when was the last time you did something for the first time?

the past two weeks have been choc-a-block full of first times.

1. first time to try weed (with very strange results)
2. first time to dive in davao (played matchmaker to a pair of nudibranchs)
3. first time to miss a flight (but caught the next one still with sand on my feet resulting from a mad amazing race dash from the beach)
4. first time to hang out with kids with cancer and figure out that play is a universal language
5. first time to travel on the roof of a bangka (and scream hysterically at passing dolphins along the way)
6. first time to lie in a hammock strung on a floating barge under a moonlit sky at a beach in the middle of nowhere
7. first time to see a shooting star as big and as bright as a meteor (and think it was going to hit us which would have been the end of us)
8. first time to explore a countryside aboard a motorcycle
9. first time to say "this is the life" four days in a row
10. first time to get tanned to the point of resembling the color of an eggplant
11. first time to find the smile i thought i had lost forever.

thanks to ninin tatit angie joncam jerry sherwin miah bayani jerry mehanne for the most unbelievable two weeks i can ever remember having.

on getting old

Nothing is free, not even age.
Age is the fee God charges for life.

letter to my friends

dear friends,

have i ever expressed to you how much i appreciate what you've all done for me?

you never tire of laughing at my jokes.
you always make sure that we all get to have dinner together once in a while.
you help me in my never ending search for the perfect job.
you hold the tissue box when i cry my eyes out over the loss of ñ.

don't think me ungrateful, but i have one humungous favor to ask you.

don't anybody ever ever EVER set me up on a blind date ever again. EVER. i swear to God, i will chew my own foot off before i ever go out on a blind date again.

or if i absolutely must, at least make sure he looks like brad pitt.

thanks guys. you're the best.

love,
lissa

to-do list of the unemployed

1. give dog a bath
2. take other dog to the vet
3. organize digital pictures in computer
4. delete fat pictures from computer
5. alphabetize books
6. decide whether to alphabetize books according to title or author
7. arrggh too difficult to alphabetize books. count them instead.
8. take a nap.
9. email employed friends with latest pictures of out-of-town trips (evil laugh here)
10. reorganize closet
11. decide which old clothes to discard, and which to keep with hopes to fit into again
12. retouch fake tattoo
13. file income tax returns by self
14. update photos and profiles in friendster, blogger and ym
15. take stuffed animals to dry cleaners
16. update bank records
17. get depressed over pathetically small savings
18. eat breakfast of oatmeal mixed with swiss miss
19. do five abdominal crunches...forget it. too painful
20. take another nap