My Lola's battle and the mysteries of life

I was talking to Tito Rapa earlier and we were talking about the numerous masses being offered for my Lola. Even a 40hour vigil is being offered at the EDSA Shrine!

My Lola's hanging on and she's fighting cancer. I think that she's defying all medical explanations.

But what's really amazing that even as she sleeps in her hospital bed, she somehow brought a lot of people together in prayer! I can imagine the number of people praying and coming back to God.

Maybe the Good Lord is using my Lola as His instrument to bring people together... I mentioned in an interview earlier that she and God have a very special bond. I really believe that!!!

The best advice my Lola gave me was "In whatever you do, just do your best and God will do the rest" I'll never forget the other piece of wisdom my Lola taught me. "At the gates of heaven, you won't be asked what grade you got in Math or Science or English, you'll be asked if you were good during your stay in the world..."

Simple pieces of advice but very effective. I love my Lola for telling me that... She's my hero.

Making her grandsons happy

This was back in 2002. Ateneo had won the UAAP title after 14 long years. My Lola didn't favor any team, she favored her grandkids. She wanted us to be happy. So she was invited by Sonny Dominguez at the Linden Suites for a Blue Eagle party. So she asked him if her 3 Atenean grandsons could tag along.

So we did. We had pictures with the Blue Eagles at that party.

My Lola always made her loved ones happy. She wanted to see her apos smile :)

My Lola's the best :)

Requesting for prayers

Dear world,

Kindly pray for my grandmother, Cory Aquino... She's battling cancer.

She's a woman of great faith, courage, and humility.

She's the most righteous person I know. Whatever she says, I know it's right.

Thanks!

Addicted to Running

Yes, it has been my outlet to release problems and stress... It's a good kick to start a long day.

So here I am "running it up"

I registered with the iamninoy runners and I got this sweet yellow Rudy Project jersey. It's pretty comfy. I tried it the other day at the gym in the office. Plus you get to help reverse the education crisis in the Philippines when you register. 5775 is the one reversing this deterioration. Check out iamninoy.com for more info :)

Front

Back

And to top it off, I got the Nike+ for my iPod to track my running. It is one of the most awesome purchases I have. It talks to you when you run plus I was told that sports icons like Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods talk too when you hit landmark running goals or do a personal best. Can't wait to hear that! The Nike+ is almost gone here in Manila. I was lucky to find one at A.Shop in Eastwood Mall. Better hurry if you want one. There are 3 units left. A lot of people are running now and I think it's a great thing! So here's my RED iPod Nano :) I love Red :)

My brother has the 2nd gen iPod Product Red. At the back, he had "Keep Running" engraved. But not because he's a runner. It's because he loves Marvel's The Runaways. :) Hahahaha.

Oh yeah, I did a better job during the Globe Run :) Did it in 41 minutes! Slightly better pace... That run was fun but too many people... Can't complain about the ladies who ran though. Hahaha.

Anyway, I'm out. Just needed another outlet to remove stress...

Blackest Night #1

I haven't been that interested in DC but Blackest Night got me curious. The curiosity paid off! What Geoff Johns has done over the past few years for DC was amazing. He's carrying a lot of load together with Grant Morrison.

Back then I was asking my brother why Green Lantern? Seriously? What's so great about GL?

He said it started with Rebirth for him...

What got me interested was the fact that other Lanterns appeared out of nowhere! Plus the fact that a Blue Lantern existed was awesome!

Ok, so going to the 1st issue of Blackest Night. Johns is setting it up. You see the characters that will get involved in the event. I know that people will die and people who died will come back to life as a Black Lantern. But I didn't know who. So suspense was present in almost every page.

Points that got me hooked.

1. Bruce Wayne's skull was stolen and it is now being used as a "Lantern". I think it charges the Black Lantern rings.

2. The dead coming back to life.

3. The Atom is back! Plus there was this line that was genius! "She made The Atom feel small"

4. The DCU is in deep deep shit.

Johns will tackle the concept of death in comics. I think it's something that needs to be addressed. I mean, why do dead people come back? Why don't they stay dead in the comics?

Ivan Reis drew the shit out of this issue. Props to him. I wanted Ethan to do it but Ivan did such a great job with issue 1. I underestimated him. He drew some pretty scary scenes. I can't wait for #2.

It's pretty cool. The issue actually comes with a Black Lantern ring. Hahahaha.

So will the Green Lantern Corps' oath still work?

