the right thing at the right time

an aunt who came back from a US vacation gave me a wallet this evening.  whoa!  just what i needed... and wanted.

my wallet got soiled by foodstuff sometime back.  i cleaned it with alcohol.  instead of getting back to its previous condition, it turned yucky and tacky : }

i've been looking around for a replacement for the longest time, but i haven't found one to my liking.  my requirements are simple (or are they?):

-  it has to have not just a bill but also a coin holder

-  it has to be a regular foldable wallet, not the clutch-type the width of a bill.

-  it has to have a holder for my ATM, credit and rewards cards

-  it has to be plain.  no logos or prints whatsoever.

-  it has to be brownish or shades thereof.  not black, not red, not some other color.

the wallet my aunt gave me met all of the above and more.  it hit my taste-target bullseye.  i am so happy and so thankful  : )

a couple of months back, i was supposed to buy rubber shoes for our province's annual mountain climb.  just before the weekend i was scheduled to go shopping, a friend of my mom's who also came from a US vacation brought back for me, guess what?  rubber shoes!  with matching socks to boot.  just a few days later and i would have bought a pair already!  then i would have two pairs.  i don't really need more than one as i wear sneakers only once a year, only during the annual mountain climb.

time and time again things of this sort have happened to me.  they reaffirm what i've realized long ago:

-  when God takes time in giving you something, it's because He's preparing something better than what you want or expect

- God is neither early nor late.  He is always just in time.

so reassuring... : )

effort

i got an amusing/scary reaction to a recent blog, that one where i wrote:

     "... he said if he positioned himself at the entrance every single day of the week then sooner or later he'd catch me.  oh, my.  that is sweet."

my cousin in the US tells me he didn't know i had a thing for stalkers.  i reply, not stalkers but those who exert effort.  he counters, stalkers exert a LOT of effort.  ooops... i've never looked at it that way.  yikes!

anyway, i really have this thing about effort and going the extra mile and pushing oneself to the limit.  i deeply appreciate it.

one of my all-time favorites is a line from the movie 'last of the mohicans' starring daniel day-lewis.  in one scene, he said to his lady love:  no matter how hard, or how far, i will find you...

did i swoon over that one.  i find it really sweet... : )

40s

i was on the phone with one of our suppliers when suddenly he tells me, 'you've been doing frequent updates of your blog, ma'am..'

i was dumbfounded, 'you, too, have been reading it?!'

there we were, talking technical stuff and logistics, then my trivial blog comes up.  ugh!

sometime back, the supplier asked whether i was in friendster.  i said yes.  he invited; i accepted.  now he, too, has been receiving 'cynthia has updated her friendster blog' notifications.  yuck!

i've been trying to figure out how to turn it off, i couldn't find where it's set.  i think the settings have to be modified on the recipient side.  baaaddd!

anyway, so he mentions the recent entries and tells me there's someone he'd like to introduce to me.

i go, 'he might be married!'

he assures me the guy is not.

i ask, 'does he smoke?  drink?  gamble?  womanize?...'

he says he'll check.  then hesitantly he adds, 'but then, ma'am, the guy's already 40...'

i burst out laughing.  'what are you talking about?!  i'm already 42!'

from the other end of the line, his shock was palpable.  'is that true, ma'am?!'

'yes.'

'but you don't look 42!'

'maybe.  i look 41...'

; )

on married men

i am no stranger to guys who, in spite of being already married, still cannot help showing, sometimes even expressing, their interest in women other than their wives.

in my case, i always, emphatically, repeatedly, as much as possible politely, bluntly if need be, tell them that i don't have the slightest inclination to get entangled in such affairs.  no way am i going to take away or share someone else's guy.

through the years, i've had amusing, annoying, flattering encounters with married men.

a decade and a half ago, there was this guy who would visit me at the office.  one time when he arrived, i was in front of the computer and i told him, "hey, let's check you out."  i enter his name and out comes his data, showing that he was married.  i blurt out, "you're married?!"

he unconvincingly says something about it being easier to get a visa if you say that you are married, blah, blah, blah.  ha-ha-ha.  do i have stupid stamped on my forehead???

he still shows up at the office twice after that and then no more.

and then there's this other guy who i knew from the start was already married.  we became friends, nothing at all romantic, but every once in a while, he'd try to check out whether i've changed my mind.  the answer, consistently, firmly, has been, no way, jose!

from him, i have these memories:

1.  he was asking for my class schedule.  i wouldn't tell him.

then one time i arrive at school and there he was, seated in front of our building.

i was surprised, how did you know my sched?

guess what?  he didn't.  he was just taking chances.  he said if he positioned himself at the entrance every single day of the week then sooner or later he'd catch me.  oh, my.  that is sweet.

too bad he was married.  he could climb the highest mountain and cross the deepest sea yet no way am i going to be his girl.

2.  he has this line, said jokingly, "anong masama, dalaga ka, lalaki ako."  ->  what's wrong, you're single, i'm male.  yikes!  is that funny or what?!

oh, well... ; )

better luck next time

i've been 'single' for over a year now and in that period, i've been courted by and have turned down a couple of guys ->  no tingle in my heart : }  until recently, when i met someone i actually looked forward to seeing again.  we've met only a handful of times, and the last time, he said a few things that somehow made me feel special (as in, just a FEW, two to three sentences maybe... boy, am i pathetic, ha-ha)

then yesterday, i did some research (eeew!) and i found out that he is already married.  yuck!  no way am i going to get involved with someone who already belongs to someone else.  oh, well.  in the words of one of the farmers in 'farmer wants a wife' (i saw it on TV last night):  i am "disappointed but not devastated."

i remain hopeful.  the best is yet to come... : )