The Lord of the Rings

Who wouldn’t like this movie??!! Well, I do . . . or I used to. I am not a fan of movies with dim background or killings or death. I just don’t like to be affected with the sadness or fear of darkness.

I’ve seen the Fellowship of the Ring years ago and honestly, I can’t remember exactly what happened on that episode. I told myself not to watch any sequels of that film. Indeed, I have kept my word.

Until this month my officemate said he has all the three episodes. At first, I was not interested but for lack of time going to movie houses lately, I decided to borrow the said copies. By the way, his DVDs are the uncut versions, so each episode runs for more than 3 long hours! Inspite of, I brought home the copies.

For the first episode, I was refreshed of the scenes and the stories that were erased from my memory since I first watched it. How the fellowship was established, how each character was presented, how the mission was set. Legolas, the great Elf archer, caught my attention. He is cute. Hahaha.

And so that’s it, not bad for the first part. The second episode is entitled The Two Towers. More and more characters were introduced, more and more kingdoms and places were named, and the plot became more complicated. Gandalf the Grey became Gandalf the White wizard. The plot is making me excited. Legolas is still cute. Hahaha. (Just for curiosity’s sake, his name is Orlando Bloom, been in different blockbuster movies.)

Last night, my mind was battling with its own if I will finish the third episode. And of course, I did watch the last copy. And this time, I noticed another character. He is the brother of Boromir, the only member of the fellowship who died. Faramir is handsome. Hahaha. I slept at past 1am! I had a good sleep though.

This movie has tons of lessons. I admire the loyalty and faith of Sam to Frodo. His heart is very pure. It was not tainted, not even once, by the greediness of the Ring. He remained true and authentic to his friend. He gave all he can give just to help his friend complete the mission even if Frodo, at one point, disregarded their friendship. Sam kept the covenant, he wouldn’t let go of Frodo. This commitment made me pause and reflect on my covenant with God. Believe or not, I cried. I remembered the times I’ve been like Frodo, willfully neglected my covenant with God. I pray that I will stick with my commitment.

Another lesson that made a great impact to me is about hope. The Eye can see everything, in fact it can even tell what the future will be. But just as the rest, it also has weakness, it also cannot control all. Aragorn hold on to what hope is all about. Even if he knows it’s the end and even if they fight, they will be overtaken, he still fought and hold on to his hope. He was made King, the last episode, The Return of the King. My lesson? When all seems questionable, when everything is not going well, when people are neglecting God, when others do not believe in Jesus, there is hope. God is the hope. He is omniscient, He is omnipotent, He is omnipresent. And He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

One last thing that I realized, I am not the main character. Until the last episode, I am for Legolas. He is not the leader, he is just a secondary character. Refined, loyal and obedient to his leader and not to mention that he is a good friend to Gimli (the Dwarf) too. The same goes for me, in this life, I am not the lead character, I am the follower of my Leader who is the King. My life on earth is all about Jesus. And I pray that I would be faithful to my word until eternity…

How to move on?

We usually encounter this question on love problems, especially with broken hearts. Hmmm, am I really talking about lovelife? I admit I am not very good at this, but let me share with you some learnings and observations I personally got from my "surroundings" and experiences.


M - make a decision to move on. God created us with the will - the freedom to choose, to make a choice. I believe that the first big step in moving on is to convince yourself that you have to move on. Stick with your decision and move on.

O - open your heart. It's not the end of the world, a bright and beautiful day is waiting for you. You may be wounded, but time heals all wounds. Smile a lot and open up your heart to God.

V - victor or a victim? No matter how dark and painful it was, there is always a lesson to learn. Victory is not the absence of failure, it's how you stand up and face the world with a renewed strength. So be a victor rather than a poor victim.

E - engage in activities with eternal values. You won't realize it until you go out and explore the world. A lot of hearts are hurting, a lot of minds are longing, a lot of lives are suffering, a lot of souls are searching . . . all more than you do. Share Jesus and share your blessings to others.


O - organize your thoughts and pamper yourself. You will feel good, you will look good. Rather than indulging with pity party, get a new hairdo, shop for new things, eat well, play badminton, watch good films, hang out with trusted friends. You can do a lot of better things.

N - now! You have been mourning for so long, hoping for nothing, crying like a river. Where did they bring you? Nowhere. Time to move on. And that time is now! Surrender your life to Jesus. If you're a Christian, recommit yourself to Him. Jesus not only heals, He also restores, He makes the broken whole, He gives hope, He is faithful and He is your Savior . . .

Nicknames (tagged by Minette)

RULE: list all the names you were called by and the people who calls you that. Tag at least 5 members of your contacts and give a comment on their site for them to know they've been tagged.

Marie - the very first name I've known as my nickname. Haha! My family and relatives call me by this name.

Ana - when I was growing up, I wanted to change my nickname because I'm so used to be called as "Marie" (ha, does this make sense? LOL). So when I entered college, I introduced myself as "Ana". From then on until now that I'm working, I am known as Ana.

