Older

Image from FreePik

For the next six months, my wife will be older than me! Hahaha! It is not an issue really. But we have fun teasing each other about who is older and who looks younger. So allow me to savor this moment – especially when situations come where we are asked to fill out forms that require stating ones age!


Our age gap is just actually 6 months. She was born in September while I was born in March the following year. Not that long! But in terms of birth year, it appears to be that our birthdates are one year apart. This is usually her retort everytime she sees me grinning or making a fuss over our age: “6 months… Only 6 months!” with matching devilish smile! HAHAHAHA!


X-X-X-X


Weekend after her birthday, we decided to have an Executive Check up. We had it once when we reached our 40s and vowed to make it an annual affair – we are not getting any younger afterall. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Well, we don’t have any issues actually. So what’s the use? But that kind of thinking is wrong. Our health should always be our top priority. Very cliche: Health is wealth!


Last year, we had our ECG just for the heck of it. Our results were okay  although there was something not quite normal with my wife’s heartbeats. Due to our tight schedule with our work and family affairs, we were not able to see a physician. We simply ignored it. Lately however, Wifey was complaining about her frequent headache or dizziness. There were times that she felt her fingers and arms getting numb. We checked these symptoms on the internet. The results were alarming. Hence the Executive Check up.


As advised, we fasted from 10:00 PM Friday until 8:00 AM Saturday before we had our blood extracted for the laboratory test. The X-Ray machine technician arrived a little late so we had to prolong our fasting. We wanted to have all the examinations done before we leave the clinic to do our errands and go home. The ECG will be done upon consultation with the Doctor because she conducts it herself.


The results of the blood work will be available by Monday, according to the Medical Technologist who attended to us. We can’t see the Doctor yet without the results. So as soon as we had our X-ray, we immediately left and looked for a place where to eat.


…to be continued.

Back to School Officially

Today is the first day of school for my 10th Grader. That’s about 1 month behind my 7th Grader. From this day onwards, we are all leaving the house. The two for school; Me and wifey for work.

This new setup would entail a lot of adjustments. When Zeke (7th Grader) was still in elementary, his school was located in the city’s business district and was just a kilometer away from the school of Ricks (10th Grader).

Now that Zeke is in Junior High, he is enrolled in another school with a program different from Ricks. We intentionally put them in two different schools because they have dissimilar personalities hence require distinct school approaches.

Anyway, Zeke’s new school is located in a faraway location. Thus our morning route in going to school has changed. Previously, we needed to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. and the boys arrived at school with few minutes to spare. This time we have to leave EARLIER.

Since Ricks had to be in school by 6:30 a.m. today, we left our house at 5:50 a.m. This was just sort of a test to see if we were right with our estimate.

When Zeke was still in his first few days in school, we normally left the house at 6:30 a.m. Traffic was a little heavy already when we reached the school’s vicinity. The queue of vehicles would reach the entrance of one of the exclusive subdivisions in the area. This was before entering the campus. Then there was another queue when exiting the campus after dropping off Zeke.

There’s another stumbling block: the traffic from the school to the downtown area. The same volume of vehicles that were lining up to enter the campus were the same vehicles that would make another beeline toward the city. About 30 minutes were spent on this.

Today, we dropped off Zeke at 6:10 a.m. No queueing! Only a few students were present on the campus.

And, we successfully arrived at Ricks’s school by 6:18! Yay!

Ricks (with backpack) entering the school door before call time.

Hiddenbrooke Resort

Thank you, Hiddenbrooke Resort. We had a wonderful time at your place.

Our life has been so stressful lately so we needed a place that is peaceful and a little far and away from city life. We hit the jackpot when we found this resort. It is the best place to commune with nature. It is situated in a middle area of an elevated parcel of land that is overlooking the rice fields. The back portions are untilled land at the forefront and far away are mountains covered with trees serving as a backdrop.

