Selfish People

At some point in your life, you’ll meet selfish people who will drain your energy and spirit, leaving you either depressed or angry. Selfish people are egocentric and their needs come first before anyone. It’s easy to tell if a person is selfish. Once you feel that there is no reciprocation in the relationship, then the person that you’re dealing with is selfish.

Christ taught us about selflessness. The parting of the bread and his washing of his apostles’ feet symbolize both humility and selflessness. In contrast, Judas’ betrayal symbolizes selfishness.

A person can be selfish of his time to help others who are in need. An elder sibling who would rather spend the night with his friends than help a younger sibling finish an important school project is being selfish of his time. A parent who would rather sleep long hours in the weekend than bond with his/her kids is being selfish of his/her time.

A person who has lots of money in the bank but refuses to help a friend or a relative who has an emergency at the hospital is being selfish with his resources. A neighbor who would rather let his food rot than share with less fortunate neighbors is being selfish with God’s graces.

A person who always ask favors from his friends or family but does not return it is selfish. A man or a woman who wants a relationship but does not want commitment is being selfish in love.

Even selfless people can be selfish at times. Each of us has his own levels of selfishness but when life, relationship and feelings are at stake, we need to reassess ourselves if it’s reasonable to be selfish.

On This Day, I Married You

On this day, I married you

After eight months of courtship

It was a crazy idea, they said

It was a gamble on life, I insisted

 

On this day, I married you

Gone are the days of whispering sweet nothings

We are now facing the realities of married life

And yes, it is challenging

 

On this day, I married you

My most expensive jewelry is our wedding ring

It symbolizes this day, our union

It’s more expensive than diamonds or platinum

 

On this day, I married you

I never felt so secured before

God finally heared my prayers three years ago

To let me find a man who will love me forever

Tag-Init

Dekada 80. Hindi pa uso ang internet noon. Hindi pa uso ang PSP at lalo na ang cellphone. Hindi pa gaanong maraming sasakyan sa Balanga. Nasasakop naming mga bata ang kalye para maglaro. Taguan, tumbang-preso, patintero, langit-lupa, habulan—mga larong hindi na yata kilala ng mga batang isinilang sa dekada 90.

Malaki ang kaibahan ng mga bata noon sa mga bata ngayon. Una na rito ay noon, para lamang kaming magkakapatid na nagkakasayahan.  Ngayon, para bang normal na lang sa isang bata ang magkaroon ng puppy love. Maagang nawawala ang kainosentihan at naiimpluwensyahan na ang pagkakaroon ng relasyon ay tanggap na kahit sa murang edad.   

Alas-4 ng hapon, kung suswertihin ay papayagan kaming maglaro sa kalye kasama ang ibang bata sa kapitbahay. Walang usapan at bigla na lang naming maiisipang maglaro. Kung tatatlo kami, makukuntento na lang kami sa pagbibilang ng mga sasakyang manginlan-ngilan kung dumaan noong panahon na iyon. Kung papalarin naming dumami kami dahil pinayagang lumabas ng bahay ang ibang kalaro, doon na kami maglalaro ng patintero. Taguan ang paborito naming pag dapit-hapon na. Mahirap kasing mahuli kapag madilim na ang paligid. Kapag napagod, magpapahinga at magmemeryenda ng biskwit at soda sa tindahan. Hindi naman ako makakatiis, bibigyan at bibigyan ko din ang mga kalarong nakatingin sa aming magkapatid habang kumakain. Ewan ko ba pero nabubusog ako sa kapirasong biskwit dahil na rin siguro naroon ang diwa ng pagbibigayan.

Iniipon naming mga bata ang basyo ng lata ng gatas para sa tumbang preso. May pagkakataon pang isang pilyong kapitbahay ang sinagasaan ng kanyang kotse ang latang ginagamit namin sa laro. Nagprotesta ang mga bata. Nakangisi namang nagpatuloy sa pagmamaneho ang mama.

