Kindred Spirits (Part 2)

(click here for part 1)

She never thought it would come this far. She has planned, and she must stick to it, Marnie's thoughts have been crystallined in her subconscious.

The anonymous caller hinted Marnie to get closer to her. They shook hands and exchanged mobile numbers as if they were newly acquainted.

The rescue team immediately prioritized John's transferal to the hospital. He is breathing, laboriously and hallucinating, mentioning Linda's name, asking for forgiveness, until his breath suddenly halted. Blood still pouring out from his chest.

Linda paced to and from in their apartment. She called Marnie asking her to bring the snapshot image. Marnie couldn't help smiling blithely. A large sum of money is waiting at her bank account after she completed this stage of their mission. She is totally discernible from being happy to her usual outlook - being solemn and casted out. She must thank the stranger and she need to talk to him, besides she has now his phone number.

Avel who saw everything about the shooting in the park volunteered to accompany John to the hospital. His apartment is opposite to John and Linda's, they seldom talk to each other, but one thing is for sure, in crisis like this, he feels that it is human nature to extend help as a form of camaraderie.




... to be continued




A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love.
Friedrich Nietzsche 

How to Activate the Camera in Lockscreen Mode on iOS5?

By default, double clicking the home button in an unlock mode brings up the multi-tasking drawer. Hear Ye, because double clicking the home button when the phone is locked will activate the CAMERA & MUSIC options. (image below)

I was baffled at first about this feature because there is nowhere under Settings that you can tweak the feature for the camera, not even in Accessibility options. I tried checking some settings when the camera app is open but it only gives Grid Lines toggle.

With the cool feat about bringing the camera up during lockscreen mode, here comes the part where you can use the volume up button to function as the shutter.

It works perfectly  great. The time lapse to wait for the camera to open has significantly decreased on this iOS platform.

You can also check out the previews instantly by swiping through the left or right while the camera is on, instead of tapping the preview button.

Somehow, iOS5 gets me going everyday by having me discover attributes that does not account from the keynote release.

 MAC

Kindred Spirits (Part 1)

The truth might hurt, but it's the only way to fight and correct the wrong.  This has been the echoing thought lingering in John's mind as he traverse his way at the traffic intersection. He was in no mood to contemplate about the repercussions of his actions toward Linda.

He left her angry and devastated in their apartment. He couldn’t stand to see her crying again, so he thought to take a brisk walk on the nearest park from their poshy loft.

A breath of fresh air, indeed! John did not notice the pair of eyes that has been  continuously following him. All he knew is the awesome feeling he's trying to absorb at the moment. The profusion of the green grass and the archaic park themes surrounding him gave tranquility to his mind.

Linda started crying, the moment John left and banged the door. She felt helpless, un wanted and un loved. Her heart is being torn into pieces, like she was about to explode in grief and sadness. But somewhere, a voice within her dictates that she must not give up.

Two loud blasts of bullet sounds! It was directed at John's heart. People in the park started screaming, everyone is in shock especially to those who've witnessed John's assassination. It was like a blink of an eye, blood gushed unrelentlessly from John's chest, he choked and started vomiting blood.

Marnie, an exquisite Visayan photographer, did not waste time. She called emergency police personnel and reported the incident and crime. She took a snap shot of John while in anguish and in pain.  And now, the people surrounding John started to provide assistance with their utmost care

Linda's mobile phone started to vibrate. She answered the call in between sobs and unleveled heartbreak. She suddenly screamed! John was shot, the caller said.

"You must rejoice, for your cross has been lifted" told the caller to Linda. The voice is so much soothing Linda could have been hypnotized if she's talking to the anonymous caller face to face. She was perplexed, her negative emotions intensified further.

And after a while, Linda's face brightened up. A smile forming on her lips. Twitching with ecstasy and contentment.

… to be continued

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.
Thomas Carlyle






(This is an original plot of mine. All characters are fictional and in no way resemble to any living or living things. Situations used here on these short stories are all ideas and product of imagination)

of Booksmarks and Love

I have to uninstall and reinstall my Google Chrome Browser and have to re-import my bookmarks. In a fleeting moment, i saw brainyquote.com

This has been my one-stop shop quotation flea market back in 2009 and 2010. So i rummaged through it and found these love citations. They are worth mentioning, so i reposted them here on this blog without any intention or whatsoever when it comes to this innate feeling of the humankind.

