In Search for Creativity

Antagal ko nang walang matinong article. Antagal ko na ding walang nasusulat na tula. Hindi na din ako nakakapagpainting o kahit mag-color lang ng coloring books, waley. My creativity is gone and I don't know paano ko ba sya marereactivate. I already deleted Facebook para lesser social media, but it doesn't help as well. Naiinis na ko sa sarili ko. Kahapon, I wanted that acrylic painting set badly, but I put it back kasi gastos lang, alam kong hindi ko din naman sya bubuksan at gagamitin.

Hanggang kelan ako ganito? Nabobore na ko sa current na takbo ng buhay ko. :(

Ang Pagbabalik

Gulong gulo na ako kung saan ako magbblog. I don't feel at home in any of my sites anymore. This is my oldest running blog kaya andito ako uli. But this doesn't mean na dito na ko uli for good. I am just using this as stop-over until I have everything sorted out in my mind. After all, everything is allowed in this site. I created this blog out of nothing, para lang may matambayan ako noon in between work, to quiet my mind. And now, I am back to square one, and trying to figure out how am I going further from here.

Domain Name: To Buy or Not To Buy?

I have been thinking lately to buy my domain and try to monetize my blog. But then, I realized, hindi naman ako frequent blogger. I write based on my mood. Unlike other content creators, wala akong fresh ideas to share to the world. My sites are boring. So sayang lang?

Affe im Kopf

Ang hirap mag-isip ng isusulat. Yung gustong gusto kong magblog pero wala akong maisip na isulat. Yung in one moment, may idea but as soon as I open my blog page, poof! It's gone. Nada!

Gusto ko lang naman maging gaya ng dati etong blog ko, bakit ang hirap hirap? 

A Lot Of Work Ahead

Dinala ko dito yung notebook ko nung teenager ako, where I write down my thoughts in poetry form. I am browsing through it tonight and realized, it's going to be a lot of work bago ko sya maipublish sa blog ko. They need a lot of revisions. But funny, or rather weird, there are around 6 or 7 types of penmanship. It made me think if ako ba talaga sumulat ng mga yun? May penmanship na I can't remember na tnry ko, parang sa ibang tao sya talaga. Then those poems and essays are dated, I felt sad, wala yung tula na sinulat ko spontaneously sa chem lab nung college. Tanda ko lang title nun was our lab room (Lab 14). It was sort of a farewell poem ko sa friends and colleagues ko nung college, I wrote it on our last lab work before finals. Tanda ko lang content but the exact words, di ko na maalala. I described there the types of people in our batch, how diverse our block was, yet we all became friends. I think I compared us to the chemicals, how one person may explode merely by sitting beside the other one. Kung sa logbook ko yun sinulat, then forever bye bye na nga, kasi we had termite problem sa old house sa San Jose and they ate my old books, notebooks and letters. I wish I can write it again... but I know even if I do, it's not the same anymore because the emotions I had writing it back then is not there anymore.

If you love writing poetry, you know what I mean... 

Work in Progress

Two or three days ago, I created a new WP blog. It was intended as my re-introduction sa language tutorial. However, dahil humabol pa ang Spätsommer, at may audio transcriptions pa akong pending, I reverted the blog to private muna. My plan for that is, a language tutorial blog na para lang akong nakikipagchikahan. Kaso dahil nga asa garden pa ko most of the time, yung first two entries ko sounded too dry and formal. Kinuha ko lang kasi yung old posts ko sa Pinays in Germany blog. So as soon as tapos ko na lahat ng transcription projects ko at ang autumn ay 100% andito na, I will sit on that blog. At dahil very casual ang plan ko dun, it will be in taglish, like dito. It will not be like my other WP blogs na englishan ang dating. Actually, unang plan ko dito ko sya gawin (free muna kasi wala akong budget to buy domain for that), kaso nalilito ako sa layout dito. I dunno if possible dito yung categories as menu tabs sa taas ng page (noob lang sa Blogger, sorry 😅). Sa WP kasi possible yun kasi Reena already did that sa layout ng Pinays in Germany, so nakapag-playaround na ko sa editing ng layout and alam ko na where to find it, etc.

Ayun, just sharing my upcoming plans once the cold weather kicks in. I also plan na yun na din unti unting start ko mag-accept ng language learners for tutorial. In any way, I need to earn again, nauubos na savings ko 🙈. So like what Steven Bansil said in one of his vlog, find something that your happy to do, and not because you are forced to do so you won't easily get burnt out working. I think this is mine. Hindi ako pang-vlog, shy ako sa camera, so I will just let my fingers do the talking for me.

