Whew! It’s been a long time since, I’ve written in my space or what I call my blog. There were just so many things that happened this past month. I don’t even know where to start… Let me see…

~ Last October, I finally went to Bohol with my friend… too bad my friend hadn’t sent me the pictures yet. It’s a great place… I finally saw the tarsier with the help of my three tour guides Michelle, Ivy and Sir (who treated us and who became our driver for the day). Thanks to you guys for making my stay in Bohol worth it. At least that part of the trip was not wasted.

~ Finally, we had our 2^nd year anniversary for Project Pink… that kept me busy as well, I had to organize the anniversary for our batch the one who started it all—the Alpha Batch. So, we went to Portofino… I hate it we had a lot of pictures but the site is currently down where we stored all the pictures and I pray to God that it will come up eventually... we don’t want to miss those pictures cause it was just F-U-N. I can’t believe it we started out with 15 agents and only 1 resigned after two years… we’re still intact, talk about fighting spirit. Are we cheering for another year? I really don’t know… but looking’ back it’s been one heck of a ride, it’s been enjoyable these people have been my friends for two years. Cheers to the years of friendship and hard work! Since, we don’t have the picture from our recent adventure, below is a picture of us two years ago. Heheheh… it would have been better if we had the other picture so, you can spot the difference.

~ November came and I was so super busy with the masquerade ball that we had for Project Pink, now this one is for the whole account. Whew! It was a crazy month for me, we had to do a lot of preparations, and it was a very formal affair. I had to buy a dress, since I’ve never had a dress… not since I was in high school and this is exactly the reason why I ditched the prom from High school to college… and now that I’m workin’ I’m ask to dress? I almost wanted to shout WHAT? Oh, well in the end it was fun… you see your officemates in a different light not just wearing jeans and shirts. It was pretty fun, but I was so damn tired. Hehehe.. But it was worth it! Here are some pictures taken at City Sports Club.

  The team Aki! Lerio, love, me, mommy, ivy, rodel and Ron     This are the organizers... can you spot me?

This has got to be continued… because there are so many important things that happened in my life this past month.

Thanks for all my blogger friends who continued to visit my blog…. You guys rock!

“Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however, we may suffer them; all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.” 

Nitta Sayuri

~Memoirs of Geisha 

Well, this book is on top of my list. I like the way Arthur Golden made the plot of the story, the way he used terms that is comprehensible for a person who has never set foot on Japan or never ever heard of what a kimono or a geisha is, the use of the first person to narrate the story is totally a plus, because it takes you to the persons mind and it feels like you are there to witness all that is happening in narrator’s life. Most of all, I love the twist in the end. Whew, I did not see it coming; it totally has taken me aback and had to read that whole chapter over again.  

So, what is a geisha then? Webster describes it as:  

Japanese from gei art + - sha person

: a Japanese girl or woman who is trained to provide entertaining and lighthearted company especially for a man or a group of men. 

In the modern times, when people hear the term geisha it is always attached to prostitution. I myself had the same distorted notion but reading the pages of this book has made me realize that it is indeed an art way back 1920’s and 1930’s. This story goes back way before Geisha is appreciated as an art, where these girls are molded to learn the art of dancing like “shamisen”, singing, playing some instruments. In fact, It surprises me that as young as three years old some are already sent to the school of geisha to learn this art. Rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music, wearing kimono, elaborate makeup and hair pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist. Most of all the competition with a jealous rival; for men’s solicitude and the money that goes with it. This novel, makes us enter a world where appearances are a paramount, where’ a girls virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder called “mizuage”; where women are trained to lure the most powerful men, and where love is called an illusion. The story is a creative work of fiction but with factual basis on geisha’s training levels, being a novice, apprentice and becoming a full pledge geisha, to having a “danna” to support the geisha’s financial needs. Sayuri’s character evolves from being a fisherman’s daughter full of naivety, hopes and dreams to becoming a determined and willful woman to become a geisha and even a headstrong geisha to rebel from what is being laid down upon her as her destiny. In spite of being a celebrated geisha, she remains hopeful that her one true love would recognize her or just so look at her direction when they meet, she has never given up of her dream to be with him, silently loving him for 15 years. All along, the feeling is mutual but it took them fifteen years when the time was right, when no friendships will be broken. It’s that magical moment that they have expressed their secret love for one another, the way they have look at each other in their owns special way. Goodness! Call me a romanticist but I like the twist, it was unpredictable who would have thought... that love indeed movies in mysterious ways I also like the cultures depicted into book, it makes you appreciate the richness of the Japanese cultures and traditions. 

