Burying the Dead

        It's been awhile since I have posted in this blog. There was a time when I thought I could do this on a daily basis but eventually the well dried up, it became stressful just to come up with a topic to write about. 

     I came to the realization that like everything else I do. I was in no competition with anyone not even with myself, I do things when I feel like it.

    I have been given an assignment by my school head to tend the school garden. I was having second thoughts when I was approached by her because I have a garden of my own which takes up a lot of time and effort and tending another one could be taxing. But I am an employee and this is better than doing paperworks, etc.

    I accepted the responsibility because I enjoy gardening and the physical exertions (or work out) involve in doing this involves all the muscles in the body. 

     I mean, instead of going to the gym paying hourly for the use of their equipments, or cycling to the provinces, or running for kilometers, this  for me is the best work out. I have nothing against the activites I mentioned above, it's just that gardening works best for me (I run and ride a bike too) each to his own. 

    Aside from the work out, there is also a return, not just the fulfillment of growing plants, there are tangible returns, harvest, food on the table when the time comes. 

    It's also a contemplative activity, if one thinks about it. It promotes hyperfocus especially if engrossed with the act of tilling the soil, or watering the plants, or sweeping the area, it's very relaxing.

      These are motivations enough. Anyway, when I get tired, I get tired. Just enjoying the enthusiasm, will it last? Depends but once things go sour for me, or it becomes competition oriented ( I abhor competitions, too f...king stressful) rather than garden oriented, I can always turn around and walk away.

    I have cleared the area and is now in the process of planting. One thing I noticed though is that the soil is mostly made up of ashes from the burnt paper, leaves, and trash, generally. It's high PH, alkaline or basic, easily get compacted when watered and has very little soil nutrients and putting chemical fertilizers will not help.

   To address this problem, I have started to bury banana trunks, dead branches and leaves in the raised garden beds so that when these organic materials get broken down nutrients will be released into the soil.

    This is the long term solution.

    

BOUNTY, E-WALLET, SPAGHETTI AND EDTECH

BOUNTY ON PD30S HEAD

     

      I don't know why there are people who would put a bounty on their president's head. Maybe it's to attract social media attention, or they are expressing their disagreement with the president and the administration, or they could just be joking about it unaware that their actions can land them in jail.

    A few days ago, public school teacher was arrested for putting a 50 million rewards for the killing of the president. A construction worker upped the ante by doubling the bounty made by the teacher. 

 

 

    I saw another guy on Facebook, this time offering to kill the president for free. There have been arrest and people are still doing it. 

  

     But, I think what is more interesting is that the law enforcers are taking these threats seriously, making arrests and charging these people with sedition.

    I am not against arresting these crazies it's just that's what they are. I am more saddened than angered by their actions, but seeing them jailed for this?

    They are not worth the resources and personnels the NBI utilized to track them down. There are other more important things for the Bureau to do.

  (Photos are screenshots from Facebook. Credit re to the owner of these photos.)

   

 E-WALLET

    I am not a fan of credit cards.

   I guess my greatest fear why I have this reservation about having and using them, aside from the fact that my pay barely make the monthly income limit, is that I may fall victim to impulsive or binge buying, which I have a tendency to.

     It's about discipline and since my constitution is weak, the best thing to do is to avoid what could lead to the temptations. 

  

  

   I am thankful that my daughter gave me her Robinson's debit card. It's the card where her company put her grocery allowance. So, instead of a credit card, I have a debit card, which according to financial gurus is better than the former.

     The money is not much but since there are only the three of us, it is enough to buy the essential supplies we need at home, mostly toiletries and condiments.

     The card can only be used with Robinson stores, fortunately there is a new Robinson's grocery at Cainta Greenland's main gate. I tried it today and I had this fear that it may be rejected or something, but it worked.

     I am not used to paying using cards, it feels weird. I am already into the cashless age. A bit late, but I am already there.

 I have been adapting a more active lifestyle, so for errands that is not that far, naybe up to five kilometers, which is about an hour of relaxed pace, I walk. Farther than that, I ride. 

    The grocery run out of ecobags, so my purchases were boxed.

    I don't know how old ladies do it, carry heavy loads on their head while balancing them at the same time, I tried it and it is difficult.

SPAGHETTI

Yesterday a group of people distributed spaghetti packs to the residents in our sitio, it's a half a kilo pasta with Filipino style sauce.

From the packaging, there's a note telling that it came from our barangay's Sangguniang Kabataan.

    It's raining and I think with the weather, it's time to cook one of our favorite comfort food.

A little carb here and there is good for the soul.  

WEBINARS

     I have been tuning in to a series for webinars being conducted by the Department's Edtech unit. 

    I have learned a lot from creating e-books we are now into 3D designs. Though I would love to participate in the activities, unfortunately my laptop has low spec for photo and video manipulations. It is old and has only 20 gb of memory. It was really for PowerPoint, Excel, and word use only. I never thought that we would be doing technical drawing and photo editing.

  

I guess this is where it is really going. Teachers computer skills needs to grow and whether these skills maybe useful or not, imperative that we are up to date to the latest advancement in Ed Tech.

DAY 62: Community Quarantine

     END OF LOG: This is the 60th day of the ECQ , the last day.  Ecq was two declared two days after the Luzon wide community quarantine. 

    I think it's time to end this log. I created this log to document (sort of) what is happening here in my community and the surrounding areas and judging from whats happening now, I think the worse (not the worst) is over. The quarantine will be downgraded tomorrow and the worst thing that could happen is to go back to day 1. 

   But I think the chances of that happening is very small since the virus has been well studied now, health care system preparations are made, protocols and infrastructure s are in place etc.

  I believe that the authorities have done their homework and that they have studied the decisions based on sound scientific and mathematical models and they have anticipated the worst. 

    STUCK IN THE RAIN- I walk to the bank to withdraw cash form my daughter's account for our groceries, but it's offline. I have been to four banks already and the machines do not dispense cash. BPI ATM is running but it does not dispense cash to cards from other banks. It's payday and from experience, ATMs run out of cash. But it's too early for that...still here.

    MANHOLE- I don't know how these manholes got approved by the DPWH. Concrete disintegrate when exposed to tremors and vibrations created by the continous traverse of vehicles.

   The manholes caved in and pose a danger to motorists and pedestrian.

(I am moving back here to blog)

DAY 60: Community Quarantine

   SIXTY- Two months into the Community Quarantine and fifty eight days into the Enhance CQ and we are still surviving. On Friday the province's status will be downgraded into the General Community Quarantine.

  Even now I can see the relaxed restrictions. There are fewer volunteers that guard the entrance to the sitio. Q passes and thermal scanners are checked randomly, a far cry from strict individual checking done a few weeks ago. 

  I fear that the people will lower their guards thinking that the worst is over. 

  BOUNTY-  A public school teacher was arrested for putting a  50 million peso bounty on President Duterte' head. 

  Maybe the guy was an anti DDS or he might be genuinely frustrated with the way the president is running the country, but what ever the case maybe, what he did was in bad taste.