We stayed at the resthouse. It was ready for occupancy upon our arrival and it was clean. The two-story all-wood resthouse is equipped with a refrigerator, gas stove and cooking paraphernalia. The living/dining/kitchen is on the ground floor. A videoke is also available at an added cost. This area is well ventilated because of the wide capiz windows and two-door entrance.

The 2nd floor is a big bedroom with a loft and a toilet/shower. In it are 2 matrimonial mattresses spread on the well-polished floor and a queen-sized bed with a soft mattress. The pillows and blankets are fresh and rinsed in fabric conditioner. The room comes with an air conditioner unit and we didn’t have any problems because it was functioning well. We had the much-needed sleep/rest in this room. But if you wish to enjoy the natural cool air coming from the mountainside, you may open the windows. The 2nd floor is also surrounded by a balcony accessible by 2 doors. You have a good view of the entire place from the balcony area.

The size of the pool and the depth are just right. The cool running water is also refreshing. We enjoyed our afternoon dip in the pool while waiting for the sun to go down.

After dinner, we went out again to enjoy the view at night.  The perimeter of the resort was properly lit. The plants and trees were adorned with solar-powered lights. The pool was so inviting again especially when the underwater lights changed their colors after a few minutes. However, only my younger son went for a swim. We had another agenda in mind.

There’s another videoke machine near the pool. That’s where we spent our time for the rest of the evening. While the younger son was in the pool, our firstborn enjoyed singing his song choice. The machine didn’t fail because the songs we wanted are available. I had 2 cans of beer while wifey and son enjoyed their bottles of juice. We brought these pieces of stuff for our trip although beer, beverages and curls are also available in the canteen. While doing all these, another group was roasting marshmallows in the bonfire area. Yes, they have one.

The next day, we were able to catch the morning sun peeking inch by inch over the mountain. We decided to go out of the resort and check the neighborhood. It was a typical day for the people around. We bought ripe bananas at a cheap price.
Our breakfast, cooked and prepared in the kitchen area, was all set when we got back. We had our breakfast together with a visitor – a tomcat feline.

We still wanted to have another dip in the pool before we go. But the scorching summer heat was deterring us from doing so. However, the sunshade installed right above a portion of the pool allowed us to enjoy swimming despite the heat. We were having the pool all to ourselves but soon, daytime guests started coming in. By the way, there are five cottages available for rent for guests who wanted to stay during daytime only

Before I forget, I would like to commend the cheerful and accommodating staff of the resort. From the time when we were still inquiring through messenger until our last minute with them,  all are very responsive and helpful with our needs.

Again thank you for making our stay a memorable one.

The Call of the Wild Movie

Our EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary holiday was very fruitful because we were able to do some chores at home which were long overdue.

But what made the day more memorable was when we found out that the movie adaptation of Jack London’s book was featured in the local cinema house. So we headed there immediately in time to catch the last show.

https://books.disney.com/book/the-call-of-the-wild/

The entire family read the book, except our 8 year old Zykieboy. Ryx actually read the condensed version, to make things exact. So imagine our excitement when we were about to enter the venue.

Hahaha! I expected to see some of the scenes I imagined while reading the book long ago. Only to find out that what I was thinking actually were from another book with a dog also as the main character – White Fang.

Good thing Ryx was there to help me out…. the advantage of a memory of 12-year-old boy. 😄

1st Movie We Watched for the Year

This corner has been inactive for a looooooong time.

This 2020, I hope I can find the time to post entries here and be abreast with the WordPress Universe.

For my first, here’s the first movie we watched at the cinema this year.

I am referring to

STAR WARS: RISE OF THE SKYWALKER.

We missed this during the holidays because of the travelling from here to there and there to here we needed to do. Good thing it’s still being featured in the cinema house. 🙂

Wifey is a Star Wars fan and she was able to influence the kids in liking the saga too. Me, not much. There were parts in the movie where I was a bit lost. Thanks to them, I was able to catch up.