1. I would never waste my time thinking how people see me or how people think about me.
2. I would TRY to eat healthier food.
3. I would TRY to watch LESS porn. (Not that I watched a lot of it this year…hehehehe)
4. I would clean up my bedroom, not once but often.
5. New principle in life: NO more sex before marriage.
6. Do sit-ups.
7. LESS beer intake.
8. Develop a study habbit.
9. Have a closer relationship with God.
10. Still be nice to people who are mean to me.
11. Still be the harmess person that I am. Avoid killing any creature.
12. Sketch! And keep all of my sketches.
13. Write! And keep all of my writings.
14. Embrace French, as a language, as a lifestyle, as a culture.
15. Be more of a gentleman.
16. Pick the “right” words to say or write.
17. Make the “best” decisions.
18. Finish everything that I’ve started.
19. Avoid being grumpy, most specially to my mom.
20. Try to be nice to my lil brother even if he gets very annoying.
21. Take good care of my stuffs.
22. Know my priorities. Have the future always in mind.
23. NEVER stare!
24. NEVER entertain “unclean” thoughts.
25. Avoid temptation. (I’m never good in resisting temptations.)
26. NEVER to put on too much smile.
27. Avoid loud laughing.
28. Avoid too much sun exposure. Avoid getting too much freckles. Avoid getting dark complexion.
29. Never leave the house without cologne.
30. Read! Take time to read interesting articles.
31. Never be afraid to show concern.
32. Bring back the “twice a week” movie habbit.
33. Bring back the “depend only in thyself” mentality.
34. Never be ashamed to appreciate a person, a place or a thing.
35. Never hesitate to give a person credit.
36. Never hesitate to help.

1. That the world is not a safe place to live in. There people whose purpose in life is to ruin yours.
2. That shallow people talk about other people, average people talk about events, intelligent people talk about ideas.
3. That when you listen to gossip, the next day you’ll be the gossip.
4. That things happen for a reason. I’ve learned the reasons why I had to leave my CS home and move into my new home which is the IT.
5. That it hurts to know that a friend of yours has a huge problem and you can’t do anything about it.
6. That life is still fun without sex. (Not that I had a lot this year…hahhaha)
7. That I don’t like RED HORSE!
8. That I like girls with “white feathers on their hair”. “Like” as in the wholesome kind of way. ;-D
9. That you have to be extra kind to people who are mean to you.
10. That there’s a “law” regarding manhood. (What makes a REAL MAN)
11. That no matter how hard I try, I can’t be “evil”. I can’t even kill a mosquito!
12. That love transcends time and space.
13. That having a dream doesn’t make you smart, knowing that it doesn’t come true does!
14. That the anticipation of death is far worst than death itself.
15. That you’d have to actually work hard to get something done.
16. That you don’t have to grow old if you don’t want to. (But of course, staying young is far different from being immature.)
17. That blue is not my favorite color anymore. Red is my new favorite color. Which probably means, my personality’s slightly altered.
18. That I actually NEED a mobile phone.
19. That there’s such thing as a “BLOG”.
20. That people actually READ my blog. That’s why most of it is encrypted.
21. That having a complete family makes you a complete person.
22. That you have to believe in yourself first before you demand the world to believe you.
23. That despite of it’s disfunctionalities, life is still beautiful.

It’s Christmas eve, Christmas dinner has just finished, I’m with my family, I’ve heard the traditional off key notes from carolers but I can’t quite figure out what’s missing. On our way home, I had the time to reflect. I was waiting for that Christmas miracle to happen. I don’t know what or how it would happen. But alas! The miracle happened! It lasted only for a few minutes and I guess it came too early, nevertheless, it was wonderful. It was when, my friends began texting to greet me Merry Christmas and it happened simultaneously. Even those whom I never expected to get a greeting from. And all of my suppressed anger, angst and discomfort morphed into forgivness, sympathy and compassion. At that moment, what I felt was just pure and genuine happiness. It was a few minutes of euphoria. A moment of natural high. I have not gotten much gifts this Christmas but looks like I got the “Surprising” and “Heart Melting” gift I’ve always wanted after all. I have realized that miracles do happen. And miracles never come less than “Great”. And all I can say is, thank you God. And Happy Birthday “besprend” Jesus!

I’ve always wondered what God is like. I’ve aired out some of my views on the nature of God (from my point of view) but lately I’ve been trying to contemplate on why he created the universe, on why he created the world, and on why he created human kind. And these passed few days as I have spent time to do an artwork for this competition I am joining, I have realized that I’m an artist just like God himself. I have realized that perhaps God is just a higher level artist. One of his infinite number of powers that built the universe is creativity. And I have been chosen to possess and hone this power. This realization lead to the belief that I am closer to God than I thought I was. Embracing art means embracing God himself.

I believe that everyone was born with the ability to create. That everyone is a natural born artist. However not everyone has the courage to trudge down the path of artistry for several reasons. First, artistry is more addicting than coke (the one that’s sniffed not drank). Once you “touch” art, and let art “touch” you, it has a tendency to overpower you. Second, 89% of artists around the world declare bankruptcy at the age of 25, 5% are thrown to the asylum, 2% die of tuberculosis, 4% succeed. Third, some people think they’ll never be good enough. And the list goes on and on. And because of these several reasons, they walk a step away from God.

