HK Permanent Resident: It's official!!!

August 08, 2008 - I'll gonna remember this day for the rest of my life.

That day, I went to the Immigration Department of HK to collect my HK Permanent Identity Card. During the process, it was full of thrill and excitement! Imagine, your future of eligibility to live in Hong Kong depends on that single Smart ID Card approval! Damn, you just can't wait to finally grasped in your own hands.

As I handed my collection form to the counter, it doesn't take long. My name was called and instructed my to proceed to the collection counter. A little briefing about the rules and regulations... and there it is... I've officially been pimped!!!

It's official!!! I'm now a Hong Kong Permanent Resident!!!

How fortunate we are...

English:


In fact, I'm fortunate. But I have never thought about it until now.

As a child, I lived my life through hardships. Parents got divorced after being born. Have not seen my father, even once. Poverty made my mother work for survival in other countries.

Being away from my own parents is a very difficult situation. No one would listen and no one would try to understand. That time, I really don’t know what it takes to be happy.

But I tried. Though I was happy, I wasn’t really comfortable and I couldn’t help being scared. I won’t be able to stay happy for long. It easily breaks after all. And even I, myself doesn’t understand it well. I had a mysterious feeling.

Now that I had grown up, got a vision of life, I finally understand the meaning of being happy, naturally. Yeah, like the small things in our normal existence. Like “Oh, the weather is so nice!” “The breeze feels so comfortable!” “Oh, that was beautiful!”.

If we could just see those simple things, if we could just feel the importance of those little things in our lives, I think I can say that we are fortunate!

With that, I know I’m living with happiness since the day I was born!



日本語：


実は僕幸せだった。でも、今まで全然考えたこともなかった。

子供の頃だいぶ苦労して生きてきた。生まれてから親が離婚。父も一度も見たことない。貧乏で母がほかの国で一か八か。

親と一緒に住めなくて、困難な状況。誰も聞いてくれない、誰も分かってくれない。あの頃の僕は幸せっていうことは何なのか、よく分からなかった。

でも、幸せになろうって頑張っていた。幸せなのに、居心地が悪くて、怖くて怖くて仕方がなかった。自分がずっと幸せでいれるはずがない、すぐに壊れるんだ、どうせ。そして、自分でもよく分からない。不思議な感じを抱いていた。

今大人になって、人生の先を読めて、やっと幸せの意味が自然と分かってきた。うん、そういうのさ、普通の暮らしの中の小さなこと。「いい天気だな～」とか、「風が気持ちいいね」とか「それがきれいだな～」とか。

そういうシンプルなものを見られれば、そういう小さなものの大切さを、感じていられれば、幸せなんだよって、僕は思うよな。

だから、生まれてから僕はずっと、幸せだと思うんだ！

Philippine Airlines

Philippine Airline really lived up to its name. And it has become a trademark so well-known around the globe!

Oh, the first few statements may be misleading. This is not something Filipinos can be proud of. I'm not talking about their name as Philippine Airline. I'm talking about their acronym PAL, so popular worldwide, which simply stands for "Plane Always Late."

As I came to write something about this topic, I suddenly remember that the first ever flight I had was in fact with PAL. Of course, having your first ever experience to board a plane could be so exciting. But then the excitement was spoiled by an announcement. "Attention to all passengers of Philippine Airline Flight PR310, your boarding time has been delayed due to bla, bla, bla..."

I was 11 then, now I'm turning 25. That was almost 14 years and yet, Philippine Airline have no signs of getting their planes on scheduled time. My latest flight with PAL, it was like as usual. Here I was feeling so irritated. Then a foreigner sitting beside me, who is a frequent PAL flyer, calmly came to say, "It's nothing new..."

Woah, am I not a Filipino! And so, I was like, "Oh yeah, indeed!"

Basically, I don't think this reputation will give a huge organization like them any benefit. Surprizingly, it seems the business is good and they are still doing well!

So it makes me wonder...

Are these passengers contented with the way PAL operate, or they just don't have any options? Or maybe these passengers are used to it, that they willingly accepted the fact that Philippine Airline planes are always late? Is the Philippine Airline organization contented with this kind of reputation? And can we Filipinos, live-up with "Filipino Time" being globally referred to as always behind the schedule?

Anyway, PAL isn't the only one that should carry all the insult. This goes out to all the Filipinos in general. Believe me, it's in the blood. So the acronym PAL may after all, eventually mean "Philippine Always Late."

Waiting for answers...

Lately, I'm so upset with the situation of the world we live in...

You come back home from work, switch your TV on for a routine news headlines, and the first thing that may pop-out from your screen are images of terror... Every single night, you can never miss an update of killings, bombings, religious war, worldwide threats, etc... And I'm so sick of it!

Hearing news like these seem like the future is so unclear. It seems danger is everywhere. I may exaggerate things but terrorism happened already before, and we know there are still possibilities for another one... Makes me worry sometimes.

Wasn't there a moment in your life when you thought the same? Have you ever worried? Or you simply just don't really care?

Well I do care... a lot! How I wish I am Superman, to stop all these, and bring back peace in this world, all by myself.

Things became so complicated today because of the 9/11 terrorism. It started all these uneasiness in our lives and all these threats in the world today. And we might have to witness another terror with Osama Bin Laden still out there, regrouping, still a threat.

Damn, how I wish to find this azzhole myself. And if I do, I'd kill him with my bare hands, then tear his mazzafxckin' gut'z into pieces...

In reality, I'm just another powerless individual after all. And all I can do is sit, watch, and ask, “When will this be over? How will this gonna end?

Questions still waiting for answers...

Nothing permanent...

English:

There's nothing permanent except change...

I walked through life for almost 25 years. And lately, I came to notice an often taken for granted important thing.

“Change”.

The time I realized, I was like, “Oh, so this is life after all!”
Believe me; you’ll gonna understand life better when you try to relate it into “change”.

In my life, I believe that there’s no single thing in this world that never change. If ever there is, then that should be “change” itself.

Things in this world, we can’t just handle them with our own hands. If we could only control things so easily, then we can just make things happen the way we want them to be. But, it’s just so impossible for things to stay the same. As time passes, everything just keeps changing.

What we have now doesn’t mean we still have exactly the same one tomorrow. Someday, it may turn into something that we’ve been longing for or it goes the other way.

That’s why it’s always best to enjoy every moment.

日本語：

変化以外に、永久のものはない。。。

約25年間人生を歩んできた。そして、よく無視される一つ大事なことを最近気がついた。

「変化」

気ついたとき、人生ってこういうもんだ～って分かってきた。
これを信じろ；人生というものを「変化」につなげば、よく理解できるようになる。

この世に永久不変のものはないってことを信じている。もし、不変できるものがあるとすれば、それは「変化」そのものだ。

物事は自分の手に置けば、すぐにコントロールできるもんじゃない。そんな簡単にコントロールできるんであれば、すべては自分が思う通りでスムーズに進むはずでしょう。しかし、どんなに恒久に進んで欲しくても、あり得ない。時は流れ、あらゆるものは変化続ける。

今日ここにあるもの、明日も同じものが現れるとは限らない。いつか、希望していた何かに変わるかもしれない。あるいは、その反対になるかもしれない。

だから、あらゆる瞬間を楽しめば、いいんだ！