Pure Innocence

... Indeed! My niece, Cehz, was putting her little girl to sleep when her baby asked a question. This is her story -
One night, I was so sleepy... I was putting my 4 year old daughter to sleep,when she asked me, "Mommy, kelan ako pwede magboyfriend? Sa Monday o next week pa?" Ay sus !!! Nawala ang antok ko!!!!:)

I Can't Believe this, I Can't Believe This!!

I was looking for a carry-on bag to use for my trip to MNL tomorrow, (I mean later tonight, past midnight now), and guess what, I found my missing jewelry my mother gave me a long time ago - inside the carry-on bag I used last year on my trip to MNL!! Unbelievable! Exactly one year from my last trip! I can't believe it! And I thought I had thrashed it accidentally!

A year ago, when I first realized I was missing it, it didn't bother me at all as I hadn't finished unpacking yet so I knew it was just there. But the following day when I started to seriously look for it, that was when fear overcame me, "I must have thrown the box in the recycle bin about 2 weeks ago!"

I had a Nordstrom box similar to my jewelry box which I threw in the recycling bin. Actually, I had put my jewelry packet in a small Nordstrom box. And I had another small Nordstrom box which was empty which I trashed away. Suddenly, I felt goose bumps all over me - I threw away the box containing the jewelry by mistake. 

That's it!! I lost it!!

That was it! I knew it was gone forever... Guilty, sad, sentimental, I felt horrible! If the jewelry were mine, I couldn't care less. I could replace it anytime, if I wanted to. But it was my Mother's! And having just come back from Manila to visit her, then to lose her jewelry - that's irreplaceable, unforgivable!!

I couldn't believe I did what I did, as I'm the most careful human being on this planet earth! I'm so aware and focused... and I lost my mother's jewelry?? I tried to trace back the steps I did with it - literally intellectually analyzing and rationalizing!! I thought that if I had thrown the empty box before I kept my jewelry away, then when the time came to keep my jewelry, I would have discovered I was missing it. On the other hand, if I had thrown the empty box after I had kept my jewelry away, then, simply, I had kept my jewelry away. Period.

So where was it?? I remember having put it somewhere temporarily until I was ready to put it in a new jewelry box my Mother gave me, but where was it?!... Or did I plainly irresponsibly, mistakenly throw it after all?

As months went by, somehow, a part of me started to feel that the jewelry was still here somewhere! All of a sudden, I had hope. Then one day, Norman was looking for something and he found it where he least expected. It felt "ominous", not bad, but rather, a good sign! Suddenly, I felt I was "closing in" to my jewelry! And innocently, I was thinking how nice it would be if I could find my jewelry again just before my next trip to MNL.

Fast forward to tonight... 

YUP, I FOUND MY JEWELRY!! I FOUND IT!! - on the eve of my trip to MNL one year later!! I can't believe it!

LORD ALMIGHTY!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

Rewind -

Saturday, 13th, the city is busy with big events everywhere - music fest at the park, street fairs and more! I'm going to work and buses are packed, at least 2 buses just passed by, and now, they're arriving later and later! @#$%^&*! I see a lot of young lovely girls at the bus stop - teenagers, in their early 20s! Obviously, they're going to the music fest as it's a techno, hip-hop rock music festival. As aggravating as it is waiting for the bus, I enjoy watching these young ladies - their looks, their style, their behaviors. There's one girl who is calling MUNI right now and I expect her to scream at the operator for late buses, etc. You know how teenagers, sometimes, can burst in anger! But wait, she asks, "What time is the next bus coming?" casually, I can't believe it! She's cool, really cool!

Then there are these 2 groups of young ladies, one more quietly waiting for the bus than the other, but they're all having fun, whatever they're talking about, perhaps, boys - what can be more fun! The livelier group is entertaining themselves by taking pictures of each other and all of them with their iPhones. Then all of a sudden they decide to hitchhike! They give the thumbs sign to passing cars but no one is taking them 'cause there's 3 of them, too many. They walk away and take a cab instead.

The bus finally comes, still packed, but at least it stops. After standing inside for a while, I finally get a seat. Now I hear another group of teenagers talking not just about boys, but sex and more sex, and loud and matter-of-factly, at that! And as juicy as they think their stories may seem to be, what peer pressure these girls must have that they have to boast of their sexual prowess and compare notes - in public places, too!! Unbelievable!

STOP REQUESTED - bus says! It's their stop.

WHEW!... Boy, did I learn a lot about girls today - good girls, and bad! Boy, oh, boy!

Moving on... life goes on. Indeed, it does... for all of us, the good, bad and all the rest.

Forward -

Today, Saturday, 20th, hubby's birthday!

... shh, he's asleep... Goodnight, my dears, it's past midnight... Sweet dreams.

Post Script

In hindsight, when my husband saw me before the show, he said, "You look elegant and composed!" - something about the word resonated well with me.

Having left the house in disarray, and looking at myself not dressed to a T, with no time to go back and change, I decided there and then to let go - Duh!! Seriously, I thought, "This is the best I can be - right now. So be it."

Simply put, I accepted ME! Calmness took over and I was poised... I was ready.

The moral of the story - "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..." -might as well!

... A HAPPY ENDING!

GOSH!@#$%^&*!

Hey, guys, did you ever experience going to an important event and not know what to wear? (I'm sure you have. We all have.)

Gosh, after all that shopping?! With all the clothes I bought, bright multi-colors, and I could not decide what to wear for a pilot TV talk show?! I tried all of them, mixed them, matched them, nothing worked, and everything just piled up on my bed! DAMN!! Time was running out, I was gonna be late, and what could be more unprofessional than that?!

