About Me

The author of this blog lives by this principle: Because God has given me the ability to write, I shall write beautifully!

I’d be the first to tell you that I don’t find it hard to describe myself. What I find harder is to narrow down the description. And no, while people might think it’s vanity, it’s not, although I would admit I’m a tad bit vain. When it comes down to it, I guess I just talk too much —about anything and everything, and certainly about what I like and what I do and what I find significant to talk about. I get a lot of attention for being opinionated, or in the words of my sister, “being talkative”. Well, those two things are different, and unfortunately for some, I could be both. On the part of being opinionated, I’d like to believe I’m just brave enough to say what others can’t or don’t say out in the open. On the part of being talkative, that’s a given for anyone who is always opinionated.

I’m KZ and I think I was born with a pen on my right hand, a microphone on my left. I have this habit of articulating my thoughts out loud, hence, the blog. But I’ve always been that way and that has sort of been my definitive trait. Unlike a lot of people, I’m very comfortable speaking in front of an audience. But I guess it also comes with the territory.

• I go for the riskier things in life. I like adventures and doing things for the first time. I think I’m the only person I know who hates being out in the wild, and yet totally enjoys the journey getting there. I think more than the discomforts, the anticipation of ‘something great’ prevails. And I’ve always believed it’s in these long soul journeys that we get to reflect about the more important things in life.

• And while we’re at the topic, I don’t like insects and cockroaches are always going to be my nemesis. But with a can of insect spray beside my bed, I would definitely survive.

• I like men who put up a fight especially when you present them a challenge. I get easily turned off with men who bail out at the last minute. Needless to say, I hate cowardice in a man. And I hate being lied to. They don’t have to do over the top heroic acts to get my attention. They just have to simply stick by their words, live by their convictions and walk their talk. Nothing is more attractive than a man who does what he says, no “I’ll try”. Add to that faith, sincerity, faithfulness and respect – I don’t think I should be looking for anything else if you’d ask me. And no, I have yet to meet that man.

• I don’t believe in competition, and I’ll tell you what I mean by it: I don’t believe that you can like something and be passionate about it, while at the same time dispute its importance in your life. Like love. Either you like someone, or you don’t. There’s no competing against it, no grey areas. You either completely, unequivocally give yourself to liking it, or you don’t. In simpler terms, either you like me or you don’t. If you do like me, you will pursue me at all cost. And it shouldn’t be that hard. If you don’t, you will not pursue me, and it also shouldn’t be that hard. In the end that’s all there is to it.

• I read a lot and books are priceless collections to me, as well as journals. If the house burns, the first thing I’ll do is run to my go-to bag of journals and books and throw it out the window for safety. I don’t think we can feel we’ve read too much for how can we? Books are like countries that have yet to be discovered. Each time I open a book, I feel I’m starting a new civilization.

• One of the things I learned early on in life is to pursue our passion without any reservations. And I’m doing that. I’m passionate about education in the Philippines because the problems are as numerous as our islands, maybe even more. But we take it one day at a time. Right now, I work as a Program officer for an NGO on Education Reforms and Literacy. I believe in the cause of my organization, that is, to educate the Filipino child and address the problems of basic education all over the country. If we don’t start today, we will keep producing Filipinos that are not only illiterate, but are also unable to pull themselves out of poverty because of ignorance. It starts with the Filipino child. And that’s what I see myself doing in the long run – doing humanitarian work and missions. I want my life to matter. I want my life to be significant, to be of use to the community that I live in. I don’t want to live my life selfishly and just for myself: there is a world out there hurting, needing, and seeking. And I don’t even have to look far.