Dragon dance…of course, you should have seen it, heard it during Chinese New Year. From my room I heard it many times. I smiled because it reminded me a bit of Cebu’s Sinulog festival. The noise, the beat…

Last night I thought I heard it again. Was it another dragon dance? My housemate said, “No. It’s for Chinese funeral.”

Ooops. Okay.

I’ve been here in Singapore for more than five years now and I haven’t really seen a Chinese funeral. Decided to go to the block near my place to take a quick look, but the ceremony was over when my housemate and I got there. Haha. Anyway…

I am not a singer, so I sing. Why not? Haha. This is what happens when I am homesick. When I have deadlines to meet. When I have writer’s block. When I’m supposed to complete a project and don’t even know where to start. When I am restless. When I am missing someone. When it’s 2 am and I’m still awake. I sing. I am free. I enjoy and laugh at myself. I start all over again. I allow myself to make mistakes and be a beginner again.

I am not a singer, so I sing. Why not? Sometimes it’s easier to do the thing that you don’t know. Haha!

(I was supposed to record my voice over for my digital story. I just couldn’t do it right. So I ended up singing. Haha!)

Ruth: “I want ice cream.”

Me: “What?”

It wasn’t really that I didn’t hear her. I just enjoyed her tiny, little voice on my ear and I was giving my sister the time to take photos of this precious moment. Haha. After about three times of asking her what she said, she made her voice a bit louder and pulled my ear and said, “I-want-ice-cream!”  Haha. Sweet child. I just love you!

I posted this photo in Facebook. I am thrilled to know how it brought my friend Angelie to a world of memories and stories! Yes, just one photo…and these are the words she penned…

“There are places I remember all my life though some have changed.” – Beatles.

I concur to the Beatle’s song. There willl always be places that will remain special in your life no matter where you go, what you’ve become.

A friend of mine posted a picture of a place in our elementary school. I didn’t really expect that memories will come flooding as I see it. The fact that this place didn’t really matter to me before quite amazed me in some way why it made me nostalgic. It’s just a place- a place I didn’t know special for me until I saw the portrait.

We used to hang out there as third-grade students because it’s where our so-called Science Garden was located (actually, it was just a sweet-potato garden and I don’t know why we called it Science Garden). Memories of classmates and friends flashed back. I can hear laughter and screams of wonderful childhood. I’ve seen familiar faces, not just of classmates but of teachers as well.

…..though some have changed…..

The picture is totally different from what it used to be. My friend Aurelia told me that the big globe was taken out and transferred to another spot in school. Right now, all you can see is a kiosk.

A big globe used to be there- the globe that made me wonder why the earth is round and not square. It actually formulated a lot of why’s and how’s in my young mind. It made me interested in traveling and seeing the world. But most importantly, I have shared a lot of funny memories with childhood friends. It always makes me smile how this place became our “fighting place” where girls meet up with boys to fight. It may seem silly then but it’s worth remembering now.

I was reminded of people who have been part of my life and made a greatest impact in who I am today. My first best friend jogged my memory. She was my best friend from Grade 1 to early years in College. I learned from her how to love dearly and let go because we have to grow and follow the path that we want to go. The memories of my teachers whom I will always be grateful to because of their dedication to education flooded back. They will always be a part of who I am. I can never thank them enough.

When my memory about the special woman in my life was refreshed, I can’t stop my tears from falling. I just miss her so. She was my Mama Abing. She was part of this place too. She was always there to help me in planting those sweet potatoes, in cleaning up my garden, in watering the plants and in picking up flowers planted near “the globe” in time for Flores de Mayo(if my memory serves me right, there were lilies around the globe). I miss her so much. In my life now, she’s like “the globe”- it used to be there but now it’s gone. And so is she but her memory is engraved in my heart that no amount of time can erase.

