Think

"Poverty is never an excuse to be graceless,
or lack class. Wealth even less so."
- F Sionil Jose

Silence for Oz

A minute of silence for the victims of the wild fire in Australia.

Not to V

Disclaimer: This piece is just my rant about V-day - not really for its fanatics.

As soon as the supposed Love month peeked its head, closest friends have bombarded me with love notes and greetings – just to tease. They just all know too well that I am not a fan of such “holiday” – never has been. My take is,why do we only have to shower people with such love on February 14^th. Is it not possible to do it everyday?

Oh well. I rest my case. I don’t mind being tagged as Vday Scrooge anyway.

As of this writing, someone I hardly know handed me a written 4-page “memo” (because it reads as that). Curiously, thinking that it was really a memo (as in work related), I breezed through it and to my surprise (I hate that word!) – it was actually a love letter.

The writer went through all the trouble of pointing out 100 reasons why he “never looked at the other girls” after he got to know me. Ha! My brows curved in unison – I wanted to laugh, smile, smirk and vomit all at the same time. Too much cheesiness! Ulk.

But I have to admit though, he was sweet and brave enough to face and hand me the “memo”. History will tell me, I have the tendencies to scare off boys err men in the workplace by placing my beau’s picture on my table, intimidate them by being a snob or as a former colleague coined it (and to my horror), a “draconian analyst” and it does not help that I am not always the friendliest person in this planet.

After all the flattery words and what-have-you, a painful lightning struck me when I read the “Will you be my Valentine?” crap line. I squinted my eyes as if I was confirming – “did he just ask me to be his effing Valentine?”

That guy who should not be named, asked me if we could dine out this Saturday, February 14th. I told him that while I sincerely appreciate the efforts exerted in writing that 4-page letter, I would have to say no. Not just because he asked me to be his V but out of respect to my beau, who, I think enjoys the idea that I don’t require or expect him for anything on V-day.

To V or Not to V, I'd choose the the latter.

25 Things

1. I am VERY scared of mascots, clowns, dogs, cats and snake.


2. Writing has been my alternate life since 5th Grade. I have been chronicling, writing poems and short essays since my elementary days.


3. A good book never fails to save my day.


4. Worst-case scenarios are always being considered in my battle plan.


5. Surprises are never pleasant for me. Seriously, they’re not welcome even if the intentions are good.


6. I own pieces of vintage jewelries, handed down from my maternal grandmother.


7. Shopping alone works for me. I never liked having someone with me as I scout for whatever items.


8. My Matchbox collection is considered a treasure. I currently have 159.


9. Cleaning the bathroom is my favorite chore.


10. It is impossible for me to study or read a book with the TV or music on.


11. I eat like a rock star but I don’t get fat. Curse or blessing? I am not really sure.


12. Sometimes, I prefer to be alone and get lost in the stories I read from my books.


13. I can be very, very choosy with the people I talk to. With that, I will never covet the Ms. Congeniality award and that’s okay with me.


14. While roaming around the mall, a man old enough to be my Dad asked for my autograph thinking that I am this former Sabado Nights commercial model. That was very funny and embarrassing!
    
15. Frugality can be my thing but buying anything from Ukay ukay has never crossed my mind.


16. Rainy days and the cold season affect my mood. I become very sad, for some reason.


17. My tolerance for physical pain is filthy low. I once passed out when my doctor took out my blood samples.


18. Riding my skateboard gives me this certain tinge of pride. Not everybody can balance himself or herself, much less ride a skateboard and flip it.


19. I cannot EVER stand long and dirty fingernails. Yaiks!


20. Filipino, History and Accounting will never land in my list of favorite subjects in school.


21. Text messaging has never been an addiction for me.


22. I am effing allergic to shrimps, crabs and oysters.


23. After drinking half a bottle of San Mig Light, I get very dizzy already.


24. I can pull tunes quite nicely. Such talent landed me a "lead vocal" stint in high school and college.


25. I sleep with my meme (an old blanket from my childhood).

Brave Ones

"Patriotism is selfless…The bravest are usually those whom we do not know or hear about, those anonymous men who dig the trenches, who produce the food. They are the corpus – the body and also the soul of a nation. It has always been the many faceless men, those foot soldiers, who have suffered most, who have died. It is they who make a nation.”

- F. Sionil Jose

Scary Secrets

"Dishonesty and betrayal starts not in big lies

but in small secrets."

- Amy Tan

Painful

“Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful.

But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.”

- Paulo Coelho

Today, I Learned

Today, I learned

that what other people

will say about you,

matters to some.

That you'd rather

feel the wrath and pain

of the person you vowed to love,

in exchange of the acceptance of such crowd.

Today, I learned

that promises are mere words,

uttered nonchalantly

does not mean anything.

That the world, for some reason,

has turned upside down.

Right becomes wrong,

And vice versa.

Today, I learned

that 'though I am at my weakest -

I am strong.

My soul will not be tormented.

That my humanity

does not depend on a person.

While such blows, hurt.

I will emerge a victor.

Rumor Says

One vice I “proudly” share with my friends and beau is our hearty talks. With my beau, we tackle anything and everything – from uber serious topics, our relationship and issues to really non-sense ones. There is almost nothing in this world that ever tops the feeling after having such honest hearty talks with the people considered dear.

The relationship that I lovingly share with my man is unique, has withstand heartbreaks worthy of the Greeks and during such trying times, we have learned that love is not just about feelings. It is also about staying committed even if it does not feel good. Everyday, we both decide to love each other however difficult, sometimes.

For several years now, malicious lurkers have endlessly hounded me for whatever reason but my wildest guess is that – their stalking has something to do with the relationship I lovingly keep. I have tried to forever decipher their motives but I could only allot so much of my time thinking. They can do whatever they want, I know that one day, I will emerge victorious with my hand clasped with my man’s.

Amidst all the nudging from unknown and unwanted people, something really funny came out of it. I received a text message telling me that news has been allegedly circling that my man and I have broken up, that I went astray and left for another man. The anonymous sender was even kind enough to ask, “How are you na?”

OH. MY. EFFING. CROW.

Really? There has been some news circling that we have broken up? And because of another man? WOW. Not that I am trying to paint myself as a saint but being a loose woman has never been part of my to do list. It has never landed on my journal pages at all! I started to think that maybe I was the wrong person in this story. That they just got it all wrong. Maybe they just got mixed up with the names and era.

Oh well. Hands down talaga to these lurkers. For the first 4 years they were pretty much consistent with their story but now on their 5th year in this “lurking business”, a new story unfolds. Such fictional writers and they actually write a so Pinoy story; you can tell that these people have been watching too much soap opera. Bah!

Naturally, I shared this new story with my man (as I have always done so in the past) and at almost unholy hour, we shared a good laugh and talked about Church hopping, motiffs and guests list.

You see. It really takes so much more than creating fake stories to put us down.

Funny