Looking back
Days of the ancient past, my life is indeed truly and absolutely blessed. I am grateful! Let's start at the very beginning- there was once a penultimate slightly curled hair and bouncing baby girl born on the eve of the 26th, and on her 7th month was welcomed to the Christian world on the same fiesta day of Taytay Tanate.
At 7 years old, I cannot even recall or in anyway have seen any souvenir photo of my 7th bday. My other sisters birthday was however well celebrated with a chiffon cake on top of the green cake holder we now use as palangana, a fruit punch with some tiny glasses hanging around it and a fruit juice scooper, hotdog on sticks, buns, more buns, and ginataang bilo2x, and before I forgot a bilao of pancit, or spaghetti, and a striking photo of my cousin's fierce eye on-the-hotdog.
At 18, and already in a university- quite not really the happiest day of my life, but I remembered I stayed at my apartment because I had some school work to cope up with. To be honest, it wasn't the 18th bday I dreamed of. In my tiny brain it was just a fairytale party with all the important people in my life a.k.a crush1 and crush 2 dancing with you, ok chos lang..like you know, the ones on movies. But anyway, my sister Lei surprised me at my apartment and we went malling! She bought me shoes and I could recall in fact I wrote on a piece of tissue during dinner how I celebrated my 18th, and kept it as memorabilia- which I just realized now, I lost it pala. She even gave me money for grocery and hell, that's the best part!!Student life indeed being dumb, young and broke..huhubels.
At 7 years old, I cannot even recall or in anyway have seen any souvenir photo of my 7th bday. My other sisters birthday was however well celebrated with a chiffon cake on top of the green cake holder we now use as palangana, a fruit punch with some tiny glasses hanging around it and a fruit juice scooper, hotdog on sticks, buns, more buns, and ginataang bilo2x, and before I forgot a bilao of pancit, or spaghetti, and a striking photo of my cousin's fierce eye on-the-hotdog.
At 18, and already in a university- quite not really the happiest day of my life, but I remembered I stayed at my apartment because I had some school work to cope up with. To be honest, it wasn't the 18th bday I dreamed of. In my tiny brain it was just a fairytale party with all the important people in my life a.k.a crush1 and crush 2 dancing with you, ok chos lang..like you know, the ones on movies. But anyway, my sister Lei surprised me at my apartment and we went malling! She bought me shoes and I could recall in fact I wrote on a piece of tissue during dinner how I celebrated my 18th, and kept it as memorabilia- which I just realized now, I lost it pala. She even gave me money for grocery and hell, that's the best part!!Student life indeed being dumb, young and broke..huhubels.
At 22 I moved to Cebu City for review and board exam, probably this is one of the most unforgettable experience in my life. We were best known as the 5 1/2 Girl Power Team and
every night was just pure entertainment with Jheny, Berty, Dally, Bamby, Haydee and yours truly! It was also the time when my life had almost perfect routine and harmony:
4AM Pray & study 6AM Bath & breakfast, 7AM school, 12NN Lunch and powernap, 2PM- Study, 5PM Church, 7PM Dinner, 8 Study, 12MN Sleep. REPEAT.
every night was just pure entertainment with Jheny, Berty, Dally, Bamby, Haydee and yours truly! It was also the time when my life had almost perfect routine and harmony:
4AM Pray & study 6AM Bath & breakfast, 7AM school, 12NN Lunch and powernap, 2PM- Study, 5PM Church, 7PM Dinner, 8 Study, 12MN Sleep. REPEAT.
Indeed it was hard, not just physically, mentally, also financially but God has shown us his grace because we passed it! Week by week by week was full of funny moments at Colon Street, grocery bonding, once a month Mang Inasal- all because yes we can't afford it, where a free Julie's pan de coco bread is an instant happy meal for us. Those times when happiness is as shallow as dinuguan and puto, or free laundry, or a simple birthday treat - when one is forced to death to buy Php100 Alfredo's pizza. Haha..
one of those pizza nights.
