Paradise Philippines

Every parent will, in one way or another, damage their kid(s). This is inevitable. It could be intentional or not, direct or inadvertent. Either way, parents will always leave a crack on their offsprings' personalities. It could be as insignificant as a scratch or as deep as a gaping volcano hole.

Unfortunately, I am one of those who could agree to that paragraph. Thank your stars tonight if you think that I'm wrong, and consider yourself (very, very) lucky.

Tame as it was, Holy Week was still a "blast", perhaps just in an entirely different way than I've imagined. Spent some time with dad and his family, and for a while I felt how it was to belong in what some would coin a "normal" family. Never having experienced living in a house with your parents in another room, still mushy and sweet after all those years, I sincerely thanked God for the experience. And the four straight days I spent with him? Priceless.

Lately the feeling of being an overgrown owl in a very small gilded cage intensifies with every passing day. Really, I need more room to spread out, to fly, to breathe. Ah, freedom. Why does it insist on being so elusive? My friends are getting married left, right, and center, and I can't even come home late without having to explain myself.

Still, God answers prayers. Maybe not in the way you asked, or expected. But He does. He just answered mine. The thought that He never does anything without a reason brings solitude to my restless mind. It's tempting, but I will not question His will.

The answers will come in time.♥

It's cool that I got to enjoy a few recreational activities last week and got a bit of a break, what with all the other preoccupations that often plague me. To end our week with a BANG, Riz and I was fortunately assigned to do something FUN:

Photo stolen from Riz.

We decorated our bulletin board and as expected, between us two we created a mesh of girly, colorful, sunshiny summer design, which might not be really appropriate since it was after all supposed to be an office bulletin board, but is pretty nonetheless. FUN to make too.

And the day after that, more FUN with a handful of college friends:

More photos here.

You wouldn't believe how much of a relief it was to get a breather with old college friends, with people from a life you somehow missed but would, on the whole, rather not get back to. It was uber FUNFUNFUN to catch up tih one another, ask how it's going and what we are all doing now with our lives a year after we took a plunge into the real world. Just sit laugh and fool around and gossip like we did when we were all in one classroom, sharing lessons and professors and assignments.

And then I spent the night over at dad's. I don't think anyone could really blame me for wanting to be around a "normal" family. We played Ravenhearst, this newfound game that an officemate introduced to me, and just like me, Dad was instantly hooked. together we looked for apples and helmets and bones and other whatnots, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery diary.  We ate with his parents and Ate K, his cousin and then played a round of Scrabble.

So yeah, my weekend was such a BLAST.

PS: Following in the footsteps of my blog-and-real-life-friends Joni and of course Riz, I am now on Twitter and WeeWorld. Check out my Twit Page and my spunky WeeMee (decked out in a pink and yellow polka-dotted dress and has a Route 66 background coz i loved the movie Cars) and add me up on both accounts. Pretty please?

NOT SO FUN:

To commemorate with Virginia Tech Massacre victims, this blog would be participating with One Day Blog Silence on April 30th.

Ever since a friend's dad passed away, I've been thinking how death sometimes cheats us: coming when least expected, claiming the best of people. It sneaks behind our backs and snatches lives when you're not ready for it to come. But then again, is anyone ever really ready to die? I know I'm not. I've got a lot of things I want to do prove. I can't lie in bed before sleep steals in and think that "I lived a full life". There was always too much to do with too little time in my hands that I've never been able to venture out and help as much as I would like to.

That's why I really admire and respect Julia Campbell. As we all know, she was reported missing a few days ago and her body was found last week. The police are careful not to reveal too many details, which I think is a wise decision on the whole. I read her blog earlier and I couldn't help it: I was touched by the empathy and enthusiasm she showed to help our fellow Filipinos.

I found her blog infinitely fascinating. Most of the foreigners I've met really look down on Filipinos (and other races for that matter), thinking that being Filipino is equivalent to being incompetent. Not all of them are, but most of them do. I found it really cute that Julia could speak Tagalog. And I found it really amazing that she took the time to learn it. And that she became so immersed in the Filipino culture that she feels the urge to say "po" and talks in Tagalog to any non-English speaking person by default. That she is no longer used to eat with a fork and a knife. 

Most of all, I admire her for having such a kind nature that she went all out to help Filipinos even though technically it was not a part of her tasks and more to the point: to people who are not the same race as she was.

Read her blog over here. It might inspire you the way it inspired me.