UNLESS

When a married man tells you, "Don't believe a married man when he tells you he loves you, and will leave his wife..." --- unless.

And when the married man falls in love with you and tells you, "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you..."

You should have taken note of the first statement. --- unless.

THE MAID OF HONOR SPEAKS

One of the reasons why I resigned from my career as a flight attendant is to witness Ina & Troy tie the knot.

As Ina's Maid of Honor, here's what I had to say:

I have never been married but my experience in life as a child, a teenager and an adult has made me view marriage in many different angles.  

Here’s my story for you.

Weddings are not just about elegant gowns, beautiful photographs and nice receptions.  They are big days, yes they are, but they are also the small details in the everyday life of a husband and wife.

It’s all about good times, and the not so good times.

It’s when the husband gets out of bed at two in the morning just to get his thirsty wife water from the refrigerator.

It’s when the wife cooks for her husband even if it’s just hotdog and egg or even pancit canton.

It’s when you make time to sit and talk and have coffee together even after ten years.

It’s about being partners in life --- whether you win a five hundred million lottery or lose everything you have because of a tsunami.

Marriage is “You give, I take, as well as, I give, you take.”

TROY & INA:  In this world full of temptation, I know you’ll make a difference. 

May the good and happy times outweigh the problems along the way.  Enjoy the foreverness of your tie with God as the core of it.

CONGRATULATIONS.

GET A BACKBONE. STAND FOR SOMETHING!

I learned from my biology class that living organisms are classified according to the following:
A. Vertebrates - living organisms that have a backbone
B. Invertebrates - living organisms that do not have a backbone

And I also learned from life the following:

All human beings are vertebrates. TRUE.
But not all human beings have a back bone.

GET A BACKBONE. STAND FOR SOMETHING!

STARBUCKS

Computer programmer and entrepreneur Charis Bacolod is always busy at work, and this is one of those spontaneous moments where I say, "Hoyyyyyyyyy! Gawas na diha sa imong offiz! I'm here in Makati. . .daliiiiiiii! Greenbelt 1 Starbucks along the road."

Sometimes it is important to work for that pot of gold; but other times it is essential to take time off and to make sure that the most important decision for the day consists in choosing which Starbucks drink to pick out of the menu. ♥

Thanks Twin for being my model!

VERSION 2: FISHY

They say, "There are many fishes in the ocean."

Yeah, there are many fishes in the ocean!

ELENA

My life is an open book. It's like passing through an x-ray machine, there's nothing left to hide. You can see my lumps, my flesh, my flaws.

I am what I am.

And you cannot undress an already naked woman.

FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME

It almost felt like home, very similar to the weekly trips I made to Balamban to visit my doctors, always making that stop by the foggy road to eat corn.

I miss Cebu.

The most satisfying encounters do not always happen around elegant tables in nice, warm restaurants.

COUNTER STRIKE

"Strike while the iron is hot."

When you have an opportunity to do something, do it before you lose your chance.

I was just about to press my uniform for my trip to Cairo but the iron was not too hot so I began thinking about opportunities in my life, or if they've stopped knocking.

And I started striking my uniform with the iron.

DO NOT WAIT TO STRIKE TILL THE IRON IS HOT BUT MAKE IT HOT BY STRIKING IT.

RICH

If you are able to eat two, three times a day, able to buy a Snicker bar anytime you crave for it, have more than four pairs of shoes or even double that...
If you can afford a ticket to watch a movie or have a cappuccino at Starbucks, and go to the parlor to have your hair and nails done...
If you finished college or even almost did, are receiving a monthly payslip and have bills to pay...
If you have a facebook account to publish your thoughts, and an electronic means to publish those thoughts...

Then you are lucky.

And you should have reasons to smile like this little girl who knocked on my window, asking me to buy her popcorn.

In this life, there are two: The rich and the poor.

I didn't really know how to classify myself.

But I'm starting to think I'm rich, because I have more than I need.

SUPERMAN

"I haven't prayed for a long time now, but if you're up there, please save me Superman."

I AM NOTHING

Hi. My name is Mika and I come from the Philippines.

I used to think I'd live my life and die in the Philippines, and everything else in between.

But life took me elsewhere; far from the Pacific.

And it's very nice to feel. I'm nothing. I'm just nothing when I'm near the Atlantic.

PAUSE

His name is Seif Zbidi --- one of the cabin crew in this flight we did to Casablanca, Morrocco.

I thought he was going to start praying. I watched. I waited. And I started to feel the burn on my skin.

Sometimes, the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.

VERSION 1: FISHY

They say, "There are many fishes in the ocean."

But sometimes there's only one.

LOVE

I was on a trip in search for what I really wanted to do with my life when I happened to pass by a cornfield whilst staring out the glorious tones of orange on the passenger's seat.

This was almost a year ago but I decided to write this story only now.

I didn't know what I wanted but now I know what I needed.


AN EXTRACT FROM MY DIARY TONIGHT:

Once upon a time, a farmer planted two seeds which grew to become lovers. Their love was the kind that happened to only a few. Each day, together they'd watch the sun rise and set. Oftentimes, they laughed and played under the rain, whether it was only drizzling or pouring.

