I want to be complete

That’s a nice advertising spiel by one multi-vitamin product here in the Philippines. Makes me think though, what can really make us think we’re complete? Who puts the imagery in our heads that if you don’t have that specific aspect in your life, you lack something? Here’s a rundown on what I have now that makes me say I’m complete:

Family

Friends

Faith

A job that I love

Good health

Laughter

Fine, I didn’t put a romantic relationship (yet) as part of the list. The “friends” part will take care of that eventually. *wink* Hihi. On a serious note, I did think that all was complete for me till one recent fateful day, I once again serendipitously found a piece in the puzzle of life that made me re-think my completeness as somehow, it feels that my day is no longer what it’s supposed to be without this one certain event to happen in my day. Too much of a mystery, you say? I’m just posting my mundane ramblings here. I’m just thankful for this new found “completeness.” I’d love to add this in my rundown above but … not just yet.

Happy Father’s Day Papa

A special post for my dad, of course. I would not be here if it were not for him (obviously) and so he deserves a spot in this blog of mine. Looking back, apart from a loving father, dad was a stern disciplinarian. There were times that I would shudder and my knees would buckle when I know he’s home from work as I knew then I did something bad. It was not because of the fear of the thought of punishment (and he did yes, but now I admit, I did deserve being punished for my “crimes”), but it was the fear of knowing that he’d be disappointed at me. I know how my father worked so hard to be where he is now and I knew it was because of his self-discipline that he has become the man he wanted to be and the man he is now.

Papa’s father died during the war when he was but 4 years old, leaving him, his two sisters and mother with their relatives in the province (country) and dad would tell me stories of how they survived from that devastating war. Without a man-of-the-house, he stepped up to help the family. Stories of him walking a far distance to the well to fetch gallons of water to carry and bring home or him working in a factory just to help the family would be told from time to time. He would tell us of the time that he had to help his mom pedal the sewing machine as his mom couldn’t do so as she constantly hemorrhaged due to an ailment and he would tell us about how his sisters did their share of helping the family as well. He told us how he worked and studied at the same time up until he graduated from the University of the Visayas. Life was tough for my dad and because of that, he promised himself that he would rise above to help his family more and be a good father in the future.

And so he fulfilled his promise to himself and to his family. Papa is a very loving husband and an absolutely great dad! I have no reasons to say life is unfair as he has paved the way for us, his children, in so many ways. Growing up, I used to think of how dad was so strict on us, his children. On how we had to be home before midnight (I used to call myself Cinderella), on how he would always wake us up early and be productive, on how he would tell me when he does not approve of any of my friends, or how he would tell us about having to finish our studies….oh and I would remember how he and mom would just widen their eyes and look at us sternly whenever they wanted us to do an oratorical piece at a party or on stage (of which I am so thankful for now because I know now it was my training for my work now, to be in front of people and to talk ….. a lot). He was right and up to now, he’s still right. I can’t thank him enough for all that he has taught me. “Work hard and never step on anybody’s foot”, that’s what he would constantly tell me. Papa also taught us the value of loving your family, of being together, of making sure that Sundays are spent with the family, of helping each other in times of distress. He’s pretty much placed a standard of what a husband and father should be (hmmmm…. that’s my other excuse *wink*)

I enjoy my breakfasts with dad (of which as a teenager then, I resented so much as it felt like listening to a litany) as he still talks about his past or his visions and I would listen to him and absorb every bit of motivation and inspiration I can get from him. I also now enjoy life's little pleasures of him asking me to cut his fingernails and toenails, baking him his favorite bread on weekends or accompanying him and mom in watching a movie. It's my turn to do those for them now and I'm thankful for the opportunity given to me to do so.

With him and mom, they gave us, their children, our education (of which dad has constantly taught us that it’s something that nobody could ever take away from us and that we should not take for granted), we have always had a roof over our heads, food on our table (again ….. OBVIOUSLY) and they gave us so many wonderful experiences in life through travels, art and culture and have broadened our horizons in so many ways.

