December break

December was truly an experience. It was the first for me. I returned home in late November for my much-needed break after the nerve-wracking earthquake experience in Bohol and the succeeding blackout affecting the province after Yolanda. It was not an easy time for Boholanos. So you can imagine my desire to go home. Ah rest, I craved for it.

By December, I was beginning to enjoy the homecoming when I got sick. I confined in the hospital before Christmas. My friendly doctor made sure I discharged on December 22, days before Christmas day. Instead of getting well, I felt sicker. Talk about peri-menopausal discomforts and the harsh effects of antibiotics on my system.

Well, I just let December 24 passed. No frills, no fuzz. By afternoon of December 25, I went back to the hospital. This time I was treated for gastritis. My first time to experience two confinements in less than a week. It was also my first-time ever to undergo endoscopy. There’s always a first time for everything huh! Well, endoscopy was not a pleasant experience I tell you, but I survived haha. Best part is my stomach is clear. Thank God.

When I left the hospital by evening of December 27, I was looking forward to a wonderful New Year celebration with my young adults. I used to call them teens but they have turned into young adults now with their own unique mind sets.

True, we had a more fun New Year’s Eve devouring a giant pizza. The pizza lasted until mid-morning. It was huge, I tell you.

January 1 was pleasurable. Hezekiah turned twenty and his high school friends came over to the house for an afternoon of guess what? You would never guess! Two giant pizzas. The fun lasted until late into the night. It was so good to be with young people. You imbibe their zeal, energy, and passion for life.

Well, thank God December ended with January 1st. And it was fun!

The thought of romance

Love stories always happen. In fact, they are happening as we speak, anywhere, everywhere. You can ask Maiko about it haha. That’s because the human heart is designed to love which is the real thing, and, to enjoy romance which is fleeting and a feel-good thing.

Naturally, some love stories are scoffed at. This usually happens when the love story is an “affair” between two married people or a single person with a married individual.

There are many motivations to enjoy the feeling of romance. For the middle-aged, perhaps their relationships have reached a point of boredom. They want variety. They want something exciting and fun. Oh, the middle-aged don’t intend to leave their families; they’re just at it for pure fun and pleasure. And of course, it’s good for the ego and machismo, for men, that is. What about for women. Well, I guess the motivation is the same huh!

Someone once told me this: In a man’s lifetime, he will have a fling or two. Hmmm is that an acceptance that her man will eventually have a fling or two in his lifetime. Who knows? We do not hold the future in our hands.

There are different types of romance. There is a summer fling or romance. This usually ends when summer ends. How’s that? A vacation romance is quite romantic, right? You spend a week or two in a new place without the slightest thought of romance and suddenly you find yourself flirting with another human being haha. It doesn’t end there. There’s a course review romance; office romance; out of office training romance; airport romance; ship romance; sales romance; name it, you have it. There’s actually no limit for romance to happen. As long as we live, we breathe attraction. It’s the normal course of things.

Oh well, this article is not written to encourage all types of romance.

It only aspires to articulate and put into words what happens in real life.

I love Christmas Trees

Makati weekend (",)

I was in Makati over the weekend. A totally unexpected experience.

I stayed in this condo unit which was huge by condo size. It had a large sala, a spacious dining room, four bedrooms with a toilet each, kitchen and even stock room.

That Sunday night, I had the entire place to myself. Nice. Don’t ask me about ghosts huh! I am quite comfortable being alone and I’m not afraid of ghosts really. Really. (“,)

By late Sunday afternoon, I decided to steel myself and walk the Makati streets. Whew that’s scary. Now, that’s scarier than ghosts!

The traffic in Manila, Makati included intimidates me no end. Here I was a provinciana courageously walking with the throng to cross huge streets! The first two streets were fine; it was a Sunday and traffic was light. Then I had to cross the main street Puyat where I would meet a friend and now I’m really scared haha. I searched for people and guess what I did? You will never guess. I asked the silly question: “Are you crossing?” Aha! The three men just looked at me strangely. One said, no. Then a bus stopped and they hopped in. Great! Now I’m going to deal with this crisis on my own. But alas when I looked towards my left, I saw another group of people who were waiting for the traffic light to change. It was a corner street, easy to cross. I hastily walked towards them and asked the silly question again. When the red light blinked for motorists, I joined the crowd. What a relief! I lived.

