Curbside Stories

When was the last time you said 'I love you' to someone? - Yesterday. When was the last time you kissed someone on the forehead? - Last night, when I said good night to my son. When was the last time you danced in the rain? - A very long long time ago. When was the last time you cried and laughed at the same time? - Five months ago when I had a chat with my best friend. We were talking about some divine intervention. When was the last time you gave a hug? - This evening when I said goodbye to my colleagues. When was the last time you dined alone in a restaurant? - Three weeks ago. It was a Saturday during my lunch break. When was the last time you wrote a letter and send it in the post? - The last letter that I wrote and mailed via post was for my ex-boyfriend. Gee, that was nine years ago! When was the last time you walked on the beach? - Last April. It was one of the most memorable experiences. It was perhaps one of the best summer...

Photo from here . I find this 50 Questions Challenge challenging. Seriously. Everyday is a challenge for me. I raise a child solo, budget my finances, pay the bills, fix things in the house... everything. I basically do everything all by myself and ending the day right is challenge enough for me. If ever I fail to end the day happily, I don't consider it as failure, just temporary setbacks or a time to reflect if where I am going and what I am doing is what I really wanted in life.

Today's challenge question is really easy.  What are the things that you do everyday that make you totally happy? Photo taken in our favorite restaurant.  I always buy him little toys before we go to the restaurant so that he will not get bored waiting for the food to be served.  Obviously, he's already hungry in this photo. 1. I spend quality time with my son.  I have a very busy schedule, I actually did not have a day off last week.  Despite my busy schedule, I always find time for my son.  There are days that I instruct my son's nanny to bring him to the office and we will have dinner together in a restaurant.  Before he goes to sleep and before I do my part time job at night, I would tell him stories and cook dinner for him.  Whenever I do not have a part time job, I do not open my computer because it is the only time that I get to catch up with his life.  Seeing him smile and laugh and sharing me his stories are what really makes me...

Photo from here . I like where I am living, I am close to my relatives and friends but, my Mom and Dad live in the US and if there's any other place I would want to live, aside from the place where I am right now, it is with them.  I have been living almost my entire life away from them and I miss their presence. They never really saw me grow up because they have to work.  If I can just make the US a bus ride away from the Philippines, I probably have done that a long time ago.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  It is true in my case.  

Photo from here . Yes, I planned about changing my career.  I am already growing tired of bureaucracy, excessive politicking, communistic type of management.  I never knew that it is more rampant in private offices than in government agencies.  I am actually wondering how I get to live by it for almost 4 years now.  The last quarter of 2009, I already decided it is time to go and look for a better environment to use and hone my skills.   I extended my stay as requested by my dear friends at work.  Actually, it is just the company of friends that made it hard for me to deny their request of me staying for a little while.  The little while went on for months and  I could not believe that it is the last quarter already and I am still living the life and working the work. Changing career is still in my plans, I am actually getting ready for it.  If you are following this challenge, I already mentioned it in my previous entries.   ...

When I was at a lost, about 7 years ago, I said to myself that if I can't go back to continuing my medicine course, I will venture into business.  I actually had two businesses a year after that but it didn't went well.  My planning was bad and so I went back to working in an office.  I did not close the possibility of having my own business, I just need the right time and conviction that it is what I really want in life.  I was engrossed to doing office works that I forgot about the thought until last year when working started to bore me.  It's like getting up each day thinking that I will do the same thing over and over again.  I actually sit for at least thirty minutes on my bedside to condition my mind and my body that I need  to go to work.  It was hard... harder than dieting.  The process went on for two months but within those months I was already looking for something to help me get back to my senses.   Fortunately, I have foun...

Me? Satisfied? I think so.  I am not materialistic.  I find happiness in the simplest of things.  When I had a child, everything about me has changed--my priorities and perspectives in life.  When I was still single, I just do whatever I want--taking little consideration about the people around me.  When Lance was born, I had a 360 degree shift.  Everything that I do now is for him and seeing him happy is what brings me much joy and contentment.   I was asked a while ago a classic question of who will I save in case the boat will sink--my son or my husband?  I said, my son.  Of course at this point, it is all about my son.  He's too young not to be taken cared of.  I did not choose to save my husband (if I have) because I know that he would want me to save our child--there's no doubt about it. I have dreams for my child, although I am not sure whether those are his dreams too, seeing him develop his full potential and creating mi...

Yes! I envy my grand aunt.  She worked in Germany for so many years as a nurse and now that she's retired, she's touring the world.  She recently got back to Germany from a three-week vacation to the US and Canada.  She's planning to put up a business here in the Philippines.  I just admire her for everything that she is.  She shares her blessings to her loved ones.  I for one had my share actually even before she retired.  She sent me to medical school, although I was not able to finish it (I know she's disappointed), she still motivates me to all my endeavors.  I remember one time when I was in college, I was so depressed (I could not remember the reason, though), she bought me a Nokia 6260 cellphone. Although, I have different life path than hers, I hope that I can live the life that dream of not after I retire.

  Yes.  I wanted to put up a business but I don't have enough funds to start with.  But I am saving for it.   Aside from that, I don't have problems with not doing things because of money.  Money will come and I need not worry about it too much.  I think the problem with some people is that they worry too much about money that when they have more money they can handle, they start to lose grasp of reality that they start to believe that everything in this world comes with a price tag.  Money can't buy happiness... it really couldn't.  It can only give you momentary and superficial happiness that becomes insignificant in time.

