The Rash

Yesterday was quite hectic. Joshua developed a rather alarming rash all of a sudden. It started out as a series of angry red splotches across his torso and thighs. Yaya
Gina pointed this out as she was giving him a bath. Later that day, he developed red spots on his forearms and his ears turned ted. In the evening, the torso rashes subsided a bit but the spots in his forearms increased and he showed more spots near his mouth and his ears.

Naturally, we were alarmed and called his pediatrician. It is most likely that the rash is an allergy to either (1) the baby starter food that he ate in the morning or (2) dust mites and dirt from his stroller which had been accumulating dust in the living room for a month.

We had the fabric parts of the stroller washed, aired and put under the sun so it is very clean now.

Joshua's been taking Verlix anti-histamine drops and the rash is under control. There's a spot of fever but it is low grade.

He did not get to sleep much last night (and as a consequence, WE didn't get to sleep much either). He would wake up every hour or so and bawl so loudly that I would not be surprised if our noisy neighbors got a taste of their own crap in grand style. Well, as they say - give and take, eh?

I guess it was the effect of the rash plus a few bad dreams and general uneasiness that got to him. I should remember not to play with him after 9pm in the evening. The thing is, even if he has a rash (or a week ago, when he had a cough), nothing seems to dampen his enthusiasm and he's just too irresistible when he's looking at you with a playful and bouyant expression in his face. The result of course is he gets excited and all fired up laughing and giggling that I think he has a hard time settling down for bedtime. I guess we'll have to fix that.

Just hearing the baby uneasy and crying his lungs out is pretty gut-wrenching for a parent. I guess all parents feel this way, in one way or the other. Thus, the sentiment I hear from moms who say that they wished that they caught their kids' sickness instead of their kids, as they would gladly bear any burden or sacrifice any discomfort in their kids' place. I now understand what they meant when they said that.

The reality is, as parents we are just going to have to let go and play a supporting role to the kid when things like these happen. It is now the child's struggle and painful as it seems, surviving the experience will hopefully engender a sense of hardiness and strength in the child. Nietzche was quoted to have said "What does not kill you makes you stronger". These words apply aptly to this situation. If we took away all the necessary and unavoidable discomfort the child has to go through (assuming in the first place we could do that at all), we would not be helping the child. We'd only be breeding a weakling, a brat and a whiner.

Of course it does not get any easier when you are watching your baby crying out in genuine discomfort. Babies can't talk the way we do so you just have to decipher the cryptic message behind all that bawling. Believe me, it gets pretty nerve-wracking.

I then wonder how it must feel for a mother to see her son being killed in front of her very eyes in a most gruesome manner. Just seeing my kid with a case of the rash is enough to shake you up but imagine the trauma experienced by Mother Mary who witnessed her son's drawn-out execution on an afternoon about two millenia ago. It makes me appreciate her reserves of spiritual toughness and emotional resilience. The words "tough as nails" used to describe her come to my mind as I ponder this. The fact that she emerged from that experience with her faith and sanity intact and in sterling shape is a testament to her strength of character.

It would be good if all parents were endowed with such strength when times are hard.

Another Milestone!

Today, Joshua had his first taste of real food. Ana got him some Milupa starter baby food last week. Tita Baby, his pediatrician gave the go-ahead signal last Saturday, after Joshua finished his last round of immunization shots.

This morning started with the auspicious feeding of the little tiger as his mom and yaya pulled out his starter dish (specially crafted with a suction grip at the bottom), his rubber lined spoon (so as not to damage his baby gums), and of course, his first meal of Milupa mixed with infant formula.

It was a success! Solid food became an instant hit for Joshua.

Joshua was in his stoller and was positioned upright to begin the rituals. The first gulp was fraught by trepidation as his mom gingerly laddled a tad of mush and put it front of him. After eyeing and sniffing the mush suspiciously, Joshua decided to take a teeny bite of the stuff. I could see his face playing out a range of emotions - from confusion, to apprehension, and finally into a realization that real food is good stuff!

He liked it very much; so much, in fact, that he finished off all of what was mixed in the bowl.

