Like perfume...

Happiness. Whatever we are doing right this very minute is geared towards finding it. We are all in search of eternal happiness. I don't think there is something like that but I do believe that we are all responsible for being happy. It is a choice.

And just like perfume, you can spritz it towards others but in the process you will get a few drops onto yourself.

Happy Monday everyone!

;)

Eyes acting up!

I am feeling so inspired to blog for the past couple of days now. There are so many things I want to do and I find that I will be able to do all of it if not for my eyes which are acting up! It's aching and I know that my eye grade has gone up again.

Anyway, I am grateful that I am in the mood to update my blogs. I am also updating and tweaking some templates/themes so it has been a very busy couple of days for me. No complaints here, though. I am happy with what I do.

:)

Just be yourself!

Do you want to pretend to be somebody you're not? It's hard. It can be tiring and stressful. Happiness will come and go and it won't stay because there is always something that is not right.

So why pretend when you can be free by being yourself?

Think about it!

Happy weekend!

A promise to myself.

This is a promise I am making to myself: I won't let others pull me down ever again! I am old enough to choose the people around me and I will use that choice to make sure that I am only surrounded by people who truly care for me.

I won't build walls. I will close all doors and windows and will throw away the key so those negative ones won't be able to come near me again.

Jazz, Blues and R&B night

I forgot the name of the bar somewhere in the city where every night it's jazz, blues and R&B night. You could sit there for hours with a bottle of beer and just listen to one guy play the sax after another. Gigs would begin at around eight in the evening and would end at around three the next morning. The bar would always be filled with the regulars.

I loved it there. I remember going there with two of my closest friends a couple of times and we would sit there for hours talking and listening to the man on the stage. I would have gone there more but the place was out of the way. The place could only be accessed with a private vehicle as it was located in a residential area.

One time, about a few years ago, I went back there with a friend of mine. We were surprised that the bar was no longer there. It was replaced by a cafe.

Places like that are far and few between. I just wish more people would patronize it so they won't go into extinction like what happened to that local bar.

Work every single day.

Yes, I work almost every single day for the past seven years. I take time off when I want to but I make up for it by working doubly hard after a time off. That's what I did, and still do, ever since I decided to work from home.

No regrets, though. I've been enjoying this kind of work and although I get stressed out when no money flows it, I still prefer this job with only myself as the boss compared to the job I used to have where there were a number of bosses I needed to please every single day!

Spread kindness!

I guess when you are growing old you feel the need to be kinder to people around you. Maybe it's the maturity that comes with age, I am not really sure, but I do feel this desire to spread kindness like a virus!

Look, I am not saying I am a kind person. Considerate, definitely. Kind, not too much. But, as I've mentioned, the need to be kind to others, the urge, the compulsion is there. And I will act on it, that's for sure.

Let's spread kindness even to one person a day. It will spread like wildfire, I just know it!

In constant search for an inspiration.

I write all the time. Even when I am out of the house and away from my computer, I still write on a notepad or a notebook. That's what I do, you know.

I write.

It makes me happy because I know I am doing something that I am passionate about. It is an outlet for all the emotions inside me. It is a way of life for me already, to tell you the truth.

And I will not change it for anything else.

I began writing stories, essays, poems, and just snippets of thoughts back in high school. I had these notebooks where I wrote a lot of stuff. I am not sure if I still have those notebooks, though. One, I remember clearly, was left under the pillow on the bed I occupied during a retreat back in junior high. I felt so frustrated over the loss of that notebook of mine I 'mourned' that loss for weeks! I wrote so much stuff there and was on a number of pages already of a developing story about a missing girl.

Oh, well.

I have a lot more notebooks which replaced that one. I actually have a box full of notebooks of different sizes, all ready to be filled with ideas. But as of now, I can only write for my blogs. I still have to find that inspiration to write a story again.

I know I can get back my mojo. I know how to but I am waiting for something to happen first. I am waiting for my 'freedom'. As soon as I am free, I will get that mojo of mine back and will write one story after another. And all of it will get published!

That's a promise I am making to myself!

Still working at home...

It's been seven years now since I began working at home. I quit the corporate world to work on my own and I must say I am happy with the result. It was a scary decision I made but I made it! And now, seven years later, I am still here working at home, doing something I am really passionate about.

I am praying I will be able to do this a decade more. Or for the rest of my life!

I am happy with working at home and I know it will be really hard for me once I will go back to working in the office.

Moments of Solitude

I plan to focus more on myself this year. No, nothing grand or anything. I just plan on focusing on my health and fitness. I also plan to do some traveling in the latter part of the year. I owe this to myself. I am turning 35 this year and I believe I am entitled to some fun, right?

And I need to be alone, away from everybody and everything. I need it.

Just to hear my thoughts and know myself more.

