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Showing posts with the label musings

HOW MY SUMMER VACATION TURNED INTO A LESSON ON GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY...

Last May 7, my mom, brother, son and I boarded a plane to Manila for a brief "vacation", if you could call going to the big city that. It was my mom who needed to be there for an annual CWL convention while the rest of us were there only for the ride. The last time my mom traveled to Manila was about 3 years ago and it's been about 4 years ago for my brother and son. At that time, my mom although already suffering from hip osteoarthritis was still quite mobile but lately, it has really been getting more difficult for her to get around and this has become more evident during this latest trip to Manila. Although I see her as growing old, this reality did not seem to be very apparent to me maybe because life in the province is more laid-back, or maybe because I refuse to dwell on the fact that my mom was indeed aging and sooner than later, so will I.

Have I ever really fallen in love?

And the answer is...no, not really. As I write this, I am saying to myself...why has this question come to my mind, all of a sudden? It's a little embarassing to talk about falling in love at this point in my life but somehow, the events these past few months have made me think about the things I might have missed in my life...and I guess, falling madly deeply crazily in love is on top of that list. It's not that I have not fallen in love ...if you can call being seriously infatuated , love. But there was never anyone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with or someone I could break all the rules for or someone who has left me heart broken. Is it because I never met the right person, or never allowed myself to be totally vulnerable or am I just too hard to please and were my standards impossible to begin with? Hmmm...I think being raised to be independent and self-assured, my needs and wants somehow differed from the other girls of my generation. I never gave marriage a s

Maya Angelou's thoughts on growing older

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her 70+ birthday. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older. And, there on television, she said it was "exciting." Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring every day...like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first. The audience laughed so hard they cried. She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much wisdom in her words! Maya Angelou said this: "I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow." "I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights." "I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life." "I've learned that making a "livi

Life is short

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"Life is short"...this is a statement that I never really gave serious thought before until last weekend when I watched this TV drama and one of the male characters kept on saying this to convince the leading lady that she should not hesitate to take risks especially when it comes to love because life is short... unfortunately, she did not agree with him but instead kept saying, "no, life is long" and so that made the drama more complicated. What struck me was the fact that it never occurred to me before that people should take more chances and not be afraid of failure because life is short. I have always believed that because life is short, we should be responsible and rational and make less mistakes. I never thought of it the other way around...I guess, ignorance is bliss because up until now, I have looked at my life with little regret, precisely because I am a sensible person. I am not a purposeful person or someone who always thinks before she acts but, I am

what do I miss in Manila?

I was in Manila for 3 days where I attended a convention/reunion with my fellow graduates of HLMP. It was good to see them and a needed break for me to get away from the pressures of work. One of the activities lined up was to watch 2 plays in the CCP, Palanca in my Mind and Hubad , both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. In retrospect, these are the things I miss most living in the province...the diverse cultural events, the bars and the bands, bookstores (although now, we do have NBS in the province), Mark and Spencers...what I do not miss is the traffic, smog, pollution, the floods, the noise and all the other unneccesary trappings of an urban lifestyle. Of course, what I need most when I do go Manila...is plenty of money...but that's another story :)

arrested development

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as I was thinking on what to title this post, I remembered the TV series, Arrested Development and I sort of thought that it was apt for this entry since I am talking about having a childlike mind in an adult body. Of course, my mental health status is not anywhere near the characters in this series but I do have my "moments" ;) For instance, My 16 year old son says that I am totally so different from his friends' moms, although when the occasion calls for it, I do get into my mommy mode. Most of the time though, he thinks I'm cool! I never thought about it before but I think the reason why aside from being his mom, I'm also his friend is because I remember how it was to be young...

On True Sexiness...

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The MSN article "The Sexiest Women Over 35" says that true sexiness is molded from the heat of experience and that a woman with no redeeming social value might be "hot" (*cough* Paris Hilton), but she'll never be truly sexy. When I read this article, a light bulb went on in my head...a eureka moment. Now I sort of understand why some people would say that I am "beautiful", "sexy"...words that puzzle me because I don't remember being told these when I was younger...the nearest thing perhaps was "pretty" but beautiful...nah, never...and sexy? bwahahahaha! Seriously though, if I really think about it, I do look better, feel better now than when I was in my 20's and 30's. The article describes Diane Lane, one of my favorite actresses (Must Love Dogs)as classy, stunning and seems to be improving with age, a key indicator of true sexiness. So gaining status, wisdom, emotional security all adds up to sexiness? Hmmm yes, I l

When things go wrong...and The Mystery of the Missing Cellphone

I am not superstitious but when a day like yesterday happens, when one bad thing happens one after the other...then, I start thinking that negative forces in my immediate universe is working in an optimal pace. My tuesday started uneventful enough...I woke up late, as usual. The Ms. Universe 2007 was being shown live on cable TV and so I did not bring my Mom to her CWL seminar. A few minutes later, we got a call from her saying that she must have left her folder full of seminar materials in the tricycle (a motorcycle with a covered sidecar that serves as the main transport in most provincial towns and small cities) that she rode going there but she was not able to get it's number. So the househelp had to go chasing after similar looking tricycles which more or less comprises 80% of all tricycles plying the city route. The Ms. U would not have interested me anymore since the Philippines did not make the cut...but Korea did and being a true fan of Korean cinema and dramas...I dec