I have been in love with my best friend for the longest time. Whatever he does I am sure to tag along, just so I could spend time with him. I went rollerblading, played soccer, tennis, and even tried rock climbing. But I highly doubt if my best friend has the slightest idea about what I feel about him. I think I will always be a friend to him, a sister.

But I began to hope when he asked me to join him in his latest adventure—backpacking in Barcelona, Spain. I was so thrilled as this is my chance for him to get to see me in a different light. You know what they say about romance in a strange city. And since we are going in less than two months, I started to prepare for my “all or nothing” trip. I bought the cutest travel backpack possible, since I will be seen with it most of the time. But of course it was also big enough to fit all my stuff. All these excitement was yesterday, before my best friend came over to my house and told me that he met someone and he wanted to ask me if he could invite her to come with us in Barcelona. I said yes naturally, I don’t want him to go alone, because I am definitely not going. I will be home alone mending a broken heart.

If you are going to read the newspaper or watch the news on television about new diseases being discovered, you can’t help but think that we are really doomed. No wonder that the average life span of man is diminishing every day.

The airborne diseases alone are enough to cause panic and paranoia. If you can avoid it, then wouldn’t you try and do everything to prevent it? That was what I thought; hence, I am currently at the look out for the best air purifier. You know the contraption that cleans and purifies the air? I desperately want to be a proud owner of one. I heard one of the guys in the office telling his friends that he had this amazing equipment since college and that because of this he seldom got sick. So you can understand why I’m obsessed over it. I was a little embarrassed to tell my friends about it because I don’t want them to tease me for being such a baby; that’s why I just searched the web for air purifier reviews. The sites I visited were really helpful. I also read the comments of actual users that gave me an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of certain brands. I weighed my pros and cons; and I am going to go buy my “anti-airborne disease” today.

After 15 years of being a slave to my job I finally quit. I think the exact moment I decided that I had enough of it was when I was eating my breakfast/lunch/dinner in my office, in front of my laptop, while finishing reports and presentations at 11:30 pm. It was my first meal of the day and I didn’t even have the time to eat it properly. So I thought “this is not the way to live.” So the following day, I gave my two weeks notice.

After that, I came up with a things-to-do-before-I-die list. And on top of the list was “Do something wild and crazy.” So now I am shopping for a tree climbing gear because I am afraid of heights and I thought I would really be out of my mind if I go tree climbing like a true blue arborist. But it is not like I am just going to go ahead and do it; after all, my list is not called one-thing-to-do-before-I-die list. I will prepare of course. I have already found a trainer that will teach me the different tree-climbing techniques.

I have never been this happy and excited in a very long while. The feeling of dread is drowned by the feeling of exhilaration. So this is what living feels like!

I have the best boss in the world. I know this is weird, but I do get along with my boss. She was more of a mentor than a boss to me. I think it helped a lot that she is not insecure that is why she is not selfish about promotion, sharing her knowledge, and she is pretty cool if you know some stuff that she doesn’t.

So you could imagine how sad I was to learn that she filed for early retirement. She wanted to enjoy her life she said, so who are we to get in the way of that, right? So the least we could do is to throw her an awesome early retirement party and a parting gift that she would really appreciate.

I already have the perfect gift in mind, a brand new spice mill grinder. My boss is really into eating and living healthy. She likes everything that she eats fresh and she loves cooking using unprocessed herbs and spices for flavor. She is also the only woman I know that makes her own medicine. That was how I came up with the grinder idea. I searched on line about a contraption that would be useful for someone who loves to cook, concocts herbal medicines and likes things fresh. I am so excited to see the look in her eyes when I give the grinder to her.