Brightside Entry | Stop, Look & Listen

There are a lot of good things that happened to me today and leaving any of them out seems to not do this day justice. On one hand, I'm exhausted because I haven't gotten any decent sleep recently on account of always having somewhere northward to head to. But on the other hand, these adventures are definitely always worth it. 

Today, I headed to school to give my friend Akire her advanced birthday gift (since it's already "sembreak"--which is like, a mini long weekend, really) and hang out with Lorri. Usually, hanging out with people stresses me out or scares me just because I always feel like I have to be on guard but today was very nice. :D Lorri, Joelle & I had a very nice conversation about dear friends we lost and about how life goes on and how we deal with things and strangely enough, about Ursula's fetishistic movements + Jafar's odd sex appeal. :) We hung out at Exile on Leon Guinto, which is quickly becoming my favorite place to sit outside in. I've always been a fan of al fresco dining but I really like the chairs in their garden patio thingy. Plus the kitty there is adorable. Before Lorri & Joelle (and the rain) arrived, I was sitting there with my fill of calamansi iced tea, reading Looking for Alaska and enjoying the sunshine. It was such a pleasant afternoon, it was really difficult  for me to leave.

It's a good thing I did though because it really started to pour when I got on the jeep--a few minutes later and I would've been drenched head to toe. Oh, Manila; you tease me with sunshine and then pour water on my head. Another great thing about today was that while waiting for a bus along Osmena, I saw this old chinese-looking man who was wearing a crisp shirt tucked into slacks and suspenders. He was walking toward the bus stop, holding an umbrella and paused as he tried to get on the sidewalk. The way he walked and dressed reminded me so much of my dad. He stopped and tentatively raised his leg, as if testing whether or not he could get onto the sidewalk. And so I reached out my hand and helped him up. He gave me this huge smile and said "Thank you," so sincerely that part of me wanted to give him a hug. I really hate seeing the elderly ladies and gentlemen commute because they remind me of my parents--and even if we have our disagreements, I think my parents have worked hard enough to deserve to at least travel comfortably. Life isn't easy and so I really hope that dapper old man today was able to catch a ride where he got to sit down. <3 p="p">

I hope everyone's doing well today! We're halfway through this week! Woot, woot.