That Which We Call Death

That which comes quietly, its shadows seen or not...that which takes away inevitably...that which we call Death:  No matter how much we prepare ourselves for it...we still are much shaken by it.   Sometimes we fear it, not for ourselves but for those who will be left behind.  For those who will be left behind, sometimes they welcome it because pain and suffering are much too much to bear.

Death manifests itself in the withered leaves that fall to the ground one by one, making us lonelier and lonelier as our days advance.  And in the afternoon of our lives, it perches onto our very own branch, beckoning.

Death is always painful.  It always takes away and leaves a great void in our being.  The feeling of loss is always deep. Forgetting takes too long.  Longing takes forever. ###

Moving Mountains, Battling With The Disorder

It's almost end of classes for the second term, and I am again confronted with a mountain of "disposables".   I mean those year-long accumulation of handouts and other photocopied readings, notes I've taken down recklessly (been planning to organize them in a notebook...failing).  Books strewn about.  Note cards. Trash can overflowing with crumpled paper.  When you are a teacher it's really difficult to keep things spic and span.  The order of the day is always disorder.  Well, yeah, you could keep a neat stack.  But there will always be lots of stacks.  So eventually, everything looks so...disorderly...so...stressful. :-(

So before I get about to checking my students' final exams and some backlog quizzes, I decided to clear my space and clear my mind. It seems to have become a ritual for me.  I just couldn't start checking with all the mess around me.

My space, by the way, is that spare room on the ground floor which I call my mess room.  It houses all my stuff that get used regularly, and so are impossible to keep  neat and still in any shelf.  This room becomes messy no sooner than I have cleaned it up.  All my precious things are in here. Books of all types, arts and crafts things, souvenirs, framed photos, baubles, and many more.  It's like a little shop. Little shop of horror.

Last night I couldn't sleep.  This clear-up thing was bugging me.  That's me. When I wanna start on something and I couldn't wait to get started, I couldn't sleep.  So I get started anyway, even at midnight and down to the wee hours of the morning.

I started with the books.  I do have lots of books. Some I've read once. Some over and over. Some never.  So I put together books of similar subjects and types.  Then with the handouts. I threw away most since I wouldn't be using them anymore.  I'm freeing my mind of the possibilities.  And if ever, I could easily make new ones anyway.

My mini-library, or the half of it.

This wall-mount bookshelf is one of those "can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-it" projects I had in my line-up and I did  it overnight about a week ago.  My body was sore the following day.

My bags, hanging from the bag holders  I purchased from my friend Lynette G.

Baubles in a bracelet bar I bought in a Chinese store ("wawa").
  Mug racks are a good option to keep your shades out of harm's way.
  They 're also a great place to hang your kikay stuffs like necklaces,
ID holders, bracelets, anklets, etc.

If they're too long, hang them from S-hooks.

My students' rock art projects back from when I taught  Humanities I.

Old photos tacked on to a wooden wine box that serves as a book end as well.

Coated wire rack used in bookstores  for holding greeting cards.

Last Christmas I bought some plastic boxes like crazy.  My husband would tease me whenever I came home with at least two of them. They were on sale, buy one take one.  I'm happy that I "hoarded", because at the onstart of the year I saw the same boxes at the mall,  priced twice as much, per.  I use these plastic boxes to keep loose ends.  Those items that I couldn't attend to at present I stuff inside the boxes, with the thought in mind that I shall get back to them when I have the time.  At least they are contained for the meantime, and I know exactly where to find them.

I love these stackable plastic boxes that come in various colors.
I knew I should have gotten more when they were on sale.
These boxes hold my scrapbook materials.

Ending is, I finished clearing up at the first crow of the roosters from a distant household.  I laid down to rest and get what little sleep I could before the birds made noises outside.  Well, I might have been sound asleep since I didn't hear the birds. I snuggled  a bit more, and a bit later my youngest son came into the room and plopped beside me.  He was gonna take a bath (he likes using the bathroom in this room because the shower is strong) but the prospect of a warm bed lured him to snuggle up beside me and bide some more time.

Sofa by day, bed by night.

