Spartan feet!

I found the above Pol Medina's cartoon posted in a bulletin board and I couldn't help but smile. I decided to borrow it (okay i returned it already) to have it scanned and posted here.

I have been a Spartan rubber slippers user for the longest time. There have been a lot of flip-flops sold on the market in the recent years, including high-end (and very pricey) ones like Havaianas (and the poor man's imitation Havanas...hehehe) making rubber slippers the current “IN” thing. I have never really been a person who follows fashion trends but I have always been very comfortable wearing rubber sandals.

Flip-flops are meant to be for summer but it is already the rainy season here and I remembered that my fascination with rubber slippers started during one rainy day when I was in the University.

I was already a “rubber shoes” person that time and one day while it was raining very hard, my father saw me headed to the door for school with my jeans and rubber shoes on. He called me and told me to change to rubber slippers and just bring my rubber shoes and wear it when I am in school. I was going to protest since I’ve never worn slippers to school but followed him anyway since it will be very hard to protest against my father…hehehe…

Anyway, I left home in my red Spartan rubber sandals and battled the rain. I was wet even before I got to my ride to school. On the way I saw (well I suddenly became conscious and aware) some men also wearing slippers and I was really fascinated with some of them seeing them so clean and white. I looked at my feet and they were so clean and white themselves (plus they were long and thin…hehehe), the frequent shoe wearing has made them that way! I felt proud that my feet looked nice on those rubber slippers that even after reaching school I no longer changed to my shoes and just walked in them rubber slippers! And I looked forward to rain after that since it gave me an excuse to wear rubber sandals to school!

And after more than 25 years I still buy Spartan rubber slippers… there are a lot of imitations (like smartan...hahaha!) but my feet can feel the difference plus I still prefer the red color! :)

Jeepney ride

I left the office early and there was still light and I took a jeepney going to the Light Rail Transit (LRT) station since I was going to meet my sister.

The jeepney was finally full but it was not moving due to traffic and when I suddenly glanced at the lady in front of me (well not exactly in front but a little to the side), I noted a man in white T-shirt come really near the window of the jeepney and before I could think he grabbed both of the lady’s ears from behind her and got her earrings… then he casually walked away.

We were all shocked of course more so the lady… she checked her ears, fortunately no blood. Then with her eyes welling, she laughed nervously and said that those were real gold earrings and that she had them for more than 20 years already. She wasn’t thinking of running after the thief… she knew it was pointless… she just felt regret. The passengers started discussing and even the driver joined in and said that they don’t help because one time a driver helped and the thief had an accomplice who stabbed the driver

While people were talking I also touched my ears. Earrings are the only accessory I have in my body… they are a fixture. I don’t take them off even to sleep. Though the carat of my new gold earring is not as high as the ones I lost it is still something that is part of me which I don’t want anybody taking away… but if ever it get snatched, I have no intention of running after the thief. My life is afterall more precious than earrings!

My youngest sister is different… her jewelry got snatched on two occasions and on both of them she ran after the snatchers and she caught them. Yet the jewelries are gone… one necklace got cut and she only got a part of it, the same goes for the earrings, just one recovered. I told her never to do it again… the case never prospers (she filed one on the first and nothing happened, the police even gave our address at home and the relatives of the snatcher came pleading) plus there’s a great possibility that they have accomplice. At that’s Real risk!

Despite risks in public transports though (including FX which I normally take), there were still a lot of times that I fell asleep from the ride and even missed my stop and had to take another ride back on some occasions. I am thankful though that despite the risks and despite the occasions when I fell asleep, I have been safe in all my ride.

… hope my ears are also safe always! :)

Lies

Got to talk with an old friend. We don’t really get to talk often and she asked if I was busy. I was but I thought I’d stay a while and talk. She started talking about finance matter (Arghhh who is not broke these days???) but ended up talking about her love life.

How her boyfriend whom she has been considering for marriage turned out to be already married… How his family whom she is already close with failed to tell her also… but how her gut feel showed her the truth…

And the truth hurts!

Ouch! That’s pretty painful… hmmm not “pretty” painful but terribly painful!

You wonder why people LIE particularly on matters of the heart… why can’t they just be honest from the start so the other is aware what she or he is getting into… why is it that someone who says he loves you does not think about the effects on you once you get to know the whole truth especially if you learn about it when you are already too deeply in love with him.

Why???

I don’t really know. I only know that it could hurt deep!

But they are lies and you have to face it. Can’t change the fact no matter what!

Maybe a miracle could change it???

It will only happen if it was meant to be.

But is it meant to be???

She is right. How could you wish for a miracle when you know that what you’ll wish for is bound to hurt someone else.

Ahh Lies… They hurt! But then again, there is always TIME!

In time, the hurt will be gone.

Ahhh time… I did not have enough time to talk with her even if I feel her pain. In the end I told her “Don’t worry, Kaya mo yan! (you can handle it!) Lilipas din yan (it will pass)… in time!

Loose change

My finances are at its lowest at the moment and I’m using the excess loose change that I have set aside, starting with the higher coins down to the smaller coins and surprisingly somehow I am able to put together an amount that can make me get by for a day.

Actually I always set aside excess coins in a container in my table at home and would also set aside some in my drawer in the office and some in my bag and I have always been able to draw from them in case of emergency (well just small emergencies so far) but oftentimes I put the coins I accumulate in my container at home in a purse above our refrigerator from where people at home could get money for their marketing. However, lately I have been really scraping these coins for my own use… Arghhhh!!!

This has made me realize more the importance of loose change… of small things. Oftentimes they don’t make any impact on you… you don’t even feel them or give them importance YET if you accumulate them they could result to something big… something substantial… something important! And when that time comes you tell yourself how glad you are that you set them aside.

Mothers' Home Improvement

I got above picture from an email I received for mothers' day.

I immediately said to myself "How true!"

I was thinking how necessary it is to constantly work on "home" (a.k.a family) maintenance, taking care of small stuff... ensuring that everything and everyone is in order because if you don't work on it, eventually it will take major improvement... an overhaul!

It will cost you a lot by that time...

Not just time and money but emotional strength.

Good if it could still be fixed, sometimes it may be too late and you could be left with a wrecked home... a wounded family!

Being a mother is a BIG job!

So I am wishing all the mothers strength, patience, perseverance and above all plenty of LOVE to share!

God bless my mother... and all mothers... ah okay all Tita (aunts) and Ate (sisters) who also acts as proxy mothers! :)

Don't let it bring you down!

There have been a lot of gross news lately it fills me with revulsion. I don’t know why I have to read some of them and they somehow get to me no matter how I shake them out of my system…

Life is also difficult nowadays. Everywhere I hear people complain… Sometimes I find myself complaining too and wonder when hardships and harshness would end. But I’ve always seen life to be a cycle. Guess most people are just in the low now and I know that things will be better.

There’s a song from Neil Young that usually pops up my mind when I am faced with difficulties or overwhelmed with bad things happening all over. It has been playing in my head lately that I’d like Neil Young to sing it himself…



And once again I find myself singing along with him “Don’t let it bring you down it’s only castles burning find someone who’s turning and you will come around!”

…and his music comforts my crying soul!