Big Potatoes
For some reason, I suddenly got reminded of a few distant relatives. We practically grew up together, my three siblings and I, and their brood of seven - we went to the same school, the same church; we played the same games; we didn’t dream the same dreams.
I wonder what lives they have now - especially my kababatas (those roughly my age). Our parents used to brag in competitive banters about who got the better grades, who’s the meeker child, who got the better job after graduation. Where we came from, the biggest measure of success is whether you have set foot on foreign soil. I haven’t. One of my cousins from that family lives in North Carolina, I think somewhere near the Outer Banks; his brother was sent to another U.S. State early in his career. There was a time, by choice now vague in my memory, when I told my parents that I will do whatever I can to get a job abroad; I was actually working on something then, or so I thought. It didn’t surprise me that everybody in town found out and were anticipating my “departure.” I didn’t feel too bad to disappoint those merely spectators. I guess I just decided I was not meant to be big that way.
Beaches
I’m dreaming of beaches again. I used to think that I’d someday like to retire to a place where I can hear the ocean crash into shore every single day - some place where green mountains are within the view of my bedroom window. My house doesn’t have to be grand, but I hope the beach would be spectacular. Even now, I long for that peace and sense of calm. It wouldn’t be an escape but a homecoming of sorts. I’ve always felt that I belong closer to nature more than to the hustle and bustle of city life. It’s not as if I’m dreaming of far-flung places like the Caribbean or luxurious homes like Barbados villa rentals (although getting there for once wouldn’t be so bad).
That was the plan. But if global warming and these crazy weather trends won’t scare me away from that dream, the allusion to solitary life just might. Because really, spending my last few years on earth living like a hermit isn’t really what I have in mind.
When the Going Gets Tough
Last Thursday, while I was sitting in front of my computer, a few minutes after getting up from bed, I felt a rather disturbing chest pain that only radiated to my left side. Naturally, that freaked me out. I was thinking about not going to work but then I changed my mind when it suddenly went away. But throughout that afternoon and into the next two days, my head was heavy and I was feeling grouchy, tired, and generally not well. When I went to the clinic, I found out that my blood pressure was a bit high, although not at an alarming level yet. This brought me to panic mode again, making me think about the food I ate the last few days and the fact that I haven’t been active at all since the badminton tournament last month. The fact that I’m also a bit stressed out and not sleeping well the past few days, I know what I had to do. Hay, I’m not even 30 (although very soon, I’ll be) and I already have to suffer through this! I guess there’s no better motivation to be a health buff than actually going through some health problems. Better start early before I have any need for constant medication, or worse, treatments like chelation. To allow blood to flow freely to the heart, in cases of clogged arteries, chelation therapy is used to target, more specifically “chelate,” calcium deposits in the arteries. It comes in the form of oral chelation, which means taking tablets like any regular medicine. It’s not a drastic treatment as surgery is, but still, the best way to go is prevention. Start at the cause and then try to maintain living the healthy way. Not always easy, but like I always say, it beats the alternative.
Mother Knows Best
After months, yes months, of whining about a messy apartment but doing nothing about it, our place is now squeaky clean and organized! Much as I want to take the credit, I wasn’t bitten by the home-cleaning bug. Our mother stayed with me and my sister for the weekend and she did all the work. I probably should not be saying this but when she first came inside our room my mom said she thought it was a demented person’s place. That’s how bad it was! I wasn’t even able to clean up before she arrived, citing work deadlines as usual. Anyway, the thing is, having your mother around after being on your own for such a long time can remind you of how much better she is than you are in taking care of yourself. She just knows these things. She even knows that she’ll need to come back in a few months time to check if things are being maintained around here.
Teen Spirit
When I first got my job, I was a few years out of my teens and my youngest sibling, my brother, was 9 years old. He just turned 18 a few days ago and I’m feeling a little bit nostalgic. I’m encouraging him to go join a band, if he wishes to, because he’s so good with the guitar and is actually very artistic. I’m not sure about his other creative talents yet (i.e., if he can write songs eventually) but so far he’s proving to have the one thing I wish I have - inherent understanding of music notes. Here’s saying that I’ll gladly go for broke to support him if ever he’ll venture into anything that would further his musicality.
In the spirit of youth, here’s a song that may or may not mean “teen revolution,” sang in a very non-youthful way by Tori Amos.
