Her Road To Sunshine

Day 17: Best Friend

Wow. I’m making this post without even knowing what I might come up. Anyway, my best friend’s Potin and we have known each other since third year high school and since then my world got crazy.

It’s actually a scary territory, you know? Being labeled as someone’s someone. Our friendship is kind of elevated into something more extraordinary, like something better than the friendship that we used to have. I don’t know when it happened, but when her college friend told her that I am her best friend, well… It’s just then that we came to realize that we are truly best friends. 

Being someone’s best friend is not easy. You just don’t go and approach a person and tell them that you two need to be best friends. It’s a process that you can never get out of. Labeling someone directly as your insta-best friend defeats the purpose of having one because it’s not something that is forced, it is something that is felt.

It’s difficult for us (I think mostly for me), to be away from each other. To be just able to communicate through text messages, IMs, webcam and meeting each other from time to time, it’s deadly. It’s not like we are imposing each other to see each other always or whatever, it’s just that it’s really more comforting to be with your best friend in flesh, not just through exchange of words or calls. Being able to see them from time to time or even talk to them daily would be a wish come true for me, but no. Being away from each other and our crazy schedules hinder us from seeing and even talking to each other daily. I don’t know about her but to me, a day without talking to her is not a good day for me. 

But despite this all, I’m still really grateful to be best friends with her. She understands me like no other friend does, she knows the right things to say, she easily gets why I make a face toward something or someone, any move I make she knows what each mean, she’s knows how to make me laugh, she gives me the comfort with the sound that I dread the most— the sound of silence and most importantly, she keeps up with my craziness.

Thank you for being my best friend, Potin. I might not say this because you are not the type who’s chessy and wordy… But with all my heart, really. Thank you and I love you, you not-so-feely lady. I pray that we remain the same as years, decades or whatever calamity go by.

I’m proud of you and I will always be proud to be your best friend. You know why? Because it stands true to this day. 

Oh and look.. Day 17. Your birth date and favorite number, kind of fitting that this post is dedicated to you, eh? :)

Day 16: Beautiful

Disclaimer, I do not own this photo!

As you can see, the photo is already Instagram-ed. I just got it when I was asked to log-in again for Twitter and I… I fell in love with the photo.

New York City. Empire State Building. Two girls looking over.

It has always been my dream to set foot to New York on my own, without the comfort of my family. All my life I have been comfortable living with my family always next to me and I thirst for the feeling of being uncomfortable and dependent on myself alone. I’ve always had this fantasy of living there and making it and spending some time with my close friends there and get annual visits from my family in the future… This, to me, is what beautiful life is. Yes, call me crazy or this dream cliche but all my passions are there. It’s a perfect place to pursue your dreams and find the deeper meaning of life. Despite all the glitz and glamour, the crazy busy atmosphere, the cabs that are primarily flying because of the hectic feel of the city, I still need to be there.

New York City, you wait for me.

Day 15: Family

So this photo was taken when we were in Bohol last April, we were asked to stand next to this huge tarpaulin wherein the infamous Chocolate Hills is photographed. 

The guy who took the photo instructed us to do this kind of pose, I found it cheesy, but to me, this photo signifies more than what it looks like. 

Thank God for having them in my life. :)

Day 14: Flag

Disclaimer: I do not own this photo, obviously.

*cue song: Gaga’s Born This Way HAHAHAHA

I chose this photo wherein NYC illuminates the Empire State Building with rainbow colors to show their support for the LGBT community in lieu of the annual New York City’s Pride Week because I support the LGBT community even though I am not part of it!

Honestly, I do not get why others have to hate people. Stereotyping, labeling others… Hello, people! What you’re doing is too mainstream, we are all created in the image and likeness of God and whether your guy neighbor prefers to kiss guys over girls or your girl blockmate prefers to kiss the girl from the other college, heck, why don’t you just respect their preferences? Are you the one who’s in their situation? Fine, you get disgusted seeing the same-sex together, but in my opinion, I think it’s more disgusting if you hate someone who are obviously not hurting you in any way! They did not choose to be like that, they have feelings so at the end of the day, you have to respect them.

Mutual respect, that’s what we all need in this world. There is so much hate, it’s already excruciating. I just wish that someday everyone will get along and if not, just reciprocate the respect that one is giving the other. Respect begets respect. It’s that easy. It’s easier to sleep without hating on someone who in the first place is only doing the normal nature in this world, and that is to love. 

DAY 13: Your Mother

If you are probably my sister, my dad or myself… You’d get to know why I cannot live without my mom and why does she mean the whole damn universe to me. 

