Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee (Snowbound Day) : February 2, 2009 blog

Notes from Davina's Diary

This is what I see from my window today. They've just declared it Snow Day in London, and the streets are blanketed with unbelievable white powder. We haven't had this kind of snow in so many years. In fact, I don't know if I could work because I don't have a 4 x 4 vehicle, and I can't use a snowmobile to glide to work in the London streets. I'll be arrested by the bobbies in three minutes flat, what with London's surveillance cameras kicking in, in every street corner (haven't you heard, Big Brother is truly watching our every move here!)

A year ago, I would dread staying at home, and the sight of snow and ice would send me to the pits of depression.

In fact, a year ago, I was confined to a kind of loony bin hospital, and all I could remember was that everyday, rain or shine, I sat in a wheelchair at a particular time,usually morning,and we were led outside the grounds to bask in the sunlight. With the gloomy weather here, that's a bit of wishful thinking, but whatever wisp of sunshine we get, we're thankful.

Everyday our schedule was like this. After an hour has passed for our 'sunning' time, we were led inside the confines of our room, where we waited until the bell would ring again for lunch time; after two hours, it's recreation time, then finally dinner and lights off.

I don't remember the exact day I was confined by my parents. All I remember was that my boyfriend broke up with me this same time last year, and I slid in the tub and tried to slice my wrist. All my memories after that incident is hazy.

It is only now, that I'm up and about did my parents reconstruct the day to day events from my mental breakdown, and subsequent cure.Oh did I tell you? Yes, by some miraculous cure, I was able to get out of my blue, blue funk and recover from said loony bin. How?

Our nurses would play us music during recreation time, and try to interest us in all kinds of music. There was no response, but when a talk show on TV is on, the response was better. Name it, the nurses tried it - Oprah and Ellen were our top facorites, and according to the nurses, we stopped being in a catatonic state and started nodding, but there were no smiles or laughter.

One day, a Filipina nurse turned to the web for radio shows via live audio streaming and she chanced upon this radio show by the Twister named GoodTimes with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee.

The patients who were lined up like ossified, petrified, mummified stuffed animals now started smiling, then giggling and then laughing and rolling out their heads from side to side.

It created pandemonium and the doctors all started running by the sounds the patients created. When they learned it was a mere radio show, they all started listening and subsequently cracking up too by the wild subject matters elucidated by Mo Twister.

From then on, all the patiends, nurses, doctors and orderlies got hooked on the show and we all looked forward to the taped shows created by a fan, and we just listen and laugh and have a great time.

After three months of a zombie like existence, the doctors started observing the improvements in my personality. I was still a little depressed, but it was now becoming more manageable. The good thing is, I don't need to take expensive medicines for any mood disorder. I still go to a psychologist once a week, but in three months, I could see the therapy sessions ending because I see myself getting really well from the depressed state I'm in. I've become a real functioning human being who can take reality really well.

The thing that helped me go through the toughest time in my life is listening to Mo Twister, Mojo and Grace Lee's show. Oh yeah, their music sucks since they play the same music again and again, and I hate porn, especially Mo's predilection to nubile men and women showing their junk and sending it to their yahoo address, which they'd eventually post in their JudgemyJunk website. But on the whole, this show beats Prozac and ten other mind numbing medications to combat depression.

Oh my, the snow has now hit my window sill. The white powder has become balls of rain and sleet and snow.

If this weather holds up, this city will look like "The Day After Tomorrow". But I dont' care. I could even look outside my window now, and just marvel at its opaque magnificence. It's so nice to stay at home and just curl up with a book and a hot mug of chocolate. The best thing is, I could tune in to that funny,funny radio show and just bask in laughter and happiness for three hours.

Oh glorious snowbound day!!

(Photo thanks to wolfiewolf)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (Notes from George's Diary) January 27, 2009 blog

Notes from George's Diary
Crawford, Texas

I find my circumstances quite surreal. I'm glad I'm in Crawford now, just lolling about, with lots of free time on my hands.

I've even learned how to use the computer, and boy oh boy, I thought the words 'surfing' meant you had to be in the ocean to cruise the waves.

One day, I chanced upon this funny radio show hosted by Mo Twister, his 'gay' friend Mojo and an Asian woman named Grace Lee laughing it up. I listened to it, and have been hooked ever since this so called 'ridiculous' retirement foisted on me. I don't mind even if it's based in the Philippines, a country I visited maybe three years ago? Boy, that visit was quite funny. A vehicle in our convoy stalled right in the middle of Quezon Boulevard, and the people in charge of my security almost fainted, until a quick thinking female security specialist revved the engine, bringing it back to life.

Anyway, this funny letter has been circulating around about my supposed letter to Barry upon his ascension to the WH role. THis is not true, although it looks a lot like my writing.

I could just imagine Mo Twister having a lot of fun with this one, even at my expense. It's nice to see someone happy; it's nice to forget about one's own misery, for a change.

It's not a miserable time for me. I'll be building a library and looking forward to a new role in the coming years. In the meantime, let me go back to my taped radio shows. It's nice to find the time to just laugh.

It's a good, good feeling.

(Postscript : 'Notes from George's Diary' is fictional and comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Good Times!

The letter is created by Lee Camp, from the Huffington Post)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (The Purpose of Your Life) : January 13, 2009 blog

Notes from Aderyn's Diary

Brrr! The weather is turning so nasty, and road conditions around most of the country look like the Arctic express. In a few days, a polar bear in the middle of a street in any Midwestern town would not look out of place. Weathermen have warned that in a few hours, temperature would drop in their teens. Holy Moses!

Looking outside my office window, I see midtown Manhattan ablaze with lights and people running to and fro from their busy, busy lives. It's 7 pm and office hours are over in this part of town, and yet here I am stuck at my office, not because of work let me tell you, but because I'm struck mesmerized by what I've been hearing from a magical radio show based in Manila.

I discovered this radio show quite accidentally when I was working, as usual in overdrive, as a high-powered executive in a law firm. As day turned into night, then into day again, I would work, work, work till I drop for a few hours of sleep, get up and work again.

I listen to this Magic 899 show with hosts Mo,Mojo and Grace Lee as a way to lighten up my work load, and I listen from 6 to 9 in the evening, and usually when I'm done, there's a smile in my face that can't be erased. For a few short hours, I've forgotten most of my worries for the day.

My worries are not just professional, you see.

Here I am, in a corner office, a partner in a highly regarded litigation firm in Manhattan, seemingly happy and content in my killer lawyer outfits, defending presidents, CEO's, CFO's in their high finance crimes.

Love it? I hate it! I've hated my job for quite sometime, but I've managed to keep a tight lid on what I really feel. I've been in a high state of agitation for a time, unsure of what to do.

The pay's terrific, and I have a lovely apartment with a view of the Hudson River. I go to Europe for pleasure every time I want to, and life's pretty good.

But hearing Charisse Pempengco sing made me cry. I just realized that I don't want to be a lawyer anymore. I want to kick my job right here and now and just sing.It's pretty insane I know,but I just want to explore this career direction before it's too late.

Will this career direction ruin my personal life? I don't know. Maybe.

I've been reading this book "The Purpose of My Life" by Carol Adrienne for the past weeks. It's a book helping people find their calling in life. I flip it open it to a bookmarked page :

"If you picked up this book - curious about what it might tell you about your own life purpose - you may be feeling vaguely restless. You may be feeling that time is passing, and you are not far enough along in something that seems 'meaningful'. You may be longing for work that has shape and promise, and that makes you look forward to getting up in the morning. .

"Your calling has already made itself known though what motivates you (past and present), what attracts you, what you resist, and what frustrates you. Your calling may have made a brief appearance between the ages of three and eight, or revealed itself through a sudden interest in adolescence. Your calling can also be glimpsed in what you admire in others. It can be seen in those abilities you have that you don't even think are special. You are almost always working on purpose when you lose track of time.

"Some part of your purpose is also being served as you deal with obstacles and problems (resolving obstacles brings you great power and knowledge of a specific kind - necessary for your specific purpose). A piece of your life purpose may be fulfilled by the knowing that results from pain, struggle and illness. However, if your life is only a mountain of continual obstacles, then you are going to have to take another look at the kind of beliefs you have about life. Generally, when you are on the right path, thins flow. When you are attracting nothing but obstacles, you need to stop and ask yourself, 'What do I need to change in my thinking?'

"At the deepest level of consciousness, our collective question is : What are we here to do? We know there is something we should be doing. What is it? How can we all help accomplish this evolutionary task?

"Because we live in a world where we divide things into hot or cold, good or bad, light or dark, right or wrong, our mind naturally separates everything into either/or or black and white concepts. Interestingly, the reality of life and the underlying universal laws are usually formed into a paradox - which means both/ and rather than either/or. To be on the path of your life purpose is to learn to be comfortable with paradox.

"The first basic paradox of our lives is that nothing is fixed; and yet nothing is randomr or accidental, either. We cocreate with our spiritual source. We have free will, and yet we are not in control. The second paradox is that when we set our intention for what we desire, we achieve it usually only after we have released our need to have it. This is the paradox of intention(personal desire nad will) and surrender (letting God or the universe provide what is best for our highest good). You are both a finite earthly being, and an infinite soul of great spiritual dimension. You are both/and. You are the drop of water and the wave. You direct yourself, and you are directed."

Heavy stuff huh?

My life until this moment has been quite a seamless journey, meaning that what I did before as a lawyer is still part of my life purpose. But now that I've been restless and not feeling right in my skin, then it's a sign that perhaps I should attempt to answer the question - 'What am I here on this earth for? What is my true purpose?"

Adrienne answered this question herself when she said that "beyond any narrow category of occupation, the purpose of our life is to develop our capacity to love. Our purpose is to create life out of who we are and who we are becoming."

The ultimate aim is to develop our capacity to love. I am not nearly halfway there.Perhaps when I try to find a way to sing and spread happiness through this, then I spread love.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at a singing gig in one of the bars near 7th Avenue. Perhaps they'll kick me out, and demand that I take singing lessons, which perhaps I'll take in the next few months. These obstacles will be expected, but I know I'm nearer my life's purpose.

I try to listen to Charisse Pempengco battle against Mojo Jojo. There really is no competition.This little lady definitely knows her life purpose and I am very happy for her. Listening to her inspires me to pursue my dreams more. There's no stopping me now.

(Postscript: "Notes from Aderyn's Diary' was inspired by Charisse Pempengco's visit to the Good Times show. This is one girl who has discovered her true purpose in life.

Listening to her makes one wonder what would have happened if she purposely decided not to follow her true calling.

A life of mediocrity and pain, I guess.

For the New Year, I wish all of you to find your true purpose in this world. Imagine what the world will be like! I wish you luck!

"Notes from Aderyn's Diary" is purely fictional anc comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Goodtimes!

Photos of mid-Manhattan by mudpig)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (Emotional Infidelity) : January 6, 2009 blog

Notes from Fr.Joey's Diary

If the weather is good, I usually walk to my usual spot where I meditate, a grassy knoll beside the football field, a tiny corner where no one goes except perhaps the red ants that I see crawling up and down my usual seat. What I usually see is a spectacular view of the rising sun amidst the mountains in Antipolo. I just marvel at the colors that seemed to burst from the sun: pink, orange, bright yellow. Amazing.

This precious few moments of silence offer me a respite from my hectic day as a priest, teaching a full load in college and graduate school, offering my services also as a psychologist in the Health Center of the university I am affiliated with. Aside from this, I give daily masses at noon and early evening at the university chapel. It's such a busy life, and yet I can't complain because this is the life I chose to serve God.

My daily schedule has been quite altered recently. I've been waking earlier now so that after meditation and prayers, I could tune in to the Goodtimes radio show to listen to Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee for an hour or two. I am usually amused by the synergy of the three hosts. They blend well together because it seems Mo,Mojo and Grace Lee represent different view points. I also like the way Mo's mind works - I consider myself a wide reader, and yet this guy seems to find one more news event, a piece of new observation that I have not considered, a point of view that's oftentimes controversial, but very current to the pulse of the times. This helps since most of the troubled people I talk to are young people, and this show gives me a sense of what they're going through now.

I found myself laughing at today's show though. I had to laugh when I heard Mo asking his co-hosts and his audience what they'd do if they found their partner caught red-handed cheating with another person. I found Mojo's answer quite hilarious. He said he'd cut his partner's nuts and push the 'people's elbow' against the other offending party. Such violence!

If only they knew the truth. There are many kinds of adulterous behavior, but the most common kind of infidelity is not physical, but emotional.

I've been reading this book of Gary Neuman called 'Emotional Infidelity: How to Affair-Proff your Marriage and 10 Other Secrets to a Great Relationship' and I'm struck by what he said on the first page of his book:

"All of us know that adultery - sex outside the marriage- is one of the gravest blows to a marriage as well as a painful rejection for one partner. But you don't have to have sex with anyone else to be unfaithful. Emotional infidelity is just as - and at time even more - destructive to your marriage. . Studies show that 73 percent of men and 42 to 52 percent of women meet their extramarital affair partners at work.

"Couples I counsel are absolutely outraged when I tell them that they could well be committing emotional adultery when they flirt with coworkers, send around funny e-mails to colleagues or hand out with members of the opposite sex at gatherings...

"There are ten rules for avoiding emotional infidelity:
Rule 1 : Keep It All Business at the Office
Rule 2 : Avoid meetings with members of the opposite sex outside of the marriage
Rule 3 : Meet in groups.
Rule 4 : Find polite ways of ending personal conversations.
Rule 5 : Avoid consistency in the relationship.
Rule 6 : Don't share your personal feelings.
Rule 7 : Be unflinchingly honest with yourself.
Rule 8 : Avoid cordial hugs and kisses or dancing with members of the opposite sex
Rule 9 : Don't drink around the opposite sex.
Rule 10 : Show your commitment to your spouse daily."

I know it's tough to hear this, but Gary Neuman has nailed the issue of emotional fidelity in the head. I hope more people would read it to educate themselves about the different kinds of adultery, not only the sexual kind.

The sun has started to become quite warm, and it's a hint for me that it's almost eight in the morning. Time for me to move out from my tiny piece of paradise and get moving to the realities of the world I move in.

I listen to the three hosts of Goodtimes, and they're having such a fun time. I'm happy that this show has given some moments of happiness to a great number of people. I look up to the skies and say a prayer of thanks that this show exists - to entertain, to educate, to provoke one not to stay complacent in their stale places.

I feel the sun beating down my skin. Time to move and face the daunting realities of the day.

(Postscript: 'Notes from Fr. Joey's Diary' was inspired by the show's topic of adultery in the January 6 show today. It was quite funny how the different hosts would react if they found their partners in an adulterous situation. It's interesting to see a priest/therapist's points of view regarding adultery.Contrary to what people believe, 'emotional infidelity' is much more common today, and more harmful.

If you have a chance to grab this book, read it and take notes on Newman's ten other secrets to a great relationship with your partner.

Goodtimes!

Photos by ῨᾂῄὐἄṜ )

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (Timothy Hutton's Aha! Moment : New Year Blog)

Notes from Natalie's Diary

Just before the holiday break, I was mindlessly going through my daily routine when I stopped with what I was doing when I heard that Mo was leaving for a trip to Paris for the New Year. At first I was so shocked that he could go off to Paris just like that. It felt so romantic to just drop everything and leave family and friends behind to spend holiday festivities somewhere.

I'm a singleton in her mid-30's(Bridget Jones' term for single ladies. . Oops, even referring to Bridget Jones' vocabulary sounds so dated. Ugghh!), quite attractive, yet timid with regards to new experiences, new adventures outside my comfort zone. I'm a doctor slaving away in one of the major hospitals in Makati, dedicated to my patients, a loving daughter to my parents, a loyal friend. You can say I'm one of those nerdy bookish girls who have never minded schoolbooks as their constant companion(although I bloomed when I started wearing contact lenses and my body seemed to burst from its pre-teen boyish mold to what it is now.)

I listen to Mo, Grace Lee and Mojo every morning, right before I start my rounds and I sometimes laugh crazily inside the car, by myself, listening to their show. Sometimes, the show is the only break I give myself in my daily work facing patients with serious conditions dealing with cancer (I'm an oncologist, and it's heartbreaking sometimes to deal with patients who have a few months to live).

I am content with my life. Yet, something tugged within me to break free from my regular life when I heard that Mo was going to Paris. I realized that something was missing, yet I wouldn't do anything different until I read the January 2009 issue of Oprah magazine, and I read Timothy Hutton's Aha! Moment.One mention of Paris would make me think that it's a coincidence. But finding an article again about Paris later that day made me wonder whether there must be a meaning behind the one-two punch coincidence. Was someone trying to tell me something? I read and re-read the Timothy Hutton article:

"I was 19 when I got my first passport as an adult. I had moved from California to New York City and was living out of a suitcase, staying with friends. I'd just finished filming my first movie, Ordinary People, but I didn't know whether acting was what I wanted to do with my life.

While riding the subway uptown, new passport in hand, I flipped through its pages and imagined them filled with stamps. I had a lot on my mind that day. My father had passed away two years earlier, and soon afterward I found myself working full-time as an actor, so I hadn't had time to reflect on his death. Plus, I was trying to decide whether I wanted to work on a film called Taps. I started to put a lot of pressure on myself- I had to get home and make phone calls and read the script.But then I realized I didn't have anywhere I actually needed to be; therefore, it was time to be somewhere else.

A thought came over me: I have a passport, I have my first credit card, and I have $7,000 in the bank". I figured the best thing to do with a credit card, a passport, and a lot on my mind was to head to the airport and then decide on a destination. I'd done some spontaneous things before - an occasional road trip, a last-minute weekend skiing trip but nothing like this. Yet it seemed like such a perfectly reasonable and logical thing to do.

I got out of the subway at the next stop, hailed a cab, and went straight to Kennedy Airport. I had absolutely nothing with me, just the T-shirt and jeans I was wearing. The cabbie drove me around while I looked at all the different airlines and destinations; I finally settled on Air France. That was it. I plopped down my new credit card and asked for a ticket. When the counter agent asked me if I had any luggage, I answered No. A carry-on? No. Soon I was on my way to Paris.

I took a taxi to the one French hotel I'd heard of - the Ritz, where the only room available was the $2,000-a-night Chopin suite. In three days, I'd be broke. But instead of freaking out,I booked the room and went for a long walk. I had time to think about my life, about the intense couple of years I'd just been through.

In Paris, I felt free for the first time in years. Over three days,I must have gone to almost every museum and jazz club in the city. I saw Deer Hunter and was blown away by the soundtrack and the passion of the artists involved. Things settled down, and I felt a sense of peace. I returned to New York with a depleted savings account but a good idea of what I wanted to do with my future.

That trip made me a spontaneous person. My life's different now; I have two sons and responsibilities to juggle. Just last year,I found myself on the spur-of-the-moment drive from New York to western Pennsylvania, because I had the time and a desire to be alone. What I learned at that moment on the subway 30 years ago, staring at my blank passport, was this: If you have an impulse to do something, and it's not totally irresponsible, why not do it? It might just be the journey you've always needed."

After reading this article, I thought about it for days, then I've made a decision. Three days ago, I informed my shocked family that I was about to leave for Paris for a two week vacation. I never in my life spent a vacation without my family. But to vacation alone? They looked like I needed to be tied and sent to Nutsville City. My siblings asked me a lot of questions - Was I with a tour group? No. Will I go with a friend? No. Where will you stay? At the Ritz, of course (I was able to get a small room). What do I plan to do? Walk around Paris with no schedule, and with time to think about what I really want to do with my life. Was I going to go on any side trip aside from Paris? Yes. I was going to Amsterdam for a three day tour.(They were very puzzled about my choice of Amsterdam, but I wanted to go after I heard Mo describe the city). Did I have any problems that they were not aware of, which they could help with? No, no problems. I just want to travel and explore the world by myself. It's about time.

My parents saw that I was very determined. Since they've trusted me with my choices from the beginning and I never gave them any problems, I saw the shock at their faces at first, and then after a while, I could see the trust coming back, and relief? Were they happy that I was showing my independence at last? That I could stand on my own two feet, without them worrying all the time? My parents hesitated at first,and there were a lot of tears, let me tell you. But today, the day before I leave for Paris, my father wakes up early to catch me before I left for work and without saying anything gave me an envelope with a wad of cash.

"Have a great vacation, Natalie." My father was tearful, and then hugged me. "Here are some euros for you to spend."

It was so unexpected that I embraced both my Dad and Mom.We all hugged and cried. They didn't need any explanation. I couldn't really explain in detail what I also needed to do.

"I'll be back, Dad. Two weeks is just fourteen days without you and Mom."

One thing's for sure. I needed to find my own Aha moments, try to discover that sense of wonder to my life, which I felt I lost when I was mindlessly treating patients without any real inward purpose, except to gain monetarily. There must be a better way to live. That's what I intend to answer in the next few days. Paris, here I come!!!

(Postscript: "Notes from Natalie's Diary" was inspired by Mo's recent trip to France and Amsterdam a week ago. Fortuitously, I also read about "Timothy Hutton's Aha!Moment" at the January 2009 issue of O Magazine, and wondered about the need to go out of our comfort zone and explore untapped possibilities in our life by just being open to what the universe has to offer.

Be spontaneous! Be advenurous! Think outside the box! Those are brave words as the new year unfolds. A blessed New Year to all!!

Picture of Paris courtesy of innusa. Timothy Hutton's pictures courtesy of fortunecity.com)

GoodTimes with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee: (A Happier You) Christmas blog

Notes from Alaia's Diary

There's something about riding in a plane bound home for the Philippines during the Christmas season. . I've seen it often enough - people spontaneously burst out clapping when they see a glimpse of home from their windows,still thousands of feet high above the ground, they stand up and give high fives to each other, the somber atmosphere of the plane is replaced with a fiesta atmosphere.

Often, this men and women have been separated from loved ones for years, often toiling in thankless jobs just to eke out a living to sustain their families back home.

I consider myself one of them since I work abroad as a nurse and send my savings back home to augment my parents'limited resources, helping five younger siblings finish their studies.I am just fortunate that I am single and I can afford to go home to the Philippines every year during my Christmas break, soak in all the festivities, stuff myself with Pinoy food and revel in my family's warm embrace.

I've learned to focus on the positive because if I don't, I'm sure I'll never venture outside my comfort zone,perhaps remain stuck in my home country and have a very low salary and perhaps sink in the dark pits of depression. Although I'm earning well, I can't help but ponder on the what if's.

I read a lot of books to combat my loneliness, watch Wowowee at the Filipino Channel (much as I try, I couldn't really stomach Willie Revillame), and listen to the live or delayed stream of my favorite radio show GoodTimes with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee at 89.9

In fact, I've recorded a month's worth of shows in my IPod to keep me company as I ride home to Manila.

I've been listening to their December 18 show, and I was struck by Mo's topic about 'Missed Opportunities'. I've had a lot of missed opportunities to ponder about: my biggest regret is about not putting my foot down to study medicine. Instead, I was asked by my family to finish my studies first and work as a nurse so I could send all my younger siblings to college. After they're through school, then I could think about going to medicine.

What if, all those years ago, I've put my foot down? Perhaps, I'll be a doctor now. A penniless doctor, and my siblings are all out in the street, begging for food. That's quite extreme. Of course my Itay will never allow that to happen, and neither would I. But I do dwell on the What if's a lot of the time before.

I look out at my window and look at the skies. It's so beautiful and peaceful. So unlike the turbulent emotions I'm going through as I listen to Mo go on and on asking his callers to recall their missed opportunities.

I let the feelings of sadness overwhelm me at first and then after a minute or two, I let it go.

I look at the book I've kept in the side pocket of my front seat 'Oneness With All Life' by Eckhart Tolle, and stare at it. I've kept this book at my side ever since it was published. When I'm feeling really low, I read, and Tolle's words comfort me.

I open the pages and scan my highlighted words, words that have healed my depression.

Don't seek happiness. If you seek it you won't find it, because seeking is the anithesis of happiness. Happiness is ever elusive, but freedom from unhappiness is attainable now, by facing WHAT IS than making up stories about it.

The primary cause of unhappiness is never one situation but your thoughts about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral, which always is as it is. There is the situation or the fact, and here are my thoughts about it, Instead of making up stories, stay with the facts. For example, "I am ruined" is a story. It limits you and prevents you from taking effective action. "I have 50 cents left in my bank account" is a fact. Facing facts is always empowering.

