Mrs. L's Halloween Special

Hello, hello! Since it is that time of the year again when horror stories sound more interesting than in any other season, I’m going to tell you some weird experiences of mine. All these happened in the middle of sleep so that until now they make me wonder if: namalik-mata lang ba ako? Nanaginip lang ba ako? Or imagination ko lang?

I’m a fan of scary stuff, in fact, we have a podcast hehe it’s called Para Normal. We have not been able to update the past few months but if you’re a sucker for paranormal stories like me, you can check it out by clicking here.

By the way, katuwaan lang ang pagku-kwento ko nito ah? Wala akong “statement” na gustong panindigan or whatever. Just think that we are under the moonlight in our own backyard talking among friends.

Photo credits to Para Normal FB page

THE SLEEPING QUARTERS

For around seven years, I worked in the BPO Industry and since I mostly worked graveyard shifts, I’ve been sort of a regular in our sleeping quarters and that’s where some of my weird experiences are centered on.

Let me give you a mental picture of our quarters first; it’s modern and NOT AT ALL scary. There were about eight or nine bunk beds in double size pushed against the walls. One of the walls is made of frosted glass, so the light and noise (although muffled) from the pantry outside wafts in. The male and female sleeping quarters are separate. Bed sharing also isn’t allowed. A female guard comes in to check every hour.

Most days, my colleagues and I race from our stations to get a bed during lunch breaks. We’d all rather sleep than eat, you know.

One time, during said lunch break, I successfully got a bed. Yayy! After I don’t know how long, I woke up with a start. I saw a woman with long hair staring at me. She was kind of blurred, out-of-focus, but I attributed it to my bad eyesight. I wasn’t wearing my glasses after all. She leaned over and whispered something inaudible. I thought she was my Team Manager but then I realized: wait lang, near-sighted ako, so nung lumapit sya, dapat luminaw na yung mukha nya. I got freaked out but just like that she was gone in a blink.

I don’t know if I just dreamt the whole thing or if it was just my imagination, I was hal-asleep after all. Di ko alam mga misis. Ang alam ko lang, ang wirdo ni atey. After that, I couldn’t get back to sleep kahit na 15minutes palang pala ako’ng nakatulog.

THE SLEEPING QUARTERS PART 2

You’d think by that experience I’ve learned my lesson right? Hindi pa din. If you work graveyard shifts, you’d value every minute of sleep that you can get kahit pa may threat na multuhin ka, deadma, take it from someone who’s worked nights for seven years!

This time, I scored a bed on the upper bunk and this was before my shift started so I got around three hours to sleep before work starts. Ang himbing ng tulog ko when I woke up, suddenly, and found that I couldn’t move. I knew instantly it was sleep paralysis because during those years it was a weekly occurrence for me. I was annoyed, more than scared, because all I really wanted to do was catch on sleep. As I said, normal na sa akin during those times ang hindi makagalaw while half-asleep kaya I rarely get freaked out anymore.

I was trying to move an arm or at least a finger, which is what I usually do during those moments, when I noticed that there was a man sitting on the side of my bed. I didn’t notice him before because I had an arm partly covering my eyes. He was facing my direction but his face was obscured. He was just sitting there not moving, and I noticed, not even breathing. My heart began to bang heavily against my chest and I desperately tried to move. Hindi ko alam kung sino siya at bakit siya nasa higaan ko. I was praying for the guard to come in for inspection but no such luck. I don’t know anymore how long he sat there eyeing me, pero alam ko matagal. Then bigla ko naisip: how would there be a man on my bed when the male sleeping quarters is separate from ours? He wouldn’t have been able to come in because men don’t have access cards to our sleeping room, just like we don’t have access card to theirs. Then, as abruptly as it started, I could move again and at the exact same time that the blanket of sleep paralysis was lifted off me, he was gone.

Panaginip? Maybe. Pero freaky pa din beh!

Photo credits to Para Normal FB page

“PARATING NA SIYA”

Ito na yata ang pinaka-creepy sa mga experiences ko. This one happened back wheen I was living alone. Dahil matatakutin nga ako, bukas lahat ng ilaw ng apartment kapag gabi.

I was asleep when I woke up in the middle of the night because someone from the upper bunk of my bed (I used to have a double-deck) peeked and woke me up, it was a girl wearing a red long-sleeved top. I could only see the upper half of her body but again, medyo out-of-focus meaning hindi malinaw ang mukha nya. She urgently pushed me out of sleepiness and whispered, “Parating na sya!”

I immediately got up to see who she was referring to (and who she was!) when I woke up. Oo, panaginip lang pala, but when I woke up for the second time, I couldn’t move. Sleep paralysis ulit, okay fine, but this time there was this noise that kept getting louder and louder. I can’t even explain it, it sounded like there was a ton of metal and tin and several other materials mashed together being dragged! What’s more scary is that whatever it was, was getting closer!

I gave all my strength just so I can move a muscle because I know one little move will get me out of sleep paralysis but to no avail! The sound was getting ever closer and I started getting so scared I swear if I could only cry I would have wailed at that moment. Then, thankfully, I was able to jerk myself out of the dream and turned to my side abruptly. That was when I saw myself, lying right beside me, asleep -wearing the exact same thing I was wearing that night with my hair tied just as how I remembered it before I slept. On an impulse, I screamed and then I woke up. For the third time. Finally, really woke up. I sat up, every inch of my body shaking and drenched in sweat. Needless to say, hindi na ako natulog ulit until the sun broke.

