Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

Will be leaving for Brisbane tonight - and with a strong typhoon coming! So there could be the possibility fo flights being delayed… For now, I am more worried of Alwin being sick. He has been having stomach pains and now has a fever … my mom is looking after him and I really hope he gets better quickly. My cat Fortun is doing much better now though. Anyway, I have just finished the “slides” for my presentation in Brisbane. It will be a very hectic day when I arrive - from airport head straight to the Queensland State Library auditorium for the artists’ talks. My presentation for the symposium is still on the 3rd of December. Whole afternoon yesterday was a very stimulating focus group discussion on an Intellectual Property Rights research paper that Atty. Ping Peria prepared for FMA. Something to write about too soon, maybe during tea break or something like that (if any!) Oh well … I just hope Alwin gets better soon. We had fun making the passport for his toy caterpillar …

Celebrated my mom’s birthday today at home, which was really nice, so much better than celebrating in a restaurant. All my mom’s sisters and brother and their kids and grandkids were here so Alwin was so happy to have cousins to play with.

It was a wonderful lunch - my sister ordered some food from a catering service they had at work. There was spaghetti, pancit, beef gravy with mashed potatoes, rellenong bangus, embotido, fried chicken, pork barbeque, icecreams, cakes but my favorite was the laing.

After lunch, my mom and her two sisters went to Gateway in Cubao to check out the furniture shop where my mom got her new kamagong wood divan, bed and rocking chair. I felt so happy seeing her going out with her sisters and having fun. She seem to be much happier now after all the pain and trouble I had caused her. Last night she seemed rather depressed when I gave her the flowers and some gifts that came from my ex-partner; basically, she was depressed because I was seeing my ex-partner again.

I was rather depressed last night too, partly also because my cat Fortun is sick. He wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t drink and has been salivating. Before bedtime, I saw him climb the old divan and sit next to the pillows. Seeing Fortun still surviving today made me feel better. Since he doesn’t like visitors too much he often just sits among the boxes and junk at the back of the house. However today, I saw him sitting in the garden. Whenever I call out to him he always answers but would not go near me. Here’s a photo I took from a distance of Forun in the garden.

During her birthday celebration today, my mom seemed to feel much better and much happier. When I got home tonight and I told her that I was at the Healthway Center to accompany m ex-partner to the doctor, she didn’t seem to mind and she was happy all throughout dinner. We had a very happy dinner because Alwin’s dad was here and everything felt happy and just right. It was also so much fun with the family teasing each other.

It really makes it so much easier to deal with my own personal problems when my mom and the rest of the family are happy. I really hope that my mom continues to be happy.

You know titaninang gave me a toy caterpillar with lights and I was so happy with the toy And later the feet of the caterpillar was almost broken But titaninang glue it and later on I said what is that then I take the plastic but the plastic is a glue I don’t know its a glue but mama said go sleep your caterpillar will no gonna be broken then I sleep but in the morning at 6:OO in the morning the feet of my caterpillar is not broken.

Yesterday, I tried looking for a stuffed dinosaur for Alwin but there wasn’t any, except for Barney which he doesn’t really like. Luckily, I found a large rubber caterpillar that lights up hwne you squeeze it. It was so funny-looking and Alwin loves it! Now he brings it with him together with Edward wherever he goes. He wanted to bring it to school but I told him not to because it could get confiscated.

Then last night Alwin came down to my room crying. I was so afraid that he was hurt or something, then he told me that two of the caterpillar legs were starting to break off. I thought it was silly but I was so heart-broken by Alwin that I couldn’t help but feel so sad too. So I tried to console him and told him that we can put some white glue around the legs. We did just that and I told Alwin that it could take an hour for the glue to dry. So we just put the caterpillar on the table and waited, watching TV. I also told him that I could get him another caterpillar on Friday.

While watching TV in bed, Alwin started asking when I was going to have a baby. What a surprise, just out of the blue he asks me that. I thought that he was probably jealous of the thought of me having a baby, so I replied, “yes, maybe soon, why do you ask?” And Alwin said if I was going to have a baby then he can have Edward!

I am still rather exhausted but at the same time energized by the trip to GenSan. Strange, but I think it is just being physically tired because of my physical weakness (but I think I was able to gain some 3 pounds in the last 3 months, thank goodness), and mentally and emotionally energized because of the experience in GenSan.

My first day in GenSan (arrived in the morning of November 14), it was Alma who met me at the airport. I still get the feeling of excitement of finally meeting someone I’ve been emailing for several weeks. I suppose the Internet and internet-mediated communication make up a great deal of my most valuable friends and contacts in the “real physical world.” Some of very good friends also come from electronic communications, the BBSs of the early 90’s, and our relationships are still here after the BBSs have disappeared. I never really liked anonymity on the Internet or the BBSs, so I do value real honest people I meet on-line (as I do in person).

