Trisha Sales

  • Italy, India, Indonesia—A Voyage of Self-Discovery

    Italy, India, Indonesia—A Voyage of Self-Discovery

    When I bought a copy of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love I didn’t know it was a non-fiction book. I came to the bookstore that day not really having any book to purchase in mind and I saw this book with Julia Roberts on the cover and I got curious. I think I’ve also seen trailers of the film on the television then. And like many times I’ve gone to the bookstore not really knowing what to buy, I got curious with the title on the cover and bought it. It was only after I left the bookstore on the way home that I got to read the back cover of the book and read that the “main character” of the book was the author herself.

    To be honest, I didn’t read the book right after. It took me around two or three years after I bought it to actually start reading it. I have a habit of collecting books, you see. My to-read usually keeps piling up especially when I started working. Right now I have more than twenty books at home waiting to be read.

    This year I decided to create a Goodreads 2012 reading challenge for myself which is to be able to finish reading at least 50 books this year. Right after I finished reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, I decided to steer away a bit from picking up another classic and decided to pick up Eat Pray Love. I figured I could use a change in themes and genre. I also felt like the book might give me some inspiration which it did.

    Eat Pray Love, like the title of this blog entry says, is a voyage of self-discovery for the author. A journey to three I‘s to find pleasure, divinity, and a balance between the two.

    “I want to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, the art of devotion in India and, in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two. It was only later, after admitting this dream, that I noticed the happy coincidence that all these countries begin with the letter I. A fairly auspicious sign, it seemed, on a voyage of self-discovery.”

    In some weird way I was able to relate and sympathize with Elizabeth Gilbert in most parts of the book. Weird because I wasn’t exactly a divorcee and thirty-four years old. For one thing, I get how it is to overthink. To be anxious of things that shouldn’t even worry me. To cry at night not really knowing the exact reason or cause of the pain I’m feeling.

    I also know how it is to want a lasting experience of God, the feeling of being closer to Him and wanting to find that sense of divinity. To yearn to know how it is to balance pleasure and spiritual divinity. I wanted all of those things too and this book brought me some enlightenment.

    Somehow I didn’t feel alone anymore knowing here is a successful author, able to travel the world without much of any financial hindrance to go travelling for a year, and yet she feels utterly depressed, worrisome, perhaps feeling more lonely than I have ever felt my entire life. Here was a woman who cried while sitting on her bathroom floor searching for God in the midst of darkness. Here was a woman who talked to herself at times of existential crisis telling herself to go on and that she’ll take care of herself because she loves herself.

    Honestly, there were times I would ask myself, “Did this really happen to her when she was in Ital/India/Indonesia?” I wondered if all of the things narrated in the book were actual events in her life. I’d be a bit skeptic especially during her experiences during her meditations in India. But to say that I didn’t feel a bit light hearted after reading the book would be a lie.

    Somehow, reading the book made me feel a bit better about myself. It helped me cope with the loneliness I feel from time to time. It made me realize that there are a lot of beautiful things to explore than being cooped up at home and feeling miserable. It helped me dream bigger, and dared me to move and make my own voyage to self-discovery. It is one of the most inspiring books I’ve ever read to date and would definitely recommend if you’re looking for adventure in the confines of your own room.

    Until the next chapter of my own life, attraversiamo. 😉

    “And when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt—this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty to find something beautiful within life no matter how slight.”

    Trisha Sales

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  • An Excerpt from The Wedding Dress, my Ongoing Novel

    “Doubt thou the stars are fire,
    Doubt that the sun doth move,
    Doubt truth to be a liar,
    But never doubt I love.”

    My dear sweet little ‘A’,

    Such were the last words you wrote in one of your letters. Such were the words that drew me closer to the hope of finding you, of reaching out my hand to the stars wishing that they would align the day we finally meet.

    These days I keep imagining how your voice would sound, how gentle your breathing would sound had you actually whispered those lines to my ears, how our voices would blend into an uncanny harmony unique only to the two of us.

