"Dance"

"Dance"

by:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

Dance. Dance is many things. What is it? It’s a word, it’s an art. For some, it is freedom, it’s a way to express themselves. It is sadness, it is anger, it is happiness. It is quite literally the physical representation of emotion. 

To me, dance is a dream. A sometimes far-away dream. But I’ll get there someday.

Dance is also a struggle.

Dance isn’t easy. It might even be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. 

I love to dance. Just like music, I can’t live without it. The first thing that pops into my head when I hear a song is how I could dance to it. If you ask my parents, they’ll say I can’t even walk around the house without at least dancing once. I’ve been told before that I can dance or that I’ve got a pedigree in dancing, thanks to my mom. So it was truly a shock to me and a great disappointment when I couldn’t get even the simplest of choreography's for a school project. I guess I got too confident. But then again, I’m never sure if I believe in myself too much or too little. I am a person who is admittedly emotionally weak, one mistake is all it takes to break down my already fragile confidence. Even now, as I’m writing this, my eyes start to sting. It doesn’t help that I’m overly critical of myself or that I’m a perfectionist who won’t settle for nothing less but absolute perfection when it comes to myself. With other people I am lenient, but when it’s me I point out every single flaw and mistake even when it hurts me. 

Dance gives me pain. Even when it hurts me, I still go for it. Maybe I’m crazy. My body hurts, my heart hurts, everything hurts. Everyday turns into a question of “Can I do this?” or “Am I really cut out for this?” It breaks my confidence and self-esteem down just as quickly as it builds it up. But after all this pain, I’d have to admit...

Dance gives me joy. Dance has given me more joy and confidence than anything in my life. Aside from music, dance is the best thing that has ever happened to me. There’s something in getting a step right or being able to perform a choreography perfectly. Dance completely changes me.

Dance is like two sides of the same coin. It is painful, it makes you question everything about yourself, and it is dull and dreary, but at the same time it is beautiful, inspiring, and it is colorful.

Whenever people see a finished dance presentation, they’re quick to think that it’s easy, and so they try it for themselves, just like me. The truth is that what they see is only the smallest part of dancing or learning how to dance. They don’t see the pain, the sacrifice, or the tears (both in our eyes and muscles). There’s a lot that goes on behind a presentation. I recount one time I used my break to let my feelings out in the bathroom because I felt that I couldn’t do anything right when I wasn’t able to get the steps as quickly as my classmates that day. I’ve recovered and I’ve tried to build myself up again after that experience by pushing myself harder to learn the steps and be able to catch up with my classmates but I’ve realized that it really does take a lot to be able to dance good. It takes courage to try and to fail, patience to persevere, dedication to practice, and hard work.

My message to all the dancers and artists out there is to never give up. Things may get hard and you’ll feel like giving up but don’t. Things will get better eventually. And if you ever feel like you’re just not made to dance or it’s not what you’re destined for, the sheer fact that you’re there learning how to dance means that some part of you is meant to be there, so don’t you ever question it.

"Ghosted"

"Ghosted"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Did you see the things that I said?

The way that I phrased them

Oh so subtly as if you would care

Oh and oh because I did dare

II

Only to know if you did

Only to be here waiting

Only that you didn't

And I was here insisting

III

Asking for forgiveness

Begging for those words

Unknowing the answers

Shame shame they never came.

Optum. Building N. Quezon City. July 16 , 2019 6:46am

Sephara , Sky's Blade: An Orzhov Scenario"

Sephara , Sky's Blade: An Orzhov Scenario"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Sephara , Sky's blade is by no doubt a limited bomb and I gather that she might see a little more play in the EDH casual decks of certain players. Playing her is worth it but a bit harder that playing let us say that demon that only requires black creatures and a measly 6 life.

Of course one can argue that both Sephara and the Demon of deaths gate can actually exist in an Orzhov deck and I would be one of those people.

Consider that at around turn 4 you could have both of these big fatties out in play. On turn 2 you might have been able to cast a Midnight Haunting (If you were able to play a Plains and Sol ring on your first turn.) or a Spectral Possession if you are able to put in another Plains. Turn 3 is where it gets very interesting

You could cast Lingering Spirits on turn 2 getting 2 1/1 Flying White Spirit creature tokens. You can pay for the 2 mana flashback cost which gives you a total of 4 Flying Spirits. You can pay 1 white mana and tap these 4 creatures to play Sephara so that you have a beeft 7/7 flyer with lifelink.

She also makes your other Flying creatures indestructible. But wait there is more. How can we totally exploit this situation you might ask?

By casting a Darkest Hour we can now make all those untapped white spirits into black creatures. And you know what that means? You could pay 6 life. Sacrifice 3 of those black spirits and get a Demon of Deathsgate out! A 9/9 Flying Trampler! And thanks for Sephara is now Indestructible to boot!

An explosive turn 3 if I do say so myself and something that I am willing to trying in my existing Orzhov deck that features Teyza , Orzhov Scion. Oh what fun it would be having Angels and Demons at your bidding.

"Ajani , Strength of the Pride: Make it White , Make it Ajani!"

