On Friendship

"Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts,and we are never the same."- Unknown

"Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life."- Unknown

"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."- Helen Keller

"Good friends must not always be together; It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship." - Susan P. Schultz

"I don't remember how we happened to meet each other. I don't remember who got along with whom first. All I can remember is all of us together...always."- Unknown

Ang last song syndrome (LSS) ko kay Tads. Hindi naman swak na swak, ung ibang lines lang, and the music. Wag nang mang-intriga sa mga nagt-trip mang gawin. Mbwahahahahaa!!!

Nyum!

CIRCLE
Swan Dive

Used to be that love didn't matter to me
And I could take it or I could leave it
And never miss you
Came back around and I finally found
What I wanted and what I wanted
Was to be with you

I thought about it for some time
I made a circle in my mind
Now I keep coming back, coming back
Coming back to you

Nothing but a lie that I told to myself
And I believed it, I couldn't see it
Said we were over
Came back around and I finally found
What I wanted and what I wanted
Was to be closer

I thought about it for some time
I made a circle in my mind
Now I keep coming back, coming back
Coming back to you

Why don't I meet you in the middle
Why don't you meet me in the middle
(uhm, kita tayo sa Glorietta? 6pm? hehe)
Oh, it's gonna take a little time
(oo tsong, sa Novaliches pa ko manggagaling!)
But we'll be fine

I thought about it for some time
I made a circle in my mind
Now I keep coming back, coming back
Coming back to you

Used to be that love didn't matter to me
And I could take it or I could leave it
And never miss you
Came back around and I finally found
What I wanted and what I wanted
Was to be with you

I Miss Tads!

According to our boss, this is the text of the month:

"...Sobrang laking panibago. A whole new world talaga. Pero at least 'no one to tell us NO, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming'..." (ha! hindi ko na itutuloy, ayoko magka-issue! hehe)

It was from Tads, a super loved friend of ours who just did another career move. Sad but we know that it's for his own good. So as a send off, we turned last weekend into "bonding time". So it's Tads (the manong driver too hehe), Miriam, Miches, B'ley, Neil and moi, enjoying the roadtrip to our first stop - Sonya's Garden. Grabe, it was worth the trip! The ambience, the food - excellent! And it was the BEST dalandan juice in the entire ocean! (sabi nga ni B'ley haha).

Miches, Me, Tads, Miriam, Neil & B'ley
Sonya's Garden

Afterwards, we're off to Starbucks. We felt like having some coffee dahil sa kabusugan. And then we left Tagaytay and stayed at Tads' supposedly for a "debede" marathon but everyone dozed off. In the morning, we had breakfast at North Park.

It may sound like a typical gimmick but it was one of the best weekends I've ever had. We're even planning a gimmick this Saturday - again! Well didn't I wish for a diversion in a previous post? Well there we go! Thank God!!!

And then it just suddenly struck like lightning. This Monday, I felt his absence. Despite knowing that we'll meet again this Saturday, I started missing him a lot. We're not even that close! Weird! Thank God for cellphones and emails though. Now I look forward to his replies and I would tell him that I really miss him, and he would say that he misses me and the whole gang. Shempre may kasamang patawa yon hehe, pwede ba namang mawala? We've only had the chance to be teammates for a short period of time. I thought he's one of those OA and mayabang people at first. Then our department had our Team Building and I realized something - na totoong OA nga sha at mayabang... haha!! Joke lang Tads! Kidding aside, eh coolness naman pala tong' taong to'. And he's a natural comedian! Since then, I would greet him na everytime I see him and eventually, we were able to talk more. And we would go to more gimmicks, and one time I cheered for a basketball game he's in. Sarap ng feeling :-)

Now it feels so incomplete without him here. He's one of the nicest people I've ever known and one of the few gifted people who can light up my mood in an instant. Sobrang galeng! Friends like him deserve as much love and appreciation as they can get. Tads, if you're reading this, Panalo ka Tsong! And for the Nth time, I miss you super much!!! I'll see you soon :-)

To a good friend who's forever young :-)



Happy Birthday!!!

Thank You
- by Oprah Winfrey


I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a
million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small
things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.

That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the
goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities,
relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful
no matter what happened in my life.

"Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou
turned my life around. One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in
my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and
ahooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent. "Stop
it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided. "But - you
don't understand," I sobbed. To this day, I can't remember what it was
that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying
to make. "I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it
now. Out loud. 'Thank you.'" Tentatively, I repeated it:

"Thankyou - but what am I saying thank you for?"

"You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong
that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it.
You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the
storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you
because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the
Creator of all things. Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day.

I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple
Abundance, listing at least five things that I'm grateful for. My list
includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet
(like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my
cocker spaniel Sophie trying to keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes
with Stedman and eating them while they're hot; reading a good book
and knowing another awaits.

And when I feel that life is hard, all I have to do is read my
gratitude journal. IT truly helps.

My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for
granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 15 years at the
same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance
to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having
financial security. I won't kid you, having money for all the things I
want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've
kept since I was 15 years old, 99 per cent of what brought me real joy
had nothing to do with money . (It had a lot to do with food,
however.)

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's when you feel
least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give
you: PERSPECTIVE. Just knowing you have that daily list to complete
allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of
every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way. When you learn to
say thank you, you see the world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so
eloquently stated:

"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'Thank you',
that would suffice."