    How I long to brush your hair away when gentle strands start to cover your face as you read me these words! How I long to touch your face as a testimony that I am indeed with you! But all of that is nothing but distant images from my own imagination.

    Do let me at least try to return the favor even in this piece of letter. Let me read to you (in this case, let me write to you) one of Shakespeare’s sonnets that have captivated me the moment I picked up the habit of reading any of his sonnets every time I think of you and yearn for you.

     

    Sonnet XXVII

    Weary with toil, I haste to my bed,
    The dear repose for limbs with travel tired,
    But then begins a journey in my head
    To work my mind when body’s work expired.
    For then my thoughts, far from where I abide,
    Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
    And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
    Looking on darkness which the blind do see;
    Save that my soul’s imaginary sight
    Presents my shadow to my sightless view,
    Which like a jewel hung in ghastly night
    Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
        Lo, thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
        For thee and for myself no quiet find.

    Trisha Sales

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  • Work from Home

    Work from Home

    Just last week I got the case of the common cold after spending some time walking in the heat. Mind you, I didn’t really spend time walking under the sun but the heat and humidity was unbearable that even though I took a covered path I started sneezing a few minutes after I got back to our office. The common cold got worse come Thursday and I was lucky enough that it only got worse then as we had no work since then until Monday this week because of the Holy Week and Araw ng Kagitingan. I spent most of the entire Thursday on my bed, sleeping because of the side effects of the medicine I was taking that I only came out of the room to eat my meals and drink medicine.

    The following day was almost the same.

    Come Saturday I was starting to feel much better.

    Sunday – we had to leave the house to attend Mass as we traditionally do during Easter Sunday. We attended Mass at Don Bosco Makati and after that my dad decided to have lunch at Paseo de Sta. Rosa. That’s when I got exposed to the heat and humidity outside again and somehow that triggered the cough I am experiencing now.

    It also didn’t help that I spent my Sunday afternoon and entire Monday helping my mom rearrange stuff in our room because by the end of the day, I got an itchy left eye and a stuffy nose again. Come evening, I was coughing like a mad dog that I decided to text my project manager asking if I could work from home the following day.

    I spent my Tuesday in front of my desk most of the day to work, i.e. answer feedback from clients, monitor exception logs, and implement some quick fixes. I guess it was better than if I went to work that day as I got to relax a bit and be in my own element. It also helped that I didn’t get to experience the air pollution in the city during my daily commute to work and back home. But still, I couldn’t stop coughing every now and then. I was starting to get breathless.

    It took me a while to get to sleep last night because of the non stop coughing. My sister couldn’t sleep either as she kept hearing me cough. And earlier at three in the morning, I woke up because I started coughing again and I found it hard to get back to sleep because of the itch I had in my throat and it was hard to breathe.

    During breakfast today, my mom decided that I should probably use the nebulizer today. I don’t really have asthma but my family has a history of asthma and I’ve had recent history of feeling out of breath and one of the doctors I consulted suggested that I may not have asthma but I was on the borderline, meaning I could get there.

    My best friends for today and the remainder of the week

    I’ve used the nebulizer twice today and will use it again shortly. It has lessened the coughing and alleviated the feeling of being out of breath. But my mom suggested that I work from home until Friday so I could still use the nebulizer thrice a day and won’t be in danger of getting worse again.

    I can’t believe I’ve actually spent my week sick. The last time I was like this was almost two years ago.

    Here’s to hoping I get well…soon.

    Trisha Sales

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  • Sarai’s Blog Challenge: #34 What do you frequently spend money on?

    Sarai’s Blog Challenge: #34 What do you frequently spend money on?

    Books.

    *in Hermione Granger’s accent and voice* Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? I can’t keep my hands from buying books! I get almost catatonic when I come into a bookstore that I can’t seem to leave without purchasing any book from it!

