Ang sarili kong mundo

Dear 2021, Truth be told, you weren't so easy to deal with. You are probably the most emotionally challenging and mentally abusing year I had. You made me cry a lot even on the things I thought were insignificant and you also made me laugh so hard even on senseless things. The number of times that I cried this year wasn't normal. Thankfully through God's grace I am still able to maintain my sanity. With that being said, you are definitely not going on the list of my favorite years. If you were a movie, I'd give you a 2-star rating.  I came to a point where I asked God to please don't make me go crazy because of everything that's happening around me—they were totally insane. Things weren't so easy with you, but you left me with no other choice but to survive. It's definitely the best choice, anyway. The best thing you showed me is that God is the only one I can depend on. He became my best friend. People disappoint me at times, but God has always my back,

For you, Merry Christmas, to you. I hope you had a meaningful Christmas celebration. If not, you still have a few hours to do so. I hope that you were able to spend it with your loved ones.  May you always find a reason to celebrate and rejoice just like the angels did when they found out about the birth of Jesus. I hope you never lose the child in you that gets excited everytime Christmas is about to arrive, not because you know you have gifts to receive, but simply because it's Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Some of us waited for it for 11 months.  As you grow older, Christmas become more meaningful. It's totally different the way you spend it when you were still a kid. I hope you still have that excitement everytime this season is here, and just by the thought of Christmas. May you never lose your sense of wonder and excitement. May you still find joy even in the simple things, like watching the twinkling of Christmas lights. All year round we were

Do you believe that the happiest people aren't the ones who are successful, but the happiest people are those who are satisfied? Satisfaction is really hard to achieve especially if you are surrounded with temptations. You thought that buying a new phone would make you feel satisfied because you already have the latest model. Then after just a few days, the newest phone model is again out in the market, so you want to buy it again because you think that it would make you feel satisfied again, and let's just say because you can afford it. Then the cycle continues. So, where's the satisfaction there?  Being satisfied is having contentment with what you have and having a grateful heart. You know you can have more, but you are already contented with what's yours. You will always think that what you have is already enough. It's not that easy to find contentment especially if you are always comparing yourself to other people. Now with the presence of social media, people

Do you believe in the saying that "faith can move mountains?" If so, then why? Faith is one of the things, or probably the only thing that keeps us afloat in this time of pandemic—the time of uncertainty. We were all lost and don't know how to approach this "new normal" when it started. Some lost their jobs while others lost their loved ones. Some of us thought that this pandemic will only last for a couple of months then it will be over, but here we are still unsure on when this pandemic will be over. Difficult situation like this are meant to teach us something. One of them is to strengthen our faith in God. The first thing that we do when things don't work in our favor or some unfortunate event happen in our life is that we question God. We question Him why it had to happen. Questioning Him is definitely the most impolite way to approach Him. But through questioning Him, we also know that He is the one responsible for everything that is happening around u

How long does it take for you before you can totally forgive someone who hurt you? Are you the type of person who easily forgives then forget? Or are you the type who can't forget easily what someone did to you that's why it will take a long time before you can totally forgive them? There are certain reasons why people find it hard to forgive someone. First, because the wound is too deep. Second, because they can't find it in their heart to forgive someone no matter how much they want to. Third, because they still haven't got their revenge. (I hope not.) Fourth, simply because they don't want to.  There's this show that I watch regularly. They have a game, of course there's a contestant and there are five choices. It's not the typical multiple choice because the choices are also people of different category, it can be professionals, ordinary people, singers, actors, or anyone. There will be a question. For example the question is, who among them are chef

Surprisingly, I had my 2nd dose of anti-covid vaccine earlier than I was expecting. It happened last Monday, November 22. If you want to read about what happened during my first dose just click this.  I already expected a long line and a lot of people in the vaccination site, so I wasn't surprised when I got there. It was crowded. It felt like I went to school for an enrolment because there are really a lot of children there with their own chaperone.  I went there at almost two in the afternoon. The good thing is that there are designated lines for children, for those who will be having their first dose, and for second dose. There were only 3 people in the line for the second dose when I got there.  Unlike during my first dose where I didn't wait that long, this time the waiting took me three hours to get my second dose vaccine. Fortunately, there was a waiting area outside and it wasn't raining, but it was the hottest time of the day. I had my blood pressure checked before