Mapapansin ng ilang matatakaw na hitik na sa bunga ang puno ng makopa sa bakanteng lote. Tama nga naman dahil bukod sa hindi sapat ang biskwit para sa aming lahat, nakakaakit pitasin ang mapupulang makopa na tiyak na matamis. Mga lalaki ang aakyat ng puno, kaming mga babae ang tagasalo sa baba. May madudugas ding nasa puno pa lang ay kakain na habang kaming nasa baba ay nakatingin. May kantyawan, may inisan. Sa bandang huli, lahat naman kami’y makakakain din.

Kinagabihan, isa-isa nang uuwi ang mga bata. Sa isang paswit lang ng aming ama, napapasunod kami at ibig sabihi’y “gabi na, umuwi na.” May kalarong susunduin ng yaya o katulong sabay sabing “binuksan ko na ang aircon mo para maginhawa ka mamayang pagtulog.” May kalarong pamalo ng ina ang nakaabang. May kalarong kusa na lang din uuwi. May kalarong ayaw munang umuwi talaga.Lahat umaasang sa maikling panahon ng tag-init ay masulit man lamang ang bakasyon mula sa eskwela.

The Secret Of Living

My mother posted this poem on our wall. I grew up reading this but got to appreciate this later in life as an adult.

THE SECRET OF LIVING
To appreciate beauty and the gifts nature brings,
To discover the pleasure in life’s simplest things,
To remember the blessings we receive every day,
To explore new horizons as we travel our way
This is the Secret of Living.

To find hope in each rainbow that appears in the sky,
To give comfort to strangers who may be passing by.
To keep smiling whenever there’s a task to be done,
To be gracious in losing and give thanks when we’ve won
This is the Secret of Living.

To build meaningful values in this life that we live,
To be full of compassion and be willing to give.
To regard as a treasure every friendship we’ve made.
And to find peace and love even time cannot fade
This is the Secret of Living.

Two Women

I am not aware of Rep. Iggy Arroyo’s personal life not until he passed away in London. I was not even aware that he was being treated there for cancer. The one thing that I surely remember about him was his “public confession” that he was Jose Pidal.

Mr. Iggy’s personal life became controversial after his demise than when he was very much alive. The second wife, Mrs. Aleli Arroyo is very vocal about her disgust on Mr, Iggy’s common-law wife of six years, Grace Ibuna. When a couple has a pending annulment case and if one of them dies ahead of the other, who has the right over claiming the remains: the estranged wife/husband or the departed one’s current partner?

Grace and Mr. Iggy lived together for six years. I guess, those six years were happy yet challenging because living with someone who’s sick is emotionally draining. Grace and Mr. Iggy’s relationship was a real partnership; it was founded with love and respect sans the sanctity of marriage. Grace and daughter Garrie have a good relationship with Mr. Iggy’s daughters from his first marriage.

The missing link in this emotional equation is the relationship of Aleli and Mr. Iggy prior and after their filing of annulment. Two people who are no longer in love with each other can possibly be civil and respectful of each other; they can even keep in touch especially if they have kids. I don’t think Aleli and Mr. Iggy had a good relationship after their separation. It makes me wonder if Grace was the reason of Aleli’s split up with Mr. Iggy that is why the latter is fuming mad at the mention of Grace’s name? Or perhaps, Aleli, being the legal wife, felt bypassed when her husband passed away with his lover at his deathbed?

Watching Mr. Iggy’s funeral on TV is like watching a real-life teledrama: the ex and the present love of his life trying to outdo each other. Aleli, being the legal wife, wants to run the show. Grace, being the one who stayed with Mr. Iggy until his last breath, is willing to share the show with the legal wife. Mistresses are condemned in this country but who are we to judge the relationship that they have/had with their common-law husbands?

A Dream So Real

Have you ever dreamed so real that you thought it was something very real? I had a dream last night about a person who I haven’t seen for half a decade now. In my dream, we were having a good conversation which was a rarity when we were still in touch with each other. He told me (in my dream) that he’s carrying an affair with a certain Jenny and I advised him to focus on his married life. He asked me if I want to have an affair with him and I said that I am happy with my family. Then I woke up, it was 5:30 AM.

