He said I was loving..I say..How So?

At a recent activity we had in school, we were asked to write on a piece of paper what our impressions on our classmates were..as well as on our teacher....I was happy to get some nice impressions from them, mostly were saying I have a strong personality but nice, funny..etc.. But what struck me the most was the impression I got from my classmate whom I happen to like and that of my teacher..

My instructor's impression of me, which made me realize that she does appreciate my fun loving personality and the SMART comment she made was a surprise..I thought I was just an ordinary student.......

This was the impression I held close to my heart and probably the on that struck me the most....After all this was from a classmate, whom I have grown to like, and who has been really nice to me...He said I was loving and I wonder how so?Maybe he has been observing me all the while, we been together on OJT and are constantly laughing at each other's jokes, perhaps the reason why he had these remarks on me...

MissingThem..

It's getting really quiet nowadays in class...Most of my classmates have finished their modules and are just awaiting for the next modules which is scheduled middle of July until August...Two weeks a go, was our last meeting in our module in Anatomy and the moment my classmate D--- said gooodbye (This was his last module and we told him we will miss him and he replied -"same here") there was a tinge of sadness in my heart....It might be because even if we were not in the same batch, he has been really nice to everyone and this we felt most especially during OJT..He was just one funny classmate, making all those naughty comments and hilarious reactions in the most stressful situations in class and even during training...He always has a positive outlook in life, one quality I always admired in him...The week after, only seven of us were left as the rest of our classmates are on their CPR training..Never seen the room so quiet, and for the first time, the room which we called "small room" is now too big for us...

[Missing most of these guys]

Fun Times in Class

Last Friday, was our last day at our Care for the Elderly class...Just after our final exams, we presented our reports - about other therapies done in caring for the elderly. One group was assigned to report about music therapy, the others were to do exercise therapy and ours was Art therapy...Barely two days before our presentation, and still we haven't figured what we would ask the class to do - add to it the fact that we are not so much into crafts...Then I figured, why not try doing those decorative mugs..Talked to my group mates about it and they were amenable with the idea...And it was probably our wackiest day...Check out these photos..

[while I was reporting, showing off my half decorated mug, and decorating with j..][dancing along to richard simmons aero, relaxing and laughing out loud]
[my classmates e,d and g all got carried away with richard simmons aero video]...

We missed our groupmate C_ _ _ _, he wasn't able to attend this session...

A Day in Hospicio

Last March 27, we had our orientation at Hospicio de San Jose, a charitable institution that is a shelter for abandoned babies, elderly and those with mental retardation and special needs. The orientation was a briefing on what we are supposed to do once we start our On-the -Job training which is set to start on April 18. It was a half day talk and afterwards we had a tour of the entire Hospicio...It has opened my eyes to some realities of life - that there are some children who just cannot take care of their old parents, and can leave them in nursing homes and would not even bother to visit them..Such are the cases of most of the elderly clients we met there. And we were even more heart broken when we saw newborns and infants at the nursery, and they are those that have been abandoned by their mothers and some of them were even left outside the gate of hospicio all bundled up in a bag....While we knew the OJT is going to be a tough one, I'd like to take it as a challenge and would look at it as a way of being able to at least show some love and care for the Hospicio's clients who are longing to be cared for. Here's a couple of pictures of our class, inside Hospicio, just enough documentation of that enlightening day for all of us....

BFF's McDo Moment

The morning of December 31, despite the not so wonderful weather, there were signs of dark clouds everywhere, I met up with my best friend Chi. It was the first time in probably 3 years, that we saw each other again..Sure we update each other through text messages but nothing beats the conversations over fries and other knick knacks...She brought along her eldest, who is my godchild, and after I handed the boy my christmas gift, Chi and I started our never ending how are you's and chitchats...Just like the good old days....And funny, we seem to not notice the time, before we knew it, it was way past lunch time, and we had to send Chi's son to play some arcade games while we continue to laugh about our stories and reminisce about our college days. Nothing has really changed after all these years and I made sure I had my camera with me so we could take some pictures..The last picture we had together was in some 10 years ago, both of us in our rocker fashion, Chi in a Kurt Cobain hairstyle, both of us making the peace sign...Now, we still are rock fans but sports a more "girlie" fashion..lol..I posted here one shot of us together, never mind how it looked, it was intentionally captured this way, quite a clear view of my Best Friend For life, the already empty mcdonalds drinks and fries and a peeping me...lol..

