A Bout a Child

I never got the chance to view the other entries of the World Pyromusical Competition held at the SM Mall of Asia, showed on earlier dates, that is why I do not have any basis of comparison of the fireworks display made by the USA yesternight, which is the final act of the said competition. As much as I had been left in total awe by the said display of seemingly unending, breathtaking firecrackers that light up the then starless sky of Manila, USA did not get through the top three.

United Kingdom got the top spot followed by Australia and finally Japan.

The competition was closed  by a sophisticated display from the Philippines. Not preparing my mobile phone’s video camera for the climax made me quite regretful because that’s how beautiful it was! I had still managed to dig up my cellphone from my oversized denim bag but as I was about to pull it out from my bag and change the mode from camera to video, the after effect had already died down. Sad that I was not able to capture but happy that I was able to see it. It was such an inspiring view that time; so suited to be the finale of the whole.

Anyway, my brother and I overheard a conversation from the back. There were these kids playing, screaming and running around near to where we are sitting that is why it was hard not to capture and witness the chitchat.

An American girl of about 6 years of age approached this pair of Filipino siblings (one of them is a girl about 7 years old, and one is a boy about a number of years younger than his ate).

American: Can I play with you? (complete with an accent)

Filboy: NO! Nageenglish ka kasi e! (Because you’re speaking in English!)

And it was said with a snobby tone and a raised eyebrow. Funny! Another one was during the finale presentation of the Philippines. The older sister of the boy asked their parents a question.

Filgirl: Hindi na ba kayo nageenjoy? (Are you not enjoying anymore?)

Parents: Paano kami mageenjoy e ang gulu-gulo niyo, takbo kayo nang takbo! (How can we enjoy the show if you and your sibling kept on running around?)

Filgirl: E di ienjoy niyo lang kasi, huwag nio kaming pansinin. (Just enjoy the show, do not mind us.)

And she said it as if it was the obvious thing to do. Well, it really was but how could a parent do that right? Those kids are unbelievably hilarious.

Prologue on a Saturday

Went out the other day to see the Chingay Parade near the Singapore Flyer alone since my father could not go with me that day because of work. As I was about to exit the station, an auntie, who is old enough to be my grandmother, came out of nowhere and tapped my shoulder to ask if I know where the Singapore Flyer is.

Auntie: Do you know where the Singapore Flyer is?

Me: I was actually about to go there Auntie but I really do not know how to.

Auntie: Come on, let’s just follow all these people, I think they will go that way.

Me: Are you going to watch the Chingay parade Auntie?

Auntie: No. I just want to go to the Singapore Flyer.

Me: Oh well, do you know Funan Mall? I think there’s a shuttle nearby the mall that will pick up those people who wanted to ride the Flyer. But I think it’s on the other side.

Auntie: No, no. I am not riding the flyer. I was just listening to the radio here and I heard that the DJ’s that I am listening to will go there. I like them, they are funny. (Bagets! Auntie was really listening to the radio that time because she was wearing her earphones and was pointing to it when she said that. =))

After minutes of walking and talking about my Nationality, my impression of Singapore, where we are residing and some basic stuffs to talk about…

Auntie: So where are you going? Are you going to watch the parade?

Me: I’m going to see the Chingay Parade Auntie. Don’t you want to see the parade later?

Auntie: No, I don’t like. I am just here to see my favorite DJ’s. Haha!

Me: But have you seen the parade before?

Auntie: No. I have never watched it.

Me: How come?

Auntie: You know, Auntie here is a Singaporean but does not always go out. It is my first time to go to the flyer.

Me: Why is that Auntie?

Auntie: I could only go out when my other kid and husband take me out, I don’t know where to go and you know what? Parents are always there to look out for their children. Well, Auntie here has a son, he’s 20 years old now. Two years ago, before going to National Service, there was an incident that made my son lacked one heart valve. Because of that he was not able to go to National Service then. But it had already been replaced with a mechanical one. He is already fine, has adjusted himself to it but I was looking out for him for two years now, cant go out really. It is saddening, so young, he is so young to have a condition like that. And another thing, I was trying to help an Auntie 3 months ago, she needs to be lifted so I lifted her. She was kind of heavy but I was able to lift her on my back. I was actually feeling okay that night but the next day, I could not move anymore. I was actually bedridden for 3 months.

Me: For real Auntie?! Going to the Flyer seems to be a long walk. Are you okay to walk that far now?

Auntie: The DJ’s here said that it’s just a short walk to the Flyer, I did not know that it would be this far!

Me: Are you taking some medication? Are you feeling alright?

Auntie: Yes! You know what? I had visited 5 doctors already because of this. But my current doctor advises me to go for acupuncture so I am doing it now. I am able to walk now but not that good. My doctor said I should not walk that far yet. And all of this happened because I am a very good citizen. Maybe next time, I should restrict myself from doing good things to people, no?

