Just Passing By

Indelible

In one of my earlier blog posts, I wrote about Footprints and my aha moment about the kind of mark I would like to leave in every one of the people I meet here in the US. This morning, as I settled into a comfortable freeway speed on my way to work, I realized there is a flip side to that. It dawned on me that there are several people who've left marks and even scars on my heart. In fleeting moments of recollection, I hear their voices, feel their hugs, remember their faces.

There's my old college roommate. She's an atheist. I remember how shocked I was the first time she declared this to the rest of our roommates. I was staying in Sampaguita Dormitory in UP Diliman and shared a room with three other girls. Coming from a Catholic school from elementary to high school, imagine my surprise when she said she didn't believe there was a God or that people have souls, or that there was an afterlife. This life we have now, this is it. I remember feeling very sorry for her when she received a call from the province that her father was very ill. She cried as she packed but couldn't draw strength and comfort from the Lord. There were also nights when she'll wake me up and tell me that someone or something was whispering in her ear. Boy did I hate those nights when I'd have goosebumps all night from fear. She was my first atheist up close. I would encounter several more after her but no one had the most impact to me than she did. She was my perfect example of how desolate it can be when you don't have God on your side.

Then there's Prof. Mallari, my Communications1 professor, who thought I was making a huge mistake for shifting from Economics to Tourism in college. She thought I had the gift for writing and told me I was throwing that away by pursuing my childish dream of being a flight stewardess and traveling abroad. When I said goodbye to her on my last day in UP San Fernando, she wagged a finger at me and shook her head in disappointment. I knew in my heart she marked me as a failure.

I still can't say whether she's right. I never made it as a stewardess. Cathay Pacific turned me down on my first interview. I managed to work in the tourism industry for a little over a year before I got married. But what kept me going was my image of her that last day. I cannot let her be right. One of the motivations I have for trying to succeed in my career is to prove her wrong. The irony is, I'm exactly where she said I should be. I now write and I edit for a living, with my American co-workers looking up to me to tell them how to write in English properly.

To be continued...

Tuned

I started a subscription of O magazine, not because I'm a huge fan of Oprah [I find Ellen Degeneres' show funnier and more interesting] but because I think O magazine offers so many really good articles that inspire, teach and motivate. It also limits its ads to a tolerable number that you actually take the time to look at them unlike other magazines I mistakenly subscribed to where I feel all I bought were the ad pages.

Anyway, there was one very short section on office etiquette where 3 panelists argue about whether it's  appropriate to put on your iPod while working. It hit close to home because I'm guilty of doing it. One panelist argue that it's absolutely rude that you need to tap a co-worker to get his attention just because he's tuned out everyone. Another panelist said that it's unfair that a worker gets paid by listening to his iPod all day.

True, my officemates have to wave [or do a goofy face] behind my back, hoping I'd see them on the little mirror I glued to the side of my computer monitor. Sometimes, they have to knock on the metal railing on my wall to get my attention. It annoys them sometimes but I couldn't care less. I'd rather be listening to my iPod than be tortured by the constant chatter of the products team on the other side of my cubicle  when they do product demos for prospects on the phone. Or to the director who thinks that just because she's in an office, she can talk to clients on the speaker phone. With my editing job, it takes an enormous amount of discipline to focus on the copy while there is constant extraneous noise around me. Having my headphones on beats listening to my cube neighbor who constantly sighs and talks to herself all day, in stage whispers no less!

They can preach all they want about how it's counterproductive to allow iPods in the workplace - but I'll stand my ground. As long as I can get my job done and still keep my sanity at the end of the day - David Pomeranz, Stephen Bishop and Enrique Iglesias will be keeping me company all day.

EverAfter

Call me retarded but I really have to say this: I loved Enchanted, you know, that movie where a disarmingly naïve princess from a make believe world called Andalasia gets thrown in a well and finds herself in New York where there's no happily ever after. It's a no-brainer, feel-good movie. Just the perfect flick to see on Christmas eve when you're a Pinay feeling the Christmas blues in the US where Pasko is not uso. Watching that movie with my kids for free, thanks to a gift card I received from the office, made it all the more enjoyable. It's been weeks now since I saw the movie and good ol' Kaye's mind goes to overdrive again and rips the film apart.

Nope, not to be a movie critic who will discuss the merits of the animation, the musical score or how Patrick Dempsey, as the modern knight in shining armor, made my heart a-flutter. It's more about the movie's premise of chasing ever afters.

What is a happy ending really? When does the ever after start? Is the wedding day THE happily ever after? When you've been fortunate enough to marry the love of your life, spend a good life together, then lose him to Alzheimer's, cancer or old age, does that still count as a happy ending?

Questions. I have no answers.