How can I forget elementary graduation day? It’s funny to think that I didn’t have a solo picture of myself graduating because I was too busy taking pictures of my classmates and friends. Too bad because I can’t remember where those pictures are now. If only I could turn back time and if only I knew that this day of reminiscing will come, I should have kept them safe in a box.

It’s just a picture. A picture that made me think how lucky I am to have met those people, how lucky I am to be part of a place that I will always call home even though I have been to some of the places/countries in that globe.

A home is always a place where you can find yourself again when you’re lost.

A place where every part of it has history for you.

A place amidst the chaos and political issues will always be a retreat for a tired heart.

Thank you Aurelia Castro for posting this picture in your facebook because it is more clear to me now that a part of me will always be in our hometown and no advanced country can surpass the memories, the learning and the love I have for our hometown and I certainly can’t wait to be home soon.

Clothes, educational supplies, medicine, blankets, etc…would mean a lot to those who have lost their homes in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Please help. Friends in Singapore, you can drop your donations at LBC Air Cargo Singapore #04 – 077 Lucky Plaza, Orchard Rd. LBC will send the relief goods to the Philippines for free. For more info, please call 6595 – 4522.

For cash donations, please contact The Navigators, Philippines (www.philnavs.org). Please call +632-727-0255, +632726-4348 for more info.

It’s been more or less 14 years since I first heard her music. Until today, she’s never failed to intrigue me, engage me. Yes, I’m a big fan of Alanis Morissette! So delighted to see her sing at the X Factor Finale Night with finalist Josh Krajcik. Their duet was simply breathtaking! Alanis, you’re in my bucket list! ;-) Would be so thrilled to watch you perform live.

Together with our classmates, we grew up together. We were friends. We played. We teased. We fought. We laughed. We learned. Elementary and high school days – how could we forget? Eusell, as you reach your final resting place, in behalf of our friends, classmates, and batchmates – I bid you goodbye. May your soul rest in peace.

Climb Every Mountain -our graduation song. Now we want to sing that for you; but as we do this time, we pray that you will climb and cling to the arms of our Father in heaven. We will miss you!

I stood by the window with my cup of coffee this morning. I breathed in the cold wind and welcomed the rain’s kiss on my cheeks. I held on to the sight of the trees. Lush and green, they danced in the wind. And like me, they seem happy in the rain. Idyllic. On this cold, rainy morning, my heart flickered.

But as I drank the beauty of that moment, I closed my eyes and bowed my head as I thought of the more than 900 people missing and more than 600 deaths (as of today) in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. The storm Sendong left at least 100,000 residents in devastation – they have lost their homes, things, and worst of all – loved ones.

I am, once again, moved by the human spirit to survive, to help one another, and to hold on. I can only imagine the pain, the questions…My heart grieves.

“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not…it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” - J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling’s speech at Harvard’s Commencement touched two subjects that never fail to make me respond, wonder, and think…

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

“I had failed on an epic scale…I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended…Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant stripping away of the inessential…I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged. I was set free…and so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

“Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you failed by default.”

“You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity.”

“Imagination is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside us…We have the power to imagine better.”

She ended with a quote by Seneca: “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

I’ve been smiling today as I thought of my four-year-old niece Ruth. As always, her stories and the stories about her never fail to make me laugh and wonder. Her language and creative mind always blow me away. As her writer auntie, I am soooo proud and thrilled of her! 

As I walked later this afternoon to buy some food in the grocery store, some story ideas danced in my head as I thought again of her…such a character! Couldn’t wait to get home to write. But I got news instead that an earring back got into her nose. I couldn’t keep myself from shaking. I held my breath till I heard from my sisters again.

Thank God the doctor was fast and got it out from her nose. Not without bleeding though. Her Mama asked her what happened. “I don’t know,” Ruth said (in English ). She speaks English, Cebuano, and Masbateno. I don’t know if she realizes she speaks two languages and one dialect. Haha.

Oh, baby. What were you thinking? I’m just glad you’re okay now. Be well, li’l girl. Stay creative, but don’t harm yourself. I love you.