I know she was only kidding because she was actually laughing at the idea as if saying “Can I really do that?”, but I could not help but got struck with what she said. How many people in this world still have that sense of selflessness running in their systems? How many people would still help someone in dire need especially if they know they have the capability to do something? How many of us will still lend a hand despite knowing that they will be risking their health and, worse, their lives in the process? We are living in a world where we wanted everything to be all about us and to work in our favor; where all of our sentences start with I think, I feel, I want, I need… always I. How low of a percentage of the totality are genuine altruists? How many are still left? If I have to ask the previous questions in front of a crowd, I am curious about the number of hands that will go up afterwards. I am envisioning that it will be more than I expect. But really, I am not talking about those people who are only claiming that they will actually be there in times of need but this is about those people who will truly stay and do something, those people who can and will still walk the talk despite the huge risk. Much like that kid who had saved a total of 50 lives during the Ondoy tragedy by bringing his neighbors and friends to a higher ground which in the process took his precious and youthful life or that person who is brave enough to face a bullet to protect his country and his countrymen or that person who is more than willing to receive death threats for the name of justice and defending what is right. Do we still belong in that small percentage? All of us had been bestowed with that responsibility; we all have a responsibility to our humanity but,it is a sad fact that only a few has the heart to own to that responsibility. And because of the scarcity and rareness of these ordinary but conscientious people, we could not help but be left in awe of their great deeds. Besides, we are calling them heroes for a reason.

Auntie and I talked some more but before we know it, we were already in front of the Singapore Flyer.

Me: Auntie, we’re here. I’ll just drop you to where you are heading.

Auntie: No need, I am sure it is just somewhere here.

Me: Are you sure?

Auntie: Yes! Have you already taken your dinner?

Me: Not yet Auntie.

Auntie: You better buy dinner first. I heard the parade will take more or less two hours.

Me: Oh, is that so? I’ll be going then Auntie, I’ll just grab something here. (Pointing at the 711 store nearby)

Auntie: Okay okay. Nice talking with you! You take care.

Me: Thank you Auntie. You too, get well soon.

Auntie: Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your stay and enjoy the parade! =)

And we parted ways.

I bought two mini siopao and a drink, rapidly stuck the siopaos in my mouth to just have something to fill my seemingly empty stomach and after consuming all of those, I was good to go!

Whiners

It is not usual for me to whine about things. I find complaining about little and unnecessary things a total waste of time and energy. Things like sitting in a traffic, waiting for a person and falling in a super long line are just outside of my control. Yes, I do know that I could have had prevented it from happening but I also know that there is nothing I could do about it anymore at that given moment. I can tell you that I could easily go through those without emitting any grumbles and mumbles of sort. Well, it does not mean that I am not secretly annoyed about the fact that I had to wait for hours but I could apparently put up with all those inconveniences. I am just like that. I do not want to tire people with my useless complaints.

I always ride a cab to go to work every single morning. I had a hard time getting a cab earlier because it was already kind of late and traffic by the time I got off our building. Anyway, after 30 minutes or so of trying to hail a cab, I fortunately got one. Being my usual controlling but empathizing self, I told the driver to make a U-turn and just take the "road less travelled" to avoid the traffic.

Driver: Hindi ba traffic diyan?!
Me: Hindi po.

He then took my advice and drove off to where I want him to go. Upon entering "the road less travelled", I asked him to take a left turn on the next street in which he retorted "Tapos saan tayo niyan?!". I just told him plainly that we will take a right turn upon reaching the end of that street and we will then take Kamagong. I was quite taken aback by the tone of his voice but I chose not to mind it thinking that maybe that was just his normal voice.

After quite some time of travelling in Kamagong, we then came to a temporary halt because of the traffic.

Driver: Traffic naman itong tinuro mo.
Me: *silence* (I had become so used on hearing the reply, that I just dismissed it. The traffic was caused by the traffic lights ahead and I knew that it will not last longer than about 5 minutes. The traffic there was just normal and there were just so many cars lined up that time and the road was kind of narrow that is why almost all the drivers who do not normally pass there are always quick on assuming that the traffic there was heavy.)

Well, I was right. The cab advanced again in no time.

Upon reaching the end of Kamagong, I asked the driver again to take the rest of my default route only to be flooded with freakingly annoying comments from him: "Paikut-ikot naman tong gusto mo", "Hinayaan mo na lang sana ako", "Wala kang diskarte", etc. blah blah blah. I had replied to some of his comments but stopped myself midway because I am not the kind of person who will retort to those kind of nonsense. He was actually grumbling and mumbling the whole time which kind of got in my nerves. But anyway, indifference during these times is the best reply (revenge).

For his information, I had already tried all the possible, convenient routes there are from our house to the building where I am working and vice versa. I had also done experimentation. I tried leaving the house on different times and tried different routes to just find the most efficient combination for me to reach my destination. I had timed all of my trips, logged all those data to my phone's notepad when I was just starting in my new job so I am quite confident that this route that I am taking now is the most practical route there is regardless of what time I am going to leave the house.