Two Thumps up for this book. . Mind you it was not the love story that enticed me into reading this book, it was the fact that it will be a movie soon; Sayuri will be portrayed by Zhang Zi yi and Mameha by Michelle Yeoh, it will be interesting to see the production of this film. It will be interesting on how the director would portray the character of Nobu and Hatsumomo, well, I’ll leave that to the directors but I’m excited to watch this film. I just saw the trailer of this film and from the looks of it's fantastic.. now i want to have a copy of the book, too bad i couldn't find any in the bookstores.

Another way of spending Saturday night, is to be with your friends in a nice resort. That's exactly what my friends and I did last Saturday. Out of the blue, we planned to have an overnight at this beautiful resort and to my surprise everyone cooperated and everyone that I invited was present. Just to give you a bit of history my friends are not so much into gimmicks so when you plan something it has to be well laid out and not a rush-rush thing, so we were really happy when everyone we expected were there.  Although, the ride towards the place is tedious and so tiring not to mention I was their tour guide when the fact is the last time I visited the place was on my freshmen year in college but we managed to pull it off. All the sweats and the hassle we're soon forgotten when we arrived at the place... its pure bliss. The pool was great, the crowd was ecstatic and to top it all there was a disco bar where people can dance in their swim wears, there were two huge pools too were everyone can enjoy. Too bad we came in too late and the other pool was already closed. Oh and did I mention there was a karaoke as well. I got to meet a lot of friends as well, not only my usual company but the friends of my friends which is also fun. Let me mention their names, Hedge- a medical student and a friend of sashi, Michelle, met her twice first in the MYMP concert, she is working in Bohol and a friend of Ivy. Fad's, the jolly friend of Maui whom we thought was a drinker, little did we realize that just by a one glass of drink she passed out and had spots all over her face. It was not a funny sight, but it was nonetheless entertaining.. And she was better off not drinking because she sleeps but when she's awake she cracks the funniest jokes and the silliest expressions.  I brought along my sister as well, who for the first time in her life really did not sleep... I mean not a 10 minute nap during the entire evening did she sleep, that was quite an achievement for her too.

One thing I realized from this experience is you don’t have to spend so much to enjoy quality time with your friends. Sometimes, it’s good to be impulsive because the excitement, the adrenalin rush and the sense of adventure is high. Sometimes, when things are well planned somewhere in between something always comes up that makes the others back-out or others suddenly have and unexpected emergency or whatever excuse. When planning is done in a rush, there is little time to think and most likely everyone is almost excited to experience new things.

Just some points to ponder:… it’s the simple things in life we forget, sometimes we make simple things so complicated… especially when we worry so much about the future.

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end.

If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters - whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents' house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won't take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts - and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, and decisions that are always put off waiting for the "ideal moment." Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person - nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, and shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

"Life isn’t about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call you and its not about who you’ve dated at all. It isn’t about who you’ve kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It’s not about your shoes or your hair or the color of your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact, it’s not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn’t about if you have a lot of friends, or if you are alone, and its not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life isn’t just about that.

But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you feel about yourself. Its about trust, happiness and compassion. It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance and building confidence. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, its about choosing to use your life to touch someone else’s in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life’s about."