Month: December 2006

  • You could be surrounded by other people and still feel alone.

    I would like to put on the record the fact that my height has nothing to do with how much love I have to offer. So for all the ladies that have ever said, "He's such a cool guy, but he's too short" I would like to point out just how shallow a thought that is. How is it that height became some sort of fatal flaw from which all chances of a relationship are out the window? I'm sick of it. The shallowness of our society is downright disgusting. Let's stop objectifying each other and focus on what really matters. Give me a "He's cool, but he's a player." Or "He's nice, but he's married." Give me something that a person has some decision-making control over. Some mistake that they, with a full mental capacity, made.

    I do, however, have to thank you. Thank you for being so brutally honest. It's much better than you coming up with some sort of euphemism and trying to justify your thoughts. Being completely honest is also better than you keeping it to yourself and just telling yourself that you spared me the hurt of being told the truth. Keep on telling yourself that. Let's all be completely honest with each other and ourselves. Then we would not have to keep on second guessing each other's intentions.

    Against the seemingly innocent ideal of "tall, dark, and handsome" to the over-emphasized heights of models, athletes, and celebrities, I do not have a chance. When did height become a prerequisite to becoming a somebody? Even a college professor at UC Davis stated in her lecture how all the leaders of the Philippine social movements were taller in stature than your average person.

    However, since you have to be tall to have any heart, height is more important that inner desire, and tallness is a desireable trait above ambition, perseverance, and spiritual and emotional strength, that doesn't give me a whole lot of options.

    Check it out at the Short Persons Support Web site at http://www.shortsupport.org/Health/Leg-Lengthening. In fact the most experienced center for limb lengthening is in Maryland, called the International Center for Limb Lengthening.

    The operation sounds excrutiatingly painful, but I have a pretty high pain tolerance. They say they attach metal braces to your legs and cut through your bone, counting on your bodies ability to heal to regenerate bone whre the cut is made. I heal fast too. In a prior entry I mentioned the power of being able to say, "It's possible." There are many cases where people have successfully recovered from the operation. To be able to say that it's possible generates so much hope. I like the odds.

    Not only that, but surgery like this is partially covered. The rest I can afford on my own without too much financial burden. Yet another springboard to make it happen.

    One family, who had the operation done on their son, wrote a testimonial about the procedure,

    "Dr. Paley,

    Just wanted to send you a picture of our two heros. We have this photo hung on our family cork board in the kitchen, it reminds us daily, that you are changing the lives of some amazing children...ours being one of them.

    Thank you so much for brightening Jack's future!

    Our warmest regards,
    Karen and Darren Zyra"

    Imagine that! I'd like to brighten my future. This is actually something in my control. Change society to conform to some ridiculous ideal or change myself to conform to a societal more...what's easier?

    The latter. Definitely.

    Sure, gravity works on me. However, I can reach as high as anyone else. If this makes my reach a little bit less hopeless, than how can you put a pricetag on that?

  • Maligayang Pasko translates into Merry Christmas. It is Pilipino, the national language of the Philippines.

    As we celebrate the holidays, let us not forget the people less fortunate than us. With all the natural disasters that have occurred, war in the middle east, hunger and homelessness in our own backyard, would it not be nice to spread some of this holiday cheer and selflessness throughout the year?

    Let every day be a day to spread good news. May every day be a day that we can be good people. Good news and good people. It would be amazing.

  • On Friday night I learned that five shots of Crown Royal for a Thai flower vase is worth it. I was aiming for five shots of Patron, but the owner probably felt that five shots of Patron was too much to lose. I do not blame them. After all, it is Patron, and I am not a snob. In any case, taking five shots really was not as bad as many people were expecting it to be. It is not the smoothest alcohol in the world, but it is not bad either. I am a husky guy, and I think I was doing fine. Supposedly, a person should chill for an hour for each drink. Not to sound cocky, but I think my recovery time is much better than that. Call it the Wolverine or Superman healing factor in me.

    It is Christmas Eve and I have had the opportunity to ask a few people what their ultimate gift would be. I've gotten some great answers, and most of them are not of the selfish nature. Comparing their gift to mine is pretty sobering. It would be nice to be able to make a lot of them come true. Nobody really requested anything excessive. Oprah has her show where she fulfills people's dreams. It sure would be nice to be able to do that.

  • I have been able to replace the window that was smashed and the Very Merry Trio gift from Hallmark that was stolen from my car. The more I think about the stolen leather jacket, the more I realize how useless it must be for the person that got it. See, I have a larger than average torso and shorter than average arms. I had the jacket sleeves taken up to fit me and since the excess material was cut off, there is no way to let the sleeves back out. So, whoever got the jacket is probably looking pretty ridiculous with 3/4 length sleeves.

