gone

a good man is gone. the first time i heard that he's gone, the only thing that came to my mind was that he will be missed. he was a good, old, crazy, happy man. he was my friend's father.

the best memory of him that i have was when he went to the laboratory once to talk to our adviser about pushing, and pushing, her daughter hard into finishing her thesis. he was so damn persistent that it was already embarrassing to my friend. all she could do was try to shoo her father away from our adviser, or else there's gonna be a team-up of these two men and all hell will break loose. a year or so after that, my friend finally defended her thesis and he was there to see it. he was so damn proud and happy, like he was the one who finally graduated. in a way, he finally did. i can't help but remember how big his smile was or how persistent he could be.

today, he is gone but he will be remembered always. it was a privilege to have met a man like him.

an angel

so it was just like i was back on doomsday. i had a bit of a problem with my boss again last week because he was asking for something i couldn't give him right away. i was working as fast as i could without compromising the quality of my work but he demanded, and demanded, and demanded to the point at shouting at me. i guess there was a moment there that i had answered back just because i couldn't take the pressure and the impossible demand anymore. he was mad at me but i realized, sometimes you just get use to it and you just take in stride until the next madness comes along -- again. but this is not a story of angst, nor anger, nor sadness. this is a story of gratefulness because in all the chaos, the madness, God was with me and He sent an angel.

the angel was in the form of my officemate. amidst the madness of pressure, fear and anger, she was there, supporting me in her quiet way. when i couldn't take it anymore and couldn't find a solution to my problem, she was there to guide me until the end. she waited for me even well beyond the office hours just to give me encouragement. i didn't realize it at that time but when i arrived home and thought of the things that happened to me that day, all i can think of is that God had sent me an angel in her form and i thank God for his goodness. He has lifted me in my time of trouble. Thank you and Amen.

25 Things

This "test" had come from Facebook. The first time I came upon it was when someone tagged me. Until now, I haven't wanted to answer it because hey, are there 25 things that I can say about myself. I was not feeling brave to write down things about myself, especially when there's a number of it that you need to write. Today though, I decided to write down 25 things about myself just to see if I could get through it all without repeating anything. Here goes:

1. (I'm stuck.) I was a maldita (is snob the proper translation in english?) when I was a kid. I think I gave my mother one hell of a headache, especially when I didn't get what I wanted then.

2. I hounded my parents for probably a month, and saved whatever I could, in high school just to have them let me buy a pair of in-line skate. I never got be an expert skater, though.

3. I took lessons in piano when I was in grade school because all the other smart kids were doing it. I can still read notes until now, albeit very slowly.

4. I've been living away from my parents since college, and that is more than ten years already.

5. I'm a Catholic.

6. I have spread myself widely on the internet. I have Friendster, Facebook, Multiply, and a blog plus two working emails (not counting office and school email).

7. I got to travel alone abroad for the first time when I was 23. I had been asking that from God for the longest time and finally, He did.

8. I am still in school and I wonder when I'd be finishing my master's degree. Hopefully, soon.

9. I have one older brother and a younger sister whom I'd do anything for.

10. I dream of experiencing Europe before I turn 40 (but I have to graduate from grad school first).

11. I've never attended/marched at my college/university graduation.

12. I have never had a boyfriend (online doesn't count).

13. I want to live in another country but I don't want to stay there forever.

14. I try to go to mass every Sunday (or at least once a week), and I guess I've been pretty successful (fieldwork days that take up Sundays doesn't count).

15. I love watching TV but I can go on days without it.

16. I like listening to music but I don't have anything particular that I like as long as it's not too noisy, bordering on noise pollution.

17. I am in love with someone for the longest time but nothing had come out of it -- yet (I'm hoping, though).

18. I like my job but sometimes I doubt if I like the company I'm working for. At least I like most of the people there.

19. I like to travel especially if I have the money to spare.

20. I so long for a Nikon DSLR camera but have never seriously thought of buying one -- until a few days ago. All I need to find out is where to look for the money.

21. I love staying at home. If I can work from home, I will.

22. There are a lot of jobs I'd like to try out: bus driver in the UK, an administrative officer at my school department, travel agent, tour guide, etc.

23. I love the job that I do, it takes me to places but lately, it doesn't.

24. I have two laptops but the first one is nearly breaking down.

25. At last, I'm done. I think I could write more. But the last thing I'm writing here is something I shouldn't even have forgotten because it's staring right at me. I love books!