I have been wanting to write a blog entry on my recent trip to Taiwan last April, but I haven't really come into terms as to how I can incorporate the places I've been to and the food I ate without being distracted with talking too much about the food part. This was my solution, creating a post fully dedicated to the food I ate the entire trip...most of it at least. These are the kaleidoscopic flavors of Taiwan through my phone lens. This is just a documentation of my meals during that trip really. I just want to share my experience, of indulging in the tastes and variety of choices you can have when you go there.
From years down to days, it has come to this...hours passing and minutes ticking...I have reached the end of my twenties. It's only a matter of time when my book for this decade closes and the years to my 30's begin.
As a child I imagined that I'd have my life all figured out by now because the age 3-0 seemed so oooold twenty-so years ago. I imagined living the typical life expected of a traditional Filipino woman, aspired by the community for every breathing individual: a successful career and my own family. I once thought that by the time I reached 30 I'd be an executive of some fancy company, driving my own car, residing in a happy two storey house with two kids (a girl and a boy) and some Adonis top manager/lawyer/doctor/haciendero for a husband. I was stupid as a kid. How much of a fool was I?
My reality turned out much different from the norm...no...different from what I had innocently imagined back then. I would define my twenties as the entire process of a quarter-life-crisis. From pre-recognition, to gradual realization, to being overwhelmed and basking in the feeling of succumbing to its pains, to acceptance, to learning to deal with it, slowly overcoming my demons, until finally reaching a point of easing down into self-healing. I suppose, this is why I am yet to write a proper article regarding quarter life crisis despite claiming this blog as dedicated to living through quarter life. I only did snippets of it because I haven't totally embodied it, not until I was able to go through the entire thing that I can self-validate, describing the horrors and conquest of going through a quarter life crisis.
My teen years was the age of self identity and rebelliousness, and upon reaching my twenties I started a more mature quest of figuring out my life path and purpose. It was the decade of accepting my fate of becoming an adult, thus becoming a more responsible human being. The first three years of my twenties I would say was when I truly felt my youth and freedom as I just graduated and had all the energy in the world to conquer it. My mid-twenties was when it went downhill...my energy level, my finances, my satisfaction level, and my overall happiness level. Why? I was so discontented with my reality and cannot help but willow in the pains of frustration, self-pity and self-inflicted misery. It was the peak my quarter-life-crisis. My turning point was when I was able to identify the cause of my anxiety and got slapped with a dose of reality-check from the person I needed to hear it the most. My mom said, "Change your mindset and get over yourself." A perfect way to show tough love as typical of my mom, but those were the words that slapped me back to consciousness and got me out of the cycle of substantiating my bitterness with all pseudo realities that dwelt more on negativity than gratitude. I resigned from my job to chase after my dream of starting a business. I found hope by clinging onto faith and restitching my relationship with God. I took it one day at a time, breathed in, and constantly just hung onto the possibility of reaching that day wherein I can say, "This is it."
And just a few days prior, a timely event transpired, while meditating in the chapel of St. Pedro Calungsod, I stared at the face on the cross and out of the blue a thought came to me, "Oh my God, I'm happy and content." As it crossed my mind, I couldn't help but be emotional. It was a prayer that took years to be answered. That to me is the greatest gift I can get on my 30th year. A kind of actuality that I didn't come to realize and feel for quite some time now. I mean yeah, there's still a lot of ambitious dreams left to chase, but overall I am feeling good with who I am at this point. It took a lot and a long time to get to this state of consciousness, and by no means was it smooth sailing, but the journey was certainly more pleasant than turbulent. I remember writing a post at the end of 2017 that one of my 2018 goals is: "Be awesome by the time I turn 30." And I think reaching several of my life goals before turning thirty makes it quite an awesome feat. For our generation, reaching a state of happiness and contentment is improbable around this age with so much dissatisfaction...and it is exactly that, the realization that I have turned things around right at the end of my 29th year, is what makes it special. To think that just a few years ago I was miserable and downtrodden by my own doing. It was the peak of my quarter-life-crisis; I was in a state of disillusionment and uncertainty.
It is in my 20's when I experienced a lot of firsts, either by choice or by fortunate to foolish turn of events. The best part of the whole experience is building memories and creating friendships that went beyond cordial. I experienced the peak of my youth in my twenties, and beneath this calm disposition is a bigger thirst for life. Though currently I could feel my energy level far less than my early twenties, I get to wake up and still be enamoured by the little things. A far cry from my mid-twenties.
At this point, I see friends my age chasing dreams, getting married, starting a family (some have three kids even), those migrating to more progressive countries, some deciding to go back home to be with their loved ones...but there are also those who are still in the process of figuring things out, still within the loop of finding themselves. Me? I've come into terms with who I am, and just ever so carefully making means to turn into the person I want to become. I left my job, one stable and another high paying one, to chase dreams that I know one day will be more purposeful than what I do for corporations. I've made it this far. I've started taking the high road, and I cannot look back.
I want my thirties to be a decade of pursuing bigger life goals as well as doing more purposeful acts of contributing to society. The end goal is home...and a childhood dream realized. Indeed, with the way things are taking a turn, 30 will suit me just fine...probably more than 20, or 29 even. Thirty it is.
Amazingly, this gem in the heart of Makati was introduced to us by a couchsurfer. Unknown to a lot of locals, this showroom/restaurant/cafe quietly sits on the second floor of an artsy building made with concrete and rust-treated steel. It didn't take long before my brother decided to celebrate his 35th birthday here. Without much planned for the day, we ended up staying here from lunch down to their closing just so we can accommodate guests who couldn't make it for lunch, as a result we ended up tasting almost the entire menu. The place was so cozy that while I decided to leave after our lunch, some of our friends chose to stay in for the entire eight-hour duration of the party. The place is so low-key that we had the place to ourselves practically the whole day, save for dinner when a couple came in to dine.
The place if full of artsy vibes done about by their custom furniture and specially crafted tableware. Their restaurant is apparently also their showroom as they have industrial designers who can custom-make seats and tables for you. All are locally made and is predominantly made out of wood. Their colors are neutrals and kinda reminds me of Scandinavian designs with a pinoy twist.