Enough with my brain farts for today. I will enjoy the last day of sun for this year. Ciao und bis zum nächsten Mal!

I Live to Inspire

 For quite a while now, especially whenever depression gets the control over me, I have been asking the universe, why am I still here? Why did I wake up again after that almost a month of slumber after my operation in 2017? Why do I still live, if living means being not able to do stuff I used to do before? It has always been my question since I woke up from coma in 2017. My therapists and nurses all kept on telling me, "you are still here because you have a mission." But what is that? I can't seem to find the reason no matter how hard I search...

Until today when I had a chat with a distant relative in Australia in connection to my Facebook post last Thursday. 

Last Thursday was literally Throwback Thursday for me. I was cleaning my external hard drive and saw photos from 2017 that didn't make it online. Photos after I woke up. Because I was still chained to lots of cables and was wearing hospital dress, I opted not to share it before. One, to not shock my family further because they had enough shock the moment I didn't wake up after the operation and two, I felt so ugly there. But last Thursday was different. In my mind, I said "so what if I am ugly on these pictures, I wanted them to see how I fought the battle." I kept on posting about my sickness, but I am not sure if they really know how the battle really looked like. So just to give people an idea what and how I looked like, I posted the 3 photos I had. It was for me just some sort of reminiscing, and thanking all my prayer warriors around the world because of them, the One Above gave me another life. It was literally "just another Facebook post" for me. 

Little did I know, it was more for somebody I know dearly.

Ate is currently facing her own battles. She did not mention what it is, but she has been doubting herself and her strength and the grace of the Lord. She has a son and he's still small, hence all these anxieties. She said, in the middle of her anxiety attack, my post showed up on her timeline as the first one. Then she pulled herself back and determined to fight. She told herself, "Cy did it. She has been battling a lot since a little girl and she continues to win each fight. So what do I have for an excuse to give up now? If she made it, so can I." She told me that I am a living testimony of how vast God's love is for us, that even the impossible can still be possible in God's grace.

Her words opened my mind why I am still here. 

I am here to continue to inspire. There are a lot out there who are at the verge of giving up. And the reason why I am given a second life is to remind these people that God's grace is endless. That God answers prayers. That nothing is impossible to Him if we only fervently pray. That we should not doubt Him. He is there. We may not feel His presence, but He is at work.

Hence, from now on, I can also easily fight my depression by telling myself, 

I am here to fight until the end. I will not just sit and let the enemy destroy me. I will make sure I am giving it a good fight. I'd rather die in the battlefield fighting until the end, until my last breath. 

And you who's reading this, should think the same way too! Life is beautiful! :)  

Dear Friend,

Napakasaya kong mabasa ang mga pagbabago sa buhay mo. Happy to see you succeed and your family growing. Ang laki na ng panganay mo. Nakakatuwa. 

At nakakamiss din ang nakaraan.

Yung dati na araw-araw nating pagkkwentuhan, be it in form of text messages, YM chats o personal man sa work. Yun yung mga panahon na I was healing from a very bad relationship. Dahil sayo, na-enjoy ko single life. Yung tipong, never kong kinaawaan sarili ko for being single, kasi masaya ko sa circle of friends ko na single din, at isa ka dun. Naalala ko, may blog din ako noon purely about you, nung knwento ko na may German bf na ko. Ngayon narealize ko bakit ka umiwas for a while. You felt betrayed kasi di tayo sabay umalis sa singlehood, iniwan kita sa ere (sorry naman). Then nagkita tayo sa DFA nung nagrenew ako ng passport, at what a coincidence na ikaw din. Nakwento mong wala ka na din sa singlehood, pero mas advanced pa din status ko, kasi married na ako nun. But that day, nakita ko kung gaano ka kasaya to have her, and tama ako, kita mo naman ngayon, 2 na chikiting nyo! We planned to meet again para makilala ko sya, plano was after ng out of the country trip nyo, kaso umalis na ko.

Seriously now, gusto ko lang pasalamatan ka sa napakagandang memories. At kahit na ang chats natin ay limited na ngayon sa pagbati ng "happy birthday" at "merry Christmas" sa isa't isa, ramdam ko pa din na isa ka pa din sa mga taong matatawag kong tunay na kaibigan. 

