Two Days and Not Counting Anymore

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January 12, 2012

Thursday

It's 9:50 p.m. I just finished writing and editing a few more articles. I also did my regular Facebook surfing to check out friends and posted ideas that I could hammer.

Two more days and we'll be boarding the airplane--Inna, Evawwen, and I with our friend, my band haLf man haLf eLf's violinist Christine Mazur. We're finally going to the Philippines!

Inna and I are yet to pack our three boxes. Nothing much--just our clothes and some goodies for my family in the Philippines.

The Winter in Winnipeg is finally catching up. The past days were less cold--atypical--considering that November should have been very cold already. Today is the coldest so far. According to the weather reports, the days would now become more and more cold. Winter has finally arrived! It doesn't matter to me now, anyway; for we are leaving Winnipeg on Saturday already--for a month's stay in the Philippines. I hope that when we come back, Winter's peak would have subsided already.

My homecoming--the first time after I left the Philippines in 2003--is a mix of joy, excitement, nervousness, and anxiousness (both sense of the word). I'm very happy because I could finally hug my parents and my sisters and their children again. In the same manner, that they could now hug Evawwen personally for the first time. I'm excited because of the forthcoming shows and grand reunion concert of my former band Half Life Half Death. If the countless friends, relatives, acquaintances, supporters, and fellow musicians would be true to their words--that they would attend the Feburary 3, 2012, grand reunion concert of Half Life Half Death at Club Phi at Metrowalk, in Pasig City, in the Philippines, then the concert would be a blast! I hope most of those who said would come will really come.

I'm nervous because, having been away for almost a decade, I'm sure that I would be experiencing an adjustment period--not only because of the weather but also because of the present state of things there. I'm sure that trends have evolved, streets will have narrowed to my point of view, and even crossing the busy streets would be a feat for me.

Also, I'm anxious about our concert. I knew that the expectations are high from people who are awaiting the return of Half Life Half Death. I just hope that the whole band will really be able to nail the performance. Well, considering the skills and talents of my bandmates, I'm counting on them.

Another thing that I'm looking forward to is the countless activities that I wanted to do in the Philippines, and most especially the countless people that I wanted to meet--friends, families, relatives, former classmates, former coworkers, and fellow artists.

I want to document my every move in photographs and in words. For, surely, I will be returning to Canada after a month full of new stories and experiences to share and tell through my writings. So I have to be focused and attentive all the time--so I can capture with my mind and pen all these worthy stories which I'm sure I would be treasuring in the future. Not only for me, but more so for my son Evawwen.

Every memory I have and every story I tell, I know that I can share with my son when he grows up. The way I can still vividly remember to this day many of the stories and experiences my Father had told and shared with me when I was a child.

"Written words," indeed, "are worth a thousand pieces of gold." (Adeline Yen Mah)