I used to cross stitch when I was in college.  I have made several portraits that hung in my grandaunt's house.  My cousin told me that I can sell them from several hundreds to thousands a piece depending on the size and design.  I have thought of it once but never really had a chance to sell a thing.  I stopped cross stitching because I have been using my eyes quite harshly recently (blogging and internet freelancing). Is shopping considered a hobby? Haha! Photo from here . I am into reading again.  I don't get paid reading.  It is a relatively expensive hobby but the ROI is incomparable.  It is with reading that I get inspired, gain knowledge and stimulate my lazy brain neurons.  Here are some of the books that I have read (not listed in order of importance or favorite): 1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey 2. The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey 3. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done b...

This is a really hard question.  I am actually lost, still wandering and looking for my niche in terms of creating  a legacy.  I am still in the process, it is a hard process.  I hope you can bear with me.   While I am still in the process, I wanted to share something that I have read in a book by Kevin Elko and Bill Beausay entitled True Greatness: Mastering the Inner Game of Business Success .  The authors said that most of us are chasing false rabbits.  We are being introduced to a world of materialism that we forget that those things are not the real source of happiness and greatness.  Things are just momentary source of contentment.  The authors, therefore, challenge us with the question: What is your reason for being?  If we have answered that question in a straightforward manner, then we have achieved our greatness.  Are you living your life and not just thinking of how to survive?  The book surely made an impact o...

Today is again not a question but a task that is related to day 16 and 17 questions and this task falls exactly on November 1--the day we commemorate dead loved ones.  What could be creepier than that?   I just got home from the memorial park, it's tiring but I had a great time because I get to chat with my relatives.  In the Philippines, All Saints Day is also the time to have reunions.  Weird, but true.  I noticed that my great grandparents' death dates has a pattern.  Change topic, it gives me the creeps. Today's task is:  Write your epitaph - the sentence you would want to appear on your grave. Photo from here . I want my epitaph to be simple:   "You made a difference in our lives.  You will be missed forever."

Today's question is just right for the season--Halloween and All Saints Day.  I only have one thing that I want people to remember about me when I die.  I want people to say that I have lived a good life, a life that God wanted me to live and die with.

This is a morbid and at the same time a hard question to answer. Of course I wanted people to remember me as a good person when I die.  Who doesn't want to be remembered like that?  But, I think people will remember me as a strong person and a fighter who has the the most contagious laugh.  I was going to put here the 'I wants' but the question is due tomorrow.  I guess I'll just leave it just like this... short post.     I wish they will not sing happy tunes when I am gone. 

What do I want out of life? I just want life to be simple and living.  I just don't want to survive, I want to live.

Photo from here . I am so close to the people I adore.  Literally close because they are my neighbors.  My son and I live in the compound of my grandparents.   My house used to be my grandparents' house, we built a duplex because the old house was destroyed by a typhoon.  The house was left in our care because grandma left for the US together with my aunts and uncles twenty years ago.  My sister and her two daughters live on the other door.   On the left and right side of the house are also my grandparents' (my grandfather's brother and his uncle).  Across the road is my great great grandparents' house, the house where I grew up.  I was like their adopted daughter when mom went to another country to work.  This is the main reason why I am so comfortable living in our town... I have my support system 360 degrees.  My closest friends also live 30 minutes away from our house.  I could not imagine growing up anywhere else t...

Today in the challenge is not a question but a task: Write a paragraph or two about your ideal weekend/time away from work. Easy. Photo from here .  I want to spend my day off with complete pampering.  I don't want to go to a far place, as long as the place can make me relax and forget for a while the stresses of my life.  I will be selfish just for this weekend thing and spend the days alone.  I can dream, right?  If spending the weekend alone is not possible, I will probably take my son to a zoo or park or we can watch kids' shows somewhere.   I have the lamest ideal weekend.   I wish, though, that I could go back to Puerto Galera.  I miss the place.  I went there about five years ago and I stayed there for 4 days.  It was fun. The night parties, white sand, crystal clear waters and the people were amazing.

Photo from here . I am reading a book called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  It is a self-help book about how a person can make things happen in his life.  It says there that the Law of Attraction works every day of our lives and all we have to do is ask for something that our heart truly desires, receive as if we are holding our dream at this very moment and believe that it will be given to us.  Those are actually the steps on how to use The Secret in your life.  I just had a realization that I have been quite living my life based on the secret.  I am living my life and I am happy with where it is going now.  Sure, there have been a few downs in my life but those did not stop me from living and from experiencing life.  Life is precious and I have appreciated life even more when I had my son.  He is actually the one who keeps pushing me to be a better person and to pursue my dreams.  With him by my side, I don't think anything or anyone could...

Photo from here . A lot of people say that I have a strong personality and that they always see me cool and calm in any situation.  I think so, too.    I just don't want to lose composure because when I snap, I could not concentrate. I believe it is my greatest personality trait. It has a downside, though.  Some people see me as a snob.  I am not.  People who know me really well will negate that notion.  I am actually a loving person, I just don't express it like the way other people do.  I am also a private person.  As much as possible, I don't share my problems with other people because I don't want some personal things to be sensationalized.  If ever I choose to share my problems, I do so to very few people who I truly trust.  I am a jolly person, I love life, I love to live life.  It is who I am.

Photo from here . I know I have so many skills and talents.  I know how to play musical instruments like the piano, flute and guitar.  I also know how to cook and sing and dance.  I am a very creative person but I am sometimes frustrated that despite my being a Jack of all trades, I am a master of none.  That's what I am trying to change.  I want to have any of my skills mastered.  All I need is time.  In of all my skills, I really wanted to focus on cooking.  Everyone in the family cooks the most delicious foods, I actually learned how to cook by helping the elders prepare our meals.  About three or four years ago, I was planning of putting up a restaurant but obviously it did not happen because I know little about the business and I lack the resources.  Still, I am not closing the possibility of having my own food business.  In God's time it will happen.