    I sometimes feel like I have a serious problem especially ever since I got a job and started earning some money that I’ve invested a lot of money on said books. It’s like I’m Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella but instead of being addicted to buying designer clothes and bags, I’m addicted to buying books. I keep buying all these books I’d love to read even though I already have a number of books still waiting to be read! (Don’t get me wrong. I do plan on reading them all, I just didn’t get to schedule myself to read regularly so they started to pile up. Good thing I now have a semi-regular reading schedule now so I could reach my goal of 50 books for 2012! Tadaaaa~!)

    But just this weekend, I realized that I have to stop buying books for a while now (even though National Bookstore has a sale until April 15th). It’s not because I’ve realized that I still have a lot to finish reading but because I don’t have any place for more at home, like seriously. My bookshelves are full. :'(

    Bookshelf 1 (located inside our room)
    Bookshelf 2 (located in our living room)

    With such a small house as ours, we can’t afford to buy another bookshelf to house new books. My only hope is to either buy a new house where I could have an entire room for my precious books (but obviously I can’t afford that yet, heh 😛 ) or get a bookshelf done around the walls of our room just beneath the ceiling. I personally prefer the former option but like I said, I can’t afford that yet. So maybe I need to save up for the bookshelf idea. Until then I should not buy another set of books. *Must. Resist. Temptation.*

    Trisha Sales

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  • Sarai’s Blog Challenge: #27 Why do you blog? What got you started?

    Sarai’s Blog Challenge: #27 Why do you blog? What got you started?

    During my sophomore year in high school, we were taught basic HTML (not really sure if we were taught CSS as well, but you get the idea.) Those were the days when I was amazed at the idea of having your own personalized web page that even at home I would make random web pages on our personal computer.

    I have also just discovered the Internet back then (as when I was in elementary school we didn’t have a computer yet.) It was also the year when some of my friends had blogs at blogspot and I decided to join in the bandwagon as well.

    Back then blogging meant posting my favorite song lyrics at the time and maybe even rant about my angsty teenage days but I never really had much purpose for it. It was kind of like just one of those fads where it felt kind of like, “Hey, I have a blog, doesn’t that make me look cool?”

    Somewhere along the way, I decided to move to blogdrive. I didn’t really know why, but I decided to keep a real blog there which I later became an extension of the first website I ever maintained. That blog has been deleted now though as I was blackmailed into deleting past blogs by someone I’d rather not talk about ever.

    Anyway, I stumbled upon Skyefairy.net, a website containing the blog and artworks of Heather Ward. I was immediately taken by her ability to make wonderful layouts that I befriended her and she soon became one of my “CSS mentors” and now, one of my most cherised online friends.

    I wanted to learn PHP back then and become one of my hostees so I applied for a free hosting from her and showed her my old website (one of the terms is that you should know the basics in HTML and CSS). She approved my application and I had Miraculous, where I kept my blog and posted the poems and stories I have ever written. I had it in 2005 or 2006 and kept it until I was in my sophomore year in college.

    It may not have been the best blog there ever was but that blog had been so important to me. That was where I poured my heart out whenever I was heart broken. That was where I shared my dreams, my thoughts, my own sanity. And the biggest regret that I have right now is taking down all the things I have ever written in that blog – dedications, vignettes, dreams, almost love stories all because of someone who scared me, someone who coerced me to do the things I never thought I’d be capable of doing. I miss that old blog and all the baggage that came with it and yes, deep down I wish I never would have swayed and pushed to put it all down.

    After taking that blog down, it was like a part of me had died and I admit that I have stopped writing after some time. It was like that semblance of life has completely down the drain. But I wanted to get it back. I wanted to bring back the spark and fire my eyes once had and so here I am.

    Why do I blog? Because it’s already a part of who I was, of who I am. I try and keep my life to be almost like an open book. I blog because through blogging is where I have met some of the greatest people I could ever meet (Heather, Cars, Patty, Chris). I blog because I need to bring back that part of me that once had the vigor and passion to write back into my life. I blog because I need to keep fighting the fears I have gained when I let him beat me up emotionally. I blog because though I may be damaged, I would never be completely broken.

    Trisha Sales

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