Gratitude List (part 2)

Never take for granted simple blessings and pleasant surprises. You never know when will they come back to you (if they will, at all.)

Here is my gratitude list (part 2)

• Free chocolate in the fridge - Do I need to explain how chocolates make our day? :)

• Cheap, quality cinema - Together with some college friends, I recently watched "Ang Babaeng Humayo" (The Woman Who Left), the four-hour epic of internationally acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz. The movie won the Golden Lion award (Best Picture) at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. Ticket cost is P100 only when you watch it at the government funded Cinematheque Centre Manila.

My millennial friend, Hsam

It was my first Lav movie and I could say that he has a magical approach to cinema.The duration is extremely challenging for even seasoned moviegoers but he knows when to insert light parts to avoid crossing the lines of monotony and drag. 

When I watched it, I became prouder of our identity as storytellers but proudest for finishing it in one sitting! #ShowTheLav #ForTheLavOfCinema 

• Power Rangers 2017 movie trailer -  Yap, I belong to the millions of '90s kids who still dream of becoming a Power Ranger so to see the sneak peak of the new generation Rangers is beyond exciting. It's the next best thing to making my power induced dream come true. I bet it's safe to say that little girls dream of being a Disney princess while little boys aspire to be assigned one powerful color in the pack (mine is negotiable)!

• Agot Isidro - I thought nothing could beat the Power Rangers trailer until local actress Agot Isidro trended on social media because of her strong and unapologetic criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte. The rest of the country was like, "I never thought Agot can say those things" so she became the subject of thousands of smart-shaming and personal tirade from Duterte supporters. Way to go, Agot! As it is with democracy, everyone is entitled to their opinion. The unbearable noise in social media resulting from opposition with the current administration is the price that we, unsurprisingly, have to pay.

• Successful encore event for a client - After countless of preparatory meetings, and back-and-forths of plans and articles, I finally sealed one of my accounts at work and my clients were happy with our performance. Yaaassss!

• Volunteer experience at Ayala Museum - After what felt like an endless cycle of (cue Rihanna) work-work-work-work-work, I signed up to be an Ayala Museum volunteer so I can recharge on weekends and be surrounded with arts and culture--two things that make me happy most. My first task was to be an usher in Ambeth Ocampo's talk on Food in Philippine History. I gladly found out that Ayala Museum takes care of its volunteers and treat them--us--with food and freebies. Not to mention free entrance to the events we volunteered for :)

(From left) My co-volunteers Val, Arvee, and Sam. The cool Ambeth Ocampo does the peace sign.

I can keep going on with this list but I have to manage my time. 

More to come!