i'm manas ... what's up with that?

every single working day, as long as the receptionist is at her station, i get the requisite "good morning." now, since we're a tiny office and we're basically on chatting (read: critical at times) terms with one another, sometimes, the greeting will be punctuated with "ang taba niyo po ngayon" (to which i make a mental note to decrease the person's gift budget for christmas, mwahahaha) or "bagay po yung suot niyo today" (upon which the person's budget increases) or, the typics "ma'am, hinahanap po kayo ni xxx" (the partner who just can't get enough of my presence, hahaha).

today though, after i lounged about in bed an extra hour and a half, i was greeted with "ma'am, bakit ho mukhang manas na manas kayo ngayon."

sigh. manas. a tagalog word for which there is no exact english translation. i googled it and came out with beriberi and edema. i don't think so. for one, beriberi = weight loss, which i certainly have not experienced in years, and edema ... oh wait, edema just sounds about right, but doesn't really capture the idea of manas.

anyway, i tried pressing my face (to make it less swollen, how crazy, i know) and then i remembered, i just won the kiehl's miracle recovery concentrate contest over at beauty for a living. and, frances emailed saying that she'll just send it over by messenger. oooohhh. how happy is that?

so i said to myself, fine, the receptionist might think i'm manas. and, i sorta do feel a bit like manas in my face (especially below my left eye where i think some insect bit me). but a bottle of miracle is arriving soon (probably monday since there's no work saturday and sunday?) and i bet that in a couple of days i can tell the receptionist (with my now miracle-d out face), "so who is manas now?"

p.s. thanks again to frances for picking me as the winner! i had never won any "write a post" contest ever and it's especially encouraging that you picked my entry out of the many entries that you had ☺☺☺ so while i may write for a living (lawyers write more than they argue in court, promise), writing on this blog has been a passion for seven years (more if you count the old blog) and the prize is just the fuel i need to keep on writing more.

p.p.s watch this blog for updates about the transformative power of kiehl's on my manas face ☺☺☺