The Three Superpowers My Mom Possess

This Saturday at the learning center I was volunteering at was Mom's Day. The high school kids are reciting what they have been working on all summer, write at least 3 superpowers of your mom. It would've been a pretty easy list if I was still in high school. You've got your "my mom cooks the best food," you have "my mom takes real good care of me," "she brought me into the world."

But now, at 33, as my relationship with my mother has grown. We've been through our ups and downs, but now it has bloomed. And in it's bloom, I find it harder to make a list now. All the things that I thought, back in high school, all my mom does, every one else does too. Like a flower in bloom, it's beautiful on its own, but what makes it stand out from a farm of flowers?

So, what I have been working on for a week now, are at least three things unique to my mother. Something only she can only do. Things that I find beautiful, and ultimately what makes her my mom.

1. She has a special call for us. *Spoiler alert* it's a long *psssssssssst*. Anywhere. I even heard a story back then that it had different lengths: Longest psst is for me, a bit shorter than that is for my sister, a bit more shorter is for my other sister, and so on. It was crazy. It's like when a mommy bird calls out her chicks to come back home from playing in the yard. One time, we were meeting at Galle, I heard a long *psssssssttt* and quickly realized my mom is finally there. I don't know if other mothers have this, but I haven't met one who does.
2. One of the things I don't like about her, is her tendency to gossip. I hate gossiping in general, and I hate that my mom does that. But, again, as I get to know my mom, it has become clear to me why this is so: people just hand her the information. She has that charm, that charisma that would make you want to tell her things. So, it's not her fault she knows a lot of gossip, the things she knows was given to her for free.
3. When my sister graduated elementary school, my dad got her a radio. This was back in the mid 90s when every teenager listened to the radio all day, waiting for their favorite song to be played, and record it on a cassette tape. I held back tears when I saw that happening in front of me. The year I graduated, all I got was a fucking magnetic chess set that I had to ask for. Seeing my sister rip through the gift wrapper from the box told me that this was an actual present from my dad, and not a request. My 13-year old self thought this was not fair. I held back tears as I watched a Ginebra/Shell game on TV. A few minutes later, I succumbed to my bed and cried like shit. I suppose my mom has some sort of esp or spidey sense or something, because here's super mom to the rescue. Consoling me and telling me everything I needed to hear in that moment. I felt better. Slept well. After a week, she got me my own radio/cassette player.

A few other things:

• She practically started my passion for singing. When I was in third grade, she got herself a Barry Manilow collection of tapes. We listened to it everyday. Barry Manilow got me singing, but my mom pointed me in thay direction.
• My mom makes the best leche flan. All other leche flans are shit
• She supprted my aversion for vegetables when I was young. If our ulam that night had gulay in it, she'd make sure I had my own porkchop for dinner.
• She once threw a bunch of coins at me. But I think it was because she was growing jealous of our grandmother, her nanay. (Haha)
• She went through a lot of adversity in her late 20s to early 30s. But the way she turned her life around is truly one of the most inspiring things I have ever witnessed in my life. It's probably one of the reasons I try to make myself a better person. (this should probably part of the list above, but I didn't want to go into detail)
• She has a way of bringing her kids together. It doesn't always work, but when it does, I can see absolute happiness in her eyes.
• When my dad retired, she had the sense of responsibility to step up and earn the upkeep for our home. She now has a job she really loves, and one of the reasons is she's able to showcase her 2nd superpower.

And really, there's probably a lot more she does that I don't notice. Which is the point of this post afterall. When you love somebody, you catch a lot of things that make them special. And when this person loves you back, loves you unconditionally, I feel like one of the things you are obligated to do to reciprocate this is to observe, notice, and appreciate these things that they do to express their love.

So to my mommy, I want you to know that this is how I express my affection. And I want to tell the world that I have the greatest mother in history, even if it's only my history. Happy mothers day.

P. S. My family doesn't really particularly care for these "holidays" but I felt like doing something for my mom.

P. P. S. I also want to greet the mother of my child and her mother on this occassion. I hope you bring the same inspiration (you probably will) to my son just like how my mother inspired me. Thank you for all the hardwork and sacrifice you have to endure in helping raise my son. I say this from the bottom of my heart.

Life Update

What happened was, I accidentally clicked on the link to my blog on my Chrome bar (yeah, I'm a person who has their own blog in their bookmarks) and saw that my last post was from December of 2013. Well, a lot has happened in the past 15 months.

