc.net.au and girlinbluemusic.com* **PS: Thank you so much dear readers for the time you've given reading my articles and my stories. Many thanks from the bottom of my heart.**

@JulianaF 4 September 2021

In which he waltz in the past..... *It's weekend again and we are having a cold weather here in the City of smiles. And I am done watching the six seasons of Downton Abbey for several days. I have nothing to do earlier, so I decided to write another short story. Hope you will find time reading this too...* The rhythm of the white horse's footsteps came to an abrupt end, feeling its harness being held back by a strong force. Gracefully, the man possessing dark, wrinkled tuft lowers himself from his horse. Boots lining up with the patch of flowers that bloomed over the rough and dry soil over the past years. It was filled with the scent of flowers. The place was even more marvelous than it was when everything was lively. Between the bushes and their loads of purple, red, and white flowers, the grass wet from the rain was full of smaller flowers: pink ones with only three petals, pink pansies, tulips, dahlias of different colors, orange lilies, marigolds, and others. The way it were distributed along the soil was kind of messy, but he was no longer surprised-the garden of flowers and bushes were long left unattended. He knew. What appears before him was an abandoned castle, run-down, destroyed from war; pools of crystals gleamed in nostalgia, and somehow sadness it bore. He walks slowly, feeling the soft breeze gently brush his skin, the moonlight enlightening the path towards the entrance, as if indulging him to walk closer. Which he did. His smooth fingers gently caresses the large oak door; with all the strength he could muster, it budged. The loud, creaking sound of the old wood tingling his ears. The interior was still the same, only except the pillars were knocked down to the ground, creating blockage towards other entrances. It was dark and dull, but somehow, the vivid light from the moon crept and made its way in; from the large windows on the walls, the broken ceiling and from the entrance he went through. He swung out his left arm, his navy cloak fluttering as he began swaying. The bottom part of his boots thumping lightly against the linoleum. An odd warmth slowly began to engulf his body, the empty spaces between his fingertips were filled by this warmth. Pools of crystals illuminated and suddenly the ballroom was lively again. His body began moving to the rhythm of the music. This was his Merry Go Round of life. He could hear the laughter of the women from the sidelines, murmuring over the bunch of handsome men; he could feel their presence dancing along to the sweet tune of the music. Slowly, his eyes flutter open, suddenly he was wearing his old apparel; luxurious navy tunic, decorated with embroidery, gold lacing, white trousers, and his navy cloak that hung loosely against his shoulder, pinned to the side of his chest; black gloves and a figure stood too close before him, presence lingering. He knew so well who it was. For a brief moment, the memory remained before everything vanished and reverted to how it was. Abandoned castle; dark and dim, his navy cloak, mere white long-sleeves and black trousers. A warm smile appeared on his lips before he truly releases the familiar warmth he grew fond of. Quietly, he exits the room he's in, several hundred blue butterflies suddenly flies off to the night sky from the bush of yellow roses. The orchids began sprouting from the soil he steps on, leaving a flower patch of pathway to the castle. He clicks his tongue, a whistle followed it, his horse came running to where he was. He began stroking its mane to soothe it. He took one last glance, a sigh beholding sadness and sweet melancholy left his lips. "Ah, to dance with you again, Beatrice." *End* Disclaimer: All things, characters, name and events included in this story are all imaginary, nothing to do with those of the same names and events with real existence. *Lead image credit to Pinterest and photo.rmn.fr *Other photo is also from Pinterest PS: After Theodore this is my second fictional to share. Many thanks to those who gave time reading my articles here. I would also like to thank @Lucifer01 my new sponsor. Thank you for choosing me.

@JulianaF 2 September 2021

Theodore... ***Hi everyone, this is my first fictional story to share. I got inspired of*** ***the many fictional stories I have read in here. Hope you will like it too.*** You are an open book to me - Beneath the dimmed skies stood the man of forsaken ideals and has lost purpose with trembling knees, dejected purple eyes and slender fingers in endless tremors. How fickle the world truly is - he had seen it. And it left him with unusual and different sentiments that he never once acknowledged. Guilt and regret was an abomination to the same man who flared up the fire that burned countless dreams into pieces. To lose the courage to carry out justice is the same as ending one's life. But no, not someone like him, of all people. Not him. Sympathy was for humans, And he was not one. He wasn't even evil, he was something beyond human comprehension. For a heart lacking of emotions, to waver after all the bloodshed was an act of cowardice for him and nothing more. Those who become slaves to conscience will find themselves caged within sorrow while being consumed by the weight of their sins. To waver like a dog who lost its passion was a taboo to a man such as himself who slaughtered men as if mankind was no different from pigs. Mercy was indeed awful. He hated the unpleasant urge to pay attention to his victims pleas even just for once. Because he know, the words of the dead should be buried with them; forgotten, like a wilted petal crushed on the ground and never be remembered again. He hated that he had grown interested in people's thoughts, that maybe he became a prey to empathy. Usually, he'd push it into the back of his mind so he'd never even bat an eye on it again, but it comes back, it always does - it produce noises beneath his feet like an unheard cry as if it was always meant to be there. How vicious. He'd click his tongue and sit while contemplating about how spiteful he'd become, and it was utterly detestable that he wanted to throw up. Tamed wolves, although in sheep's clothing, remain fanged - very much similar to what people call compassion. Not a great being such as himself would lose to being humane. Feebleness never once had a room in the world. Not once, not ever. "You are an open book to me, Theodore." Dazai once dared to say while gazing upod him in his almond eyes, as if he was not, in any way, foreign to them. The other's hazel eyes were of honey, too natural, way too comfortable for his liking - everything he wasn't. But strangely enough, despite their contradicting attitudes, Theodore had seen himself in Dazai. Who he was, who he is, and everything he'll ever become. Turns out, both of them were a lot more similar than they initially thought, and he does not like the idea of it. "There is a voice. A little voice that keeps on telling you to look at the light for once. You can here it too, right?" "Why do you think so?" He nonchalantly answered, forcibly ignoring the part of him that actually agrees to Dazai's statement. Heed not to light's calling. Despair awaits whoever acknowledges kindness. Goodness is a side meant for foolish men who still believe in childish bedtime stories. Only ignorant fools would allow non-existent righteousness cloud reality, and he would never,ever consider standing in the same place with halfwits. He is more than just a mere man bound to get chained by virtue. Much, much more. "There is no such thing, Dazai ". I don't believe in light,let alone dare to look at whatever it is. So, let me ask you. Of all people, why do you think so?" Dazai chuckled. "Someone once told me that great minds think alike. Don't you think so, Theodore?" -end- *Thank you so much for taking the time reading. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And also to my new sponsor @renren16 , thank you so much for choosing me. Lead image used is from Unsplash Disclaimer: Theodore and Dazai's character and names are mere imaginary. It has nothing to do with any person who has the same name with the characters in here.

@JulianaF 1 September 2021

Many thanks @renren16 for the sponsorship. I am very much delighted.

@JulianaF 1 September 2021

A decade and eight... I woke up early today because of the christmas carols I've heard from our neighbor's house, that's the moment I've realized Ber months has just started. It's a sort of some relief despite of what the world is facing, Ber months could somehow ease the sadness. It has been part of the Philippine culture already celebrating the longest Christmas in the world, though there are some religions and Filipinos too who doesn't celebrate Christmas and we respect them for that. Anyway, last night me and my sister were busy doing some art craft while watching "Downton Abbey". She asked me about my eighteenth birthday. It has been every girl's dream or if not mostly, to have a celebration when she reached eighteen. And I am honest to admit that I myself really wanted to experienced celebrating my debut also. But first off, what is really the essence of celebrating debut? Does it really important for a teenager's life? For me, it is a day very special and worth celebrating because my childhood days ended. It's a new milestone and my life being an adult will start. It is the time to set aside my childish ways and be more responsible because this is the start of my womanhood and I am also very excited to exercise my right to Suffrage comes May 2022. Before the pandemic me and my sister were talking about that special event already. We're planning to save some of our allowances so we can shoulder the cost of invitations and simple decorations too, as we are good at doing art craft so invitations, decorations, candles and flower arrangements are not a problem with us. I am a Culinary Art student also so I know how to bake my own cake. I want it to be as simple and meaningful, celebrating with a very close friends and families will make me very happy, and of course it will not cost much and give burdens to my parents for that event. Some of the traditional eighteen roses and the dance will not be on my list. Actually we already started to buy things like ribbons, art materials and some stuffs for such but when COVID-19 arrived it somehow changed my mind. It's been almost two years already since we experienced lockdowns and restrictions and the such. But when I read news or watch news on television, it's getting more alarming each day. With all the many variants and viruses they are talking, I sometimes told myself, it's getting worst day by day. But I am still optimistic and keep praying each day for the world to recover soon. Only God knows when. My birthday anyway will be February of next year. So I still have five more months hoping for a better days to come. And that restrictions will already be lifted during that time. I am just very hopeful and optimistic but not totally expecting. But in the case that time will not be in my favor, I will just celebrate it by going to church of course attend a mass and thanking God for giving me the privilege to experience the life being an adult, the start of womanhood. To be with my family and for us all to have a good health and away from any sickness is what matters most to me now. CLOSING THOUGHTS: Every birthday not just debut is a special day. A day to give thanks and be grateful for all the experiences and memories. For the life that you are traversing each day. We can celebrate it in a simple way and not to burden much and affect your finances. Simple get together with your family members and close friends will do. Thank you so much friends for reading and supporting my articles too. Many thanks also to @JustMyRambles01, you are so kind, thanks buddy. And also to my sponsors @Bloghound, @ExpertWritter and @JonicaBradley thank you so so much for the support and inspiration. God bless us all. Lead image is from Unsplash Other images are mine