With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
Tired Eyes
I’m still trying to find a way to change the font size of this new template. Forgive me if I’m too lazy to experiment for now. I’m not even too happy with this template but, again, I’m too lazy to look for something else and I’m tired of the previous one. I had to keep the green because of the sidebar widgets I had already set to green. Bear with me for a bit and I’ll try to find something awesome later. My one concern about this look is that the font is too small and too crowded. It’s not as if even I have a good vision. I’m actually straining to read my own posts! Ok, enough ranting because this is my own fault anyway. What really gives me pain is the fact that I broke my reading glasses. I’m used to taking off my contacts whenever I get home from work so I can sort of rest my eyes from them, but now I have to keep them on until I’m actually going to bed. When I get brave enough, I’ll inquire about eye refractive surgery. I heard it really works, although I’m a bit doubtful about regaining 20/20 vision.
Coming Home
After months of postponing going to my hometown, I was finally able to make the trip last Sunday. As cliché as it may sound, there really is no place like home. Yes, Dorothy, that is correct. I dreaded the four-hour travel, so I brought my old but trusty i-Pod. The battery died on me after 1 hour so I switched to my phone, which thankfully is loaded with mp3s and is fully charged. The sound from a portable video game a co-passenger was playing, which made me think of buying playstation 3 for my brother someday, and from the TV show being shown in the bus notwithstanding, I was able to focus on my music while enjoying the familiar scenery. There’s nothing like a long trip home to give you time to reminisce and get all sentimental. Well, at least it always has such an effect on me. I may have another life now in another town, another city, but my old bed, no matter how shabby, will always be a little more comforting than anything else I can buy for myself these days. Call it roots, call it a complete sense of belongingness - that’s what will always bring me home despite the things I’d rather run away from. It’s only too bad I can’t stay longer. On my trip back to Manila, I was regarding the city streets and the familiar corners of the place I call my own now, and although I know I do not wish to be anywhere else, I still wonder sometimes if life had regarded me differently and gave me an entirely different path to follow. Would life have been better, or simpler, or maybe fuller? I may never know. I’m never one to make room for regrets anyway.
Badminton Tournament
Last Saturday, July 19, was our company’s 4th annual badminton tournament. I joined the last three years; it’s been the only company activity so far that I really looked forward into joining, obviously because I’m a badminton nut. A “badminton addict” may be too strong a name, but for people who haven’t really tried the sport, that may very well be how I’m classified. Next year may be a different story, though, but I’ll cross the bridge when I get there.
For now, here are some pieces of the action.
Once Upon A Time
Ok, so I’m making this my official personal blog. My other blog has become a space for everything else, and it seems to be making a better job of being indexed and read, so I’m posting the personal stuff here.
About a week ago, we had a surpise baby shower for Ka2x. Kumareng Grace prepared a game wherein we each provided our baby pictures and then we’ll guess which one is who. It was such a fun experience to see ourselves as babies or toddlers, while we’re all waiting for Baby Ben. I wish I had taken pictures of the others, but I’m posting mine here. This actually made me want to scan all my old pictures for posterity. A friend of mine told me that one of these photos bear much resemblance to how I look whenever I’m pissed these days. Pictures after the cut.
Itinerary
It’s a wonder how much one can do once you have your heart set into what you know you have to accomplish. I haven’t done anything major or life-changing or paradigm shifting. This Sunday, I simply was able to wake up a few hours earlier than I’m used to (around 12:00 noon) that my sister and I was already at Glorietta by lunch time just in time to meet our other sister. It’s been so long since I last had lunch at the mall. I missed the food court there that even when I was already digging into my Asian noodles/grilled chicken with mushroom sauce/potato salad, I’m still looking around hoping I had bought chicken paella or shrimp gambas instead. After the meal, we checked for the screening time of Wanted (I have an entry about the film in my other blog) and, fortunately, we were just in time. So the movie went well. We then scouted for a laptop for my sister and were able to choose one that fits just her needs. I was beaming to be back home from Makati even before the sun has set. But there are still some things to do. I had to go the SM mall near our place to pay some bills and buy some toiletries, and then to Ruins (BF Homes, Paranaque) to look for some you-know-what. Before we left SM, my sister and I were even able to play a few rounds of games at the mini-Arcade there. We’re back home by 9 pm, just in time for me to do the software installations before I retire to sleep that night.
Forgive me for blabbering about an entire day of personal errands but having done this much in one day is quite a novelty for me lately. Because I’m usually too tired by the end of Saturdays, I usually spend Sundays doing … nothing. This weekend inspired me to try to make a schedule for the coming weekends. Especially since this July and August, there are several shows that I’m intending to watch. I’m yet to find a local site that exclusively lists all upcoming events, for example music events. Like this site with the San Diego calendar of events. There are two well-known ticket sites but they don’t handle similar shows, which almost cost me the knowledge that two foreign acts I follow are coming to Manila. But that’s all forgiven. Now, I only have to save up for the pricey tickets.