    He was disrespectful not only to the current president, he was also disrespectful to the highest office in the land.

  He was arrested, paraded around and made to apologize for his tweeter post. He was taken into custody by NBI agents for filing of charges.  

    I am no lawyer but is there probable cause to think that the threat to the president is real and imminent?  

   His action is tantamount to lesse majeste, which is equivalent to treason and is punishable by hard labor or death in an absolute monarchy. But we are in a democracy where freedom of speech is enshrined in our constitution.  Filipinos love to openly express their feelings passionately and this right is protected.

   Yes, there are laws that could be used to file charges against him but will it stick?

   I pity the guy. He was made an example of. 

   His arrest and public humilition sends a chilling effect to the administrations critic. He deserved it but...

  And here I will shut up...

    BILLS- I have summed up my accumulated bills, water, electricity, credit card ride, sss voluntary contributions, and my wife's Philhealth membership fee, and it added up to more than a month of my salary.

    I am blessed for I am a government employee with continuing monthly salary despite the lockdown.

   How about the daily paid laborers with five or more children living in a rented house, who have accumulated debts because they are not paid if they do not work. Add the utilty bills, just thinking about it,  how it is to be in their shoes makes me want to, I don't know, run amok or something. 

    But despite of it all, it is the lowly and hardworking people that inspires me the most.    They get through the day with very little and many get to see better lives due to their perseverance  and honest labor.

   COFFEE- I ran out of coffee yesterday, the last scoop. I was able to extend my supply for weeks by drinking weakened coffee. But starting today, nada.

DAY 61: Community Quarantine

     ECASH- I am not a techie guy. I think I have gone passed having the childlike  wonder and awe to gadgets and techs. I am into living things like plants, fish, and dog, just my dog.

    Yesterday I used e-cash from an e-wallet. I downloaded the app and put funds in it using a 7/11 kiosk. I think I have watched three video tutorials on how to do it. But at the store, I asked the cashier for help just to be sure I did it right. It was a cinch.

 

    When I was paying bills on my celphone, a message popped up telling me that I have to verify my account. I need to go through a verification process, and  taking picture valid ID, having my selfie taken, and filling up a form.

   I got the verifications, paid all the bills. This is convenient but I still am not used to transferring invisible money using invisible energy. I mean, what if they get lost in the transmission. 

   Lol, low tech me.   

    APPEALING TO EMOTIONS- An appeal to emotion ("argument from passion") is a logical fallacy characterized by the manipulation of the recipient's emotions in order to win an argument, especially in the absence of factual evidence.  

    ABS-CBN is paying actors and actresses (technically since they are employees if the network) to mainipulate the people's emotions into snowballing support against the NTC's cease and desist order.

     I think the networks lawyers know their case is lost and since they cannot bend logic, they attack the peoples emotions no instead.

     Three former justices have given their opinion based on the laws and the cases they have worked on and penned decisions to.

   1. Retired Justice Noel Tijam:

 "SC decision in the past is clear.

“Only Congress can grant a franchise.

“The NTC cannot extend an expired franchise and cannot issue a provisional authority to operate.

   2.  Retired Chief Justice Renato Puno:

"Itong ABS-CBN, if franchise expires, cannot get itfrom the National Telecommunications Commission the authority to operate after the expiration of the franchise."

   3.  Retired Justice Antonio Carpio: 

"I don’t think that the House or committee of the  has the authority to compel NTC to issue a provisional authority...there's separation of powers"

    Again, I'm pro sanity. The network is paying for what they have done in the past election. This is what it's all about. It's a reckoning. The speaker is talking about giving the network a 6 months provisionary franchise the reason is to give time for congress to straighten out legal issues haunting ABS.

Day 59: Community Quarantine

     ABS- CBN- I heard that 13 senators filed a bill giving the network a temporary provisionary franchise until June 30, 2022.

   What is this? I am not pro ABS nor am I anti ABS, I am pro sanity. This provisional franchise is insane. If congress and the Senate are against the shutdown as ordered by the NTC, and are for the continued operation of the network, then approve the franchise bill. That's it. Fine. Done.

    Why prolong the drama?  Why the two years? A period to think about it? Isn't six years enough? 

     If they are for closing down the network for whatever reasons, then do it. Close it down. Fine. Done.

    The Lopez subsidiary has been lobbying both chambers for six years to get their license granted yet nothing happened. The bills are shelved for reasons that are not really reasonable. The franchise expired and NTC released a ceases and desist order, no franchise no broadcast.

    The network, maybe tired of being passed around played like a ball, has finally filed a case before the supreme court.

   Out of respect for the legal process, it's time for the legislators to keep quiet and let the interpreter of the law decide.

     I think many politicians are taking their time, enjoying the networks predicament. They are secretly revelling at it. It's the revenge they longed for, but at the same time they also know that it is short lived. They can not legally deny the franchise because there never were reasons to. 

   It's a game. Everyone in government is in on it. The network knows that they are being power tripped on by the people that they have offended in the past.

    The network is not immaculate. I think it's also time for ABS-CBN to avoid dipping its hands into politics especially elections. Media are reporters, not king makers.

   As for me, with or without. I have Netflix.

   WEBINAR- Yesterday was the first day of our webinar on Open Educational Resources (OER).  The first topic was an instructional class on Kotobee Author, an E- Book app.

   It's not that difficult to learn because the menu icons are similar with those from Windows office apps and the lay out of the controls are not that far off either. Maybe the designers of these apps have some sort of architecture that they follow, like in how the hardwares are laid out. 

   It may take time to get the hang of it,  but it is intuitive and there are condensed instructional videos available on Youtube for reference. 

   It's just a software. It is garbage in, garbage out. The teachers' training and skills in writing and contextualizing learning materials is still what counts.

    CLASSROOM- Given the choice between teaching in the physical classroom and the on-line classroom, I am inclined to opt for the former. Of course the chances of catching the virus is high but I am more concerned that the clearly defined demarcation between work and home will disappear with online teaching.

   The home is the inner sanctum and should not be violated.

   Of course, I can say this because my work is about ten minutes away ride from home, but if I were working in Makati or Manila, I would definitely be saying the opposite.

   GET ME OUT OF THIS TRAFFIC, I WANT TO WORK AT HOME!

DAY 58- Community Quarantine

     EXTENSION- There are signs that the IATF may be lifting the ECQ in selected areas. I am not an expert if I may say, but the way our countrymen are breaking every guidelines of the quarantine, might as well lift the ECQ and allow herd immunity to take it's course. 

    Also, I am starting to worry about the mental effect of confinement. I am well adjusted to being in the house all the time but I have a few square meters of lot space to work around with. But I am also starting to feel the weight the restrictions how much more to the families who are literally imprisoned in their solitary cell like houses. (I am also worried that the laughter I hear from around the neighborhood is starting to remind me of Dolores Clairborne).

