The little things that surprise you

I should be in bed.  I should be asleep.  Instead, I’m listening to jazz music and writing here.  (Oh, and i have a receipt to print out for tomorrow… but again, I’m here.)

I tried to look at my blog dashboard Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday.  I just looked, I didn’t type anything up.  And yet there were  a ton of things to write about.  I just didn’t have the energy nor the time.  Blame it on work.  (I know, right? Such a distraction!)

But tonight I vowed I would write, before all the inspiration and thoughts disappear into the ethernet and I am rendered stumped for a blog post again.

It was another long day Thursday, and I was looking forward to a break at the end of the day but everything went awry at the last minute.  So all thoughts of leaving early and taking a leisurely stroll through the line of shops in Bryant Park had to be set aside to take care of some last minute tech glitches.  Problem was solved soon enough, but it was too late to do anything more beyond wait for the bus and get on it.

All bundled up with extra layers of clothing, I was ready to brave the cold.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  Everybody seems to think the snow was here in Manhattan, but it was way upstate.  Still, we’re all grateful for the concern.  (My brother, Abril, actually sent me a message asking how we were doing against the cold front.  Cold, I told him.. then I saw the snow up in Buffalo and figured that’s what the rest of the world is seeing.  That’s practically like Bicol and Manila, so no, we’re cold but we’re not covered with snow.)

All week long, I’ve been hit by little surprises that made me smile.  From a note from BFF Donna in Australia, to a very cheerful greeting from my “half boss”, the President of our Asian operations  (a Brit who is based in Oz) telling me something looks different when he saw me — and although he couldn’t place it, he said it looked good.  Two things, I told him — I’ve lost weight, and the hair is a lighter color.    (He’s not quite my boss because I only help him when he’s here in New York — the real boss in my world is actually a Chief something something as I describe him.)  BFF Fe showered me with her wisdom all week long — the universe has spoken.

A friend who I hadn’t heard from for two weeks suddenly called just to say hi.  We were hoping to catch up but missed each other due to meetings.  Another who usually wouldn’t e-mail has e-mailed twice.  (Mental telepathy?)  And it turns out my courtyard neighbor is close cousins with a friend from my college days — and he has visited twice and I have never even seen him.  I pinged him on Messenger this morning while his cousin-in-law was seated next to me on the bus, and he was also so blown away by the fact that I actually know one of his closest relatives.

Little things that made me smile, and now as I look back on it, I find myself smiling an even bigger smile remembering.  That’s what happy thoughts do to us — they provide us the wall to lean on when we feel spent, defeated or on the verge of breaking down.  Or what give us a dose of optimism when we are buried in work or other worries.  Those little surprises that we would otherwise ignore individually, when summed up together gives us a better picture of how things aren’t all that bad, even when we feel like the cold is sapping us of much needed energy and optimism.

Take them for what they are instead of over thinking them — and you might yet be pleasantly surprised to see the week hasn’t been that bad at all.

 

 

 

Celebrating me

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I joined this company.  My boss was actually instrumental in surprising me earlier today after I thought I had sent him off to a luncheon in one of the restaurants around our building.  Minutes later, he calls me from his cellphone telling me that he had accidentally left his organizer in one of the conference rooms where he had his meeting earlier in the morning, and that he needed me to grab it immediately because there was some sensitive information in that book.  So off I went and lo and behold, when I opened the door, I found the boss and his team and my fellow admins all seated with two bouquets of flowers, cake and lunch all set out…

I was so shocked and it was totally unexpected, and while I will say I know I deserve it  (Ha!), I still feel totally in awe at the gesture.

  Happy anniversary.. to me!

Slow Saturday and my happy mailbox

It’s not even 8pm yet and I’m here in bed, typing away and yes, getting ready to turn in.  It’s surprisingly a very relaxed Saturday evening.  We grabbed burgers from our favorite Bobby’ Burger Palace before heading home, so I was spared the task of whipping something up for dinner tonight.  We even had my mother-in-law taken cared of thanks to lunch at PF Chang’s.

So I’ve tidied up, and while I could be doing yet a last errand before turning in, I’m here trying to wind down.  Not quite done yet, and hoping to get started on some long-term swaps at Swap-bot.com.

