What Being Single Means

(This is for the single souls out there...i didn't write this though)

Single means you have the time to grow and be the person you want to be.

Single gives you space to grow. Sometimes, it is harder to grow when you are too close to someone. Trees are planted far apart so they can spread their branches and become strong as they mature.

Single means learning to live by yourself. However, that is no more difficult than learning to live with somebody else.

Single means freedom. You are free to spend a week's vacation on the beach, to take diving courses, to hang out with friends, to work late on an interesting project, to spend the day in bed with a good book or simply with a person who has read one.

Single means learning not to need a man/woman to make your life meaningful but learning to live with a man/woman because you want to be with him/her.

Single means that sometimes you will wonder why you will bite your lip and feel wistful and wonder if marriage is better.

Ironically, yet quite happily, single is feeling good about being in control of your life. It is liking and respecting who you are and why you are.

Single is realizing that being married is not necessarily better, it is merely different.

Single means that there could be something wonderful around the corner and you can take advantage of it.

Single means you are free to love again.

Can I?

[RE-POST] Originally posted at my other blog site 06/07/05 10:57 AM

This is soooo cheezy! But what can i say? I have a flair for the dramatic. I have more of these stuff. I wrote this at a time when i was an emotional wreck more than 3 years ago. I'm thankful that phase of my life is over... Catch a glimpse of that by reading on...

Can I?

- a poem of longing

Can I think of you?

Even if your mind wanders elsewhere...

When elsewhere is the face of another...

Can i dream of you?

Even if in your dreams you seem content...

Content with the love and care of some other...

Can i be jealous of others near you?

When there's no reason that i should be...

And being thus means fooling only me...

Can i be possessive of you?

When you already belong to him, while I...

Don't have you, don't own you, when i most need you...

Can i make love with you?

But in having this love consummated...

We destroy ties, trusts and friendships too...

Can i touch you? Hold you? Embrace you?

Warm up my being...

Give meaning to my existence...

Ignite the fire in my soul...

Am i allowed to miss you?

I feel helpless, i feel desperate...

I'll get crazy of this longing for you...

Can i at least look at you?

Gaze at that face, you don't have to look back...

Just for a moment, be by my sight...

Can i talk to you? Speak to you?

Let my whispers reach your ears...

Let my words drown out your fears...

Can i love you? Love you. Love you!

Let my lips touch those cheeks...

Let these eyes gaze that beauty...

Let my hands soothe your pains...

Let this feeling soar, fly free...

From Sunshine to Sunset

Obama is now president of the United States.

This election was not all about choosing the right leader for America's future. It was about ending the wrong leadership of the past. The Republican leadership, at the helm of the outgoing president George Bush, perhaps deserved to lose this election. But it does not necessarily mean the Democrats deserved to win. They have yet to prove they do.

But congratulations to Obama and the Democratic Party. They have successfully wrested the White House and established a monopoly of power in the US Senate and House of Representatives. While it can be dangerous, America needs that. There can be no divisiveness among the leaders. The United States is facing the most challenging decades ahead since the Great Depression. Bills must be passed with haste to execute the necessary reforms in foreign relations, national security and economy. There can be no grandstanding.

What would it mean to us though?

One thing that came to mind is our BPO sector. One of the Sunshine Industries. A significant fraction of the total outsourcing companies based here are US companies. This sector generates billions of dollars of revenue for the country. Second only to India, we are the premier BPO hub in Southeast Asia. The sector employs hundreds of thousands of Filipinos from Makati, Ortigas down to Cebu and farther.

I am sure everyone who reads this knows at least one person who works for an outsourcing firm. I can name ten at least. And of these persons, many perhaps are breadwinners of their families. Many have established promising career paths in an industry that was largely underestimated by most. But the reality is, they are no different from our valiant OFWs who earn dollars abroad to support their families. The only difference is the location and the currency of their pay.

All of that may change. With Obama's leadership, he hopes to "keep the jobs back home". He may push for regulation of outsourcing to other countries, cutting back the number the US companies may employ. This would translate to thousands of layoffs. Or if not, may make the prospect of bigger revenues in the future only a remote possibility, worse, just a prospect. The BPO industry contributes a sizeable fraction to our GDP. If the above scenario happens, that sizeable fraction would be lost.

The sunshine industry may be headed for a premature sunset.

Those are close friends of mine. My fear is their fear. If they lose their jobs, there may not be enough available jobs here at home. But we must be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. I am confident that Obama would consider, or risk tarnishing bilateral relations with the Philippines who is now warming up more to China.

For the meantime, i guess it wouldn't hurt to learn Chinese.


PS: He said it himself. For more information on Obama's policy on jobs creation, visit the following links.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/27bpo.htm

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Jobs.htm