I'm Special

I retyped this message from a paper I saw nailed on my cork board from the old house. I know it's given to us by a teacher of ours back in high school, I'm just not sure what year was that, but I'm suspecting it's 2nd year. Hehe. I don't know who the author of this piece is. But since it's undeniably a good piece, I decided to retype and share it. Happy reading!

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I'm special. In all the world there's nobody like me.

Since the beginning of time, there has never been another person like me. Nobody has my smile. Nobody has my eyes, my nose, my hair, my hands, my voice. I'm special. No one can be found who has my handwriting.

Nobody anywhere has my tastes- for food, for music or art. No one sees things just as I do.

In all of time there's been no one who laughs like me, no one who cries like me. And what makes me laugh and cry will never provoke identical laughter and tears from anybody else, ever.

No one reacts to any situation just as I would react. I'm special.

I'm the only one in all of creation who has my set of abilities. Oh, there will always be somebody who is better at one of the things I'm good at, but no one in the universe can reach the quality of my combination of talents, ideas, abilities, and feelings. Like a roomful of musical instruments, some may excel alone, but none can match the symphony sound when all are played together. I'm a symphony. Through all of eternity no one will ever look, talk, walk, think or do like me. I'm special. I'm rare.

And, in all rarity, there is great value.

Because of my great rare value, I need not attempt to imitate others. I will accept- yes, celebrate- my differences.

I'm special. And I'm beginning to realize it's no accident that I'm special. I'm beginning to see that God made me special for a very special purpose. He must have a job for me that no one else can do as well as I. Out of all the billions of applicants, only one is qualified. Only one has the right combination of what it takes.

That one is me. Because... I'm special.

Let Go.

Letting go of something, or someone, isn't as easy as it sounds. It's like picking up pieces of broken vase using bare hands; you don't pick them all up at once because: 1) you can't pick them all at once, and 2) you will hurt yourself by doing so, but instead, we pick them piece by piece.

When we let go of material things, we do it because we no longer need them or it ceased performing its purpose. If it doesn't have a sentimental value to you, you won't think twice giving it up, right?

Aside from material things, personal relationships are also candidate for letting go. May it be friendship, boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, marriage, and death. We let go of a friendship because one party decided to stop making the friendship continue or grow stronger. You let go of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and marriage because things are not working out. One of them might have fallen out of love, or priorities might have changed. Worse case is that there's someone else that would immediately take over your place in your other half's life. As for death, it's inevitable; nothing's permanent in this life, as life itself is temporary. Our loved ones may have gone, we may not want them to go but we have to.

We let go of these things because we want to lift the burden that makes our hearts twitch because of the pain it feels whenever we think of what supposedly we are holding on to. Memories, yes. These memories will forever stay in our minds, whether we want them or not, and we select those we want to always remember and overcome the memories we want to be erased. But these memories will not happen again. When we look back on those happy thoughts (or maybe depressing/sad for others), we tend to think, "What if things worked out differently?" or "Maybe I should have done this instead of that in order to save our relationship". Would they even still matter right now? Perhaps yes, if you are in reconciling terms/ civil with the other person. Otherwise maybe not.

Letting go is freeing yourself from the pain you acquire from the abrupt change in your friendship. Letting go is giving more time to your own needs than reminiscing the past. Letting go is giving up holding on to the memories and start making new brighter ones. Letting go is making yourself look forward to new challenges in life instead of pondering if somebody from the past would be disappointed for your actions. Letting go is making new acquaintances and friends rather than waiting for old friends to resurface in front of you. Letting go is giving yourself a total makeover in your outlook on life. Letting go is accepting the passing of your loved ones. Letting go is loving yourself more than you love others.

New Found Treasures

I admit that I used to not like buying books on second-hand bookstores. I just like going there, and enjoy the smell of the books. But a few years ago, I came to love second hand bookstores. It's a heaven of books from not so popular authors! Not only that, you can find books that cannot be seen from the regular bookstores, from the authors that you love. But I have yet to see a Nicholas Sparks or Cecelia Ahern or Sophie Kinsella on those bookstores, hehe.

Anyway, it's fun to discover "new" authors there, and prices are way cheaper than the original ones; there was one store where I recently went to and all the novels are priced on 50 pesos! And the good thing there is that the books are still in good condition. The authors I've found worth reading are Luanne Rice, Susan Wiggs, Kristin Hannah, Karen Crane, and Paula Reeds (all are fiction/romance writers). If you want a Nora Roberts or Danielle Steel or James Patterson novels, they also have their books there.

The down side of these second-hand bookstores? Books are not organized according to author or genre. Few years back, I asked if they have a certain title of one of the authors that I was addicted to at that time, they were somehow clueless; so I asked if they have a complete list of books they currently have on hand-- none. Sadness. So, I have to diligently browse all the books they have there to find what I was looking for.

