To God be the Glory

I am a Bar Passer.

Praised be the Name of God.

Praised be Mary, Most Holy.

Praised be the Prince St. Michael.

Praised be the Holy Apostle St. Jude.

Praised be the Holy Apostle Bartholomew.

Praised be St. Therese.

Praised be St. Dominic.

Praised be St. Thomas.

Praised be St. Raymund of Penafort.

Praised be St. Martin.

Praised be St. Faustina.

Praised be St. Claire.

Praised be St. Francis.

Praised be Blessed Margaret.

Praised be St. Padre Pio.

Praised be the Name of God Forever. Amen.

This blog is a tribute to my long journey towards one fulfillment. The next journey is about to begin. To all the people, friends, loved ones... Thank You all.

And now, this blog finally comes to a close.

And a new story shall begin.

Until the next blog....

make haste, please, make haste...

I just received some griping news of our impending doom. And suddenly, this song popped up in my mind..

Many nights we prayed, with no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song, we barely understood
Now we are not afraid, although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains long, before we knew we could
There can be miracles, when you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracle, you can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe.

In this time of fear, when prayer so often proves in vain
Hope seems like the summer birds, too swiftly flown away
Yet now I'm standing here, my heart so full I can't explain
Seeking faith and speaking words, I'd never thought I'd say
There can be miracles, When you believe (When you believe)
Though hope is frail, It's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles, You can acheive (You can acheive)
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

They don't always happen when you ask (uh)
And it's easy to give in to your fear (ooh)
But when you're blinded by your pain
Can't see the way clear through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near

There can be miracles (Miracles)
When you believe (Oh When you believe)T
hough hope is frailIt's hard to kill (Hard to kill)
Who knows what miracles You can achieve (You can achieve)

When you believe (oooohhh)
Somehow you will (somehow somehow somehow)
Somehow you will ( I no I no I no)
You will when you believe (when you)
You will when you, you will when you, believe
Just believe, just believe (ooh baby)
You will when you believe.

repost no. 2

Ode to the Length of Days

One can take only so much suffering as would heaven permit tears fall from one's eyes to the earth,
and salt between the lips, and bitter bile gushing through the heart
beaten, broken, but unsurrendering to circumstances
for the end of this phase of the journey towards the next
in the realm of demigods and earthly immortals.
One can only take so much bitterness as hell would permit fiery fury upon the earth and raze heaven to the ground, thrusting,
with intense heat
bursting with extreme cold
feeling nothing more than silence, and hearing nothing more than darkness
only to see the womb open up to the light of immaculate dawn tainted with oblations of human blood
only in its purest state.
souls traveling towards the denying road, unwelcoming, unsoothing
souls washed with blood
sweat and
tears.
drenched with hope
"read me, as if though I was absent."
In my mind, it is as if Ophelia, met Pablo.

repost

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

II
Destiny brings two people together. Circumstances separate them. And by some twist of Fate, they meet again in crossroads. Once in a while you meet that special someone who makes You the most important person in the world, without any reason or categorical purpose, nor motive. And such purpose or reason is yet to be discovered while the journey continues. A relationship need not be defined, let the thing speak for itself. What if the concept of “right love at the wrong time” is just a preparation for something better, something bigger, something brighter? Who knows?It may not be true love. It may not be everlasting. But to be certain, it is a spark of forever existing in the now.

hello blog, long time no write. well, been busy lately. my work has brought me to certain "church" clients in bulacan and valenzuela, and therefore, aside from the temporal remuneration, the spiritual benefits thereof hopefully will abound.

February 29 me and my college friends from economics went to the Mall of Asia, since it was a joint celebration of Butch and Tim's birthday. We ate at the famous President Tea House, then drank my favorite cerveza negra and frozen margaritas at Pier One by the bay. Tim's car ran flat along C-5 road around 2am. so we hailed a taxi to assist us with the changing of tires.

Then last night I went out with my Legal Management friends, jun, derrick, mojette, best, Mich and husband Eric who came home recently from the U.S. and Spain respectively. you could see some pics of us at Dencio's along abscbn in my friendster.

Next weekend, God willing, my law school friends will travel up north to Manaoag to pray for the bar results. Then up to Baguio we go for an overnight stay where we can bond after failing to see each other for, well, about five months after the Bar.

Come April, I'll be prepping up for JL and Kitten's wedding. That faithful event we've been preparing and planning for the past year. Anyhow, my law school colleagues are already feeling the tension. We're slowly dying once again. This process is quite unique. And I pray I won't go through it again. Ever. Amen.

