thanks to a good friend, my horrible day has turned into an enlightening evening. i've heard the same pieces of advice from others but coming from someone wizened and with the gift of giving advice, i actually took it to heart.

still, the romantic in me can't help but hope - and pine - for the boy. hence the song. i just discovered it today. it's exactly how i'm feeling right now.

Pag Nagkataon
The Company

Bakit ang ngiti mo'y
Iba yata ngayon
Ngiti ng umiibig
'Di nga ba gano'n 'yon?
Ano kaya't ako
Ang nasa puso mo
'Pag Nagkataon
Ang ligaya ko!

Bakit ang tingin mo'y
Iba yata ngayon
Tingin ng umiibig
'Di nga ba gano'n 'yon?
Sino nga kaya
Ang nasa puso mo?
Sino ba ang mahal
Ng minamahal ko?

'PAG NAGKATAON
'PAG MINAHAL MO
BUONG PUSO KO'Y
IBIBIGAY SA 'YO
ARAW-ARAW SASABIHIN
MINAMAHAL KITA
'PAG NAGKATAONG
TAYO NG DALAWA

Bakit ang saya mo?
'Pag kasama kita
Baka nga totoong
Nagmamahal ka na
Sana ay ikaw
Ang kapalaran ko
'Pag nagkataon
Liligaya tayo!

Ako kaya o iba?
Sino nga bang mahal mo talaga?
May kaba ako ngayon
Ano kaya?
'Pag Nagkataon

two things.

1. every family should have a lawyer; and
2. i'm glad i'm a lawyer.

last weekend, i had my schedule all set up: watch hell's kitchen, go to the mall to get shoes fixed and buy a present for a friend, have dinner with friends, do laundry, and attend my boss' husband's birthday party. i was able to get as far as the third task when someone called informing me that a family member was in trouble.

trouble as in he was being detained in jail.

he had already engaged the services of another lawyer, a friend i had recommended earlier that day to help him with an estafa case he wanted to file against someone. when i learned that he did that, i wanted to hit him - off the top of my head, i can name at least two other lawyers who could better help him with his case. but ethics demands that i stick with his decision, no matter how disagreeable it was, and to just do the best i could under the circumstances.

after forty-eight hours in detention, a poorly-executed settlement, and a lot of frustration, we were able to all finally go home. but, before that happened, it took a lot of shouting (on my part - i totally hated how lazy and incompetent my friend was throughout the entire thing), calling other people (even if i theoretically knew what had to be done, i had zilch experience in things that happen before the actual trial), and doing what i had hoped my family's lawyer would have done (as i said, he was lazy).

when i finally fell into bed exhausted last monday night, i realized that every family should have a lawyer, whether a family member or someone you absolutely trust to protect your interests. the lawyer we engaged may have been a friend (yes, i don't want to think of him as a friend anymore - he, for the lack of a better word, majorly sucked) but at the end of the day, he was after getting his job done and collecting his professional fees. never, during the entire ordeal, did i feel he wanted to do anything to protect my family's interest. in fact, the entire sunday, he never once appeared to do what he could do but would just send text messages or call (and even have the guts to get mad at me when i don't pick up) me (not even the immediate family of the person involved) and just ask regarding what was happening over where we were. and, although he was told he could go, he didn't even have the delicadeza to wait until my relative was released before he high-tailed it out of there.

what if i wasn't there to tell my relatives exactly what was happening or what we could do in the meantime? what if my relatives were totally clueless about their rights? what if we couldn't afford the settlement the lawyer made for us? what if we were totally dependent on the lawyer?

i don't know. what i do know is that i'm thankful we had gotten through the ordeal unscathed, and that i had deleted that lawyer's number from my phone book. that's one lawyer who will never get a referral from me for as long as i live.

sometimes, i do run out of words.







especially when john lloyd and bea enters the picture, no pun intended.




well, fine a couple of words:
1. no more rice.
2. no more junk food.
3. no more fast food.

i know no amount of dieting will make me as pretty as bea, but i can as hell try, right?

it takes so little to make me happy.

today, though, a friend exceeded all expectations and made me ecstatically happy.

enchanted kingdom + a friend who loves riding all the same rides + fun conversation = one of the best days in the universe :)

when i told a friend i was going to watch beyonce's concert, she expressed concern.

