The guys are off to Spain!
It's been a long time since I last saw a basketball match and last night's game and eventual win by Gilas Pilipinas was one of the best games I have seen. I was just at home, the only rose among a brood of macho guys (being my brother and his friends) but the adrenalin rush brought by the ballgame itself was something good.
With last night's win, I can't help but recall these words from boxing legend, Muhammad Ali:
"Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
And may I add to that last line, impossible is indeed nothing especially to those who believe in the power of their dreams.
The Philippine flag is about make it in the land of the ilustrados by 2014. How cool is that? Bring out the paella! Hasta pronto, España! (and it's the España in Europe and not in Manila!)
"The things you expect the least are actually the things you need the most."
-Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever-
This was among the photos posted by my friend on my Facebook wall a year ago. Out of a bad hair day moment at work, just when I was looking forward to a "vent out session" with someone else about how frustrating the day was, this picture was later produced.
Within the year, a lot has happened, both happy and sad ones but then there are events that were pretty wonderful to think instead of being ignored. I surpassed one year mark at my job and I am still into it. He on the other hand, was granted another chance to serve the people through a new term of office.
I finally learned the importance of life balance and forgiveness. I was also able to finish an act that I committed myself into which started in June this year -- of going to completing 9 Friday masses not for anything but just because I wanted to do so. And it's a funny coincidence that the 9th Friday fell on a first Friday of the month similar to last year.
Who would have thought, while he "caught me at a disadvantage" that day, I would actually realize that this photo would remind me that I am able to rekindle a friendship with someone that I never thought could be possible.
*Note: This is the first among my long overdue posts. :-D
Despite being a bookworm, chick lit is a genre that is actually the least on my list of "to reads". My first try with this kind of literature was in 2009. While the normal demographics for these types of books are people in their teenage years, I, at that time was already 24.
You read that right. 24.
It was because of the books published by Summit Media (the company responsible for your favorites, Cosmopolitan and FHM) that I got hooked on reading such books. Every once in a while, when I have the chance, I tend to get a title or two that's an absolute feel good read. And who would have thought, when you least expect it, in a certain page, one can find words of advice that are indeed two cents worth of sensible pieces of advice. in the four years that I've been a reader, I've found a few from the following titles that I've devoured on:
FROM THE BOOK VINCE'S LIFE BY VINCE TEVES:
"No matter who the girl is, no matter what the girl says she wants, she wants flowers."
FROM TABLE FOR TWO BY MARLA MINIANO:
“When you think about it, everything is fleeting. Every second of every minute of every hour. The race and the rush and the choices and the chances. The love that grazed your fingertips, possibilities that brushed past you on your way to work or play or save the world, a happy ending you may have believed in with a faith beyond anything you could have imagined you were capable of.”
"How many people find each other everyday? there are a thousand possibilities, a thousand ways that could've led her to someone. A thousand chances for her to meet a good guy, and to clear up some space for him in her life, and maybe fall in love with him."
FROM VINCES LIFE: GETTING OVER ANDREA BY VINCE TEVES:
"What’s love? It’s like Fireworks. You know how fireworks are always a surprise? It was like that. Everything was magical, and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it always did get better until I thought I would explode from joy. And then it was over.”
But if you think, those books are just all about the mushy things involving boys, puppy love and crushes, when I tried flipping back the pages of the first chick lit book I have read, Marla Miano's
Every Girl's Guide to Boys, These lines caught my eyes when i reached the last page:
"People hurt you, and lie to you, and take you for granted, and treat you badly, but eventually you learn to forgive. You learn to forgive because you have your own shortcomings and imperfections. you learn to forgive because life is too short to be bitter and angry.
You learn to forgive because it is the only way you can move forward."
It is now I realized, I never thought how powerful such lines could be, it would eventually make sense in my life four years later.
"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues."
When I first learned about this viral photo of the policeman, PO1 Joselito Sevilla crying as caught by the lens of photojournalist Rem Zamora, the first thing that came in my head was the probability that he was hurt in the recent SONA rally. But upon reading the story behind the photo, I cannot help but give out words of admiration to this policeman. This situation broke the usual Pinoy notion, "Ang tunay na lalaki ay hindi umiiyak."
