Charita and her wallet

My friend Chari and I went to Landmark yesterday to do some shopping. She is off to Phuket for the weekend so she wants some new beach wear for the trip. We met up at the 2nd floor and then decided to split up since I wanted to look at some tops while she shops for beach wear. Anyway, 3 tops in the fitting room later, I decided to pay for my stuff when I saw I had 6 missed calls from her. I thought she wanted to meet already and head to Glorietta when I saw a message from her saying "Where are you? I lost my wallet." I called her immediately to know what happened so she went to where I was (in a daze!) and told me that it was stolen from her bag.

I felt like she wanted to cry na but then we decided it was nakakahiya so we walked around Glorietta na lang and I made her buy flip flops at Banana Peel so she won't feel so bad. After that we went to Starbucks for coffee and cigarettes to unwind.

Oh what a day indeed! So I decided to make a poem to cheer my friend up. Cha, this is for ya!

My name is Chari

And I lost my money!

My wallet was stolen

That is a bad omen!

Now I'm poor without my cards

Good thing I'm not so sad

Because I'm off to Phuket

With only my pwet!

Katherine Grace, yep that's me!

Katherine

Pure "Greek"

Your charming, witty and vibrant personality ensures your popularity and usually places you at the centre of activities. You also have a determined will and capacity for leadership which often places you in positions of authority. Your generous, humanitarian and idealistic nature gives you a desire to work towards goals which will be of benefit to everyone. Material and emotional success are a natural result of your endeavours.

Grace

Graceful "Latin"

Life is never dull with your adventurous and restless spirit. You are always on the move and seeking a new challenge to pit your wits against. Being in touch with nature you love the outdoors. You have keen intuition and a desire for knowledge and you can be something of a crusader. When you apply discipline and tenacity to your energetic mind then leadership positions are easily available to you.

I thought Katherine meant Pure "Geek" at first glance haha ;p but then again pwede as I am a geek. As for the Grace being "Graceful" I'm kind of doubtful about that as I am really clumsy and more of a disgrace actually...

'twas an inspiring lunch

i had an accidental lunch with Junie earlier. we had been officemates since i started here in lowe and i never really had an opportunity to talk with him na matagal. we had short chit chats in the hallways or sa elevator but never a long sit down talk.

i have admired him from afar because he is a quiet person who seems happy with his life and this is despite the fact that he lost his only son 2 years back. we got to talk about the loss he had and how despite that, he is happy that his son lived a full life in 17 years. he said that what his son had accomplished in 17 years, he has not done in his lifetime yet (this part i got teary eyed!).

more than what he said, he was very inspiring in the way he talked about it. how accepting he was and how at peace he seems to be. i cannot imagine the difficulty of losing a child because it is not in the natural order of things. however, this was not so with Junie. so i thought, what fighting spirit this man has!

then i learned that he was also from Cavite City and hey i am from there too!!! kaya naman pala he is very matapang despite everything, Caviteño pala! the street where he grew up is a couple of streets away from where we live, sobrang fateful! so we got to talk about the things we love about our hometown and that he knew our long standing store, Shanghai Bazaar :) how we eat tamales, pipita and kumpitis na i'm pretty sure kami lang may alam kung ano yun haha!

all in all it was a great lunch. masarap ang feeling that despite the dog eat dog world we live in, there are people like him who refuse to get affected. they remain who they want to be and not get affected with who people expect them to be. he got me shaken talaga with his spirit and faith.

thank God there are still people like you dear Junie :)

my lola's clutch

when i was in 3rd year high school, my lola gave me a gold clutch with $1 inside. she said it was her graduation gift to me in case she is no longer alive the following year. lola made it to my graduation in high school and in college :) it's funny how she thought she will not make it the following year and yet she is still here 10 years after.

i have used the clutch to many debuts then weddings and then baptisms. so many milestones and lola is still here. she is 99 now and just had a stroke. i can't talk with her anymore and we are just waiting for her time to go. we all believe that 99 years here is really a big bonus for lola already and she can rest whenever she wants to. we are all fine after all and i am so glad that when she was still able to say it, she already left me a legacy.

