What Happens on the Eve of a Holiday?

August 8, 2005
9:46 am
From him to her
Exactly one year ago

Habi,

Pre-holiday blues. Very few people at work due to leaves. Are you ready for the BBJE?!? Or am I?
Good morning!

Love,
Habi

August 8, 2005
9:51 am
From her to him

Good morning, Habi!

Post-weekend and pre-holiday blues. BBJE, skydining, a whole day and the rest of my life to spend with the man I love – I’ve prepared for this my whole life.

[snipped]

Love,
Habi

August 8, 2005
10:30 am
From him to her

Habi,

Wow, ang sarap naman nun. BBJE, Sky Dining, and Cable Car with the woman I love?!? Pwede na 'kong mag-palpitate at mamatay!

[snipped]

Love,
Habi

The Velveteen Rabbit

October 3, 2005
10:02 am
From her to him
Original subject: Mahvelous Weekend

Habi,

Thank you for the marvelous weekend, my love. Everything was perfect – from our slow-it-down Saturday nap to the lovely dinner and romantic evening walk. Everyday activities become extraordinary when spent with you. We may have the comfortable intimacy of an ‘old couple’ but the ‘oldness’ stops right there. You still make my stomach turn with just the sound of your voice, you still make my skin burn with just a slight touch of your hand, you still make my heart skip a beat with just a smile.

I don’t care if all my hair gets loved off, and if my eyes drop out, and if I get loose in the joints. I may grow old and shabby but I wouldn’t mind at all because you will be right there growing old with me.
You have made me Real, I just hope it will last for always.

Love,
Habi

October 3, 2005
11:42 am
From him to her

Habi,

I tried to come up with some profound poetry, with prose even, but alas, my Muse was adamant: she has retreated into my psyche, refusing to come out and let everyone see her saline eyes. "It is not me who inspires, but definitely Her: that woman, that wretched piece of earth this man insanely calls God-given. I am no longer of use to him. Let him live and die, then, with Her whom he covets most, for surely he is happiest while sleeping in her arms, walking in her stride, and dwelling in her heart."

Love,
Habi

Read more on the Velveteen Rabbit here.

I Wish You...

September 19, 2005
10:30 am
From her to him

Good morning, love!

Thanks for a wonderful wonderful weekend!

My birthday wishes for you…
more places to explore,
more foreign sights to behold,
more cultures to experience,
more delicacies to sample,
more languages to learn,
more interesting people to meet,
more coffee table books to read (and own),
more photos to shoot,
more shoes to wear off,
more city lights to gaze at,
more wonders of God to marvel at,
and a hundred healthy years and more to enjoy all those.

I love you always.

Habi

September 19, 2005
10:400 am
From him to her

Habi,

Wow. A wonderful, wonderful list of wishes that says it all. Thank you so very much, my love. Thank you for the lovely birthday celebration. And eveything that has come to pass. All these wishes shall not be for naught if you are there by my side sharing the adventure.

Love,
Habi

A Misty Moisty Morning

October 13, 2005
10:32 am
From him to her

Habi,

In the MRT, I was seated beside a guy who reeked of cigarette smoke and who chatted so loudly with someone on the phone from Boon Lay to Jurong East. After that he chatted, also so loudly, with his girlfriend on his other side. They got off in Commonwealth, and he was replaced, most unfortunately, by a sleepy middle-aged man who kept lolling his head over to my side. He got off in Outram Park. In other words, I was not able to sleep for long.

Oreo cookie-lookalikes and coffee for mid-morning coffee break.

Nakalimutan kong dalhin yung coupons! Ihuhulog ko na sana mamaya. Library ka ba mamaya? Good morning!

