My Cup of Tea

Today is the last day of 2013, last night to be more specific! Oh, time really flew so fast. Right now, I am alone in the house. My sister went to Makati to spend New Year with some friends and since I am afraid of the explosion of firecrackers in the street I chose to stay here in Caloocan and officially, this is the first time in my life to welcome the New Year alone!! While waiting for the midnight to strike and witness the grand entrance of the year 2014 in my room (laugh!!), hearing all those awful blasting of dangerous elements everywhere and contemplating how to pull enough courage tomorrow to wind off fears of explosion on my way to the church (tomorrow is so significant, not only New Year, but a solemnity of the Virgin Mary, first Wednesday of the year! An important day of obligation for all Roman Catholics), I made another trip down-memory-lane to look back at the most important events of my life in 2013. I just feel this is a good way to end the year with great antici

It’s Christmas season! Christmas eve with Archel and Lea in Makati City How's everyone doing after the celebration? It's always nice to hear beautiful stories about holiday's fun and how others celebrated their Christmas with their loved ones. Always inspiring and a little bit... well, nostalgic.  It's a bit distressing when the whole world is swathed in excitement and family reunions are happening everywhere, yet you're alone in a strange place, feeling empty and just wrapping thoughts with warm memories.  I lived in the bustling metropolis away from my family so the celebration was not quite awesome. Excitement had gone totally.  With no particular way to go, I went to my former boardmate (back in Davao), Lea Maika Bulfango, in Makati City on the 23rd to spend Christmas.  On the 24th we agreed to visit Luneta Park and Intramuros, not that we wanted to forget the joy of preparing foods and other stuff for Christmas eve, but we just felt it was the

My ultimate crush is marrying! :-P Irresistible. Smart. Intelligent. Blindingly handsome with stunning soulful eyes. Who would not be smitten with Direk Lino Cayetano? Nakks! The gorgeous TV director will be “out of the market” soon. He is set to marry his girlfriend for just 3 months, former volleyball player of Ateneo Lady Eagles at UAAP, Fille Cainglet, 13 years his junior. The wedding details remained ultra secret, “ It might happen this Christmas or New Year” , according to his brother, Senator Allan Peter Cayetano. The wedding will be held outside Metro Manila anytime this month and very exclusive to direct family members only. Direk Lino Cayetano now the representative of the 2nd district of Taguig  in the House of Congress. He has been so secretive with the details of his wedding. Lino Edgardo Schramm Cayetano in real life, the former resident TV director of Kapamilya network is the youngest brother of Senators, Pia and Allan Peter Cayetano. He went to the US

Despite the brutality of the world and all those catastrophes that hammered many parts of the universe, I still believe God has never abandoned people, His love for humankind is eternal,  we only need to recognize the beautiful things we see in the environment to feel His presence.   I felt God's presence in so many ways, in the morning when I wake up and see the beautiful horizon, in the afternoon after work when I feel the soft tang of the air, in the evening when I drift to sleep and feel the stillness of the surrounding and when I go outside and come home very safe. It's amazing how I feel so at peace and calm despite the chaotic life in the Metropolis and that's grace which only God can provide. And with that, I am truly grateful. As the year 2013 prepares to bid goodbye, I want to reminisce all the heavenly gifts I'd received this year and how each blessing inspired me to carry on amidst occasional blues. I thoroughly found my balance in life.  You see, e

For several decades now, TIME, one of the world's most prestigious magazines, is annually honoring individuals from diverse cultural background, group or even idea and object, that has done the most to enormously influence the world in a year. It has some shares of controversies though. In 1982 the public, and even the whole world, expected STEVE JOBS of Apple to be named Person of the Year due to his revolutionary innovation on personal computing but the magazine named "COMPUTER" as the winner instead, and in 1936 when a commoner woman, Wallis Simpson, whom the British royal family extremely detested, won the accolade. Simpson, who was never fully accepted by the royal family during her lifetime and was never granted an official style of Her Royal Highness (eventhough she legally married the Duke of Windsor), stirred the mystical world of British monarchy and created an almost constitutional crisis when she formed a romantic relationship with King Edwar

Tied in compassion and wrapped in the warmth of sweet-scented memories, a poignant recollection of generosity sometimes is the best comfort to cling to this Christmas. Have you ever thought of remembering people in your circle at Christmastime whom you no longer see because of distance? How about the people who have been so generous to you down through all these years? Are you still relishing those heartwarming gestures? Well, I am... Despite my unsuccessful attempt to reconnect with the missing dot, so to speak, I am nevertheless very grateful that at one point in my life, there was a very generous person allowed by God to cross my path, who never failed to delight me comes the holiday season. Though what is left now is just an obscure puzzle of what ifs and buts , and none of those ifs could possibly turn into an extraordinary sparkle....still I am very thankful to be blessed with such kind of encounter. Since some people often associate Christmastime with the excitement a

It's 12 DAYS before Christmas ! Hmmm sounds like a Christmas song with the same title hehe! But unlike in the song, I won't be making a countdown for each day until the 25th with the list of gifts because there's nothing to count, no turtle doves nor a partridge in a pear tree none even a French hen  ^_____^ Honestly, I am not expecting any tangible gifts this Christmas season. No one in my distant memory to ever think that would possibly transform into a generous santa , I am not suspecting anyone either hehe! I am also too grown up to deceive myself that the hanging-of-stocking-phenomenon is all true. The belief once I fancied on Jackson 5's Christmas hit " Santa Claus is Coming to Town " is already a quick-fading memory. Speaking of gifts, there's at least one person in my circle back then who never failed to give me a present during the holiday season , but now there's no more reason for him to be generous with me, I'm no longer part of

Yesterday after work, I did another round of leisure walk along Taft Avenue because I was alone in the apartment and felt the silence in the house deafening, my colleagues were not yet home so I went out and did not know exactly where to go hehe! I felt tired going to Harrison Plaza or SM Manila so I just did some walking around the block. I walked back and forth at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, marveling at its splendid Christmas lights and observing students how they behaved, they were smoking heavily even the girls! But they looked so awesome anyway with their bling bling and expensive accessories hehe! I also began noticing the chic coffee shops and food chains around the area, I was not minding these establishments the past weeks because my thoughts flown elsewhere every time I passed here from LRT station, Starbucks Coffee, Seattle's Best Coffee, Coffee Bean Leaf, Kenny Rogers, Army Navy, Tropical Hut, Yellow Cab, Tokyo Tokyo, McDonalds, Mang Inasal, Jollibee