People like that cab driver are just so annoying. Nakakasira ng magandang araw. Kung tutuusin hindi nga siya naipit sa traffic e. As much as possible, I always try to be considerate and mindful but maybe he did not take it that way. I was trying to save him from the traffic and I was trying to reach my workplace in no time and I was trying to create a win/win situation for both of us but I guess I failed. Haha. He should have just shut his mouth.

Anyway, what was even worse is that he still has the nerve to not give me the rightful amount of change that I should receive back. What a jerk. I would have let him take it if he had been an accomodating driver but because of his attitude, he does not deserve it. Haha. Para sampung piso lang e.

Shoe Talk

I found my mom and lola cleaning the house as I reach our unit the other day. Since I do not want to feel so worthless while they are immaculately cleaning our lovely abode, I immediately scanned my mental to do list @ home for a task that I can easily do right then. These are my top priorities:

1. Organize my innumerable shoes and put them in their own boxes
2. Rearrange my wardrobe by colors
3. Categorize my books. Putting those that I have already read on the bookshelf placed on top of our bedroom door and stashing those that I have not read yet in the corner near our window.

I did "1" that day since I have been wanting to organize my shoes for ages then and have not got time to do so, which is most of the time my default excuse if I just want to bum around the house on weekends. Also, doing so would be very advantageous for me. Finding would not be that time-consuming anymore since it would be easier for me to find the shoes that I want to wear for a particular day if they were in their proper boxes, I would not have to bitch around, silently even, about not finding things that I want to find immediately and I would never ever have to feel sooo guilty for bitching afterwards. Triple advantage!

I do not have an ultra huge collection of shoes, by the way. I strongly believe that my collection is just a little bit lamang if compared to an average girl's shoe collection but I think my dad would totally disagree with what I just said. My dad is an Ilocano, and an overblown one to be exact. And for your information, Ilocanos are said to be naturally stingy. So, if you do ratio and proportion, my dad would be super stingy na no? Hahaha, kidding.

Well, he used to pester me with questions like "Ha? Why would you need another pair of shoes" or "Sira na ba yung iba?" or "Caterpillar ka ba?" and would always tell us stories of him just having two pairs of pants and shoes during his adolescence. I never actually caught the lesson behind his story. What should I do? Wait until the day that my toes would already be sticking out of my shoes?! Hahaha, kidding again. One time, my brother counter attacked his story by saying "Malas mo lang noon Pa mahirap tatay mo, e kami mayaman tatay namin". The bout was so funny that all of us just ended up laughing out loud. But seriosuly, with the tone of his voice, maybe he was also secretly asking himself why we, his desirous children, could not manage to have just two pairs of shoes like him, when in fact he had been perfectly fine with just those. Oo nga naman.

I can still remember how our conversation would progress at the mall if ever we would ask him to buy us something. Since we already know how our dad would react at this, One of us would first approach our mom holding the item that we want.

One of us: Ma, bilhan mo ako nito.
Mama: Huwag kayo sa akin magpabili, kay Papa niyo kayo magpabili! Ang hina-hina niyo!

This statement is accompanied by a glaring eyes that we had grown so afraid of. As I grew older, it dawned on to me that "the glaring eyes" was just my mom's tactic for us to learn how to approach our dad if ever we need something. Since we only get a few weeks to be with him in a year because of his work abroad and since we are very much accustomed to coming up to our mom if we have things that we need fixing, I think my mom just wanted us then to feel that we could also approach our dad if ever something comes up, if ever we have a problem or something like that.

Anyway, one of us would then approach our dad.

One of us: Papa, pabili nitong ______.
Papa: Ha? _______ na naman?

(Papa would always say this although it has already been ages ago since we last asked him to buy us something)

One of us: Sige naaaaa...
Papa: Pambihira.
One of us: *silence*

(We will look helplessly then to our mom.)

Papa: Pambihira. Tsk tsk. Pambihira

(He will smirk and will then look also at my mom and will eventually draw out money from his ever dependable belt bag while continuously muttering pambihira over and over again.)

I do not know how to be annoying and I do not want to be a brat, forcing my dad to buy me the stuff that I want that is why I would just resort to silence. Good thing, he would still buy me the stuff that I want even after so much deliberation, deep thinking and silent grumbling from his side. Maybe my mom had also glared at my dad that is why he would eventually and miraculously give in to our desires. Haha.

I have a very clear memory of these incidents because it had ALWAYS been like that. There came a point when I got sooo scared to ask him to buy me just about anything.

My dad is very much galante na these days. Yikee. His reason was that one of his children had already graduated from college.

I love my dad's minimalism. I am still in awe with this. I think his simplicity is what has been keeping us from spending way too much and what has been encouraging us to save and be financially aware. We had never been spoiled by our parents and I really thank them for doing so.