Opa!

Was re-reading my last entry and boy, was I upset.
Sorry bout that, folks. I guess I just needed to vent.

Anyway, moving on to happy thoughts...

As promised, here's my first batch of pics:

Click on photo to view entire album
Taken at the Belmont Greek Festival on Sept. 5th.
Real fun experience, way cool church.
Thanks to the Guingonas for taking us :)

Indignantly yours,

I was going to post my new photos today, till my chat with an old friend a few minutes ago.

My heart broke. Unbelievable, some people. I can't believe we can be so cruel, and heartless, and insensitive, and WITHOUT LOVE to those closest to us. What is wrong with us?

So a mistake was made. And yes, so let's call it what it is:
Sin. Offense. A failing. Whatever.
It is what it is. It was what it was. It happened, it was done, and there were consequences. By no means am I making light of the whole thing and calling the act trivial.

The point is, it didn't end there. Forgiveness was asked, and God gave it. As he always does.

So haven't you ever heard of MERCY?

If HE whom we claim to follow shows us forgiveness, shouldn't we then learn to forgive? Besides, this isn't about the sin anymore. It shouldn't be about the sin anymore. And it wasn't even done unto YOU.

Therefore, you have NO right to pass judgment on others. NONE.

It's a shame we act this way, and yet brand ourselves as followers of God. Sometimes I wonder what Christianity really means to us. What does it mean? Is it just about a bunch of rules to you? Doing what's told you? Not doing what's bad? Showing others what's right and wrong, good and evil? Is that ALL there is to Christianity? Taking sides?

Haven't you heard of GRACE?

And let me tell you, there's a reason why it's there. Unlike our delusional proud selves, God actually knows we're sinners. That we're weak, prone to evil, and we fail. But because of Jesus we have hope. That we can actually be better than ourselves.

THANK GOD THERE'S HOPE!

THAT'S why He gives us grace.
And THAT'S why we need it.
THAT'S why we ought to GIVE it.

I'm no saint, honey. And neither are you.
You claim to know Jesus, and yet you've done this so many times before.
To me. To others. And still it continues.
Time is way too short to keep believing you're own little lie.

So PLEASE
Get off your HIGH HORSE
and please, please
for the love of God
PLEASE
WAKE UP!

Two weeks have gone.
One more day, and I'm back in San Fo (Boy, do I miss home...)
It's been a good trip though.

As promised, photos when I get home.

Hope everyone's doin well. See ya'll soon :)

More alive than ever.

Okay, three more shows and I should be home.
Things should go back to normal.

Just one thing, though:
I will be back.
And this time, with a vengeance.

You have been warned.

I'm still alive!

Yes, I am still here.

The roadshow has started and I've already gone through two events in two cities two hours away from each other. Really, there hasn't been any time to blog. I get home at midnight, get up the next day and am already burning the lines contacting my attendees. It's been my sched the past few days, and it'll be my routine till next week.

I've got a handful of shows left, but I promise to post something more decently when I get back. And pictures, too, ofcourse ;)

Till then, chew on this:

A million footsteps, this left foot drags behind my right
But I keep walking, from daybreak 'til the falling night
And as days turn into weeks and years
And years turn into lifetimes
I just keep walking, like I've been walking for a thousand years

Walk away in emptiness,
walk away in sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday,
walk away tomorrow

If you're walking to escape, to escape from your affliction
You'd be walking in a great circle, a circle of addiction
Did you ever wonder what you'd been carrying since the world was black?
You see yourself in a looking glass with a tombstone on your back

Walk away in emptiness, walk away in sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday, walk away tomorrow,
Walk away in anger, walk away in pain
Walk away from life itself, walk into the rain

Now I’m suspended between my darkest fears and dearest hope
Yes I’ve been walking, now I’m hanging from a dead man's rope
With hell below me, and heaven in the sky above
I’ve been walking, I’ve been walking away from Jesus' love

Walk away in emptiness, walk away in sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday, walk away tomorrow,
Walk away in anger, walk away in pain
Walk away from life itself, walk into the rain

All this wandering has led me to this place
Inside the well of my memory, sweet rain of forgiveness
I’m just hanging here in space

The shadows fall
Around my bed
When the hand of an angel,
The hand of an angel is reaching down above my bed

All this wandering have led me to this place
Inside the well of my memory, sweet rain of forgiveness
Now I’m walking in his grace

I’m walking in His footsteps
Walking in His footsteps,
Walking in His footsteps

All the days of my life I will walk with you
All the days of my life I will talk with you
All the days of my life I will share with you
All the days of my life I will bear with you

Walk away from emptiness, walk away from sorrow,
Walk away from yesterday, walk away tomorrow,
Walk away from anger, walk away from pain
Walk away from anguish, walk into the rain.


- Beautiful and moving words from one modern-day philosopher whose music I truly enjoy... Dead Man's Rope by Sting.

If you haven't gotten his latest CD yet, get it already.

Kapoy...

The question isn't what to do, but what to do first.

Event invitations: check.
Postage for mailing: check.
Supplies purchase: check.
Email replies: check.
...all 116 of them: not quite.
Bills: check.
Bookings: check.
Sanity: Well... Still there, but dying a slow death.

I don't think I'll ever run out of things to do. Should be a good thing, except that there is just way too many things on my plate right now. So much so that I had to forego lunch just to get all of the above squared away. Third meal I've missed now in lieu of that four letter word: work.

Come to think of it, I have been missing out on a lot lately... rest, sleep, sanity, joy. Eight hours of work doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I'm not even counting obligations at home yet.

Ugh. I've become that kind of person.

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Bharwanis in Napa

It was the perfect time to whisk the visiting Bharwanis away from their shopping marathon and take them to Napa for some wine and cheese. We took them to two of our favorite wineries, Vi Sattui and Niebaum Coppola, and spent a relaxing Saturday enjoying the scenery.

