his silhouette

happy birthday, sweetie.....

a dream come true

one time, i was scanning through sunday paper when i saw a familiar figure - vince hizon, adorably wearing a mr. incredible costume for a fashion show of celebrities with their pets. there he was with a pug named "Jawo" wearing its own version of the superhero suit. of course, the picture would not be complete without the better half, his mrs. incredible, patricia "shaan" bermudez.

though i have been a big fan of vince, i barely know shaan. she came into vince's life at the time when i had to concentrate on my own life instead of his. I was not so fond of her or with any other girls linked with vince. i'd say i was a very jealous fan.

the very first time i saw shaan was the same time i first saw vince in the flesh - an AIT fashion show, where they were invited as guests/endorsers of a new clothing line. she was not that pretty, i told myself. not a stunner. and for the rest of that night, my friend belle had to endure my endless blabbing on how vince could have chosen someone better. but a look on his handsome face, just seeing how he would hold her hands and how he looked at her a while, told me that he was happy, happy with her. and if vince chose her instead of other girls who would cross live wires just to be in her place (well, you could include me in the list), he probably found something really special about her.



i was looking intently at her picture in that lifestyle page hoping to see that something special when a realization hit me! she actually has the things i used to want...

back in high school, i already planned on taking up broadcast communications. not that i wanted to be a newscaster giving the daily headlines or to be a well-opinionated journalist. i just simply wanted to be seen in the pba during half-time breaks delivering to the basketball-crazy pinoys the 1st half statistics. oh, and of course a post game interview with vince as he bagged the player of the game title won't hurt. (well, of course, things got in the way and i took up tourism instead. but hey, no regrets there..)

i was in third year when i tried to pattern my crushes with vince. most of them were varsity players. the better they can shoot from the 3-pt arc, the more delicious.. err.. i mean, enchanting they appeared to me. and yes, even before it happened to shaan, i have already formulated my dream wedding proposal - a half-time break with my MVP, most valuable person, going down on his knees, asking me to marry him. and once i say yes, we would live happily ever after and my hubby would agree with me to name our first born vincent paul, obviously from the full name of vince- vicente paul .

and shaan has all these - the job i wanted, the wedding proposal i had in mind, my planned baby name ( although their baby was named vicente patrick), and of course, the man i so adored. amazing isn't it? how a person could actually be living a life you previously dreamt of. well my dreams all came true. though not with me but with shaan.

though these are not the things i want in life anymore, i just can't help but turn a liitle green about her but not necessarily envious. hey! im having a great life as well... and though she loves vince and is taking a good care of him, let me give some word for here.
hey shaan, delight in what you have and flourish life. you are actually living my dreams... ( hell no, i'm not threatening her, okay?!)

speak your tounges

sometimes it amazes me how some people will say something in a mere casual conversation and the words they uttered will just make a lasting impact in our lives. just like some quotable quotes high-lighted in the pages of a book. or that particular line in the song you can best relate to. and yes, these people may or may not be the most important people to you, sometimes even a complete stranger. but you just know that after they delivered their lines, your life, or at least how you view it, will never be the same again. oh and the thing is, they don't even know how it mattered to you because as said, it is just a mere conversation.

Example 1:
I was a freshie in Kalayaan and we were having this all-girls-in-pyjamas conversation in melay's and belle's room. It was a discussion regarding our first set of exams after officially embracing the tag " iskolar ng bayan". apparently, we didn't think that the taumbayan will be so proud of our scores. so we agreed that we really need to prioritize things and use our time efficiently. and yes, that would include crossing out in our planners the "visit SM, watch movie". belle promised to put her concentration on math 11. i agreed to prioritize my acads and walk away from my im-too-confident-to-pass-even-if-i-don't-study attitude that i was so used to having even back in high school. melay swore not to let boys get in the way. hanniyah was just silently listening to what we were saying. i, then, asked her, "kaw, han, ano ipaprioritize mo?" expecting her to say that she would give up shopping , or her passion for volleyball or maybe reduce her phone conversations with then boyfriend. to my surprise she said in low voice " siguro ako, ipaprioritize ko si LOrd..." WOW! was that a slap on my face or what!? i don't know if belle or melay got affected by what she said or ever heard it but it created a somersault within me...
after some time of exchanging smiles and hellos as acquaintances, hanniyah and i became friends , got in the same org, shared secrets and dreams, travelled to numerous places as we got deeper together in our prioritizing the Lord. and when i reminded her how she touched my life back then, she could not even remember that particular dialogue we had!