See if you catch the voice in your head, perhaps in the very moments it complains about something, and recognize it for what it is: the voice of the ego, no more than a thought. Whenever you notice that voice, you will also realize that you are not the voice, but the one who is aware of it. In fact, you are the awareness that is aware of the voice. In the background, there is awareness. In the foreground, there is the voice, the thinker.In this way, you are becoming free of the ego, gree of the unobserved mind.

People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in this universe. It changes constantly. They look upon the present moment as either marred by something that has happened and shouldn't have or as deficient because of something that has not happened but should have. And so they miss the deeper perfection that is inherent in life itself, a perfection that lies beyond what is happening or not happening. Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is untouched by time.

The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be; otherwise, you will be forced to relive the past again and again.

You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.

If peace is really what you want,then you will choose peace.

I hear shouting and stomping of the feet, and when I look out the window, the clouds in the horizon has been replaced by a hint of Manila Bay. And when the crowd sees land, it seems the whole plane is standing up and clapping. The stewardesses are helpless, smile and just say 'Merry Christmas po. Malapit na tayong mag-land sa Pilipinas."

I dab at my eyes and clap along with the crowd. It feels so good to be home. I clutch the book I was reading a while ago. I choose to be present in the moment. I am trying to face the facts of my life at this very moment. I am happy.

(Postscript: The topic 'Missed Opportunities' was a topic Mo dwelt on in his Dec 18 show. This topic kind of haunted my subconscious the whole month of December because I wanted to write in this blog, but can't, due to the hair-raising activities we put ourselves through in preparing for Christmas.

But instead of dwelling on the what if's, and slide to feelings of depression, I just focus on what is, as the book 'Oneness With All Life' by Eckhart Tolle has asked its readers to espouse.

I've thought of a fictional character who've experienced a lot of missed opportunities in her life, and thought of creating Alaia, a nurse coming home to the Philippines for her yearly vacation. She ponders on a lot of what if's but instead focuses on the positive, as we should all do everyday of our lives.

I've experienced too what Alaia has seen inside the plane, when a group of OFW's spontaneously clap, and high five one another as they approach the landing at NAIA.This happens a lot especially when a plane from abroad comes home for Christmas. One can see absolute,pure joy in their faces as they land closer to home.

I wish you peace today. Merry Christmas!!!)

photos of the skies from the plane courtesy of genvessel

Good Times with Mo, Mojo & Grace Lee (Sleepless in Chicago) : December 1, 2008 blog

Notes from Triste's Diary

People have this mistaken notion that Chicago is a city of concrete and glass: a windy,turgid city with cold,soulless people.

Before I transferred here from Manila, I thought the same thing, but once I got here, I never realized that the city is surrounded by Lake Michigan, and that the people are very friendly and down to earth, reminding me that Chicago is a big big city with its Midwest values intact. Think of Oprah and Barack Obama's warmth, and you get my point.

I'm very lucky that the view from my boyfriend's apartment is just fantastic. I get to see the Magnificent Mile (the northern part of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Lake Shore Drive)at all hours of the day in his 66th floor loft, and I never tire of the view, alternately looking at the harbor and the buildings lining by the lake.

It's ironic that the beauty I see outside does not reflect my current emotional state, which is miserable beyond compare! I long to go home to Manila and cry my heart out in familiar surroundings.I'm waiting for the weekday to end, and by Saturday,I might broach this delicate topic over dinner with my boyfriend. Hopefully, I'll be on the way home to spend Christmas with my family.

I'm homesick, and to keep my mind away from feelings of sadness, I while away my time listening to the Good Times show via their website. Or listen to the audio recording when I can't sleep at night.Today's show hit me hard. Listening to caller 'Jason' talking about leaving his girlfriend because she is not Chinese hit the issues affecting me straight in the bull's eye. It's serendipity. A perfect chance to reflect on my life circumstances this moment.

Like Jason, my boyfriend is Filipino-Chinese. I don't know about Jason, but my boyfriend belongs to the top '1% of 1%' category, meaning his family belongs to one of the richest families in the Philippines, as evidenced by his tony address in Lake Shore Drive where he stays while he finishes his MBM at Kellogg Business School of Management.

I don't have one drop of Chinese blood in my veins, and there lies the problem. I met X in Kellogg too, and we've been classmates since the schoolyear started in September.Being both Pinoys in a foreign land, we clicked instantly and in a matter of weeks we fell in love and lived together.

His parents learned a few weeks about it and visited us here in Chicago, and X has not talked about it, but I could feel that he got a lashing from his folks about my background. I'm distantly related to a President, two Senators, perhaps ten congressmen in the Philippines.And yet, I don't seem to add up to their standards? Why? Because my ancestors are not peasants from some remote province in China like Guangduo?

I didn't like it one bit. My boyfriend has been quietly fuming about it too. He just told me that if his inheritance gets screwed, then his parents can stuff their money up their asses. I had to laugh at that one.

It was funny but I had genuine worries. I love my boyfriend very much, and there lies the rub. If I didn't love him, then I'll just be oblivious to the cultural wars going on around me. But I don't want him to be miserable in any way.

I worry too about the shock he will undergo when he loses his inheritance for love. X is used to the Ritz lifestyle: he uses the helicopter in Manila like a taxi, I kid you not.

But to tell you the truth, it's the least of my worries.I wonder if he can survive the ostracism hurled out to him by his family. Will he be still be happy in the future when his kids aren't visited by his parents? Will he still look kindly to me after years of estrangement from his family?

I don't know, and that's why I want to flee to Manila for the holidays. I want to think things over. I'm afraid that this week, my boyfriend will defy everyone and go down on his knees to ask me to marry him. I don't want to see any kind of hesitation on my face.

It's a tough situation I'm in, and the magnificent views outside can't answer the doubts inside my heart.

But I can laugh at the meantime. I hear a dog-catfight in the background, the Twister fighting with Mojo over Jason's problem.

Oh well, a little respite like this goes a long way when one is deep in an emotional hell-hole. For a brief, brief moment, I allow myself to get silly, laugh out loud even if there's no one around. I'll think about my problems again after the radio show ends. In the meantime,I listen in again and Mo Twister is boasting about being in the cover of IQ magazine, and taunts Mojo for being in the cover of 'Dumb-Ass' magazine.. Uh oh. .here they go again :)

(Postscript: Jason is a real caller to the Good Times December 1 show, and his problem is about his conservative Chinese family's objections with his Filipina girlfriend.

It's a common problem in today's times, and I wondered how a fictional character would react with the same problem. Despite finding herself in luxurious circumstances, Triste is miserable, finding out that no amount of money could offset the emotional problems she is inenviably facing.

'Notes from Triste's Diary' is purely fictional and comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Thanks to arch2452 for the Lakeshore Drive photos from the viewpoint of the John Hancock building and the Chicago Harbor. A big thank you too to earnshavian for the view of Lake Michigan during sunset.

I was fortunate to stay at the John Hancock building for a time visiting relatives who lived in this iconic building, and the views are just truly awesome from a very high floor. Many mornings, the window views were foggy because I was literally nose to nose with cloud formations - it was that high! I thought it would be nice to share this experience to all of you readers. Goodtimes!!)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (Synchrodestiny in New York) : November 26,2008 blog

Notes from Diggory's Diary

It's quite funny how another person's situation mirrors your own in the same exact way. My dog died a few days ago, and as if the universe can't wait to shake me up some more, I lost my house keys and can't go inside my apartment right now. It's 6:30 pm, and at this ungodly hour, the last time I checked, my building superintendent can't help me open my front door since he needs to rush out to Queens owing to a family emergency.

So here I am at Gotham Coffee Shop, my favorite coffee place at 2nd Avenue (between 68th and 69th streets) in Manhattan, sipping my blues away, wondering why on earth bad things seem to be happening to me lately.

I usually take a breather to clear my mind from my work as a painter, and like clockwork, I stop from 3pm to 5pm, walk to one of the major museums around the area: Guggenheim, MOMA, Frick or the Metropolitan Museum of Art and gaze at the innumerable paintings hanging by their walls. Is it Van Gogh, Matisse or Picasso today? Rembrandt or Goya the next day? I usually take lots of pictures to serve as my inspiration, and download the images while I sip my cappuccino, and clear the visual kinks that hound a painter finishing a work of art.