it was not an expensive or lavish pamana but it does mean the world to me that a part of her will always be with me. my lola may go but her she will always be with me, just like the clutch she gave me 10 years ago.

lessons learned from Jason Bourne

While we were watching Bourne Ultimatum yesterday, it popped in my head that this film had given me so many lessons. Therefore, I went into high school mode and thought of writing a reaction paper on it. Usually reaction papers are about the characters in the film and the lessons we have learned, etc. For this paper, I will concentrate on the lessons I have learned from Jason Bourne, the 1st three are serious life lessons, followed by a funny one and lastly my favorite lesson.

Lesson 1: Pain is a state of mind.
They said that after some time, your body gets used to the pain and your threshold increases. I think his increased by about a thousand times. Imagine crashing a car from one floor to the next and then crashing again in the highway! I know its cinematic and all but I believe some people can actually do that. It is their adrenaline fueling them so no pain can be felt. Ergo, the more hurt you are, the stronger you become eeewww I did not just say that.

Lesson 2: What goes around comes around.
Karma is really a fair judge so if you did not shoot the “asset”, he won’t shoot you too. Fair game di ba?

Lesson 3: You can find what you are looking for, even if you don’t know what it is.
After 2 installments, he finally found what he was looking for. Even if at the start he was at a total loss as to who he was and what exactly he needed to find out. Oh well life is like that, lucky if you get to know what you are looking for but if not then, better luck next life time.

Lesson 4: You can get injured with a book and killed by a hand towel!
Imagine getting injured with the spine of a book and then killed by a hand towel! Scary!!! See that is why most accidents happen at home and everything you need to hurt and kill is within your reach. Comforting ain’t it?

Lesson 5: Boys, a woman will always get you through tough situations that other men put you into.
Nikki Parsons and Pamela Landy are the real big guns here. Enough said.

Overall, I liked the film with the action scenes and of course the great Ludlum story. What I don't like is that they always portray the assassins as Middle Easterns, except for Bourne who of course has to stand out. Maybe they should have made it a mixed race of assassins because for sure there is one in every race.

LIPUAN

Alam nyo ba ang ibig sabihin ng lipuan? Ang lipuan ay kombinasyon ng 2 salita - lipat at upuan. Ito ang tawag ko sa mga taong adik sa harap ng upuan ng bus. Para bang nasisilaban ang pwet pag sa ibang lugar nakaupo na kailangan talaga ay malipat sila sa harap.

Alam nyo naman dito sa Makati eh mahigpit ang mga MAPSA (Mustard Ang Para Sa Akin) kaya may mga designated loading and unloading zones. Ang problema eh pag pasukan sa umaga, mas nauuna ang loading zone dito sa may Standard Chartered so puno na ang bus, mas napupuno pang lalo. Ang susunod na stop dun ay ang unloading zone na at yun ang designated stop ko at ng kalahating milyon pang mga Pilipino. Dito talaga 95% ng laman ng bus eh ubos. Akmang bababa na kami ng sambayanan ng biglang may mga taong sisingit sa'yo sa pila ng mga pababa at nagmamadali. Syempre ako naman papasingitin ko kasi baka nga naman late na sila at bawasan ng sweldo kawawa naman. Yun pala ang mga panget eh lilipat lang ng upuan sa harap! Super sarap nilang sabihan na "Hoy paunahin nyo na kaming mga bababa talaga at pag alis namin kahit humiga ka pa pwede!" Di ba bwisit talaga?