Example 2:
The setting would be in our tambayan in AIT. it was one of those boring afternoons when you would be grateful that you're part of an org, you have a tambayan to stay in and people to hang out with in between classes. it was an unusual day evident by the deafening silence in the usually crowded tambayan. it was just me and my buddy michelle, who later on will be my thesis partner and will share with me the hardships and fun of coming up with that little hardbound piece of idealistic views.
michelle and i were not really close then. we were never classmates but my groupmates in one subject happened to be her groupmates in another. talk about common ground, huh! and so when these fellas joined ecotour, my beloved AIT org, she was designated to be my buddy. then we became part of the same committee and worked in numerous org projects. in our senior year, we broaden our responsibilities and bonding as execomms. then decided to ride the waves as we dig more into surfing for our thesis, together, tested the waters of life, learned the tides each surpassed. i could say that michelle, indeed, is as deep as the ocean, as broad as the horizon, as accommodating as the shore.
ok...rewind..rewind..rewind.. back to that day in the tambayan when we were mere buddies. it seemed that we had no choice that time but to bond and do some story-telling of our lives. she told me a lot about her boyfriend and how she loved him deeply amidst all the pain she had to go through because of him. at that time, my outlook on love was on a weighing scale, could not even decide if i really love the man i was so fond of. i explained to her my fear of getting hurt. the fear that if i give my heart to someone, i give him the right to hurt me as well. so as part of defending myself, i always make an about face whenever i was getting close to "falling". the result, an endless battle within me. just for example, i felt so excited just with the thought that i am gonna see the guy later that day but could not find the same ebullience when i was with him.(told you, a chaotic mind i had!) "lam mo ba kung paano ako nareremind everyday na mahal ko si vince? ", chelle asked. i did not reply, anticipating what she would say next. " kasi kung paano ko gusto na kasama ko siya ngayon, kung gaano ako kaexcited kapag magkikita kami, doblehin mo o triplehin mo pa ang saya ko pag magkasama na kami". and she said this with a look on her face that there is no denying i was speaking with a woman in love. before i left that day, she told me to assesss myself and to try to define the line between being in love with the person and being in love with just the idea of loving.
on her bday last year, i decided to greet her with a friendster testimonial, a part dedicated to thank her for the things she taught me. This, she later on averred as the sweetest testimonial written about her however could not even remember that fateful day in the tambayan.

