MJ

Meet MJ, our long-haired dachshund who sometimes forgets she's a dog.

Haughty and a little bit on the stubborn side, too. But for whatever it's worth, she's never had a boyfriend all her life (and probably won't ever have any).

About a month ago, we almost had a fight.

I don't know why, but she always takes to staying under my bed in the mornings (and not at any other time of the day). And because sometimes she hasn't had her bath yet when she curls up under my bed, she has this certain kind of smell (you know that smell that dogs have? yep, that's the one), and on that particular morning, I was irritated that she chose to stay there again.

So I called out to her, telling her to get out from under my bed (yes, she understands what we say. well, most of the time, actually) and out of my room. While I was calling out to her, I had this slipper ready in my hand, intending to spank her lightly for her bad behavior (read: staying under my bed when she knows I don't like that).

There were some shuffling sounds while she tried to wriggle out from under my bed, but when her head poked out and spied me holding a slipper, the little brat understood that I meant to spank her and returned to her place under my bed, where I cannot reach her.

Of course my blood reached its boiling point.

I had to reach over to the other side of the bed (the side against the wall) and coax her to come out. Only when she understood that I was on the bed and could not harm her did she crawl out from under the bed, run to the kitchen, and hide under the dining room table.

I went after her, slipper in hand and ready to really spank her hard and good this time. When I reached under the table though, she bared her teeth at me and growled (read: don't you ever dare spank me!). Since I was angry, but also afraid she might bite me, I just resorted to banging the chairs around her and swearing loudly what a bad girl she was.

While at the office, I felt sorry for MJ. It wasn't her fault, really, that she didn't want to be spanked. Nobody ever does, right? I became worried she might skulk at me and never come near me again.

So it was with a bit of apprehension when I arrived at our house that evening and went slowly up the steps. Out of nowhere MJ came bounding out, panting heavily and tail wagging wildly. When she got near me, she sniffed delicately at me first, and maybe because she smelt the apologetic remorse on me, she licked at my big toe (that's her way of kissing me).

I sighed. All's well that ends well, I guess.

Note: No animals (specifically one stubborn long-haired dachshund) were harmed in the creation of this post.

what's in your kikay kit?

If you're not Pinoy, then you wouldn't know that a kikay kit equals makeup purse that every girl always, always carries with her wherever she goes. So, to answer that question, here's what's inside my kikay kit:

• maybelline angelfit pressed powder
• the body shop cheek and lip tint
• maybelline unstoppable mascara
• almay i-Color eyeliner
• the face shop cushion touch jelly tint for lips
• victoria's secret beauty rush lip gloss in pinked lemonade
• nail clippers

Feel free to share your secrets in the Comments section!

girl-crushing

Back when I was still in college, I had this huge girl-crush on a classmate (I think it was the English something-something class).

I remember sitting there in that classroom, it was in the middle of an afternoon, and we were restlessly waiting for that 15-minute timeframe that tells us it was okay to leave (in our school, if the teacher didn't show up in the first 15 minutes of the class, that automatically meant no classes for that period).

And then she walked in.

She was tall, lanky, morena, with hair cropped close to her head, and the most adorable doelike eyes you've ever seen. She had a nonchalant gait, like it wouldn't matter if the teacher showed up or not, and she had on a plain black shirt, jeans, sneakers, and a messenger bag slung carelessly over her body, probably a last-minute afterthought when she realized she'd be going to a class and it was the appropriate thing to have.

And then I thought to myself, wow, this girl is cool.

Now, I'm not a lesbian - let's get that straight (pun intended). I've always enjoyed the company of men (at present, particularly that one man I've spent the last 7 years with), and can't ever imagine myself being with a girl ('cause I'm a girl and being with another girl? that's just way too much vajayjay).

So anyway, I remember thinking how cute she was, and how lucky her boyfriend was (if she had one, at that time).

I never got her name, though. And I never got a chance to speak with her, either. I think that was because I felt too intimidated by her cuteness and how cool she was, and also because she seemed to be the odd girl out that nobody ever thought to be friends with her (my classmates and I belonged in the same block, you see, and she was from another course).

And that was my first and last time to be crushing on a real girl. I have girl-crushes now, but they're celebs so they don't count as real.

I wonder, though:
when boys crush on girls, do they feel the same way I felt?
Or is it just all hormones for them?

Hmmm.

why read?

Some people just don't get why I spend hours and hours with my nose buried in a book.

Why read, they'd say, when you can live life? Why spend a big chunk of your time in someone else's story, when you need to BE in your story?

Well, now, I have just the answer.

From Darren of An Extra Smidgen of Eternity, The Sandman Book of Dreams:

Stories are hope. They take you out of yourself for a bit, and when you get dropped back in, you're different - you're stronger, you've seen more, you've felt more. Stories are like spiritual currency.

And from the American Gods:

Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives.

I rest my case.

if i were a rich girl

...I would be a perpetual student.

I'd probably study art, literature, cooking (I'd want to give that a shot, just so I can say I tried), programming (to understand how a software works is ultimately rewarding, I'd say. or I can drop that if it turns out I don't have the knack for it. no biggie. i have lotsa moolah anyway.), music (or learn how to play the guitar), and for recreation, dancing.

And of course, I would travel all over the world. That goes without saying. I'd probably hit the US first, because my sister and her family is there. And then Europe. Oh, Europe. I'd visit first London, to see if Prince William is needing a Queen (we could just click. you never know.). Then France, Italy, Switzerland, Greece...

And then for my last stop, the Caribbean. I could live there for a year, maybe two, lease a small cottage on the beachfront and spend my days just staring at the ocean. Oh I know! Learn how to swim, and eventually, scuba dive! That would be just grand.

*big sigh*

Yeah, just another day in paradise.

do you agree?

From Tom Shayes of the Damages TV series:

It is far better to maintain the illusion of loyalty than to admit the breach of trust.

Is he right? And how apt is it that the line came from a man?

all it takes is a Suddenly

What do you do when, suddenly, the one thing that you thought to be good and true comes crashing down on you?

Do you pick up the scattered pieces, and in silent desperation, hope that you can put them back together like before?

Or do you take a moment to step back, and try to understand why it all fell through in the first place?