That's me at my dad's office, sitting on his chair and imagining I'd be working like him someday (wehehehehe)

Although, my dad doesn’t know I write blogs (nor do I think he even knows how to open my blog), I still want to tell the world how a great father he is so I’m saying here … HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DAD, THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!

From your sexiest, smartest, prettiest and coolest daughter,

Honey

PS. I have a feeling my sisters are going to get me for saying that last line …. hahahahaha…. Peace Ate Minnie … Peace Leigh …... Kuya Kurt, come to my rescue ….. heeeyulp!

Back Home

GREAT AIRPORT! That was my first impression and my second thought when I got out of the plane at KLIA. My first thought was, “Where am I going to claim my baggage and how come I don’t see the other participants from the Philippines?” I got to Kuala Lumpur about 10:00 PM and took a taxi from the airport to the hotel where we were booked. I was told that I was sharing a room with someone, so I was a bit worried that I might wake her up when I got to the room. True enough, my rommie, Samanthi, woke up when I got in and so we had a quick introduction of each other and agreed that that we’d talk more in the morning.
Next day, my roomie was sweet enough to wake up ahead of time to give me enough rest (hey, 30 minutes additional sleep is still rest) and we had breakfast together and chitchatted more. We then got to meet the other participants for the workshop and exchanged calling cards and pleasantries afterwards and enjoyed the thought of meeting my adviser, Simon, for the first time after communicating over skype for several months already.

On the first day, I kept of forgetting that the traffic flow in Malaysia (keep left) is different from that of the Philippines (keep right), so you could just imagine my surprise every time I attempted to cross the street. Of course, I got used to it after the first day (as proof, I’m still alive and writing a blog this instant).

The days spent at the workshop were fun and fulfilling but since this is my personal blog, *clears throat*, I’m just going to share some of the scenes and activities I did with my new found friends:

First Night: Malaysian Street food with Samanthi, Tin, Urjana, Ongchun, Lex and Nui

Second Night: China Town

"Graduation" Day

At the World Congress on IT

With Simon

Eating Thai food. Nui ordered for us so we really got to taste yummy Thai Cuisine.

Last night in Malaysia

As you noticed, most of our pictures were taken while we were having dinner. Hehehe.

Malaysia was nice but what made it more memorable was the fact that I was able to enjoy it with my new found friends there. So, I would like to say thank you

To Samanthi, for being a great roommate and for the yummy tea that you always prepared at the end of each day.

To Nui, for making me laugh always and for showing to me what a strong and determined woman should be.

To Urjana, for those sensible conversations, laughter, giggles and for making me listen to your cute British accent all the time (hahaha).

To Lex and Tin, for being wonderful tour (and train) guides.

To my “classmates,” for your inputs and assistance.

So, I'm back home and things are back to "normal" for me at the office. Thanks to chat and facebook, I get to communicate with my new friends from time to time despite our busy schedules and other priorities. Guys, I hope and pray that soon enough, our paths will once again cross. Better yet, let’s make it a point to make our paths cross again ;)

Until then.

What constitutes a sweet mistake?

People started asking me what I meant by the shoutout, “sweetest mistake” I posted a few days ago. What constitutes a sweet mistake? I know of so many who have given me enough examples o f what a sweet mistake could be and indeed, these are classic examples of going against the norm or what’s expected yet they still did what they did and something worthwhile came out of it.

It’s when ….

You left even when instinct told you that you will be reminded of it and be counted as something you can never pay for but you just had to in order to build the memories that will last a lifetime.

You decided on a career path which was totally different from what everybody expected and you knew that you’d be shunned for such a decision yet now you are happy with what you are doing.

You gave your last twenty pesos to a poor kid knowing you would have to walk going home because of that and you see that kid buying food for a younger sibling who was waiting for her.

You are holding that cute baby after the act you committed nine months ago. :P

You say words that you should have kept to yourself yet you still said it because you could not contain it anymore and those were exactly the right words to say at that moment.

You get into a relationship wherein nobody could ever understand how such a union can come to be.

