Short Stories

I keep all my fiction here.

Shopping for The One is my best short story. A must read.

Music Video - Stuck

A photo and music video with voiceover for Zenie's birthday. Made using iMovie.

Birthday Newsletter for Ronald

It was my dear friend Ronald's birthday, the tenth one he was celebrating with me as his friend. As a gift to him and a tribute to our decade of friendship, I decided to come up with the second edition of the college newsletter which we had co-founded, Balance $heet. I used the Pages application to create it. Here is the entire thing in PDF or you can click on the pictures below and click zoom to enlarge them.

 

 

 

 

Personalized Karaoke for Rahul

The Event:
Rahul has resigned from P&G Accounts Payable (AP) and transferring to Hershey's India.

The Output:
The lyrics of the song Somewhere Down the Road personalized for Rahul.
A video of its karaoke for the whole AP group to sing during his farewell party using Windows MovieMaker.

My Role:
Lyrics writer
Video Maker



You had the right job
At the wrong time
Guess we always knew inside
We wouldn't have you for a long time

Those dreams of yours
Are shining in chocolate stores
And if they're calling you away
We have no right to make you stay

But somewhere down the road
Our roads are gonna cross again
It doesn't really matter when
But somewhere down the road
We know that heart of yours
will come to see
That you belong with AP

Sometimes goodbyes are not forever
It doesn't matter if you're gone
We still believe in us together
We understand more than you think we can
You have to go out on your own
So you can find your way back home (to India)

And somewhere down the road
Our roads are gonna cross again
It doesn't really matter when
But somewhere down the road
I know that heart of yours
will come to see
That you belong with AP
Letting go is just another way to say
We'll always love you so

You had the right job
At the wrong time
Maybe we've only just begun
Maybe the best is yet to come

Cause somewhere down the road
Our roads are gonna cross again
It doesn't really matter when
But somewhere down the road
I know that heart of yours
will come to see
That you belong
With AP

Joel Ko

The Event:
Joel is leaving AP (Accounts Payable) and moving to another department. Jon has also done the same very recently, thus the reference to him in the song.

The Output:
Live performance of the song Joel Ko, personalized from the song Pare Ko.

My Role:
Lyrics Writer
Singer



Joel Ko

O AP ko meron tayong problema
Wag mong sabihing na naman
Iiwan tayo ng boss na hunk at gwapo
Hindi na mapipigilan
Wag na nating idaan sa maBOTEng usapan
Lalo lang madaragdagan ang sakit ng ulo
at bilbil sa tiyan

O kay sarap sya'y naging boss at PR man
Napuno tayo ng pag-asa
Yun pala hanggang dun lang ang kaya
Akala ko ay pwede pa

[Refrain:]
Masakit mang isipin
Kailangang tanggapin
Kung kelan ka naging seryoso
Saka ka niya lilisanin

[Chorus:]
O, diyos ko
Ano ba naman ito
Di ba umalis si Jon
Ngayon si Joel naman
Pinaasa nila tayo
Letseng P&G to
O diyos ko ano ba naman ito

Sabi niya ayaw niya muna mag-GBS
Dehins ako naniwala
Di nagtagal nagkaoffer ang MDO
Kulang na lang ay sagot niya

At ayun tinanggap nya
Sabi nya babalik sya
Hanggang kelan maghihintay
Ako ay magreresign na

Pero minamahal ko siya
Di biro T.L. ako sa kanya
Alam kong nababaduyan ka na sa mga sinasabi ko
Pero sana naman ay maintindihan mo

O Joel ko meron ka bang maipapayo
Kung wala ay okey lang
Kailangan lang ay ang iyong pakikiramay
Andito ka ay ayos na

[Repeat refrain and chorus]

Always Be Your Babies

The Event:
Joel is leaving AP (Accounts Payable) and moving to another department.

The Output:
Music video starring his direct reports or "babies" lyp-synching to the personalized version of the song Always Be My Baby.

My Role:
Lyrics Writer



Always Be Your Babies

We were as one team for a moment in time.
And it seemed everlasting that you would always be ours.
Now you want to be free, so we're letting you fly,
'cause we know in our hearts, boss, our love will never die.

