Forever Indeed Is Not Enough

HEAVEN.....

            THE beginning...

"Kato ba.."

"Unsay kato ba?"

"Kato gud.."

           First lines..first glances..the start of everything...

           How would I ever forget these small details. The church,his EYES...yeah his tantalizing eyes...

           I just missed you terribly COY..missed you a lot..

           What I like to do right now is flashback the memories we had shared, treasured and forever be cherished. One reason of doing this is  to remind me how blessed I am to be one of those people who had shared with you the beauty of life.

At the church..(San Vicente Parish Church,Kalilangan, Bukidnon,April 2001)

           That was during the YOUTH FOR CHRIST youth camp,held in Kalilangan, Bukidnon in our parish church (San Vicente Parish Church).That was a 3 days camp. Girls slept at the nuns quarter while the guys stayed at our priest place.We have lots of activities going on that 3 day camping and that includes meeting EDISON ROMANOS OSIOS, the start of a friendship whom that will last for a lifetime. When the last night of that camp came they needed to have a MC for the program and the participants selected randomly who would they be and God's plan as I may say,me and DONGKOY were chosen to be partners in crime that night.I remembered his sweaty underarms I dont know why maybe because of the tension and pressure he is feeling at that moment.La pa kaayo ko ka.relate ngano to coz la pa nako na.feel ang kilig kay I wasnt really attracted to him at that time.Sory to say he was not my type of guy.

Kaamulan Grounds (Youth for Christ Re-echo of the International Conference,May 2001)

            That was the second time ntga nag-meet mi..hahay at that time naa na ang kilig moment kay he was starting to show his affection.Paduol-duol panagsa then on the last day la na kaagwanta nakig 1 on 1 talk na jud sya nako ig ni prangka nga, IDOL TIKA>>for me before those lines were big deal..and it meant a lot.Then he started to ask for my contact information,unluckily la pako celfone ato nga time,so address na lang ta akong ihatag la lng nadayon.then nahuman to nga event knowing that Dongkoy idolized me and I thought was it. But I was wrong..

THEME: "Express Yourself" (YFC gathering at Pangantucan, Bukidnon, July 9,2001)

            Before this event took place I was able to give him my address in an amazing way.Laag ko ato nga time ila Mar Carlo Alcontin then naa naglabay nga hauler nga taga Bacusanon(iya place),then remember ko nya nga ask sa akong address mao ask ko ug pen ug paper para isulat akong address then after ana akong gipalihug tong driver nga ipahatag to kay Edison.and the rest was history..

            Naka receive na lang ko ug letter from him saying everything about how he felt in a very cute unique way.his 1st love letter for me nga gisi na kaayo run.

            A week after ato nga letter nagkita mi sa Pangantucan for the Party of YFC then naa man sya ato nga time,then nakalugar nasad mi ug storya through the help of her ate,si ate mie2x. She told me if pwede ba daw ko ma.storya ni Dongkoy then I just sat sa ila mini stadium(which is la  na didto run)and he asked me if unsa akong answer sa iya proposal.All of a sudden I just pointed out the 2 big volts found at the stadium,then luckily nakasabot sya nga pasabot to ug OO...that was it kami na.Then nag separate ways mi ato nga day while we were on our way home it started RAINING..as if the heavens is feasting for the 2 of us.

            After that event he always see to it nga maka send jud sya ug letter nako every week,almost twice a week.Bad kaayo ko kay after 4 letters nya ayha pako mo.reply.(COY while I'm writing this phrase na.feel nako imo presence,hope its true)And I kept all those letters up to the last one and placed it in an album.

            Our relationship turned out to be typical long distance way (writing letters,he visted me at least twice a month and we met during YFC activities).MY parents started to like him since he was respectfull to all, from my parents down to my lolos and lolas aside from that he was so close with my siblings they treated Dongkoy just like theie real kuya.He was also very fond with Queenie, my younger sister.

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WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES

Firehouse

I see forever when I look in your eyes

You're all I ever wanted

I always want you to be mine

Let's make a promise till the end of time

We'll always be together

And our love will never die

So here we are face to face

And heart to heart

I want you to know we will

Never be apart

Now I believe that wishes can come true

Cause I see my whole world

I see only you

Chorus:

When I look into your eyes

I can see how much I love you

And it makes me realize

When I look into your eyes

I see all my dreams come true

When I look into your eyes

I've looked for you all of my life

Now that I've found you

We will never say goodbye

I can't stop this feeling

There's nothing I can do

'Cause I see everything when I look at you

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HERE FOR YOU

So you think you've got it all figured out

Well you know you can't make it alone

Everybody needs somebody to help them out

And you know I could be that someone

And if you ever get lost on life's highway

Don't know where to go

There's just one thing that I want you to know

Chorus:

