Saturday, June 06, 2009

Back from AWOL

Some things you just don’t see coming. In my case, I didn’t see blogworld AWOL coming--but it did. The next thing I knew, its been six months since I last posted anything. How did that happen? Well, lots of things happened (and other internet distractions didn't help), like…

-Surviving a long, intense meeting before Christmas.
-Realizing that my nieces have grown a couple of inches taller in my absence.
-Having a few gallons of coffee (in total) with friends over Christmas.
-Crying my eyes out watching Kite Runner and A Mighty Heart back to back.
-Starting a new year’s resolution of keeping track of my spending on Excel (I’ve been good and relatively stingy since!)
-Witnessing The Might Federer sobbing and being comforted by his rival Rafa Nadal.
-Facebooking.
-Stepping on Cambodian soil for the first time.
-Looking like a dust ninja while hanging on for dear life in a Siem Reap Tuk Tuk ride.
-Waiting for flights in different airports.
-Meetings and meetings and oh yeah, meetings.
-Finally seeing my cute bald-headed Irish nephew in person.
-Crying my eyes out (again) reading Khaled Husseini's Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
-Being treated to a Japanese Onsen in Los Banos for my birthday.
-Having to pick up my jaw from the floor after watching “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.”
-Marathoning through facilitating two-week long workshops.
-Having my bones cracked by a chiropractor for a whole month.
-Discovering my ADD tendencies after a psychological testing (a non-surprise).
-Borrowing a stranger’s cellphone to make a call in Tokyo.
-Discovering I missed blogging.
-Scouring 100 Yen stores.
-Ordering food on my own in a Tokyo fastfood joint (point of pride)
-Having to correct my tendency to refer to myself in the third person (no thanks to Facebook!)
-Sleeping in a hut and waking up to a refreshing view of ricefields.
-Suffering from sunburned knees in Boracay (long story).
-Trying to stay sane and steady as the erratic nature of my life caught up with me.
-Finally around to worship at my church in Manila, which I direly missed.
-Wondering how my blogfriends are doing.
-Enjoying good conversations with taxi drivers on my numerous rides to and from the airport.
-Spending a rare FULL day at home and bonding with my house.
-Helping a friend choose a wedding gown design through YM.
-Finally finishing Season 7 of 24.
-Found out that almost all my recently read books have Boarding Passes for bookmarks.
-Amazed at having teenagers pour their hearts out to me—at first meeting!
-Bumping into so many long lost friends on Facebook.
-Being shocked speechless at Rafa Nadal’s French Open loss. (yup, that was the sound of my heart breaking...)
-Missing Davao.
-Surrendering to a pint of Selecta Gold Chocolate Truffle.
-Having Lectio Divina with a good friend through Skype.
-Deciding to get back to blogging. :)

Peppered on these are good conversations, new friends made and the usual highs and lows of life and work. I was often “seized” with eye-opening insights that I should have taken time to blog about. If the past 6 months is anything to go by—there is much to blog about and look forward to in the latter half.

What were the highlights of the past 6 months for you?

17 comments:

Wil said...

I was shocked myself to read Nadal lost. But he and Soderling have a bit of a feud dating back to a few years ago at Wimbledon. Its on youtube. hehe.

The Kite Runner is a very good read! :)

Yes, please don't refer to yourself in the third person. ;-)

paolo said...

Kite Runner book is one of the bestest books all time. Kite Runner movie is one of the bestest movies of all time.

Unknown said...

"What were the highlights of the past 6 months for you?" - Don't ask, those six months wouldn't even come close to what you've done and where you've been. That's another way of saying that my life is utterly boring, hehe. Welcome back, again, to blogging Jojie...

Oh and, belated happy b'day din pala, hehe

Beng said...

Welcome back, Jojie! :) I'm happy to know you haven't given up on blogging for good. I feel so privileged that even if your blog readers are in the dark about your past 6 months, I'm not. ;D
Looking forward to more posts from you to make up for your looooong absence. :) Write on.

Mitsuru said...

Welcome back my Gypsy friend. he-he

James Higham said...