At 5pm, I rush home, back to my apartment, hook up my laptop and hear a live radio stream from one of my favorite stations in the world and listen to Mo Twister, Mojo and Grace Lee at their Good Times show.

As a guy with a solitary occupation, I usually listen to their radio show when I work late into the night ,preparing for my upcoming exhibit next month at the Chelsea gallery, a stone's throw away from here. As I mix my oils and choose the colors, I listen and get thoroughly amused by those three Musketeers - Mo Twister,Mojo and Grace Lee. Listening to these three incredible people help me boost my energy and calm me when I'm feeling jittery, especially now that the exhibit is four weeks away.
I look at the time and sigh. Better to just listen to the radio show at this coffee shop and wait here until 8pm.

As I listen to the show, I realized that Mo Twister and I have almost identical experiences the past week – he also lost his dog violently, and as if things couldn’t get bad, he was locked out too. Or was it locked in? The Twister called early in the morning through the landline, but I didn’t clearly get it if he was in or out of his apartment.

As I pondered on both of our predicaments, I remembered reading Deepak Chopra’s book “Synchrodestiny” wherein he states that there's no such thing as a meaningless coincidence.

“For more than a decade, I have been fascinated by the idea that coincidence is involved in shaping and shaping our lives. . .each time we have an experience like these, we can choose to dismiss it as a random occurrence in this chaotic world, or we can recognize it for the potentially life altering event it may prove to be. I do not believe in meaningless coincidence. I believe every coincidence is a message, a clue about a particular facet of our lives that require our attention.”

Hmmm. . . so what clues are behind my dog’s tragic death, and the loss of my keys? Is it a clue that my life is out of control? Or that I’m leading a life of senseless violence? Are my paintings meaningless?

“When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their messages, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities. This is when the magic begins. This is a state I call ‘synchrodestiny’ in which it becomes possible to achieve the spontaneous fulfillment of our every desire. Synchrodestiny requires gaining access to a palce deep with yourself, while at the same time awakening to the intricate dance of coincidences out in the physical world. It requires understanding the profound nature of things, recognizing the wellspring of intelligence that endlessly creates our universe, and yet having the intention to pursue opportunities for change as they appear.”

Whew.

“When a coincidence arises, don’t ignore it. Ask yourself, what is the message here? What is the significance of this? You don’t need to go digging for the answers. Ask the question, and the answers will emerge. They may arrive as a sudden insight, a spontaneous creative experience, or they may be something different. Perhaps you will meet a person who is somehow related to the coincidence that occurred. An encounter, a relationship,a chance meeting, a situation, a circumstance will immediately give you a clue to its meaning.”

Well, I had a pretty set of circumstances last week which I still can’t find its rhyme or reason to my life. I have to find time to really be quiet and reflect on what the past events in my life mean.

Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra suggests to keep a journal or diary and find out which powerful and unusual stimuli draws my attention explaining that “those are the things in your environment you need to look at more closely.

Instead of writing on it, I’ve been clipping pictures and images of what catches my attention. I’m drawn to this picture of the serene New York apartment of Law and Order’s Christopher Meloni, designed by his wife Sherman.

What does it mean? What do the views suggest? Perhaps, I need to look at my life from a bird’s point of view and look at it objectively, from afar? Perhaps I need to be more spiritual, since I’m too bound on earthly things? Perhaps my dog is up in heaven, nearer the skies, and the moon and the stars. That’s a nice thought.

My cellphone flashes, and I recognize my building superintendent’s number. He’s home, the text message says.

Time to go home.

I hope Mr.Gumatay can heed the coincidences in his life, and like me, stop and ponder on life’s imponderables. There’s no other way, right? A tragedy is always a perfect time to be silent and to just listen. Perhaps, a clue is just right in front of you. You just have to teach yourself to be more aware.

Goodtimes!

(Postscript: I've started to read Deepak Chopra's 'Synchrodestiny' to attune myself to the larger meaning of coincidences in one's life. Sometimes messages from the universe are to be heeded; sometimes it rolls like a tiny stone and sometimes it comes as a brick wall.

After the twin incidents in Mo Twister's life, I started to think of a fictional character with the same unique set of events happening to his life. Would he ignore it or see a greater meaning behind the events?

In Diggory's case, he started to 'ponder on the imponderables', and perhaps gained an ounce of wisdom in the end.)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo & Grace Lee (Riding on a Cloud): November 25 blog

Notes from Rocco's Diary

Clouds. I've never seen clouds this wonderful, wispy, then suddenly fluffy. Wonderful clouds which I can sit on or sleep on all day. My journey to this wonderful place is a never ending ride to joy and freedom: I sometimes jump from one mountain to another if I so wanted it, or peek through any house if I desired, twirl and dance on top of the highest buildings if that is my thing.

My parents have been beside me all the time, and the first time I asked them where I was, they said I was in Dog Heaven.

I didn't ask any questions anymore, happy that they were beside me, content that everything is bathed in this ethereal light.

I've noticed something odd though. Pictures of my human,earthly Master and Commander seemed to be everywhere, but when I wanted to touch him, I didn't touch him physically, but touched a part of his beating heart. I was inside of him, part of him.

He doesn't know it yet, but I'll never leave him. I'm constantly watching him, and he's been crying for the past nights and days, and I lick his tears away, and once in a while, he smiles.

I think he's slowly getting the point that our separation is temporary and slowly realizing that when his time on Earth has ended, I'll be waiting for him in my usual cloudy place, eager to embrace and welcome him Home to his place beside the ultimate,divine Master and Commander - God.

Meanwhile, I have some poems which I've left everywhere where he could read it. I hope Master Mo reads it, and seek solace from the words written here by anonymous authors. . .

I STOOD BY YOUR BED

I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep.
I could see that you were crying, you found it hard to sleep.

I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear,
"It's me, I haven't left you, I'm well, I'm fine, I'm here."

I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea, you were thinking of the many times your hands reached down to me.

I was with you at the shops today, your arms were getting sore. I longed to take your parcels, I wish I could do more.

I was with you at my grave today, you tend it with such care. I want to reassure you, that I'm not lying there.

I walked with you towards the house, as you fumbled for your key. I gently put my paw on you, I smiled and said "it's me."

You looked so very tired, and sank into a chair.
I tried so hard to let you know, that I was standing there.

It's possible for me to be so near you every day.
To say to you with certainty, "I never went away."

You sat there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew ... in the stillness of that evening, I was very close to you.

The day is over... I smile and watch you yawning
and say "goodnight, God bless, I'll see you in the morning."

And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide,
I'll rush across to greet you and we'll stand, side by side.

I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see. Be patient, live your journey out ... then come home to be with me.

Author Unknown


A Doggie Prayer

So do not grieve for me, my friend, as I am with my kind.
My collar is a rainbow's hue
My leash is a shooting star
My boundaries are the milky way, where I sparkle from afar.

There are no pens or kennels here, for I am not confined,
but free to roam God's heavens among my special kind. I nap the day on a snowy cloud and gentle breezes are rocking me; I dream the dreams of earthlings and how it used to be.

The trees are full of liver treats and tennis balls abound, and milk bones line the walking ways just waiting to be found.There even is a ring set up, the grass all lush and green, and everyone who gaits around becomes the "Best Of Breed".

For we're all winners in this
place, we have no faults
you see. And God passes
out the ribbons to each
one--even me. I drink from
waters laced with gold, my
world a beauty to behold.
And wise old dogs do form
my pride to amble at my
very side.

At night I sleep in an
angel's arms, her wings
protecting me, and
moonbeams dance about
us as stardust falls on
thee.

So when your life on earth
is spent and you reach
heaven's gate, have no
fear of loneliness, for here,
you know I wait.

Author Unknown

(Postscript: Words could not express my sadness at the news of Rocco's untimely demise last Sunday. Here's hoping these poems could offer some solace to Mo at this sad time.

Photos courtesy of Blubbla from Flickr.)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee: ( Obama not Jobama) November 17-20 blog

Notes from Riko's Diary
November 23, 2008
10 pm

I'm exhausted and ready to die right this minute, somewhere in Bucyrus, Ohio - a city that's unknown even to many Americans. The area where I'm in has made its living in planting soybeans, and hogs and cattle are the largest generators of farm livestock income for this area for decades.

