The Ocean of My Being

I like being alone every once in a while. It gives me the chance to reflect and introspect. It gives me the chance to look at so many things in ways I’ve never looked at them before. It gives me the chance to plan for my future. It gives me the chance to go back to what’s past and gone. Being alone with my thoughts would sometimes bring me huge smiles and hearty laughs, sometimes fat tears and heavy sighs. It is when I am alone that I can think clearly. It is when I am alone that I can easily hear what my heart has to say. It is when I am alone that I am able to see and gauge how and what I am or what I have become as a person. But, sometimes, I hate being alone. It would sometimes bore me to tears and make me want to shout my lungs out. Loneliness is one of the feelings I least like. In my experience, at worst cases, loneliness would lead me to really bad depression spells. It’s doubly tough for me because I’m the type of person who’s almost always happy. When I’m depress...

The Holy Ka'abah... Today is Eid ul-Adha . I think I mentioned in my Eid ul-Fitr entry that there are only two important holidays in Islam that are REALLY celebrated. These are the two Eids . Eid ul-Fitr , of course, is the end of Ramadhan . Eid ul-Adha is the Eid of Sacrifice (not the translation). In Muslim dominated countries and places, celebration for the Eids would take days. Basically, these two Eids are to the Muslims like what Christmas and the Holy Week are to the Christians. Eid ul-Adha is the day that reminds Muslims to sacrifice worldly desires and pleasures for and in praise of Allah . Like during the Eid ul-Fitr , we also have a special morning prayer on this day. The sermon would usually be about the story of why we celebrate this day. The story is about the Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham (peace be upon him) . On the eve of this same day, probably hundreds of years ago, Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) was, through a very vivid dream, ordered by God to slaughter...

Two entries ago, I asked everyone (who’d come across this blog) to help us pray for Drew ’s dad as his MRI results showed that he had a malignant tumor in his brain. Yesterday, just after lunch, I received a message telling me that Drew ’s dad passed away at lunch time. I was so shocked by the news because last time I talked to Drew , they were really hopeful. The doctors said that his dad had about 75% survival after the operation. And then, all of a sudden, it happened… I guess it was for the best. Having been a strong man all his life, it would have been so difficult and so frustrating for Drew ’s dad to have to have to live the rest of his life being helpless or even bedridden. That would have been the worst for him. God probably just didn’t want him to suffer. I guess taking him was God’s answer to our prayers. To everyone who helped us pray, thank you very much! :)

I was reading what I have, so far, blogged about since 2005 started, and decided to look at my December entries as well, and I realized that there have been some things that I wanted to blog about, but never really got down to blogging about. I think it was Anj who once said, in one of her entries from long ago, that she would sometimes find her mind in ‘blog mode’ or something to that extent. In some situations and occasions I found myself in back in December, I also found my mind to be in full ‘blog mode’. This would probably explain why I forgot that I haven’t really blogged about these things. I was thinking all along that I’ve actually written about them. Hehehe:) Simbang Gabi… On December 15th, I went with my friend, Bok , to the first Simbang Gabi (literally translated as ‘night prayer’) of the year. Simbang Gabi , especially in the Philippines I think, is held at 8 o’clock in the evening and at 4 o’clock in the morning. People can choose whether to go to the 8 o’clock ...

The sadness and shock I felt over learning that my Uncle Arab was arrested a few days ago was replaced by happiness and thankfulness when I found out yesterday that he was released and was not hurt or anything. We are still very sad, though, for the five others who were not released and who are going to be charged by the authorities. One of them is, Afghani Alonto , the son of the late former Senator Ahmad Domocao Alonto . We are really praying and hoping that the truth come out soon. According to the News, sixteen Muslims (including women) were arrested for allegedly being involved in a plot to do suicide bombing in Quiapo on the celebration of the Black Nazarene Day . But, eventually, authorities had to release eleven (including my uncle) of the sixteen due to lack of evidence to prove their involvement in the said plot. Lack of evidence my foot! There wasn't and never will be any evidence because those people were/are innocent. I would just like to share some thoughts I ...

I have never in my life doubted the power of prayers. I've always believed that with a lot of prayers and doing one's part, one can achieve anything. I also believe that the more people there are praying for something, the more powerful the prayers are and the more likely that something will be realized. I know that the Worlwide Web is a great venue to seek information and ask help even from people one does not really know. Through this blog, I am requesting and asking everyone who reads or gets to read this post to please help me (us) pray for the following: For my friends in Aceh, Indonesia... Ever since the tsunami hit most parts of Asia and some other countries, I have been really praying that the calamity ends there, that it doesn't hit anymore countries. And, upon hearing that one of the places devastated most was Aceh in Indonesia , I became so worried because I have some friends living there. One very good friend of mine, Dekna , is from that place and ever s...

I don't really have a New Year entry and I'll be too depressed if I write about what has been happening in the world, so I'm just going to share something about one of my favorite things in the world, the MERANAO (also spelled 'Maranao' or 'Maranaw') language! I love the Meranao language. It's like music to my ears when I hear or listen to people speaking it. The way the sounds roll from the mouth is just beautiful. Sometimes, when I speak it with family and friends, I just can't help but be thankful I was born Meranao, hence it's but natural for me to know the language. Other people may find the language funny sounding (like a friend of mine who teases me endlessly when I try to teach her, she says I make up the words) and all. But to me, the Meranao language is the most beautiful, the best-sounding language in the whole world! And also, the Meranao language is my identity, my culture. It is me! It really saddens me how the younger Meran...