Millie and Other Random Thoughts

Out of the blue I thought of Millie today. Who is Millie? I met Millie in college, freshman year. She’s one of the girls I hang out with. Since we were seated alphabetically (pathetic, right?) we always sit together, both of us have last names starting with M.

In college she wore her straight black hair short, an inch or two above shoulder with bangs. She wore red red lipstick on her nicely shaped lips. She also wore make-up, I thought too much for school setting. She kept her uniform (yes we did wear unis in university) above the knee, highlighting her beautifully-shaped legs, proportional for her short stature.

She was a Manilena, through and through. Okay to be more precise, she was from San Juan. One time we went to their house, I don't remember why.

Anyway, she belonged to the group of gals that I hang with on that freshman year. All of them are from the Metro area and I was the only one that’s from the province. I really felt like I was fresh off the boat for the most part whenever I was around them, or what we used to term, promdi (short for from the province).

She was very nice to me and she has that guile, womanly guile that only a Manilena would know at age 17. In my eyes she was mature beyond her years.

She moved away the next year. I heard she migrated to USA.

Years later, my bff from high school who also migrated to California was on the phone with me and out of nowhere she asked if I knew Millie. They bumped into each other in San Jose and they had me in common. Both of them shared individual experience of how we copied off each other during exams.

I really don’t have a reason for this post except that I realized that so many people come into our lives that are there only for a second or so. Then they’re gone forever. They move on to their own journey on this earth and our journey goes on without them.

Say for instance, all the people in all the classes I’ve been in the university. Out of a roomful of people, there’s one or two that would be important for a period of time, if not forever. What happens with the others?

I’ve lived in dormitories before. I’ve made life-long friends there. But there were more who I ate dinner with regularity and yet I cannot remember their names anymore. At one point in my life, I have shared a chuckle with so many people that have touched my life in some ways.

I don’t know what I’m talking about. But as I was looking at the photos of people I took in Venice, an idea is brewing in my mind. I think I’ll explore that idea further.

In the meantime, I wonder what happened to Millie. Would we recognize each other when we bump into each other? I could only wonder.

Manic Monday

"It's 6 o'clock already and I'm just in the middle of my dream."

Well that was literally me this morning. I had back-to-back dreams one before the alarm clock sounded and another afterwards, when I decided to go back for the mandatory "5 more minutes" after one turns off the alarm clock.

Funny how our dreams come out. I find that in order for me to document them, I have to blog about them.

The first dream (I think both dreams are actually one dream combined) I was lunching with college gal pals. I saw Betchay, Doc Sheila. The table was full, so I suppose the whole gang was back together, except for Fe, who in the dream we phoned to tell her how we wished she was joining us for lunch.

Then the obnoxious, louder than necessary buzz of the alarm clock abruptly cut my luncheon date. It's amazing how blindly we find the source of noise in our half asleep state. As I was doing so, I had to pull myself upwards to reach the alarm clock and the familiar weight on top of my legs told me my little kitteh Emma had been sleeping on top my legs still. I am her bed. The movement did not bother the cat and I mumbled to no one in particular, "5 more minutes". That was at 7:00 AM.

Second dream I was meeting up with Pat and Gigi, girlfriends of mine from here that I met in another school setting, for dinner. I was aware that I just had lunch with my college "barkada". While we were getting settled in our table (love the cozy ambiance of the restaurant), here comes my college classmate Belle with her little boy Bryton. It made no sense at all. How could my college life fuse with my after college life. It's really interesting. It makes me want to read up more on dream interpretation.

When the dream ended, I woke up to find that the 5 minutes was actually 35 and so I jumped out of bed hoping that I wouldn't come in late today.

Some years ago, college to be exact, I was very interested in dream interpretation. I read up on it, although most of what I read I cannot remember now. In my early years after I moved to California, I spent a lot of time in bookstores with coffee shop inside of them and browse at all the dream interpretation books I could find on the shelves and over coffee and biscotti I would scan the pages. Nothing of that reading knowledge remains with me today.

I'll be blogging on my other site about my day trip on Sunday to a very interesting spot called vernal pools just outside of Sacramento.

For My Friend

My friend just lost her mother last week. And I just got reunited with her through facebook. We (our other friends) just got reunited with her. I hope that through prayers she will be comforted in these tough times. I pray for her and her family.

Good Turnout and Other Things

Hah! finally the Halloween I have waiting for came. I've been asking myself the past years where have all the kids gone? Halloween nights past the kids were nowhere to be found and I was left to gobble that giant bag of goodies they sell at Costco. Not this year folks, not this year. Last Saturday, Halloween, my giant bag of yummy miniature chocolate bars was almost emptied. And I was going back and forth from watching my old movies on tv and handing out candies. Who knocked on my door? Let's see - the pirate was there, angel, fairies, princesses, scream guy, bumble bee, etc. And what's fun was that these are tiny kids, from tots in strollers to about tweeners. Not the teens that used to ring my bell over at my old neighborhood.

My husband reminded me that our previous neighborhood was a townhouse development and there aren't many kids around. Our present neighborhood is not a development but good old normal neighborhood. I don't know how to express it. And the best part is the kids were accompanied by adults, which was too cool.

And the best part, I don't have to finish the whole bag of candies. Calories saved!

UPDATE: The Bay Bridge has finally reopened. I was as usual stuck in traffic at Eastshore Fwy somewhere between Berkeley and Emeryville when the announcement of the reopening was broadcasted on radio. It took Caltrans long enough (6 days I believe) to reopen it. I thought they were overly cautious, which is just okay with me. Better safe than sorry. Now I hope that the hellish traffic would be a lot manageable beginning tomorrow.

In another news, I have just received training to be part of what they call Altar Guild at church. I think I can manage this. This would be my way of giving my time and talent to church.

I have promised myself to refrain from blogging starting today as I have plenty of things to take care of before heading out of town for a much-needed vacation. But as you can see here I am typing away.

Another thing, I have been chatting on fb with my old girl friends from the old country (hehehe) this weekend. It was such a good feeling to chat with old pals again and revisit old memories. They are asking me if I have plans to visit the country, which I reply with plans I have plenty, but nothing concrete. I surely would relish some time with them in the near future. Isn't fb fabulous, just for this reason alone?