Kathryn Bernardo: Letting that creative spark fly once more

Important note: Effective my latest blog post, everything that I post here on FB that I intend to copy at least part of into my blog will be marked with the words MORE ON MY BLOG. That's because in the last few months that I have kept a blog, I did realize the hard way that it's very diffucult to write a blog post when the inspiration simply isn't flowing. So whatever little spark comes to my sometimes-lively-yet-sometimes-lazy-or-sometimes-dead-busy mind that would prompt me to post, I definitely will here and on my blog to especially keep the latter alive and kicking.

Early yesterday evening, an unexpected event ignited a spark in me to post on this blog again. I was at SM Fairview trying to set up an appointment with a dentist for a general checkup when I had an unexpected encounter with unabashedly one of my biggest local showbiz crushes. Guess who? She is none other than Kathryn Bernardo, the so-called Teen Queen of Philippine showbusiness. She was at the aforementioned mall's entertainment center to promote her debut album Kathryn, an event that was previously unknown to me before such encounter. While her fans couldn't help but scream in delight at being able to see her and get her autograph or take a picture of her, I for one couldn't help but be amazed, though not starstruck, at the unlikely opportunity of being able to see such a true Filipina beauty in the flesh. If the late Ate Julie Vega was Philippine showbusiness' Teen Queen of the 1980s, Kathryn is definitely the one for the 2010s.

As proof of such encounter, I took a short video of her with my Jurassic-era Sony Ericsson W550i cellphone. Needless to say, the video is not necessarily of the best quality, which is one of the many reasons why I don't feel ready to share it at all. Beautiful Kathryn, who was wearing a short white dress, was several meters away from me signing autographs on the stage for her loyal fans, and I could've gotten the most out of that unexpected encounter if only I had perfect 20/20 vision. As such, I could only get a rough glimpse of her well-chiseled facial features, although I was still able to appreciate the fact that she looks just as good in person as she is in photos and publicity stills. That short encounter ended when she and her entourage exited through the mall's glass doors located to the left side of Ace Hardware store.

As short as the encounter may be, and as silly or childish sounding as it may be for some people, that encounter was a significant one for me for a few reasons. First, it taught me the value of not giving up on my dreams of someday forming my very own legendary band that would make it big not only in the Philippines but also the world over. Fame and fortune certainly weren't handed over to Kathryn herself on a silver platter as she didn't come from a showbiz family and thus had to work her way up to reach the point where she is now in a business known for its cutthroat competition. Second, I also realized that even though I may no longer be a spring chicken when I finally get to live my dream, at least there is hope while I'm still living. And third, publicity-shy as I may be, I learned that I can still choose to get out of my shell, improve my strengths and be successful in the long run. Seeing such a beautiful girl like Kathryn has constantly reminded me that my true calling, my legendary era, and the happiest years of my life have yet to come. Whether I'll be able to live up to the hype of my own creation remains to be seen as God may have other plans for me for all I know.

Thanks to that chance encounter with Kathryn, who along with fellow Pinay beauty Solenn Heusaff put the Philippines on the map of FHM UK's 10 hottest nations in the world, I was inspired to come up with a bucket list of local and foreign celebrities and even ordinary people who I would like to meet up close and personal someday aside from Kathryn and Solenn themselves. They include but are not limited to Jennylyn Mercado, Andrea Brillantes, Julia Montes, Bea Alonzo, Bea Binene, Bianca Umali, Mona Louise Rey, Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Lea Salonga, Megan Young, Jackie Rice, Dra. Pearl Postigo (Ate Julie's mom), June Mar Fajardo, Kobe Paras, Kevin Shields, Paul McCartney, Malala Yousafzai... Aw, bless! This list is just too long for me to put into writing here. And as I was at the mall marvelling at the beauty of one Kathryn Bernardo, I was telling her to myself that, "no matter what our differences in life orientations we may have, your Kuya Marlon still loves you very, very much. Someday, and I mean someday, we will be able to finally get to know and speak with each other. Always stay humble and be a good girl at all times."

Tragedy: From Sydney to Peshawar

Note: This is my first post in a really long while. Work, extracurricular activities and a lack of inspiration have something to do with it. Here's hoping I could post some more in the coming days or weeks.

From joy to gloom. Just came home from a team outing when I logged on to my laptop for the latest news, only to find out that during our outing, a terrorist attack on Army Public School Peshawar in Pakistan was taking place and ended up killing 141-145 people, dampening the otherwise happy mood of my day. The dead included at least 132 children between 10-18 years of age. The siege ended after the Pakistani Army were able to kill all of the six perpetrators, who all came from the Pakistani Taliban. Such a tragic follow-up event to the Sydney hostage crisis just a day earlier.

To the perpetrators of this act of depravity, words absolutely fail me. To the Pakistani Army, kudos to a job well done responding up to and beyond the call of duty. And to those who were killed, especially the children, may God guide the loved ones you've left behind and take care of all of you in his loving arms with love lots from your Kuya Marlon. :'( <3