Walang tulugan (No Sleeping)

During my single days I was quite the night owl.  I would sleep at around 4:30 A.M or when dawn was slowly creeping in. I used to waste spend my hours chatting with my friends who were scattered all over the world. Thus the different time zones.

When I got married in 2008, my lifestyle took a drastic change. With all the never ending chores to do, my body rhythm would shut down early. I would be dozing off by 11 P.M. My sister found it amusing that I would be in bed by 10:30 P.M while she was still wide awake and we would chat on Skype. My eyes were half close by then and sometimes I would drop my smartphone on my face. Heh!

Therefore I need to condition myself to stay up late so I can watch the knockout games of the FIFA World Cup 2014. Here is the schedule of the games in this part of the globe.

So I could either add my intake of caffeine, or I could take a nap in the afternoons. No matter what I need to be up, wide awake and in my right senses to catch all of these games live broadcast.

By the way, now that some of my favored teams have gone home (Spain, Italy, Portugal) I would be rooting for FRANCE.  For old times' sake ... Allez Les Bleus!  =)

World Cup Fever

There are only two sports that I am passionate about.  

Soccer and Tennis.

I played tennis for a very brief period in my life in Dubai, of all places.

Then I semi-fainted due to the extreme humidity and heat of the desert climate.

I say semi because I was half conscious but felt really out of it.

So I stopped playing.

Heh.

Call it trauma or lack of motivation or a fleeting fancy.

Whatever the reason (till this day I'm not sure), I just couldn't bring myself to actively play, ever again.

As for soccer I never played the game.

Although back when I was studying in Brussels, Belgium - soccer was the main PE course.

Now for someone who was wearing thick glasses, balls flying can be quite frightful.

I wasn't good at it - even back then I had two left feet.

But I developed a keen interest in it.

I got hooked on the FIFA World Cup.

I remember during the 1982 World Cup held in Spain, I collected all the cards of every player.

From every team that qualified and I pasted them on this official World Cup scrapbook.

It was fun, exciting and I stayed up to watch all the games.

I was 14 years old back then and the WORLD CUP consumed my entire being.

Fast forward to 2014 - the FIFA World Cup is now in its second week.

The games are now held in sunny, warm and welcoming Brazil.

The live broadcast of the matches are shown at midnight, 3 AM and 6 AM, Manila time.

I'm too tired and dare I say too old to stay up that late.

So I just catch the replays in the afternoons.

Even though I already know the final scores.

Because it is the first thing I check on my smartphone upon waking up.

The thrill I get from watching the replays is just as exciting as watching it live.

The FIFA WORLD CUP always brings fond memories of my childhood.

Days of yore when everything stopped and football reigned supreme.

The nostalgia always bring a smile to my face.

Normalcy

The past 5 weeks was pretty much a blur.

But in between the numerous hospital visits where various blood tests and ultrasounds were performed on my sister, we managed to treat my dear Mom for her 77th birthday last May 30.  Yes the double 77 as we like to call it.

We had lunch at a Thai restaurant named Soi for her birthday lunch.

For dinner, it was at HK Chef which serves Chinese food.

Then before my sister returned to HK, we treated dad to an advanced Father's Day treat at Tony Roma's his fave restaurant.

June 10, the doctor cleared my sister for travel so she returned to HK where she has a ton of work to do. Her biopsy results were benign (Thank God!), but she still has uterine bleeding and was given meds to regulate the flow. Her myomas are growing by the day but the hysterectomy would have to be postponed for now.  She still has to clear her sked as well as seek permission from her boss for a longer leave of absence from work.   So in short, even though the nightly fevers have subsided and her infection is cleared, she isn't really cured just yet. 

The long road to recovery is just temporarily shelved as she needs to earn a living which in turn pays for all these procedures. 

June 11 - I returned to our lil nook in QC. I miss having my sister around but for now she is just a Skype video chat away.  I have tons of household chores waiting for me to tackle but I'm still in my lazy mode and I'm actually quite tired and exhausted from the ordeal.  

Meanwhile ... life goes on and we are all moving onwards! 

P.S.

Thanks so much everyone who sent their good wishes for my sister's recovery.  Much appreciated and may God bless you all.