Too busy

Too busy, me busy bee. Here and there, to and fro. Up and down, right and left. Zoom out, close in. Hay naku!

Never seem to get this blog organized.

TAGGED

Ooops, been tagged by wondergirl melay and don’t even know what TAG means. If I’m supposed to list 20 random thoughts about myself, then maybe these are:

1. I have 3 secret dreams, though they’re not necessarily in any order . I have always wanted to be 1) a gymnast 2) a figure skater and 3) an adventure racer. For those who know which body type I belong in, go figure these 3 out! :)

2. I am moderately obsessive-compulsive when it comes to the way things should be. I hate it when boys tactlessly leave the toilet seat up. I firmly snap-lock toothpaste caps. My file folders are color-coded. I meticulously catalogue our CD and cassette tape collection. I never throw away bank and bill statements.

3. I have been in 12 films in my lifetime.

4. I have a gripping fear of dogs, especially large ones.

5. I have had two fractures in the same left foot.

6. Near mid-life, I conquered another great fear. I used to fear the queasy feeling of transporting my body from a considerable height. That’s why I never rode roller coasters, the octopus, log rides. Finally, in a mountain resort I did the local “Slide for Life” from a canopy of trees. And loved it!

7. I do not go to mass.

8. The Oprah Show changed my life.

9. My childhood backyard used to house a dachshund, a monkey, two German Shepherds, pythons, a wild pig, a wild cat of the alamid variety, a small fawn, horses and a baby crocodile.

10. I lived with my maternal grandparents for the first five years of my life so naturally, I thought they were my real parents. At the age of six when I was sent back to my real parents’ house, I got the shock of my life when I discovered that I had two younger brothers!

11. My present advocacy and passion is Solid Waste Management.

12. I have 8 earring holes and 2 tattoos. When I got engaged, my then-boyfriend asked me if I wanted a ring. Instead, we both got tattoos on our arms. I got mine on my right arm and he got his on his left - when we sleep, the tattoos touch.

13. I meditate (almost) every day.

14. I love sand, the sun and the sea. Watch the sunset from our seaside home, sunbathe, swim, snorkel. The mermaid in me comes out to play whenever I’m in the beach.

15. I am 40% hearing-impaired in my left ear. I periodically suffer through a myringotomy (ear surgery) every five years.

16. I have had firecrackers burst in my left hand - it was swollen for a month.

17. My husband is my best friend.

18. One vice which I can’t seem to stop - smoking.

19. Jack of all trades, master of none? In various stages of my life, I have worked as a professional singer, recording studio sound engineer, librettist, musical scorer, stage director, theater actress, technical director, stage manager, puppet voice talent, children’s TV show actress, TV line producer, video director, costume designer for film, pre-school, high school and college teacher, magazine features writer, short story writer, film script writer, TV script writer, novelette writer, technical writer, web writer, magazine editor, webmaster, graphic artist, outdoor advertising creative consultant.

20. Now, I’m valiantly trying to re-invent all the accomplishments above - difficult! - considering that I live a semi-retired life in a small house by the beach in my southern hometown. Hah!

21 Days...building a home

And so it was in 1999 when I left the hubby and the son in the Big City for twenty one days. The hubby had gallantly furnished my purse for the journey and the opus ahead. I traveled to my grandparents’ hometown to the property by the beach where a giant tamarind tree held forth.

Beneath the tree and for three weeks, I planned, structured and renovated the weather-beaten house where my grandfather used to while his weary days. When he was alive, the house was his sanctuary away from the madding crowd of his public life.

I had huge dreams for the house. I hoped to bring back the Spirit of my grandfather’s sanctuary so that, like it did to him, it would shelter my Spirit and my hubby’s for years to come. Away from the concrete jungle, our Spirits would swell to fruition so that we would become the selves we nearly lost in the fast and furious metropolis. And so it was that I painted the house orange and green, after the Mediterranean colors of life.

After those grueling twenty one days, I went back to our home in the Big City, spent and exhausted. But secretly deep inside, I was greatly eager. For I knew our lives would never be the same again.

We had started to build our own PeacePond.

4 YEARS AND SOME deciding to leave home

Four years and some. It took this much time, a work in progress by itself, for the hubby and I to finally move in to our new place by the beach.

This decision to leave our careers, family and new friends behind in the Big City came in mid-1999. Deep in our souls, we knew that we were slowly becoming the selves we saw and despised in people struggling to survive the concrete jungle of Metro Manila. We were forcing ourselves to live the metropolitan life: continuously yearning for things material. We were learning the trade of survival, crushing other people’s spirits so that ours may persevere. We were consumed with the element of time, as if there was nothing more important in the world than to live fast and furious.

The terrible feeling was gnawing at us, eating us as we looked at our lives with jaded eyes. We were living such deafening and cacophonic lives, the paradox of what we planned our lives to be. We knew if we didn’t leave the Big City, it would consume us whole and the good that we once were, would be forever lost.

We decided that for us to reinvent ourselves, we had to leave the Big City. The time to leave would be after four years and some, a little after our son had graduated from college and established himself independent of us.