Category Archives: 365 Things to Look Forward to

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 33: A New Post

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33. A New Post

I started writing this collection of 365 things to look forward to for several reasons.

1. I wanted to force myself to write something everyday. The original plan was to write something everyday, until a whole year was up. Then I would have 365 blog entries that I could turn into a book, or sift through and turn into a book, or pick through for topics that I could develop further and eventually turn those into a book. Unfortunately, I hit a few snags early on, and a month passed and I still didn’t have 30-31 things to look forward to. Now, I have 33! One month and a couple of days of things to look forward to and counting. I know it’s a daunting task, but I always wanted to be a serious writer. Which means, I wanted to make writing a life-time career. I’d always dreamed of becoming a writer, and I know I was getting there, but bills got in the way, and other jobs provided a more steady income. Now, before it’s too late, I just want to get on my way, so I’m always setting aside some time for writing. And as long as I can do it, I will do it every single day for the rest of my life.

2. I needed to start counting my blessings. The past two years have taken a lot out of me. I’m still recovering, but I know I need to face life head on and go on with it. Many times, I’d just take things for granted. Most things, I’d take with a grain of salt. Everything was just ordinary. Nothing special ever really happened in my life. At least, that’s how I looked at it. I was just living. I know I started becoming cynical when I was in elementary school, and I was a full-blown cynic in high school. I also developed an armor of protection. Nothing would faze me–at least on the outside. I’d taken on a serious visage and a sharp tongue. Everything I said was tongue-in-cheek, in the sense of an earlier meaning that connoted contemptuous humor. I was satirical, cynical, sardonic, critical, and took everything with a grain of salt. I remained quiet whenever I could, rarely speaking and when I did, it would be some pointed comment. Beneath all that, I wanted to be liked and like others around me. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to understand what my classmates’ lives were like, because my life certainly didn’t seem like anything anyone else I knew had. So I struggled to be that way in my senior year, and I brought that into university, where I adopted a very casual, very carefree aura. I became the belle of the ball, so to speak, and I always tried to look my best, by dressing in very feminine couture, as opposed to my boyish outfits before senior high. I enjoyed the attention and I never showed how I really felt about things. I was a natural flirt and enjoyed the attention I felt I would never get when I was younger, because I was the nerdy geeky girl with eyeglasses at whom men never made passes. I traded my eyeglasses for contact lenses, which did wonders to boost my ego, which had been brutally and constantly bruised growing up. I was extremely active in various organizations and found that I could influence people and I could make myself heard. I was experiencing independence, freedom, and responsibility like never before. And I learned that I could be in control of it all. Through all that, nobody every knew when I had problems or difficulties or issues with anything in life. I was always smiling, always friendly, but still avoided speaking when I could. I preferred to sit at the edge of things, except when I was pushed up front and center to assume leadership roles or to perform tasks, which I always strove to do my best at. I preferred to listen to others as long as I could and not volunteer anything until people looked to me, or I felt obliged to speak up and do something because no one else would, or they couldn’t figure out how to approach a problem, and so on. I preferred to watch people, because I could learn so much about them just by watching them, listening to them speak, observe how they interacted with others and reacted to people or situations or ideas. This was something I had enjoyed doing since childhood—just watching, observing–and I still enjoy doing it now. I can sit for hours, imagining what people’s lives are like from watching them, making up stories about them. After so many years of wearing this persona, I have finally realized that I do have talents that other people don’t have. I always thought I was just another ordinary, insecure girl, who had grown up to be an ordinary, insecure woman. I never thought my life was so different, or so special, or so unusual, or even so extraordinary. I never thought that some of what I do and have been doing all my life are things a lot of other people can’t do at all. I have learned to face the fact that I have been showered with so many blessings, which more than make up for the pains of growing up the way I did. It’s not the first time I tried to start counting my blessings, but every time I tried to in the past, I’d get foiled. I have learned in a very hard way that I can’t let things or people foil me. I’m in control of my life. While I can’t control everything, like my job, the environment, politics, and other people, I can always control the way I feel or react to things. I can always control the way I think. Of course, once in a while, I might indulge in a pityfest. But that’s human. What most people fail to do is learn to stop pitying themselves and learn to love themselves and see everything as some sort of blessing, twisted and disguised as they may be. Being able to even begin to see that is, in itself, a blessing.

