I suddenly remembered the Scottish group Wet Wet Wet on this day. Just because of their name. 😂 But I loved their song Goodnight Girl since 1994.

It is a very stormy day, too bad for the graduates today.

I drove my mom to the commencement exercises so she can attend the graduation of my nephew. A 10-minute drive became an hour-long one because of the volume of cars.

My brother, my sis-in-law, my mom, and of course my nephew all wore their Filipiniana attire with their sablay. They had photos taken and it really looked nice, three generations of UP graduates in one frame.

I was only able to wear my sablay when I received my master’s degree in 2010 because during my undergrad commencement exercises 10 years prior, we weren’t required to wear the sablay. I suffered through hours of graduation ceremony wearing that very hot black toga.

I love the sablay because 1) it’s not hot; the Filipiniana (or whatever ecru or white clothes you are wearing) are more climate-appropriate; 2) the beauty of the Filipiniana shines, men look more distinguished in barong Tagalog; 3) the sablay has the Baybayin—the ancient Filipino script—woven on it and the ukil, the geometric patterns in indigenous designs; 4) it is inspired by the traditional garment worn by indgenous Filipinos, specifically the malong from Maguindanao.

The Baybayin on the sablay says ᜂᜉ or “UP”. I remember during our Filipino subject in first year high school, we had to learn the Baybayin and we had proficiency tests on it. We got so adept at using it that my friends and I were passing notes in Baybayin. Sadly, I have forgotten how to write in Baybayin because it’s not used in our everyday lives. The revolutionaries during the Spanish regime used the Baybayin for communication and to represent them. The KKK led by Andres Bonifacio had ᜃ in the middle to represent the Tagalog letter K.

I lost the chance to wear the sablay three years ago because I was wearing black when I was the keynote speaker during the recognition rites of my undergrad college. The wearing of the sablay is very strict, as a form of respect, to this very formal garment. I came straight from the airport (flew from Singapore)that time  and drove to my mom’s house for the keynote the following day. I didn’t have any ecru or white clothes packed in my suitcase.

Will I have the chance to wear it again? Let’s see if I push through with teaching this coming sem.

So my nephew has achieved his goal. Now we ask him, what are you going to do now?

I have no idea, he says.

It’s tough to be in that position. “What now?” hangs over your head all the time.

His poor kuya is dismissed by the university the second time due to his illness. What’s for him now?

I have no idea, he also says.

Genetics is a blessing and a curse. You can inherit the intelligence that runs in your family; you can also inherit the mood disorders that your family is cursed with.

Twin I wanted us to drive to Angono via the Laguna Loop this weekend — a quick getaway before they go back to school on Monday. I said fine, we’ll go.

But here comes Typhoon Crising to ruin her plans. 🤣

No rains today but the rains and winds coming from southwest will be pulled up to cross Metro Manila and our province starting tonight and the whole day tomorrow.

I am stuck again. I couldn’t write. I must go to a coffee shop tomorrow. I must drive to Metro Manila some time next week.

I keep going back to my bed to nap. Agggh!

And oh, my nephew is graduating magna cum laude.

Brought my kids to SM Mall of Asia yesterday after L’s interment because that’s where their dad was going to pick them up. They spent the night at our old house and they’re supposed to watch Superman today.

Since we’re already at SM, we shopped for their underwear (tops and bottoms) and socks as the new school year will start on the 21st. That’s the last on my new school year shopping list. The girls did their own shopping for school supplies in our town and we’re done with school books as well.

It wasn’t that long ago that I was buying them baby clothes in SM. Now I’m buying them bras and women’s panties—no longer the cutesie kiddie ones. 🥹

The nights are long but the years are short.

That saying is so true.

Twin I asked for fairy lights for her top bunkbed while Twin asked for a reading light for her bed. So off we went to Ikea. Meanwhile, I indulged myself with a new desk lamp because our house is dark even in daytime.

And now, the empty wall clock box is claimed by my obnoxious cat.

Sushi, on the other hand, is on her printer.

Since my kids are not at home, I drove my mom to S&R in Sto. Tomas, Batangas instead of Sta. Rosa, Laguna (because Sta. Rosa is clogged on weekends) to do her bulk shopping for their household. When I say bulk, that’s the American definition of bulk shopping; we’re talking of boxes of canned goods, large packs of bathroom tissue rolls, seversl huge jugs of bleach, cleaners, etc. Looks like these are a year’s supply of stuff but they go through all these quite fast so these are just good for a month or two for them. 😬

Since I’m already up and about, I decided to have my car washed as well. I felt a little pang, remembering my old car, Wendy.

I am regretting my decision to get a black car. My kei car before was white and I thought having a white car was horrible. But nooooo, a black one is worse. I should have stuck with silver. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I just want a weekend dedicated to bed rotting. 🫠 When can I have that?

It’s like a gut punch. My sister, her bestfriend, was bawling while I said my farewell. I took a look for the last time. She was just sleeping, or so we convinced ourselves.

I drove one of my bffs to Lumban again yesterday because she wanted to buy her graduation get-up. Well, she’s obtaining her PhD so it’s kind of a big deal so we had to choose well. She wanted something that would represent the Philippines so we opted for a barong alternative.

Bff is leaving on Monday for Belgium and then hopefully she will be back in December with her diploma.

After the barong shopping, we went for halo-halo at Aling Taleng’s in Pagsanjan. The first time I had this iced dessert in over a year.

While we were gallivanting, I was having my rapid reaction report edited. I had to get this piece published before Trump changes his mind again about the tariffs. Once we touched down to my house, I quickly opened my laptop and did some quick fixes.

BFF 1 had to go home in a rush even though she dreaded it because her kids were whining already and were messaging, asking her when she was coming home. She wanted to savor a child-free afternoon for a bit.

Ah… the hectic life of a mom.

My other bff dropped by and brought us dinner. Aside from chika, she also asked if I could be a lecturer this coming semester, approx 6 units. I said I can only manage 3 units since I didn’t really quit my job.

Let’s see how the other faculty members could take up the other 3 units.