My camera ran low on power so I only got a shot in. Nonetheless, I know there will be much, much more pictures and videos in the future.

A new blog

Well, I finally did it. I got my Gurps game started and its rolling. I hope it lasts. I even made a group blog for it. Sort of like an online journal of our group's (mis)adventures in never-never land. The link is in the links section of this blog under the name the World According to Gurps.

The start of every day

There’s something to be said about waking up to a loved one’s smile.

When I just got married I started my day right when I opened my eyes and saw Ana smiling at me. It was, perhaps the best of many, many reasons why I decided to tie the knot and settled down.

Well, I wake up in the morning these days (when I am not rushing to court) to the smiles of my 5 month son. There’s just something about Joshua’s smile that is enough to start your day right. It’s about his eyebrows when he raises them as if asking me if I am awake; or the half shadow of a grin promising more; or the gurgling sounds he makes as he pivots around the bedspread. Or a little of all of the above. Whatever it is, the expression in Joshua’s face always shows that sense of wonder at the freshness of this world. After all, it is HIS world and he’s just starting to discover it….

Joshua still sleeps in his crib and so I guess moving over to the much wider bed is always a challenge and a riot for him: so much more space to move!

I am reminded of a passage from Stephen Benet’s, The Devil and Daniel Webster. Therein, his lead character, the indomitable barrister Daniel Webster, makes a closing argument about the good things in life- the very things that make life worth living. One of these, I recall Mr. Webster saying, “is the great adventure that is every day in life when you are a child.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we adults never forgot this? From the look of Joshua’s smile, I know that every day to him is the start of a new adventure.

How do we say goodbye?

I remember a scene from an old movie I saw, the Last Emperor. Peter O'toole was the English mentor of the young Henry Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China. I can't remember the actor who played Henry Pu Yi, but that's not the point here.

In one part of the movie, Peter O'toole meets the Last Emperor for the first time. He is surprised as the Last Emperor steps up and shakes his hand vigorously while speaking in singsong English: "How do you do?" or something to that effect. The mentor goes through life for a long time with his charge as history's drama unfolds around them. One day, the time arrives when the mentor has to leave and return to England. Finally, at the docks, the mentor is with the Last Emperor and there is awkward silence as he waits to board his ship.

The Last Emperor says with much sadness: "How do we say goodbye?"

To which the mentor answers: "Why not like when we said hello, your majesty?"

And the two men exchange a vigorous handshake.

One of our associate attorneys, Jon, is leaving the firm. He's said his goodbyes and he's wrapping up matters before moving on to his new job.

We're all sorry to see him go, myself included. I remember when I left my first job in a lawfirm in Makati City. I wonder how my officemates felt at that time?

Jon is a darned great lawyer, a good friend and fraternity brother and an outstanding family man. Oh, and he gave a very well crafted speech during my wedding reception. I know his new employers are very fortunate to have a very committed and skilled legal professional joining them.

Whenever I used to run D&D with my old officemates, Jon would play the part of an intrepid and crafty warrior, with the shiny plate armor and the humungous magical sword - the kind of guy you want to have on your side when the chips are down and you are neck deep in orcs in a balls-to-the-wall fight. Somehow, in my minds eye, I see him walking off into the sunset to claim more victories, looking for more dragons to slay.

Wherever he ends up, I certainly wouldn't want to be a dragon living there.

In Between Days

Yesterday I got so old
I felt like I could die
Yesterday I got so old
It made me want to cry
Go on go on
Just walk away
Your choice is made
Go on go on
And disappear
Go on go on
Away from here

Everything so far is under control. There are no deadly deadlines yet. All I'm really stuck with is a comment in court. Even that seems trivial, considering this nagging feeling that the client isn't going to pay us what he promised to pay us in the beginning. Well, what do you expect from a self-styled "taipan" whose problems start and end with his immense attitude problem? How do you explain matters to a client who does not know the meaning of the word "no"? How do you work with a client who expects the world to revolve around him, to move in tune with his wants and desires (and those alone, thank you!), who's gotten so used to getting everything he wants from courts, government offices and officials because he's always ready to bribe whoever has to be bought? No, I don't think we're going to be paid properly by our nice slant eyed friend here.... no sir.

