GOOD THINGS

I am alone in a foreign land but somehow, for the past week, my days were bright, peppered with surprise communications from people, and I felt buoyed by a comfortable circle of goodness.

After reading a blog entry about Morocco, my itchy feet gnawed and a somewhat half-thought off plan to visit Morocco in a year was hatched. Surprisingly, visa is not required to enter the current smoking’hot destination, even for a third world country passport holder such as me. On a whim, I emailed my former boss in London, who was from Morocco to ask for tips about travelling to the place. And what do you know? He is actually building a tourist apartment complex in Morocco! How lucky can we get? The thing is, this particulat boss of ours was always pretty kind and approachable, the type whom you can kid around with and invite to house parties. He advised us to wait out a year or two so that his small hotel will be finished by that time. And if possible, he’ll even meet us in Morocco! Yay! It was amazingly, spectacularly feel-good to be still in somewhat close contact and be friends with your boss even if It’s been more than two years since I’ve left London. (I think honestly, I was just so lucky with my superiors in London. My immediate boss, who still works in good old B, is the perfect example. I usually harangue him two, three times a year with technical questions haha. And he always answers back! Now this was the boss who at the beginning was scary as hell, but what do you know, he’s the one person I email when I need some good tech advice.)

This week a co-worker of mine has turned bitchy on me for no apparent reason. I don’t actually know the reason and the thing is, I don’t really care. I know I didn’t do anything to deserve that bitchy treatment. And because he’s a moody person to begin with, I’m taking it as one of his off days. Anyway, yesterday when a slow anger have began to simmer, I emailed N, a close friend, to help me diffuse this bad feeling. N, is a soul reader, and someone I know who will say things that might sometimes hurt but whose intentions will always be for my sake. It was actually funny, he sent a latin phrase, a heartwarming story and a killer tagline “Don’t let his negativity get to you!” which kind of made realize one thing. Sometimes, we can lose a sense of perspective with our lives. And I realize now,, damn, why be affected by someone else’s anger at all? I have friends I can run to in an instant, who’d reply in a heartbeat to make me remember that there are too many things and people to be thankful for. That my life is filled with a circle of people who take time off to hear me, to be “there” when I need them.

I also chatted with my baker-cousin in Davao today and he shared the good news that the baking lesson he just completed has taught him how to make new goodies : sweet breads and new variants of pies. So I spent an hour chatting with him about our plans for the bakeshop. And I am more optimistic now that with intense care and determination, we’ll open our second branch in 2012, hopefully in the new mall being built now in Davao. It’s only now that I realized how food is somewhat a big deal in our family. And that this business is actually a natural progression. My father have always been a picky eater. While I am an adventurous one willing to try most foods at least once. And my brother, well, he loves to experiment in the kitchen, making savoury dishes not from written recipes but from his head. None of us, except the cousin, had formal training in baking or cooking, but somehow we’ve always shared an ideal of what good food should be. So it is our notion of what is good enough to eat that has led the family into it’s first food venture 

Another good thing today, I found a baking equipment supplier whose details were sent to me by the ever-reliable N,. Their website says something about unparalleled service. And what do you know,, an hour after I sent an email, the company’s president emailed back with his reply to my queries. Now, this is what customer service is! Amazing!

And I’m learning, a phrase or two a day, the language of my adopted hometown, Davao, courtesy of one of my best friends, who patiently puts up with teaching me a phrase or two via chat or FB. Funny with this friend is that I’ve been friends with him for just a little under a year. But we’ve gone into two adventures (in Siargao and Seoul) and together with M, our common best friend, the three of us have forged a triumvirate whose goal is to embark in a travel adventure as often as possible. And now we treat each other like friends with long histories together, spilling our secrets, bashing each other and sharing our everyday concerns no matter how petty or how gross. It’s a nice warm feeling to know that he’ll reply despite his heavy workload, when I pester him with “ What’s the phrase for today?”

And there’s Kuya P. He’s the friend I could malign as badly as I want but whom I will always have ties with. We’re like, close, closer than friends. He’s like my slightly kooky, slightly neurotic but always well intentioned older brother who sometimes does amazingly dumb stuffs (personal not professional, haha, he flies high when it comes to his professional life) bur whom I can always expect to be there and give me a good dressing down (or praise, but most often than not,, I get a gentle reprimand). He and his wife, and their daughter, my cute god-daughter,, are people I’ve always considered as to-the-bone friends.. And so I’ve emailed him a few nights ago on a whim. Asked him if I could stay over at his place in Singapore if and when my plan to come for a visit pushes through. Then I asked him about his life in Singapore, and damn, he kind of sold me to the lifestyle he’s experiencing there. I tell him, hypothetically, If by chance I’d get a work in Sing I’d be able to go home to Davao at least twice a month. And then he replies, haaa, you can go home to Davao one a month if you like! The fare’s not so bad! And aaaarghhh, because he knows without my saying what’s coming next,, he tells me, Hayaan mo I’ll look for positions for you here. Of course, I’d be a year pa before I can shift to his side of Asia, but it’s a nice feeling to know that just in case I’ve decided to try my luck there, someone close to me will be happy to help and guide me.

I’m writing this down because there are times I forget how so many good and dependable people are caught in my web of life. How even if life cannot be perfect, it always has that potential to be a damn good thing, all you need is to have a few good men (or women, or gay) in your life.