My mom likes to keep her mug collection on display. She teaches a lot of seminars and gets mugs and certificates as a form of thanks on her amazing lectures. She has three shelves of these mugs, just for display, and she has a mini section on these shelves where she keeps our family’s trophies.

Well I haven’t really achieved a lot of trophies. Our main contributor would be my third sister. She’s quite gifted in the artistic department and has represented her school on a lot of competitions. She’s amazing and I’m proud of her.

Even though she hasn’t gotten any of those prestigious college degrees, and everyone else tried to bring her down by belittling her, she was still able to prove her worth and her talent, and my parents couldn’t be more proud of her.

See, believing in yourself and what you are capable of can get you far in life. Don’t give up on your dreams, and you might be lucky like my sister!

When I was four my dad started buying a lot of musical instruments.

Apparently he wanted to start a band but he couldn’t find the right members, so he told my mom about his frustrations, and they figured they’d give teaching their kids how to play instruments a shot. I started learning how to play the guitar, my younger sisters learned the bass, the drums and the keyboard.

My dad bought a pa system and set it up at home. He made my younger sister sing and set up the effects so you can hear her voice even when the entire band plays. He got us a voice instructor so we can vocalize and reach higher octaves. The sound system we had at home was amazing, even our neighbors started flocking to our backyard just so they could hear us play.

I guess music will always be a part of my life because of this upbringing.

When I was young I had all sorts of crazy dreams about jobs that I doubt anyone else considered.

I had a lot of things I wanted to accomplish when I was young and I couldn’t really pick a good job for my future self, just yet. I was greatly influenced by my parents and my siblings.

Believe it or not, I wanted to be a Metro Aid when I was four. I asked my mom what kind of job would be to sweep places all day, because apparently I was obsessed with sweeping things. She answered that, and I suddenly looked forward to being a Metro Aid.

After a short while I got bored with sweeping so I decided I’d be a nun, and then a military officer, and then take Recreational Therapist Jobs. Don’t ask, because I don’t even remember how I went there.

Well at least now I found my way, I decided on something that I really loved, the wonderful world of computers. What kind of crazy dreams did you have when you were young?

My friends often make fart sounds whenever I talk about my work – Architecture. For them, designing buildings is nothing but a joke. For them, there is nothing fascinating about contemporary art or the medieval buildings. They always make fun of me so it came to a point when I could not take their jokes anymore. So I did not hang out with them for a few weeks.

One time my boss asked me to join him in an art exhibit. I went to the exhibit wearing my most elegant apple bottom pants and my most expensive silk blazer. As expected it was a party of elite people who love talking about art. I met famous people in our city including some celebrities and painters. Most of them were critics.

They always talked about the mistakes the artist made in each painting. Whether it is the canvas, the frame, or the signature of the artist, there were always criticisms. I did not expect that these intellectuals could be so unappreciative of the beautiful art that surrounds them. After a few minutes, I left the party. I just could not take those people. Right there I realized that I missed my friends. I went back to them and to my surprise, they welcomed me with an apology. Of course they never stopped making fart sounds…

It has been said that certain scents – especially very distinct ones – can evoke powerful memories. It can be the perfume of a loved one, the smell of Christmas dinner during family reunions, the sweet smell of cigars that linger in the air which some children associate with their grandfathers.

Unlike words which still needs a considerable amount of brain processing, smell is said to go directly to the heart. Especially when that scent is so strongly associated with a loved one.

Some people I know start reminiscing fondly about their loved ones when they smell something which reminds them of those particular persons. One person I remember keeps thinking about her close uncle when she catches a whiff of cigar smoke. Cigars, I know, can smell quite strongly and sweetly.

The connection between scents and memories is just natural. For me, it is just one of the amazing things in this world.

As I walked on to the cold wet floor covered in mosaic tiles, I reached blindly in the dark for the light switch. As I did, however, a black silhouette slithered across the room. I froze wondering if I was about to meet a creature from another dimension – but then I remembered I had forgotten to feed Knuckles, my cat. That is about as exciting as my life has been since I decided I no longer wanted to work at my last job.

Getting a steady paycheck certainly had its perks though. On top of that, I was surrounded by great looking co-workers. Sometimes I wonder whether or not I made the right decision and whether or not I’ll be able to stay in touch with the friends I made. Other times, however, I wake up from a good night’s sleep knowing I’ve got the rest of the day to figure out what kind of a day I’d wake up to tomorrow.

On my way home from work, I saw white led Christmas lights glittering in the streets. Gosh, it’s the “ber” months now (In case you didn’t get it, it’s Septem-ber, Octo-ber, Novem-ber, and Decem-ber).

It seems like it was only a few weeks since we celebrated New Year’s Eve. And now it’s almost the holidays again. My sister and I started reminiscing about our huge pine-tree like Christmas Tree that was in the middle of a huge pebbled star on our lawn when we were still kids. It’s actually just a fake tree but since it was amongst our trees in the garden, only taking up the center stage, one would think that it’s real. In fact, for the drunk guy who peed in it in broad daylight (with the Christmas lights turned off), it must definitely have looked real. Too bad he already pissed on it before we were able to shoo him off our Christmas Tree.

That was the first and only tree we’ve ever had. Until now, we don’t have a Christmas Tree so we’ve haven’t decorated one for more than a decade. I know it’s just an ornament which you can do without (proven in our family, btw). But there’s just something cozy and warm about decorating it with your family, seeing presents underneath it, and gathering around that special tree once a year to open those presents.

I hope I get my first ever Christmas bonus this year. I promise if I do get one, I’d buy my family a memorable Christmas Tree. ^_^