Biyernes ng hapon, pauwi ako noon sa bahay at naisipang kumain muna sa labas. Pumunta sa palikuran, umihi at nanalamin. Binuklat ang bag para kumuha ng pulbo. Wala ang cellphone, wala ang wallet. Nadukutan ako. Hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko. Umuwi pa naman ako dahil masama ang loob ko at sa dami ng problemang dinudulot sa akin ng eskwelahan. Kumakalam na ang sikmura. Hindi ako makaiyak. Hinanap ko ang isa ko pang cellphone, buti na lamang at nasa bulsa ko ito. Itinext kita, “Nasaan ka? Samahan mo naman ako. Masama lang ang loob ko tapos nadukutan pa ako. Please?” Dahil alam kong alam mo kung saan ako pumupunta kapag masama ang loob, hindi ko na sinabi kung saan tayo magkikita. Nagtungo na ako sa simbahan, naupo sa vigil room, umiyak nang umiyak at umiyak. Sobrang sama ng loob ko. Nagalit ang kaibigan ko sa akin nang hindi ko alam, may problema ako sa eskwelahan, nawala ang cellphone na binigay sa akin ng tiyahin ko, wala akong pera at gutom ako. Darating ka. May yayakap sa akin. Ang katotohonang yun ay bahagyang nakapagpagaan sa aking mga dinadala noong araw na iyon. Kahit paano ay may yayakap sa akin, may pupunas ng mga luha ko at makikinig sa aking mga hinaing bukod sa Panginoong aking kinakausap habang naghihintay sa iyo. Sigurado ako, darating ka. Sabi mo noon, nariyan ka lamang para sa akin. Ramdam ko naman ang sinseridad at napatunayan mo na rin naman ang mga sinabi mo. “May gagawin lang ako, liligo lang saglit at pupuntahan ka na. Huwag kang iiyak ha. Iyakin kang bata ka eh!” Sabi na nga ba at hindi mo ako matitiis. Patuloy lang akong naghintay at nagdasal at naglabas ng sama ng loob. Umiiyak ako. Kilala mo na nga ako. Alam mong iyakin ako kaya pipilitin kong hindi umiyak sa harapan mo at iiiyak ko na ang lahat bago ka dumating. Gusto ko rin kasing makita mong matapang na ako. Alas singko na ng hapon, wala ka pa rin. Hindi ka na sumagot sa mga texts ko. Ni tawag ko tila hindi mo rin napapansin. Kumakalam na ang sikmura ko. Pagpatak ng alas sais, hindi na kita mahintay, nahihilo na ako. Alam ko namang alam mong nasa bahay lang ako kung wala na ako sa simbahan. Alam mo kung saan ako pupuntahan. Lumabas na ako ng simbahan at naisipang umuwi. Maglalakad na lamang sana dahil nadukutan nga at malapit lang naman ang aming bahay. Mabagal lamang akong naglalakad sa bawat kalyeng aking nadaraanan. Nagmamasid sa mga taong nakaasalubong o nakikita. At siyempre, hindi napalampas ng aking mga mata ang isang pareha. Napakasweet na magkasintahan. Malayo pa lang e kitang-kita ko na. Lalo kitang namiss. Sana ay ganoon tayo noong araw na yun. Pero naisip ko na lang na baka nakatulog ka o may hindi inaasahang pangyayari. Patuloy ako sa paglalakad. Nang ilang hakbang na lamang ako palapit sa masayang magkasintahan, nakita ko ang mga masasaya nilang mukha. Nakita ko ang kanilang mga ngiti. Maligayang maligaya sila. Nakarating na nga ako sa bahay. Gutom man ako at pagod, hindi ko nagawang kumain o magpahinga man lang bagkos ay umiyak ako nang umiyak. Durog na durog ang puso ko noong araw na iyon. Nakakainggit ang magkasintahan na iyon na tila hindi man lang napansin na dumaan ako sa kanilang harapan. Punong-puno ng paghihinagpis ang aking buong pagkatao. Nasaan ka na? Bakit mo ako iniwan? Bakit mo ako pinaasang darating ka? Sana sinabi mo na lang na hindi ka pwede. Kailangan ko pa bang makita kayong masaya ng aking kaibigan? Ngayon, alam ko na kung bakit hindi niya ako kinakausap. Ang sakit. Hindi ako umiyak sa harapan mo gaya ng sinabi ko sa sarili ko. Gusto kong makita mo akong matapang pero ni hindi mo nga ako nasulyapan man lang. Pareho kayong mahalaga sa akin. Kailan pa ito? Kailan niyo pa ako pinaglalaruan? Ang sakit. Ang araw na yun. Ang araw na iyon na sinumpa ko na yun na ang huling beses na tatakbo ako sa ‘yo. Yun na ang huling beses na aasa ako sa mga pangako mo. Ang araw na yun, ang araw na binalot niyo ako ng pag-asa at pighati. Pinagmukha niyo akong tanga. Kumalam ang sikmura ko. Sumakit ang puso ko. Parehong gutom.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sikmura at Puso
Life's Challenges
All of us experience challenges. For some, it can be just small and an 'easy-to-beat' opponent or an ‘I-think-I-would-die’ one. How we handle challenges usually determines our being. Life is not just about falling asleep tonight and waking up the next morning. It is not just about the inhales and the exhales that we make daily. There is more to life than breathing.
