A Wedding Letter

I really, really wanted to publish this on Valentine's day. But I guess I can't wait that long and I'm pretty sure I'll forget this piece when that day comes.

As a background, this piece started coming to life when I saw the wedding documentary of Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez. In the ceremony, they included a simple yet heartwarming tribute to one another: each took turns reading to the other a love letter.

This act (perhaps an ingenious idea from the show's writers) reminded me of the wedding of my cousin, Kuya Undo. I wasn't present in the wedding so Mama took the liberty of telling me what happened. There was also a part in the ritual where Kuya Undo and his bride (through intermediaries because my cousin had a speech and hearing problem and because his bride was mute - or was she deaf?) read to each other pledges of love. That didn't fail to bring smiles to everyone in the entourage.

So now, I'm inspired enough to write my own love letter. If I had the chance to say something to my bride on our wedding day, what would it be and how would I say it? The draft is still kind of rough but, as a starting point, I think it's good enough.

Still, this little exercise would be of no use if I didn't get married but I think I can still say the same piece if my brothers were to pick me as their best man. If you think it needs rework, I'm open to your ideas. Here goes:

I am not Prince Charming
nor will I ever hope to be.
I'm not tall, I'm not handsome.
I'll never sweep you off your feet.

But for the many years that we were together,
I have tried to become your man
And I'm happy yet so humbled
that it is beside me you choose to stand.

And on this day of promises
On this day we begin a dream
I'll give you my solemn promise,
an oath I intend to keep

That for everything I am not,
I choose to be the one,
the one you truly deserve,
the one who has won your heart.

When we are alone, I will become
the candle lights during dinner
and I'll be the kisses greeting you,
"Good morning and have a good day".

When we are outside, I'll be the strolls
down avenues and lanes
and I'll be the shade when the almighty sun
keeps all the clouds at bay.

When at home, I will be the dishes
all wiped clean and left to dry, I'll be the laundry
that is blowing under the radiant and light blue sky

When you're sad, I will be the shoulder
you can always lean upon, I'll be the tissue
waiting to be used on your table side

And when you're tired or sick, I'll be the hands
massaging your feet when they are sore
and I'll be the wet cloth on your forehead
to cool your fever even more.

And when you're stressed, I will be the world's
greatest sounding board and I will be the late night
conversations with the most amazing woman in the world.

And if we have children, I'll be the diapers
that need to be changed each and every night
and I'll be the camera taking pictures
of them growing in the Light.

And when we fight, I'll be the chest
you can hit to your heart's content
and I'll be the letter under the door
with the words, "I'm sorry. Can I sleep with you on the bed?"

And when we are old and wrinkles begin
come crawling across your face,
Then I'll be the whisper in your ear,
saying, "You're beautiful, more beautiful
with every single year."

And, despite all this, if I have not been clearly understood,
let me tell you simply, "I'll be your husband
in every sense and meaning of the word".

I love you.

Something's Happening

Something's happening to me. And it's not good.

Only this afternoon did I finally became aware of what I was becoming. It was almost the end of a very bad week. I was slumping on my chair, staring at nothing. I was emotionally drained and each fiber of my body sighed with exhaustion.

During my examen, I looked back at what had happened to me and it was clear that my mood had turned sour as the week progressed. I was frustrated at a lot of people, irritated with the phone calls, the distractions, the setbacks. My patience ran thin several times and there were many instances when I felt like blowing up.

The scary part is, for the life of me, I can't think of a particular reason why. Is it probably because my job is finally catching up to me? That it's changing me to someone I don't want to be? Or is it because of other personal affairs that I'm not even aware of? Or is this because I am secretly unhappy?

Maybe I'm just angry at everything right now.

Or maybe I'm just pregnant.

Videoke

Sometimes, I wish I were more musically inclined. Those times are when I'm holding a microphone in my hands as I barely utter the words shown on a television screen amidst the din of the speakers put on full blast.

As it turns out, I love videoke but singing isn't really a talent for me. Sometimes, I wish it was but I guess, at 23, it's too late to develop a a good, singing voice. Maybe, singing lessons would help but I'm pretty much stuck in low pitch just the same (a quality made less endearing by the emergence of more complicated, "birit" songs).

One thing I love about videoke is that expectations for such a public event are quite so low. No one expects you to carry out an engaging conversation (which is almost impossible given the insane noise); no one expects you to put your best foot forward; and, finally, no one expects you to sing well, except if you're one of those people who feel it's their duty to show the world they're the next singing sensation.

But still, the urge to sing well remains and it surfaces every time someone nudges the microphone at my direction. Maybe later, the feeling will eventually vanish and maybe then, videoke wouldn't feel so harsh, just more fun.

Congratulations

Just finished all my posts for 2010. As to why it took me this long, let me just say some posts needed to be expanded and some, reworked.

That's a total of 146 posts for 2010. Now on to 2011.

"Walay Sukli"

I think I feel a conspiracy being played out.

When I bought toiletries in SM recently, my change boiled down to several pesos and centavos. The cashier asked me if it's all right with me if she retain the cents since she did not have any smaller denomination other than one peso coins. I agreed.

Then, in another day, I bought some stuff from Watson's and the same thing happened. I was supposed to be given 75 cents as change but the cashier said she didn't have any centavo coins so she took the 75 cents from me as well.

Only last week, I began to realize that something was indeed amiss. Again, I was buying stationery in SM and the change boiled down to, you guess it, centavos. This time, the cashier didn't bother asking me the rhetorical question and just gave my change minus the extra centavos.

I could not help but think if this was a strategy of sorts, a way to glean extra profit from the consumer in the form of withholding change. Sure, centavos mean little but if you can imagine SM doing this to the millions of its patrons, those centavos can leave a very big impact in the bottom line.

If we play this out even more, we could ask, "What if SM is indeed playing with the pricing strategy?" What if it's intentionally including centavos in its price mark-ups so the scheme mentioned above can play out?

Interesting.