My One and Only REBECCA

If you’ve seen the totality of my flaws, vices, faults and failures, you’d want to trade me for a stray dog. I, myself, would want to trade me for a stray dog.

BUT NOT HER. I have hurt her a hundred times over. But she loves ALL of me. That’s why I never ran away from home. Coz even if I’d disguise myself as a stray dog, she’d never trade me for one. In my eyes, she will always be a hero. My Hero. SHE LOVES ME. Sometimes, I don’t even know why.

Thank you for not giving me away, Mommy. You know that no one will ever adopt me.
I LOVE YOU! Happy Mother’s Day!  

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal. Love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Nakasimangot ka na lang palagi
Parang ikaw lang ang nagmamay-ari
Ng lahat ng sama ng loob
Pagmumukha mo ay hindi maipinta
Nakalimutan mo na bang tumawa
Eh, sumasayad na ang nguso mo sa lupa

Kahit sino pa man ang may kagagawan
Ng iyong pagkabigo
Ay isipin na lang na ang buhay
Kung minsan ay nagbibiro

Nandirito kami, ang barkada mong tunay
Aawit sa iyo
Sa lungkot at ligaya, hirap at ginhawa
Kamiy kasama mo
O ikaw naman
 
Kung sa pag-ibig may pinagawayan
Kung salapi ay huwag nang pag-usapan
Tayoy di nagbibilangan
Kung ang problema moy magkatambakan
ang mga utang dio na mabayaran
Lahat ng bagay ay nadadaan sa usapan

It’s the song I will always remember him by.
I so miss you Kuya. Don’t let anything or anyone make me forget you.

The Question She Wished She’d Never Asked

I *heart* Sammie

Meet SAMANTHA, my cousin’s second born popcorn. She’s only 3 months old.

To the 2008 BAR Examinees

I’m wounded, perhaps burned by embolismic expectations from my family, friends and other relationships. Perhaps I am tired of trying to be the best. But when I realize I want to be a lawyer, it eliminates my frustrations.

-US Supreme Court Justice Malcolm

ACE THE BAR GUYS!!!

Special shoutout to

Engr. Darleen L. Bravo-Morella

my favorite sister who I miss so much. Make Daddy proud, Da! We love you!

The 7-day Rehab & Jaime

When my dad retired a few years ago, he decided to become a simple farmer. From poultry to hogs, goats to cattle, and now his recent favorite species: prawns, crabs and milkfish. Because of my almost-daily partying, my mom blackmailed me into seeing my dad for a week in Masbate where he’s happily growing his crustaceans and milkfish without any care about current events and the rest of the world.

The weeklong boredom spelled REHAB. No TV. No radio. No alcohol. Just the endless glory of nature (sarcasm ongoing). So to kill time, I busied myself with the following:

• Texting. Yes, I just love texting. Magnus, Leigh, Bella, Lalai, Dyan, Dada and Niyaku.

• Smoking. Each time one of the farmhands goes to town, I’d slip a piece of paper in their pocket with “MARLBORO pula” written and 35 pesos. Of course I had to sneak out to smoke like a freakin’ burglar lurking in the shadows that, one time, I slipped down the dike into the muddy mangrove. PLAKDA!

  

• Cooking. When you’re staying in a middle of a pond, everything you eat is fresh. I whipped prawn dishes in Sprite and ginger, steamed crabs with beer and grilled bangus like a pro. What I just hate about cooking there is the non-existence of a gas stove. You need to start fire with wood and if you’re not used to it, like me, starting fire takes longer than cooking.

• Coffee. Out of boredom, I consumed more coffee in my 7-day stay with my dad than I did in a week in law school. Coffee with crackers, coffee with chika, coffee with pan de sal, coffee with whatever there is you can put in your mouth.

• Puppies. I thought about throwing the puppies in the pond and see if they know how to swim. One day, out of boredom, I decided it’s time to throw them out there to see if they’d be attacked by the crabs. They weren’t attacked and they swam adorably that I decided to throw them back again when they reached the dike. It was a fun thing to do. Hahaha!

• The Sand Bar. It was Saturday morning when my dad woke me up really early and told me we were going to the beach. I didn’t want to crawl out of my sleeping bag at 6:30am and was so annoyed at him I almost threw a fit. At 7:30, everyone including the farmhands boarded bancas and headed to the beach.  It turned out that the beach is a freakin’ sand bar! My mood shifted from being annoyed to being amazed at the pristine clear waters and the kubo with stilts still submerged in the water caused by the high tide. I wanted to stay there forever. 

• Belinda. She’s 14 years old and the 6^th of Kuya Elmer’s ten children. Kuya Elmer has been with us for 20 years now helping out in the farm and my family trusts him. I grew fond of Belinda because she’s so helpful in the kitchen and she runs errands for me and brings me buko, even though I don’t eat buko. In the latter part of my stay, I found out she stopped school for the year to help her parents while all her siblings are in school. The philanthropist in me, which I inherited from my father, wanted to help out Kuya Elmer and his wife so I convinced my dad that we take her in and send her to school in Cebu.

• Sam. He’s Kuya Elmer’s youngest child. He’s 4 years old and he looks just like my nephew CK. He wants to come with me too that when we left, he had a backpack with him and he said, “Upod ako Ate Dabbie. Sulod na ako sa bag mo.” He’s so cute and I wanted to take him with me too but Ate Minda, his mother, won’t let me take him understandably. 

The 7-day rehab did not just make me miss alcohol and partying but it made me appreciate my dad more. Another entry for that one.