“Liz! You ready? Andrew’s here already with his cousin!” Maya called from downstairs at the rental house she and Liz shared.
“Be right there!” A few moments after, Liz was bounding down the stairs, pouch bag on one hand and a shoe on the other. She stopped just a couple more steps down when she saw what Maya was wearing.
“Damn it, Maya, are you kidding me?”
“What?” Maya replied, feigning innocence. She twirled as if to show her bestfriend the full look. She was wearing skin tight jeans, black pumps, and a dark purple A-line jersey shirt. Her hair was in waves and her make up was enough to highlight her cheekbones, thin lips and her hazel eyes.
“I just wanted to remind Andrew what he has. After all, you don’t get to date the office hottie that often,” Maya said, a smirk forming on her face.
“Great,” I groaned more to myself. “I’ll look like your awkward personal assistant in this.” She looked down at herself. She had on a black ribbed top, faded jeans and her trusty old dark blue Chuck Taylors. Her hair was tied back on a half-ponytail and the only make up she’d put on her face was a light face powder and lip gloss.
“You’re not too bad, and besides,” Maya approached Liz to the stairs and pulled her to the body length mirror. “Look at you, all it takes is a few…”
After about five minutes, Liz couldn’t believe her eyes, it’s as if she was looking at another person. Her hair was down in loose waves, the eyeliner popping out her almond shaped hazel eyes. There was a slight blush in her cheeks and the lipstick Maya used only accentuated her thin lips.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“Now take those dorky glasses off and wear your contacts. I’ll go tell Andrew and Tristan to wait a few more minutes while you put them on.” Liz then began to get up to return to her room.
“Tristan?”
“Yeah, his cousin from Ireland who just arrived earlier today. Oh and Liz?”
“What?”
“Change your shoes.”
Andrew looked to his right to Tristan, who kept on sighing and checking his watch every five minutes.
“You okay man? It’s just a place we frequent during Friday and Saturday nights. There won’t be too many people tonight though ‘cause it’s a Sunday. You have been at pubs before right?”
Tristan absent-mindedly nodded, his eyes still glued outside. He again took another breath and faced his cousin.
“I’m sorry cuz, it’s just…” he sighed again.
“What is it? Come on Tris, you know you can tell me. I think…” Andrew peered out of the window to see Maya putting something on Liz’s face. “We have a few more minutes before the girls get here. Now spill.”
Tristan then began to recollect his experiences when he joined a touring dance company the previous year. He’d been with them for about six months when during the middle of a show, he got a call from his mom saying that his girlfriend of almost seven years, Caitlin, got hit by a car and died on the spot. He was so shaken up that he wasn’t able to continue with the rest of the show that night and took the next train back to Bray, his hometown. He wasn’t able to continue touring due to depression and he just holed himself up in his house for weeks on end.
“I was planning to propose to her after the tour ended in two weeks. I didn’t know what to do mate, Cait was my whole life and we already had plans together. I sort of became a recluse after that and I’ve never really gone back to the tour and pretty much stopped dancing after that.”
Andrew let out a low whistle. “Wow man, I didn’t realize you’ve had it this hard. I knew that Caitlin died, but I didn’t really know anything else because we haven’t been able to talk…well, until now,” he reached over and squeezed his cousin’s shoulder. “I’m glad you told me. I really am.”
“I’m sorry too if I shut most of you out during that time. I feel a little bit more comfortable talking about it now without going off, and I have to admit, it kind of feels nice to just be able to…talk.”
“Well, tonight is all about just hanging out and getting comfortable with people again,” Andrew said while taking out his seatbelt. “Look, there’s Maya and Liz already. Finally,” he shrugged and got out of the car to meet the two ladies who were now approaching.
“Is that him?” Liz tried her best to not look obvious while checking out the guy on the front seat of Andrew’s car.
“That’s Tristan, yeah. Cute huh?” Maya nudged her.
“He’s okay…I guess. There isn’t too much light to see anyway, and…” Liz mentally kicked herself and stopped before she could say any further. Maya was about to ask when Andrew finally approached them.
