shine

it was one of those rare ocassions that i get to enjoy the luxury of television when i saw the ad with this song as jingle. i suddenly was absorbed by the lyrics. can't help but rememeber that moment when God chose me and showed His glorious light. Sure enough i had a lot of dim moments after that, but everytime i was dumped into darkness, He would pick me up and would shine in His wondrous light, so bright that all my flaws are concealed and only His light will shine through.surely, i will never look or sing this song the same way again..


There I was alone in the shadow
Couldn't find my way
Then you came in
And brought along the sunshine
Now you're here to stay

(Chorus) You make me shine, shine
Like the stars in the heavens
Shine, shine
You keep me shinning through
Shine, shine
With the light that you give in, it's true
I'm shinning on, all because of you

So watch me go
A light shines within me
People ask me why
And I just smile & tell them you're the reason
I've cast the darkness aside

(Repeat Chorus)

(Coda) Like a ray of light
Coming through the night
bright as the stars in the sky
See how I shine
(Repeat Chorus 2x until fade

mailbox

it would be one of my almost ordinary days. there would be me , wearing my most comfortable shirt and jeans. one of my not so busy days. i would just be sitting on the front porch swing, slowly moving with the hanging seat, no room for rush. no, never on this day!
i would be drinking iced tea, reading a novel perhaps, which i would put down at the sound of that truck.
and there he would be in his good old harry that drove him through life's tiring journey. there he would be, my robert kincaid. as he''ll approach my mailbox, it will read "leslie tayao". just me. just my name. never a "richard johnson" or any other name who doesn't know how to drink brandy with me.
he would ask me for directions to that place he so long wanted to go to. and i would gladly show him the way. and we will go and travel.
we would drink brandy on balconies in Mombasa, or maybe watch dhows from Arabia run up their sails in the first wind of morning. he'll show me the lion country and an old French city on the Bay of Bengal where he'll bring me to that wonderful rooftop restaurant. but i would not ask for much. i'll be glad to just hand him his camera as he takes picture of the wonders of life. or maybe if he gets tired of the road, we'll just set up a shop somewhere or just whatever it takes to keep us going.
at the moment that he would ask me to go with him, i will go. because i have waited for this moment. made sure that i would not be tied with the realness of the responsibility of the county. because i believe in that same thing he believes in. that in a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once and never again, no matter how many lifetimes we will live. and after sometime, maybe, just maybe, we can ask a waller to write our story.

hey yo mamiyo!

what can i say? it's your birthday again... and just like the good'ol days, im giving some flowers and a cake and a gift. for the nth time, i wanted it to be something grand! something extravagant, something you deserve. but here i go again with the kiss and all my sweet nothings. when will i ever find the perfect gift? something that could tell just how much thankful i am for all the things you've done for me. material thing or whatever! but i can't come up with one. if i'll just know it, i'll work my ass out just to give that to you.
sometimes, i do not know if i had told you how much i love you. or much more if had shown that to you. if only you could read this, ma!
i just looked at you this morning. i could see the signs of the 48 years, the wrinkles could be due to the 21 of those years spent with me. i know i have never been a difficult child because you just know how to raise us well. but everytime i would think of all that we went through as a family, with dad and michelle, i could swear to the world that we will never have to go through those again. you will never have to go through that again, never in your life, ma!
i know sometimes, well, a lot of times, you are so possessive of me, always wanting me by your side. but i want you to know that eventhough i do whine at times, i want to feel needed by you. i want to be there for you to provide strength when you badly need one. strength that you yourself taught me. strength that came from you. i can always be your shock absorber when the world doesn't seem to go right for us. and i hate myself for the times i felt tired of doing these things for you.
sometimes i feel that your world just revolve around us. i know you have a life too before we came to your world. but you never had a second thought to just drop that life in exchange for us. i hope i could put into words just how thankful i am but i can't. after my salvation, you are God's greatest blessing to me. thank you for always being the understanding mom that you are, for listening to my concerns, for giving value to what is important for me and giving value to what i say, for covering up for me , for forgiving me a zillion times, for listening to my pains, my heartaches, for loving me with all your heart, unconditionally, for being my best friend, for crying with me, for rejoicing for all my triumphs, well, not that i have a lot, for being my strength. ma, i just want to tell you that i love you so much! more than i can say, more than i could show! thank you for your sweet big heart for me, I love you ssooooooooo much! i could disappoint the whole world but not you, ma. happy birthday ma! i love you...

seven wonders of the world

***this is so nice, no? =)

Careerwoman

n. babaeng nangangarir (as defined by will, insisting that he is one)




starbucks to me is more than just frappuccinos and belgian waffles. it is a place where i could say i had some of my best conversations. may it be with friends, roommates, batchmates, or officemates. may it be in katipunan, greenbelt or eastwood.

and as expected, starbucks never failed to serve its purpose during my last visit.

SETTING: Starbucks G4 balcony overlooking the Ayala center

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Mommy Shawie - the only soul among the group who is settled in marriage. who sees her husband only during weekends

Pria - Jasmine Trias look-alike, i mean, the prettier version of Jasmine, and who has a to-die for american accent

Maebe - the first-lady to the congressman.. ooopps,put it as the second lady to the congressman, and i'm not sure if the congressman knows about this

Aby - the pretty little girl and her big mouth with her never-ending stories about her college friends and a drama class she had.

Leslie - that's me! the ever-reliable and awesome, beauty and brains training assistant (what?!? this is my blog ryt?)

Will - a half-filipino, half- filipina, self-confessed goddess


during the last day of training, the whole of batch 18 decided to go out and unwind a bit after 2 weeks of pressure in HOT unit. i, being their "perpetual help" in HOT unit since they were left only under my care with no trainer, agreed that it is high time for me to go out as well. the past week was deadly - pressures from work, family responsibilities, disappointments, endless contemplations and a beauty pageant.

unfortunately, not all was able to go. and abe had to leave early as i literally forced him to render EH (extra hours of work)for that nyt. so we said our goodbyes to him while i digged into mommy shawie's plate for some sisig from Dencio's. (grabe, ang sarap ng sisig na ito!)

and then, starbucks got into the picture. i know i should be going home at that point as the next day will be a long trip to the province. but then, it's not everyday that you take a sip of your coffee with model-looking individuals ( hmmm.. will, your eyes!). and it's not everyday that you get to see robin padilla and rhoderick paulate.. hehe.. especially rhoderick!=)

and so the meaty conversations begun. evryone started to open up about their own life which i would say i enjoyed a lot, leaving me with another set of life's great lessons. for the past three weeks in training i tried to put up a very professional facade in front of them. but my attempts failed. as i started to discovered the beauty in each personality. and so i would say i went out not with my trainees but with a bunch of friends...