The Promise

I will always be the person people can look to.
I will always be striving for the top of my tier, if not beyond.
I will never allow myself or another brother or sister to slip in our standard.
I will never fall victim to the universal lies that perpetuate this society.
I will always uphold the truth, and strike down any and all lies.
I will never leave a brother or sister behind.

I will stand beside them, to be a guiding light and a friend.
I will stand in front of them, as to lead them through this life.
I will stand behind them, as to support their steps and to catch them if they fall behind.

I will provide them with whatever is in my power.
I will wipe the tears from their eyes.
I will catch their tears in my hand.
I will ensure that those tears are not wasted when I leave for my own battles.

That is my promise.

A. L. Balatayo

Shooting stars? NAH. I got my own wings...

Today was good.

Did my first spin in a LONG TIME today.
Went up in the aircraft, tried pulling a spin entry, failed.
So, my instructor demonstrated a spin entry, and the aircraft went right into a full spin.
We did a revolution or so before I was instructed to begin the recovery.

Maybe if I can get pictures of myself in other planes, then I'll post them.

(8) "I ask why, but in my mind I find, I can't rely on myself..." (8)

Yesterday, I saw this skit at school talking about homosexuality.
Homophobia, to be more exact.

As a Christian, I totally disagree with the aspect of homosexuality.
However, I am not against the person - only the notion.
But that certain topic, I will cover on a later posting.

BUT, anyways...

The actual skit (it was a presentation by a senior drama class) was, in all honesty, very good.
It had the emotional appeal that was necessary to reinforce the point that homophobia (a misnomer, in my opinion) is wrong, and that people should all be people.
Then the actors all asked for the audience's opinion.

Oh my, the next few minutes were absolutely disgraceful.
If anything stands against the drive for equal rights for the LGBT community, it would have to be how these students conducted themselves.

They looked like they 'encouraged' open discussion and opinion.
WRONG.
When someone made an anti-homosexual comment (and not even offensive, to give it a bit of leverage), they all jumped.
Mob-style tactics, using a number of faces against an individual or group of individuals.
It was plain wrong.

The main character of the play (who was, in real life, an open homosexual) was all very quiet through this (or, at least, from my viewpoint).
That will go with him, on my part.

Personally, I don't mind the guy.
I could consider him my friend, I would go out with him for coffee on any occasion.
However, the people who were supporting him (and mind this, they were all straight), were overly fanatical in protecting their homosexual friend, that they resorted to ganging up and attempting to 'gag' anyone whose viewpoint differed from what they wanted.

What really bothered me more, was that the play held a strong anti-Christian stigma.
It maybe just be my feelings, but the way that the Bible and other aspects of Christianity were covered (or deformed and twisted to fit either party) and the way the actors berated people of the Christian faith, really bothered me, and it still does, up to the moment of this writing.
And I know a few of the actors are Christian - they should have conducted themselves better than that of their non-Christian friends.

What looked like helping to encourage active free rights for all, ended up becoming more of a propaganda campaign, actively attempting to suppress any deviant point of view that would threaten their point of view.
And the fact that teachers and administration stood there, not doing anything to attempt to control the discussion (except for the one drama teacher who controlled her students), really worries me.
This might be the opening for an actively anti-Christian, if not outright anti-religious, attitude, and eventual behavior, in the community.

However, to end on a lighter note, I believe these 2 verses should stand for both parties of the discussion.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." - Mark 12:30-31

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!" - James 2:12-13

-Aimann L. Balatayo

p.s.: The subject line is from the song "By Myself" by Linkin Park.

"Rain, rain, go away..."

Saturday morning.
Not flying, due to weather.

Hopefully it clears up soon.
Or at least clears up long enough to permit some flying.

We can hope, can't we?...

(8) "... the stories they told you still run through your veins..." (8)

Back to anger mode.
But this time, something much more personal.

My sister, something is bothering her.
I don't know what it is, but I just know.
And it's not just an ethereal something - it's people.

I know I constitute some of the problem.
But that's something that I'm slowly changing about myself.

It's other people.
And, following my own basic instincts, want to protect her.
This time, I'm not powerless like before - this time around, I know what's spinning, I know what's in the air, and I know the situation a bit more thoroughly.

But, at the same time, I don't know what to do...
Lord, give me an answer...

-Aimann L. Balatayo
Sadman.Actual

p.s.: The subject line is from 'Cries in Vain' by Bullet for my Valentine.

p.s.s.: I'm slowly approaching controlled tipping point.

(8) "We don't sleep very much - these triggers ache for the touch..." (8)

Angry.
Legitimately PISSED OFF.

I trusted them.
Loved them as my own family.
And they lied.
Consecutively, and intentionally.
Tried to lead me into a giant abyss of lies, and take everyone else with me.
Liars and thieves.
Almost made me destroy my family and alienate my real friends.
Hypocrites.
You leave me and my family, and then call us sectarian, a denomination?!
I swear, if I didn't love you the way I do, I would've already created a hole the size of Mother American and Father Russia, COMBINED, through wherever you guys meet.
Honestly, you broke my heart, and manipulated me.
May God have mercy on you, because I know I won't.

--

Sorry, I was just really mad at a group of people.
I have the tendency to vent at times.
I hope this week will turn out better :)

-Aimann L. Balatayo
Sadman.Actual

p.s.: The subject line is a lyric piece from "Elective Amnesia" by Rise Against.

♫ "A stranger's up ahead, holding up a knife - trying to keep, trying to keep me away from you..." ♫

Today, my day was pretty decent.
Church, gym, driving, so on and so forth...

However, the dream I had this morning, was really weird.

--

I was a soldier in a SOF-like unit, investigating something weird, like a weird outbreak in a town or something. The sky was raining sewage (yes, EW), and there were chemicals being dumped in the drinking water.

The next moment, I'm a guard in a detainment facility.
All the detainees were the town's adults - strangely enough, they had no faces.
(which is a good sign)
Next thing I know, the execution order is given, and I'm trapped in a giant area with all these people crammed into small cages. The electronic gates (the main ones and the ones that formed the cages) closed.
Thinking quickly, I managed to kick my way through an unused maintenance cage and escape the area, forming back with the many observers (civilians, soldiers, guards, children). Two black girls were behind me - I did not know their fates.
As soon as I turned behind me, the gas was turned on.
Every adult in their cage began to asphyxiate - everyone began walking down this stairwell to what was supposedly the exit to the facility.

As I'm walking down the well (at this point, I'm unarmed), I overhear talk of a guard mentioning that these people were simply being lead to another detainment facility, probably meeting the same fate (if not worse).
What I did was follow a girl (a classmate of mine IRL, with one of my IRL friends following me) up a giant staircase to what was supposedly the prison complex.
As we approached the main room, the walls began to expand and begin to turn like gears.
As the gears began to turn, I woke up.

--

This dream didn't mean much to me in my waking hours, until I started to draw the lines later.
What ran through my mind as I drew the lines were the concentration camps during World War II, and how Jewish prisoners and other prisoners were gassed using Zyklon B.
It might have not been the same time era, but it definitely fit the criteria - the entire adult population of that town was gassed, and I was a perpetrator to that.
Freaky...

Not that I'm related to what happened in World War II (my family came from the Philippines), but it really didn't click at all with me for the entire day.
Being a prison guard and killing prisoners...

-Aimann L. Balatayo
Sadman.Actual

p.s.: The subject line is a lyric piece from the song "The More You Talk the Less I Hear" by Armor For Sleep.