My Funny Valentine

Instead of our ‘traditional’ sleeping and bitter modes during Valentines Day, my girl friends, Mau, Lyma, and I spent the day in Picnic Grove in Tagaytay. It’s not our usual ‘biglaang lakad’ because we planned it a couple of weeks ago. For the 27^th Valentines of my life, I became one of those souls flooding the busy highways of Tagaytay.

We’ve anticipated that the road will be transformed into a big parking lot again (just like the usual heavily congested road scenario in major thoroughfares in Manila ) because of the heavy volume of vehicles, which are mostly comprised of private rides. But we never knew that it was that worst. Since the jeepney we were riding was stucked for like five years, we were given more time to ‘inspect’ the area, our fellow passengers, and those walking on the road.  Couples are everywhere they’re becoming eyesore already. Lol!!! Really, being single in a couple’s world is difficult. Insensitive people treat your being single like a defect on your personality. An old school, irrational, and subjective perception more reflective of their own flaw(s).  Sometimes, their ‘carelessness’ to express their awful opinions on singles and singlehood cut straight through my senses, I go ballistic at the back of my mind. Lol!!!

When we finally arrived at Picnic Grove, we decided to rest for a while on a shady, grassy area. It was a really blistering afternoon. And again, we got to observe lots of couples in the area, as if slapping our faces with what is ‘missing’ with us. lol!!! While we are kind’a being ‘inaasar’ by the scenario, we’ve contented ourselves with a funny conversation about random things. The people around us can’t help but to look at our direction because of our giggles and laughters.

Soon as we noticed that the sun was slowly getting bearable, we got to the horseback ride area. We’ve never experienced horseback ride ever, so it was a real thrill to experience it for the first time. It was Mau who tried it first. We were all kind’a afraid at first, but later on we eventually enjoyed it.

We wanted to experience the zipline and cable car. Well, I did experience HK Ocean Park’s breath taking cable car ride. But I wanna experience our very own version as well. Sadly, though, our ‘pa-girl’ outfits and mood, as well as our budget ;( , restricted us from experiencing it.

And so we decided to have a walk around Picnic Grove, where again, couples seem to make ‘asar’ us even more. Lol!!!  On top of an elevated area in the park facing some pine trees (Are they pine trees? Sorry, I wasn’t able to confirm nor recognize.), we observed other groups of happy friends in the area, sweet couples (again), and other people as well.  We swore to the pine tree in front of us that time that the next time we’ll get to Picnic Grove, we’re already with our special someone. Lol!! Talk about bitterness there…. 

As it got darker, we left Picnic Grove and the pine trees and the couples with a somehow happy feeling.  Before we rode a jeepney going to Pala-Pala, we treated ourselves with some goto along the highway.

Much as there are happy reasons to be in a relationship, there are equally happy reasons to be single as well. And going to different places alone with your good friends is one of them.

Sometimes, we need to go beyond the usual things we do to also experience a whole new thing. It may not be that perfect at first. But the element of clean, good thrill it brings can always be a good reason to make us smile once in a while.

The Person I am With Everyday

A call from her mother and the alarm clock wake her up about 4:30 am every day. In most of the time, she’ll just ignore them and continue to shut her world from the call of a busy world. All the clocks in their home are set about 30 minutes earlier than the real time because her mother says she doesn’t know how to move quickly. It will take about several alarm clock snooze rings and calls downstairs from her mother before she’ll get up. The moment she opens her eyes, she’ll utter a silent prayer for the new life and His continued guidance.

Breakfast is a bonding time to her and her mother. In most of the time, she’ll arrive home late and tired to even sit down and converse with her, so the conversation happens during breakfast. The girl with lots of rituals in bathing, she’ll spend about 30-40 minutes in the bathroom. Shampooing and conditioning her hair takes most of the bath time. From the bathroom, she’ll rush to put on her contact lens, which, in most time, difficult to wear. Then, rush again to put on her clothes and makeup. She really has this ‘affinity’ to ‘rushing’ things before coming to work.

Before leaving their home, she’ll kiss her Mom and say good bye. Since she was just a young girl, she never forgets to kiss her Mom before leaving their home (and arriving from work, school, or from anywhere). She feels that it’s the best way to have her mother’s guidance and blessing whenever she’s away from home.