Love,
Habi

October 13, 2005
11:33 am
From her to him

Habi,

I love reading about your mundane activities, you make them sound so interesting. Makes me think about this quote from one of the very few movies (I forgot which movie, but it’s a scene where a woman was drinking in a bar and pouring her heart out to the bartender) we watched over the last year:

“We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet. What does any one life really mean? But when you love, you promise to care about everything – the good things, the bad things, the mundane things. All of it, all of the time, everyday. You say, ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness.’”

Or something like that.

I would like the honor to be the witness to your life as long as I live and as long as you’re happy to have me.

Love,
Habi

October 13, 2005
12:19 am
From him to her

Habi,

Susan Sarandon, ikaw ba yan? :op Syempre na-curious daw ako kung ano'ng movie yun. I never really remembered.
Must be Neil Gaiman rubbing off on me.
Or love, simply.
Because, to quote a The Jets song, there's magic everywhere when you're young (or young-but-feeling-old) and in-love.

Love,
Habi

Thank You

July 22, 2005
9:36 am
From him to her

Habi,

I don't think I ever thanked you for the Snag-It installer yesterday.
I don't think I ever thanked you enough for all the nice meals.
I don't think I can ever thank you enough for being right by my side in this incredible journey.
I will love you 'til the end of time.

Love,
Habi

July 22, 2005
11:36 am
From him to her

Naku, antagal ng reply. Mukhang matindi-tinding reply 'to a. Am using the laptop now, yey!

Love,
Habi

July 22, 2005
11:45 am
From her to him

Akubia Chambers,
Legal Practitioners
Solicitors At Law
No: 55 Pyne Cresent,
Victoria Island,
Lagos-Nigeria


Mr. A D C,

Your name and e-mail address came up in a random draw conducted by our law firm, (Akubia & Co Chambers) in Lagos, Nigeria. I am barrister Albert Akubia, the Legal Adviser and counsel to a deceased expatriate contractor who used to work with Mount Faber Leisure Group. He was a well known philanthropist before he died, he made a Will stating that a voucher for an ‘out-of-this-world dining experience on board a cable car’ be raffled out to a law-abiding Singapore Employment Pass holder. We have made a random draw where your name was picked as the beneficiary to this Will.

It is my utmost desire to execute the Will of our late client in your favor and therefore, you are required to contact me immediately to confirm your availability on Tuesday, 9th of August 2005 at 1800 hours.

Regards,
Albert Akubia (ESQ)

July 22, 2005
11:43 am
From him to her

Habi,

What's this? Spam? Totoo ba ito? Bakit sa 'yo ipinadala?

Love,
Habi

July 22, 2005
11:53 am
From her to him

Hahahaha! Kala mo ikaw lang ang marunong magbigay ng birthday vouchers ha (at nagwork ang spam-style!) =P
Sabi mo kse matindi-tinding reply e, pede na ba yun?

So available ka nga sa August 9?

Love,
Habi

July 22, 2005
12:07 pm
From him to her

Hahaha! Wow! Sige ba! E pa'no ba naman, Nigeria pa talaga'ng ginamit mo! :op


Looking forward to National Day,
Habi

Honey Beef Rice

May 27, 2002
11:32 am
From him to her
(original subject: Good Morning Email #1)