I ended up with a black and grey outfit, what could be more blah?! Minimum jewelry, minimum make-up, what else could go wrong! And as soon as I left the house, I discovered I brought the wrong shoes!@#$%^&*! Murphy's law!! (Thank goodness, they were black!)

------------------------------------------

Well, guess what, I came early! Now that's a professional! Then, when the TV host arrived, she saw me and, surprised, she yelled,"Wow, we're wearing the same colors!"

We matched! Our colors matched! We looked good together, perfect for the show.

... to cut the story short, the interview went well. - "All is well that ends well."

THE END.

Beatification of Pope John Paul II

http://www.ewtn.com/JohnPaul2/beatification/coverage.asp

The Royal Wedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=schQZY3QjCw&feature=share

Lil' Stories

Last night at work, while waiting for papers to print out, I was reading the message on the printer, but instead of 'processing job', I read, 'processing joy'. I like that! Processing joy instead of job. In reality, in truth, it's processing job into joy - love it!

Amazing how miracles happen, in the most ordinary ways, in the littlest things, in our everyday living! Marvelous how God talks to us, in the most unexpected ways, in our mundane world!

How great Thou art, Lord! Thank you.

A Short Story

I was coming home after an afternoon walk when a dog came out from nowhere and, wow, what a beautiful dog, what poise! If the dog were a human being, and a woman, I'd call her a classy lady! And if it were a man, he'd be sexy! The dog had such grace, taking its time as it walked out of the gate or front yard, (I didn't even see where it was coming from), then pausing elegantly while waiting for its owner who followed shortly after. Or did that take a while? Watching the dog seemed like forever. With its stance there, time just stood still. Really, I've never seen a dog with such beauty and class, even looking better than its owner, seriously. I don't mean to criticize but, honestly, it was a gorgeous dog, American Eskimo, I learned. 

I've seen many American Eskimos, but this dog is different, simply special, - poised, elegant!


Wow!

News of the Day

A Round Up of the Day's Events -

• Heat Warning in the East Coast with 3-digit Temperatures and High Humidity
  
• Thunderstorm in Washington
  
• San Francisco is Colder than Alaska Today?!
  
• Gulf Oil Spill Far from Over, Way Far from What Government is Saying
  
• Unemployment Still High - 

In Russell, Georgia, a church opened its doors for networking for the unemployed and has helped many people who have lost their jobs and find it hard to find work, who've lost hope or losing it. It's like a spiritual networking, people say, where they are realizing they're not alone. And volunteers come to help and without even having to say, "I'm here", their presence are felt and appreciated. It's like "loving your neighbor." 

"It's genuine love. It's loving somebody you don't know."

And you see quite a few on their knees in prayer for strength, hope and thanks. 

Inspiring story!

Lil' Stories

The other day, I was teasing Na, our lab assistant, about something she said, and Janet, the assistant lab manager, also teased me, "Socorro, you're a trouble maker."

I answered, "It takes one to know one," and everybody laughed.

A few minutes later, Janet retorted, "All right, Socorro, here's one for you. How will you answer this, 'Socorro, you're very sweet.'"

"Thank you."

Lil' Stories

The other day, while waiting for the bus going downtown, I saw a couple, maybe in their 70s, also waiting for the bus going the opposite direction. They were holding hands while sitting close to each other. And what a wonderful thing to see - people at their age still in love or loving each other! You know from their looks that they didn't just meet nor were newly excited about each other. You know from their body language that they've been together for a long long time, yet they still looked at each other with love and respect. Neither one was taken for granted, each one simply appreciating the other. They didn't talk much. They just loved each other! That's all they needed. It was enough.

BEAUTIFUL!

Life And the City

Have you ever seen a big dog bark at a small dog? Yesterday in our neighborhood, a big one did just that - to a poodle! It's usually small dogs that bark at big dogs, and the big ones ignore them, but this was the exact opposite. The tiny poodle calmly went behind its owner, seemingly not entertained, with an expression like, "Oy, vey, let's go," - dog must be Jewish!

Someone asked the big dog's owner, "What kind of a dog is that?"

"A pain in the ass!"

Everyday people, everyday living... FUNNY! Though not quite for these 2 dogs! Norman said, "Maybe the big dog thought the small one was cute and playful so he barked at him hoping to play with him."

Not for the small one.

At night, there was a documentary on National Geographics about an unlikely yet beautiful bonding of different animals like a dog and an orangutan, a lion and a deer, a cat and a bird, and an elephant with a dog. And the famous lion, Christian, reunited with his former owners who took care of him since he was a cub until fully grown, then set free in the wilderness. What a touching reunion!

You know about that - 2 young English guys in 1970's bought a cub crumped up at the famous Harrod's in London and raised him until he was grown and big, then set him free in the wilderness in Africa. About a year later, they decided to visit him. But story has it that the lion and his pride had left their home territory about 9 months ago, so the chances of the lion coming back were slim, according to the mountain guide. Undaunted, the 2 friends stayed on for a few more days. Suddenly, a lion appeared from a distance. They saw him, recognized him, called his name and slowly, Christian walked towards them, probably, wondering at first who they were, where he had known them from, (I wonder what was going on in his mind then), and, man, as he was nearing them, he ran to them and just jumped up and hugged them!! He remembered them! How could he forget?! Somehow, the lion must have sensed intuitively that he had to go back to his old territory after 9 months, not knowing why. Must be some cosmic connection between him and his old owners. What a beautiful story, so touching! (You should see that video. I'll look for it and share it here.)

MARVELOUS!!

P.S. 
Found it -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc