Yelly Writes

Say them magic words!

Yelly

I know that in this day and age of instant gratification, we often do without the social mores that our parents or grandparents expect us to follow.  I get that.  On my birthday, I got several (very beautiful) birthday cards (I was so touched by the amount that I posted a photo of the cards!) and I absolutely adored that.  We don’t write enough letters anymore in this day and age of emails and instant messaging.

Whilst on this soap box, I seriously believe that “please” and “thank you” are still important.  Even if you don’t mean it.  I know a lot of people will poo-poo my encouragement of insincere platitudes, but I am a firm believer that politeness is still a social requirement.  You ask someone to do something for you, you say “please.”  If someone does something for you (whether requested or not) you say “thank you.”  This applies to everything from letters to text messages.  It’s an unspoken rule: you use the magic words.

Freedom of speech is a basic human right and we can say whatever we want, however way we want to. But politeness never cost anyone anything, and it’s a sign of your humanity.

magicwords

Yelly Writes

So this is 40?

Yelly

It’s my birthday!  Hurrah!

So this is how 40 feels?  I don’t really feel any different from yesterday.  Sure, there are aches and pains, creaking bones and clicking mandibles, but apart from the carpal tunnelly hands, I think I’m okay.  Oh and I’ve seen (and dealt with) a few more grey hairs!

I have been thoroughly spoilt with birthday presents, flowers and birthday greetings.  People have been so kind.  I’m glad that I’ve done enough good to deserve the well-wishes.  Thank you to my church baby Nikki who wrote me a lovely message.  I wonder sometimes if I’ve become too distant, too protective of myself to do any good, to do something for other people.  I’ve been struggling with myself lately, having internal arguments about how I’m behaving.  I’m glad I am still doing something to make some people happy.  Because that’s all I ever really want, I want to make people happy.

birthday40I want this year to be the year I make improvements to myself.  I want this year to be the year I tick off some of the items on my personal to-do list.  I want this year to be the year I officially establish my real “hustle” (it’s a little something I learned from Emma Gannon‘s podcast – listen to Episode 9 where Emma interviews Paulette Perhach.  These millenials are so driven, you get energised just listening to them!) so that my current “hustle” becomes my “side-hustle” so that I can do what I really want to do!

It’s not going to be easy, because I am plagued with procrastination and I have the tendency to allow myself to be swallowed up by inertia.  I am bolstered, though, by the desire to do something else, to do something creative, to work for myself.

I am determined to do something this year.

at40I don’t look too bad for 40, do I?

Yelly Snaps

Clean desk Friday…NOT!

Yelly

At work, on Fridays, we have an unspoken rule that when we leave the office at the end of the day, we leave our desk as bare as possible so that the cleaners can dust our desks.  I try to make sure most of my desk is clear so that they can spray Pledge and dust when they do our area.  Not that they actually dust.  But I live in hope.  One day, I shall come to work and my desk will have the lingering smell Pledge and I will plonk myself on my office chair and smile.

So this weekend will be my birthday…my 40th birthday.  Looking at my desk today, I think making sure I adhere to the Clean Desk Friday policy will be a bit of a challenge and will require an extra 15 minutes of clearing up!

CleanDeskFriday

Yelly Writes

Vote wisely my dear fellow Filipinos

Yelly

One the eve of what is, arguably, the most divisive of Philippine elections, my thoughts turn to home.  My thoughts turn to my countrymen who are about to go to the polls to select a new leader. 

My dear fellow Filipinos

I do not intend to change your minds about who to vote for. That is your choice to make because we live in a democracy and we all have the right to choose. I ask you to vote wisely because apart from making your choice, you are also choosing for people who are not able to make the choice.

Make sure that the person you vote for has the right agenda. Make sure that the person you vote for understands that our country is no longer an archipelago of 7,107 islands but part of a global community where working relationships are important. Make sure that the person you vote for intends to implement fiscal policies that lift the country’s economy up. Make sure that the person you vote for feels that they are not only accountable to every single Filipino but that they answer to God too, that their moral compass points to the true north. Make sure that the person you are voting for is really the change that the country needs, that you’re voting not just for change’s sake. Most importantly, make sure that you vote not because there is an instant economic gain for you in exchange for that vote, but that you are putting ink to paper because you think that person is worth the vote.

And lastly, make sure that once you have voted, after all the votes have been cast and counted, you haven’t burned any bridges and severed relationships. We all have opinions and we need to expect that we all won’t necessarily agree. I pray for clean, honest and peaceful elections.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas at mabuhay ang Pilipino!

philippines-flag

Yelly Writes

It wasn’t hay fever!

Yelly

So last week, my throat was scratchy, my nose was runny and I kept sneezing.  I thought it was hay fever because the rape seed flowers have started blooming.

Well, it obviously wasn’t.  Today is Day 1 of being in sick bay…again!

I am really tired of constantly battling illnesses! 😦

sick girl

Yelly Writes

Arrested development

Yelly

We’ve heard it all before…the old adage that age is just a number.

I turn a year older in exactly 14 days.  It’s a milestone birthday.  But I don’t think I feel my age.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I am getting older.  My body never passes up the opportunity to let me know that I’m aging – I’m finding more gray hair, I’m seeing tiny wrinkles starting, my hair is thinning, my metabolism (darn it!) is slowing down, and I am plagued with aching joints and muscles.

The thing is, I don’t feel old.  This isn’t necessarily a good thing.  There are times when I feel underdeveloped, immature, inexperienced and juvenile.  There are spring lambs who seem to be more mature, more street smart than me.  Like I didn’t grow up quite the way I should have, like I didn’t really have the right social skills that a person of my age is expected to have.

I know, I know!  You’ll probably all say that I shouldn’t base my self-judgement on the dictates of society.  But I can’t help it!  Sometimes I feel completely inadequate.

So I’m going to start a journey of rediscovery.  It’s really been something that started a few months ago.  I was craving change.  I wanted improvement in my life and I was really annoyed myself because I knew I would be plagued with procrastination and inertia.  This is why I’ve started reading inspirational books, I’ve started paying attention to all the  articles about self-development articles that I’ve subscribed to.  I’ve started to seek inspiration because I’m determined to make some sort of change this year.

I’m consumed by this desire to change my life, to be happier, to be more successful, to be more driven, to be healthier…and not because I want to everyone to envy me (well, okay, maybe I want everyone to look at me and say, “Wow, look at her!”…maybe just a little.  I’m only human!), I want to look at my life and feel a sense of achievement, to know that I achieved the goals I set for myself.  I know I’ve had achievements, I know I’ve made a difference, but I want something else.  I can’t exactly articulate it.  But I want to be able to tick things off my list and go, “Well, there you go!  I’ve finally done it!”

The sad thing is, I don’t exactly know what it is.  I’m not completely sure what I want to be, who I want to be and it’s funny because there are times when I wonder, who I am and if I’ve lost my identity.

My ball has stopped rolling.  I am unmoving.

But this year, it will be different.  I will start identifying my want to-do’s and I will get them done!

Time to start moving again!

Yelly Reads

Book du jour: The Missing One

Yelly

So I finally finished Maria Kubica’s book The Good Girl.  It’s quite a good book and very nearly unputdownable.  I nearly missed my train stop several times in the course of reading the book.  It was very interesting because it wasn’t an individual’s story.  It shows how many individuals are affected by one extra-ordinary experience.

But mind you, the ending, the twist at the end, was very nearly unexpected!  A definite must read.

I’ve started on a new book now.  Determined to read 2 books a month.  I am still a book behind but at least I’m progressing!

The book that I’ve just started reading is about Lucy Atkins.  It’s called The Missing One.  It’s a daughter’s journey of discovery, of getting to know her mother after her mother’s death.  I must say it’s quite interesting because it’s several stories intertwined.  Plus there is a science-y bit that I find entirely interesting…it talks about killer whales, orcas.  When I was little, my dad and I watched this movie on TV called Orca, The Killer Whale.  It was about this whale that kills people in this village because fishermen killed his wife and unborn calf.  Does anyone remember this movie?  One scene has this woman hanging out of a house on stilts and the orca eats her leg…but just the one!

I wonder how long it’ll take me to finish this book?

the missing one book cover

 

Yelly Writes

Oh no he didn’t!

Yelly

So a candidate for the Philippine presidential elections made a crass joke about a rape that happened in his town whilst he was a mayor.  I think it was either in the late 1980s or the early 1990s.

I actually didn’t take notice of all the swearing, the crude language, the unstatesman-like behaviour.  I thought he was a reasonable choice (although, had I been able to vote, I wouldn’t really choose him).  But this was a deal breaker.  I can understand vulgarity (within reason) but this is a no-cross zone.

How can you vote for someone who cannot be respectful of 50% of the population?

Yelly Writes

My mugshot

Yelly

After weeks of inwardly wincing every time I took my mug out of the ground floor kitchen dishwasher (where all pretty cups go to crumble) and heaving sighs of relief, the worst has happened.  My cup has got a chip.

I mostly wash my cup before I leave the office.  I make sure it’s clean so I don’t have to put my dishwasher.  I’ve seen so many cups and coffee mugs get chipped in that monstrous thing.  The one time I needed to rush out of the office to catch a train, I forget to wash my cup.  A well-meaning soul put my lovely cup in the office monster and when I came back to work yesterday, I found my cup stuffed in the back of the cupboard with a humdinger of a chip!

I can’t help but mourn my beautiful mug.  It was the perfect shape to cup so that I could warm my frozen hands when the office was cold.  It carried just enough coffee or tea for me not to feel shortchanged when I drained the last drops of my drink.  It kept the drink warm (miraculously) but you didn’t burn your lips when you sipped from it whilst the drink was still piping hot (I still marvel at the seemingly miraculous insulation!).  I don’t think Starbucks make that mug anymore…at least I can’t find it a Starbucks near me anyway.

chippedmug

After the appropriate grieving period, I’m going to have to find my next perfect cup.