Two biggest things were:

• I had a baby.
• I had an appendectomy.

But I'm gonna save those for another time.

.....

After my surgery, I had to go home to Cainta to recover. I couldn't do shit, so I, reluctantly, agreed to go home for a week (or until I can move around more freely). I didn't have any of my stuff. All I had was the clothes on my back, my laptop without the charger (I would normally use the term 'notebook' but people might think I actually had a literal notebook when the last time I carried a notebook was back in 3rd yr. high school), and my phone without its charger. I couldn't tell anyone from my family to get stuff from my apartment, but my whereabouts is still a secret to them (so, if anyone meets my mother, please don't tell her where I live. I'll tell her myself; I'm just not ready).

So you could just imagine the boredom I went through that week. I had to sit through Showtime and Eat Bulaga! I felt like a tougher man after that week. Like nothing could faze me anymore. I could be a TSA agent now. Or a graveyard shift security guard.

Anyway, in one of the most mundane moments of my stay there, my dad asks me, out of the blue:

Dad: Nagba-blog ka ba?

Me: (Wow, my dad's trying to connect with me. This is new) Oo, dati. Bakit? (I realise I rarely use po and opo to my dad anymore)

Dad: Di ka ba nagpapabayad?

Me: Ay, haha. Hindi. Di ko kaya. Baka maging trabaho siya. Hobby na lang.

Cross that with Jane the Virgin and you get a person wants to write again. So here I am.

.....

What I'm gonna tell you about today, has been a lingering problem since my ex broke up with me almost two years ago now.

I was having drinks with a new friend (who I will not name at the moment) who I was, uncharacteristically (as evidenced by the last ellipsis, I don't just say things to people. More on this later), telling all my problems to. Somewhere along the conversation, this friend told me that I was just perhaps being protective of myself. From being hurt again. That's why I couldn't hold a relationship together since my last major break up.

And I do. My heart's always on the defence. Walls are high. I'm scared as shit. I'm terrified of what's beyond the fence. I might get hurt again. And because of this, I continue to be afraid I may never feel that feeling again.

It sucks. It really does. But then somebody comes along and you think, maybe it's worth risking it again.

Obligatory Year-End Post

I guess I should post something on here. Some things happened:

A girl dumped me, but somehow gained confidence from it (if that makes sense). Discovered a lot of things. Traveled some parts of the Philippines. Went out a lot. Found a penis-shaped coral. Peed on a person. Rediscovered frugality. Bought a bed. Cut my hair and made my mother happy. Made new friends. Tyson won. Learned new skills.

I guess a lot of things happened. A lot more things I can't remember right now. A few more I can't post on here. The important thing for me, I guess, is that I really grew up. I may still do stupid things, but I definitely grew up.

Looking ahead to 2014, I plan on getting an extra job as a college instructor, or go to a European country or something. Whatever works out will be fine for me. What I will definitely do, though, is get some guns of my own. Trim my man-boobs para kaya ko na mag-sando.

Casting the MMK Episode About My Life

You know when you're alone in your apartment and you've got nothing to do but think about your life and what if it was a movie? I was totally doing that the other day, but for Maalaala Mo Kaya 'cause I'm filipino and I'd like Charo Santos to narrate my life.

Anyway, I have no idea what the story's gonna be like because I'm suuuuuper boring so I thought about casting first.

Here it is.

Me. If it's my life they're showing, they need to consider these three actors who at least sort of looks like me. You know... filipino looking.

1. Lester Llansang. Can anyone confirm if he's a good actor cause he looks like one on this picture.

   

   kamukha ba niya si Ping Medina?

2. Janus Del Prado. He already did a few MMK gigs. 

   

   tsaka halos magkasing haba kami ng buhok dito

3. Chubi Del Rosario. My pick. Cause if you pick Chubi...

   

   omg ang pogi ko sa tv

The SO has gotta be:

we make a cute tv couple

Only on TV can I consider myself able to get someone as hot as Anne Curtis.

she totally takes the train and wears cute glasses, you guys.

However, in this episode, I probably screw things up with Anne, and I'll probably get a new girlfriend right away (I mean, this is TV so the pacing is fast. IRL I won't be in another significant relationship in at least a year). Her part must go to either

1. Roxanne Barcelo. I've had a crush on her since her Click days. Plus, I saw her in Cubao X a few months ago with a bald chick and I totally dig that. Or...