Example 3
During my early months at work, I was so fond of what i called "my morning coffee with God" just before heading home ( yeah, graveyard shift and all..). I would fill my company-provided mug with steaming coffee and consume it in the RCBC chapel. surrounded by the aroma of the coffee and the scent of sampaguita, i would do my quality time with God. as this was usually at around 5 to 6 in the morning, i found solitace in the chapel thus having the freedom to read my Bible aloud, even talk aloud to myself. okay fine, i admit, sometimes i sing also, enjoying the place's good acoustic, reliving the frustrated singer that i am. lucky me, the guards never checked me out or they might report to my company that they just hired a psycho.
one time, my batchmate albert chase who i fondly called cheska, decided to tag along when he learned about my morning roundabout. after a time of saying our individual prayers, we decided to stay longer. we talked about a lot of things- how he learned that he is gay, how his being a product of a broken family contributed to it, the acceptance and the lack of it from the people around him, the assurance that God loves him just the same and how he viewed himself to be living alone when he's already old and gray.
when it was my turn to do my "dear ate charo" ( the maalalala mo kaya song playing in the background would complete the scene), i told him some secrets only few of my closest friends know, which of course, i will not put here. at a particular one which had been bothering me a lot, he advised me to let loose, that there is nothing wrong if i would say it. he told me to be good to myself, that i do not deserve all the worrying i was going through. "alam mo les, the things you could not express are the things that control you". I could still remember his line. it just kept echoing in my head. the things you could not express are the things that control you... the things you could not express are the things that control you...and yes, that is exactly how i felt - controlled, jailed in my tiny cell, tied up to the ball and chain i've created.
on my way home that day, in between the jammed mrt crowd, i promised to give myself freedom. i wanna break free! (one would have to say this with both arms stretch out a la oblation). gone are the days when i would contain all the emotions within me. and yes, i have the right to make mistakes, to let the world know that i am hurting, to speak my thoughts, to fall in love like there is no tomorrow, to declare what i like and what i despise, to break silence if there is something wrong, and to let go of the strong facade i have been trying to build all these years. i don't wanna see that girl cry again because of the bursting emotions she could not contain but was not able to pronounce thus finding crying as the only outlet. if this overcome-the-things-that-control-you project is the anodyne to my rotting heart, why not? if people will think differently of me because of it, who cares? after all, that liberating tete a tete really made me feel better of myself.
and if you're going to ask me if chase still remembers that chat, forget it! not for him whose memory capacity is nowhere better than mine. we actually agreed that that early, we were already good candidates for alzheimer's.

i could go on babbling more of these "you change my life in a moment" type of confabs like how a friend said that she finds girls to be full of courage and maturity when she can admit to herself that she loved but was not loved back. or how one explained to me that love, indeed, is a choice. this, for the longest time, i have been trying to deny because of my clinging to my butterflies-in-the-stomach, too romatic notion of love. and a friend would always say that she will never forget the time i uttered "i would always enjoy the company of friends i dine out and have fun with. pero mas vinavalue ko pa din yung mga taong nakaramay ko sa pagkain ng sardinas." (of course, this is in the context that we can only spare 10 pesos at that time for our meal, and not stereotyping sardinas as a food for the "brokes"). and these type of talks continues to amaze me like the lines were written intently for the climactic scenes in the soap operas.

so what exactly is my point? well, i came to a realization that words, which we thought are just ordinary part of our daily existence, evident by the fact that some people could not even remember they said those, can actually change life. and so we should be careful in choosing the words that would come out of our lips. and just as i learned how these affected my life should make me conscious of the words i say. i sould be reminded that i always have a choice to say lines that could make an impact in a person's life positively rather than the opposite. and though i cannot say that i can now face life's challenges with aplomb, the lessons from these people would help me to face those yet to come in a somehow more mature manner ( i hope so...)

oh yes, one more thing, i learned that my being a forgetful leslie is somehow normal (again, i hope so...) ;-)

"..i'm sure they'll think again if they have a friend like ben.."

hala ben! sabi naman sa'yo wag ka masyado magbilad sa araw e. ang itim mo tuloy dun sa 1st pic. i like the 2nd pic coz it is sexy (hmm.. binata ka na o.. may muskels na..). the third pic is cool. and the 4th pic, la lang. it just reminds me of those days when you were still my officemate..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

sobrang miss na po kita.. i miss your jokes, your childlike acts, your voice and your deep insights about life...

salamat ben sa lahat.. thank you for being a constant reminder of how God tremendously blessed my life. for reminding me that there are really good people and friends in this world...

try to have fun on your birthday even if i'm not there ha?..hehe..happy birthday ulit. love you, ben =)

can't help but relate

After Surviving 130,000 Calls from the Traveling Public
by Jonathan Lee -- The Washington Post

I work in a central reservation office of an airline. After more than 130,000 conversations -- all ending with "Have a nice day and thanks for calling" -- I think it's fair to say that I'm a survivor.

