RJMarmol.com

Lights Out Tonight: My Present for the Future

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Save the EARTH. It's the only planet with Beer!
Photo by Wesley Fryer

Stop Waiting On the World To Change! Let’s begin!

Click here to listen to “Waiting on the World To Change” by: John Mayer

Tonight, at exactly 8:30 until 9:30 (Manila Time), this house I live in will be in total darkness. It is Earth Hour.

Monsters and thieves won’t scare me. Bugs and rodents won’t either.

For the first time in my life, I will not be afraid of the dark.

I will not resent the fact that I can’t watch TV,

or update my Facebook, Twitter or Plurk online.

And for the first time in my life, I will be elated to be offline.

I have signed-up for this cause online together with my fellow bloggers at Bloggers Unite.

And I pledge to solidify my support offline.

I will urge my neighbors to join me.

And teach my son why we do this and let him know that it is for him.

I hope you will join me, dear friends and readers.

After all, this is your planet too.

This same earth is the sole cradle that cheerily wakes us up in the morning

And in the night, ever so gently rocks us to sleep.

No, I will not lecture you about the clear and present danger that is Global Warming.

Because if you have not been living in a cave for the past ten years or so,

Chances are, you’ve probably heard enough of it.

All that’s left undone is our active participation.

Tonight is a mission. Tonight is a battle.

I will not falter, or change my mind, or change course or surrender.

Because in exchange for this hour-long dark “present” is a long-term bright “future”.

It’s a small sacrifice for this planet I live in, if I can even call it sacrifice at all.

This is my present for the future. Make it yours too.

Tonight, 8:30-9:30 is Earth Hour.

Switch off your lights to show your support for Mother Earth.

Consider this urgent. Consider this important.

It’s not about saving energy.

It’s about saving the earth.

It’s about saving OURSELVES and our children’s children.

And nothing could be more urgent than that.

4 responses to “Lights Out Tonight: My Present for the Future”

  1. Hot News » Lights Out

    […] PM March 28, 2009 « Suzie-Q…Tenerife Tattle » Lights Out and Aguaphobia In Tenerife…Lights Out Tonight: My Present for the Future…Lights Out for Earth Hour! : Blue Planet Green Living… « Sportsbackers Three Mile […]

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  2. Steve Cross Avatar
    Steve Cross

    So true, participating on the Earth Hour, is a little sacrifice we can do to save our Mother Earth.

    Like

    Reply
  3. Earth Day 2009: More Than A Pledge, We Need A Radical Lifestyle Change

    […] = “http://adayinthelifeofrj.com/2009/04/earth-day-04222009/”; Fresh from March 28, 2009’s well-celebrated and well-participated Earth Hour, Bloggers Unite, myself and my fellow bloggers are here once again, nudging and nagging perhaps to […]

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  4. Earth Hour 2010 | adayinthelifeofrj.com

    […] list by being the country with the most number of cities that participated in the event in 2009, we appeal to you once again to join us for this year’s Bloggers Unite Earth Hour […]

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    Reply

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● About Me
Cecilia Regina Aquino Blanquera Marmol aka RJ Marmol profile picture

I’m RJ Marmol — writer, musician, and independent creator based in Manila.

I write songs, essays, and books about the messy overlap between money, overwhelm, creativity, identity, and rebuilding. Much of my work circles around what happens when life stops feeling manageable — and how we try to think clearly, make decisions, and keep moving anyway.

I’m also the author of Rebuilding Under Debt: Thinking Clearly When Everything Is a Blur, a nonfiction book published under Steady Hand Press. The paperback edition is listed under my full publishing name, Cecilia Regina Aquino Blanquera.

On the music side, I release work as HeyRJ. On the writing side, this site is where I gather my books, essays, notes, and whatever I’m building next.

Music

HeyRJ is my sonic soul project. I create raw, minimalist-style and deeply personal music interpretations that feel like a late-night conversation with your truest self.

By blending lo-fi acoustic textures with poetic honesty, my work explores love, loss, grief, healing, and the quiet in-betweens of life. Each song is a letter — a journal entry — a gentle companion for when the world feels too loud or too quiet.

While my catalogue began with intimate cover renditions, my work is increasingly being shaped by original writing, drawing from years of poems, lived questions, and emotional survival.

“Stuck Home Syndrome” released on March 20, 2026 is my first original 20-track album written during a period when time felt compressed and days began to blur into each other. The songs came from sitting with thoughts that had nowhere else to go — unfiltered, repetitive, and sometimes uncomfortable. It’s a concept album that isn’t built around singles or polish. It’s closer to a continuous inner monologue, recorded with minimal production and very little ornamentation and meant to be listened to as one cohesive body of work. The goal wasn’t to resolve anything, only to document how it felt while it was happening.

On May 29, 2026 I released new original singles – “Rapturous”, “Uh Huh”, “Look At You”, “All That” and “Blew Print”. I continue to release both original and cover songs and intend to so for as long as I can so check back every once in a while — you might. just find something you’ll like.

For business inquiries relating to music, email me at: heyrjmusic[at]gmail[dot]com or my personal email at: rjmarmol[at]gmail[dot]com.

Books

Rebuilding Under Debt: Thinking Clearly When Everything Is a Blur

A nonfiction book about what debt does to the mind — and how to begin functioning again when financial stress has made everything feel blurred, urgent, and overwhelming.

Rather than treating debt only as a financial math problem, the book explores the emotional and cognitive realities of financial distress: shame, decision fatigue, avoidance, panic, relationship strain, and the difficulty of making sound decisions while mentally depleted.

Published under Steady Hand Press. It’s available worldwide in ebook and paperback formats on Amazon. Bookstores and libraries can also be order it wholesale via Ingram.

Contact

For book-related inquiries, media requests, bookstore questions, or discussion-group invitations, you can reach me through the contact page on this site or send me an email to rjmarmol[at]gmail[dot]com or hello[at]steadyhandpress.com

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