On Old Friends......

“One of the greatest titles we can have is "old friend". We never appreciate how important old friends are until we are older. The problem is we need to start our old friendships when we are young. We then have to nurture and grow those friendships over our middle age when a busy life and changing geographies can cause us to neglect those friends. Today is the day to invest in those people we hope will call us 'old friend" in the years to come."

This was a comment posted by an old friend on my friendster account. I totally agree with it. Now that I'm older, I learn to appreciate the friends who stuck it out with me through all these years, even when I do get difficult to handle. They are those who remained the same no matter how long ago we last saw each other or how far apart we are. They are those who would not hesitate to stand by my side, when I need them, amidst their busy schedules. Guess, it's the not so daily emails, and conversations that makes us more closer together...So much like - distance and silence somehow makes our "hearts" grow fonder. I'm glad I've met these wonderful friends, back when I was younger, and indeed they are the ones who remain true.

For the Newly Weds

This is for my very god friend R and her husband J, who were married today and while everything went well and we had so much fun, I still feel I need to send out some Irish blessings for them....

So R and J,

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you;
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings,
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

My best wishes and congratulations!

7 Years after.....

Yesterday, I finally was able to meet up with my long time or should I say long lost, hehehe, friend, J. Can't believe it has been seven years, since the last time we saw each other, back when we were still working for the same company, it was both our first job and both of us resigned after a couple of months...lol! Found myself a different work and somehow we lost track of each other, until last year, when we saw each other again, this time not personally, but online through one of those social networking sites. We were able to update each other about how our lives have been, but we never got the chance to see each other because of differences in schedule. Last February, I got news that our other friend R, is getting married this August and this paved the way for me and J's meet up. We were both invited for R's wedding, so we should be together attending it. We were constant textmates and would have wanted to have a night out with R, but since the bride is very busy, we were not able to have one. Now that the wedding is only a few days away, both J and I felt, we needed to see each other so we can talk about how we were gonna go to the wedding. As expected, our first meeting after seven years turned out fun. No hang ups, still and we were very much like before. J had lots of memories of that first job, lots of juicy stories and lots of laughter....I realized, maybe we should have pushed through with the night out, the talks would have been longer, but for now, I'm just glad that we found ourselves, back in the friendship circle again and we are looking forward to R's wedding, which J promised to take lots of pictures.....

Reunion Preps

My high school class is celebrating it's 15th year reunion next year! and as early as now almost everyone's getting excited about the preparations. Our e-group has been burning with emails eversince talks on the forthcoming reunion started and it's nice that somehow through this we get to communicate with each other even if were "worlds" apart. Another site that's constantly being used is friendster - apparently the closest we can get to knowing what each one of us look like now....And mind you, not many of us have changed a bit..it's still so much like high school, only more mature.....and others were married....I just got off the phone with one of my former classmate and I'm looking forward for a batch night out, sometime in August. Now the point of discussion for the batch is what we want to do during the reunion..I'm suggesting an "80's Party"...If everyone agrees, I feel that would be a hit.After all, we all love the new wave era - 1 batchmate has a band who does new wave songs, and what a colorful night that would be - what with the wigs, sunglasses, and leg warmers.....lolz!

On BFF Chi

This morning, I woke up to this text message :

Friendship is never about the people who act true in front of you,
It is always about the people who remain true behind your back.

It was a forwarded message coming from my bestfriend Chi, who I haven't seen for more than a year now. And it brought me back to how we got to know each other. We were classmates back in college, we have the same majors and we both didn't like Math.We know the basics but the rest was just left to "mercy"....Hahaha....During long class intervals, I would be a constant visitor at their home and I got close to her family as well. We were like sisters. We would have our share of secrets from crushes to boyfriends..We knew almost anything about each other - except for one...The bestfriend that I am - I never knew she was pregnant until I saw her on the first day of classes during out third year in college. She was in her jeans and shirt, rocker get-up but her tummy was bulging...I thought it was not her I'm looking at....and when she saw me, she was just laughing and told me "hey, I'm pregnant". That was a surprise. I was there on her very early wedding, and was there when she lost that baby [my godchild] midway into labor. It was hard for her and also for me. We would have graduated together but she took a leave from school and became a homemaker and now a doting mother to two bright and nice boys. I haven't seen them in a while and I'm glad they are doing well in school. Looking back, I'm glad I have a friend like her who remains to be true no matter the distance and the circumstances are. We may have started out as merely acquaintances, yet we ended up as very, very close friends. :)

What a Day!