Isang time pa nga 2nd to the last ako bababa nang yung nasa harap ko lipuan pala! Syempre akala nung driver lipuan din ako at umandar na. Alam mo kung saan na ako naibaba? Sa Shangri-la na eh Rufino lang ako. Arrrrgh nag cab pa ako to Rufino kasi late na ako! Napagastos pa tuloy ako. Kaya I therefore conclude na salot ang mga lipuan sa lipunan at dapat silang tisurin pag nakasabay mo sa bus.

pag in love sira ang ulo

Chari has not been herself lately and I mean not herself big time!!! She is usually masungit and moody but lately she is perenially smiling and laughing. Is it because of this dude we met in Palawan??? I suppose so because they are always chatting and I often see her smiling to her computer. What a wacko! The change in her was super obvious kasi before she really had a short attention span. She will stop whatever she is doing to join conversations na di sya talaga kasali. Now, wala syang pakialam whether we laugh and talk about her while she is here. This is the first time I have seen her like this and truly, Rommel is a wonderful distraction for my friend :)

I am truly happy for Chari and not only did she get a chatmate, she is going to have an arm candy too come December!!! Sis, may escort ka na sa parties and you can brag to everyone that the NBSB is no more!

feeling icky

Last Thursday morning, I was feeling icky because I was breaking out and feeling fat (hormones I know!). So I woke up late and did not have time to prepare my usual sandwich. Therefore I just took my bottle of Cheez Whiz and half a loaf of bread and started walking to the bus stop still mumbling about how bad my day is going. Before I got to the place where I usually wait for the bus, I saw this family sleeping under a shade. The parents were asleep but their 2 small kids were playing by the road. As I passed them, I thought that why was I mumbling about my zits while this family looks like they have not had a decent meal. So I called the little girl and gave her half a loaf of my bread. Then I looked to the side and saw this white man inside a cab looking and smiling. I hope he feels that there is hope in this country and not everyone is a threat to their safety.

It felt good knowing that they can eat even for just that morning and it makes my zit problem seem so small and insignificant :)

ang solution sa slow elevator ng Rufino Tower...

Dito sa building namin sa Rufino, super bagal ng elevator! Actually lucky ka na if it's slow because most of the time, it's broken. Sometimes only 2 out of 4 will be functioning, sometimes none pa kaya stairs galore ka! Anyway after lunch kanina while I was waiting for the elevator, this lady asked what the TV screen by the elevator was for. Then the guard said, "Ma'am para po mapakitaan ng mga commercial." So the lady then said, "Ay akala ko sa bagal ng elevator aaliwin nyo na lang kami sa panonood ng TV!" Hahaha comic relief ko to for the day as in!!! Those from my building you can relate di ba? ;p

it's not THAT GREAT after all...

Last night on my way home from doing some shopping, I heard 2 DJs on the radio discussing about how when we were younger life was so much simpler. I could not agree more! I mean I would only worry about how fast I can save my baon so that I can buy new shoes or a bag but now I worry about my rent, my bills and where I'm going to get all the money to pay for them. Indeed, life was so simple then but that was not how I looked at things then.

I remember nung gradeschool ako in Cavite, I would worry about my crush not having a crush on me or not being included in the next school program as in super babaw things but syempre noon big deal yun! Back then I wanted to be in highschool na kasi the highschool girls like my ate seem so cool compared to my friends so I wanted so much to be like them. They had boys to get them stuff and be their slaves. I wanted that!

So here comes highschool with me being a probinsyana in Assumption so super awkward talaga. Much worse, there were no boys to be slaves and all my classmates were talking about Girbaud jeans and Jansport bags and as for me, I do not know what Girbaud is much more spell it! They had discussions about boys they met at soirees and at other schools' fairs and I cannot relate because my mom won't let me go to those affairs because our house is far. It was not something we would waste gas for. Kaya ayun, highschool was not as great as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong ha because in AC I met my bestest friends and learned so much but then I said when I go to college, I will have more freedom to meet boys and go to parties.

Eto na college na ako and yes there were boys in DLSU as in wahaw ang dami! Eye candy galore wherever you go to eat or just to make tambay, there were boys all over. But then hindi pa din ako cool, nerd pa din! I was block president and eventually LA rep for my college plus I made it to the Dean's List every term so talagang branded as nerd na ako. Feeling ko until I become popular with boys and envied (hated?) by girls, di ako cool. I thought na naman that college is not that great after all, at least not how I imagined it would be with the boys and all.

