Happy birthday Binky!

I think that I tend towards writing fiction because I don't remember things very well. I think it also keeps me young in a sense- I'm never burdened by the past. When it's gone, it's gone and I only recall the good and happy memories. It makes for skipping and jumping towards the future much easier and less painful on the knees and joints too!

So on the occasion of Binky's birthday, I'll try to jog my memory a bit and try to recall stuff about her; she could always email to correct me if I got things wrong.

1. She won every beauty contest in high school

2. She got into UP Diliman but chose to study in Dagupan instead

3. She took the Physical Therapy national licensure exams a few months after graduating. The exams were somewhere in Pasay, or Cubao and were held for three consecutive days. Her fiance Al and I accompanied her and we all stayed in a motel that didn't have windows. I don't remember ever going out in those three days and just ordered in; my dad paid for all of it. It had a good result though; she ranked 11th over-all. 

4. My dad gave her and Al a bed and mattress as a wedding gift, but they didn't get to use it much because they had to leave for overseas. I ended up using the bed at home in Naguilayan.

5. The last time she visited the Philippines was 2004 when my dad passed away.

6. Happy birthday!

Small things to live by

I read somewhere, this so-so fashion person who said that she buys this particular brand of jeans because they were ethically-made. She not only looked good, she apparently also slept really well at night. She probably ticks it all off- ethically grown coffee, artisanal produce with minimal carbon footprint, the occasional hashtag for currently popular causes. All sorted. Pats herself in the back for being an extraordinary human being.

But I should stop here and to remind myself that 'If you judge people, you have no time to love them'. To be honest, I wouldn't give this bitch the time of day, but it's true- judging is exhausting. It binds you in this tight, uncomfortable smugness that dampens your joy, zaps your energy. You end up doing things like yoga or adult colouring books which I suspect were invented specifically for judgy people.

It was Mother Teresa by the way who first said this and yesterday, she officially became a saint of the Catholic Church. I'm definitely not aspiring for saint-hood and on some days, I am shocked by thoughts that if the devil himself offered me fame and fortune ala the Kardashians by selling my soul, I would most likely tell him, give me 48 hours to think about it please.

But I'd certainly like to live a life as simple and true as one can possibly live it, without distracting novelties, complicated rationalisations, lofty philosophies or cruelty in any form, no matter how subtle.

My two most favourite human beings

Here are some quotes by Mother Teresa that I'm doing my damn best to live by:

1. “I see somebody dying, I pick him up. I find somebody hungry, I give him food. He can love and be loved. I don’t look at his color, I don’t look at his religion. I don’t look at anything. Every person whether he is Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist, he is my brother, my sister".

2. “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love".

3. “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do,”.

4. “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love,”.

5. “We fear the future because we are wasting the today,”.

6. “The future is so much in the hands of God, I find it much more easy to accept today because yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not come and I have only today,”.

7. "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies".