Pending Passions

This post may also be titled "How to Survive an Almost 12-Hour Road Trip (that Started at 1 a.m.)," but that would be too descriptive (and may or may not drive you away from reading this post). Also a fair warning, expect a lot of parenthetical comments (because they're the words that actually matter haha). Christmas for some people is spent with family in their homes, in front of the TV, eating Christmas dinner. This was also our usual celebration, but this year, we decided to shake things up with a road trip to Pagudpud. Now for anyone who knows anything about traveling and road trips amd Philippine geography, a road trip to Pagudpud (with all the rest stops and necessary traffic delays) would take about twelve hours. Here's a map. See, how lousy I am at pictures haha. Anyway to pass the time, here's what you can do (because this was what I did). 1.  Sleep.  As Ms. Universe 2014 advised Ms. Universe 2015 during her final walk, "Sleep if you can.&

This is how I #hugot. Also, this gives you an idea of what I'm really thinking about sometimes when I'm staring at my work but not actually working. Only sometimes. :) *** It was still early. We talked about meeting up today, but I didn't think he'd be here at this time. I rubbed the sleep off my eyes and smiled at him as he came through the door. "Good morning," he said. "Good morning," I replied. "So early?" "I wanted to watch the sunrise with you." He hugged me. I went back to my room to change while he took his place on the living room couch. When I got ready, we walked to the beach. It was still dark. We held hands while walking. My other hand was tucked inside my jacket pocket, keeping it warm in the strong breeze of the sea. His other hand was in his jacket pocket, probably keeping it warm too. We were silent, happy with each other's presence. We found the rock that protruded from the small hill a ways from the shor

As I count down to the end of this quarter-life crisis, I look back and realize how (it's taking me some time to think of a word to describe how) the past year was. I guess the word I'm really looking for is inconsistent , but maybe spontaneous  can do a better job at making sense of this post. So because I felt a bit spontaneous after the "surprise," here's my note to self. Part 1 The next time, if there is a next time, your friends surprise you by bringing balloons and party hats and a cake and some poppers while they're singing "Happy Birthday" in a room full of other people, forget yourself. Turn around and look at them. Really  look at them. You may not get a second chance. Look at how they walk toward you, smiling, singing, like fairies carrying gifts of happiness with their bouncing steps. (I really wish you had looked so you'd have a better description of what happened.) Look at their faces and remember that moment. Remember how you

This post may also be titled "What Happens When You Give Me Money and Send Me Off to Impulse Buy." I present to you Coloud Headphones the Boom Blocks in Gray/Pink. All right, the story begins with normal workers like you and me doing our job and doing it well. By God's grace, a veritable number of points was given to me as SPIFF (somebody please tell me what that means). As had been agreed, it was appliance showcase quarter, meaning we had to choose certain appliances that were worth whatever points we gathered.  Indecisive me could not decide in time what to order (and I was on leave), so I consequently forgot to send my request. On the day of awarding, I was sitting, probably obviously sad because of my own negligence. So out of the blue, I was sent off to an adventure! Buy myself something and bring back the receipt. Ergo, the Coloud headphones. Admittedly, I have been eyeing headphones since last year. I've done a bit of

Okay, way back in, I don't know, 2011, when I was still new to the world of social media and Tumblr, and when I was bored and extremely . . . wait, I think I was jobless when I wrote this. Anyway, way back then, I posted this on Tumblr. And I guess it really does still ring true today. The Twenty-First Time by Monk and Neagle Nowhere to live, nowhere to fall He used to have money, but he’s wasted it all. His face is a photograph burned in my mind, but I pretend not to see him for  the twenty-first time He sleeps under stars, that’s all he can afford His blanket’s an old coat he’s had since the war He stands on the corner of Carter and Vine But I pretend not to see him for  the twenty-first time He may be a drifter, he’s grown old and gray But what if he’s Jesus and I walk away? I say I’m the body and drink of the wine but I pretend not to see him for  the twenty-first time She’s twenty-nine but she feels forty-eight She can’t raise three k

Way back in 1998, I remember watching the movie The Truman Show  and wondering if it's real. The horizon from here (For those who are not familiar with the movie, you missed half of your life. Kidding. It stars Jim Carrey and Ed Harris and a bunch of other actors acting as actors in the first reality TV show that shows actual reality but is a movie so of course it's not really real. You can also Google it.) Admittedly, until now I wonder if there are no hidden cameras around me or up in the sky or if everything that's happening in my life are all part of a script and the only variable would be me. And I see this type of wonder in other movies and cartoons and scripts. MIB , Dexter's Laboratory , even Horton Hears a Who question the possibility of someone much bigger than us looking through his microscope or telescope or magnifying lens and watching as puny humans like us try and make sense of the world we're living in. It is a question that so many have ven

Knifed heart from here "When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?'" (John 5:6). "Duh," she said. "Of course, I want to get well. What kind of question is that?" She stared at her heart, conveniently placed in a glass case for everyone to see. The heart beat consistently, normally, because that's what hearts do. She spun the case on the lazy Susan of a table and watched it subtly jolt the heart back and forth, letting her know that it wasn't mounted in the most precisely balanced position. Precarious , she thought. The word you are going for is precarious. The heart stopped spinning and swinging on its mount. The lubb-dupp kept her entranced. Then she saw it, a tiny metallic glint reflected by the harsh fluorescent light of her room. It was only a slight protrusion. Like a lump in the heart's otherwise already lumpy structure. But i

I am a branch. Trellis me. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful" (John 15:1-2). For the longest time, I have feared that I would be a branch cut off and thrown into the fire. For the longest time, I have wondered of the patience God must have to still be keeping me attached to the vine. There have been moments when I tried to count the hours or days or years until I find myself totally lost and alone. How wrong I have been. *The following realization was made during the CCF Overflow Leadership Conference and the panic research conducted after.* When we say "cut off," we immediately think of being cast aside and separated, being of no use and thrown away. We think of being left in the dark, of being forgotten. We struggle with the thought of being a failure, of disappointing the people who matter t