Loss & Life: What I know

19 APRIL 2009. "I was having fun that night then suddenly a terrible thing happened..."

Really, It is hard to lose a friend who had been a part of your life. Why? You will really miss the good ol' times. The times you both laughed and cried, you both sung and danced, you both shared and gave. I never felt this feeling. It really hurts knowing that this friend of yours will not return anymore. All that was left was him lying perfectly still in the casket at the funeral, you will really miss those times, and it was hard to accept the fact that he was dead, and I was still in a state of denial.


April 19, 2009. It was a fine, ordinary Sunday. All was well and fine at the Church, and the service is an accomplishment, I thought this will be a perfect day. However, the clouds dimmed and the brilliance of the sun was covered by tick, gray and black clouds, and the sky broke with rain. I thought it will not last for long, but I was flabbergasted to see the rain pouring heavily on the grounds matched with thunderstorms and lightning all the time. I thought "Ah no sun, no fun."  I went to a party of a good friend of mine, then I went home, I looked at the clocked. It was 30 minutes past 10 in the evening. I watched the evening news and grabbed the newspaper for that day, then my brother approached me and broke to me the news even greater than what I was watching. I stopped for a while and thought it can't happen or maybe it is just a bad joke or something. That night, while the storm came crashing steadily, I still can't hardly sleep due to the terrible fact that I learned, I know he can't be dead, I am sure he was still alive. That morning, one trusted friend confirmed me the terrible news, knowing that, I can't hardly speak, I can't barely laugh or move an inch for I was just completely shocked.


I really just can't. This must be the feeling every person do not want or even think of. That night, we went to the funeral, and the thing that I always deny was really real. Yes, he was there, but now lifeless. I can't look at him directly and it is hard to utter anything, I really can't. I cried at that moment, remembering all the things that transpired, and all the moments that he was still there with us. I can't accept the fact that he was really dead. Later before I slept, I cried again, I really can't accept but this was reality. He already passed away; that is reality. But I know one thing.


God has a purpose for everything and every circumstance that we encounter are a huge part of his perfect plan. We may not realize it but He is right there. I may not know His plan very well, but what I know is that he was with the Lord. Yes, he was in heaven with the Lord, and I know that is where he truly deserves to be. Knowing that person, he became a dedicated presence after several camps and fellowships. He became active in all of the services and ministries. He was a great drummer, a good and humble person, and he knows how to put his foot on the ground. He was a true friend of God. He was such a great loss for all of us but still he had been a good friend. We will really miss you and also your jokes and antics, all of your presence and dedication, JAM will surely remember you. 


As you read this, you may or may not feel what I have felt that time - all the pain and sorrow. You may experienced greatly that what I have encountered or none. But I know one thing, His ways are unimaginable and unpredictable but his perfect plan will never fail. He was now indeed happy for he was with the Lord and Our Savior. Whatever you're feeling right now, God's word says:


"Come to me all of you weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)


It maybe difficult, It maybe painful but just come to the Lord with all your heart and soul, and He will give you comfort and rest.


Just be still and know that He is God.

S.O.N.A (SOcial Networking Addiction)

Hello Everyone!
 

This is my first blog and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking one parcel of your precious time for reading this, and i would truly appreciate your comments or your reactions about this blog.

Anyway, I do not want to make this introductory address very lengthy (yeah... that's right!)

I think the youth today take this quotation seriously, and it goes like this...                                    "Man is not an island"

 

You may wonder, why does the youth today become a sort of "couch potatoes", what I mean is that they spend thousands of their minutes in front of a desktop computer, or maybe a laptop. You may also wonder that they speak of things that is very savvy and they talk about some things that seems alienating to us, i speak to everyone...

 

Now the hero came and said... Hello everyone, I am SixDegrees.com! 

This sparked the curiosity in us and explored the dynamic world of online social networking.

 

History of Social Networking Sites                                                    The first recognizable social network site launched in 1997. SixDegrees.com allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and, beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists. Each of these features existed in some form before SixDegrees, of course. Profiles existed on most major dating sites and many community sites. AIM and ICQ buddy lists supported lists of Friends, although those Friends were not visible to others. Classmates.com allowed people to affiliate with their high school or college and surf the network for others who were also affiliated, but users could not create profiles or list Friends until years later. SixDegrees was the first to combine these features.

 SixDegrees promoted itself as a tool to help people connect with and send messages to others. While SixDegrees attracted millions of users, it failed to become a sustainable business and, in 2000, the service closed. Looking back, its founder believes that SixDegrees was simply ahead of its time (A. Weinreich, personal communication, July 11, 2007). While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online. Early adopters complained that there was little to do after accepting Friend requests, and most users were not interested in meeting strangers.

