These Are His Stories (Not Mine) Vol. 1 & 2

Volume 1: His Life at the Waiting Shed

He’s been doing not much at work for the last few months, because he is still ‘benched’ and despite him turning one year at his job very soon, there seems to be very little signs that he’ll be rolled-in to a new project anytime near. Somehow, people think that he is lucky where he is at right now since he earns just the same without the normal pressure people have in an actual project. His IM is open the whole day at work, he gets to surf all the sites that are not blocked by this thing called Websense with less worry that someone’s watching over his back. He gets to slouch on his office chair sometimes, and he doesn’t recall the last day he needed to work overtime.

While people think that he is lucky, for him, he is seriously left behind. All his colleagues are not with him anymore and are rather having actual job experiences for a long time now and are getting the most of what they can have out of a professional environment. While he is making very little progress on his career but then he realized he didn’t have any choice. Undeniably, he wasn’t happy with his situation.

It’s like sitting at the waiting shed with no idea what time the next bus will stop and pick you up and where will the bus actually take you.

Volume 2: His Old Friends and New Textmate

He rarely texts his friends or forwards text quotes/jokes to them and this is as rarely as he receives the same from them. But whenever they plan get-togethers like group dates, he would always volunteer to inform everyone through text and this is when he finds it most practical to own a cellphone. He was holding his phone firmly and looking at it, he recalled how his phone unit model has changed from when he was still studying to now that he is already working. Suddenly he realized that just like his cellphone, some friendships have changed too.

Despite this, he has found a new motivation to hold his cell phone more often as he awaits the next text message from his new friend. Well, not really new, since they’ve known each other way back in college. It was yet another ‘friendship’ based on text exchanges, he thought. And although he ought to be more careful with handling this one, somehow he has managed his expectations that this could be temporary as well.

For the meantime, he is happy.

Fire

Everyone in our house were alerted and awaken by a voice from our neighbor yelling 'Fire!'. This was before 6 in the morning on Easter Sunday, and the first thing I did was to call out my mom who's in the other bedroom with my younger, and go outside to confirm and see how far the fire is from our house. It wasn't long before we knew that the fire was starting from our neighbor’s house, the one near mom's bedroom and not from afar as we all have initially perceived. I started to panic. While mom and E-jay were outside to help put out the fire with the rest of neighbors, I was deciding what to do first: a.) call up the fire station b.) contact my 'kuya' for help c.) begin saving items before the fire becomes uncontrollable which leads me to yet another decision making—what to save first? Thank God the fire was discovered early and was able to be extinguished before it could cause further damage or loss. About 15minutes only, without the need of firemen and only the 'bayanihan' of neighbors, the fire was put off and it became an instant talk of the 'barangay'.

How the fire really started is somewhat a mystery. The dwellers of the house couldn't figure it out themselves—it wasn’t due to short circuit, candle left unlit, or gas stove explosion. On the other hand, how the fire has been controlled and eventually put out fast was the luck story of the day. Indeed, God was good to us.

I remember the last time there was a fire in our place, some two years ago. It was farther from our house, in New York compound almost near the elementary school I went to but the fire was bigger that we can see the flames and smoke from our terrace. Yet, we were already getting prepared for the worst scenario—that is loosing our house so we started packing things. It was much easier then because Dad was home for vacation and I realized that it was completely different then when we had a strong man in the house who would keep us safe despite the panic scenario. How I wish dad was here when the fire happened earlier this morning.

I can’t imagine loosing our house from fire. The house I lived in for all of my life. The house I go home to every night after work. The house mom and dad have invested for our family. It would be really hard for me to let go of it especially if beyond our will but if then the situation calls for the inevitable… like many things in life we have to let go of it.

Let’s appreciate what we have now because you can have many things today and by tomorrow loose everything you have.

My Own Grey's Anatomy Episode

Nobody likes to be sick or spend some time at a hospital. As kids, we would always give our parents a hard time in taking that raspberry-flavored cough syrup. We would fear and oftentimes end up crying whenever we need an injection. And we hate visits to the doctor, especially having to wait long before we get our turn. As we become grown-ups, our worries go beyond injections, bad-tasting medicines and doctor visits… we become more conscious with our health yet we are never excused from getting sick and spending time at a hospital…

March 19, early Monday morning, I got up having a headache from a bad chain of dreams and fever due to my cough & cold that have gotten worse since Saturday evening. I knew I wasn’t feeling well and despite mom having prepared my breakfast already, I opted to return to bed and not to go to work. When I finally got up to eat some breakfast it wasn’t long till I felt nauseous and soon my vision faded to blackout for a minute. I thought I was going blind, but soon the images went clear and after which was extremely perspiring like I’ve just run a mile. With mom, kuya, and my trusty health card, I was brought to the doctor for a check-up. Doctor said it was probably just because I abruptly got up from lying on bed that caused the momentary blackout. I was given a new set of medicines and after which, it was decided that I just take my rest at home. After almost 8 hours only, I experienced the brief vision blackout again. We returned to the hospital I was taken that morning. My blood pressure went low while my body temperature was high. Despite no obvious and serious life threat, I decided to be confined to have a better rest and medical attention in my own private room at the hospital.

After 3 days and 2 nights (though officially the bill stated only two days) in room 2, four bags of dextrose and about a dozen of temperature and BP checks by different nurses, I was discharged and I realized many things out of this experience. From simple ones like how hospital food are well-prepared and actually tasted good… how the dextrose attached on my left hand could be uncomfortable after a few days… to deeper matters, like how a mother selflessly attends to their sick children even if they’ve grown adults now… and how relatives are there to give emotional support when one is sick while some others we expect aren’t. Most importantly, I realized that this hospital experience is good but I don’t think it’s one of those experiences I’d like to go through all over again, because as anyone would want, I’d rather stay healthy.

As cliché as it sounds, health is really wealth. Nobody likes to be sick or spend some time at a hospital but even if we unconsciously try to avoid these from happening… one time or many times in our lives we will experience them and will teach us a lesson or two about our lives.

Between Last Night’s Hangout and This Morning’s Hangover

I was back hanging out in By the Bay at Island Cove with a different set of college friends last night. Judie, Anne, Jhing, Sheena, Rodel (who introduce us to this beach-themed bar) and I had our post-Valentine's celebration there a few weeks ago.This time, interestingly, only Rodel and I are the ones who have been there before while Jhoy, Wewe, Gladys and Jane were able to join us to commemorate the first year anniversary of our college graduation.

It turned out to be the official press conference for Jane's recent personal trial as well. Things were revealed last night, and somehow half of the mystery that surrounded the reason for this sad happening has been unveiled.

Personally, the second visit in By the Bay wasn’t as good as my first time. I wasn't feeling physically well since that morning, and it was extremely breezy when we were there that it aggravated my health condition. I didn't enjoy the food too, although we ordered the same as previous. The baked mussels, in particular I think, triggered me to have a nasty vomit, and thank God I was able to make it to the CR before I messed up and Rodel was there with me.

No doubt, I was that night's kill joy. I initially agreed to stay overnight at Rodel's place so that we friends can have more bonding time, but after that nasty puke, I knew it would be best that I just go home.

Gladys and I went on our respective houses while the four stayed for the night at Rodel’s. I was feeling better when I got up this morning although I still have such a bad hangover. I got a text message from Jane, telling me that they were with ‘someone-I-would-like-to-see' in the jeepney on their way to Malabon last night. Taking about coincidence, if only I wasn’t feeling ill last night, I would have gone with them to Rodel’ house as planned and had that chance in a lifetime to see this person I have not seen for more than a year. I am having a bit of regret, until I realized that this person might not be ready to see me either. Bottom line is, it wasn’t just meant to be.