    In any case, my holiday spirit has pretty much been sapped from me. Even when my friend asked me to get out of the car to deliver gifts to the KSFM 102.5 toy drive, and we heard my name on the radio, it was cool, but didn't feel the same. I should've said my friend's name, since they really were her gifts. I misrepresented myself. That happened at a previous event earlier this year. Someone accused me of always taking the limelight. I'm starting to wonder if I do, even if it is unintentional.

  • This morning, someone smashed my rear passenger window and stole presents that I had for family. I was in a restaurant for about one hour, twenty minutes, and that's all the time that it took for the to get away with five seasons of DVDs, a CD, a holiday decoration item from Hallmark, and my Italian leather jacket that I received as a gift a few years ago. I got so many compliments on that jacket.

    Life goes on, but everyone please be careful.

  • I was talking to a former high school teacher about social economics. He mentioned how some people do not want to put forth the effort to succeed because they do not think that they can. It is not because they lack the skills, but it is because they do not think that they are in a situation and environment to do so. He said that this is the culture in lower socioeconomic communities. That is what I am trying to combat. One can succeed from the desire to succeed and then putting forth the effort to succeed.

    My lobby display on Filipino American history has been up since December 1, 2006. I have gotten such a positive response from it, not only from people in the California Department of Education, but people in the Capitol as well. Part of it is because of an e-mail that went out about it. The text read:

    300 Years of Filipino America Display

    Every chance we get, we share and promote the rich history and culture of Filipino Americans. Another opportunity has risen again at the California Department of Education (CDE) building. Located in teh lobby of the CDE building at 1430 N Street in downtown Sacramento, Bobby G. Roy has developed a 6' tall by 9' wide display entitled "300 Years of Filipino America," chronicling iconic moments and groups in the Filipino American experience - from the landing in Morro Bay to the current status of Filipino Amerca.

    "My ultimate dream would be the inclusion of the history of Filipino Americans and other ethnic minorities to the social science frameworks and curriculum. I came to the CDE in March of 2005 and the first step was to include Filipino American history month in the Calendar of Events, which is sent to all public schools in California. This display is another step toward that end," commented Roy. The display will be up for the entire month of December 2006, so be sure to visit. Building hours are between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. For more information, contact Bobby G. Roy at (916) 319-0800, or by e-mail at broy@cde.ca.gov.

    A wonderful realization I made was that the display was up today during the CDE Holiday Party. Most of the 1,500 Department staff came down to the lobby to be part of the festivities. The result was a lot of exposure for the display. As head of the food sub-committee for the Holiday Party Committee, I arranged to ahve students from different Home Economics/Culinary/Vocational Education programs to cater the event. They came from high schools in Antioch, Sacramento, and Chico. The delectable delights they made included cranberry turkey cups, chicken cream puffs, and white and milk chocolate fondue fountains. We should have foreseen the 30-yeard line for the fondue. The only setback was that 24 gallons of fruit punch was not enough. My committee head and I had to go buy punch. We bought six more gallons, but ended up only needing three more.

    While we were away, the Department did a drawing for different holiday baskets. I had bought 40 tickets to enter to win one of the 14 baskets. Lo and behold, I won one! The basket was worth over $550 and I had bought the 40 tickets for $25. Not bad if I do say so myself.

    After lugging and loading the basket into my car, I went to a Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) meeting. We were doing a premiere screening of "Strange Land" about a Filipina war bride. She actually attended and it was great seeing her story on film and then being able to ask her questions. After the question and answer session, there was a drawing for different prizes. I ended up winning two! I got a nice set of two picture frames and then one fruit cake.

    Hopefully my luck continues on. I have a particular want in my life right now that remains unfulfilled. To avoid jinxing it though, I will not acknowledge it out loud. It is a deep, inner desire. If it were to come true, it would truly be a blessing.

  • "Whereever life takes us, there are always moments of wonder." - Jimmy Carter

    In good and bad times, we encounter something amazing. Often times, it is something basic and natural. Maybe it is seeing a beautiful flower or having a deep conversation with someone. When we take the time to appreciate those moments, we realize that the total of those moments outnumber the bad ones. All that we need to do is remember to make the time to smell the roses and enjoy our lives.

  • The light of love, the purity of grace,
    The mind, the music breathing from her face, 
    The heart whose softness harmonized the whole,
    And oh, that eye was in itself a soul!