 

 

  I am not denigrating anyone, but a family of six living in a 3 square meter tin house is torture, torture worse than the one they did to Rambo.

   Money is running out, and soon the balancing act of health vs economy will tip in the latter's favor.

    VLOG- I am into vlogging now. This is an activity I started a few days ago as a sort of training for the incoming hybrid classes for the coming school year on August 24.

    I don't know if my online communication skill is improving, but at least I am getting used to talking to a gadget. My eye contact is also getting better which is essential since I need to establish rapport with my pupils.

   Establishing rapport  in the physical classroom is very challenging how much more in an online class. 

    BOREDOM- Being bored is an activity I am good at. When I am thinking about nothing, that's the time I get think about something. A bit paradoxical, but that's just how my head works. 

   After high school and a few years bumming and drinking, I got into the guitar, tried my hands on keyboards (but did not get pass the basic chords becuase I have no keys), read a lot of books, dabbled into philosophy and theology, which I find too abstract for my limited English comprehension but I did get to learn a lot; kept aquariums, gardening, etc.

   I think I spend more time on hobbies than on anything else productive. 

   But at my age now, I realized the benefits of keeping hobbies. It keeps me busy physically and mentally.

   I dug a shallow at the back of the house where I get water for the plants and the daily routine of walking from the well to get water into each individual plant is a good cardio work out.

    Segregating plastic from the soil.

    Tilling the soil and dirtring my finger nails in the process sometime make me think about nature, etc.

   I mean, keeping hobbies forced my mind to meander into lots of subjects. It keeps me aways from thinking about heavy and sometime depressing thoughts that could lead into the abyss.  

  So, I don't know if I will be able to continue my logs, video and text, becuase my head would be occupied with work, but, I will try.

What the "F" is that all about?: My take on ABS closure

     I saw Kim Chiu expressing how she felt about the closure of ABS-CBN. She was very emotional and like anyone else whose emotions is on high gear, critical thinking takes a back seat. The intellect is overwhelmed and drowned by the fire and the smoke of the passion, overpowered, waiting for heat to die down, before standing up to clear up the head and extinguish the flash of insanity, and start the engine of thought running.

   The next day, Kim apologized for her poor analogy.

   I understand the anger, threatened with the loss of  income, I would rant too. But at the end of the day, nothing is accomplished. What has been set by the gods cannot be changed. 

    But what is the issue all about? To Kim and her peers in the industry, it's a personal and economic issue. To the believers of Quiboloy, it is the wrath of their appointed God brought upon the blasphemous Vice Ganda and the network.

   This cease and desist order have divided the Filipinos into different camps political, network loyalties, pro-poor anti rich, human rights, etc. as if their existence and subistence are umbilically connected to the network.

   I am no lawyer but my understanding of the law is simplistic and may even be naive to the more knowledgable in it's intricacies. But the law is blind (lady justice winked at me). The law is to be obeyed. It is written in letters, in black and white, becuase the letters do not have empathy, do not exhibit sympathy. The "spirit of the law" , in reality, is invented to break a law a little at a time to favor the favored.

   The issue here is how the law has been emasculated by wrong practice. The law is clear, no franchise, no boradcast. The defense made by the network and it's supporter is that in the past, other networks have benefitted from grace periods given by the NTC.

   The question then is, is the practice of giving grace period legal? Did it override the law? Former Chief Justice made it clear: tradition or practice is not law. It cannot supercede a law.  

   What happened to the network epitomizes what is wrong with our legal and justice system, inconsistent and discriminatory.

 

DAY 57: Community Quarantine

    ENNUI- This is one of those days where I have this feeling of tiredness, not the physical one, but the thinking part. I don't want to think about anything anymore, even choosing what food to buy this morning froze me. 

    The routine, the repetitions, the recurrence, the pattern...it's mind numbing. But this also the time when the mind wanders off into the deep.  

     What if this is ever recurring, what if we all experience this before and is just reliving this infinite predetermined cycle.

    Even thinking about this makes me wonder why any one could wish for an immortal life. I mean, even in ancient myths and literature, the gods in their ennui with eternity go down here on Earth to meddle in human affairs, to play with their weaknesses and humble then in their pride, have affairs with their women, bore children, instigate wars, to test them,  participate and then die with them in battles to gain the poor mortals' adorations and worship.

   The absurdity of existence is something to think about. It is an exercise in futility that may lead to despair. Many people live and die without even thinking about it. Maybe they find the question utterly useless and what is important to them is the daily fight or flight for survival, or to avoid pain and engage their whole life in the pursue of treasure in order to live a life of pleasure. But does that cure despair?

   Thinking about this, even the end, the culmination of the promises of religion is the latter, an eternal life devoid of pain, eternal joy and ecstacy, no tears, the very opposite of what mortals' endure here on this little piece of rock that orbits the sun.

   Heaven's description in most religious scriptures is not transcendental, it is at it's very essence a materialistic pursuit of what was denied to most people in their short existence. It is the freedom from oppression, it is the liberty to enjoy what their earthly masters have taken from them and is denied to them.

   Answers varies with each individual, but I am happy for those people who have found it in their religions, in their beliefs, they have the meaning of their existence in the existence of a higher and transcendental existence. 

   In the end, when I think about religions, when I think about how humanity have died, killed, and done beautiful things in its name, one question remained to trouble me: all that for eternal life?

   How I envy people who can find rest and meaning with their beliefs.

   Sometimes I wonder how God will judge us. Will he be kind to the people who are lost, who ask a lot of questions, who doubts and lacks faith, will he come hard on them or will he smite them to burn in everlasting fire. Or like some human beings, he loves dogs and hates cats.

DAY 56: Community Quarantine

    ACHING FINGERS- I was in the mood for the guitar last night. I played for an hour or so. Unfortunately this stressed my digits and I woke up with hurting finger joints.

    I play the guitar only when I'm in the mood and I usually binge at it. It's undisciplined and that is why my playing has not improved. This is a bad habit

   The correct practice is to play a few minutes of targeted technique a day. Five minutes a day can improve playing more than playing for hours in a single day. But I hate playing scales, arpeggios, skips, exercises. I'd rather play a lovely melodic piece than be tortured with repetitions. 

   This is why formal training is important in playing an instrument. I was enrolled by my sister to a music studio a few decades ago. The problem was I already knew how to play and going back to the basics bored the hell out of me. 

 

   I could already pick out tunes by ear and learning to read a score was something I thought was not important then.

   I lasted four sessions. I regretted it. If I had continued, things would have been different. Now, I read music scores like a pre-school reading the KJB. Painstakingly very slow.

    I got older, got bored with pop music,  turned to the classical guitar. 

   I played classical guitar using intuitive finger positioning that I acquired from playing chords and finger style folk guitar, which I have become good at ( I think so), only to find out thats not how it's done in classical guitar. Wrong techniques hinders playing complicated pieces and more importantly, damage the hand and finger joints.

   I have to unlearn all what I thought was proper and then relearn almost from the scratch. This, in my middle age. 