My Palm That Doesn't Sweat

03.05.07. I finally purchased a Palm z22- not the most high-tech gadget out there and definitely an inexpensive one but something I've always wanted to own.

In the past several weeks, I've been contemplating much on what investment I'll get in time before coming bonus-a Sony Erricsson phone, an Ipod shuffle/nano, a Gameboy, a digital camera or a PDA. The last I found most practical since I like doing secretarial stuffs (setting dates, making to-do lists, writing notes) and for the simple reason that I wanted to make my life more organized.

Practicality, distinctiveness and budget were major players in my decision making. After several googling for product information and user reviews for Palm z22, realizing that I cannot afford the higher models (like the Palm Treo 680--which was on ny Xmas wishlist) and finding out in www.complink.com.ph that its price has been reduced by a thousand pesos, I finally bought it and I am now a few thousands poorer .

I did make a review of this gadget in a tech website; you may click on this link if you’re curious:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Palm_Z22/4852-3127_7-31546758.html?tag=srtdate&ord=creationDate+desc

Break Again

When two people in love break up and they’re both your friends, which side do you take, the one who called for a break-up for an undisclosed reason or the one who didn’t see a break-up coming?

The answer would be very easy but I guess as a friend, you should know how to place yourself in this kind of situation. A saying goes like ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, but since the relationship is already broken, ‘if it ain’t you who broke it leave the fixing to the ones who caused it’. In the process, I realized that a break-up is something personal, something that shouldn’t be pressured by people outside that broken relationship. None of those two people owe their friends an explanation unless they want to. But what should be expected from a concerned friend?

A friend enters the picture once there is a breakdown and not during a break-up. A friend stays behind and not ahead and hopes that moving on will come easy for each and everyone.

I Gained & I Lost

Gain. It’s been a long Saturday for me. I was invited by one of my professors in college, Mam Shie to go to Baste today for a hosting stint --an inter-university quiz bee, one of the highlight events lined up for the 4^th PIIE Student Congress. Wow, never thought how big was this thing I got myself into until I stepped into the gymnasium and saw it full as if there was a PBA game going on. And then Mam Shie told me that IE students from different universities and colleges in Cavite, Manila, Bulacan, Batangas and even Baguio were all gathered under one roof for this event. Luckily I was only to host the quiz competition and the venue would not be on the gym instead at the auditorium. Also, I was partnered with Rejie Mae, one of my co-officers in CGATES before so I guess the pressure is cut in half. I like joining quiz bee (The last time I joined was about a year ago and it was held in UP) but hosting quiz bee per se, was a totally different experience. However, I could say that I did ok for a first timer. That is despite of the logistics problems of the organizers(activity started around 3 hours after the actual time), lack of preparation time (we only knew the unconventional mechanics of the quiz bee like an our before we started the hosting), the inconsistency of my voice (due to stress) and my mistakes (I buckled several times and I got booed by the audience when I forgot to read the second part of a question during the moderate round, but it was an honest fault of the person guiding us in the questionnaires). It was almost 8pm when the winners were declared (Go La Salle!), I was super tired. Before parting ways with Mam Shie, she handed both Rej and I- a card, and enclosed is a paper bill— a stipend.

Lost. During a short break as a quizmaster, I read a sad text message sent by my cousin, Kring telling me that our uncle has already lost his battle with his sickness and passed away. Uncle Fredo is my mom’s brother and although he only lives a few houses away from ours, I never get to see him that often and the last time I saw him was on Christmas day when I handed my Christmas present for him. When I got home, right after taking some dinner, I immediately proceeded at his wake. Standing in front of a coffin, the reality hit me that I lost an uncle… a father figure I had growing up while dad’s working abroad for our living… the man I know would stand by our family in the absence of our father. I did not cry when I saw him peacefully lying in there, for I know by that moment, Uncle Fredo is making his journey to a life more superior to the one he has experienced here on earth.