3. I need to be more positive. For the longest time, I’d seen things with a jaded eye. There were people and things, of course, that were exempt from this point of view. Those people were mainly my friends who I considered close to me, or those who had taken our relationship from “colleagues” and “associates” to “friends.” I’m not going to name any now, but I do keep in touch with several of them, and even those I haven’t been in touch with are still special to me. Those are people who, no matter what, I will consider good and dear friends. Others are just passing through my life. But that’s not the way it is. In reality, everyone and everything that is in contact with me in whatever shape or form they come, touches my life, becomes a part of me. Some will affect me in a huge way. Some in tiny ways. But I know I am learning things from them, every single day, every moment of my life. I just need to acknowledge that more often. I need to accept that. And I need to do it in a positive way. Some things or people might pass through with little effect and hardly any affect, but that’s because I will have learned that these are insignificant to me, or potentially harmful, hence the need to avoid them or discard them. That’s actually a life lesson. I need to count my blessings and see things in a more positive way. Which brings me back to item 2 in this entry. Blessings and positivity. You can’t separate those two.

4. I need to focus. Too many things interest me. I want to do too many things. I want to learn too many things. I want to be too many things. But I have only one life at the moment. And one self. One body. One me. I knew, back in high school, that I needed to focus on something to determine what course to pursue in university, and eventually, what path my career would take. I was overjoyed when we were offered an aptitude test, that would help use determine what areas we were good at, so that we could plan our future along those lines. That way, we wouldn’t be wasting time developing an area that we had absolutely no aptitude for. I was completely dismayed and disappointed when my results came back. I was hoping the test would decide for me what direction I could and should take. The results I got back showed that I scored at the top of the chart in three career areas (out of five), and scored in the second bracket in the remaining two areas. Before the results were out, I was told that I could pursue a career in the areas where my aptitude lay in the the top two brackets. All I found out was that I could be good at any of all the 5 areas, and that I would be good in any career. I couldn’t even ignore the lowest-scoring area because there wasn’t one. And I couldn’t focus on the top-scoring area because there were three of them! So once again, I was thrown into a quandary where I could be anything I wanted be. And so my life continued, picking up skills in disparate areas of interest. I have finally decided that my earliest desire, to be a writer, is what is really best for me, because it allows me to use the knowledge I have acquired over all the different aspects of my life into a singular task, albeit with a myriad outputs. I have also decided that the second thing I do want to specialize in is my art. That will be totally new discussion, of course, as this entry is getting quite lengthy.

So, there you have it. This is why I chose to start writing 365 things to look forward to. It doesn’t mean I won’t write about other things, because if I do, that means I’m doing just dandy, because finally, my writing is coming handy!

 

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 31: New Gadgets!

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31. New Gadgets

I suppose this would evoke the image of Inspector Gadget for some people, but no, I do not go around with all my gadgets in my pocket or on my person, or in my purse. That would be utterly ridiculous. But I do love new gadgets. Who doesn’t? Oh, wait. Yes. My mom doesn’t. Can’t forget that.

But my dad, oh, did he love new gadgets! I must have picked some of that up from him. He would often come home with some little new-fangled gadget to use in the kitchen or put in his toolbox, or somewhere around the house, and after trying it a couple of times, it would disappear. Well, I suppose it was my mom who would make them disappear. She would mutter about the useless expense and the waste of money and how it would just clutter up her kitchen and so on and so forth. That never seemed to dampen my dad’s interest or enthusiasm, however, and he’d keep on coming home with little things, albeit less frequently. When cable television finally caught in the Philippines and home shopping was on nearly every channel, I discovered that he and my sister were back into trying out new things, ordering little gadgets or novel products from TV offers.

I always enjoyed looking through home stores and hardwares, because there were so many intriguing and amazing gadgets for sale. I can still spend hours and hours going through those stores just looking at everything there is to see. If I had some “spare” cash on me, I’d inevitable be walking up to the check-out counters with a little new something in hand. They really didn’t necessarily have to be a gadget that you could manipulate, although those are the most exciting to get. Sometimes they would be a china mug with a design that I just couldn’t leave on the shelf. I just had to have it for my mug collection. Or it might be an ice cube tray that didn’t make cubes and had some unique shape. I had a couple of ice cube trays that made little balls. I just loved them. Then I had a pair that made tubes. I also got a couple that made the tiniest little round-bottomed half capsules. And a couple that made the cutest tiniest little cubes! I just can’t have normal ice cubes from the standard trays. I have to have cute little fancy ice cubes! Not that they make different ice. Just differently shaped. They never cease to amuse me.