In my previous post, I talked about my recent communication with my soon to be married friend R. We have been scheduling when the best time would be for us to meet up until this morning, when she texted me and asked me if we can meet at a mall which was roughly 30 minutes away from my place. Of course I gladly said yes and asked her what time would we meet. She told me in about 1 and a half hour. So off I went, met her at a bookstore, she was looking for some tracing papers and we went around scouting for some bridal shoes, which unfortunately she was not able to buy because there was no available pair in her size....Sigh....Then she went on and bought herself a nice white bag, [she has a thing for white bags....hehehehe..I don't know why].... I treated her to a hot cup of classic mocha while I had the cold one. We were laughing all through out as our conversations were mostly about the past, the times when we were still together at work and the friends we had there....Although, only one remained - and she's going to attend R's wedding as well.....It was basically a conversation of friends who seemed to lost touch of each other....it's nice talking about a lot of things in person other than thru emails. She handed me her invitation, and she was telling me she had been wishing for someone to give her a nice jewelry box, because she has not bought one due to lack of time and super busy schedule....Hmmmm...looks like I know what to give her already....I'm thinking if it could double as a wedding present for her..hehehehe. We parted past 4 in the afternoon and realizing I needed to do some grocery, I decided to drop by the mall across my place. While at the mall, I went on to check some shoes, and guess who tapped me on the shoulder???A former colleague- S, who used to be my companion going home and it was the first time we saw each other in about 4 years! It was such a surprise and I asked her if she already finished her law school because that was what I knew she was doing back then other than working. She told me she already did and my next question was if she passed the bar exam already. And she said yes....I was so happy and congratulated her. Then she said "let me treat you for dinner"..wow..what a treat..from a new lawyer..hehehe...then she told me, remember the time when before we go home, we just decided to dine at a famous Italian restaurant? Of course I remembered....Out of the blue, as soon as we got off from our ride, she just said she saw at a local talk show a feature on that particular resto, which was just in the area. We checked the area, found the resto and dine....Thank heaven's we had extra cash otherwise, we would have ended up washing the dishes....no, we won;t let things go that far......hehehehe...Indeed, such a nice day to celebrate friendship...good friends.....really.... :)

Here Comes the Bride.......

In August, I would be attending the wedding of one of my closest friends - R. I remembered the first time I learned about it was early this year, thru an email which was also like the pre-wedding invite. [You see she has been based in Japan for almost 6 years now and so our communication would only be through emails, most of the time.] It was very personal and there was a reply page where you are supposed to write your complete name and address, and email it back to her to confirm that you are attending. A month after that email, she went home, for about two weeks together with her fiance- J, for the traditional "pamanhikan" and to do some final bookings for the caterers, couturiers, hotel and accommodation etc... We had a very brief talk at that time since she was only here a few days and had a hectic schedule. She told me she was gonna be back in June and will be in the Philippines until her honeymoon is over, so that would mean she is here for about three months. Wohoo! So imagine my surprise when she sent me a text message last month, a few days after my birthday, telling me that she's already here. And I never get to hear from her again. I figured, she must still be really busy with her wedding preps. But just this morning, I got a text message from her this morning asking me when my available time would be, because she is going to give me her wedding invitation this coming week. Can't believe her wedding is just three weeks from now.....and I'm soo looking forward to it. I am very happy that she's finally found the perfect one for her and I do wish her and J the best....I'll definitely write about her wedding.....just hang in there.... :)

I Miss...

Everytime my Ma comes for a visit, I would always end up missing and texting my Pap, who is left in our hometown - leading quite a tedious and hectic job. I got so caught up on my conversation with him that after he told me he was gonna sleep already, it made me realized that I haven't talked to him in a while. I missed our funny and serious conversations and remember the days when we were much younger and it was easier to cuddle up in bed with him. Now since we're 12 hours apart, will have to do with voice and text messages.....Somehow I get to maximize this so called Alltxt mode....hehehhe.....Other than my Pap, here are some of those that I miss back home.....

My Besftriend C - whose leading quite a simple and contented life in the province. I haven't seen her for more than a year. I miss our girl talk..lots of girl talks. She was the only person whom I could tell my secret back in college and we were inseparable. Partners in crime, as they say....hehehe..