You'll always be a part of AP.
We're part of you indefinitely.
Boy, don't you know you can't escape us.
Ooh Joel, cause we'll always be your babies.
And we'll linger on.
Time can't erase a feeling this strong.
No way you're ever gonna shake us.
Ooh Joel, 'cause we'll always be your babies.

We ain't gonna cry, no, and we won't beg you to stay.
If you're determined to leave boss,
We will not stand in your way.
But inevitably you'll be back again,
'cause you know in your heart, boss, our love will never end.

(chorus)

We know that you'll be back, boy,
when your days and your nights get a little bit boring.
We know that you'll be right back, bossing.
Joel, believe us, it's only a matter of time.

(chorus)

Triple Serenade

The Event:
Triple birthday celebration

The Output:
A serenade with the song Harana customized for the celebrants. Harana is tagalog for serenade.

My Role:
Lyrics Writer
Singer



Uso pa ba ang harana?
Marahil ikaw ay nagtataka
Sino ba 'tong mukhang churva?
Nagkandarapa sa pagkanta
At nasisintunado sa kaba

Meron pang dalang mga rosas suot nama'y
Dress na kupas
At nariyan pa ang barkada
Makikikain ng Bugong sa awiting daig pa minus one at sing along

Puno ang ceiling ng bituin
At kay lamig pa ng building
Sa'yong tingin akoy nakecrazy baby
At sa awitin kong ito
Sana'y maibigan mo
Ibubuhos ko ang buong puso ko
Sa isang munting harana para sayo

Hindi ba't parang isang movie
Isang pelikulang romantic comedy
Hindi ba't ikaw ang bidang artista at ako ay iyong leading-girl
Sa istoryang nagwawakas sa pagibig - wish mo lang!

Puno ang ceiling ng bituin
At kay lamig pa ng building
Sa'yong tingin akoy nakecrazy baby
At sa awitin kong ito
Sana'y maibigan mo
Ibubuhos ko ang buong puso ko
Sa isang munting harana para sayo

Puno ang ceiling ng bituin
At kay lamig pa ng building
Sa'yong tingin akoy nakecrazy baby
At sa awitin kong ito
Sana'y maibigan mo
Ibubuhos ko ang buong puso ko
Sa isang munting harana para sayo

Walling

The Event:
Jon is leaving AP and moving to another department.

The Output:
Video for his farewell party.

My Role:
Script Writer
Lead Actress

The Lost Mohican

We were miles apart, and it had been years since we last talked - a dozen years, to be exact. Yet here I was, going on overtime because I was having too much fun chatting with her.

"So how is Cate?" she asks, after I tell her about how I spent christmas with my roommate who was her elementary best friend. "Is she really Cate now? She used to be Cathy."
"Yes. Look who's talking. I still can't get used to Tina. Didn't you used to be Chris?"
It wasn't just her nickname that had changed by now. She had a very cute little boy and an estranged husband. She had moved from Zamboanga to Naga to Manila to Japan to London. She was working in her third company which also happened to be my sixth. She had looked for me in our intranet and sent me a message in our internal chat, and that was how I found out that for the first time, I worked in the same company with a high school classmate, though she is based in London and I in Singapore.

Despite all those changes, though, we found ourselves talking like the 14 year old selves we had been when we last saw each other, alternately bringing up do-you-remember-when's. She remembered how we had been groupmates for a Social Studies project and we had burned the edges of black cartolina in our house. I remembered how she had been such a fan of Brad Pitt, which I hadn't understood until after college. I was a late bloomer, always have been, I apologised. She had a lot of questions about lots of people, and I gamely answered them all to the best I could. Flisha's boyfriend is not Geo, but Gimbo, and yes, they are still very much together, but how on earth did you know about them? Last I heard of Laude, he was working in a call center in Cebu. Why are you asking about Laude? Ikaw ha. Me, get married? I don't even have a boyfriend yet. After she had exhausted her questions, it was my turn, and she filled in the blanks of the events that happened all those years ago.

