Ordinary miracles

I wish the palms of my hand were big enough to create shelters for those who have no home to call their own. I wish my voice were loud enough to speak for those whose voices have been silenced, whose rights trampled, whose dreams crushed.   I wish I had pockets deep enough to assist… Continue reading Ordinary miracles

Kota: Tips and Tricks (and Stuff I Wish I’d Known)

To the Filipino hiker, Mt. Kinabalu isn't as hard the way conventional Filipino mountains are hard. Where Filipino mountains rely on natural trails (a root becomes a step, a branch, your foothold), Mt. Kinabalu is 80% stairs. This means the best way to train for Kota is not exactly to run hills, or to climb… Continue reading Kota: Tips and Tricks (and Stuff I Wish I’d Known)

Kota Kinabalu

It’s been more than a week since the Kota Kinabalu experience, otherwise known as that time I stuck with a booking I made one month into the semester because I was already tired of the academic workload. And really, every time I close my eyes, it’s still the chilly air I feel, and the gentle… Continue reading Kota Kinabalu

Great Balancing Act

The end of every year shows Twitter in a flurry of activities: people tweeting about the things they're grateful for; about things they wish they had done, or done better; about lessons they learned or lessons they wish they were taught. On my part, I decided to go on a sharing spree about the good… Continue reading Great Balancing Act

Off to save the world

Moana, the new Disney protagonist, is the curly-haired, dark-skinned daughter of the chieftain of one of the islands in the middle of the Pacific. And over the course of the past two weeks, I've had people approach me and tell me I remind them so much of the character. To which I reply with a… Continue reading Off to save the world

Of family

I write this sitting next to 3 other people poring over their journals, scribbling furiously to translate into writing the words playing around in their head, some resorting to doodles only they can understand: an attempt to remember things -- trips and falls, bumps and scratches, summits and jump offs.   I write this slumped… Continue reading Of family

For the days when it seems darkest

When I woke up today, I fumbled blindly for my phone, guided only by the alarm emanating from it. 6:32 AM, it probably read, a result of my inability to set alarms where the minutes are multiples of 5. I finally found it, hidden under a pile of pillows; before I pulled it out, I… Continue reading For the days when it seems darkest