@JulianaF 30 August 2021

My understanding on St. Thomas Aquinas view on Freedom.... Hello everyone, how was your long weekend? Today I am so inspired to write about my interpretation oh how St. Thomas Aquinas defined freedom. As we all know freedom is what usually people tried to reason when they want to do something, or want to speak of something that can achieved their happiness or fulfillment. Human acts and freedom has a more complex meaning and explanation than what others think. It revolves around one's thinking capacity wether a certain action would make them happy in the end or the opposite of it, not just only that, one's freedom also comes along with choices and responsibility. If a certain person choose to act on their free choice for a good reason, only then he would achieve the result, the satisfaction he have been wanting to savor, and that's true freedom. True freedom is choosing ways that we can attain true happiness. At the end of the day, doing something with your own freedom would always lead to you, questioning yourself, "Is it worth it?", "What would I get from this?", "What if I do not achieve the results that I want?" and a lot more. Actually, if you think about it, who would want to do actions that they won't be able to gain something with? Who would do something that won't benefit them in the end? What a certain person desires is the best or let's say the most suitable "end" that they'll receive from doing a certain human action using their free choice. Other than that, there are also stages of human action, they are as follows: simple volition, deliberation, consent intention, and execution. Simple volition is when you're seeing the goodness of something and when you're wishing about a certain thing. Deliberation is the process of thinking, wether you consider on doing that certain action or not. Consent is when you're thinking if you will allow yourself to do it or the opposite. Intention is what you want to happen, or making a resolution to pursue an end. Execution, is an act of will, this is where you're doing the desire of the means. Unlike animals, human is a kind of specie that is complex or let's just say, difficult to understand, humans have brains which enables them to think and choose whatever they want, especially in doing things or actions, while animals, they too have a capacity of thinking, however, they are far more different than humans, they tend to do things with their instinct and what they're used with. Humans, especially in doing actions has to always think if they will get something out of it, wether they liked it, dislike, were they disappointed, was it worth and the such, by that time, they will question themselves wether that certain action affected them in a way, like are they happy about it or is it the opposite? Did they get the true freedom everyone's been trying to have a grasp with? Having your own free choice is both a curse and a blessing, since true freedom should lead to someone's happiness, the greatest good of all, you have no idea or any clue how it will happen and what the circumstances are, you will one way or another experience decision makings with bad results, and that's when responsibility comes ( Since everyone has their own free choice or freedom, one could choose wether they'd be on the good side or the opposite). As creatures with intellect, we seek for what is good and for own perfection, but, remember that not because we're all allowed to make free choices doesn't mean our desires should also include those for the bad things. CLOSING THOUGHTS: All human actions and free choices has the reason of what they think is the "end" of it, however the result will still depend with how they view things, just like what the stages of human actions had told us. Everything is done with one's own will and intellect. PS: Thanks again everyone for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts as to when is the time that you can tell or experienced where you can say to yourself "oh wow, this is what we called freedom"? Lead image and all other images are from Unsplash....

@JulianaF 27 August 2021

Feminism as shown differently in the two movies: Tangled and Pride and Prejudice Have you watched these two movies, Tangled and Pride and Prejudice? This article of mine was written last July when my English teacher asked me to differentiate Feminism based on these two movies. For my friends here, are you one of those who candidly speak that men and women have equal rights in the society or shall I say it this way If he can do it, so am I. Before we proceed, what is Feminism? It is when you speak for equality for everyone's sake. Not minding one's social status, gender, race, sexual orientation and the such. It is about everyone's opportunities and rights equal. Also, Feminism was made to boost every woman's rights towards men that, just because you're a woman doesn't mean you cannot do what a man can. In here we're going to differentiate how Feminism was shown in these two different movies, Tangled and Pride and Prejudice. These two movies are popular up until now, if you haven't heard of it, then this article may catch your interest. In Pride and Prejudice, women's most important part in their lives is marriage, especially if you're poor, women are supposed to marry men whose part of a wealthy family to gain monetary and social stability. In their time, marriages aren't caused by romantic feelings or attachments, it does happen - but rarely. It is mostly because of a greater social status, financial guarantee and for a better life, of course. Women have only two options, to either get married and raise a family or became an unmarried woman for the rest of their lives. There's nothing else more. Women are supposed to be given knowledge especially in drawing, embroidery and in playing piano, that's what their standards are for a woman to be suited in becoming one's fiancee. In short women are seen as inferior to men. On the other hand, in Pride and Prejudice,men are somehow depicted as someone dominant and superior than women, especially when they have a good social status, because usually it is mostly men who could give a woman a good life, someone who owns a large estate and a fine garden. Men could do as they please, but in accordance with their social status and appearance. There are lots of characters in Pride and Prejudice, let's give a little detail for the others and focus on its main characters. So basically, the Bennet family is composed of five daughters, which their mother, Mrs. Bennet planned to arrange her daughters to be married into wealthy families, no romantic attachments - just for wealth and a good life. Mrs. Bennet even arranged her daughter to one of its cousin Mr. Collins, well it's quite normal in their times but if you've heard about it just now, it does sound weird. However, in this family, Mrs. Bennet's husband shows that he doesn't always have full authority over his daughters, especially in Mr. Collin's case, wherein it'll benefit their family if they let Elizabeth marry him. Let's proceed to Mr. Darcy, he is a wealthy man, but with an attitude. He looks down on people with of course, low social status and is inferior to him. But that's something Elizabeth Bennet didn't like, Elizabeth is someone who just doesn't want to get married unless she has feelings for that certain someone, even though she knows it won't be a good decision for her not to get married. She also doesn't rely on men and does things on her own, a complete opposite of women in her times. In Tangled, it first implies that a certain woman is incapable of doing or let's say saving herself in a situation unless she has a man because they're too weak and submissive. It also implies that women has to be saved by a man or they would live a miserable life. On the other hand, in Tangled, most men are supposed to be brave and adventurous. But of course, it changes throughout the story. In Tangled, let's focus with it's main characters, first off, of course, Rapunzel. She is but a beautiful, sweet, innocent and a submissive girl. Grew up in an isolated place with no one to talk to but her mother (which is the witch). Rapunzel is also clueless when it comes to the outside world, she has no idea in detail. She also didn't get a really stable education aside from the things she's learning on her own. Not until she met a man named Flynn, she literally knocked Flynn unconscious using the frying pan - which is not a natural thing for a woman to do. But in here, Rapunzel breaks all the gender stereotypes there is, naturally, women are the one to be saved by men all the time, but in her case, she's the one who's saving the male lead all the time. Let's proceed to Flynn, unlike your typical male protagonist, Flynn is nothing alike them. He isn't very muscly and good looking, he also shows a lot of emotions unlike other male protagonist who just usually glare or do something except that one. Throughout the story Flynn has been the one needing Rapunzel's help and he's also the one to always be in difficult situation. CLOSING THOUGHTS: These two movies shows different ways of how women and men acts, on the other movie it is shown that women has to rely on men, while on the other one, women can just go on by themselves - not being saved like a princess by a man. So if you're a woman, where are you in these two? PS: Thank you so much for reading. I am grateful that you spare some of your time reading my articles. Many thanks. Lead image is from Unsplash Pride and Prejudice picture is from imdb.com Tangled picture is from moviesanywhere.com Tangled is a Disney movie while Pride and Prejudice is from BBC.

