Marc Aldrich Gopal. 22. Novena, Singapore. Filipino. Proctoid. Wanderlust-y. Leo. Atenean. O-C. Sleepyhead. Anti-mediocrity.
Potterite. Pet Fanatic. Acquired Taste. Lives life. Loves life.
You think you know but you have no idea.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma- living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.
They were interviewing Angelica Panganiban yesterday at the Buzz. The theme was all about Mother's Day. And specifically, what she has to say for to her mom. And her main point was she couldn't really say anything at all - not because she didn't have anything to say, but she struggled on how to say how she felt.
Her point was the words "I love you" and "Thank you" are not enough. We say it to often, and it does not bear enough weight and meaning - at least not enough to express how she feels. She showed a bit of frustration on how there were no words in the English language to say how much love and appreciation she felt.
To my mama, I feel exactly the same. Thank you and I love you are too shallow, and can not even begin to describe how I feel. Though I can not fully say how I feel, I do hope that you feel how much I love and appreciate you for all these years. And for sure, even though I didn't come from your tummy, I came from your heart.
I am who I am today because of you. ♥
Kalinga, Aruga, Proteksyong todo. In fairness to Celine, very slight and subtle branding.
Hearing: Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come Feelin' loved.
I had trouble sleeping last night - for some reason it reminded me of Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. This is highly unusual, as if you knew me very well, I never have trouble sleeping.
Things are changing in my life here in Singapore. And the most recent changes have reminded me how the friendships that I've built at work are more "work" first before "friendships". For some reason, almost all of them have moved on, and I spent all of last night with a sense of unease - with that feeling of being left behind. It's the very same feeling I had a few months after graduation, when all of my friends have found their own place in the corporate world, while I was left floating around.
Things are changing - after all, it's been four years now. A bit of foolishness from my end to expect that things will stay the same.
I'm the only one left behind. But then again, that may not exactly be a bad thing. Life goes on. And yes, work is a means to an end - I'll need to always keep that in mind. I like what I do, but again, this is a means to an end.
Now back to work. Say it with me - this is a means to an end, this is a means to an end..
Sabi ng Nanay, iiyak ka, para malaman mo kung gaano kasaya ang saya. Manghihina ka bago ka lumakas. Pero wag kang susuko, magaling ka, mahusay ka. Lahat ng iyon pinaniawalaan ko, pinanghawakan ko. When I doubted myself, she always believed in me. Bago pa man magsimula ang laban, sa puso ng nanay ko, panalo na ako. Nay, Mahal na mahal kita. Dahil sa iyo ang lahat ng ito. Maraming salamat, Nanay.
My mother told me - you will cry, but cry only to know how what it really means to be happy. You will feel weakness, but only to find true strength. But never give up - you are strong, you can do it. All of that I believed in, all of it I held on to. When I doubted myself, she always believed in me. Before the fight even began, I knew that inside my mom's heart, I've already won. Mama, I love you very much. All of this is for you. Thank you very much, Mama!
This is such a touching commercial - and I'm really proud that this is made by P&G, to honor the most important woman in our lives, our moms.
To Mama, who always believed in me, even at times that when even I could not believe in myself. I love you very much.
Aldrich Takes a Trip Down Memory Lane Posted at 04:22 PM in Life as I Know It
It’s weird that the more stuff that’s going on in my life, the more my entries are few and far in between. Nevertheless, this one’s an outlier.
I found myself back in Manila a month back, just as a short weekend retreat – thanks to the 12 peso fare from Cebu Pacific last October (yes, 12 pesos fare to celebrate 2012!, thank God for that.) And to conserve my leaves, I aligned with my boss to allow me to work from my home-country. For this case, working from home country meant working in the Ateneo Rizal Library – as I waited for my friend Earl who works in one of the many offices in Ateneo.
And so began my trip down memory lane – we had breakfast in the cafeteria (oddly, I still feel that there’s a pending midterm/oral exam when I step into that caf), then he dropped be off at the library to work in the morning (thank god for free wifi!). I walked around the different halls, even looking at the oral test results posted in front of De La Costa Hall – and remembering the stress of how I had to commute from my house just to see if I got an A (memories of grade-consciousness, part of it still lives!). I also had to do some banking errands and I went to visit my old neighborhood ( it looked exactly like how I remember), and finally visited Ever Gotesco Mall, the closest mall to my house, and one that we frequented, especially for quick buys. Went back from there and worked for the remainder of the afternoon in the library, and then waited for Earl to finish.
The whole time, everything felt so familiar – the cafeteria, the university, the oral test results posted on the board, the neighborhood, the house, the mall. Yes, some things have changed, but they were almost just as how I remember them. There I was walking and wondering why something felt different – how I felt different. Four years ago, that was where I felt most at home – that was my world. Now, not so much. For some reason, I didn’t feel that I belonged there anymore.