   

   shet ang ganda

2. Aiza Marquez. 

   

   can anybody sense a trend here?

My Mom. One of the most important characters in my life deserves a really great actor. So maybe...

1. Susan Africa. My mom has a weird blood condition which is perfect for Susan cause she's always playing characters with weird health conditions.
   

   

   you all know she's gonna miscarry that child

My Dad. He's always said that he looks like Edu Manzano so let's give him that. 

are you proud of me yet, dad?

Seriously, dad? Fine. 

k.

My real father. This is probably where the drama's gonna revolve around. But, since he doesn't any kind of say on any of my life's decisions, I'm gonna pick Al Tantay for him. From what I saw on facebook, he kinda looks like him. 

ew... GMA.

My best friend. The voice of reason in any situation (hey, that rhymed!). The person I go to when I need to talk. Anyway, I'll give this role to Sanya Coo to give her her big break in acting!

being able to bake a cake is a huge plus in casting

Those are probably the main actors in my MMK episode. I'll maybe post the minor characters at another time or maybe on the comments.

They say an idle mind is the devil's workshop. DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE DEVIL'S WORK TO YOU?

***all (except for the picture of me and my dad and Sanya's) photos are all found in Google so I don't think I'm gonna get in some kind of trouble.

3rd Quarter Crisis

Warning: Overly emotional post ahead. I have long promised myself not to write anything of that nature anymore, but I'm breaking that rule this one time.

It almost 3am, and I couldn't sleep. Perhaps, it was the coffee I had at 6pm, or maybe because there's a stream of thoughts rushing through my head since Friday night.

So, I'm writing tonight just to clear things up with people who actually read this blog. I'm not completely devoid of emotion, I just get over things pretty quickly. Warning: Clichés ahead. I have learned to find the silver lining of even the darkest clouds. I've learned to look at the bright side of things, and tell myself that (thanks to Noah and his stupid arc) there's always a rainbow after the rain. Yeah, I just linked to a South Border song and referenced a movie where J.Law won an Oscar for. I just did those. Can you now imagine what I'm going through?

Warning: More cryptic content ahead. It's quite ironic that the personal trait I am most proud of (being easily forgiving, understanding, and getting over stuff-that-should-annoy-the-shit-out-of-me pretty quickly) is probably one of the reasons things happened. People seem to associate that with indifference or being passionless. I can't help it. It certainly looks like I don't care, but I do. I really do. It just doesn't come across well is all. I mean, if I didn't give a shit, why would I break down to this song? I just say 'fuck it. do what you want' pretty quickly. That's just me. I probably already forgave myself, I don't know.

P.S. To cheer myself up, I've been watching [Scrubs] a lot and kicking myself for not watching it sooner. Also, I'll be like this for a little while.

Your Imaginary Friends 'Baby You're Going to Hell' Video Launch and My Music Video Discography. Filmography? Videography?

I guess I've been lucky enough to make a lot of indie musician friends who are trying to make it on their own. And one of the best parts of being friends with these people, is I get to join their music videos when they need extra people!

Next Saturday, 13 July 2013, my friends from Your Imaginary Friends (trust me, they're real!) will be launching their music video for Baby You're Going to Hell. More info here.

Until then, here's the teaser for their video which I was also a part of (hint: I'm not the dancing bear)





And since we're on the topic of music videos with friends, here are a few of the things I've been part of:

Giniling Festival - Psycho



Giniling Festival - Hipon



Ang Bandang Shirlery - Patintero (Larong Kalye)




I was also part of this one, but my face wasn't shown.  If you watch it, you'll see why. My person, however, is seen at the 5:00 mark



There you have it. You can probably call me an amateur music video extra from now on, I'd say I'm just lucky to have these friends.

I Covered A Smiths Song

I took a Vacation Leave from the office on a Monday just so I can watch the All-Star Game live. Of course, it was all well worth it 'cause Kobe Bryant owned LeBron James in the last two minutes with his defense (this is all we Laker fans have right now).

After that, I saw the latest SNL episode with Christoph Waltz as host, and took a nap. After that, I cleaned (sorta) the house which I never do.

Since I was doing things I don't normally do, I decided I should record my cover of The Smiths' Girlfriend in a Coma.

Now, this was a really quick recording, so expect a lot of fuck ups. Also, there was somebody singing with me.