Giving Back

I don’t have a pure, holy soul. I have my fair share of slipups. During those moments, my guardian angel flew as far as s/he could go while praying for my salvation. Okay, let’s leave my unholiness at that.

My boyfriend was the first person to point out that I’m always sympathetic towards the homeless, especially if they’re elderly. I can’t help it, I can’t help cursing their families for leaving them, for allowing them to beg for money or sleep on the streets, and for allowing them to feel the pain that nobody deserves to feel.

I do whatever I can to help the needy in my own (probably inadequate) ways. Once, I offered help to an old woman who I thought was only having a hard time crossing an underpass. As it turned out, she was extremely hungry from walking around the city begging for alms. I wrote about meeting her. Like any good Catholic, I prayed & will continue to pray for her safety.

Also, I used to force my boyfriend to pass out a coin to a street person who knocks on his car window. Nowadays, he does this automatically. Maybe, I think, he already feels the same way about elderly street people.

What about the young ones, you might ask. Yes, children who are born victims of poverty grip my heart too. Not as much as old people, only because I believe we should all be given a chance to just enjoy life as we border on old age and not suffer our way to our deathbeds. That, though, doesn’t lessen my willingness to help those kids.

One Good Deed: One for Daraitan

A month ago, my friends from my previous company invited me and The Boyfriend to join a volunteer activity for the kids of Daraitan, Rizal. Unfortunately, that was the date of our departure to Nueva Ecija. Although we weren’t able to go, we handed them school supply kits to be given to the kids. I also asked the help of my TR colleagues, and they were kind enough to take a moment of their time to buy school supplies for people who wouldn’t even be able to personally thank them. To everyone behind this project, I salute you.

 

Legal Editorial Operation's Project 20

It was also recently that I signed up to be a Project 20 donor. The reason why it is called as such is because upon signing up for it, you are to pledge twenty (20) pesos every payday until December. All proceeds will then go to an organization that provides temporary shelter for kids. I personally think this is one genius project.

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This post is not meant to show you that I’m a great person with a kind heart. This serves as a reminder, as my reminder, that I could do good things if I willed myself to do it.

So do I feel better about myself because of these? I think I do.

Bitches and Bananas

Take five girls with no bridal shower planning experience, ask them to whip one up in less than a month, and I bet they’d go bananas.

That’s what happened to us.

Planning. A month ago, we started planning for Mitch’s bridal shower. The biggest dilemma was the date. Initially, we wanted it to happen overnight, but because of work and vacation plans, we had to settle on June 20, a declared non-working holiday (Thank you PNoy). With the date set, we planned out the location, we had backup plans, we knew where to buy the cake, we knew who to contact, and that was that. A week before the event, we started rushing things up. Cha and Yayi were in charge of getting in touch with Mitch’s family and husband-to-be. With the wedding less than a month away before the scheduled BS (bridal shower), we had to make sure the busy bride-to-be wouldn’t make other plans. Thankfully, we got the assurance that Mitch would be there and we got permission to borrow Ate Anj’s condo unit.

Pre-BS blues. I woke up to an awfully uncomfortable June 20. The sky was dark and it was drizzling. I had no choice, though, but to just cross my fingers and hope the weather would be a little less gloomy. Lady Luck must’ve been with me since the rain poured only when I was in Makati. I met up with Yhow, we picked up the cake I ordered several days before, bought a gift, and made our way to McKinley Park Residences.

Aly and Yayi were already busy preparing the decor when we got there. Yhow and I had to rush out again to buy food and drinks, which took us one hour, no thanks to that bucket of Jollibee chicken (35 minutes for 6pcs of chicken? What do you call Jollibee again? Fast food chain, wasn’t it?). We were back just in time to help pump air into some balloons, put up the decor, and prepare the food.

Aly and me, doing the “balloon pump” (LOL)

The transformation begins

All the while, Apple (husband-to-be) was giving us details RE Mitch’s outfit (we wanted her to wear a dress Ü) and timetable. To our horror, he wasn’t able to delay the bride-to-be, so we were on our toes fixing whatever we could. A few minutes later, we got a call from the reception area saying that Mitch is on her way up. We were quietly scrambling (if that’s even possible) by the time Mitch rang the doorbell.

Surprise! I’ve always been amazed by the sight of someone being surprised, and the wide-eyed Mitch did not disappoint. Har. One moment, we were shouting “Surprise,” next we were hugging and laughing and showing her around.

Mitch

What came next were games, food, picture-taking, more picture-taking, laughter, inside jokes, green jokes and comments, lots of only-during-a-bridal-shower jokes and comments, picture-taking, and well, I’ll let the pictures tell you.

Thank You’s

When someone says ‘thank you for the friendship,’ my insides go all jell-o and I let out an inaudible sigh ‘cause I know I haven’t been that great of a friend. But I can be better. I just know I will be.

Ignore

Being in a relationship is like forming a puzzle.

Okay, you think I’ll write the rest of my entry based on that? C’mon. Seriously, that line sucks. Any saying or quote that starts with “Being (in love/in a relationship) is like…” has got to be from BooVille. I’ve been to the streets of BooVille, mind you. And I went out feeling so iffy.

Forgive me for suddenly posting such a stupid entry. I just feel really stupid and I wanna diss every thought I could ever form. Yes, including that line. As well as many other ideas I have in mind. What I feel has nothing to do with my relationship with anybody—friends, boyfriend, family. I just feel like I stepped on the bloodiest blah and I’m finally getting Life’s comeuppance. This is the worst kind of stress I’ve ever felt. Ugh.

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I Scream!

#1 (coffee almond ice cream) and #30 (a surprise)

My office friend, Yhow, decided to surprise me and Yayi with ice cream. BUT that wasn’t the only surprise that beautiful Firday afternoon. Yhow, Yayi, Charise, and Mitch also gave me a pair of—get this—eco-friendly Grendha slip-ons for my birthday. Cool, eh? ^^ Anyhow, yes I previously blogged about how I hate surprises, but once it’s there, what can I do? I don’t want to remember that moment, though. I must’ve said stupid things. Okay, I really don’t want to think about it.

*I’m the boss. I make my own challenges. I chase after my happy pills.