Good morning, Genevieve! How was your first weekend in the Lowlands so far? Gotten over jet lag already? I hope so.
Got into the office late by 5 minutes, as usual. Actually I would've beaten the clock hadn't Roylann called me on the sidewalk to catch my attention. He came with Reims and Ritchie 'cause he slept over with them in San Juan. Guess they had to render OT over the weekend for FMS. Oh, well.
My weekend was rather uneventful. Friday night, bought some chichirya along the way home for our Friends VCD telethon. Saturday morning, started to read the Fellowship of the Ring. Got sleepy after a while. Saturday afternoon, tried to read the Fellowship of the Ring again. Got sleepy after a while. Saturday night, more VCD viewing: this time its The Matrix. Before going to bed, tried to read the damn book one more time. In vain.
Sunday lunch was spent at a high school friend's son's baptismal. And I got the best compliments of the weekend so far: "Andrei, tumaba ka a! Ano ba'ng pinaggagagawa mo?" "Mukhang hiyang ka a. Meron na yatang nag-aalaga e."
That settles it. It's Honey Beef Rice, Glazed Chicken Rice, or Fish and Fries for dinner forever.
Heard Mass at 6:30. Gave my share of the budget for our Subic outing this coming weekend. Gastos na naman. Leche.
Remember the mass demonstration I talked to you about at the gate of our subdivision? The one you said was a really brilliant, contrived excuse for the boys' night-out with Sir Luc? Well, it happened again, minutes before I got off the jeep. Someone got shot again. All the tricycle drivers fled for safety. So there I was, trapped, home just a few meters away, with nowhere to go. I asked a tricycle driver from the nearby subdivision to send me to as far as our guardhouse then I would just walk the remaining distance. Talk about firming up those shapely legs at an inopportune time.
Too tired for more dinner (had Honey Beef Rice at Jollibee after Mass--hah! Nothing can stop me now!), I slept early. I had the weirdest dream. I was sitting near the stands in a football field, strumming my guitar to Stevie Wonder's Overjoyed. (I dream not only in Technicolor, but also in Full Stereo Surround Sound! Beat that!) And then suddenly, Sir Frank came out of nowhere into the stands, holding his cellphone to his ear, speaking in angry-sounding Dutch. He was walking back and forth and ordering some people about. I was ashamed 'cause there I was playing while the others were slaving away. Then I woke up and found out it was already 7:30 am. Aha! My brain was telling me to get up and go to work! Damn these interpretable dreams...
Haaay, yun lang po. Hope to hear from you as soon as possible. So did you get to go around Paris even for a few minutes? Wish I were with you. Miss you a lot. Je te souihate bonne chance pour ton travail aux Pays-Bas!

Andrei

P.S. I think some chicken bones are lodged in Mad Cows's throat 'cause he has been gurgling and regurgitating for the past few days now. What should we do? Do you know of any remedies?

Sweet Nothings From A Silly Girl In Love

August 5, 2005
12:32 pm
From her to him

Habi!

Alam mo, Habi, I realized something. I didn’t think it was possible to be more in love with you than I was before (say, 3 months ago), but I really feel with all my heart and soul and guts that I am in love with you now more than ever! Now that I think about it, the cliché I-still-LOVE-you-but-I’m-just-not-IN-LOVE- with-you-anymore’ could be true. I think being ‘in love’ can have certain levels of intensity. The way I LOVED you the first time I said that I did is the same way I LOVE you now – true and pure and unconditional and will last until my heart is able. But that’s not my point today. My point is that I am IN LOVE with you now more than I ever was in my whole life. And it’s such a wonderful giddy feeling that I hope it doesn’t end!
Don’t mind me lah.
4 1/2 work hours to go!

In love and loving it,
Habi

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

June 17, 2002
5:55 pm
From him to her
(original subject: Good Morning Email #x)

My dear Habi,

Yesterday, on this side of the world, I was doggedly trying to carry on my vicarious adventures with Frodo and his purportedly gay friends. Two paragraphs after, I was dozing off.

So there I was, peacefully taking a lazy Sunday afternoon nap, when I was rudely roused from my sleep. You know how it is when you wake up and strain your wits to remember a disturbing dream? Hah, wonder of all wonders! I dreamt that I was typing away on my PC, when I took a sidelong glance, and there you were on your PC! You were looking through me--no Thea blocking your line of sight, thank God--two slits of wonderful smiling eyes, rich russet lips, and dimples the depth of Taguig potholes. You stood up, walked towards me, reached out your cigarette-smoke-stained hands (well, not really; will try to work on dreaming in Scents-o-Rama next time), and pinched my chubby cheeks while saying "Tabaching-ching!" Shockingly disturbing.

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real. That, was such a moment.

