Behind the books

Behind the books my cat sleeps as I write.
She's nursing a cold, she sniffles and sneezes.
Her vet is off, so a visit to the vet will have to wait.
I'd like to take a shower now but if I stand up,
I know she'll wake.
I grant her a few more minutes, perhaps it would help.
Drive away the cold, the sniffles, the sneezes.

She's heavier now, her new teeth emerging.
And she tries them on me every goddamn morning.
She bites my legs, bites my toes, bites my knees.
She recently discovered elbows are tasty.

I have scratches everywhere as we struggle through this phase.
I've tried slathering creamy body lotion to ward off her teeth.
Works a bit, but not alright.

She hates me twice every morning.
She bites my legs to get even.
When I ignore her meows and sleep in.
She bites my legs to get even.
When I put on my shoes to go to work.
She bites the top of my foot.

Then like a lover scorned
She welcomes me with meows and paws
When the day is done.

Shoot

We went out to shoot pictures of birds, the four of us. Two years ago we did first. Last year two of the three boys I was with decided to be boys and proceeded to ignore each other hence, no shoot.

So I pretended not to know anything and decided to ask them to shoot again this year.  We met up at noon over lunch, and proceeded to Candaba. 

I wasn't too creative this time around, and I think this is the best picture I was able to take. Not sure, all the pictures using one of my two cameras (see? lazy!) have yet to be downloaded. All I know is that I was able to take stolen shots of Ferds, Gene, and Ryan. 

I posted this on FB, captioned The roads are lovely, dark, and deep. Some 135 likes so far. Roilo Golez says he loves the poem. One of the commenters decided to be nasty and corrected someone's grammar.  A creative TV person said he'd like to shoot here.

But after taking this picture using my phone, I was busy lying on a hammock we found in one corner. After that I walked a bit, stared at flowers, stared at bugs, took a picture or two of some birds, stared at birds and marveling at their colors before realizing too late that I should take pictures, caught some ladybirds and imprisoned them in my water bottle to be released at my veranda...yada, yada, yada.

Then I took shots of dragonflies, making use of the last few rays of the setting red sun. Then took a few shots of the setting sun. Used a puddle to shoot the setting sun.

Yep, pretty good day. 

Busy

Busy and preoccupied. Two words that seem to mean the same thing, but they don't.
Busy is just that you have things to do.
Preoccupied means something is consuming you.

I am busy.
I want to be preoccupied.

I realized last Friday that I want to do something else.
Have passion for something.

Something that may be right or wrong, but at least it will teach me something.
Something new.

Happy New Year

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

― Neil Gaiman

Merry Christmas

Hide-y was asleep on the bench when I picked her up. It was 11:59. We went to the veranda and found a quiet city. We stayed there a while, went back in, and went to bed.

I gave her a treat this morning. She ate it all in one sitting. When she finished, she licked her paws and cleaned her coat and went back to sleep.

I am cooking beef shanks to celebrate the day. Will meet up with friends for coffee later.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Pelikula

Hindi ko pa napapanood iyong prince movie, iyong halaw sa The Little Prince ni Hugo.

Napanood ko iyong The Dressmaker. Or something like that. About this community and the hypocrites who live there. And this tragic family.

Pinanood ko last week iyong pelikula na tinampukan nina Julia Roberts at Nicole Kidman at iyong mama sa 12 years a slave. 12 years ba? Basta, X years a slave. Sabi ko ayaw kong makaaway ang sinuman sa barkada nila.

Kagulo ngayon sa Star Wars. Parang 99% ng populasyon ay manonood at tagasubaybay ng pelikulang ito.

Ako ay nasa 1% na walang alam sa palabas na ito.

Cleaning ladies

"Ilagay mo ang channel sa AlDub," she told me, shoving the remote to me as I walked in in my home. 

I decided to be patient and let her watch. And watch. And effing watch some more.  At 3 PM, I told her to leave. I needed to go to UP for a 3:30 PM appointment. There were several major things she failed to do but I asked her to leave just the same.

Her name's Myra. She had been "cleaning" my place since 9 AM that morning. She spent a total of six hours cleaning my place that has two small bedrooms and a bathroom. She probably spent half of the time in front of the television which I turned off before I left to run errands when she arrived.

The following day, I realized she was unable to iron what needed to be ironed. The two electric fans were uncleaned. And most of all, many of my books had their spines facing the wall.

# # # # #

A week or so later, Dada was cleaning my place.

