Mountains And Me

Mountains…

My favorite playground, my escaping zone,

My safe haven, my home away from home,

my breathing ground, my happy place,

my view that always leave me amaze and breathless.

This is how I described mountains.

At first, it was my outside-the-comfort-zone area

but now it is my safe haven place.

It was surely scary at first but as time passed by

and numerous adventures passed on,

I got used to it

 and I always love to be on top of it.

Mountains, rivers, forest and falls (including the beach!)

This is where I ran when I was broken

And it made me whole again

I will keep on coming back

Because this is home

Because nature and I are one.

Thank You When You Walked Away

(Sharing A Glimpse of My Love and Life)

Date Written: March 21, 2020

It was painful but I was grateful.

It was sad but I found new source of happiness.

It was dark but I discovered new light.

My world has been shattered but I have explored the other side of it.

My heart was broken into million pieces but I became unbreakable.

I thought I will never move on but I have moved forward.

At first, I don’t know what to do but in the end; there’s a lot of things to do and I can still do!

I thought that half of me was lost, but in reality, I was more of I can be.

Thank you so much when you chose to leave, thank you when left me broken and lost. I’ve got another chance in life that I never thought that I can have.

It is really true that when we got our heart broken, we will try to do different things and we will go to different places that we have never been yet. We will also have the courage to meet new people and to escape out of our comfort zones.

When the love of my life left me, I finally had the courage to dare myself to do what I really wanted to do.  All of those things were just on my bucket list and I have found the very perfect timing to one by one tick it.

Here’s some of the things I have done while healing my heart:

-        To volunteer. I went on a slum community, to feed hundreds of kids, to teach poor children and to give love, happiness, care to those in need. It wasn’t easy. I got scared to go alone. It was scary to go to place I am not familiar with and to meet other people.

-        To meet new people.  I have discovered that outside what I was used to, there’s a lot of people who grew up differently from mine. Their norm was different from my norm. Their lifestyle and family background differed from mine. But even though we all came from different walks of lives; I was fortunate to befriend some of them. It was such a fulfilling feeling to befriend strangers, to be an extrovert once in a while. I have also learned that people will really come and go into our lives. Some will stay but most of them will just pass by.

-        To go to the places, I have never been yet. Travelling nowadays is the latest trend. Most of the people my age as young as they can be, invested on travelling. Experience will always be better than material things. Beaches are my greatest escaping zones.

-        To conquer mountains but actually, it is myself that I am conquering. Hiking also became a hype. From weekend night clubs into mountain summits just before the sun rises. People switched to hiking and camping instead of partying at bars. Views from the mountain top are better than disco lights. I was fortunate to hike more than 30 mountains as of this writing and I thank God for always protecting me whenever I go to another adventure. Through hiking, I also got to meet new people and some of them even became my friends.

-        To travel alone. This is scary but I was happy that in this lifetime, I’ve tried it. It is really scary but thrilling. And at the end of the day when you got home, you will be proud of your self and be thankful for everything.

-        To write more. When I was broken, I was able to write more stories and it was even got approved! I have regularly updated my blog as well. Through writing, I have expressed my true feelings and thoughts. This has been the best tool that I had when healing my heart.

-        To cherish more people who are around me. It is true that when someone leave you, you will more appreciate those who chose to stay for you. We are more than lucky by having friends and family whom we can run and will never ever leave us. We can also share our griefs with them to lighten the burden we are feeling.

-        To learn new things like the Korean language. Crazy enough, I enrolled on a Korean class. And because of this, I have learned their alphabets and can read it. I may not fully understand yet what I am reading because it takes a lot of time to memorize their dictionary but it felt proud that somehow, I have learned a new skill.

Dear My Love,

Thank you for leaving me as I was able to do things that I thought I will never do and meet new people I thought I won’t have to. I’ve been to places I didn’t imagine to go without you. I’ve also got to experience life from another perspective. I thought my whole world was you but I’ve discovered that you were just a small part of it and there’s more to it. I’ve grew up! And became a better version of myself.

