I have not tried diving before. A friend had invited me to give it a try some time with her and her husband, who is a diving enthusiast. It is just that every time I visit our hometown it is always a short visit so I had never been able to go with them. When they came here to visit, we went around the mall. We went inside one of the stores so that her husband could look more closely at a diver’s mask that had a built in camera. While browsing through the shop, we saw various kinds of diving equipment like men and womens goggles, dive suit, fins, mouth pieces, underwater scooter and others. Diving, like other adventurous hobbies, could really require some very serious and expensive equipment and gadgets.
Deadline is almost upon me again and I still haven’t started revising my thesis. It is so hard to go back to the reading and writing mode. I have been full of excuses for the past three months and now I have ran out of it. But, I seem to have lost the drive to start again. I know deep inside that I should do it so as not to waste all the effort I have previously done. This is the crossroad just before the finish line. I know what I should do but I do not have the motivation to do the right thing. This is the last hill to overcome before the victory but I do not have the heart to start climbing again. I just want to give up and just watch Korean tv series or read romance novels.
I remembered Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” and these lines
“If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;”
seem to summarize what’s going on with me right now. I just need to fight this inertia and to rev up the idle engines again. Aja! Fighting! Hehehe
Luisa and I were waiting for a jeepney to ride. There were many passengers also vying for seats in the jeepneys so when I saw the empty seats in front of the jeepney, I hurriedly pointed it to Lui and we were able to get the seats. Others were trying to get into the back. Usually, I don’t like riding in front but I knew that we could not let the opportunity pass. Since Lui would have to get off first, I was the one seated beside the driver. I took out my P100 to pay both our fares. The driver asked if we had change but I told him no. Lui was trying to give me her share of P7 but I told her to keep it. When the driver asked us again if we had change, I persisted with my negative answer. He was reallyt trying make us produce a smaller amount but I did not give in. Actually, I had change but if I gave it to him, I’d have a hard time later. Finally, I saw the driver take out a wad of bills from his pocket. It turned out that he had change for my P100. Sometimes drivers and passengers bluff each other when it comes to paying or getting the fare. In truth, I felt a little guilty lying to the driver but it turned out he was lying to me too. I guess we were both lying to each other and he gave in first.
Basyang, the storm, arrived late last night. Strong winds brought down MERALCO posts resulting to the loss of electricity starting late last night. We’re still waiting for electricity to come back. I could hear the wind blowing strongly last night as I slept fitfully. Kuya Alvin texted in the early hours of the morning that he won’t be going to the office because he was monitoring the storm all night. I was not really sure if I would go to office myself. I woke up 25 minutes late from my usual time but I decided to work since Cathy was willing to go also and we could share the taxi fare. On my way to our meeting place I could see the branches on the sides of the streets. Sweepers must have swept these to the sides earlier. Some fences and signage were also down. I even saw some firemen cutting down some branches of trees that got caught in the wires. Traffic was light because it was still a little early and classes in elementary, high school and even up to college levels were suspended. Unfortunately, they did not suspend work for government office. When I got to our Jollibee meeting place, it was closed. Lucky for the crew they did not have to wake up early. I heard a passerby comment, “Ay sarado ang Jollibee. Wala yatang generator.” (Jollibee is closed. They must have no generator.) I had to stand outside for almost 30 minutes waiting for Cathy. When she arrived we got a taxi and arrived at the office just a little late. The office was dark because the generator had no gasoline. Good thing after a while the genetor got turned on but only the lights and some sockets can be used. It’s quite warm because the generator cannot support the air conditioners. We’re still waiting up until this time for announcement from the upper echelons that we can go home early.
Living in the city is very convenient. There are already a lot of 24 hour services. We are not just talking of groceries, fast food places and bars but also of customer service inquiries for credit cards, public transportation, there is even 24 hour towing because vehicles can also break down at the wee hours of the morning. This is in part due to the rise of the call center industry in the country where a lot young people go to work at night thus needing public transportation, a place to eat or buy some essential toiletries. And surprisingly, there are bars and drinking places that also cater to their schedule. This means that bars are not only open at night but also in the morning because that’s when call center employees can party, after their graveyard shifts.
Today is the birthday of one of my officemates. Some of my other officemates brought food to celebrate her big day. Earlier we had pizza roll and tuna casserole for breakfast. There are still plenty left-over from breakfast but for lunch we have shrimps and chicken feet adobo. At the rate we are always eating, I don’t know how weight loss products will help me lose weight without the proper discipline to stop eating. I thought we were always eating in my previous office, but this new one tops the other one hands down.
We are saving to buy a car. My mom’s office is offering their officers a certain amount of money for loan so that they can buy a car and they only need to pay half of the amount of the loan. Unfortunately, the loan is not that big so you still need to shell out some money. But aside from the additional money you also have to allot for car insurance, driving lessons, and other miscellaneous expenses. It looks like it will take a long while to save for it.
I remembered when I was young that whenever I go to another place the water there tastes different. Of course now with the advent of different water treatments like distillation, water softeners, reverse osmosis, etc., taste is almost similar. I remember that the most awful water I ever tasted was in Gigaquit, a small town in Surigao. Not only did the water taste awful, like bad egg, it smelled bad also. I think it was because it came from the well. The only way I could drink it was when it was ice cold. I have not been to Gigaquit for almost 20 years now. I can say that I spent one of my happiest summer vacations there. I should think about visiting again and see how the town has changed.
It is hard to buy furniture if you do not have a design plan. When we first moved in to our house, we bought a tv stand for our small television. A few months later, my brother convinced me and my mother to contribute to buying a bigger TV so that he can take the old TV to his new apartment. So now, our new TV barely fits the tv stand and it is so bulky. Maybe if I have extra money I can buy a new stand that would suit the new TV better.
