doing the laundry now. ive always said that laundry to me is therapeutic. water, the sound of the machine, the order you go through your whites and coloreds, the cleansing process. like my pastor reading the books of psalms as a mantra, i go through my dirty linen seeking enlightenment and clean sheets at the end process.

i later learned im almost out of soap. that means ill have to limit my wash load today to 3-4 batches only. that covers my whites, my blacks and greys for shoot, jeans and underwear. im currently liking a grey scheme for my wardrobe. black is staple, but grey is my new blue.

carlo is making stewed roasted pork in vinegar and garlic (read: lechon paksiw). as hungry as i am, the smell of paksiw with my laundry is not good. i wouldnt want my v-necks smelling of leftover fiesta fare.  i should stop until the cooking is done.  enlightenment would have to wait.

Step 2 is to take account of all your personal assets.

Physical assets. hair? yes and no. face. pwede na. body? yikes. carlo and i took a body composition analyzer which you can get from any mercury drug store. here’re my results (taken july 15 2010):
age 32.
height 5’6″
weight 142 lbs (not bad, i guess)
body mass index 22.9
bmr (capability to burn at rest) 6172 kJ or 1475 kcal
fat % 23.7 (desirable range is 17-23%. that means im borderline overweight)
fat mass 33.6lbs (desirable range is 22.2 to 32.4lbs)
the results indicated my target body fat should only be 20% of my total weight, i should ideally be 135lb heavy (based on my weight and age) with a fat mass of 27lb. that means i have to lose 6.6lbs to achieve my ideal weight. tootsie, how hard is it to lose 6lbs? ghad.

Medical history. i had asthma as a kid. im prone to vertigo (triggered by stress and msg). i have dermatitis (inherited from my maternal lola). i itch a lot at night (even after bathing before going to sleep), i have no idea why. my sisters have scoliosis and probably so do i. im allergic to shrimp but i can eat bagoong. im allergic to msg but i can eat lucky mi pansit canton. im allergic to crab. im lactose intolerant. my dad is diabetic and has been diagnosed with cancer (prostate, 2007) and a brain tumor (1998, benign). chances are, id die of cancer or get eaten by fire ants, a very japanese horror film way to die.

Material assets. i have 3 boxes of books here in katipunan and probably 3 more in cdo. i have 2 bookshelves with other books and magazines as well. we’ve tons of props and materials for shoot, stored in plastic containers and some in huge orocan plastic bins. i have a clothes steamer i bought 2 years ago and a trolley from ace hardware we almost never use. my closet houses a decently-sized wardrobe but i have lots of underwear that are more expensive than my tshirts. ive my Luna (MBP) and my 2 mobile phones. i dont have a car and my MRT ticket has expired. 3 years ago i had a bed built and bought a new mattress for it. i bought my first ever ever tv last june with a nice home theater package. it now sits on the antique tv cabinet i got from my grandparents’ house (apparently that set was bought by my dad years ago so now it’s back with us hehehe). it also cost me a fortune to have my room and the public spaces of the house retiled. if i were to lose everything today, what 1 item would i want saved?

Financial assets. no comment 🙂 i learned not to talk about whether i have much or i have none. in the end, it doesnt really matter. but im thankful i have enough to eat out or buy groceries, pay the bills and watch a few movies every now and then.

Spiritual assets. ive the good Lord covering my back but im lacking on doing the other way around. i wouldnt consider myself a backslider, but i havent been praying much and finding time to worship the Lord. i should get my schedule fixed so i can pursue my old ministries in the choir and with the youth.

taking stock of what you have, which asset is more important to you? send your answers to 2677. per dti series of 2010.

the past month, ive been doing a lot of cleaning. before i left for mindanao, we cleaned out the back area in katipunan, throwing away old baskets, bottles, boxes, even a dried up rat carcass. in cagayan de oro, i cleared out my closets of junk and began to organize the whole mezzanine bodega. one closet now contains mostly old decor from the 80s, the other contains books. one closet houses my cousin’s stuff and another, my sister’s sentimental junk. in the end i had about 3 balikbayan boxes of old clothes ready for sharing/giving away/selling/burning, 2 boxes of old shoes, and 1 with old bags. i filled up my big orocan trashbin 6 times!

this extended back to manila when i took time to sift through my boxes of old papers, readings, books and magazines. design magazines went to 1 pile, fashion to another, movie mags another. i threw out old issues and some i would probably not read again. overall i filled up a big sack of papers for throwing and another box of readings that can be recycled.

in lots of ways, the practice of cleaning up is therapeutic and by ridding material extensions of myself, it is spiritually cleansing as well. if i cant organize and clean out my room, how well can i fix my life? i need to identify new goals and plot out my life’s direction.  routinary actions and unhealthy habits need to be recognized and changed i.e. my spending lifestyle is not parallel to my earning capacity or how my mother raised me up to be, im spending more than i can afford and i dont care anymore.

i used to be ambitious, full of dreams and ideas.  now, i just went through a really bad burn-out, my grandmother and my dog died, im jaded about most things and indifferent to the rest.  yet, the world continues to change and we’re starting to feel the effects of climate change; the world is going down as we speak. we’re all getting older, my skin is breaking out every week and my midsection gets wider every month.  im only 32, for crying out loud!  i need to make the most of life before we fall off the face of the earth.

time to take out the trash yet again.

I havent written anything much here since Graba’s death in may 2010. Not in wordpress, not in facebook nor elsewhere. I guess i havent recovered from it all along.

graba at 2 months

He was the 2nd pomeranian to live in katipunan and was a complete opposite of Nuk. Where Nuk was reserved and preferred to be alone, Graba was a ball of energy and was excited to greet everybody that enters the house. He was smart, emphatic and super cute. It was a no-brainer he’d be friendly to the new dog in the house, pogi, when we brought him in december of 2009.

Theyve become inseparable ever since. Of course they had their spats and petty squabbles but Graba would be the reason why a shar-pei, bred to be an aggresive guard dog, would grow up to be playful and loving. Pogi, always surround by this small breed of dogs, grew larger but thinks he’s as small and lightweight as Graba and Nuk.

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