Weekender: Follow Your Dreams

Hello and welcome to the Weekender!

This time of the week is dedicated to my random thoughts about life, love and faith.  Mostly, they are the ones I would tell myself so I would be prepared to face yet another week - yes, the week ahead.

Let me share with you a story I have received via e-mail many many years ago.  It is a story of two brothers who, upon arriving at the condominium found out that the elevator wasn't working and won't be up sooner. Since they already wanted to get to their unit and get some rest, the brothers decided to use the stairs instead.  From the first floor to the tenth, the brothers were enjoying, talking and laughing.  However, when they got to the twenty-something floor (I forgot which floor it was), they were already fighting over who should carry their luggage as they are becoming heavier and heavier.  To stop the arguments, the brothers decided to just leave behind some bags.  Many bags were left along the way - on different floors. With less bags with them, their ascend was more relax and fun. Finally, the brothers reached their unit at the 60th floor. Though there were very exhausted, they were happy that they may finally get some (needed) rest.  However, they soon realized that the key to their unit was actually kept on one of the bags that they have left behind on the twenty-something floor.

Many times in our lives, following our dreams are difficult because of the current situation, the need to complete other tasks, responsibilities or even obligations.  Also, some paths to our dreams are uncomfortable, rough and rocky. Take for example those brothers who left their bags along the way. They may have had a more comfortable ascend but they also have left behind the key - the key to open their dream destination - their condo unit so they could get some rest. Fulfillment will only be achieved when we dared to take the uncomfortable path and follow our dreams.

In my life, I had left behind some dreams which I thought were too difficult to accomplish.  As I turn 30 this November, I'm promising myself to go back where I left those dreams some eight floors down so I could accomplish them (I hope it's never too late).  Also, I am creating a list of those things I so wanted to do when I was younger so I would be reminded and would never lose sight of the dreams - no matter how small they are. I will do this so I could track my accomplishments and when I finally reached the 60th floor, I will be able to tell myself how well I did in life.  Hopefully, I would be able to tell myself that I did a good job.

DREAMS, I'm coming to get you.  Get ready!

What I Did While Out of the Blogosphere

Friday saw me shopping for yet additional baking materials.  Talk about being serious on baking! :)  Met up with Kiboy after office hours at SM Megamall just in time for dinner. After a hefty dinner, I proceeded to check out the available baking equipment at the department store while Kiboy went on to check the latest toys at Jae's Collectibles (someday, I will be writing about his collections!).  Friday wasn't so great.  I only managed to buy the round baking pans which I will be using for Aya's birthday cake.  Dropping by the supermarket, I was able to buy some baking ingredients. Awesome!

It rained heavily on that night so instead of going to Sitel's office (Kiboy's employer) to claim his company shirt, we headed home - on a bus caught in super heavy traffic.  What was I supposed to expect, we were at EDSA.

We woke up to a cold Saturday morning after snoozing for five more minutes...then another five...then another. :) Saturday was spent mall hopping.  The agenda?

1.  Get a gelatin mold for Leila (the ever supportive engineering assistant)
2.  Get  a chocolate mold for me (ahem!)
3.  Get Rhino for Kiboy
4.  Get that WWF figure Kiboy has always wanted (at least for a couple of weeks or so)

Since we were not able to get his company shirt last night, here's agenda #5: drop by Sitel's and get a company shirt (so important huh!)

Our first stop was at Robinsons Galleria where we bought Rhino.

Next is Sitel.  However, on our way there, the rain had started pouring again and the wind was blowing so hard.  Kiboy wanted to cancel that route but I insisted since we were already there.  Unfortunately, the personnel said claiming is only from 3pm to 12mn Mondays to Fridays.  Wasted time?  I can't tell for sure.

That being said, we headed to our third stop - Jae's Collectibles, SM Megamall.  Arriving at the mall, we immediately proceeded to Jae's.  But upon thorough inspection, Kiboy did not bought the WWF figure.  The reason? - he wasn't satisfied with its packaging (the collector's eye was turned on at the time)

The fourth and last stop was Landmark, Trinoma.  Though I was able to get the gelatin and chocolate molds that I wanted plus some muffin liners and not to mention a bonus silicon spatula, I wasn't so happy.  I felt, I needed more :(

I guess that's all for saturday.

Sunday came so soon.  Nothing much aside from cleaning the house, preparing the office clothes for the coming week, hearing mass and blogging a little.  Little did I know that sunday night is going to be drastically remarkable.

I embarked on a chicken roasting activity for dinner.  I was so excited but to cut the super long and agonizing story, I burnt my hand.  Yes, burnt my hand.