Everyday, we are faced with hindrances while taking our path to success. Sharp stones will be walked on and wild animals may just jump into us in an instant and take a bite from the reality that we are living. Now, do we give up? The answers will vary because people and how they face their own problems vary, as well.
Life is never kind. We feel pain and anxiety. We face challenges. We are bound to make decisions. We get hurt, we hurt others. When we’re walking, we want to stop and take a rest. When we get stuck, we get angry and want to move on. Some choose to escape. Some choose to deal with life. Some choose to end it. We choose where we want to go.
On coming of life’s challenges? We have no control. They will find their way to get into our lives. They will sneak in our dreams and cause us nightmares. They will be there to punch us straight to our face. We would think of escaping. But where will we go? Challenges are everywhere. They always have their eyes on us.
Come to think of it, challenges don’t mean having something to give up onto. They are not just factors to make us break. On the positive side, it is a calling; a summon to show our skills in solving life’s problem. They are one great opportunity to learn and enhance our being.
People may tend to be vulnerable and/or fragile. We may be weak or strong; rich or poor; cheerful or not. Whatever characteristics we have, no one is exempted from the possibilities life may bring.
Life’s challenges may enable us to see ourselves in our best and worst situation. We may see alcohol and drug addiction as one great escape from our burdens. Worse, we may commit suicide to end all the things that hurt. We hurt others. We get angry. The world may seem to give us undesirable clamor. At some point, we let ourselves be imprisoned in bewilderment.
We face great challenges in life when we are bound to find love, acceptance and security. Once in our lives we will feel the urge to find the assurance that life truly has its own meaning. Once in our lives, we will experience that everyday is the same as yesterday – meaningless, hurtful and sorrowful. We will struggle with dealing with people. We will doubt the care and love they offer. Our fears will grow everyday. Our bad behaviors will be pushed outwards for the world to see.
How can we cope if we feel like we don’t have the strength to move on? How do we move on beyond the hopelessness? We try to conceive the pain. We fool the world and consequently, not realizing that we are fooling ourselves more.
Again, we choose where we want to go. These life’s challenges are just tools to make us weak but do not forget that they should not have the ‘authority’ to make us think that we are not worthy of this life.
Surprisingly, these hindrances have direct relationship to us. They will create a way for us to know other people, but more importantly, to know our purpose in life and have a better understanding of ourselves.
Questions will pop out. Why me? How will I ever forgive? How can I move on? How will I be able to solve this problem? And many more How’s and Why’s. We ask others. We ask God. But take a look in the mirror. We may know the answers. We knew the answers even before we ask for them. The problem is, we know the answers but we lack actions.
Don’t give up. This is an overrated advice that many of us ignore. Yes, don’t give up. Let the things that hinder our happiness give up on us. Let them be intimidated on how we bravely face every life’s battle.
It’s a win-win situation. When you lose a battle, you do not really lose entirely. Somehow, you still win because you get to learn on how to fight the next fight. You get the chance to test your skill. You get to master the rules of the game. When you win, you get what you want. It’s a matter of how we see life and it’s dark side.
Don’t give up!
“We are all failures, at least, the best of us are.” – J.M. Baririe
All I ever wanted was everything
Sunday, April 24, 2011
A Searcher
A searcher, as how we define it, is someone who carefully looks and examines to find something. From the word itself, searcher is someone who searches for something. I do not actually need to cite definitions of “searcher” in this entry but, what I want to express has something to do with searching; someone who searches – searcher.
