"Little Canary" by ARK

Another animal-related short story from yours truly...

Once there was a lost land called Paradise.

Nobody has ever been there, except for an ancient group of birds. Paradise was inhabited by an endless flock that did nothing more but feel the breeze of the wonderful sky. Below them, only the rain forest. Above, nothing but the clouds.

The birds swooshed and swayed all around the trees, dazzlingly playing their majestic games. There, not a single bird had to feel fear. They dreaded not the food chain, for there were no predators to hunt them, nor were there prey they could hunt.

Instead, fruits sprouted all over Paradise. No bird has ever heard of the word 'hunger.'

And no one has heard of the rule where you must stay with birds of the same feather. Hardly any bird had somebody "of the same feather." They just enjoyed flying--not caring who they were with.

"Outside?" said Elder Owl, the wisest bird in Paradise as a group of little birds gathered around him. "Why would you want to go outside? We have everything here."

"Well...sir, Elder Owl. I was just...wondering if there is a world beyond Paradise," answered Little Canary. He hatched just weeks ago, but every bird in Paradise has noticed him for being very curious.

"Why, of course there is!" exclaimed Elder Owl. The young birds listened to him in astonishment. "It's called The Earth. Paradise itself is a part of The Earth. But alas, no other place on Earth is as perfect as Paradise."

"Why?' asked Little Canary.

"Good question, young one. You see, the rest of The Earth is a wasteland, compared to our home. There, equality does not exist. Animals fight each other for food. No wonder everything runs out. Here, fruits grow endlessly because we know that there is enough for everybody."

The flock of young birds fell quiet, shocked at what they heard. "The world outside is a terrible place, my children," Elder Owl adjusted his spectacles. "I've been there before, And I must say I never should have."

Elder Owl took a glance at Little Canary and saw he was troubled. "What's the matter, my boy?"

"I...wanna go outside Elder Owl," a surprised gasp echoed from the other young birds.


"But why would you go there?" "It's scary there!" "Nobody ever leaves Paradise!" said the birds.

"Elder Owl must have been very brave to fly away from Paradise. But I wanna see what The Earth is really like. I wanna see why this place is Paradise, and why the rest of it is imperfect."

Elder Owl stood quiet. He reacted no more. He knew that by the end of the day, by the time the birds fall asleep, Little Canary will have forgotten his foolish desire.

But he was wrong. That night, Little Canary snuck out of his tree and quietly flew towards the heavens. He knew that beyond the clouds, The Earth was waiting for him. His curiosity was seeping through his veins, powering his wings to fly higher and higher.

The Song Birds, who magnificently danced and sang to keep all the birds asleep, took notice of him. One of the birds stepped away from the chorus and anxiously shouted: "Little Canary! Where are you going at this time of the night?"

"Outside! I'm going outside! See you later, my friends!" Little Canary shouted to the birds below. He knew that now wasn't the right time to stop. He was afraid, but he was also excited. He knew there was a whole new world for him to explore.

And he was so close to it.

For a moment, he took in the view as Paradise grew smaller and smaller beneath, and the sky before him grew larger than everything he has ever seen. Only the clouds were on his way now. There was nowhere else to go but up.

But all of a sudden, a loud, vicious roar froze him. He flapped in place, searching for what caused the violent explosion of sound. The clouds grew dark, and Little Canary realized it was about to rain. And in a second, the storm began.

Water heaved Little Canary down, and lightning almost struck him. The dark sky continued to roar, as the bird tried his hardest to get back up.

Feeling weak and afraid, Little Canary fought no more. He let the turbulent winds send him back down to where he began--the ground.

He closed his eyes and let himself fall with the waves of water pouring from the heavens...

Until he heard a familiar voice. "LITTLE CANARY!"

"What? Who could that be?" Little Canary thought.

And he slowly tried to opened his eyes as he fell closer and closer to the ground. And he was bewildered to see every bird in Paradise desperately flapping their wings trying to get out of the flood that has become of their homes. The trees were gone, and everything was submerged in the dark water.

"SAVE YOURSELF!" Elder Owl screamed at him again. "FLY AWAY! AND DON'T YOU EVER GIVE UP!!"

Little Canary realized that the moment he touched the water, his wings would get too heavy to fly with. He would drown with everybody else.

Little Canary knew he couldn't save any of them. He just cried as he flapped his wings again, fighting hard against the rain.

"I know what you're thinking, Little Canary! Don't worry about us!" Elder Owl was also about to drown. "Even if The Earth is not as perfect as Paradise, consider it your sanctuary. Flap your wings until you find yourself a new home."

And those were his last words.

Paradise was no more. That night, the lost land became nothing but Ocean and Sky...and in the middle, only a little yellow canary struggling to stay alive.


Little Canary looked up, his wings getting heavier by the minute. "An imperfect world is all that is out there!" he shouted at the clouds. But he flapped harder and harder. "But that will be my new home."

...

Days later, Little Canary has found himself a place in The Earth. he was found severely injured by a little boy who took him in compassionately. He fed him, he gave him shelter, and loved him more than anything else. "There you go, Little Canary," said the boy as he placed the bird in a golden cage.

Little Canary never felt safer. He thought: "An imperfect world it is. Elder Owl, I reached it. Hey, maybe imperfection isn't such a bad thing."

A house is not a home. But sometimes, all you need is a house.

"Spoon-taneous!" by DEV

"You shoot me dowwwwwn, but I won't faaaaaaall... I am SPONTANEOUS!!!"

("and surprised you will be, buddy.")

While it does make me sound like a Spartan warrior with a sinus problem, I am feeling SPONTANEOUS today. Probably 'cause I really like that word.

When my awesomazing self woke up today, I had a really good feeling everything was going to go according to my plans. "But wait!" I said as I felt the presence of a BV ninja. You know what that is? BV stands for Bad Valentines!

("dafuq did you mean by Bad Valentines?")

Okay, that made no sense. I blame Jen.

Anyway. I knew this BV ninja was only leading me on, making me feel all cozy before he UNLEASHES HIS NINJA FURY. He was gonna make me feel good so he could ruin the rest of my day.

The sun was shining like some sorta diamond, and it was beaming on my face as I woke up. That was my definition of a perfect morning. Silence, and shininess all over.

(nothing like waking up to the sight of mustached coffee and algae-flavored cupcakes)

But I thought it was too good to be true. So 'stead of waking up, I kept my eyes shut after taking in all the Vitamin D. I thouight, 'today I'm going to be spontaneous.' And whatever happens, nothing would ruin my day.

And in a few moments, all the clouds stepped in. The BV ninja hoarded all the clouds in the sky AND BLOCKED MY PERFECT SUN.

(I looked up and it was a turtle!)

But it was too late. I had expected it all along. And so with my Dev powers, I shooed the ninja away and got all spontaneous for the rest of the day.

Why is this post called "Spoon-taneous"? Well, 'cause I'm so frickin' spoontaneous. Yes, there's NO reason. BWAHAHA.

Other sponatne... Spontanei... Spontanyati...

Other spoontastic acts I did today (both intentional and not):

1. Well, we didn't go to church today. Which was surprising 'cause we always do.

(at least Obama made it there.)

2. I took a bath WAY more early than expected. Like, an hour earlier. Whatev.

3. I took three breaks, ate lunch, downloaded two songs, tweeted several times, read four comics and composed "Croaking Froggy Style" all before finishing this post.

4. I annihilated an overly strong Ganryu named "Lili Killer" while playing Tekken 6...using a Lili.

Now to show off my spoontaneity, I'm gonna cut this short and record a song. Yey!

-> And yes, folks. I really did put Ark's logo here. BWAHAHA.

"Meh!" by DEV

I sat down in front of my computer, even when Ark told me not to. This badass can't be stopped by anyone!

And so here I am, posting on here, surfing the web, and other sh*t. And you know what? By the time I  finished doing my "web routine," I found myself BORED. No new tweets (okay, so there are a few tweets, but I chose to ignore them), no new notifs on Facebook. And of course, this blog post itself won't be so exciting until i actually finish typing it.

So to ease mah' boredom, I scanned through my bookmarked pages and realized... I HAVEN'T BEEN ON 9GAG for a loooooong time. I don't blame myself though.

I gave it another shot, even if I knew it was going down the drain.

And here's the first post my eyes laid on:

Not bothering to comment, I just glanced on top of the page to check if I'm seeing what I'm supposed to be. Yep, it says "What's Hot."

All I thought was "Meh."

THIS is what 9gag users now think "is hot." Well, yes. It's SO. F*CKING. HOT. It's hilarious. But I gave it another chance.

I scrolled down just a bit and saw THIS:

Meh. You be the judge. Should we give 9gag another chance? Hmm...meh.

"Thoughts" by ARK

This month definitely has the least number of posts ever. But I for one think it's a good kind of change.

