i am sick. i have been out of our house for 6 days and have been eating hotel food for that same length of time. 

i am at the airport waiting for my flight in 6 hours. 

I thought i would manage since Iloilo is also polluted but it turned out Manila is way way polluted. Worse, my 5-star hotel accommodation is located in the 5-stars of the polluted districts in Manila. They also have 5-star wi-fi provision--it's at P300 for 1 hour worth of wi-fi use. 

and so I succumbed to a bad case of allergy on the 4th day. 

i can't imagine how anybody manages to "live" in this city. it's just the really dirty, polluted, unwalkable, unfriendly to public transport users; just very unlivable. 

good thing the Green Urbanism conference was a success, otherwise i would be hating this city for the rest of my life. 

Lola, thank you for inspiring me to become a storyteller.
I hope i can become the same to my son, as you have been to me.

though shall not steal thy friend's bonsai.

yeah.

i stayed for weekend at my parents' house to find out that one of my ficus bonsais is missing. And the culprit? some LGU employee who came over and brought MY Bonsai home with her.

MY bonsai. jesus christ. can you imagine somebody actually stealing her colleague's daughter bonsai?

really??

because i can't. what person in his/her right mind would do that? it was just an ordinary ficus but it as one of the three different species of ficus bonsais i have in my parents' garden. and the culprit, guess where she's from? she came from the uplands. yes, in the cool rolling hills land where there are probably more of that ficus species than in my parent's area. what a loser.

it's the same thing with people begging--sometimes i think to the point of coercing--their travelling colleagues for souvenirs. Imagine having to waste at least a day of your vacation shopping for souvenirs because "everyone in the office said you should bring some." it's the stupidest thing ever. and i never ever let myself be talked into that shit. i think the only person i personally and willingly bought souvenirs for was my grandmother. i got her a scarf in cebu when we were there for a stopover on our trip to mindanao.

i mean, really? she stole my bonsai? or if she didn't, i bet my ass she "coerced" my mother into giving her that bonsai because my mother would never ever give my stuff away except at gunpoint. i know my mother.

unbelievable. just unbelievable.

come one, why would you steal a bonsai?