And there's this different feeling when you get to see novels from the authors you've been watching out. Plus the smell of books. Plus the idea that you know you will have another enjoyed moment reading novels. All in all, it's pure bliss. ♥

Losing Friends

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

-- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident

the art of losing's not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

-One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

Have you ever come to a point in your life where a close friend of yours started drifting away from you and eventually it would seem like you don't know each other at all? Para bang wala kayong pinagsamahan.

I am the kind of person that does not consider a friend to be someone close to me, until he/she exceeded my expectations. And when I say close, I mean REALLY close. Like someone who would confide in me real personal stuff, and stuff like that. And when I gain close friends, I would really treasure them as they would take a major role in my life.

But when a close friend would say "friends forever", I sometimes wanted to doubt and ask, "Seryoso yan ha? Walang bawian yan kahit ano pa ang mangyari? Kahit after pa ng trials sa friendship natin e friends pa rin tayo tulad ngayon?" But sadly, that ain't the case.

Recently, 2 close friends of mine drifted away from me. One said we'll be friends forever yet this person just stopped talking to me, and the other one for some other petty reason. For the first friend, it's just weird that at one point we're constantly talking, and suddenly *poof*, I'm being ignored. It came to the point that I was really wondering if I should ask my friend already what's wrong. But I didn't; I don't know if it's the pride that hinders me or whatever else. Weeks, months passed by and still nothing from that person. So, if I like someone to share my frustrations or stories or whatever else with, I know I can't turn to this person anymore, no matter how much I want to. I wonder if that person still wants to talk to me like before.

As for my other friend, he "had to" drift away as his partner was getting jealous. So it's kinda like I was "accused" of "trying to steal the guy from her" or something like that. The girl is also my friend although I know the guy longer, and we talk in front of the girl naman but some physical gestures were misunderstood by her. At first I wanted to talk her out that there's nothing for her to be jealous of, walang malisya between me and the guy. But I thought that maybe she wouldn't want to hear any of it, so decided not to do it anymore. Hey, do I even look like a boyfriend snatcher?!?! Was I a threat to their relationship from the start? Do I even look like a threat?! So, yeah, we stopped talking after that, and I guess they're okay again in their relationship.

Nail Art

To those who've known me from the start, they know that I am not kikay. At all. Therefore, I am not into those bracelets, or necklaces, or earrings, or even nail polishes. But yes, I do put nail polish once in a while, but only of very light shades. I remember the very first one I painted on my nails were metallic light green, and you can barely see it unless you stare at my nails. And this was back in college already. And over the years, I have my nails painted, maybe at least every 3 months or less, but I get frustrated as they chip off after I have them done. So I stop having my nails painted. Until recently, when nail arts are getting more famous, I enjoy viewing them. Yet I never have nail arts as they were expensive in nail salons. I compliment my sister when she get nail arts (she's the kikay one), or my friend does one.

So after looking at all those fantastic nail arts (and kept bugging a friend to do this and that), I told myself that maybe I could try doing one. But I thought that it's a tedious job. My friend did one nail art on me when she slept over at our place.

Here's the one that was done on my nails. Sabog nga lang yan cause it was done at almost 1am already.

The first ever nail art that I personally did was a bamboo. It was a promise for a friend that I will show her a sample of a bamboo nail art. 

And since I also promised her a panda...

But my panda is not looking so much like a panda. :))

Since I totally enjoying how people do the water marble nail art. I did one as well!

Water marble is the only nail art the I did in all fingers of one hand. Because I find nail art making tedious (but very fun), I usually only do one on my thumb.

And just early this afternoon, I did my latest nail art, "color block nail art", with the help of this video from Youtube.

I found few other nail arts that I found interesting to do, I'll do them some other time. :)

I Won't Give Up

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
There's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools and gifts we got yeah, we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not
And who I am

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
Still looking up.

I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)
God knows I'm tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)
We've got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)
God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

Mamma Mia!

Yesterday, I went to watch Mamma Mia with my mom at the CCP. The show was fantastic! If only I could watch it again and again.

Years ago, I was also able to watch the movie version of this musical, and both of the versions did not disappoint me. Both are entertaining and would really make you dance your heart out. I still don't know what came first, if it's the movie or the Broadway version, but according to what I read, they both are adapted from a book.

What I love about the movie version is that it captures the beauty of the island. On the other hand, what I love about the theater version is it has scenes that were not in the movie, as well as some ABBA songs too. And to make the stage realistic, they made the backdrop look like the sea. Both the actors from the movie and the theater did a very amazing job on portraying their roles.

The show will run for a week more, I think, and it's a wrap. The CCP is still jampacked with a lot of watchers, both children and adult. You can hear people singing to the tunes, and if the song is very familiar to them (such as Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen), the audience will acknowledge it by clapping real loud or shouting. By the end of the show, those seated on the VIP area, stood up and danced. Us in the balcony area, did not stand, as we might fall forward. Hahaha.