When I finally got up I was feeling braced for the day. I'm now ready to take on the next battle: checking and computing grades.  When I'm done with these tasks, I'm ready for summer. And the next phase of my life.###

On Fishing and Organizing: I Shall Teach Thee How Not to Fish

This article is also a re-post from the blog account I will be closing down soon after this transfer.   


I've never been an OC, if you know what those two letters stand for.  As a matter of fact, my workplace is an OC's worst nightmare ever.  Well, of course, I tidy up once I'm done with my projects, but never during. I tend to lose things when my stuff are organized within my creativity period.  Believe it or not, I can be very well-organized with my things. That is, if I don't need them within the month, they go to their respective shelves or organizers.   Yes, I've  got not too few organizers--various types: plastic mini-drawers, plastic folders, wooden trays, bucket organizers, storage trays, file racks, etc. etc. etc.  I even have corkboards to hold my memos and reminders and other stuffs that need immediate attention but certainly go unnoticed till after they have become obsolete.

I have a lot of things. As in.  I'm a craft-hobby person and I collect a lot of small things. I even carry a lot of things in my bag whenever I go out.  That's right.  I take my home with me wherever I go; hence, small bags are not really my friends.  Well, we're BFF when I pick up my groceries, because I only need to bring my most basic essentials or kit A (you heard it right):  a dozen Excedrins, a pack of wet-tissue, my driver's license, a credit card and an ATM card, and my cellphone.

But for most of the time, I need to lug a big bag to carry my next most basic essentials (or kit B) which would include all of kit A, my pressed powder, my Mary Kay basic make-up case, a hairbrush, a tiny jar of lotion snitched from a recent hotel stay, ballpens and paper pad, a dainty fan, a cardholder, my school IDs, a USB and a bunch of keys.  A water bottle, too.

My Kit C would include all of Kit A and B, plus my blue foldable-umbrella, my Canon cam, my laptop and its charger and mouse, my handy broadband units, my binder-notes, sheets of paper, etc. etc. etc.  (Uh, okay, you can easily say I throw in my whole computer table into my bag, minus the printer).  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the modern-day Mary Poppins.

So can you imagine how the interior of my bag would look like?  My bag usually gets to be very, very profound.  It teaches me how to fish.  I need to answer my cellphone that keeps ringing as if it commands attention from all other people around me, go fish. Ring-riiing!  Fumble. People stare. Curse.  Fish, fish.  Ah, finally, found ya ( but it has decided to clam up now).  *#@&%$.... I need to do re-touch on my lips, go fish.  Now where is that damn key??? Fumble, fumble, go fish.  Deeper dear, as keys are known to love to inhabit the bottom of the ocean...err...bags, I mean.

I used to have lots  of tiny purses in my bag.  Coin purse. Make-up purse.  Pencil case.  Miscellaneous purse.  So I was only too happy when I got a freebie bag organizer from the National Bookstore one post-summer time, when we were buying loads of school stuff for my three boys.  Plus a few books for me, always.   It's a black mini-bag with lots of inner side pockets.  Put in all your things there, and put the mini-bag inside your handbag.Yeah, I got to have an organized bag with it.  I got to change bags conveniently.  But still I had to do some fishing whenever I needed something in it.  And I still had to cry "Waaiit!!! Don't hang up on me!"  whenever my phone rang incessantly (yes, as if my caller could hear me, 'no!)  Hmp! I still had that Midas touch: phone got  frozen  the moment I laid my hand on it...oh, if only it would work for real, like, really turn things into gold, I'd touch every person and cat that comes near me!)

But that's all history now. (It's nearly 2 am so I  really have to get to the point now.)  Bearhugs to my friend Lynette, the pretty yuppie (young-Preneur) who introduced me to her wrap-around bag organizers.  It is truly a magnificent idea. Double bearhugs to the inventor, too, squeeze-squeeze! 