I don’t want to mean this post to be long because I know that some of my friends might have read my message for my mom already so here’s to all our amazing-and-no-words-can’t-describe-no-more-right-adjectives-to-justify-their-meanings-in-our-lives moms… Please please do value your mothers because they make everything, and I really mean everything, shine like diamonds and they make everything better, if not, the best. :)

I’m so happy that she is my mom. If there’s anything I could brag about without me feeling kind of ashamed about doing it, the only person that I could ever think of besides my dad is her, my beautiful mommy. 

DAY 12: Birds

This photo was taken at the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark last February with some of my high school friends. We went there after I celebrated my birthday which was exclusive for my friends. After capturing this photo of several kites that are stretched up the sky, I was reminded of the simplicity of the birds. Birds who can wander and fly to different places. 

I wanna be a bird(please turn of the green button inside your system). If only I am capable to fly anywhere, I would be more than happy. Driving or commuting can be dragging sometimes so I’m always lured by the thought of flying to places because with flying there always comes the sense of freedom that I think any person in this world wants to at least experience for a moment, if not a lifetime. 

I wanna be a bird.

DAY 11: Moonlight

Without the moon’s light, I won’t be able to capture this bokeh shot. I chose to post this because of the pop of colors that adds up to the dramatic features that the moonlight itself has. As a person who likes to be behind the scene, I decided that it’s only fitting to post this because I like to associate myself with the moon behind this photo. The thing about the moon is that it has the power to bring light into something that looks dull and still. I’ve always been fascinated with the moon, whether it be full, half or crescent-like. It gives me a comforting feeling that anywhere I may be, anywhere my parents or sister may be, anywhere my distant friends may be, we all will be looking at that same moon. And it’s always there, hiding from the dark clouds or not— you know it is always there.

Without it, no one will guide you home. 

DAY 10: Happiest Memory

Before saying anything else, I want to tell everyone that my parents just celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary on May 10, 2012! :) Isn’t that worth celebrating for?

Happiest memory? It doesn’t need to be anywhere fancy, overseas or the beach. I’m always happy when I’m with them, anytime and anyplace. In any world. I will always love them till my last breath. They are the best. Your argument is invalid, my dear.

My dad is awesome. My mom is awesome. Wow, I’ve such awesome parents. Need I say more? They are worth bragging.

DAY 9: Work

Meet Hiel and Leigh, my two beautiful nieces from my cousin who’s already 40 years old. Yes, I’ve an old blood since my mom did not marry at a young age and got difficulties with her pregnancies. Being the youngest in the family with only a sister, I sometimes long for a kid in the house and at the same time a brother figure. Whenever these two kids come to our visit, I make sure to seize the moment.

Babysitting these kids is always an easy task for me. Why? Because they think like grown-ups and whatever random things they tell me make sense. In all seriousness, their blurbs make my jaw literally drop most especially with the richness of their English vocabulary and their creativity. I’m one proud aunt. And I don’t want them to grow up just yet. :(

“Ate(because of the age gap though technically i’m their aunt), you’re like Kim Possible. You’re so smart and caring and you have a nice smile.”

Those words came out from a mouth of a 4-year-old girl. This made my heart melt because I watched and I’ve loved watching Kim Possible when I was a kid!

Oh boy, kids are like cupcakes. Only, squishy and cuddly. With no sticky icings. Nothing but that familiar sweet scent of a kid sweat. 

P.S. Please watch Leigh as she performs in the musical Jack And The Beanstalk at the RCBC Theater, Makati City. Which… I don’t know what date and time. Please pardon the stage aunt. 

Day 8: No socks

I like wearing heels, no matter how sky-high they can get. In this photo, I added up a fancy pair of socks with a romantic touch with all the flowery thing that’s going on. If you ask me if I don’t get a head-to-toe glare by a lot of people when I’m out wearing my heels or any outfit, I will not deny that I get those. I got used to it anyway, but sometimes it ticks me off when people clearly stare at you. Whenever that happens, the best thing to do is just ignore. :)

Because I’m such a rebel… No socks, what? Learn how to defy rules.  

DAY 7: Love

My family. I’ve been with them all my life and to be honest, I wouldn’t trade the world for them.

My mom is the best mom that I could ever have, I think she’s the smartest person that I know and she knows how to make me laugh in the most unexpected times. She has a heart of gold and is the most humble person that I know and that’s for sure. Do you ever need an advice? Whether it be personal or financial or medical or whatnot, I think she’s the right person to go to, not an authority, but she makes everything better. Everything that she touches has magic.

