Q24

“I wish I was a photograph tucked into the corners of your wallet. I wish I was a photograph you carried like a future in your back pocket. I wish I was that face you showed to strangers when they ask you where you’ve come from. I wish I was that someone that you’ve come from every time you get there. And when you get there, I wish I was that someone that got phone calls and postcards saying “wish you were here.” I wish you were here.” —Andrea Gibson, Photograph

Because you are. You are the photograph tucked into the corners of my wallet.. you are that someone who I want to give phone calls and postcards to say, "Wish you were here. I wish you were here."

And as we patiently wait in silence and hope with the tumbleweeds and clocks striking, I wish-- no, I pray--that we are looking at the same direction and that by any chance this message will come across your way. That, I know, would be enough for now.

Love always,
E.

I'll give it time, give it space and be still for a spell,
When it's time to walk that way we wanna walk it well.

..And like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start,
neither should I rush my way into your heart.

YEAR ONE

One word, one year: SUPERMOON.

Love Always,
E.

WEEK 1 | WORDS THAT TOUCH YOUR SOUL

What made me do this?

"Making A List & Checking It Twice" Isn't Just For The Holidays

I will forever be a fan of list-making. For me, it has been a habit to jot down the things that cause my brain traffic on a Post-it Note, journal, someone else's journal, device app, tissue paper, palm, someone else's palm, or even on onion skins. 

My love for making lists bloomed when I was in high school, Junior year. I started out with a prayer list which visibly contains a roster of names of the people with their corresponding concerns/needs. They vary from family members, church friends, classmates, best friends, friends to a special soul. It was one Sunday night, I remember, when I enlisted myself as a prayer warrior, and then the rest was history.

After which, I became serious about itemizing things such as books to read, things to bring for a field trip, things not to bring, items to buy given a certain budget, movies to watch, and then some. But, my favorite is to write down my goals for each week, month, and year. On how I wanted to have a white dog with a red ribbon around its neck for Christmas, make someone happy on his/her birthday, own a neon pink Bible, do crazy things in an amusement park, travel abroad one summer, ride on the Cylon side of Battlestar Gallactica in Universal Studios, save up to buy a smartphone, and get myself a pair of pants without having my mom help me do it. Thankfully, to date, I was able to tick off the things that I have enumerated above (except for the pair of pants which I would make a separate blog post as an accomplishment report). 

Also, it was one of the most memorable days during college when I saw a book about making lists. Thanks to the bookstore sale that made it happen. It's Sasha Cagen's "To-Do List: From Buying Milk To Finding A Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us". The author believes that To-Do Lists represent the brain on a page, in its most raw form. They are not only reflections of our mind states, but also tools for action and decision making. My personal reality could strongly attest to this belief. I think, lists are the pieces of evidence that each person is a work in progress, that we are stitched together by the things that we want to do, achieve, and become. You are what your list shows. 

Check out the blog version of this book here.

As to how this love story would more likely evolve in one way or another, I am once again enlisting myself to an e-commitment which I hope nobody would like to oppose, myself included. Given that I am a desperate prodigal writer on this blog and combining my list-making tendencies, stumbling upon Moorea Seal's 52 Lists Project this morning really made my day. 

Okay, so having said that, my personal approach on this project will roll out in a few. ;-)

P.S.

I will be using Moorea Seal's project as a guide and I may digress as I please. 

Q23

Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.

John Ortberg

RETRACE

I keep on mapping out the ways that had made us part of each other-- on when, where, why, what, and how it all started. But I am afraid to have missed on some of the details, humanly possible ones, that will serve as explanations to everything.

But among all these questions that are left unanswered my heart remains glad.

Why?

Pay attention. Because there may be lapses on remembering the when's, the where's, the why's, the what's, and the how's of it all, one thing remains and rings true:

I am confident that for the longest time running, when I will be asked about the who of it..

It is still YOU.

XDF

This Is the Most Detailed Image of the Universe Ever Captured

NASA has published the most detailed view of the Universe ever taken. It’s called the Extreme Deep Field—or XDF for short. It took ten years of Hubble Space Telescope photographs to make it and it shows some the oldest galaxies ever observed by humans, going 13.2 billion years back in time.

It’s a mindblowing, extremely humbling view. Not only for what it shows, but for what it doesn’t show. While this image contains about 5,500 galaxies, it only displays a tiny part of the sky, a ridiculously small slice of the Universe.

I want to share this beauty with you. 

Sources: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/37; http://thunderpopcola.tumblr.com

WHAT I AM READING NOW

My source of rescue in this creative commotion.
Let's take it "Bird by bird, buddy."

Advice #1 to kick off:

"You begin to string words together like beads to tell a story. You are desperate to communicate, to edify or entertain, to preserve moments of grace or joy or transcendence, to make real or imagined events come alive. But you cannot will this to happen. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and get started.” (Anne Lamott)

Q22

Augustus Waters, "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green