"Sayang ka, ang ganda mo nagpabaya ka at hindi ka nag-asawa at nag-anak," she brazenly told me. She's a widow approaching her 60s.

"JJ, si Dada ay taga-probinsiya at kailangang turuan sa paglilinis ng bahay, ha?" my friend told me.

I thought Dada needed GMRC lessons more urgently.

But Dada also needed to learn a few logical things: Tissue papers are useless when soaked while cleaning kitchen counters and toilets;  Items used for cleaning need to be cleaned to be usable again; No matter how hot, a flat iron alone cannot make a shirt look pressed right without the help of the right amount of steam; that one does not wipe white walls with rags.

# # # # #

I later learned that Myra is a college graduate, a scholar of a German group. She's an IT graduate but has her priorities wrong despite major errors that should have taught her lessons. She got pregnant in college and still finished her course. However, she never worked in the formal sector. She relied on whatever help she could get from her European supporters. Her mom's also a college graduate who never worked in a corporate setting.

Myra's college degree makes her making my books' spines face the wall so illogical.

She's a single mom who's neglecting her child who wants to study well and finish any course so he'd have a fighting chance at life. He's asked a lot of people for help.

# # # # #

Dada is a good person. She's a single mom. She raised three children on her own.

I think I will ask Dada| to work for me again this weekend, see if things will improve with a few instructions on how to do this and that.

# # # # #

Myra said that the weekend before she took on the job as my weekend cleaning lady, she rejected all jobs that came her way because she needed to watch AlDub.

You do the math.

Balitang pusa

Ipaliwanag ninyo nga sa akin kung bakit ang galing pumuwesto ng mga pusa para matapakan mo sila o kaya ay matapilok ka dahil sa kanila.

Hide-y posing for her potrait.

Naipit ko na ang ulo ni Hide-y sa pull-out cabinet. Ang buntot niya sa sliding door. Natapakan ko na rin ang paa niya. Natadyakan ko na rin siya habang naglalakad ako. Natapakan ko na rin ang hind leg niya dahil pumuwesto pala sa tabi ng paa ko.

Bakit ba ipinanganak yatang naghahanap ng sakit ng katawan ang mga pusa? Mabuti na lang marami silang buto at di masyadong madaling mabalian.

Kung minsan natutulog siya sa tabi ko kapag gabi pero alam kong lumilipat siya sa ibang lugar kapag tulog na ako. Kapag araw sa likod ng mga libro ko siya pumupuwesto. Kailan lang inangkin na niya iyong doormat na parking sana ng mga rubber shoes ko at tsinelas. Nilabhan ko na lang at inilipat ng lugar para kanya na talaga. Ayun, doon niya hinihimod ang mga kasu-kasuan niya habang sinusulat ko ito.

Hide-y asking for fish

Eniwey haywey, masayang kasama si Hide-y. Nakabakasyon ako kaya nasusulit ko ang mga araw kasama siya. Balik trabaho na ako sa Lunes at sana ay hindi masyadong magbago ang routine namin.

Dinala ko kanina siya sa UP, malapit sa vet-med. Gusto ko lang sana siyang maglaro ng mga dahon dahil iyon ang paborito niyang pasalubong. Mantakin mo ba namang ayaw humiwalay sa akin at kung makakunyapit sa leeg ko ay parang wala siyang kuko.

Takot siya sa tunog ng sasakyan. Pati yata sa paru-paru ay takot ito. Di bale, sasanayin ko siya sa labas kahit paano para maisama ko kapag road trip ako.

Kung hindi, patuturuan ko na lang siyang lumangoy.  O kaya ay magsalita.

Hide-y

Hide-y.

 I've always wanted a pet but didn't have space. I wanted a dog but didn't have space. So I thought a cat would be good enough.

It's been three weeks but even the puzzles and the messes seem perfect. Hide-y makes me a better person simply because she's a cat.

Believe me, cats are smart. That's coming from someone who didn't like cats until this creature came along.

Stuff happen

Moved to a new place.
Got plants. Some for food, some for flowers.
Then I got a cat.
She's a puspin. Pusang Pinoy.
In the olden days, she's called a Pusakal.
Pusang kalye.
As usual, the politically-correct name does not make any of us richer or nicer.
Just politically-correct.
She's 13 inches long. I just measured her.
She's waging war with the electric fan right now.
She's nice. She learns fast.
She knows I don't like huggy lovey.
She sleeps with me and keeps her corner.
Wait, I'll know for sure tomorrow if Hide-y is a she.
Meantime, let me rescue the fan.
I think it needs help rescuing from a cat no older than four months.