For those who have been patiently checking out this blog from time to time to see if there’s anything new, thank you. It kinda warms the heart to know that there are people who are so interested in what I have to dish out (no matter what their intentions are, whether to praise me or destroy me) that they will bookmark my blog in hopes that I, the slothful writer, will finally have another surge of creative juices and give them the kind of entertainment that this blog is mostly known for. Now that the update is finally here, I can imagine several people licking their lips in anticipation of reading another juicy sex story or some merciless rant aimed towards some unfortunate creature who had the misfortune to earn my wrath.
I hate to disappoint you. You see, after the very long hiatus from blogging, this writer went through major changes, hopefully for the better. I think I can now safely say that the major reason I stopped blogging for while is that I’m not the same angry girl that I was before and that actually scared the shit out of me. You know when Alanis Morissette became happy with her life and suddenly stopped writing the kind of songs that made her famous? I mean, Alanis lost her angst when she fell in love (after Ryan Reynolds), got married, and had a kid. Now I’m not in any way comparing my rantings to hers; my ego is not so bloated as to go on such a ridiculous superiority trip. Nor am I saying that I’m honestly in love, got married, had kids, and totally happy and content with my life right now. It’s just that events and people entered and left my life and influenced me in such ways that I had to rethink the way I view things and life in general. I had an epiphany strong enough to transform me from the angry, bitter person that I became known for to someone who was finally able to accept that being angry is not the best way to deal with issues in life.
I know that a lot of my friends and usiseros are raising their eyebrows now at what I’m rambling about for the past few minutes. I can’t blame them, especially if they remember reading this particular entry of mine. I know, I know. The level of wrath contained in that post is vintage Justine, equivalent to smoke and fire belching out from a snarling dragon on PMS. A couple of readers sent me messages telling me that reading that particular post was a therapeutic experience for them. They told me that rare is the person who will not flinch at telling the world with deadpan conviction that she will gladly behead someone’s head and place it on her desk as decoration and let the rest of the carcass float in the Pasig River. Rare is the person, they said, who will openly admit that she wishes her ex-lover dead just to get that much deserved feeling of revenge. I was very angry and I totally owned up to it, citing the fact that I’m a woman who has been scorned so many times, for all the wrong reasons.
Two years can change a person so much.
Allow me to get emotional here, something I haven’t done in such a long time. Now I want you to understand that during my absence, I’ve also changed from someone who will spill out her emotions in just a snap of the finger to someone who became very wary, afraid even, of telling people what’s really lurking within the depths of her heart. After all the heartbreaks that I’ve had, I became someone who made apathy her iron mask. Let me take this moment to take that mask off.
I wish I can tell you a happy, love story that will give sense to this major epiphany I’m speaking about. You know, angry girl gets her life changed by this unexpected stranger who can kiss her and make it all better. I wish I can tell you that I’ve finally nailed that ideal of having one person who understands me and all that shit. I’d give half my book collection to be able tell you that I’ve met the Big to my Carrie Bradshaw, as a lot of female writers like to romanticize about. Unfortunately, what I have is another case of a failed relationship (I’m going to refer to that in the general sense). Same plot, same ending…so similar that it is major case of déjà vu, also known as I’ve been in this lurid shit before, and the year before that, and the year before that, motherfuck it never ends, it’s so fucking unfair. Oh yes, same banana, phallic reference not intended (yet another change, will wonders never cease!) What makes the huge difference now is the way I chose to handle it, the way I genuinely feel about it.
Don’t get me wrong. There was a fair amount of anger involved, which was perfectly expected from a scorned woman. See, he was the breath of fresh air (or was supposed to be) after my hardships with an ex. But instead of fresh, sweet air, what came out were toxic fumes that pretty much killed what we could have had. Put two explosively passionate people together, mix in generous servings of emotional baggage, throw bowlfuls of pretenses, strings of jealousy, and a sack full of pride. The result is a bittersweet pie filled with minced hearts (mostly mine).
The old me would have tearfully savored each bite of the heartbreak pie and wash it down with a glass of pure anger. To put it plainly, I would have plotted and schemed like my mother’s life depended on it to get my revenge game on and make myself feel better after all the shit I’ve been through.
They say the more you care for the person, the more hurt you will feel when things go horribly wrong, and it follows that the more hurt you are, the lesser the chances of forgiveness. But I’ve also discovered the opposite side of that spectrum: The more you care for someone, the more willing you are to just…forgive and not hurt him, to stop the carnage that would have normally ensued.
Let’s just say I care enough to quit arguing who’s to blame for which fuckery and insisting that his head should roll and placed on a spike. I just bypassed all that and remembered that for a certain amount of time, no matter how short, I was actually happy with the man. Instead of holding my usual grudge of galactic proportions for all the time, effort, and affection I’ve given him, I just acknowledged that I was happy giving it and that I should revel in the sweet memory of how I made this person feel that he was (and still is) important to me regardless of the unfortunate conclusion.
They say revenge is sweet. Who would have thought that to forgive can be even sweeter?


