When I Went Away…

Friday:
-Took the two trains to Murrieta. Kuya Edward met me at the San Bernardino station.
- Kuya and I grabbed some Chinese fast food for lunch, where we met a fellow Atenean (Physics CE Batch '04! O_O). His name was Vince… something.
- Kuya, Ate Awit, Colleen, and Ethan visit the chiropractor. He kept saying, "Right there, just right there, like that, just like that… over to this side now, this side now… Just like that," while aligning their spines. Haha. He had this way of saying it, too, like it was a mantra of some sort.

Saturday:
- I met one of Ethan's therapists, Anna Lisa (sp?) and her horse Dudley. They said animals could help autistic kids. I don't know how, but I wish it works for Ethan.
- Ethan was so funny with Dudley. He kept on picking the horse's nose. Haha! Thank God Dudley's a good sport.
- Heard mass. First time I saw a homily with a video presentation (I think to raise funds for the Church).

Sunday:
- Skiing at Bear Mountain in Big Bear! Well, not me. Just Ethan, Colleen, and Kuya. Ate Awit and I watched. Lessons are so expensive. The skiing was primarily for Ethan. They have this program for children with special needs and instructors trained for that kinda stuff. So cool!
- Watched Little Miss Sunshine with Kuya. We laughed our asses off. Great character development. They definitely deserved the Best Ensemble award!
- Ate Awit baked Ethan's gluten-free birthday cake.

Monday:
- Ethan's birthday! Pizza, chicken fingers, and drinks for Ethan's classmates and teachers! Ethan and Ezekiel (also a kid with autism who's also on the same diet as Ethan) had organic chicken nuggets, corn, peas, and cake. Yum!
- Dinner at Outback to further celebrate Ethan's birthday. Outback had a gluten-free menu so Ethan was able to eat steak! Yay!
- Watched Prison Break, Heroes, and Studio 60 with Kuya and Ate Awit. Didn't really understand what went on in 24 because I was on the computer. Heheh.

Pics soon.

He was too young

Grayden (friend, housemate) passed away yesterday. He was 26.

I’m at my brother’s since yesterday and only heard about it when Ate Epie called me on my cell. It’s surreal. I still couldn’t believe it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I want to ignore it for now. I have to.

These are times when I’m thankful that I feel like a robot.

Don’t ask if I’m okay, because I am. Seriously. It’s easy for me to deal with death. Just don’t let me see the body.

Weekend Getaway

Nothing spectacular. I’m taking two trains once again to go to my brother’s house in Murrieta. I will be staying there ’til Monday night. Yay!

Ethan’s birthday on Monday. I wanna cook for him again.

Oh, and we’re going to Big Bear on Saturday. Another skiing lesson for Ethan. Finally I can watch him ski!

Fortune cookie

Ate Epie bought Panda Express for dinner last night. Our meal came with fortune cookies. I opened mine after eating and it said:

YOU WILL TRAVEL TO MANY EXOTIC PLACES.

(Yes, it was all in caps.)

I don’t get excited over or believe in fortune cookies that much, but this is one fortune that I hope becomes true.

Pleeeease, Mr. Fitzgerald. I want to go to Japan.

The Making Of

So my days have been preoccupied with my obvious eagerness to come home. Yeah, yeah, old news. Cami’s coming home blah blah blah ad nauseam.

Can you blame me, though? I came here thinking it’s all gonna be “rays of sunshine and puppies”, as our lovely Dr. Gregory House would put it, but what do you know–things just don’t turn out the way you planned. You get sidetracked somewhere along the road, and before you even get back to the path you were taking, you get dragged back to where you were. Suddenly you find yourself deep into the unexpected, forced to take a completely different path, and your life takes this terrible turn for the worse. And all that happens faster than you can say Jack Robinson.

I can’t say I’ve given up just yet, because I haven’t. I may have been broken–damaged even–in more ways than one, but I choose to believe that at least I came out of this past year in one piece, which I daresay is an achievement by itself. I don’t think I’ve lost my sanity to the year that was yet, either. After all, crazy people don’t think they’re crazy, right?

At present, I’m simply given a choice and I’ve made my decision. To me, it’s just another one of those forks in the road; and God knows what’s waiting for me out there. Nothing else is certain except the fact that I will make quite a few–scratch that–several wrong turns and even more bad decisions in the future. Hopefully though, I could also squeeze in a handful of good calls and a couple of fulfilled dreams. Wouldn’t that be nifty?Because that’s what I would definitely call a life–and it would be mine… all mine.

Just checking

Is it Feb. 19 yet?

XD 

Happyness

Last Sunday, I went with the Palmdale family to Valencia Town Center. We went to Borders, primarily to have Cait spend around $20 on books because she got a gift card from Ate Mars. We ended up staying there a long time; Ate Epie bought her music, so did Kuya Mike and his aikido books, and I bought Confessions of a Shopaholic. I figured I needed some light reading, so I picked that particular book.

After Borders we decided to grab something to eat at Poquito Mas while we wait for Ate Cris and Kuya Ronan, who invited me to watch a movie with them. They arrived about 45 minutes later.

So it was just Cris, Ronan, and me and we bought tickets for The Pursuit of Happyness. The show wasn’t until two hours later so they ate at Poquito Mas, too! They were offering me some food but I was too full. After they ate, we decided to kill some time over at the mall.

Since we were in Valencia, I remembered that one of my high school classmates, Jojo Matias, now lives there. So I called him up and it was a good thing that he was available. Nothing much changed about him, except for the light facial hair he had going on. I remembered him as being taller, but I guess I got a bit taller over the years, too. Anyway, he ended up watching the movie with us and it was a good experience. Ate Cris and I couldn’t help the waterworks; the boys were just laughing at us. The movie was touching, what can I say?

Overall it was a good weekend. Nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary. Just pure, clean fun. I loved it.

Beta Stage, Complete

I’ve done it! I told my cousin this morning about my plan to go home!

Woooooo *big sigh of relief*

Anyway, she asked me if I’m sure about it and I said yes. She also asked if I have a place to stay when I get back and I said yes again. Basically, she was just concerned about where I’m gonna end up once I go home. I told her that I will have a place to stay and then later on I’d just move in to an apartment or condo unit. She was okay with it “and that as they says is that”. (Haha, too much Final Fantasy X for me.)

I haven’t told her the date yet, though. Speaking of which, Kuya Edward told me that he already booked my flight home. I’ll be flying out of here on the evening of February 19th and will arrive in Manila the morning of February 21st.

Exit Interview, Alpha Stage, Complete

I told Jon and Cait earlier tonight at dinner about my plan to go back to the Philippines. They took it well enough. They weren’t happy nor sad about it (I think); they just nodded and understood the fact that I wanted to do something productive this year. It made me feel a bit better that I was able to tell someone from this house about my plan.

I’m still quite uneasy about telling Kuya Mike and Ate Epie, though. Moments earlier, I wanted to tell Kuya Mike when he was eating dinner but I chickened out. I’m not ready to tell him yet. Gah! Sometime this week, maybe. I want to at least give them enough time to take care of stuff before I leave.

I’m also trying to look for a job there now. Been browsing Job Street and other company websites, as well as asking friends if they know of any openings. Hopefully I’ll find something soon or when I get back home. *crosses fingers*