This is a picture of the Davao City Hall. I took this last November 2007. It goes to show how Christmas starts early in the Philippines.

Mom and I did the groceries yesterday. We were in the aisle filled with condiments, looking for tomato catsup. As I was taking a bottle off from the shelf, a lady approached me. She was shorter than me, and she looked like one of those ladies in church that led the Bible study for kids. Conservatively dressed, armed with a black book with envelopes sticking out of it. To my surprise, she asked for donations for their foundation. She asked for money. In the supermarket. Gaaah.

Because I was in a major PMS mode yesterday, I raised voice in an attempt to let by-passers hear. “Ha? Donation? Sigurado ka pwede kayo humingi ng donation dito?” She said yes. She added she was from the Pentecostal church. I eyed her and I saw a twinge of deceit in her eyes. But somehow, it seemed as if she needed it badly. She spoke again, prodding me to give her some money for their church. From my wallet, I took a twenty-peso bill. As I  handed it to her, I told her to be careful in case a security guard sees her. I don’t think any supermarket would allow people to “solicit” money from the grocers. She took the money, greeted me “Merry Christmas” and took off.

Truly, in the Philippines, Christmas is more than a day. It’s a season. And since it is also dubbed as the Season of Giving, it is sad how some people take advantage of it. Nevertheless, the Man upstairs sees our hearts and our intentions.

Merry Early Christmas! :)

Paglabas ko, kinamusta niya ako. Sabi ko, “Great.” Pero wala gaanong energy. Pagkatapos nun, naglitanya na siya tungkol sa kanyang produkto. Teleponong touch screen na may kung anu-anong features na hindi naman ginustong ilagay ni Alexander Graham Bell.

Pagkatapos niya maglitanya, sinabi ko na malamang interesado ang Tatay ko pero wala siya sa bahay. Sabi ko, iwan niya nalang ang contact number nila.

At dahil Pinay ako na likas na tsismosa, tinanong ko siya, “Why are you doing this? Are you an employee of some company?”

Sabi niya, “No, I’m the boss. I own the company.” Aw ah. :|

Naikuwento niya pa na tumira na siya sa iba’t ibang bansa sa Asia for fifteen years. Taga-California siya, umuuwi pa rin siya four times a year. One week pa lang siya dito sa Davao, dahil kaka-launch lang ng produkto nila dito. At dahil gusto niyang matuto ang kanyang employees kung paano magbenta, sumama siya mag-house to house.

Mula dun, di na ako nagtanong ng mga basic questions na binabato sa mga dayuhan.

Ano nga ba yung basic questions?

1.Your salary, how much?
2. Do you hab wife? Or girlpren?
3. Pilipina, you like?

But anyway, nakakatuwang makita na mismong dayuhan ang nagsisilbing “servant leader” sa mga Pinoy. Bihira ka lang ata makakakita ng CEO o boss dito sa Pinas na mismong magmamarket ng kanyang produkto. At in fairness sa kanya, hindi siya nagpaka-superior sa mga binebentahan niya. Hindi niya tinatratong ignorante ang mga kausap niya, kumpara sa ibang Pinoy.

Hindi Hollywood material yung Kano pero ang pakikitungo niya sa mga Pinoy ay mas mabuti pa sa pakikipag-kapwa tao ng mga mismong Pilipino.

Tagay,

3 days before another reunion with highschool BFFs!
9 days before my Dad comes home with my Oly camera.
25 days before my sister flies to another country.
44 days before our family vacation!
50 days before Christmas!
57 days before a spanking New Year! Yeah!:)

Before we know it, it’s already 2010! I’m an excited kid! Woohoo! :)

1. I did all my mundane tasks. Went to the bank, did the groceries and all the hoo-ha.
2. Mom and I went to Seawall for a stroll last Monday. Her walk is really improving.
3. My college friends, whom I haven’t seen in agessss, came to Davao last Tuesday. We hung out at my friend’s house til the wee hours of dawn. Good times!!! Ended up having an imaginary friend. Haha.
4. My sister turned sixteen last Tuesday! I cooked spaghetti for her, my own rendition. It rocked. :) Can’t believe my sister is ONLY sixteen when she’s several inches taller than me. Haha.
5. A few friends hung out in our house last Thursday. Yaaay. Haven’t done that in a while. :)
6. The Boy and I met for a fantastic dinner date and a ride home in his green Volkswagen.
7. One of my closest friends ever is leaving for London. She and my other friends had a get-together and I wasn’t able to come. :(
8. My bro drove me around the city for most of the errands I did. Buti nalang, I taught him how to drive. Haha.