But that was not the worst weekend ending yet.  We didn't like the chicken.  It was a super failure.
Sunday, was a never-to-be-repeated day.  Of course, who wants to be burnt time and again?

The rain poured heavily since Sunday night and we woke up to a flooded highway on Monday.  Oh flood!  I decided to stay home and be safe the whole morning since the major roads that I will take going to the office are flooded.  I never wanted to have a Maring Typhoon experience part 2.

The rain had stopped around noon.  I went to the office because there are a lot of things to do - and I mean A LOT.

Tuesday was not that good too.  I left my keys at home which means I won't be able to open my shoe locker and my office drawers! My morning was saved because my newly issued ESD shoes was under my table and not on my shoe locker.  So I was using a new shoes on TS audit's first day...awesome...but it was not comfortable.  I want my old shoes.

Good thing that I have the spare keys so my day went ahead as usual.
Arriving home during that night was a different story though.  I don't have the keys which means I have to call someone to open the gate and doors for me.  I can't use the doorbell for some reason which I can't tell you.  It's a secret, you know. :)  Other thing is, I can't call father to open the gate because of cellphone signal issues.

While I was outside the house, a vehicle had stopped directly in front of me.  Opened the window to the passenger side but never said a word.  I was tempted to ask if he needs anything but decided not to.  I thought, if he needed anything or wanted to know something, he should have asked and not just stopped in front of me.  He was looking at me as if he wants to talk to me.  The friendliest in me thought that he was a jerk, a kidnapper, a rapist?, a killer?  I'm not sure.  But the point is, no one in the right frame of mind will actually stop directly in front of a private residence if he/she doesn't need anything from that residence.

I was reminded of Kae Davantes' case.  She was grabbed when she was about to enter the gates of her house, robbed and killed thereafter.  I immediately took refuge at a nearby internet shop.  After about five minutes, the vehicle left without saying a word - just in time so father won't catch him staying in front of our house for no reason.  Good for him!

Wednesday is Aya's birthday and the second day of our TS audit.  Remember the birthday cakes I told you about? I was not able to bake them.  I was just so tired, sleepy, tired, sleepy  Had I mentioned, tired?  They were supposed to look like this:

I don't have much to do with the audit on its first day and second day.  Except that, I was expected to stay and wait for any thing that might be needed from me.  And you know what?  That's the hardest and the most tiring of all activities.

Thursday is my audit day.  I was on the production line for most of the day.  Sat with the Malaysian auditor (he's not the lead auditor by the way) for the MSA (measurement systems analysis) audit, stayed doing nothing from 6pm to 10pm except for the document review, data monitoring and line checking (and I call that nothing). And oh, waiting again for the graveyard shift audit that should start promptly at 10pm.  We went home at 11:45pm

I arrived home at 1:30am.
Hey! It's already Friday.

The audit result released on Friday afternoon wasn't really bad but it wasn't good either.
I went home early.

Met up with Kiboy again at SM Megamall (because he works nearby).

Saturday, I was supposed to be blogging but I needed to clean the clutter in the house.  Kiboy was sick so I accompanied him to the clinic with the weirdest doctor in town :)

So here, I'm blogging on a super early Sunday morning (early based on my Sunday waking up habit) and catching up on the latest and hottest blogosphere happenings while waiting for the mall opening hours.  Yikes!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Weekender: Footprints in the Sand

Sharing with you this wonderful poem on trust and faith.

May we always find strength and refuge in the arms of our Lord.

Happy weekend!

Weekender: The Box for the Lord

Happiness is not the absence of problems, it's the ability to deal with them.

-Steve Maraboli

Problem - a difficulty that has to be solved or dealt with. 

- Dictionary.com

A problem is like a package knocking furiously on your doorstep.

And while you are not yet done checking its contents, another one comes along.

and still another one.

and so on.

So you end up with

Well, you are not alone.
Yes, you are not alone.

Everybody has a problem.  Some big, some small.  Some are trivial while some are not.  Oftentimes, even the smallest problems for some would seem unbearable for others.

Remember the quote "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder"?  In the same manner I would say, "The size and gravity of a problem are in the eyes of the beholder".  It is basically because how we handle our problem is directly affected by our emotional state and psychological state at the time (should I include financial there?).

While we can solve some of them, others are just too heavy to be borne.  At that point, we would need to transfer them.

For He said "cast your burdens upon me".

And yes indeed, we need to do that.
Have an unsinkable faith.

PRAY.

Remember:

Just
Always
Pray
At
Night (and Day, too!)

Thank you for dropping by.

Happy weekend!

Thanks to Google for the images.
Sorry for the lousy text on the images.
I made them on Powerpoint. Imagine :)