    An example, there is the rule in classical right hand finger motion (the picking fingers) that as much as possible no one finger should play the same note twice or more. I thought this was a crazy rule because heavy metal guitar players can play at the speed of light using only two finger to hold a pick.

    That is until I self learned tremolo. Those triplets is almost impossible to play with one finger. Also, I found out heavy metals players were noobish when compared to players like Paco Delucia and the gypsy Carlos Montoya.

   I have no delusions. I am happy to be able to play easy to intermediate pieces. But there are times that I wish I could play some of Bach's advanced pieces, but these require proficiency in complicated playing techniques which takes a lifetime to master. 

   Maybe I will, maybe not. 

    SAP LIST- I saw the list of SAP recipients posted on Facebook. I noticed that there were entries with the same surnames and addresses from our sitio. This was the same with the other sitios in San Isidro. 

    Obviously these people are related. I don't know how to make of this but at a glance, this is suspect. Of the number of deserving families why did they not at least scattered the money to other families. Why give four to three person from the same family? The barangay officials who gave the list will have explaining to do to his constituents. 

    The masterlist is in the open and people will think what I am thinking now, not good.

   Another thing is that not a soul was chosen from our purok. There are six or seven purok in our sitio and resident from uno and dos are the original inhabitants here. I and my neighbors from dos are titled lot owners while those from purok tres down are informal settlers that occupied the rice field behind purok dos in late 90s to early 2000s. 

   They think that we from purok dos didn't need the financial aid. But there are those who do, they just lumped us together into a class without really checking. 

  ARATILES- The aratiles fruits are ripening and in a few days the number of birds that  congregate here will double or triple. I have stopped feeding them becuase their numbers grew and I don't want our house to be overrun with birds.

  I will have to provide water for them. 

  COCOPEAT- Our house used to be surrounded by coconut trees. Some died others I terminated because they grew thin and tall, a hazzard during typhoons. 

  I dug up the decaying stumped and collected the compost.

DAY 55: Community Quarantine

    BLURRED-  I woke up early today, 4:30. This is early becuase this passed few days since the quarantine, my waking hours have slowly crept up to 6-7 in the morning. But on schooldays, 4:30 is my usual waking hour. 

    I have been looking for my glasses for 15 minutes now and I have given up. I am not going to work, or doing anything might as well relax and avoid being stressed by it. A lot of times I forget where I put my glasses. I am nearsighted and I wear prescription glasses with -450 grade. I have to find my glasses first in order to find my glasses. Weird.

 

     

Everything is blurred but it's not that bad in the morning. The eyes is not stressed yet, it still relaxed so I can still see a little better than usual. 

   My wife is good at finding it, so I'll just wait for her to wake up. Also, the curfew is still up and I am not going anywhere.

   SAP AT NIGHT- There is not much going on here and there are very little ECQ related stuff I could talk about. Two months into the lockdown and I think the my neighbors have adapted well in to it. No one has died of starvation, as feared.

    Though here and there I hear complaints about the distribution of the SAP, the selection process, the clandestine distribution of forms and food stubs, and the allegations of nepotism in the selection and distribution of aids.  

   There must be reasons why DSWD is distributing SAP forms at night. I think they do this for their safety. The president announced that all will be given aid but when the allotment and the money came down, not even half of the households in every barangay was granted the financial assistance, not even a quarter.

  Here in our sitio,  I heard that only 30 slots were given. I have no idea what our population but  I estimated it could be go as high as 500 house holds.  

   DSWD could be overwhelmed, even physically attacked by disappointed head of families for not including them in the program.

   Our social workers are being put in the bad light but they are also victims here. Victims of local politican who pressure them to favor their kins, victims of old and unreliable census, and victims of promises made by the national government that did not materialize.

   COOKING- Here's how I cook laing.   

Boil the ground pork in a cup of water. I don't sautee, and as much as possible I avoid using cooking oil. It saves money and good for the health too. 

    Drain the water out.

    Pour the pure coconut milk. Add salt, onion, garlic, pepper and ginger, lots of ginger. Chili is a must in laing but I skip it becuase it gives me acid and it worsens my hemorrhoids.

    Allow to boil for a couple of minutes to release the flavors in to the liquid. Put the dried Gabi leaves. 

   Press the gabi leaves to soak it in coconut milk. It is very important not stir or mix. I dont  know what chemical compound is in the gabi leaves that causes itchiness on the throat when ingested. That is why the leaves are sun dried before cooking. Stirring causes it to release this itch-causing chemical compounds (what ever it is).

   Cook slowly in low heat to avoid burning. Check to see that it has not dried out or else the bottom will be burned bitter.

   After 20 minute or so, or longer, add more coconut milk. I don't measure the ingredients, i just estimate and pour them.

   Slow cook for additional 15 or more minutes. I don't sweat in the details, really. 

  That's it.

  You can make your laing special by adding toppings like chicharon, ground pork, anchovies, sausage, meatloaf, leche flan etc. Anything you can think of, the laing will not complain.

   This is one food where reheating again and again improves the flavor.

   It's easy, really.

DAY 54: Community Quarantine

    SARI-SARI STORES- Yesterday two covid task force volunteers announced that all sari-sari store in Taytay will be closed as ordered by the LGU authorities. 

   There have been FB posts about this a couple of days ago, and retractions too, because there were conflicting orders from the new police chief and the barangay captains and some members of the Sanggunian. I guess the police and the municipal authorities got their act together and are now in synch.

   But as always with many Filipinos, rules are obeyed when there is someone to enforce it.

  The sari-sari stores here are in a state of quantum superposition, they are both close and open. The superposition only collapses into either one of the two states when there is an interaction with the customer.

   I don't know, every time there is an extension of the ECQthere are additional restrictions which should have been placed in the first place, at the onset of the pandemic. The noose should been very tight from the very start and not progressive as what is happening. 

    PET SEMATARY- I released Jaya from her leash and the first thing she did was to check on Koko's cage. 

   She was not excited to see me this morning, no barking, no jumping, no tail wagging. I guess she misses her mate.

    It took me three hours to dig up Koko's grave yesterday.  It's back breaking labor since our yard has been land-filled with construction (or deconstruction is more apt) materials mostly composed of rocks and broken concrete materials. My arm went numb from barreling and shoveling rocks.

    Because of the heat combined with the fatigue, I had difficulty sleeping last night. I think it must have been past three when the lights went out. I woke up with a slight head ache.

    CASTRATING PAPAYA- I have some papaya trees around the house and one of them is a male, not fruit bearing. I have learned that papayas have three sexes, male, female, and the hermaphrodite. 

   The sexes can only be indetified once the flowers come out. I am curious how can the three sexes be identified at an early stage so that I can choose which to plant. 

   My research led mo to a video on how to castrate papaya to prevent it from becoming a male tree.

   The process is simple, cut the main root of the papaya saplings. Replant it to a temporary planter, put in a place away from the sun and wait for it to recover, then transplant.

  ALUGBATI- I have put treliss for the alugbati. Since I am eating it fresh, I avoided picking leaves that touches the ground that might be contaminated with nematodes larva.

   But I observed that it is near the ground where the healthiest and crunchiest leaves are produced. So, to encourage the energy and nutrients to go up to the climbing stems and leaves, I defoliated the base of the plant.

DAY 52: Community Quarantine

     CHAIRS- There was a flurry of activities yesterday in the neighborhood. The unoffical street crier, a covid task force volunteer, shouted to bring out the chairs.

  This was around ten in the morning, but it was not until three in the afternoon that a municipal councillor with her group came and distributed the five kilo rice pack. We were waiting for the chicken but there was none.

   The night before, our purok chairman went around the sitio distributing stubs. Our spirits were high since there were talks of a while dressed chicken that comes with the five kilos of rice. I guess the chicken was a joke made by volunteers that I took in.

   Anyway, I am thankful to the mayor and his staff for distributing the food aid but I don't think its right to announce that the rice came from the mayor, it is from the taxpayers money.

   CACTI- My cacti have outgrown their pots. I repotted them using recycled pots. The ideal medium for cacti is pumice or pelite mixed with little soil. This is because the desert plants do not tolerate water well, they rot. But since I don't have pumice and they are not cheap, I used rice husk mixed with little soil and then topped with clay to seal in moisture..  

     I prefer columnar cacti than the barrel one because they tolerate rain better. One or two of these cacti I bought for fifty pesos from Baguio years ago and the rest are from Taytay public market. I don't collect them, I just like to have a few as a presentative in my little garden.

    As to succulents, I have since given up keeping them. I can't seem to master the right care for them. They either dry up or melt.

    ALEMBONG- I have planted Vietnam roses in pots for a long time now. But they die out eventually and I have to keep on replanting them. That is until I have discovered that once the flower bloomed and dries out,  the stem will dry out too eventually and it will keep on until the whole plant die. It needs to be cut and removed. That is the best part to replant.

DAY 51: Community Quarantine

   PAPAYA- One of my papayas now has fruits. Judging from the flowers, this is hermaphrodite tree. Good thing because it's self pollinating.

   I thought the fruit would not develop because the young buds looked yellowish and a bit dehydrated a few days ago. I am hoping it will ripen. 

   I have read suggestions from an FB gardening group that killing the first fruits would encourage the tree to produce better fruits the next time. I don't know if theres any scientific basis for this, but sounds like voodoo to me.

   The other tree is starting to produce flowers and from the looks of it, it looks like a male tree. It will not produce fruits. I am thinking of cutting it down because it would occupy precious space. I also have a hermaphrodite tree to pollinate the other trees so I don't see the need.

  There are suggestions that severe pruning of the tree can cause it to change its sex from male to female. This was tried by my sister and it did not work, or maybe it takes more than one pruning.

   Male papayas are planted in large plantations but in small gardens, they took up space and are useless.

    RICE HULL- My "bilas" harvested rice and I asked for rice hulls for my plants. I am thankful that I got two sacks. 

   Cainta used to have rice mills along Bonifacio Avenue.  My father used to collect rice hulls for free. It was dumped at the back of the mills and we just carry sacks and take as much as we wanted. The rice hull was used by my father for charcoal making.

   I was often warned by my father to be careful because rice hulls float and I may step on a deep hole and drown, a quicksand.

  The rice mills are now gone and in its place stood residential and commercial buildings. There are no more areable land in Cainta and I think my bilas' rice field is the last one and parts of it are already converted to a residential subdivision and a public cemetery.

  RAISED BED- I am making another raised garden bed. I have already made one a couple years back but it got buried when I land-filled the lot with construction debris.

  I have so many plants as it and I don't know if I could handle more since most of my mornings are occupied by watering, pruning, and removing weeds. 

   But I have to do more because once I have empty time, my mind wanders off.

   Also, busyness keeps me away from thinking about food, which is really the most powerful temptation since I usually give in.

DAY 50: Community Quarantine

    GABI AND ASH-  I have harvested gabi more times than the number of time food aids from the LGUs came. This is also true with my other good plants and to think that I have planted them before the lockdown.  

    Harvests may not be enough for food independence but it has helped cut costs significantly and ensured that portions of what we eat are garden fresh and are free of pesticides and artificial fertilizers.

    I have collected ashes from around the neighborhood and put them on my sitaw, ampalaya and patola. I read that it is a good fertilizers for these kind of plants. 

   SQUASH AND OKRA- The squash is getting ready to flower. I did not buy squash seeds, these are transplanted from seedlings that sprouted outside of our windows.

    It is a good habit to throw seeds everywhere or in a pot instead of mixing them in the trash for collection.

    I learned that there are two kinds of squash flowers, male and female. It's the female that turns into fruits and the male do not, its purpose is to pollinate the female flower.

  The female flower can be identified by a bulb below the petals while the male flower has none.

   In the absence of bees and other pollinators, pollinating squash is done manually by cutting off the male flower, making sure that all the pollens are in tact, and then putting it on top of the female flower. This should be done in the morning and the cut male flower must stay on top for the whole day.

   The okra is also starting to develop fruits. In a week or two, I think I would be harvesting them. if properly taken care of, trimmed or reduced, okra can live for years producing fruits but as they get older the quality of fruits diminishes.

   GCQ-  Judging rom the areas where quarantine were downgraded to GQ, it seems that people interpreted it as going back to the way it was. Vehicles flooded the streets, shoppers congregated in shops and stores, and pedestrians flooded the streets.

   Declaring GQ did not mean the virus is gone, it simply meant the level of transmission has gone down to a manageable level, but the cases of infection continues.

   Common sense dictates that cases will spike again in areas where GQ were declared becuase, again, the people do not cooperate. They think GQ is a clearance to go outside to galivant.

DAY 49: Community Quarantine

   TEACHER'S HAIR - Out of boredom, I posted a question on a teachers FB group asking if it is allowed for male teachers to sport long hair. 

   There were a lot of opinions shared from the traditional, religious, and the humorous. But judging from the comments, most teachers opined that male teachers should have short hair.

    Here are some of the opinions of the anti long hair:

     1. Because they are role models to the sutdents and students are required to have short hair. (This is something that I think have no clear legal basis. Teachers have been reprimanded for cutting students hair to force them to wear short crop hair. So the right of the student to education is above all, even haircuts.)

   2. It's in the code of ethics and guidelines of teachers. (This is the often said but when asked about the specific text, no one can provide it.)

    3. Slippery slope. Allowing male teachers to sport long hair will page the way for cross dressers in the classroom.

   4. Homophobia. 

   For the liberal pro long hair, here are the main points.

   1. It is not important as long as the teacher looks well and it complements good grooming.

   2. It is the competency of the teachers that is important.

  3. Gender awareness and development allows it.

  4. There is no clear cut and specific prohibition of it. (I think if there is one, there will be no discussion.)

   Anyway, what is you opinion?