Before I left the Philippines, when I was earning enough to have a bit left over for just about anything, I fell for the home TV shopping. To my credit, I’ll have to say that I only got things that I could really use around the house. Twist mop? I had it. And it was one of the best mops I’ve ever had! I’m sure I had a few other purchases, but I really can’t seem to recall what they were. I guess that proves I never really did a whole lot of the home tV shopping. But I did love to watch the infomercials.

Here in Canada, I don’t get to do the home TV shopping bit for a couple of reasons. No credit card. No money. Sure, there might be a couple of things I’d like to get, but I’ve found that you can actually get them by mail order or in some big stores in town. My big folly now is mail order shopping, which wasn’t a big thing in the Philippines. I actually get a lot of things by mail order, most of which I do use around the house. It’s just so handy to be able to pay in installments, not have to walk around looking for what you want in a dozen stores, and have everything delivered to your front door! I’ve equipped my kitchen with cutters, knives, sharpeners, a mixer, and all sorts of other little appliances and tools to use. I have a really handy screwdriver that twists on its own. Most recently, I just received a brand new craft cutter. My very first craft cutter disappeared from my office in the Philippines, while we were cutting tickets for a show. My second craft cutter, which I purchased just before leaving the Philippines, needs a new cutting pad and has some broken fasteners as well, so that the strip that holds the rotary blade doesn’t stay in place. So I ordered a new craft cutter. It’s still in the plastic wrap in came in, but this one has 6 different blades, an extendable ruler, and a back light! It’s just fantawesome! I can’t wait to use it. But I probably won’t until I finish the oil painting I’m currently working on. That’s because if I start using it, I just know I’ll get engrossed in paper and cutting projects that I’ll be setting aside my paints for a bit. And that won’t do. I have a deadline to meet.

How long will I be able to keep myself from opening the plastic wrap and trying out that new cutter? I don’t know. But it probably won’t be too long.

 

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 30: New Subscription Magazine!

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30. New Subscription Magazine!

Most people get excited over a new “toy” or some major purchase of clothing, shoes, technology, and other items of daily use or something for a special occasion. I get excited over new books and magazines. I know. Not many people out there will share the feeling of pure and utter delight at a shiny new pocket book cover, or the clean pure smell of a brand new hard bound book, or the shiny, clean, smooth pages of a brand new magazine in the mail. You’re probably wondering what could generate all this brouhaha? I just received my first issue of Writers’ Digest magazine and I am so excited!!!!

I first encountered this magazine way back when I was still a college student–I found some back issues on sale in a book store. Because brand-new copies were relatively expensive, I couldn’t really afford them, so I took in everything I could from the back issues I had. It was a rare magazine to stumble on in the Philippines and I was disappointed that I couldn’t subscribe myself–I had never considered subscribing to anything from abroad because I needed a credit card to do that, and I didn’t own a credit card!

When I finally did own a credit card, I still couldn’t get a subscription because there was no shipping to the Philippines at the time, or some other inane reason. Even our bookstores didn’t carry the magazine on a regular basis.

Finally, here in Canada, I suddenly found that I could get almost any US or Canadian magazine subscription that I wanted, and they were such bargains at the subscription rates that, as soon as I was earning a little extra from substitute teaching, I put in for a handful of magazines. Unfortunately, WD was not among the available ones.

It eventually dawned on my slow mind that WD would have to be online, and there it was, sure as the sun rises! Could I get a subscription? No. They would only take subscribers with a US postal code. Plus, they only took credit card payments to be settled as the order was placed. Aargh! Once again, I have no credit cards, and I do not intend to get one at all, unless I have sufficient funds to back one up. I couldn’t even subscribe to the online version, because, again, of lack of a credit card.

