i was just planning to watch my series last night when my back began to ache. i knew it too well. that's how my second attack started -- back ache, hurt in all positions, cold sweats, shortness of breath.
then it started.
i decided to just sit and wait for it to subside. it started at around 11:30 until i was too tired and went to bed at 5 in the morning with my stomach still hurting.
i didn't want to rush myself in the ER this time. i don't have health coverage yet.
i have successfully backed-up my files, reformatted my hard drive, and installed a fresh copy of the OS in my computer. my pc feels so clean and new, finally. i hope i can keep this up longer this time.
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i want to be invisible again.
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january came and went so fast. too fast i think that i feel like its helpless roadkill. my gulay. define stressful for a jumpstart.
i conducted trainings in galleria today. after buying lunch, the mango shake slipped from my hands and, after attempting to regain my grip, spilled on my tie, polo, pants, and shoes.
and it happened in the middle of the mall. fuck. i ran as fast as i can back to the CR in our office.
i didn't notice that i was also clutching my phone that time. it was also drenched in mango shake.
this evening, before dinner, my aunt told me something about *something* that irritated me so much. buwisit. tangina. puñeta.
ito lang, kung may problema kasi kayo sakin, SABIHIN NIYO SA HARAP KO. direcho akong tao. walang kiyeme. kaya sana kayo rin.
at sa muling pagkakataon, binaybay ko ang kahabaan ng madilim na eskinita pauwi. nabaling ang mata ko sa liwanag na nanggagaling sa langit -- maliwanag ang buwan bagama't kalahati lang nito ang nagpapakita, nakikipagtalo naman ang maraming bituin sa paligid nito.
napatungo ako sa kayabangan ng kalangitan at nakita ko ang tsinelas kong marupok -- gamit na gamit.
sa isang iglap, bumungad na sakin ang pintuan ng bahay.
yup, i can just kiss my plans of buying new shoes and PC. pwede na rin akong mag goodbye sa mga labas labas for a month or so. i had to buy a washing machine :( sudden expenditures can really kill me these days hahahaaayyy.. stress on the haaayyy...
i can barely imagine the mails i'd be receiving from my credit card. boo.
first, the drain stopped working. i had it checked by one of their technicians but it must cost me 2,800. i already paid the service fee 800 which is deductible from the total amount but since it's working just fine, i never got around to finally fixing it.
then, a few months after, rust ate the base of the unit. still working fine, so no worries.
then after almost a year, the base finally gave up and i had to insert a piece of wood under the base for it work properly. the drum inside cannot spin properly without it. every now and then, i had to adjust it because it cannot hold itself in place.
finally, last sunday, while i was about to dump a week's worth of laundry inside it, it stopped working.
the washing machine finally conked out on me. fuck.
the only thing i was thankful for was that i decided to do my laundry on sunday and not on monday. the laundromat i went to said it would take them 3 days to finish all 3 kilos of my laundry. so i have to pay them double to have it the next day. cost me 168 pesos. that's the cost of a month's bag of detergent.
first off, i want to thank the lord for keeping me safe. thank you, thank you, thank you lord.
yesterday, i woke up to the sound of rains outside my window and i thought it's gonna be another long cool day. but i was not prepared to see the flooded street in front of our house. our street virtually never flooded before except for those super strong typhoons. still after a few minutes, it will be gone.
but the water kept rising. tita madette, JR, and tito jojie started moving their cars to the garage. lolo was already shouting to everyone at the house because the antiques in the shop are being flooded.
less than 30 minutes later, the water rose to waist-deep. a friend who's stuck in edsa called and i needed to bring food already. i packed my things and waited a little to see if the flood would go down a little. it's still going up and i had to leave already because i might not be able to make it if i waited a little longer.
what normally takes less than 5 minutes to jollibee edsa took me over 15 minutes to reach. i can't begin to imagine how much courage it took me to tread the waters with cockroaches, rats, garbage, animal feces, and engine oil floating and swimming around me. at one point i had to stop to look for my slippers because the current swept it off. i knew then, the weather was turning for the worse.
