There are days when you feel like packing your things up and leaving. Possibly for a short stint somewhere like the Comfort Inn New York City hotel. Or permanently in Timbuktu! Work, family, friends, and every one can be overwhelming suffocating at times. And you just want to get away from it all. Even for a short spell.

When you feel like it, and you can’t afford to go away, just close your eyes, breathe deeply, and cleanse your mind of all the clutter in it. Sleep, if you must. Turn off your phone, your computer and every little distracting thing near you. Listen to soothing music.

Calm and peace will surely envelop you in their embrace.

I am amazed how some women change parts of their body like they are just changing Ferrari parts. No, I am not against beauty enhancement. I just can’t understand why some women mutilate their body to escape something. And then they will pass it on as doing it to feel good. We are given natural beauty that we can enhance in so many ways without altering a part of it permanently. I just wish that women be more appreciative of what they were given by life.

When you chose to remain single for the rest of your life, do you have the right to be bitter about it later on? Do you blame others for your current predicament or do you accept your fate wholeheartedly?

I visited a grand-aunt last week. This is the grand-aunt with whom I spent most of my pre-teen years with. I love her dearly. She took care of me when my parents were busy with my younger siblings. I was actually pampered and was treated very well when I was at her home.

She remained single, never marrying because the person she intended to marry before was someone her parents never approved of. It was a complicated matter. She came from a very old-fashioned family and well, in the 50′s, parents rule was the law. So they never got married. The guy even remained single as well.

When I visited her last week, I detected bitterness in her voice. Oh, I’ve been noticing this before, especially when she’s in one of her moments, when she talks about the one man she loved. The bitterness appeared when she was looking at the little girl with me. She was thinking that her life would have been much more fun and happier if she had a little girl with her as well.

She doesn’t blame others for what happened to her. In fact, she doesn’t regret anything at all. She just wishes that she could have done something. Probably, made her life different than what it is now.

It made me realize that I should not let life pass me by. I have a choice of participating in life and not just watching from afar, always on the safe corner. Life should never be like that. Or else, I might end up old, somewhat lonely, a bit bitter, and full of what ifs and what could have beens.

An interesting thing happened to me a couple of days ago. I got to meet an old soul like me. We talked about so many things, mostly of the past. Music, books, school, movies… even walking dolls and Barbie dolls! I enjoyed the talk a lot! I love recalling the past from time to time and I can really get into it. You can say that I had a grand childhood, teenage years and school years. The past was great for me.

But then, the present has a lot of stuff that is so much better than what we had in the past. Like computers. Cellphones. A Rackmount lcd. Sanitary napkins! And so many things that made our lives easier compared to before.

I wish I can have more of those conversations. Hopefully.

My sister and her friends will be traveling north-bound of this country next week. It will be a treat from one of my sister’s friends, last week being her birthday. They made a promise among themselves that they will be going on three trips before their 30th birthday. And this is their first. They bought personalized water bottles to bring with them, together with a backpack full of clothes and toiletries, and a blanket. They are all set to go and are actually too excited about this trip.

I visited a friend I haven’t seen in a while last week. I was surprised to find a modest bungalow she’s now living in. The last time we saw each other, she’s still renting an apartment. She told me that she saved enough money for the downpayment of the bungalow and is still paying monthly amortizations for it.

I felt a little envious. I’ve been wanting to move to a new house for years now. Her house is full of brand new items like an LCD tv with an LCD mount, a lazy-boy, stained glass that separates her dining room from her living room and so many more.

Soon. I will be able to afford it as well.

Ate Esper was pregnant with her first child. She was craving for prawns and was asking her husband if they could buy some. She was really drooling for even a bite. But then, her no-good husband just told her that they didn’t have the resources to afford one. Oh, but he could shell out some for his vices! Ate Esper was crying, pitying herself, and most probably her hormones were rioting as well. Her mom found her and was immediately filled with pity, love and compassion for her daughter. She bought a kilo of fresh prawns and a piece of lobster for her. She didn’t ask for anything more for the duration of her first pregnancy.

I don’t know why there are men who gets married and promptly ignores their wives at the first possible opportunity. I really couldn’t fathom why.

