Too Many Things to Do, Too Little Time

I know, I know. It’s cliché. But still true. But that’s not actually what bothers me this very moment. I’ve been busy for as long as I can remember. I can’t even remember any time that I wasn’t doing anything, so it isn’t a big deal anymore.  

What really gets to me is the fact that so many people, some of them I know personally, have so much time in their hands that they can actually post their entire itinerary on FB, and update it, too, from time to time. Where do they get so much time?

Is it because I wake up late? Okay, 8am is much too late to get up I’ll give you that. But I sleep late, too, like 12midnight, or even later. But even then, it seems like I accomplish too little at the end of the day. I don’t even get a chance to pick up the cross stitch I’m working on, or the beanie hat I started crocheting last May.

Could it be that I have more chores than they do? Well, I have the usual housekeeper stuff like cooking, washing the dishes, washing clothes, folding clothes, sweeping the floor (I mean, when I don’t forget), mopping the floor. Those are the usual stuff, right? Then, I update my blog, read books, two at a time, one from my tablet and another one from my cellphone when I use the bathroom (Ok you don’t need to know that), then write book reviews. And before I get to blink, the whole day is gone. Just gone. I am flabbergasted!

The problem is ‘TIME is not for sale’ and even if it is I wouldn’t have enough money to buy two hours to add to my 24.

Okay. What if you can actually buy time? What are you going to do with it? Seriously? What would you do if you have additional two hours on your day?

The Luckier Ones

This is a re-post. It originally appeared on another blog on May 07, 2014. It is re-posted for sentimental reasons.

It's summer here in the Philippines and it seems like the hottest summer so far, though we say that about every summer.

Everyone finds a way to get through the heat, from the most to the least expensive. The rich leave the country to spend the season in a much colder place while those who can afford spend almost everyday going to beaches and various resorts.

For us ordinary citizens, however, we hole up in the coziest part of the house with a pitcher of iced water permanently sitting on the table. Electric fans are turned to #3 the whole day and turned off only to cool the motor down.We are luckier than others.

I saw people toiling under the ruthless heat of the sun because they have no choice. I saw construction workers, street vendors and hired hands at the farm who labor the whole day to earn money to put food on the table.

And every time I think about them, I feel ashamed. I feel ashamed for complaining about not having enough money, about the pile of bills on my desk, about not being able to go somewhere, about the heat, about everything, when I should be grateful for what I have.

Lord, teach me to be thankful for the gift of comfort..

Lights Out Brings Back Memories

Last Saturday, we joined the 2014 Earth Hour. And since it was very hot inside the house with all the electric fans turned off, we preferred to stay outside while the Earth Hour was going on.

With the lights out, I suddenly remembered my childhood in the province, the quiet and peaceful nights usually spent singing and strumming guitar, playing guessing games, throwing around corny jokes and half-truths about everyone in town.

We had no gadgets to play with or watch on to keep us entertained, just the starry sky with all its secrets and mysteries. I know it’s not healthy to dwell on the past but looking back brings up happy memories to keep hopes up in order to look forward to the future..

My Childhood Games

I grew up in the province during the 80s. In those days, computers were unheard of yet. There were no gadgets except for Game N Watch which only the rich families could afford. There was no cell phone either, and even land line phones were scarce and only installed in the city which was an hour drive from our town.

So, what games did we play back then? Well, plenty! And absolutely much more enjoyable than the computer games kids play these days.

For girls, we played piko (hopscotch) on the street, we made mud pies and clay pots, Chinese garters, jump ropes and foot jump.

While for boys they played mostly black one-two-three which is simply running around and chasing each other, touching ball, luksong baka, baseball and other ball games.

For both boys and girl, we play sipa, patintero, hide-and-seek, luksong tinik, syetong, 7-up, touch the color, tug-of-war, and a lot lot more.

We may not have computer, tablet, DS, PSP, cell phone or whatever gadgets kids have today, but our childhoods were more memorable and I, for one, wouldn’t exchange mine for any piece of technological innovation.

Enveloped in Darkness

This is a re-post. It originally appeared on another blog on March 16, 2014. It is re-posted for sentimental reasons.

On Friday night, with my two kids already asleep and I was preparing to go to bed myself, the lights went out and we were enveloped in darkness.

I waited a few moments for the electricity to come back. Few minutes, several minutes, half an hour later, it didn’t. So, I brought out the candles which I kept for such situations and felt grateful that I still have enough to last for hours. I also brought out our rechargeable light with fan. It didn’t last long, however. Probably, someone used it before and whatever power it had was just a leftover of the previous charging.

The minutes turned to hours. It seems like our subdivision or probably the entire city of Caloocan was covered by a thick suffocating blackness. It was then that I realized how dependent we become to electricity to live.

During the 80s, when I was in grade school, some remote areas in our province didn’t even have electricity and they were living just fine putting up mosquito nets at night and opening door and windows to let some air in. But right now, sleeping without electric fan is nightmare and a day without checking out the computer (which requires electricity) for social media updates is depressing.

Five hours and six pieces of big fat candles later, the power came back and we were finally able to sleep.

What Do You Think of NOSY Neighbors?

Ah.. They are a pain..?

Well, I happen to have nosy neighbors and they are very good in what they do. I always find them chatting about everyone and everything in the neighborhood. Every time a door opens and closes, they stop talking and look as if their lives depend on what’s going on behind that door.

What I don’t understand and probably wont for the rest of my life is their irrational desire to know what’s going on with other people’s lives. Why it drives them mad not knowing what other people do, where they go and whom they go with? And when they couldn’t get the information on their own, they need to ask the person herself. Don’t they even realize that the person isn’t talking because she doesn’t want them to know anything basically because they don’t need to?

And the worse part? Whatever they learn or whatever they think they learn, they would share to everyone else. Don’t they know I’m not interested in what they have to say about others? It’s not that I’m callous or something like that, it’s not that I don’t care even a little. It’s just that I respect other people’s privacy so I tend to stay away from their business. And that I have better use of my time than to talk with them so that they could talk about me afterwards.

I know I’m being called a snob and so unneighborly behind my back but I’d rather be that than be like them..

Funny But Horrible

During the 90s, there were only a few people in our neighborhood in the province who knew how to use the sphygmomanometer, or commonly known as the BP apparatus.

Among such people was my cousin who lives in the house next to ours. One morning, right after breakfast, a neighbor a few houses away, called on him. She asked him to take the blood pressure of her husband who had been very sick for some while. My cousin packed the BP apparatus and taking my brother with him, he went to the neighbor’s house.

At first he had a really difficult time feeling for the patient’s pulse. Then, when he finally felt what he thought was the pulse, he wrapped the pressure cuff around the man’s arm and pressed the bulb repeatedly. He didn’t hear anything. So, he tried again.. Then again.. And yet again.. There was no sound. There was no blood pressure.

He took the earpiece out and said in a troubled tone…

“I’m sorry about this.. but I can’t hear any sound. He doesn’t have any blood pressure…'”

The woman who fetched him rushed towards her husband and put her ear on his chest. Then she looked up and said..

“He doesn’t have any heartbeat either..”

Well, obviously, the patient was already dead but no one realized it right away.

After a few years, when we talk about it, it sounded funny at first, the idea of taking the blood pressure of a dead man was hilarious, but when we think about a dead man lying on the bed without anybody knowing he was dead, well.. that sounds horrible..

We don’t just realize it but things like that really happen in the neighborhood.