;)

Little girl reading

Truth be told I am a late bloomer in reading. I became a bookworm when I was already in my teens. I read a lot when I was younger but lack of budget for books and a very limited library in school prevented me from really digging in on the books that matter.

I never went through that phase of reading the classics. My very first novel was a historical romance book. Ha! Ha! Ha! I know, not very appropriate! But I bought the novel for only 25 pesos in National Bookstore. That amount was right on the budget so I was allowed to get it for myself. Then I went through the phase in high school where I read almost all Sweet Dreams, Sweet Valley High, and Tagalog romance novels that I could get my hands on. Then in college, I read more Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, Johanna Lindsey, Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux, and other foreign authors that I was lucky to get from friends.

For more than two years now, I've been digging into Young Adult books a lot. I realized that I never really went through the books that make my young heart flutter so I am now going back and indulging myself. Ha!

There are days when I regret not starting really young in reading. There are just so many good books that I haven't read and most of them are for little kids! Some people laugh at me for buying kiddie books but this girl doesn't really care. I want to read those books you know. And if not now, when?

;)

Keep going!

Don’t give up. Keep going. There is always a chance that you stumble onto something terrific. I have never heard of anyone stumbling over anything while he/she was sitting down. - Ann Landers

I saw the photo and quote above in Facebook and I immediately thought I'd share it here...

I would like to think that this was what I did when I stumbled upon blogging. I didn't know what I was really getting myself into except that I wanted an online diary and I wanted to connect with someone. Back then, I didn't know that blogging could become a lifestyle for me. Yet here I am now, living it.

So if you feel like you are onto something really good, don't give up! Keep on going that same direction until you stumble onto that something really good. If you give up now, you may be stumbling onto it tomorrow and you've lost that chance.

Don't give up!

;)

Hindi lutong-Bacolod

Pasintabi sa mga kumakain. Kung kayo'y madirihin, wag munang basahin ang entry na ito.

Alam kong kaka-post ko lamang kahapon pero kailangan ko itong makwento... Read on...

May assignment ang sister kong si Grace. Kailangan nilang i-review ang ilang episodes ng i-Witness. Isang news and public affairs program sa Channel 7.

So, nanghiram siya ng vcd at isa sa mga episodes na napanood namin kahapon ay ang Basurero episode.

Halu-halong emosyon ang naramdaman ko habang pinapanood ang episode na ito. Si Jay Taruc ang nag-report at sumama siya sa mga basurero upang maging makatunayan ang kanyang paglalahad.

Unang segment ay ang Batchoy. May nakilala siyang mga homeless na upang makakain, gawain na maghintay sa labas ng mga fastfood at restaurant para sa mga basura nito. Paglabas ng basura'y dali-dali nilang bubuksan ito at hahanapin ang mga "pwede" pang ihalo sa ulam nila.

Nung sumama si Jay sa kanila, nakakuha sila ng ilang dahon ng petchay, ilang tira-tirang tinik na may mga laman pa ng isda, at ilang nakagatan ng parte ng manok. Halos kalahati ng isang black garbage bag ang nakuha nila! 3 kilos nga raw. Tinanong pa sila ni Jay na paano kung panis na yung nakuha nila... hindi naman daw, sagot nung isang nanay. Saka maisusuka rin naman daw nila kung sakali. Tsk tsk... Hindi na pumasok sa isip nila ang food poisoning sa sobrang gutom!

Jay Taruc’s “Basurero” unravelled the depressing situation of many Filipinos who feed on leftover food, now called “batchoy.” Viewers expressed disgust when Taruc himself ate scraps from garbage.
Excerpt from Sine Totoo: GMA News and Public Affairs festival

Bumalik sila sa kanilang make-shift shelter at nagluto na. Hiwa ng bawang at sibuyas at binuksan na ang bag. Dahil medyo madilim yung lugar nila at ilaw lang ng apoy ang nagbibigay-liwanag, mukhang sandamak na tuna yung niluluto. Pero sa totoo, dinurog na tira-tira galing basura, ang kanilang batchoy.

Mga taga-Marinduque (o Mindoro yata) sila at mas gugustuhin daw nilang kumain ng batchoy kaysa nilagang saging! Ano ba yun?! Isipin niyo na lang na bata at matanda ang kumakain. At basura ang kinakain nila, kahit pa sabihing nailuto ito.

Nakikain pa si Jay nang maluto. Isang subo lang ang pinakita at kita mo sa mukha niya ang sama ng lasa ng kinain. At, aminin man niya o hindi, pagkasuka sa nakain.

Sana nga lang, may ginagawa ang mga katulad ni Jay at sampu ng mga kasama niya sa i-Witness matapos na makita ang plight ng mga taong ito. Hindi yung pinagkakitaan lang ang documentary na nabuo at nakalimutan na sila.