cats – BRYOLOGUE

The Beginning

January 1, 2023bryologue Leave a Comment

We have long decided that Mon and I were to spend New Year’s Eve at home after spending Christmas with his family. His family went north to Laoag to spend the New Year there. One thing we had to take note, though, was the logistics with our 3 cats.

We had some practice two Christmases ago, when we traveled to Marikina with the 3. It was not the most perfect set-up, but we managed to eventually get there in the end.

This time, the ride up the mountains was very smooth. There were also a lot of motorists who looked clearly amazed with the cats peeking through the window during the travel.

No joke traveling with 3 kitties

Bam at the veranda

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Health scares with an -s

October 5, 2022bryologue Leave a Comment

Nothing to write home and elaborately about, but two and a half years since the start of the pandemic, it seemed inevitable. We tested positive with COVID-19. Putting this here for posterity of September’s events, so I’d be reminded down the line that this indeed took place.

I was under the impression that I may have gotten it from either the mall in Antipolo, or our usual weekday grocery shopping. We could no longer pinpoint it.

Prepping the antigen test

The first symptom that I felt the night before I tested was how itchy my throat was before sleeping. The following morning, my head was throbbing and it felt quite different from the other headaches I usually have.

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Rainy Sunday

July 31, 2022bryologue Leave a Comment

It was Sunday the 31st of July, and we are a hop and skip away from August 1. We normally visit on Sundays to have lunch with my family in our house in the uplands, as it was unthinkable to even travel on a Saturday.

We did it once 2 weeks ago and the travel time was horrendous. It took 2 hours coming from Makati and at least 3 hours on the way back. To think that we spent only around 4 hours home, it was, for the lack of better word, traumatic. Thus, I made an arrangement with Mon if we could always just visit on a Sunday unless we can’t help it.

It was a very cloudy day and it was obvious that it would rain hard. It may be because of the continuously rising oil prices that there were not too many vehicles on the road, but it only took us a bit more than an hour to reach home.

Watching my 9-year old cat

Despite being the actual homeowner (as I am still in the process of transferring the title under my name), the guards at the gate of the subdivision still usually ask where I am headed to. They don’t recognize me at all. That was not the case whenever my father would fetch us nearby as they obviously knew him/them, as they are the ones living there.

One of the first things we usually do as soon as we arrive is check on the 2 dogs and the cat. While we were smothered by the dogs, our cat, Miso is the eternal ambivalent lady of the house.

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Day 1: 2021

January 1, 2021bryologue Leave a Comment

There’s no point saying I will write more (i.e. at least once a week) because that clearly did not materialize since January 5, 2020. To be fair, it lasted for two weeks before things fizzled.

My last post was a birthday post in April, the first for everyone to celebrate their birthday during a pandemic. That is for those who were lucky enough to celebrate their birthday this year. The year 2020 was our generation’s annus horribilis. A volcano eruption in January, the start of the pandemic in the Philippines in March, and the worst flooding (Ulysses) in my hometown in November since 2009. I wrote back in July 2012 that I developed trauma during heavy downpours, and it only took me a trip to work in Pampanga 2 months ago that I might have PTSD.

Bye 2020! Bleh!

While in April, there about 4,600 cases with 297 deaths in the country. As of January 1, 2020 it is now at a staggering 474,000 cases with more than 9,000 deaths. These are more than numbers. These are 474,000 people who did not see the year change to 2021 with their families.

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Après une semaine dans notre nouvel appartement

May 30, 2014bryologue Leave a Comment

Unlike most people who have difficulty sleeping in unfamiliar places, we had no such problem in our new apartment. We took the bed like fish to water. However, we had to quickly get accustomed to new habits such as where to get our clothes laundered the cheapest, or to look for much nearer carinderias to buy our lunch from. We loved the one in South Avenue, but it was no joke going up and down five flights of stairs, and walking several blocks under the sun (and in the coming weeks, rain). It was a lovely neighborhood in general, and I always have a grand time looking outside the window to view the lights of the buildings whenever we go home at night. We also have a fair share of stray cats around, and there was a pet store four houses away from us.