"In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let all those who worship evil's might, beware my power, GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

My theory here is that the Blue Lanterns will play a huge role. Since their emotion is hope plus it compliments the willpower of the Green Lanterns... We'll see...

But I do hope that Batman becomes a Black Lantern... I really hope so...

run for home

I ran my 2nd "marathon" event. Well it was just a fun run. A fun 5k.

I can't say that it was well-organized because the running space was too damn narrow for me. I lost momentum and got a side stitch... It sucked big time! Too many people, too little running space.

My goal was to match my 10k pace or better. Unofficially, I ran 41 minutes. Better than the 10k pace. Running on the treadmill is totally different from running outdoors. You get extra help n the treadmill and it's flat. Your knees won't hurt after.

During the race, all I was thinking was to keep on running. I realized that I was actually running away from the sadness I had and headed to something new. It was good motivation actually. :)

Running and running

I have found a way to let all the stress out and it has been running. I'm getting addicted to it actually. It's a good thing. :)

I seem to go back to the nice guys finish last curse from time to time...

But I just keep on running. Run, run, and run some more. I don't see it as running away from something. It's the other way around.

I'm still not 100%. I got hurt REAL bad. But I'm thankful that I survived. It's the aftermath that's challenging.

Tomorrow. Globe. RUN FOR HOME.

I'd wear the I AM NINOY RUNNERS jersey but I'm superstitious about wearing colors of Ateneo's opponents. It's against UST tomorrow so I won't wear it. Sorry Lolo Ninoy. I know you'll understand :)

The 10 Best Spider-Man gifts I've received

Little by little, I have become more and more of a Spider-fan through the years and my friends and family know how passionate I am about my superhero. They link Jiggy to Spider-Man and Spider-Man to Jiggy. Well that's for my friends and family.

So now, among all the Spidey gifts I've received, I decided to share with you the top 10.

10. This was from my Tita Viel, it was from Universal Studios in Japan and it contains Spidey chocolate! It's a kick ass container but I don't know what to put...



9. Spider-Man playing cards from my Mom. She came home one day and gave me cards saying I just thought about you.




8. My brother and I have this pact that every comic book movie, we have to see the first day together. So he watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine ahead of me with his girlfriend so as a peace offering, he got me this Spidey notebook...




7. A Justin/ Spider-Man dog tag. Meg gave this to me in 2nd year and this was from Universal Studios in the US. Forgot if it was LA or Florida.


6. Val gave me this on my birthday last year and it's a picture holder/ business card holder. It was also from Universal Studios Japan.


5. A McDonald's Happy Meal toy from the 80's, my cousin Miguel gave this to me. It's a Peter Parker action figure and when you rotate the arms, the body opens and it turns to a normal Peter Parker without the Spider-Sense effect.


4. Super-poseable Spider-Man from Jonty. This was his very first Spider-Man gift to me and I still haven't opened it for years...


3. Gerald surprised me with this big rectangular frame during my 20th Birthday. It was a commissioned Spider-Man painting with a homage to Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man.


2. The best keychain in the world. Nothing can get cooler than this. It's a simple "J" with Spidey's face. :) I use it 5x a week since it opens my locker in the office. It's special since it came from my fellow geek, Liz :). This was a surprise during my 21st birthday.



1. My Mom came home from divisoria and she handed me this frame. When I looked at it, it was a clear message on what I should do and continue doing. It was to be responsible. Now that I'm older and working, she's just reminding me :) Mom's know best. I never expected her to get Spider-Man stuff for me so this one is very special for me.


I'm just putting those given ok?

One day I'll post the ones I bought :) Some are cooler :D

But if anyone out there wants me to give a Spidey item, I ain't stopping you :) hahaha.

A copy of Amazing Fantasy 15 would be nice :) hehehe

On Matt Fraction's awesome career

What got me was his remarkable run alongside Mr. Ed Brubaker on a book called "The Immortal Iron Fist." I was told that Fraction was really the brains of the whole story.

Now, he's friggin the #2 writer in Wizard Magazine! He overtook Bendis!!! Brubaker never even reached that high!!! But I don't know about him being higher than Bendis... 3 yes, 2? Hmmm...

What can I say? OK, Fraction's kicking ass on Invincible Iron Man. I'm not reading his X-Men yet but I heard it's doing fine too. But back to the point. He made Iron Man fun to read. I'm enjoying every issue of it. The character development he's doing for Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and Maria Hill is in another level. The guy's writing is totally brilliant! I'm digging the cliffhangers and twists and turns of the story. I thought it was a 6 issue arc but it's not! He's still kicking ass making the story longer. I think that Matt Fraction is the next big thing. I wouldn't be surprised if he writes a major crossover in the near future.