Check out ze pics

Happy birthday babe!

My Bebster turns 31 today. Woohoo! I just succeeded in pulling off his surprise party last Saturday, with the help of family and friends. I've actually thrown him two other surprise bashes in the past, but he always seemed to find out about it before they happened. Since then, I swore I'd pull the ultimate surprise on him, and hoped against hope it would be this one.

He seriously had no clue. Hee hee. I had Pastor Ed call for an "urgent meeting" at the new Center, and got all our friends to gather before we arrived. Everyone who dearly mattered to him was there. His bestfriends honored him and his mom gave a few touching words.

It was perfect. They were all so generous too; they brought so much food, while my inlaws prepared their Indian specialty dishes. Yum. I gotta learn how to make those Kebabs and Curry.

I was worried he might have gotten suspicious with his mom and sis constantly poking me and whispering about the plans. Not to mention all the cooking we were doing, and the fact that it had to be done before Saturday. A lot of other details came into play that made the surprise a little more complicated (and STRESSFUL) than I had hoped, but in the end it all worked out. Thank God for all that event management experience from my PR days.

Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to take pictures, so I'll leave it to the others to send me what they have. Will post them when they come.

Coldplay LIVE.

Watched Coldplay a few hours ago at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, and they were absolutely ROCKING. I love this band. The concert was just excellent. Awesome video direction, impressive gimmicks, and that Chris Martin... Oh man. Great falsetto, wonderful singing, and oh, so funny. Quite the charming Brit.

Downsides:
- The concert was pegged to start at 730pm, but Coldplay came out at 930pm. Concerts don't usually start that late here, so the wait was loooooong. And chilly (The gig was outdoors).
- Who was that horrid opening act? The male vocalist was alright, but the chick was a disappointment. She must have been nervous, I don't know. But her vibrato was all over the place. Then again, they just opened for Coldplay, so that must count for something...
- I didn't bring my camera. Sniff. Terribly missed out on SO MANY photo opportunities. The night sky was clear and beautiful tonight too. Tsk, tsk.

Nevertheless, the concert was awesome. I totally enjoyed it.

Come on, yeah
Oh, oh yeah
Come on yeah
You know everything's not lost

Gotta hit the sack now. It's a big day tomorrow, but I'll tell you all about it later. ;)

The Bharwanis invade California.

Hey ho people,

Quite delayed, but here are pics of the Bharwani vacation-cum-reunion (all over) California.

Just a warning: It's four pages worth of images, AND I'm hardly in half of them, seeing that someone's gotta be the official photographer.

I know some of you are already disappointed. Haha. ;)

Click on the pic to view the rest of the album.Bebs and me at the Kodak Theater in LA.

We're currently on the road back from LA, my third trip this month. This time though, it was for the benefit of my inlaws who wanted to meet up with the Bharwani clan based in Southern Cal.

Ironically, in Bebo's five years of residence here, he's never once hooked up with any of them. And so this trip was both our introduction to family we never knew we had.

Pretty cool. And all this time we thought we were alone.

Anyway, still an hour to go before we reach home. I'll post pics from our weekend soon.

On family, and that second wind.

My inlaws are in town. Arrived last night and are bunking at the Bharwani pad for the next three weeks. That's Bebo's mom, aunt, sis and four-year-old niece, along with their sangkatutak na maletas, kikay kits and pasalubongs.

Based on last night's living conditions, I can tell you that we have temporarily junked form over function to accommodate two queen aerobeds, luggage of all colors and sizes lining up our walls, and the wide array of shoes tiling the kitchen floor. I seriously have never seen so much stuff in our studio before.

And it's absolutely great.

You see, I'm one of the fortunate few blessed with a wonderful extended family. You always seem to hear about inlaws invading your married life and making it their goal to make you miserable. Not the case with me, though. Bebs' family is a kind-hearted, supportive and generous bunch. Not to mention FUNNY. His mom is a riot. She cracks me (and everyone else) up, and she doesn't even know it. Amazing. She's definitely a keeper.

And I'm glad they're here. Both our families have been such an encouragement these past few weeks, I'm just truly grateful for the support. This "crazy stuff" that's happened really dampened our spirits for a while, but the Minister of souls pulled through for us--as He always does. He spoke His Truth, comforted us in our time of need, and now he sends family to root us on to continue the race.

As for me, I'm back on my feet again. Got my groove back, and raring to have a go at it. This year ahead will be an amazing ride. I know it. I'm not sure where it'll take Bebs and me, but I'm at peace with that now.

Besides, I really already have everything that I need.

Stress on high doses.

Man, this week has been crazy. And I notice I seem to keep saying that lately. The days have just been getting faster and faster. Busier and busier. One after the other. All of the urgent and important you can possibly think of, piling one on top of the other. Like it's not going to end.

It's like life throwing curve balls at you. On fast forward.

And it's not like you can put any of them off. Everything demands attention; everything needs to be done. You'd think Friday would serve as a pause button till the following work week arrives, but no. Something had to have a deadline today. In fact, everything's got a deadline. Everything's a deadline.

Man. When it rains, it sure pours.

And sweet, sweet
sweet surrender
is all that I have to give...

Capping off the SoCal experience.

The bad news is, my camera died on our last day in San Diego, so there was no documenting our final hurrah. Nevertheless, here are visuals of our SD trip...

Click on photo to view album

The good news: I still have a few shots from last week's trip which I had forgotten to download from my camera. Click on the photo below to see them.

All photos of our SoCal trip can also be accessed HERE, just choose the Southern California album.

I'll blog more decently later, right now work is calling. Enjoy the pictures, I'll be back...