Bisdak Babbles

Since Saturday I had this fever, colds, cough, and muscular pains - probably the effects of dropping temperature, or information overloading? ^-^ I spent the whole weekend inside the apartment lying down, sleeping, drinking lukewarm water and hot tea, and from time to time, browsing the internet. When I woke up this morning, I was still not feeling well and for fear of getting worse, I decided to be absent from work and went back to sleep.

At around 11AM, I decided to get up, ate brunch, took my medicines and vitamins, then started browsing the internet.

At around 12 noon, I heard someone unlock the door and I wondered why would Jet (my flatmate) get out of the office so early? So I called out but she did not answer. I called again twice and still heard no answer. I decided to drag myself out of my room and take a look at the door. I was so horrified to find out that it was not Jet in the doorway but rather a Japanese guy, around 40 years old! I did not know what to do and the guy was also as surpised to see me. He asked me first why I was in the apartment and I asked him back why he has a key to our apartment. He told me he lived in our unit! When he blurted out that answer, I couldn’t help thinking, was he a ghost? Ok… I had to stop thinking of scary stuff… so I composed myself and tried to converse with him with my limited Japanese and at the same time thinking of any weapon that was within my reach in case he attacks me. Shouting would have been useless because the apartment was sound-proof. I nearly gave in to my fears when he finally gave up trying to speak to me, stepped out and locked the door using his key! I then immediately put the chain lock in place.

I then called our manager and reported the incident. He then called the broker and have the lock replaced. Up to now, we don’t know why that guy has a key to our apartment so we just fabricated a story that the Japanese intruder was a boyfriend of the previous occupant and he was given a key. They broke up and he had no idea that his ex-girlfriend moved out and that there were new occupants to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment.

Thank God I was sick that I had to stay home and found out that there was at least one ‘unauthorized’ person who could easily enter our apartment without breaking his way in.

Our apartment has two bedrooms. One with windows but no cabinet, and the other has a huge cabinet but without a window. I chose the one with windows. Since I arrived in July, I did not buy curtains ‘coz I wasn’t able to find curtains that cost 500 yen (as if I could find these here in Japan). So I only bought two (2) 100-yen black blinds. You could only imagine how drab my window looked. The blinds were very functional on summer days but seemed to be useless now that it’s getting colder. So I asked my mother to ship curtains from the Philippines! Of course I had things sent other than curtains. ^-^

When the package arrived, I immediately set up the curtains. The cloth design was not what I wanted but knowing my mother who loves vivacious colors, here’s how the wall (with the windows) look right now:

It’s already 1:35AM and I’m still wide awake. Tsk tsk… clearly I had too much caffeine today.

This dilemma brought my mind back to March 22, 2001, the day before my college graduation. A Pinoy and 2 Japanese executives from Epson, Japan came to Cebu to give exams and conduct interviews. The exam was a blur and during the interview, I was wearing a pair of jeans and t-shirt as I just came from the graduation ceremony practice. Many of my “extraordinary” batchmates took the exam and interview so I was convinced I didn’t stand a chance.

Almost 2 weeks later, I opened my email and was flabbergasted (jud!) to receive an e-mail from Kuya F (the Pinoy from Epson, who were with the Japanese). I was presented a chance to come here in Japan for the training! I was so overwhelmed with joy that I spent the whole night tossing and turning in my bed. That e-mail is still in my Yahoo mail until now.

Months later, I arrived here and stayed almost a year. That time, the camera in my cellphone is not yet as sophisticated as my current zero-yen phone and I didn’t own a digital camera, so I made do with the “most primitive” style. A couple of years ago, our house was renovated and nobody at home could tell where did all those pictures go. I honestly regret I did not start blogging on 2001. I vaguely remember my first stay here (naks! drama).

Having learned from this mistake, I decided to write everything I could remember about my stay in Sydney. I still don’t own a digital camera so I just collected every picture that my colleagues took. I just completed one entry, without a picture yet. Unforgettable Sydney begins here.

These lines really struck me:

(1) From William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream:

(2) From the movie A Lot Like Love. I forgot the exact words but it went like this…

When I was a grade school student, I loved writing letters. I’m pretty sure that my father (who was in Saudi Arabia at that time), my grandparents and other relatives in Bohol and Cebu enjoyed receiving letters from me. (Well, they should have ^-^) I even had many pen friends from different parts of the country. My mother found me annoying because I always plagued her with requests to drop my letters to the post office. This went on until I finished highschool.

When I learned to use the internet and cellular phones, e-mails and SMS messaging completely erased pen mails out of the picture. No one can deny that these methods are way too convenient (fast and low-cost). I became too lazy to even send post cards to my grandparents who have no inkling what an internet is and who don’t have cellular or landline phones.

Now that I am back here in Japan, I admit it is a bit disappointing that every time I open our mailbox, it only contains different kinds of pamphlets. The only letters I receive are those from my mobile phone provider. Even so, I still look forward to receiving those monthly bills.

Last week, something wonderful happened. I received a letter from a friend in the Philippines! Honestly, I am still lazy writing letters, but knowing that I could also lighten up someone’s day by writing one, it’s really worth it. I’m really glad I have a friend who is very diligent without expecting something in return. Thanks a lot Neo!