Sometimes, all you gotta have is faith

I wasn't raised to be religious. We never go to church, (except for Christmas), we don't pray before eating, and we don't read the bible or pray the rosary. Why? I don't know. I could easily say that it was because we spent 10 years living in Saudi, where the only religion you're allowed to practice is Islam, but that wouldn't be enough of a reason. Growing up there, I was aware that despite it being prohibited, masses were held at different homes around the compound, in secret. My sister was even baptised, and had her first communion there. So, see that is no reason to give. I guess it just didn't play a big part in our lives. It was kind of a culture shock when we moved here, because religion was so integrated into the education system. There were prayers before and after class, the angelus at 12pm, recollections, retreats, a whole subject even! I remember I was always nervous that I'd be picked to lead the class in prayer, because I didn't know any of the prayers! And why were there so many? And how do we know which one to use?

And ever since then, I'd always have problems in my theology classes.

So what is the point of all this blabbering?

I don't know. I almost never know why I write what I write. I think it's because of what I did on my weekend. A friend invited me to join the PREX Youth weekend recently. She actually first invited me, along with others, last month. Back then, I really didn't think about it. I was just like "ah, ok. sige tingnan ko" Didn't commit or anything. Then she sent me a text message last wednesday: "the seminar's this weekend na. ano? game?" It took me a day to mull over. I thought I was done with all these "religious requirements" when I graduated from school. What was I going to do with this weekend?! But on the other hand, I didn't have any plans, so what the heck right?

And you know what? I'm glad I did go. All the talks that we had, and the group sharings showed me that I was missing out on something. Until now, I haven't really made God a part of my life. And I think that's why I've been feeling a bit lost, and why I have all these questions bouncing around in my head. There are just some things we have to do or we must go through in order to be better Catholics and in turn better people. Somethings don't have answers, but that's okay because there is something out there that is bigger than all of us and we should just have faith that everything will turn out fine.

Another reason that I'm happy I went is because, my relationship with one of my oldest friends was changed. She showed me that I was doing something wrong and that it was hurting her. I was also able to see another side of her. I'm just not sure if I should be glad or not, because I was the one to cause it. (nervous laughter here) And well... we bonded. And I think that our relationship is stonger now.

During one of our activities, we had to show what a church is to us. Our group sort of did this mime thing where we helped up one another(we were sitting on the floor), formed a line facing the audience, traced the shape of hearts on our chests, put our hands together in prayer and then placed our arms around each other as a sign of friendship. The speaker, Tito Gene, interpreted this as the church made up of people, who when they are filled with the holy spirit, share the good news of the Lord with other people (picking them up). That wasn't really our explanation to our demonstration, but I like his better.

So....Michi, thanks for picking me up ;o)

Heard on the train

girl1: Nag audition nga ako sa Starstruck eh. Hindi ko sila tinanggap!
............................

girl1:uy! nagkaka-shape ka na!

girl2: talaga? (turns to look at her reflection in the window)

guy1: oo! bilog!

;o)

better late then never

It's not that I have nothing to write about anymore, it's not that I'm really busy, I'm just stuck in a rut. Lately, it takes time for me to gather up the energy just to write an entry. Not that it takes a lot of energy to write an entry. I just haven't been feeling up to writing anything. Ok, I think I'm starting to go in circles now.....

Since my last entry, I celebrated my birthday with my family by watching "Ang Pagdadalada ni Maximo Oliveros" at Gateway and then having dinner at Cibo(Yum!). I think that was also the day San Beda won the NCAA Basketball Championship, so when we were there, the whole mall was filled with red clad people celebrating. A sea of red. Fortunately I wasn't wearing red, but Aien was, so I held on tight lest she gets swallowed by the crowd and we lose her to very ecstatic red people.

So anyway, the next night I continued on with celebrating my birthday, this time with sisqo. Spent the night at Astoria Plaza, had dinner at Streetscape, where the waiters from the different restaurants were mighty aggresive about getting customers to sit at their tables. Jeez! They were like jeepney callers crossed with cattle herders. As you walk along the row of restaurants, waiters would come up to you and say "Ma'am dito po!" and kind of try and steer you to their tables while simultaneously shoving a menu in your face. Eek! Not very pleasant.

Well we finally decided to sit down under the Dome tent because they were situated right in front of the stage, where a band was setting up. The band was decent enough, the frontman had some interesting dance moves and we're easily entertained. After dinner and dancing to a couple of songs, we had the hotel pick us up because it was drizzling and we didn't want to get wet. We get to the hotel, pop in a few dvds while sipping peach and strawberry wine accompanied by cheese (oh!aren't we sophisticated!hahaha!)

Well, the next day we get up at 7am, eventhough the original plan was 6am, but hello! who gets up at 6am on a sunday?! We trudge down to the breakfast buffet. And as we eat, we begin to talk about religion, politics, philosophy......haha! No, I'm kidding! The main topic of discussion was the changing quality of education at our beloved alma mater. It helps that we have an insider, giving us a different perspective of what goes on in a school. The hours before checkout was then spent lounging around at the pool and posing in our bathing suits. As usual I was the photographer, which I really much prefer. And ofcourse our little gatherings are never complete without my little moments of klutzy-ness. This time I tripped over a lounge chair while setting up the camera.

pool chair-1 me-0

A billion pictures later we dry ourselves off and return to our room to get ready for checkout.

Pics!

We then head over to Starbucks on Pearl Drive, because we still hadn't eaten my birthday cake. So we get there, order our drinks and the starbucks people tell Grace and Michi that we are NOT ALLOWED TO EAT THE CAKE. They did this preemptively. We hadn't even opened the top yet. Whatever!

But all in all, it was a good birthday despite my pre-bday blues. I think it's starting to become a pattern. I get melancholic around that time of year, but then it passes. Hmmm....