John 3:8

"The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit."


The past few months have really been trying times. As darkness falls on you as you go deeper into the woods you scramble to find someone out here. A porch light ahead, a bonfire perhaps? Something that will give you a sense of where you are or where you might be headed to. You can't always find it.

Stop and listen. You can't always see what lies in front of you, especially if you've got your mind set on finding something that isn't whats out there. Close your eyes and listen, maybe we'll even be able to feel what is out there.

Ristra's

I was startled to find Kace already sprawled on my easy chair when I came out of the shower. We were having dinner at Ristra's tonight. We were already dreaming of fish tacos as we chatted while I was getting ready. The line was pretty long and moving quite slowly, but we didn't mind because we were eyeing all the things coming out of the kitchen. We kept on asking the waiter "What's that?" "A Wet Burrito!" "Do we want that Kace?" There were two kinds of Fish Tacos. Baja Fresh or Fish Taco Supreme -- the latter was the choice, Cheese the deciding factor. Every thing coming out of the kitchen looked like it could feed 5. We asked the chef/water guy how big the fish tacos were.. "2 pieces, yay big." Hmmmm.. "Should we order something else?" Says Kace. "A Burrito perhaps?" "If you want, lets go.. But its so huge." "How about Tres Leches." In the end we decide pretend to be un-glutinous ordering the Fish Taco Supreme to share and the 9 Layer Dip and Nachos with a "Let's eat the Burrito next week on the side :)"

Notice that we weren't able to take pictures of the fish tacos because when they came, we forgot about the camera. "Are we sure we don't want Tres Leches?"

Both dishes did not disappoint. "I can't stop eating purple chips." Still nothing beats the fish tacos at Kapuluan Vista.

Stuffed, we walked down to DEC and found Chi his favorite Pineapple Cakes. Kace got some Hopia, Taho and Almond Jelly to take home. It was a nice breezy evening and the quiet street was nice to walk in. Got some tea at Serenetea to help digest ha-ha. Headed to Reserve to see the girls for a bit. I miss you all, and it was nice to catch up.

Customer Service 101

Instead of electives for Graduate School, I opted to take a series of seminars at Ateneo's Center Center for Continuting Education. I wasn't satisfied with the electives they offer at the grad school and believe that these short seminars may be more beneficial for me. Plus I didn't want to take a weekly class again. Almost done, last semester and I am done.

The seminar was very helpful indeed. I was able to learn concrete steps on how to determine, strategize, deliver and measure customer service as well as exceptional customer service.

What really impressed me today was the resource person. Mrs. Bim Mercado. I happened to find a picture of her on google. ( I tried googling my name too and my profile pictures came up, i don't think that is such a good thing. ) I was there for 8 hours, sans the 2, 15 minute breaks and an hour for lunch, and not once did my head bob. I was completely engaged the entire time. She spoke candidly in taglish, exceptional english and tagalog without pretensions. All her examples and stories were so close to home.  Watching her lecture gave me so many ideas on how to train my people. How I should speak and carry myself at work. Definitely a speaker to rave about. I hope I can attend another one of her seminars again. She was a graduate of UP and is now also taking her masters in AGSB. She had a book with her that I saw beside her bag. It was "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. Never heard of it. Beautiful cover, A New York Times Bestseller. Straight to my reading list.

A Great Evening

Got out of my seminar at around 530 in the afternoon and decided to head home right after. Dong ( my trusty driver )  had decided to take his favorite route home-- through the back streets of Mandaluyong down Pioneer. I read in the car -- after a while you those headaches disappear -- so I don't really mind even if I suspect its a longer route. Sometimes I like to look out the window because theres a lot more action along those streets. You see a lot of tambays, or people selling stuff outside their small apartments. The isaw and fishball stalls always get my mouth watering. I especially like seeing the small businesses that are present in these streets and am always looking for an empty commercial space that might be good for a laundry shop. Tonight I was engrossed in the first of four 5S books I got and has been set as my car reading material. Luckily I remembered that I had to pass by a grocery to get crackers and yoghurt just as we were driving by Pioneer Supermarket. I was impressed at their wide selection of cookies-- I love cookies-- thank god discipline is reigning now-a-days. I decided to take a stroll around and I was in awe of their selection of cooking equipment. They had every kind of cooking device you could think of-- well, maybe not every kind... They have huge frying pans and cauldrons. Deep fryers, steamers of all shapes and sizes, baking tins for every single thing you can bake. All kinds of containers. They even had those japanese bamboo rice containers in all size and bento boxes. I didn't even know that strainers came in so many different forms. I have no apparent use for them but it was such a wonder for me to discover where to get all these things if I will ever need  them in the future. I texted Kace right away in my excitement and set a date for a creative excursion there just to marvel. Perhaps I should bake something then.

