waxed

special cases need special attention, just for example - sam. my kid is blessed with earholes (is there such a term?) the size of an ant's upper thorax (is there such a body part?). ok, seriously. let's just say the usual ear buds won't give the earwax a choice but to go further inside. i bet you'll suggest to use the little spoon-like thing to scrape it off. ooooh! that thing! i can still feel the sensation of the aluminum tip touching my inner ear. that is orgasm baby! - when i still don't know the true meaning of the word. (so that makes me around 6 years old then?)

anyway, we're used to taking her to the EENT clinic so qualified professionals can perform their noble job of relieving her of excess auditory trash. actually, this is only her 3rd time. on her last appointment (1.5 yrs ago?), the cost of the service was around 400 pesos, which probably makes it now around 450-500. just to make sure, my sister-in-law called the clinic to inquire how much. and they said, around 300-400 pesos.

to give you a background, i consider this only existing EENT clinic in our area as, (tagalugin ko para may epek) - mukhang pera!!! here's why: when you ask for an offical receipt from a doctor, they declare how much they earn. around 10% of that goes to the gov't. guess what? i had to pay 40 pesos just to have an official receipt. and here's the best part - the 40 pesos i paid is not declared on the receipt. nampotah hayup!!! i get to be the lucky guy to pay their taxes. tanga ko no? pumayag naman ako.

back to my story. after the cleaning, the doctor said that sam had a lot of earwax removed. and the charge now is raised to 800 pesos because of that. tangina! per kilo na ba ang bayaran ng tutuli! oooooooo. these are the doctors that should be sent abroad. not the good ones. i pray for you. i hope you get to clean all the earwax of the world.

precognition

"...we can see the past through our memories; and the future through our dreams..."
- Anonymous

the most amazing thing happened to me this morning. i may have proof that we can indeed tell the future from our dreams! how? read on, sipon (corny!)

in my dream, i was on the sidewalk waiting for a bus with two other people. and then after a few moments, the bus came but did not stop for us. suddenly, the person beside me had a heart attack and so we needed to catch the bus' attention. the only way to do it is through one of the bicycles parked beside us. the interesting thing about one of the bicycle is that it has a "ringer" (a gadget used instead of a horn). and so what i did was to jam the ringer and let it go just to catch attention. now imagine this: a ringing sound over and over again. what do you do? you wake up! and eureka!!! - it's the alarm clock!

three things:
1) what made me dream of a bike with a ringer? was this in preparation for the things that are about to happen?
2) the length of time between the jamming of the ringer to the actual sound of the alarm clock is the time for prediction. this is too small but imagine if we can enhance this. this is probably what's happening to people with visions (or not). if we learn to interpret that a bike with ringer means an alarm clock is about to wake you up, then we can probably wake up before the alarm clock is triggered!
3) the proximity of the prediction is limited. it only concerns events within the room at least. again, enhancement is the key.

* forgive the author, gastro-intestinal juices have slowly filled-up his brain.

sucker

I wish football (soccer) would make it as a mainstream sport here in the Philippines. Something like the attention and not to mention the money that basketball and recently, badminton have been receiving. I think this has been the persistent wish of every person who fell in love with this sport. And I hope it comes true and probably will. Konting hintay pa.

Officemates, friends, friends of friends, officemates of friends get together every sunday afternoon just to play this sport we are all beginning to love or have been loving all those years. Nothing too competitive, just a friendly game. Pero ang saya!

I even bought my own soccer shoes with matching knee-high socks, thanks to my wife of course. Shin guard na lang at sobrang feeling na talaga. Maybe later, if I really have the true futbol skills, hehehe. Long way to go. A thousand sundays most likely.

Look at me with the gear. The shoes cost me PHP 1,300. Not sure about the socks though, it was a gift from a fan.

tsikot

I remember those times when my wife and I always dreamt of having our own car. After every gimik, she would always ask me "Oh, san ka ba nag-park?" and my perennial reply would be "...sa future". Blood, sweat and tears had been shed just to fulfill that dream. Lahat na yata ng bodily fluids.

And now look at my black little buddy.



Three more years and the car is officially ours. Three more years and probably we can start buying our own house. Or probably Sam can have a little baby brother or sister perhaps. Three more and we'll probably start living one of our dreams again.

wishkid

Been here for more than 3 months. Another one and home sweet home again. So that I won't forget, I prepared a wishlist of what I want to do, hopefully.

a) Buy a book for Sam twice a month, once for me and an ebook for Berni. hehehe.

b) Go on a vacation trip with them before Christmas 2004.

c) Shopping with my lovely wife.

d) Go to Antipolo Church for the good voyage.

e) 10 Kilometer checkup for the car and the needed fixes.

f) Cook at least one meal for my sweet wife.

g) Do I need a haircut, a new wallet, lots of kisses (from You, hehehe)?

h) A long overdue birthday gift for nanay.

i) An FPJ movie with tatay. (wala na yata syang bagong movie eh, :-P)

j) A whole afternoon with Mac-mac playing in Glico's and Quantum.

greed

There is no such things as free lunch.

This probably best describes the greed in every one of us. No single person is unselfish. Everyone wants something for something everytime, all the time. They just want it in different ways.

Unconvinced? What about those people who do charity work? Those who devote their time and energy so that they can make other people's lives better. I'm not talking about those hypocrites who live a double life. I'm talking about those genuine ones, those who don't want something in return. Oh no but they do, maybe not in the way we consider as greed but they do it because they feel something good inside. And that is getting something out of doing something to someone.

Our whole life is a business investment. When we do something, it's a business transaction. It's like barter. Alright, I save your life what's in it for me. Ahm, you'll now have a life supply of feelings of heroism running through your veins. You will also get, tadaaaan! 1000 good points that you can claim during Judgement Day.

Those fools who decided money as profits are shortsighted. A good businessman doesn't invest on something that won't have any value after a few snaps. If you know what you want then have a plan and do it. And I'm telling you, everybody wants something.

Those who want to prove that you can do something without wanting in return must be ready to waste their whole life. Once you go on proving this, you already disproved it.

uneventful

sam: daddy, bukas bababa ka na sa plane ha. tapos dito ka na hihiga sa bed.

that coming from the most fragile person in your life makes your whole day and breaks your heart at the same time. well, this is my first time to spend my birthday outside the philippines and without the people i love the most.

haaay, how will i spend my birthday? first, call home and energize! then go to work, as usual. spend the whole day discussing with the clients. go home. get online. eat, read, sleep. and it's over. just like that. can't get more ordinary than that.

somewhere between those moments i will feel emptiness and hope. and take out myself from the reality i've chosen to be. and know that at the end of the day, i am more closer to home as before.