But was I determined to get that magazine. I still prefer print copies because they will sit there staring at you in the face until you pick them up and read them and put them away. Online versions can be set aside and forgotten and some will become inaccessible. Not things you can easily pick up and browse through anytime you want. Unless you have an electronic tablet. Which I don’t. Which will require a credit card transaction to activate a subscription. Which I can’t do.

Thankfully, I have a very lovely daughter who lives in the US, and I mentioned it to her without letting her know my desperation. Or at least I tried my best to mask it. (A very sheepish grin at this point.) I knew the magazine would be a great resource to have as I move forward to establish my writing career in Canada and internationally. And just like her, she graciously and generously agreed to get the subscription for me without asking me for the money to pay for it. Of course, as all subscriptions go, it’s much cheaper than getting individual copies on the stands, so it really wouldn’t have cost her much. But I was so grateful and happy—elated, even, and overwhelmingly so…and I have finally received my first issue with my name on it and wonderfully helpful topics that I know I can use right away!

I don’t know if my daughter reads my blog, but if she does, now she knows just how thankful and happy I am about my new magazine.

365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 29: Writing

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29. Writing

I started actively writing at a very young age.

In an effort to make us children “widen our horizons” and “broaden our knowledge” my mother made us read. We had several books in our “library” at home–the Grolier’s Encyclopedia set, the Book of Knowledge series, Through Golden Windows series, the Book of Science series, the Bookshelf for Boys and Girls, and more. As a voracious little bookworm, I gobbled up everything I could get my hands on, and when I was done with all the stories in the Bookshelf for Boys and Girls and Through Golden Windows, I dug into my mothers collection of novels–The Ugly American,  Du Maurier’s Rebecca, Somerset Maugham’s The Book Bag—and my dad’s novels, starting with El Filibusterismo and Noli me Tangere. Not exactly reading for an 8 to 10 year old girl, but I took them all in. In between different books by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys, and Good Wives) I entertained myself with more of my dad’s collections from the Classics Club: Montaigne, Aristotle, Plato, Shakespeare’s Complete Works, Milton, Wordsworth, Desiderium Erasmus, Bacon, and other scholarly and philosophical literature. Most unusual fare for a young girl, but I thrived on it.

By the time I discovered the school library, I was bringing home book after book after book, most of the time, up to the maximum of 5 books per day, all of which I’d have returned in the course of a week, so that by the weekend, I’d have another 5 books to bring home. It was there that I discovered Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Dana Girls, the Bobbsey Twins, and all manner of novels. Because I had befriended the librarians and helped out as a member of the library club during breaks and after school, I could take home more books than other students. My school bag would be full of 10 books I’d check out every Friday and return sometime during the following week, as I finished them.

So you can see that I had a lot to write about. Why did I need to write about these, you ask? First, reading all those books was helpful in writing book reports. I had no trouble writing book reports at all. Second, to make sure my brothers were reading books, my mother provided the added incentive of money for every synopsis of everything we read. I was the happy camper, as I benefited most from this, since I could dash off summaries in a jiffy. And because I was a fast reader as well, I could have at least one summary a day, which earned me a pretty penny until my mother figured out that it wasn’t working on my two brothers. Shortly after that, she stopped giving the monetary incentives, as she had bigger problems to deal with besides my brothers’ lack of interest in reading and writing.

I never stopped writing.

At 10, I started writing poetry. I had kept a diary since I was 7 years old, and as the diary entries became less, the poetry I wrote increased until I had a full notebook. I could fill up a notebook of poetry every year, but the lure of other extra-curricular and co-curricular activities drew me away from just writing. Still, I joined the school paper every year from 5th grade until I graduated from senior high school; and I joined the school paper in undergraduate school, earning a significant stipend for every article I wrote, and eventually, a substantial amount in various editorial positions until I was the editor-in-chief. I was responsible for contributing to several newsletters for the program I was enrolled in for my undergraduate degree; I was a major writer for summer workshop newsletters; I was on the staff for a grad school newsletter; and I was on the staff for newsletters in various jobs I have held. I continued writing poetry, though I had expanded my repertoire to feature writing, column writing, reporting, and other journalistic efforts.