Blue-eyed, white kitty of the neighborhood

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Moving on, moving out

May 9, 2014bryologue Leave a Comment

It has been exactly half a year since Mon and I have both last eaten in Banapple. These past few days, I could not stop thinking of their hickory smoked barbecue (the same thing I ate from there the last time) and we had a perfect reason to visit the row of restos in Tuscany, McKinley Hill (HAPPY 5Y8M!!). For the record, I have been only once to the Venice Piazza since December, and I have never set foot in Tuscany. Tagging along Faye, we walked all the way “uphill” to the Banapple branch there. I was relieved to feel that I no longer have any uneasy feelings on my chest over challenging walks. In fact, I always have a happy feeling of finally being able to go places on my feet again, as if the ordeal from months ago was just a surreal memory. Thank you Lord. =)

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At the bridge

April 4, 2014bryologue 1 Comment

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
— Mary Frye, 1932

It is a very sad day for us, as we heard the news of the death of Mon’s pet kitty. Uyu was found dead and probably deliberately killed by unknown men late last night. We still find it hard to fathom what pushed these people to kill such an innocent and gentle animal. It was really hard to believe that something as heinous as this can happen to Uyu.

Uyu while taking a nap last February

Uyu was an older brother of my pet Miso (another brother was Popo), and it seems only yesterday when they were born a day before Valentine’s last year. I had been sporadically crying all day as it was really upsetting. It really pained me so hard to think how much he had to endure before his final moments. The details of what he had become were too graphic that I just can’t bring myself to fully imagine his final image. Given the choice, I just wanted to remember him as the lazy, loving cat, whose flailing paws made him gentler and more adorable. However, it would be an insult to his memory to be forgetful of what truly happened — animal cruelty makes me sick.

A friend of ours forwarded to us the “Rainbow Bridge”, a prose talking of a place where pets who passed away wait for their owners to be reunited someday. It was gut-wrenching to read it. Words cannot express the grief that we are feeling now, but we have to eventually accept that Uyu has already left us. We just imagined him to have wings, similar to Keroberos from Cardcaptor Sakura, lazily sleeping under a tree in the meadow.

Sleep well, Uyu. You are at peace now. =(

“Moving Out” day!

May 26, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

At last, it was the day that was making me excited and nervous at the same time: “moving out” day! All the weeks of looking, planning and preparing culminated on this day.

In a couple of days, I will be working two jobs and moving to Makati to save on travel time was the best and only solution. I did not have the time to fix my things, not until four hours of leaving. I had a mental list of things-to-bring, but it was expectedly forgotten and I still had to go back in Marikina and pick some of them.

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Pets and decisions

April 16, 2013bryologue 1 Comment

When I woke up early today, it took me a while to realize what happened the day before and why it was hanging over my head. Then, after a few blinks and a yawn, I recalled finally deciding on something very life-changing — I have accepted the offer to work in a humanitarian organization.

I’ve weighed the pros and cons and they were numerically near each other . However, considering the emotional weight attributed to the pros made me realize how much I really yearn to gain experience in the field. I have downloaded several books concerning the work to brush up on my knowledge and I was happy to have that “giddy feeling of excitement”.

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Happy first month, Popo, Uyu and Miso! <3

March 13, 2013bryologue Leave a Comment

I’m really thankful for the eco-bag trend (which I really hope to be a fixture) now because I can now carry tote bags like this without looking like a sore thumb.

I had reservations before, but almost everybody in the streets are now carrying at least one extra bag for miscellaneous things. With this bag’s back in the front, it really does look like something you can find in SM or any supermarket to carry your stuff around. =D Plus, I’ve been doing my best to carry less heavy bags for my shoulders’ sake.

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