A Penny For My Thoughts

I am a lot of things. I am that book with endless words. I am that pen that never ceases writing. I am an imagery that captures the beauty that there is. I am a song of elation, of sadness. I am a celebration of life. But most of all, I am a memory, a speck of dust that somehow coexisted and survived with other mindless dusts in our personal space in time.

But who am I really?

I am a son of the mountains and an FBI (Full Blooded Igorot). In my bloodstreams run the DNAs of fierce warriors that once ruled the hinterlands of the Gran Cordilleras. However, whenever I look at the mirror, I don’t see the image of a warrior but rather the reflection of a small town boy who grew up in the relative safety of the mountains, protecting him from the nightmarish realities outside of these mountains. But in spite of this, there was always that clamor inside of him to chase bigger dreams, to go outside his comfort zone and just experience the world.

And jump into the void I did! Hesitantly but with growing enthusiasm, I ventured into the “big city” to learn more and to experience things that the confines of my mountains could not provide. It is a maze that I often found myself lost. However, I have already learned a lot but I know it is still not enough. In the meantime, I’ll just be a sponge and absorb everything around me.

I enjoy the company of my close friends. I love small talks with my friends because it gives me a deeper insight as to who they are. This, I think that it is my one idiosyncrasy vis-à-vis personal relationships. I always have that insatiable appetite to know more about my friends and know more about what makes them tick.

I am an ultimate beach bum and a travel junkie. Travel is like second nature to me and I am always after exploring and falling in love new places and experiences. Though I grew up in the mountains, my heart was captured by the beach, with the sun, the sand and the gentle lapping of the waves acting like a manna rejuvenating my exasperated soul. I do like to trek mountains and keep in touch with my inner affinity with mother nature.

I am a bibliophile. My love for knowledge and learning pushed me to start reading early. I delved in newspapers and magazines, then eventually I got enamored with encyclopedias, with its glossy pages and colorful images. Now I am into novels of basically every genre but horror (I have too active an imagination).

Lately, I’ve been focusing on my writing. I am slowly regaining the momentum that I have once lost. I’ve been too obstinate for too long that I let my pen grow dull. But now I am back with a vengeance, and of the good kind, and I will now put to use the pen to inspire change. I don’t want to waste whatever talent was bequeathed to me.

There are still a lot of things I want to accomplish, and I am still on the process of adjusting my sails. However, I am putting my full trust in our good Lord, that He will guide me in every step of the way to reaching the zenith of my journey. With Him, my family and my friends as my inspirations, I know I will be able to reach greater things in this lifetime.

~Carl L. Batnag, CPA