So . . . many . . . things . . . to . . . blog . . . about . . .  Must . . . blog . . .

So, okay. Hello. This is my first blog post in my spanking, brand new Web site (all thanks to my good friend, J, who bought my domain name, designed my Web site, and agreed to maintain and pay for it–ad infinitum. Joke! Hala, J, I plan to blog pa naman until I’m eighty). 

So many things make me happy these days (this birthday gift Web site for one) and I’m sorry, but I just have to write about them in the exercise of counting my blessings, and because I know days like these can be fleeting, precious, and wala lang, this is MY blog, after all, I can write whatever I want. 

Lola and I both grew a year older, respectively, in November. She is now 89. I am 33. It’s f*cking great to be alive. I mean, in the face of all the other crap going on in other parts of the globe (inflation, recession, terror attacks, deaths), Lola and I are very lucky to be well, in one piece, able to blow the candles on our cupcakes, and eat our pansit in peace. This is blessing no. 1.

I also have a few great friends who remembered to greet me on my birthday, send presents (like the Moleskine 2009 diaries I couldn’t permit myself to buy because I find leather-bound notebooks a bit excessive [as P said, "a waste of leather"], but painfully elegant and beautiful), and friends who wished me happiness and health. We can only be so lucky to have people who care to celebrate our birthdays year after year and really it is so accurate when they say that friends are the family we choose for ourselves. Blessing no. 2 is having decent, loving friends.

P and I finished our Christmas shopping early this year and a few days ago I have put the finishing touches to the gifts that would be sent out in the next couple of weeks to family and friends. Most of our nice purchases are for kids (P and my inaanak or pamangkin) and though one may be tempted to cut back on the gift giving or to choose inferior items just for the sake of keeping within the more stringent 2008 budget, P and I didn’t have the hearts to do it. Christmas is for children and gift giving, like love, should never be practical. So blessing no. 3 is having the means to buy loved ones simple, but thoughtful presents that convey our affection. We’ll just save on other things next time.

P and I also allowed ourselves to be generous with each other. Before, it used to be family first, us second in the holiday gift-giving department, but then we just realized that some of our family members are f*cking assholes and why should we deprive ourselves in favor of assholes (butt holes who also happen to be withholding of affection, have an inordinate amount of self-entitlement, or give crappy, thoughtless gifts)? So instead of sending a gift to Relative This or Relative That, who always fails to thank us anyway or even acknowledge our inquiry as to whether our gift reached his or her ungracious, sorry ass, P and I bought new shirts for our backs, pantaloons to cover our nether regions, rubber shoes each to replace our ratty ones, and a Wii game console. Blessing no. 4 is the ability to let go of bad relationships and love ourselves better.

I also wish to acknowledge the people who are neither related to me by blood or affinity–actually, they are strangers–who have made my days the past weeks by being nice, generous, or openhearted:

-Shoe Store Attendant at Planet Sports who told me that he also assisted me before and reminded me that I sent a commendation letter to his boss mentioning the pleasant experience I had at the store. He said, “Thank you, ma’am, malaking bagay din na makilala kami ng mga tao sa main office.”

See, I have a habit of writing commendation letters (sometimes I also send small gifts), maybe more so than writing complain letters (which I also write from time to time as merited by the “situation”). In fact, I have a notebook I always carry in my bag, the pages of which I like to write thank-you notes on and tear for the recipient to find, together with my tip. This always gets eyeball rolls from P because he’s just difficult like that.  I rarely get a note back from these people (he-he), but some do text or e-mail, or as in the case at Planet Sports, thank me personally. It’s a great feeling to know that one has done what one can to help others in small ways, but it is an even greater feeling to know that the effort has been appreciated. More than the need to be loved, I think humans yearn more to be appreciated. Blessing no. 5 are people who know how to appreciate the big and little things you do for them. 

-Nice, petite lady at the free advanced screening of Twilight in Glorietta 4, who in the first quarter of the film approached me (I was standing, while waiting for P, because the movie house was already packed when I got there) and offered the two empty seats next to hers because, she said, “Di na yata babalik yung naka upo.” I mean, for her to go out of her way like that shows that she is a caring and nice person–truly a blessing to others.

I also loved how the cinemagoers, young and old, were so into the whole Twilight saga. I was so amused to hear an entire cinema “ooh,” whistle, sigh, or collectively grow silent during the romantic parts in the movie. I have not read the books then, but the people’s enthusiasm encouraged me to get Books 2 to 4 after the screening. Blessing no. 6 are people with generous hearts and people with hearts for the fantastic and romantic.

I have finished reading New Moon and have started on Eclipse. Many people have bashed the author of the Twilight series for writing what they call as “drivels,” as in, “how dare they compare her popularity to Rowling’s” type of whining, but really, the books are not that bad, they have their moments–a bit predictable, yes, but good for a night of easy reading. Not as cringe-worthy naman as Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, which I also bought out of curiosity, started reading, but sadly had to put down and close . . . forever. 

Some movies that are adapted from great books we hate because we think they do not do justice to the original text, but some books are actually better as movies and are often eclipsed by the movies they spawn. Twilight (even the Da Vinci Code) is such a book, I think.  

-One of the neighbors in my building’s floor, who saw me cooking adobo and sinigang through the kitchen window, and smiled. Blessing no. 7 are neighbors who can actually smile through smelly cooking not of their own making. 

It was truly a happy birthday for me this year and I’m looking forward to having a happy Christmas as well! 

Thank you, J, for this site!