We had lugaw for breakfast and afterwards I took a shower. We were supposed to leave at ten o’clock for the 10:30am Mass in Maysilo but my dad was taking too long at arranging all the food he bought from the market earlier. Eventually, it was decided that we’re not going to Mass for the time being so we went ahead on going to Novaliches to pay our respects for our dearly departed buried in Eternal Gardens.

                  There were a lot of people inside the cemetery already. Add to that is the mountains of trash accumulated from yesterday’s All Saints’ Day holiday. The cemetery almost looked as if it was more of a mini-Luneta Park, with families setting up tents (and I mean “camping” tents!), setting up barbecue stands and chairs, with people eating right next to the “puntod” of their departed loved ones.

                  Unlike the hide-and-seek we endured from yesterday’s Cavite trip, this one in Novaliches took us no longer than 30 seconds to find my maternal grandparents and great-grandparents’ grave. We stayed there for about an hour before heading off to Malabon for lunch at the Sibucao-Coquia-Vito-Roque Compound in Barangay Baritan (Most often confused as being a “part” of Concepcion). We had kare-kare, menudo, pancit palabok (or pancit Malabon), Boy-Ching-Woo Fried Chicken, among others. Drinks include Coke and water in a pitcher.

                  I also visited my lovely cousin, Louie. I shared to her my pre-enrollment nightmare with the rest of our batchmates in CSB while she shared her supposedly relaxing sembreak by staying at home and being a bum throughout the rest of the break.

                  I got bored because the 14-year old TV is, well, kinda old. And my pranets had it fixed on C/S 9 where it was airing a live Wizards NBA game against the Pinstons, followed by a boxing show sponsored by White Castle, then later came another set of PBA games for that day. I took this as an opportunity to take a nap at my lola’s old air-conditioned room. I was awaken sometime around 3:30pm because someone texted my cellphone asking me if we have class tomorrow. I didn’t reply because I’m too sleepy plus even if I could, I wouldn’t know because our phone line is still down=our DSL connection is also down.

                  By 4pm, we left Baritan to attend the 5pm Mass in Maysilo. Despite the heat of the afternoon, we really didn’t mind because the choir there was a cooling relief compared to the not-so-synchronizing choir we always hear during the morning Mass.

                  So that’s how I spent the holidays, visiting our dear loved living peacefully beyond the grave and our loved ones living alive and well and still kicking it.

I actually woke up way, way early. At 3am in the morning, daylight’s yet to come out so I checked myself phone on what time it is and saw that I have one new message that came the day before. I slept way too early last night, around 8pm because I was already feeling drowsy since yesterday afternoon. I was only waiting for the final airing of one of my favorite shows, a bittersweet ending in fact (I’ll talk about that on a later post).

                  I finally got up at around 7 in the morning, my parents were already awake. My mom’s fixing herself up for today’s Saturday morning Mass while my dad (who’s going to drive my mom to Maysilo) somehow washing our Revo using the hose attached to a water-pumping water which pumps clean water to our two large water tanks found in the kitchen.

                  After they left, I ate breakfast having to feast upon that big chunk of chocolate cake they brought home last night. I took a slice and a half on a small plate and consumed it. Later, I also reheated last night’s dinner which is soured pork (sinigang na baboy).  When my dad came home he also cooked some fried squid, and opened a can of spicy tuna.

                  Eventually me and my brothers left with my dad to pick up my mom and Ate (who was in a sleepover the other night at a friend’s house) and went on a trip going down south, to Cavite.

Upon entry from Coastal Road, we turned right to Aguinaldo Highway and turned left towards this side road which would have led us to Molino, a barangay within Bacoor. Unfortunately, the road was closed for rehabilitation (Well at least Strike Revilla realized that this rugged and potholed road need to be paved sooner or later!) so we were directed to use an alternate road. This road was recently put up but up till now it has yet to be fully completed as its entrance coming from St. Dominic College has yet to be cemented (for the apparent loss of a right term).

Once in Molino, my dad had the Revo parked at the RFL Molino Mall and walked our towards my old lolo’s house in nearby Kalayaan Homes. It is still what it is years ago except potholes are starting to appear at the older roads. You could say that Kalayaan is one of those ill-planned subdivisions and villages which were put up in haste in place of once-abundant rice fields. Why ill-planned? The streets there are confusingly one way and can be openly mistaken as either a walkway or a grassy rural field.

At Lolo’s house, we finally met after a long time our relatives from my paternal side, my Tita Janet, Tito Manny H., Tito Sandy, and Tita Ana as well as my two loving cousins. We had lunch there and because since last Friday, we don’t have any phone nor internet connection, took advantage of using my uncle’s internet-connected PC to check on my email, Multiply, and Facebook.

After leaving Kalayaan, we went towards Heavenly Memorial Gardens, a relatively new cemetery where my Lolo Peter was buried seven years ago. The remains of my Lola Adelfa who died 20 years ago, was placed there from where she was buried in Manila South Cemetery in Makati City.

The problem though is that my dad had a wrong sense of direction as to where my grandparents’ grave are located, this had happened before but it took no longer than 10 minutes before we finally found where their grave is. We offered flowers and recited the Rosary before eventually leaving Cavite.

The radio since earlier that morning was set at RJ 100.3 where, for the occasion, have been playing songs from British artists and musicians nonstop at “three songs-in-a-row”.  RJ dubbed this special, “The British Invasion” that’s why I’ve been hearing nothing but British artists ranging from as young as Leona Lewis to as middle aged as Craig David (although he’s yet to turn 30 years old) to as old as the Beatles totally nonstop. I’m not sure if they would count Welsh singer Duffy as “British” right?