Sunday, July 20, 2008

6 piece chicken conversations and concert-crashers.

High school was not the happiest place to be if you weren't popular, pretty and pole-thin. Yet somehow, amidst all the angst, the peer pressure and the struggle for grades, solid-as-rock friendships get you through everything regardless if you're in the clique of the prom queens, the league of overachieving academics or in the locker corner of the offbeats, and the bond is so strong it stays long after you've quit your first job or obtained that second degree.

Just last Friday, I drove all the way to Rockwell from Quezon Ave just to have a KFC takeout dinner at a high school barkada's apartment. We enjoyed a few laughs watching comedy skits, talking nonstop with another barkada over the phone and swapping stories about crushes, just like old times. This time, though, the TV was YouTube, we were burning mobile phone lines instead of landlines and crushes were no longer blue- or green-blooded but blue- or white-collared, hahaha ;p

The following evening, I went out with another friend to watch a fundraising concert at a bar in Ortigas. The bar owner is his high school barkada, and we got in for free :) Nagkumustahan sila about batchmates, family and how it felt to watch newbloods perform while they sit at the sidelines instead of performing themselves. Unfortunately, there were a couple of anonymous sluts who shared our table, ordered sisig and some drinks and left without settling their tab! Kawawa naman si owner...akala nya kasama namin (actually I had no idea how they got to our table when I came back from the CR -- probably tried to flirt thinking my friend was alone). Kainis diba? We left on a happy note naman, after watching a spectacular performance by all the bands who participated, most noteworthy of all was Yosha, which was the reason why I came and stayed from 9pm to 2am in the first place :) We also bumped into another classmate of his before we headed for home. Funny, I just realised this was the second bar we've been to that's owned by one of his high school batchmates! Hmm. Someday we'll set up our own at sila naman ang dadalaw, haha.

Thanks to the nuns in green skirts and the brothers in greenhills for the schools they built :)



Saturday, July 12, 2008

uwian na, uwian na!

Sing the subject to the tune of "here comes the bride"...hahaha just like grade school days.

The endoscopy results show a few scars on the intestine which caused Dad's tummy trouble, while the biopsy results indicate NEGATIVE for malignancy.

YEHEY!

My brother's at the billing section as I type this...ako naman timing kung kailan naman ako nag-OT sa work saka pa na-clear si Daddy to go home. Uuwi na rin ako in a while!

Salamat ulit sa inyong mga dasal at suporta. Ang lakas n'yo talaga sa langit :)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

my first teenage love affair

Got this from a friend's site. Do you remember feeling this way? ;)

Link

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

to break faith with You is to be no one.

begin reading this with a prayer that Dad’s biopsy results, due this evening, will show promise J

*********

I met a former client yesterday afternoon at the office. He was smiling and seemed genuinely delighted to see me, and I offered my assistance in facilitating his request which had to be relayed to the other branch. I invited him over for a chat, since I’ve known him and his wife for quite some time now, sharing personal stories while helping them manage their accounts. They’re in their late fifties and call each other “Ga” (short for pangga or "darling"), being the sweet Ilonggos that they are.

He fell ill a few years back and was found to have a large tumor growing in his brain. I remember his wife taking out a loan to shoulder the cost, and leaving her job as a school director to minimize stress-inducing situations. They visited me when he recovered, telling me the amusing story of him being operated on fully awake, and finding a sense of inner peace after being given a second chance at life. The last time I talked to them, they were even volunteering to help me find work in Australia should my plans to settle down and raise a family there push through J

He asked how I was, and I told him a bit of everything, mostly about my dad’s condition. From his experience with battling cancer, he assured me that we’ll live through this with God’s grace. I told him I’ve banished doubt in divine providence, knowing that everything does happen for a reason, and that faith has kept me going in recent months, because, honestly,

the reasons do come sprouting from nowhere, with my mind nodding, “ah, kaya pala.” J

His eyes suddenly welled up and told me God sees the good things that we do, and that I should never stop caring for my family. He wrote my dad’s name in his little notebook and promised to offer intentions in his community prayer.

Grace is the instrument that realizes hope.