   WIFI- We are sharing Wi-Fi with my brother next door, but since my daughter is now working from home, she needs a dedicated wifi for her PC, which she brought home form the office. Shared wifi slows down as the data allowance is consumed. I talked to an agent and had it installed yesterday. It's ok as long as my daughter is paying for it.

    KITES- I was lying down in the hammock, looking up, when I noticed kites trapped in the branches of the duhat trees. 

   The back of our house used to be a rice field and every summer, after rice harvest, I was there flying kites of many sizes from the small saranggola to the large guryon. 

   Now, not an inch was left of the rice field. It's a congested residential area occupied by informal settlers protected by local politicians. 

   There are no more open space and children (and adults) are left with flying their kites on the roof.

   I guess flying kites on the roof it have its own excitement because I can hear flyers taunt each other as they engage in kite battles.

   I pity the people under the tin roof though. The noise, dust and rust falling down as the children jump up and down in excitement must be excruciating to the senses. 

   MANGOES-  blah, blah, blah, blah,

Day 48: Community Quarantine

WEBINAR II- I was listening to a webinar on digital self paced learning and as the speaker was spewing out technical data and jargons, my head was trying to wrap itself on the "now" reality that the educational system has come out of the classroom and into the electronic, wireless, and virtual arena. 

   There were mentions of AI, VR, AR and a host of other acronyms and technical jargons that I find difficult to assimilate, how much more memorize and digest.  

    The migration from a traditional, structured and standardized delivery and assessment of learning to a personalized, self paced learning and targetted assessment (from managed learning to experiential learning) is happening now albeit too early and the department is poorly prepared at the magnitude of it. The pandemic is the catalyst that hastened the process.

   The lockdown forced the Deped into implementing limited distance e-learning (forced prematurely, may I say) with only a very small population of the learners participating primarily due to lack of access to hardwares and internet services .

    I thought that it would take the Philippines a decade or so to adapt to the changes being seen in the more advanced countries where learning are already a hybridof traditional and internet based. 

     But it is the start of the retooling of the educational system to adapt to the paradigm shifts dictated by covid 19. There is no returning to the old traditional ways. 

   It is urgent to speed up the transition.

 My thinking was that it would come after my retirement, but it was not to be.

   As a teacher, I am thinking what will happen to the teacher-learner relationship. Will it stop being interpersonal and relational and go into a virtual and detached service and client relationship?

    What does it  mean to me, how can I adapt? I am a non digital native and learning all the technical stuffs from acronyms to apps to hardwares is overloading my brain. 

    It's a brave new world, though a little old compared with to rest of the world.

  ( Btw,  I don't know what I'm talking about here. Just thinking out loud )

       ZOMBIE- I am not able to get a good night sleep. My body clock is going haywire. The circadian rhythm is slowly being thrown off time by afternoon naps, dormancy,  and the general lack of scheduled and directed activities.

     I wake up at around 6, used to be that at four in the morning I am already up and alert. Go outside to buy food. Stared at the teenaged vegetable vendor for a couple of minutes.

   Feeling conscious at my stare, she asks what it is I need. I reply, "wait,  thinking".

   After getting food, I walk around the street aimlessly looking around at the facemasked people thinking or trying not to think that this will be the new normal.

   This is the start of the new 15 day extension.

Day 47: Community Quarantine

   DAZED AND CONFUSED -  It is only logical that as the quarantine moves along into its second month, misconceptions, missteps and challenges are identified, corrected and resolved along the way. 

   This is first time a pandemic happened in this lifetime. We are unprepared and the rules are being written from the ground up. It is trial, error, correction, a work in progress. But there should be learning curve.

   But it seemed this is not what happening in Taytay. There are conflicting ordinances. One coming from the OIC police chief and the barangay captains, and then an hour or so later, there are corrections of the same orders  from the Sanggunian through the vice-mayors FB page.

  

  According to the Sanggunian, the closing down of sari-sari stores and talipapa are still plans and have not been enacted into a municipal ordinance. But the the closures has already been communicated and enforced, judging from the FB posts, to the barangays yesterday.

    Then there was also the replacement of Q-passes with a new serial numbered ones whoch later was reversed too. 

   We don't know which is which. This is more like the first day of the community lockdown where everyone has no idea what they are doing, when confusion reigns, but we are already into day 47th day of the ECQ.

   The mayor should (may have already done so) clear this confusion.

   QPASS- My neighbors were restless yesterday. There's were talks of soldiers patrolling our area and a stricter implementation (again) of the ECQ extension (again). Our Qpass were collected and replaced with a new print out this time with serial numbers. The idea was to prevent duplication or forgery, I think. But I don't know how that will work since a scanner can simply copy the document. It would be difficult to differentiate the original from the copy since the original is a print out too. 

   WEBINAR- I attended an on-line seminar conducted by a book publisher yesterday. I was not inclined to join it because I don't like seminars that do not interest me. But there is a message from our division super requiring teachers to participate in the series of webinars with topics relevant to what is happening now.

 Well, I had to with reservations. But after the first session, I found that it was to my liking. I could listen to the discussant in the comfort of the home, sitting down, standing up, drinking coffee, lying down.

    There were no corny ice breakers. No speeches and other ceremonies and rituals that make traditional seminars seemed like a religious gathering complete with doxologies and benedictions. 

   But most important of all, the discussant was erudite, the topic was relevant to the current situation were in and it addressed the paradigm shifts that will happen in learning delivery post quarantine. 

   SACRIFICE BRANCH- A little bonsai talk. This is a sacrifice branch (circled red). The idea here is to allow it to grow to help thicken the base of th e first branch. To show age and proportion, the first branch of the bonsai must be the biggest or thickest to be followed by the second branches and so on. 

    It confuses the eye if the first branch is smaller than the upper branches. The illusion of age is broken.

   Since trees have the tendency to focus all it's energy upward, the first branch is usually left behind. One solution to this is to allow a sacrifice branch to grow at the base of the first branch. 

   The node will contribute to the thickening. Once the necessary thickness is achieved, the branch is cut off.

Day 46: Community Quarantine

    FULL TANK- I gassed up the motorcycle and I was surprised that a hundred pesos worth of gasoline filled up the tank, almost over flowing. Pre covid days, a hundred peso fills just about half the tank.

 

  ACACIA FLOWERS- During rainy seasons the fallen acacia flowers and seed pods  on highway 2000 mixes with road dust and soil decomposes into loamy soil. It is loose and do not compact which allows the plants roots to breathe and grow easily. Ideal for potting when mixed with soil and other organic materials. 

   I am collecting some now that I will mix with the dried canal sludge  that the  neighbors left at the gate after their clean up.

    One thing though, after a few days,  acacia saplings sprouts everywhere.

   PROFESSIONALS -  Once a pupil asked me what I was doing collecting empty water bottles in a pile of trash, I told him off hand that I sell junks (kalakal) to augment my income as a teacher. He gave me a laugh and walked off.

