Under The Same Gray Sky: Chapter 1

The morning alarm from his small clock beside his table went off, bringing defeat to a long lazy sleep. Jessie just tap the snooze button asking for a stretched five more minutes. But before the alarm clock could set off again, the door swung open and a loud spank to his thigh swept all the sleeping dust away. "Get up sleepy head! You're supposed to be having breakfast by now. Get up! *spank!* Get up!" "Five more minutes, mom, please..."

After the morning rituals, Jessie rushed off to school. He was nervous yet anxious for the first day of school. It seemed like only a month was spent for his entire high school. This is his first time in four years to be studying in a co-education. This thought alone kept him uneasy driving all the way to school.

Parking was trial and tow-away. He was unsure if it was legal to park in a n inviting space. He was already running late, "oh, what the heck." So he did left his car there.

First days are always like a guessing game. You don't know what kind of peers you will have, or if some will play you an outcast, or if the class bully would fave you. Anyhow Jessie just set all those frowns away and kept telling himself "you are here to learn. Period", just to make himself feel lighter. The school was flowing colors in and out of the campus. everything and everyone was new. He was still searching for a familiar face in vain. "Hey dude!" a guy's voice caught his attention. When he turned his head, he thought that was for him". So he just brisk walk to find his class. "Room 203.... room 203..... oh, there it is." He stood in front of the door, took in one deep breath and looked around a bit. A pretty face stood amongst the crowd in a moment, then became one with the crowd. Well that certainly brought Jessie's nervousness to a low gear. One more breath then he enters the room. You could tell it was school's first day. Not very conversations going on, people are seated in intervals and everyone is obviously not themselves. He finds a seat at the back row, his favorite spot in a classroom.

Lunch time was fairly quiet for Jessie. Around his table, the only sound heard was his spoon and fork against the plastic plate. Just about 4 tables to his off hand, he saw a fresh familiar face. She was drinking iced tea, Jessie's favorite beverage. This prompted him to buy one for himself. After a quick time check, Jessie got off to his next class.

The first day turned out to be unexpectedly smooth. His classmates were generally warm to everyone. "Well I guess this spot was okay.", Jessie thought to himself as he turned on the ignition to catch up with the afternoon rush hour on his way home.

to be continued...

Under The Same Gray Sky

Just for fun, I'm starting out a sort of short story series in here in my blog. I'll be sorting my postings for this by chapter. I'm hoping when I end this story it would be sufficient enough to make a short story book, if compiled all together. So I'll title this "Under The Same Grey Sky". Just to give a preview, it'll basically be a love story, but I'll imagine my hardest to make this a unique love story and not just one of those I've-heard -this-story-before kinda romance. Anyways, I hope you'll indulge in it and be entertained somehow. I'm suggesting you listen to a mellow, white-noise, soft music while you read my story, just to bring you inside the story and make you feel part of the plot. Enjoy=')

Bata bata ang saya-saya

Yesterday as I was on my way to my patient's house, I happen to pass by these group of children, about 6 of them somewhere between 4-5 years old. Judging from their uniforms, I'd say some of them were fresh off from school, while the rest of them donned on their less than casual clothing. They were joyously playing with a bicycle, complete with it's training wheels. Each of them were very busy playing with their chum, so to speak. They never even bothered to give me an eye as I pass by them just a breath away. They were all "in their game" oblivious to the things around them, at the moment.

Looking at them brought me back to what it was like back in the days. I realized childhood is supposed to be the best times of our life. It may not be the best chapter, but hey, it stands out. When we were young, all we ever worry about is play. Everyday we step into our make believe world, playing with toys in ways not even mentioned in the instructions printed in the box. We don't need to work, instead we play. We don't need money, just a playmate or a toy. Basically a child does 3 things: sleep-eat-play. No worries, no problems. Well if we did have a problem, we always have the magic word - "mama" or "papa". We let them carry our burden for us. In a child's life, you live to play.

After over an hour I finally finished treating my patient. I said my goodbye to my dear patient and went outside their residence as I waited for my pay. I still see the kids playing. Forgetting about time, even forgetting to put down their bags from school. I just cant help but give off a grin.

As I garner more years to my life's resume, I came to appreciate more the sweetness and innocence of childhood, a stage in each of our lives where we once thought life is easy. I cant even remember the last time I hold a toy. Somebody once told me that it is unhealthy if we don't let the child in us out once in a while. We were once children. As we age, that child didn't die. It is still in us. Problem is some people take life seriously. So serious that they refuse to let the child in them breath again. They didn't know that they are slowly killing a certain part of themselves. I guess I'll end this post by saying, let the children remind us who we are and who we should not forget.

Peace out!
=')

Only in Bisaya

Here are the definitions of some bisaya jargon. Enjoy!

1. Branawt
- loss of electrical power

2. pa kodak
- to take picture

3. kolget
- basically means toothpaste

4. pridgeder
- a storage for cooling food and refreshments

5. kook it
- coca cola 8 oz

6. sing along
- a musical household component with an auxilary microphone

7. teep
- cassette or any cartridge

8. chit
- restaurant bill

9. ban-id
- a small, self-adhesive dressing for simple wounds

10. warless

- a telephone deprived of its wire; a place somewhere in mandaue

11. santan

- a certain lotion used when going to the beach to protect the skin from the sun

12. chess
- a yellowish dairy product commonly used in sandwiches and burgers

13. lards

- when one does not prefer small or regular sizes

14. termos

- a container used to store hot water

15. flag letret

- a ceremonial raising or lowering of the Philippine flag in schools

16. shades

- a tinted, stylish eyeglasses

17. snober

- street candy; especially used post yosi

18. anesay

- a rule used in street basketball or pick up games when no referee is available

19. kingkoy

- animated TV shows

20. johnson buds

- used for cleaning the ears

Natural Hot Bath

Ever tried taking a shower between 10am and 4 pm? Instead of refreshing yourself out from the hot summer ambiance, you get even more Celsius. At it's climax, you might just be able cook hard boiled eggs, literally! It's really, really bad. I thought this only occur at home where we lived relatively on a higher ground. But when I did took a bath at Cynthia's place, we needed to put in around 3 tubes of ice, which completely disappears in what seemed liked a blink of an eye.

I guess this is one way of relaying mother nature's message to us. I'm doing my part in every little way to help out, like turning off lights when not necessary, throwing even the minute garbage at it's proper disposal, stuffs like these. You should be too. Remember, we only have one Earth and we share it with everybody else.

My own Dell =')

I'm really very fond of window shopping for laptops just anywhere. I'm just staring through the displays and imagining that day when I could have my own. I've been counting the ways I could purchase one.

So then comes my balikbayan brother from the states. I never really expected it. Hence the surprise. I received one of the best presents ever, one which I longed for, and I got it from the person I least expected would give.

I guess the size of my smile that day said it all - I appreciate it big time and thank's a lot, bro.

Completed!

We finally put up the back drop for Cynthia's aquarium. We bought a few more fishes, then cleaned up the fish tank. Now I can sit back, relax and enjoy watching this beautiful aquarium that I'm proud off. It's complete. I hope people would appreciate it. I know I envy it. =')