Bisdak Babbles

I came across the following riddles… can you correctly guess the answers? ^-^

#1:
“The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place.”

#2:
“I never was, am always to be,
No one ever saw me, nor ever will
And yet I am the confidence of all
To live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.”

How does one rise up after being buried in a pit
he unconsciously created himself?

How does a control freak take over his life again when he found
out a bit late that his life is already messed up?

How does a weakling show his weaknesses when he has no
other choice but to be the source of strength?

How does someone who is in pain accept the fact that
he could not be comforted by someone he trusts because
that someone is in deeper pain?

……
“I am the Lord, your Savior”,
- Isaiah 44:24

As usual, I was the first one to rush inside the train to get hold of the vacant seat. I was about to sit down when I noticed an elderly woman trailing behind and gave the seat to her. When she reached her stop, she turned to me, gave me the sincerest “arigatou” I’ve ever heard, a brilliant smile, and a pat in my arm (hehe murag iro). She reminded me of my grandmother. ^-^

Well I guess she was touched because a foreigner extended such a courtesy. Unlike in the Philippines, it is very rare here to witness a younger person giving up his seat to an elderly. Even the reserved seats have lost their purpose! So, you couldn’t and musn’t expect that someone will give up his seat to you just because you’re a female. Yep, I’ve learned to be a little bit faster and more aggressive to make my 1.5 hours of train ride comfortable. Honestly, it’s good that ladies here don’t get special treatment. I just wish everyone would be more sensitive to the needs of others, especially the elderly.

Don’t you agree it would be really nice to get a sincere “arigatou” for a very simple thing you did? ‘Coz it really made my day. ^-^

“Hello… are you from Indonesia?” For a number of times, I was approached and was asked this question. And, of course, those who approached me looked like Filipinos! At times, I am also mistaken as a Malaysian or a Thai.

Well, I guess I am one of the living testimonies of the amazing resemblance between the Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians, and Malaysians . ^-^

Idel and I have been given the privilege (^-^) of “task-hopping” since we entered this company. Yes, we have to do whatever task our team leader feels like giving us. We do this part for a couple of weeks, then with little or no opportunity to deeply understand what we were doing, another completely different task falls into our lap. Most of the time, we are given those components that only have English specifications. Despite all these, we are “happy” working here mainly because we seldom have to work overtime… until today.

Yes, another task was assigned to us (no surprise about that), but we were alarmed when our leader asked if we could work this weekend! A few minutes later, we were asked to verify if they have our correct phone numbers! They will just call us sometime tomorrow if it is really necessary to come to the office on Sunday.

Well, it’s a fact that in this nature of work, it is really unavoidable to have all the weekends to yourself. It’s just that I’m no longer used to it… ^-^

I’m still hoping that tomorrow… no phone call please!

These past few days, I have been constantly glued to youtube. Yes, as soon as I enter my room from work, I immediately check for new uploads on Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 (PBB2) in youtube. (PBB2 started last February 25)

When PBB Season 1 started, I was not that interested in the show. But thanks to Marj, my ex-roommate in Manila, I became a PBB addict like her. Marj usually sleeps early (at around 10:00PM) but she was able to stay up late when PBB1 was aired.

Now, she’s not watching the show anymore… now, I am the one who couldn’t sleep without checking for new PBB2 uploads. I even review the videos I already watched!

There should be some psychological interpretation why we like reality TV shows like PBB2. But I’d like to think that it’s because I’m homesick… I miss shows from the Philippines… I even miss the commercials! Mmm… I wonder if there are also Philippine commercials uploaded in youtube?

P.S. Thanks a lot to those who are so kind to share PBB2 in youtube!

14th of March, a month after Valentine’s day, is White Day! To those not familiar with Japanese practices, this doesn’t ring a bell. Anyways, according to my good office companion, Wikipedia, this festival was created as a marketing effort in Japan. On White Day, the boys/men give the girls/women something as a return to the gift they received on V-Day. Yeah, to the delight of the male population, it is a common practice here for ladies to give something to the gents on Valentine’s Day. Indeed, Idel and I gave our all our teammates (both men and women) chocolates on V-Day. That’s what they call “Giri-Choco” or Obligatory Chocolate, since we didn’t and still don’t have romantic interest. ^-^

I admit that it is very heart-warming to receive something especially from those who seem to don’t have an inkling of your existence. Below are pictures of what I received (of course, these are identical to what Idel received) . The gifts are cute, aren’t they?

Why “sanbai-gaeshi” or “triple return”? When White Day comes, the boy is supposed to give three times the value of the initial gift he received from the girl. As a defense, no I didn’t expect to receive something from everyone. ^0^

For 27 years, I have only worn 4 hair styles: long hair with bangs, short hair with bangs, short hair without bangs, and long hair without bangs.

I have worn bangs since I was around 3 years old and got rid of it when I started college. My sole purpose for wearing bangs was to stop being teased as “dangas” (Cebuano word for “large forehead”). When I started college, I got tired of hiding my forehead so I decided to flaunt it.

However, recently, for an unknown reason, it really annoys me seeing my reflection on the train window. I really do have an unusually large forehead, don’t you think so?

So last night, when I reached home, with my very limited experience as my own “hairstylist”, I took a step to hide my forehead again…

Before taking the picture above, I already regretted giving in to my compulsiveness. I forgot how troublesome wearing bangs is… most likely, I will be flaunting my forehead again soon. ^-^