Sweet moments with Ms. B

I can't explain it but there is something about churches, specially the very old ones which makes me feel nostalgic. I can't even understand it myself! There is a kind of force which draws me near to them. A kind of magnetism intense enough i just let myself fall under its magical spell. Perhaps, it is my understanding that a church is my kind of link between the One up there and me. My being a Catholic with the faith i'm holding on to since i was born intensify it more.

Churches all over the world fascinates me more than any other buildings. But i have a special relationship with my church: Virgen de la Regla(VDR)Church. I made my vows here.

Virgen de la Regla Church, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines.

Christ the King (Cristo Rey) fronting the facade.

My mind was so glued on churches and the like that during my college (Architecture) thesis, i decided i would focus on religious structures thus i came to do:Church Complex; a series of buildings and special areas of interests (Church itself; Convent; Grotto; Meditation chapel; Multi-use building; wide parkings; a park doubling as playground; Basketball/Tennis courts) which are related to each other with function as the main factor for construction together with the beauty it projects and the strength it can withstand through time.

The toils i made in that special thesis really paid off, 'coz @ present, my father and i have just finished renovating some parts of the convent. It has been a great joy for me in actually working in structures like these. Althought it is yet the convent we are working on but i'm hopeful for more to be done in the future. Every structure inside the complex has endured time more than it can handle, which means a full facelift can be handy! I'm happy to be a part of the renovation process. It feels divine already!

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A proposed Grotto was already talked about... I'm glad to say i was consulted for the over-all planning details plus i get to pick where and how it might be built. Cool!

Well, I had fun alright, but hey! I'm having more fun now, today! Feeling close beside my husband, my three-sweet-lovely daughters and kuya and oh, I couldn't miss my granddaughter-Sofia! And more, my Dad, Mom, my brothers, my only sister, my sister-in-laws, my brod-in-laws, my warm tennis pals, my highschool batchmates, and my ever-loving-sweet MSC friends!

Life to me is like the sunrise! Emerging out of its niche to spread its golden rays spreading them slowly but smoothly and evenly across the horizon; giving life a new meaning, a fresh start... moving its wheel of existence to a new speed, full of hope and of dreams and cares and love .

Now, I'm pretty much mobile, thanks to the magic 6 doctors who took care of my Liver, lungs, heart, blood pressure, veins, and most specially my ailing kidneys, which is now under protective care due to the stones it is carrying. And I thank our Lord GOD, whom we all owe our life to.

And together with this thought let me share with you one of my poems and its about LIVING.
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It took me a while to compose this script 'coz I needed more rest after that. Thanks so much dear Lord.

A blend of the past to this future.

I believe in understanding the past to better understand the future. In man's continuing quest of evolution we have surpassed more than a couple of logical and honest perceptions of how history evolves; what went through where. But i would not attempt to recreate history here. As a lady architect, I can only illustrate through images and scripts the different structures built thru time.

The picture is a blend of two halves. The left part is the great Parthenon- the most magnificent monument ever built in ancient times and the second half on the right side is my very own Virgen de la Regla Parish church in Lapu-Lapu City (my city remember), obviously as it is, it depicts the partnership of ideas, of beauty, of stregth and of use and function.

Basing on the famous words of VITRUVIUS, POLLIO- who was a Roman architect and engineer( wrote on architecture and lived in the days of Augustus) were: Utilitas- Venustas- Firmitas.

UTILITAS means: Use. Its function with respect to the building usage. How the structure could be functional for. How may it be of use to anyone. Its usefulness is one major point in the design conceptualization.

Next is VENUSTAS: As commonly used word Venus, which refers to the Roman Goddess of love and beauty, so does the word Venustas implies beauty in itself. The structure's grandeur over its existence. The ultimate point of view with regards to the essence it projects. The sole reason for being.

Then comes FIRMITAS: This refers to the structure's stability. ITs firmness. Its capacity to bear load but still in commune with the beauty and function of the entire design concept. This must and should somehow go hand in hand with the other two significant structural ingredient of design, giving satisfaction on the magnificence of its overall strength relatively incorporated within its core.

Although these may have come by over thousands of years ago, still they are considered the basics of any struture's fundamental design recipe, without which or an absence of one would simply mean null.
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It (the merged picture) might seem done in an unprofessional manner, but it is just a matter of who's viewing how. Am i right, or i am right?

The state of being...

An art, any kind of art implies emotions: deep; varied; peaceful; sensitive; soft; serene; flowing; enhancing; soothing; kind; full; rich; seamless; huggable; inspiring; cool; magical; heavenly and perhaps... loving!

There are a million ways to express art and a million more to understand it. Each one of us may see it differently in one moment but may seem to be connivance all together in the next, depending on how it is viewed and/or interpreted. I think my love for it started when I was three (3) years old. I remember my mom telling me how to do my hair and what dress to wear before family pictorial and stuff like that. I kind of disliked her choice coz I thought I looked better not in pink. Eventually, I wore a white fluffy full-laced skirt and ended up pulling it down coz it was too short!
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My supposedly logo for the letterhead i was about to lay out. But sadly enough we (my co-architects) didn't get it going... @ least not yet. But i'm hopeful there might be a chance for it to be laid down on paper, for good. Oh,by the way, f.y.i.- it spells the fisrt letters of my name.