Black or White?

Black has always been a recurring trend. Today, Americans have reaffirmed this by voting the first black president to the White House. Aaahh..I just hope the GQ material Obama is not just another trend. I like the guy. He brims with so much promise...and fashion sense.
If it's worth anything, McCain was man enough to concede. That's unheard of here in the Philippines. No Filipino politician accepts defeat. Just look at our government. How many political factions have clamored for a recall of electoral count, claiming that their bet won by x margin. Good God! They should have done that four years ago.
In the meantime, should we even care about the US elections? What good will it bring this third world country? One political analyst said an Obama victory would be favorable for Asian countries given that the Harvard graduate grew up in Indonesia, hence...is more sympathetic to Asians? Do you get the parallelism? I don't either. US has both of its hands full right now -- a looming recession, rising unemployment rate,Iraq war, weak dollar, etc. Sorry guys, but water runs dry even in the promise land.
Again I ask: should we give a damn who wins in the US Election?

sore and sullen

Woke up this morning with a stiff neck which I probably got from sleeping on my side the entire night. I was careful not to move too much, or stretch out my arms as I normally do. But last night, we allowed our youngest to sleep on our bed. He's been sick since yesterday. The last time I checked, the thermometer read 39.5. But he's getting better, thank God. Unfortunately, my stiff neck is not.
I think I should get a massage -- not! Our savings have dried up hence I don't have the liberty to splurge on hedonistic pleasures. In the meantime, Salonpas will do.

Ode to mama

There are still instances when I refuse to accept that my mother died not so long ago. Was it three or four years ago? I can barely remember. I never keep tabs of such dates. I can't even recall how she died. All I know is I was not by her bedside when it happened. I was sleeping, exhausted of the trip back home from Hong Kong, when my brother called me early in the morning to tell me the news.
That year, she knew that she was gravely sick but tried her best to keep it from us. She never complained, though. She was always happy and bubbly. I know that she was always delighted to see me whenever I went home to visit her in the province. The first time that she was rushed to the ER, my aunts told me that she wanted me to visit her. And I did. I took a leave from work and went to the hospital right away.
The following days got worse. Simple headaches made her sleepless every night. Soon, she requested that she be confined in Manila. That's when we knew it was serious because she never complained. Nor did she ever wanted to be confined in a hospital because she said it was too expensive.
We brought her to St. Luke's and the doctor diagnosed her with a swelling in the brain. Nothing serious, our father assured us, and soon she was back to the province while I flew to Berlin for an official assignment.
It was during my absence that her health turned for the worse. But I didn't knew hence two days after I arrived from Berlin, I flew to Hong Kong to cover the opening of Disneyland. I didn't see the fireworks on the last day because that was when I had to rush back to Manila to see my mother at the ICU.
I can still remember how she looked: she was all skin and bones; she had dark circles under her eyes, her cheekbones stuck out like fishbone, lips were dry and chapped. She was too weak to acknowledge me when I entered the room. She just kept staring at me, mumbling under the oxygen mask.
I was told that she had stage 4 breast cancer. God! Wasn't it only a month ago when she started complaining of painful headaches? And now the disease had spread to her lungs and bones!
Maybe you can call me a worthless, uncaring, callous, selfish daughter because that same day, I went home to catch up on sleep and told my brother that I'll be back the next morning to take care of her. I was so exhausted. Unfortunately, there was no next morning. She passed away a few hours after I left. I was too shocked to cry. I was angry at myself. I felt guilty. I blamed myself for leaving her in the hospital. It's still painful until now and I know that the pain won't go away...ever.
I just wished we still had her today. I miss her so much.

I'm "moved"

Since we got married, I and my husband have intermittently pondered about moving to a new house. The kids are growing fast and the room where we are staying is getting smaller to fit in all four of us. We live with our in-laws and although the house is big enough (five rooms and three floors)to accommodate five families, I have always secretly wished that we could someday afford to get our own place to raise our own family.
However,the steep prices of residential properties in the neighborhood have prevented us from doing so. We also have a lot of bulky furniture, appliances, knickknacks and unopened gifts (we received on our wedding)that we have accumulated over the years, kept away in boxes. How are we going to bring all these stuff with us?
Very recently, though, I stumbled upon the website http://www.moveme.com/ The site is dedicated to simplifying a normally complicated process such as relocating to a new house through tips, guides and bits of practical advice.
I know that moving from one place can be so much of a hassle but this site makes it sound a lot of fun. Browsing the site itself is a breeze which I attribute to its user-friendly interface and colorful icons. No wonder it was bestowed the Yahoo Innovation Award and the Yahoo People's Choice Award.
What's cool about this site is you can move to your own home sweet home without lifting a finger. The site has a list of moving companies that are fully licensed and insured. Choose any of these teams to help pack your things, sort out the parking authorisation, disassemble furniture among other things. If you are single and don't have that much to bring with you, you may tap the services of a removal company called the "man with a van" perfect for moving to studio apartments and smaller condo units. This is as efficient as a bigger removal company but way cheaper.

