Piso

Earlier today i was in the bank to deposit a cheque. While waiting for my receipt, i couldn’t help but notice and old woman seated in front of the manager's desk.

"Gusto ko pong magdeposit ng wan handred, " handing over her deposit slip. I thought she meant one hundred grand because the person before her just withdrew hundreds of thousands of pesos. I looked at her a second time and saw that she was holding two fifty peso bills.

"Puwedeng puwede po. May laman pa ba tong bank account nyo?" the manager inquired.

"Meron pa pong konting laman yan," the old woman smiled shyly.

The manager then went to punch some numbers into the computer and then sad, "Ay, meron pa ngang laman. Piso."

*****
Flashback. when i was in elementary, P1 was enough to buy a stick of banan cue with 3bananas and lots of brown sugar; or 8pcs of the sweet Texas bubble gum (2 for 25cents); or 8pcs of bond paper; or get me to school and back via a tricycle (but of course i walked);or 8pcs of fishballs; or a supot of green mango (or pomelo, or any fruit in season for that matter); or bribe my brother to be on my side when i fought with my sister;

What can 1 peso buy today?

now i'm sounding like my dad..."nung bata ako, ganito, ganyan...."

Lonely Old Lady

My dear auntie grace is in the hospital. A few hours from now she's going to undergo partial hip replacement surgery. I visited her in the ward to help out with the blood donations and I couldn't help but notice her anxiety over her upcoming operation. She'd repeatedly ask me how it's going to be done, if she's going to be asleep, if she's going to die on the table, if she'll be able to walk after - questions i've already answered a lot of times. this time i decided to scare her.

"hihiwain ka dito, tapos lalagariin yung buto mo dyan, tapos pupukpukin ng martilyo, tapos lalagyan ng bakal, tapos pupukpukin ulet..," i told her. (they'd slice you up here, then cut your bone with a saw, then pound the metal bar with a hammer...")

She pokes me in the arm. "tinatakot mo naman ako eh." ("you're scaring me")

Poor old lady, she's been anxious since the day she was admitted.

"babalik ka ba bukas para bisitahin ako?" she inquires. ('will you come back tomorrow to visit me?")

"oo pag gising mo dadalawin kita...kung gumising ka pa." (yes, after you wake up..that is, if you wake up.")

once again she pokes my arm.
and i could see the loneliness in her eyes.

******
Auntie grace is an optometrist by profession. Being single, she adopted a neice (my cousin) whom she raised by herself and sent to college. My cousin married, had kids of her own and moved to Manila with her family. Auntie Grace was left alone in her wooden house in the province. I'll tell you more about her in the next entries...

"microscrubbers"

Ever since Manet (or monet?) left, the laundry became a daunting task. Well the other night I needed to buy detergent. Scanning the shelves for a good one, I saw this brand with claimed to have what they called “microscrubbers”. Hmmm, sounds good to me. By the term alone, I deduced that it packed in it lots of little minions who washed the clothes by themselves. Actually, I was looking for that brand which had two invisible hands doing the laundry for you while you watched TV or slept, but this came to sight. I think this is much better no?

So as soon as I got home, I soaked my clothes and waited for those “microscrubbers" to do their job. I could actually hear their wee voices chirping at each other while getting to work. And singing while at it too! So I left them there while I surfed the net.

An hour later I came back and listened….the singing and chirping were gone. So I assumed that the job was done. I decided to rinse my clothes, put some clothes conditioner and hung them to dry. Voila! Clean as can be! I wouldn’t have noticed any difference from Manet’s (or monet’s) handwashing. With them doing all the work and stuff, doing the laundry is a breeze.

“microscrubbers”…I like the term..yeah…”microscrubbers”

If anyone ever sees “microchousecleaners” or “microdishwashers” or “microlitterboxemptiers” , please, please do inform me.

Nursery Rhymes

My sister and I grew up with fairy tales and nursery rhymes that my mom went as far as recording our voices on a casette tape. Some years ago, i read somewhere (ok, maybe someone just told me so don't go googling on it) that a lot of these rhymes were actually witches' chants?!! And other seemingly innocent verses actually have dark histories to them. maybe mother goose was a witch. to illustrate,

rock a bye-baby on the treetop
when the wind blows the cradle will rock
when the bough breaks cradle will fall
and down will come baby, cradle and all. (??!!??!!!)

wadahek?!? the supposedly soothing lullabye ends with the baby falling off the tree! could this have been a witch's chant to kill a baby? isn't that creepy, now go to sleep!

jack and jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water
jack fell down and broke his crown
and jill came tumbling after..tra-lalalalala

History has it though that this verse refers to the beheading of King Louis XVI and his Queen Marie Antoinette during the Reign of Terror.

Little boy blue come blow your horn...
ok, let's not even try to get into that, maybe it's just my dirty mind.

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.

Mary Tudor, 17th century queen of England, aka Bloody Mary. A staunch catholic who had lots of Protestants killed. During her time , there was an increase in the number of Protestant graveyards (how does your garden grow?). Silver bells and cocker shells weren't flowers but torture paraphernalia. Pretty maids? Guillotines all in a row.

