Although no one is asking, I will admit that I can be a coward sometimes. I worry about a lot of things, and I mostly feel uninspired to do something I am not comfortable with. It’s not just my absolute resistance to riding a roller coaster in a theme park or my fear of traveling to places known for unfortunate events brought about by bad people. Heck, I even had to be rude to an acquaintance who keeps on shoving to me the best anti aging products she uses religiously because I don’t like using too much face products.
But there comes a time in everyone’s life …. Too dramatic? Let me rephrase, sometimes you feel emboldened to do something you normally would have qualms about doing. For whatever reason - maybe you read about someone else’s (success) story; maybe you just felt tired of your routine and want to try something new; or maybe, just like me, you suddenly lost some of your hearing faculty for more than a few minutes, for unknown reasons, and realized that you have to make some life changes because you don’t know what next would happen to you and you still have things you want to try to do. Whew! It’s not like I did something major. I didn’t even consider leaving my full-time job that major. I just did something else; one that has the potential to change my routine of the past 6 months. Or maybe it won’t, but I’m still glad I put my foot forward. Because at this point in my life, I really wish I can just go on moving forward without regrets and with more than a little wisdom in my pocket.
When I was in high school—fine, that was in the 90s—I never miss telecasts of the Grammy’s or the American Music Awards. I was so into pop music those days that I believe my parents thought I was more than just a bit obsessed. I was half-expecting them to lead an intervention to “cure” me and convince me to shift my efforts into something else more … spiritual. I remember seeing Amy Grant receive an award in one of those years; hearing of her song That’s What Love Is For, I became an instant fan. That record—and the album Heart in Motion released in 1991—will become her most successful release of all time. I didn’t even know then that she’s actually a gospel singer who crossed over to pop; to reach more people with her message or to be better known, it doesn’t really matter to me.
[Aside: My classmates didn’t know Amy and, at that same time, I was also babbling about a singer named Celine Dion who no one else also knew about. Soon after we graduated, if I remember it correctly, Amy Grant had visited Manila and been featured in every local music show, and Celine Dion has become a household name.]
Anyway, by the time I graduated from college, and my concerns turned to hoping to find jobs and keeping one, I forgot about following my favorite singers and being obsessed about top 40 hits (and all that). After several years, I was only reminded of Amy Grant because of her presence in Twitter and Facebook. The video above is a collaboration with country music singer Vince Gil back in 1994; unbeknownst to many, they were sharing an attraction while both being married to other people. Athough they insist to this day that there was no cheating, they eventually separated from their spouses and got married almost right away. For that, they took a lot of flak from Amy’s Christian community. But I look at them now, and reading about their story, who am I to say two people who feel so strongly for each other should not be together? I only have to listen to that song above to see how well they complement each other.
After a week-long hiatus/holiday, I am back to my old life and I will be lying if I’ll say it’s not a problem easing back into my usual routine. One week is not that long; I’ve been idle for almost the same number of days before, although I was probably just stuck in my apartment then. My trip was a success despite a sad thing that happened while I was having my vacation. Nevertheless, my muscles still ache from the long walks and the endless MRT and bus rides we had to take while in Singapore. I think I can use something like the massage therapy program online I saw today. It also made me realize how my current job is making me so physically immobile and that I maybe need to really look into my use of time because there really is so much one can cover in one day, given the motivation and the structure. Well, for now, I’m readjusting to my work mode. Until the next trip, that is, which I hope will come sooner than I imagine.
First day in Singapore. Up until the last minute, we’re not sure if we’re going to make this trip happen so I was holding in my excitement until I’m already sitting on that plane. Funny enough, it’s my first plane ride. But I didn’t have the chance to be properly nervous before boarding because we arrived at the boarding station almost in the nick of time. After 3 announcements of some kind of turbulence, however, I was really praying hard for courage. I was looking around my fellow passengers and no one else seemed bothered, so I resigned myself to looking out the window and wait for the dark clouds, and the slight plane “tremors,” to pass. I’ve never been so happy to see the light of sun!
I’ll try to write other blog posts later. For now, I’m just sharing this picture of the Singapore Flyer I took after we’ve come down back to earth. I have always been afraid of heights, and although the large, contained “ride” that can hold 8 people (it can contain a whole lot more, but I guess they have to limit the weight) seem safe enough, it’s still made of transparent glass so it’s still pretty scary. The European girls in zamberlan boots who rode with us didn’t look scared at all, though, so I guess it was just me again.
So I found this text processor. It’s awesome! Got me into writing at once, and I’m sure it will keep me going for a while. See for yourself.
