// Quarter Life Monologues

I got an email from one of the clients I was doing SEO with last night, just as the Makati coup was subsiding.

The Philippines is headline news here in the UK at the moment. I hope that all is well and that you were not in the Peninsula Hotel area of Manila yesterday. If, however, you are involved, then please, can I tell you that violence is never the answer, Riz, and I urge you to put down your weapons and get back to work on [inserts site name here].

Haha, really funny. Pfft.

Then again, this whole brouhaha is funny. Trillanes is funny. This curfew thing is funny. The Philippine politics is a laughingstock and is made of lots of funny people.

Boohoo. Welcome to the Pilipins. ;)

You know all those wish lists I used to make? Well, this is NOT like one of those. These items are MUST HAVES. And I don’t need to reach for the stars to have them. I’m getting these coz I need a break. And I need to do other things besides being in front of my laptop, doing SEO and wedding album layouts.

Filipino Cook Book. Que Horror!! I know, I’m shocked at myself too. I’ve always set aside the thought of doing some serious cooking.. until this certain someone started pressuring me to think of my future family, and what I’m going to serve them for dinner. I mean, yeah, my kids would probably love pizza and Jollibee everyday but that’s not exactly responsible parenting, right? Hence, the awakening: I need to learn how to cook.

See, I even had to take photos with my camphone to remind myself.

And what better way to start than learning to cook Filipino dish (let’s set aside Italian and Mexican for more advanced learning, shall we)? I think it would be nice to finally know what’s behind my favorite Sinigang. And Kare-kare. And Pochero. Man. I can’t believe I’m saying this, and blogging it for all the world to see. Pfft. Okay, I hide myself now.

Next item(s).

Kendall Payne CDs. Now this is more like ME. Music, yay. I didn’t know she existed until Episode 5 of Grey’s Anatomy. Her song, I Will Show You Love, was playing at the closing of the episode, and it stuck with me since. I downloaded an MP3 from iTunes, including two other random songs from her albums Paper Skin and Grown, (Not Afraid to be Me and Scratch). And I love all three of them. :)

Kendall Payne’s Paper Skin and Grown

I want more of her! Hence, the urgency. iTunes downloads can’t be shared, I want something I can share to people also.

So there goes my must-haves for this month this week. Watch me, I’m gona get these two (actually four) items SOON. ;)

And you could feel that the little puppy really lit up the whole place, making everyone take a break from their computers to watch the cute little thing run around with his tail wagging behind his furry legs.

The puppy kissed me. I’m in love. :P

So meet Spike, one of my colleague Christine’s Shih Tzu pups for sale. Someone already owns Spike, though *sniff*, so there was no chance I could take him home with me. Haha, I know, it’s not like buying a Shih Tzu is part of my plan (and my budget) right now. It’s just that.. I couldn’t help but wish I have a puppy myself. I held him in my arms and a big gunk of stress was suddenly lifted off my chest. I mean, seriously. Puppies are really therapeutic. I immediately fell in love with Spike that I had to spend a good thirty minutes off my work hours to play and take pictures of him. And in that 30 minutes, I just couldn’t think of anything else.

Owning a puppy (a Shih Tzu, for that matter), however, is not at all easy and cutesy. While it’s considered a stress-reliever, ultimately, it’s a responsibility too. Imagine all the dog poop. And shopping for pedigree. And giving him a bath and taking him to the vet. Plus, with a Shih Tzu (or a Poodle), there’s the regular trimming of fur, too. Initially, you have to spend several thousands to get yourself one also. (Shih Tzus and other similar toy puppies would cost about 8K up.)

On top of everything else, think about the emotional attachment. I cried over the death of my hamster. And so is Sheila. Gail is having a hard time getting over the death of her dog, Sheero. I mean, it’s impossible to not be emotionally attached to pets. Why, you invest not only time and money, but effort and emotions too.

