I'm back

OK so I had my Lenten blogging hiatus.
Was it worth it?
You bet it was.
Would I do it again?
Yes, in a heart beat I would.

So what all you did?

To answer the question, my English as a second language friend used to ask me after I haven't kept in touch for a considerable amount of time, I will now give an abbreviated summary about my lengthy break from blogging.

Sis and I went to Tagaytay for a few days. It was brief but a much welcomed break from monotony.

Then I did my reflections between watching whole DVD sets of my fave TV shows. Yes, believe me it is possible to reflect between episodes of interns in a Seattle hospital (Grey's Anatomy), convicts on the run (Prison Break), ordinary people with extraordinary powers (Heroes) and my favorite mobsters whacking their enemies left, right and center every 45 minutes. (The Sopranos)

I immersed myself within the pages of several books. I went on a journey with Pope Alexander's numerous conquests, (both in bed and by invading city states) through Mario Puzo's "The Family". I split my sides laughing out loud to the point of shedding tears when David Sedaris narrated snippets of his very colorful life in "Me Talk Pretty One Day". I fell in love with the vast yet barren land of Africa and with "K" the central character in Alexandra Fuller's "Scribbling the Cat".

I visited Corregidor via my sister who came back from an overnight stay at the island to enthrall me with stories and pictures of the remnants of World War 2 still intact in all its ruined glory. A place I want to visit and see for myself some day.

We did our annual Visita Iglesia trek last Maundy Thursday. We only managed 7 churches this year because traffic was horrendous. It seems more families chose to stay in Manila and do this tradition this year. At least, it wasn't as humid as last year and there was even a point where the winds were blowing so much, I thought I would fly away. We visited the Manila Cathedral, the church my parents frequented when I was still a toddler no higher than a table. San Agustin Church in the Intramuros area which is walking distance from the Cathedral. Shrine of Jesus Church is located across the SM Mall of Asia. It was our first time to visit this edifice. UST Chapel, my Alma Mater. The imposing Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City. The Sanctuario de Sto Kristo in San Juan, the church of my high school days. Finally the Santa Ana Church in Manila, the place where my parents tied the knot almost 40 years ago. All of these places of worship have been very vital for my family's spiritual journey for decades now.

But I suppose the highlight of my hiatus would be the unfortunate incident which occurred on March 6, 2007. My sister and I were on our way out for dinner when we had a vehicular accident. We were about to turn left at a corner when the car to our right who was also turning left, rammed into us. A massive gas guzzling SUV pinned the right side of our car like a truck hitting against a brick wall. It was good we were wearing seat belts so even if we were shaken quite a bit, we didn't get hurt. Our poor car though wasn't so lucky. Its front part was damaged, the bumper hanged precariously, broken glass everywhere, the door on my side (the passenger side) had a nasty bump. It was reduced to a sad pile of wrecked twisted metal. We came off that incident unscathed but the very tedious procedure to get the insurance companies to approve our claim completely drained us. Every single day we waited and bombarded the insurance companies with phone calls. It was a very frustrating, high level of anxiety, stressful high blood inducing process. It took almost a month before our car was restored to her former glory. So it isn't something I would wish on anyone, even my worst enemy, not that I have enemies but you get the point. The frustrating part was it wasn't even our fault. My sister is a very cautious driver it is the other reckless drivers out there who are distracted by everything from texting on their cellphones to putting makeup or even changing channels on the radio who are not fully focused on the road that cause accidents to happen. Oh well, I'm just eternally grateful we didn't get hurt physically just got our ego bruised and battered.

Now as for finding answers to the numerous questions I posed in my previous post, all I can do with firm conviction is to shrug and console myself with the words of Bob Dylan who told all of us:

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind"

Or maybe the answer is in a text message?

Enough said.

Happy Easter to one and all. =)