"do you know that there are rumors going around that she isn't really going to be there?"

apparently, since the concert was being touted as "the beyonce experience" and considering that the words "live in taguig" were conspicously absent from the posters, there was a rumor going around that beyond wasn't really going to be there, that they'll just be doing a live feed of her doing a concert somewhere else.

the picture in the philippine star last wednesday morning should've shut up the rumors.

except that we were at the patron b section and when all the other people who were in the sections in front of us stood in their seats at the start of the concert, we were left with exactly that: the experience and zero view of beyonce.

i wish i could say that i at least saw her arm or something but unfortunately, all i can say is that from what i saw from the giant screen, she was amazing.

my third concert in this lifetime, my first major contemporary star, and i'm stuck with watching her on the giant screen. bummer.

yet another lovely hotel room somewhere in the city.

i don't think i'll ever get tired of this life. i'm 30, and yet i still enjoy being my aunt's dakilang alalay. before i used to be brought to where she is, then i graduated to commuting and now i'm her driver. i passed the bar, and people call me attorney, and litigants have to trust that i know what i'm doing when i decide a case but as far as my family's concerned, i'm just a girl who can drive and ferry people around.

i don't mind. as i've said, i love this life.

today i drove from cabanatuan city to manila to pasay city. tomorrow, i'm going to have to bring my aunt to picc, then i've to go home, get my shoes and uniform for work, then pick up my aunt and bring her home back to cabanatuan. that means i have to wake up early on monday and go straight to work from cabanatuan.

*whew*

tiring, but, let me repeat it again, i don't mind :)

i love the centralized airconditioning, the hot water, the tub, the plump pillows and firm bed. i enjoy the breakfast buffet, lounging around in the room, and the fluffy bathrobes.

some people would be pretty freaked out if they've been away from home as long as i have been - 10 days last week and so far, four days this week - but not me. weird as this may be, i actually enjoy living out of my suitcase :)

of course, this means i'm almost always missing something i wish i had with me but actually left at home.

anyway, this week's going to be a fun one for me. i've got beyonce scheduled for wednesday and enchanted kingdom on sunday. fun, fun, fun :)

i've barely unpacked "alfred", the giant suitcase, when i packed anew for my roadtrip to cabanatuan city.

yup it's time for my second "pilgrimage" to nueva ecija to visit my tita celia and lola lina. this year, though, it's a bit extra special since my cousin adette took the trip with me.

we were caught in numerous traffic jams on the way here, extending the trip to almost five hours. good thing i had her with me - with my body still bone-tired from the week-long trip to ormoc city and my iTrip refusing to work with my iPod, i would have most likely fallen asleep from the exhaustion. after a short pit stop at burger king at shell nlex, we plodded on, facing one traffic jam after another, until we finally arrived just in time for dinner at my aunt's house.

anyway, i won't talk about how i spent yesterday anymore - i'm willing to be everyone spent their all saint's day almost exactly the same way: visit dead relatives, eat there with living relatives, catch up and air kiss people you barely know, then pack up to go home. if you were crazy enough, like us, to bring a car, then you probably would add spend hours looking for a parking lot and spend hours taking car out of the parking space into the mix. so, save for the fact that i was wearing a new shirt and my new havaianas with me, my november 1 wasn't all that special.

yes, you read that right, i finally bought my own pair of havaianas. i was supposed to buy my own pair for my trip to ormoc but between catching up on work, buying stuff for my friend's wedding, and battling stomach flu, i barely had enough time to adequately prepare everything i needed for my trip to ormoc. thus, the feeling of "inadequacy" (yep, i felt that way even if i packed what could probably the biggest suitcase among 325 delegates) coupled with ten days without any mall time caused me to go on a shopping trip that would put even me to shame. since coming home last sunday, i've bought: a pair of cotton candy pink crocs prima, havaianas, a green shirt, a paisely mini dress with a nice belt, and a brown trapeeze top. i would have added jeans to the list except that i ran out of time. crazy, huh?

anyway, i'm driving back to manila tomorrow morning. my aunt's checked in at trader's hotel and will be attending a conference this weekend. whether i'm driving her home or not on sunday is still a question mark. let's just say that the way things are now, spike is bound to get the "exercise" of his life. so, so much for saving up on mileage.

my parents have finally sent this year's "balikbayan box". i am excited for it to arrive and am willing the forces that be that it arrive now, now, now. it usually takes a month for the box to arrive, longer in certain instances. but since that MAJORITY of the box contents are things i handpicked myself (including a nike backpack with ipod controls on the strap, crazy sexy shoes that i love but don't know whether they'll match anything in my closet, and truckloads of gummy bears, enough to give me a tummy ache) i am more excited than i have ever been. *sigh* when things like this happen to me, i so not feel like i'm a thrity-year-old lawyer but instead, feel like a ten-year-old whose idea of love and affection is anchored on a gaily wrapped present.

this is getting a bit too long already. it's way past lunctime and i think i owe it to the people around me to finally get out of my pajamas and somewhat be ready to face the world.

see you all again soon!