It was our second year christmas party, and the Berchmans Mohicans class was having it in the audio visual room. I found it a bit odd that our moderator had suddenly been assigned somewhere else and we were being babysat by our principal, of all people. After we had exchanged presents and ate food, the principal went in front, took the microphone, and made an announcement: our moderator and our class president had eloped. It was bad enough that she was a student and he a teacher. Worse that she was only 14 and he was 26, and worst that he was on his way to becoming a Jesuit priest. I was in shock. Christina was a pretty girl who was the most intelligent in class; she had a bright future ahead of her. What had she done?

In Naga, Christina was thinking along the same lines and somewhat regretting that she had been carried away by her emotions. She wanted to go back, but she realized that in the small city of Zamboanga, she would never be able to live a normal life after the "scandal." So she stood by her decision, which her family understood. She went on with her studies, graduating a year later than she would have in another Ateneo. She became president of the student government and graduated with magna cum laude honors (suma cum laude if not for PE) despite getting married at 18 and giving birth to a son at 21. She became a CPA and moved to Manila to work for one of the big 4 auditing firms before moving to Japan to work for Barclays where she was eventually headhunted to work for UBS in London.

She could so easily have thrown her future away. Instead, it turned out brighter than most of those who had stayed and graduated in 1999. I was really amazed, and I told her so. She had not lost anything, so I didn't quite understand why she was asking me, "What would have happened if I had not been the unlucky one he fell for?" I'm sure she would be exactly where she is right now, but without that really cute boy of hers, and I told her as much.
"People wouldn't have hated me, though," she mused.
"Hate? We didn't hate you," I protested, incredulous. "Mike, maybe - after all, he was the 26-year-old near-Jesuit who cradle-snatched you - but not you." She laughed at the words I used. Of course I would never have used them in her presence if she had not confided earlier that she no longer had any feelings for him. They had faded gradually, over the years, and she realized now that they were two very different people, and probably wondering how she could possibly have loved him.
"You were very very young," I said. "After all, how many high school sweethearts do you know who are still together? I can't even think of a single one right now." She said I had a point.
"How would the Berchmans react if I suddenly dropped in on a reunion, uninvited?" she wondered.
"I'm sure you would be very much welcome, and very much invited, if only they knew your number. And they would probably be a bit shy around you at first, then after awhile, they'll start asking you the very same questions that I put you through." She laughed at that.

And that's when I understood. Christina is not regretting the lost opportunities to be successful, of which there are none. She is regretting her lost adolescence, the chance to have spent those years normally, in the company of her family and friends. She may have graduated a year later, but she had become an adult years ahead of us. Suddenly, being a late bloomer doesn't seem like such a bad thing to me anymore.

Close Enough

I was bordering on the edge of insanity one afternoon because a certain invoice amounting to more than a million USD could not get posted due to some difference. The vendor would go bankrupt if we did not get it included in the payment run the next morning, so I sent off messages to different officemates to check if the workarounds I was thinking could possibly work. Three of the leads I had came to a dead end, and just when I thought the only solution was to do hara-kiri, my friend who is a business support specialist (BSS) but who is not supposed to support my market, came over to ask why I had sent him an instant message. I told him about my issue, and without even asking if I had already logged a ticket for this, he took over my desktop and proceeded to resolve the issue. My other friend who was a former BSS also came over to help. There were about 300 line items to wade through, but at the end of the hour, the issue was resolved. Whew!

What would I have done if I didn’t have friends to lean on? They certainly make things easier in this world. And if you have even just one close friend, you can consider yourself lucky already. On that note, then, I am one incredibly lucky girl.

But what is the definition of a close friend? Is she that person you always have lunch with? Or your teammate, because you’re literally close to each other? Or is it everyone in your barkada, whom you always hang out with?

In college, I wrote a letter for one of my classmates back in those days when closeness could be measured by who were your constant rowmates in every class. I told her, “Closeness is not determined by proximity. Even though we never sit next to each other and therefore are not close literally, it does not mean that we are not close.”

A few years later, I gave a Christmas card to my roommate who had been my kabarkada (and my rowmate) since College. I told her, “Back in College, even though we were part of the same barkada, I did not really consider you as a close friend. I am so glad, then, that we took that risk in coming to Manila, because it was only here that I had the chance to be close to you.”

