INDIVIDUALITY

Pat & I tried to apply our individuality this week so we decided to each write about a topic that is close to our heart. Hope you enjoy reading both. - Maan

P.S. Sa wakas may picture na kami ng pare ko.

COOKIES PAGE:

P R I C E L E S S

I went back home last week. I planned to go home since I am going to travel to General Santos City on the 16th for another audit engagement. I will stay there till the end of October. I was already in Cubao bus terminal and unfortunately I didn’t catch the air conditioned bus. I was late by a couple of minutes. I was so tired from the day’s work and I didn’t want to wait for another hour for the next one. I decided to take the ordinary bus.

My trip went quite good. I was asleep during the trip. I reached our house past four o’clock in the morning. I was welcomed by the cats in our front yard (yup we have ten adopted stray cats). I opened the door when I heard the voice of my father calling my name. As he approached me I reached for his hand as I make the usual mano po.

This is the usual routine every time I go home and arrive at early dawn.

After putting down my bag, I went straight to the kitchen. There is still pork adobo left, one of my favorite home-cooked meals. I felt a bit hungry so I decided to eat some. I missed so much eating at home after dining almost every night in fast food restaurants. While eating, my father joined me as he sipped his hot coffee. I always treasure this moment, conversing with my Papa at early hours of the morning. I call this one as our “Kumustahan Moments”.

After I graduated in college, I began to talk too much with my father. As days passed by I became honest and opened up to him. It was hard at first, since I grew up having an impression that he is so strict and a disciplinarian. I shared many stories with him. He knows my dreams, my goals, and my plans in life. I narrated the places I’ve been to. I asked for his opinion regarding my decision to have my own business someday. He knows who my former girlfriend was and whether she passed his standards. And when I broke up with her he was there to give some advice (a one-liner advice). He is a man of few words. Meanwhile, he usually shares with me how his days went by with his students, co-teachers, and their principal (he is a Math teacher by the way). He always tells me his plans after retirement (3 years from now). He also frequently asks about my life in Manila and my work.

As I look at my father, I noticed how he has aged through the years. He now has gray hairs and a sporadically aching back. But he still owns a serious face which I think I inherited from him. That’s his signature. He is known for being so serious. But for me, he is not that much serious. Just like a coin, I’ve seen the other side- the lighter side of his life.

He was almost done with his coffee when I finished eating the pork adobo on my plate. It took us almost an hour having a great time talking. No matter how sleepy I was during that moment I still managed to stay awake because I didn’t want to miss tiny details of our conversation. No rewinds. No pause buttons. No replays. It goes spontaneously. It is so precious.

Our Kumustahan Moment is indeed… priceless.

CREAM PAGE:

A NEW FRIENDSHIP & BOXING


I used to workout alone. Now I have a new workout buddy, Weng, a 29-year-old call-center agent from Bulacan. I met her just this September. She is a pretty lady with a baby face. She had recently come out of a break up. We have the same sort of heavy body type that’s why it’s quite a challenge to exercise and slim down. We go to Elorde Boxing Gym located here at the 4th floor West Tower Tektite in Ortigas City. As much as possible, we schedule it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I first enrolled in Elorde on January of this year with the hope of having a fit body before the summer. Fortunately, after 3 months of faithful training, my love handles reduced in size, my hips isn’t as wide as before & my flabby arms had firmed up a bit.

Before you commit to boxing, the Elorde staff will give you a free trial workout so if you happen to like the first session, you will now have to pay Php 700 for the annual membership & Php 1,500 for a 10-session workout. They have competent boxing trainers who were once participants of professional boxing tournaments here in the Philippines and abroad. My trainer is a short but swift guy named Gerald. He came from a region in Mindanao. His brows have scars & his fists have what seem to be permanent calluses. The cardio routines make us huff and puff and burn the fat. Doing the jab, uppercut, hook and footwork like real boxers develop our arm and leg muscles. The session will begin with a warm up followed by 3 rounds of sparring. Then we work the speed ball, swing ball and the punching bag followed by another 3 rounds of sparring. This will be concluded with the cooling down which is composed of lots of crunches. Whew! At the end of the session, we shower and feel refreshed once again. It’s all worth it – health-wise, money-wise & socially. Not to mention, boxing is a great stress-buster to all those couch potatoes out there.