Eight Things I've Learned As an Adult

To commemorate their birthdays, some would write the number of things they’ve learned according to their age. I am not going to do that. You seriously want me to come up with more than 40 something stuff?

Let’s just stick to the eight most important things I’ve learned as an adult. It’s more than eight, but in my book, they are the bestest things. Bear with me.

1. My Parents Rock. No. They Are My Rock.

Sure, there was a time in our lives when we wish our parents would just leave us alone or disappear in the middle of the night, stuff like that. We were all teenagers once. Hello.

I got older and went through several ups and downs; it’s when I learned that there are only TWO people who will never ever desert me no matter what – MY PARENTS.

We may have our share of arguments, fights, misunderstandings and such, but at the end of the day, my parents support me unconditionally. And I have to include my wonderful siblings. They are so throwing tantrums, I forgot to mention them. Doh. 

I love them all to the moon and back!

2. My Bestest Accomplishment - My Son

We all go through life wondering what we have accomplished, forgetting the essentials.

I used to think that I would be a failure as a single mom. As it turns out, my son brought out the best in me. Raising him was the greatest feat I have ever done in my whole life. He may not be the awesomest son one could ever hope for, to me, he’s the best thing that ever happened. 

Because of him, I’ve learned that in order not to get disappointed, I should never expect anything. Nothing at all. 

When are you going to buy me a branded purse?

Mom, you take the public commute. The branded purse would look like a knock-off. 

Bitch has a point. 

3. The More the Merrier. Not True. Few Friends Matter. 

When I was younger, I love having lots of friends, thinking that the more friends one has, the better. 

No. Not true at all. 

As you grow older, you will realize that you don’t really need lots of friends. You need QUALITY friends who will be there no matter what. Sure, these few selected friends can be judgmental bitches, but hey, they will never abandon you in times of trouble. 

That’s good enough to know. 

4. What Other People Say Don’t Count

Live life as you wish. The others can screw themselves. They don’t know what you go through each day. They can judge you for as long as they want;what matters is that you do whatever you want, and be happy about it. 

Life is too short to worry about what others will say. Do what you want, be who you are, and the world can fuck itself for all you care. 

5. Material Things Don’t Really Count

We spend so much time working. Sweating it out literally and figuratively, day in and day out, to make both ends meet. We always try to give the best to our family; buying them stuff we thought would make them happy, not really understanding that material things fade. 

What our family needs is quality time. 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s just a simple bonding at home, or an occasional movie and dinner now and then. The material things lose its value eventually, but the time we give to our loved ones, they will always treasure.

6. Love is Not the Be All and End All of Life

I used to love the idea of being in love. I was a hopeless romantic. I think I still am. 

Ehh. 

I can now look back at the past loves and laugh about it and wonder, the hell did I fall in love with that jerk. Those kinds of things. 

I’ve learned that while having someone to love and be loved back is great, being alone isn’t so bad after all. Life isn’t just about boyfriend or girlfriend. There’s more to life if we just open our eyes and set our priorities right. 

7. Action Movies Can Get Boring

I think it goes with aging. I used to love gory action movies. Now, am just bored to death. Hands and legs being sawn off. Boring. Death defying stunts. Horror movies. Boring. Boring. Boring. I’ve learned that as priorities change when we get older, and so do our interests. 

I used to hate James Bond. Sean Connery is old and I hate his British accent. 

Now, heck, I’m looking for a British editor! And I want to marry Daniel Craig! 

8. Kids Are The Best

Being an ESL teacher for more than five years in Korea taught me the value of loving kids other than my own. I used to hate kids. Seriously. To me, they are annoying little creatures created to torment me. 

Now, that I deal with adults daily, I’ve learned to appreciate children as better co-workers.

They throw tantrums, which is understandable because they are children. They change their minds as often as the wind blows, because that's what kids do! They play favorites, because children are entitled to have favorites. If anything, children don’t do positive scripting. They don't have to. They don't need to. 

I hate your dress. You look silly, teacher Mj. (Don't you just love the kids' honesty?)

Aw, you look fabulous yourself. (Good gad, where the hell is her fashion sense?!!! - Adult problems) 

Hashtag Separation Anxiety

"But I remember those simple things
I remember 'til I cry..."

I haven't written anything for a long, long time.

The last entry here was about my son graduating from college. Since then, I've gone through the 9 cycles of depression, stress and pressure; I barely have time to comb my hair, let alone blog and update any of my social media account on a regular basis.

I found one good reason to blog this weekend. I miss a dear colleague - our Marketing Director.

He's gone for good. That left me devastated (as you all probably have guessed by now that I have this separation anxiety thingy. Which makes me think that I might have been separated and exiled from my loved ones during my first life).

Anyhow, I was so sad I would cry myself to sleep since we had this little farewell party for him. Maybe I was crying for a different reason. But anyway, I find his leaving a really good excuse to cry. He and I, we were never close, but I must admit that there were several instances he saved me from my self-destruction weapon: tactlessness.

Among the people I've worked with, I found him to be free of any pretension, as he knows anyway that I could see past through him when he's trying to be civil or not, nice or evil, etc. Some would say he's a pretentious jerk; I thought otherwise. Maybe he just doesn't like it when people hate him, or think he's not cool. You  know, Americans. They gotta be cool always. 