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. 
Ingrid Bergman 



A kiss is a rosy dot over the 'i' of loving. 
Cyrano de Bergerac 



A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years. 
Rupert Brooke 



A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. 
Thomas Carlyle 



A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy. 
George Jean Nathan 



A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love. 
Friedrich Nietzsche 



A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love. 
Stendhal 



A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea. 
Honore de Balzac 



Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. 
Francois de La Rochefoucauld 



Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. 
C. S. Lewis 



All love shifts and changes. I don't know if you can be wholeheartedly in love all the time. 
Julie Andrews 



All mankind love a lover. 
Ralph Waldo Emerson 



All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name. 
Andre Breton 



As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words. 
William Shakespeare 



At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. 
Plato 



Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times. 
Rita Rudner 



Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. 
Lao Tzu 



Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? 
Richard Bach 



Come live in my heart, and pay no rent. 
Samuel Lover 



Do all things with love. 
Og Mandino 

December Breeze 2011

I’ve never been the type to excel in sports—no trophies from basketball courts, no bruises from wrestling mats, no medals swinging from my neck. But give me a pen, or even just a moment of thought, and words begin to flow like water finding its way through stone. Grammar may stagger, structure may slip, but writing—writing has always been freedom. A place where form bends, where free verse breathes, where the heart is allowed to speak in raw syllables.

Last night, I shared a cup of cold frap with friends—simple, unhurried. The kind of night where laughter fogs the air but silence also feels safe. I could feel it then, the subtle shift of the wind, as though December itself had exhaled. There’s something about this season—especially when you’re far from home—that softens even the hardest parts of you. The season of thankfulness is coming. A season when love is not merely felt, but recognized. Hugged. Warmed. Remembered.

The breeze tonight reminds me of home. 

Of street lamps brightening narrow streets. 

Of children's rowdiness along alleys where moonshine tucks the flaws of raw unpaved walkways but nature still breathes. 

Of families preparing handaan even if the budget says otherwise. 

We call it Amihan—that cool northern wind that brushes the cheeks like memory. 

Soft but piercing. 

Nostalgic, but gentle. 

It brings joy, yes, but it also carries that quiet ache Filipinos know too well—the kind that says December breeze is on - with the holidays coming up, and yet many of us will be celebrating oceans away from the ones we miss.

Maybe that’s why my heart feels a little unsettled. 

Somewhere in me, a problem hums like a distant note I am trying not to hear. 

I know it’s there, swelling, asking to be acknowledged. 

But I’m afraid. 

Afraid to confront the things I’ve chosen to set aside. 

Afraid that in some decisions, I have been unfair—not just to others, but to myself. 

A selfishness I didn’t intend, but perhaps still committed.

Some days, feelings arrive like tangled threads—difficult to name, too heavy to ignore. 

I worry that I sound incoherent, dramatic even. 

But emotions have their own language, one that grammar cannot cage. 

And maybe this—this confusion, this longing, this push beyond comfort—is simply proof that something in me is still alive, still capable of love, still brave enough to care.

Because even when we are far—working in foreign cities, 

surviving distance and homesickness, 

building futures in currencies not our own—our hearts never quite learn to detach. 

We carry family in our breath. 

We carry memories in our skin. 

We carry December like a lantern in the chest—glowing, fragile, unbroken.

And perhaps, despite the uncertainty I face, this is what matters:

That my heart still beats with softness.

That I can still feel the wind of my homeland, even from afar.

That I can write—messy, sincere, unfiltered—

and somehow find clarity inside the chaos.

Maybe this isn’t a conclusion.

Maybe it’s just a beginning.

A quiet step toward understanding myself,

toward forgiving myself,

toward becoming more than the sum of my fears.

Because this season, whether I’m home or oceans away,

I want to believe that I am still allowed to hope,

to grow, to falter, to return,

and to love—with both fragility and strength.

Just like every Filipino who whispers "nakakamiss sa Pinas....",

no matter where in the world they are.

Othello

October 23 2011 (memories from abroad - Al Hamra Riyadh)