I got home at around 7 and immediately set out to make my dinner. Portobello Mushrooms and Mozarella on the menu. I am following this diet that a good friend has lost 50 pounds with. I am so proud of him ( and jealous ) But I cheat a bit because I would be negligible on this earth if I lost the same  amount of weight. I sat at the table and turned the television on while the food went into the oven and caught Oprah on ETC Second Avenue. It was the best Oprah episode I've seen in the last... hmmm.... maybe 7 years. I used to be an Oprah addict, watching Oprah 3 times a day on television. One of my life goals is to be able to watch it live, dreaming that it would be the "My Favorite Things Episode" too. Oprah's ending soon so I should keep that in check. Oprah became a little to preachy the past few years and I guess being out of the house for most of the past 5 years didn't really give me a chance to see her much so I lost my great love for her. But tonight was an amazing episode. It was the episode "Women Around The World" where they showed the lives of women in Copanhaegan, Dubai, Brazil, Turkey, and Japan. The segment on Copenhagen was my favorite-- which was also the main event. Apparently, Copenhaegen is the happiest country in the world. Citizens get paid to go to college, yes they get paid. They also get a year of paid maternity leave. Schooling and Healthcare is completely free. They showed the houses of a couple of women who lived so simply devoid of any clutter. They believe that less stuff is more space and more life. The reason why they are so happy is beacause they don't fear much. They are so well taken care of by the government. People prioritize their values over anything where families are top. Everyone's heading home by 4 in the afternoon in their bicycles to have dinner with their families. People do not chose their careers based on monetary reasons because consumerism is not a priority, life is and doing what you love is whats important. It is even common for women to have children without a husband because they don't need men to take care of them. They marry only and truly out of love, never out of necessity. Can I please move to Denmark? No wonder they are the happiest people in the world. I'd love to live in an environment like that. Then Chi comes down and I rave about Copenhagen-- he says "Eeew, socialist." Perhaps socialism is a good thing.

Chi goes into the kitchen and cooks dinner. My brother is such a good cook-- or maybe I am just biased. But he seriously is. Tonight he cooked hamburger patties in some Worsterchire and beer sauce he experimented with... It was so good, yes I had a piece-- yes I cheated-- no rice naman. I was so happy to hear that he was clearing his room of junk when I got home and then cooking dinner--- hmmmm?? Someone is following in my footsteps... :)

Dojo Wisdom by Jennifer Lawler

I am not ashamed to admit that I love reading self-help books.

I think they are modern day philosophies. A glance at how other people see the world. You don't have to believe everything they say. Take what works for you and try it out.  Perhaps a different perspective could open your eyes to a new door.

I was with Drei at that beautiful used book store in Cebu called La Belle Aurore when I got this. "Is it in your 3 goals for the week?" She was teasing me-- and sadly no, but for 50 pesos it was a negligible expense.

It turned out to be a great read for me. Simply written, simple ideas but full of things I know I let myself forget most of the time.

A few wise words from the Dojo...

1. You can't learn if your'e not willing to find out what you're doing wrong.
2. Sharpen your weapons, brush up on fundamentals.
3. Keep your goal in mind. Each day do something to bring you closer to it.
4. Travel light
5. Be courteous not only to others, but also to yourself. Even if they don't deserve it.
6. Prepare from blows instead of fearing them.
7. Achieve confidence when striking through practice.
8. Study what makes others successful, what makes your friends happy and what others do when they're afraid.  
9. Don't be self-conscious.
10. The warrior must be single-minded.

I'm thinking of taking Karate. Hahaha. Worth every centavo and more.

My Sunshine by Catherine Anderson

Picked this book up at a small used  book stand at PureGold in Shaw as I waited for the lady to ring up all the groceries for Missions last Sunday.

I wanted to get something light, nothing that would stir my wild imagination. A respite from the worries and wiles in my all too active mind. I've been scanning the Romance section at Fully Booked. Browsing through Danielle Steel and some other pocket-bookish types thinking that I need some passion in my consciousness but I can't seem to bring myself to pick one up. Sunshine, being one of my favorite words and for 160 pesos-- it was a done deal.

It fit the bill. Started the 421 page journey before going to bed Wednesday night and finished by Friday afternoon.-- Thats between a season and a half of Entourage, the entire book of Job, my daily "Romancing the Ordinary" and Gospel for the day. (I know, I read quite a lot)

It was nice to experience lives of people who knew what they wanted in their lives and were just making that happen. Isaiah was a veterinarian and devoted his life into his passion even if it meant foregoing fun, socializing or finding someone to love. Laura on the other hand, accepted her disabilities with dignity and courage.  She has genuine concern for everyone around her, an inspiring character whose demeanor I want to strive to emulate.

Nothing spectacular, but a good enough experience.

A Return After Long Wanderings

Friday night. Asked "Plans?"
"Read and Sleep"
Saturday night. Asked "Plans?"
"Read and Sleep"

As a result, I am 34 pages shy of finishing 311 pages of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" that I picked up last night. And on Frans's tombstone they wrote "A Return After Long Wanderings" -- Just as I am at this point. Back to doing what I do best-- the art of doing nothing. Space to breathe. At times comforting and sporadically unbearable. This lightness of being yet to be explained.