Life as AFAC

Do you ever have days when you cannot think of any more blessings God can give you on that very instant? You just feel life is good, better than you prayed for, and there is nothing more you can wish for?

Today is one of those days. I have days like this once in a while and when this feeling hits me, it implodes me with happiness and contentment. Sometimes I get scared this is the calm before the storm, like when you are so happy for no reason something’s bound to go wrong soon. The last time I remember this feeling, of thanking God for giving me so much blessings and to please continue to help me be happy, a few weeks later my boyfriend of over two years broke up with me. On hindsight, I guess God did answer my prayer. Haha. (Booming voice: “Happy ba kamo? Granted!”)

There is nothing special about today. I’m just home alone now with nothing to do. And loving it. This week has been crazy. I have been working til dawn since last week til monday including weekends; tuesday was our pitch day and, win or lose, everyone is proud of our work. Everyone was in high spirits, Johnny was hugging everyone, Arto can’t stop teasing Adrey, the new planner Phil is hilarious, I just had a relaxing two-hour massage & body scrub at Banyan Tree Spa. That night we partied til 2am and in a drunken moment told our excom Pete he can’t sing very well at karaoke! Hahahah! I didn’t even remember saying it but he reminded me in our Chinese class. You seldom get that frankness in China or HK (or maybe Asia in general), people are predisposed to say what they think would please you. But I’m the MuHao (Queen mother) of Tactlessness, second only to Kris Aquino, and say well-meaning comments like, “Noo you’re not fat, you’re just chubby.” (I guess that’s why I get along with Brits and confident, open-minded, non-pikon Pinoys like David Guerrero, Simon Welsh, Raoul Panes, Badong Abesamis, Marbee Go, etc.)

Back to the topic, Wednesday I had a car accident; thursday I made cheese spread then discovered City Supermarket where all the food we take for granted in our homeland (like tomato sauce, pasta, fresh herbs and McCormick spices) can be found; thursday night I got an impromptu invite from the Pinoy community to watch the artsy Pecha Kucha (this deserves another blog); friday I went to work and bought tickets to HK for next weekend, yay! Friday night I went window shopping with Chiewy, Kathy and Jackie then had a yummy dinner. I stayed up til 2am coz I wasn’t sleepy at all, then woke up realy late while Ayi cleaned my apartment (feels like Beauty in the Beast’s self-cleaning magic castle) then I cooked Spaghetti Meatballs (I just threw in everything I can find) with mini flowerettes Stelline pasta. I love my Ayi, I get to practice my Mandarin on her (no choice) and today I learned Touxie (Mandarin for slippers) and Awa (Shanghainese for “I”). “I thank you” in Shanghainese is “Awa Siyayano.” She taught me a few more words but I forgot already. I would give her candies, balloon twisitng and last week shared my lunch… and now she brings me sweets too! How sweet. Tonight I look forward to seeing Leah for dinner, wala lang.

There is nothing really spectacular that happened that makes a regular guy happy today. Maybe I was just counting my blessings. Maybe because I read a bit of The Purpose-driven Life this week and felt I have been living what he’s preaching (in my little way) anyway. Maybe because I had unexpected parties in the middle of the week. Maybe because Matt has been calling me everyday since the accident. Maybe the accident bumped the happy button of my brain, I don’t know. I just feel I’m the luckiest person in the world for having such a lovely family and extended family, great friends, the nicest colleagues, a fulfilling job, a sweet and funny guy, a fab time in le Hai, good health (no asthma here!), and a God who’s my friend. I have worked so hard for so long and things seem to be falling into place.

St. Therese’s prayer comes to mind: “Be content in knowing you are exactly where you are meant to be.”

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.