kagabi, nag-uusap kami ni jet habang naghahapunan. pinag-uusapan na naman namin ang mga pwede naming gawin sakaling bumalik na kami sa pilipinas. sabi niya eh mag-start daw kami ng NGO. tatawagin daw siyang… “TAHANANG WALANG PINTO”, half-way house para sa mga reforming magnanakaw at miyembro ng akyat bahay gang.
perhaps you want to hear a funny parokya ni edgar song while watching the video of a group of friends who have been together for 32 years… ginawa ito ng kumpare kong si edgar maderazo, based na siya ngayon sa melbourne at siya ang network administrator ng monash university. kung interesado kayong mapanood ang MTV eh, punta na lang kayo by clicking on my BIRDIE…
this song is lovingly dedicated to my wife JET, who is celebrating her birthday today. happy happy birthday, my love.
tomorrow, 25 may 2002, holiday rin sa pamilya dahil 11th wedding anniversary namin ni jet. wow… it’s been a long trip man! pero di bad trip ah. hehehe… naalala ko pa nung kasal namin, a long long time ago. nasa labas kami ng munisipyo ng kalookan kasama ang ninong ko – ang pangalan niya ay si Dr. Boyet Silverio (kilala nyo ba siya? hehehe), at ang isa ko pang ninong na si mael (hindi siya malibog ha!).
kaming dalawa lang ni jet, kasi simpleng kasal lang ang gusto namin. ni wala ngang kamag-anak, kahit parents namin eh wala… wala kasi akong pera nung araw. nag sisimula pa lang kaming mag-ipon. reception nga ng kasal namin eh sa jolibee lang. nung panahong iyon kasi, pang jr. champ with fries at chicken joy lang ang budget namin. doon pa nga ata kami kumain sa sangandaan. at saka, kaming dalawa lang ni jet, di ko na inimbita ang 2 ninong namin – gastos lang iyon.
wala rin sing-sing, kasi walang pambili. isipin mo, ang suweldo ko nung panahon na iyon ay 2,000 pesos per month. kulang pa ngang pagkasyahin sa pamasahe at pagkain papuntang trabaho, sing-sing pa makakabili. dehins pre. inisip ko na lang, kung mayrong diyos – maiintindihan niya, dahil hindi naman siya tumitingin sa mga bagay na walang kabuluhan.
…and then i see a picture of the house and family i left behind and suddenly it all comes back in a flood of memories. home – traffic jams and dusty roads, chaos in the streets, people who don’t care, corruption and greed, potholes and heat. philippines my philippines, we love it to death!
Let me describe to you my typical week…
I work in an office in the South West of the island of Singapore. I have a small cubicle (6 ft x 9 ft), a lot better than what I’ve had in the past with S___. I have a large desk covering my front, right side and my back. On my upper right are three cabinets where I store my manuals and other stuff. On my rear are cabinets which contains my company T-shirts which I haven’t brought home. On my desk are the different CD’s for installation, manuals, my PC, phone and other office stuff.
This is my new working world right now. A bit of a change really – for the better, I feel. I don’t have the long 16 hour days that I had at S___. By and large, it has been OK – everybody here has made my stay comfortable so far. We eat together during lunch time and talk shop, and gossip (in a babel of English, Malay and Chinese). Except for the language and the strange accent when they talk, they are like any normal Filipino barkada discussing this and that.
I go home between six to seven. By then, it is still bright outside and I normally get off the bus a few stops from my flat. I walk the rest of the way home, buy food and dream of home.
When I get to the flat, I dress up, have a shower and watch TV while eating dinner – wash the plates afterwards, surf the TV with whatever is showing. After a while, I open the aircon, read a book and then finally get to sleep. I don’t normally sleep on purpose, most of the time, I sleep over reading a book (or watching TV). a bit boring sometimes.
During the weekends, I do a lot of stuff. I wake up at around six, and immediately do the laundry. By eight, I’d be finished and would dress up and jog to the park. Depending on what’s on at TV – I watch till around lunch time and sleep a while if nothing good is on. I wake at around four or five. Have coffee and prepare to take a bath. After taking my bath, I normally ride a bus to go to Orchard Road or Raffles Place. If I go to Orchard, I visit the large Japanese Bookstore (Kashimura or something)and watch a movie if there is anything good. Most of the time, I just walk around and enjoy the ambulance (ambiance ni ERAP, mahal yun!) and look at the people around me.
Batang Kaning Lamig 