Busted Lips, Hurting Ribs, and a Medal

Allan Codinera: Ultimately, Fighting Champion, Update

"You are officially one of the best top three in the World Grappling Champs. Congratulations...Luv u baby..yaaayyyyy!!" his wife wrote on facebook after learning that Allan Codinera won the bronze medal in the recently concluded World Grappling Championship in Los Angeles, California.

Purpose Driven Dance

I was surprised that he came, just as he told me over the phone, at exactly 3:30 one afternoon.  He was wearing a baseball hat like a bona fide hip hop dude, pardon my lingo, with the cap tipped to the side of his face. Barely out of his teens, Joshua Viloria impressed me with some words of wisdom.

He belongs to a dance crew called "I Rock With The One." A brainchild of Ron Pagcaliwagan, the group was formed in 2006 initially to inspire the youth in their community to develop their talents, boost their confidence, and help new kids on the block, composed mostly of immigrant children, to integrate into their new environment. They conduct classes and workshops through the urban dance program at the Gateway Centre for New Canadians.

Roundtrip

I will never forget that plane ride the first time I left home to try my luck in America. It was a few weeks after New Year in 1992.

I remember my mother coming back to the foot of the escalator that brought me and my niece to the boarding gate for Philippine Airlines bound for San Francisco.  An indescribable pain pierced through my heart as I saw her take another glance at me.

By George, He's Back

Article first published as By George, He's Back on Blogcritics.

 

In his book, Decision Points, George W. Bush writes that, "History can debate the decisions I made, the policies I chose, and the tools I left behind. But there can be no debate about one fact: After the nightmare of September 11, America went seven and a half years without another successful terrorist attack on our soil. If I had to summarize my most meaningful accomplishment as president in one sentence, that would be it."

His Pictures Speak A Thousand Words

I was crawling the web in search of a perfect image that would accompany my post titled, FW: Txt,  when I stumbled upon a photo that touched my soul in Google images. I could have copied and pasted it on my blog and the author would not have known it. However, something told me to do it right. I am glad I did. Besides keeping my blog within copyright boundaries, I got to know the artist.