The dream was so real and his presence seemed like the one that I felt half a decade ago. Good thing, our meeting was just a dream.

Hotmail’s Technical Difficulties

What the hell is wrong with Hotmail? For two months now, I can’t create new mails because of “technical difficulties.” I thought it was just the office server or connection but when I switched my connection to Globe Tattoo, the same message appeared when I tried to compose an email.

So far, my Gmail and Yahoo Mail are reliable although I don’t like the “conversation-type” of formatting that Gmail offers.

Bored With My Career

An organization, in order to survive, must adapt to change. Change management is everywhere. Reorganizations happen even to the most stable companies. I survived a reorganization and I am thankful to the Lord for this. Reality check, I am receiving a good salary which is more than enough for a family of four. (We are not extravagant, by the way) We live in the countryside where the cost of living is much lower as compared to Metro Manila. Had I been working and living in Manila, my salary would just be enough for the higher cost of living there.

My friend and I ,who is also a victim of the reorganization, have been thinking about finding a new job. My limitation is, I can only do that after I give birth in April. I am grateful to the management for giving me the chance to still work for this company but at the same time, I feel like I’ve lost track of my career path. Five years ago, when my former boss asked me what I want to be five years from now, I told him that I see myself as a succesful careerwoman who’s happy and enthusiastic about her job. The same cannot be said about how I feel right now.

I am doing two functions and it’s fine with me. However, the engineering function quickly took a backseat in favor of the management or corporate function which is not really me. At times, I feel that anybody can just do this function and it doesn’t require any special skills at all.

It’s weird of me to be sending resume’s to other companies at this point in time. But I’d like to resurrect my self-confidence and assure myself that I am still marketable in the industry.

Thank you, Lord, for giving my family our daily bread. I just need to find the finest bread for my family and I know that You will help me get through this.

An Angel’s Cry For Justice

I received a news that a six-year old girl was found dead at a vacant house in Bright Homes, Caypombo, Sta Maria, Bulacan. The poor girl was even raped. The suspect was the father of her playmate who is their neighbor.

How can somebody in his right mind abuse and kill an innocent little girl? The suspect is believed to be high in drugs when he did the heinous crime. Drugs is dangerous to the user’s health but it is even more dangerous to the innocent people who can be the next victim of the user’s trippings. We know that drugs are dangerous. We suspect that a neighbor or a relative is a user but we are not courageous enough to do something about it. We are either afraid or we just felt that it is none of our business. We only react once a crime like this happens.

Putting that bastard to jail won’t change the fact that the little angel is dead. There’s more to it that we can do. Let’s be vigilant about abusive neighbors. Let’s be supportive against anti-drug campaign. Let’s be more protective of our kids.

Surviving The 2nd Trimester

At the beginning of my fourth month, the nausea and afternoon sickness slowly faded away. Good thing, I was not prone to emotional breakdowns. I kept my composure despite the pressures at work and at home. I religiously took my folic acid vitamin until the fifth month. Folic acid is essential in brain development of the fetus. At this time, I could still wear my old clothes. I had a strong aversion to onions and garlic so cooking was a torture!

During the later weeks of the fifth month up to the sixth month, my body seemed to be adjusting well to the pregnancy. I could now tolerate the smell of strong scents. I noticed that my skin got dry so I used coco butter from HBC. I became prone to skin itching due to the dry skin so I changed my regular soap to a hypo-allergenic and moisture-rich one. Back pains and leg cramps were becoming an issue so my OB-gyne prescribed 1000 mgs of Calcebone per day.

I had my laboratory exam taken and I found out that my hemoglobin was lower than the normal. My OB-gyne prescribed 1000 mgs of Iberet per day. I started drinking two glasses of Enfamama per day and my tummy went big after only two weeks. I wore my first maternity clothes in January, at sixth months. I was never a fan of maternity clothes and I felt funny wearing one. But wearing my old blouses made me feel uncomfortable as I hated to see my tummy bulging prominently.