P.S.(post sanctum)
to michelle dippin dots, aset big heart, jc unbreakable, atty joyce ageless heart:

you give a whole new meaning to the word ‘goodbye’
yesterday’s kaisaki dinner, pasto dessert and pajama party wasn’t what usual farewells had to offer. It was instead, more dinners, more desserts, more pajama parties to look forward to, if not today maybe tomorrow… see you again soon!:)

its a bright june afternoon
it never gets dark
ohh here comes the sun
get your green, green tambourine
lets play in the park
ohh here comes the sun
:)

Sleepy Thursday and Rainy Friday

On a rainy Friday morning:
In-a-rush-me: MRT lang po manong.
I was ready to hand over my P50 bill when the figure on the taxi meter surprised me: 31.00. Only.
Enthralled me: (Manong pulling out a P20 bill as change) keep the change manong.

(sigh) I hope manong realizes soon that his taxi meter is costing him more.

On a sleepy Thursday:
So I almost got off the wrong station if not for one girl, who walked towards me, tapped me lightly on the shoulder and woke me up.
Then I almost lost my all-time favorite black shoes if not for the train’s janitor who handed it over to me.

Thanks God for random acts of kindness :)

Our constant bedfellows
Don’t you just love books and French films and friends who will lend you company to see films like these..

I still can’t get the image out of my head --- Luo seeing the ‘little seamstress’ walk away to explore the city. It’s a scene from the movie “Balzac.” Balzac is a French writer and journalist who through one of his masterpieces “Ursule Mirouet” will, in the movie change the little seamstress’ life forever.

Spanning during the Cultural Revolution where intellectual youngsters were sent to the countryside to be “re-educated”, the story revolves around Luo and Ma, two intellectual youngsters sent to one of the poorest provinces in China. Toiling very hard and adjusting to the folks’ primitive way of life, life for Luo and Ma was hard. But was made colorful when they meet “the little seamstress”, a girl from the countryside whom both Luo and Ma falls in love with. It was Luo, though who pursued the girl. Ma never told the girl that he loved her too, out of his respect for Luo but he loved her in his own simple ways with the pair of sneakers he gave her, his readings on Luo’s absence etc

As the little seamstress walks away to try her luck in the city, Luo asks what changed her and she answers him, “Balzac.” None of them knew that that was to be their last encounter. Many years after, Luo and Ma reunites, now both successful in their chosen careers and they reminisce life in the countryside including the little seamstress and Balzac..

How a book can change one’s life forever...
Oh yes, books – our constant bedfellows, patient, unyielding, powerful...

Postscript: child-meets-piolo and be-my-lady till our next popcorn date!

agree with you hide and seek on saturday nite's fete dela musique. to be one with the world and celebrate music -- the all-time natural high, is simply awesome. No amount of downpour can dampen the spirits of the dancing and singing souls, till next year! :)

young people and aging

Inside an MBA course class:
professor: Introduce yourselves please, your name, what company you work for etc…
student: Hi, I am Juanita dela Cruz (not real name) I am a full-time student right now and I’m 22 years old…

yes and so...

Welcome to Royal Mall… where everything is but royal.

May tatlong fastfood: chowking, jolibee at mcdo, dalawang escalator, broadway gems, otto shoes, spencer (this is not typo error, wala talaga syang marks) konting tiangge sa gitna at supermart sa basement. Maraming ins and outs na walang guard na maggreet ng good morning at i-inspect ng bag mo.

this is urban jungle (literally)! welcome! :)

The west lake dilemmas

When you are too hungry and the food you just ordered takes so long to be served, you can’t yell at the waiter and demand for your food or you’ll face the risk of it being subject to who-knows-what.

You cannot cancel it either and transfer to another place coz you’re too hungry to wait for another round of waiting.

When the food ends up not up to your expectations, you cannot demand for a change of order or the hunger might just gorge you up for waiting another round.

And when the food finally gets served and realize you’ve been waiting for more than you can afford, you can’t complain anyhow, coz the drink that might be served soon after may again be subject to who-knows-what.

When the bill arrives and the price just don’t seem worth it, you cannot complain coz you can’t give back what you’ve eaten.

While giving a tip is almost always de riguer, you just don’t give it, because of all the waiting and everything, how can it just be worth it?

Ahh dilemmas!

A love letter to my feet
June 20, Sunday
330p

To my dearest feet,

Even after walking you, running you especially when I’m in a rush and tripping you over at times, I have not heard you complain. Just how do you manage that? Ahh, i just cannot imagine how I would get by without you.

So today, I will pamper you. I’ll soak you in lukewarm water, let you experience that foot massage thing they show on tv. I will scrub you till all your calluses and dead skin cells go away. I will soothe you, and rub you with that flowery mint perfume they call foot scrub. I will massage you and take all those stress away. And if it tickles, that means my goal to pamper you is working..

This is your day off. For simply making life easier for me. And in case you don’t know just yet, you mean the whole world to me, grazieee!!

Lovingly,
Your whole-body-up-there :)

MAKE TIME.
Something about making time
Makes every little time so worth spending time on
So make time
It only takes awhile.