“Hey baby,” he greeted as he leaned in to kiss her on the lips. Not long after they were engaged in a heated liplock, causing Liz to pretend to clear her throat loudly. They pulled away, feigning embarrassment.
“Oh hey Liz,” Andrew said playfully and hugged her. “I didn’t recognize you there. Wow, you look amazing.”
“Oh shush, you’re only saying that because your girlfriend did me over,” Liz said and then looked at Maya who winked at her.
“You’re always selling yourself short Liz, why can’t you just take a compliment and say thanks?”
“I’ve been telling her that,” Maya said, rolling her eyes.
“Alright fine then. Thank you Andrew,” Liz said, sticking out her tongue at her bestfriend’s boyfriend.
“Why don’t we go? My cousin’s waiting in the car.”
Liz Linkletter adjusted the straps of her gym bag and slung it over her head. Checking herself out one last time in the mirror, she sighed at her reflection. She was wearing a pair of black leggings and an oversized green shirt. The look was completed with a pair of purple slippers that showed off her calloused feet.
“Dear God help me survive this day,” she muttered to herself as she made her way out of her house.
As she pulled over to the parking lot beside the beat-up dance studio, she wondered why she’d gone there in the first place. She can still remember her best friend; Maya when she told her that she wanted to learn how to dance.
“You crazy? You can’t even do the square dance! Hell no. I’m giving you three days until they kick you out.”
Liz shrugged. “I’m not sure whether I will appreciate your blunt honesty or just shave your head right now because you’re not supportive,” Liz said as finished filling out the membership form for Stomp The Floor, the dance studio where I wanted to go.
Maya stopped what she was doing and sat on the chair in front of my desk. “Listen,” she began after sighing, “you know I support in whatever you want to do right?” Liz nodded.
“But honey, this…I just…I have an idea how a dance studio is, people can get really competitive and catty and just downright mean. With everything that has happened to you over the last few months, I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
Liz looked up to her friend over her glasses. She knew she was right. It had been a rough couple of months for her, what with everything that had gone on from her last job. It was a total nightmare. She didn’t realize she was being terribly bullied until someone sent an anonymous email with a badly photoshopped picture of her. It was enough to send her over the edge that she almost tried to kill herself just so she won’t feel the sting of being bullied and harassed again. She was hospitalized for about a week because of the nearly fatal cocktail of sleeping pills that she downed with half a bottle of scotch. If it wasn’t for Maya coming up to get her for dinner, she would have been six feet under right now.
Tristan MacMahon took a deep breath as he stepped out of the airport and tried to balance his backpack on his shoulders and the luggage on his right hand. He was squinting towards the other side of the road, looking for a familiar face. His face lit up when he finally saw who he was looking for.
“Andrew! I’m right over here!” Tristan said as he flailed his free arm so his cousin can see him.
Just then, a sprightly young man ran up to him and threw his arms around Tristan. He hugged him back using his free hand.
“Man, Tris, I can’t believe you’re finally here!” Andrew said enthusiastically as he clapped his cousin’s shoulder. Tristan winced inwardly from the pressure and the sheer heaviness of his backpack.
“Oh, man, sorry, let me get that for you,” Andrew reached for the bag as Tristan arched his shoulders back to let go of the thing. “Damn, bro, what did you have in here, the whole east of Ireland?!”
“Not really,” he said chuckling. “Just my whole house.”
Both guys laughed. “I see you haven’t lost the jest huh? Come on; let’s get to the car, my girlfriend Maya would love to meet you.”
“So Tristan, what brings you to Manila?” Maya asked from the front seat. They were now cruising down the highway, making their way to Andrew’s condo.
Tristan fidgeted with the straps of his backpack and gave out a small smile. Small talk was not something he was well known for, especially if the person talking to him was a beautiful girl such as the one chatting him up right now.
“Well,” he exhaled as tried to form coherent words. “Erm, I just wanted a change, I guess.”
