Since the start of the week, I’ve seen tarps like these in our village and within Moonwalk.  There was even a 1/4 sheet of paper listing a party left in our mailbox yesterday.

dear excited cadidates, sa Friday (October 19, 2007) pa po ang start ng campaign period!

reunion…

  an even closer view.

shucks, i missed the cebupac and just captured this small plane landing.

nye.  yung ad that i posted earlier, same company as the funeral chapels where lola saling lies nga! 

http://www.stpeter.com.ph/our_group.php?aid=2

(the photos in the said link and the location of my youtube video are the same!)

what a premonition.

i’m not promoting said memorial chapels talaga ha.  lola saling got her plan with st. peter back in the day pa.  heck, the telephone numbers reflected on her certificate are 6-no-longer-working-pldt-numbers eh.

actually, we initially thought that she will be lain sa loyola chapels ‘coz her lot is in loyola memorial park.  we contacted loyola na nga to get her body from the philippine lung center after she passed away.  then, tita grace remembered and saw her st. peter memorial chapels plan.  so we had to cancel with loyola, look for the updated number of st. peter, and instructed them to fetch the body of lola for embalming and preps. 

anyhoo, ang weird lang ng timing ng mga bagay at pangyayari.

I’ve long wanted to share my unobstructed view of the airport (I took the shots while sitting on the driver’s seat, during the morning traffic, using my very normal digicam lang).  Yes, i pass along this perimeter fence everyday.  See how close the planes can be?

Now, if only i can capture those near landing and those that just took off.  They can get real closer to the car talaga…medyo mahirap timing-an while driving and pangit view from the windshield; but i will persevere.

uh huh. i’m in a sort-of-depression-airplane-watching phase.

Again, we lost against the Big C. 

Lumang tugtugin ngunit panibagong lungkot at pangungulila. 

As I said in my previous posts, I was already in the process of accepting that Lola Saling will soon leave us; however, there is really nothing that could prepare anyone for the actual departure of a loved one…and despite having gone through the experience a couple of times already.

When I was with Lola last Saturday and found out she had pneumonia, I told myself, we’d have less time with her na talaga.  Pneumonia was the final blow with my dad. And considering Lola Saling’s age and weaker condition, with the same locations of cancer cells as Papa’s (abdomen area, lungs, and brain), she’s really at a more disadvantaged position. 

However, what happened was just sooooooooooo fast!  I have yet to bring a freakin’ kidney-basin and colorful bendy straws to her eh.  I just had one after-elective-class visit with her and I was looking forward for more.  We have yet to draw that elaborate family tree we planned.  She has yet to let me understand our complicated lineage — to elaborate how I should not feel like an outsider to Kris’ Laoag because she even settled there for some years; that Kris isn’t the only one who has ties with Bacolod because we also hail from said province; that we even got family connections in Mindanao!

Yes, we’re now telling one another that she is in a better place na; that at least she did not suffer much; that we should trust God’s plans.  But, crap; this whole episode is just so sad and painful pa rin.  The thought of the future without Lola Saling is just so unthinkable pa rin right now.

Sigh.

We will miss you so much, Lola Saling.  Thank you for being our selfless, caring, and model grandma.  Happy reunion with Lolo Pitong, Lolo Kikoy, Lola Bets, Lolo Dadong, and my dad.

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Some thoughts while waiting for the release of Lola’s body from the hospital to the funeral parlor service personnel: 

1) why are we so cancer-ous?

2) why did my elders pass away in the dead [no pun intended] of the night? dang, phone calls from the designated bantay of the night telling relatives to rush to the hospital is traumatic.

3) internment and funeral parlor services are different — magkaiba ang contracts and/or plans nito [we thought since Loyola Memorial Park ang lot nina Lola, Loyola Memorial Chapels din siya.  Mali pala; may St. Peter services plan pala siya]. Side note to this side note: Kuya pointed out that the photo of an ad I posted here last week, with the tagline "serbisyong abot langit," was St. Peter in Quezon Ave din! Creepy coincidence naman.

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I know medyo eerie, but here is a link for family and friends who could not be with us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6R5tlHUeyo .  Promise, no creepy shots/footages here. 

I just had an affirmation what great inventions are the bendy straw and kidney-basin. 

Lola Saling was admitted at the Philippine Lung Center yesterday (just when Tito Lito from Colorado, USA arrived).  She complained of feeling very weak.  Doctors say she’s got pneumonia and she isn’t taking a good amount of oxygen on her own daw.  They gave her antibiotics and attached an oxygen hose to her.

I joined Tita Grace caring for Lola today.  As we were giving her a sponge bath and changed her clothes, Lola joked I could be a professional caregiver already — being so used manipulating the dextrose through clothes, re-attaching the oxygen lines and all.  When it came to brushing her teeth, we were quite in a fix ‘coz she was very weak just to even sit up. 

I remembered how it was with Papa; however, there wasn’t a kidney-basin in the room and it was too late when i found the bendy straw. FYI to those who are fortunate not to have dwelled long in hospitals: With its shape, a kidney-basin makes it easier to catch the spit of a patient without pushing an obstructive thing against his/her throat; a bendy straw makes it easier for the patient to sip gargle water.

Mental note to self: buy a kidney-basin and bring the next time I visit Lola. 

i hate land cases.

of all to date, i hate the present one the most. sigh, i’m no geodetic engineer!

it’s been more than a month already. 

aside:  i just posted earthdate 101107 a few minutes ago.  between that and this, i received another blasted call from another credit card company (Standard Charter). Anoh bah?!

For the past two months, I’ve been bombarded with irritating calls at our office from credit card companies (AIG, Metrobank, Unionbank, Citibank, etc). 

Where the heck did they get my info, saying i’m pre-approved blah blah blah, and they just want to confirm certain details?! 

Dang, leave me alone, please.  I am happy with my existing credit card; I don’t have time nor am I comfortable divulging personal information over the phone; and I hate the fact that you guys are doing a C.I. (credit investigation) about me with my officemates (like I am someone hiding from a debt or something). 

How do I put a stop with these buggers?!