I have a tendency to veer towards the negative, to dwell on the sad. In my high school years, as everyone has gone through, my thoughts were darker, I had thought that things couldn’t be worse. My teenaged thoughts were dark, depressed, and generally selfish, as young minds tend to be. Originally, the plan was to get a tattoo of a different word, in a different part of the body. The plan is still there, I’m just waiting for the right opportunity (and tattoo artist) to get it. However, I saw this tattoo on Tumblr, one that simply says “Be Happy.” I think it’s a great reminder for whenever I…

This is the second day of work without Nomnom. I am writing this, before his short stay with us here slowly fades from memory. Because he was a good dog. He was our dog. He was a puppy that deserved more than what he got from the clinic we went to. Even if he was my brother’s dog, I had taken to having him sleep in my room. He snored, and had a distinct scent, so he was a visible presence in my room. We even set up a bed for him, given to us by our aunt, whose dog didn’t want the bed they bought for him. He snored…

Our puppy, Nomnom died yesterday. I am too devastated to talk about it, but my mom found the courage to write about it since she wants to save other people the grief we’re going through right now. Here are her words: Our sweet, lively puppy died yesterday, 2 days after a medicated bath given by St. Francis Animal Clinic in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City. It was a treatment for galis, or scabies. No post bath instructions, no precautions, no warnings to use a cone to keep him from licking, no instructions on what to do if his behavior changed or showed signs of adverse effects. They didn’t even tell us…

In today’s world, it’s so easy to reread your last chapter. Literally. Pages of blog posts. Facebook timelines. Twitter posts. It’s so easy to look back, it only takes a click of a button, a page saved, an album reviewed. Breakups are messy, and these days, almost always public. The changing of relationship statuses. Instagram posts from “Mondates!” to “Finding myself at my first solo adventure”. Vague twitter posts about singlehood. We’ve all done it, and for the extremists, we’ve deleted all the accounts that had any speck of connection to the ex, and started anew. But on weak, quiet nights, we look back. Check their accounts, see if they’re…