In a battle between your heart and your mind, where do you usually listen? In your mind that says, "try again, who knows maybe this time," or in your heart that whispers, "enough, I've already felt too much." Sometimes what we want and what we're supposed to do are two entirely different things. That's usually when the war between our heart and our mind begin. Personally, I always listen to my heart when it comes to making an important decision in my life. I don't know how to justify this, but maybe it's part of being an overthinker. I know it sounds ironic, but I just thought it is. When it comes to making a not so important decision in my life, I listen to my mind, like when I need to decide what I'm going to wear in a certain occasion. But in terms of choosing a place to eat, of course I always tend to follow my heart. Because a happy tummy leads to a happy heart. Yeah, whatever. 😏 I think those who always use their brain to make an impor

Ever since I was a kid I really love doing DIY items. When I was in elementary I used to make a DIY album. It was made of a wrapping paper which was cut into equal size, then I will fold each one of them into half, put them altogether, and then staple it in the middle. Then bam—a DIY photo album. I probably inherit my love for DIYs from my father. He also loved to make DIYs when he was still alive. When he was still working as a seaman, he used to make a hammock made out of ropes then he brought it home. It's probably his past time in the ship. During his vacation, he also make DIY items in our house when he's got nothing to do.  My love for doing arts and crafts blossomed when I was in high school. I loved it everytime we have a project that involved arts and crafts in TLE and in Arts. I really learned a lot about DIY from our TLE class that I can still use up until today, like making a box out of a plain cardboard.  Since I have a lot of free time these days, creating DIY stu

Last Saturday, October 30 together with my mother and other siblings, we got the chance to register for our National ID.  I tried registering online a couple of times already, but everytime I was about to set the schedule it always says that there are no slots available. In the news they said that their priority is registration through LGUs, so we ask for a form to fill up from the barangay hall. After filling up the form, we submit it again at the barangay hall. It only took us 2 days then we already have a schedule.  We have 3 registration sites here in Batangas City. One is at SM, then the other one is at the Office of the City Veterinary and Agricultural Services, and the newest one where we had our National ID regitered is located at Waltermart, Batangas. We went there at almost 3:00 in the afternoon. When we got there the line wasn't that long. It only took us less than two hours to register.  You need a valid ID in the registration. Aside from of course your picture and your

I used to love this time of the year—Halloween. This is probably one of the things that I always anticipate every year, but that was before.  We used to spend 'Undas' in Talahib because my grandparents' tombs are in Pisa (which is about 30-45 minutes boat ride away from Talahib). I always looked forward going to Talahib because I'd get to see my cousins again, we can play and we can swim again. One of the fondest memories I had with my cousins was when we used to watch a horror TV show. After watching, we will scare our younger cousins through repeatedly saying the name of the ghost in the show that we watched, especially when it's dark and the power was out. It was so fun to do. Although in all honesty, I was also scared. I was just good at faking it. 😁 One of the things that I also remember was when we were in elementary. In our school, before halloween we will go to almost every house in our barangay, and we would sing in front of it. It's basically just lik

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, love and belonging were placed in the middle of the pyramid before esteem and self actualization. That means that to have confidence in oneself, one must feel that they are loved and that they belong. Have you heard one of Ava Max's songs with the title 'So Am I?' The opening lines go like this: Do you ever feel like a misfit?  Everything inside you is dark and twisted  Oh, but it's okay to be different  'Cause baby, so am I How about Simple Plan's 'Welcome To My Life?'  Do you ever feel like breaking down?  Do you ever feel out of place?  Like somehow you just don't belong  And no one understands you Kinda sucks when you feel like you don't belong, isn't it? That's when you start to question your self-worth. It feels like you always have to prove yourself just to feel like you belong. You undervalue yourself because you think that you aren't enough, or will never be enough. It seems like

Each one of us has our own unique ways on how we respond with things that are happening around us. On the other hand, some people have set their expectation on how we're supposed to react on a certain thing. And when we failed to react the way we're "supposed" to react, that's when they begin to give their unwanted opinion. I know that we all have the liberty to give opinions, but why? Is it really necessary? Don't you have anything more important to do with your life? The things that make us happy don't make other people happy and vice versa. The things that make other people sad don't make us sad and vice versa. There are things that we value the most, but to others they serve a little or no importance. There are also some things that annoy us, but to other people they don't even care in the slightest. The things that disappoint us don't even make sense to others. There are things that might seem scary for us that other people find amusing. T

