Helpless November

I hate nostalgia. It always gives me the feeling that something bad is about to happen. While I know that Summer from 500 Days of Summer gets a bad rep for a) being the role that mainstream-ized Zooey Deschanel and b) being everyone's favorite movie/the "story of everyone's life" (usually the "everyone" is male and has some "great" friendzone story to tell), I must admit that she is one of my favorite recent female characters for one reason: that bit in the exposition that describes Summer loving her long, black hair and how she could cut it off without feeling anything.

I've been through a lot of "emotional" things in my short 21 years on this planet and a lot of the time my attitude toward these things is "Ah, well. That's life."--in fact, one of my favorite songs is this track by the Hoosiers called The Trick to Life, the chorus to which goes "the trick to life is not to get too attached to it". This isn't to say that I don't get attached to things or that I don't love the people or things in my life but that I don't like paying a lot of attention to my losses--except when writing (and I suspect that is the reason why I write so much, really). 

But for some reason, whenever November rolls around, the nostalgia gland in my brain just kicks in and the only things that seem to cure it are the following: a) hanging out with people I love b) a Gilmore Girls marathon and c) reading a (good) fantasy novel. This year, however, the nostalgia seems extremely bad. I've already hung out with some of the dearest people to me (sans my sister, who I will see in two weeks), I'm currently watching the 7th season of Gilmore Girls (the only one I haven't completely gotten through because I couldn't bear to watch it end) and I bought book 2 of the Earthsea series last week and it seems to help but the gnawing feeling in my gut is still there--I feel extremely helpless and vulnerable and I don't like it one bit. Ah, well. Hopefully this gets better soon.

Seasons

Today was my maternal grandmother's 91st birthday celebration and there was something about standing in the middle of my aunt's house, with everyone fussing over the picture-taking and where the softdrinks were that that made me extremely nostalgic--both for the past and the future. It occurred to me that once, I was in my niece Presley's shoes, sitting uncomfortably on one of the sofa's armrests and just wanting to go home and that one day, I will be in my mom's shoes, watching her young adult daughter take photos of plants and that ultimately, I will be in my grandmother's bare feet, lying down in and not knowing that people are celebrating her life. I felt no sadness about this--just a sort of pensiveness that you don't get everyday; I find that kind of nostalgia a little comforting actually. It's like one of my aunts said to my favorite uncle today, "You used to come to parties with a bottle of scotch, now all you can offer people is buko juice." My dad and my uncle cheers-ed to this--most probably because they know it's true.

Nostalgia

My literature professor told us that Nostalgia's etymology directly translates to "pain from the inability to return"--and while I'm definitely a "no regrets"/"what's done is done, motherfs" kind of girl, I do permit myself the occasional bouts of reminiscing. :) Here are a couple of photos that I unearthed, thanks to Facebook's (otherwise inconvenient) Timeline feature.

Photo by Rachel Mutia

The photo above was taken in Sofitel in 2010, during my dear friend Gia's 20th birthday celebration. We used to have these annual sleepovers at Gia's place/around Gia's birthday time every year, but somehow work/relationships have gotten in the way and we haven't been able to schedule a sleepover since 2010. I miss you girls! :D 

Brightside Entry | Late Nights, Old Friends

Tonight, I went to visit one of my dearest childhood friends, Kits. This visit has been long overdue as the last time I saw her was half a year ago. She recently gave birth to a beautiful, beautiful baby girl Harper and the last time I saw her she was only a couple of months pregnant. :)

But yeah, today I got to see her tonight and meet baby Harper along with Kits' baby daddy and man-love, Guy. It was great catching up with her--we talked about life and how we're trying to stay positive and it was, overall, such a nice experience. We haven't talked like that in ages and I am so glad to see how happy Kits is! Also, Harper is the cutest! I don't have a photo on me because Harper was sleepy/hungry but yeah--tonight was refreshing.

Thank you so very much for tonight, Kits! <33

Here are some photos of us throughout the ages, for your enjoyment. :))

That's me in the middle (top row) and Kits on the far-right of our row. 

Photo courtesy of Gabbi Floriendo

Favorite Things | Old Photos

A friend of mine once asked me what this blog was all about and when I couldn't quite put my finger on it--not just fashion, not just lifestyle, not just whatever--Keav butt in and said that it was like an online scrapbook. And I think that's pretty accurate. It's kind of like keeping a diary except that you can share your experiences and insights with other people. :)

So, in the spirit of that--I'll post up a couple of photos that my childhood bestfriend Christine put up today. 

Photos courtesy of Christine Gojar 

 This photo was taken in fourth grade. We stayed over at our friend Gabbi's mansion (no kidding, it really was a mansion) and spent the days swimming and telling horror stories. At one point, I remember we were playing catch with the golf ball and it got sucked into the pool filter. "What happens now?" we asked Gabbi. And she looked at us with wide eyes and said, "I think the pool's going to explode." 

That's me, on the far left, if you're wondering.

When we were younger, we'd go to Caylabne Bay every year for our friend Christine's birthday (she's the cutie with her eyes closed). And this year was special or memorable because it was the year we hit an old man by accident--one minute we were singing (no kidding) "This old man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb--" then bam! A man on his bicycle bounced right off of the windshield. 

And while Chris's parents brought the guy to the hospital, we stayed by the side of the road with a manghuhula (fortune teller) who told our fortunes. Very, very creepy stuff indeed.

That was also the last year we went to Caylabne, if I remember correctly. 

We've all gone our separate ways and see each other what, like once every year and a half? One of us lives in London, the other in Berkeley. And the people who do live in the Philippines are living up north now. Also, one of us recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. <3 Talk about the years just flying by. :D Here's to nostalgia!