Maya nodded. “Yeah, change. Change is good. So listen, Tristan, if you’re not too tired yet, maybe you can hang out with us tonight?”
“Ehh,” Tristan started to hesitate, hanging somewhere with lots of people was not exactly his comfort zone. Andrew raised his hand before he could say anything further.
“No one says no to my girl cuz, besides, it would be a great way to get situated. I bet a few girls would even throw themselves at you, with your green eyes and accent and all.”
“Alright then,” Tristan said. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, he thought.
- Mood:
bouncy
Prologue. Bumble. That’s what everyone had called Liz Linkletter ever since she stepped foot in that dance studio. It was the complete opposite of that adorable, tap-dancing penguin in those Happy Feet movies because as far they are concerned, she has no business dancing. She had two left feet, awkward, and all the other insults you can throw a wannabe dancer. She had no gracefulness whatsoever, they said, and Liz felt every sting of their insults. How long will she last? Will she ever find the courage to stay longer and prove everyone wrong?
And then there was Tristan. Here was this fellow who could truly dance up a storm, but was painfully shy and awkward around people. After the death of a loved one forced him to give up his one and only passion, he finds himself in a foreign land to start over. Little did he know he'd be thrown back to the one thing he wanted to avoid for the rest of his life by way of a woman he never even expected to become deeply attached to.
They say it takes two to tango. Liz and Tristan will inadvertently be shoved in each other’s directions but how they will dance to life’s little bumps and obstacles will be totally up to them. There’s only one way to find out.
- Mood:
hopeful
2. I am not the slightest bit bothered that I can go anywhere I want without someone with me. I don't require it and sometimes don't want anyone tagging along really.
3. Relating back to # 1, I can go on days without texting anyone. I mean, what for really? Just to talk? No.
4. This is for you, future boyfriend, and I don't mean to scare you off: Please don't start our text conversations with "musta n u?kmain k n?". Next time I see you, I'm gonna take your phone and stomp on it.
5. I don't feel the need to be saying goodbye to every single person that I'm with after a gathering has ended.
6. I won't ask for directions until I know for certain I'm lost. When is that? When I'm sweating bullets and have circled the same block three times.
7. I don't like waiting. If we have to be at a place at a certain time, you have to be there, otherwise, when I arrive first and you're say, 30 minutes late, I'm just faking it when I tell you that it's okay. Word to look for: 'FINE'.
8. Relating to # 2, I quite enjoy the time I spend alone. I like to think about a lot of things, and I can only do that obviously when I'm alone.
Those are the only ones I can come up for now. I don't know if this a turn off but I obviously wouldn't change some of these things just so someone will like me. I can adjust, yes, but don't ask me to change because that wouldn't be Sheena/Zee anymore.
- Mood:
moody
Turns out, three boys from a certain radio station has made me realize that he is still very much a part of my present life. Well, not really, but they made me realize that I'm not really over him as I thought I was the last few years.
So, dahil sa Boys Night Out, na-realize ko na hindi pa rin pala ako nakaka-move on kay...R.J.
There. I said it. Most of you know already this particular story at one point in my life. Naisip ko na kahit bata pa ang pag-iisip ko nung mga panahon na nakilala ko siya at naging mag-MU kami, 'yung mga naramdaman ko para sa kanya, totoo. At lagi ko rin sinasabi na ang pinaka-dahilan kung bakit minahal at mahal ko siya hanggang ngayon kasi siya pa lang hanggang sa ngayon ang nakapagparamdam sa akin na I deserve someone's attention.
And so I here I go again. They say you can't really find someone that will love you or at least like you if you don't put yourself out there. Well consider this a beginning. I'm not yet over that other someone until now and I'd like to find someone who'll make me feel at least as half as good as RJ made me feel. If that someone can surpass that, that's even better because then, I'd be able to realize within me that I am a person deserving of love of someone special.