Oh and in case you think this is a racist slur, it is not. I have slant eyes too.

This is the stage in my RPGs where the heroes are in-between adventures. This is the time when they're licking wounds, spending their hard earned gold pieces in whatever place they go to blow off steam, when they are cashing in their experience points for new levels. I have this feeling I'm in between episodes: when something big and exciting is bound to happen anytime soon. I just hope big and exciting is not synonymous to lethal and dangerous this time around.....

Been having an abnormal sore in my mouth these past days. Started out last week when I accidentally bit my lip and the wound just swelled.... I'd been using this antifungal creme called Daktarin but the sore just keeps hurting and staying put. I guess I'll just give it time. Everytime I pull out that tube of Miconazole I see the happy baby logo bearing the words 'Your first choice against oral thrush.' Crap, I can do without this so called oral thrush for a lifetime. The only thing that can get more irritating is a swelling hemorrhoid. Now that is big time irritation....

I had my insurance policies certifications corrected too. Would you believe they mixed me up with a guy called robert navarro? heck, I'm a roberto, not a robert. I guess my broker really employs a bunch of retards in her office. I always have a problem communicating with the retards who answer her office line. I guess they don't speak the Common Tongue. Have to make that Will Roll on a 3d6 or the Bad Temper Disadvantage kicks in again...I remember a time I rolled a triple 6. It was bad.

I'm just about ready to run my players through Byzantium Secundus in Gurps: Fading Suns this sunday. So far, only Ben-g and Dick have pre-cleared their characters, but man! What characters! I am really proud of these players of mine. I can make a movie out of their submissions any day. I hear Henry's not far behind and his wife Trisha is also fielding a character for sunday (a pair of Guildspeople at that). Ditto for Nikos. I don't know if the silence from Russ and Vannie is ominous. I wonder if other RPG referees have the same problems I have?

Its the first time I really brought the social status and job tables from gurps to play and I like them already. I have a feeling this is going to be real good. The Known Worlds of Fading Suns is eerily like the Philippines in the 21st century, minus the spaceships, the ultratech, the aliens and of course, the fading of the sun.

Mylo is coming over to the house on Sunday to be with Joshua so I've got Sunday afternoon for my RPG session. This should be good.

He died for All of Us

Black Saturday. More than two thousand years ago, our Savior came to Earth and lived the life of a common man. He also died for all of us, so that we could live forever. Yes, that’s each and everyone of us. Including the idiots that walk this planet.

Today, more than two thousand years after that significant event, I found myself at Fully Booked bookstore at the Greenhills Promenade. The store staff sent me a text message on my cell phone two days ago informing me that my order of Warren Ellis’ Planetary was ready for pickup. I was overjoyed to say the least. My intellectual tryst with Planetary started about four years ago when Mike Simbulan of Comic Quest convinced me to buy the first volume of the Planetary compilation.

As I write this, Manila uncharacteristically remains peaceful and calm but Greenhills is a teeming madhouse. Every tom, dick and his family seems to be crowding into this place!

Planetary is a graphic novel. To those of my generation, the term graphic novel translates to “comics”. By reading this, you would surmise that as I approach my forty-first birthday next month, I have not lost my interest in comics. Oh no, far from it: getting older seems to have only increased my appetite for comics as new expanded compilations of various series both old and new are coming to the bookshelves every month.

So there I was, happily walking around the store with my newest acquisition wrapped in plastic. Before leaving, I went through my usual rituals when I am in a bookstore, whether here or abroad: the mandatory vigils before the History and Science Fiction bookshelves.

