Across the Heavens

Current System Configuration: Rather cold
BGM: The Seven Angels by Avantasia. From Avantasia: The Metal Opera. An epic, 14-minute long song that's so complex it could be called a symphony.
Breakfast: Grilled cheese and turkey sandwich
Lunch: Frozen pizza
Dinner: Macaroni and Cheese

(First of all, disregard the date. I'm in the US right now so I'm 12 hours behind my usual readers in the Philippines. I'm sending a message to the future! Yeah!)

I'm in the US right now, and I have to say that my trip here was one of my most interesting trips yet. Let's take it step by step.

Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Short, uneventful flight. This flight took only an hour. Nothing much happened except that we saw thunderstorms from a distance. Lightning bolts look awesome when viewed from the sky. I was wondering if I'd see sprite lightning and the like, but alas, the sky wasn't angry enough to produce those.The highlight of this trip was Singapore's Changi airport. I mean, any airport that offers free broadband internet has got to be awesome.

Kuala Lumpur to Stockholm, Sweden
This is where I found out that my plane doesn't go straight to New York---it was passing through Stockholm, Sweden! Kuala Lumpur's airport was pretty awesome. It was huge and bustling, and had the look of the interior of a cosmoship from Gunbuster. Really hi-tech. Like Hong Kong's airport, you have to take a high-speed train to get from one part of the airport to another.

The trip to Sweden was pretty cool. The sky was clear all the way, and the seas below were calm. You could see the clouds reflected in the water!

We flew over the deserts of Kazahkstan, and one could see the snow-capped mountains. Then we went through Russia, and endless fields of snow (or at least what looked like it) were visible.

The food was alright--- breakfast was chicken sausage and omelet with hash browns and lunch was this rather strange but tasty solid pasta (it was like macaroni except it wasn't hollow).

Sweden was breathtaking from the air. You could see the olive-brown and red-colored farmland, with patches of snow every now and then. Arlanda Airport in Sweden wasn't as grand as KLIA, but I have to say the ladies were as lovely as the scenery. Oh, and my female students might have enjoyed staring at the men. All of them are tall, slim and blond, with long hair. <_< style="font-style: italic;">Unfortunately for you girls, I didn't bring my camera. (My mom brought it to Israel).

Stockholm to Newark International Airport, New York, USA.
A rather uneventful and boring flight. I forgot to mention that we were flying westward from Singapore, so in effect we were running towards the sunset. Thus, for 24 whole hours, we could see the sun. I had to keep the window shade down, because the sun was blinding. It was reflecting off the ice sheets of Norway, Iceland and Greenland, filling the plane cabin with bright white light. What was awesome, though, is that I saw an actual volcano on Iceland from the air---cone, crater and all. Fantastic.

The food was good enough---a corned beef sandwich, followed by dinner: braised beef in olives and mashed potatoes.

The worst part of this trip was that the US Department of Homeland Security held me for about 15 minutes because they thought I was an illegal Mexican immigrant. My name is entirely Hispanic, and I was born in Quezon City. PLEASE. Ask any Mexican, and he'll tell you he's never heard of it. And what illegal immigrant, in his right mind, would book a flight all the way to Singapore, put up with all the strict airport security and take a flight through Malaysia and Sweden for 24 hours just to get into the US through a New York airport, where security is tightest when the US is right across the border from Mexico? What illegal immigrant even has that much money? Finally, dear readers, will you ever find a Mexican with a Philippine passport?

In the words of the Filipina American immigration officer who came to my rescue,
"Don't say a word, just don't say a word." (Regarding the other officer who accosted me)

***

Right now my brother and I are house-sitting for one of my uncles who went out of town to North Carolina. We haven't really done much, though yesterday we did go to Manhattan to have a walk around. We bought an entire box of Guildpact Magic cards, and we were pretty happy with the stuff we got. I bought an awesome journal from Barnes and Noble, as well as the novel that tells Guildpact's story. Oh yeah, apart from the bus rides to and from New York, all the travelling around Manhattan was done by foot. That's about all the exercise I've gotten. We bought lamb gyros (That's basically shawarma, except it had lamb, tomatoes, peppers, brocolli, lettuce and yohgurt sauce instead of the typical stuff that goes into Filipinized beef shawarma.) from a food cart (yes, they have street food in New York) and ate at a park. The lamb gyros were really good, and taste better than anything I'd have gotten if I bought food from McDonald's.

Right now we're hoping that someone picks us up for an overnight over Sunday so we can go to church for Easter. Right now we're just sitting around and eating. We have internet access, but it's pretty boring just sitting around. We've already finished watching all the anime I brought and my brother needs to modify his Magic decks (as I've been owning him a bit too much) We need company and fresh air. >_<>

A little personality test I found on Katie's blog: (But uh, the tests on this site seem to be geared toward a primarily female audience)

You Are Fall!

Thoughtful Expressive Creative Poetic Smart

What Season Are You?