Finally I graduated and started working. Yes it was cool and I felt very matured and responsible but then again when I was going out and partying till 4 AM with all the freedom in the world, I still thought that it was not as great as I thought it would be. Fun talaga especially in advertising pero still it was not as great as I thought it would be. So di ba shit talaga because I seem to not find the greatness I am looking for in my life!

Then doing some muni muni I came to realize that life has been good, no great for me. I have all these bitches and jerks who love me and laugh at or with me and I love that! I mean yes this is what I have been looking for. Cigarette and coffee breaks with talks on life, babaw or not. Movies and shopping for me is cool and fun already, I'm actually happy thank God :)

I have longed for so many things before like popularity and shit like that to make me feel that life is great. Heck, I don't need those pala, I just need to be happy where I am and hope that it gets better. This is not mature talk ha just something you realize after years of wanting and wanting to be someone other than yourself. Maybe when I'm old and gray, I will look at my life and say that it is not THAT GREAT after all... but it was the best life I could possibly have lived :)

my ultimate crush

I am sure everyone has a crush. For me, a crush should be unreachable and almost perfect. I will be glad to meet him but not to get close or he will lose the effect he has on me. The qualities of my crushes differ but I never had a crush quite like Barack Obama.





From the moment I heard him speak, I was hooked. He has the charm to make you stop and listen to him. Although he is a presidentiable, he does not exude an aura of "political agenda". He speaks softly and answers each question like a person, not a politician. He never interjected his agenda when answering personal questions nor did he make himself appear bigger than he is. Although I am not an American Citizen who can vote for him, I feel that he can take his country further. An African American President would be a first for the United States if ever but change is good and this time it seems real good :)

It's not right but it's okay

As Whitney Houston said in her song, "It's not right but it's okay. I'm gonna make it anyway." There really are so many things in life which will not seem right but then again it's okay. Cliche as it may sound, everything happens for a reason and whatever that reason is bahala na si God. According to officemate Joel, lahat yan naka set ng mangyari. Sort of like its been written in your stars and it was bound to happen to you so that the next thing may it be good or bad may happen and so on.

Therefore as I have said in my blog yesterday, bilog ang mundo or as Heidi Klum says it, "One day you're in, the next day you're out." so dadating din ang araw mo. Kaya believe the action movie stars when they say "May araw ka din." because it's true, the day will come when all your hard work will pay off and all your misdoings will come back to you. Karma indeed is a scary thing because even control freaks would not be able to do something about it. Scary!!!

It's not fair!

It's not fair! I said those words about a million times today because really "It's not fair!". Alam mo yung feeling na ikaw ang sinisising may kasalanan ng lahat na kulang na lang pati pagpatay kay Ninoy ipaamin sa'yo! Truly this day tested my patience and my breeding. Sa totoo lang napabilib ako sa sarili ko kasi I was able to prove na I can hold off on my tongue lashing and know that there is a time and place for everything.

There is only 1 thing that I remember from my Philosophy class in college and that is when our prof told us that only immature people blame others for things that happened to them. She said that it happened because one way or another you had something to do with it and you just do not want to admit it because you are immature. For me that was so obvious and simple yet we fail to recognize it. We always want to make sure that we find who is/are responsible for things even if the one who is partly to blame is you. As Christ said, he who has no sin may cast the first stone. Therefore you can only accuse someone if you are completely clean of any and I mean any dirt like Virgin Mary. So you see, no one is like Her and no one will ever be. Ergo, walang dapat manisi at sisihin.

To me, maturity includes not only refusing to blame others but actually owning up to mistakes made. I learned that it is easier to admit you made a mistake than making yourself appear innocent and totally blameless, even if it means saving your ass. Come clean and for sure you will be happier and sleep better. But I guess it really is a dog eat dog world out there and this will happen many more times in my life but I am so sure of one thing, bilog ang mundo kaibigan at abangan mo ang pag ikot nito.