You know and were told that it would go nowhere and you still continued despite the consequences of pain because you were happiest that time and the moments were worth engraving in your heart.

You know that you keep on banging your head on the wall because the situation and status is not clear and you don’t know where you are heading with all this yet you just move on never thinking that it’s time wasted but time well spent with that someone.

You let solely your heart guide you in loving someone when you mind kept on telling you to stop.

Do you have a sweet mistake? I know I have made my sweetest mistake ………. *wink*

End

Mi Equivocación Dulce

Yo no tengo lamentos en mi vida. Tomo en el corazón todas las lecciones que este mundo ha dado y humano como soy, trato en mi propio capacidad de nunca hacer los mismos errores otra vez. Sin embargo, hay una error que cometería contentamente de nuevo, y eso es el error de adorar alguien yo no debo amar. Creo que podría decir, que esa alguien fue mi Equivocación dulce. Por la felicidad que me ha dado, por las sonrisas que me hizo hacer, por la placer de conocer te … tu eres mi equivocacion mas dulce. Gracias por ser parte de mi vida, aunque era por un tiempo muy corto.

The Witches Of Eastwick

Today I dedicate this blog to my very dear and special friends …. Binky, Zoia, Noemi, Roro and Ting. For more than 16 years we’ve been the best of friends, helping each other grow (in spirit and character but not in height) and have helped each other keep the other’s sanity intact. Despite the fact that we are so busy with our work, we have managed to at least see each other once in a while to catch up on things.

When I went out of the airport last week, I heard a group of “elderly” ladies shrieking at the sight of their friend who took the same flight I was in. It seemed like they were a group of really close girl-friends who have spent so many years together, all excited to see a friend coming home after some time and I could not help but smile and picture out that maybe one day, we’d all be gray and wrinkled but we’ll still be as close as we are now.

Here are 30 wonderful things I remember very well with them wherein we would usually chit-chat and make fools of ourselves and laughing our heads off:

1. Riding the school bus from the main campus to the high school campus and vice versa.
2. Hanging out under the flagpole right behind Dr. Yap’s office. (Remember that patch of carabao grass we used to sit on?)
3. Sitting under the coconut trees at school … usually sitting on a coconut trunk
4. Camping and staying in one tent and screaming our lungs out because of the ghost stories we talked about.
5. CAT, having Noemi as our platoon leader and not being able to keep a straight face. Whatever happened to that “sparking” sword?
6. Playing “Scottie” (did I spell it right Stanford?) … even if we were already seniors …
7. Playing Seven-seven up and being “pikon” at losing wherein we “broke-up” as a barkada for about 2 minutes and became a “barkada” again in an instant. At that time, this conversation actually happened....

8. G: “Daya! Quit na ko sa barkada!”

   N: “Ah diay?! Quit napud ko sa barkada!”

   B: “Ako pud Quit!”

   H: “Ako pud!”

   T: “Ako pud!”

   A short silence ……. Then ….

   N: (looks at the group) “Wala na ko barkada …… may barkada ka? tayo nalang mag barkada”

   Z: “sige … barkada tayo”

   B,H &T to N and Z “sige… barkada tayo”

   
   