Once I was working, I participated in research projects; I edited literary publications of works by students; I wrote manuals and seminar materials for teachers; I even wrote a manual for teachers that was released nationwide–and I never saw a copy of that work, but have received feedback from teachers who had seen or had copies of that work! I continued to write poetry, though much reduced in volume and somewhat sporadic now. Most of my writing was scholarly rather than creative and literary. In several jobs, I wrote press articles, interviews, media releases, programme material, copy for programs, ads, posters, flyers, and brochures; speeches, reports, memos, and business letters. I also wrote technical manuals for operational procedures and learning programs; designed programs, curriculum, and books.

Finally, I had reached book writing. I wrote copy for a grammar book; a Communication Arts work text; a series of pre-school work texts; a manual of activities, projects, lessons, and games for English teachers.

I still hadn’t written what I had always wanted to write: a novel.

I wrote a play, instead–well, several plays–but completed one that I liked so much, and that several friends thought highly of, that I was persuaded to submit it to a national literary competition. I was extremely pleased and completely elated when I was informed that it had won the 3rd prize for a full-length play in English. In the most prestigious national literary competition in the Philippines!

Now, I am back to writing essays, mostly informal, as most blogs are.

I have plans to create more blogs to share more of my writing.

I am writing poetry again, although not as regularly as I want, but certainly more than I had written in the last 20 years.

I am trying very hard to establish myself in freelance writing, so that I can eventually spend more time earning from doing something I really enjoy doing and that comes very easily to me.

I am a creative person. I live by creating through words and pictures. I create pictures with words, but I find that sometimes, words cannot express what I want to show–and now I have opened myself to my inner artist–something I had denied because of sibling comparison and a sad lack of encouragement from the people who should have encouraged me from the start. Still, I also am part of the cause–I hated being compared to anyone else, especially my siblings, I hated having to compete for anything, and I hated any form of confrontation, which included having to explain myself. So if my siblings had chosen a certain path and showed themselves good at something, I avoided it. If that were not the case, I probably would have established myself in performing arts early on, as a playwright, an actress and a director–all of which I had a passion for. But my older brother was THE actor and singer. So I did lights, design, and directing. And I hid my voice. I was always afraid it would be criticized, even if I attended voice lessons and joined a couple of choirs, I never did make it to the glee club in school. There were always better singers, and I could never belt it out singing. But I could belt out directing. I was afraid to complete most of the sketches I made or attempt to develop them into anything more than light sketches. I felt that if I continued working on them, the images that initially appeared under my pencil would be ruined and not look real anymore. Besides, my younger brother was THE artist, who later specialized in Fine Arts, and was the Michaelangelo of my mother’s eye. I didn’t even want to delve into the sciences or math because my youngest brother, who had nothing in the creative and artistic department, was THE math wiz. Ironically, I also passed the same national scholarship exam that he did, but because I was in the 2nd 50 rather than in the top 50, I had to take either Math or Science AND Education–which peeved my brother, because, while he could take any science-related course he wanted to, the terms of his scholarship were subject to family income. I, on the other hand, had only two choices, and the government had decided that, because of that, I would get a full scholarship with the maximum benefits–book and clothing allowance and a full monthly stipend to boot! And that didn’t stop me from finding venues for writing. No matter what I did or where I went, writing would eventually find me. And that made me happy.

Now, I have this blog, which gives me the chance to write all I want and share as much of it as I want with anyone around the world who’s interested in reading what I have to say.

I know I will never run out of things to write because the world will never run out of topics.

And one day, I will see my work in print and in bookstores–my ultimate dream come true–and that will only make me want to write some more!

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 28: Opportunities

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28. Opportunities

I think anyone who sees an opportunity and doesn’t take it is a fool. Or a coward. Or both. Or maybe just too cautious–but why?

We are surrounded by opportunities to do so many things, learn so many things, yet most of us ignore those opportunities and chug away at their usual lives, never knowing the thrill of seeing, doing, learning, touching, feeling, hearing, tasting, trying something new.

Understandably, there are some opportunities most of us would rather pass up…for instance, the opportunity to savour toasted or fried or chocolate-coated insects. Even I draw the line there. And most certainly, anything that is breathing, wriggling, or otherwise alive will not ever be part of my diet. Not consciously, at least, and certainly not willingly.

I’m referring more to opportunities that offer major changes in life, particularly in the aspect of work.