"Gay time" and coffee with my equally flamboyant friends L and Wes...L and I are female gays while Wes is a certified "green queen"....hehehhe....I sure would like to catch up with them....

My two bus mates S and H, who were my companion in trying to ride the last trip home to our town.....Sigh....

The perfect cone of the Mayon Volcano that is the backdrop of my university...

The rush deadlines on the school paper even if it means eating your lunch while it's still in the plastic and only with your fork and spoon --no plates.....Still it was fun.

The gallons of ice cream that we would stuff ourselves with while we were cramming on school paper publication....

The highfalutin words of my former English professor Ms. D..hehehe...the intelligent girl that she is, I sure learned a lot from her....

The soccer field where I would normally catch a glimpse of my long time "crush" R.....and

.......The laid back life in the province......

New Sim, Old Friends, EC and Others....

Finally got my free sim from Umobile...Looking forward to try out their services, though I don't think I'd be able to use their fring service, for now...I am loving their rates - 7.25 for u to landline, 7.00 for u to other network and 5.00 for u to u calls. IDD is 10.00 and text messaging rates are .15 for u to u, .75 for u to other networks and 8.00 for international text. There's still a few interconnection concerns but I'm not at all bothered...heheheh..Oh, did I mention, I'll get a free P100 load every month for the first six months? Isn't that cool! Enough about the sim....

Yesterday, I was surprised to receive a text message from my college friend Rics, who I haven't seen for the last 8 years....It's like after we graduated, we went on separate worlds, found jobs, lost each others contacts...It was nice to know that she's doing well, I think she's gotten married already and have two kids now. I looked at her friendster profile and nothing has changed in her, really....Happy about that....And then last night, I was conversing with another old friend from college, and we were talking about, Artsy Country Girl - the one from my previous post.....It was quite a conversation we had and even if it was only through exchange of text messages I'm glad that it was just like the old times....It got me asking, what's with the month of July, old friends are resurfacing these days....but I'm lovin' it......

Just this morning, I checked out my entrecards and found out I got some adverts to approve.....I looked at my status on EC and it was only now that I learned that I approve adverts within 17 hours on the average..hehehehhe...and that advertising on my blog costs about 32ec....I didn't know that, the last time I checked I was 16ec then dropped to 8ec and now 32ec...Whew...thanks.....I went on blog hopping, dropped my cards and it's nice that I get to meet online buddies because of this..Blogging really is fun....

Two friends D and R are online and I'm trying to juggle typing this blog entry and chatting with them on YM....both of them have lots of questions not to mention juicy scoops about some people we knew from way back....Talk about being chismosa...Well, it's their lunch break, so they can chat and I haven't eaten my lunch..so if you'll excuse me....need to grab a bite.... :)

Ms. Artsy Country Girl

For quite some time I haven't heard from my friend, Ms. Artsy Country Girl- perhaps the reason why I got surprised receiving a text message from her sometime last week. Funny, how our exchange of messages evolved from the usual hi-hello's and how are you's to how's your lovelife..and that last question must have sparked up some nerves in her, and she replied to me asking me if I can introduce her to some of the single friends I have. I thought she was not serious, so I just laugh at her but she seemed so serious. And indeed she was. The next days, my inbox would be filled with messages from her, asking me if I have found someone that would suit her fancy. By this time, I am slowly realizing that she was really in the quest for "the one"-as she calls it. She would later tell me that for a 33-yr. old like her, waiting for Mr. Right should not be taken sitting down...There's got to be some effort or some "friend's intervention"...lolz! Artsy Country Girl, is a beautiful lady, deep set eyes, fair complexion, slim so I would often wonder why she has not found her Mr. Right..Attitude could not be the problem...But, since she is a very good friend since college, I tried to ask my other friends if they have some guy friends who might be looking for a date...I've got instant feedback from one friend but she said I should send her Artsy's picture..Now, that's where the problem set in. Artsy, doesn't want to. I told her, textmates doesn't work anymore these days but she just would not believe me. I told her, the guy we were supposed to let her meet is a law student, just a year younger than her and is accomplished. She asked me "how tall is he"? I replied, about 5ft. 2inches... Then she said "can't you find someone taller", because if that's his height then we would just be the same"..
Hearing that, I realized that I forgot how she gets too consumed on the details of how her "man" should look like...Thus, the reason why, she's having a hard time finding one....Sigh.....

Thank You Ais & Gie!

