It was a week after Ate Net died, and I was contemplating the whole week last week about her death. Had a fasting for the whole week (no dinner) as my part to mourn for her and as part of my prayer for her soul. I did this because I wasn’t able to go to her wake due to time constraints, priorities and money (as advised by my mother).

Now, today is my birthday and I was given a leave-in-lieu. I was actually planning to celebrate it at work but since I was allowed to take a leave, I decided to celebrate it all by myself. It’s not because I was so pathetic that nobody remembered my special day or spend it with some people in a fancy way. In fact, my friends in the Philippines called me just to give that warm “happy birthday, tol!” and some were asking for a dinner. But I just want to celebrate it alone for some reasons.

I never had a time for myself ever since the year had started. Besides, I was a born loner. I’m used to it, but I enjoyed it most of the times. The mission for this special day is to celebrate it by doing things I failed to do for so long…

And to celebrate it simply… That’s all I wanted.

So in this special day, I had a mass at the ‘Cathedral of Good Shepherd’. I never failed to do this as my first stop during my birthday – to hear mass. Next, I went to Lucky Plaza to have some sumptuous Filipino foods c/o Kabayan Restaurant. After that, had a walk to Plaza Singapura to watch 10,000 BC movie (I can’t even remember that last movie I watched prior to this). After the movie, I went to Sim Lim to roam around and look for some stuff that I can add to my hobby which is photography (got a cable release at last for my D300). Had a long walk again, had time to see some buildings that I’ve never seen before and I even found out that there is an ‘Ice Monsters’ chain here in Singapore (it was raining the whole day, so I didn’t bring my camera). I took my dinner at Plaza Singapura (again) because I want to eat ‘Grilled Sotong’. Paborito ko eto e. Then after the dinner, spent couple of hours shopping, shopping and more shopping, one thing I’ve never done before (ung aspect na ‘more’). I even dared myself to buy long sleeves in G2000 – ang luuhhooo!. And then tambay sa Yamaha and play keyboards. Last activity was to watch a movie again (because it will take time again to watch another movie after this). So I decided to go for ‘Meet the spartans’.

It was a great day – spent solely for myself and done things I rarely do ever since I stepped here in Singapore. And to wrap it up, before my birthday ended, my housemates surprised with me with their ‘happy birthday song’, cake and pansit na pampahaba ng buhay. Happiness got me there because the ending of the day of celebration ended so great. This day was so simple that it made me feel happier compared to last year.

Closing moment – had a time seeing my family on webcam and had a talk with them as if there’s no boundary between us.

Pansit, biko, Coke – I grew up having these as my way to celebrate my birthday, with family members around. Nothing fancy, as I have said to one of my friends, is what I meant of celebrating my birthday simply. I hope they got it…

Thanks for my family for having time sending me those greeting cards. Putik, muntik pa akong maiyak. First time ata magbigay ng kuya ko ng birthday card sa akin. Salamat kuya. Napigilan ko lang kasi ang kengkoy ng message ng ermat ko sa akin. Natawa ako (banggitin ba naman ung tungkol sa recycled spaghetti). Haha!

I know God will abundantly bless me again for this new age year. Thank you Lord in advance.