For a beach bum like me, what's not to love living in Davao when after a stressful week at work and you feel like chilling by the beach on weekend, you just cross the sea and in a few minutes, bam! You're there.

The recent Kadayawan festival was a blast. Not for all Davaoeños though, especially after Ramon Bautista made a remark "madaming hipon sa Davao". Which provoked the ire of some public officials and stirred netizens to rage.

Okay, I understand where all that hate is coming from. I get it, that was offensive. But if we were to look at it the other way, it shouldn't affect us, right? I mean, why do we allow people to demean or belittle us? Because just by reacting to that, we are just validating his claims. If it isn't true and we know for ourselves that it isn't true, then we can just brush it off our shoulders and move on. We know better. If we haven't made a big fuss out of it, the issue would have died down before Bautista could step down the stage.

Bautista said something that earned him one way ticket to public stoning. But he already expressed apology publicly. Isn't that enough? I think calling for persona non grata is just too much. And people are just overreacting way too much. Yes, I intended that redundancy.

I arrived home sleepy and my mind drifting. Went straight to a familiar door, turned the knob, put my bag down, removed my clothes and threw it carelessly on the bed, then I changed to my usual pambahay. I was about to throw myself to bed when I realized that I am not in my room.

Here's a glimpse of my room now. And I'm not sorry for the mess that I have just made.

Whenever I tell people that I have never been to Starbucks, I always get that expression of disbelief. Now, that makes me feel like I am such a loser and I think the world thinks it's a crime or something. Hmmm.
Never been there nor tasted anything they have to offer. Okay, I'm not a coffee person to begin with, that's one. Two, I don't feel like I belong there. So why bother? And three, I can already buy at least three pre-loved books at BookSale for a price of one coffee.

I don't remember how long it has been since the first Starbucks in Davao opened. But I do remember the incredulous number of people on queue waiting for their turn to order on the first week of opening. Why?

This day didn't go very well. Seems like everybody and everything that surround me is testing my patience. I lost my cool; one more tic and I'd reach my boiling point. This day simply sucks. I want it to end so soon that I'm already looking forward to working on Monday.

But one message changed everything. Just one simple message from the boyfriend and it brightened my rather gloomy day. It wasn't even cheesy. It's just a simple and casual message. And just by that, I know he's thinking of me.

They said it's always nice to have someone in your life who can make you smile even when they're not around. I wouldn't disagree on that because it is absolutely true.

My lab,

I love the way you look at me, the way you make me laugh, the way you tell me to eat the last grain of rice on my plate, and for letting me eat food I've never tasted before. I love the way you randomly kiss me, the way you squeeze my love handles or massage my back. I love it when it rains because you would hold me very close to you while we share the same umbrella. I love it when you try to fight sleepiness despite being tired from the whole day's work just because you still want to spend more time with me. And yes, I can name more.