Whenever the occasional storms paid them a visit especially on the midyear, they endured all the difficulty because they knew how to keep their feet firmly planted on the ground.

But storms were actually the favorite part of their lives. They danced and swayed and bent like gymnasts would do, to the rhythm of the winds that blew them, almost touching each other's leaves, but never did.

One said to the other, "I wish you were planted an inch apart from me so we could experience all these beautiful and not so beautiful things together, side by side."

Staring out the wild sunset before them, the other corn listened but didn't utter a word.

"We've never even made love."

And the other finally spoke:

"Even if you didn't come inside me, nor touched me, we've already made love."

SABBATH

Today, I sat and opened the Holy Bible.

Normally, when I read the Bible, I jump from one chapter to another, starting from the middle. But today, I choose to start from the very beginning, Genesis.

Genesis Chapter 1 states the creation of the world. God created the world in seven days.

On the first day, He said, "Let there be light."
And there was light.

On the next four days, He created land, water, the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars, the plants and animals.

On the sixth day, He created you and me.

And finally God finished all the work He had been doing. He was tired and felt the need to rest. So He blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

Today, I too am tired to write some more.

Have a blessed Sunday!

I CAN

Twenty years ago, Saturdays meant sitting behind the antique staircase and spending the entire morning with old Mr. Weinstein who had very yellow keys and the amazing maestro, Lola Naty.

She taught my little fingers to glide along the piano keys in scales of A, B, C, D, E, F, & G majors and minors. Then we'd start to read and play the notes of the simple "Minuet in G Major" together, repeating them over and over again until I mastered it.

As a second grader in piano, I was never satisfied playing "Marry had a little lamb" or "My bonnie lies over the ocean" kinds of pieces. At the end of the day, I would always ask Lola Naty to play a difficult-sounding piano piece particularly the "Fantasia Impromptu", where I delighted in watching her fingers glide in split seconds and her body move gracefully, eyes closed as she felt every note, swarming the entire living room with music.

The next Saturday, I asked her to teach me that J.S. Bach piece, that only a sixth grader should be playing. She used to tell me I cannot learn it very easily and I would never be able to play it. But I insisted. I learned. And I played, the way she did. (With matching eyes closed, graceful little fingers moving, and a naughty smile of a child sticking out her tongue saying, "I can do what you do.")

They say it takes talent to play the piano.

But I say, if you think you can, you can.
If you think you can't, you're right.

EMERGENCY EXIT

"This aircraft is equipped with twelve emergency exits. Five on either side of the main cabin and two in the upper deck. The cabin crew are now pointing out the exits nearest to you."

I say or hear these lines almost everyday of my life.

No one knows what life is in store for us and it's always good to know where the emergency exit is.

MARRY FOR LOVE

Because when there is marriage without love, there will always be love without marriage.

STILETTOS

I don't really know what it is with this shoe that makes it a part of a girl's life.

My first encounter with stilettos was when I saw my mom trotting in them many many years ago. I would hear heavy footsteps from my bedroom, "tak, tak, tak, tak" and instantly know she has arrived from work.

And then came the fashion show. My mom used to be a ramp model when she was my age. I remember browsing through her photo albums over and over again and just admiring how beautiful my mother was. That's when I grew more curious about high heels. Whenever my mom got home, she would put her heels on the shoe rack and just when she shuts the door, I would grab these stilettos, put them on even if it was more than twice the size of my feet, and start doing my own catwalk in an imaginary fashion show that existed only in my bedroom.

Going back to my question, why is it a part of a girl's life? Maybe because it gives her the confidence on the spotlight, even if it means getting blisters all over. Maybe because it's like strawberries dipped on chocolate, they make women dipped in sex appeal. Or maybe they are a revenge outfit after a breakup.

I don't really know.

All I know is that, the man who invented stilettos,

he must be very, very good.

WAITING IN VAIN

I steadied the lens of the camera on my bird-friend's favorite abode for over five minutes, waiting for him to come.

I grew more impatient, waiting, but Braulio never came. That is my bird-friend's name by the way.

How many times have you waited for that someone but never came? You must have never understood why.

Waiting is long but understanding is even longer.

LOST AND FOUND

Aubrey and I were trying to find our way to the famous RUINS of beautiful Macau. We decided not to ask for directions just because we loved the adventure of trying to find our way in a place we've never ever been to. So we took just a map, ourselves, and confidence.

When the night was about to take over, we found ourselves lost. I was looking back at the Grand Lisbon where we came from, trying to trace back our steps so we would find our way back home, and I found Aubrey standing by the street side nearly covered with the map in frustration. I laughed to myself and just had to capture this moment because I knew...

No one ever finds his way without getting lost.

You have to get lost in order to be found.

BLACK & WHITE

This self-timered photograph was originally taken in the most brilliant colors but when I started experimenting on the hues, I thought to myself that colors can completely change the mood and emotion that a photograph conveys. Then I picked black and white, as some of the most striking and evoking photographs were taken in black and white.

BLACK & WHITE - because it reminds me of the past. When I was a child, I remember flipping through the pages of my mother's photo albums in black and white.

