The Story Teller

Archive for November, 2010

‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to your friends.’

-JK Rowling, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone

Difficult as it is to choose, it is much more than that if the choices are between your friends and WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT. It’s not always that easy to stay righteous if it means betraying someone you care so much about. It’s like telling on a colleague tampering the company time card or looking at the other way when you see a friend cheating in the final exams.

Photo taken from the internet

Without looking, Bert answered yes so Dan asked again what he was supposed to do.

Bert said, ‘Please help me find a P500 bill. I dropped it a while ago but I can’t find it.’

That is easy, thought Dan and said, ‘Maybe we should start looking from where you were when you dropped it.’

’Oh,’ said Bert, ‘I dropped it there,’ and pointed at the dark alley outside the room.

‘But if you dropped it there, why are you searching for it here?’

‘Because this is where the light is. How could I possibly find a P500 bill there? It’s too dark I can’t even see my leg..’

How many times have we looked at the wrong place?

I heard this story from my father when I was young. I don’t know where he heard it from. I told it here the way I heard it. Photo taken from the internet.

Unlike other girls, I have very few clothes. When I was younger I thought it was because we were so poor that my parents only buy me a new dress on Recognition Day (to receive my medal or something) except on third year high school when I wore my sister Liz’s (of This is My Life) old dress.

Age and wisdom don’t necessarily go together. Some people just become stupid with more authority.

-Terry Pratchett, Readers Digest, May 2008

When we were younger we always hear the adults telling us that we couldn’t fool them because they’ve been in our situation before… ‘been there, done that’ they always say. What they were not taking into consideration was the difference in the cultural atmosphere between their time and our time, the generation gap.

Now that I’m an adult myself, I understand more clearly what they were trying to say. But though I don’t get taken by surprise, I refrain from saying ‘I told you so…’ and I wear the appropriate expression in a given situation to be able to empathize, because I think that’s the least I can do..

Mina was an only child. The only playmate she had was her mother. So, she was so happy when Len-len came to live with their neighbor, Lola Sela.

Len-len was an orphan. Her parents died in a car accident a few years ago. As her only living relative, Lola Sela took her in. Mina and Len-len became best friends right away. In contrast with Mina’s fancy dresses and toys, Len-len only had one valuable possession, a rag doll which was given to her by her mother before her mother died.

She loved the doll so much. She never let go of it nor let it out of her sight. She took it everywhere she went. Mina couldn’t understand why Len-len loved it, ‘It’s not even pretty’ she told her mother once. But Mina’s mother perfectly understood.

On Mina’s 8th birthday, she received a lot of presents. She, however, felt sad when Len-len did not show up on her party. But her sadness was replaced with anticipation when she learned that Len-len sent her a gift. She opened it last, expecting something ‘real nice’ from her best friend.

She was totally disappointed to find Len-len’s ‘rag doll’ when she opened the box and couldn’t understand at all why Len-len would give her an old toy on her birthday.

Upon knowing what happened, Mina’s mother held her hands and said ‘This is the best gift of all, even better than the big doll we gave you..’

‘No, it’s not. It’s just a newly washed old rag doll.’

’Yes, it is. But it’s the only thing Len-len has, and she gave it to you. That makes it very very special. That’s how important you are to her because she gave you the most important thing in her life..’

(*Adapted and translated from Tagalog comic book during the 80s by the blog author. Photo taken from the internet)

Honestly, I don’t go much in the home section. Just as long as we have something to use, then I don’t feel the need to buy another set of anything. What I normally get there is a set of drinking glasses, MUGS ( i love mugs!), and lunch box or something like it.

They were originally a set of six. I don’t know where the others went, lol!

Yes, I still use PLASTIC. It’s because my middle child, Mika, is in the transition to puberty stage which is characterized by extremely irritating CLUMSINES making her drop objects, spill liquid and even bump into harmless unsuspecting fixtures.  

Why green? Oh, that’s the only color available. Happy GT!

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‘I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.’

-Jim Carrey, Reader’s Digest, April 2006

Though I personally agree with what the famous actor, Jim Carrey, said here, ‘going there’ and ‘finding out for myself’ whether what he said is true or not is not such a bad idea, lol!

Mang Lando is a farmer. He works on other people’s farm to support his son Lino.

Mang Lando works hard. He wanted a better life for his son. One day, he brought home a comic book for Lino. The boy loved the colorful pictures in the book and he was so happy when his father told him the story in the book. Every night since then, Mang Lino would read the book to Lino and after that would tell him to study really hard and find a better life for himself. To this Lino would answer ‘I don’t like to study, I want to be a farmer like you, big and strong.’ Mang Lando would patiently tell him that THERE’S SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN STRENGTH AND SIZE.

Years passed by. Lino was already attending the public school when he became aware of their extreme poverty. When Mang Lando noticed his son’s sad face, he offered to read to him his favorite book the way he used to do in order to cheer him up. Without waiting for an answer, he brought out the now battered comic book and started to tell the story.

Lino was surprised. He was already in grade four and he can read the comic book by himself. His father was not reading it right. Then the truth hit Lino. And it hit him hard. His father was not reading the book right because HE COULDN’T READ AT ALL..

Fighting back the tears, Lino let his father finish the story. After that, he embraced Mang Lando very lovingly and made a promise that he would study really hard and would find a better life for himself and in his mind made another promise to never feel bad about the way they live because his father deserves better than that..  

NOTE: I read this story from a comic book when I was in grade school and this is how I remember it. The photo is taken from the internet.

Driving is not just something to do to get you from one place to another. It can also be a de-stressing activity while enjoying the scenery. It feels so great to drive along busy streets passing by equally busy people rushing to work or wherever they are heading to.

Fun as it is, driving has its drawbacks, especially for a female I guess. Well, imagine driving in a cold night, or a hot day in Houston  for instance, then all of a sudden you car breaks down. Wouldn’t it be extremely stressful to find yourself in an arid place with your useless car? Seems like a ‘damsel in distress’ kind of situation. Well, good thing there’s Houston auto repair, like a life saver, huh?

They fix different types of vehicles. So, if you’re driving a cool ford expedition, well, then, it’s for you. And the cool thing is that they do various repairs that you don’t need to worry about anything, be it the timing belt or the water pump. Well, talk about relaxing while driving because you are perfectly aware that no matter what happens, there’s a place you can go to, right?

There are people who drive just for the excitement and fun of it. And I guess they have every reason to enjoy what they do, because just as long as you know there’s a reliable place to have your car fixed, then, you can simply drive and have fun!

I was not beauty conscious BEFORE. As a matter of fact, I consider too much beauty consciousness VANITY. But that was before.

When I turned 30 several years back, I started to get conscious of how I look. I kind of realized that I owe it to the people who see me to at least look.. pleasant(?) to them. That’s when I started buying something for my skin, my hair, my face, and you know… my smell.

For my face, I alternate DOVE (pink) and OLAY SOAP. For my hair, just shampoo and conditioner, and when I have time I apply hot oil or something to that effect, lotion for my skin and I spray cologne just so I won’t smell of moth balls, lol! (joking)

I’m not brand conscious and I don’t spend much on beauty products. Without them, I’m still ME, but with them, I’m a MORE CONFIDENT ME. There may be a difference, but barely noticeable, lol!

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