I realized this was also applicable to the working world when I had this conversation with a friend. I told him, “But aren’t you and *** close friends? After all, you’re always together.” He asked me if I was close to my teammate ***. I said no, not really. He said, “See, that’s how *** and I are too. We’re always together, like you and ***, but it doesn’t mean we’re close.”

Another friend gave me an inkling of the definition of a close friend when he told me and our other friend, “Do you know that you are my first close friends in P&G?” I was quite amazed to know this because I know he has batchmates and lunchmates that he talks to and hangs out with so much more than he does with us. He acknowledged this, but added, “But you’re the first friends I could share my woes to.”

So your close friends are not your rowmates or batchmates or lunchmates or teammates or housemates and not even your barkada. Your close friends are those people whom you share not just laughter with, but also tears; those people who are by your side to lend a hand or an ear even before you ask for it, and will not ask for anything in return. They are the people whom you gave a piece of your heart to, the ones who, if you had to part ways, will take that same piece of your heart with them as they go. So you make sure to keep in touch always because your heart will not be whole anymore if you let them go.

But I suppose the simplest definition of a close friend for me is this - someone you can say “I love you” to.

Dead Stars

While emailing with a friend today, we somehow got round to the topic of her ex boyfriends. She told me about how her first boyfriend, many years ago, had asked her to elope with him before his grandmother could bring him to America for college. So they made plans, but she changed her mind and didn't show up at their designated meeting place. She could have been kinder and refused politely, but she knew that if she saw him then, she would not have been able to say no and would have gone with him despite her decision.

She had two long relationships since then, but both didn't work out, tainted with the shadow of her first love. It has been years since she has been in a relationship, and she finds out that the guy she sort of jilted is back in their hometown. She has not made any contact with him and she doesn’t know if he's married or in a relationship or it's complicated (maybe she should just invite him to Facebook to find out). She has no delusions of their getting back together but at the same time, she is afraid to contact him for fear he'll break her heart if he tells her: "I'm married, back off."

After narrating her story (including that of her second and third boyfriends) in so many words, I had only one line in reply: "Have you read the short story Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez?"

Dead Stars is the first Philippine short story in publication, and has always been one of my favorites. The story is about this guy, Alfredo, who, afraid that he was being left behind by life, avidly seized on the shadow of love and got engaged to a girl named Esperanza. Then he meets Julia, the woman that causes violent commotion in his heart, yet has no place in the completed ordering of his life. He becomes torn but in the end, he marries Esperanza out of obligation. Many years later, he finds himself in Julia's hometown, Calle Luz, and he is eager to see again the woman that he has been thinking of all these years. But when he does talk to her, he realizes that even though she had not changed that much, his feelings had.

"So that was all over. Why had he obstinately clung to that dream?
So all these years--since when?--he had been seeing the light of dead stars,
long extinguished, yet seemingly still in their appointed places in the heavens."

Stars are so far away from earth, you see, that it takes millions of years for their light to reach our eyes. Sometimes, by the time we see the light, "see" the star, the actual star had long since died and is no longer there. Such was the case with Alfredo, who had been in love with a memory, a "what if." Could such be the case with my friend? We'll find out when she eventually makes her way to her own Calle Luz.

Single and Loving It

If you think being single is hard enough, try being the only single girl among friends. It's a nightmare. Especially if they all think that your state is considered abnormal and they want to play the helpful friend part and pull you out of your misery by pointing out to each new guy who arrives that you are single, or worse, try to set you up with someone. I consider it one of my most humiliating moments when I am introduced to some guy as, "she's single!" Yes, more embarrasing than when I fell into a compost pit while playing dodge ball or when I slipped off the sidewalk and landed on my face. Whenever it happens, I feel as though, in the guy's eyes, I am this poor desperate girl who is dying to get hooked up with anybody ASAP, when in reality, the exact opposite is true!