At sa 'yo RJ, I can only hope that you read this and finally, FINALLY give me the closure that I didn't know I desperately need. Palagay ko iniisip mo, sa parte mo na mga bata pa tayo nung nangyari 'yung nangyari sa atin, kung ano man 'yun, pero para sa akin, totoo lahat 'yun at naramdaman ko lahat 'yun nang walang alinlangan na kesyo bata pa ako o kung ano man.
It was serious. Serious enough that I've had to cry myself to sleep for the first two weeks of freshman year after realizing that you moved to another school. Serious enough that when I saw you again senior year with another girl that I felt like I was punched in the stomach so hard that I didn't know if I wanted to puke or that I had to instead struggle for air to breathe properly. Serious enough that even at the age of 12, I knew I fell in love.
Life has been fairly good to me. Sabi nga ng mga kaibigan ko, ang talagang wish nila para sa 'ken ay magkaroon na ng boyfriend. Sabi ko naman, oo nga, sana magkaroon na rin talaga. Pero panahon lang ang makakapagsabi kung kailan mangyayari 'yun. I'm just praying for whatever the good Lord has in store for me. I don't have specific requests anymore. I'm also praying to be given a more open mind to whatever is to come. And a ready and strong heart of course. =)
- Mood:
pensive
Back when we were much younger, summer days would usually start in the very early morning with a round of either volleyball practice or a trek somewhere in the nearby backroad on single bicycles and those with side cars too. It resumes right around mid afternoon followed by dinner then back out again in the early evening until just before midnight. Of course as we grew older, we were allowed by our folks to stay out longer but still keeping us on a leash by beckoning us home whenever it's past midnight.
- Mood: contemplative
Anyway, tama na muna sa mga malalalim na bagay. I need to rest up. Big day tomorrow at work. Durr.....
I was really excited when I learned in February that they were finally coming to Manila for a one-night show at the Araneta. The Araneta effin' Coliseum! I couldn't contain my excitement until I learned the ticket prices. Had I known earlier of the concert, I would've saved up enough money to get a better ticket seat. I decided not to go since I have so much going on, money-wise. Then again, I didn't know how or why, but for some reason, just barely two weeks before April 16, I was able to squeeze in at least a box B ticket. And as if the universe really did want me to go, a friend from the office was also going with her friends so I didn't even have to beg anyone else to go with me.
Anyways, April 16 couldn't come soon enough. I made sure I had enough sleep the night before, (thank God for dayshift!) and left home early enough to get a good seat. The call time on the posters said 8pm and we arrived just before 730pm. However, the concert didn't start until around 9pm but I didn't think the audience didn't mind because when the lads came out, it was like mayhem. They started out with You Won't Feel A Thing, a track from their second album Science and Faith followed up by Talk You Down and We Cry, both from their self-titled debut. Surprisingly, YWFAT, despite the loud audience, sounded really good, just like in the record. They then played If You Ever Come Back, which has topped several local radio charts including Monster Radio RX 93.1. Again, I can't make out much of Danny's singing because the audience was singing along. In fact, from the first song up until the last, majority of the audience were singing along. It was amazing to hear how everyone knew every word and adlib of the songs, which, I believe stunned Danny, Mark and Glen.
Next up were a threesome of tracks again from the debut which were Before The Worst, If You See Kay and The End Where I Begin. Danny then started adlibbing the intro to the next song, if I may say so, one of my favorites from the second album which is also the title track, Science and Faith. It was then followed up by probably, the most goosebump-inducing moment of the show where Danny asked the audience for a sing-along since he probably knew how us Pinoys love to karaoke. I was rocked to my socks when everyone started singing a capella the first two verses of The Man Who Can't Be Moved. I really didn't know up until that moment how The Script had become so popular here in the Philippines. Anyways, to slow things down a little, I'm Yours was the next one on the set and I must say, this is probably one of the best live versions I've heard of the song. It was such a tender moment, I just sat there, holding steady to my cellphone while recording the performance. Needless to say, it was amazing.
Now, Nothing is my most favorite track off of Science and Faith so I was floored when I immediately recognized the story Mark told the audience about how the song was created. It was such a powerful moment, I was beside myself holding tears back and just sang along as loud as I could instead. The vulnerability in Danny's voice and the simplicity in the play of words made the performance of this song one of the best of the night. What can I say? I'm biased. Haha.