@JulianaF 26 August 2021

Comprehensive Gender Education, good or bad? This topic has become one of the most debatable one because a lot of parents are against that this will be taught or this will become a subject when the students reach Junior High. I myself as a student is in favor of it though I don't really know for sure if my classmates are okay with it too or will they find it very awkward to discuss these things within the four walls of our classroom, though we are still having an online class for the meantime. Another factor is the Philippine culture, we have a very conservative culture reasons why parents find it a bit off to be taught at an early age. Why is it important? Teenage pregnancies, sexual orientation, HIV or AIDS transmission, sexual abuse, gender relation, contraception. These are just some of the things that covers up Comprehensive Gender Education. While most people believe that CGE encourages youth to have sex, believe it or not, researches clearly demonstrates that CGE programs helps young people specifically adolescents to delay sexual initiation and use of contraception at higher rates. Nowadays, with rapid growth of information, sex information can be found everywhere, the more reasons for the children and adolescent to be curious as to what lies beyond the word "sex". The only way we could help the youth when it comes to their sexuality is to introduce them with the thing, facts, dos and don'ts that they'll be facing sooner or later. That's why Comprehensive Gender Education should be taught as a separate subject in Junior High School. CGE covers a lot of things related to your body, it provides information and knowledge in understanding sexual desires, sexual orientation, sexuality, puberty and skills to take care of your sexual health and to make responsible decisions about your relationships to become healthy sexual beings. Sexuality Education helps in preventing the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as reduces unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, which has been an issue for a long time and gets higher every year. Through CGE being implemented in schools, adolescents would be able to acquire consistent knowledge and information to assist themselves when the time comes that they'd be sexually active. It also helps young people develop communication, assertiveness, and peer-refusal skills so they are prepared to create reciprocal, caring, and mutually satisfying intimacies and relationships when they are adults. Sex has become a sensitive topic for a very long time. Some parents may feel uncomfortable and may find it hard talking and making their children understand what it really means. First thing is, the right terminology for their children's genitals. In most cases, parents tend to avoid using the right names for their children's intimate parts, their reason is they're too young for it to be aware and to also maintain their child's innocence. Knowing the right terminology may make children less vulnerable to sexual abuse, inappropriate touching and the such. This will also help children develop a healthy, more positive body image, instead if using nicknames that their genitals are something shameful or bad. So if parents failed to inform their children regarding things related to the word sex the CGE subject could provide for it. Second thing is awareness. There are lots of sex information throughout the internet, magazines, newspapers, literally everywhere, one thing for sure is that not all them provides the right accurate information, so it is best advise to implement CGE as an alternative Subject so that students wouldn't have to browse through false informations that they may lead to more misunderstandings. Third is to explore, being clueless with how your body work is hard, with sex education you'd be able to know every bits of knowledge and how to take care or what you should do when this happens or when you want something to happen, this includes protection, safety, awareness. CLOSING THOUGHTS: In my opinion, Comprehensive Gender Education should be taught as a separate subject in Junior High School. By allowing it to be one, this would lower the chances of teenagers getting engaged with sexual activities and illness transmissions. These are just few of all the things related with sexual education that should be taught in schools. This will serve as a guide for the youth to make better choices when it comes to sex. If this will get implemented, aside from the knowledge and information it'll provide, this might also be one of the solutions to just simply lessen the burden both children and adolescents are experiencing due to the lack of knowledge regarding the word sex. PS: Hi friends thank you for reading, I would appreciate if you can add more thoughts regarding this topic. Thank you so much. Lead image and all other images are from Unsplash

@JulianaF 25 August 2021

Pagpapahalaga sa sariling wika... Magandang araw sa inyong lahat lalo na sa mga kapwa kong Pilipinong manunulat, kaibigan at kakilala ko dito. Bilang ang buwan ng wika ay ipagdiriwang sa buwan ng Agosto, sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon ako po ay magsusulat ng aking artikulo sa wikang Filipino. Ang mga salitang aking gagamitin ay Tagalog. Mula pa noong ako ay nasa elementarya pa lamang, inaabangan ko na po talaga ang pagsapit ng buwan ng Agosto sapagkat ako'y natutuwa at nagagalak sa taunang selebrasyon ang Buwan ng wika. Pag ganitong okasyon merong isang araw na nilalaan ang aming paaralan para makilahok ang aming mga magulang sa mga palaro at ibat ibang patimpalak na ginaganap kapag buwan ng wika. Kanya kanyang dala ang bawat pamilya ng sari saring pagkaing pinoy mapa ulam man yan o kakanin, mga gulay at prutas. Tulong tulong din ang mga magulang at magaaral para sa pagpapaganda ng kanilang mga silid aralan. Gaano nga ba kahalaga ang buwan ng wika? Bilang isang Pilipino, isang mag-aaral mahalaga sa akin ang buwan ng wika, sapagkat ramdam na ramdam ko ang pagbabalik tanaw sa ating napakagandang kultura. Gaya na lamang ng pagbigkas sa ating wika, ang pagbigay pugay sa mga taong nakipaglaban noon para sa ating kalayaan. Nagkaroon tayo ng sariling pagkakilanlan dahil din sa ating wikang Filipino. Sino ba ang hindi mabibighani sa mga sayaw tulad na lamang ng tinikling, singkil, pandanggo sa ilaw, kuratsa at iba pa. Pag dating naman sa palaro gustong gusto ko iyong pabilisan sa kadang kadang at palo sebo. Pero ng dumating ang pandemyang halos kinakatakutan ng lahat, nahinto po ang mga pagdiriwang na gaya nito bagamat meron naman kahit paanu iyon nga lamang ay "online" o pag gamit sa makabagong teknolohiya para maipagpatuloy ang pagaaral. Malungkot sapagkat kinagisnan na ng pilipinong magaaral ang ganitong okasyon. Subalit wala po tayong magagawa dahil para naman ito sa kaligtasan ng lahat ng mag-aaral. Naalala ko tuloy ang isang linya na nasa liriko ng kanta ni Florante na "Ako'y isang pinoy" ito naman ay hango mula sa pangaral ni Gat Jose Rizal na ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa ang amoy sa mabahong isda. Kaya huag nating ikahiya ang ating sariling wika bagkos ipagmalaki natin ito kahit kanino man. Maaring sa mga bagong henerasyon ng mga kabataan ay tila wikang banyaga na ang nakasanayan. Hindi na ako lalayo pa sapagkat ang aking nakababatang kapatid ay hindi nakikipagusap ng Filipino sa amin dahil mas sanay siya sa wikang Ingles at Chinese. Gayunpaman ay lagi namin pinapaalala sa kanya na huag isantabi o bigyang halaga ang pagsalita ng sariling wika dahil isa kang Pilipino. Kaya naman ngaung selebrasyon ng kanilang buwan ng wika siya ay aming napakanta ng isang awiting mula sa likha ni Maestro Levi Celerio na ang pamagat ay "Ang Pipit". Aaminin ko, kahit ako ay hirap sa pagsusulat ng artikulo kapag wikang Filipino kaya paumanhin po sa aking mga kababayan kung meron man kamalian ang ibang gamit kong salita. PS: To my foreign friends and readers, this is my first article here written in Filipino language as my way of giving value and respect to my native language Filipino as we are celebrating "buwan ng wika" (Language Month) every month of August. Wika is a Filipino word which means Language. My article talks about how we value our own language. And I also mention about the different filipino dances and games during this celebration. Lead image is from Steemit Tinikling photo is from Griots Republic Gat Jose Rizal " Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa ang amoy sa mabahong isda".

@JulianaF 23 August 2021

I would like to take this opportunity in saying Thank you to @JonicaBradley for the sponsorship. I felt really blessed.