    I sometimes wonder what people who knew me as a teacher would think of me when they see me collecting dirt and rocks on the side of the road, or on my knees digging up tree stumps, or on dump rummaging through trash.

  I remember my former school head reminding us teachers that we should always dress well and look presentable even out side the school. We are professionals look and act like one. We should always be found prim, proper and respectable anywhere and everywhere. 

  And to that I say! Hmmmm...ciao!

   BANANA- What are we going to eat? There are just three of us and because I eat less now, so does my wife and my daughter, we accumulated left overs in the ref. 

   There's also the chicken, hotdogs, and hams, that I bought in case of emergency or lockdowns (the real one) that prevents people from going out for two weeks, which did not happen and may not happen at all. These processed food must be also consumed little by little.

   I told my wife that we have to eat the left overs before they spoil. No cooking for today, it's reheating time. 

   I bought bananas for snacks.

Day 45: Community Quarantine

    RAPPLER PROBLEM - A foreigner spewing expletives to a police officer went viral on social media. The altercation started when a group of quarantine enforcers cited and fined a maid for not wearing facemask, a city ordinance, while watering the plants. 

   I for one thought that the police had over reacted. The facemask ordinance is in relation to social distancing. The idea is to avoid spreading or contracting the virus.

  The maid was watering the plants within her employer's property with no other person present with in the area. To whom could she passed or to whom could she contract the virus, from plants?  Taking into consideration the spirit of the ordinance and with common sense, wearing a facemask is unnecessary in this circumstance.  A reminder from the officers should have been enough. 

   Both parties would be filing charges and counter charges for an infraction that could have ended well if the foreigner was not drunk and did not verbally attacked the quarantine enforcers.

   Anyway, my issue is not with what happened. My issue is with RAPPLER. How it presented the confrontation.

   Did the police officers assaulted the foreigner or did the foreigner resisted arrest?

   Assault is a poor choice of word because it means intentionally causing someone physical harm. 

  Resisting arrest on the other hand is struggling to free oneself against restraint. When a person struggles or fights back, naturally the police officer must subdue the suspect to enforce the arrest as dictated by circumstances. 

   Which is which?

   Rappler is bad. There are better news organizations that presents news with objectivity. 

   FINALLY- I was able to complete the ingredient for a Graham mango cake. There are still no Nestle cream in groceries, and wonders of wonders I was able get two from a sari-sari store recommended by an FB friend. 

  BONSAI- One advantage of having many hobbies is that I have a lot things to do with my time productively or artistically, as if I am an artist.

  I rewired some of my bonsai materials to avoid scars. 

  Bonsai tools are expensive especially imported signature Japanese brands. But since I don't have that money, and even if I have I would not spend it on them, I use common garden shear.

   I have been doing bonsai for eight years without any proper tools. I have been dreaming of owning a bonsai tool set but the cheapest quality brand cost around 12 thousand pesos. Affordable but not practical at my salary grade.

Day 44: Community Quarantine

  FROG-  I was removing garden soil from a plastic bag when eyes popped out from the bottom. There was a frog. Good thing I was using my hands and not a trowel else I could have wounded or killed it.

   It was a big bellied frog commonly found in moist areas buried under ground or in mulch.

   I remember doing bisection to frogs during our biology class decades ago. I didn't feel any remorse torturing the animal then. 

  Now, older, I don't feel like I can intentionally harm animals. I guess when one gets older one gets more emphatic.

   I picked up the frog and put it in a moist and shaded area without ants. I have seen frogs like this killed by ants.

    POWDER- There are fine powders under of the bamboo sofas and one look I knew what it was.

   I brought the sofa out to check. One leg was infested with dry wood termites (bukbok). 

    I had a left over general insecticides that I applied, but it did not work. The wood needs to be immersed for the poison to seep through the tunnels where the insects live. I will need a lot of poison.

   I had an idea. I boiled water and poured it into the affected node. The node was filled to the brim with scalding hot water, sure enough I saw termites floating to the top. 

   I will be repeating the process three times every morning. 

   MALUNGGAY- I planted five malunggay cuttings near the papayas. This I should have done long ago. The thing is, I am running out of space and there's no more "social distancing" between the trees. I will have to regularly trim them to give each trees their equal share of the sun.

Day 43: Community Quarantine

    XPUPILS- I was out hunting for Graham crackers yesterday. I found boxes of it. The problem was Nestle creamers were out of stock. Most of the shelves were not empty but they were not well stocked.

    I had been to two grocery stores when I gave up. Chances are, all the store are also out of it.  

   Our cravings for Mango Graham cake will never satiated, sadly.

    I was asking a merchandiser when he called me sir. It's usual for grocery personnel to call their customers sir or madam, nothing unusual. But the sir was followed by a question, "are you still teaching at TES sir George?" 

    "Oh", I said. "You studied there?"

    "Yes, sir"' he replied.

     I waved, smiled and left. I hope he saw the smile in my eyes since I wore a face mask. 

    There are two kind of former pupils, those who approach, acknowledge and even bow to their teachers to pay respect and there are those who ignore and even avoid us. 

    Hundreds of pupils pass  through my classes each year and it's impossible to remember all of them, even a fraction of them. 

   But being smiled at, waved at, asked about even if I couldnt remember their face or name feels nice, never fails to make my day.   

   MOUSE TRAP- .These pesky rodents keep coming back and to think there are a lot of stray cats that sleep on our roof and in the bodega. I think cats have stopped becoming hunters instead they turned to scavenging.    

   They have lost their hunting skills  and as each generation of felines are born into urban areas, they either become lazy house pets or hardworking thieves.

   Not that I hate cats, I just hope they do their jobs well, like dogs do.

   LAST KINGDOM- Finished the third season of Last Kingdom last night. I hope season four will be different because King Alfred and most of the antagonists are already dead.  

    Again, I woke up late because I slept late, already morning in fact. I felt like I'm floating.   

    What I hate the most after a netflix marathon is that I feel lazy the next morning, lack of sleep. It's like a hang over. 

    MANGO- Harvested the Indian mangoes. Blah, blah, blah...and the lockdown is extended.

Day 42: Community Quarantine

    SALUYOT, CAMOTE, ALUGBATI- The saluyot that I have  planted at the start of the lockdown is now about a foot fall. I have already harvested the tops earlier.

    This is the second generation of saluyot from the seeds I bought from Lazada many months ago. Most of the first generation died after harvesting which I thought was normal.

  But it was not, the plants should produce more branches and leaves in about a week or two as often as the tops are harvested, which did not happen.

   I joined the Philippine Urban Gardening FB to learn tips and techniques in gardening. One thing I am curious about is saluyot. I posted a picture of my plants and asked about it and I received about fifty comments. So, I'm sharing the most popular here.

     1. Cut the tops with scissors and not by hands to avoid dehydration (or getting old)

     2. In about a week or two, new branches and leaves will sprout.

    3. Pour hot water on the seeds before planting. This is weird and I have never tried it. 

    I have also been harvesting sweet potatoes, also planted at the onset of the lockdown, almost daily. 

