In Your Living Room

In your living room,
in one of those afternoons when
only the breeze,
the occasional barks of dogs
and mothers screaming names
of their children for their afternoon naps
one hears, you sit down.

You wonder
how you got there.
You retrace the turns
of events- you had breakfast, cooked
your favorite fried eggs
and got up from bed. You remembered
how you'd planned
nothing special for the day,
but you dared get up still.
You call this love
for life, sometimes bravery.
I call it mechanistic.

Right around sunset, the quiet
around you comes to halt. The neighborhood
comes to life- children running around,
mothers having their afternoon snack and
some coffee, even the tricycles
are more frequent now. You are
still stuck in your indecisiveness of
whether to get a car or be
a spectator of all the wonders you believe
the world has. I tell you practicality is
the key, sometimes
moderation.

Father's new priority

So, my father introduced his girlfriend to me saying, "This is Isme, by the way."

I said, hi, then went out the house's back door, and finished my coffee while I smoked. I went back in, avoided making eye contact and then pretended like I am busy unpacking and packing at the same time. Rationalizing.

I didn't know it was her. I thought she was just one of the folks from the country who were there for the annual reunion. My aunts, uncles and cousins had already been at home waiting for me to arrive from Manila, so we could all go to Gensan (the designated place for the annual reunion) together. So, when my father said those words from behind me, I thought she was a relative. But there was something about my sisters' silence and my father's awkwardness that told me she was not. I didn't want to deal with it just yet, so I acted like I was fine with it to my sisters', father's and Isme's shock.

How do you deal with that, anyway?

Summer

Holding a glass of some disgusting liquor and with her back to them, she said, 

you should know the sea's never as beautiful as in summer, 

then drank all the disgust of the world 

and left.

My Top Ten Summer Destinations

If the weather is not enough to whisper summer into your ears, I suggest going to any gym and see how packed it is. Around this time, people start trying to lose the pounds they have gained since Christmas. And in a few weeks, it will not just be the gym that's crowded but beaches and other summer destinations, as well.

There really is no better time that's best for traveling than during the summer months. From March to May, the likelihood of a typhoon ruining a much-awaited vacation is almost 0%. But it's not just storms we should avoid during vacations but the hassle of having to be in a very crowded place, as well. And, if you are allergic to a big crowd, never plan your vacation during the Holy Week.

Mt. Daraitan and the Stunning Tinipak River

View from the summit

If you are looking for a destination that is good for a weekend, Mt. Daraitan is a great choice. From Starmall in Crossing, it only takes around 3 hours to get to. This place in Tanay, Rizal has a lot to offer: caving, swimming and of course, hiking (for more information on how to get there, see travel notes below the story).

I did not expect much when I signed up for this hike with a group organized by a friend of a friend. Rizal is too near Metro Manila to still have interesting things to see. I had thought that this was another overrated place.

Low-Key Photographs

Photo opportunity in my kitchen

Some hotel lobby

Moving

I had become very comfortable with my last apartment, so I looked for a reason to loathe the landlady
and my 50-year old, next-door neighbor to justify moving to a new place. It was not difficult. I only had to think about them and realized I should congratulate myself for having lived there for years without developing some sort of heart disease.

That old home is actually nice, strategically located (walking distance from the highway, where I could get buses, jeeps, and cabs), and peaceful. Neighbors would go about their own businesses, and in fact, I rarely saw any of them. The problem was I had no problems, so I left.  Staying in a place for some time and actually loving it makes me uneasy. It is worse than the unease I feel with my next-door neighbor's moans while having sex with whomever she picked up on the street. Or my landlady's gossips about how the couple in unit A have each of their own families making the place their secret love nest.