weekend wonderland

The Week That Was.

Monday.
I spent all week preparing for this day, 2 NFL championships to watch for 1 whole day. It was my rest day so I was preparing for this all week. Unfortunately, the cable operators in our area has something different on their minds that Monday. Broadcast was lost at 11PM on Sunday and was restored at around 1PM the next day, making sure that I miss the games that I was waiting for all week.
I was starting to feel grumpy but the sun was shining bright and clear that morning, besides I can still watch the replay all week. A beautiful morning, a nice breakfast and a fresh-looking Kayan to send off to work was enough to brighten up an otherwise gloomy day (football is not everything, so I have learned).
I spent all day reading The Alienist.

Tuesday.
I started my "day" when most people were calling theirs' done and finished. It feels weird to be feeling "fresh" when all the people around you have this "spent" look. We were testing a new tool at work so everything was "new", well almost. I still get jitters using the new program, but it's fun re-learning the things that I have been doing for the past 1 year or so.

Wednesday.
I spent the first hours of my 26th year in this world in the office. I received a book (the first of many) for my birthday - The Little Prince, all hard-bound and glossy pages. I never get tired or reading the story of the little prince, and this book I plan to read down to my grand sons and grand daughters.

Thursday.
The word for the day is RED. I wore a red shirt to work, hehe!

Friday.
Finally, I was able to watch the championship game that I missed last Monday. Had a nice dinner on a posh restaurant, we had some testy moments with the waitress because of some misunderstanding though the night was so good to let such a small event ruin it.

Saturday.
I spent all day sleeping for my body to re-adjust to its "normal" rythmns and to prepare for Kayan's dinner treat. As it turned out, I overslept and was late for our meeting at around 8PM. She was quite clear when she told me earlier that I was to meet her at Diliman Republic, 7PM. I was was getting terribly late so I rushed to UP Village as fast as I can...
...only to find our friends and kayan waiting for me there. Apparently, she has been contacting my friends for the past weeks to prepare a surprise party for me (conspiracy!). The lack of sleep did me in, apparently they were waiting for me to jerk a tear or something (hehe!) but I was just too exhausted to register any reaction. I was touched, make no mistake about it. It was the first time that someone prepared a surprise party for me and it was obvious that I can't still believe that it was my party long after the food has been served. All in all, it was a nice evening to spend with friends and there was no lack of stories to tell. For me, it was a totally unexpected night and the best birthday gift that I have received in my 26 years. Thanks for all those who attended and the organizer, we should have evenings like that more often.

Sunday.
We were able to watch the Amazing Bird Show in the Bureau of Parks and Wildlife in QC. - a nice way to cap a long but fruitful week.

Thank you so much for all the greetings that I received through SMS during the week. If I was not able to send a Thank You message, I apologize. As I said earlier, we should organize some dinner get-together sometime, birthday or no birthday.

I am turning 26 on the 27th and I promised myself that I will be celebrating my birthday this year. No, it am not really into a party-throwing, shop-til-I-drop mood. I plan to celebrate it on a nice beach a month or 2 from now, sipping margaritas while watching the sunset? Not bad at all.

After a quarter-century of existence I think I have grown tired of over-analyzing life as it is. Birthdays (and Christmases and New Years) do give you that feeling to look back and examine the years that you have spent. Spent...hmm, I really think Lived or Experienced is a more appropriate term here. Spending is like losing some part of you (well, in some ways this is true), though I rather see it as sharing. Looking back, I believe that I have shared a part of me on every single person that I met in this life. Sometimes I try to imagine the faces of the people that I met in my lifetime, and it always surprises me to know that I have met quite a lot. Some do stand out - close friends, family members, the ones who made you laugh, the ones you spent your tears on. Others simply fade back into the crowd, and you always wonder where they are at this moment.

People come and go, leaving with them a trail of experiences and memories. But some you hold on to, not out of need but wanting them to be part of life, your life as it continually unfolds.

For Year 26, Project Paolo looks forward to -
1) Learning something new
2) Visiting places (paging Kayan<---travel adviser) :P
3) Saving money (God Help Us!)
4) Watching more Football games
5) Home

If I were a superhero/cool mutant with superpowers, I guess my abilities would be something that have something to do with vision and sight. Hmm, come to think of it okay di minsan me X-ray vision, hehe. My mother always scolded me for straining my eyes over reading and computer games, sabi nya - wala ka pa sa college magsasalamin ka na. Well, I am 3 years out of college and a long time from my computer-gaming days, and I still have my 20/20 vision. I also have this knack for picking out small details, practically nothing (well, almost) escapes my sight. This ability comes in handy, lahat ng magaganda (na details, wink wink!) kita ko agad. One downside though is that lahat ng matitigan ko either feeling nila na-harass na sila, hahaha! Kala siguro me X-ray vision nga ako.

I just love watching people, voyeur ba.
I was watching a pretty girl while she was reading. Nagbabasa ng book sa MRT, sa restaurant, kahit ata sa bar magbabasa pa din yun. What I find nice though is that she may be catching up on reading(di kasi mahilig magbasa ng book dati, peace tayo!). After a while she would look up and say, nakakaiyak naman to! Hehe, I know the feeling. I cried my eyes out reading The 5 People You Meet in Heaven and The Little Prince. In case you were wondering what she is reading, it's P.S. I Love You (still have to ask who the author is, baka paluin ako sa ulo pag inistorbo ko sa pagbabasa)

I watched the Packers-Vikings games last weekend, talo yung paking Packers. I though that they woud at least be inspired to advance deeper into the playoffs but they got beaten by a good Vikings team, on their home field.
If I am starting to sound like a Sports Commentator, don't be alarmed. It's the NFL Playoffs until the SuperBowl on February 6, so magpapaka-sports geek muna ako.
Minnesota Vikings vs. Philly Eagles, Monday morning at 2. Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots (defending champs), Monday morning at 5:30. Hmm, almost 7 hours of football, not bad for a rest day from the office.
Nyam! Can't wait!

This weekend will be the start of the NFL Playoffs and as I have done for the past years that I kept abreast with football, I will be rooting for the Green Bay Packers.

This week our family also commemorated the death of our Uncle Frat, priest and Packer fan. Coincidentally, Reggie White, another minister and a former Packer player passed away on the same week.

I will be rooting for the Green Bay Packers because they do have Reggie White as the 12th player on the field this weekend and they have my Uncle right there on the sidelines.

I have always though that the night offers more inspiration than when the sun is in the sky. Nighttime offers more serenity, mystery and peace to one's mind. I have always been a morning person but I do believe that the tendrils of human imagination reaches out more after the sun sets. As Bill Watterson puts it - "the night is dark so we can imagine our fears without much distraction". When the body rests after a day's worth of work that the mind takes over, peering into the darkness that have always fascinated and mystified. When the once busy streets are emptied, when the last employee has left the building there hang an almost peaceful melancholy that describes the night. The venues that were spilling with activity under the sun, now become the black hole that invites anyone to become a part of it, one with it.

I peer into the window, down on a sleeping city. It does look different at nighttime, with it's melancholic glare of lights waiting to be swept into another busy dawn.