OLD FRIENDS ARE LIKE OLD WINE

A week ago, I had this surprise call in my mobile. It was an overseas call. At first I did not recognize who it was until she told me her name. She turned out to be M one of my college friends and collegue, in fact our editor in chief in the college newspaper, way back years ago. And this long forgotten face suddenly clicked in my mind. I just cannot believe it! The last time I saw M was just like after graduation from college, and after that we just lost touch. Although I heard from friends that she is now a doctor in Manila, married to a lawyer and recently had a baby - i never really had the slightest clue how to contact her, even if there was a need to. Apparently, she got my mobile number from another old friend. She asked for my email address so she could send an invitation for the baptism of her daughter. Apparently, I was chosen as one of the godparents. Well, aside from being flabbergasted, I told her she does not really expect me to fly to the Philippines in such short notice. She laughed because the baptism already took place last February anyway. So there was no need to panic. And so we laughed delightfully as we laughed twenty years ago for jokes like this. And realizing we had not changed at all, we laugh and laugh again until we realized we were on a long distance call. This broke almost two decades of silence. Old friends. After two lenghty emails with photo attachments, also exchanging news as to what happened to so and so, we more or less linked up the past to the present and promised that we keep in touch from now on. It is good to know that she is really happy with her life and her choices. Again, I wonder how life really unfolds like ribbons and knots.

REMEMBERING THE FALLEN'

Today, Australia celebrated ANZAC Day. This is to commemorate wartime heroes including those who died in the Gallipoli. Personally, I was happy because it means it is a public holiday and a break during the working week is always a treat. But being a part of the celebration changed the whole meaning of this public holiday into something really important. It's my first time to have a go and woke up early to see the parade which is just a walking distance from our place. I did not realize that there are so many Melburnians involved (as in the parade almost took the whole day to finish starting from early dawn service). Most of the people on the parade are really old and some of them could not even walk -but they did try. For families and friends of those who died during the war, this is a very sentimental event, almost venerable. There was an air of respect, patriotism and honor, and it is good to see this in the eyes of the young people and children who wore the medals of glory for their beloved literally. Being an australian citizen, there is so much to learn about history and heritage. I think that being in the Anzac parade reminded of this duty.

AN EASTER REVUE

As I was kneeling on four, brushing our old "baltic pine" wood floor with opaque lacquer to give it a final gloss, I contemplated on my life and where my values are. Am I becoming more of a slave to material things?

Am I being fearful of days when I/we would be short of cash, jobless and under concession (government aid)?

Am I being terrified of what people would say? Am I being worried more of things that are temporary?

Am I not free? Am I at the brink of insanity? These were questions of penance, is suppose, that lingered on until the end of the easter weekend. Last night, we watched a movie called V, and apart from all the other scenes which were totally forgettable/ludicrous, there was a scene that really grabbed me by the throat. Natalie Portman was imprisoned, stripped, shaved, interrogated, floored down, etc. to the point where she willed to give her life in lieu of the truth. When she was ready to die and give it all, she felt free - for she finally reached that reality than there is more to being just alive. Values such as heroism, love and honor, freedom. In the celebration of the Easter week, I was again reminded that there is more to life than these. The magic of the flowers I captured above, during the International Flower Melbourne Exhibition last week, reveals it all. Peace!

LIVING LA VIDA LOCA LOCA

Hi everyone... thanks for dropping by and leaving comments and suggestions. Really appreciated. I am still alive!!! I've finally found time to update my blog. So busy these days. For the past weekends we went to three different trash and treasure markets to get rid of unwanted and trashy stuff that we have identified in the house. This is sooo good. And I really enjoyed selling stuff for dollars and cents. I can't believe what people can sell and buy. I also discovered that I am a very natural seller - and I enjoy talking to all sort of people in the market. So we decided this will be a good way of getting rid of stuff, plus we earn some funds for our house renovation like paints and stuff!! We also started clearing up one room and repainting it. Originally the room was used as a study and the color was horribly green, as in pale dark green like the girl scouts uniform. I've always hated this color since it makes the room really dark and so constricting. We decided to repaint it with alabaster white, with bright pastel yellow as a wall feature and a sunny orange spot on the fireplace wall. The result is fabulously amazing. Really changed the atmosphere and the setting of the room. Well, I will be talking about this more since we plan to do the rooms with different thematic colors. Last Sunday, we went to the Internatioal Flower Festival held every year in Melbourne. It was amazing. As I really love flowers, I took more that a hundred photos and the following are some of them. Hope you enjoy as well.

After days of labor and toil, the sight of these magnificent flowers just lifted up my spirits and made me alive again !!! It was really worth going to that show.