Ana Marie - yes, fullname. This is my high school nickname. Would you believe that my first name is my nickname at school? LOL. And now my new brother in law also calls me by this.

Ann Marie - my aunt used to call me by this name. I like it. :)

Ann/Anne - my nickname for people who cannot stand saying the second syllable of "Ana". LOL

Bes - my bestfriend calls me by this, short for bespren. Hahaha

Ate Marie - besides from "Marie", my churchmates call me by this, from youth to couples. Hehehe

Bunso - my 2nd most loved nickname. My upper dgroupmates call me by this simply because I am the youngest in the group. In contrast to my nickname from my lower dgroup. Hahaha

Anak - only my mommy A and my daddy Pastor E call be by this, beloved adopted daughter. Hehehe

Sis - my singles dgroupmates call me by this. I love it because they don't need to call me Ate sometimes. Hehehe

Ana C. - what is one of the most common names for girls? What else but Ana or Anna! Ana C. is my nickname in the office. There was a time that there were 3 Ana/Anna's in my workplace! So to distinguish one from the other, my colleagues add the first letter of our surname. This one makes sense! LOL

Frend - Weng, my college friend, calls all her friends by this and I believe I'm of them. Hahaha

Sister - my Ate calls me by this, for very obvious reason. LOL

Ana Banana - only my former manager calls me by this. It was years ago but up to now she still calls me "Ana Banana".

Ms. Asia Pacific - only Beth, my colleague, calls me by this. I feel like a beauty queen when I hear her calling me this. (wishful thinking)

Eiram - the opposite of Marie. This is the codename in my very first diary, as if people who might read my journals wouldn't know that it's me. (insanity)

I am tagging Pam, Anna, Lorna, Mae, SR.

Nothing to Write

These past few days were busy time for me. The busyness I used to be. The out-of-time meals. The over staying at the office. Phone calls and emails everywhere. Reports and projects with deadlines. Oh yes, busy as a bee as my bestfriend calls it.

And today it's still 30minutes before the clock ticks 5pm but I'm too lazy to start another work. It's either I'll do overtime or I'll mess up with it. But I need to leave at 5pm. So I decided to write a blog instead.

Hmmm, but what will I write? I have another topic that I started days ago but can't find the right time to complete it though.

Well, lately I feel how "nakakasakal" is. Too much time with that person, too much talk with another, too much words to say until I feel like stopping or avoiding it. Maybe I have so much things in my mind that's why I feel this way. Maybe because the holiday season is here. Maybe a lot of preparations to do. Maybe I'm just thinking that I'm feeling it. A lot of maybe's. No matter the reason is, I know this will pass and there's a lesson in it. I still cannot figure what is it for now, my mind is numb to think of it yet. But I believe there is a lesson to learn...

He will be missed

We are colleagues but we only communicate through emails and calls. Until the year 2006 I was given a chance to meet him in person in one of our trainings. First impression - silent, warm, "usual" American, and oh I can't understand his words clearly, they're so slang. We've been together in that training for more than one week. We usually have our dinner and breakfast together since we were booked at the same hotel. On those times I've learned that he is very warm, very silent (won't-talk-unless-you-initiate-the-conversation), very intelligent (he was in the academe for years), very hardworking, and he is a Christian. I also learned that he leads a bible study group, that he and his wife are active in the ministry, that his kids go to missionary trips when on vacation and that he works for God. At the end of the training, I gave him my accountability card. I don't know if he kept or used it.

We usually talk about work. But there are also times that we talk about our faith and share how we experienced God. I remember I sent him the testimony I shared in our church and he asked my permission to share it to the rest of his friends in our US office. Then in one of those times, he shared about his special son. By merely looking at him, you wouldn't expect that he can be open to others, especially about his family. Or maybe I judged him to be so reserved.

Physically, he is about 6'5" tall, huge built, white skinned, with brown eyes and brown hair. This big man keeps a very soft and kind heart. Upon learning about his son, our bond became more than colleagues. When we have time, we will talk about our personal as well as our spiritual life. There was this moment that we both feel spiritually weak, and the stories we shared with each other were enough to boast our spirit again. He would tell me that I am always in his prayers, especially when I travel. I was amazed the first time I heard it from him, I didn't know that God gave me a father more than a colleague in him. Though lately we don't usually talk, we both know that we keep our prayers for each other.

Until last week I received an email from him.

Ana,

I wanted to let you know before the announcement comes out that I have accepted a new position and will be leaving in February. I have really enjoyed our time working together and hope we can stay in touch...I will miss the consistent communication with you...I missed you while you were on vacation...

Those words were enough for my tears to fall. I was really sad. I felt like I am about to loose a very dear friend. Though we are still in the same company, but he will be moving to another business unit. Oh, I am missing him even now.

He assured me that we still keep in touch. And yes, life has to "move on". I stopped crying though I still feel sad especially at times when I think about our talks.

Yesterday my boss showed me an email from him, it reads:

Please take care of Ana. She's a treasure...

Bob, you are making me cry again . . .