i eventually made it to the car, kawawa naman in the middle of edsa with hazzards on. we ate and drove a while -- looking for places where we can park. we found ourselves on edsa-magallanes flyover and stayed there until 6 or 7 pm. edsa soutbound was not moving but the north bound lane was light. we headed to the gas station along edsa-dasmariñas village and we had dinner there.
we were just waiting for the flood to subside in our house so we can go home. after much waiting and texting to my cousin for flood news, we headed home. i got home at a little earlier than 1am. though the streets were still flooded, it was just ankle-deep that time.
i thought it was bad. and it was bad. but i never thought it was THIS bad.
*found this on youtube, this is a few meters away from our house.
thank you lord for keeping me and my family safe. i heard my relatives in antipolo are not doing well and i'm praying for them. keep them safe. keep all of us safe.
angelo came to us the night my father died. while my father was being prepped for surgery, ate dolly was in labor. i never saw angelo in the hospital and it's been a few weeks after that since i first saw him.
last sunday, nanay celebrated her birthday and to my surprise, everyone was there (except the sons as always). while i was so happy eating crabs and kare-kare (not at the same time :D ), kuya thrist, ate dolly and their two sons arrived. angelo and fernan. i don't know but i really have this inclination towards these boys -- angelo's arrival and my papa's departure, and fernan, the only person in the whole clan whom i share my name with :)
after i finished eating, i went to nanay's room to see angelo. he was there in front of the huge tv and his hands were on the speakers just below it. he seems to be happy with what's on. he was smiling. see, angelo is a special boy. i don't know the exact term for his condition but his mental faculties are not the same as ours (i can't say "limited" because for all i know, this boy is a genius, pala). it's also because of this that he can't fully control his upper and lower limbs. i approached angelo and patted his back.
"you like what you see, angelo?"
he looked up to me with his happy eyes and managed to say a few syllables. his expression was that of a gaze, awe, and happiness. i talked to him again while he was busy watching tv. a few minutes after, nanay called and asked me to get dessert. so i left the room and angelo to his tv.
after dessert, i went back to the room and saw angelo by the door "walking." i was really happy to see him "walk." walking to him means moving his knees and legs on the floor. when he saw me, there was that smile again and he was so excited he managed to shout "waaaw!"
"wow! you can walk already!!"
another syllable and he walked straight to me. i walked towards him and helped him get up. when i was holding his hands and back, it never occured to me that he has grown so tall! i tried to walk him like a baby while still holding on to his sides. it took us almost five minutes to get to the dinner table with the rest of the family. the room's door and the dining table were merely two meters apart.
i proceeded to sit beside them at the dining table with angelo standing between my legs. he was really so happy. he kept looking up at me and was actually laughing.
he's so innocent and happy that time. i know many people would wish the same thing, even for just a fleeting moment. i do.
here's angelo and fernan with ate dolly, their mother (my cousin, kuya thrist's wife).
and the birthday celebrator with her apo's (plus one) :-) i really wish nanay all the happiness in the world.
clockwise from left: me, nanay, angel, lilane, ian, ate cherry, JR, and cheska
this time i didn't shave his head. though i was itching to. i was his designated yayo for a few hours. he's nicknamed "the tornado" by my aunts. say "no" to this fella and you'll see things fly. fun to have kids in the house though.
napapansin ko lang ha, ang kintab na niya ha. 'wag muna lord, 22 pa lang ako! (wag ka nang komontra please lang!!). tin was kind enough to creatively crop my dark circles with the office cube divider. she just forgot to place a light diffuser on our flourescent bulbs. yeah, that's how detailed we are when we take our pictures in the office.
i was just supposed to get ice cream when THAT BROWN THING greeted me when i opened the freezer. for a moment i was thinking of possible culprits which had the audacity to leave its "surprise" inside my freezer. then i saw that red canister on the right. nestle pops pala... kala ko tae.