Habi

P.S. Dark chocolate = chubby cheeks. Thanks, baby! Mwah!

All I Am Is Yours

October 16, 2004
1:12 pm
From her to him

There's a part of a woman
that if you touch
will drive her crazy...

... her heart

You've touched mine in innumerable ways I never imagined possible.
Thank you, my love.

All I am is yours forever, if you'll have me.
Happy Anniversary, my dear habbibi.

Groeten from Antwerpen

April 29, 2003
Computer and Software NV
Mechelsesteenweg 121
2018 Antwerpen
7:35 pm
From him to her
(original subject: Totoong Email na Maraming Kwento)

Habi,

Luc just left the office and now I'm alone again (naturally). He was nice enough to accompany me to the neighborhood supermarket a block away to buy some provisions--white bread, whole milk, ham, pickles, and tomatoes. There, something healthy to eat everyday. Ü Kakalula lang kung i-convert, k'se all in all, they cost me PhP 345.

It was also Mama who bought me cereals, noodles, cookies, and de lata. Too bad I wasn't able to bring the Tortillos and Kornets; I wasn't able to pack them all in the olive green stroller bag Papa and I bought last Saturday. Dami ngang de lata, 'la namang kanin. How will I be able to quench my carbo-hungry Filipino soul? Hehe, kakahiya nga sa Schiphol, when I passed through customs to have my luggage checked, nakita ng customs officer kung ga'no karaming food items ang dala ko, like I was hoarding them or something. Probably one of the low moments of this trip.

Luc wanted me to meet his son Patrick, who is our age (but a lot bigger, I can just imagine, what with Luc's built). We're going out Friday night to have some beer or something.[snipped]

I also won't be working on May 1 (buti na lang ala na 'ko sa 'Pinas or else I wouldn't be spared from the no-holidays-until-ClearingPoint-is-finished decree). Maybe I'll take some time then to go around and take some real pictures. Too bad I won't be in them, unless I go acrobatic and try to do some guesswork at shooting myself along with the background.

Di naman ako masyado napapagod doing the rounds with Luc di tulad nang sa Cubepoint kung saan sobrang toxic mag-program magdamag. I told you before, this was more to my liking--technical support--development side or deployment side. Now I begin to see his point of view, that it's really frustrating to drive all the way to a client 170 km away and the installation isn't successful so you have to drive there back again for an update. That's what happened yesterday when we went to Eynatten near the German border. Kawawa naman sila, di rin nila nagamit yung program. I was conferring with Jason through text while we were there, but the update came too late: we had to leave 'cause it was already 7 pm and it was Astrid's (Luc's wife) birthday so they were going to have a family dinner. I don't know yet kung kelan kami babalik dun.

This afternoon, after receiving the uploaded updates from Cubepoint, we drove to the port office of Steinweg Antwerp, our beta testers, to do an installation. We encountered some network path problems so we were delayed for some time. We could not afford to go to Brussels anymore to do two more clients, so we decided to go to SBTC Sotramar instead, another client in Antwerp. The installation there went along quite well, and it was very reassuring for me. I was constantly crossing my fingers while the user was trying out the program. Ü I'm learning so much about C and S's operations, and finally seeing everything in actual practice. Makes me proud to see my program (well, not solely mine, just a euphemism) being used by clients.

Yes, I never forget to take my Vitamin C ("1,000 mg a day ha") and my Revicon ("Ako pa?"). I take a bath twice a day (ewan ko ba, ang sarap kasi maligo sa mainit na tubig). After taking my evening shower, I always turn the heater on in my room and change into your fitting black shirt (biceps need work) and Papa's sweat pants over my Capri pants. Works quite nicely. I put on some lip balm in the morning and some at night. Although I can never seem to put some on while Luc and I are in the car, I don't know why.

Well, that's basically my day today. Am going to prepare my dinner now. Will have to wake up real early tomorrow cause we leave around 8 to go to Mees and De Kerf, Panalpina, and Yusen Air. Hope everything turns out well.

