in sum
I skipped work for five days because I had to help my parents arrange the wake and funeral of my maternal grandpa, who passed away Friday after a stroke. He was buried this afternoon.
While we’re all deeply saddened–mom is devastated, actually–by his death, I think most of us are just, well, glad that his suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease has ended. And I’m pretty sure he’s happy Up There.
I stayed awake at the wake mostly by playing tong-its (I won several times) and scrabble (I never won) with my cousins, or reading T.C. Boyle’s “The Inner Circle” from Karl. That reminds me, I must share this quote from the book which really, really struck me:
To give up your history was to give up your soul, and to possess it was the ultimate aggrandizement, like the cannibal growing ever greater with the subsumed spirit of each of his successive victims.
Family problems aside (because there’s more, although I can’t divulge those here), I’m pretty happy these days. My family and two of my best friends have met my boyfriend, Mico. Brief backgrounder: He’s a friend of a friend, he plays bass in a rock band, and we met at a gig in this place in Kamuning.
He dropped me off at the wake Saturday before going to another gig, then stayed at the wake for hours on Sunday. Aside from him, Meru and Sophie from the office dropped by Wednesday, bringing life (no pun intended) to an otherwise dreary, sleepless day.
In other news, UP Fair next week! Let’s =D
new beat’s resolutions
I almost threw my cellphone out of the car window today, I was so pissed at its crappiness. The space key doesn’t work sometimes, the battery runs out after a few hours, I sometimes can’t hear the voice on the other end of a call. I ranted about it pretty much all the way to Jollibee for the obligatory Sunday breakfast (yes, the family’s Sunday life is idyllic like that) until Papsi turned around and offered to help me buy a new one.
Emphasis on ‘help.’ Since I’m a working girl (!) now, I’m expected to shell out my own money for my own stuff. The problem is, I’m grossly incapable of saving up. I really, really mean that. In fact, when I told my mom last Sunday that I’ll start saving up, she roared in laughter. Even I was surprised.
Where do I spend my money? Well, aside from the necessities–like lunch food and travel–I spend a lot on dinners. Dinners with friends from different circles, sometimes with one, sometimes with many. Believe me when I say that there has not been a week since June that I didn’t head off somewhere with friends at least once after work. I’ve been spending a lot on movies, too. And on nights out when we feel like hopping from one place to another. There’s also shopping, and buying stuff for people I care for. Yes. Contrary to popular belief I am not all that selfish.
I read somewhere that when you really want to stick to something you have to announce it to the world, so that when you fail people will storm your house carrying torches and pitchforks, demanding that you stand by what you said. Or something to that effect. Anyway, that’s what I’m doing. I’m announcing to the world–or at least to the three or so people who regularly read this blog, myself included–that starting tomorrow I will save up. And that by the end of the month I will have five-figure savings in the bank. If other humans can do it, so can I. Oh yes.
tales of the undead commuter, part 1
Thursday night. The jeepney driver’s companion turned to me sharply when I paid P10.
“P11.50 na po,” he said.
“Kelan pa?” I asked (FYI, I recently came to terms with the idea that I’m probably innately defensive).
“Matagal na,” he said, sneering. “Hindi ka ba nanonood ng balita?”
It took me a while to respond to that because a) I had the sudden urge to flash him my media ID but realized that was so obnoxious, even by my standards–and besides, all I have for now is a temporary ID as the network hasn’t processed the real one yet (boo); b) I was trying to rack my brains out for jeepney fare hike news but all I could remember was they have to have the new fare matrix before charging extra; and c) during that moment I couldn’t remember the last time I rode a jeepney.
OA, I know, but so many things just happened this week. I’ve accepted that I can no longer have a nice week where I go straight home and rest after work; I just run in too many circles, hang out with too many people, and get assigned to too many things. Oh, but I’m not complaining. I like being out there.
Monday night AC and I had dinner at the Soul Shop, this quaint little place in QC that’s perfect for letting out frustrations because it’s so not commercial; there’s little chance that you’d bump into someone you know.
Tuesday night I went out with The Secret (we’re not supposed to tell anyone we went out lalala) for dinner and a movie that I never would’ve watched if it was just me, but it was okay because I like the company.
Wednesday night I watched the Cinemalaya entry Boses (on its Gala Night at the CCP) with two of my editors because I had to do a film review. Afterwards, one editor and I headed to this neat little place which can only describe as “what an English pub must look like” where we hung out with veteran male photojournalists ’til shortly before midnight. I got home around 12:30 a.m. and was once again like the undead at work the next day.
So, it’s Friday. I feel kind of terrible about bailing out at the last minute on a good friend whose house I’m supposed to stay in tonight. See, she wants me to meet this guy. We’re all supposed to hang out ’til Saturday with her other friends and cousins. But mom’s throwing a high school reunion of sorts at our house–we’ll be having around 30 people for lunch tomorrow–and she wants me to help out for a change since I’m out of the house pretty much every night since I started working. Oh, familial duties.