Thankfully, I don’t experience sleep paralysis as much as before at nagpapasalamat akong ganito lang ang mga nangyari sa’kin, I’ve heard much worse happening to a lot of other people.

Wala naman akong gusto ma-achieve sa pagkukwento nito hahaha! Gusto ko lang maki-Halloween. I like hearing and watching scary stories so if you have any, feel free to share in the comments section. Happy Halloween!

Exceptionally normal. Normally exceptional.

I’m sure this is not the first time you’re hearing about the fact that relationships, although marked by grand moments and gestures, are sustained by the small everyday moments.

Not a fan of grand gestures, my relationship with my husband is marked only by a few grandiose moments yet is persistent in its everyday normalcy. In social media standards, we are quite a boring pair actually but we don't really hold ourselves up to social media standards anyway.

For one, We don’t go out a lot to try different restaurants but we love it most when he’s in the kitchen cooking up something. We have such fun picking out ingredients at the grocery store for dishes he is going to make with his own hands later in the kitchen.

Two, we have not traveled to a lot of countries and tourist spots together. I live, however, for drives in his motorcycle around the village, looking at pretty houses, and sometimes pretending we’re in our hometown while pointing out homes that look like those of people we know back home. Going to places we’ve only ever seen on jeepney plackards are enough to give us a thrill, so long as we are driving together. Not much something to post online about, yes, but those motorcycles rides are like a "thing" between just the two of us.

Even a trip to Wawa Dam can feel like a trip abroad with this man

Three, our conversations aren’t always about how much we love each other or about some deep Philosophical shiz. Most of the time we talk about reaaally ordinary things such as the crazy dream I had, or his day at the office, or an episode of Black Mirror that rendered me speechless, or the big-mouthed President. Hihi. 

Same thing when we fight, they're not the pack-my-bags-and-leave or oh-I’m-going-to-die-with-hearteache kinds of fight. I can get nasty, yes, and it annoys me but he manages to laugh at me in the middle of an argument! Needless to say, our fights don’t last very long.

Not much to see here, I tell you, and to be honest, I feel really grateful about that. I know it is only by the grace of a Higher Being that our marriage is as uneventful as it is, and yes some may say that it's too early to tell. I also know, however, that both of us are willing to work on our relationship so that it stays as ordinary as it is. The way I see it, its dullness is what makes our marriage exceptional and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm now pregnant, not just overweight.

Shortly after that lengthy post about my husband and I not trying for a baby until next year, I found out I am pregnant! It’s kind of funny, really, because I was having second thoughts about posting that entry in the first place lest I turn out to be expecting. Tama pala ang hinala ko hihi!

How I told Mr. L

Stangely enough, after citing all those reasons why this is not a good time for us to have a baby, I turn out to be very excited to start a half-MJ-half-Dimple breed of little humans (yes, we’re not stopping at one). I do not know how I’m going to fare as a mother (gawd, even that word intimidates me) but I do know that my husband is going to be an awesome father and I'm not unwilling to try to be a good parent myself. For one, he loves kids! He even used to babysit his cousins’ kids FOR FUN! *insert bewildered reaction of me here* So at least I only have to worry about my own aptitude as a future parent hehe.

We’ve just finished shooting a film for Cinema One Originals (where my colleagues were very considerate about my vulnerabilities that come with the first trimester of pregnancy) and my days now are mostly spent sleeping. Seriously, I can’t seem to do much else. Like the other day, I had an appointment so I woke up early and prepared to go out. Just when I was drying my hair, I suddenly felt so tired I had to lie back down. I woke up with a start late in the afternoon na! Ugh! My siblings-in-law sometimes don't know that most days I’m just in the other room, hybernating haha!

When I’m not dozing off or dealing with the inconstant queasiness in my tummy that one usually feels during long land trips, my emotions are shuttling back-and-forth being excited for the new baby and being scared about not knowing what to do with her/him when he/she comes! I’m so psyched about the cuddly, fragrant, delightful baby but I’m not sure I’m ready for the other things, like labor pains (how much does it hurt, anyway?), for baby bath time, feeding time, poop time, burp time etc. What if the baby hates me? What if I fall asleep while it’s on my arms? What if I can’t make it stop crying? HOMAYGAD! Officially freaking out!

My comedian husband posted this on Facebook LOL!

On the other hand, whenever I get tags from my husband on Facebook of cute little babies, every time he reminds to get something to eat on time, take my vitamins, smear myself with plenty of insect repellent, when we try to guess which traits and/or features our baby will get from either of us, everytime we suppress giggles and laughters in the middle of the night while imagining what our life will be like with the baby, my fears are mollified. When I look at him and see how excited he is about the baby and how confident he is about me, about us, it makes me believe I can do it, too. After all, the universe always conspires to give us what we want and with plenty of help to protect them.

I'll tell you a secret: I used to find it difficult looking at ultrasounds,
I didn't know what to see! Hahaha!
But when it was my turn! I saw our little jellybean!

Oh, we’re so excited to meet you, little human, I hope we don’t disappoint you.