before we started working this year, tin, lloyd, and i went to my house to drink and make nachos. well, the nachos started with us wanting just salsa with it. then i have cheese pa pala so we grated cheese. then i made the (now famous) mayosabi dip (naks!). then i remembered i still have mushrooms, so tin made garlic mushrooms. but we forgot i don't have LPG yet so we settled for the electric griller/plate. lloyd (who had monosodium glutamate aka umami conveniently built-in inside his mouth), was kind enough to eat it. and i quote, while dipping the nachos: "ang sarap niya!!"
during a break from last year's annual planning session, my boss obliged to be my bolang kristal. i borrowed mai's pashmina dash-cum-slash (really big) scarf. of course, we just have to take a pic. duh!
most recent: EFFIN' RATS!!!!!! remember this?? now they did this!!! i used to have one really long-wired mic. it came with the webcam i bought eons ago. it was just recently that i used this mic because my other headset kinda gave up on me. i was supposed to record a song in my head (a usual past time when i'm bored, not that it's any good thank you very much). when i picked the head of the microphone (see illustration, labeled 6) i thought i picked up the wrong thing. but no!!! as soon as i found pieces of the wire on the floor, my eyes went straight to the socket at the back of the CPU (see illustration, labeled 5) and that's all i found! my once SINGULAR microphone became a 6-piece whatever's-left-of-the-mic. FOCKEN RATS. it doesn't end there. having found out that the rats had a feast on the wires of my mic, i think it also follows that I HAVE RATS IN THE "COMPUTER ROOM!" and when i say rats, i don't mean the "regular mouse" i usually see running around the house. i mean rats as in RATS THE SIZE OF CATS! ponyeta.
speaking of rats, read this: Was it a rat I saw? and this: Rats live on no evil star
now read them backwards. cool eh? palindromes, that's what they're called. now you know.
just this week when i got home from the office, i saw my inaanak, raf, outside with nanay, my lola. i normally would just kiss child-relatives and play with them a few minutes before going up my apartment. while playing with raf, nanay jokingly told me to play "yayo" for a while because she's going somewhere. the yaya was also there so i told the yaya that i'll bring raf up and cut his hair. i also told nanay that i'd be doing a mohawk on raf. she laughed.
but i was serious.
so i propped raf on the table on my terrace and began shaving his head. i instinctively put the clipper to "0." it never occured to me that the cut is too close until i started on raf's head. i had no choice but to continue and this is what happened.
warning: cuteness overload!
raf with my cousin gerald (yes, the boy on the right is raf's uncle!!)
so after that i was PERSONALLY satisfied. since i couldn't do it for myself, i did it to my nephew slash godchild. i was happy!
... until i remembered nanay.
i swear i felt so uneasy because i thought nanay would freak out and give me a severe tongue lashing when she sees raf. fortunately for my selfish arse, nanay was just cool about it the next day. she goes: "papagupitan ko na si kolokoy!" me:"nanay, 'wag muna! ang cute kaya!" nanay: "eh bakit kaya hindi mo sa ulo mo gawin yan?!" me: "eh bawal kaya sa trabaho!" she looked at me with her brows raised and then i smiled at her. hehehehe.
the point of paying for a service is actually getting the service. no pay, no service. and if a=b, then b should equal a. therefore, no service, no pay.
so answer me this: why the hell am i paying 1k monthly for water when i'm not getting it? why should i pay more than 5k monthly if i consume less of it?
it's illogical, i know. it's beyond mathematical equations and formulas.
these stupid bills are piling up on me and i'm getting fed up. a little more taunting and i'm on my limit.
today, i paid my electric bill. all P5982.62 of it. well half of it since yuri's sharing. BUT STILL.. WAAAAAAAHHHH......
i didn't wanna touch my money in my account because i know i'll be needing it. so when yuri paid his share, it was that money i used for daily expenses. i know, i know it's stupid. i just don't want to touch my atm money. period.
just a while ago, i already have the 5k cash so i went to the atm near our house to withdraw 1k more. the atm was well lit. it was on the main road and there were no tambays at all. so it was safe. i covered my hands when i typed in my pin even though i know no one is looking. everything went well until the money was being dispensed. it was out of nowhere when a small head with bloodshot eyes popped in on my side. "KUYA PENGENG PISOO!!"
