Kimpit (clothespin)

Reading about the current economic crisis the world is experiencing and hearing about it on a daily basis from my boss brought me back to a little more than a decade ago when my family felt a fraction of what the world is experiencing now....Well, not really my whole family,at least my brother.

He was admitted to a local hospital at that time and was under observation for pneumonia...While lying there on the hospital bed, he complained that he's having a terrible stomachache. The doctor immediately ordered an x-ray to be done. When the results came, the doctor was a little alarmed. He said there's something in my brother's stomach that he couldn't identify. He wants to have another x-ray just to be sure in case that foreign object is still present, then he might have to operate. During this declaration from the doctor, my brother was squirmimg uncomfortably. Unknown to my parents and the doctor, he was silently debating with himself. To tell or not to tell. He's almost sure what the foreign object was.

Finally, the fear of being cut open for nothing won over the unbearable shame he was sure would be his once he admits what he suspects the foreign object was. My brother mustered all his courage and begged the doctor not ot cut him open. The doctor assured him that it would be for his own good...He was dumbfounded when my brother pulled out a long object from his underpants and handed it to him. It was a handmade bamboo clothespin. My brother, whose underpants (the ones with good elastic) are with the laundry woman had no choice but to use his old ones. The shortage of underpants drove him to make use of what was at hand. He used the handy bamboo clothespin to fasten his loose underpants. Since I wasn't really there, I can't tell more of what happened after that revelation.

What I can tell you is that my brother sure learned his lesson. One, is to save a panty for a rainy day. Two, honesty is stilll the best policy.

The Pretty Side of Ugly

In posting pictures, most of us choose the ones where we look our best. I wonder why? I beg to differ. So here goes my "unBEST" with my brother who is equally as uncaring as to how he would look..In case you're wondering, I got his permission to post this. Hope you enjoy it.

BOOKS and WORMS

Growing up in a family with conservative ideas and relatively strict parental guidance, I never really got acquainted with the TV until my late teens. In a family where swearing is a taboo, TV is off limits, going out of the house is a nono, afternoon siesta is a must, touching the other person when saying sorry even if you don't want to is mandatory,...you get the picture. Almost everything that a child could enjoy was prohibited or if allowed, only for a limited time. I saw my mom as a killjoy when I was young..My six siblings and I found ways instead to amuse ourselves.

Adventures were endless. But that's another story. It was in this kind of environment in my first decade on earth that I fell in love-with books. I spent hours alone in the old library of our school which nobody visits. No cards were required, no maximum books..in short I had accesss to any book I wanted in that old library. It became my sanctuary. Books ranged from biographies of people like Louisa May Alcott, Pocahontas, Jane Adams to other hard bound books..It didn't matter to me that those books were too heavy and were printed in small font and that the English is a little different. I thought every ten year old reads like I did back then. i was surprised when my classmates called me a liar when I casually told them I read this and that. My adviser even told me that it's not good to tell a lie. BUT I wasn't.

I found my ally at home when my oldest brother announced that his school awarded him with cash for borrowing the most number of books in the entire university. I was not the only bookworm. If I am a booklover my brother is even more so. His school has the biggest library (Henry Luce Library @ Silliman). It made me feel a lot better. At school I sometimes have to pretend I enjoy books for 10-year-olds which I felt have too few pages to be enjoyable. I secretly visit the old library but when my best friend starts looking for me I hurriedly mark the page and play with her. Going to school gave me something to look forward to..finishing another book.

Of hopes and Daydreams

I went home dizzy with the conflicting emotions your silence has caused. I walked on the familiar trail of my emotional rollercoaster. The all too familiar sense of false security and euphoria. I rode on until the next drop. I'm not sure if all the excitement is worth the nausea I experience in the aftermath of its fleeting glory. I think I'll pass the next round. I have long been bound to this cycle of ups and downs that after years of lingering I still find myself on the same spot I was on ten years ago. But the time for me to finally go has come. I refuse to look back and and hold on to this daydream. I am letting you go along without regrets. I won't take a second look at you and risk getting into the trap once again. I've had more than enough share of broken dreams. That's why I'm leaving them all behind.
I told You I will still love You no matter what the outcome of this journey might be. I've let go of my dreams and chose instead to look up to You in faith. Just hold me in Your hands and I'll be fine. I place my hope of a final ride with You. You test if my word was final.. Im sorry if I hurt You by glancing once in a while at the debris my daydreams left behind. I won't wallow in my loss but instead I'll stand up and look only to You.

The end of my trip is fast approaching. Help me use the time I have left for the greatest purpose.

I love You

falling

weary from a seemingly endless quest for nothing, I sat down to breathe. But there was nothing to sit on and I fell..Down to the murky shadows of my thoughts. I struggled to rise from its depths. i stretched forth my arms to hold on to anything. But there was nothing. I closed my eyes and waited for the end but it didn't come. I opened my eyes, and saw you. you held out your hand but I was too proud to take it. you smiled and held me tight. your warmth melted the cold. and once again, I fell.