All my life before now, most job opportunities were presented to me, or offered to me, so I never really actively searched for work. Every time someone offered a chance for me to do something or work at something, I’d take it. In fact, it’s how I’ve pretty much determined what direction to take since I accepted a college scholarship. I rarely ever thought twice, and as a result, I have experienced a vast variety of jobs with endless career opportunities. I have acquired an impressive array of skills that I have used repeatedly in a plethora of occasions. I have accumulated a staggering volume of knowledge that I am able to recall or apply, almost at will, or at the oddest or most unusual moments. Never mind that I might not even get to use it all again–or maybe, I just will.

My point is we will always have millions of opportunities open to us. Many people complain that they don’t have any because they fail to see that the opportunities are just lying there. They don’t always jump at you and they aren’t always pointed out to you. Most of the time, you just have to open your eyes and look for them, and they are there for the taking.

If an opportunity requires an expense that you are not ready or willing to commit to, then that opportunity probably isn’t for you, or it isn’t time for that.

I’m not saying all opportunities will result in something good—besides a lesson learned. Many opportunities will lead to negative or undesirable results. It is these opportunities that we must learn to avoid and ignore, or that we must learn to quash and quell.

As I look back on my years since I left the relative safety of high school corridors, I marvel at how boldly I took those opportunities in hand and wonder at how well I had thrived with very minimal damage. I looked at major changes in work conditions that I did not agree with as a sign that it was time to move on.

I look back at the last few years of my life and even if major changes have occurred, I can just finally tell myself that it is now time to move on. Time to grab new opportunities with the hope that one of them will be my dominant undertaking for a while.

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 27: Shared Photographs

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27. Shared Photographs

A bunch of classmates from high school held a reunion in San Francisco over the weekend. If I had the money, I would have gone, but since I didn’t, all I could do was wait for photographs of the occasion to be posted on Facebook.

What would we do without social networking sites like Facebook? Even before I left the Philippines I was sorely out of touch with anyone from the past, except those I saw or bumped into on occasion, simply because they worked or lived in the same area that I did. Everyone just got out of touch, dropped out of site, dropped out of your life, and all you had were memories of those very brief years spent together.

Thanks to Yahoo! groups, I had a great way of keeping in touch with former classmates, who posted updates, messages, and photos as the years went by. Even if I wasn’t very active in the groups, only very rarely posting a message, I was able to keep up with what was happening to the more active members of the batch. Little by little, the group was built until we had nearly everyone in it, so we are now able to follow what is happening in each other’s lives.

Then came Facebook. The level of “personal” among friends is so much greater. You can see photos from all your friends’ albums and see how they look after so many years, see what they’ve been doing. You can send quick messages, respond to comments or posts, send birthday greetings because a calendar reminds you when your friends’ birthdays are, and share whatever you want.

Through shared photographs, I follow my friends’ lives and vicariously experience whatever they are going through that they choose to post. At first, I was a silent, reluctant user, but since I started “befriending” people I already knew from the past, I have found that there are really so many I know—and don’t know. People I was in close contact with had disappeared for several years, but now I am able to see how they are doing, what they are doing. People I wanted to be in contact with for the longest time, but had no real way to be in touch with on a daily basis, I can now simply send a message or chat with them whenever I feel like it. And then, it feels like time hasn’t really passed at all, like we haven’t really parted ways, because it really is one big social network. And I can share their photographs and share my photographs with them. I marvel at how some have changed…or haven’t changed. I marvel at their children, their homes, their activities. I laugh with them at amusing photographs. I commiserate with tragedies or low moments. I am inspired by the lives they live, by their joie de vivre, by their energy and their accomplishments. And because I know there are some who do appreciate what I do, I post my own photographs and look forward to those comments because all that sharing is food for the soul!

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 26: Harry Potter!

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26. Harry Potter

First it was the books. A dear friend of mine asked me one day, several years ago, if I had read Harry Potter. Being totally immersed in work back then, I had not even heard of the phenomenon. So he introduced me to the series by lending me the first book, which he promised I would enjoy. Despite work and other business, I quickly finished the book and returned it to him the next day, begging for the next, which he promptly lent me. In two days, I was ready for the third book, which had just been released that year, and as soon as my friend had finished reading it, the book was in my hands. After that, I eagerly awaited each new installment, also eventually purchasing my own copies which I read again and shared with my youngest son.

