back to biking, and back to the couch

the Lord is testing my resolve. or is it the devil?

nilinis na namin yung gilid ng bahay dahil nagiging “mini-bodega” na siya. nagiging magkakaibigan na nga mga ‘kapitbahay’ namin eh: mga daga, pusa, at ipis. sobrang dami na nilang oras tumambay doon.

one of the things na nakatambak ay yung bike kong niregalo pa ni A way back when… 2006 or 2007 pa yata yun eh. it’s the big, heavy-framed mountain bike na uso noon; very different from the bikes on sale today. still, being able to use it again is very fulfilling and makes me proud that despite the abuse and lack of care, it still survives today.

it was quite useful during our little one’s bout with fever a few days ago. palengke- and pharmacy-runs were a breeze despite having to fiddle with the gears a bit. all in all, it was a convenience to just hop on it and go, buy whatever needed buying, and then come back home quick enough. bonus na yung exercise!

can’t change glasses

i’m not sure how long i’ve been wearing my old glasses now (see postscript). most of the time, it doesn’t bother me as much. i can do most of the day-to-day activities without hassle. even driving! but last week, it got a little evident that i need to get a new pair.

i attended a special lecture by Mr. Ed Fukada, formerly of JTWC (that’s the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawai’i) on how they forecast typhoons. Even if I sat at the front row, I still had to tilt my glasses to read what’s on the projector. I have a newer pair (2 actually) but one has scratched up lenses and the other one’s frame is broken. I tried to DIY repairs but none lasted a day so I got stuck with my old pair.

funny enough, my father, wise man that he is, also lectured my eldest sister on the same matter a few weeks back with my sister’s eyeglasses’ frame taped up where the end piece and screw meet. he quipped, “may pambili ng aircon pero yung ginagamit pang-araw-araw, wala.” my sister defended herself saying, “i *am* already getting a new one! i just haven’t got time to go to the optometrist.”

now that i think about it, it’s just (again) all about priorities. some things take precedence over others. there are other more important things i guess than just a pair of glasses. besides, i was only reminded of them when i attended this lecture — not everyday. what’s a little discomfort when you can make others feel much much better? so yeah, i won’t be changing glasses anytime soon… unless my son turns them into another flying saucer or something. 😛

P.S.

i checked my instagram and at the earliest, it was November 2017.

self-reliance

i had my taste of independence and first-hand experience of self-reliance — in 5 out of 7 days when i went to a high school about 2 hours away and even more in college in manila. i had me, myself, and i to do things. i was away from my parents and siblings, and surrounded by friends and non-relatives that, well, don’t care for you like family would.

it was also a time of self-discovery — finding out what made me tick, and what ticked me off; what made me sick and made me feel better; what worked and didn’t work on me — because i couldn’t rely on others for those things.

i miss fiestas

ever since i moved to manila, i’ve missed attending fiestas, specially those from pampanga. the fiestas we are able to attend are those that happen on weekends — Sto. Nino and Poblacion. my parents’ and siblings’ fiesta, unfortunately, is not a “move-able” one — St. Vincent Ferrer which happens today, April 5.

i usually don’t have visitors since my friends are also residents in our barangay. save for one or two but one has already migrated to the US and the other is busy being a single mom. she arrives sometimes, sometimes not but mostly, visitors are those of my sisters’ (i wasn’t really a popular kid in gradeschool and high school. plus, most of them live far from my neck of the woods.)

i think last year or the other year was a bit ‘fortunate’ because it was within Holy Week. next year might be good for me because April 5 falls on a friday. i can still eat what’s left from those who visited in the morning! LOL

as for today, i will have to live with seeing the spread thru photos. *tummy rumble*

man, i wish i could have some asado right now. maybe i’ll cook a batch this weekend!

there’s no winning

natawa na lang ako sa sarili ko.

you can never win any argument with your SO and they will never let anything stay buried in its grave!

and even more than before, i believe in the wise, wise words of husbands before me to take to heart these 6 words that will be the center of your marriage:

“Yes, Dear.”
“You’re Right.”
and
“I’m Sorry.”

You can even string them together to get the full effect! LOL!

Maybe I should just have it printed on a shirt and point to one phrase to save time. hahaha!

 

both a country boy and a city boy

“oh give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
don’t fence me in.”

kasalanan ni bud brown ‘to eh. who is he? what am i talking about?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fomq8INf1RQ]

while the conveniences that the modern, urban jungle offers are really nice (first class health care, malls, high-speed internet), i still long for “land, lots of land” as the song says. open spaces are the things that i mostly crave now. it’s what i miss about living in the countryside.

but i can have that too here in the city… if only i were a few million pesos richer. LOL!

we live near McKinley Hill and Bonifacio Global City — uber expensive places to live in. but really well-planned urban spaces — and i just love it there. you can stroll into a mall, a few steps away, there’s a linear park to run or relax. a few minutes drive and you’re at a european-inspired enclave where there’s a plaza to feed pigeons and a man-made river to ride a gondola. and the houses aren’t jammed together like a stack of boxes in a delivery van.

so we make the most of it. well, i’d like to, specially on weekends. drive there, enjoy a little bit of breathing space, take time to be ‘free’.

but i still want lots of land. 😀 hehehe

moving soon?

“how would you like to move to New Zealand?”

well that raised my eyebrows over my head last night. and my eyes went from slits to the size of a dinner plate. but i kept my cool.

actually, i wasn’t surprised by this. i guess it’s always been at the back of my mind. it wasn’t a question of would i like to move or not. it was just a matter of time.

since graduating and passing the board exams, it was a traditional route to work in the middle east where there is a construction boom where my profession was most needed. i didn’t apply anywhere. i thought i was meant to work here.

a few years later, i have my own job. i see my old college batchmates posting on friendster (because facebook wasn’t a big thing yet) with the newest and shiniest gadgets and DSLRs. i was pretty #inggitmuch that time. i started to question my ‘loyalty’ to the country but i guess i was still pretty happy where i was.

i said to myself, “you must learn to simplify.”

another few years come, i see some batchmates renouncing their filipino citizenship for another. which made me question, again, that if it ever came to that, would i do the same thing?

i said to myself, “let’s cross the bridge when we get there.”

and so, last night, this was presented to me. there are no concrete plans except for A to apply and pass her resume. as for me, i have no assurance of a job when we move. the best i could think of was to farm or shepherd sheep!

so, it’s going to be a waiting game. the question to ask, perhaps, is “how soon is ‘soon’?”