More than just praise for being courageous in publicly showing his emotion, he deserves commendation for being an epitome of what "maximum tolerance" should be. Subjecting himself to what policemen go through for the sake of responding to the call of duty is no easy task. If he happened to be another individual in blue uniform, that person might have just blown his top off and lose it. But PO1 Sevilla chose to show his frustration in a rather humane manner minus the need to physically hurt anyone. While it is uncommon for a man in uniform to be emotional, he just proved the fact that regardless of occupation, one fact remains: that we are all humans and we do have our vulnerable side.
It is true that boys don't cry. But a real man is someone who is not afraid to show his real emotion – much more revealing it at a time of chaos and in front of a lot of ill-tempered people.
I was on a rather earlier schedule in the office the past week. Indeed traveling to the office at 4:30 am and having my lunch at 10 (while others are just having breakfast) is an alien concept for me. Good thing though is that it's only for a week and I'll be back to the usual schedule on Monday.
But for now, here are the things I discovered and what I am loving at the moment:
I discovered that my office webmail has been upgraded. I have been using the old version for more than a year while my other colleagues had been on the new one and I did not hardly notice the change until Tuesday.
A few shades of pink to pop up some color – one to break the usual outfit, the other to add bright hue when I doll up for work :-). Though I find it funny sometimes at how my office friends react when they see me on collared shirts instead of the usual T-shirt, jeans and sneakers; it's as if i got converted to someone else hahaha!
I now get the hag of this kitchen gadget. For a year I stayed away from the pantry microwave for the fear that it might explode after seeing what a fellow office mate did -- placing an aluminum-lined paper plate in it and we had instant fireworks during lunch break.
And after three years, I finally found the time to sit and change my profile photo on this blog. But aside from my hair getting longer now, I don't think any other thing had changed.
"You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."
Yesterday, when I went on my routine Facebook check, I received a message from someone I have ceased talking to for a almost half a decade.
It was a somewhat lengthy message from my ex-boyfriend.
His letter contained the generic stuff; questions about me, about how am I at present and what's up with him nowadays. But there was a part in the letter where he asked one thing: If I am still angry at him about what he did in the past, and if I have forgiven him.
Reading between those lines, more than just him asking for forgiveness, I knew right then where it is leading: CLOSURE.
I will not go into details about what and how the whole thing came about or what the letter contained. All I knew is that it was something I have let go of years before. To hear from him say sorry was something I no longer thought will happen.
And I never expected to receive this letter hours before July 18 – today is exactly four and a half years since we broke up. I've always thought closure was just a word one reads in books. While it was the longest email I have ever written for him, I'd say it was also the best possible. It was an amicably peaceful exchange of words. There was no trace of hatred, no harsh words used and no discussion nor blaming about who committed what.
I just gave him what he asked for – FORGIVENESS. Just like what I have told him then, my life is short and people nowadays die young unexpectedly. It would be useless to waste that in anger and hatred. At least, if it happened that I were to die that night, I was able to do something right for someone for the last time. I simply knew what I had to do. I ended my reply by thanking him for the five years that we have been together, wished him well and advised him just two things: for him to love his wife and be a good father to his kids.
As I click"reply", I only knew of one two things: I am now free and I am absolutely happy. In time, my heart will welcome someone who deserves to have the space in it – for good.
Today, I found myself listening to this song while I try to unwind away from a busy afternoon. This one just brought back a lot of things -- both happy and sad memories and
things in between. It might seem to be a sad melody, but then its words, say a lot.
But more afraid to lose
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose
Once there was a darkness
Deep and endless night
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me life
It simply makes some things meaningful just my listening and contemplating on the words. Yes it's true that there are things you just simply cannot, and maybe, should not forget, but then even the darkest memories would eventually be a thing of the past -- . because something far more significant will come. And listening to this is enough to offer me some minutes of solace in the middle of a swamped crowd.
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