Leaving to Stay

I submitted my work resignation three weeks ago but was given an option to simply take a leave of absence for a month. It didn't occur to me to apply for a work leave since most of the one- or two-day LOA I filed were turned down. So I said, all right. One-month leave it is.

I'm on my third-official day leave. Without pay. The research job I had was too "easy" that I feel guilty not turning it weeks ahead of when it's expected. So it means, I don't have anything to do while staying at home with my parents while they're "looking after me". My Pospy and Mumsy somehow started to feel bright and sunny (amidst the threatening low pressure area) when I began staying home.

Books became a constant companion again. Ooh, lotsa times now to spend reading. Since I am scrimping, I reread Sheldon's Windmills of the Gods and Tolkien's The Hobbit.

Then, things had been turning up one event at a time. Opportunities that I have overlooked for quite a while now and I'm just starting to fully enjoy "working from home" while having the freedom to grab the invites to travel. I have three trips scheduled for the year - CDO, Palawan and GenSan.

Here's me crossing my fingers and toes for a homebody me! :)

kung masama ang gising

May mga umaga talaga na magigising kang pakiramdam mo, dinaganan ka ng jupiter at hinigop ng black hole. Ito yung cliche na “waking up on the wrong side of the bed”.

Para sa akin, ang masamang gising ay isang sumpa… Hehe. May inaalagaan kasi akong kapangyarihan na kahit pilit ko mang ideny ay hindi ko maiwasan. Nakakakita kasi ako ng mga flashbacks este flashforths (future kasi, ehem!). Nope, hindi ako psychic. Psychopathic!

Seriously though, kahit gaano pa kasama ang aking gising, ang nasasabi ko na lang, “aba, nagising pa ako!”.

Mabuhay ang mga gising!

“Miss, itutulak kita”

Naranasan ko noon na ipagtulakan palabas. Actually, nagpaalam pa nga yung tutulak sa akin na itutulak nya ko.

Masikip kasi noon sa MRT, lunes ng umaga, rush hour. Sa sobrang sikip, kailangan mo talagang magsuper effort para mahawi mo yung mga tao para mabigyan ka ng daan. Akala ko madali lang, kasi payatotski naman ako. Madaling sumingit. Pero siksikan talaga kaya kahit anong gawin kong sigaw ng “EXCUSE ME!”, wala ring nangyari. Kaya sabi ng nagmagandang loob na babae, “Miss, itutulak kita. Hindi rin gagalaw yung iba pag hindi ka nagpilit!”

As in tulak, talaga! Para pa ngang naulinigan ko yung original pusher ng sinabi nitong, “O itulak niyo yung babae baka mapagsarhan!”

Kaya, yun, itinulak ako nung babae, at may iba pang nagala-pushers din hanggang makarating ako sa pintuan ng MRT.

Buti na lang fully padded ang aking Echolac bag kaya secure pa rin ang aking pinakamamahal na laftaf.

At mabuti na lang din, nagpaalam si original pusher sa kanyang gagawin. At least ready ako sa aking kakaharaping mga obstacles. Gayundin, sa pagpapaalam niya na itutulak ako, niready ko na rin ang sarili kong mabalian ng buto, makaamoy ng sarisaring body aroma, at masaktan.

Magandang learning experience nga iyon para sa akin. Kasi naalala ko rin nung minsang gusto kong aluin si bespren TeBe mula sa kanyang paghihinagpis sa pakikipagkalas ng kanyang bf. May joke text kasi akong nareceive pero masasaling ang kanyang damdamin. Tipo bang birong totoo. Pero kating-kati ang kamay kong ipabasa sa kanya. Kaya sabi ko, “TeBe, meron akong ipapabasa sa ‘yong joke, kaso masasaktan ka. Gusto mo bang saktan kita?”

Ang sabi niya, “Sure! Ikaw pa! Basta after, tatawa ako ha?”

Humagalpak naman siya sa tawa pagkabasa ng text. Sabi niya, hindi naman siya nasaktan. Slight lang. Niready naman daw niya ang kanyang sarili. :)

As for me, nireready ko lang ang aking sarili. Hinihintay ko kasi ang resulta ng aking effort-full journey to recovery. Isang oras din to. Sa tingin ko nama’y pwede na kong makipag-blood compact in an hour. Hayko!

Smiles of a Tot

I have these two pics taken when I accompanied my nephew, Deen, to his Christmas Party last year. Deen is another tot, a 3-year old brilliance who can already read. In fact, he was the one who read the opening prayer before their party began.

As a toting Tita, since his parents where both indisposed at that time (sis was in US and bro-in-law was on an urgent business call) I asked Deen to pose for a souvenir picture.

Basahin ang kabuuan

Thought ni Tot

Sino si Tot? Actually, hindi ito yung tunay niyang pangalan. Maganda lang yung rhyme. Ang name niya, Loreen, 3 years old. Isang tot. Malikot, madaldal, makulit, masayahin, biba. In short, isa siyang tipikal na batang 3-year old.