Commuting to work, she’ll walk fast to ride a tricycle, passing the terminal. Tricycle drivers in their place know very well that she’ll pass them by. She’s been into some petty arguments with them before because the tryke won’t leave until there are no vacant seats. Meaning to say, she’ll be late for work (for the nth time!). Then, at the Olivarez-Binan jeepney terminal at the Bulihan entry, she’ll race along with other passengers to get to the jeep as fast as she can instead of waiting for the next jeepney to come (and be late for another more minutes!).

Arriving in Olivarez in Binan, Laguna, she’ll wait for traffic light to turn red so she can cross the busy street. There was a crossover (She thought it was flyover. You see, she can’t just recognize the difference between flyover and crossover. The same way that she’s confuse about a lot of several things. Worst, she’s not even sure that it’s crossover. Lol!) That was constructed in a hurry so the Mayor’s and Vice-Governor’s ultra big names can be flaunted there. Talk about building up a good image for the incoming election. She has tried using this crossover once. But never did it again because live electric wires connecting the big electric posts in the highway are all scattered on the middle part, that’s wide enough for her to hop over (when she’s very pa-girl). One wrong move and you’ll be dead. The nerve of these politicians to flaunt their names on substandard projects like that…

The traffic that she encounters everyday from GMA, Cavite to Olivarez is a bit better compared with the traffic that await for her from Olivarez to San Pedro. This is more so in Pacita where most of the bus terminals are located and in Landayan where it’s flooded by devotees of Jesus in the Holy Sepulcher. This should be a daily scenario that she’s supposed to have mastered dealing with everyday. But no. In most of the time, she still gets frustrated and stressed when the highway suddenly turns into a big parking lot. This girl is very much hates herself for always being late at work.

When she reaches United (short for United San Pedro Subdivision where their office is located) late, she’ll opt to ride a tryke from the terminal, costing P21 (as of this writing). This is her punishment to herself whenever she’s late. She wants the tryke drivers benefit from her being late. But in some rare times when she arrives early, she’ll go for one of the trykes that will stop for her. This cost on P7. A big saving for her daily budget at work.

Arriving at their office, she’ll rush to the comfort room to check on herself. One of the hassles of commuting is the big possibility of you inhaling the polluted air, getting your face oily, and your hair messed up. She wants to make sure that before several of her officemates see her, she’s as presentable as she can be. When she gets to her cubicle, she’ll immediately open her laptop and check for clients’ e-mails or offline messages from her boss and officemates about a project. Positive feedbacks from clients can certainly brighten up her day.

She makes it a point, if she can manages to, to always tune in to RX Monster Radio’s The Morning Rush with Chico and Del, or to Love Radio’s Tambalan to set her mood. These are her favorite radio programs. She really appreciates these radio tandems and loves their views on lots of things. Listening to them brings lots of smiles in her face, as well as silent/controlled laughs.  There was a time when she almost fell on the floor laughing when suddenly a window chat popped out on her laptop screen. It was her boss asking what is she doing at the moment. Good thing that their room is the only area in the entire office that has no web cams. Her boss’ question has nothing to do with her ‘almost fell on the floor from laughing out loud’ status. He was following up on the status of the web sites she’s doing.

In most of the time, she fights with her narcoleptic mood as she digs herself doing her daily writing and editing tasks. There came a time when she can drink about three cups of coffee a day. But hyperacidity trimmed her coffee addiction to just one cup. Green tea then became her alternative for the black drink.

This person I am with everyday learned that she needs to befriend stress. She realized that it’s pointless to let stress affect her life that much since factors causing it are, well, inevitable. It best that way, she knew it.

She has gone through a lot of things most people could never even imagine. But no, don’t get her wrong. Like what most of you know about her, she was raised as a God fearing person and willing to fight for what she believes is right. She’ll remain firm with her belief as long as she knows she is right. But this girl doesn’t think it’s too difficult to say sorry if she’s wrong. She could be the most sincere person you could ever meet.

Since her father died, she was automatically programmed to be strong, more on the emotional aspect, because no one’s there to protect her, her mother, and her two older sisters. She speaks her mind strongly when needed. She’s very transparent with the way she feels and thinks. A thing that some people either love or hate most about her.

This person I am with everyday cries easily. She laughs out loud when very much happy. She screams when she’s too excited or mad.

It took me a while to introduce this person I am with everyday. I guess, I just need to check on her most of the time. To prove that I know her more than everyone else. I know her a lot. So enough to keep her faith whole and make her spirit strong. i know her faith and her family keep her sanity always.