The nurses and doctors at the Wellness Center of The Medical City, apparently, are not very used to patients who are in actual pain since people who sign up there are usually those who go for general check-ups. In short, they didn’t quite know what to do with me. Every time the attack came, I would grunt. Each nurse or doctor that witnessed it, without fail, then asked me “From 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?”.

As soon as I got back home from the overnight at the hospital, I unconsciously chose Grey’s Anatomy Season 4 from among the countless DVDs I had to catch up on (it’s been yeeears since I last watched the series; I wasn’t even sure where I’d left off). On the show, the doctors asked the patients the very same “From 1 to 10…” question several times. But what struck me was when Meredith Grey’s shrink asked her that question -obviously not pertaining to physical pain.

Then I asked myself the very same question…

“9.” That’s my answer. From 1 to 10, my lost, painful, hollow everyday feeling is a 9.

Back in high school (or college), I remember giving J eighteen Valentine’s Day greeting cards, each card for every Valentine’s Day he’d had until that point; In 1998, I gave W a personalized and personal-sized Humidor -only to learn later that he already owned several much bigger personalized Humidors.

I seriously have no Valentine’s Day memories other than those (I don’t think working at the restau counts). Tragic, if you ask me.

Just a few seconds after we’d parted I replayed what had just happened in my mind. He was wearing an oversized shirt, casual shorts, and rubber shoes that didn’t really look like those were for running. I suddenly felt guilty for not offering to just give him a ride to the Fort. So…I turned back and went along the path I pointed out to him, hoping to find him and offer him a ride. He was nowhere along Julia Vargas. Maybe he realized it was too far and decided to take a cab or changed his mind about going to the Fort altogether and went to the mall instead. Oh well.

The news of their break-up saddens me. I can’t help but wonder what led them to “irreconcilable differences”.

To me, what makes Android absolutely unbeatable is 1) the fact that I am able to access my Contacts [via Gmail] without ever having to input a single name or number on the actual phone and 2) being able to back-up all SMS and Call logs within my Gmail account. Everything else that Android can do (which is A LOT) is icing.

To Cynthia, Anna, Tony, and Chi (and other Android converts out there) …Here’s my simple (suggested) tutorial for you to follow to make the transition as painless as possible. Just trust me on this.

CONTACTS

1. On your Android: Go to Settings –> Accounts –> Add account –> Sign-in (to your existing Gmail account). This takes a while so be patient. It’s worth the wait, I promise.
2. On your Gmail account: Go to Contacts and start inputting all your names/numbers manually. DO NOT INPUT NAMES/NUMBERS ON THE ACTUAL PHONE.
   If you are using a Mac and already have your Contacts stored in Address Book, download Syncman and sync all your names/numbers from your Mac’s Address Book to your Gmail account’s Contacts (you can download the trial version since, presumably, you will need to sync only once).
3. On your Android: Go back to Settings –> Accounts and make sure that there is a “check” on Gmail (if your Gmail is your e-mail client of choice), Contacts, and Calendar (if you use this), at the very least, so that these always sync on your phone.After this whole process, your Contacts will magically appear on your phone! Also, this means that even if you switch to a new Android phone tomorrow, all you will need to do is log-in to your Gmail account on your Android (step #1 and #3 above) and you’re good to go!

   Make the habit of updating names/numbers on your Gmail Contacts NOT on your phone. If someone gives your their number and you must store it on your phone, look for the option (before pressing Save) where it says you are actually saving it to Google. If you save your names/numbers on the phone and you lose/switch phones, you will lose all your names/numbers.

SMS BACK-UP (if backing up your SMS is important to you; because you can)

1. On your Android: Go to Market and download “SMS BackUp+” (it’s the one with a Gmail envelope on the icon). Once installed, check on Connect and Auto Back-up then configure which items you want backed-up and how often, etc.

RECOMMENDED APPS

1. SHUSH (Thank you, Chino, for this)
   Once installed, the moment you put your phone on Silent, it will ask you how long you would like to keep it silent. This is great for when you are about to watch a movie or enter into a meeting so you don’t forget to put the Ringer back on.
2. WHATSAPP
   iOS (Apple) users need to pay for this. For Android, it’s free!
   Once installed, just register and you will instantly be able to find friends to chat with since this is based on people’s numbers which appear on your phone.
3. KIK
   Once installed, you will need to create a Username. To find friends to chat with, you need to know their usernames.
   Pro:
   Privacy, since people need to know your Username to be able to contact you;
   If you change cellphone numbers, you are still connected via Kik since your Username remains the same;
   Con:
   It’s takes more effort to give out your Kik Username and find others
4. KKB (Thank you, Cynthia, for this)
   A great Pinoy invention for people who, when dining out, want to pay Dutch.
5. Pinoy Henyo (Thank you, Gang, for this)
   A fun Pinoy game.
6. Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Foursquare (if these are not yet pre-installed; if you subscribe to these)

Curtsy.

I’ve been “stuck” in Manila for years, despite my belief that I don’t belong in a Third World setting, because my heart has always been in Manila.

Opportunities to relocate came and went but I always refused to leave any Artist behind (that’s the non-quitter and always-put-others-first part of me) and never could get myself to leave in case the Ex changed his mind. The latter…totally pathetic, I know.

