Untitled Part 1:The Poet

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Olivia is there with a very light chocolate colored dog. The dog is old ,Olivia knows that instinctively. The dog has followed her for more than a mile. "Jupi," she called him not knowing how did she know the dog's name. It was not her dog,no, she never had a dog. But she seem to feel very close with Jupi just exactly how it was willing to follow her.

She woke up from that weird dream . She had dreamed several times about that dog she feels so attached with in her dreams. And whenever she wakes up, she feels nothing but ecstatic. That much she is sure. But from where the dog was and why was it with her was quite unclear to her.

SO she begun to write about the dog and made a song telling about what the dog makes her feel. Albeit her thought and feeling about the dog Jupi always leave her wondering . The song tells about a love so unexplained but also leaves a great mystery in her heart.

The song was just recently been played on the radio, to Olivia's excitement. In fact, she celebrated this one step success drinking alone in her flat while talking on the phone with her Dad.Although her Dad has not yet personally heard the song played over the radio , he is undoubtedly very happy . He had been always proud of her which explains her formidable self confidence. She doesn't do things half-heartedly which maybe is the reason why there are only few things she did in her life. When she decides to put her hand on anything, she makes sure she does it well otherwise not at all.

She is twenty eight but never had a serious relationship. Not that she is still a virgin, she is not, because she once slept with a guy she met in a pub. His name was Danny, so he told. They just started talking while having a drink. The next time she knew was the following morning in that hotel room. She was single and twenty five so she thought of giving it a try with Dan. Then after a month they probably got weary being in that lack of spark relationship. Even after they agreed to become friends, they seldom asked to hang out. How funny, she thought. There was , first of all, nothing common in between them to begin with.

If there is something she loves the most doing, it is writing something. She has had countless poems published on newspapers and magazines already to support that. That having mixed with her inclination to music is the thing that made her to make songs. Nothing really much to do in addition but just to integrate notes with her poems.

That is another thing from writing stories which she has been already been proven successful already. Among her eight published novels, three of them are best sellers and two are on their way. Olivia has made good money that she is comfortable even if she won't be working for a while. Right now she intuitively feels directed to making songs after "Old Jupi".

Her concern right now is whether the band who sang Old Jupi will be able to sing a song of another genre.

Olivia rose from her bed to feel the coldness of February. From having been covered under the blankets , her bare shoulders felt the fifteen degrees temperature this morning. Notwithstanding the cold, she hopped near the glass wall looking outside. Her mind is full of something but she forgot all of that when she laid her eyes on the view of yellowish green color of that distant mountain. Her apartment is built on a small rocky hill where there is a panoramic view of the mountain. There is a small village at the foot of the mountain like a mini valley. The picturesque landscape appears even captivating in the morning when it is covered with clouds.

In the Western part of Sagada lies the most attractive view in town. That is because it is the only part with a plain. When one stands at an elevated end , he can see wide plantation of varied crops like coffee, sugarcane, and different vegetables. At the other hilly side is a rice terraces that changes in color depending on what season it is. During December, yellow flowering bushes bloom everywhere thus making the whole area colorful. But if you look somewhere else, the surroundings mostly appear dark green.

With the whole population of ten thousand plus, the town is not at all crowded. The place is still developing , of course, but is already good enough for a town located almost two hundred kilometers away from the city.

Olivia chose to stay here. She particularly likes to stay in a reasonably quiet place such as here where at the same time she can access the things online. Since her mom is originally from here, she had since known this part of Northern Philippines as a child. Aside from being a tourist destination she picked this place also because of its familiarity in spite of not having too many friends around. That is okay with her since she is prefers less company. She wanted to be in a place that offers beauty and serenity

Tourists from all over the world are everywhere in this small town especially during weekends. They make the narrow streets crowded and bit noisy two days in a week but they also make the shops busy , the inns and lodges occupied. Local products increase in sales. Assisting and guiding tourists has also become a reliable job for many locals. Tourism industry is clearly one of the most profitable source of income of this town.

She just remembered a wedding invitation from her cousin. That will be tomorrow, she automatically glanced at the calendar sitting on her desk. Yes, it is tomorrow. The church wedding will be at St. Carmelita Church within a walking distance from her apartment. It will be the first wedding party she ever has attended since she came to the place few months ago. Had he mother been still alive, she would be here for the wedding by now.

She looked at her ward robe. She thought of checking for something to wear the next day. She has not bought any clothes for quite some time now. She has nothing but t-shirts and pants. To think that until now, she has not yet seen a decent shop to buy clothes. She thought for a while ,'Where can I buy clothes for tomorrow?' she wondered. She later dropped the idea. From what she can recall, attending wedding celebrations here doesn't require any special dress. Anyone can go with anything. Just go there and be seen, eat whatever is served and that's it. The celebration will last until the next day, traditionally, which means she can have lunch there as well as dinner. She imagined the sound of pattong where the men who are playing the gangsa together with the women dancing move their feet in graceful unison. That made her smile. She pulled the sweater on top of her pile of clothes and walked to the bathroom.

To someone who has never worked in any office or anywhere, the need for a lot of clothes in the ward robe is not there. She works inside her bedroom as she loves to always keep her work table in her bedroom. A poet and a song writer as she is needs to be by herself most of the time. She just need to sit on her computer writing what comes into her mind. If she is not doing any of those, she is still on her computer table reading something. She meets up with people very seldom. That has been her life ever since she finished from university. And now only she noticed that her ward robe is suffering.  

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