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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
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!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
I'm saying this because I just experienced an-out-of-this-world state of being! I just came out of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) in one of our local hospitals here. It felt like I wasn't here anymore... I felt like dreaming!Yep, it was like a dream to me.. but I cannot recollect exactly what happened in that special dream. I can only emote how I was within. I was happy, and contented and well and free! I felt no sorrow, no failures, no sadness not even weariness. It was all a good ride!It wasn't after I got out of that dilemma when I knew I passed out for more than two days! (imagine in my village, I was reported to be in a 'coma')... scary huh.
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.
Monday, April 04, 2005
The Parthenon: considered to be the greatest building ever built on ancient times. It sits on top of the Acropolis in Greece. Acropolis means:"...the fortified height or citadel of an ancient Greek city; ... a raised area holding a building or cluster of buildings." another name given to it is: Sacred Rock ,so named due to the fact that it was used continuously as a place for cult ceremonies and also as residence or even both at some point in time. The Parthenon is one of the magnificent monuments dedicated to Athena Parthenos- the patron goddess of Athens. Inscriptions showed that these structures were built roughly around 447 to 438 B.C. Today, time took its toll for the roof has almost completely collapsed,thanks to the preservationists who are doing great efforts for its restoration. 
One very important aspect that I learned from the study of these monuments is that special design technique used initially by the Egyptians but adopted later by the Greeks during those golden years is :Entasis. 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?
Friday, April 01, 2005
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.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
It is summertime! The skies gets clearer! The breeze hovers faster! The sun shines longer and time for mountain climbing or hill climbing for that matter! Wowieeee! And during these lovely months, what better place to be than in BOHOL! It is where you can find TARSIERS- considered to be the smallest monkeys in the world! How - about - that!
But did you know that Tarsiers aren't monkeys at all. Actually, they belong to a different specie which is: Tarsius syrichta. Its classification is quite obscure and are often considered by taxonomits(researchers on the study of the general laws and principles of classification) to be "...of distinct suborder among the primates." Others classify these Philippine tarsiers along the line with the lemurs, lorises and bushbabies as prosimians. Oh, Whatever!
Tarsius syrichta simply called: Philippine Tarsiers (notice their sizes compared to human hands)
The last time I was there, these little cuties were put in cages by their captors under small trees for public viewing. But recently my daughter said they aren't imprisoned anymore. Thanks to the caring hearts of the Boholeños. They are free to roam around the wild forests and are reproducing quite fairly. Good job fellows.
SLR still cam. I was truly awed by it! Aren’t you now? There are over three thousand of these hills stretching out the horizon. It is learned that these are corals of the sea bed some thousands of years ago. 
We visited various spots like: Baclayon Church- considered to be the oldest in the Philippines; The Man-made forest in Loboc- lined upwith huge Mahogany trees all planted withthe vision and hope 
of a more greener Bohol; The Hanging Bridge also in Loboc displays man's ingeniuty over machines; The Floating Restaurant- winding through Loboc's deep forest. More of Bohol 
sites are of much significance due to the fact that according to Bohol's hitory it was afterall one to the earliest settlements of the Spanish conquerors; but a little later after Mactan Island. 
True friends are hard to find... But you know what? They are much harder to forget!
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Hi! you like this graphic? Then get it!a href="http://logbet.blogspot.com">< img style="WIDTH: 79px; HEIGHT: 24px" height="31" src="http://www.geocities.com/razy4uph/sweetlips1.jpg" width="88" /
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
It was alomost six in the evening when i got to listen the latest edition of "Europinoy perspective"- a excerpt of a weekly radio program in Rome, Italy called: Radio Pilipino ng Vaticano. I was quite erked (if that's the correct term) bytheir topic which is "Being in-Love with the wrong person".
My! how wrong could that person be? I mean, is it really true that love is blind?
I'm asking this question because i only have one love all my life! And i don't think he is a wrong guy. Perhaps it is just our own perception of what LOVE is...
For me to love a person means : 
1- giving it all
2-doing it righteously
3- share it contuinually
4-be with sometimes (of course you can't take him while peeing)
5-talk openly
6-laugh with sometimes (if it isn't corny ok)
...and the list goes on. Who's counting anyhow?
LOVE, that nice and wonderful feeling!
But loving a person doesn't mean you have to be blind, does it? In fact, you must be so ready with your feelings because doing it might put you in a bad situation later.But the risk makes it more intriguing, don't you think so? Am i making any sense here? Oh, how can i elaborate it further?
Love, as the word implies, is putting trust on someone... someone you don't even know that much all your life. But hey, no one knows for sure the other person, not until years go by with the relationship, who does?. Even twins argue once in a while, how much more with partners or lovers when they aren't blood related! And that is part of the whole process. We learn as we change, right? As you know change is great and it is the only constant thing in this world.
I believe it is in the sharing with that person -correct or wrong-over the years, that you would know how to love eventually. And who can judge better who is right and not?
It is the care one gives, the respect offered, the friendship bestowed! YES, i believe our beloved patner in life should be our best friend. It is the life-long togetherness which make the relationship flourish if not bloom to its fullest. It is putting your trust to that person which might help ease up the process of loving. Because loving is a struggle, a feat, a force so strong it drives one crazy, at times though. That is why it has to be felt for, sacrificed and lived for to its truest definition. But who can define what love really is...?
It is both the love and hate feelings that enables both parties to grow and learn and live. And that's what matters- to live- yes, because it is only in living that you can love and it is in loving that you continue to live! Now, i am making sense?
Did you know that when you hate someone so much it is because you love that person too much! LOVE makes the world go around.. yes, definitely. It can also make your head turn around and get crazy!
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Allow me to share with you one of my poems. It is about living: Live
About Ms. B
- Ms.B
- Hi! your friendly neighbor Architect who loves ART eternaly... and poetry is my PASSION!