My dad claims that I am his favorite daughter. We’re only two and I think it’s kind of inappropriate to tell that to my sister’s face. But I really appreciate that coming from him. I don’t know what I’m doing as his daughter yet it seems to me that he enjoys the time he always spends with me. He works literally all over the world since he manages cruise ships so we don’t get to spend much time with him than the usual normal family setting. He provides us both the things we need and don’t need and he makes it a point to remind us of how lucky are we to have such kind of life. Thanks to communication, our bond as a family is always strong which is always centered to Christ and love. 

My sister. Well, we only have each other as sisters. Sure, we fight, argue about petty things but we do enjoy each other’s company. My sister is a friend to me and that’s what I like about our sisterhood. I do hope she reaches her dreams. 

I’m not saying these things because I’m obliged to or am born into, heck, you don’t have an idea how much blessed and lucky I am to be with these people. I know you guys are too, but I’m just proud of what kind of family I have. Not sure about what’s your forever? I’m lucky I have mine. This is my forever.

DAY 6: Nature

Odd? No. The challenge says it should be creative so being the foodie person that I am, I now present to you: Nature! In a plate! 

Ngahahaha. I blogged about this on my previous posts about this dish being everything organic and edible.

DAY 5: Something you can’t live without.

I’m back! Well, not that you guys are waiting for my daily posts or anything.. I’ve been busy for the past few days and I hadn’t had much time to blog about this challenge and stuff. So now that I’ve spare time, I’m giving it a go.

Planner and pen. My trustee BlackBerry. These two go hand in hand, for me. Without these things, I can’t get out of the house. I am not a text or a call crazy person, but I enjoy using BBM because I get to instant message, send photos and voice notes or whatever files to my friends and relatives for free! (Well now it sounds like i’m advertising.) I’m really tempted to be on the iPhone for good though, but knowing myself I think it’ll just be a waste and I really need my buttons or keypads. I can’t live without it because I tweet a whole awful lot and I always want to be updated and be on the loop.

As a writer(when do you really consider someone a writer, anyway?), I make it a point to always bring my pen and planner most especially if my train of thoughts are filling my brain and I’m afraid that I might forget them later so I’ve to put it into writing. I’m also the type of person who wants to remember the most littlest things that happened throughout the day so when I think of a blunt memory from the past, my planner will be there to help me. And of course, my pen that screams razzle dazzle! It was given to me by my high school friend Beth on my birthday because according to her, i’m the maarte writer so she thinks it’s only fitting for me to use this sparkly pen. Oh well. She knows me well. Har ha. :)

DAY 4: Lines

I have been eating rice for all my life and it’s been the staple food in the Philippines. I don’t know if there’s even a scientific explanation as to why in every kind of meal a viand must be accompanied with rice. Ever since I started hitting the gym for a couple of years back, I lessened my rice intake because my trainer said that it has a high-calorie count. I eat rice and I enjoy pairing it with any viand, but from the time I stopped religiously going to the gym because of my crappy schedule at school, I found myself bouncing back to my old weight again. Doomsday. 

I was really cautious and particular with what I eat when I was still working out, heck, I even keep a food journal with me. Now I don’t know what happened to my food intake. Anyway, to cut the story short, it’s been three weeks since I started doing the no-rice diet and the experience is just fairly good for me. I’m tempted to add rice to my meals sometimes, especially if my parents cook Indian/Thai food.. but I learned how to control myself. And I’m still learning to lessen my intake and the good news is, my food intake is surprisingly decreasing. :)

And what’s the connection with the photo above? Well, my sister’s trying to make this thing called pop-rice and I took a photo of it while I watch her frustrated face today in her second attempt to make some, but eventually failed to do so she made nutella pudding instead. I noticed how there are varying lines in the photo and then bam! I’m using it as my entry for day four. Ta-ta.

DAY 3: Hometown

I know this photo does not resemble the word hometown but this is a creative photo challenge so I’ll let my words do the explanation. 

I chose to capture a photo of what the outside of my room looks like because for me, this is home and it’s a town of my own. I’ve been staying and sleeping here for the past eighteen years and this is the place where I think of what I want in life, who I love and whatnot. There are only a few of my friends who I let inside my room because if you really do see what’s inside, I think you’ll know me more.

Somewhere in this weird-angled photo resides a girl who drowns herself with a lot of sunshine. Welcome to my hometown.

DAY 2: Favorite color

I really like yellow because for me it’s the color that radiates happiness, warmth and sunshine. I incidentally wore this huhu yellow top and yellow football shorts since I don’t really care what I wear inside the house. Yellow, for me, sends out a positive aura when you see it, it’s like— Boom! It’s a scene stealer. Others might despise the color, but not me. And nope, I’m not actually standing for a propaganda or a movement. I just happened to really like the color. ;)

And oh, as you can see there’s a hint of pink in the background because it happens to be my favorite color next to yellow. I hate how much I like pink so sometimes I tell my friends that I loathe it but in reality, a lot of my stuff are mostly pink. Hihi.