That means I dedicate more time for school work, right? Maybe. I have been banning Dev from posting too. We must suffer this together. And if I get good grades this semester, summer vacation will be worth it. I'll be enjoying it much more.

So right now, my thoughts are (supposed to be) focused on school, and real life. With that alone, it's already overloaded. School is a vast term, you know. In school we have homework, activities, friends, romance, food, emotions, thrills, and more thoughts.

I have been redefining myself these days.



I have been changing the way I look at myself.

No, what I've been really trying to do is stare at the mirror and simply define what I see. Don't you know it's the hardest thing to do?

I want a clearer picture of who I am. Because I'm about to graduate, and I want an idea of who I am going to introduce to the real world. Who is this Ark that will be facing all the new challenges? Is he confident? Is he a pushover? Is he strong? Is he dense? Is he sensitive?

Somehow all of the things that used to define me, have been mixed up. I am now this diverse self, I could not fully grow accustomed with. It's hard to know how to organize your thoughts if you don't know how you think in the first place.

I guess I'm mad...

...at myself, for being so confused.

Frustrated. My emotions have never flowed so easily, and that's the only thing I actually like. I'm more honest with myself. I'm lost within my mind, and yet I've never been in so much control.

I see now, that the reason I'm mad, the reason I'm frustrated, and the reason I can't define who I am, is because this is the first time I've tried to view myself for what I really am.

This angel is learning a lot about himself, by the minute. No wonder he is overwhelmed.

The past Ark and the new Ark have combined in order to be a stronger, more formidable force. Don't worry, friends. I will learn how to handle myself. And after redefining myself, I shall emerge better than ever.

So who am I? What are these thoughts telling me? Why do I show anger in my dreams? What are these emotions about?

I know the reason. And despite my honesty, I won't be sharing it here. Bwahaha. And I am not sorry.

What have YOUR thoughts been about?

"The Old Mango Man" by ARK

Outside our new apartment, right beside our neighbor's house is a huge mango tree. I'm not familiar with the mango seasons and I don't know what time of the year these fruits are supposed to grow, but I swore that tree has always been abundant.

It was impossible for passersby to not notice the tree, for the green mangoes are practically dangling towards the road. One can simply raise his arm and grab a few. Who knew somebody has been growing these? They always seemed to exist, but the cause of their existence has never been recognized.

Yesterday, my grandmother and I have been invited by a group of women to a neighbor's house. I mentally labeled them as those "religious women" who always came in packs of at least six or seven, carrying prayer books and rosaries with them. All of us were to pray to the Divine Mercy, before the neighbor passed its portrait to our apartment.

As we entered the house several more of these religious women came into view, most of them already comfortable on their small stools and ready for the prayer.

And it was a long prayer.

The prayer book had several pages, and we prayed nearly three-fourths of it. The only time we stopped harmoniously praying was when an old man spoke his interpretation of the gospel. I never noticed him until he spoke to us. Except from me, I deemed everyone in the room as "religious women" and completely left out the fact that there was a "religious man" in our midst. If I took notice of him at all, I would have thought he was just another family member.

But there he was...an unidentified man who spoke his understanding of the Word.

Men don't often incorporate themselves with religion, the way I see it. Except for those who turn to priesthood or even those who simply become lay ministers and acolytes whose jobs are to actually profess their faith, men don't turn to the Church very often. And by that I mean doing Church-related activities OTHER than going to church.

But he was one of those people I so very rarely meet.

The gospel was all about giving without expecting anything in return. He said that if we do something and people give you credit for it, you will no longer receive anything in return. I've heard his homily from a priest before. But because he seemed so convinced, the old man speaking of it was an inspiring thing to watch.

It was when he gave an example that he caught my ear. He said that if he gave somebody a few green mangoes, he wouldn't even expect a simple 'thank you.' He knew deep in his soul that somebody greater would be giving him all the rewards. And so he gives away mangoes on the regular. He allows the fruits to grow with love, then just gives it all away. It's an endless and fruitful cycle.

That's when it hit me. "He's the Old Mango Man."

That's when I realized the existence behind the tree's existence. The one who planted the seed.

What's really amazing is that the Old Mango man was living up to his word. He spoke of the Word with so much charisma because he lived by those words. To give without expecting anything in return. To care without expecting to be cared for. To suffer in silence. To give rest to those who are tired. To find rest in prayer. To love others as God would.

To the Old Mango Man, do not count this as an Earthly recognition.

I believe you deserve the reward you've been waiting for.

