Grandfather Bartolome

I just realized now how I wish my grandfather was still alive. I never had the chances to appreciate his life until now. You see, he died when I was around 13 years old. When I was young I never got the chance to know him then. Because I was young. Now, how I wish he was alive. My friend C whose father knew my grandfather said that I am very much like my grandfather, and my father. Now I wonder why she said so. But from the little memory I have of my grandfather, I must admit that yes, I think we're alike. I'm just sad he's not around anymore for me to verify that fact. I don't even know what he was like when he was living. How he was with his friends and all. How he was a father. A person. I really wish he was still alive, especially now that I am older and more interested to know my past. I am my father's son. But am I my grandfather's grandson worthy to carry his name?

My exit has begun

So it is set, I am leaving for France on the 4th of November. I barely have a month to prepare myself to leave. Seems like the time will never be enough and nothing can ever prepare me fully to what I'm going to leave behind. It's 3am. I just came from a despedida my officemates organized for me. Although I accidentally foiled their plans to surprise me, I must say I still got surprised. Never has anyone organized a surprise party for me and I have always wondered how that would feel like when it does happen up until last night. Thanks for the love you guys. You will really give me a hard time not missing you when I am in France.

The begining of the end has started. With a few weeks left to spare, I'm still trying to figure out how I can say goodbye to everyone who means a lot to me. Again, we don't have much time. Just thinking about it makes me feel sad. I never expected that leaving would be this difficult.

Even though a year to two wont seem long. It's the idea of not being able to see the people you love when you wish. It sucks. I think that this thought makes it all the more difficult to leave. But there is no other way but to deal with this. In order to fulfill my dreams of studying and experiencing living abroad, leaving the people you love comes with the package. It bites but you got to do what you got to do, right?

1000 strong

My campaign has reached 1000 supporters this month! Well, not really 1000 supporters but unique pageviews. But nevertheless I'm still celebrating that this blog is now 1000 supporters/pageviews strong from when it started.

I haven't been writing the past month. It's been a whirlwind of a month actually. Mainly because of my grad school applications. I haven't really talked about what happened to my applications on this blog after may similar post months ago.

I applied to the University of Science and Technology Lille last month and got accepted. Though I really planned on studying in 2010 and not 2009, I pursued USTL anyway since they're willing to adjust and let me go to France in October. The program starts in september, but since I already have a strong IT background, I can opt not to take the intro IT courses. By the way, I got accepeted to their Global E-Business Masters program. They have a french translation of the program, but i forget. So I decide on pursuing this once I got news that i got accepted, leaving my other options behind. The price was right and the location was perfect. I just have to mention that Lille is in the center of Paris, London, Brussels and Amserdam. Winner, right! And since I'm the first and only Filipino in for the GEB program, it was really much of a low brainer for me to decide to go for USTL. Though the school and the program is not as popular as lets say Oxford or Harvard, it's still and international education and an education is what you make out of it, right?

Before I forget what made my day

Among other things, there was really one incident that made my day today. I was in Robinson's Galleria and I went in Bench to kill some time. I was looking through some clothes and when I saw something I liked, I asked the sales lady to show me where I can find more of those. So she started going through the stock quite frantically since it was kind of hidden behind other clothes. Until she found what I was looking for and showed it to me. Typical customer I was comparing the different designs until I noticed that all she was doing was pointing to the price but not uttering a single word. She gave out a little gasp of air, as if she was trying to say something when I realized something was different. So I asked, innocently if she can speak. Then she pointed to her ear and showed her special ID. Apparently she is differently abled. Couldn't hear much and couldn't speak. I smiled, laughed a bit and told her I thought that she had some sore throat that's why she couldn't speak. We both just smiled at each other. It was a pleasant surprise to encounter someone like her today (kudos to bench for giving them the opportunity to have a job at their stores). I'll be honest, my heart melted for her. Got me more thankful for all the blessings God has showered me all my life. And gracious for God has made things possible for differently abled people like her. I wasn't really planning on buying... I was just window shopping. I ended up leaving. Felt pretty guilty after that... I should have bought the piece.

So before I forget. Let me write it down.

Movies imititating life imitating movies

I sometimes feel that I don't feel anything at all. Odd as it may seem for an idealistic person like me. I do feel numb at times with the things going on around me. Maybe it's because of my fear to go against the current or speak my mind that I just do nothing at all, and to do that I desensitize myself of the things that make me tick. I just want to conform and just live life like everyone else. Be normal. It becomes tiring to be extraordinary or at least hope to be one every waking day.

I've have been watching movies I missed ever since I got introduced to the world of downloading torrents last week. Yes, just last week. I watched Dead Poets Society yesterday and Garden State just now. DPS talks to about how we should suck the marrow of life but not choke on it. Carpe Diem. Garden State proposes a more melancholy approach toward the same issue. I've always wondered why people rave about this movie so I download it to see for myself. It's speaks to the broken-ness in all of us. Specially us who are in our quarter-lives. Lost and numb in the world. It's so tragic how we can allow ourselves to not feel at all. why? Because we're tired of battling through life. The infinite abyss (reference from GS). This metaphor about our lives is what life is all about. And what we plan to do with it. Will you discover it and see it unfold or just let it lay there in its darkness. These movies has reminded me about how idealistic and how tired I am at the same time to chase my dreams making me go for it even more. Why, because i choose life and all the surprises hurts and quirks it brings. I am actually scared to be found empty inside and let the lithium (another GS reference) take over my system.

Six Flags Roller Coasters

When I went to LA last October i went to six flags and rode almost all the roller coasters there. Just wanted to share some of the coaster I rode. Mindblowing and totally awesome!

Tatsu: Highest, Longest, Lying roller coaster in the world. Got really scared with this coaster. Specially while ascending at the start.

Goliath: On of the tallest ones in the US. The first drop goes straight to this black tunnel. The coaster is like a shot straight down to hell.

Superman Escape: From 0 to 100MPH, 'nuff said. Fighter jet?

Viper: The best during its glory days during the early 90's. Hehehe.

OrgForward.com 2.0

Check out the new OrgForward.com website. Made some major changes with the site design early this year. I'm going for a more blog type feel to it. I'm using Wordpress as my base system and found a nice template design perfect for OrgForward. Tweaked some stuff with the code and the CSS. Really hope that launching the 2.0 version of the site this school year will be a success. Partnered with EntrepBuff for some video contant. Still partnering with Dare It Forward and Starfish magazine.