~Be Just or Be Dead~
#1406AD20062331
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Radical

Current System Configuration: Waiting for the end of the Schoolyear
BGM: Lion by Rebecca St. James from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe soundtrack.
Breakfast: Grilled cheese sandwiches
Lunch: Jollibee Champ
Dinner: Nothing

This is not a dream that I'm living
This is just a world of Your own
You took me from all that I knew
Shown me how it feels to hope
With You with me, facing tomorrow together I can learn to fly
Feels like I'm living in a lion's mouth, but the lion is an angel
-Lion by Rebecca St. James

I watched V for Vendetta a couple of weeks ago. I really liked it, but after a few weeks of thinking I I'm ready to finally talk about it. The movie had a lot of rather in-your-face rhetoric, such as "Blowing up a building can change the world," and thus was taken by many to be a glorification of terrorism.

Overall, I liked the movie---the imagery and action were superb, the dialogue was great (samples of excellent lines later) and while the rhetoric was hard to swallow, there are some points I agree on.

Now, I am not one to encourage blowing up buildings. I prefer stability over anarchy, especially given our situation here. Things need to change, that is certain. A revolution will change things, there's no denying that. But will they change for the better? The ending of the movie poses that question. Sure, the revolution was a success, but does it mean things will get better? Does it, really?

"Behind this mask is not flesh and blood, but an idea---and ideas are bulletproof."

This is my favorite line in the whole movie. That, my dear readers, is guts. It can be applied to many different things, but I know it can definitely apply to Christianity.

"Within this chest is not only flesh and blood, but faith---and faith is bulletproof."

This is how I might say it. Faith is an abstract concept that should not be shattered by physical threats. It is something that will persist. That's what it's about, anyway.

Another point that came to mind after seeing the movie is radicalness. I don't mean in the anarchist sense---but when it comes to living. As Christianity has become more and more popular throughout the ages, people seem to have forgotten its radical roots.

Christ went up against the religious authorities of his time. Before him, Elijah performed a one-man (and One-God) revolution against the encroaching pagan theocracy that was consuming Israel. Before him, Moses challenged the absolute authority of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Many of the prophets were imprisoned, tortured and slaughtered just for telling the truth---the authorities were corrupt. But the line between Radical Christianity and anarchy must be drawn very clearly.

The context of all these actions is that the governments were exalting themselves against God openly. They were challenging Him. "Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him?" God accepted the challenge and owned them pretty painfully. Nowadays, Earthly governments do not do that openly anymore. Their actions may be very wicked, but they rarely tell us to defy God openly. It is not the earthly governments that are our enemies. The real enemy is what's behind the whole problem. Killing people will not eliminate the cause. The radicalness of Christianity is not about rebellion against authority. It's about setting the self apart from the world.

It's about living by higher standards.
It's about loving unconditionally.
It's about giving up everything, treating everything as a precious gift.
It's about raising the levels of one's life, by God's grace, to a higher, purer, more real way of existing.
It's about turning away from the "easy way" and instead doing what is right.

Our God, after all, is not a tame lion. He may not be safe, but he's good.

~Be Radical in Christ~
#2703AD20062215
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さらばだ ~Farewell~

Current System Configuration: Aaaargh...
BGM: The Roar to Tomorrow (Asu he no Houkou) by JAM Project. Heroic, valiant and passionate.
Breakfast: Longganisa, scrambled eggs and rice
Lunch: Pasta Arrabiata
Dinner: Prawns with feta cheese, chateubriand, potato salad, brocolli au gratin

And so this schoolyear has ended. For some of my students, this is the last time I will be your teacher. For others, I may meet you again in the future. I really want to thank you for all the wonderful experiences you've given me. Thank you for all the support, all the patience and all the praise. It's been a fun yet brutal year, with all the burdens and blessings we've given each other. I can't thank you enough.

You all know the farewell message I gave you in class before perio week. John 3:16, John 10:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Revelation 3:20. I have more to say.

Now this may seem silly, but they're best expressed by a couple of anime songs.

Tachiagare, kedakaku mae, sadame wo uketa senshi yo!
Rise and wheel valiantly, o warrior who has received his destiny!
Tatoe kizutsuite, chikara tsukitemo!
Even if you're hurt, even if your power runs out!
Atsuku nare, ookiku sake, ten ni sasageshi inochi yo!
Let that life that you've offered up to heaven heat up and blossom!
Asu no heiwa he no ishizue to nare!
Become the foundation of tomorrow's peace
Akaku moe, migoto ni chitte, hoshi ni natta inochi yo!
Let the star of your life burn red and scatter magnificently!
Toki wo koe, sono namae wo! Mune ni kizamou, JUST FOREVER!
Let that name　surpass time, carve it on your chest, JUST FOREVER!

That's the ending chorus from The Roar to Tomorrow by JAM Project. Here's another one, from Aim for the Top! Gunbuster.

Ai wo tomenai de! Hashiri tsuzukeru ｙｏ! Mune ni dakishimeta! Hikari tomosu made, RIDE ON!
Don't stop love! Let it keep running before the light you hold within your chest burns out, RIDE ON!

Goodbye, batch 09. See you in the future. Be the future.
~Be Just Or Be Dead~
#1103AD20062326
ー黒獅子アスラン