ngayon ang birthday ng kuya bong ko. sino ba si kuya bong? si kuya bong ay isa sa pinaka matalik kong kaibigan. isa siya sa mga barkada ko at classmate since kinder. anak ni kuya bong si lucas. nanay naman ni lucas si darlene. si darlene ang bunsong kapatid ni jet. asawa ni jet si jay na matalik na kaibigan ni kuya bong. kabit-kabit talaga kami, it’s a small world and all that shit.

are you confuse? CONFUSED with a “D” at the end, gago. o sige, “To who it may concerned: I am please to inform you…” BOBO. “To whom it may concern: I am pleased to inform you…”

ang sarap talagang magbasa ng mga technical letter galing sa mga engineer na magaling sa math pero di nag-aaral sa english. asan na ba ako? ah, ok. are you confused?

let me rephrase… HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my kuya bong, ang asawa ng kapatid ng asawa ko, kaibigan ko for more than 33 years. ang hiling ko lang kuya bong, kung sakaling mabasa mo ito, sana tigas titi ka pa rin, kahit 38 years old ka na, para naman masundan pa si lucas. hehe.

si perskasin jojo, ang aking artistang pinsan. napangasawa niya si renee who used to be a newscaster at channel 9. for a while she also was a newscaster for the filipino channel, ang peborit cable channel ng mga pinoy sa north america. anak nila etong dalawang katabi ko… si troy at si lance. the last time i saw lance, he was just a few days old, ngayon malaki na’t makulit. si troy naman eh etong cute na bata sa kaliwa ko. long hair at lakad ng lakad. hindi nahihiyang tumabi sa kanyang uncle from singapore. heehee. we just found out during the weekend that renee and jojo will be having a third child. so excited ang lahat sa darating na bagong bagets.

yung batang bilog ang mukha sa background ay si kuting. cute nga ng pangalan niya no? parang pusa. meeyao! anak siya ni sammy, ang aking perskasin din na kuya nina jojo at simon. di siya marunong magsalita ng tagalog pero nakakaintindi pag kinakausap mo siya. pilosopo tong batang ito at puro patagilid ang sagot sa mga tanong ko.

kinunan ito nung last day ko. nag lunch kami sa bahay nina jojo at nag swimming sa backyard nila. kaya ako nakatambay sa gilid ng pool eh kasi di ko kaya yung lamig ng tubig. para kasing galing sa ref eh.

ang aking pinakamamahal na pinsang si simon. imo for short. siya ang umasikaso sa akin ng husto nung nasa san francisco ako kamakailan. mahal ko tong pinsan kong ito. before my visit, the last time i saw him was 20 years ago in manila. this was before they left for the states. during the in between years, nag sign up siya sa US Navy, nakapag-asawa at nagkaroon ng dalawang anak. ako naman stayed in manila, studied engineering, married jet, worked for a long time in the philppines and moved to singapore. then like magic, i had the chance to visit them during a business trip…separate lives converging for a few memorable days in the states. laking tuwa ko nga nung nadalaw ko siya at nakausap uli.

the last time we saw each other, we were both in our late teens. the same age as his panganay paul, who will graduate from high school soon. ngayon, pareho na kaming “gaining face” (better to say than “losing hair”). there is a scienctific law called that states: “a man’s age is directly proportional to facial soap and inversely proportional to shampoo”. in short, habang tumatanda ka eh, mas tumatagal ang oras ng paghilamos ng mukha kaysa pag shampoo ng buhok. asan na ba ako? ah, my perskasin…

imo and jojo took a half day off when i arrived on a friday afternoon. sinundo namin si donna sa airport at along the way eh kwentuhan pa rin. from the airport, going home, inuman sa milpitas until 4 in the morning, kwentuhan pa rin. gising ng 9am papunta sa bahay nila sa modesto hanggang pag alis ko papunta sa airport, kwentuhan pa rin. sa sobrang tagal ng di pagkikita eh di matapos tapos ang kwento.

then, like the way i came, i swiftly left. like that, we’re back to our own separate lives. pero iba na ngayon, at least now i know that even if my perskasin’s out there somewhere in the bay area, he thinks of me the same way that i do now. i also know that someday, we’ll see each other again and catch up on each other’s lives.

Hi Ester.

How are things over your part of the world? I hope you were not affected by the blackouts that plagued almost the entire North American East Coast.

I just got back last Sunday from Manila. I spent a few days there for business and left Jet here. She was there for a month in June so we didn’t see the point of spending extra money for another trip. Besides, December is coming up in a few months and we normally go home for three weeks for the Christmas and New Year break.

What’s new back home? There have been many changes over the past two years that I’ve been out. Everything’s changed and yet everything’s still the same. There’s still the old problems with poverty and corruption and sometimes it depresses the hell out of me. Not enough to mount a coup though, which is just as well. If there’s any consolation, the family seems to be okay. At the very least, everybody is in good enough health and that is good enough reason for me to be happy.

My work just got extended here for another three years. I don’t really know how long we’re going to stay here but we’re giving ourselves 5 to 10 years here in Singapore. I’ll be 47 after 10 years. I can probably retire permanently by then. But that’s too long in the future. Right now, we work our butts off. We may not admit it outright but living here in Singapore really has its advantages. I have a good job and am earning enough so that we could live a good life. We have everything we need and have enough to save for a rainy day and dream dreams that were not possible a few years ago.

Just this lunch, my friend and I have been talking about growing old. He says he’s already starting to feel the effects of the excesses of his younger days. To think that he is much younger than me. I don’t know. I’m ok, I think. I’m in a stage where I’m more laid back and just take things as they come. I do not have this overpowering ambition anymore to get rich or anything to that effect. I am content and happy and that is more than what most people can say about themselves.

I’m glad that you loved the pictures of mom and the family. The pool that you saw in the pictures is not ours. This is the pool that we have for the entire subdivision so don’t have any funny ideas that I’m doing THAT good. Hehehe…

Ingat,
Jay