I kind of miss taunting and annoying him every chance I get.

Hold my hand and I will have all blogs you need written asap.
Go away, Mj. 

And his childish bickerings whenever I let him.

You're such a drama queen, Mj. 
And you're the king!
Whatever! 

So we used to hate each other on a daily basis; there's no knowing when WWWIII would erupt in the office. But as time went by, he started to just let go of his prejudices against my Korean upbringing. (You're North Korean. Are you sure you're not adopted?).

One of the things that I miss the most is his dry sense of humor. I am not sure if  he really is an American. He is actually more British in the humor department.

Hi, I sent you an email. Could you please check it? 
You're an email courier, do you know that?

If you insist on having those 200 pages of content written in one week, I am going to jump off this building!!! 
Fine. 

Now, who wouldn't miss such an adorable person like that?

A Single Mom's Pride

Earlier, as I watch my son light the Candle of Hope during their baccalaureate mass, I can't help but feel this overwhelming sense of pride. We've definitely come a long long way.

I used to think that I wouldn't make it. That being a single parent will be a challenge I might not fulfill.  That I might fail my son and myself for that matter. There were just too many hurdles. But along the way, through the hardships and struggles, I am lucky to have found a really awesome support system --parents, family and friends -- who helped in one way or another. And I can't thank them enough.

Being a single  parent is not for the faint of heart; it's not for the weaklings or quitters. There's a ton of responsibility that goes with raising a child alone. It requires strength, courage, a lot of tears and most of all, determination. The fortitude to give him a good life.

I know my son had his share of struggles, too. And I can only hope that the love, support and guidance my parents and I give him fill in whatever void he may have now and then. Despite the hardships, his effort to obtain a degree is admirable. He made us really proud.

As I listened to the Homily, I was reminded of this quote from Farrah Fawcett: My number one goal is to love, support and be there for my son.

In two days, the fulfillment of our dreams will be a reality. My parents and I will watch him with pride (and perhaps a tear or two) as he march on stage and receive his diploma. The moment will be priceless... We've gone a long way. Yes, true. But this is not the end. I won't stop loving, supporting and being there for him.

Congratulations, son!

Ghost the Musical I'm In Love

Lonely rivers flow
To the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea...


Saw Ghost the Musical last Friday, May 9th at RCBC Tower. What fantastic play. What an awesome cast.

Cris Villonco as Molly, is divine. She's so convincing she made me cry, too. Hans Eckstein as Carl is also good. He's uber nice offstage. Oda Mae, the charlatan medium, as always, was very amusing to watch. Very much like Whoopi  Goldberg, who stole the thunder from Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the original movie, Ima Castro brought the house down. And to top it all, when we asked her to pose with us, Ima sincerely asked if we enjoyed the show. I'm a fan.

I already love Christian Bautista in The Kitchen Musical, but love him even more as Sam Wheat. He's so cute, I wanted to take him home and take care of him. Like. Really. I think I sort of blushed when I gestured him to stop (because we want to pose with him) and he pretended to fall on the floor. Sigh. LOL. NOT. Embarassing. Really. Jeez. How silly can I get? 

The production design is minimalist, yet impressive. Love how the play focused on the emotion. No moment was ever-boring. Totally enjoyed the whole show. And enjoyed much more the photo-op with the lead stars afterward.

Congratulations, guys! Great job!

Project MJ - Secret Life Revealed

This week has been full of surprises. And I couldn't thank enough the wonderful people who gone the extra mile to surprise me on my __th birthday (age is a fill-in-the-blank thingy).

1. My son gifted me with  a favorite-- rocky road cake-- for the first time ever. From his pocket. From his first earning. Made me so damn proud. So grown up and generous and all.

2. Got wonderful wishes, greetings, and gifts from family, friends, and co-workers (past and present). Wines, roses, perfume and fashion accessories. You guys know me so well. Even  the scroog-iest person I know was generous enough to give me a really cool gift. Thank you! 

3. And the bestest gift I got this year is the surprise birthday party from my Truelogic Family. 

Complete with  18 roses from the guys in the office. I nearly cried at this point because I never had a formal debut party. Years ago, before iPhone was invented, I celebrated my 18th birthday in a Billy Idol Slam Dance/New Wave themed party shared with a church friend.

My former eldest son in the office, Mike, joined in and so did Ed, my ex-boss. The surprise party would have been more authentic had I not blown up my son's supposed participation. He didn't join anyway. Said he was too shy. Truth be told, he hates parties. I dunno. Don't ask me. 

The surprise didn't stop there. 

The writers and editors, HR, and some of the OPs people prepared a mini-film.

The video, a hilarious rendition of what my life "used to be", cracked me up so much/moved me to pieces. These are the people that I drive to wits end every single day, and they even had time to convince the big boss to be silly? How cool is that.

The celebration was capped with beers, Mojitos, chips and refills of nonstop laughing with the awesomest people from work. 

To Mafe, who wrote a fabulous blog about me and to everyone else who made my birthday this year truly memorable, thank you ever so much. You have no idea how happy you guys made me. *Sniff* 

May God bless you always that you continue to be a blessing to others.