I will be forever grateful, to you, to the world, to God, and to the life itself.

Yours,

Diwata Blog

On Fake News and Love Letters: Ang Babaeng Allergic Sa Wifi - My Thoughts on this Film

(Kunwari Movie Review)

Date Written: April 6, 2020

What’s your favorite hobby?

Surfing? Not the waves but the internet?

Internet mapa-Wi-Fi man yan o mobile data o free data, Cellphone, Laptop, PC, tablet, Social Media. Ito ang mga bagay nagpapaikot ng mundo mo.

Yung tipong oras-oras ay hawak mo ang gadgets mo at babad ka sa internet.

Updated ka sa lahat ng issues sa paligid mo.

Lahat ng kwento ng friends mo sa IG at FB ay alam mo. Favorite hobby mo rin ang mang-istalk ng ibang accounts. Minsan sa mga artista or minsan sa mga taong kinaiinggitan mo o may galit ka.

Pati sa politics at showbiz updated ka.

Wala ka ring pakialam, fake news man o hindi ang mga nababasa mo. Basta ang alam mo lang, tama ang pinaniniwalaan mo. Minsan pa nga ikaw pa mismo ang nagpapakalat ng mga balitang nasagap mo kahit hindi ka sigurado kung totoo ba ‘yon o hindi. You even shared your insights and how you feel sa mga articles na nababasa mo.

Don’t be guilty if naka-relate ka. Okay lang ‘yan. Pareho lang naman tayo.

Dahil marami akong oras ngayon, nanood ako ng pelikula. Favorite ko si Sue kaya napili kong panoorin yung title sa itaas. And so far, sa mga movies niya na napanood ko na, ito ang pinaka-nagustuhan ko.

Bakit?

Sana mabasa mo ‘to hanggang dulo.

Warning: Spoiler Alert.

Iikot ang kwento kay Norma, Leo at Aries. Sige, isama na natin si Macha na best friend ni Leo dahil napasaya niya rin ako sa mga simpleng banat niya at sa bonding nilang mag-best friend.

Ayoko naman magtunog-spoiler pero parang medyo magiging ganon ang mangyayari kapag natapos mo itong basahin. So, read at your own risk. Kung napanood mo naman na ang pelikulang ito, I would be very happy to hear about your insights about this film. May comment box sa ibaba, you know what to do.

Ayun na nga.

Couple goals sa College Campus at sa Social Media. ‘Yan sina Norma at Leo.

Siguro karamihan sa atin, isa din ito sa mga goal natin sa buhay, ang mag-trending (in a good way siyempre) at ang magkaroon ng maraming likes and hearts sa bawat posts natin.

Nakakalungkot kapag walang nag-like o sasampu lang pero sobrang nakakataas ng confidence level kapag lumagpas na sa 50 ang reactions na natatanggap natin.

Here comes Aries, the yonunger brother of Leo. Ang humohopia sa kwento. He doesn’t believe in “Love at First Sight” not until he met Norma. Si Aries ang unang nakakita kay Norma pero sabi ng writer, kay Leo ma-i-in love si Norma at bilang nakababata at dakilang younger bro ay magpaparaya na lang siya.

Nag-google ako ng konti para ma-validate kahit papaano ang naging sakit ni Norma.

And it said na may mga cases nga na nagpapa-totoong may mga taong pwedeng magkaroon ng sakit na “electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome”; though this disease is still a theory and still being studied. Electromagnetic Radiation includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, light, UV, X-rays, gamma rays and yes, wi-fi.

Source: washingtonpost.com; Wikipedia, WHO

Dahil nagkasakit si Norma ay iniwas siya ng mommy niya sa wi-fi, cellphone at kuryente. Iniuwi siya nito sa province sa lola niya kung saan wala ang lahat nang nabanggit na bawal sa kanya.