I am here for you, always here for you

When you need a shoulder to cry on

Someone to rely on, I am here for you

So you think that love is long overdue

Tired of looking for someone to care

Let me tell you now the choice is up to you

But you know I will always be there

I am here for you, always here for you

When you're needin' someone to hold you

Remember I told you

I am here for you

I am here for you

So now you've got it all figured out

And you know you've found someone that cares

And if you ever need somebody to help you out

Well you know I will always be there

And if you ever get lost on life's highway

Don't know where to go

There's just one thing that I want you to know

Chorus

I am here for you, always here for you

When you're needin' someone to hold you

Remember I told you

I am here for you, I am here for you

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LOVE OF A LIFETIME

Firehouse

I guess the time was right for us to say

We'd take our time and live our lives together day by day

We'll make a wish and send it on a prayer

We know our dreams can all come true

With love that we can share

With you I never wonder - Will you be there for me

With you I never wonder - You're the right one for me

Chorus:

I finally found the love of a lifetime

A love to last my whole life through

I finally found the love of a lifetime

Forever in my heart, I finally found the love of a lifetime

With every kiss our love is like brand-new

And every star up in the sky was made for me and you

Still we both know that the road is long

(But) We know that we will be together

Because our love is strong

Chorus

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ANGEL

Shooby dooby dooby doo woi

Shooby doo

Oh

Shooby doo dooby doo boi oi

Yeah, ah

Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, lady

Life is one big party when you're still young

But who's gonna have your back when it's all done

It's all good when you're little, you have pure fun

Can't be a fool, son, what about the long run

Looking back Shorty always mention

Said me not giving her much attention

She was there through my incarceration

I wanna show the nation my appreciation

Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, lady

You're a queen and so you should be treated

Though you never get the lovin' that you needed

Could have left, but I called and you heeded

Begged and I pleaded, mission completed

Mama said that I and I dissed the program

Not the type to mess around with her emotion

But the feeling that I have for you is so strong

Been together so long and this could never be wrong

Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, lady

Uh, uh

Girl, in spite of my behavior, said I'm your savior

(You must be sent from up above)

And you appear to me so tender, say girl I surrender

(Thanks for giving me your love)

Girl, in spite of my behavior, well, you are my savior

(You must be sent from up above)

And you appear to me so tender, well, girl I surrender

(Said thanks for giving me your love)

Now life is one big party when you're still young

And who's gonna have your back when it's all done

It's all good when you're little, you have pure fun

Can't be a fool, son, what about the long run

Looking back Shorty always mention

Said me not giving her much attention

She was there through my incarceration

I wanna show the nation my appreciation

Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, lady

Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby

Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel

Girl, you're my friend when I'm in need, laDY

"Immortal Cells" of Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

courtesy of smithsonian magazine

Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine.

In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor remained a mystery for decades. In her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, journalist Rebecca Skloot tracks down the story of the source of the amazing HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks, and documents the cell line's impact on both modern medicine and the Lacks family.

 

Henrietta Lacks

She was a black tobacco farmer from southern Virginia who got cervical cancer when she was 30. A doctor at Johns Hopkins took a piece of her tumor without telling her and sent it down the hall to scientists there who had been trying to grow tissues in culture for decades without success. No one knows why, but her cells never died.

Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

 

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about the source of HeLa cells.

When some members of the press got close to finding Henrietta’s family, the researcher who’d grown the cells made up a pseudonym—Helen Lane—to throw the media off track. Other pseudonyms, like Helen Larsen, eventually showed up, too. Her real name didn’t really leak out into the world until the 1970s.

 

Author became so obsessed about her story that she even went through of finding out if Henrietta's family are still alive. All her efforts paid of, it took her a year to convince Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, to talk to her.

Deborah never knew her mother; she was an infant when Henrietta died. She had always wanted to know who her mother was but no one ever talked about Henrietta. So when Deborah found out that this part of her mother was still alive she became desperate to understand what that meant: Did it hurt her mother when scientists injected her cells with viruses and toxins? Had scientists cloned her mother? And could those cells help scientists tell her about her mother, like what her favorite color was and if she liked to dance.

Deborah’s brothers, though, didn’t think much about the cells until they found out there was money involved. HeLa cells were the first human biological materials ever bought and sold, which helped launch a multi-billion-dollar industry. When Deborah’s brothers found out that people were selling vials of their mother’s cells, and that the family didn’t get any of the resulting money, they got very angry. Henrietta’s family has lived in poverty most of their lives, and many of them can’t afford health insurance. One of her sons was homeless and living on the streets of Baltimore. So the family launched a campaign to get some of what they felt they were owed financially. It consumed their lives in that way.