I'm just ready to drop from chronic fatigue syndrome but I can't. I have one e-mail to send before my bosses finally allow me to close the headquarters of the Obama volunteer campaign headquarters in this part of town.

Don't get me wrong. I'm as Pinoy as patis and bagoong, and I take my scholarship in the Graduate Program for Religious Studies at Yale seriously, often studying way into the night and early morning, writing papers and reading tons of stuff on Franco-German existentialism, theological ethics, phenomenology or Anglo-American moral philosophy and other esoteric stuff. Heavy stuff. What keeps me awake is listening to the Good Times radio show at their website, and the heavy reading becomes lighter as I laugh my self silly listening to Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee.

I was happy as it is studying and just maintaining the status quo, but one fine day, a group of my buddies, a couple of nerdy Yalies like me, asked me to volunteer for the Obama campaign last year. At first I thought I had nothing to give, but they said everyone had something to contribute and I signed on with trepidation. I'm glad I did it.It's been a hell of a ride, but the sacrifices are all worth it.

A group of us were assigned in Ohio, and let me tell you, we worked like dogs night and day, but by election day, a group of volunteers have knocked into a million Ohio homes to talk to some reluctant and undecided voters about Barack Obama.

The faces behind the doors sometimes are wary of opening up their doors for me, and one tactless man asked whether I was American.

"Oh no, Sir. I'm from the Philippines, studying on a scholarship in Yale..." I smile even if my heart was pounding like I was in a race for the Olympic 100 meter dash finish line.

"So why are you pounding on my door even if you're not American?"

I stop and still smile, remembering my hero Barack Obama's preternatural poise amidst heckling by John McCain, and I don't answer in anger. And so I begin...

Why did I vote for Obama?

I was listening to the Good Times show this week as I usually did to keep myself awake, often tuning in to this great website to hear an audio download of the show.I enjoyed Beatbox Tuesday last November 18 and Gwen Garci's Forbidden Questions last November 19 but Mo mentioned Obama twice: once in his November 17 show (when Binay called himself Jobama), and another time, in the November 20 show, when Mo mentioned that we should really start retiring the old faces in Philippine politics like Enrile, who led the ouster of Villar.

To tell you the truth, I almost choked on the burger I was eating when I heard that Jejomar Binay called himself Jobama. Professional Heckler blogger said that supporters of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay are comparing him to US President-elect Barack Obama because they're both from the opposition, they’re both “black,” and they’ve been both snubbing President Arroyo.

I can only say a few things to make my point. As you can see from the pictures above, I don't even think Binay could do a chin press like Obama. Binay is 66 years old and rumored to have cancer.

Obama can't even change his shoes even if it has holes. According to those who know him, Obama is not a 'man of appetites'. He is abstemious, and regularly ate the same dinner of salmon, rice and broccoli night after night from some half-forgotten town, trying to talk to voters all around the country. While other Presidential candidates gained an average of ten to fifteen pounds, Obama lost ten pounds while campaigning.You can say that his enormous discipline to withhold from food reflects how he handled his campaign because he is one of the first Presidential candidates to throw away the practice of giving 'walking-around' money to grease the pockets of the locals to help get the vote.

And one important thing, it has been reported that Obama had "refused on principle to hand out walking-around money" to any of the local politicians before, during and after election day.

Are there any Philippine politicians who can really say that they won without giving their 'walk-around' money? Most of our politicians won because they bribed and bought the vote.

Now you know why I almost choked.

There are many things I still want to say about Obama. Many things I want to relate about voting for him even if I am a Filipino. But it's Pico Iyer who hit the bull's eye in a recent November 14 Time article:

" (Obama) was so much like the kind of people we meet in Paris, in Hong Kong, in the Middle East: difficult to place and connected to everywhere. Like the air of his home island (Hawaii: not really Eastern or Western, but a vibrant mingling of the two), (Obama) spoke for the dawning global melting pot of today.

"It has become part of the familar story now, repeated so often we can barely hear it, but anyone who steps out of the US today, in any direction, quickly sees that the American Century has become the Global Century and that where a generation ago much of the globe was rying to look like America, now it's America that needs to get in tune with the rest of the globe.

"You could, in fact, say that it is the questions that he draws from his experience that are as important as any answers he may come up with. How to make peace between the black and the white inside him (or inside our cities and countries)? How to do right by our relatives in Africa without dishonoring the grandparents from Kansas who raised us? How to bring the modest Muslim school in Java together with Harvard Law School? The questions Obama has been thinking about all his life are the very ones that dominate the world today. And the mounting economic crisis only make the construction of a wider identity- and conversing across the waters - more urgent, not less so."

We live in a global society, and whatever we are experiencing in the Philippines affect everyone, including Obama. Imagine how Obama would react to the way we do politics in this country where corruption is endemic in our culture. Are you still surprised that Obama has snubbed our own President? How does he reconcile reality with his concept of an ideal world?

"Hey, it's time to lock up. It's over. We won." Alethea Arash, Obama campaign head for Ohio loomed in front of me, holding the keys of the headquarters. It was the last hour of the last day of our makeshift headquarters, and it was time to go.

But is it over? As long as there are pockets of corruption around the world, then it's not anywhere near over. It's just the beginning, and whatever I've learned here, in this campaign, I'm sure to use it when I get home.

It's time to get involved, in your own little way. It doesn't have to be a big gesture. Remember Obama - he was this poor, black community organizer in the ghettoes of Chicago twenty years ago. He strove hard to get inside Harvard Law, then the Senate and made it. But deep inside, he had a dream for change, he wanted to make a difference. And he did, one slow step at a time.

A tiny step, that's all. The world shifts when you make that tiny step towards change. It really does. Try it and see.

(Postscript: Many of the topics were mentioned in the show from November 17 to 21 : Jobama, the Beatbox contest, the Gwen Garci interview and Villar's ouster by Enrile.

I was struck by Mo's comments about Binay comparing himself to Obama, and I imagined a volunteer for the Obama campaign choking on his food upon hearing that. I imagined a Pinoy volunteer, a studious scholarly nerd from Yale who knocked on a lot of doors to make sure that his candidate won.

Even during the Democratic Party primaries, I knew Obama would win against the formidable Clinton machine. Why? A lot of reasons, some of which are written in this blog.

I just wished that we could have a politician in the Philippines who had the same idealism as Obama.

Could we be as fortunate? Wise men have said that we get the leaders we deserve. Do we get the kind of leaders we have in the Philippines today, because few are brave enough to run for office and seek the changes truly needed by our society?

This blogger would like to apologize for not updating this blog last week. I was in Singapore, and while I was there, I wanted to weep when I saw how the Singaporean people never stopped trying to improve their country to perfection. I've observed that their city state looked like the set in the 'Truman Show', a perfect first world city, but still retaining its Asian flavour and zest.

Notes from Rikko's Diary is a work of fiction, and comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Good Times!!!)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee ( Amazing Grace) : November 13, 2008 blog

Notes from Marie's Diary
6 am

I was happily typing away early in the morning as I was wont to do, my writing ritual as unchanged as five years ago; the kids off to school,the radio tuned in to 899, my coffee filled to the brim, and my dog in slumberland at my feet, his nose buried somewhere between my toes. While writing, I would occasionally look at the pictures flashing at my screen, downloaded finally by my son Bodi, who had inadvertently lost the camera charger two weeks ago, only to be found through a gifted psychic dude guest at Good Times named Jobert. Can I get luckier than this? Oh, what a beautiful morning!

The doorbell rang and the sound jarred me,disturbing my thought processes enough to make me suddenly stand. Who could possibly be at the door at this unholy hour? I opened the door and in front of me were a fresh stack of letters delivered and haphazardly thrown in my front door.

I look at the letters with wariness.

All the letters bore the mark of my self-addressed stamped envelope which I sent to the United States,and which have returned to me. With trepidation, I scoop the stash of letters and opened one.

The Bantam Dell Publishing Group
A Division of Random House Inc.

Dear Author:

Many thanks for writing to us about your work. Unfortunately, we are not interested in pursuing this project at this time. The marketplace is currently so competitive that we are forced to be extremely selective, and regrettably, time does not permit us to provide a more detailed critique.

