Let me enumerate the reasons that I spend most of my weekdays at home: a) it is only recently that I found out about several summer jobs which I could have spent my time and energy on, b) I decided to take a break from anything school-related, and c) going out entails having enough money and asking for it from my parents every single day when I’m not doing anything that productive induces guilt. (My conscience isn’t that callous after all.)

I’d be a liar if I say that staying at home for an entire day has made summer so exciting, but there has got to be these little things which somehow confirms our (my brother and I) theory that our life is a sitcom and some gods out there find our existence worth laughing at.

Six of these situations which would make for a perfect story for a TV series took place in a single week. In one week. I think having those instances crammed in one post would make that post look boring that my future self wouldn’t even mind going over it, so I shall tell those stories in different posts.

PS: Those were a lot of ‘posts’ in one sentence. And in this post lies some of the longest sentences I’ve ever created in my life.

PPS: I haven’t written my thoughts down for a relatively long time, and uh I feel like a noob that I don’t think I’m even worthy of being tapped as one of the core members of our batch’s own publication. (Not that I have ever considered myself a master in this aspect.)

Nice try, brother. If the one who found this “broken screen” is a baby boomer (i.e. our parents), this laptop would have been sent to the technician immediately.

If something offends you in a way or another, say it directly to the person who, in your opinion, has some slowing down to do in talking. Do not wait until all these nasty, little things accumulate into a pent-up fury. Also, you can’t expect people to read your mind (as what you find something disrespectful may be fairly acceptable for them), so speak up because they will never know that you have been hurt unless you tell them without sugarcoating.

Do not immediately label someone as insensitive when you yourself haven’t thought of your actions thoroughly—you may need to brush up on your acts as well. It’s quite idiotic to sit there in total silence and pretend that everything’s okay and blow up afterwards, when earlier, you could have minimized the damage.

If you don’t speak up, then you won’t get what you need. Keep in mind, though, that your tone and gestures play an enormous role in getting your message across. So, chill the fuck out. There’s a dofference between “Please avoid saying those kind of things.” and “AVOID SAYING THOSE KIND OF THINGS!!!” You get the picture.

beyaaaaahh:

Most people never stop until they find someone they can just be with — watch reruns of TV shows they hate in ratty pajamas, have stupid arguments with about who forgets to say ‘good night’ more, have great make up sex with, and take stupid webcam photos with that make you smile whenever you go…

• I have been watching the 2nd season of Chuck for the second time around just because. This isn’t something I do out of having nothing else to do, though, because believe it or not, holding a regular re-run for Chuck has made it on top of my to-do list during sluggish summer days. And this day is, well, one of those days. I will forever be a fan of Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker, and I need not elaborate!
• There is an episode during the 1st season wherein Chuck was professing his admiration for Sarah whilst knowing that “the more I think about it, the more I realize that you and I can never have a future together. I fooled myself into thinking I could. But the truth is, we can’t. Because even if we had a real relationship, we would never really be real.” (Yep, I just googled that conversation!) That scene is just terribly cheesy and heartbreaking at the same time that I actually had waters filling my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. I don’t know if I should blame this monthly cycle only women go through, or if I should just accept the fact that if I put my undivided attention into a show, I will most likely be carried away by it.
• My mom doesn’t seem to be aware that our house isn’t huge enough (and our neighborhood isn’t lively enough) for the people upstairs to not hear the conversation in the dining room. (Sometimes, I’m not really sure if I should call it a dining room because there’s no door and no division from the other parts of the house…) I just overheard my Lola and my mom talk about how I’m an “American” because I seldom eat rice, and if I do, I can barely consume a cup! What can I say? A slice or two of wheat bread for the entire evening works for me. Speaking of overheard conversations…
• I don’t mean to eavesdrop. I really don’t! Well, there were instances during my grade school years when my parents would come home late (11 o’clock then, was already late for an elementary kid) from a household meeting and 8 out of 10 times, I’d pretend to have fallen asleep. Usually, they would talk about the child pretending to be asleep, which, in this case, happens to be me! I don’t mean to be egoistic and all, but hearing all those flattering words from my own parents—about how thankful they are to have been blessed with a (then) cute daughter like me—is heartwarming even for a kid whose best analogy of love is a river and/or a rosary. Don’t ask me why. It’s in my autograph books. Haha.
• Looks like I missed the whole point of the bullet before this! Yesterday, I overheard our two helpers talking about me. They imitated my frequently used expressions such as “Seriously?!”, “As in?!”, and “Oh my god!” in high pitched voices. Having a hearty laugh, I think, is a great way to start a morning. I thought that just walking right in and asking them where my Lola went would put them in a slightly awkward situation as they would have known that I have listened to their conversation, so I went up and down the stairs again, not with steps but with stomps.

I confess that a number of items in the List of Situations My Parents Are Afraid to Find Their Daughter In have already taken place.

Sometimes, my parents—particularly my mother whose level of authority over her brood of two is quite high—are too conservative for my taste, hence, some of the things which I deem as just a way of keeping off from being jaded are utterly unsafe and un-conservative. Rest assured that I have always been the safety conscious daughter that they have molded for almost 18 years, and my level of being gutsy is sometimes too much for their taste. So, both parties are sort of on the same plane.

Enough said.

I once accompanied (or rather, went with) my mother to a parenting workshop during the International Kids Village (IKV) in Davao. There’s a long story why I ended up being in that kind of workshop tailored for parents rather than being somewhere else. Trust me. Haha.

One of the speakers shared a line with the exact words I have already forgotten; its main thought is, to those who are pure, everything is pure, and to those who are impure, not everything is pure. Something like that. She then asked the audience to repeat it after her. Sure, there’s some wisdom behind that line, yet I find it quite unfair. What happens to those who were molested? To those who have been drugged by people who they thought were good friends of theirs? There are a lot of possibilities with a person being, in their own words, impure. If I weren’t “pure” already and were in that workshop, I would be slightly offended. Besides, people make mistakes. That’s what second chances are for, right?

I told my mother about this since I know I won’t be having a sound sleep if I wouldn’t be able to spill my thoughts, and I was dumbfounded when her face made the ‘not bad’ Obama meme. I was surprised upon knowing that my mother would have fully agreed to that statement had I kept my thoughts within me. At the same time, I was glad she gave me a thumbs up as a sign of approval.

This incident gave me a wake-up call: that this mess in my head isn’t always the same mess that’s stuck in other people’s heads. I don’t always share the same thoughts even with the people I spend most of my time with. This brought me the go signal to speak what’s on my mind as long as I’m in the right place and at the right time.

You know what John Mayer said, “It’s better to say too much, than never to say what you need to say again.”