Life of a Kat

I don't want to let the last day of 2020 pass by without writing anything. It is a tradition and will always be good to go down the memory lane for the past 365 days to see what had happened. Let's make a list of all the good and the bads that had been or maybe a resolutions list?  Random thoughts, here we go... 2020... 1. ... It surprised me and it crushed me at the same time. Well, it happens every year, but I think this year things had been more visible in terms of knowing that there are other people suffering the same issues.  2. ... The gym and working-out had been a great escape and means to keep my physical health and mental health in check.  3. ... I stalled with the academic writing but that is okay. I just realized that one of my friends took 3 years to complete his thesis.  4. ... The only race I have to keep up is the goal I had set for myself and my only enemy is my laziness at times.  5. ... Getting that foreign driver's license was a major achieve...

It is a rainy day as I prepare myself for a 4-hr trip to meet friends in the next city. We will be spending Christmas eve together on an Airbnb rented apartment. We were all not able to go back to the Philippines as this pandemic is still on its heights of slaying health, economy and sanity all over the world.  2020 is a year not once had I got to hug my family, pet our dogs and come home to our little dilapidated kubo and muse on the thoughts that we still don't have a nice house. That it makes me feel a bit of a failure that we haven't started on the house to think that my first goal of working abroad is for that.  2020 is the year that I got to say a lot of I love you's to my mom and dad every time we had to end a video chat. It is the year that I get to catch many jokes and stories with my parents on our almost-daily virtual chats. It is the year that I was able to handle difficult conversations with my younger siblings over finances, emotions and leadership.  2020 is...

It had been four days past Papa's birthday and I just had the chance to write this now while onboard a bus for a 4-hr journey to meet friends in Fukuoka City.  A lot of things to say about my father lingers in my head.  Papa had been a lot of things and all of them had just been pure bliss and love for a daughter like me.  As the first man who have loved me and had taken care of me since birth, he is patient, truthful and prayerful for me. He may have his own plans for me but he had never hindered my personal plans, instead, supported my dreams in ways he can.  His jokes and that of Mama's combined maybe a bit heavy to take in because they both have this skill in subtlety in expressing sarcasm and hard truths.  Papa had evolved from a strict father to that friend who knows how to annoy and give the support when needed. He has this secret power of being able to pull strings, come up with funds when needed and that element of surprising--- something I don't think ...

Violating my own bedtime rules as I work on this blog post. I just feel like that I have to have this written down as soon as I can because it's a good reminder of how to look at things and events.  First, it was a Sunday and I had to go to work. It was 5-straight classes day that I had to go cover on and get done. On top of that, I had to hail a cab go get me to the next town where I could get a train that would then take me to the city where I live. My classes ended at 20:30, the train was at 21:50. I arrived home around 23:00. The distance was more or less 30kms from my home to the school.  If I drove home, I would have been home before 22:00.  As I got off the cab to the station, I realized that I still have around 15 mins to kill and instead of sitting down next to the noisy boys at the waiting lounge, I opted to walk my way to the platform though it was cold and just everything uncomfortable. As I walk my way down the stairs, I saw this fluffy cat of gray and white ...

I am trying to make it feel a bit like Christmas. This year will be different. No scheduled flight back home. No exciting meeting with family and friends. No crispy pata, inihaw na bangus and tilapia, puto't dinuguan, kare-kare, tinola, papaitan, manggang hilaw, and more inihaw na bangus. Also, no more hiding from inaanaks coz I am literally miles away🤣. I can't even really think that I had ever been a good godmother to those kids. If having to give gifts on birthdays and holidays are the standards, then, I have never been one 🤷🏻‍♀️. Maybe I am better off as a tita😜.  Christmas has evolved into a simple story of a couple who found a manger where the Saviour was born to lucrative business opportunities and sheer excuses to be kind and giving and for asking for things that we think we deserve.  I have grown up to know Christmas as a celebration of birth of Jesus Christ as a symbol of hope and redemption for a sinner like me. I am keeping it as it is. Also, it is for wishing....