Whenever I hear about Executive Search recruiters, the old HR director from one of my previous employers come to mind. She has a kind heart. She was the one who stepped forward to offer help when I was in one of my lowliest. You just don’t see that often these days. But with her…

Anyway, recruitment is on my mind again because a cousin of mind who graduated a week ago was asking for help on where she can get work right away. Finding a job these days is getting harder because of so many companies freezing their recruitment processing due to the recession. But there are companies out there still hiring. Patience is needed to find one.

Or I told my cousin to talk to an Executive Search recruiter like Dennis C. Carey* because they are the experts when it comes to recruitment.

*Executive search recruiter Dennis C Carey has published a number of books that can be found on Amazon. Here’s a blog of Dennis Carey for you to know more about his profession.

Every summer vacation, we make it a point to do some general cleaning at home. We clean closets, shoe racks, book shelves, drawers and every nook and cranny at home. All old clothes, used college textbooks as well as every book we don’t need anymore, pairs of shoes that are in good condition, and every item at home that can still be used by other people will go to charity. For the books, we prioritize the local public library in our area. Other used textbooks will go to the local school. The secondhand clothes and pairs of shoes will go to the local church. They are the ones responsible for assisting victims of fires and all that.

General cleaning is also a way to take all the clutter out of the house. I don’t like a house full of unnecessary things that’s why I often tell my siblings to gather whatever they own that they don’t need anymore and box it for charity.

I always tell my love ones to smile. When I was a kid, I used to frown a lot. I didn’t know that my frowns were affecting my mom. She thought all along that the reason why I frown so much was because I was not satisfied with our life. When she asked why I was frowning, I’d just shrug my shoulders and go on. Little did I know that my mom was worrying a lot because of it.

I never want that to happen again. When my aunt told me about it, I was surprised. You never could see it in her face that she’s worrying. Anyway, from then on, I vowed I wouldn’t be frowning for no reason. Smile! You never know when a person you’ve bestowed the product of the top cosmetic dentists San Diego has to offer is in need of one.

Smile! And the world will smile in to you in return.

In times of personal crisis, we all go back to our roots. Have you noticed that? Somehow, we always find ourselves on the way home. Home can be anywhere for you and me. It can be your parents’ house. It could be your province where most of your family members are. It could be your own house somewhere. Anywhere still home.

She will surely go back home when she confirms it. I just know she will. Because she was already talking about not getting a nanny but would want her kid to grow up with her grandma. Her mom. And I am happy for her. The child may be the bridge that both are waiting to tighten the gap between them.

I am sure you’ve been seeing this photo in so many leaflets, posters, banners, stickers and even in tv ads. 0% balance transfer. Nothing wrong with trying it out. But then beware of hidden charges of some unscrupulous credit card companies. I fell victim to this in the past. I transferred my existing balance in one of my credit cards to this new one and was shocked to find additional charges when my first bill came. Apparently, it was not explained to me properly that there were charges that I needed to pay on top of the transferred balance. No backing out of it anymore but I was very careful after that.

Now, I am maintaining two credit cards that I use for emergencies only. I am an impulsive buyer so getting more credit cards is a no-no for me. Otherwise, I might end up neck-deep in debt again, like what happened to me before.

I’ve seen an old friend in a social networking site. We haven’t spoken in a long while, I think it’s three years now. We’ve had a falling out and were never able to patch things up before she went abroad. I’ve read her profile and it says that she’s in the country again. She’s lost a lot of weight. Looking at her, you’d think she took weight loss pills. She’s skinny now. She looks miserable as usual. I think she’s still with her abusive partner. I wish her happiness, despite everything that happened. It’s just so sad that over a gossip our friendship ended.

I feel so darn tired right now. It’s been a busy week for me. I wanted to write some posts and schedule it here but that will have to wait. Sunday morning will be the time for me to write and schedule as well as search for the Mesothelioma a friend of mine was talking about nonstop the other night. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember any of it so I will just do my own research about it. For now, I am hitting the sack and getting my beauty rest.

Happy weekend everyone!