My Travel Suitcase

God is so
wonderful in cheering me up this week. After undergoing two weeks of
physical therapy for my lower back, having doses of muscle pain
reliever plus experiencing a small mishap in the hospital, which
resulted to my ending up with not one but three dead toenails, I got to go to Tagaytay with my friends from Victory-Fort last May 3. Road trip!! Imagine that!

Route: Breakfast by Antonio’s
             -Try the Fruit Slush. Excellent!
            -Played Imaginiff on the patio

            Cliffhouse - FIC
            -Try the Banoffee Banana ice cream (not sure
of the name) or
            -Scoop of Raspberry ice cream or
            -A Banana Split
            -Walked in the rain

What I really like about summer is spending time with my aunt. I especially enjoy our late night talks. Anyway, she lent me this book, Grace for the Moment", a collection of excerpts from Max Lucado’s books. We just love this piece he wrote in the first few pages of the book, which I will quote. (It’s kind of long so I just took some parts).

I choose love. No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace and then when the day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

Nice noh?

I love riding the jeepney. I get most of my story ideas there because I have time to think and even observe people or sceneries. One thing I love to collect are the slogans or signs that I see posted on them. Here is my collection but more to come(forgot to write them all down):
Note: If you want to add to this collection, by all means…do =)

1) "Sexy kung gusto mong libre, sa driver tumabi hehehe."
2) "Lord, ilayo mo po ang pasaherong di nagbabayad."
3) "God knows HUDAS not pay."
4) "Paalala: Barya lang sa umaga"
5) "Hwag tutok galit baruk"
6) "God Bless our Trip"
7) to be continued…

Change - it must be my word for the year. I have encountered so much that it sometimes overwhelms, but God is constantly there to direct and guide me. Indeed, I have discovered that I can’t label change as good or bad but as a necessity, a part of life.  Sometimes when you keep telling yourself that you will change this or that, you have to be careful because you may be saying this and later on realize that you’ve been saying it for how many years.

That is why change must be accompanied by wisdom, discipline, understanding and most of all, prayer. Action must take place. Simply take God at His Word. Let Go and Let God. He is for you and not against you.

Last Thursday, March 2, my friends invited me to a Franck Provost hairdressing class in Jupiter street. Mitch and I were to be the models needed for our friend’s examination. The teacher looked European and had an interesting accent (yes, it waz zis and zat). He had a good personality too which catches his students’ attention. My hair was prepped so I had curlers on my bangs and two curling irons pressed near my scalp.(ouch!).

The feeling of excitement overwhelmed me because of two things. This was out of spontaneity; I couldn’t believe my boss agreed to let me take a leave during a busy week; I couldn’t believe my colleagues were so sweet in encouraging me to embark in this out-of-the-blue event. And second, I am delighted with the fact that I don’t know what I am going to look like after an hour.

As the minutes began to tick, I tried to put my friend at ease as she teased, pulled and sprayed almost a whole bottle of citre shine aerosol on my hair. I was actually at ease because she is a fine artist and knows her stuff in this field. I helped her with the bobby pins and in choosing which jewelry to garnish my hair after she has finished styling.

The style on my hair was princess-like. It was swept up and had small ringlets of curls falling down. I was so happy. All the models had their picture taken, luckily, my friend had time to apply make-up. It was fantastic to see other creations as well. I saw a geisha look, an Imelda quaff and a baby doll hairdo. It was such a sight to see the creativity of these people. 

Then as I rode on the MRT, I have learned one or two lessons from this adventure. First, never spray on your hair while it’s still on the curling iron. Unless you want to see smoke and burning hair, I pray you won’t. Next, once in a while, you have to be brave and go for it. Because of this event, I was able to converse with interesting people who made me laugh and think about life. It was truly a blessing!

So what happened afterwards…

"Well, if you have it, you walk it and flaunt it."

Never in my whole life have I cried during a wedding, but it happened. My friend, Johnny and his bride Sophia got married today. Although I  was not able to see their vow taking at San Sebastian church still they were able to bring the spirit of their love and commitment into the reception at Manila hotel. The place was grand and elegant. This is the one time that I greatly wished I bought a digital camera. I wanted to photograph the chandelier hanging gracefully, the three white sashes that were cascading in the center ceiling and the table tops of small potted flowers (They were souvenirs and as much as I imagine having gotten "looks" for getting two, I guess call me a hopeless romantic I wanted to take two to remember this day.) The photographer, Jaime Tee, was really good. I hope he will do my wedding photos, wish ko lang. If you are getting married, the best ito friends, go to his website which is www.jaimetee.com. The video presentation was also done professionally by www.threelogy.com.

I was blessed to be given the opportunity to meet with old friends. Even if we were only able to talk for a few minutes still it is very valuable to me. I am so happy to know that they are well and that they are leading good lives. May God continue to bless them with peace and prosperity.

This experience has taught me that despite the turmoil we find in the world, love still exists. Maybe this is the reason why I got teary eyed, it reminds me that true love happens, especially when both the bride and groom cried as they addressed their parents, relatives and guests. So when the young couple start their lives in China, I am confident that they will have a beautiful life together.

This 2005, I can say that have walked a pretty good mile but clearly there are still many forks in the roads yet to be taken. I am actually excited for this coming 2006. Since it is the year of the Dog and I am a Sheep so I kind of like to think of it as one filled with directions as to where to turn, jump over or simply to graze in abundant grasslands.(yum!)

Anyway, I am so glad to have this blog site up and running. I’ll be sure to check on yours if you check out mine. hehe. =p

This is very impromptu, don’t know what else to write so I will just leave a short quotation, recently discovered:

"In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life:  It goes on." - Robert Frost

A Happy and Prosperous New Year!