help at home

it’s not as easy as our amahs make it look. housework and looking after a gang of crazy kids (i.e., my younger sibs) is something some of us (i.e., me) simply suck at.

when we experienced a month without amahs, last year, we really had a hard time. it was part of our parents’ experimentation, and it didn’t pay off as predicted. everything was as chaotic as my hair in the morning.

to make the story short... our parents who swore never to have amahs again (owing to a few unpleasant incidents), went looking for some1 they could truly TRUST. they ended up taking home 1 of the 2 best we’ve ever had.

here she is lookin’ good during the simple surprise salo-salo my sibs and i organized on her birthday—which was the other day, and which inspired this blog entry.

obviously, she deserves better than our humble blowout. our parents are presently away for work so we lack funds. haha. even so, we did it to explicitly express our lalalalove.

we’ve never been so blessed with an amah who’s never said a bad thing to us, and has listened patiently to our naïve complains about the world.

after that historic month of balancing chores, force-feeding on bad food and snoozing in class for sleeplessness, i relearned by heart the value of help in the house.

here's to the grads!

lunch today was special. some friends from the future leaders business summit just graduated from college, and we got together to celebrate with them. there were sharings and speeches, a short walk down memory lane, good food, and my secret favorite CEOs were among those who hosted the gathering.

it was a short, simple and small get-together. short, because it did not last long (duh). simple, because the setting was nice but not too grand (duh again)—the company, food and place made it delightful. small, because we were missing more than half of our number.

the orange team (that's us) was even missing 3 heads, plus 1—our facilitator during the summit last year (a former local tv host who's now 1 of the big bosses). she appeared and disappeared at the party. she must be really busy. i never got to say hi to her.

it happens a lot. when we miss people, they just don't pop out of nowhere. maybe life wants us to miss them more. and so, hugging and beso-beso takes place whenever we bump into them in the weirdest places. haha.


there's still some room for the "missing heads" in this pic, see?

but that's not really the point of this stream-of-consciousness post. the gathering was about the graduates, and we're all really proud of and happy for them. that prior sentence sounds cliché because it's true.

cheers! (and here's another 1 for us, who'll be graduating next year! hehe.)

*~*~*~*

advance happy earth day!

condition

if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten

—"if you forget me", pablo neruda

weekend in tabuelan

summer's never complete without going to the beach. so even if it means a weekend with my crazy family, i'm game.

our 1st time in the remote town of tabuelan turned out to be fun... and the best thing is that on top of the fine, whitish sand and clear water, is that there weren't many people in the resorts. while the main cities' beaches were being flocked by tourists, i found peace in tabuelan.

the head of our little tribe (my father), seemed to be in a good mood, too. "there's something calming about being in a beach," he told the priest we invited in the car with us. on our weekend in tabuelan, he only lost his temper twice. he was even funny.

here are some pics from my phone...



that's honestly all the time i have for now. did you go to the beach already?

my garbage

how i wanna run away to panglao island and fall asleep to the sound of the waves. i'm unhappy and almost everything i hear, see, smell and taste makes me wanna cry. it's not that i'm too busy and that i miss my bed for having to stay awake much to get stuff done. i'm probably just sad or stressed. or both.

sad/stressed, not really because of the journalism internship. but because of my father, who is home for 2 weeks with that killer attitude of his. as much as i'm trying to be as forgiving and understanding, i'm already too tired. he is the same grumpy grinch and i'm tempted to give up and just throw a tantrum when he gets too difficult to deal with.

it's strange how people are supposed to be happy when the family's complete, noh?

my adolescent siblings are also making privacy at home impossible. they must be too bored that they spy on unsuspecting family members... last night, as i was on the phone with a guy friend calling from the states, i discovered a cellphone hidden under bed my sheets recording our conversation. i've stretched to my limit, but i didn't bite my sibs' heads off. haha. i'm not the violent type (don't worry, world!).

i'm just letting it all out, because i'm really about to... well, crack... sometimes we tell people, "i know how you feel" or "i understand what you're going through", but we really don't. so i hope you won't judge me as some monster for writing these things. hehe.

on the bright side, i should be excited with my internship and everything that will come with it... life's not all bad stuff. there are things i'm grateful for (including my crazy family who i honestly love), and maybe it will help if i focus on "the good and the beautiful"... like... god, who is perfect.

speaking of god, the holy week has gone by (stating the obvious, right?). i didn't really make the most out of it because i was being pathetic. i'm working on making up for it, though... this year, i discovered and experienced new things about my faith and spirituality. thanks to our 2 days in carcar and simala.



and now, back to business... to internship work. to keep my mind off from sad things.

thank you for listening to (or reading) my garbage. i hope you enjoy your summer!