I met my friend and we went to a nearby mall which by all intents and purposes looked familiar. It was so like Ayala in Cebu City. Hmmm the structure, architecture, and even the shops and restaurants. I felt transported back in time. Not bad. And surprise, like Ayala in Cebu City, the mall had plenty of huge Christmas trees, and all sorts of “pictorial” corners with huge stuffed bears, tigers, and other animals for shoppers. The ubiquitous pictorial haha. We took our photos, too. Grand. I loved the three huge Christmas Trees where I playfully stood in the middle for the shots. Hey Bonits, when will you upload the photos? I’m excited to see them.

After exploring the area, taking photos, and dining in this Mediterranean-type restaurant, we headed back to my impressive condo building. We took a cab. I requested my friend to drop me at Malugay Street first where the condo building stands because it was scary to return on my own. Haha no more crossing streets for the night.

I slept soundly that night. No ghosts appeared.

The following day was THE day!

It was another experience worth writing. I’m still thinking if I should write it. We will see.

P.S. The photos I used here are inspired by what I saw. (“,)

1000

Call me a kid but I’m just totally delighted today haha. (“,)

My Unexpected Blessings blog site has reached its 1000th reader today. Boy that made me happy!

It’s not easy keeping a blog site. You need to keep the inspiration going to churn out good material. By good, I mean the stuff that I produce. It could be a lonely, sentimental, joyous, victorious topic or something that totally sucks.

Thank you, thank you for consistently reading.

Reaching 1000 pageviews today totally made my day!

A toast to blogging and my wonderful readers all over the world!

You are my inspiration. (“,)

Bonding time; Rebisco time (",)

It was one of those weekends! Totally fun!

I was at ABS-CBN’s My Only Radio (MOR) for Life FM station in Gen. Santos City for my radio guesting which turned out to be surprise! “Rebisco Time”. I was interviewed on “bonding moments” with the family. What families usually do during weekends which include housecleaning; gardening; doing grocery together; cooking; playing musical instruments which my teenagers usually do: Shiloh on drums; Kits on either base or electric guitar; pigging out at home; watching home movies, and on Sundays, church fellowship. Our family goes to Bread of Life Ministries.
Nice one. I had fun. More than that, I enlarged my circle of friends.
Thank you Mario Valentino for the honor.
Kapag my Rebisco, ang sarap ng filling mo! Thanks Rebisco, you truly made my day!

P.S. Special thanks to Joey John Elman Concepcion for making the interview easy. My Tagalog was almost perfect (",) Greyzee Vargas Alvarez for the company and shared aspirations. My friends (fans?) who sent text messages right after the interview. Haha fun, fun, fun. (“,)

Blog fun

I admit. I haven’t fully explored the world of blogging yet and its consequent fun. Well, I have other stuff to do in life. Hey, I have responsibilities, too, just like anyone else.
But Monday night up to dawn, I just had the itch er curiosity to visit my two sites and explore.
Oh well, my young topnotch engineer-friend Nino L has enhanced the appearance of http://www.shilohruthie.wordpress.com and did some work on my http://www.simplybelinda.blogspot.com, but Monday night until dawn, I was really able to appreciate – totally – the beauty of blog statistics haha.

It’s magic. I saw the graph of my “readership” on a daily, weekly, monthly and all-time-high basis. I know the origin of my audience – it’s there! From the Philippines to U.S.A., Canada, Australia, U.K. and other parts of the world! Beat that! Even Slovenia! It’s amazing. I almost fell off my seat haha.
Then statistics also showed the number of times my sites have been visited and the number of people reading me. Like a child, I must say I’m delighted.
You see, when I write an article for my newspaper column, the article also appears on my blog sites. Of course I write other stuff when inspiration hits me – I call them moments of brilliance, but in the newspaper world, you wouldn’t actually know how many have read you because a newspaper could transfer hands and pockets?; some would read you; some not.
But on the site, each time you click my page, it’s counted. So it’s accurate and like a child, I’m totally enjoying it.