It’s because of all these things that I’ve become a zombie just in time for Halloween. I didn’t get much sleep for several days because of the night-outs. Gaaaah. I’m not used to it anymore. I wake up grumpy and tired. But anyway.

—

I realized that when I pray, I always ask God to make me a better person. I love God for the seemingly endless chances He gives me each day. And I hope He will love me more in return as I try my best not to waste the chances He blesses me with. :)

But despite this, there are still lots of good things to pay attention to. First, I simply admire the Filipino spirit of facing trials and challenges with positivity. Only Filipinos can go through such hardships but still manage to crack jokes, sing and laugh. Though I’m not a completely positive person, I still thank God for turning my head to the brighter side of things all the time. Also, now that the worst is over, we can only be thankful for how our things turned out for our good, for how our lives have been changed by these tough experiences, and how all of us have remained sane and free from anti-psychotics. And probably, the best part of going through a long and crazy year is the thought that if this year wasn’t all good, the next one probably will be better. You know how they say, when you’re down in the pits, the only way to go is up. :)

**

I’m overflowing with good vibes today. I realized that giving value to superficial things kills the soul. As a person, I feel like I lose substance and depth when I engross myself too much with make-up, glamor, popularity and everything else that fades. For quite some time, I feel like I lost touch with my values, my beliefs, my dreams, and the other stuff that comprise the real me. It feels good to have the urge to rekindle my soul. Aaah basta.

I had a nice talk with a friend today. He asked me where I am in my life right now. It took me a full minute to come up with an honest but pa-deep answer. I recognized myself as someone standing in front of a gap. Beyond that gap is a dream that I have been yearning for. The gap is too wide to jump across and it’s making me think of the best way to get there. Although it seems impossible, all I know is that I have this incredible belief in myself that I will get there.

Woohoo. This is already 20 ft deep! :) So to anyone reading this, where do you stand in your life right now?:)

Come to think of it.

Deep Friends

I call them “deep friends” because they’re the ones I have deep conversations with, sa sobrang deep nakakalunod. Engk! Terro, his girlfriend Jec and my college superfriend Jessa visited me three weeks ago.
Jessa was my classmate in 2nd year college. She sat behind me in class and she was usually perky and yeah, noisy, so we got along haha. I met Terro more than a decade ago, way back in sixth grade. He was my classmate, we were seatmates at one point. When I transferred to another school, I didn’t see him for years until one day, I rang their doorbell and borrowed his cassette player hahaha. Jec is terro’s girlfriend, so yun.

 All three are making lots of money through networking. And in all honesty, when I see people who wanna do business talk on my doorstep, I’m quite unsure whether to let them in. But gladly, they spared me from their schemes and we all had a nice chit-chat over Pan de Mongo until midnight.

Happy Friends

Two weeks ago, I met up with my friends Gian and Belle. Now that makes me realize how their names sound so Italian. Anyhow, I picked up Gian in his apartment because it usually takes him hoursss to get ready. To my surprise, he was prepared when I got there. While waiting for him to polish his look, I hooked up with someone in his apartment.

Then we went to SPH to visit Belle’s brother. Afterwhich, we went to Saint Jude and then ate at AnniPie.  There, we had a very long and intriguing conversation. I bet the waitresses heard us and they all scooped an interesting story to tell their friends. :))

It was my first time to eat at Annipie. I must say, their pastries are VERY DELICIOUS. I had Decadent Chocolate, which was chocolate cake surrounded by a puddle of caramel. Belle had Tiramisu and Gian ordered Mocha Sansrival. The Sansrival had a little “kick” in every bite and by the time we finished it, we were all laughing boisterously like drunk middle-aged men. Before we left, we were told that it had a teeny bit mix of liquor. Aaah okay.

Highschool BFFs

A week ago, I met up with my highschool bestfriends Janine and Ai. Aaaah, those girls and I go a long, long way back. They were both my classmates in my freshmen year in Philippine Women’s College. I was the new girl and they were the ones I grew comfortable being with. And so we’ve been bestfriends since then. They are two of the very few people who know me best, from my craziest to my lowest low. And now they have two little versions of themselves!

