"My grown up christmas list..."

When I was a child, I used to hang stockings and pray that Santa would fill them up. And Santa always do, but he never seemed to get my message correctly because he always end up giving me the things I did not ask for. But I always keep the gifts I find in my stockings and always hope that Santa would find the time to listen more carefully to my prayers the next time I ask.

Well, Santa never did. So I stopped asking for gifts from him. I stopped hanging my stockings and stopped expecting for his gifts. There are no more stockings to fill, so what will I expect?

Its been years since the last time I ask Santa for a gift, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask again. Would Santa listen to a 19 year old? I should think not. I think everybody could be a child regardless of age. Age is just a number, childhood is in the heart.

But then, this Christmas, I wouldn't ask my gift from Santa. I think it would be much better if I ask it directly from his superior, Christ, for whom Christmas is celebrated.

This year, I'll ask Christ to bless my family. I would ask him to heal the wounds that each of us feels. I'll pray to Him so He would strengthen my family, so He could stop them from hurting each other, so He could make them love each other again.

I hope Christ will let me see my friends. Those who have left and has been gone for a long time. I hope He would give me the chance to see them again.

I pray to Christ that my family will know love and happiness again. I hope He could make them see the importance of each one and stop hating each other. I hope Christ will make them stop competing with each other and make them see that they compliment each other.

I hope Christ will give me the power to make people stop hating each other, so I could do something for the world.

And if Christ is really listening to the desires of my heart, I wish He could send these gifts right away so we could spend a truly happy Christmas this year.




And I hope he'll make Santa hear more clearly, so he'll stop sending me the wrong gifts...

What are friends for?

"...there aren't any such things as good friends and bad friends--maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends, no bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart."(from the book, "IT" by Stephen King)

Do they always have to be beside us for them to be called friend? Do they need to be like us so we could be friends?

Friends are people who makes us laugh when we are about to cry, lightens our world when it suddenly goes dark, keeps our feet planted firmly on the ground when our big heads are already making us float. Sometimes they hurt us with their words, choke us with actions, irritates us with their unsolicited advices and annoys the heck out of us with their over-protectiveness but at the end of the day, they are still the people we never hesitate to hang out with.

Friends are people who accepts us with no buts and ifs. Helps us see our mistakes and helps in correcting them. They are people who will not hesitate to point our mistakes and praise our achievements. They are the first to applaud when we succeed, the first to pick us up when we fail, clean us up when we make a mess of ourselves, and sometimes, makes the mess with us.

Sometimes, they are people who will take the bullet from you.

True friends don't get angry at you when you meet and befriend new people. They don't get mad when you hang out with others. They treasure you but never claims ownership. They allow you to roam the world, meet you new people, and discover new things. They don't stop you from scraping your knees but helps you put a bad-aid on it.

They are the people who will sometimes let you fall and then catch you when you are almost on the ground. They let you do things even when they know that you'll probably get hurt in the end because they know that pain will make you stronger and will help you learn. And if after you still don't learn, they are also the first ones who will not hesitate to slap you to wake your senses.

But what are friends really for?
I don't know. Maybe they're just there to prove to us that angels do exist. And so are devils.

Vampire Wars?

Oh sure, Robert Pattinson is one gorgeous guy. But I don't like him as a vampire. And he will never be as gorgeous as my Lestat.

In Twilight, Edward is a 79 years old vampire who has fallen in love with the 17 year old Isabella Swann. A modern day Romeo and Juliet with a twist. Of course, as a vampire, he is pretty poetic in his dialogues and so is Lestat. In fact, Lestat is more poetic than he is.

So who is Lestat? Well, he is the 200 year old vampire, forever trapped inside the body of his 21 year-old mortal self, in Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicle series (Interview with a Vampire, Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, etc.). He is rogue and elegant, powerful, cunning, and eccentric. And he is definitely more intelligent than Edward Cullen.

Definitely more handsome too (he was portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie "Intrerview with the vampire" and Stuart Townsend in "Queen of the Damned"). And talking about handsome, well, the vampire Louis is even more handsome than Edward. (in the photo) (left Tom Cruise as Lestat and Brad Pitt-right, as Louis)

When it comes to depth, the Vampire Chronicles is more philosophical. A battle, not between the good and the evil, but between a man and himself. A man torn between his nature as a vampire and his conscience. A man who is evil because he has to kill to live but also a man whose only dream is to become a saint.

Imagine that? A vampire who want to be a saint. Lestat maybe vain, egocentric, materialistic, fiend but he surely one charming and lovable brat-prince. Because that is what exactly he is, a brat prince of the vampires. He is too powerful that even he, could not kill himself. (Photo: Stuart Townsend as Lestat in Queen of the Damned)

Lestat is more intriguing. He speaks like a philosopher, acts like a child who has to get whatever he needs, and sometimes behaves like the fiend that he is.

Of course, in the movies, its a battle between who is the most handsome vampire. But in the world of literature? I find the Vampire Chronicles deeper and thought-provoking than the Twilight Series.

It is not a story of two lovestruck teenagers who happens to be as compatible as the spider and the fly, the vampire chronicles talks more of the complexity of the human spirit, the struggle between being evil and being good, and the complexity of the idea of heaven and hell.

The story in Twilight is a story that has been told a thousand times already. It is the story of the frog prince and the princess, the story of beauty and the beast, and so on. It is a story of two people from different worlds (and yes, different species also) who falls in love and conquers the odds. Told in different ways but ends up all the same.

But how are you going to conquer yourself? How are you going to be good when you are made to be evil? When you live in evil? When you are the literal personification of evil? How can you dream of saving the world when you have to kill to live? How can you justify heaven and God when you are seen as the minion of Satan? How can you dream to be mortal when ordinary people would kill just to be immortal?

Intriguing, funny, thought provoking, a piece of literature that is meant to conquer the years and proliferate regardless of generation. Lestat is one character who is as enigmatic as the Quantum, as mysterious as the stonehenge and will probably live through time like the legends of Hercules and the Atlantis.

He is one monster I would very much love to keep under my bed. He is one devil I would never mind meeting. A vampire I would gladly offer my blood to. He is mine, and I am his.