Promise na talaga, sa sunod na uwi namin, meet up na tayo, bago pa maging 5 ang anak nyo.

Tandaan mo, andito lang ako, friends for life, tik! ;-) 

Help Me Find My Way

I am quite ashamed of myself. I recently found a job that is, I think, fits well with my lifestyle. Being seriously sick for the past years, even in artificial coma for almost a month, it is difficult for me to travel to work nor to work fulltime. Hence, I accepted more freelancing projects over Upwork and German language tutorials… type of work that I can do in the comforts of our home. However, we came to a point when we need more financially, and I found a non-voice-work-from-home customer service/ technical support job. I accepted it despite the contra that it is a fulltime job (I am not really sure if I am really ready for a fulltime, actually). The job itself is fun, but I am reminded why I left the call center world 13 years ago: the company demands make me crazy, not the customers. I enjoy being of help to customers, but I am having difficulty adhering to what the company expects from agents, especially the stats. And now, here I am, torn between resigning and staying.

It is not only the pressure with the statistics that makes me uneasy the past few days. It is more the fact that, I am aging, yet I don’t know what I really want to achieve in life. I am 36 and yet, I achieved nothing. It is always the same: I get to find a job and realize after a few months that it is not for me, that I am unhappy, so I set off again to find a new job and everything repeats. I don’t feel confident to meet my high school and university mates because they all have achieved something, one way or another, while here I am, still asking the same question I was asked when I was 18: what do I want to be?

I am 36 and yet I don’t know what I really want to do for the rest of my life. I feel so lost and don’t know where nor how to start. My husband kept on saying that my triumph over my aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection (reasons why I was in artificial coma) is such a great achievement already for I have lost a few acquaintances back in the Philippines for exactly the same sickness: aneurysm. However, I still don’t know why I survived it and why am I given a second chance to life. I feel so lost and I don’t know what I really want to do in my life. How I wish life comes with a manual, or that at least the directions are clearly written up there in the clouds. So I will know how to start and where to go.

*random find from Pinterest*

Confused

trying to learn

the art of

speaking without words,

feeling without emotion,

to understand the world

without any explanation.

but i'm failing

and time is running.

soon i'm gone

and i still didn't find

the answer to my question

what life is.

Relationship Goal

Lately, I have read an anonymous letter in a forum of Filipinas married with another nationality and she has issues on infidelity of her husband. She's pregnant so she thought it is partly her fault why her husband is in search of another woman, because he has sexual needs that she can't satisfy. I felt sad and angry on how she argumented to "justify" her husband's infidelity, because she partly said she's okay with it, because she can't satisfy him as long as the baby is still in her.

I was in almost the same situation. Four years ago, I was diagnosed with thoracic aneurysm and aortic dissection, and it is due to a genetic disease I never knew I have. I was devastated, depressed, because I was a ticking bomb. I told my husband, if he meets somebody else, I would understand, at least I know he is taken cared of in case I pass away. I kept on telling him that for two long years until my biggest operation in 2017 to close the aneurysm. On the day before my operation, I told him, if I don't survive it, I want him to move on right away and find a woman who would take care of him for the rest of his life. I survived the operation, but I was in coma. Doctors asked his permission to shut down the machines because they don't see any hopes anymore. He begged them another week.... and I woke up.

Up to this time, I have moments of anxiety attacks, but he is still there. I asked him once, why is he not letting go. My husband said, the day he asked for my hand, he told himself, "this girl will be my partner for better or worse, in sickness and in health, her pains will be my pains and her happiness will be mine. No matter what happen, I will never let go of her until my last breath. Because I love her and she completes me". He said, even if we are both busy with our computer games at night and exchanges only a few words, the fact that he knows and feels I am in the same room with him and I am physically well make him complete and happy.

You see, if a guy really loves you, no matter how hard you push them away, they will not leave you just like that. They will not give in to temptation just because you can't satisfy him. Fights are part of every relationship, even ours, we do fight, but we always choose to compromise. We look for solution to close our arguments, we don't throw hurtful words to each other, we keep distance and then when we are both ready, we talk and solve the problem together. Divorce was brought up once, but we both agreed in the end that it is not a solution, rather just an escape goat to face what is really trying to tear us apart. So we put our ego down and compromised. Staying in love is a lifetime decision. Not because the other person is lacking, the other will look for another person just to fill in. If that is the case, sadly but I don't think both parties have found their true love with each other. In this case, then letting go from both sides is the best to save themselves from hurting each other.

