Emerging from the deep

I long for the breath of fresh air when the sun's up and everything is alive.

Oxygen can only last for so long when submerged in water.

Hands that have worked tirelessly are still bound to wrinkle.

I was not built with fins, nor was I meant to hold Poseidon's trident.

Time causes you to swim further away. Where there used to be a diver's paradise, there is now an abyss.

This is what it's like to sink deeper. Treading in murky waters. Losing sight of the light. Losing sight of the purpose.

Herein lies nothing but vulnerability. Fear of the unknown and the discomfort of the prevalent nothingness.

Why go any further?

I do not long to get my hands on the dead pirate's chest. I could die trying to get a hold of it, or even worst, die for having it.

Ambition consumes people. Greed eats them alive.

When being underwater ceases to open your eyes to the amazing world beneath, it is finally time to trade the fins for feet.

Breathe easy. Get your feet back on solid ground.
 
Life on the surface is always better than discovering the scum on the bottom of the ocean.

Because I do... love staying in. :)

One thing I love about holidays is sleeping in and staying in especially when the June rain finally arrives. 

Here's a perfect feel-good stay-in-my-room music.  Pearl and the puppets just perks me up! :) 

   

Paris nights/ New York mornings

I instantly fell in love with Corinne Bailey Rae when I heard her voice back in 2006.  Heck, I loved her so much I even got my dad hooked on her music!  My dad and I both love jazz, and among the contemporary jazz artists, we both agree that she is one of the best.  Corinne Bailey Rae has just the right hint of soul and spice that can make you feel good about the day and the long drives!  

Heartbreak and loss led to her long hiatus in creating beautiful music, but after much pain and healing, she is back with her sophomore album and I am so happy that her music is so much better than ever! 

Paris nights/ New York mornings is one of my favorite songs in her new album, "The Sea" .  It's catchy, uplifting and totally refreshing.  I absolutely love her!!!

 (And don't even get me started on her gorgeous dress, hair and glowing aura!)

Reading rainbow

In those pages the words flew.

It went along with me on my escape to the brown river and accompanied me on the way back. There it stayed in the depth of my open heart where it found a new home.

It sharpened ideals and erased ordinary. It is good, but dangerous. Placed in the wrong hands, it could be poison. What was meant to set you free can make you choke. What was meant to comfort you can hurt.

Words have the power but only when it is triggered by belief. It could either make or break. It could encourage or disillusion.

As you grow older, doubting becomes a shield and belief becomes a vulnerability.

What choice do I have? I came to realize for awhile now that when you've chewed on the words for so long there is very little room for even a shadow of doubt.

There lies the danger.

I envy the young for they are fresh and spirited souls willing to believe and understand. They understand only the benefits, but never the perils.

For that, they hold the power- the kind which the lost and jaded soul should seek to attain again.

I heart Garance Dore and Elle cover

I am a huge fan of Garance Dore and her work as an illustrator and fashion photographer.  I get a lot of inspiration from the way she sees things:  beautiful. fabulous. magnifique!  :)

And thanks to her, Elle UK collectors edition cover is just that. 

I'm quite sure this will be one, if not the most favorite portrait and magazine cover of Demi Moore.  It exudes such character and elegance of not only the model but the publisher and the illustrator as well.  :)

Kudos to Elle UK, Garance Dore and Demi Moore for such a remarkable collaboration!

   

Good morning, Saturday sunshine

The alarm of the cellphone cries as Saturday morning arrives.  A snooze button was untouched, but a stop button bears my fingerprints. The cool aircon breeze caught my exposed skin so I tuck myself back in the pink comforter.  I roll towards the side with my gold satin night gown embracing me as it danced gracefully with the contour of my body. A plush purple pillow is retrieved in the waltz and squished with great desire.

With one eye open, I take a quick peek of the beautiful sun, give out a radiant smile, and hide myself completely under the covers.

Good morning, sunshine. 

I am in such a good mood today, but I'm sorry, I simply won't get up and play. :)

My Perfect Weekend Plan

Her Morning Elegance

This song just never fails to brighten up my day. :)  I love Oren Lavie!

Defining Possibility

I gave a kiss that means goodbye.

No... we both agreed, the kiss meant "see you later" ."Later" is undefined. Undefined by a clock, calendar or calculator. Call it complicated math or just stupid idealism, but though the promise may be zero, the hope can go on to infinity. Hope is full, promises are empty. And in the Ninoy Aquino International airport, just as it was in Charles De Gaulle, he offered possibility, but not certainty.

So the idealist sent off the realist accepting possibility. It was a compromise- a meeting in the middle. He is part friend and part lover, just as he is part European and part Asian. He can never be fully just one or the other. He is both.

Compromise took care of possibility. In between airports, emails, and skype calls, possibility is nurtured. The idealist becomes stronger, more clear, and more open, but the realist is enigmatic.

Ironic as it may sound, the realist remains ambiguous. Ambiguity, he claims, could protect us both.

I agree.

It could protect from pain, but ultimately prevent from feeling.

And so my protected, unfeeling heart remains vulnerable as it stays in the terminal where I test the confines of "later". Where I should wait and when it would end is uncertain, but somehow defining the kiss...defining this... could be possible. 　


-PLS

Looking Back and Forward.

I don't know if it was that noticeable, but people really are more excited about 2010. I for one am.

It may not be manifested in the fireworks display that midnight of January 1st, 2010, since we are seeing less of the fireworks compared to years that have passed, but the certain glow in peoples' faces shone much brighter than the lit sky.

People were smiling out of happiness or out of hope. I think we were all just looking forward to seeing better days after coming from a bad one.

Looking back, 2009 was not a very good year. People all over the world were struggling because of the recession that hit late 2008 which led to a lot of job cuts, financial instability, personal crisis and hopelessness. Add to that are all the unforeseen disasters that just made the year turn for the worse. Although my personal struggles had nothing to do with the recession (I was blessed enough to have a good stable job and income), my 2009 was not such a good one either.

Here are some of the sad things that happened in my 2009.

At the start of the year, my beloved lola (grandmother) passed away. During the course of my lola's wake, my lolo (grandfather) developed a flu out of emotional pain and a few weeks after- a couple of days after his birthday- he also passed away.

Most of my closest friends and colleagues started quitting their jobs and left.

Despite wanting to get away, I canceled a few trips and holidays to which I already had non-refundable tickets to because of a lot of unfortunate circumstances.

I had a terrible tummy flu that tied me down to my bed, and for a time, I thought was the dreaded swine flu.

I went through some heart drama. again.

My sister and I got held up. An armed man robbed me of lots of stuff I worked hard for, and my sister still has a scar from the knife that went through her wrist.

My family was somehow affected by typhoon Ondoy, one of the worst storms to hit Manila. We were still very much blessed compared to many during this ordeal, but it was so heartbreaking to hear about what happened to a lot of good people we care for.

Overall, it really wasn't such a good year (except maybe for the last few months of the year when things started to get better). But coming from a year that wasn't too nice to me obviously makes me more excited and hopeful about this year.

I did start the year believing 2010 will be exciting. I declared it to people with such conviction that it would be. By exciting, I meant, it would be full of life, meaning and interesting stories to tell and experience. Exciting could be a combination of both good and bad. It's probably going to be both most of the time, but I really don't care. I just want to be able to go through each day, witness the months unfold, and feel more alive!

It's actually starting to happen. The year has just started and so much has been going on already. Lately, I've been having those exciting, and somewhat funny types of experiences that make you want to just go up in the mountains and scream...

Come on, 2010, bring it on!!!

I am looking forward to what you have in store and I am SO READY for you.