Siya at si Datdat (6-month old) ang nanggising sa kin kaninang umaga, empunto alas-siyete. Umiiyak kasi si datdat kaya tinawag ni Loreen ang mommy niya. Sumigaw siya, sabi, “Mommy, ang ingay ni Datdat! Magigising si Tita Jaja!”

Basahin ang kabuuan

The Free Man

He became free the moment he realized he is one. But not after he got lost.

There, along the empty highway, long and wide, he drove as freely as he can humming a song he can’t rightly put where he heard, but hummed it as enthusiastically as he can anyway.

I am free, he said. Free to go anywhere. Free to go everywhere.

On his lap is the map of everywhere-and-anywhere-he-wanted-to-go. The opportunities of places are up his nose that he felt smiling all the way.

I am free, he said. Free to meet everybody. Free to go out with anybody.

He smoothed his hands on his newly bought mobile phone to store all the numbers of those he will meet and choose among them who he will go out with.

I am free, he said. Free to do everything I want. Free to do just anything.

He has a lifetime ahead of him. Only his imagination is his limit in thinking of ways to make his life exciting and fun.

Until he came on a fork on the road. One road northward, the other eastward and the third southward. Of course, there’s the other road that will lead him back, but for him, although he’s free to choose it, he’s also free not to. So he made up his mind and filtered his options: north, east or south?

As if a myriad, a ghost of a man came a-knocking on his car window. He asked, “where are you going?”

“I’m going everywhere and anywhere,” said the Free Man.

“So many in places in mind, but where do you want to go first?” asked the Ghost Man.

“Anywhere where everybody and all the fun is, can you tell me where to find it?”

“Ahh, what a travel you will endure. You have to really go everywhere to find the place you’re looking for. But if you’re going somewhere, I can point you to the right direction.”

“Somewhere can be anywhere! And I am right to go anywhere because I might find somewhere.”

The Ghost Man just shrugged his shoulder and without blinking pointed northeast.

“That’s nowhere! Why are you directing me to a road that doesn’t exist?”

“Because that’s where you want to go. You don’t want to go everywhere or anywhere. You’re just lost.”

“How can a free man like me get lost when I have the whole world waiting for me?”

“The world is not waiting for you. Just someone, but not everyone or anyone. I bet you are waiting to be found or else, free as you are, you can just go to any of these three roads and kept on driving. But you stopped. You want to be found.”

“No one will come looking for me. I am free now. I am my own man. I can go anywhere and everywhere I want.”

“Then choose a road, any road. Those roads have their own anywheres and anybodies,” and the Ghost Man disappeared.

The Free Man shifted gear and started going eastward but decided later that he should have gone straight north. He made a U-Turn trying to go back to that fork in the road. It shouldn’t have been far. He wasn’t driving that long. But he couldn’t find the fork.

So he kept driving, and driving mindlessly he did. This time, the humming was gone. He got tired and sleepy. Night was slowly creeping.

He slammed on the breaks. Furious, mad and frustrated, he got out of his car and saw that he was nowhere near where he wanted to go.

So he waited. To be found.

pluto, pamahiin at friday the 13th

bukas, friday the 13th na naman. parang nangyari na ito nung isang buwan… at sa november na ang ulit nito! ibig sabihin, tatlong beses pala akong swerte sa taong ito! hehe.

eniweiz, pinapangunahan ko na maging optimistiko. kahit naman paano, nabahiran din ako ng pagiging mapamahiin, tulad ng hindi pagkanta tuwing nagluluto kasi daw makakapag-asawa daw ako ng matanda. kaya nga ang ginagawa ko, song and dance number pag nagluluto with matching sandok microphone. o di ba, effective? mukhang naabo na kahihintay yung aking magiging better half. waah!

naroon din yung bawal daw maligo at magwalis pag biyernes santo. ang tanong ko, bakit? ilang berdey ko na kaya ang natapat ng biyernes santo! alangan namang hindi ako maligo nun? kahiya naman sa nagrarangyaan kong mga guests.

tas huwag daw tumuloy sa pupuntahan kung may tatawid na pusang itim sa iyong daraanan. goodness, siguro kung naniniwala din sa pamahiin ang mga bossing ko, aba’y baka every other day, absent ako. may kapitbahay kasi akong may alagang pusang itim dati. namiss ko kaya un! asan na kaya siya?

to cut it short, ako ang taga-kontra ng mga pamahiin.

kaya nga hindi ako naniniwala na malas ang 13, lalu na ang friday the 13th.

sa illinois nga, iseselebreyt nila ang pagiging planeta ng Pluto sa March 13th. ito kasi ang araw na nadiskubre ni Clyde Tombaugh, taga-illinois, ang Pluto noong 1930. pero dahil nademote si Pluto bilang isang dwarf planet, para sa mga taga-illinois, kahit isang araw lang sa buong taon, kikilalanin nilang planeta si Pluto. at ang taunang pagkilalang ito ay mag-uumpisa sa friday the 13th, bukas! o, di ba kaswerte ni Pluto? demoted, pero greatly remembered.

parang buhay lang yan. ang iyong kamalasan ay swerte ng iba.

pero sabi nga, wala namang salitang malas. ang meron lang, taong hindi marunong makuntento sa buhay.