Jellybeans- My Own version

Because of an unknown mishap I lost my ticket somewhere inside Madame Tussauds, I had no choice but to wait for my friend as she experience the view of Hong Kong atop the Sky Terrace. It was so foggy that day, even the girl at the cashier forbid me to buy another ticket to gain access at Hong Kong’s highest viewing deck. While I was waiting for her, I checked on some shops and stumbled upon a store selling jellybeans. It was quite costly for a candy, especially for someone like me who’s not fond of candies but I didn’t hesitate, I bought one bag with all the 42 assorted flavors.

I was curious on how each flavor tastes but more than that it was the memory of an internet article I read some time ago. The article was written by Noringai, I don’t know her personally but I really liked her articles, I could relate to some and learn from some. To give you a gist of her article entitled “Kwentong Jellybeans” (it actually has parts 1 and 2), it’s about how obsessed she was on a certain guy that she failed to appreciate the other guys in her life, she used her obssession on finding the elusive chocolate pudding flavored jellybeans as a metaphor to tell her story.

Let me borrow Noringai’s metaphor in this article, let me write my own version of the jellybean story.

Chocolate pudding jellybeans, everyone loves chocolates, right? Everyone likes him for me, I used to like him as well, “used” to like him,  just like the chocolate pudding flavor, he’s simple and in my own opinion he’s a safe choice. But just like Noringai’s jellybean story, it’s elusive and when I found it, it’s disappointing, nothing so special, just like chocolate pudding he’s someone I grew up with, nothing more than that.

I got over chocoloate pudding when I realized that toasted marshmallow is better. But Toasted Marshmallow didn’t last that long, it’s easy to get over something when there’s not that much to remember.

But as it turns out Chocolate pudding and Toasted Marshmallow were not my favorites, surprisingly, it’s Strawberry Cheesecake. I am not fond of strawberries so I was really surprised when I liked it’s taste, it was unique. Just like someone, he’s unique, different from all the guys I’ve ever met and I never expected that I will like him, he’s a surprise.

Then, on my recent trip to Cebu, I found out that the brand of jellybeans I bought in Hong Kong is also available here in the Philippines but there are only 20 flavors, Chocolate pudding and Toasted Marshmallow were among them. Strawberry Cheesecake is not available, not available here in the Philippines…just like him, he’s not here..he’s somewhere else.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I must admit that I’m so behind with the Harry Potter craze, I was living under a rock, it was just last month when I was able to watch all six movies and right now I’m still on the last chapters of reading the sixth book. I was intrigued when I first heard of it, in fact I watched the first movie when it was released and I loved it but then, seems like things around me didn’t permit me to go beyond liking the first film until late last year when I started reading the first book.

While I was watching it, I suddenly wished that there will be a Harry Potter theme park. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to experience how it feels being inside the Hogwarts Castle, ride a Nimbus 2000 or a Firebolt, go inside the Chamber of Secrets, ride a hippogriff or a dragon, play Quidditch, enter the Triwizard Tournament maze, and lots of other adventures by Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Now, the wish came true, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens today (according to sources) in Orlando, Florida. Most fans, who are lucky enough to visit the newly-opened park will not only experience how it feels to be inside the Hogwarts Castle but they will also experience boarding the Hogwarts Express, drink butterbeers at Three Broomsticks, walk in the streets of Hogsmeade, eat chocolate frogs and Betty Bot’s every flavor jellybeans at Honeydukes, explore Zonko’s Joke shop and lots of other places that we all imagined to exist while reading the adventures of Harry potter.

How I wish I could apparate right now to Florida to experience the park, but I guess I have to wait for a few more years. Too bad, I still don’t have a US Visa, but the moment I got one, I think this will be the first on my list. To those who are so lucky to experience the park already, I hope you enjoy it.

* I don’t own the pictures, thanks to those who were generous enough to share.

Right Material

Apart from having the talent, an actress must also have a good material to gain her “Best Actress” award. Like actresses, we in our careers must also have a good material for us to make a significant contribution in our respective fields.

I’m not a board exam topnotcher neither am I a cum laude graduate, if transcript of records and board ratings are the only two things to be considered I am just an ordinary Certified Public Accountant but there is one thing that I am sure of, I am more than what my resume says about me and I know more than what my transcript reflects.

I am still at the early stage of my career, I still have a lot of things to learn and discover, I am a young professional in search for the right material to prove that as a CPA I can make a significant contribution in my field. I know that I have no right to complain with my present situation, including my job and maybe, I can agree with that. But I know and I have a strong feeling that I am not in the place where I want to be, I do not have the material to excel in my field. I don’t feel like I am a part of something or that I am in anyway significant, maybe I am wrong but I can also be right. I am not working solely for the money, but of course, it matters, I’ll be a hypocrite to say that it does not. I am working to practice whatever it is that I have learned, to transform my knowledge into meaningful outputs by means of making significant contribution. I want to work because I want to learn, there is so much to learn so why should we stop. But I think the most important reason why I want to work and why I want to have and fully utilize the right material once it gets into my hands is that, I don’t want to put into waste the knowledge, the talent, the abilities that God has given me. Remembering my Theology professor way back in college, “The university’s mission is to bring the church to every field of profession”. God has blessed me to become who I am, so I think I must use this not just for achieving personal excellence but to take part of my mission as a Christian.