The History bookshelves offered nothing worth snapping up this time so I headed off to the Science Fiction collection. That’s where I came face to face with The Idiots. There were about six of them, four women, two men. All young, most probably University Students – most certainly from De La Salle University or the Ateneo de Manila, judging from their dress, their manner and their mode of speech. What ticked me off immediately was their wanton and casual disregard for the property of others. One of female The Idiots picked up a pocket book and after sharing a laugh with one of her male counterparts about how “books are getting smaller these days”, attempted to return it to the shelf. I say attempted because female Idiot missed the shelf entirely (maybe she’s afflicted with Cerebral Palsy?) and left the book to drop casually on the floor. Now the book will be bearing new creases, but of course she doesn’t care: it isn’t hers anyway. It’s store property so who gives a flying f---, eh?

All the while, her companions go yakking around the Judas Gospel which came out on the National Geographic Channel about four days back. Unfortunately, all of them professed total ignorance about the whole thing, and exchanged gibes and laughs about the dearth of their knowledge. I guess to The Idiots, ignorance is a funny thing and is pretty fashionable too. Hip to be dumb I guess. I remember being a rebellious, unreasonable and dorky young adult long ago. But God help me, I never reveled in ignorance!

It did not help that The Idiots blocked the other half of the Science Fiction books. It did not help that they chose to continue their brainless chatter while blocking my view of the books. It’s a good thing that they seemed to notice that I was intent on checking out the shelves they were blocking – and backed off before something really dire and nasty brought their brainless musings to a sudden and violent end.

I saw Gene Wolfe’s Sword of the Lictor and Citadel of the Autarch in one omnibus volume but parted with it: I already spent enough for the month on my caprices. I left the store soon afterwards.

As I walked to my car, I mused about The Idiots. I can’t say they are victims of poverty, of neglect, and the lack of opportunities which stalk the mass of our Filipino young people today. Far from it, The Idiots were part of the privileged class of this country. And it is from this privileged class that the next group of movers and shakers, the leaders of this country is expected to emerge. It is said that the future of this country lies in the hands of the young. Such as The Idiots.

I would imagine that if the future lay in the hands of The Idiots I ran into at the bookstore today, then this country is just truly and irrevocably fucked.

Game over.

Period.

I almost reached my car when I saw a heavy set teener and his girlfriend crossing the road irresponsibly. This resulted in a run in with a passing cab. The teener shouted epithets at the cab driver, most probably calculated to impress his girlfriend and prove his manhood. Well, this time, the cab driver called his act, stopped the cab and went down. Our brave teener just walked away not looking back even once. Even when faced by threats and challenges from the cab driver (who looked pretty young too) our very brave teener just kept going. I guess his balls just went south after the cab driver’s unexpected response to his bullying. So much for bravery: don’t start a fight if you can’t finish it. My heart actually went out to the cab driver. I’ve seen so much of that here in Manila: irate pedestrians who cross where they damn please regardless of where and when, and have the gall to even strike your car as they curse you when you try your best to avoid running them down. Like that teener, most of them are ball-less cowards as well. I’d have wanted to see the cab driver give the brave teener a knuckle sandwich. Would’ve done the fool a world of good too: next time he’d be more careful crossing the street.

All this on Black Saturday while peace reigned elsewhere in this overcrowded metropolis.

Yes, He died for all of us long ago. The sacrifice was made for ALL of us.

Even for The Idiots and the cowards who cross the streets with no brains and apparently even smaller balls.

God have mercy.

Holy Wednesday

I remember one Holy Wednesday in 2002. I had just met Ana a year before that and it was a busy season. We were finishing off pleadings which had to be urgently filed by Holy Wednesday at the Australian Commercial Disputes Center in Sydney. There was a truckload of revisions to be done but to my surprise, all the lawyers involved in Manila decided to bug out and call it a week.

So there I was, coughing and sniffing with a slight cold brought about by overwork and the summer heat. The Australian Solicitor who was waiting on the other end was working pretty hard too. I was the only person in the whole empty office so I also operated the telephones and fax machine. We had all we could revising and re-revising our answer to the complaint filed against our client.

I remember it was very hot outside (just as hot as it is today) when I glanced at my watch (the time being 11:30) and stepped out for an invigorating bowl of ramen at a nice jap restuarant behind our building which had since closed down. The solicitor was surprised when I greeted him good morning before I went out to lunch. I had forgotten that it was 3:00 pm. for him already.