Not unlike my life in some ways, wanting to now come in form the cold but seemingly destined to go out there again. Enjoy it while you can.

Grace D. Chong said...

Great to see you back! Welcome, again!

carlotta1924 said...

wow, you've had a lot of adventures these past 6 months, and am sure there are more to come! :D

welcome back! :D

btw, food trip naman tayo :)

Forever59er said...

You have not been blogging, but you have been busy living. I am ashamed listing down my half-year's highlights -- they would pale next to yours. Eh, di naman ako gypsy eh. hahaha Anyway, welcome back to blogging where I also think I am neither here nor there.

niceheart said...

That was a very eventful 6 months ha. And visiting Cambodia and Japan. Must be very exciting. I've also been tracking my expenses, dapat sa excel din, but I've just been doing it manually on an excel worksheet. Loved Hosseini's books, too. :)

manilenya said...

Hmn, thanks for the tip, I guess I will try getting The Kite Runner copy.

Welcome back Gypsy, that's a lot of stuff, it's worth the time and I'm pretty sure maraming kang ikukwento sa mga susunod na araw :)

ipanema said...

hahahahaha...now the bakasyunistas are back. ay, ako, sabi ko, wala akong oras mag blog ng ayos, better leave it for awhile. kaya puro photos muna. iba kasi yung mundo ko noon, marami akong oras. pero pag andito ka sa bansa, walang oras mag mukmok. maraming gagawin!

i am happy for you. hala, travel, enjoy life!

welcome back! :)

Gypsy said...

Wil,
Yeah I know Rafa and Sod's "history"--I am THAT kind of tennis fan.Hehe.

Pao,
Amen to that--am sure a lot of us agree that its one of the best reads ever.

Rudy,
Waaah! Am sure its not boring! Thanks for the welcome and the belated greeting. :)

Beng,
If it makes you feel even better, I feel guilty about ot blogging everytime I see you. ;P

Mitsuru,
Thanks, friend!!

James,
I am, I am!! :)

Ate Grace,
Thanks! Bilib nga ako sa inyo--no slacking from blogging. I wish I was as disciplined...:)

Carlotta
Yeah would love to food trip, maybe when I get back?? Am going away again (nothing new, right?)

Anna,
Naku, napansin ko nga re sa posts mo that you have taken a sort of leave...well, we all have our seasons--I guess its just about "life" happening so much we have no time to blog about it!

Niceheart
A friend actually wants to introduce me to a new program called Quicken, but dunno if I can make the switch since I am already half way..have you heard of it?

Manilenya,
Thanks! Yes please do buy a copy of Kite Runner-sold out dito sa Powerbooks..but am sure you can get it on line. :)

Ipanema,
Yeah when busy, resort to photos--Hmm..good tip! Hehe..

Jen said...

Don't get me started gypsy. Hehehe:) missed your updates! Welcome back to the blogging world!

Sojourner said...

I used to check my friends' blogs repeatedly (more than once a day) even while knowing that they can often go over a month without writing. Why would I continue to do that? Well ... at the beginning of the year I stopped reading blogs, but today I came back for the first time only to discover you have had a similar hiatus. And just the day before you wrote your blog I too watched the Kite Runner. Here's a few of my favourite quotes from the movie (sorry, I didn't read the book). I was with friends, so couldn't rewind to make sure I got the quotes exact ... but here they are as I remember them ...

The Kite Runner quotes:

"There's a way to be good again!"
"Children are not colouring books. You don't get to colour them in your favourite colours."
"It's a dangerous thing being born."
"Why couldn't he just smell an onion."
"All this talk of sinning is making me thirsty!"
(Couple looking into a mirror) "What do you see?" "The rest of my life!"

Great to be back Gypsy!

Sojourner

Gypsy said...

Jen--Hope to catch up with you again-parang sandali lang tayo nakakapag-usap when we see each other!

Sojourner
We have almost the same fave quotes, which reminds me, I had been wanting to blog about my fave quotes in Kite Runner...hmmm...must go back to the book again soon. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

You are back! I was wondering where you'd been...