So what's your favorite verse?

oompa loompa

~~Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-da
~~You will live in happiness too Like the
~~Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-do

these creatures have been giving me the creeps since i first saw them years and years ago. gave me nightmares for pete's sakes! come on! they're the scariest critters to appear in a children's movie, dancing and singing like that! and now they are doing a remake?!! Have mercy on the kids! don't let them live in fear! get out of my mind...you...you....oompas!!

between you and me, tell me now, would you want an oompa in your bed with you?

Kahiya

Do you do stupid things when you’re alone?

Lemme tell you about another ATM embarrassing moment. (yup, i've got episode1 and episode 2)

The ATM booth I always withdraw from is, well, like any other glass-enclosed, sound proof booth...or so I thought. To make things more interesting, I strike a dialogue with the machine. Here’s how a typical conversation goes:

ATM machine: Welcome to your 24 hour call-in service (or sumthin like that)

Me: Oh thanks. How are you?

ATM machine: Please enter your 7 digit number.

Me: Ok, doing it.

Then here I start to sing out loud, (sometimes really loud, if the song calls for it)
~~.. one blaze of glooory..GLLOORRRRRYYYYYY!!!!..~

ATM machine: Would you like another transaction?

Me: Nope, I’m good.

ATM machine: Please take your card and cash, and transaction slip.

Me: Ok, thank you very much.

ATM machine: Thank you for using ***. At your service, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Me: Thank you very much. Bubbye.
***************
One night, as I was withdrawing, I heard a giggle from behind the walls.

Syet.

(I then discovered that no atm booth is soundproof... well, at least none of the booths I’ve sung concerts in)

Hooked

How long can you go without internet access?

Moonlighting in a small town in Batangas had me searching for internet access everyday. Seems like i cannot live without the web anymore. I found two computer shops, both with internet speeds of 33.6 kbps. i had no choice but to sit down and touch the keyboard with my trembling fingers to satisfy my craving. I desperately wanted to update my blog but unfortunately, the speed wouldn't allow blogspot to load despite several attempts (explaining the paucity of entries as of late).

with my predicament this i came to realize...

1. i check my 3 different email accounts at least 4 times a day

2. i check my blog at least twice a day

3. i do my blogroll at least twice a day (yea, i check your blogs and other people's as well, e-ve-ry-day)

4. i sign in on my yahoo messenger in invisible mode, but talk to every visible person in it

5. without my internet, i am idle and restless (since i my tv is still busted)

6. when my landline gets disconnected i shout at the costumer service rep on the phone to have it installed IMMEDIATELY OR ELSE.... (and i get my line back instantly)

7. i miss my IRC friends (virtual friends they are)

somebody...help me!! :p

Life, Blood, Faith

The past week has been a busy one for me which would explain for my nonsense posts. last sunday, kero and i headed for Batangas to moonlight for three straight days at a newly opened hospital.

On our third night came in a 37M patient with severe anemia recorded at 66 (normal value at 140s), leukemia suspect, BP of 125/30, pulse rate of 128 and a temp of 38.5C. Patient was very pale and weak. when asked why no blood transfusion was done, the brother informed us that they were of the Jehova's Witnesses group. So what did they expect me to do? A man lacking red blood cells should be given...red blood cells?! but these people weren't going to compromise despite my explanations. So i suggested we just support the patient and make him comfortable short of saying, i'll let him die comfortably. And they agreed.

The patients wife, with tears in her eyes even joked to the patient about giving him blood transfusion, to which the patient replied with a smile and a shake of the head. He would stand by his faith and die without receiving any blood. Later that night his heart started to fail and his BP was dropping which prompted us to start him on dopamine drip. i guess that's as supportive as we can get. Later on they asked to be transferred to St. Lukes for further "supportive treatment" so we had them conducted by the town ambulance.

Before going to bed that night, i was thinking of what i made out of the situation. I felt an admiration for the man who kept strong in his faith, and with the choice of life or death, he chose the latter without compromising. The doctor in me, on the other hand, felt frustration. A life that could have been prolonged, or saved even, was let to die. But then again, maybe he did not need to be saved, maybe he already was. And in the life beyond, his faithfulness rewarded.

now, really...

have you ever smelled your navel?

how about the scum that collects under the corner your toenail?

really?

geez, i'm so tired. i need to sleep...cya later.

Mighty Kid

Ever wonder what happened to mighty kid? i've tried googling for it but there seems to be no record of the sneakers I grew up in. I've always had them in elementary when my mom refused to buy me the hi-cut rubbershoes every little boy seemed to have. The higher the cut, the more famous you became. So you can imagine how low profile mighty kid and me stayed. Looking back, i think i was the only one in school with those sneakers. But i have always appreciated the hologram of the superhero sewn at the sides and since i am a perpetually tardy person, i had the convenience of strapping velcroes over tying shoelaces.

So what's my point? Nothing. Just blabbering.