I don't know how many times I have stressed that I am happy and content being single, but does anybody listen? No. Why, is that so impossible to believe? The problem with our culture is that everyone has been brainwashed into thinking that being with someone is the "in" thing and if you are single, you must be ugly and unwanted and downright pathetic. Lots of people jump into relationships with anyone even though they are not really in love, just so that they can have a status symbol to show to the world. Well I've never been into trends, and I'm certainly not joining the bandwagon for this one. No, I'm not generalizing, because of course I can see that there also are relationships founded on true love. I guess that's just it -- I'm not in a relationship because I haven't found someone to love yet. Yes, I still believe in love and I do still want to feel it again someday, but I also believe in destiny and that what's meant for me will come to be, and that the best things in life are worth waiting for.

I also believe that there are perks to being single. Do you honestly think I would have remained in this "abnormal state" for four years if not so?

First up -- independence. If anyone asks what trait I am most proud of, I'd say it's my independence. I can eat at a restaurant, go shopping, hit the gym, walk in the park at 2am, and even find a far-flung place I've never been to before on my own. I do it not because I don't have any friends who are willing to go with me, but because it's actually refreshing to do certain things alone. So I was Miss Independent and damn proud of it until...I fell in love. When I had a boyfriend, it was as though I lost my ability to do things on my own. Suddenly I needed him to help me with everything, to go with me everywhere. One of my friends once said, before she had a boyfriend, she could always go home alone, but now she is scared to do so without him. Make weaklings out of us, will you?

Second -- an identity. When we are in a relationship, the community no longer sees us as our individual selves, but as part of a couple. Since we are together all the time, we sort of lose our identities in the process. On the conscious level, we change some of our ways in order to please our partner. There are so many girls out there who change their clothing style because of their jealous boyfriends. Unconsciously, we start copying some of our partner's mannerisms. It's common for some couples to start looking like each other after awhile. I don't think it's their looks, but their actions.

Third -- time for our friends and growth in other aspects. In couplehood, we may lose not just identities, but friends and growth too. In one of my College orgs, SALT, we had the love rule. It states that if two members in the org became a couple, one of them would have to leave. Our moderator explained that this was because he had seen plenty of couples who were stuck together all of the time that they had their own world and closed off everyone else and stopped growing. So a girl would turn down a chance for a career in a big firm because it's far away from her boyfriend and the guy would stop hanging out with his buddies so he can tail his girl instead. Then one day they break up, and they realize that they have no life anymore, because they have stunted their growth and cut off the rest of the world. Looking back, I am glad that I was single when the opportunity to come here presented itself, because if I hadn't been, I have a sneaking suspicion that I would be stuck back home until now.

Fourth -- peace of mind. When I'm on an outing or event, I am perfectly content. But what if I had a boyfriend, do you think I'd be? No. I would miss him and wish he were with me, and I'd spend the better part of the activity checking my cellphone and willing it to beep or ring. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything, and he'd always be at the back of my mind no matter what I'd be doing. I'd love corny songs and corny lines and write corny blogs. In fact, when I reread some of the things I wrote back then, I can't help but make a face. Yuck. I was that corny? There's a saying that goes, "people do crazy things when they're in love." I so agree. And I definitely don't wanna redo some of the crazy things I did back when I was still under love's hypnotic spell.

Fifth -- more for self. When I fall in love, I stop thinking about myself. Instead, I focus all my energies on how to make him happy. I imagine all my freebies slashed in half, many of what I possess now to still be in the stores. If I had a boyfriend this would be the scenario everytime I went shopping..."Cute blouse! But hey, there's a cd of superman, he'd love that for sure. Ok, I'll buy this instead, I don't need that blouse anyway." Yes, he would always come first. But now, since there's no he, everything is for me. Yey!

I know that being in love has its own perks, but even the most crazily in love people I know do complain of its downside too. So I think my points are valid. Please don't think I'm sour-graping. I am single and loving it. Really! So please stop introducing me as "she's single!" to all the new guys and please please don't set me up on a date.

*the author is ranting and raving again because last night, she was set up on a date and this noontime, her non-single girlfriends had the nerve to suggest that she should start changing herself so she could snag a boyfriend. que horror! the author is all about being herself and would rather be single forever than exert effort to be something she's not.