By being an artist we become like God. We, even as individuals can cause that big ripple of change in the world through our art. We can even create a whole new universe, a whole new realm if we want to. But God being the ultimate artist, he can create his own raw materials to give life to his art, we, as lower artists, we use his pre-made materials to create our own art. Walking away from art means walking away from being “like” God.

Why did God create the universe? why did he create the world, and why did he create human kind? As an artist, having part of God in me, I believe I have come up with the answers to these questions. An artist creates not because he wants to impress the world. He creates not because he wants to cause change in the world. He creates not because he wants to create a whole new universe. He creates because it makes him happy. And he wants to share this happiness to the rest of the universe.

I was raised by a family with as little drama as possible. My family is a little less than ONE TREE HILL. I’m neither a Nathan nor a Lucas Scott kind of character. My mom is a little less than Kirsten Cohen and my dad is a little less than Sandy Cohen. But my life is most certainly slightly more complicated than the ORANGE COUNTY kind of plot. Nevertheless, I loved how my parents brought me up. I loved how my correct decisions made my life better. I love how my mistakes made a sudden twist of events. And most of all, I love how I turned out to be, as a person. If by some odds, I’m given a chance to travel back in time, I would never change a thing in my life.

As a grown up I have found my mom to be my greatest idol. She’s one of the few persons I know that had once dreamed and actually succeeded in reaching that dream. When she was a kid, she had always dreamed to become a teacher. During her toughest years she still stuck with her career and actually didn’t mind how much she’s earning. Today, she’s still teaching but this time, she’s teaching in her own school.

My dad was once my hero. Although, during my puberty years, we had grown apart, now that I’m a bit more mature, I looked back and realized that he wasn’t all that bad as a father. In fact, he had been a great father. He was a father to me when I needed him the most. He retired at an early age. He had been self-employed since then. But that happened at my advantage actually, because he had been around most of the time to be a father to me and the rest of my siblings. And I cannot imagine how I would have turned out without him sticking his nose at me all the time.

My sister was the only princess in the family. Since she was the only sister I had. I always looked up at her because she was not only beautiful, she was also smart. I remembered when she asked me to come with her to the department store, there were guys coming to me to actually ask her name. And I’d normally tell them some fictitious name. Another thing that made me proud of her was when she had to choose the man she wanted to marry. There was an array of men she could choose from, of different colors and different levels. But she simply chose love. What I’ve learned from her is that you don’t have to take the stairs to go up, you can fly!

My older brother was like a fierce untamed lion back when he was younger. I had always been scared of him. But there were a lot of times that I was proud of him. And that’s when there were other kids bullying me. He made me realize that you should never let anyone put you down. Besides that, I was proud of him because he was the smartest one in the family. Although he might not have finished college, and he might seem like he’s a failure in many ways, I say otherwise. He was just too smart to follow a path that was too mediocre for him. He simply looked for a better path other than what was paved for him. And today, he has a family of his own. And I think he’s happy. I think it’s what he had always dreamed of. He makes me prouder because he’s not only smart, he’s also the bravest one in the family.

My younger brother had always been a pain in my ass. I thought that he was my dad’s favorite. But what I can remember about him when we were little, no matter how often we fight, whenever we are out somewhere in the world, we always stick together like no one can ever beat us when we’re together. No one can pick on him as long as I’m with him and I feel like he’s going to jump at any person that would pick on me. I have realized that there’s probably no person in the world that’s more of an asshole that he is. But that’s a good thing though. That gave me the infinite amount of patience that I have today. I always say to myself, I live with the worst kind of person I have ever known, there’s simply no person in the world that could ever make me explode in anger, not any more than he can. Funny thing is, if I can’t live with him, I can’t live without him either.

I have big dreams and I know that these dreams are going to take me far from where I am living right now. But wherever I go, the sun may shine a bit different, the air may smell a bit foreign, but wherever my family is, there’s home.

I define a friend as simply that one smiling face you see in an ocean of blank ones. Anybody can be a friend. And one officially becomes another person’s friend by simply throwing a smile. I would also consider “named” strangers as a friend, even if he or she does not knows it or even if he or she denies it. It does not matter if a person whom you consider a friend returns the favor by also calling you his or her friend. It does not matter if he or she is friendly or hostile. By not obliging the person to do so makes you not just an ordinary friend, but a genuine friend. If, by will, he or she calls you a friend, then a relationship called “friendship” is developed.

I’m sure, you’ve heard of the line “the real treasures of this world are your true friends”. I am one of the millions who attest to the truth in this statement. Though I know 80% of the “millions” believe that friends are “treasures” because they’re can take care of you whenever there’s nobody else who cares for you or whenever you can no longer take care of yourself. They’re always there whenever you need them. In other words, they’re a “handy tool.” But I see it otherwise. Friends are treasures…rare, highly precious, even priceless. So precious that we need to keep them in a safe place…our hearts. From there, no one shall be able to steal them away. Friends are treasures…rare, highly precious, even priceless. Hence we should take care of then whenever there’s nobody else who cares for them. Specially whenever they can no longer take care of themselves.

La vie n’est pa toujour facile! ;-D