I'm Back!

Hi everyone! I am back! Well, might not be for long, but I just missed this blog. I started backreading my old posts and it feels like I have traveled through time. A lot of things happened in five years that I am away from here. I have posted some on my Wordpress blogs (Pinays in Germany and Träume und Realität). However, there are still missing events in those blogs. It has been a roller coaster ride the past years and when I say roller coaster, it is the scariest roller coaster I rode. Honestly, I am not sure if I am really already off from this roller coaster or I am just at the part that is preparing me for another scary loop. And I am afraid. I don't know if I can survive the next loops.

I honestly miss writing, but I just can't find the right words to blog more often just like the old days. I wish this will be the start...

It's been a while since I was here. From now on, I will try to get this blog active once again. I just hope, I get the inspiration and motivation in the coming days.

Thank you for being patient and staying there despite the inactivity on this site.

Gloom

Words are gone,
Feelings I'm not sure.
World's all grey,
Sand full of snow.

Goodbye, Beautiful Dream

There was never really an us,
There was only you and me.
What we thought we once had,
Was just but a sweet dream.

I was never really meant for you,
Nor you were destined for me,
The love was just a thought,
Just in our fantasy.

Friends

I've been living for quite a long time now here in Germany. I've met different kinds of people, separated in a not-so-good ways with some of them. But despite all the bad experiences, there are a few who stayed and I am really thankful of them, for being there for me through my ups and downs. They may be only few, I can even count them with my fingers, but they are more than enough. They are the kind of people I am most comfortable to be with. I don't need to pretend just to be accepted. I can tell them everything that I think and feel and still rest assured that I am understood and accepted.

With them, it is fine to be crazy and they would just laugh and say "typical Anne".

Life Lessons

Today I feel grateful for the teachings my family and my school taught me. They shaped me to a person I am right now. My mom had always told me as a kid, that not because we have more food on the table and that I go to a private school, means we are rich. Surely, we are blessed, but what matters the most is my character as a person. So she taught me to choose friends who will accept me for who I am and not for what I have. As a kid, she let me play outside with our neighbors' kids and my cousins. We would run around, roll down the hill, play hide and seek, get mud on our faces. This way, my family taught us that we are equal. That none in our village is richer nor poorer. We are all rich because the whole place belongs to us. The vast field is not my uncle's field, but our field where we sit under the mango tree to eat its fruits, and fly our kites or play tag. (We just need to make sure his cows remain within the fences.) I was taught that money is not everything. That happiness does not depend on how much we have but how many friends we have. I was also taught that money does not grow on trees, one needs to work hard for it. So on schooldays I need to learn a lot and aim for high grades so I would be rewarded a wish. On school breaks, I learned to sell ice candies (flavored ice water), offer summer tutorials or babysitting so that I have few coins to buy something from the Sunday flea market. This way, I grew up being contented on what I have. Sure there are wants, especially during teenager days, but I learned since a kid that one can also be happy without these stuff.

At school we always have outreach programs where we spend a day with less-fortunate kids in our city. Through this program, I became sensitive to the needs of others. I learned not to want more, because I became aware that poverty is real. I learned to always thank the One Above for the blessings He bestow my family. It may not be much, but more than enough for us to survive each day and to cover our basic needs. My mind was opened to the fact though that we may be blessed by now but we are not sure of the future, hence it is important to learn how to save as well. Because of that, I learned to say no on wants and justify the immediate needs.

All these made me into a person I am now. My family taught me equality. They taught me to never judge other people's past nor their present because each person has his own daily battle. It is important to show respect so we would also be respected in return. My school taught me to always be grateful. I may only have few friends, but I am sure they are those who accepted me for who I am, for what I have and from what family I came from and I do not need more. They are enough and I am grateful to have found them in this lifetime.

Spring Feels

It feels so good to be surprised with these beautiful flowers. It makes me feel more thankful that I am able to experience another spring and eventually another summer.

Thankful for my husband who did not give up on me. Because of him, I am able to live more years and experience more seasons!

The Memorable Past, The Beautiful Present and The Unknown Future

As mentioned few months back, this is already my nth blog. But it feels too empty. So I decided to challenge myself. In the next days, I will be posting photos of the past, photos that I posted in my old blog, which I deleted during my breakdown moments around two years ago. It will be a form of reminiscing how my life has been after all these years. What had changed and what stayed. Because life is not just about living up to the present, but also about reminiscing the past and looking forward to the future.