I'm moving to this side of the blogosphere.
I hope to see you there

Oh my.. this blog is dusty..  I apologize for the blog drought that occurred around this place.  Let me end this blog drought by posting the following paragraph from John Stott who was qouted by Lee Strobel in his book, The Case for Faith (my current reading):

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross... In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?  I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before a statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, arms closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.  But each time after a while I have to turn away.  And in imagination I have to turn instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness.  That is the God for me!  He laid aside his immunity to pain.  He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death.  He suffered for us.  Our sufferings become more manageable in light of his.  There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldy stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering.  The cross of Christ...is God's only self-justification in such a world as ours."

Warning: You're about to read a girl's shallow rants.

Call it a girl thing (or a daphne thing..or whatever you may want to call it), but I couldn't wear my brown blouses unless I partner them with a pair of brown shoes.  Until yesterday, my quest for a nice pair of brown footwear is still unsuccessful. 

I went to the Mall of Asia yesterday to search for a replacement for my old brown shoes.  One of the old pair's sole was already torn and I don't think I still want it fixed.  So I decided to get a new pair.  I must say that yesterday was my third attempt to search for a nice pair.  Needless to say, the first two attempts were unsuccessful.

Anyway, my first stop was the department store.  I scanned through the throngs of ladies' footwear and see if there was anything that might catch my fancy.  There were boots, mary janes, thong sandals, office shoes, slippers, flats and other kinds of ladies shoes (I couldn't remember now what their exact kinds are).  I was looking for a nice, flat, somewhat kikay brown shoes.  Among all the styles I saw, there was this nice one that I particularly liked.  It has some gem stones as design and it was rather dainty.  And it was on sale!  This must be it, I happily thought to myself.  I requested one of the sale attendants for my size.  After about 3 minutes, the attendant went back from the stock room and told me that they have no longer stocks of that shoes for my size.  I asked if he was sure and he said he was.  He then recommended another style, but I politely declined.  I asked him if they have a separate boutique in the main building of the mall that might have the same style of shoes.  He said yes and gave me the direction to the boutique. 

I went to the said boutique and searched for the same style of shoes.  Nada.  I refused to allow the frustration to get the better of me.  There must be another one that I might like, I positively thought.  I went back to the department store and searched again.  Zilch. 

Refusing to end the search, I went around the mall and went to every shoe store that I could see.  I looked from one rack to another, from one display to another, and still I couldn't find the shoes that I like.  I was becoming frustrated by then, add to it the fact that roaming around the big, big mall was not an easy feat.  As if one-time roaming wasn't enough, I roamed the entire mall for the second time, quite dubious that I have missed a shoe store that I haven't visited yet.  But to no avail.

Frustrated and feeling defeated, I went back to the department store and decided to buy anything that I need.  Just so this trip to the mall could have some successful outcome.  I ended up buying a box of hankies, a nice blouse that is almost P200 cheaper than the original price and 2 bottles of lotion for the price of one! (Tingnan mo nga naman magbigay ng konsuwelo si Lord =)).

I'm not yet giving up on this quest for that elusive pair of brown shoes.  Meantime, my brown shirts and blouses have to wait.

Today is rest day for me.  My mind was battling between sleeping more (since it's rest day) and rising from bed to do stuff that I have to do that I couldn't do when I have to report for work.

Here I go again: the laidback daphne vs. the trying-to-be-productive daphne.

The laidback me wants to:
- sleep until my back aches and my eyes sore
- lounge around the house, watch some stuff on tv, sleep some more
- browse through the internet aimlessly

While the trying-to-be-productive daphne calls me to:
- take my bath as early as possible, check my email and promptly reply to new mails
- email kuya kim for the BS series reflection
- give time to the curriculum vitae revision
- take my lunch now and go to MOA for that pair of brown shoes, then go home right away
- after arriving from MOA, get that lesson plan for Sunday's care group and study it thoroughly
- finish that book of Yancey I started reading a couple of weeks ago
- neatly file health records and housing documents I just left untouched on my rack
- write something on my journal after about an hour of quiet time
- call The Empress and catch up, since I haven't talk to her for a long time

Now, I have no idea how this day's going to be.  But what do you know?  It's past 12 noon, and I'm still in front of the pc!  I think the laidback one's winning... tee-hee..