@JulianaF 23 August 2021

How unsafe is Social Media? Hello again everyone. I wasn't able to be active here for some days because of an asthma attack maybe it was because of the bad weather. When suffering from an asthmatic attack you would surely have a hard time to focus on something that you wanted to do because its hard to breath. Better to just rest and take time to relax. Thankfully I am now okay. By the way my chosen topic for today is about how unsafe social media is. And this is base from a 17 year old and a 12th grader's point of view and that's me. You can add some of your thought at the comment section for some important points that I'll miss with my writings. I do appreciate that so it will add to what I have learned already. Social media, there are hundreds of social media platforms and apps that you can use to communicate and socialize with people you're close with, people who lives far away from you, or just random people. Most of the popular social media applications people are using these days are Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Telegram, Tumblr, VK, YouTube, Messenger, WeChat, etc. Since our technology improves day by day, most people rely on using gadgets, usually smartphones or laptop. Also, almost everyone has their own social media account,what for? To communicate, ease boredom, pass time, to update oneself what's going on, and several reasons. Everyone's questions is, is social media safe? The answer would be immediately "No". Not all social media platforms should be trusted, because most of it requires you to agree on terms that you may not approve at all. Not just that, socializing with different people isn't new in social media apps, too. But not everyone is nice, some may befriend you, some may say harsh words to you. As a person who uses social media platforms, I highly recommend everyone to at least not take all of your time with these applications or platforms, aside from it being exhausting, social media is toxic too. Sometimes it triggers past traumas and insecurities of a certain person, it can be you, too. How? Since social media is all about interaction and communication, some things are inevitable, some may find a girl pretty and gets insecure, some may see a post of a millionaire in such an early age and gets jealous, some may see someone who has a lot of followers and gets mad, it just go around. Social media is toxic. Aside from that it isn't safe. How so? "Gc*sh 20th Anniversary, Click the link to enter and participate in the survey, have a chance to win $100!" "An accident occured in Angeles City. Two dead on arrival. Click the link for full article." "****Website has detected virus in your phone! Click this link to get red of it." Are you familiar with these lines? Have you ever seen and received messages like these? If yes, I highly recommend you not to click it. If not, then this article is just for you. For your awareness, not only you, but your accounts and private information too. Phishing is not new especially with many social media there is these days. One tap, and all of your information might get stolen. First of, what is phishing? According to Imperva, Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. How does it happen? Of course they have to lure you in their scams. Having your trust is the most important, then after awhile, the phishing occurs. There are different kinds of phishing, it maybe in text messages, emails, links, fake websites, spear phishing, whaling and a lot more. Most common phishing is those links you often see and receive. A lot of people uses that kind of trick in Facebook, because there are millions of its users, you can just be scrolling through your news feed and a certain news caught your eye, curious, you clicked the link given so you could read the full article, what will happen after? Your account might get hacked, it may also start sending messages to your friends with suspicious links that they might open because they thought it is you. The link differs, of course. It may contain an accident that didn't happen at all, an accident that is made up, winning phones, money, and a lot more that will surely catch one's attention. CLOSING THOUGHTS: One thing for sure is, use social media wisely and do not just click links or trust people you are not familiar with. Social media platforms are dangerous. If ever you received a suspicious link, do not ever click it especially if it's like this "http" and not like this "https". Once again thank you very much dear friends for taking time reading. I would appreciate if you can add some important points and factors as to why social media is unsafe mostly on the financial matters like online banking and etc. Lead image and all other images are from Unsplash....

@JulianaF 17 August 2021

The love for Anime.... Hello again everyone, for today's article I am writing about one of my favorite hobby and that is watching different anime movies and series. Do you spend your time watching films, movies, cartoons, shows and the such? How about Anime? Have you heard of it or are you familiar about it? So basically, Anime is a Japanese-made film animation, of course originated from the country, Japan. As you can read on wikipedia, Anime is a Japanese term derived from the English word "animation". How are Animes made? First, of course is its sources. Usually anime came from mangas, light novels and original scripts. They are drawn frame by frame, and it really is something that is hard to do. You have to draw them right and accurately before it gets accepted and animated. Also, anime's art style is different from cartoons made in other countries, you will notice it immediately once it catches your eyes. Anime has different genres and types just like cartoons, too. The mainstream genres and types of animes are Shounen, Shoujo, Seinen, Mecha, Slice of life, Fantasy, Isekai and Romance. Different genres/types of animes. So, what is Shounen? These are animes made especially for males to watch. Usually, Shounen animes are composed with males as its main character. Shoujo is just the same with Shounen, but make it a girl version. Shoujo animes are made for young females to watch. Most Shounen animes focuses on action while Shoujo anime usually focuses with relationships. Next is, Seinen. This type of anime is made for young adult men to watch, Seinen actually means "youth". Also this type of anime usually has violence in it that some may not be comfortable with, but of course, there are also Seinen animes that focuses on entertainment and comedy. Next in line is Mecha anime, this type of anime focuses on mechanical innovation, or let's just simply say, robots. Next is Slice of Life, this anime is actually something that you'll watch when you want a normal and calming genre. It mainly focuses on characters lives and their realizations. Fantasy anime, for sure we all know how fantasy works. This is correlated with Isekai anime, where a certain or a group of characters are transferred into another dimension or world. The cliche thing is, most of them happens when they got hit by a truck or a train. Last is Romance. You can usually find Romance in most genres of animes, but of course, not that much screentime if it focuses in other plot. These are just the mainstream genres of anime, there are still a few left but most of them are also correlated with the genres mentioned above. Question is, where can you watch these animes? Are they available in your country? There are a lot of websites where you can watch anime, there are also a lot of applications that supplies a lot of animes too. The most popular ones are Netflix, Crunchyroll,FunimationNow, Bilibili, AnimeLab, AmazonPrime etc. Animes availability differs in each country, some anime maybe available within your area, some may not. However, if you really want to watch an anime that is not available in your country, you can use VPN. So what are you waiting for? If you want to pass your time, you can binge watch anime for who knows how long. If a certain genre interests you, you xan search animes related to it. Here are some suggestions and animes that most people watch these days. Shounen: Tokyo Revengers, One Piece, Naruto Shippuden, Attack on Titan, Dragon ball, My hero Academia, Black clover, Bleach, Kuroko No Basket, Haikyu, Fullmetal Alchemist etc Shoujo: Fruits Basket, Sailor Moon, Vampire Knight, Horimiya, Akatsuki no Yona etc. Seinen: Code Geass, Kill La Kill, Mononoke, Tokyo Ghoul, Vinland Saga etc. Mecha: Darling in the Franxx, Ghost in the shell, Gundam, Astro Boy etc. Slice of Life: Anohana, Toradora,Free!, Tamako Market, Violet Evergarden. So friends, those are my suggestions. You can try one genre at a time so you can compare as to what interests you the most. Closing Thoughts In this time of Pandemic where there's no face to face classes, watching anime is one of my favorite thing to do. Not just me but my siblings as well. It helped us ease the boredom of not allowed to go out for a very long time already. So I hope I was able to share with you some significant things of my chosen topic. PS: Note of appreciation I would like to thank @ExpertWritter and @Bloghound for sponsoring me here. I will do my very best to keep on writing for I know everyday is a learning process and I am still on that learning stage. But thank you so much for choosing me. *Lead image and all other images used in this article are from Unsplash.

@JulianaF 17 August 2021

Thank you so much @ExpertWritter, it means a lot to me. I am more inspired to write and learn each day to be better too. Thank you for inspiring the newbies here to keep on writing. And thank you also to those who have dropped by and take time to read my articles here. God bless us all.

@JulianaF 15 August 2021

Mobile games, are you in or out? I consider myself as one of those who've been playing mobile or online games. Mobile games are popular these days as our technology improves. Not only kids and teens, but also adult plays mobile games. Some says it is fun playing mobile games, some also left a remark saying "it was stressful", also some are just so-so, those people who play just to ease their boredom. Different types of mobile games There are different types of mobile games actually. You can play mobile games with or without using the internet, or we can say, you can still play it even though you are offline. Some applications requires you to download their app first before you can use it offline, but there are also games that doesn't require you to do so. Where can you find these games? They're literally everywhere, you can just simply search in Google, "mobile games" and hundreds of them will appear. Also, if you're looking for a game that you will enjoy, you can just simply add what type of game you want to play when you search it in Google. You can download these games through Google or through an App Store. However, if it isn't available in App Stores, you can just simply look for its apks and you can download them. Some of the most popular online games that I play are Mobile Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG Mobile, Clash of Clans, Mobile Legends Adventure, Arena of Valor, Wild Rift and Genshin Impact. So far, these are also what's popular among younger generations, even some adults play these games. It has good graphics but requires you to download their application first before you can play them. Also, some of these games can be played in personal computers. Especially Genshin Impact, its graphic becomes the best when you play it in PC. Also some of the good offline games I play so far are, zombie tsunami, like a dino, Minecraft, Hamster village, Hamster house and candy crush. Few of them are underrated but they are fun to play with. Thing is, I only play when I get bored in playing online games. It's like something to ease boredom and after a while I may do something or play online games again. Offline games aren't so popular as those games where you can only play if you will use internet. If you are wondering why, there are several reasons. First, of course, if you play offline games there are few to non players you can interact with, unlike online games people can communicate with other players. They can play with their friends, and if course that will make the game more fun and enjoyable. Next is, entertainment, these past few years, people who plays offline games are decreasing continuously. Why? Because most offline games aren't that challenging and entertaining. You can only do limited things unlike when you're playing online. You can play and battle with different players, you can also make friends if you're lucky. Next is technology. As it improves, more and more games will be only available when you use internet. "Future is online" as what they say. Plus, the younger generation prefers to play games that they will surely enjoy and find thrilling. They sought to play games that will test their skills and not just something to ease their boredom or to pass time. Next is graphics, online games graphics are much better than those games that you play offline. Of course, what's pleasing to ones eyes will surely catch their attention, and these days, most of these 'eye-pleasing' games should be played online. Advantage and disadvantages of online and offline games. Of course both online and offline games have their own advantage and disadvantages. Most of its advantage are mentioned above, but what's more concerning is mobile game addiction and online games' toxicity. Mobile game addiction is where you almost do nothing but constantly playing games. There are times when it becomes too much where you don't even eat just so you could grind your game all day. Remember, there is nothing wrong with playing these games, as long as you know your limitations. Do not forget that you also has a life to live and it isn't all about playing. And also remember to avoid focusing on playing games and also do things that makes you happy. Next is , online games toxicity, this is almost inevitable. But why do people become toxic when playing online games? It is because they are eager to win, when a certain person doesn't know what to do with the game, some players threaten and begins to throw hate speech to some players who has literally no idea on what's going on and what should they do. Of course their actions aren't justifiable, games are made to play, and people can do whatever they like because they choose to install that game. To avoid toxicity in online games, I recommend you to cut interaction with a toxic player when you find one. Keep in mind that in the end, it is just a game, and it is not an enough reason to threaten someone. CLOSING THOUGHTS It's good to play these games be it online or offline in mobile or in a PC to ease your boredom or to relax your mind but just be responsible to know your limitations cause when you start to get addicted to it then that's another story. I admit I play these mobile games but if it's time for me to study my lessons then that will be my priority. Thanks again everyone for taking some of your time reading my articles. I hope I was able to give emphasis on the important things that we should know about these online games. *Lead image is from Unsplash