Wala pa silang asawa?

While we were growing up, my mom always told my sister and I that we need to do good in school. Mind you, good to her is not about us getting average marks but excellent ones. She drilled into our heads that getting medals for academic excellence is better than crowns and sashes at beauty pageants. Anyway, never naman did my sister and I think that we were beauty queen material so it was okay. We studied well, excelled in what we do and got good jobs. In short, we were getting what we wanted because yes we did well in school... by ourselves.

I had my 1st boyfriend at 18 which was pretty late considering others get them at 13. My sister had hers at 27. We are not picky, we just had different priorities. I personally never had a short serious relationship but marriage seemed to be just not there yet.

My mom got married when she was 22 so she always told us to go for what we want before we get married. We wanted to go for so many things that is why getting married took the waaaay back there seat. A lot of my family friends are getting married and so they are always asked when it will be our turn. My mom can only answer with a smile and then say "Pinamimigay ko na nga eh kaya lang ayaw pa!" Come to think of it my sister is turning 30 this year and I am turning 27, in the olden days, matandang dalaga na yun. I suppose that is no longer the case now. Whether it is because we want to do a lot of things or we cannot find the right man for us, the truth is, we just do not think it is a liability to still be unmarried. After all, I am surrounded with people older than me and unmarried. While growing up we played "office" or "teacher" but never mommy and baby, I think that already is an indication of how we wanted our adult life to be. Whenever my mom would talk about us to other people, she is happy that both of us are doing well and happily unmarried. My dad wants to have apos already but then told us that our happiness comes first, the apos can follow. So next time anybody wonders why we are unmarried, our answer to that is - We are single, loving it and the getting married part is still no. 100 in the list of 100s.

Good Deed #2

I never get tired of writing about how the elections in my hometown of Cavite City took place. I am so proud of my fellow Caviteños because they are very smart voters indeed! Let me put it this way, it turned out that they were underestimated and they really, really rose above that. Even I cannot fathom the idea that we as a people can do that.

I volunteered kasi for the Parish Pastoral Council For Responsible Voting (PPCRV) because at first my mom wanted me to and I thought I should because she was closey with the priests and all that. So I did and it turned out to be one of the best things I have done in my life. It gave me an appreciation for the people who make this country great :-) Mind you not the politicians ha but the people who can barely read or write but takes time to actually vote. I felt that for them it was not an obligation but it was something they would do for their own good. Gone are those people who vote because they were paid to do so. I think it was attempted but worked against them haha buti nga!

Anyway the pictures I posted here are those of the PPCRV protesting at the Cavite City Hall for very unfair election practices. Imagine Comelec changed their previous ruling about a certain candidate at about 2 PM which was an hour shy of the closing of the polls! Grabe na ito sabi ko, sobrang madaya. The church explained that our protest is not to benefit a certain candidate but to defend the rules which Comelec has set (and then they themselves are changing! Labo no?). Take note, they reversed the ruling again after the PPCRV protested so "Ano ba talaga, kuya?" but then I learned na "Ate" pala dapat because the "head" is a woman (o dapat girl kasi di maka decide!) Anyway so mega protest na nga kami then here comes the police at madami sila ha. Naisip ko nga na ano naman ang laban ng tatlong pari at madaming matanda sa kanila hello! Karamihan kasi sa volunteers eh oldies as in 60+ :-) So show of force to death kami with adrenaline rushing and then nobody from the City Hall came out, so the priests had to go inside. They really want us in their territory so I was thinking baka takot? Sino? Kanino? At bakit? Baka guilty? Sino? Anong ginawa? So na disperse na din kami and I went home told my mom about it and prayed to God for justice to the REAL oppressed person (whoever it may be). I believe God heard our prayers, lumabas ang totoo so ayun may nanalo din finally. End of story? I'm not sure kasi nawawala yung villain... I have yet to find out sa mga chismoso/chismosa sa amin kung nasaan. Next time for sure alam ko na what happened.