When I was in Ateneo High School, I could oftentimes see older people come back once in a while just to walk along the halls. I never really did give much thought on why they did that – but now, it makes sense to me. They come back to remember – to bring back memories of what was, oftentimes with a lot of fond snippets of the past. Things change- that much I’m very clear on. But now, as I get older, I realize that memories still do remain – and now, I remember them even much more vividly. And yes, sometimes, you just can’t help it. You know that it’s no longer part of your current world – but sometimes, that feeling of familiarity just helps get you through another day. Sometimes, that makes all the difference.
Realization for this trip was to realize that my home is here – wherever I am. Manila will always be where my heart is, but home is here where I am. Oftentimes I complain about it, but recently, I’ve been realizing that at this point in time, this is where I’m meant to be – that this is where I belong.
Too deep eh? Anyway, that’s about it from my end for now. It’s Wednesday already by the way – so a couple more days and it’s the weekend once again! J Hope you’re all having a good week!
It's the weekend once again. Wow, that week flew by so quickly. (If only weekends did not fly by twice as fast..).
Anyway, we were preparing a video for our sales team - and we needed what my boss called "boom-boom" music to energize the team. And so, there were two options, recycle old boom-boom music, or find new ones. I of course wanted the later. And thus the briefing for the agency happened immediately after.
And they came back with the below - from someone called Lindsey Stirling.
I watched the video, and after the first 15 seconds, I was hooked. This was brilliant! I've always been a fan of the violin, but it always was too classical. This made it modern, closer to the "now".
It turns out, Lindsey Stirling got "discovered" in America's Got Talent. And Boy, she really does have talent! And can you believe she's only 25 - just a year older than me! (Love her picture above by the way, it's very Lord-of-the-Rings-meets-the-orchestra)
I just can't get enough of her violin! Check out her website at http://lindseystirlingviolin.com/ She's got lots of videos, but I'm currently hooked on Electric Daisy Violin! If only I had even an ounce of musical talent, I'd at least try to learn, sadly, not much from that department. But well, what I can't do well, I can watch and admire.
Hope you all are having a great weekend!
Hearing: Lindsey Stirling - Electric Daisy Violin Watching: Lindsey Stirling - Electric Daisy Violin Feelin' amazed!
Found this over someone's facebook profile. For some reason, no matter how complicated we feel our lives seem to be, these three simple rules seem to be universally applicable:
1. If you do not go after what you want, you'll never have it. 2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be No. 3. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.
Wise words. But to apply them to real life, that makes the smart ones trascend to be the one's who truly are happy. It's the end of another weekend folks - hope this new week turns out to be a good one.
Hearing: Rihanna - We Found Love Feelin' happy. :)
Yes, it's been a while. The beginning of this year was just a whirlwind of stuff happening in my life. For some reason, I'm actually quite happy that I've been preoccupied with so much more stuff happening - but I think my blog's not too happy about not being updated about it. hehe
I went home to Manila this weekend, just a random weekend that I booked 6 months ago (Cebu Pacific Promo fare - I just can't help it.) I stayed over at a couple of friends' houses and met up with a few of them. A friend of mine unfortunately had a death in the family, so I was fortunate enough to join the wake. Most of them were singers All of them were singers, so I was ashamed to sit on the regular seats, while everyone else was singing.
As I was eating the catered Filipino food, I realized just how much time has passed since then. These were people that I knew from high school - they still look as familiar as ever (adding pounds here and there), but it was just so surreal seeing them almost five years after.
I've left my home in the Philippines almost four years ago. I have a life in Singapore, not a bad lfie actually. But, it just dawned on me that as much new experiences I've had living it up in Singapore, I've also missed what could have been my life in Manila had I stayed. I've been so preoccupied with getting lost in my life outside of the Philippines to find myself that I didn't realize that most (if not all of them) we're doing the same damn thing - and didn't have to leave the country to do so.
Life, everyone moves on. For some reason, that realization was bittersweet. I felt good for them - we're older now, and everyone's got their own career and future to look after. And I can say I have no regrets - I love the life that I have in Singapore.It's just that sometimes (just sometimes) I just wish I wasn't so far away.
And yes, time continues to move forward - it's already mid-March, and before you know it, another year will now be upon us. To live, yes, with the time we have - that is the best thing we can do. My flight back to Singapore's now boarding, so I'll have to cut it here. It lands at 2PM in Singapore, so good luck to me going to work tomorrow morning. haha!
'Til the next loop! (and hopefully it won't take that long for another post from me.)