So these days, I am truly proud to present my bag for inspection at the malls.  And everything's so easily accessible, like, at one glance I see where my phone is, where my lipstick is, etc. etc. etc.  Yes, my big bags are no longer profound and my fishing days are over.  (Seven minutes before my hubby gets up and reprimand me for staying up eyes wide open at this unholy hour,so just take a look at my bag and see for yourself.  Uploading...uploading...ears straining for my hubby's dreadful footsteps, sssshhh!)



My bag, with Kit A.

Am using a medium-sized wrap around

 to hold my most basic stuff.  See how neat?

And how it leaves so much room

 for other things to be placed in the middle.



Here, I have two wrap-arounds for my Kit A  and B.

 The medium-sized goes in the center,

 wrapped around by the large organizer

that contains more pockets.

So easy to find things because they're all like

staring at you when you open your bag.



Medium, animal-print.



Outer: Large, animal-print.

Same cloth for unity and cohesiveness.

Together they hold all of my personal stuff.

And look, they even prop up my floppy bag. 



So you see, I am not an OC, and NEVER will be, with apologies to my hubby who squeezes toothpaste tubes from the bottom ( I wring the neck!)  but with this look of my bag, I could pass for one.  Makes  very, very good impression.  Just beware, don't leave your bags gaping wide and unattended with this set-up because if it makes it too convenient for you, well, then it serves a very good purpose for shoplifters as well. 

If you wanna have a bag make-over just like mine, drop me a message and I could help you get one or a pair for you.  Makes great present, too, especially that the gift-giving season is here right now na na.  Search for my bellissima fwendship's Facebook account: Lynette's Unique Finds.  She has more great stuff in store for you. 

So bye for now, good morning. I have been staying up too la....errr...early, gotta catch a wink till five.  Ciao!

The Color Of Life

I've just started this blog running on the theme of how we color our own world.  Then I chanced this photo by a young lad I've known to have an obvious depth in character.

The subject of his art is very simple. Clothespins on a clothesline left all wet and shimmery after a downpour.  The droplets actually make the picture extraordinary.  They add a touch of drama that appeals to one's sensitivities.  If one could give this much attentive interest to something as seemingly insignificant as 'pang-ipit',  then, hey, how much more of things that really matter?  May the artist in you not "obliviate", lad.

From Ian Villares' album @
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69852&id=1066318395

I marvel at this perspective of life...very simple, very positive.  The colors of life are brilliant after the rain.  The leaves are greener, the flowers daintier, the birds chirpier after coming out of their shelters, and the rainbows that issue in the skies...they fail no end to cheer us up despite the overcast.

It is not the form that dictates the color, 

but the color that brings out the form.

---Hans Hofmann

Life Is About Creating Yourself

Life is not about finding yourself.  Life is about creating  yourself.

TOO OFTEN do we hear people say "I gotta go somewhere far and quiet to ponder over things.; I need to find myself." I've never found the need to say that to myself, about finding myself. Despite the odds, I never felt I've ever been lost. But too many times have I found the need to go somewhere far and quiet to ponder over things. Of course, we all need a clear mind in order to arrive at wise decisions. Quiet places and fresh air always seem to work like magic in helping us regain our forbearance, as well as peace in heart and mind.

TO LOSE one's self is to lose the zest for life.  Like, wherever we cast our eyes things simply turn gray and bleak. But our life is a canvas, and we are its artists.  The colors of our lives depend on how we wield our brushes with whatever shades and strokes we choose.  It's  pretty much impossible to come up with perfectly-organized patterns, because life is spontaneous.  Surprises often paint our lives the brightest colors   and the wildest strokes.   Whatever portrait comes out, well, hey, that's our masterpiece. 


A life well-lived is a life well-tinged with a kaleidoscope of colors.    That's our life.    That's who we are.  We don't lose ourselves in the making.  We create ourselves.  We design our lives.  Indeed, life is what we make it.

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." --Abraham Lincoln

On Life

Life

is a great big canvas,

and you should

throw all the paint on it you can.  ~Danny Kaye


Carpe Diem.  
Seize the day.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
Strike while the iron is hot.


You cannot erase it all once the paint is thrown, but the magnificent work of art that is presented before your eyes is all your own, and that's the beauty of it.  Only you can create such masterpiece.  You alone, yours alone.