Over the weekend, our country was hit by typhoon Frank and days like these, i don't usually get to do much except to hope and pray that the wind and rain would stop soon and I had a few text messages as well..hahhaha.....While my internet connection was still down, I checked my mails thru my phone and I could not believe I've got tons of mails already..in just two days of not checking......whew! But there was one email I got that I felt was touching.....This is from my long time friend Ais....she said...

Hi Eila!

Belated Happy Birthday! Musta na.

Take care...ais

I replied: Thanks Ais...I'm ok, job hunting now...May opening ba sa inyo..hehehe....Take care as well - Eila

Very simple words but it meant a lot to me, considering the very hectic and busy life she has and it was the first time in months that I heard from her again....But she really is one of those few friends I have whom I can always count on...even when she's soooo busy, when you need her, she would be there..I'm glad I have a friend like her. Another message I got was from my friend Gie...She sent me a thank you note and it said:

It has been 8months since the surgery. I'm recovering very well & better now. Thanks for the prayers. I truly appreciate it. Regards. God bless!

Gie has always been thankful to all the people who never forgets to pray for her continuous recovery and healing from the surgery and I'm glad she's in good shape now....

I sure would love to have lunch with these two long time friends but our schedules doesn't sync ....Some other time I guess.... And thank you Ais and Gie for the friendship!

Angelica's Strength

My friendship with Gie goes as far as year 2000 when we both worked for the same company. She was hired a month after me, and we hit it off right away. We were constant lunch buddies and we would cover for each other whenever there's a need to..hehehe...After a year, I transferred to a different company but our friendship remained. Through the years, I've seen how tough she is - taking care of a "special child", making occasional trips to the doctor for her kid's check ups - yet she never complained. I saw her strength all the more when a couple of years ago, she was diagnosed with a lump on her breast and had to undergo an operation. I was in constant communication with her through text this time because seeing her personally was not possible because of our busy schedules and knowing Gie - she would only advice us about what she went through when she's done with it.....And that was what happened....One day, I got a surprise txt message from her saying "hi friend, please pray for my fast recovery, i just went through an operation"....Shocked as I am, I replied "yes, will pray for your recovery, hope everything goes well" ...and indeed she had a very fast recovery. Her operation had made our barkada - all four of us, RB,Moi,Wins and Gie- more closer. Along came with it was the change in Gie's lifestyle, particularly with the food she ates...I can clearly remember how Gie would have a lot of questions and instructions on how she wants her food to be prepared - less MSG or none at all, separate chicharon on the pinakbet, very little soy sauce and no meat.....We would even tease her that our food might not taste anything because it looks like there are no more seasoning or flavoring left on the food....hahahha...Almost two years ago, RB was about to migrate to the U.S. and we had some despedida lunch for him...Just as we expected, the pizza that we ordered was all meat, so, since Gie was there, she scraped off all the meat on her pizza and gave it to me, and she ate the veggies and crust instead...It seems like every thing's ok for her, haven't seen her in about a year, until last month, when I forwarded her a Mother's Day greeting she replied, a day after -that's soo Gie- and the message said "gud pm frriend, thanks for the mother's day grtg dat u sent ystrdy. I truly appreciate it. Nsa mla k b? I undrwnt open heart surgry 2wks ago, April28,excision of left atrial myxoma. haus nko, may4 p ko nadscharge,am betr nowand stil recovrng.Praise God! Succesful yung operation & not cancerous yung myxoma."...And that was a bomb! I told her "yes, i'm n manila..grabe, you surprised me na naman with your txt, will pray for your recovery..take care"...Amidst all these, Gie, still manages to smile and look at the brighter side of life. Not once did I hear her cry out asking why such things happens to her, even when she was wearing bandanna because her hair was falling from the laser treatment she underwent in her previous operation. These things never seemed to bother her. she takes them lightly and always with a smile. Today I checked her she was fine, in fact she can even make a joke about her recent operation already ....in her recent txt to me she just told me "i'm ok..recovered na, one month nako nadischarge, may tahi nga lang sa dibdib"....and I laughed. I haven't told her this but what she doesn't know is I look up to her for her strength, when I'm down in the dumps, I just have to think about how she handles life's trials and I'd be alright. Of course, it is a bonus for her that she has a very supportive, loving husband and two wonderful kids.Way to go Gie! Continue inspiring a lot of people.Mis ya my friend=)