Ngayon ko lang nakita ang iskulturang yelo na ito nang tiningnan ko ang friendster groups ng Batch namin ng Law. Kuha ito sa Manila Hotel sa buffet table. Hindi ko ito nakita, o malamang, nakita ko man, hindi ko napansin dahil mga ngarag moments namin.

Tulad ng mga ganyang bagay, madami kameng hindi na-appreciate dahil sa kasagsagan ng aming mga utak dahil sa pagod, takot at kaba. At ngayon ko lang na-appreciate na may nag-effort na gumawa ng ganito para lang sa amin.

Heto ang isa sa mga masasayang moments sa bar, isang buong batch nagkakainan, tumatambay sa poolside, tawanan, iyakan, takutan... yung best and worst namin lumabas.

Nabalitaan kong na-stroke si Dean Benips habang nagle-lecture sa Iloilo. Pinagdadasal kong gumaling siya, kasama ng laksa-laksa niyang mga mag-aaral dahil kailangan siya ng Facultad de Derecho Civil. Kailangan namin siya na bilang sandigan sa panahong kame ay kukuha na ng oath namin. We are not only making ourselves proud, but also The Honorable Justice and Former Solicitor General, our Dean, if we pass the bar.

This is a great man. He has plenty to share with the future lawyers and law students. He must recover from his stroke. His presence and his thundering voice, like that of grand paterfamilias evokes both kindness and discipline; He must recover. Thus:

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed that our petition be granted. Such other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for.

The City of Malabon for the City of Heaven, February 23, 2008.

psycho judge

think of a hybrid between bella flores and celia rodriguez, with that classic filipino movie villanous laugh.

that's judge C.S.A.V., fuunny though how she makes 'sindak' with all the accused and the lay people. she makes sindak likewise with the lawyers (and me, a non-lawyer making a special appearance for a simple resetting of a criminal case due to an amicable settlement between my client and the accused)

and then everybody whom she shouts at, especially the guys, before exiting the court room, she would laugh, and say in a loud voice, "I LOVE YOU!!!!"

crazy really... but i guess that's the point of it all... we have the talent of reading between the lines. she ain't really that psycho. she's still a good person deep down. taklesa nga lang siya. for sure, she's not the epitome of impartiality and the majesty of the robe, but for as long as justice will be served (anyways, as shown by her orders on record, she is actually 'charitable' to the litigants, whether private complainants, the people or the accused.)

my first court appearance in over two years started with a bang...

so perhaps the next time i would appear before her sala, anyways, i'm already on record, I can absolutely say... "Your Honor, I am now authorized to appear. I'm an attorney now."

Then we'll probably laugh like psychos too.

pangarap

two weeks na ko sa Arcinas & Arcinas Law. Ok naman. Masaya dahil kaunti pa work ko, tapos sa 3rd floor ay show room ng Yonex at pwedeng bumili ng discount up to 70%. madaming kainan sa mismong retiro, at malapit pa ang banawe. kung tutuusin parang pinaghalong Ongpin at Jupiter street ang Retiro, kung kaya tinawag ang area nito na Chinatown ng QC. sa bandang la loma ay nakahilera ang mga lechon. dito daw nagsimula ang mga "Big Names" na law firms bago pa man sumikat ang Escolta pagkatapos ng pangalawang digmaang pandaigdig, at bago pa man nagsilipatan sila sa Makati.

sa ngayon ang ginagawa ko eh pawang puro pleadings. naiisip ko tuloy na hinahasa ako para sa litigation. Litigation lawyer. Wow. sana naman makabuo ako ng korporasyon, matutunan ko man lamang yun at makaipon ng substansyal na halaga eh magtatayo na kame ng sarili naming kalakal ng mga barkada ko. hindi malayong ang aking propesyonal na buhay ay malalaan sa tatlong bagay... ang batas, kalakas, at pagtuturo. sa ngayon bibitawan ko muna ang pangarap kong lumuklok sa kataas-taasan hukuman o sa Office ng Solicitor General (syet. I love the sound of that... "The Solicitor General, for the public respondents. Petition for Review on Certiorari.")

balang araw gusto ko muling mag-aral at magkaruon ng MBA, LL.M, DCL, o Ph.D. ewan natin. gusto ko rin mag-aral sa Madrid ng Leyes Civil Castillano. Gusto ko ring mag-aral ng wikang pranses, italiano, mandarin, hookien at portuges.

ang dami kong pangarap. masarap mangarap.

msarap ang mangarap...