After a night of talking with the girls and playing with the kids, my voice was hoarse! We were planning to do a major reunion with our other bestfriends. My fingers are crossed. :)

Because I need to stay home most of the time, I can’t help but feel isolated. But then, meeting up with my friends make me realize that they really are there. I’m happy to have friends that I don’t necessarily have to meet every single day because I know that a simple meet-up is enough to guarantee that the deep friendship is still there.

Cheers!

The Magic Instant

We have to take risks. We can only truly understand the miracle of life when we let the unexpected manifest itself.

Every day – together with the sun – God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day we try to pretend that we don’t realize that moment, that it doesn’t exist, that today is just the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if you pay attention, you can discover the magic instant. It may be hiding at the moment when we put the key in the door in the morning, in the silence right after dinner, in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. This moment exists – a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.

Happiness is at times a blessing – but usually it’s a conquest. The magic instant helps us to change, drives us forward to seek our dreams. We shall suffer and go through quite a few difficult moments and face many a disappointment – but this is all transitory and inevitable, and eventually we shall feel proud of the marks left behind by the obstacles. In the future we will be able to look back with pride and faith.

Poor are those who are afraid of running risks. Because maybe they are never disappointed, never disillusioned, never suffer like those who have a dream to pursue. But when they look back – for we always look back – they will hear their heart saying: “What did you do with the miracles that God sowed for your days? What did you do with the talent that your Master entrusted to you? You buried it deep in a grave because you were afraid to lose it. So this is your inheritance: the certainty that you have wasted your life.”

Poor are those who hear these words. For then they will believe in miracles, but the magic instants of life will have already passed.

We must listen to the child that we once were, and who still lives within us. This child understands about magic instants. We can muffle his sobbing, but we can’t hush his voice.

If we aren’t reborn, if we don’t see life again with the innocence and enthusiasm of childhood, then there is no more sense to living.

There are many ways to commit suicide. Those who try to kill their body offend God’s law. Those who try to kill their soul also offend God’s law, although their crime is less visible to the eyes of man.

Let us be heedful of what the child within us has to say. Let’s not feel ashamed of it. Let’s not allow it to feel afraid, because it’s lonely and is scarcely ever heard.

Let’s allow the child within us to take the reins of our existence a little. This child says that one day is different from another.

Let’s make the child feel loved again. Let’s please this child – even if it means acting in a way that we’re not used to, even if it seems foolish in the eyes of others.

Remember that the wisdom of men is madness before God. If we listen to the child we bear in our soul, our eyes will shine once more. If we don’t lose contact with this child, we won’t lose contact with life.

Let’s live all the magic instants of 2009!

Love

There is always someone in the world waiting for someone else, whether in the middle of the desert or in the heart of some big city. And when these two people’s paths cross and their eyes meet, the whole of the past and the whole of the future lose all importance, and there only exists that moment and that incredible certainty that everything under the Sun was written by the very same Hand. The Hand that awakens Love and creates a sister soul for everyone who works, rests and seeks treasures under the Sun. Were it not for this, the dreams of the human race would make no sense.

There are so many things I haven’t taken into account.

One, I’ve been cooking and baking a lot the past few weeks. The toughest one was Embutido, the most delicious dish I made has to be Burger Steak. The sloppiest one would be the Strawberry Chocolate Cake, which breaks into crumbs after slicing hahaha. And my most loved masterpiece would have to be the Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chipped Coookies which I baked just yesterday. I love it the most because finally I can have something to munch whenever I get those late night cravings.

Two, I met a lot of my friends within two weeks time. Because I’m somewhat isolated from the rest of them, seeing them feels like a grand reunion each time. I’ll reserve the stories on another post.

Three, I’m not much of a Facebook addict anymore! Yeeey! Finally, I have trained my mind to stop thinking of cool and philosophical status messages to post. Now, I’ll just leave it as it is.

Four, I’m having strange dreams lately. And it’s mostly about the things that I know I want but I just can’t tell other people about. Oooh, juicy eh? Haha. Like, the other night I dreamt I was walking the streets of London clothed in my winter attire, surrounded by pale-skinned English people. Ay I wish!

Lastly, I am so much hooked on PBB! If you know someone among the housemates, it’s really unavoidable to get hooked. And though I twinge with dislike when I see that certain housemate, I can’t help but watch each episode. Which housemate? Secret! :)