Today

5:10 a.m. - i wake up with a start, after dreaming of stepping on bugs and insects and trying to crush them with my foot. they were very few, around 3 or 4, but just as i crushed one, another would appear. i was on white sand and the insects were on some sort of silkscreen frame. next i rode on a tricyle to take me to a hotel, but once i got there i remembered i left another luggage at the beach. the hotel concierge told me not to worry, why don't i check in first and they will just take care of sending the tricycle over to get the other luggage? at the back of my mind, i said yes that's a good idea, especially as my man was already waiting for me in our hotel room.

i go straight to the computer groggily. i shake my head and wonder who "my man" in my dream was. i have a sense he was my ex, but then the dream's setting reminded me of my friend i recently vacationed with...


6:10 a.m. - i sit staring at the computer screen as it rebooted for the 5th time. early morning and im already pissed off. i just got the computer back after a week at the pc shop for virus cleaning and hard drive reformatting. and now, this!

6:20 a.m. - thankfully Windows finally started right. so i log on and check on emails, chat with one or two old friends and another girl friend re our Toastmasters meeting the night before, which i wasnt able to attend

6:35 a.m. - i have to log off. have to wake up kids and start the day. Bea's whining and crying from being awakened. God, i can't handle this right now! i decide to let her go back to sleep and absent from nursery school today.

7:15 a.m. - i drive out to bring Thea and Paolo to school. thank God, we beat the traffic!

7:45 a.m. - i go back home to take a shower and prepare for my own day.

8:35 a.m. - the school paper editor-in-chief calls me on the cellphone to ask where i was; i say im still at home changing. the student journalists' 3-day workshop-fellowship we're hosting is about to start and i'm late!

9:00 a.m. - i arrive just in time for the Brother President's welcome remarks and to make the usual social protocol of greeting University bigwigs. the workshop-fellowship starts.

9:30 a.m. - i sneak out to bring the computer to the pc shop again for checking.

10:00 a.m. - i go back to the school paper staff's office to work on my own lecture for this afternoon's workshop.

11:00 a.m. - i go fetch Paolo from preschool. he reminded me of my promise to buy him his favorite fruit from the market fruitstand. we go to the ATM machine to get my pay and proceed directly to the fruitstand. i bring him home, then go to the nearest mall to do grocery shopping.

12:15 p.m. - i go back to the workshop-fellowship to take a late lunch with the staff. i was actually the only one late, everybody has eaten but a few stayed around to keep me company as i eat.

1:30 p.m. - i go to our Personnel Office to process health care papers needed for my Papa's hospitalization. he's been in the ICU for 3 days now, for having difficulty breathing and hypoglycemia. this is his 7th ICU stay in 6 months. : (

3:30 p.m. - i lecture on "Feature Writing" at the workshop-fellowship. it must have been effective and successful. the participants came alive and interacted freely with me, after a soporific previous session with another speaker who spoke on "Creative Writing".

4:30 p.m. - Thea meets me at the workshop venue so we could go home together. but first we have to go to the hospital to visit Papa, and to bring the health care papers. thankfully, he's getting out of the ICU, but he looks so old and frail and vulnerable now. not at all the big, powerful and fearful Papa i used to be afraid of and to love so much at the same time.

5:45 p.m. - the computer shop staff texts me on my cellphone to remind me that my unit and the scanner, router and new printer i ordered are all ready for pick up and that they are closing by 6 p.m.

5:55 p.m. - i get to the pc shop just in time, check my equipment, and pay for my job and purchase orders. Thea and i are excited going home. she says we are so rich! our home may not be so pretty looking but we have what we need: food for the body (i just told her i replenished the refrigerator today), food for the soul (our library of wonderful books) and food for the mind (our new computer thingies)! : )

bless her. bless my Thea for her wonderful insight and wisdom and optimism!

6:15 p.m. - we get home. Thea begs for all the new thingies to be installed and tested as she wants to start working with them already. i tell her i still have an Ancient Paths Seminar to attend at 6 p.m. and im already late as it is. but i give in, as usual. : )

7:57 p.m. - i am still here by the computer. all the new thingies work, except the scanner. i texted the computer shop lady to send a technician over here tomorrow morning. i also texted the Ancient Paths coordinator i cant make it tonight. my left eye's contact lens started itching and burning real bad an hour ago and now i can't drive at night with an eye infection!

7:59 p.m. - i will eat dinner now, take a long shower and sleep early. this has been a looooong multi-tasking day!