Although there is no such thing as perfect, I'm a dreamer so "perfect" exists in my own universe. 😀 My idea of a perfect day will be a break from my usual daily routine. I will consider it to be a perfect day if someone invites me to go on a roadtrip, or an out of town trip, or maybe an out of the country trip (for a day? why not😆).  A perfect day for me will be a day where I spend most of the time laughing so hard and binge eating until I die. LOL. Kidding aside, a good company combined with good food will really make a perfect day. I want a day wherein I wouldn't mind even if I'm not at home by 9:00 PM— a day where I don't want to care about the time. I want to spend my day taking photos of all the activities that I did the whole day and/or of every beautiful sceneries that I saw.  I want a day wherein even if my plans didn't work I would still find the turn of events amusing rather than disappointing. I want to be with people who can stay relaxed and

Last Monday, September 27, after 8526423962 years 😆 finally I got my first dose of covid-19 vaccine. When I woke up that morning, I really had no idea that I will be vaccinated that day. It was only after we had our lunch when my sister-in-law saw a post of one of our Barangay officials informing those who belong to the A5 category who wanted to get vaccinated to go to the vaccination site. My brother also told my mother that there are only a few people there, and that instantly convinced me to grab the chance and get vaccinated already.  Fortunately, when I arrived at the vaccination site I didn't have to line up to get a form because there are really only a few people there. I arrived there at almost 3:00 in the afternoon and I got vaccinated at almost 4:00. It was fast and a very smooth process and I loved that I didn't have to take a very long line.  (When I got home and saw this photo I checked on the internet the normal pulse rate of a person, and I realized that I almos

Was Ed Sheeran right when he said that, "loving can hurt?"  Personally, I believe that it can. Not all the time, though, just sometimes. The million dollar question is, how often is that "sometimes?" That's the thing about sometimes, you know it doesn't last, but you will never see it coming. Anyway, maybe we can all agree that loving can really hurt. A priest said on one of the online masses that I watched that loving someone can really cause you pain. Because if you love someone, you will always have compassion towards the people that you love. I also read somewhere on the internet that, "the person you love the most hurt you the most," and I couldn't agree more. Anyone can hurt you physically, but it takes a special person to hurt you emotionally. You can be the toughest person on earth, but for sure there is always that one person you have a soft spot for.  Love often hurts when the person that you love doesn't meet your expectations,

My bucket list is already full of places that I want to visit. Of course, Paris, France is present on the list. I really wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower the first time I saw it in picture. As what Audrey Hepburn said, "Paris is always a good idea."  I also dreamed of visiting all the Disneyland in the world. 8-10 years ago I really wanted to visit Disneyland in Hong Kong, since it is the nearest one. I wanted to go to that place simply because they say that it's "the happiest place on earth." During my early 20's, I was really longing for happiness. I thought that going to a Disneyland would give me an instant happiness and I also wanted to experience being a kid once again.  Then there was a time when I had a dream that I was in Bali, Indonesia. What surprised me most was that in my dream I was with my (past) chrush's sister. I mean, of all people why her? 😳 Since then Bali, Indonesia climbed on top of my bucket list. I know the place before, but my a

Since it's still my birthday week, allow me to share with you one of the most memorable birthday celebrations I had—my debut. It wasn't that long ago since I just celebrated my 18th birthday last Tuesday. Just kidding. I celebrated my debut 12 years ago, but for me it feels like it was only last Tuesday. I am not a fan of big parties. I don't want the traditional kind of 18th birthday wherein there are 18 roses, 18 gifts, 18 bills, 18 cars, 18 houses and lots, 😲😅 etc. I only want a simple celebration with the people who are close to my heart.  I celebrated my debut two times. The first one was at home during my birthday. It was a simple celebration with my family and some relatives with the classic "handa" during birthdays— pancit, spaghetti, lumpiang shanghai, fried chicken and cake. There was a typhoon during that time, so it was raining hard almost the whole day. It was holiday that time, because if I remember it right it was Ramadan.  I attended the mass ear

So, I guess this is it. It's official, I'm 30 years old already. Is this the time where I already need to invest in fancy china wares? 😲 It feels like it was just yesterday when my mother forced me to wear the dress that I wore during my baptism. It was was a school day, and it was my 7th birthday. I was baptized a day before my 7th birthday. So, the dress hasn't been laundered, yet, but only the two of us know. Now you know it also, so that makes us 3. I am not a fan of wearing a dress ever since, hence the forcing. But because I was under her spell, I wore that fuchsia pink dress together with a pair of pearly white sandals and a pair of lacey, white stockings.  That's the thing about this life, sometimes you have to set aside what you really want to do and do what other people tells you. Not because you can't decide on your own, but because you just want to make them happy. But it doesn't have to be like that always, of course, we have a free will to do what