To Friends Who Let Me Borrow Their Smiles

One good thing in my life that i've always been grateful for is that i'm blessed with so many friends who care. And though most of us travel different roads now, still they never fail to make their presence felt in my life moment by moment.

They are my coffee mates, my drinking buddies, my cheerleaders (even when i'm masungit hehe), my counselors, my adventure and activity partners, my bouncers (even the girl friends!), my defenders, my talent agents, my parole officers (especially when i suddenly "disappear"), my doctors, my online buddies, my videoke and dancing partners, my mentors and so much more.

All deliciously crazy, each different, yet all kind and so full of heart. Really, when life suddenly tastes like lukewarm beer, you guys are my inspiration.

Now being miles away from home, I miss you more than ever. Looking forward to seeing you soon (promise, soon na gyud! haha). And to those in Dubai, Saipan, Guam, the U.S., Australia, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and London -- just you wait and be patient, I'll see ya all soon too (basta libre accomodations ha.. hehe!)

And just as my good friend kj all the way from canada dedicated this song to me, among others, i'm dedicating this back to all of you. I love you, guys :-*

To each of us, may we all find what we're looking for and have a blast. Cheers!


THESE DAYS
Artist: Chantal Kreviazuk
(From the soundtrack of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants)

What's this life anyway?
What's it to you and me?
What's it to anyone?
Who are we supposed to be?
Make me a storybook
Write me away from here
I need a different now

Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow a smile
I'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...

Once upon these days

There's four roads to anywhere
Four ways to everything
We were unbreakable
We spoke our destiny
Let's take a moment out
Go where we never go
Let's make a new world now

Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile
We'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...

Once upon these days

Then one day we'll find
when we're looking back at this time
Wondering how we've come so far from this
When we close our eyes

What's this life anyway
What's it to you and me
What are we doing here
Who are we supposed to be
I'll take a better world
I'll take anything
I'll take our little world now

Where we can wear each other for awhile
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile
We'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After...

Once upon these days

On My Own

Last month, my brother’s girlfriend was kind enough to let me “borrow” her rented apartment for “as long as I want” while she moved into my brother’s place. I couldn’t be happier with the arrangement. Growing up in a house that never seem to run out of people, I’ve been itching to live on my own for some time now and here was my moment to find out what it’s like.

The apartment’s not much bigger than your typical hotel room, but it’s got its own cable TV, a ref, a queen-sized bed, tiled floors and bathroom, closet space, dining set, and a balcony. Not bad, huh?

I look at it as the mini white cottage in the woods. Thing is, the landlord is trying to construct the woods into even more mini apartments. “You sure you’ll be able to sleep there with all the noise?” my brother’s girlfriend asked. Are you kidding me? After living right smack in the heart of the city for years, I’m immune to noise. So I said. Besides, the noise strangely gives me some sense of security. I prefer it to the eerie silence of any new place.

“Oh, and one more thing, the area floods a bit when it rains,” my brother’s girlfriend warned. And since it was always raining my first week on the island, it did not take me long to discover that it actually does. But after maneuvering the makeshift bridge for the n^th time, I got immune to that as well. Besides, the construction guys were gentlemen enough to line up sandbags and cement blocks outside the terrace so I didn’t have to get my feet wet on my way to the bridge.

What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the flooding bathroom.

It happened on my third day. Oh, they warned me about it. In my excitement, I just didn’t think it would happen that soon… or ever. But the rain’s been nonstop for days now. I could only watch in horror the water creeping out of the drain… slowly but surely. What’s more, it came with worm-like organisms, which I belatedly realized were baby mosquitoes. Eeew. I distinctly remembered it from fifth grade science class. Then I saw another icky creature which hopped in and out of the water. A tadpole? Double eeeww. As I sat right outside the bathroom door, all ready to bawl and praying the water would subside before it reaches the living room level, I saw ugly mud gushing out of the drain as well. That pissed me off.

And got me thinking.

I hate being sexist but -- what’s a single clueless girl to do in times of distress? Well, play the part of the beautiful damsel in distress of course. So I put on my most dazzling smile and called out to the gentlemen outside for help. Immediately, they did magic with the pipes or something outside the bathroom and cleaned up the drainage. And the dirty water was gone. And I saw that it was good.

But not for long. For a couple of days later, it started flooding again.

I finally realized that if I were to remain loving the rain, I had to give up the apartment. But then I wasn’t ready to give up on living on my own yet though.

Good thing, a few days later, I met Mr. XXX [read: Tres Ekis, the new tequila brand that’s even pricier than Cuervo]. Aside from introducing me to this new product he’s currently distributing in the island, he also pointed me to my new apartment. Admittedly, it’s a big chunk out of my budget but - what the heck - I’ve decided to be crazy for a month anyway.

Living alone certainly has its challenges. For one, you clean up after your own mess. Two, there won’t always be anyone around to rescue you from the icky insects. And, there’s laundry.

But then, living alone makes you discover things about yourself as well. Now that I don’t have a housekeeper to depend on, I found out I’m actually a neat freak. I don’t like mess in the bathroom and I like walking barefoot on clean, cool floors.

I realized too that I’m braver than I thought I was. Just today, I’ve learned how to deal with the weird-looking creatures – killer Baygon for insects and a cold shoulder for men.

Living alone also made me learn to always have in hand these few essentials to survive – an electric water heater, a cell phone, flashlight, lighter, soap of all kinds, basic utensils, medicines, vitamins, a spare key, bread and butter and yes, Lucky Me instant noodles.

It’s not always easy but I gotta say living alone rocks. Even if only for these reasons:

1. You can walk around naked or eat dinner in your undies and nobody would mind. You’ve only got to close the windows.
2. You get to pick your own noise. In other words, total tv channel and music control.
3. You can bring a man you like any time without having to face the questions.
4. You can be as moody as you want and you don’t have to explain why.
5. You get to test what you can and can’t do. Your survival skills kick in and are constantly challenged – and you become a better person for it.