I hope they release book 2 of Casanova already. I wanna continue it... Even though it's weird and hard to get...

It's sad he stopped with Iron Fist... I loved that book so damn much... :(

But hey, I hope he doesn't leave Invincible Iron Man because I'll really be pissed if he does...

No longer being a CMT sinking in...

It's been hard the past 2 weeks... Work will be work. But I guess I miss the good old days. CMTs being CMTs. (Corporate Management Trainees)

I see the new batch of trainees and they're having a blast. They're getting to know the company by going through different departments for 2 months. After that, work begins.

I guess the most fun next to the Kick-Off would have to be the first 2 months. Work couldn't have been any lighter :)

We even had an outing before going to our real work. It was July of 2007. :) GOOD TIMES!

So I will make myself happy by looking back at the fun memories :)

Crossing the finish line

Laban!!! Love you Lola!!!

This was the photo when I was just meters away from the finish line. It's a feeling I can't express in words. All I can say that it's a wonderful wonderful feeling of accomplishment!

I guess I proved some people wrong. Someone went "10K? Ikaw? Seryoso ka ba?"

I even proved myself wrong.

I can't imagine what the people who do the IRON MAN Triathlon. 70.3 KM! It's insane!!! 10KM was already tough for me.

A friend of mine from the office passed something on to me. The saying goes "Pain is temporary, Quitting is forever"

He got it from Lance Armstrong...

Anyway, October is the next race. I think I'll run again and try to beat my time. :)

Finishing my first ever marathon.

10 KILOMETERS.

I did it in 1hour and 28minutes. (Unofficial)

5022 was my race number.

I had several roadblocks along the way. I got cramps plus my feet became numb. It never happened before... I thought that it would be over...

I thought I wasn't gonna finish in 90 minutes...

But I was just thinking about my Lola... She kept me going... She's battling the greatest challenge of her life and I couldn't give up... I was running for her.

Quitting is forever... I didn't want to do that. I had to keep on running... and I did.

It was the longest 10 km of my entire life. It was really far. But the people who ran before were right. They gave me pointers and told me that I could do it. Kaya nga...

I feel so accomplished today. My family's not athletic at all. My cousins got it from the other side of their families. My Lola was telling me before na sorry na lang Jiggy, hindi tayo athletic. Hahaha. So I ran and finished the MILO Marathon for my Lola and the rest of my non-athletic relatives.

The 33rd MILO Marathon will be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I proved something to myself today. I pushed myself to go further, to leave all doubts behind, to keep on moving forward, and to keep on running. I'm really proud of myself :')

I've never sweat that hard in my entire life. My undies got a shower! Sorry to say. Even my running shorts!!!

The final 1km of the race was farther than I thought. I was so anxious to reach the finish line! Crossing it and receiving my certificate was all worth it! Never did I think I'd be participating in a MILO Marathon!!! And I did!!! I did it!!! Willpower baby!!!

Unofficially, I've lost 18 pounds already. :) I'm pretty happy about it!!! I haven't felt this "thin" for a long time and it feels amazing! My company has taught me the value of being well in life. You have to make the right choices. You have to be disciplined. You have to stay focused. But at the same time, they teach you to have fun! MILO TODAY! MILO A DAY! MILO! WINNING EVERYDAY!

Awesome experience. I'll forever remember it. I was motivated. I was determined.

That race was for you Lola... I love you very much...

On not losing hope...

Testing times nowadays.

You get all the problems in the world. You're tested on faith. Do you lose hope?

Me? I always believe that there's a chance. Even a small opening in the window gives hope.

I try to remember my Philosophy classes now. The beauty of hoping is that, you hope. You hope for the best things to come. You simply hope.

I believe that this is where faith comes in. I can't thank enought the people who texted and gave support. It's unbelievable. I know that many people are praying now. My family and I really appreciate it.

My grandmother in my opinion was a beacon of hope... Now let's not lose hope on her. I think that she can still get through this challenge.

Tomorrow, I'm running the MILO Marathon. 10 Kilometers. I will run for my Lola. There's this part of me saying it will be tough and I can't finish the race. But I will not listen to that part of me. I will run and finish the race. I can't lose hope on myself, that would be ridiculous.