The History of 2008

In a few hours, 2008 will officially end.

The year may not have been super duper perfect but it was definitely a good one. It was good not because of I had great achievements but I experienced great changes.

This year, saw the transformation of Erica into someone more mature, less problematic, more faithful and less materialistic. I have also picked on a lot of details about my past 28 years so far and got the lessons I needed to learn. Now as 2009 dawns, I am armored with much dissected and appreciated life lessons. I am confident I can face the future.

This year, I claim (through God´s grace) that I will be healthier, more productive and more forward-looking. I have grown tired of nitpicking life. Thank God. So, I am prettty sure 2009 will be better if only for that. :) Hehe.

2008 is a year now marked in my personal history. Just like any part of history, it is good to store it somewhere and look back at all this mumbo jumbo when I am in my rocking chair. My grand kids will have a kick out of their weird grandma, that is for sure. :)

I have two simple resolutions this 2009 -- to walk and to pray everyday. Simple changes with big potential effects.

Happy new year to all! :)

Blog Whispers

After a long blog silence, I am back to blogging. :) The silence was of course attributed to Christmas, my birthday (woot!) and the vacation.

The last week has been full of reflective thoughts, silliness and transformative moments. It is my first Christmas and birthday without my dad BUT with a husband. Ironies in life never stop.

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This week, I saw Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao´s name in a Finnish tabloid. He was being compare to Michael Phelps. It was a surreal moment to realize that all the noise by the Philippine media about the guy, was actually worth it. Hehe.

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I want to blog much more but I really need to eat some brunch. So I will blog more coherent thoughts later. I just wanted to end the holiday mode I have been having. :)

Postcard from Canary Islands

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! :)

Copy Pasted

This has been posted on many blog sites before but I wanted to still post it here because I think the message of this is very beautiful. This was claimed to be written by Mother Theresa of Calcutta.

DO IT ANYWAY

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Trip, Trip, Trip

Tomorrow, we will be flying to the Canary Islands. We will be back on the 24th. I have no clue how much access we have to the net there so don´t know how much I will blog.

But, before the trip happens, I need to do loads of work! :)

Have a nice holiday season people! May God bless you. :)

Media Mileage

An article I submitted for the Expat View section of Helsinki Times has been published. This is the second time I find my picture on a Finnish publication. The first time was four weeks ago (incidentally I was in Manila), when Metro had an article about social entrepreneurship in Finland. Next week, I have an interview for the magazine, Kirkko ja Kaupunki.

I praise God for all these blessings. He has been walking me through the business jungle. Throughout the walk, I have tripped quite a number of times. As you can see though, I am still walking. One day, I will have the faith to run.

The quantity of God´s grace definitely outnumbered the number of mistakes I made. I am with faith when I proclaim that I am sure God will never allow me to do this on my own. After all, I am not that smart, haha! :)

Angels and Demons: The Action Story

This article about Satan´s minions and God´s angels was forwarded in our church mailing list some time back. Those who love conspiracy theories would love reading this! It tells of how angels and demons battle in the spiritual realm for the souls of human beings.

The story was apparently told by an ex-demonized person (who is now a pastor) who committed his life to the devil. He described how prayers are intercepted by the dark forces and how angels are held captive by sin.

No matter what your beliefs are, the story is worth reading, if only for the entertainment value.

So, indulge in the story and let me know what you think, hehe. :)

Random Haha

I am 27 going on 45.

When my mom died at 12, I felt like I gained years and had to act like a 20-year old should. Now that my dad just died, I feel like I turned 45.

I am being stretched to grow up faster than average and frankly, it can be tiring. But, no worries since one thing I know about me is that I am doing well and all will be better. :)

Anyway, I guess the whole global economic slump added with winter blues and PMS are making me want to go out and do something really random, like laugh for no reason. So maybe I should. And I will. Here it goes: HAHAHAHAHA! :)

Great! Now I feel better. Hehehe. :) This post could not be more random! ;)

Faced Out

I still do not have Facebook. At first, I did not want to have it because I already had Friendster. I thought I should not bother adding one more social networking site to manage.

However, over the last few months, I have come to realize how much I am missing because of my Facebook-free life. I miss parties, photos of me my friends and family, gossip on who is engaged or married, etc. Of course, this means that I am also poke-free.

Anyway, I recently realized the wealth and depth of my network. I have been to three schools of which I have always ended up president of the student council. I have friends (and I do not use the term loosely) from at least 20 countries and acquaintances in 90. I have distant relatives from all over the place. In short, I have a HUGE network.

Having caught up with the latest gossip, I found out that some friends have become movers and shakers in their fields. So yes, business-wise, I might be missing out a lot by not having a Facebook account. Yet, currently, I am still holding on to my decision not to have Facebook. Perhaps, it is just because I need to be different. Better yet, it is simply because I do not have the discipline for it. I am super duper sure that because of its nature, I will spend loads of hours updating myself on people´s one-liners describing how they read Cosmo on Saturday evenings or how they just bought a spankin´ new blouse. I am sure I will find myself snooping into who-broke-up-with-whom and probably send one of those vampire killing things. Worse, I would probably feel the need to update everyone of my every move. Doh!

I know it is good for business to have an account. I mean, a Dutch "celebrity" (yes, apparently I "know" one) can be just a click away. However, it is precisely because I need to run a business that I should not have one.

One day, when I sense that I can handle all the virtual pressure, I will sign up and help Mark Zuckerberg further control conquer the world.

Photo Credit: www.weblogcartoons.com

Project Delivery

My dad´s death brought a good thing: I became more responsible. With no parents to save me from my mistakes, I realized that I need to make sure I take of my affairs.

Today, I realized that one thing that has been holding me back is that there are many things going on for my company. So, with a brain cell as my guide, I decided to make my work projects. It sounds so simple here but it was not that obvious when I began.

While I have not been playing around, I know that I can do much better with my work. I can deliver because I HAVE delivered before.

As my sister said, what I become as a person (not just in terms of career) are my parents´real legacy. I better do well. ;)

Sleepy Sleep Sleep

Since Friday, I have been sleeping automatically around 10:00. I do not know what causes this "weird phenomenon" but I just sleep. I mean, I forget to do my night routines in the process. I just lie down and the poof! I am asleep.

Another winter effect I suppose. Humdrum.