Arriving at GenSan airport, there was one child begging at the airport parking. He wasn’t really just begging but was trying to help with the luggage and ask for money afterwards. I saw one other child at the eatery later that day and I wondered about the urban poor in GenSan. Perhaps they are not (yet) organized groups like in Manila. I truly hope GenSan never touches the levels of poverty and crime as here in Manila. Many years ago I saw how an elderly couple transformed in less than 2 weeks from being clean and just had to beg in the streets to be able to eat for the day to being really dirty, beaten down, skin darkened burned under the sun and the old man’s eyes taken out to conform to the organized syndicate’s business of begging.

Some 20 minutes drive from the airport in GenSan town center. I checked in at Lea’s Pension House (a rate of only 400 pesos a night, for a single room with aircon (which I hardly used) and toilet/shower). Lea’s have pretty good accommodation although I wasn’t really expecting anything too fancy since being outside hotels/accommodation is more important than being in it!!

It was around 9AM when I checked in and set a dinner date with Alma. I was able to rest till around 12:30noon which was very good since I still tire rather easily. I thought of having lunch at Lea’s Cafe but decided to go out since I needed to find a drugstore anyway (I forgot to bring my medicines).

I took the tricycle to Mercury Drug, but my med wasn’t in stock. They told me to go to the larger Mercury branch. I took another tricycle there- it was just nearby, facing Layon Beach. I was so happy to see how close the town centre was to the water.

After getting my medicine, I proceeded to the bank to get some cash where I also asked where I could get some lunch. The security guard pointed me to a pastry shop just next door but lunch wasn’t available anymore. I guess this was lucky because I was then pointed to the eatery just across the street - a place called Punla Eatery, specializing in beef dishes. I got the beef bopis which was really very good. Later I learned from Al Nezzar Ali that it was a very popular place especially for Muslims since they serve halal food there.

After lunch I took the tricycle back to the pension house and rested. It was around 1:30PM when I got back so there was plenty of time to rest and prepare a bit for my presentation tomorrow. Around 6PM, Alma arrived with Ali for our dinner date. It was so good to meet Ali, a very articulate Moro artist and educator. We proceded to the restaurant nearby and had seaweeds, fried hito, grilled tuna belly, clam soup, rice, kinilaw na tuna - a very good dinner. Cecile from FDC arrived. Some students who were attending the KURO tomorrow were also there. Meeting Alma’s team from Kalimudan, I felt that their work was very closely held together by a strong foundation of friendship. Later I learned that this was what was unique with Kalimudan - how they were able to integrate their friendships and work/advocacies together in a way that truly makes working together an enjoyable experience.

I suppose in GenSan, it is more visible how the culture of the place bears significance in the work-life of the people compared to those here in Manila where work, relationships, family and such things are more compartmentalized and segregated. I have to admit that right on my very first day in GenSan, I already felt more in touch with who I truly am.

To be continued.

Finally made it home yesterday from General Santos City. I can’t believe I’m back in Manila - back to all the noise and pollution. When I passed by an outdoor cafe in SM North EDSA, I got a bit rattled by the music - it was rather loud and I couldn’t understand how people could relax or even talk to each other there. I miss GenSan already. The environment here in Manila is really for barbarians.

When the plane landed in GenSan airport, I was already struck by what I saw - the city is surrounded by moutain ranges, and past Sarangani bay were more mountains. Just about 20 minutes drive is the town center where I stayed - no tall buildings, no traffic and pollution, even the mall (we went to KCC) was relaxing: no loud blaring music. I thought, my goodness are people in Manila deaf?

Here’s a photo I took at the airport on the flight back to Manila. The mountains are just beautiful.

And here’s a photo of Edward during the flight.

I hope to get more photos taken by my contacts there - they surely have more and better photos. My problem is that when I am in a place that I fall in love with, I just can’t take any photos. I also was too happy to take photos. Weird.

I’m still resting and should write about my experience in GenSan soon. I feel so blessed to have met such wonderful and real people there who took very good care of me. I will surely be back very soon!

Feeling horribly down today, and luckily managed to sleep the whole day (probably because of the exhaustion of depression). I did manage to have a small breakfast with Alwin (we had the Honey Star cereals that he ordered), but then that was all, it was just impossible to do any bit of work or other.

I feel a bit better now after dinner, still on the low scale but better at least. A phone call from a friend in the morning was calming and made the resting much easier. So now it was not too hard to be cheered up by just looking at Edward and taking some photos.

Here’s a photo of Edward at my laptop computer:

Here’e another photo of Edward at my computer. In both photos, you can just barely see his tail.

And here’s a photo of Edward happily pressed between two pillows.