"PUTANGINA MO!!" I ALMOST JUMPED OF SURPRISE.
"FUCK, UMALIS KA NGA DYAN!"
i really shouted at the poor boy. yeah, he was innocent but it's not really fun when you get scared shitless for a couple of seconds just because of that. and HE WAS STILL THERE WAITING FOR HIS PESO.
"UMALIS KA NA DIYAN, WALA AKONG PISO!" and i gave him a stern and very mean look.
he walked away. siguro i'll be laughing at this in the near future, maybe even pity the boy. but for now, i'm not at all amused.
so there goes our almost 6k for electric consumption for the previous month. a price too big to pay for a two-bedroom apartment with one aircon, a pc, a fridge, a washing machine, 2 electric fans, one "tube" light, and 4 "power-saving" lights.
and it's not even the school. my aircon has finally given up on existing almost three weeks ago. i don't even want to complain about it. i have no right since i am in no financial stability to replace it. yup, i can't sleep properly. the only thing that i'm thankful for is that he has given up on me when i don't have to get some sleep. for that and the memories, too, my very (very, very) worn and beloved aircon, thanks.
in case you wanna know, this aircon has been with us since my kinder years. i'm working now. IMAGINE THAT! i'll wager my whole bank account (or what's left of it) that they don't even manufacture or even sell that kind of aircon anymore. even 10 years ago. ha. ha. ha. fedders. gawd. but it's cool that he proved himself to be a tough one.
my gulay. everytime i come home from work i'm even more stressed. the house is ONE BIG MESS. i mean i do make my own kalat and it's my fault. but i need someone to help me out even at least once a week. just to help me maintain it. i'm not even making an excuse when i say that i'm tired whenever i get home from work. work is just physically demanding at times and tending to my mess at home is another burden i think i just cannot do alone.
sometimes, whenever i start to clean the house, i sit in one corner trying to make a list of to-do's. and between to-do number 1 and to-do number 2, my mind starts to drift and think about repainting, fixing, renovating, and even getting a new place which will bring me back to reality, HEY! WITH THE SALARY YOU'RE GETTING, WHY EVEN BOTHER THINKING?! haay nako. i'm tired.
i'll humiliate myself if i say that there's a leak in my kitchen from the third floor; that every morning i have to wipe the floor and not think about this smell that's coming from the leak. DAMMIT.
the terrace is another fucking mess. the whole building was repainted and along with that the painter made one big fucking mess and left it there. i don't even have the energy to look at it.
i'm back from my hiatus. the hiatus. there's so much going on in my mind right now and i don't know where to start. but here it is. (be prepared for the bombardment of text, pics and vids)
i lost my internet connection almost a month ago. had it reconnected last wednesday. but as you all know, this storm milenyo just would not cooperate with my intense longing for the internet (that sounds so geeky). when the internet was reconnected, my friends from the office were at home so all i got to do was to check my mails - 130 of them. check my blog - which was in a stand still, and check my other online stuff, which, for more unwanted information, was also on a stand still. nothing seemed to have happenned when my internet was gone. and i have to hurry doing those because my friends would like to check their mails, too. to make the story short, i was online for not more than 45 minutes.
like i said, my friends were here - bongga and marky who both left even before kat came. the ever dependable pictorial group (i'll tell you why later), sha, cha and ivar. even before that day, ivar, zin, sha and cha got their picture taken by me. and i had my first try at photography in a controlled setting like a "studio."
we had it all set up; a camera, a tripod, a bouncer, a spotlight, and of course, the moHdels. it only took a couple of minutes before everyone became comfortable (needless to say, ivar does not know UNcomfortable infront of the lens, not needing any direction from me or the others haha). anyway, like i said that day when my internet got reconnected was our third time to meet for a photoshoot. and this time, it will be kat's turn. with all the things set up and make-up done and a little creativity here and there, it's all go.
one thing i can say about this lass. HINDI SIYA HANDA! hahahaha! of course i meant that sarcastically.