@JulianaF 12 August 2021

Art and me.... Hello everyone, it's been awhile since the last time I have posted my article here. I was just busy at home as my father got sick but thankfully he was fine now. Anyway, my article is about art, reasons why I love art a lot. How about you guys, are you an art enthusiast? **Art for me....** How do you define art? For me, it is everything that I see. Every little thing that my eyes could perceived consists and is associated with different kind of arts. I can say, art really did a big part in making me realize and enjoy everything that surrounds me. There are different forms of art, a lot actually. Few of them are classified as: sculpture, cinema, dance, photography, visual art, drawing, etc. and some do it yourself stuff. These are just few of its forms but we can totally say that art is present in almost everything we do. Art is not just about how creative someone is, how far can their imagination go, hiw great can they perform, but it can also be a big part in nurturing one's confidence in doing things they aren't used to, on how you express your feelings and thoughts through art, also it can relieve stress and any negative feelings you are experiencing. One thing I can assure is engaging in Art will cause a big impact in one's life, of course it is an impact that will bring you nothing but positivity. As for me, I started engaging myself with art when I was in my preparatory grade level, I actually didn't thought I would really get that interested in art but I guess it is really a thing for me. What kind of art I am interested with? A lot actually, however, there's only limited of them that I can do, for now. And that is do it yourself stuff and drawing. Just like art, DIY has a lot of different ideas and style like that of drawing it has lot of different types too like doodle, line drawing, pointillism,cartoon, photorealism,architectural anamorphic, and fashion. I believe there's still a few I haven't mentioned but these are the most popular drawing styles. Among all of them, I can do a little, and that's pointillism, cartooning and doodling. I learned how to used that type of drawing style by reading through websites, watching, and practicing. A lot of people think that being good in any specific type of art is an inborn talent, in some cases, it is,but little did they know everyone can engage their selves in art,may you have that inborn talent or not. How? It only takes three things. Practice, patience and a positive mindset. Most people get scared and disheartened once they think they didn't do well in art when they first tried it. But everything takes time, you may not be good with it at first but when you've practiced enough you will see the difference and how much you have improved between your current artwork and the past. A positive mindset will help you a lot too, there are really times that you feel like art is not for you, when you feel like you are not progressing at all, a positive mindset can help you move forward and to not lose your passion in art within those times. Patience, it takes a lot of time to master or to at least be satisfied with your work. Of course, you cannot master it overnight, but if you practice it everyday you will surely make progress. Aside from those, you can also benefit from art. It can ease your boredom, make you feel better, shoo away negative thoughts even for a while, a lot actually. Some people expresses their feelings and thoughts through art if they feel they aren't comfortable with using words or if they do not like communicating at all, also some people regard art as their coping mechanism whenever they feel down. So, if this piqued your interest in art even a little, come and engage yourself with the beauty of art. Who knows if it is also one of your comfort zone. Lead image used is a miniature farmers resting place that me and my sister made using a popsicle sticks. Thank you for taking time to read my article.

@JulianaF 22 July 2021

Learn to love and value your job... Tonight I am writing about why we need to value the job that we have. For several times I have noticed my father having some one on one talk with his team. He was so stressed because some of his teammates were not doing well on the specific task given to them. He was their team lead on a specific project. My father works as a System Administrator and handles multiple project so it means multiple teams too. Since they are working from home, he finds time to check randomly if they are really online during their shift but somehow he was so disappointed for some because they tagged themselves as online but if he messaged them for some priority tickets, they could not answer immediately. It took almost an hour before that employee to answer on his queries. Another problem that he may encounter is filing of immediate leaves without advance notice. So last night I heard him talking all of them and telling them how fortunate they were for having the job despite this pandemic. I am just hoping they will realize the importance of having a job. **Jobs and Businesses during pandemic** Amidst the unexpected spread of Corona Virus many has lost their jobs to earn money and pay their bills, a lot of businesses lost their employees and has gone bankrupt too. The pandemic affected our daily lives, and this is one of its worst outcomes, losing an occupation. There are different kinds of it, as we all know. Jobs that does not require direct contact and the opposite. Unfortunately, majority of the jobs people are attending to, is the latter. Now, people are in a difficult state just to look for a job, may it be online, commission,services, and the like. There are also people who takes different jobs in a day just to earn money. This only shows how important one's job is, and how it will affect an individual if it is gone. Getting a job is not an easy thing, for starters, you have to prepare papers related to yourself, of course. Also there are jobs wherein you cannot take if you haven't graduated or if haven't finished a specific degree. However, there are also jobs that doesn't need those papers of information about your scholastic records. For example, being a; construction worker, helpers, laundry (wo)man, etc. Thing is, you will only be receiving minimum wage unlike the salary of those who took white-collar jobs. **Jobs and discrimination** Since there are different kinds of jobs and how much money you can get from it, discrimination in it will always be present. People tend to look for ways just to feel superior to one another, just like on jobs, if their salary is higher than you, they tend to look on the type of work you're in. Although not all are like this but this thing is so common and inevitable. Best example is, being a waiters/waitress,vendors,and janitorial services and the likes. There are too many to mention actually. But of course, it doesn't work that way, whatever job you're in,you are deserving of respect. Even if your salary or wage isn't that high, it doesn't give any rights for others to discriminate you. Because at the end of the day, all of us are just earning and exerting the same hardwork and effort to make money. Different kind of jobs, different ways of handling them, and different difficulties the employees are facing. The reason why I see no importance in discriminating each other. Closing Thoughts Getting back , at this time of pandemic, there are only limited works one can get into,some of them even needs to sacrifice their safety against the virus just so they could earn some cash. That's why, we should value our job and our co workers as well. PS: Once again thank you for reading my article, hope I was able to give you the essence of the topic I choose. Thank you. *Lead image source: Unsplash