It all started since birth. Yes, you read it right, since birth. A girl was born in bewilderment. She was born in a world where she never thought she would be in. The journey was difficult for this “princess” but, she never thought of giving up. There were times, a lot of times, when questions seemed stuck in her head and did not want to leave her. This girl in bewilderment; this princess, is me.
It was 1995, I was 6 years old then, when the real scene started to play. A night of happiness, laughing with my grandmother and cousin, was destructed by a shout out: “Hazel, baby”. It was a shout from a girl going out of the tricycle, a girl in red dress. I know who she is. My Ate Helen was the girl, a daughter of my grandmother. We bonded. We shopped. We laughed and all. Everything was fine. What stopped the fun was when I noticed that people were laughing at me. It seemed like for them, I am a child without anxieties; that I so not care for what they were saying. Rumors just did not stop. Questions just kept entering into my mind. My head ached thinking and looking for answers.“Didn’t she know that she is her mother”? Why isn’t she telling the child that she’s the mother”?
It was hard for me to express out the questions to people around me. It was hard for a child to ask something from outer space when everybody was expecting her to just ask for candies. However, I did not mind. I asked my grandmother about the thing. There it goes, she is my mother. It did not surprise me that much for there was this feeling in me that I cannot explain. I knew she was my mother. I just need confirmation for legal matters – I think.
Graduation in kindergarten, 1996, my mother came with me. She put on the medal and the ribbons for a princess marching on the stage. It was my happiest moment then. Going to church and to the mall weekly, what more can a child ask for? At a young age, I have searched for one of the most important things in one’s life.
I thought it was over. We are close enough to continue living as a mother and child. After just about two years, my mother got married to someone I did not even know. I broke down. I was 8years old then. It broke my world into pieces. I searched for someone to lean on as my mother was busy mingling with her husband. I found my grandmother – waiting for me to come back to her, longing for my hugs and kisses. I took time to accept the situation. I was successful in doing so. Consequently, my mother got pregnant and gave birth to a cute baby boy. I was so glad having a sibling. Again, my world started to tremble. Earthquakes did not leave me. It kept on shaking my life. My heart was broken. My teary eyes kept looking for attention from a mother. Tears fell down my eyes seeing a happy family – my mother, my stepfather and their son.
Action scene of my life started on this. My heart walked away from my mother’s. It went farther and faster since we had just known each other for two years or three. My heart was lost but still, found its way going back to my mother. I have decided to take the path to her direction. I came with them, my mother and my brother, wherever they go. Until one time, we went to my brother’s Godmother. She, the Godmother, asked my mother who I was. “This is my niece. She is living with me because her mother is abroad”. The whole me, at that early age, melted. Every part of me was lost in nowhere. It caused me so much pain. I ran to my grandmother. I told her what happened.
I searched for a way of acceptance. I looked for reasons that led her on saying that. She said that because she cares. She said that because she loves me. She said that because she thought that I am her failure. She saw her mistakes on me. I just accepted that fact. I have learned to live with the pain. I got used to it until I am numb enough not to feel it.
My next search was the search for my father. I argued with my mother every time I want information about my father. I had thrown harsh and painful words to her just for him. My aunts and uncles were my foes too on that matter. I was the only one playing over the defense of the whole family. I told, again, my grandmother the reason why I am looking for my father. the reasons were: (1) I want a father; (2) I envy my classmates; (3) I need a parent’s attention which my mother did not give me; (4) I want a wealthier life and; (5) I am incomplete.
My family understood my feelings and respected my right to know my father. I was the one who stopped the search. I have realized that it was not ideal to look for my father when I have not searched about who my mother was, what she really feels. My heart started to fix itself going back to where it really belongs – my mother. No matter what the situation is, she is my mother. I do not want my child to do the same as I did.
The next search is searching for myself. I am now in a world where every kind of people are in. I am in a world where I can only survive based on what I am doing. It was easy for me to smile and laugh out loud but, it does not mean that I am happy. My tears just want to flow out my eyes but they cannot. It was because of the perception of the people to me – that I am a strong person who does not cry. I am imprisoned to that approach. It is difficult. However, it is helpful in a way. It makes me stronger that I won’t cry easily on the struggles.
Many people would say that if you are destined to find someone or something, you do not have to search for it because it will automatically come your way. What if it came your way and stopped at your back? Would you not search and look back to see it?