I just sent off two mail art envelopes I’m rather proud of but which I don’t want to post yet because I don’t want to pre-empt the surprise.  I took a sturdy envelope and collaged it all over as the theme for this particular swap was Collage Mail Art.  I’m really beginning to like mail art which is not as high-pressure as ATCs and which is more practical in terms of expectation.  I try to do something in line with the recipient’s profile on the swap site, then I add a few elements that relate to mine, which is usually something in reference to New York.  I will wait a few days until the recipients get theirs — might be a while longer, since one headed towards Chicago, and another for Australia.

I haven’t done my “Five Things to do this Weekend” list for two weeks now because life has been awfully busy thanks to work.  I’m looking forward to things easing up a bit the next two weeks, but Monday promises to be a chaotic day.  I usually go through a lot of motions sending off the boss to some foreign land, making sure all arrangements are taken cared of (done), all data required is gathered by his Chief of Staff (presumably done), and that an itinerary is pulled together for the trip.

For the first time, I was pre-empted by someone working for the Chief of Staff who had committed to do the itinerary, and I was more than happy to let the task go to someone else because we’ve really been very busy with a slew of other things that were  equally if not more important than the painstaking task of covering every facet of the trip.  With stops in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai and Delhi, I could use all the help I could get.  So I was rather taken aback but not totally surprised that there was a misunderstanding about the itinerary.  They were only taking care of the Tokyo leg, with no information at all on the rest of the trip.  I had no choice but to take over.

I guess the slow weekend is a God-send because it will help me prepare for the week ahead.  I’ve done it before, it will be done, but I hate the stress of having to do something I could’ve started last week and refined in the succeeding days in one day.  But that’s life.

I’m not rushing to complete any other swaps except for one which should be a breeze.  I have a couple of chores which I can easily handle tomorrow.  More letters to write, hand washing to be done, and a piece or two to sew.  I am reminded yet again that I have a fully-functioning electronic sewing machine in the attic.  Although I’m not too sure it still works as it might need oiling after practically more than 12 years of non-use, it’s a pity that it’s sitting there gathering dust.  The truth of the matter is that my art gurus are into sewing paper — yes, paper — and adventurous crafter that I am, why not?  It’ll have to wait another day.

I just sent off this card today which was inspired by the artwork of Nicoletta Ceccoli.  Her art is rather unusual and dark, but the colors and the soft lines mesmerized me.  I’m hooked.

Printing the graphic on thin kraft paper also lends it a softening touch.

The kraft paper I used here was rather thin that it crinkled when I pasted it with mod podge onto the main card.  I left it at that.  I also used two coats to “seal” the collage including the simple word art.  I like the way glossy mod podge gives a linen-like finish to the surface giving it a soft gloss that seals the work flat.

I’ve also experimented on printing straight onto newsprint — as in literally onto a sheet folded to size from a newspaper (my printer has regular paper limitations, unfortunately, ) and the result has been magical.  It seems to ‘magnetize’ the paper, though and makes it initially difficult to handle, but it gives a glossy sheen much like what we see in glossy magazines.  (I had always thought that it was because magazines were printed on glossy paper, which is the case — but it produced the same effect when I printed straight onto newsprint.)  My next batch of mail art used this printed newsprint but again, I cannot as yet post any samples until they have reached their intended destination.  I plan to do this with my personal photography which should make for some interesting compositions.

Meanwhile, here is the mail art I received from my partner, Roxanne (roxswapbot).

The “envelope” she used was quite a “teaser” because she had used a soft plastic CD case, giving us a peek into what was inside.  My interest was immediately piqued by the very revealing packaging.

The packaging was very playful and I didn’t want to just open it although I was dying to see the contents within.  I waited patiently for the chance to be able to do it when I could photograph it as the little presents within were revealed to me.

Here are some close up details of the outer packaging before I opened it:

She had used tape extensively, so I knew that once I opened there would be no putting it back together again.  So what was inside?  Have a look:

My name spelled out in a very unusual metal die-cut alpha.  That alone made me happy already.  And there was that turqoise-tissue wrapped teeny-weenie package… what could possibly be in it?