@JulianaF 21 July 2021

A memorable experience of my christian faith. This article that I will be sharing with you today is about me and my families Christian beliefs and experiences. This has nothing to do with other religion and this is not also to create arguments with other religion as well. I was born, baptized and raised with a Catholic faith because that's the religion of my parents too. My parents have taught me some bible verses even when we're still young because they want us to grow, molded in christian faith. And since we are studying in a Catholic school we have been always taught of things that we need to learn as Christians.The first bible verse that really inculcated in my mind is the one we can find in the book of John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. This has been my most loved bible verse ever. Because this is the proof of how God love's us. There has been no greater love other than His love for us.When I am in grade three that was the first time that my mom taught me on how to pray the rosary because the only one I know is to pray the Angelus every morning and at six in the evening. And we're taught also to have a prayer time each day like we have to choose as specific hour to pray and read the Bible. I have been always active in our church too so as my parents. As a Christian we must adhere or abide the value of the ten commandments that God has given to us. When Pope Francis announced that he will visit the Philippines because he wanted to see the people in Leyte who were so devastated by typhoon Yolanda. My mom told us that if given the time and chance we will attend one of his masses because as Catholic it's also a wonderful feeling to see him in person and listen to his homily. We were all very excited that time I was just eleven years old then. So when Pope arrived here we find the right schedule to attend the mass. On his last day of visit we went to the University of Sto. Thomas and were so glad that we were able to get in and listen also to his words and homily. At my young age I was able to understand of his message to the people regardless of what religion you are in. It was clearly about how to be merciful and compassionate towards your fellowmen.We were so touch by his message about mercy and compassion and asked if we can make it that year as the year to show compassion to other people especially the needy. **Our memorable experience...** Eventhough we aren't that so well off it has been our practice to give back to the one who gave us all that we have by sharing it to others in need. Since my parents were so active on our church activities, they have decided to sponsor feeding program for the kids every other week. There were 120 kids who registered to attend the program every other Saturday. My father's co worker's have been very supportive too of the program and they co sponsored my parents to finance the program that will last for a year.We cooked a very healthy and delicious foods for the children. You would really feel the sincerity of their smiles, and the gladness in their hearts by merely looking in their eyes.Doing that thing, sharing a little for other people is the thing I considered the most memorable experience in my Christian life and faith. If you are sincere with your compassion towards others, the happiness they will feel will connect within you. You would also feel that gladness in your heart. **Closing Thoughts:** It is not that expensive to be a blessing to other people especially to children. If we have that opportunity to help them, let's do it. Simple thing of showing compassion would mean a lot to them. God will bless you more if you have that kind and compassionate heart. Thanks everyone for having the time reading my article. I hope you like it too, and as a newbie I am open for some suggestions and helpful ideas on my writings. Just feel free to comment and it would be a pleasure to read those. *The verse used in this article is from the Bible John 3:16 *Lead image is from Unsplash

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@JulianaF 20 July 2021

Honesty, Is it the loneliest word? "Honesty is such a lonely word, everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard and mostly what I need from you." this is from the lyrics of the song Honesty performed by Billy Joel. I considered myself as a real music lover mostly of the song from the 80's and even older. I was influenced by my grandfather and my mother as well because they really have that given talent to sing so I have that little talent to sing too. Last night my mom was scrolling songs from YouTube and she told me of a certain song that she really likes to hear. And that is the song of Billy Joel entitled "Honesty". She told me to try to listen to this song and give emphasis to the lyrics not just its melody. And so I did listen to it. Yes indeed the lyrics is nice its a sad reality experienced by the many. Then what makes it a lonely word? **Deceitful child** Yes, what makes it a lonely word? There was a neighbor of ours way back two years ago who have told us about the story of his son an adopted son that they took care and treated as their real son. They have that child since he was born. I think its because that child is the son of their relative, and a single mother. And she asked if they can take care of her child because she will be working abroad. To sum it up the couple welcome the child with open arms and so much gratitude in their hearts because she can't bore a child. Many years have passed and that child was already in college. They got him enrolled at one of the universities here. Every week he would asked them some money and insisted that its for his project, so they never denied his every request. One time he asked money for his tuition fee and told her mom he will be the one to have himself enrolled, so the mother gave him the money. They gave in to whatever he would ask for they thought it was for his school purposes.To cut the story short, two years later before they knew that their son is not really enrolled, and is a drop out. They felt so sad and disappointed that after they took care of him, love him, he betrayed their trust in him. He was a dishonest son. And the worst thing they have discovered is the money they have given him were used to buy prohibited drugs. ****My reflection**** How can you be this heartless of doing this kind of things to your parents who have lots of sacrifices since you were just a baby, with all the sleepless night just to take care of you and feed you. Problems like this such as juvenile delinquency is very much common in our society. The sad thing is lots of judgemental people always point the blame to the mother and reason that this kind of things usually happened because the mother tolerated her child's misconduct but I do not totally agree with this kind of reasoning. No matter how you mold him to become a better person if he/she doesn't care about himself, then its beyond the parents control anymore. Parents only think of what is good about their children. It's up on us to give back to our parents the gratitude they deserved. **Betrayal of friendship** We treat friends like they belong to our families. Of course, friendships are built because of trust, loyalty, and compatibility. But do they last? Dishonesty in a friendship seemed to be normal these days. For example, leaking an information or a secret a friend trusted to you, talking back behind their backs, ruining their image to other people, and a lot more. These are just few of the most popular betrayals in friendship, and within those betrayals, dishonesty arises. Are there really people like that? Yes. Why did they do it? Honestly, no one would know. Real friendship are rare this days, you'll have no idea what intention or agenda someone has if they say they wanted to be your friend, if they're someone you can trust - or the opposite of it. For me, the lesser friends you have, the lesser betrayal you'll face, and the more trust you can give. That's why, we should be careful in choosing who we want to be friends with, people are tricky, and having your trust destroyed by someone you know, surely doesn't feel great. **Marital infidelity** This is one of the most painful experience a person can have brought about by unfaithfulness. The very sad reality about it is you have build your life with him/her. You have given your full trust because both of you promised that you will love each other for eternity, and yet one of you will just ignore your marriage vows. I've known someone who've been separated from his husband. I asked her what prompted her to decide such thing, she answered me, she could no longer bear the pain and insult inflicted by her husband's repeated lies. She said, she would rather be punched physically several times, but the emotional stress and anxiety is more difficult to bear. Many are against about that kind of decision because the feeling of their children must be their priority. The feeling of having an incomplete family brings so much confusion to the children. That's why many remains and absorb all the feeling of uncertainty because they're afraid of how their kids will feel for their broken marriage. On the other side, we cannot blame those couple who have decided to part ways, because they don't want to be imprison of a relationship that is no longer working. What's the use of being together when one of you is just pretending. Worst thing is you will live in misery everyday seeing all those lies and pretentions. Well, we really can't tell what's the right way of dealing your partner's infidelity because each one of you has its own reason to tell. Not unless we wear the same shoe, that's the only time we can answer all those questions. **Closing Thoughts** With all of these pain, unfaithfulness, deceit which can break somebody's heart into pieces makes the truth so hard to hold. Indeed honesty is such the loneliest word. Billy Joel's song speak the hard truth of it. PS: Guys, I hope you haven't experienced any of these things I've mentioned above, its really a sad feeling being lied by somebody you trusted and loved. And thank you also guys for taking time to read. *Lead image source: Unsplash