Everything you do they were all yellow. — One of the reasons why I love yellow, Coldplay wrote a song for it. Heh. Kidding. :p

So I think everyone’s familiar with Instagram and how others(including myself) are gaga over this crazy iPhone application, and there’s this photo challenge wherein you get to post specific photos a day for the whole month long. 

Challenge accepted. It’s called the Creative Photo Challenge.

I’m doing this challenge both here on my blog and Instagram, only will I post my raw and unedited/unfiltered(since it kind of defeats the purpose of photo blogging) photos here with a couple of words, too. 

DAY 1: Self-portrait. 

I do not really consider myself an artist so I’m just posting a raw photo of me. Like I said before, I don’t like being in front of the camera or taking pictures of myself except if there’s a beautiful view. In this photo, you will see how much ugly I am haha and this is what I always look like when I’m just staying inside the house doing nothing but reading/eating/laying around. My eyebags are pretty eminent having to pull an all-nighter every night I watch movies/series or read books and poetry. I dig loose shirts all the way because of the scorching heat. I’m actually wearing the shirt I got from Valencia, Spain back in 2006. I like it because it’s yellow and this color makes me feel radiant, inside and out. Nyahaha.

And yep I tie my hair in every weird way.

John Green, ah. What can I say? I love this man, I love this writer to bits. I love his wordplay. I love how he constructs his simple and not too flowery yet right to the heart words. I love that he makes me cry in the most unexpected ways. I’ve read most of his novels, but honestly this one’s my favorite.

Last summer, I read his book entitled Looking For Alaska and it made me add John Green to my list of favorite authors of all time. After the end of the semester, I went into the local bookstore and my eyes were drawn to this gorgeous and beautiful blue cover with clouds that comes with an enticing title and wait, what? Who’s the author? John Green? You can’t be serious. And without having second thoughts, I bought the book. In hardbound. Books are expensive, but whatever. It’s actually a cheap way of taking you to places. 

I knew right then and there that the book will be a hit, but I am not really the type of reader who goes for sad, soppy and tragic novels since such books let me bawl my eyes out. I figured that this book will just be about cancer and how a strong person managed to fight the disease and be of inspiration to many cancer survivors, but I was thought wrong. The book. It is the book. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND READ THIS FREAKING BOOK.

** Some spoilers after this point

Hazel Grace is basically living her life as a miracle. She was diagnosed with Stage IV typhoid cancer when she was only 12 and miraculously survived because of a medicine(which John Green made up himself, because just like what he said he’d like to have a cure for cancer) that made her survive despite being tethered to an oxygen tank all her life. For her, everything is a routine. Whatever she does this day, she does it tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after next. But not until one glorious day.

Augustus Waters(God, I love this name and the one who has/had it). She met him at their little cancer support group. She knew that Augustus survived past whatever kind of cancer he had and she was always in awe because of how much attention this guy had to put in the hopes of him noticed by her. Being with Augustus made Hazel realize a lot of things in life, and I will not put that into detail because, again, I command you to read the book. Yes, I just used the word command. 

Typical love story you may say? No. No. It’s not everyday that you bump into someone who’s experiencing the same or near the kind of sacrifice and pain that you’re going through. What are the odds of meeting someone who is as equally as deep as you? And with deep I believe there also comes wit, which is perfect if you’re searching or waiting for a guy like that. The only thing that hindered them from living together for a long time? Time. Time is a slut, just like what Green said. And truth be told, their infinities are way larger than other infinities.

This book makes you stop and look at what’s happening in your life. I didn’t buy the slogan Life is short, but after reading this I told myself that indeed it is. The world is not a wish-giving factory(quoting the master again) but it’s up to you how you will live your life the way that you want it to be. And consider yourself lucky if you have a partner or a friend that you could possibly spend it with. Do not put your life into waste. AND READ THE BOOK HAHAHAHA.

Please come to the Philippines, John Green!!!!!!

I’m still typing this with a heavy heart, the amount of heart ache I’m experiencing at the moment because of having to remember every bit of details in the story cannot be described… Or to put that into a more precise and beautiful way, I shall quote John Green himself again. My thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations.

My favorite quotes? If you follow me on Twitter, you’d know. It’s Justhoutissa by the way. :)

I like my choices(reading and falling in love with this book.) I hope she likes hers(by her I mean you guys, my lovely readers giving this book a chance.)

READ THE BOOK!