"Ajani , Strength of the Pride: Make it White , Make it Ajani!"

by:

Virgilio F.De leon Jr.MD

Ajani is the M20 White planeswalker representative. Now that Gideon is dead and Elspeth is well still in the process of reviving. Our good old Leonin has our backs.

So at 4 mana and a starting loyalty counter count of 5. What are the things that matter to Ajani , Strength of the Pride? That thing is Life. Yes. A deck with life gain. Existing Soul Sisters deck would gladly add him in.

Looking at his first ability another thing that matters is that you play a lot of creatures or planeswalkers in your deck. Since this first ability counts the number of creatures you have and your planeswalkers to give you a point of life for each of them. you control 8 soldier tokens and Ajani? thats 9 life! 

And if you don't have a creature in play you could also use Ajani's token generating ability to make an Ajani's Pridemate. Another creature who thrives on the increase in your life. So if you needed you can generate this token and increase your life with the first ability on the next turn. 

But the best reason to play Ajani in this 3rd skill. Yes it does not cost any loyalty counters but it can only be activated if you have 15 or more life than your starting total. Not a problem in dedicated life gain EDH decks at all. And then when the chips are down you could actually use this asymmetrical ability by exiling Ajani and to rid your opponents of their creatures and artifacts because they would come with him. If you have already built up an army of your own you can all have your opponents at your mercy. It goes without saying that with no army in the battlefield the chances of your opponents winning get slimmer and slimmer.

I hate to say it but given the right conditions this is actually a very good advantage over all your enemies.

"3 things I have seen this week: Luck Day"

"3 things I have seen this week: Luck Day"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

There are times when you feel that the universe is somehow conspiring to give you the worst possible day and then there are days like today that seem like that the fates seems to put all of your luck in one basket. Here are three things that I have seen today that made it such a fine day.

1) The Car

Normally when I arrive at my clinic in Eton Centris there would be a wait for cars to exit the parking lot and the guards would have to ask you to move so as not to clog up the 3 lane avenue facing Cyberpod 2. This was not one of those nights. I was surprised that when I was pulling up to my favorite parking spot( the one behind the ambulance and directly in front of Cyberpod two) the car that was parked their hurriedly backed up and left. And me. I got the best parking spot without a fuss.

2) The thing on the road

So I was able to park quite easily. And when I moved to the passenger side of my car to get my things there was something on the pavement. It looked familiar. It was violet. It was a 100 peso bill! And I assumed that it might have belonged to the owner of the car that had just vacated this slot. Well I don't know how in the earth I can contact them soooooo....I have a 100 pesos to add to what I would call my lucky stash.

3) The Korean Store

It has been nearly 3 months and I have not been able to cook my wife's favorite jajangmyeon and before eating my dinner I decided to try my luck.It was a lucky day after all and so when I came in to the korean store the Ate was happy to see me. I asked , "Meron na ba?" 

The Ate said , "Meron na sir!"

And just like that I took out all 11 pieces of the jajangmyeon from Paldo. 3 freaking months and I just come in one day and it was there! Freaky.

"The Writer Writes"

"The Writer Writes"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

I should be writing

And so I am now

It is only here where I find these things

These thoughts , these feelings

II

The pleasure of putting

Thoughts on paper

Shaping them into something

that did not exist a moment before.

III

Creation is not as easy

as others think it should be

Same with destruction

the same effort can be said

IV

I smile at these words

knowing that they are mine and mine alone

And maybe hand in hand

Slowly becomes my Destruction and Creation.

Optum , Building N. Quezon City. July 3 , 2019, 5:56am

"Kykar , Wind's Fury: Let's give him some metal."

"Kykar , Wind's Fury: Let's give him some metal."

by:

Virgilio F De leon Jr.MD

Kykar is a big bird. There I said it.

With that out of the way it took me awhile to shake the cobwebs from my eyes after a short nap to realized how I can use this latest Jeskai Commander to land me a win. At 4 mana and 3 different colors Kykar, Wind's Fury could be a bird commander but that would mean not exploiting all of it's wonderful abilities.

So as a 3/3 flyer Kykar is one of thos squishy type of creatures that is within the range of a lightning bolt but then again he has both white and blue in his colors which has an arsenal of counters at it's disposal. So how do I plan to win with this guy? I plan to make an artifact affinity deck around him.

And it would all go so sweetly when I am able to play a Future Sight and Sensei's Divining top allowing me to look at my library and casting low costing artifacts from it. For each non creature card that I cast it triggers Kykars ability and I get to put a 1/1 spirit token with flying into play. If I cannot cast the said artifact or hit a land I will just draw that land and put the Top on the library and then cast it to continue. At this point an Impact Tremors or Phorphoros god of the forge can win it for me for each of those arriving 1/1 spirits.

I can probably draw a Blinkmoth Infusion , who has affinity and return all artifact cards in my hands and then recast them netting more spirits.

I can then patient just cast spells till I have enough spirits or draw the lone fireball or other X damage card in my deck to finish my opponents. Imagine sacrificing all those 1/1 spirits for that massive fireball. Beautiful.

Yup. Kykar is a big bird and I might not even swing it on anyone to win. He just needs to stand there to get the job done.