Since late 2009, it’s been only Health keeping me in Manila. Or, at least, that has been my excuse.

If I really think about it, now is the perfect time to go while I am not bound by profession, love, or even family (just Jorge who can always come along). I should go. But where?

The problem, really, is that my heart is in some sort of limbo. It is neither here nor there.

Everytime I leave New York to head back to Manila, I feel like I leave a part of me. For now, that is the only place I see myself in.

But I know there are still so many places I have yet to discover. The challenge now is to find a new home for this heart of mine.

Agot and I always used to say we could marry a “fisherman in Palawan” -if it was LOVE. That still holds true.

31 December, 2011

I spent the morning delivering a few gifts, pretty much just waiting for Cynthia to be ready. She said she needed a few hours after her relatives boarded their flight since she hadn’t packed a thing -which was imaginable considering their hectic schedule on this visit to which Cynthia acted as chauffer and tour guide.

My only goal was to get to Baler before midnight. We loaded a full tank on the way to Balintawak. That’s where I started timing our trip. It was 515pm on my clock. We made only one stop and got to our “hotel”, some 260 kilometers away, in exactly 5.5 hours. Not bad considering we traveled at night and, therefore, with more caution.

On the web, Bay’s Inn appears to be the most decent and popular lodging there is in Baler. I signed up for a room near the shore and settled for a “fan only” room thinking it would be cool enough. Well, the room was miserable and it was not cool (literally and figuratively). To make matters worse, their restau was closed. So I spent midnight with PeeWee and Jorge at the restaurant eating Cookies and drinking Soy Milk that I’d brought along while Cynthia passed out in the room.

The only up side to Bay’s Inn’s restau being closed was that their Guard directed us to the adjacent hotel, Bay-ler View Hotel. Their restau was closed as well but the hotel looked promising.

Both dogs, probably because they were in their crates, would not stop whining. I am able to block that out but I didn’t want Cynthia, who clearly needed sleep, to go through it. So I brought them back to the car, with windows slightly open of course, to spend the night.

1 January, 2012

I woke up at dawn and decided to check up on my babies. I also took that chance to check out Bay-ler View Hotel.

After our delightful free Pinoy breakfast we checked out of Bay’s Inn and checked in at Bay-ler View.

I immediately took Jorge to the beach. Jorge, who generally isn’t afraid of water, was terrified of the waves. I had to keep pulling him away from the shore. Twice I tried to carry him with the intention of bringing him deeper so I could see him actually swim (“langoy aso”) but all that got me were scratches here in there from all his resistance.

Each dish at Bay-lew View was good, inexpensive, and apparently good for two. I wish we’d known the latter before we unintentionally ordered up a storm for late lunch/early dinner.

2 January, 2012

The waves were angry. It was such an experience to watch the local surfers ride the waves over yet another delightful Pinoy breakfast by the shore.

I told Cynthia that I would walk Jorge along the shore. I’m glad she joined us. I had no intention of getting Jorge to swim again but the waves were stronger and Jorge was less terrified (or at least less shocked). It was so much fun!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the room, on the ‘net and watching cable. For the first time, both dogs actually spent the whole afternoon with us inside the room. When PeeWee started to whine I brought him back to the car. Jorge, on the other hand, clearly exhausted from all that wave-dodging, slept for 10 hours! No activity prior to this experience has ever wiped him out that bad. I love it!

3 January, 2012

And I thought the waves yesterday morning were angry…Today there were probably about seven layers of tall waves. It was cloudy. I just knew it meant rain.

We couldn’t really decide which of the Baler attractions we felt like checking out. On our way to the Market, we happened to drive past the Museo ng Baler -the birthplace of President Manuel Quezon; We bought Baler Suman and Gabi Chips at the Pasalubong Center; We found our way to Ermita Hill, in search of a Cross that Cynthia spotted all the way from our hotel; Turns out, Ermita Hill is also the location of the Tsunami Memorial; The “Largest Balete Tree of Asia” was our next and last destination which happened to be on route to Manila.

They weren’t kidding about the Balete tree! It’s huge! We actually went inside it and came out on the other side. An Avatar experience.

The drive back to Manila was pleasant despite slippery roads. I’m glad we got to see the countryside in daylight. The Philippines truly is beautiful.

By about 4pm we realized we were famished, having eaten only Breakfast. We both craved for McDonald’s. So instead of heading to SCTEX, we cut through Cabanatuan City.

From Cabanatuan City, my GPS led us back to SCTEX using back roads (the kind you know you’re passing for the first -and last- time) which saved us a lot of traffic. Because of this, and because the GPS efficiently guided us during the entire trip to and around Baler, I promise to never bitch at it again.

1. Go back on the Diet; See my Doctor.
2. Take better care of PeeWee and Jorge.
3. Be less irritable about the little things. Again, this starts after I get back. Otherwise I would have broken this already by hearing that Bossa version of Empire State of Mind (why? why?!).
4. Volunteer for a cause that involves animals, children, or both.
5. Expand the radius of my concern and generosity to include even people or causes beyond my immediate circle of responsibility.
6. Start a new business.
7. Try new things (except food, for now).
8. Go on a road trip at least once a month. Fun, but easier said than done.
9. Face and walk forward, never back.