Thank you again for your interest in Bantam Dell Publishing Group. Best of luck to you and your endeavors.

Sincerely,

The Bantam Dell Publishing Group

How impersonal could these rejection letters get? Do they have to even write a 'Dear Author' greeting? Can't they even write my name?

I open another letter, and this looks more personal, but the content made me wince some more.

Harvey Klinger Inc
Literary Representation

Dear Marie:
Thank you for your recent query or submission. We have read your material, but after careful consideration, we feel your project is not right for us. We apologize for the use of this form letter, but due to the volume of material we receive, we are unable to respond individually to each submission. Be rest assured we have read your material.

We wish you luck with your work and success in placing it elsewhere.

Sincerely,
The Harvey Klinger Agency

I sat down holding the two letters and pondered on my next move.

I've finished writing a romantic, contemporary novel early this year, and I thought my literary ordeal was over, and my 100,000 word work would be swept to publishing land in a jiffy. Aside from the US inquiries, I tried selling it to our local publishers, but the response was not so positive, their interest geared towards producing school textbooks. It seems to me that the foreign publisher giants have perfected producing mass-produced books at low, low prices and our Philippine counterpart could not compete with this media behemoths at all.

There were a lot of warnings from fellow writing compatriots that my arduous journey to publication had only began.

I didn't believe it until the rejection letters from publishers and literary agents started to return to me with generic form letters.As usual,the war-weary literary veterans were correct, and their dire warnings about the current publishing world hit a bullseye.

My friend recently sent this New York Times article, which said that even Knopf, a publishing giant which has successfully shepherded 17 Nobel Prize-winning authors as well as 47 Pulitzer Prize-winning volumes of fiction, nonfiction, biography and history made mistakes when choosing the authors for their roster of books.

" ..Scholars trolling through the Knopf archive have been struck by the number of reader’s reports that badly missed the mark, especially where new talent was concerned. The rejection files, which run from the 1940s through the 1970s, include dismissive verdicts on the likes of Jorge Luis Borges (“utterly untranslatable”), Isaac Bashevis Singer (“It’s Poland and the rich Jews again”), Anaïs Nin (“There is no commercial advantage in acquiring her, and, in my opinion, no artistic”), Sylvia Plath (“There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice”) and Jack Kerouac (“His frenetic and scrambling prose perfectly express the feverish travels of the Beat Generation.)

But is that enough? I don’t think so”). In a two-year stretch beginning in 1955, Knopf turned down manuscripts by Jean-Paul Sartre, Mordecai Richler, and the historians A. J. P. Taylor and Barbara Tuchman, not to mention Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” (too racy) and James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room” (“hopelessly bad”)."

Unbelievable, huh?

In the realm of bestseller books today, J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter books was submitted to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected the manuscript. A year later she was given a £1500 advance by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London, England. Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, it has been reported that Cunningham advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books.

Mr. Cunningham, you should be shot between the eyes. According to the latest figures,the seven Harry Potter books have so far been translated into 67 languages, amassing the 400 million figure since the publication of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in 1997.

That news is significant considering that one point in her life,it has been reported that J.K. Rowling contemplated committing suicide when she was a single mother struggling to survive and succeed as a writer.The Harry Potter writer has admitted she thought of taking her own life when she was in her mid-20s after separating from her first husband Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist.

I would not go to that extent although the constant stream of rejection letters have made me quite blue recently.

To help me navigate the labyrinth world of publishers and literary agents,I recently bought Jeff Herman's '2008 Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents",and although hundreds of publishers and agents were included in the book, Herman was counseling all writers to persevere because "the typical agent is rejecting 98% of everything he sees. That means he's hungry for the hard-to-find 2 percent that keeps him in business."

So how do I join the 2% club?

I was so preoccupied with my publishing problems the past hour that I was half-aware that my favorite radio show was about to end.

I listened closely and I knew I heard Mojo and Grace Lee.I knew Mo Twister is in the States for his brother's wedding. So who was the third guy?

I heard the name Jobert,and I stood up again. Oh my. My son never even called this guy to thank him.

I started to dial the Magic trunkline and it was busy.

The stack of letters begged for attention again, and I thought, what if I kill two birds with one stone?

"Hello?" Oh my God. It's my first time to call and it's Mojo on the line.

"Who's this?" Mojo sounded bored.

"Marie." I shakily answered. "I called because I'd like to thank Jobert. My son Bodi called a week ago. ."

"Two weeks ago." Grace Lee corrected me on air.

"And he lost a charger."

"I know, you texted me, that finally you got the charger. Isn't that amazing?" Even through the phone lines, I couldn't help but be disarmed by the Grace's truly graceful ways, her true-blue sincerity heard through the phone lines.

By this time though, I was babbling away like a complete idiot.

" He had photos of our trip abroad, and he was so frantic about the other pictures.."

"How old is he ba?" Mojo asks.

"He's 19 and a Senior at the Arreneo." Oh my, I do sound drunk.

"Oh wow." I could see Mojo's flirty eyes twinkling. "So he's really the 'lost and found' guy."

"That's tagged forever with his name." Grace Lee added.

As prescient as ever, Mojo senses that I had something to ask."So Ma'm. Do you have something lost that you want Jobert to find?"

I stuttered, and was unsure. But then again, why not? Since Jobert had spot-on ESP, perhaps he could find a way for me to publish my darned book.

"Could I ask for a quick reading?"

"Oh sure!" Mojo and Jobert enthusiastically said. My worries suddenly felt lame.

"I've been having a hard time trying to publish a novel I've just finished ."

"Oh wow! You're a writer!" I could hear some excitement from Grace Lee's voice, grateful that she appreciates drones like me who labor away creating a reality from the wisp of the imagination.

"I don't know but I've been having a hard time finding an agent abroad."

"New York's a good place to find publishers," Jobert adds helpfully.

"I've been writing to around fifty agents, and the batting average for a first time author abroad is maybe 1%." It's 2% actually.

"I know, I know," Mojo and Jobert commiserate and I could see their heads bobbing up and down, and I felt their empathy with my struggles.

"What's your novel all about?" Grace Lee asks.

"It's a romantic, contemporary novel.."

"Would you mind sending me a copy because. ."

"Her friend. . is a book publisher." Mojo finishes the sentence.

"I'll take a look at it. ."

By that time, I was ready to faint. I think I asked what I could bring the crew if I brought the novel to Grace Lee in person. I knew that Mojo liked coffee, Grace Lee and Mo loved their juices and teas. If I could give a whole darn Starbucks to them, I would.

Grace Lee gave specific directions on how to give the book but by the time I was finished, all the cells in my body felt like it wanted to dance!

Can you believe it? Grace Lee didn't even have to extend her kindness to a total stranger. She could have kept mum, and could just have stayed non-committal and distant to her scrappy listeners.

As a writer, it's the first time I couldn't even describe what I feel. I'm literally speechless.

The only way I could thank her is perhaps dedicating the book to her if she becomes the key instigator paving my way to becoming a published writer.I also hope that she loves my novel. If she enjoys the book, then that's another way of thanking her.

I start to belt out the one song I've always loved as a student in the States for many years. My dog starts to whimper.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see. Amazing Grace.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home."

It is Grace who will save me and lead my book to where it really belongs. Amazing Grace.

(Postscript: Marie is a real caller at the Good Times show last Thursday, November 13. She's the real Mom of Bodi, the 'Lost and Found' kid featured in this blog.

I've always written even in the earliest entries of my blog, that Grace Lee is such a gem, and this was truly shown in her conversation with Marie, the novelist who has been finding it hard to find a publisher for her work.

I'm truly amazed that Grace Lee showed her earnestness and sincerity in helping out a listener, when she could have remained indifferent, owing to her celebrity status.

Such a rare creature should be enshrined as a saint. What do you think about that? Goodtimes!)

Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee ( Jack Bauer is Back in 24: Redemption) : November 12, 2008 blog

Notes from Mo's Diary

I'm so jetlagged that I could barely keep my eyes open, and yet I can't sleep, perhaps because of all the excitement in preparation for my brother's wedding here in the States.