Fake News Issue then entered the scene. Dito ako humanga sa movie at naipasok nila ito.

Fake News is just a modernized term for Chismis. ‘Upgraded’ chismis ‘to dahil digital na. Ang chismisan area dati na nasa mga kalye lang, ngayon nasa mga group chats na.

Yung best friend ni Nerma na si Margaux that turned out to be a besssss (insert snake sound effect here) pala ay nagpakalat ng Fake news tungko sa kaya. Na kaya daw umuwi si Norma sa probinsiya ay dahil buntis ito at doon ito manganganak.

Dahil wala ng alam sa outside world and Social Media outdated na si Norma, sila Macha and Leo ang nagparating sa kanya ng balitang iyon.

Para maka-ganti kay Margaux, ginatungan nila ang fake news na ginawa nito. They created pictures kung saan pinapalabas nila na si Margaux ang nag-udyok kay Norma na magpalaglag.

See! In this modern world, everything can be fabricated. Kaya huwag basta-basta maniniwala sa mga mababasa o maririnig natin. Because proofs can be created and facts can eventually turn out into fictions.

Baka nga noon pa talaga ‘to eh. Yung mga conspiracy theory na nasusulat noon. Different classic hoax like ‘staged’ “Landing on The Moon”.  Hindi natin alam kung totoo ba ‘to unless we will dig dipper.

Back to the story, dahil sa ginawa ni Norma, na-suspend si Margaux at pati si Leo ay nasira ang image sa school. Muntik pa niya itong ikatanggal sa basketball league nila. Nagalit si Leo kay Norma at naki-pag break.

The Love Letters.

To explain her side and to reconcile with Leo, the only way to communicate with him is through letters.

Yung very classic na snail mail. Sumulat si Norma kay Leo using typewriter.  But Leo refused to read the letter at napunta ito kay Aries.

Aries replied on behalf of Leo. Na parang nakikipag-reconcile na rin siya kay Norma. They exchanged love letters through post mails. Pero medyo digital nga lang. Printed love letters kasi yung gamit ni Aries.

But I still find this kilig. And to guys who are still doing this, girls owe you so much pogi points!

I’m a fan of classic love letters. Sobrang timeless romance ‘to for me. Being a millennial, I have still witnessed and experienced collecting stationaries (scented papers), writing letters to crushes and friends, filling in slum books and other Batang 90’s have done; so I’m still lucky! Before the digital era dominates the world, I have been there to the pre-digital world.

Hindi ko na ikukwento yung ibang scenes especially the ending kasi sobrang spoiler ko na.

I just wanted to point out the great scenes that I loved on this film...

And that’s Fake News and Love Letters.

Click Bait ba? Ha-ha. Sorry.

I just want to leave these notes as your key take-aways on this write up:

Always, always, think before you click. It’s not bad to express our thoughts and feelings to Social Media but we have to consider how this will affect our readers aka chismosa friends. We are being judged on how we post. I’m not a Social Media master but I just want you to know that even without the Social Media world, we can still connect with our true to life friends and family. It’s okay to disconnect sometimes and reconnect with the rest of the world. Like Norma, she realized that there’s more to life than wi-fi signals on a dead-spot paradise (her lola’s place in the province).

Sunsets, beach, mountain, hills, nature. Walang wi-fi, phone signal and even electricity. Back to the old days. Let’s escape to this kind of world once in a while. And let’s take photos NOT for digital uploads but for our worthy journey (sobrang subjective ba? Sorry na.) in life. Nakaka-miss ang print out photos for journals, scrap books and room decorations. Try mo!

Last note, na-try mo na ba’ng gumawa ng handwritten letters for your loved ones and gave it to them? Try mo din ‘to! *winks* And tell me, how does it feel. Ask them also how they felt when they received your letter.

Baliktarin naman natin yung tanong. Nakatanggap ka na ba ng personalized letters of appreciation from your loved ones and friends? Ano’ng feeling? Ang sarap ‘di ba?