9. Hanging out at our houses. Noemi cooking her cake with chip of wood as a special ingredient …. Or cooking spaghetti at ting’s house and pouring Tabasco all over it.
10. Working on our science investigatory projects (smelling all those nylon stockings ….eeeew…..but we did make it to the citywide competition, didn’t we?) .. ahh that sundress Noems … who were you trying to flirt with with that? Hahahahahaha!
11. Limketkai skating rink. I know I WAS skating.
12. Piggy-back riding on our corridor at school and running away to hide from the principal who was so pissed at seeing us doing that (“This is a school! This is not a beach!”)
13. Me, being away from home for a year and embracing and loving each letter I got from you girls. You were writing to me how your first year in college was while I was away from home and I was missing you terribly then.
14. Driving the car for the first time with you girls as my passengers and we encountered a car with only one headlight on. Remember that? How we screamed?
15. Chatting online on my birthday and meeting ……. A group of friends who became “close” to us?
16. Watching wowow channel.
17. Going to Cebu together to have fun and get to say and hear the lines “Hey, can I buy you a drink?” and “hmmm…. Luto?!”
18. Sharing the saddest moments of our lives together and being there for each other.
19. Me bringing coke and bread at Z’s place after a conflagration hit the homes surrounding Zoia’s house.
20. Badminton! Playing for two straight hours for work out and then hanging out at star-mart to eat siomai, siopao and hotdogs.
21. Shopping
22. Surprise visits to my office (I really love it when you do that). Zong, who’s treat is it next time? Hahaha!
23. Ting getting a new car and us riding in it first on valentine’s day (diba Noems?)
24. Laughing about how screwed up Noemi’s anatomy is (Where’s you liver Noems?)
25. Opening the fridge at Binky’s place or eating pizza Binky cooked specially for us.
26. Noemi’s wedding
27. Ting’s wedding
28. Those most awaited lunch dates together
29. Dinner and hanging out at each other’s houses and calling Roro or waiting for Roro to call us from the states and recently …..
30. Getting together to visit Ting and seeing the first barkada-baby, Christian.

I could write sooooo many things about the wonderful years we’ve had together and I look forward to more years of wonderful memories with you girls. We’ve made it through the happiest and saddest moments of our lives and I am ever thankful for the gift of friendship that has been given to me through you. God bless you always kookiks and I will love you always.

Honey

The list goes on and on and on ….

When I woke up this morning, the first words that came into my head were “be thankful.” And so I said a prayer saying “Thank you for giving me yet another day to live life and to share it with the people I love.” Before I knew it, things I should be thankful for started to pop into my head. This was my sequence of thanksgiving up to this point….

1. For my friends who wake me up in the morning with their morning greetings (and for those who really purposely wake me up just so I won’t be late for work … thank you, you know who you are .. hehehe).

2. For hearing the beautiful chirping of the birds telling me that it’s going to be a bright sunny day.

3. In brushing my teeth … geez, thank you for a perfect set of teeth. I mean, hey I’m still brushing it while it’s still in my mouth and attached to my gums and jaw and not brushing it already as a set of dentures. Hahahaha … which of course, when that time comes, I’m sure I’ll be singing the “I can’t smile without you” song while brushing it.

4. For my dad knocking on the door telling me to have breakfast because it meant I get to spend time with him over a cup of coffee and our favorite “paksiw” fish and “sinanglag” rice.

5. For my mom who constantly nags me over some matters … which means she is concerned about my well being (despite the fact that I’m already 30 years old, again thank you very much).

6. For the problem on what to wear for the day, which means I have lots of clothes to choose from.

7. For the car that I drive with a half full tank (of which I call my racing car coz it sounds like it’s been souped-up …. Ahem .. hihihi...... inside joke).

8. For the traffic light that always turns green the moment I am close to the intersection.

9. For the parking space that is always available whenever I reach my destination (parking angel, as what I call my charm).

10. For having coffee ready on my office table always ready when I get to the office (thanks miat).

11. For the warm smiles of my team-mates that greet me whenever I get in the office in the morning and hear them saying “Good morning ma’am” (it’s always mike that I see first of course as he’s the one facing the door, thanks Mike).

12. For my nieces who give me their warm hugs and kisses whenever they are the office or at home.

13. For being able to hear mass during my lunch break, which made me realize that I’m so blessed to be able to practice my religion and that I have a creator who loves me (despite my …ahem … slight misgivings).

14. For the clients who believe in our services for them and for being so supportive to us in our endeavors.

15. For clients who are not just business associates but are friends as well.

16. For the payroll that I give out every payday which means that through my efforts, I am able to provide jobs and give others the opportunity to be in a respected workplace and earn.

And as I write this blog …the list just goes on and on. So I am thankful. I can’t complain about the petty problems that come my way as they are outweighed by the many blessings in life. That’s just for today. I am looking forward to what I can be thankful for again tomorrow.