From 1997 to 2001, a number of community tools began supporting various combinations of profiles and publicly articulated Friends. AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente allowed users to create personal, professional, and dating profiles—users could identify Friends on their personal profiles without seeking approval for those connections (O. Wasow, personal communication, August 16, 2007). Likewise, shortly after its launch in 1999, LiveJournal listed one-directional connections on user pages. LiveJournal's creator suspects that he fashioned these Friends after instant messaging buddy lists (B. Fitzpatrick, personal communication, June 15, 2007)—on LiveJournal, people mark others as Friends to follow their journals and manage privacy settings. The Korean virtual worlds site Cyworld was started in 1999 and added SNS features in 2001, independent of these other sites (see Kim & Yun, this issue). Likewise, when the Swedish web community LunarStorm refashioned itself as an SNS in 2000, it contained Friends lists, guestbooks, and diary pages (D. Skog, personal communication, September 24, 2007).

The next wave of SNSs began when Ryze.com was launched in 2001 to help people leverage their business networks. Ryze's founder reports that he first introduced the site to his friends—primarily members of the San Francisco business and technology community, including the entrepreneurs and investors behind many future SNSs (A. Scott, personal communication, June 14, 2007). In particular, the people behind Ryze, Tribe.net, LinkedIn, and Friendster were tightly entwined personally and professionally. They believed that they could support each other without competing (Festa, 2003). In the end, Ryze never acquired mass popularity, Tribe.net grew to attract a passionate niche user base, LinkedIn became a powerful business service, and Friendster became the most significant, if only as "one of the biggest disappointments in Internet history" (Chafkin, 2007, p. 1).

(http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html)

What goes up, must go down                                                                It is true though, that some social networking sites are short-lived and there is just a small multitude of loyalists to that particular site. As some sites developed and introduced features and capabilities others cannot attain, this just gobbled some and raise others on the pedestal.

One site that may be a testament to this situation is Friendster (www.friendster.com) Friendster was launched in 2002 and it is first designed to be an online dating site. It helped people know friends of their friends, and find romance over a stranger around the world (could be). It attracted a lot of followers and grew to an astounding number of 300,000 users in 2003. (What an accomplishment) 

But this "once great site" soon encountered several difficulties and this downward surge became a breakpoint for the diminishing of user's interests on friendster. Although U.S users had started losing interest, this event also sparked popularity of the site on a few Asian countries specially the Southeast like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and also our country, the Philippines.

 

Social Networking and lovin' it                                                             But this event did not put to end the desire of the people to meet and interact with other persons around the globe. Soon, other sites were introduced to the mainstream and brought again the interests of the people. This is what i can refer to as the "global web phenomenon"

 

Global it may seem that some sites are made for a specific point or area of interest, culture, taste, and even race. There are also sites that are made to cater a particular need of every loyal user. This sites introduced music, video and even photo sharing, users can also chat and interact with other users using web applications that connect both ends of the world. Truly, this amazed others and caught their loyalty.

Nowadays, it seems that every person whether young or old, regardless of their social status, wherever you may be in the world, or whatever you may do, you may be have at least one social networking site that you often visit frequently.

I guess that as long as the sun rises in the east and sets on the west, and as long as the hen lays it's egg and the dove stays white, the future of social networking is endless.

 

Stop. Look. Surf : BEWARE!                                                                     And before you will begin to indulge and explore the big world of online social networking, here is a piece of friendly advice: "Too much is Dangerous"

Guys, beware of over exposing yourself in the online world. Yes, you can indulge but do not overindulge. Do not also bare your personal information to strangers (and people not invited to the party) and do not let yourself be a prey of today's "Cyber Predators". There are many cases in and out that they let this criminal steal, modify and maliciously used it to their own advantage. I urge you social people to be responsible on presenting your online identity for what you do not know, danger is everywhere and i mean, anywhere, online and offline.

Top 3                                                                                                                                However there is light still in the online world. Danger lurks everywhere but you can defend yourself. This are three things that you can do (and for future posts, i'll do this part always)

Top 3 : Be responsible.                                                                                    Whatever content you may place online, it is your responsibility. The thing here is to moderate the things that you impart online.

Top 2 : Be selfish.                                                                                             Personal (also Private) Information are best said to yourself and to yourself alone. This time, you need to be selfish (on this part only). The thing here is to limit the persons who can see the information and keep others to very depths of yourself.

Top 1 : Surf Safely.                                                                                             My last advice for you is to visit the sites you know that can protect your personal information. (Be sure that when you log-in to a site you see "https://..." on the address bar, it means that the site is secure and of course your private information as well) 

 

(for you, what's your Top 3?)

___________________
 

Online Social Networking sites are fun and will let you explore the world at the tip of your fingers but always make sure that you surf safely!