I've made it through all the calls from adults who didn't know the difference between a.m. and p.m., from mothers of military recruits who didn't trust their little soldiers to get it right, from the woman who called to get advice on how to handle her teenage daughter, from the man who wanted to ride inside the kennel with his dog so he wouldn't have to pay for a seat, from the woman who wanted to know why she had to change clothes on our flight between Chicago and Washington (she was told she'd have to make a change between the two cities) and from the man who asked if I'd like to discuss the existential humanism that emanates from the soul of Habeeb.

In five years, I've received more than a boot camp education regarding the astonishing lack of awareness of our American citizenry. This lack of awareness encompasses every region of the country, economic status, ethnic background, and level of education. My battles have included everything from a man not knowing how to spell the name of the town he was from, to another not recognizing the name of "Iowa" as being a state, to another who thought he had to apply for a foreign passport to fly to West Virginia. They are the enemy and they are everywhere.

In the history of the world there has never been as much communication and new things to learn as today. Yet, after I asked a woman from New York what city she wanted to go to in Arizona, she asked, "Oh... is it a big place?"

I talked to a woman in Denver who had never heard of Cincinnati, a man in Minneapolis who didn't know there was more than one city in the South ("wherever the South is"), a woman in Nashville who asked, "Instead of paying for your ticket, can I just donate the money to the National Cancer Society?", and a man in Dallas who tried to pay for his ticket by sticking quarters in the pay phone he was calling from.

I knew a full invasion was on the way when, shortly after signing on, a man asked if we flew to exit 35 on the New Jersey Turnpike. Then a woman asked if we flew to area code 304. And I knew I had been shipped off to the front when I was asked, "When an airplane comes in, does that mean it's arriving or departing?"

I remembered the strict training we had received -- four weeks of regimented classes on airline codes, computer technology, and telephone behavior -- and it allowed for no means of retaliation. "Troops," we were told, "it's real hell out there and ya got no defense. You're going to hear things so silly you can't even make 'em up. You'll try to explain things to your friends that you don't even believe yourself, and just when you think you've heard it all, someone will ask if they can get a free round-trip ticket to Europe by reciting 'Mary Had a Little Lamb.'"

Well, Sarge was right. It wasn't long before I suffered a direct hit from a woman who wanted to fly to Hippopotamus, NY. After I assured her that there was no such city, she became irate and said it was a big city with a big airport. I asked if Hippopotamus was near Albany or Syracuse. It wasn't. Then I asked if it was near Buffalo. "Buffalo!" she said. "I knew it was a big animal!"

Then I crawled out of my bunker long enough to be confronted by a man who tried to catch our flight in Maconga. I told him I'd never heard of Maconga and we certainly didn't fly to it. But he insisted we did and to prove it he showed me his ticket: Macon, GA. I've done nothing during my conversational confrontations to indicate that I couldn't understand English. But after quoting the round-trip fare the passenger just asked for he'll always ask: "...Is that round trip?" After quoting the one-way fare the passenger just asked for he'll always, always ask: "...Is that one-way?" I never understood why they always question if what I just gave them is what they just asked for. Then I realized it was part of the hell Sarge told us about.

But I've survived to direct the lost, correct the wrong, comfort the wary, teach U.S. geography and give tutoring in the spelling and pronunciation of American cities. I have been told things like: "I can't go stand-by for your flight because I'm in a wheelchair." I've been asked such questions as: "I have a connecting flight to Knoxville. Does that mean the plane sticks to something?" And once a man wanted to go to Illinois. When I asked what city he wanted to go to in Illinois, he said, "Cleveland, Ohio."

After 130,000 little wars of varying degrees, I'm a wise old veteran of the communication conflict and can anticipate with accuracy what the next move by "them" will be. Seventy-five percent won't have anything to write on. Half will not have thought about when they're returning. A third won't know where they're going; 10 percent won't care where they're going. A few won't care if they get back. And James will be the first name of half the men who call.

But even if James doesn't care if he gets to the city he never heard of; even if he thinks he has to change clothes on our plane that may stick to something; even if he can't spell, pronounce, or remember what city he's returning to, he'll get there because I've worked very hard to make sure that he can. Then with a click in the phone, he'll become a part of my past and I'll be hoping the next caller at least knows what day it is.