Ang Pagkabanhaw / Ang Pagbabalik
I’m sitting in a cafe in a decrepit mall in Tambo, Pasay. The cafe itself is nice, airconditioned, 25 pesoses minimum up to 1 hour. It’s probably the best buy I’ve had for my money in the past week that we’ve been here.
Renovation to the house is done, at least we’re done with the contractor. Quits, kaput, good riddance, hope you enjoy the money we paid you because we had no other choice but to get on with the renovation as soon as we could and you were the only person we knew. Next to Ellen Valena you are the person I hate most in Manila. I must admit, naging tanga din ako for missing the stuff you took out when you revised the quote you first gave us, pero pasalamat narin ako dahil malinis na bahay namin. I will not name you here outright, dahil sa totoo lang din naman, maganda ginawa mo sa kitchen counter. Sa kitchen counter lang ha, don’t get your hopes up baka kala mo pati dun sa ibang bagay na ginawa mo sa bahay nagandahan din kami. But if any of my friends start talking about hiring an architect/contractor from Casimiro Homes in Sucat, sisiguraduhin kong hindi ikaw yung iniisip nila.
Will be posting the before and after pics in a day or two, for those interested in how to fix a pigsty to make it humanly livable again. Hirap nitong pacafe-cafe lang, sandamukal na pakiusap pa bago makapag-upload ng pics from a cd.
On a lighter note, this morning nagpunta sa Barangay Vitalez si Eagle Riggs ng Unang Hirit!!! Nabalitaan agad ng mga girls kong sina Bebing at Annalie, kaya hayun, binitbit ang Maia para mapanuod ang segment ni Eagle. Nuod din kami sa bahay, pero hindi naman sila nakunan ng camera. Pero pag uwi nila may bitbit na medium-sized basket si Annalie, punong puno ng sabong panlaba … nanalo pala siya sa raffle pagkatapos ma-air ng segment ni Eagle. Maganda daw si Eagle.
Touchdown!
After two days at the office/staffhouse of the NGO Sam works for, the family and I went on the final drive from Iligan City to Cagayan de Oro City, and flew from Lumbia Airport to touchdown at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. This is a year and seven days after we first came to live in Iligan City.
But now WE’RE BACK!
I’m taking advantage of the Internet connection at the office/staffhouse here in QC. The house in Parañaque is almost done but not clean enough for a toddler to be running around in, so we’re staying here until it is. Need to iron out a few design misunderstandings with the contractor (that’s what happens when you renovate by remote control), need to get a few things for the house, need to wait for the container van that’s got our stuff packed like sardines.
Which brings me to Pedring. Pedring works for WGA Zip Cargo. He and his boys came over to the old Iligan house last Tuesday morning to pick up our stuff and put them into a 10-footer container van for shipping to Manila. I had no idea how small a 10-footer container was until I saw one up close. I looked at it, and then at our bulky furniture and assortment of boxes, one of which contained the air purifiers, and said to myself I’d goofed on this one, our stuff will never fit into that container.
But Pedring made them fit, and without having to use a hammer or crowbar either. With the most awesome display of spatial intelligence this side of the archipelago, Pedring directed his boys on which piece of furniture to give him at a time and within the span of less than two hours, he had the entire contents of our house safely piled up one on top of another. I thought, this guy would play a mean game of Tetris.
ants on my keyboard
there are ants on my keyboard. they live in the vast recesses of the alphabet and F-keys caps lock and tabs. i don’t know how they got there they were just all of a sudden there as if they thought they could find sustenance in the detritus valley. maybe they were looking for water. everyone’s looking for water these days it’s so damn hot. i hear water all the time running dripping traversing the plumbing fixtures embedded in the walls of this apartment which will be no longer our home in the next one two three four eighteen hours when the container van comes to gorge itself on our lean puny furniture as Monstro had eaten Gepetto and the wooden boy Pinnocchio. i hear water but i never see it. it runs not from our faucets but i hear the tank overflowing and the electric motor running. i hear cooking sounds someone’s frying something all the time all over the place sometimes i smell the cooking sometimes not. most of the time i smell something burning and i call out “something’s burning!” and they all run to find out what it is and they tell me it’s a bonfire from two houses away i tell them someone threw an old rubber slipper into it i hate that smell almost as much as i hate the smell of cigarette filters burning in ashtrays. and then they look at me and tell me what am i doing on the computer i’m supposed to be resting recuperating i say i’m saying goodbye for now dammit and i’m not done yet wait i’m not done yet i’m w a a a a a a a a i i i i i t t t t
Reseta
Amoxycillin 500mg 3x a day
Vitamin C 500mg 2x a day
Paracetamol every 4 hours (for the fever)
Yun ang nadecipher ko sa resetang sinulat ng doctor ko kanina. Urinary tract infection nga, gaya ng suspetsa namin ni Sam since last week pa. That explains the chills for the past three nights, the latest of which was a bone-wracking experience I wouldn’t wish on any of my friends.
My OB-Gyne was the only doctor I’d been to here in Iligan. Decades ago, Sam’s family had lived in the rented part of their house, so she was an old friend too. I told her my fears of possible oncoming perimenopause and she told me she had the same worries, turned out she was only a couple of years younger than I was. Welcome to the club.
She had this nifty testing kit that looked like a fancy version litmus paper, divided into small rainbow-colored squares. After her her assistant dipped the tester into my cloudy urine sample they had the diagnosis right away. That was cool, as I thought I’d have to go to a lab for the urinalisys and would have to wait for the results the next day. She assured me that the antibiotics were not going to affect Maia (who is still under full breastfeeding). If you don’t feel any improvement in the next two days, come back immediately so we can up your dosage or change your medication entirely. And that’s it! Bon Voyage for next week, we’ll miss you and Maia. Maia’s pediatrician is her older sister who’s clinic was next door.
I’ll miss them both. And I’ll miss all of you because I vowed to stay away from the computer while I’m on medication. Antibiotics does weird things to me.
About Me