Searching is the life I am living. I may think that it’s over. For all of us, searching for questions is part of our lives. Searching for answers to the question we have searched is what we are living for.
I have searched myself searching for her self.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I'm Getting Married
College: Hell and Heaven
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
IpagpasaDiyos na lang
Transformation




Friday, April 8, 2011
Para kang hindi babae!
Mahirap magmove-on mula sa unexpressed feeling or unsaid. Ito naman ay para sa akin, ewan ko sa iba. Nahihirapan ako e. Pakiramdam ko hindi ako makausad kapag alam ko na hindi man lang nalaman ng taong mahal ko ang nararamdaman ko. Masakit na nga na hindi naging kami tapos hindi niya pa nalaman? Saklap naman. Minsan okay rin yun. Pero sa akin hindi. Hindi ako makamove-on talaga. Isang beses pa lang atang nangyari sa akin na hindi ko nasabi ang nararamdaman ko. Nasabi ko pa rin naman pero masasabi kong nakamove-on na ako. Pero sinasabi ko, natagalan ako bago makausad. Anong bago? Lagi naman akong ganito e. E bakit kamo sinabi ko pa kung okay na naman ako? Hmm. Ayoko lang kasing mamuhay sa bitterness o pagsisisi. Na hindi ko man lang nasabi o wala naman siyang alam. Yung mga bagay na ikabibigat pa namang loob ko sa hinaharap. So yun, sinabi ko na rin. Ako rin yung tipo ng tao na ayaw ipadaan sa iba ang pagsasabi ng nararamdaman. Yung ipapasabing mahal ko siya. Ayoko nun. Alam kong mahirap lalo na’t babae ako pero mahirap kasi kapag pasa-pasa pa e. Nababawasan ang sinseridad o rarami pa ang makikisawsaw hanggang sa maapektuhan na ang desisyon niyo na dapat ay kayo lang dalawa sana ang may obligasyon. Nasanay na akong ganoon. Sinasabi ko. Pero kalimitan, natatagal at umaabot pa sa sitwasyong nasasaktan na ako. Hindi naman kasi madali yun. Ang hirap humugot ng lakas. Pero naiisip ko na lang, nahihirapan at nasasaktan rin naman ako e di sabihin ko na kaya? Ano kung hindi niya ako gusto? Siyempre masakit pero kung hindi ko sinabi e di ba masasaktan lang din ako? Pareho lang e. “Para kang hindi babae!” Yan ang norm. Ganan ang reaksyon ng iba. E bakit? Ano ba talaga ang kahulugan ng pagiging isang babae? Hindi ako dalagang Filipina? E ano ako? May nasasaad ba sa konstitusyon ng Pilipinas na bawal magpahayag ng pag-ibig o nararamdaman ang isang babae sa isang lalaki? Wala naman e. Well, kilos lalaki naman ako matagal na pero kung ikababawas ng pagkababae ko ang paniniwala kong yun e baka bago ako mamatay ay lalaki na ako. Masarap sa pakiramdam ang masabi mo sa isang tao ang nararamdaman mo. Mahirap. Minsan masakit. Ang hirap ring kumuha ng tiyempo kasi hindi mo alam kung seseryosohin ka o hindi. Pero kapag nagawa mo, grabe, mahalin ka man niya pabalik o hindi, masaya na rin. Kasi ikaw mismo ang nagsabi sa kanya at hindi niya yun nalaman sa kuro-kuro lamang. Yung tapang, takot, hiya, andun na lahat pero ipinahayag mo pa rin. E kung nabawasan man ang pagkababae ko e ayos lang. Siguro naman hindi nabawasan ang pagkatao ko.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Untitled
You do not know what I’m feeling, not exactly. Please don’t tell me to stop. I have to cry this out. I’m starting to think that I don’t deserve every good thing that is given to me. I am so depressed but I just can’t let it show in front of the people so I just cry alone and send sad messages which I think would reflect how I feel. Consequently, people will accuse me emo. I don’t care, but please don’t think that I do those stupid things for the sake of being emo. I just want to let this out to feel free the next days. This is my way, not your way? Go on! Don’t look back on me and trash talk. I am just not okay. Not at all. Not even a little.. I express my sadness through positive tone, but try to look at me in the eyes and you’ll see the tears before saying that this is just another drama. I need some air.