living small

I hate running out of things in the house. It upsets me when I realize that I'm down to the last three cotton buds in the vanity box, or the toothpaste tube is three-squeezes-and-gone, and we don't have any stock. And I hate it when I get up in the morning and find out that I have to run to the sari-sari store to buy Nescafe 3-in-1 coffee in sachet before I'm even properly awake.

So I stock. In my tiny kitchen there's a shelf with a dozen transparent plastic containers, for the things I think we'd need for cooking: raisins in little boxes and sinigang mix and pork cubes and chicken cubes and gelatin mix and tea bags and brown sugar and not-so-brown sugar. In the bathroom there's a rack for extra tissue rolls, two kinds of hair conditioner, three kinds of bath soap, baby bath and body wash, and other assorted bottles and tubes dedicated to feminine glory. The laundry area would tell the same story, and so would the desk-cum-vanity-cum-catch-all in the bedroom.

So one day I took a look and decided that it's getting kinda cluttered, and I went to http://www.bhg.com/ (a favorite site of mine) to see if I can get some pretty shelving ideas for tiny houses. And one of the slides there said to keep it simple, and avoid overstocking.

Overstocking! Now there's a new word! I grew up in a house where all things-- from sacks of rice and candles to canned sardines and laundry detergent-- were stocked. In my grandmother's house you'd think a Signal No. 4 typhoon would hit every weekend. I thought a decent house was one where you know you have the things you'd need-- all the time. I was understandably flabbergasted. It had simply never occurred to me that I don't have to turn my kitchen into a sari-sari store extension.

But no, I don't have my grandmother's house, and what I have is tiny... 'space-challenged,' according to the home-decor sites. And no, I don't have to be depressed every time I see an empty container in the kitchen shelf, just begging to be filled. So instead of getting new shelves, I got myself a new mindframe and started to let myself run out of things a little. I watch the lotions and the noodles and see which one will run out first, fill up a list on the refrigerator door, then I buy a few groceries on my way home from work. It cannot beat the joy of two full grocery carts on the supermarket checkout lane, but a neat shelf, with just a couple of shampoos waiting in line and some space for flowers-- it's a restful sight.

So I also got a new word: replenish.

Besides, there are two sari-sari stores about fifteen steps away from my front gate. I guess it wouldn't kill me if the neighbors see me, fresh from the bedroom, darting out for a 3-in-1 coffee sachet on a Saturday morning.

eat pray love

I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Eat Pray Love.' It's a deeply satisfying book; it was profound, it was funny, it was enlightening. It tackled food, faith, culture, local customs, sex, friendship, and a whole lot of things under the sun.

These are the things I learned:

1. I want to go to Italy to find all the little restaurants she wrote about, where you get pizza with a chewy dough and melted cheese running all over your fingers. Consequently, I would like to learn the language so I could say "Figlio di mignotta!" with flair.

2. You cannot believe absolutely in either destiny or free will. Each person has half-and-half. There are things that are meant to be, and there are things that's a matter of choice.

3. We have the right to take it up with God the best way we know how. The rituals of religion are good, but what matters is the quietness of your own heart when you talk to whatever supreme being you believe in.

4. You must fall in love with the man, and not the potential of the man. Also, you must love, not because you expect to be loved back, but because you CAN. That's thought-provoking.

5. Go do what you like. Life is short. Love yourself.

I'm not saying the book spells out these lessons. They're what I picked up, and what stays with me when I'm done reading. And I'll probably read it again, for the sake of Luca Spaghetti, the philosophies of Ketut the medicine man, and the love of Felipe the Brazilian. Go find out about them.