FRIDAY, January 10,2003

I woke up before six am. Turned the PC on, and exercised while waiting for it to get ready (I hate waiting standing still). Then I went online and checked my mails. Edgar was online. Amie too. We all chatted a bit. I watched all of Ed’s animations for the first time. I wish I could learn to make animations like that! And Christian(who did the ed and ed clone voices) sounds exactly like a typical dubbed anime character!

After net I was told to watch the baby, help with the laundry, and do some random errands since I’m the fastest on my feet. Squeezed out excess water from soapy clothes out of the washer, dumping a fresh batch, then while it spins shake out the other batch from the dryer, place a new rinsed out batch, then bring the ‘spin-dried’ clothes to hang outside while waiting for washer and dryer to finish their spin cycles(forgive me for including all the mundane details, I kinda love water chores like laundry and dishes. Strangely I still hate cooking).

Like I said, I hate waiting. I have to do something. I think it was a main reason I win in Warcraft, Warlords and other strategy games. But I digress. Anyway, it’s also why I get sent to do other random chores. Like hanging the new curtains. Mom was having problems reattaching the wire to its hook to hold the curtains up because she couldn’t pull the wire straight enough. I ran to get a longnose then volunteered to finish the job. She asked if we should employ some masculine strength from my big bro Allan, but I decided I could handle it.

I realized we couldn’t reattach the wire because it was too short. Dad obviously pulled the wire tight and cut it to its extreme minimum capacity. Good thing mom pointed out the other end which was slightly longer, so we took that one off and hooked the first (short) end. Then I saw how dad twisted the 2mm-thk wire securely. So I ran to get the pliers to be able to grab the stupid wire to untwist it. I could understand mom’s idea of letting Allan do it, but I’ve always been known to have pretty strong hands(and an extreme Taurus tenacity). So I got the job done. Just in time to return to laundry and babysitting :)

By 11am though I had to go to the fast-food pronto because the cook just called reporting that rush hour started an hour early! It was because students were practicing for the fiesta(Jan 15) here in San Pablo, messing up their usual class schedules.

By the time I got there though the first batch is done. So I spent my time cleaning up the tables for dishwashing. Mostly because we had so many people coming to eat we ran out of clean plates and stuff. I was texting my friends the whole time about the stuff I’m leaving at the tindahan (I’ll get to that later).

Beho replied that he’s dropping by that day. By the time he arrived I was done cleaning up tables and serving food and drinks. So I was finishing up with my late lunch since rush hour’s done(not an hour early). He’s carrying an electric guitar along with his big backpack. He said he’s got band practice in Los Baños. I introduced him to my li’l sis Wanwan. We chatted a bit until I’m done.

Then he gave me my books back. They’re done making Thought Market #2(they printed my comics there!) and gave me a complimentary copy(thank you!) as well as lending me a feminist zine made by his friend(People always think I’m feminist, but I’m still not. Really. Uh, more on that later).

I showed him the stuff he could borrow. We did some new year cleaning at the house so I found the rest of my culture crash collection. We decided that he borrow the whole collection so he’d understand the serials. He said that culture crash felt like a dubbed anime though. But we both agreed that it’s tops on quality and standards.

I thought about this story idea that involves pre-colonial Philippines, and wondered what it would look like now if we have never been colonized. But I would need tons of research for that. He just said that I need someone to make the story for me. He even joked that he’ll write one so I’d draw it. I just laughed and said sure.

I remembered calling his house and talking to his mom. She’s really friendly, saying “Yes, I know you! Why don’t you come visit us sometime?” I was surprised. And amused. She’s really sweet. I asked him how she knew. He just said “Well of course! We’re grade school classmates. She must’ve remembered you from the class picture.”

“What class picture??? We never had a class picture! ...I mean, I never had.”

“What? Introvert ka kasi e! ‘Di ka sumasama sa pop group!” he joked.

“Nakakasawa sa pop group palagi e. Maiba naman!” I joked back.

After he left, we got ready to go too, getting clearance from boss-mom, with a request to buy her big ripe dalanghitas. We checked the bills to pay, and listed future payments so we could set aside cash early on. The we went to buy the citrus delights on the way home.

At home I got dressed and read Jawbreaker, the feminist zine. It was a fun read :) They fearlessly tackled so many issues that schools wouldn’t even dare bring up. I get repeated references to catholic-school girls. My high school(and college) was catholic too. So I laughed at the nostalgia of things like watching ‘silent scream’ and listening to speakers who plead us to never fornicate. At the time, I didn’t relate at all because boys wouldn’t even look at a bony 14-yr old giraffe like me. And they’re asking me not have sex??? Noooo problem! :D

When I’m done I was so impressed I decided to write them. I felt like doodling while writing so I’m writing a snail mail. Inserting my doodles is something I can’t do online. Yet :)

But then I got asked to fix the meter-long fluorescent bulb that wouldn’t light because I was the tallest. When we replaced the bulb and it still didn’t work, we tested the starter by switching it with my desk lamp’s. It worked. I couldn’t write my letter as fast though since my desk lamp lost a starter. I’ll find a new when I get to bayan.

We had dinner at 9:30pm, watching Celestron channel for the progress of the fiesta that has been going from January 7 to 16. We would’ve liked to go and check it out ourselves, but we have yet to see a good reason why we should bother going out :)