Postdoc called Henrietta’s husband one day. But he had a third-grade education and didn’t even know what a cell was. The way he understood the phone call was: “We’ve got your wife. She’s alive in a laboratory. We’ve been doing research on her for the last 25 years. And now we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer.” Which wasn’t what the researcher said at all. The scientists didn’t know that the family didn’t understand. From that point on, though, the family got sucked into this world of research they didn’t understand, and the cells, in a sense, took over their lives.

LESSON:

For scientists, one of the lessons is that there are human beings behind every biological sample used in the laboratory. So much of science today revolves around using human biological tissue of some kind. For scientists, cells are often just like tubes or fruit flies—they’re just inanimate tools that are always there in the lab. The people behind those samples often have their own thoughts and feelings about what should happen to their tissues, but they’re usually left out of the equation.

 

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Henrietta-Lacks-Immortal-Cells.html#ixzz0f6aZp2we

 

The New Natural Wonders (forbestravel.com)

Monarch Butterfly Reserve

One of the new natural wonders is only an hour north of bustling Mexico City. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been active in the conservation and protection of the monarch butterfly in North America and with that goal in mind offers trips to the UNESCO-designated Monarch Butterfly Reserve. These are in partnership with the ecotourism operator Natural Habitat Adventures (NHA). Deeming the reserve to be a "critical link" in the preservation of Monarch butterflies, WWF and NHA have arranged several departures from January through March with their "Monarch Butterflies of Mexico" itinerary which promises "hundreds of thousands of Monarch butterflies carpeting Mexican forests, blanketing trees and filling the air with a symphony of fluttering wings."

Sanqingshan National Park

Several tour operators can customize tours of China and these could include the little-known Sanqingshan National Park in the Jiangxi Province of eastern China, chosen as a UNESCO site for its "scenic quality, marked by the concentration of fantastically shaped pillars and peaks: 48 granite peaks and 89 granite pillars, many of which resemble human or animal silhouettes." Jeff Robers, a China specialist with Asia Transpacific Journeys, suggests taking three days to visit Sanqingshan at the end of Asia Transpacific Journeys' 20-day group tour "China-Beyond the Wall" or  arranging a customized itinerary which would include the park. Robers recommends the latter for more experienced Asia travelers

Lagoons of New Caledonia

Those wishing to see the Lagoons of New Caledonia in the South Pacific Ocean might want to consider checking into the five-star Le Meridien Ile des Pins, at the southern tip of New on the shores of Oro Bay. There is a vast open pavilion with a guest lounge, billiards room, bar and restaurant all overlooking the boutique pool and turquoise lagoon. A 10-minute drive from Moue Airport, the luxury coccoon serves as a convenient launching pad from which to explore the New Caledonian lagoons.

Joggins Fossil Cliffs

The numbers of visitors to Joggins Fossil Cliffs in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia has risen markedly since the site's UNESCO designation in June, says Terri McCulloch, Manager of the Bay of Fundy Tourism Partnership. This series of rocks and cliffs in Eastern Canada contains fossils of reptiles and preserved upright fossil trees from the Coal Age 300 million years ago.

Surtsey

One of the Westmen Islands off the southern coast of Iceland, Surtsey is a nature preserve and is closed to visitors. To see it, Nichole Coudayre, Travcoa's Iceland specialist, suggests a one-week itinerary that includes Reykjavik, the fjords and lakes of rural Iceland, and a final few days in the Westmens. The best strategy for viewing Surtsey, according to Coudayre, is to stay on the Westman island of Heimaey, the only island of the group with human inhabitants. Currently, archaeologists are engaged in a massive excavation effort on Heimaey, where  a 1973 eruption  buried a large portion of the town (some call it the "Pompeii of the North").

Swiss Tectonic Area Sardona

The jagged rocks here offer up a stunning display for mountaineers and geology enthusiasts, especially at the Glarus Overthrust. This Alpine geological wonder is best seen from Braunwald, a small village in the Glarus hinterland that is under an hour's drive south. In Braunwald, stay at the four-star Marchenhotel Bellevue.. After you've hiked the hills around the Swiss Tectonic Arena, take the kids for a family ski along themed trails in Braunwald then nurse hot cocoa under goose down duvets.

Saryarka

This area consists of two clusters of wetlands: Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve and Naurzum Nature Reserve, both in northern Kazakhstan. Access to the reserves can only be gained with a permit, which must be obtained through a tour operator. Helena Novak, an Eastern Europe specialist with the U.S.-based General Tours World Traveler, can tailor escorted custom journeys to Saryarka and the surrounding region.

Socotra Archipelago

This natural sanctuary has been called the "Galapagos of the Indian Ocean." Nadim Taleb of the Socotra Conservation and Development Program explains that tourism infrastructure in Socotra is still very much in its infancy and most who visit the island like to "rough it." He says that camping outside the nearby settlement of Hadibo is popular with the small group of nature lovers that currently visit the archipelago, but adds there are also some modest hotels there.