"Helo Helo Na-a Ba Ko Diha?"

"Helo, helo, na-a ba ko diha?" I was just a kid. I was in front of the tape recorder asking.
My parents have this creative idea of preserving our happy childhood moments. From the time my kuya and I were born, my parents recorded our voices in a casette tape. So, I heard how I cried when I came out of my mother. I heard my first laughter.

They squeezed our baby skins us to make us cry. They ran their fingers all over our vein-loaded body areas us to make us laugh; all just for the record. Ha ha ha, maybe my parents should have been journalists or manipulative investigators.

The recording went on once every year until we reached gradeschool.
I can hear myself say, "uyok man na o, uyok uyok" — a baby-talk of saying "tuyok (rotating) man na o, tuyok-tuyok" As tod, I was pointing at the two small reels of the tape inside the boom box cassette.

There are a lot of funny words I made and they all still make me smile, if not laugh, today. Oh, yes! I have a happy childhood.

Now one of those recorded blah blahs turned out to be a romantic line today, and that is ….
"Hello, hello, na-a ba ko diha?" (Hello, hello, am I there?)

It is now what my wife-to-be and I use to open each call. She find it sweet and I find it lovely. We both reply, "Yes, you’re here."

And that makes the entity of of the leas, dales, and seas that divide us go "POOF!!!" …. like they never existed.

"Yes, you’re here."

Simply Nathalie

(from the song "Simply Jessie")

And I don’t know how I knew itBut I knew it somehow
You’re the answer to the question
No one’s answered till now

And I don’t know what you see
What you see in me
Girl it’s nothing to what I see in you

Stars that glisten
Lips for kissin’
Honey listen it’s true
No one ever loved you better
I love ya honey

And I’ve known a girl or two
But none of them was you
And they could never be what you are to me

Stars that glisten
Lips for kissin’
Honey listen it’s true
No one ever loved you better
I love ya honey
I love you

I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you

The Creature and The Prey

The creature is beautiful. That was indeed a delightful thought. Perhaps, even the Kingkong has the romantic side behind its monster facade.

The creature has been roaming and looking for its prey. It has found some tasteful encounters — the fat, the ugly, the "fast" food, the poor, the sloppy, the old, the unthinkable, the meaty — but found itself still wanting. Why? Perhaps, he’s been entertaining his wild side or was it?

The creature seems to have found a right prey. Perhaps, it smells good or a bonafide "full-of-spices" but how sure is the creature?

Who cares? Presumably the hunger is still there and there is no right and perfect meal for the creature. But there is always the right smell.

Dear creature, I hope you’ve found what you’ve been looking, needing, and wanting for. Good luck! You may need it though you don’t believe it.

Finally

(transcribed from the song "Love of My Life")

There are so many different kinds of love and mostly I have tried them all. But just when I’m feeling secure with one, my heart’s strings break, and I begin to fall … the hard and painful fall.

So I picked up my feelings and put them away, thinking no one could ever care. But then they (my Kingkang and my God) moved in to that place in my heart, they understood and now I know they’re always there. Now they come over me, released my soul and set it free. They will always be.

I had longed for love that was perfectly pure, and the bond that was equally strong. So I went through the emotions a thousand times but what I thought was love turned out to be all wrong.

Then they showed me how they could be everything. My wife, my maker, my friend and I’ve never been loved like this before. Letting me know we want each other and would do anything what it takes for us to be closer making the sea not cruel anymore.

Finally!

Probinsyano Ako

Bayang nakakabaliw, perlas ng silanganan, alab ng galit, sa dibdib moy uhaw … lupang kawawa, duyan ka ng korapsyon .. haaaay …

Paumanhin sapagka’t ako’y isang probinsyano.

Ang buhay Maynila naman talaga o. Nung nasa probinsya pa ako, hindi ko ‘to naranasan. Walang pakialam, di ramdam ang paghihirap … buhay ay simple at masagana. Ngunit habang ako’y napadpad dtio sa Maynila’t namulat sa kamusmusan at paghihirap sa bawa’t kantong napupuntahan, ako muli’y nangarap maka-uwi sa amin sa probinsya, oo probinsya.

Karamihan ngayo’y nangangarap makapunta ibayong dagat upang makakita ng swerte at masaganang buhay. Oo, at ako din ay nangarap. Ngunit ang oras mo nama’y ubos — ugod sa pagtatrabaho upang malampasan pa ang dating probinsyanong kasaganahan, na sana’y para sa asawa’t anak.

Pero kung uuwi naman ako sa probinsya at sweldo’y katamtaman lamang pambili ng pagkain sa lamesa … parang di bale na lang.

Ngunit parang iba ngayon. Ang nasa-isip ko’y mapaliban lang muna ang ninanais kong makamtang kasaganahan at manatiling masipag at mag-ipon para umuwi sa probinsya …
at mag….

ASAWA.. hahahahahaha!

Simple. Masagana. Tahimik. May oras. Kasama ang mahal sa buhay. Kasama ang Pamilya. Malayo sa kamundohan. Sariwa ang hangin.

Un lang pala eh .. hehehehe.

Kingkang

God is good. All things work together for good to them that love Him.

But I’ve been bad, even a jerk, but it’s all been called for.

I went afar like a nomad in a desert, looking at a spring of water but ended in an oasis. It evaporated as quickly as how the rain gashed from the heavy gray clouds – both making my days arid and damp. I tried to seek for answers and ended hearing my echo (echoes in a desert? hmmm, that’s insane!).

Yet the gray clouds drifted away and the rays of the sun pierced like dancing swords through the clouds. I started to rise eight times, opened my damped polo-shirt, let the fresh air breeze into my chest, threw my arms open and embraced the light. A new world has opened. It was then that I understood how blessed I was despite the heavy rains.

“O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul to thee. I give thee back the life I owe …,” hearing the song playing in my mind, I shouted with glee and praised, “it is well with my soul for through the tempest I found a paradise I never seem to see.”

A special someone who makes me closest to where I want my life in and what I know my life is for. How can I blame an adventure I thought was wasted, when all along it was meant for me to meet you?

You believe what I believe. You’re a pure goat (a vegetarian to be exact). You don’t just cook for you are a gifted chef. Unbelievably smart that perfectly complements the beauty of your almond eyes. You have a dream where mud and flowers make a child’s world more colorful than a Disneyland. You have the voice that lullabies any monster to sleep melodiously or by telling a story. I can’t wait to slumber together with my child, or say with our child?

You maybe a dragon or a Kingkang (a female Kingkong?) of today but dragons do heal and Kingkang has a big heart.

The advent of you makes me the Kingkong of today. Come and my arms are big and strong to protect you and pamper you.

I am indeed spiritually grateful.