Bottled ※ Brain

Tired after commuting from Church, I rush to my bed with a heart full of thanksgiving for the opportunity to hear God's Word. John 15. I decide to take a power nap of at most an hour and 30 minutes. Without even washing my face or changing my clothes, I am taken to the colorful world of dreams. I then wake up with refreshed eyes. Groggy after the power nap, I go to the bathroom to wash my face with cold water. Ah, this feeling of freshness! I return to my room, put on my eyeglasses, and look at my window: the sun hasn't set yet. It's a damp, cloudy day, I reckon--the perfect time to go strolling around campus. Without hesitation, I open my locker and grab my newly charged batteries which immediately get inserted into my camera. Along the way, I meet familiar faces. First, there's Paul, my number one reader--haha. "Hi," I greet him cheerfully. "Where are you going?" he asks with eyebrows raised, but before I answer the question, he answers it himself

This great period in history called the Summer Class is coming to its end. I had my maths test yesterday, and am waiting for the finals next week. I will miss my classes, that I'm pretty sure of. The Lord has dealt mercifully and graciously with me for the past few weeks of being here. His grace has abounded in immeasurable quantities that to speak about all of them here would take me days. But allow me to share with you a few things which could not escape notice. 1. Praise God for giving me really good and kind teachers. Ms. Imee Tagaca , my physics lab instructor, was patient, dedicated, and fun. The same could be said about Ma'am Ann Marie Pasion, my Math 55 instructor, who was determined to let us understand every bit of lesson she taught us. And this is one of her quotable quotes after she explained a long solution to a triple intergration problem, "I smell turon." 2. Praise God for the opportunity to serve as one of the core leaders of the Yakal Christian Fello

These are the headers that have appeared on Bottled. I haven't been responsible in cataloguing these according to date, so they're not arranged in any particular order but they're sort of are now. This appeared from May to June 2006. I was tinkering with Photoshop because there was nothing else to do--summer class had just ended--when Rey looked closely at the monitor. I motioned him to come even closer, and politely asked him if he would do the honor of making mea blog header. I wanted an orange template for my site to go with the summer heat. He also suggested the tagline, 'Life is like a rock. It's hard," and I laughed my head off when I heard it. . . . This was inspired by the Sunday service pulpit series on John 15. This appeared from March to May 2006. I wanted my site to look refreshing, so I decided to make green the color theme. And I have to add: the fuzzy border on the photo was inspired by one of the best designed blogs on earth owned by Ka

I hate to join the bandwagon, but when UP professor and critically-acclaimed writer Dr. Jose Dalisay had his say about the Da Vinci Code , I figured it wouldn’t do me harm to do the same. I first heard of it a year ago when I was a college freshman. At that time, only very few people had actually read it, with Katrina —a friend since grade school days—being one of them. She highly recommended the book to me while we were eating dinner together in the dining area, partaking of the delicious viand coated with the famous brown sauce. “Sure,” I said. Having borrowed Katrina’s paperback copy of the book, I immediately started reading it. Unlike, say, Sherlock Holmes , Dan Brown’s novel is easy reading. One can go through chapters without mental stress. The narrative is plain; the plot almost ordinary—until Brown goes on telling about the controversial stuff, attacking the Roman Catholic Church, Biblical truths, the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and in a way, the whole of Christianity

"Lance, does being called fat make one less of a man?" "I don't think so. I think it makes him more of a man."

May the Lord be your comfort and strength. May you be reminded that He is control of everything, that no amount of grief can extinguish the flame of His love in your heart, that in due time, he will wipe your tears away.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. The rumor is true. I went jogging. I’ve just finished studying a couple of chapters for the lab exam tomorrow when Rey , one of my roommates for the summer, asked me, “Lance, can I borrow your jogging pants?” I said I had used it the night before, but I said I had another one in my closet, and that he could borrow it. We never really know what’s inside our lockers until we actually determine to catalogue everything, which I would probably never do. I didn’t find the pants, so Rey settled into wearing shorts. He was tying his shoe laces when, out of the blue, my mouth exploded like Mt. Krakatoa , “Can I go jogging with you, Rey?” He was taken aback, of course, as any normal human being who knows me well would. So far, my old roommate Art has been unsuccessful in inviting me to go jogging with him, and he has, to exaggerate it, invited me a million times already, and I’ve given him a million excuses, too. Alibis like “I have a lab rep to f

One good thing about taking summer classes is that it allows you to sleep in longer time intervals, compared to the short, irregular naps of two to three hours during the regular semesters. This is, to a degree, highly advantageous for walking skeletons like me—thanks to our fast metabolism—because enough decent sleep conserves calories. And calories, dear readers, must be conserved, shouldn’t they? Excuse me. I have to sleep now.

Click on photo to enlarge.

I’ve been meditating on worship for the past three days using John Piper’s wonderful book, Desiring God . The book is a must-read for every Christian because it is an aquifer of spiritual reminders and, unlike other popular “Christian” books displayed in National , it directly points to profound truths of Scripture rather than simply glossing over them. It has been an overwhelming experience thus far, not so much because Piper writes very well (although he really does), but because the truths about God presented in that book are overwhelming. John 4: 23 – 24 says, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Worship is not merely an outward, liturgical act. It is not: you bow your head like this when you pray; failure to do so will result to your being sent to hell when you die. It is not: you sing with y

“Bakit maraming pusa ang nasasagasaan ‘pag gabi?" “Kasi akala ng driver, mga humps sila."

—I was saddened. Today, we had the last experiment in my physics lab class. While Ma’am Tagaca was lecturing, I focused my camera toward her, and, stupid boy that I was, took a shot, all along forgetting to shut the flash off. It looked like a lightning burst inside the lab. —After the class, Schubert, Ate Florence and Daryl (I’m still not sure if it’s spelled with a double “r”) posed for the camera. People inside the National Institute of Physics were looking at the inconceivably shameful things we did. —More photos here . —I received my Math 55 exam results today. My score wasn’t impressive, but it was higher than what I originally expected. Praise God for His manifold blessings. 

Jacquelyn Libatique : A man is wise only if he does not act like a foolish man, not only if he thinks like a wise man. It is indeed hard to hold on to truth, and to always live it is so much harder. Ralph Catedral: If there is one thing that I learned to imbibe from the University, particularly from the College of Arts and Letters, it is the lifestyle of thinking. Indeed, we were taught not merely to read, but to read keenly and carefully—paying attention to the minutest detail of a work of art or a piece of literature. We were taught not merely to produce them, but to consider acutely how we do them and why we do them. We were taught quite a handful of theories, and poetics, and techniques that will serve valuable in the honing of our craft and the understanding of our subject; but along with these, we were also taught to struggle with them, hoping to evaluate them not merely on the merits of their logic, but also on their political and historical contexts. Kent Kawashima: 'nuff

May 1 has been surprisingly peaceful . Everybody must’ve expected a coup attempt to resurface somewhere, but there was none—except for the peaceful rallies. No Canal-water Ejecting Hose Treatment was required to disperse the angry mob from the streets. While some of my schoolmates—yes, I study in UP , the home of the country’s Fiercest Activists (who happen to speak excellent, eloquent Filipino)—called for the President’s resignation or demanded for greater state subsidy for the University, I was tucked neatly in my bed, watching movies in my PC and finishing my post-lab reports. In other words, I was idle. It is during the times when I don’t do anything that I am most susceptible to the traps of the Devil. With nothing to preoccupy me, I’d find myself sinning against the Lord through my laziness, my thoughts, and, to a deeper extent, my corrupt choice not to meditate on His Word. I suppose it is the same with all of us. Sometimes, it is better when we’re busy with