tender mercies in june

June is harvest month; my friends have sent me a lot of goodies even without my asking them.

A friend who works with the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Manila sent me a Nokia 6680. She said it was given to her by Smart when she audited its books last May. Up to this day though, a lot of its features remain a mystery, partly because I'm still attached to my Sony Ericson Z100.

A high school batchmate who's now in Texas sent me a red Nike shirt and this sleek 4"x10," pewter gray tin box emblazoned with "Essentials of Style" containing wee sizes of eau de toilette like Tommy, Aramis (2), Estee Lauder and Clinique. I have to wear them somehow even if basically I'm not a scent person.

Another US-based friend has sent me three DVDs---Tuesdays with Morrie, My Fair Lady and South Pacific. Sadly my DVD player won't read them. All it said was: "Region Error." I need to have my player "circumcized."

The same friend called me last night saying she had already mailed Stephen King's "On Writing" and John Gardner's "The Art of Fiction." Months back, a kindred soul from Davao sent me a disc containing "On Writing" that she stole from Limewire.

But what really floored me was this: Our high school English teacher, who's now a chief nurse in a hospital in New York City, recently sent me some money through PNB amounting to PhP7,874. She said she heard that our batch is holding a grand reunion in July for our 25th Anniversary and that she wanted to contribute. Good! Then she said something much, much better: The Three Thou is yours!!!

A bit of backstory: I was not "close" to this teacher. And she's known to be a progeny of Silas Marner!

Baffled, I asked God last night: What have I done to deserve all this benevolence?

Nothing, God said, just update your blog!

Toink!