    The alugbati fruits have germinated and I am transplanting them to other areas. I learned from a docu that alugbati planted from seeds produce bigger leaves than the ones planted from cuttings. But, I doubt it. I think it depends on the soil, sunlight, and water. Leaves exposed to too much sun are smaller while those growing near the base, in the shade, are larger. 

    Anyway, it's a personal observation.

    DOGS AND WATER- Bathing Jaya and Koko is an ordeal. I have to tie and wrestle with them before I could get them wet. They resist like they are being brought to a slaughter house. Everytime is a first time.

    But once they are wet and the soaping and rubbing starts, they behave. They love the massage more than they hate the water.

     EXTENDED- it's official, the lockdown is extended here in CALABARZON and the NCR. Hmmmm...blah, blah, blah.

    I think it's time for the government to try survival of the fittest, or herd immunity in areas where people do not observe quarantine.

Day 41: Community Quarantine

    END OR EXTEND- This is the 41st day of the quarantine and 39th day of the ECQ. Like everybody else, I am waiting for the president's announcement whether the lockdown will be lifted, extended or modified. 

  It is a difficult decision to make and whether we love or hate the president, let's hope and pray that he will make the decision based on well thought of counsels that will best put the health and welfare of the 100 M+ Filipinos above all no matter how unpopular his decision maybe. 

  ( My rheumatic knee is telling me that it will be extended. The knee has never been wrong)

   FRUITS- Fruits are expensive. Bananas that sells for 50-70 pesos a kilo a few months ago now sells at 100-120 pesos. This is partly due to the fake news that bananas help fight covid.   Mangoes are even worse.  

   It's summer, the time of the year when fruits abound and prices evens out with the harvest. But the price has not gone down even after experts have disproved the banana-covid claims.

   I have not bought banana as a protest of sort. I don't even see a spike in demand to warrant the extortion. There are the papayas, singkamas, Indian mangoes, peanuts, etc. Lots to choose from.

    Anyway, people should eat less fruits due to its sugar contents.

    Here's to the vegetables.

    BEAUTIFUL HOUSE- This garbage dump used to be a beautiful house in our neighborhood. It's a classic bungalow with a landscaped yard and trees. The owners were well to do, good people.

    After the owners died and passed it on to one of the sons, it was neglected and later sold. But I suspect that the house is foreclosed by the bank because the owner fell into hard times. 

   The son and his wife are gamblers and I often see them playing mahjong, pusoy or bingo. Where there's gambling, they are there, which is not a good thing when you are running a business. From owning a business,  several vehicles, and a fish pond, they have lost their fortune and properties but at least they still have their family intact.

    I heard they are now living with the in-laws. Maybe they have learned their lessons and I hope that they'll be able to rebuild their business back from scratch, or maybe they already did. 

   I am going the best for them.

    EGG AND TUNA - My daughter craved for Graham mango cake (is that what it's called?). So, I went to the grocery to buy creamer, milk, crackers. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the grocery had no Graham crackers, out of stock. 

    Since I was already in the grocery and have waited in line for minutes, I took the time to buy some necessities, what I can afford.

    This is the second time I have bought a gallon of mayonnaise since the lockdown. We use it for salad dressing, condiments for sweet potato, and for bread spread. My wife have made ham and eggs, and eggs and tuna spread.  Now it's my turn to prepare egg and tuna spread.

   This is economical than buying spreads in small jars.

Day 40: Community Quarantine

     SHOOTING- I saw a video of a policemen shooting dead a citizen who refused to obey the order to stay down, resisted arrest, and at the same time acted as if he was drawing a gun.

    Seen from the outside and, away from it all, in the safety of home, it is easy to draw conclusions and condemn the policeman for killing an unarmed man that allegedly suffered from PTSD or war shock.

   But when a person acted as if he is drawing a gun at you, it is fight or flight. 

    What does a person do when faced with this scenario?

    1. Run away- preserve your life

    2. Fight- preserve your life

  It is a split second decision and it does not give time to ask whether the person is armed, unarmed, sane or sick. The threat to life is imminent. It's the instinct and the training that kicked in.

    It's easy to feel for the person at the receiving end a gun, but try to be in the shoe of the person behind the gun

    What the officer did is still killing and he will be answerable for it, but there are mitigating circumstances that may say otherwise. 

   LAING- Finally done cooking Laing. This is one of my favorite Filipino dishes. I love it whether it is cooked with ground pork, dried anchovies, smoked fish, dried fish, etc. It doesn't matter. 

    When I cook laing, I used pure coconut milk or kakang gata all the time. I dont use secondary coconut milk, which came from the second pressing of the coconut meat and it is dilluted with water.

   Laing is one of those foods that gets better every time it is heated. This is especially true when pure coconut milk is used because it turns into oil which gives it that distinct sweet and coconutty taste.

    INNARDS- I bought a kilo of pigs innards for our dogs. This is cheaper than pork, chicken liver, and dog food.  

   I cook it adobo so that it will last without spoiling in the ref. Added with rice, which our dogs consume more than us, this will feed Jaya and Koko for about a week. 

   TSHIRTS- This is what I like about this particular brand of t-shirt, biodegradable. It's made from cotton. It breathes. 

   I have tried shirts made from  polyester or other synthetic fabric and they are hot, they trap the heat inside especially printed ones. I have since got rid of them by giving them away or turning them into rugs, even the recently bought. 

   That is why 99 percent of the time I wear white shirts even when it is full of holes. The more holes, more air, the better, it's all about comfort.

Day 39: Community Quarantine

       ATM- I withdrew cash from the ATM and looked around and saw that there were less people than the last time I was there. There were less uniformed personnels and less noise from the bullhorns.

        It's been 38 days, nothing to talk about anymore, same thing, same people, same routine. 

     Ennui.

     EMPTY PAINT CANS- My tomatoes and eggplants are starting to sprout and in a few days I will be needing containers to put them in. It's better that they are planted in the ground. But because we have trees that block sunlight at certain hours, I find it more convenient to plant them in containers so that I could move them around periodically to catch more light.

    GABI- Thanks to my late Kumpareng Zaldy, my neighbor, we have a lot of gabi in our backyard. He planted them a few years back and I have been harvesting them regularly.

    Zaldy died when his head was accidentally hit by a golf ball while caddying. According to stories, the player gave him cash for medical check ups, a hefty sum for a caddy, but instead of going to the doctor, he kept the money.

   After a few days he died in his sleep due to blood hemorrhage in the brain.

  He was a good drinking buddy of mine. Thanks to him,  today I will be cooking laing, one of my favorite dishes.

   PAPAYA- The papaya tree's flowers are falling off and I can see buds of the fruits starting to reveal themselves. I hope that they will mature and ripen and will not fall victim either to bats or thieves.

   I trust my neighbor. I don't think they will touch what is not theirs, that I cannot say with the bats. Or, is it the other way around.