As for families like mine who are stressing over the cost that comes with moving from one place to another, we can all heave a sigh of relief. Check out the rates offered by removal companies and compare prices. It's a shave off your expenses not to mention you can rest assured that you won't end up losing things on moving day. Keep in mind, though, to go through all your belongings and make a list of all the things that you want to bring with you.
Let's all start moving!

Aching for beauty

I just realized that I am getting old. I no longer fancy wearing colorful plastic earrings and bangles. They look so "cheap" and so "trying hard" on me. I hoarded a handful five years ago during a trip in Bangkok. It used to be hip that time, to wear those plastic stuffs I mean. But not anymore, at least not on me.
Then there are my red Chucks that have been gathering dust in the shoe rack. I have attempted quite a few times to match these shoes with my outfit -- jeans, mini dress, shorts, skirts -- but the sneakers just look out of place like a hangnail sticking out from a chair. I bought my first and only pair four Christmases ago and even wore them to a friend's Christmas party. Now, I don't even want to try them on. Partly because molds have inhabited the footbed. Maybe I should start putting my old stuff in a balikbayan box and sell them to ukay-ukay shops. Same goes for my camouflage pants, ripped jeans, Bench towels (with my name embroidered on them), souvenir shirts (Gawd, I think I have one whole box of these), stockings, gloves, and beanies. The list goes on I might end up with just three pairs of clothes.
Soon, I won't be wearing jeans anymore. Don't you just hate old women trying to squeeze their fat arse in denim? The only person over 60 I know who can get away with such atrocity is Madame Ethel. But hey, she always gets away with anything.
Oh well...it's inevitable. And so are wrinkles, fine lines, sagging arms, big puson, athritis, rheumatism, menopause, and death. If there was any consolation, it's the fact that we will all end up in the same destination.

overrun? run over? what the heck!

Am feeling a bit pissed this morning. Let me rephrase that. I SHOULD be feeling annoyed about what happened on my way to work. But being the nice me, I let the incident slide off without giving a (cat) fight.
I usually take the LRT 5th Avenue station on the way to my office in Roxas Boulevard. I was not born rich (although I always wish I was)so I have no choice but to take the public transport. Nothing wrong with that except when you encounter reckless (a.k.a balasubas) drivers plying the treacherous streets of Manila.
No, the accident did not happen at the LRT station. I did not fall off the tracks, thank God. But I was run over by a tricycle. Of all vehicles, tricycle pa. It could have been a BMW, a Corvet, or pede na ring ang Pajero to make the incident a bit more telenovela where the driver will get off the car, help me get up...then look into my eyes and offer me a ride home. Sigh. Unfortunately, I am not Judy Ann Santos or Claudine Baretto.
I'm more of Annie Batumbakal who was ran over by a tricycle as she was getting off the cursed vehicle. Nakakahiya! I was already tearing up, partly because scrapes started to creep up my calf, and partly because everybody was staring at me as if I would die at that moment!
Juiceko! It was embarrassing more than it was painful. In my confusion, I grabbed a tissue paper from my bag and frantically rubbed the scrapes while mumbling incoherent curses.
Anyway, the driver (who was a minor!)sheepishly apologized. "Ate sorry, akala ko nakababa ka na."
Ok ka lang? Hindi mo ko nakita? Buset!

Down with Mondays!

There's so much to hate about Mondays and today is particularly loathsome. I was unusually late for work (my definition of "late" is when I arrive on the dot. I'd rather arrive 15 minutes earlier so I still have time for my rituals like yosi, banyo, etc.) I was late because I was stressing on what to wear today. Not that it was a big deal or something. It was just one of my indecisive moments, I guess. Well anyway..na-late ako because of that.
Upon arriving in the office, I did the usual stuff. Timpla ng kape, mag-banyo, turn on my computer, light up a stick and finish my coffee. Did all that in 10 minutes tops.
So I finally sat down my chair to continue where I left. I was kinda happy because I was planning to finish the last part of the level test. Ideally, one set of test takes about 8 to 10 days to finish.
Then the unthinkable happened -- I cannot find the file. It was nowhere in the folders. I tried all sorts of options -- search, advance options,I even downloaded the pandora software (as per my husband's instruction) but to no avail.
Shet! Was I that careless last Friday that I had forgotten to click the "Save" button before shutting down the computer? I tried to recall the events last Friday, particularly my chat with Rhea because I was deliriously hysterical chatting with her in the afternoon. Pero impossible! I mean, saving is habitual as picking one's nose. How could have I forgotten? Baka na-virus. So now, I have to re-write the entire test from Part 1 to Part 3. It sucks!