Je t'aimerai à fin de temps.
I will love you 'til the end of time.

The Proposal

January 26, 2006
3:36 pm
From him to her
(In reference too Rain's schmaltzy proposal to Lou. Hi Rain! Best wishes!)

Habi,
Huuu, aminin mo na, kinilig ka nang todo! 'Cause you never got THAT kind of proposal.No words to set the mood. No percussion, strings, or winds either. Just a question. Plain and simple.
I'm sorry you got less of an experience, that of a beginning without much ado. Because I too believed that it didn't matter where, when, or how I proposed, but that you said "Yes". Which after what felt like a lifetime you ultimately did.

Love,
Habi

January 26, 2006
5:33 pm
From her to him

Habi,

You're right, I never got THAT kind of proposal. What I got was a thousand times more special. What better way to set the mood than a relaxing afternoon at the beach (in a foreign land, mind you), a blanket of stars (like diamonds in the sky), the sound of the ocean waves against the shore (my favorite sound in the whole world next to the sound of your voice), the majestic fortress as a backdrop, and the infinity pool (and what it stands for).
I was 'swept away without a warning, like night when morning begins the day, I was swept away' and when I came back to my senses, I had a magnificent ring on my finger (Until now, I still couldn't figure out how he managed to hold on to that ring while swimming. We were holding hands right before we went into the pool and so I knew that he wasn't wearing it.) and was serenaded with the best ever rendition of my birthday song.

No amount of cheesy words can replace all that. I cannot think of a more perfect way to start our ever after.
Love,
Habi

January 26, 2006
3:36 pm
From him to her

Revised:

Habi,

Huuu, aminin mo na, kinilig ka nang todo!'Cause you never got THAT kind of proposal. No words to set the mood. No percussion, strings, or winds either. Just a question. Plain and simple.
I'm sorry you got less of an experience, that of a beginning without much ado. Because I too believed that it didn't matter where, when, or how I proposed, but that you said "Yes". Which after what felt like a lifetime you ultimately did. For which I was more than glad.

Nah, it DID matter that I proposed IN a romantic island resort ON our birthday.

Love,
Habi

Gypsy Musings on a Minstrel Triptych

October 14, 2005
4:23pm
From him to her
(In reference to the supposed ghosts from her very distant past)

Habi,

When do you dismiss such an outpouring of emotion?
When do you ignore a precious love forsaken?
When do you think no more of time and talent given?
Never, Esmeralda: for potent is the potion.

Three summers and a day I walked on paths of silver,
Wand'ring amber fields and forests ocean-vast
Come eve, I receive your ghosts of summers past
I pay no heed: still they haunt me hither.

For your gypsy soul, I'd sell my blood and breath.
If I have to drink from the gold absinthe cup,
If I have to scream from sundown til sun-up,
Let the ghouls come to me to fight 'til death.

Habi

October 14, 2005
5:02 pm
From her to him

Habi,

You never cease to amaze me. Really.

If you must know, I have dismissed, ignored, and thought no more of the ghosts of my summers past. They will remain ghosts and they will remain in the past. No amount of rhyme (may it be threefold) can give me a change of heart.
I am happy where I am with the man I love. And I will be happy wherever the crazy gypsy in his soul takes me for the rest of the summers of my life.

And Habi, I am no Esmeralda (although I'm wearing my Esmeralda earrings right now). I am Quasimodo the hunchback.

Love,
Habi

October 14, 2005
5:37 pm
From him to her

Habi,

Hahaha, you see details that I don't and see humor in them. Here, YOU never cease to amaze me.

Won't take the train anymore; I'll be riding bus 65 instead (the first bus I ever rode in Singapore) from Ubi Ave 2 to Jalan Besar. Then, I'll take a walk to Little India station and meet my beloved hunchback there.

Love,
Habi