Not the Goal but the Going
My birthday this year was really quiet. No surprises planned by my enterprising friends (which is a hundred percent fine by me, since I think I've got them all figured out already!) Instead I made breakfast for myself at home, and my mom gave me a dozen red roses from her and my dad. (I'm not a big fan of red roses, but these were lovely because the buds weren't quite open yet. I've never liked the fully bloomed ones.) Tita Marlie, Mayumi's mom, dropped by to give me their presents - killer homemade carrot cake and a scented pillow with Beatles and Zhang Ziyi pins stuck on it (sobra kong crush si Zhang Ziyi! I wanna BE her!!!) Had a hot oil treatment (goodbye dry hair!), manicure and pedicure, and a quick lunch at home before heading out to Taft Avenue to visit an NGO. I am way behind on my research project on Japanese-Filipino children (JFC), so I set up an interview with the NGO director even though it was my birthday and it was pretty far. Buti nalang hindi gaanong traffic. It was very productive; not only did she grant me an interview, but she also made me copies of research materials and lent me a VCD of their documentary. Cool! That's three days of work done in about 90 minutes :)
After that I went to Kelvin's house to hang out for a while and say hello to Keanu and Kenneth. Lucky kids, they had no class from Monday to Wednesday! Nakakamiss tuloy ang grade school, shet. He got ready and then we left to have an early dinner at Caffe Maestro in Makati. It's a real date place that doubles as an art gallery with really really good Italian food (we want to go back just for the tomato-based mushroom soup.) Kelv said that he had always wanted to try out that place with me, even when I was in Japan. It was nice having a quiet night out for a change, because here at home we are always distracted by the PC, piles of DVDs and two rowdy beagles (Joni's breeder, May, gave Kelvin one of her male beagles, Max, who's been our "boarder" for a week now). Once the 'worms new album comes out and once I find a job, we may not have as much time to hang out as before, so nights like those are precious.
He insisted on paying for our meal even though it was my birthday and I was supposed to be the one to treat! :)
It's funny how when we were kids, we always wanted stuff we didn't have for our birthdays, but when we get older, as our birthdays come along, we feel less like celebrating and instead become more thankful for what we already have. That's exactly what I felt yesterday.
Thanks so much to everyone who remembered and greeted me through SMS, email, Friendster, and even snail mail. Kahit yung mga nasa Japan at Hong Kong, bumati! (thanks Netvigator Mark, Tita Nonette and Yumi!)
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I came upon this as I was reading an assignment for socio-anthro. The author quoted a passage from a book written by a Westerner (Oliver Statler) who went on a pilgrimage in Japan. Before the first leg of his journey, he was sent off by an abbott, who said to him:
" 'You will see all aspects of man, some pure, some impure. You should see both without misunderstanding.' Pure and impure: I have seen both aspects in myself. He also said, 'If you are earnest, you will to some degree be transformed.' This I know to be true. Yet of one thing I am certain: the transformation I yearn for is incomplete. I do not know whether I am any closer to enlightenment - I do not really expect to achieve it - but I know that the attempt is worth the effort. It is a striving, and that goes on. What is important is not the destination but the act of getting there, not the goal but the going." --- Oliver Statler, Japanese Pilgrimage
Funny how I should get the best advice I ever received on my birthday from an academic textbook :)
