pakipot

good morning sunshine!

someone: muzta? nu balita?

me: wala naman... im ok. u?

someone: how come u don't text na?

me: ah. just realized i have better things to do than wait for ur reply/ies. ^_^

someone: to naman... jowk na naman.

me: ndi ah. totoo un...

thinking: i can see the mile wide smile on his face... *irk*

the alternate name meme

tagged by Kat

1.YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
- Brownie No-Car (yuck!)

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
- Vanilla Oreo (doesn't sound like a gangster hehehe)

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
- R-Mar

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animals)
- Red Lion (gryffindor?) -- San Beda daw sabi ni Kat... ahehehe

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name (mother's maiden name in my case), city where you were born)
- R****** Nueva Vizcaya (sorry no City, I'm born and bred Probinsiyana...)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
-Mar Ri (Awww! --kulang na lang ng isa pang Mar)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
- The Orange Coffee (WTF?!) hahahaha

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
- Juan Pablo or Pablo Juan...

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
- Musk Kisses (ahihihi)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
- R****** Y****** (God knows it would take getting used to...)

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
- Sepagan San Juan/San Fernando/San Jose

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flowers)
- Spring Orchid (ewww...)

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
- Banana Blousie hihihi

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
- Bread Mahogany (it doesn't sound hip either)

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
- The Reading Water Tour (Hahaha!)

16. YOUR PORN NAME: (First Pet + Name of street you grew up on)
- Brownie Consuelo (its barangay, we don't have street names)

decorum

Do you have “issues” with too much profanity or overly explicit (ahem) “romantic” scenes in books? Or do you take them in stride? Have issues like these ever caused you to close a book? Or do you go looking for more exactly like them? (grin)

let's say that i've learned about the birds and the bees through reading. and as i get older, i long ago stopped having issues about what others might refer to as "too graphic" and "too explicit" romantic scenes. i had a short stint as an editor of an online resource of erotic literature; i read neil gaiman, nora roberts and vc andrews; and as a pseudo-writer, i write some "romance" stories too. i have one restriction though, i don't want to read/write about it in my local language. and i have a rather valid reason for it.

during the rehearsal for the fifth grade comencement exercises, a naughty girlfriend handed me a local tabloid and pointed to a story. that was too explicit for me at that age. it was an eye opener, but it was also too "dirty" for an eleven-year-old. the words were easy to comprehend since it was written in our language, and maybe it was precisely because of that that i found it too "taboo".

some purist might argue that the change in language would not alter the meaning. afterall, the act and the actions described are the same. but still, i have those 'restrictions'...

slainte

year was 2004 when i first reported here at the army headquarters. it was a monday, i came to report after two hours of sleep because i have to finish the project i signed myself up as a 'supervisor' at the previous work. i drafted the resignation letter on a friday, 11pm; passed it first thing on the saturday; work til dawn of sunday and reported here on a monday. yes... how quickly my life changed.

the first officer i reported to was cpt boyet dulay, the first soldier i talked to was cpl jessica valdez, the first office i reported to is located at the command and general staff college building.

that was three years ago.

and after three years, i continue to have this love/hate relationship with this job. three years of sweat and hardwork. three years of love and hate.

now i have more than a battalion of networks, all top brass, all admirable. they taught me to develop myself, my personality, my patience. i have learned a lot and is learning still.

so through this all, slainte! to the future...

p.s i bought a book on the serenity prayer last night, my gift to myself...

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things i cannot change,
the courage to change the things that i can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

more years

to the song of my heart, nikka, who is celebrating her 18th birthday today... i love you, sis!

this date last year, nikka was admitted to the hospital due to a very serious and complicated case of thyphoid fever. she was sallow, unfocused and hallucinating. she was seventeen. she had five transfusions, had more than six shots a day, had taken more pills and medicines than i could have imagined, underwent medication and recuperated for half a year. she missed her final exams at UST. through it all, she made it.

she is strong and brave and her heart is true. God had always been faithful to His promises and though we may never have visited a church during that time, it was when we prayed the hardest. there was no room for fear or doubts. i, even for a second, did not doubt that nikka would make it. to this day, i've always wondered how we could be so strong and i realized that God talks to us not in words, not in a way that is obvious. He assures us of things that we can only grasp through faith: we have to BELIEVE.

nikka, our very own drama princess, you are strong, brave and beautiful. you are intelligent and capable of so many wonderful things. you are all those and more, and you have to believe it.

we love you... until this world ends and beyond, you will always be special. be happy, sis. God bless...xox

stigma

i am currently in the phase of discovering batch reunions. and just recently, i've discovered that i am loving it. well, it was a long way from the very different me who sans the memory of high school life...hay skul, i used to say. i am singing a different tune now.

i have several realizations after the nine and a half years i did not see some of my high school batchmates. and at this age, i am amazed to have found out that we've grown quite differently from what i am expecting.

i've realized that almost all of the guys had a crush (at one point in their HS life) on two of our girl batchmates... quite expected really because those two are the batch's prettiest.

i've realized that some of the coolest guys grew up to be the biggest jerks. consequently, some of the boring nerds and uncool, un-'crushable' types grew up to be admirable and responsible men. and there are still those, who, after six months short of a decade, are still blissfully unaware and misinformed.

some never moved on after their first heartbreaks; while some found their better half among the batch. and there are those who, until now, are still working on their courage to tell somebody their true feelings.

nine years is a long time. some lost weight; some gained it. some bloomed while some withered; others never seemed to have changed at all. and there are some who said goodbye to the batch a bit earlier than they should have to. they are missed; their memories still etched in the hearts of those of us who remains.

i realized that time will never stop for anyone and that every minute counts. time wasted will never be recovered. we can never take too many pictures. some of the best things remained undocumented. there are memories that until this day remained indescribeable and inexpressible; they remain as emotions too poignant to be forgotten.

so, eventhough i failed to tell every single one of my batchmates how thankful i am that they became part of my life, i will never again go back to that phase when i seemed to want to forget them. xox