4 seasons
"So, girls, it is really possible to be 44 , on the verge of the
autumn season of one's life to still be looking at
life with a spring outlook , maybe that is the best
way to prevent the winter of my discontent.."
Oh yess its possible! It is, with an ageless heart like you! :)
the little women wish you well and wish you more beautiful memories ahead. hats off to you! :)

yahoo, you are the best!
with 100mb storage, how can i ask for more?!
yahoo!! :)

Beware of the runny nose
Meet runny nose.
He can run after you
Wherever you run and go
He hardly runs away
Once he runs into you.
You will run out of breathe
You will run out of tissue
You will run out of patience rubbing the nose with the tissue
You will run out of money buying tissue to rub the nose with
You can run a fever
It won’t run off easily
You can hardly run
And you can hardly run for work
So run for dear life
before it spreads around in town
Beware of the runny nose
Or it can catch and bring you down.

to winespirits and stirofechoes:

So dearies,
You kept me guessing
How did you manage to squeeze in
In between work and school and play
Amidst rain and caffeine
Amidst dating with the bf and schoolwork and books
The visit to the sick-me sanctuary..
Via hogwarts’ express maybe.
Big thanks! :)

to the cynics of these days:

"Eyes that hadn’t opened for days did, and they weren’t chalky or vague. They were clear and blue and full of love. If a death can be lovely, his was."
-patti davis on Reagan's last moments

I was making my first official stage appearance as a grad stude --- like every amateur, I was nervous. The eyes were like bows ready to let loose from the arrows but thanks to the element called time, the curtain was closed and I was off the stage. Quite down at the below-average performance but nonetheless glad that it’s over.
second chances --- that’s what its made for!

poetry reading
The cast and the curious on poetry reading:
they : First time mo ba?
The cast and the curious: Di ah!

That in an attempt to be cultured, well-read and among the literati :)
Have you been to a poetry reading?
Well, truth is, the cast and the curious haven't been to one.. until yesterday night :)
the moment you step into ‘Conspiracy’ on a Tuesday night, you will find yourself surrounded with at least one national artist, a horde of UP professors, students, artists, young and old, all sharing the same passion: poetry.
You can sing the poems out, simply read it, act it out etc. etc. Choose your style. To each his own..

after all its poetry.

to the boss...whose middle name is ‘passion’, I agree with you that there’s a time for everything and for now you just have to go. The sad part about leaving is that everyone is simply sad and you’re the only one who can make sense out of your leaving, but isn’t that a wonderful kind of sadness? cheeerSSSS!!! :)

After my sister’s wed on Feb 15, 2003

One of the relatives: o, di ba kayo natatakot na next na si bibi (referring to this writer) magpapakasal
My father: hindi naman, 20 years pa yan

The optimism of fathers…

Happy father's day pa!!
this daughter of yours will try to live up to your optimism -- to the best that she could =)wuvu!

from my english 100 professor..
if you can have something beautiful at the right time, at the right place with the right person, why settle for anything less?

the play called 'sanctum'

Friday night was 43’s despedida – the last to go among the little women. The rest of the little women 47, 40, and 164, in that exact order left the play called ‘sanctum’ one by one beginning June of last year. Three years back, the little women auditioned for this play and passed for what they thought was just a simple manuscript to follow. It was the best ever written and the play’s director had the genius to craft the finest in friendships.

47 didn’t make it that night. Neither did 71, who accidentally joined the league for obvious reasons --- she was charming and funny and food-loving (the single most important factor to pass)

55, and the other ex’s who came before the little women, were also there. Well, 55 was not exactly one of the little women (wink wink) but she had the heart and mind that made her no different from them, yin and yang – that’s how 153 tagged her that night. And they endlessly tossed each other with ‘saw-you-with’ anecdotes (sino na nga ba talaga?hehe)

Besides foods and drinks, the one other overwhelming company was stories, stories, stories. The promise ring between 39 and 46 was finally sealed with a marriage ring. The come-backing 45 will seal his own too very soon. And so are two other ex’s of sanctum. aww love is in the air :) Wonder when dippin dots and da man will?:)

Everyone was ribbing at 36 (43’s bf) on how he must keep his seal of loyalty while 43’s away coz the ‘double 007s’ are all over and the only safe hideaway for him is the ‘citi’. More ribbing ensued while 36 endlessly begged 43 to rub his back as they conjure up their ‘spa’ plans for the weekend.

The night was a rendezvous of memories. There’s 40 who had her share of the teasing -- she and her short-lived stint with 41, which never went beyond the trading floor (let him go, 40 hehe). there's 153 who's just happy come rain or shine. and why the ones that are never there always gets the biggest pie in the conversation? there's ex-44 and ex-71 and 59 and ex-47, etc etc

And who can stop 45 from baring his lists? The long list of codenames and blind items (stretch your imagination, pleaasssse)

By the time most of the guests have left, 36 was still begging and so 43 eventually gave in, she rubbed his back (what da love and da man combined can do, lucky da man hehe).

173 (?) has his own stories to tell too, on one evening with his other half, a bright idea lit the whole town (ting!) ---- it was possible for one to talk inwards and cough inwards ----- it may have been unnoticed, but a laughing gas probably found its way out coz everyone couldn’t stop laughing to the point of breathlessness. what will eventually be tagged as “the discovery of the century” culminated the night of stories and white wine and tequila and samba chocolates and homemade longganisa, 3 in the morning, dizzy from laughing, half-dreamy, homesick all of a sudden.

The little women’s part in the play called ‘sanctum’ was over and it did so with 43’s grand exit ----now off to find her own place under the sun.

To 43 a.k.a. dippin dots, i believe you can play the part and you can play it well.. whatever role, wherever (notre dame or cornell), the days with the little women will remain sweet and creamy and it will get even sweeter and creamier the second time around --- looking forward to our next reunion :)