It was followed up by another one from Science and Faith, Dead Man Walking. Now this song has been steadily growing on me and after the performance, it's now become one of my favorites from the album.
The next track was something I've been dreaming of hearing live ever since I heard on the debut. I've always kept the opinion that Rusty Halo is the best stadium song of the band and they didn't disappoint. It was well beyond words how amazing and unbelievable it was that they played. Listen to Rusty Halo live, check!
The show was abruptly cut short when after the rousing drum roll that ended Rusty Halo, the band left the stage. Danny just said thanks and their band name then left. Of course, I knew they wouldn't end the show without playing their most popular song so I was just standing there waiting for them to come back. The audience was even shouting Breakeven and after about a few minutes, they came back and played For The First Time to the loud cheers of the audience.
Of course, Breakeven obviously was their encore song and everyone just about went wild and sang their hearts out. It was a great end to a great show. It was an honor as well for us Filipino fans that they chose us as their last stop in their Asian tour. They promised to be back because they loved how engaged the Pinoy audiences were and even complimented how good looking we were at the onset of the show.
I loved the music, obviously, because every song that I've been meaning to hear live they played but more than that, I was enamored by how all three of them were so engaged with the audience. Danny wasn't the only one doing the talking in between songs, but Mark and Glen as well. Even though they were in a different city every day of the week, I saw their genuine appreciation for the warm welcome that the Pinoy fans have given them.
I'm definitely gonna be looking forward to the next time they'll come and play for us again. This time I'll get better seats by saving up as early as I can!
I know I've had my own share of mishaps and problems in life. And true, I've prayed for these situations to get better and thankfully, one way or another, God works His hand and everything turns out fine. I may not realize it at the time but the solutions to these problems made sense and the stress and sadness it has brought me is part of how I am today. It is also testament to how my faith in the Almighty has strengthened and matured.
And today, upon hearing the reflection on the holy gospel delivered through Fr. Raul Caga, SVD, it has put into perspective the reasons as to why we pray what we pray for. And it's safe for me to say that it's given me a whole new perspective on how my faith should work, and moreso, the reason why I should stay faithful to the Lord.
First off, we don't just pray just because we need something. I think most of us realize this but still neglect to pray even in times when we don't need anything. If there's one thing I do remember vividly from the CLP's I've attended conducted by the SFL, it's that praying is not just bowing our heads, closing our eyes and asking for God's help on something, it's our time to TALK to God. Talk like how we talk to our friends or family. When we pray, we let God know what's going on in our day, whether it's good or bad, happy or sad. Personally for me, I don't have a set praying time. If there's something I feel I want to share to Him, I let Him know right away. He's like a friend that I have with me 24/7.
Secondly, and I think this is an important thing that us, faithful Christians should take note of. Our faith is driven by our belief in God. We believe that God will save us no matter what, not the other way around that we will be saved because we believe in God. This is where faith in God doesn't equally translate to faith in deliverance. Some may have heard of the story of the man who is only holding on to a branch sticking out from a cliff when he heard God's voice answering his plea for help. God asked him that if the man really believed he will be saved to let go and fall but he refused, saying that the reason why he asked God in specific to help him is because he believes God is able to save him. This, as I learned earlier this morning, is not how our faith should work. Faith in the Lord is something that we don't have a tangible thing to show for, it's something that we keep in our hearts and minds. That despite all the madness the world is giving us, we should just let go and let God. Things may not go our way as we may have requested it, but what we should trust in is that God doesn't help us or give us with something that we will not benefit from. It's just all a matter of staying in His grace even if it feels, in our humanly emotions, hopeless or futile anymore. It's not being a blind believer, but that we are satisfied that as long as God is within us, everything will work out just fine.
- Location:my room
- Mood: contemplative
- Music:accuradio textures
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
shinamarih- shinamarih
Syndicate
