A one-liner I have used on multiple occasions to express regret over my less than timely response to a query or request. The degree as to which I feel truly sorry for is, most likely, not at all. This is therefore a non-apology apology. My radio silence can only unabashedly be attributed to a redirection of priorities. In other words, I procrastinated on my writing! There are stories in my head that are yet to be written. To the handful of readers who still make their way to my humble website despite the lack of update, I’m sorry to disappoint.
When I wasn’t advancing on my writing, I have discovered other ways to entertain myself and forget for a moment that, at least for the foreseeable future, I still cannot pay my lowly grandmother a visit. She turned 84 over a month ago. Despite complaints about numbness on her hands which the good doctors have time and again ascribed to old age, she is in overall good health. Still as sharp and witty as in that one time she made a playful chide to an elderly relative. We were lunching at Mama Pining’s (my late grandfather’s sister) cottage in Minaulon, a small coastal town in Lanao Del Norte, when the said relative repeatedly asked my grandmother who we were, pointing to me and my cousins. “Kinsa man ning mga bataa ni?” (Translated: Who are these kids?”). My grandmother retorted. “Ah basta gani mga gwapa kay mga apo nako na!” (Translated: The pretty ones are my grandchildren!). I think I got my sass from my Lola after all.
One of the things I’ve come to enjoy in recent weeks is listening to podcasts while working. Perhaps I’m a little bit late in the game because there’s a myriad out there to choose from, some even began as far back as a decade or two ago. Beginning of last year, I mainly listened to French-themed podcasts to aid my listening skills in French. Recently, I’ve discovered other gems such as Ang Walang Kwentang Podcast by Tonet Jadaone and Juan Miguel Severo. The podcast is so damn funny and brought back so many memories of my time in UP and of the friendships that I’ve maintained to this day. For positive vibrations I switch between the following: Calmer You, Law of Attraction Changed My Life and The Minimalists. These came in handy and helped get me though a particularly stressful week, one in which I told a colleague off over email that his accusatory tone over a matter so trivial was not appreciated. He soon realised his overreaction but god damn hell hath no fury like a woman going through PMS. I cried out of frustration, but a good cry is cathartic. No sooner we went back to being cordial.
In the hope to find respite and maybe inspiration, I turned to films to occupy my evenings after work. Someone introduced me to the world of arthouse and foreign-language films and I’ve since grown a liking for them. There’s a wonderful world of filmmaking outside of Hollywood. Films by the Iranian director and filmmaker Asghar Farhadi are a masterpiece, my favourite being A Separation with its masterful storytelling and dialogues in Arabic. The few that stood out over the number of films I watched the past few weeks were Cinema Paradiso (Italian), The Lives of Others (German), and The Intouchables (French). On Netflix, I had just finished the series Money Heist (stood up to the hype I must say! Bella Ciao!) and Line of Duty before that (very good!). But without going further, I was also hooked to the eight-part mini-series Gaya Sa Pelikula on YouTube. It was my first time watching a BL series (BL = Boys Love) and despite being about BL, it was still very relatable.
And if I’m not doing any of the above, I squeeze a chapter or two from my recent hauls off of Amazon. Barack Obama’s A Promised Land is proving to be an easy read. He writes plainly, clearly and without fuss. None of the intellectual mumbo jumbos you’d expect from, well, an intellectual. Which gives hope for people like me! Maybe I can write my own book one day, though what about, I have yet to figure.
I continue to study French and my one-hour lessons every Sunday evening look to be paying off. My tutor thinks I’m progressing fast. I’ve tested my skill over dinner last night with my friend Jessica who is French Canadian and she thinks the same. Je suis très contente avec ça !
On a macro-scale, there’s been all around good news on the vaccine front. There is reason to be optimistic that perhaps life will resume to almost normal. Singapore has secured enough vaccine to immunise its entire population including long-term residents like me by Q3 of next year. 10 million of those doses were supposed to go to the Philippines if not for yet another botched pandemic response from Duque and Duterte. I can only pray for deliverance for my dear country.
Bon. Christmas is near and though I feel less enthusiastic about it now that I’m older, this year being the tumultuous year that it is, I feel as though it needs to be celebrated somehow. There are still some good things in the horizon. A lot to look forward to, many to be grateful for.
Apologies for the radio silence. This is all I could muster at the moment.
