"One failed love, a failed date and a week later"

"One failed love, a failed date and a week later, the air was clear. We have been dating since and I am resolved to pursue this wherever this leads."

- from Nine Days Later, September 16, 2007

Well, a lot has happened since this entry. Let's just say I pursued and found myself exactly where I was when I started, only I'm better and wiser.

To love, life, and dead dogs!

Today I Bury My Own Marty

May it forever rest in peace.

Nine Days Later

It has been nine days since my last post and this blog needs updating.

On Singapore: Nothing official yet. But faith tells me everything will fall into place soon. I have spent the last nine days working on getting my pictures taken and acquiring videos of my previous hosting jobs. All this for a possible hosting and event management stint abroad. I'm not sure if I am the type they're looking for but will not miss the chance to find out. And then there is the magazine job I am waiting to fill. In the meantime, I keep exploring, keep sending, and keep asking.

On work: Today I came from a long and tough shoot for the new program we are working on. We had our first on-ground event and went on to shoot the OBB. Met with my hosts for the first time and had a blast working with the staff. Four days ago, I went back to work after my 3-week leave. It was a drag to do the same things over again. This reaffirmed my decision to seek other opportunities. Last Friday, I wrote and signed my resignation letter and gave it to my assistant for processing. Took a big leap with that and I can't wait to land.

On friends: Last night, I went to the birthday party of a very good friend, then went on to see other friends at a bar before going to the OBB shoot this morning. I have been going out a lot in the last couple of months. I have met so many new friends and have reconnected with old ones I have not seen or been with for a long time. In a way, I have seen the world expand. I have seen it contract as well, discovering some of the oddest connections between old friends and new friends, realizing how small the world really is.

On love: I formally met him 3 weeks ago at my favorite bar, but for the longest time he has intrigued me with his I-couldn't-care-less-about-you attitude. He was obviously well-known and well-loved at the bar. The hosts would acknowledge him everytime he arrived and I would see him going around talking to all the different groups of guests present. But he never came and talked to us. I would see him lugging around his digital SLR taking photographs of people and events, but he never took ours. He was always the big shot that knew everyone except us. Being the proud Leo that I am, I resolved then to just ignore and let him be and never make the first move. Three weeks ago, he finally came over and made small talk with us - well, not us really, just with my friend Single Fish. He was with one of his many posses, seated at the table behind us. I went to the wash room and came back to find them talking. I took my seat and waited for an opportune time to join in the conversation. One failed love, a failed date and a week later, the air was clear. We have been dating since and I am resolved to pursue this wherever this leads.

Prue, Piper, Paige: Thanks for always reminding and encouraging me to write. I will make as much time as I could for this, and for our projects together.

Betblog: Keep blogging. I always visit your site.

Kutilpa: I will copyfurnish you the letter I am sending Andrew. I will see you in Singapore soon.

Single Fish: I'm investing a lot of time on M right now. I know you understand. Let's go out soon. I will make time.

Spreading Some HAPPYness

I'm helping out in a friend's charity. We're spreading HAPPYness to some 70 kids at a daycare center in Bohol later this month. It isn't really part of the plan, but I thought that since I'm going anyways, I might as well bring with me some instructional and reading materials for the kids.

If you'd like to help by donating, please call me. 0918-9194911 / 0921-7714071 / 0917-2441221.

Click here to know more about the kids.

The Cycle of Change

Ever noticed how every so and so number of years some major event happens in your life and you are forced to go with the flow and ride the waves of change?

Well, in my life, change has come every 3 years. The last few days of intro- and retrospection have revealed to me the cycle of change that has governed most of my adult life.

Consider the following:

1989 was the year I first got a taste of politics. I ran for vice president of the high school student council and won. (The year after, I was elected president.) Around this time, one of my most beloved teachers in high school told me, “Glenn, sasabog ka,” referring to a future time when I would find myself lost, unable to decide what to make of my life.

1992 was the year I decided to shift from my original course of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology to a course that did not involve hardcore science. I couldn’t bear to see myself working in a laboratory for the rest of my life, and I knew had to make a change. I lost my DOST scholarship and found myself lost and alone for the first time in my life.

1995 was the year I began to grow tired of school. I started looking for work and found a suitable racket as staff writer for a small publications firm. This was the year of my initiation into the field of media and communication.

1998. After a year working as researcher first, then as writer in ABS-CBN, I found myself out of work and scrounging for money. I went back into politics, this time as broadcast writer for a presidential candidate, and I got my first taste of a 5-digit salary. When my candidate lost, I went broke. I got into a brawl later in the year because of politics and swore never to be involved in politics ever again. I went into insurance sales and fell into a 3-month depression. The year after, I went back to work in ABS-CBN.

In 2001, I had my first gay relationship. It was the ugliest and most emotionally abusive relationship I ever got myself into. I set up a PR and events company and lost a great deal of money in business. I also lost a lot of friends along the way. The year after, I went back to school and took a course which I loved, European Languages.

2004 was the year I left school again to work in media. I joined GMA Network as segment producer for Jessica Soho Reports. This marked the beginning of my restoration. I found renewed joy in working. I gained new friends and reconnected with those I lost. The next 3 years became the best 3 years of my professional life. I got promoted 3 times, ending up as Program Manager, in-charge of several shows for the third most popular channel in the Philippines today. I made a decision to stick to what I’m good at – communications.

Now, 3 years after, I am itching to find my place in the world, the bigger world. God has put on my plate one of the greatest opportunities of my life – the chance to work out of the country and communicate to a bigger, wider audience.

I do not know exactly what the next 3 years will bring or what they will be like. I do not know what will happen to me out there, but I am definitely excited to find out.

A new chapter is unfolding before me, and I am ready to face the challenges that come with it. Change has come full circle and has completed one more cycle in my life. Change is once more inevitable. But this time I am ready for it.

Synchrony

A single mind focused on a single destination.

Synchrony.
Unison.

One in purpose. A single unit moving towards the predestined goal. I am one. I am whole. And I am going to where the Merlion reigns. He calls me by name. And I will answer.

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.

And it is now.

(Thank you, Single Fish, for the reminder to be one in mind and spirit. You are a constant source of wisdom and insight.)