At 23, we were thrown into what is called the real world. I am blessed to get a day work, I truly am. Hello brand new chapter and so goes my routine:
Wake early, travel to work, rant about traffic, rant about pollution, rant about the crazy walk to office building, rant about the lift, work, eat, rant, rant, sleep.
Wake early, travel to work, rant about traffic, rant about pollution, rant about the crazy walk to office building, rant about the lift, work, eat, rant, rant, sleep.
Is this how is it to be #adulting? please lemme go back to school! But of course, payday is the best day when all I could think was I could eat Mang Inasal na anytime, kag basta importante may lovelife. Yes, at 23, my heart is the happiest, and I'm not broke na. Anyway, going back to Mang Inasal.. hehe. I was blessed with a promotion and I feel like - I'm the King of the World- ay queen pala! Even much more blessed to travel abroad and meet people. It was truly liberating! I really appreciate work, and feel motivated to work.
circa 2011, and onsite, taking selfie - I mean working..after a selfie.
circa 2014, and 10lbs heavier. Yikes.
Adulting be like..
By the time I was 26th, one would think I have everything I could ever had, but somehow, but I feel at the back of my mind I'm missing something. Yes, I am happy, but not totally fulfilled. My career reached a point where I feel I did not grow (at all), yes even in paycheck hehe. Like you know trabaho andami, ang sahod na parang coke- kung di sakto...zero. Char. I just lost my heart out there, so I had to change, I needed a major career overhaul. When you feel like you are on that situation I believe you just have do it- because staying would be toxic. I left my amazing 5 year job, my friends at work, my own private room office, my comfort zone for a new career...and never looked back since then!
I moved to a new apartment with my sis afterwards, had to pay rent, do own laundry, cooked, cleaned and so on. It was freedom at its purest form, and I am grateful for that experience now. Even my new work requires me to travel from time to time, Asia, Europe and always alone.
what Superheroes looks like, after a day at work.
At 28th, I overcome my fear of being alone. I learned to do things alone, operate on my own because I have only myself to depend on. By traveling abroad, it gave me a different perspective about the world, and what a humbling experience to see how big the world is out there and I am never the same again!
Then it hit me, there are still so many things I could do, so many things I'm capable of doing. So like a time bomb ticking until explosion, I did stuff I hadn't imagined I would be doing: go to school for certification courses, do gym, try to blog etc. jog on weekends, drink coffee as much as I can, and most importantly enjoy a bottle of beer! Oh look, what I've been missing..
Then it hit me, there are still so many things I could do, so many things I'm capable of doing. So like a time bomb ticking until explosion, I did stuff I hadn't imagined I would be doing: go to school for certification courses, do gym, try to blog etc. jog on weekends, drink coffee as much as I can, and most importantly enjoy a bottle of beer! Oh look, what I've been missing..
If I had known what I know now..
I think life is but a series of lessons, and one cannot move forward unless you have accomplished its pre-requisite. One does not learn lesson from someone else's mistakes, but you learn from doing your own, indeed true. Ha and I wish I had listen earlier, maybe I'd been better. I wish I'd paid attention to investing time, energy and money in myself, I'd stop worrying about what other people think of me by taking risks! Being different.. and live according to what I currently have. I wish, I'd been more nicer to people I worked with, and be more adventurous!
Feeling forever young...
So yeah this time, I will just sit down and enjoy my cup of coffee, have a free refill, read a good book, try some mindless trash because duuh #millenialsbelike. I think, I don't know how it ends now. I usually flip ahead to last chapter to find out in a book, because I am impatient as that, but maybe this time, I don't need to know!
I will treat people nicely, express myself freely be kind with words at all times. I will take the longer route, be grateful to everyone I meet, because there's so much more to learn. I'll dye my hair as I want it, even curl it as I please. I will learn to live in suspense and have amazing life because hellooo I'm too thirty to care!!!
I will treat people nicely, express myself freely be kind with words at all times. I will take the longer route, be grateful to everyone I meet, because there's so much more to learn. I'll dye my hair as I want it, even curl it as I please. I will learn to live in suspense and have amazing life because hellooo I'm too thirty to care!!!
Forever young @ 30,
itsmelory (^.^)