By the time the first movie came out, my youngest and I were waiting in anticipation for yet another book, and every year that a movie was released, he and I would make it a point to catch it after all the die-hard fans had seen it. We preferred not to wait hours in line for the movie so we watched it a couple of weeks after the opening to avoid the crowds of Pottermaniacs.

When the last book finally came out, it was just when we had moved to Canada, and it was one of our very first purchases, along with groceries and household needs. There were two bookmarks in that book—my son and I would take turns reading it, I when he was sleeping or watching TV or doing something else; he when I was busy with housework or something else. Turning the final page of the final chapter in the final installment was almost like closing the doors on a chapter of one’s life…but that didn’t stop us from waiting for the last 3 installments to be turned into movies and released for public viewing. Indeed, if we could only watch one movie a year, it would have been Harry Potter.

Which brings us to the last installment of movies, which, rather than being just 3 installments, was stretched out to 4.

No, I still have not seen the final film. I eagerly look forward to seeing it, that is certain, and I am a bit sad that I have not seen the last 2 with my son, nor will I see the final one with him. It’s been running 3 weeks now and it is time to catch it, after all the impatient ones have been there. I know I will savour the ending, no matter that I don’t like the way it ends, because it will mark the end of a journey that has spanned more than 7 years…is it 9 or 10 since I first discovered the phenomenon that has enthralled the whole world for a decade or thereabouts?

Now they should get on with the rest of the Narnia chronicles, and the rest of the Golden Compass series so that we fantasy buffs have something more to look forward to.

365 Things to Look Forward to – Number 25: Rent paid

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25. Rent paid

Paying my rent every month has become a bit of a challenge during summer when I don’t have the income from substitute teaching and I don’t have full-time hours at the store, mainly because I can’t work the full-time hours every day, 5 days a week. As a result, I make just barely enough to pay the rent and a couple of bills and hardly anything else. There’s not enough for groceries or eating out, much less any form of entertainment. So when I do get to clear my rent, I am able to breathe a little easier, because that’s one major anxiety gone. Unfortunately, there are a couple of bills that will have to wait to be settled….

Now, I just need to pay my electricity bill and I’ll be good for another 3 weeks or so, when I’ll start worrying about my August bills and September rent. Once school starts again, I’ll be able to get substitute teaching jobs that will pretty much take care of the majority of my bills and I’ll be less stressed out….except for the upcoming concert that I need to put more work into this month.

Sigh.

365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 24: Babies

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24. Babies

No, I am not expecting a baby. At my age, I don’t think I will ever be expecting a baby of my own again. Don’t get me wrong…I love babies, and I would love to have babies. My body just isn’t up for it anymore.

So, why do I look forward to babies? They’re just adorable! Totally absolutely adorably cute little bundles of sweetness and joy.

What brought this on? My son has a photograph of himself holding a baby…his godchild at a christening. Several months ago, my daughter posted a photograph of herself holding a baby as well…her boyfriend’s newborn niece or nephew. A couple of months ago, my sister just gave birth to her 3rd baby, a girl this time; over a year ago, she had her 2nd baby, her first natural-born boy.

And all over Facebook, former students of mine are posting pregnancy photographs and photographs of themselves with little babies. And friends and former classmates in my generation are posting photographs of their grandchildren.

Let’s face it….it’s very difficult to find a baby that’s not cute or adorable, in its own way. They’re cutest when they’ve rounded out a bit–usually around (no pun intended) a couple of weeks to a month after they’re born and their skin isn’t all wrinkly and blotchy anymore. Once their cheeks have filled out and they start opening their eyes, they become just irresistible. They no longer look like fragile little creatures that might break apart the moment you touch them. From then on, until they start running about, they are just the most wonderful and charming little creatures and you just want to hold them and cuddle them, feel their warmth, their silky soft skin, their tiny little hands and feet.

