Happy New Year!

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is 

New Year's Day.  

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Maligayang Pasko sa Iyo!

May your blessings bring

the gladness of Christmas which is Hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is Peace;
The heart of Christmas which is Love.

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?
Sydney J. Harris

My Bucket List... at last!

After much hemming and hawing, i finally got ten items for my Bucket List:

Number 1. Build a school.
Number 2. Travel to Europe.
Number 3. Learn photography.
Number 4. Learn to play the piano.
Number 5. Find and get in touch with my first best friend in Grade I: Tomas, suddenly i remembered his name as i'm updating this post!
Number 6. Own a rest house with a river or brook nearby.
Number 7. Be cast for a full-length role in a film.
Number 8. Find a copy/picture of my painting that won in a UNICEF-sponsored art contest in 1967.  (We were informed they used it as an artwork for a greeting card.)
Number 9. Finish an oil-painting.
Number 10. Laugh and play in the rain again...for a last time.

So, what's in your own Bucket List?

Busyness=Happyness

The last quarter of 2010 is proving to be a very busy time for me.  I have nothing but gratitude for the blessings coming my way this last stretch of the year.

A series of conflict management workshops for the Bureau of Immigrations find me in Clark, Pampanga once a week until January 2011.  It's my first time to visit and teach at the Immigrations Academy in the former US Airbase and couldn't get enough of the refreshing sight of greenery and open space.

At John Robert Powers, International (JRP),  rehearsals have begun for the 2011 Showcase: Real Fame Unleashed. Once more, as the production manager for the bi-annual talent showcase, I am thrilled by the frenzy of activities steeped in creative juices from a team of top artistic directors.

The JRP Showcase features talents from the school in performance segments that include: acting, singing, dancing, hosting, TVC acting, fashion pictorial and runway.  Reputable talent agents and managers are also invited to watch the fresh talents and, hopefully, take them in as their wards in the hope of unleashing their full potentials as the next big STAR!

But I always tell our talents, breaking in to the glamorous worlds of acting and modeling needs honing one's skills, a love for the craft and a passion to be on top of his/her game! Once again, I ask: Gusto mo bang sumikat?

Ideals

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands.  But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.  ~Carl Schurz, address, Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1859

Lead Your Life

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1893