During warm balmy nights, outdoor ceiling fans with lights are a blessing. It is too stifling to stay inside but too warm to stay outside without the cooling breeze of an electric fan to give your relief from the heat. The light from the fan glows with just the right amount of brightness not to drive darkness away but just to hold it at bay. A rocking chair or better yet a porch swing and a glass of very cold ice tea would complete an ideal way to relax on a warm balmy night.
On our way to the mangrove planting site during our ocular visit, we saw many holes in the sand in various sizes. We were told by the guides that these were made by hermit crabs. I always thought hermit crabs are small but some of the holes were quite big. I find it quite funny how hermit crabs are always on the lookout for empty shells to carry around. Unlike turtles who have only one shell they carry around like mobile homes all their lives, hermit crabs change shells as they outgrow these. I guess they can be like people who also change houses as their families grow or reduce in size.
I had two elevator incidents this past week.
Last Thursday, I was on my way to the basement parking when I realized that I commuted to work that morning because of number coding. In order to save face, I told the elevator operator that I was going back up because I forgot something. Then I heard the other passenger say that he was going back also because he forgot his car key in the office. When we reached the ground floor I commented “Rountrip.” He asked, “Did you also forget your key?” I smiled and made a noncommittal sound. I did not want to say that I forgot the car.
The day before that, I was waiting for the elevator when I noticed this guy who was wearing a jacket and sun glasses and sniffing into his handkerchief constantly. He was accompanied by an older man who could have been his father and a woman who looked like a much older sister. The guy seemed space out while the woman was muttering something against the guy. We got inside the elevator and the woman’s irritation with the guy escalated. She was muttering to the older man about how the younger man was not listening to her and how he was treating her. While the elevator was going down, I was getting anxious because there would be nowhere to hide if the guy lost his temper or something. I felt there was something twitchy about him. With all those stories about people running amok in the newspapers, I could not help get paranoid. An elevator is not something I’d want to be in if someone wants to run amok. The space is too small and there is nowhere to hide. In the end, my paranoia was just that. They got out before I did and I was able to breathe more easily.
Since I moved back to Ortigas, I’ve been seeing popular or used to be popular personalities every couple of weeks. I think I’ve already mentioned that I saw Phil Younghusband and that other soccer player with long hair who was part of that sexual harassment complaint of Christy Ramos. I saw them standing outside Discovery Suites. Then I also saw those basketball imports for San Miguel. Unfortunately, I’m so ignorant about basketball players nowadays so I don’t know who they are. When we were walking back from Edsa Shrine to Podium during our Visita Iglesia, I saw Benjie Paras exit Holiday Inn. A few weeks later I was in BPI Emerald during my lunch break to deposit money to my cousin’s account when Donita blew in the door. She was dressed simply in pants, sweater and rubbershoes with her hair in pigtails. Later that same day, I saw Mitch Valdez get off her car in Podium. She was just in a t-shirt and jogging pants.
As you can see, those I recognized were usually popular back in the 80s and 90s, except for Phil. I guess I’m dating myself but I have not watched TV for quite sometime and I’m out of date as to who are popular nowadays. If I watch more TV then maybe I’d have more star sightings. Maybe I’ve seen them around but just did not recognize them. Well, in the overall scheme of things, who really cares, right?
Two Mondays ago, this was during the Holy Week, I hurried off to Mega Mall to try to attend the 6pm mass. I was still in the lobby of our office building when I realized that I left my lunch box in the pantry upstairs. Since I did not want to go up again, I decided to just get it the next day. So I started walking. When I got to the turned off escalator to climb it, the heel of my shoe shot through a space between the sidewalk and the start of the escalator. I carefully lifted my foot so my shoe won’t get stuck. Then I hurried up and continued. When I was back on the sidewalk again, there were uneven parts that I almost tripped a couple of times. I was already outside St. Francis square, ready to climb my next walkway when I felt around my bag for my cellphones. I could not find them and I remembered putting them inside my drawer when I went to the restroom. It was either to go on to Mega or walk back to our office. I had to go back because I was meeting a friend at 7pm and I needed the phones to contact her. So I had to walk a long way back. I knew I would be very late for the mass. By the time I finally sat down for the mass, I think I came in for the homily, I was perspiring heavily and some of the sweat dried on my back.
After dinner with my friends I had to do some grocery shopping. I decided to just buy at the Mega A grocery and take the FX outside St. Francis square. But when I got to the FX queue, it was very long so I forced myself to walk to Lourdes Street, on the other end of Megamall. I was perspiring again. I guess it was not surprising that I was sneezing the next day. I could feel a twinge of pain in my throat. I knew I had to be careful if I did not want to come down with a flu. Coming down with a flu would ruin our plan for our yearly Wednesday afternoon Visita Iglesia. Little did I know that it was not anything in my power that ruined it but the Philippine Government. Anyway, that’s another story. Suffice to say that I eventually developed cough and colds that waylaid me for the whole of the five-day vacation and are still with me up until now. I just hope I’ll get rid of this nuisance soon.
When I hear the words gold bars, I think about movie scenes where an adventurer discovers a cave full of stacked gold bars shaped like Toblerone chocolates, only so much bigger. Another scene would be big time robbers robbing the safe of the Federal Bank where the gold reserves are placed for safe keeping. Moreover, I grew up with the story of Yamashita’s treasure that up until now is loadstone for treasure hunters. Well, you need not go look for Yamashita’s treasure in order to have gold bars. You can just buy gold bars online from Golden Eagle. No need to go to all that trouble for nothing. Further, you would not be risking your life when you buy online, unlike when you go and search for that mythical treasure.
With the advances in hygiene, health treatments and medicine people have longer life span. Before you were already lucky reach sixty, people nowadays reach up to eighty and beyond. This kind of scenario brought about a new niche in life insurance. It focuses on those senior citizens who have not invested in life insurance earlier in their lives. There are even senior discount life insurance if they want to avail of term life insurance at this stage in their lives. I guess it is never too late to be insured.
Have you noticed how many plastic cards you have accumulated in a lifetime? I guess it is the heyday of plastic card printing. Aside from government issued identification cards, there are the membership cards to clubs, loyalty cards (every supermarket and drugstore seems to have their own), gift cards, ATMs, and credit cards. I have kept my membership cards to all the student organizations I entered in college. These are great mementos because of their size and durability. During a post-Christmas shopping, I bought a cardholder for all the plastic cards that I use frequently so the cards would be separate from my wallet and be more organized.
Living in the major cities in the world is quite expensive. Living space has become smaller and smaller. Before apartments used to be big and spacious like two stories with three rooms, nowadays, one-bedroom studios are the norm. Every space is precious so you have layout and design your house carefully. If you have a dog, then his pen would take a lot of space in your apartment. With this in mind, designers have created a wood dog crate that not only holds your dog but blends with your furniture. The tops of these dog pens could be utilized like other table top surfaces. It is a blend of utility and stylishness.
If you stay in a tropical country, having an all year round natural tan is no hardship. However, in a country with four seasons, tan can only be had during the summer season. That was before the invention of spray tanning, tanning beds, and all those other equipment that ensures that you’ll be as tanned as your heart desires. High exposure to sunlight and sun tanning beds have links to skin cancer that is why sunless tanning like spray tanning has become very popular.