As for the cuteness factor? For arguments’ sake, I’ll say: Arya is a baby. All babies are cute. Therefore Arya is cute. And because All babies are cute, you can put in any baby’s name in the first and last statements and it’ll be true. What I’m not going to argue about is the relative degrees of cuteness. All parents will insist their baby is the cutest infant ever born. Again, I’m not going to argue. I’ll have to say some babies are definitely cuter than others, or better-looking than others. That’s a case of genetics, really. I’ll have to admit I’ve seen some babies out there whose appearance totally repels my aesthetic sensibilities. But I’m biased, okay? I’m a sucker for big bright wide-open eyes, long curled lashes, rosy pink silky smooth cheeks. I’ve nothing against chinky eyes, really…they are actually becoming on some people…babies included. But all my babies had lovely big bright wide long-lashed eyes.

The one thing that all babies do share is the tiny puckered rosy mouth. Funny how a toothless pucker in a baby is absolutely irresistibly darling while the same thing doesn’t apply to toothless adults. It’s gotta be the undeveloped jaws and the undeveloped chin. And, of course, the little button nose that goes with undeveloped nasal ridges.

This fascination with babies inspires me to use them as subjects for my paintings, which is one of the several projects I already have on the back burner of my mile-long stove with hundreds of back burners. Just wait till I’m done with my requirements for the completion of my Diploma and I will be clearing those back burners faster than even I can imagine!

It makes me want to have babies over again.

365 Things to Look Forward to – Number 23: Talk

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23. Talk

I’m not big on talking. But when I have to, I can and will talk.

You might think it’s strange for someone whose work centers on talking. After all, you can’t be a teacher or a trainer or public speaker or actor and not expect to talk for at least a certain length of time. And, most certainly, talking is involved in coffee shop work.

Still, I’ve always been more of an introvert than an extrovert, and my preference is always to listen and observe rather than talk.

But I’m not talking about talking in relation to work here. I’m talking about just talking about anything and everything under the sun, including the sun and what stretches beyond. After all, there are so many things to talk about, and they are, every single one of them, interesting. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of people who enjoy that kind of talk, and, to an introvert like me, I’d rather not talk if the other party is too dogmatic or critical or complaining.

I enjoy just saying whatever comes to mind and following that or letting it drop. Sometimes the conversation can run into a very serious academic discussion of issues, or sometimes it can become very silly. Either way, it’s fun, stimulating, interesting, amusing and satisfying.

Some of the most tedious talk is when somebody goes on and on about their life, their escapades, their travails, their family, and so on and so forth. Most of the time, you don’t even want to know that information. Sure, it’s the stuff you build friendships and relationships on, but that is such self-centered talk. Sure, it’s the stuff that most people think about or worry about, and most people don’t even have the time to think or worry about anything else, so they won’t talk about anything else, because these are the things that are important to them.

I think, what they don’t realize, is that talking about other things is more therapeutic than they think. How?

One, it takes their minds of their daily concerns. Everybody needs to step back and step away from their lives once in a while and experience something that is unessential to their daily existence. Talk about the poverty in Southeast Asia and they might just see how good their lives are, and instead of complaining about what little they have, they might realize that they have so much more than others.

Two, it’s excellent exercise for the brain. Just thinking about new ideas or ideas beyond what we think about on a daily basis makes those brain cells wake up and creates hundreds of new neural connections. I’m not the brain expert here, but I do know that new ideas stimulate the brain by figuratively expanding the area that is used.

Three, it’s educational. Sometimes you explore ideas that you never thought of or seriously considered and find that your conversational partner has more knowledge than you in some areas. Or, as I like to do when a question comes up that nobody can answer, I do a bit of research and check out Wikipedia or dictionaries or whatever other resource I can find until I am satisfied. Sometimes a short explanation will do. Sometimes I want to know much much more and look for more articles or even borrow books on the topic.

Four, it’s a great way to pass the time! Instead of just sitting and watching TV reruns or taking a nap (don’t get me wrong, these can be great ways to pass the time, but they’re not always accessible) you can do all of the above and pass the time as well. When you’re in a stimulating conversation, you never really notice how time flies.

Five, you enjoy yourself as well. Have I mentioned that it is both fun and satisfying? Unless of course your talk is cut off and you so badly want to put in another word. Still, the satisfaction of learning, acquiring, sharing, thinking and putting your thoughts into words that someone else doesn’t ignore is a pleasure unto itself.

I’m glad I have friends I can talk with.