I tried accessing the Magic 899 website and I was successful listening to Mojo Jojo and Grace Lee for a brief three minutes before the reception started getting choppy and completely died. I didn't have the heart to try again, since I didn't have the patience to listen to a choppy interview with Mike Defensor.

Instead I've been staring at this TV Guide cover I snapped up the moment I landed in the airport.

Sweet Jesus in Heaven! Jack Bauer is back with a vengeance! And I don't have to wait till January 2009 to get my 24 fix. There's a prequel set in Africa! Rejoice! Rejoice!

According to the November 17 issue of TV Guide, '24: Redemption', an exotic two-hour prequel movie bridging Seasons 6 and 7 will premiere on November 23.

Here's a slice of the TV Guide interview of Kiefer Sutherland:

"With the prequel it’s like we’re saying, ‘Hey, remember us?’ You want to make sure the interest is still there. So we thought we’d offer a little taste – an appetizer – before the big feast to come.”

But Redemption is 24 with a difference. After years in the Los Angeles sunshine, this one’s shot on location in South Africa, where Jack Bauer has arrived after a globe-trotting journey of self-discovery.

Over a long conversation recently at the actor’s favorite Thai place in an L.A. strip mall, Kiefer tells TV Guide he’s so deeply invested in his character, he keeps a handwritten journal of Jack’s thoughts. “Before each season, I write a character book to get my head in sync with Jack’s and create a backstory,” he says. “This year, I wrote that Jack would have to disappear from the Western world and go back where he started in Season 1 – dealing with the Eastern bloc. He knows people there and could hide out before working his way from Kazakhstan, through the Middle East, across India and then down into Africa to meet his old friend Carl [Robert Carlyle]. That’s where the prequel – and trouble – begins.”

Carlyle is an actor best known for The Full Monty and a good friend of Sutherland. Says Kiefer, “I was so eager for Bobby to play this role, I called him and said, ‘I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll wash your car for a year. I’ll babysit the kids.’ He said, ‘Actually, I’ll do it if you don’t babysit the kids.’”

Three years have passed since the end of Season 6 and it’s Inauguration Day for the first female commander in chief, Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). The drama unfolding in Africa is about to become priority one the minute Madame President is sworn in. “In plays, the stakes are often high with one or two characters,” says Jones, a two-time Tony Award winner. “But on 24, every single moment in every scene with every character is a high-stakes moment. It’s very cool.”

Regarding the new setting, Sutherland says he felt a sense of renewal the minute he arrived in Cape Town. “We could have constructed a set to look like Africa, but what you can’t do is fake the faces or the soul or the spirit of the place,” he says. “I hadn’t felt so engaged with the world around me in a very long time, and I think my love for the place shows up on screen.”

During shooting, the crew was frequently mobbed, particularly because actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim, who plays an African rebel leader, is a major star on the continent. But it was the African child actors Sutherland appreciated the most. “This was the first time these kids had done anything even close to this and that was so inspiring,” he says.

“Back home, you can’t see kids going 10 minutes without looking at their iPods or game devices. Here the kids were blissfully running around between takes playing with a rock and a stick. I wanted to go home and throw away all my kids’ computers.”

While there are no signs of series regulars like Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O’Brian) or James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), the prequel does have Powers Boothe returning as outgoing president Noah Daniels and Peter MacNicol as White House chief of staff Tom Lennox. “We wanted to bridge the gap between Days 6 and 7,” says co-executive producer Jon Cassar, “and it gives us a rare chance to show the transfer of power from one administration one season to the next.”

In Season 7, the new day is set in Washington, DC, and while CTU is no more, there’s plenty of firepower at the FBI. Beloved Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) is somehow coming back from the presumed-dead. As co-executive producer Howard Gordon says, “Not only is Tony not dead, he’s doing something really bad. It’s going to be a Heart of Darkness moment on the show.”

But that’s for 2009. For now we’ll have to satisfy our 24 withdrawal with a two-hour fix of sweaty gunplay in the make-believe African nation of Sangala. As Kiefer tells TV Guide, “It’s so great to be back in Jack Bauer’s shoes. When the s—t hits the fan, nobody reacts faster or stronger than he does, and I think there’s a lesson in that for all of us.”

I'll be in Manila by the time the prequel airs in Manila, but no worries, I'll be watching it as soon as it's feasible to download it in the Net.Bravo for technology!

Thinking about the show finally lulls me to sleep. Perfect! I don't need any fancy sleeping pill.Thinking of Jack Bauer is the perfect antidote to jetlag. .

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........

(Postscipt : I was wondering how the Twister would react to this news fresh from TV Guide. Jack Bauer fans all over the world must be jumping up and down now that the prequel is so close to its world screening.

Notes from Mo's Diary is fictional and does not reflect Mo Twister's thoughts, but comes from the imagination and point of view of this blogger. Goodtimes!)

Good Times with Mo,Mojo and Grace Lee (One for Bond) : November 6, show

Notes from Mo's Diary

Boy, did I get a lot of calls for putting my bets on De la Hoya versus our very own Manny Paquiao. What can I do? I've always been a De la Hoya fan, and I've always believed in him. Paquiao is just a newbie in this game, I mean in this weight category, and I don't really care if he's our national hero. No wonder we don't have any medals in the Olympics. Boxing goes beyond national borders and we should not be too onion skinned especially if the topic relates to sports. Any athlete worth his medals knows that he's only as good as his last fight.

Speaking of last fights, I've watched the new Beverly Hills 90210, and boy oh boy, everyone in this show looks smoking hot. I really enjoyed this show in the 1980's, back in the day when I lived in Bulacan and we had no cable, and there were five television stations. This new show looks so good, and the topics are so controversial. I won't say too much. Try to catch it, or download it at the Internet.

I've mentioned the new Bond movie, and I loved Casino Royale. I was skeptical at first with Quantum of Solace and I've said repeatedly that I'm a Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer fan because they can wear simple jeans and t-shirt and still kick all the bad asses of the world. Bond tries to look dapper in his tux, and I hate that. I can't imagine an agent looking so well dressed the whole time.

And so I watched Quantum with trepidation, and Sweet Jesus, this movie is a revelation. For one, I see Bond in a quite disheveled blue t-shirt and dusty white jeans, and the only way he was able to wear a tuxedo was when he stole one from a security guy.His clothes are dapper, but it's more of an afterthought, not his fashin raison d'etre. For the first time, Bond's clothes are utilitarian and serves a purpose.

The fight scenes are just chillingly awesome, with fist fights in highly unusual places like the elevator or in a bell tower. It's so believable that Bond even used a book, an ax, just anything to overthrow an opponent.

This is also the first of the 22 Bond movies where the plot flows organically from the last installment, and Quantum of Solace is a far stronger picture for this plot continuity.

What made me sit up this time also is that this is the most human Bond I've encountered in a long time. Bond used women like Kleenex and I found that quite dehumanizing, and totally disrespectful of women.This is the first time in Bond history that he doesn't bed a Bond girl. The smoking hot Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko - the next superstar, I reckon. Solid acting as a Bolivian secret agent despite being Ukrainian)got a kiss at the end of the movie, though. Now that I think about it, the kiss was an afterthought, like his clothes.

Well,that quick kiss was appropriate because he was still grieving for Vesper Lynd and and her death so enraged Bond that his thirst for revenge and duty got mixed up so dangerously as he hunts down the shadowy group that blackmailed Lynd to betray him.

It was an altogether fun movie to watch, and not something to miss.

Oops, time has flown by. I still have to buy a nice Barong Tagalog for my brother's wedding in the States next week. Now, where do I buy this? Time to call Mojo Jojo and Grace Lee and ask for fashion pointers. Goodtimes!

(Postscript: Many of the topics were discussed in this blog, specifically the De la Hoya vs.Paquiao fight; the new Beverly Hills 90210 show and Mo's views on Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer vs. James Bond. By the way, the Twister will be gone for a week as he attends his brother's wedding in the US.

Notes from Mo's Diary is purely fictional and does not represent Mo's real thoughts and points of view, but comes from the imagination of this blogger.

This blogger would also like to apologize for the delay in putting out this piece. I was in Boracay last week, and it was unfortunate that when I was there, there was a typhoon in Aklan and I had a hard time getting a radio signal to hear the show. I'm still trying to catch up, and listening at this great website to listen to the past GoodTimes audio recordings. Hopefully I can catch up in time:)