Looking out the huge glass window of our Venetian suite, I saw the world in black and white. And as I look back on my past I see many things that I would do differently, but more importantly I see the things that made me who I am today.

IHEB

The traffic to the airport was getting heavy and I was getting bored when I overheard two Tunisian men conversing in their language, their laughter breaking the silence. I stole a shot of this happy man from a distance, a man named IHEB.

And when he smiles, the whole world stops and stares for a while.

"Dehktek tfareh enas lkol eli ma'ak."

THE BENGALI MAN

Seated at the back of the bus on the way to the airport, I was drawn by the sight of a Bengali man wandering around the busy, polluted streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

My interest for art, culture and the finer things in life grew enormously.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

When I was 5, I remember running like an athlete doing a 100-meter dash around the house with my mother trying to catch me and hit me with her belt like a mad woman.

When I was 8, I remember kneeling down on monggo seeds with my brother by my side just because it was punishment not to take a nap after lunch.

When I was 10, I remember brushing my teeth one day in the bathroom and then all of a sudden, the door opens and I instantly get hit on my ass with a broomstick because it was punishment for three if two were fighting.

When I was 13, I remember never being able to join a bestfriend's slumber party just because it wasn't allowed.

When I was 16, I remember I started dating with a chaperon.

When I was 20, I remember lying I was going to a field trip because if I told the truth, I would be locked in 129-C.

And now that I am 26, a mother is someone you can just phone in at 9 in the evening Jeddah time, which makes it 2 in the morning Philippine time, even at her deepest sleep, just to tell her to "go online, now na!" and tell her how love makes the world go round and how laughter keeps me from getting dizzy.

She is the truest friend, the closest ally, the Academy Award Winner who raised me up, the bank where I deposit my excitements and frustrations, and the bedmate I go home to.

Her heart is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

SHE is the fuel that enables me to do the impossible.

SISTERS

They're the people you can share your secrets with, cry salty tears with, laugh to death with, and just be yourself with. They don't judge you or make you change. They accept you exactly as you are. They look at you and they see a great person.

They share a glass because they're too tired to wash more dishes, share a language only they could understand, share shampoo and toothpaste because money is scarce after a week in the Venetian, share a tiny bed even if they could only have the "cadaver coffin position" for 8 hours, share a glass of wine because the other isn't a drinker. They share plenty in common and are tied together by memories, tears, laughs and smiles. They're tied together by love for the other.

It's not just letters, parties and good times. It's a feeling that will never leave you as long as you live. It's a phone call just to make you smile. It's treasured. It's sacred. It's knowing that there will always be someone there for you...no matter what.

You cannot see sisterhood (like today because she's on a flight to Dhaka).
But you can feel it, a hundred times a day... ♥

THE MAN SELLING HATS

Travel is my life now. I have met countless different professions - doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, pilots, business tycoons, chemists, teachers, and a man selling hats.

I was reminded of a little girl selling cigarettes on an empty mayonnaise bottle roaming around the neighborhood during the summer some twenty years ago. While her playmates were busy setting up a little Friendly Sari-Sari Store operated by ten year olds with candies, crackers, chips and iced water for the thirsty jeepney drivers, she was out on the streets screaming "Palit mo ug sigarilyo!!!!"

I don't really know why she had to do that. Maybe because she felt the need to go out of her way and not just sit back and wait for the first customer. Maybe selling was a career at the age of seven. Maybe it runs in the blood, or maybe she just had fun doing that. And when I looked again, zoomed in the lens of my camera on the man selling hats, I remembered, some twenty years ago, that little girl was me.

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn’t interest me where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,weary, bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children."

ATTRACTION PRINCIPLE NUMBER ONE

Anything you chase in life runs away.

BEAUTY CAN KILL

Stevie Wonder sang, "I watch them bloom for me and you, and I say to myself, what a wonderful world."

But how could these lovely flowers hurt the ones you love?

Almost a decade ago my grandfather hurt himself with the thorns of this flower. It wasn't such a big thing until he was diagnosed of Bacterial Meningitis a week later, and passed away. Just like that.

The most beautiful things could be the most dangerous ones.

SPICE

My mornings would not be complete without my cup of coffee. But how did the red hot chili pepper get in the picture? Like My Mama Ee told me, "Life is dull when everything seems right."

And then I learned to spice up my life.

THE SMALLEST DETAILS

I never really paid close attention to the smallest details in the sand nor in my life but when I looked closer, took a shot of the withered, I realized that even the simplest life could be a mystery if you look close enough.

RESTING PHASE

Another Chapter of My Life: "THE RESTING PHASE" I used to be a medical technologist, then a finance executive, and then a medical representative. Then I quit for some reasons I cannot explain. I thought life was all about diseases, money, and drugs until I changed my address to "The Sky". Like I learned in college and again in my training in Sanofi-Aventis, the cardiac cycle is comprised of three events: depolarization, the refractory period and the repolarization. I cannot believe I still know these things. Basically the heart beats, after which it cannot do anything for a brief period of time, and then it recharges for another beat. The refractory period is called the RESTING PHASE. And that's where I am in now - discovering my creative self, and being grateful for a Simple, Abundant Life... ♥