here are a couple of pics i took of them. (from the very first pictorial to the third)
YURI
CHA
SHA
for some weird reason, she looks like juris of MYMP here lol
ZIN
KAT
IVAR
i don't know if it's nice or not. you be the judge. i only know so little of portrait photography (that didn't sound right). but as you can see, i like it close-up. (duh)
i also TOLD them to do this. hehe..
and when i still had nothing to do, i did this.
so with all the craziness in my house done. we had a game. and it was called "SSHH!" the object of the game was to write down two secrets anonymously in two pieces of paper, put in a non-transaparent box, have all of us read one secret and that's it. we all sat down in a circle, all of us, kat, ivar, sha, cha and myself. with a pitcher of graperador (that sounded weird haha) we all had a shot and read the secret aloud. funny how mundane the scribbles were but the facts they tell were really explosive haha. don't bug me for their secrets because one more rule about the game is, the secret stays in the circle. anyway, i've come to love them all more because of this! lol. (fyi, in the end we all knew our secrets) after that fun, bonding game, we slept. and the next thing we know, there was a big storm and electricity was out. haay.
all of them but myself, woke up early. and to think we all slept at 6 in the morning! at 12, sha woke me up because they were all hungry and i just HAD TO go with them to buy food. took us 2 hours to get ready and when we got down, none of us had the courage to walk on the streets with strong winds, rain and flying roofs! hahahahahaha.. we literally saw one roof fly out of its house. well, after it flew it's no longer a house lol. metals, leaves, and whole branches of trees were also flying around. and we had no choice but to stay and starve. good thing my aunt, who caters food to offices was stranded at home and we just bought food from her for a very big, big discount.
then we did this
we all looked like refugees. only we're way cuter. haha. lame.
kat was supposed to leave for a medical exam. sha had to leave to pack her stuff for a flight to bicol the following day. but i didn't want them to leave with the weather. so i had them over one more night. the clinic where kat was to visit was closed. the flight was also cancelled. so there. all six of us making kwento in the candle light until the wee hours of the morning. and of course, they just have to bathe. but hell! they made ME pump water for them! all 8 big pails of water up and down the stairs!! well, at least it did my body well. had sculpted arms for four days in a row hahahahahaha.
so after we all took a bath, we sat. we laid down the cushions. we set up these cushions in the sala where it's way cooler than my room. we stood up. we talked. and then we got bored. kat and cha were almost asleep and ivar, sha and i decided to take a walk outside where there's cool makati-fresh air. we did, and cha went with us. we left kat sleeping on the cushions. when we're about to go down, kat was awoken and asked where we were going.
"kat, bili lang kami sa labas (LIE!) balik kami agad! (LIE!)"
"sige bilisan niyo ah!"
"no prob!"
we went around the perimeter of about six blocks. then we went back the house to sit outside. talked till 3 in the morning when my aunt asked us to be quiet. hahaha. we were like children scolded for being so noisy. then we went in.
another round of kwentuhan again and we slept at around 5 in the morning.
fun, fun, FUN two days.
the next day, sha and kat left early. ivar and cha went home at 3 in the afternoon. and i was left alone in the dark. lol.
in other news, my work doesn't begin until who knows. they said that they'd call me in the week but there was a black out and all phonelines were dead. including cellphones.
*sigh*
so as i'm now writing this, it's been almost a week since this has happenned. and i miss them already hehe. we should get together soon. maybe after sha comes back from bicol.
in another news, i have yet to get my back pay from the company i previously worked with. it's been a month! and when i called them the other day, i was on hold for 30 minutes! and then i hung up and called again. ON HOLD FOR 1 HOUR AND 15 MINS!!!!! i think they have do not want to give my salary! dammit!
o well, i have to wait for that still. i just hope i don't have to wait past my birthday, which is due in three weeks! at nagpaparinig ako! hahaha.
gosh this is getting longer than i expected. gotta end this.
** right before posting this my internet again connected and disconnected. puta. and i also made this for my beloved eNp!
