Dear 2010, It has been a bittersweet love hate affair between you and I. The heartaches, the illness, work-related stress, and the personal struggles were equally matched with victories, awards, career opportunities, newfound friends, and another chance at life. Thank you! It has been a life-changing year. The world really does have a way of making things go right or wrong to shake us and make us realize things. I would like to think that 2010 made me stronger, wiser, and better. Also bigger. Literally. I vow to change that in 2011. Figuratively, I guess I've done even better than I expected, as a blogger, as a writer, and as a person. To all the people who made me laugh, who caused me grief, who helped me achieve victories, or contributed to my pains, salamat! To Mommy and Daddy, to the Joses and the Abellas, and to my other relatives, thank you for being there! Always. To my friends from grade school, high school, college, culinary school thank you for keeping in touch and for always reminding me of who I was and who I should be! To my DotA and kubo friends, thank you for always making me laugh…
Category: life
A Life Changing Illness
When I entered the hospital for dengue, I was very upbeat and just a little bit worried that I'd have to cancel an out of town trip and several meetings. I was even updating my friends through Plurk and Facebook regarding my platelet count and blood transfusions. Then, things got worse. My platelet count went lower even after several blood transfusions. Some people were wondering why I still seemed normal and functioning well even when my platelet count was at a critical level, lower than the count of some patients who died of dengue. My doctor cousin suspected I had leukemia and I had to have a bone marrow aspiration (BMA) to check if my bone marrow and whatnot is functioning. It was very scary time and I was already ready to die. LOL! But true. The verdict after the BMA was Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). Idiopathic means there is no known cause, thrombocytopenic means an abnormally low platelet count, and purpura means a reddish or purplish discoloration of the skin similar to rashes and bruises. I have an illness that afflicts 50 - 100 persons per million per year. That's around 0.005% of the population. And it's a chronic…
A Letter to My Future Boyfriend
Dear Love, Merry Christmas! :) I don't know who you are yet and as I write this, I am still undeniably in love with someone else. I am reading random posts that I wrote while listening to overly sentimental OPM songs. I don't really know why I am doing this and what I will be writing to you about. But I had the urge to write to you. I may not know who you are yet, or maybe we have crossed paths once or twice. I don't have any inkling. All I know is I look forward to the day I love you. And you love me back. Unconditionally. One of my favorite quotes is from one of my favorite movies, Moulin Rouge: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return." You see, I have this tendency of loving and falling helplessly in love with guys who don't seem to think I am worthy of loving back. I waste time investing in guys who don't have the time or heart to love me back. Friends often reprimand me for investing in those guys. But I am dumb as hell. I think when I…
Facing the New Year
There are around 10 days left in 2010. Needless to say, it has been a good year for me. Despite everything bad or scary that happened, I am happy to be alive. Career-wise, I am very happy with everything, even if it has been challenging. For the first time in 20 years, I won't be celebrating New Year with my relatives. They're all going to Hong Kong. The New Year Celebration might be different for me this year in both good and bad ways. On one hand, it will be a bit lonely. On the other hand, I can think of a new way to enjoy it. Might go out of town. But this post is not about that. It's about 2011 and how epic it's going to be. Why do I say that? Because I want it to be epic. Career-wise 2010 has been a landmark year in the sense that I was able to accomplish a lot as a blogger and writer. Moreover, new doors and opportunities opened for me. As a person, I overcame hurdles I never thought I'd have to hurdle. And while there were relatives and friends who helped along the way, it was a…
Because I Have to Say These
It has been a rough few months and a brutal year. On the other hand, it has been a challenging and fulfilling one career-wise. With my recent life-threatening illness, I felt that life has not yet gotten tired of giving me more shiz to be emo and angry about. Then again, after more than a month of struggling, I am happy and very grateful to be alive. And yes, I have gotten a bit mellow and is more accepting of how things are. I can easily let go of things now. Despite the challenges and hurdles, I was perfectly happy. That is until last weekend. It was off to a good start until certain things were said. And yes, those might have been in jest, but it's never a happy moment when somebody tells you that your dead father, the one you never really knew, was a very good and kind person and they wonder why you're not a good and kind person. HARSH! And to be told over and over again that your struggle to stay afloat and live a happy life alone can be solved by swallowing your pride and apologizing to somebody who has hurt you so…
Alone
Alone by Joni Angeli Nuenay is the poignant story of the widower who lives alone, with his children living and working abroad. The story is simple, the film is straightforward. Technically, it could have done better. But it succeeded in telling a story and did so effectively. I don't cry when I watch movies, but I teared up a bit after watching this film. Nuenay succeeds in delivering a tired old story with minimum melodrama and angst but with maximum impact that pierces through the heart. It is a story a lot of Filipinos can relate, young and old. The story of man a struggling to survive alone, with his loved ones away from him. The message is shown subtly without much tears and no hysterics. And yet we feel the loneliness, the pain, and the short sweet moments of joy. The film succeeds in story-telling. And Nuenay is truly deserving of the Best in Screenplay Award. But perhaps, it would have failed without the natural delivery of Best Actor Roger Gonzales. It seemed like Gonzales was not even acting at all. The simple story matched well with Gonzales' heartfelt acting to give the audience a melancholic story. What it…