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@JulianaF 19 July 2021

Modern day heroes... Hi everyone, allow me to write something about our modern day heroes, and those people I am referring to are our Overseas Filipino Workers. Many among you here I guess, has relatives parents most probably, brothers and sisters or friends who have been working outside the country or working abroad. If you are to ask them why would they work that is too far from their family? Basically they would say, "for greener pasture", means they want their family to have good and comfortable life, to have their children study on some private and prestigious schools in the country. Obviously, working abroad has a bigger opportunity and bigger salary. I think the Philippines has the largest overseas workers in every part of the world as we always saw it in the news or at any social media forum. Mostly were seafarers, health workers, construction workers and domestic helpers and many others. Every overseas filipino workers has its own story to tell, and have different experiences as well. Let's start it with our seafarers. **Seafarers** I have some cousins and relatives who's work is a seafarer. And they've once told me that being a seafarer is not an easy job, especially if you are still in a low rank. Before you can on board the ship, you will undergo a lot of trainings too and that means lots of expenses to begin your journey. The very first person to feel lonely is of course the wife of a seafarer, because of the long beliefs and saying that since they traverse on many places, there is a saying about a seafarer which says "Every port report, every place replace". Trust has been a very essential matter if you have been married to a seafarer. Stories been told that because they earn a lot, thay are more capable to have some good times in a bar or anywhere they are comfortable with. Another thing about them, if you have already onboarded a ship, a lot of relatives are expecting something from you the moment you of off board.Some are requesting for a branded Nike shoes, a Blue label Johnnie Walker and many other branded things. Eventhough I have some cousins and relatives who were a seafarer never did I requested for some material things, because I understand how hard their job is. They are risking they're life traversing and facing typhoon and storms. They're immediate family, the wife, their parents and their children were living everyday worrying and without peace of mind thinking about their family member who is onboard a ship. Yes it's true they are well compensated compare to any other job but the risk their taking is unfathomable. Domestic Helpers, Construction Workers and Caregivers. Have you experienced seeing a scenario at the airport of a family hugging while crying hard because someone in the family will be leaving to work as a domestic helper in some part of Asia and in any other foreign land. That was so heartbreaking to witnessed. I think the child was about seven years old, she really cried hard because her mom is leaving. We have a neighbor before,when we are still in Bulacan, she worked as a DH too, she told us of her very sad experience, like her boss would always tell her what to eat oftentimes she ate only the leftovers. When they went to a grocery store to buy the stuff needed from where she worked, her boss told her that they will drop by at a Mc Donald's fast food. She was a bit excited that for the first time since she arrived on that foreign land, she wasn't able to eat a single burger. But to her dismay, her boss told her to just stay on a different table while she was eating. She told us, she wanted to breakdown at that very moment.While some domestic helpers are lucky to have a very compassionate boss, some are also struggling for some rude and harsh employer. The bad thing that adds to the demoralization of our domestic helpers and construction workers is that they've been looked down by the society. It cannot be denied that there are really those who felt happy and satisfied when they belittle somebody. If only they knew of the battle that our overseas workers keep on coping day by day maybe they would have a heart to be kind. Many of them experienced anxiety attacks or even depression because they failed to overcome the feeling of being lonely brought about by homesickness. And think about those caregivers who took care about elders but were not able to see their parents who were sick. Those helpers who took care of other kids but left their own just to earn a living. It really angers me at times seeing some news about our overseas workers being maltreated by their employers, others were even raped. Life has been sometimes unfair, but every person has his own battle, a battle to win and conquer. **Closing Thoughts** If you have a family who's working abroad or an Overseas worker, please take time to express your gratitude towards them. Take time to call them, leave them messages that you missed them and that you loved them. Do not just call because you wanted to borrow money or you call because you are asking for some brand new clothes and shoes etc. Take time to realize and think that while you are eating sumptuous meal and drink that expensive milktea or coffee, your relatives abroad might be eating some leftovers only. Value their hardwork and sacrifices instead by doing good on your studies, and by not spending too much of the money they sent. And for us relatives or friends, let's not expect something from them. Let's avoid expecting some chocolates, soap and many other things because they never have it for free. The money they have is an exchanged for their sacrifices and tears of being away from their family and yet you want it for free. Not all Overseas workers are rich and have lots of money. Many went home with nothing too mostly during this time of pandemic. Some lost their job also while some weren't able to return because of the restrictions given by other country from those coming from the Philippines. Many of them have been knocked down and even attempted ending their life because of anxiety and depression because they're now jobless. Now is the perfect time to show to our modern day heroes our love and appreciation for all the help they have given and to their big share in improving our country's economy because of their remittances. To our modern day heroes, "Mabuhay kayong lahat." Hope you enjoyed reading this article, this is my way of saying thank you to our Overseas Filipino Workers. *Lead image is from Unsplash

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@JulianaF 18 July 2021

Love, Friendship and Betrayal... Good day and blessed Sunday everyone. I am a bit excited while writing this article since the subject matter includes love and friendship. Since our school days has ended, I have plenty of time watching some movies and reading some stories online too. I was able to watch movies about friendship, love and marriage and infidelity. So this is where my idea comes from why I am writing this topic. **Friendship** Yesterday I did watched an old movie, casted by Bette Medler and Barbara Hershey.The movie is entitled "Beaches" this was actually released in 1988. My mom actually mentioned this movie to me, she said I must have some tissue if I'll watch this movie. It is actually a story about what a real friend is. And yes my mom is right, I cried a river while watching and the musical background "Wind beneath my wings" got me carried away. The way I described the relationship of having a real friends is, that person must know both the good and bad side of me. She knows my imperfections too. And if I am not behaving well, he or she will not be hesitant to correct me. A best friend for me is somebody who can accepts me, my flaws and my everything. Somebody who will give me a hand when life knocks me down, a confidant, somebody who will be there celebrating with me in my happy days. It doesn't matter if we have that indifferences and misunderstanding at times, at the end of the day we just laugh it off. I have this two friends of mine that I really consider them true friend because they do the things thay I have mentioned above. If ever I mis behave they will remind me. And tell me things, advises that is good to me. Nowadays, its hard to find true friends. You will hardly know if they can be trusted or not. If you have one then you must be fortunate, value it. Take care of the friendship that you have as precious as diamonds, to make it last forever. **LOVE** This I think is the most overused and misused word of all time. I said it because, a lot of people talk about love, what is love and even say we are in love yet aren't able to show what true love is. Biblically love has a lot of meaning, if you happened to read one of the verses in the Bible from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, it says,"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." So might as well contemplate on this bible passage and assess yourself if you are obeying or doing this, then you are good to speak the word love. If you are having some confusion as to what is a true love is and how does it feel? That is so simple, think of your parents and look at them. Think of the many hardship and sacrifices they keep on battling everyday just to give us good life and good education. Think how your dad or your mom work so hard just to finance the families needs, the roof over your head and the food on your table, your education. Isn't it love? And when Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, He was mocked and insulted, He was bitten yet He endures all the pain because of love. He truly loves us. Love is not just for material things but its more on how we value and respect people. How we take care for ourselves. This is but an example of what true love is. **Betrayal** When we talked about betrayal doesn't necessarily means infidelity, it has a lot of factors. Infidelity is just one of the many instances that leads to betrayal. If you happened to cheat during your exams on your online classes, that's one example of betrayal because you are betraying yourself of the right learning that you must have. Instead of paying attention and listening to your teacher, you are busy playing an online game which resulted to your failing grade.With that you betrayed the trust that your parents gave you, because they expect that you are studying your lessons well. But in marriage, you do have a vow, you promised not just to your husband or wife, but you have promised your marriage vows to God. The very sacred line that you can hear every wedding ceremony is " for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part". This is your vow, this is your promise to God that nothing and no one can separate you. But what happened with our society right now. Even in one TV show, most of the issues been taken is about marital problems and infidelity. Very sad and disappointing but apparently that's the real issues nowadays. And to be fair it's not only men who's doing it there were also many cases where the girlfriend or the wife did the betrayal. Some who's been a victim of this kind of betrayal felt that their partners has fallen out of love with them or maybe because they don't have enough time and that their busy with their careers reason why their partners look for somebody who could give them more time. For me, this is an unfair reason, falling in out of love was just their excuse for the mistakes they did. God has given you just one heart, one heart that you can share to only one person and that is your husband or wife. Many children suffered the consequences of a broken marriage.But we cannot blame them if they decided to part ways. Trust is a thing so hard to build but once broken, it is so hard to rebuild. Others decided to stay for the sake of their children, but everyday life has been a misery. That is why if you want to decide to build your own family, build it with God as the center of your marriage. **Closing thoughts** Nothing lasts forever as they say, everyone changes from time to time even your closest friends and married couples too. But one thing for sure, if you put God as the center of your every relationship be it a friend or with your family, chances of getting tempted is very low.Just give it all to God and do your part maybe you can say that there is still what we called forever. This is all for today folks, hope you enjoyed reading and May God bless us all. *Picture of Jesus in the cross is from Unsplash *Lead image is from Unsplash

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@JulianaF 17 July 2021

The working forces in our community.... It has been said and believed that the working forces place an important role in the well being of every country. Today I will be writing about some of the professions and sectors in our community and how they are being treated and valued in our society. I am talking about the farmers, fishermen, our teachers, men in uniform, our health workers and those in the retail,BPO and manufacturing services. **The Farmers** I really love the farmers, they are one of the sectors in our society that I have high respect. Have you witnessed how our farmers work on the field for a very long hours plowing in a very hot weather during summer and never minding the rain during rainy season? They have devoted their time planting different crops such as rice, vegetables and fruits. There was a time that I visited a sugarcane plantation here in my place and there I saw how hard it is to be working harvesting the sugarcane during summer. When I visited my father's place in Mindoro I saw some natives harvesting bananas and I am so sad that people seems to never care about their hardwork by buying their products at a very low cost. How can we do that to those people working so hard just for us to have food on our table.When in fact those products being harvested by the farmers were just break even because of the high cost of fertilizers and pesticides. It would not even enough to feed their families for three months. So if you have the resources let us support our farmers by buying their products with just and right price. Let us support our local farmers and our local products. In that we have showed them that we value their hardship for us. **The Fishermen** I consider the fishermen as one close to my heart because my father was once a fisherman in his younger years before he became an engineer.His parents could not afford to sent him to college because of financial matters. So reason enough for me to believed that poverty is not a hindrance to success. I admired them because fishermen were so brave facing the rough weather sometimes just for them to have catch everyday to support their families needs. But it cannot be denied that they too received some unfair treatment by our society by buying also their catch at a very low cost and at times when they are commuting nobody dares to sat beside them because of their smell. Who's guilty of this? **Teachers** No man paved their way to success easily. Everything comes off with hardwork and talent. Question is, who helped us discover and develop? Of course, our mentors as our teachers. They lead us to the right path. Like that of the drivers they bring us to our right destination. It takes time but with their help and guidance, we will reach our goals. Our teacher devoted their time in teaching us for a mere dreamer like us to succeed. Patience, time, understanding and a lot more than you could imagine. That is why we should show gratitude to our teachers whatever our status in life right now. It only takes one word for all the hard work they poured unto us. For all the teachers out there, thank you for paving the way to our success. Health workers, BPO, Men in uniform, Retail and Manufacturing employees These people are those I considered the fighters and survivors of all time. When COVID-19 was detected in our country, we experienced the strictest restrictions and lockdowns. During this time of pandemic these people are still working battling the invisible enemy. Our health workers are 24/7 risking their lives just to take care of those patients infected by the virus. The saddest part is that some of them died inline of duty. Some of their families have lost them as an exchange of their service to the people. Same as that of those working in retails and our men in uniform. They continue to served us despite the danger brought about this pandemic when they travel in going to work. When we talked about economy during lockdowns, our people in the BPO industry are still there some are working on a graveyard shift. BPO has helped a lot to sustain parts of our economic status. They're operations hasn't stop. People in the BPO industry were like immortals never afraid of covid 19, typhoon and a lot more. They're still there standing strong in the name of work and service. Our government must give credits on them also. **Closing thoughts** They may have different responsibilities in our community, one we should have done is to give value on their service. Let us show some gratitude and respect for our working forces for they plays a great part on our daily living. Another things is let's not forget to support our local farmers, buy their product without asking some discounts. Let us show compassion to our working forces. I hope you enjoy reading my article, and if you want to add something about your chosen working force, feel free to comment and share your thoughts too. Thank you. *Lead image is from Unsplash

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@JulianaF 16 July 2021

Distance Learning, as the new normal.... Hi everyone, School Year 2020-21 has just ended so I am now able to write all the things I have encountered as well as my experiences and the challenges me and my siblings have faced brought about by this new learning modality. Due to the unexpected spread of the virus, COVID-19, face to face classes cannot be held in most countries up until now. However, we shifted to our new "normal" called distance learning or learning through correspondence or over the internet. You do not have to go to school, instead, all you have to do is use your gadget, attend a meeting online, listen and learn. That's one of the many challenges we have encountered other than the distractions of our surroundings during our online class. Best examples are dogs barking and the neighbors loud voices doing some sing a long on their videoke machines. And the very thing that hinders our learning with this kind of modality is that our poor internet services having a very slow connectivity. Online learning definitely feels different than having to attend classes face to face. It is hard to adjust, especially if you have difficulty in learning without being taught personally, if you get distracted easily, and if it is hard for you to communicate. We shared different struggles due to the sudden change of our mode of learning, nevertheless, most of us tried to adapt into it little by little. Not just students, but our parents and teachers too. On my part I am a Grade 11 student with a Culinary Art strand. Everytime we have our laboratory or performance task to do, I felt so pressured because I am cooking a certain dish in front of a camera so my teacher would know if I am the one doing it. When we are having our oral recitations, our teacher will asked questions while we are blindfolded and the camera is on. I find it a bit odd and funny but it is for our own good too to assure that we are really studying our lessons and for our teacher to know if we are really learning or not. Let's admit, what makes most of our time in school is our personal bonding with friends, classmates, and teachers. Unfortunately, we cannot do that anymore in online classes, it is all about learning, doing activities and adjusting. Of course, you can still communicate with your friends and teachers, fun times aren't limited. But there are lots of things you need to consider. Surviving online learning was difficult for me, it tested my time management, responsibility, cramming,procrastination, and how I handle things. It was hard at first, but I got used to it by time. That's what I've noticed with my siblings too. If you do not want your activities piled,try doing it immediately. If you do not want to get sleepy while having classes, try to sleep early. But of course, it does not apply to everyone, we have different ways in coping. Well, me and my siblings believed in the saying that goes, " If there's a will there's a way". And we are very grateful by the grace of God and with our very supportive parents plus our hardwork and perseverance, me and my two siblings ended the school year with High Honors. We may experienced difficulties during this time of pandemic. But let's continue to pray, hope and believed in God's promise. God will not abandon us. This pandemic will soon come to an end, hopefully. *Lead image is from Unsplash

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@JulianaF 15 July 2021

My Right to Suffrage.... Our National hero Dr. Jose Rizal once said " The youth are the hope of our motherland". I in this younger generation still hopes that indeed Dr. Jose Rizal's words and teachings were not forgotten by the Filipino youth of today. **What is Right to Suffrage?** When I was still in my elementary days I have always wanted to know what is the importance of that election thing. I wonder why a lot of people visiting each and every houses and you will noticed a lot of prominent persons from your place were seen in every street smiling and shaking hands to people. Others are giving some goods and giving a lot of good promises too. And my mom had explained it to me as that was their way of campaigning so all their constituents may know and consider them. I will be turning 18 comes February of 2022 and I will be eligible to register and cast my vote comes May 2022 Local and National Elections. I am glad that the registration as stated in the Comelec's website will be until September 30 of this year and that gave us more time to register. **What are the requirements to register as stated in the Philippine Commission on Election website?** My fellow youth who's eligible to cast their votes please exercise your right and have your name registered at the Comelec. Think of it as our chance and our opportunity to give our country the chance to change and recover by giving the best and honest public servant our country deserves. Choose the public servant who's ever ready to give a better plan to revive our economy at its very lowest brought about by this pandemic. Choose that public servant who has a compassionate heart in helping the homeless and street children in our community. And think of that public servant who can give just and full respect that the Filipino workers deserves particularly our farmers and fishermen who have been always left behind. Think of the future of our motherland and us the young ones. Let us not be persuaded by their sweet promises by the goods and gifts that politicians gave us. Don't be fooled by their fake sweet and lovely smiles. Let's start the next election time by changing what has been always practiced. Remember my fellow youth, what future it will give you if you exchange your vote with a 1k peso bill that will give you a day of happiness but six years of regrets. Let's give value to our country the Philippines this time. Think deeply my fellow. The future of our country is in our hands. Let us please vote wisely and let us not make history repeats itself. When we vote, think of God and think for our future.

@JulianaF 13 July 2021

Language Barrier How interesting it is to learn other dialect spoken by different provinces here in my country Philippines. I was born in Laguna, grew up in Bulacan and now presently we are residing at my mom's beloved province, the sugar bowl of the Philippines Negros Occidental, the particular city we lived in is known to be the city of smiles Bacolod. The Philippines has more than a hundred different kinds of dialects but it has at least eight major languages being spoken. We Filipinos learned what are those eight major dialects as it is being taught since our elementary days, those are Tagalog, Bikolano, Ilocano,Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray. Since I grew up in Bulacan and graduated my elementary there, so I am used to speaking Tagalog. When we finished our school year 2017-18 my parents talked to us and mentioned that they planned to go back to Bacolod and we will live their for good. So change of residency that would mean change of school too. I was really sad at that moment, cannot even say any words because I already have a lot of friends in Bulacan and in my school. I even tried asking my parents what if we stay more years or just let us finished our high school years first before transferring but unfortunately it didn't happened. We arrived in Bacolod month of May in 2018 and the first thing that comes to my mind is how can I communicate with the people here. I don't even know a single word they speak. What about when we start our school, do they like to befriend me? Or are they going to hate me because of my dialect? I am really getting paranoid that time. I started to loose my self confidence. But my mom told me and my siblings to not be too negative. She told us to think it as an opportunity to meet new friends and to learn new culture and dialect to begin with. So she accompany us to enroll at our new school. We enrolled at STI West Negros University here in Bacolod. On our first day of school I felt excited and at the same time nervous because of the language barrier, our very predicament. To our surprised, the people here were very sweet and friendly. They accepted me and my sibling with open arms and made us really feel comfortable despite we are having a hard time to communicate with them. Day after day I started to gain more friends and I also started to like their friendly and smiling culture here. I will give you some sample of Hiligaynon words and how it is translated in tagalog and english. Guapa - maganda - beautiful Palangga ta ka - mahal kita - i love you These are just some of the words that I've first learned. Based on my experience, I have learned to realized that language has never been a barrier to gain friends and to start your new life on that new place and new environment. But of course you must do your part to make some adjustments and learn their culture. Accept and respect the dialect that they speak. You will just surprised that at the end of the day you are already enjoying and started speaking their dialect too. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my very first whole article here. "Palangga ko kamo"