‘Though I must admit that there are times when I am really down, that I keep on waiting for something that will never come but thank God for little reminders that things will soon be okay, that this is God’s way of preparing me to the place where He knows, I should belong and I know that in that place I will have the right material.

Apart from having a license, a CPA must also have the right material to make a significant contribution to her chosen field.

* A multi-national company which I’ve been aspiring to join called me up last monday and yesterday, the personnel is having troubles in assessing whether or not I am a fit for the position, I think she should’ve ask for my background and work experience first for her to assess. She didn’t call up today. I am on the brink of losing hope on whether or not I will be able to get a new job, my “right material”. I am on the edge of the cliff, I don’t know if He’ll catch me or He’ll give me wings.

More than Shopping Bags and Luggages

I love to shop and travel, all the people around me knows that. But only a few of them knows that I’m more than shopping bags and luggages. I want to do something to make others happy. Believe it or not, I want to have a scholarship foundation. If in the future I’ll have the capacity to buy a 3-million peso worth of Hermes Birkin bag, I won’t choose to spend my money there but instead I’ll just send people to school. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against people who are spending that much on luxury items, it’s just that it’s too much for me. Most of my friends might disagree with me because I always go for things which are quite expensive for my status but to set the record straight I’m not really after the brands I just want quality and comfort and durability. I know I splurge at times but there is a threshold for that, a million worth of bag is too much, for example.

I believe in the power of education ‘though we can argue that there are a lot of successful people who were able to make it despite of not being able to finish schooling. But in this world where the competition is tough and people are measuring you based on what you achieve, to have a good education and a degree under your belt is one powerful weapon.

This is really one part of me that I kept secret but I really have a soft spot in my heart for this. I always get teary eyed each time I hear stories of people who are deserving yet were not privilege to go to school. My eyes also mist hearing success stories of people who had to go through a lot just to finish school. I don’t know why I’m easily touched by stories like these, all i know is that since childhood I was thought the value of education. I was a very good student, i can’t sleep if I haven’t done my homework and on the top of that I help my siblings, cousins and friends in their studies whenever there is a need to do so. I think that is one good thing to begin with since my savings are not even enough for me as of now.

Maybe, I’m saying these things because right now my financial status doesn’t permit me to indulge on luxuries but in the future if I’ll be blessed to have more than what I should, I would really do my best to achieve my greatest dream. For I strongly believe that to whom much is given much is expected in return and this will be one of the many ways to give back what the kindness of life brought us. I’m praying that when the day comes that I can make this great dream possible, I still hasn’t change.

8 Months of Darkness

We are all wanderers searching for our own promise land. No one ever said that the road getting there is easy. We stumble, we fall, sometimes we get stranded, we get trapped, we face crossroads but still we don’t stop, we go on, after all that is what life is all about.

I finished my early years in school in flying colors, I entered one of the country’s most respected universities and enrolled on one of the most sought after programs in the university. I graduated on the upper bracket of my class, I took the country’s most difficult professional exam and successfully passed it in just one take. In as short as 4 hours after reading my name on the list I received a call from the country’s most respected professional service firm. I am an achiever in my own right, such a feat can’t be achieved by sheer luck but enough of the bragging.

As a kid I thought all I have to do is to get good grades, upon entering the university I focused myself on having those three letters affixed after my name but after achieving all these, I was awaken by the reality that there is more to life. Apart from achieving something in terms of grades the real battle begins outside the gates of the university. Now, I know what the so-called “real world” means. Gone are the days when entering a Sanrio store could have me jumping up and down, life is more complicated now. I used to think that I have the world on a string, I know what I want and how to get it so I work hard for it and eventually get it but now things aren’t that easy anymore.

If there is one thing I am sure of, that is I know I took the right course, I never doubted. But to find myself in the midst of the darkness is one thing I never imagined I’ll be into. At first, I thought that things are just fine, I’m just beginning to navigate this unknown forest and I was hoping that I’ll get used to it in time. But as the day passes by it feels like that my license is being insulted, fulfillment is something that is getting blurry as the days pass. I wasn’t born with such mental prowess to copy-paste. I’m one of those blessed with an intelligence quotient higher than the rest but all I am doing is stare at the monitor in front of me and allow my fingers do the clicking while my overflowing neurons is pleading me to use them. This is not what I dreamed of, I need a reason to be here, a reason not to care if it’s raining outside because I need some other reason other than “it’s paying my bills”. I tried checking on myself, maybe I’m the one who has a problem that I cannot grasp whatever it is that they are asking me to do but I always end up thinking that ‘no’, my IQ can’t be put into question, much more of my competence, it’s just that they are asking me to navigate a sea wherein I am not trained for. I never wanted to shift careers but it seems like they are asking me to do so, I didn’t finish just an ordinary any 4-year course, I’m not destined to do ‘just’ this. How can I do things for His glory when it feels like I’m insulting what He has given me everyday. I’d rather walk the complicated, long and tiring paths ’cause I know that it will lead me to a destination and I have everything on hand to begin with as I walk rather than wander in this dark forest with no paths laid down for me and I have nothing on hand.

I’ve been trusting God’s wisdom but I couldn’t help but ask why. Everday it seems harder to wake up and drag my feet. I don’t want to sit in front of the computer on a Monday morning. I know I’m here for bigger things, there no paths laid down for I must be the one build them but how can I when I know that I’m not in the right place to build paths for me to walk into and others to follow. I know I can do this but please let me do it.