Just the same, all the responsibilities attached to owning a dog doesn’t stop me from considering owning one someday. Not now. Someday. I nonchalantly told Christine to reserve me a girl pup on her next batch of puppies, if ever. I’m not ready now but who knows.. by then, I could be.

QUESTION. What do you do when you get stuck at a train station (I’m tempted to say “subway” to make it sound more posh, but nah, this is Manila, baby), hoping to get in on a train and to your destination, only to end up standing and waiting for an hour because there was just no room in the trains for you to squeeze in? (Typical MRT scenario, I know! :))

ANSWER. You look around, watch people, think, reflect (you know, entertain yourself so that you’ll forget about your growling stomach), you try your best to not start a fight with the girl shoving you to the left, and the other one pushing you to the right, and remain calm. And it probably won’t hurt to write a couple of notes down, yep, even while standing up. Mental notes, after all, don’t stay in the head most of the time. They fly away even before you get the chance to recall them, and then you forget them altogether.

I’m a fan of writing things down. And lists. And bullets. They give me an illusion that my life is in order, that I have specific goals to reach, making me feel a lot better (and less like a mess).

So tonight, that’s kind-of what I did. Me and my moleskine, that’s what we did. So if you happened to be in Boni Avenue station last night, and you saw someone doing a balancing act which involved a black leather-bound notebook and a cheap black pen, well, that was me alright.

It’s kind of weird to be in a reflective mode at a time like that. You see, I spend a minimum of 8 hours each day in my quiet corner in the office, my nose on my macbook, with a mug of hot coffee I sip in between — I’m comfortable, I’m sitting down, and yet my mind is never as restless. Now the one time I spend in a chaotic place like an MRT station, people shoving me left and right, my feet numb from all the standing — and I never felt more at peace.

Reading my scribbles, I find it funny that I mostly wrote about being still. To focus on the more important things when there’s too much to do. To look past the moment when in the verge of an emotional outburst. To not worry when things aren’t going the way they’re planned. To breathe and reboot when tired and weary. To trust when it seems like things aren’t enough. Such thoughts usually don’t come when you’re in a situation like that.

One hour after, I gave up and left the station. I never did get to where I was supposed to go that night. I was charged an additional 15 pesos for overstaying (and I was like, “wuuut??”), but it’s okay. I paid 15 pesos to get in, 15 pesos to get out. I had my moment with myself, and with God. All for the price of 30 pesos.

I have a confession to make. Not more than a week after I bought my Moleskine Journal, I lost it. And I couldn’t even blog about it because that would be plain stupid right? To gush about finally getting a Moleskine Journal, and to announce that you lost it a couple of days after? Sheesh.

I knew, however, that I’d find it somehow, and I kindof had an idea where to go. It should be right where I last saw it, I thought with confidence. After all, I didn’t think anyone would really take interest on a piece of notebook enough to steal it. Plus, it has my messy writing all over it already. Na-ah.

Ergo, six days after I noticed it missing, I traced my steps, went to Starbucks at Shangrila, and took my chance.

“Uhm, hi, I was wondering.. By any chance.. *stammering* Did u happen to see a moleskine journal… uhm.. it’s has a black leather..” Even before i finished my sentence, one of their crew was already on his way out back. I held my breath, and noticed some baristas smiling at me from the counter, and some grinning and nodding at each other as if they all have feasted on my journal already! Gah! Oh well. I didn’t care. I just wanted my Moleskine back.

Behold, I heaved a sigh of relief. There it was, the familiar leather bound mini-notebook, handed to me by a certain barista named Ducks — don’t ask me, I wondered what’s with the name too — and I went away with a huge smile on my face. Thank God.

Now just in case you happened to pass by Starbucks Shangrila, the one in 5th floor, do me a favor by thanking Ducks again for me will ya. Heh.

Maybe it’s true what they say. Moleskines really do travel a lot! As for my Moleskine Journal, here goes her first adventure. ;)