We Had 5 Holidays

November starts with a holiday—All Saints’ Day. It’s quite standard fare for the past years that Papa and I, along with the Razon siblings, would go to loyola memorial while Mama with Tita Chato and Tito Nonong would go to Bulacan. Got to go to the problematic property being sold by Mama and Tita at Balut, Tondo, and quite where Papa lived as a child. It was quite stressful but at least Mama, Papa, and I had lunch at Pancake house after. Interestingly, Papa’s been buyigng light bulbs since the 1st. Mhae was still in Bicol for the first week, and the couple of weeks apart felt like the time when she was in Europe—with chats and phone and videocalls. While she was away, I had a few room cleaning / organizing attempts. They weren’t successful. Another attempt that wasn’t successful was asking Yaluts and Jeff fo help with stuff. At least I’m getting there. TV shows got me distracted from being productive and being lonely, so it’s quite quits.

I got to do some long-distance tasks for Mhae like leaving cash in the apartment and getting clothes down. Kinda sucks that when she finally arrived, I missed fetching her because of the adjusted schedule of the Malolos trip for the Musicam Sacram conference due to ASEAN traffic adjustment concerns. The conferene was fruitful, though, with reinforced learnings in Musicam Sacram and a bit of Bulakenyo nostalgia with the Osana tune. It wasn’t the best reunion but that’s just a very minor frown in our smile-filled relationship. Trying to make the most of the ASEAN holidays, Mhae and I practiced for the MM concert on December 9. Sadly, the concert would later be cancelled due to readyness concerns. Onve thing I quite accomplished in my room is filing a year or more’s worth of bills. Interestingly, two weeks later, my room doesn’t feel much more organized. Oh well.

Back on track with the lakwatsa’s and still making the most of Mhae’s sembreak, we got to watch Justice League. Also, that Saturday, we took advantage (pun intended) of the SM advantage sale. I got myself a pair of navy low-top classic chucks and swatch boat shoes, while mhae got herself a bag. We weren’t able to get mama a gift but I guess I’ll consider the stove we got a few days back to be my gift. And speaking of that stove, I had a migraine after a long time while installing the stove. It’s probably because of smelling some residual lpg scent. Mama’s birthday that Sunday was simple with dinner at Max’s with the Calimon immediate family. It was also Tita Fe’s belated birthday celebration. Ate’s gift to Mama was an old iPad mini they haven’t been using, and it’s cute how Mama’s gotten used to it since. Work was quite chill and a little funny with an elevator misadventure.

Mhae and I fetched Gen at the airport and it was pretty smooth. I guess you can’t have it all going well as we had a number of bank fails a couple of days ago today. But despite those, Gen’s reunion with Mhae and the rest of their siblings here is pretty fun with jolly dopey, more SM shopping, and their mother and Maymay visiting from Bicol, until their trip back to Bicol with Gen. Work wasn’t so friendly but I guess I got through well enough. I did get to escape and attend a conference with Jonas (and Bianca on behalf of the company she works for) that was pretty worthwhile. I also find it cool that I got to attend an ASEAN-related seminar as Papa got to attend the ASEAN Business…something… two weeks before, which was actually part of the ASEAN conference. Work was also good at keeping my mind away at how frustrating managing the Music Ministry can be. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s actually much more fulfilling than frustrating, but there really are down points. At least I got to help PJ facilitate the practice with the Children’s Choir and SICC. O, another thing that’s cool, what the weather’s gonna get. Today’s a holiday, Bonifacio Day, and tomorrow’s December.