And proof of that, I’m writing “Blog fun”.
The global paradox has totally benefited me. Thank God for the gift of technology.

Kindred souls

With high school friends

Is your life filled with kindred spirits? Do you appreciate kindred souls? If your answer to both questions is “yes”, then you are one fortunate human being because with kindred souls, you can never go wrong. Haha I bet you were imagining a fairy tale complete with fairies.
I asked my college best friend Catherine Carmela Consing Taylor who is now based in Canada and who happens to be a very generous Ninang to my son Hezekiah Kit for a possible topic to explore in my column. I requested that the suggestion be light because my head can’t crack heavy stuff at this moment in time. Her reply: “Hmmm...How about importance of good girlfriends? How there are girlfriends who might be far away but still a kindred spirit? Something to do with girlfriends, what do you think?”

And I like it! So let’s attempt to explore the concept of women friends; women bonding; women sharing; women moments and related stuff about women.
Why indeed is girl friendship so essential to women? We can cite several reasons: to feel strengthened; understood and validated; and supported; to be oneself sans inhibitions; to be totally crazy with and not judged or mocked; to have fun; to feel wholly a woman, ad infinitum.
Like for instance my best friend Carmela. We became friends way back in college. I was maid of honor at her wedding in Dumaguete City. Ah Dumaguete. It brings back wonderful memories and Carmela certainly knew about it. Remember those places in your life when you had fun and light moments that stick for a lifetime? I had those moments in Dumaguete and I always smile whenever I remember them. In fact, Kenny G’s Silhouette and Billy Ocean’s The Colour of Love were the songs that captured those moments.

But back to kindred souls, before the onset of modern technology and the internet phenomenon, we kept our relationships with our girlfriends from afar through letters and long distance telephone calls. If they are based elsewhere in the country and our work provides us opportunity to travel, we make sure to visit them and spend time with them. But the most inspired thing is when we share the same city. Then we can set the outings, gigs, bonding and girl talks.
There is always solidarity between or amongst women. But the thing is we must invest time to nurture it. Some women take it for granted that their closest friends are there for them, come hell or high waters. But hey, they are “feeling” beings, too. They also need a call, a text or a girl date to refresh the relationship from time to time. Even computer screens require refreshing huh! And computers can’t even feel. It is not even high-maintenance friendship. Connection could be a peek on how she is doing, a chat over decaf coffee, or simply spending time together, not a tall order, if you ask me.

Since women are emotional beings, they find deep satisfaction from a good talk. For most women, talking is simply therapy. It is inexpensive and yet, very rewarding. As learned people would often say, “Never, underestimate the power of a good talk”. It is cathartic.
I love this line from a book I read a couple of years ago: As a woman, you play different roles. You are a wife; mother; sister; daughter; friend. But lest you forget it, you are a woman, first and foremost. You have needs to be met. You should not neglect that part of your persona. And may I add, if you focus on the rest of your roles but forget the most essential which is the soul of your being, you will falter, because by meeting the essential requirements of your woman nature, you will come out filled and all set to tackle the other roles attached to being a woman.

At home with work friends

Going back to kindred spirits which provide women a sense of balance and solidarity especially during challenging times, when a woman’s girlfriend is going through a tough time in her life – in all areas like not passing the board exam for instance, losing a boyfriend or finding out the husband has a fling or worse paramour, it is so much easier to confide in a friend than a sibling or family. Wonder why.

Disclosure is a breeze when done with a non-relative. Of course, we do not diminish the value of family. Families have their moral ascendancy over the order of things but kindred souls are like an extension of family and yet, there is no felt tension; no implicit or expressed expectations; no ‘hey, watch what you’re saying young lady’ apprehension with them. No guilt trip, plain and simple. They are family and yet they are not.
So what are they? They are simply, heavenly, amazingly called girlfriends – kindred souls, and life is so much better with them around.

Food for thought: This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.
-- Author Unknown