"3-Day Vacation!" by DEV

So... we had a 2-day vacation planned for this week. And by 2-day vacation, we mean two awezome days without classes. Course, that doesn't mean it's work-free, but heyyyy! TWO DAYS without having to fly to school? SHEER AWESOMAZING!

(this is what we call "fun in the sun".)

But then today's professor cancelled her classes and told us in advanced that she wouldn't be goin'. So you know what that means??? Plus one day to our vacation, baby!

And so here I am, enjoying the start of my 3 day vacation... Haven't had one o' these in a while. Ark's kinda worried, 'cause once this awezome vacation is over, we'll be facing monstrous monsters in the form of reports, case studies and final exams.

But I told Ark not to sweat it. See, we have this new "relaxed mode". Does't mean we won't be doing work. Just means we'll be spending less time worrying about it. Which is great for Ark 'cause he can get better results by relaxing.

And it's great for me too, 'cause he nags me a LOT LESS with our homework. Good, good.

So, I'll see ya' later folks. It's time to get relaxing before we head back to the real world of pain and sorrow. >:)

I'll leave you with this thought:

(it also gets pyramids done.)

"Demonized!" by DEV

A friend o' mine said that politicians are demonized in my eyes. Then again, people call ME a demon, 'cause I have horns and everything. And since I'm the most awesomazing "demon" I know, does that mean politicians are awesomazing in my eyes too?

DEFINITELY NOT.

(ME.)

I don't hate all of 'em. Just the corrupt ones... Impossible to distinguish the good ones from the bad? Oh well, that's a pretty good reason to hate all of them.

(Except Batman. Nobody hates Batman.)

Frankly I don't give a f*ck who's in position, 'cause they're all just the same to me. Why am I even talking about this? Well, I don't always give out my opinions, 'cause that's Ark's job. But I might as well give it a try.

Okay, I wanna get only one point across, and this here is the most important thing you'll be reading today: "I HATE the campaign period."

Mostly 'cause the other demons aren't as awezome as I am.

But other than that...

I HATE seeing posters of random smiling politicians! Do those people smile as big as they look in the posters whenever they receive complaints about the places they're supposed to be running? Are they as eager to help as they say they are? And do they really look that good in person, or is it photoshopped?

(This is probably photoshopped.)

Repetitive posters of people who'll probably rob you dry are everywhere during the campaign period. What's worse than looking at an entire wall beautifully covered by names and faces? Oh, I know. The early posters. The ones that have been there even BEFORE the frickin' start of the frickin' campaign period.

As the saying goes, the early bird irritates me.

And don't get me started on TV commercials. Ti's' the season for desperate jingles and not-so-catchy renditions of songs you actually liked but have been ruined by the placing of some random dude's name.

I should stop this. Ark gives out more "controlled" opinions. He's got lesser bias.

So let's cut this short. I'll be raiding the fridge instead. Hmm...I should probably run for senator while I'm at it.

"Lovers, Birds and Lovebirds" by ARK

Aww... It's Valentine's Day. :)


...and for every other person out there who isn't in a relationship, or even in a state of one-sided love, Happy Single Awareness Day. :)

...and I am pretty sure you're aware that you are single. But the problem is, WHY are you single? If you are bitter enough to count all the happy couples carrying roses or bears or chocolates passing you by today, you might already be wondering "why am I single?" or something like "why can't I have somebody to hug and do immoral stuff in public with?"

As you follow the flock, you realize you are living among love birds...and you start to see yourself as an ostrich. Just stuck to the ground, nobody to fly with.

But personally, I don't think love always has to take you to the sky. You don't always have to feel the clouds. Sometimes it's all about sitting there, looking up and enjoying the view. The sky seems bigger from below.

Wow, I am actually defining how I see love.

Well, okay. So I'm one of those people who wish they'd be more like an eagle rather than an ostrich. I want to feel the breeze against my face too. But today I learned that sometimes you just have to accept what you have, and be happy with it. Appreciate the color of your own feathers. In my case, that is whether I have someone to love or not.

Love is love right? It's an admiration. Nobody forces it to happen. It just comes.

So just keep waiting, land-bound bird. Someday, some other land-bound bird will come to admire you.

Or maybe an eagle will find you and teach you how to fly.

Or maybe you'll become a lovebird too.

Or maybe you'll fall in love with the sky.

Or maybe you are better off with a dog.

Love is love, whatever specie you are.

So just keep loving. Getting loved back is just a great (and rare) bonus. Just keep counting those happy couples. Celebrate the mere existence of love. It's one of the few things in life that makes it worth living anyway.