Ta-da!  Inside were two pewter charms of a pair of dice.. (Someone read my profile extensively!)  So next I opened the tiny envelope which revealed a mini-treasure trove of its own..  More goodies!

And she could’ve stopped with the metal beads!  Yet another package…

And inside was yet another present —

This unique charm of a token-like charm with a cupcake imprint that said  “good for one Birthday Wish”.  (Closing my eyes to make that wish now even if it wasn’t until April!)

Happiness.. you can see that she had put together a truly well thought-out package for her partner… and I can only imagine what the second of two partners had received.  But I have no cause to be envious because I got quite a present.

I am often tempted to feature the items I receive in the swaps, but I’m afraid to start a precedent which might lead to other senders feeling bad if I don’t post their items here.  I am often pressed for time posting my own work — and that would give me a major backlog given the swaps I’m in.  This was an exception because I learned a lot from what Roxanne had put into my envelope and because it was truly a delight opening each “layer” of the package.

We usually rate with a 5 and a heart for such outstanding swaps like this one, but I would’ve wanted to rate her with a dozen hearts but I can’t.  The least I could do was share the joy here in my little corner because joy indeed, is what she had brought me.

"How are you?"

I have been too preoccupied with other things to actually write the past couple of days although like always, I had a ton of things I wanted to write about.  I just chose to vegetate and just “be”, somethng BFF Fe had been encouraging me to do.  Not that I wasn’t doing anything at all — I just chose to channel my energy differently.  Or not at all.  (Plus, Angry Birds has gotten my attention piqued again…)

But sometime during the latter part of the week, something uncanny happened when I received separate e-mails from two friends half a world away—  totally unrelated —  asking me the question I chose as the title of this blogpost: “How are you?”…  One was favorite goddaughter Eeya who is now teaching in Singapore, and the other from long time BFF from high school Ces who is based in Manila.  Both were heartwarming “hellos” which brought a smile to my face and to my heart.  It took me a while to answer their e-mails, although I promised to write more.

There are those e-mails (like the ones from work) which we tend to answer in a rote fashion, and there are those e-mails which make us pause and think about what we want to write about because we just have so much to say.   And between Ces and me, we have always picked up from long stretches of silence as if we were just talking yesterday.  A pick-me-up in the form of a question.. which is a “hello” extended by two words.

Even now as I try to write about it, answering the question leaves me stumped for words — because I literally don’t know where to start.

I’m doing okay.  

Summer’s here so the heat is unbearable but after 12 years, I’ve learned to live with it.  I literally hit the 12th anniversary of my arrival here in the proverbial land of milk and honey last June 29.  In terms of years, that’s more than a quarter of my total existence on the face of this earth.

I had reconnected with Ces just before I left Manila in 2000, and have since seen her during most of the trips home, particularly the last four.  She is always on my list of people I announce a planned (and subsequently a confirmed) trip home to, and again one of the few I see more than once.  (Or try to.)  Eeya, for her part, was “ninang-less” from after her baptism (which was when we officially met) up to my homecoming say 4 or 5 trips ago…I missed her these last two trips because she left for Singapore last December.

Things panned out back home and our family dilemma has been solved.  So the trip last March was well worth the effort, time and money, and mommy can rest easy.  Two years after Dad passed, we’re still tying up some loose ends, but we’re getting things ironed out one at a time.

I’ll write more soon.

Although “soon” can be relative. =)

It struck me that we often find ourselves thinking of other people who mean something to us, but who we leave at that:  as just a thought.  I hate to admit that I’m guilty of not typing an e-mail hello or writing a missive like I am wont to do most times even when I think of how a friend is doing.  It makes me wonder about missed chances to reconnect or to simply put a smile on someone else’s face.  No matter how good things may be going on the other side of the fence, one can never get enough good tidings, don’t you agree?  In fact I just found a “stale” card I had meant to mail to P which I will get on its way today.  (Have to keep the postal service busy before they become obsolete.)

Thanks, Ces and Eeya, for the warm hug to the heart.  

My turn to ask, how are you?