We finshed off with no trouble and I left at 4:00 pm. I remembered to say goodnight to the solicitor as it was already 7:00 p.m. for him.

I recall that the Australian lawyers worked until Maundy Thursday but took a break up to the Monday after Easter Sunday. I wish our lawyers over here showed the same commitment and industry as those solicitors I had a chance to work with, albeit, briefly in 2002.

Today, I still have a whiff of a cold but fortunately this year, there are no deadly dealines like those deadlines on that Holy Wednesday of 2002.

Moving on up to Holy Week

Things have moved on for me again...

The Real World

I finally got to go on leave last week, so I had a blast just doing a lot of Rest and Recreation. Its fascinating to note how much I got to recharge during the 7 days or so of doing something apart from work, work, work. Things are even better now since I got back to the office: not much in the way of deadlines so I'm still doing good....

Going on leave was a blast as this was the first real rest I got since Ana gave birth in November 2005. We actually had the time to go check out Fully Booked at the Powerplant last week. As usual, the place looked mighty changed and I had everything I could do to stop myself from blowing all my money on books and graphic novels. Fortunately, I made my Will roll (that's RPG talk meaning I made my self control check)and did not blow my cash away this time. As I write this, I've had a lot of expenses what with bills and payments to keep my insurance policies up to date. I guess getting the next round of graphic novels will have to wait first till I replenish my warchest.

Still, I've got my eye on the Captain America and Kamandi archives (both done by the great Jack Kirby!) and the remaining issue of Warren Ellis' Planetary which I recently ordered from Fully Booked. I've got my sights trained on them and they're toast....

Of course, when we got back to the house of Mylo (that's what my wife's family calls my mother-in-law) Ana was confronted by her nieces Tricia, Bea and Tricia's friend Dani, all whom demanded to know why we left them behind when we escaped to the Powerplant. It was at that point when I decided to beat a hasty retreat and leave the task of figuring out how to beat off our irate pre-teen trio in the capable hands of Ana....

Sickness in the Summertime

In the meantime, Joshua, who is 4 months and going on 5 months by April 15 got his first brush with the cold virus. It started out with a bout of headache and sniffles from his yaya last Monday, as we stayed at Mylo's. We should have quarrantined the yaya but we didn't. So Joshua and his parents got a dose of the virus. It was bad in the start with a fever raging (38.5 degrees) which brought me to buy a digital ear thermometer and more doses of tempra for Joshua.

The fever passed and along came the cough and cold. I'm just glad to see that through the worst, Joshua was still kicking and laughing. I guess his HT score is higher than that of his parents (that's RPG talk meaning that his Health attribute is better than that of mine or Ana's). Ana's been on antibiotics and is getting better. I felt really knackered Friday and Saturday but the worst had passed. I guess doing time in the gym last 2 months gave me the added oomph to boost my defenses.

It really helped too that Joshua's pedia, Tita Baby, made time to see him last Saturday, driving all the way from Malabon to Makati. So far she confirmed it was just a throat infection which hit Joshua and this should pass very soon.

Well, good riddance to the cold as he's due to take his next round of immunization shots.

The Make Believe World

We finally did it! My patient and intrepid players finally got together and we got our Gurps game off and running! We normally game every 3 weeks and it's hanging together pretty good! The fourth edition of the Gurps rules really rock! So far, I've been running a spin-off from the PC game Fallout Tactics, so I call it Gurps: Fallout. Last Sunday was our second installment and the characters have secured Vault 33 for themselves and their Brotherhood of Steel Allies. Of course, at a price as Nikos Ong's took a dive after getting shot in the torso. I guess Drake is going to be in the hospital for some time after this.

We're taking a break from Gurps: Fallout and giving Gurps: Fading Suns a spin. I'd been working on my conversions for the better part of a month and things are looking good. I can't wait to get on with the Drama in the Endtimes when the Suns Go Out....

The Fenris Front

During my leave, I also got a chance to see some of the Fenris guys at the birthday party of my friend Carlo. Glad to see they are also thriving. They're all gearing up for an airsoft competition called Operation Full Circle set at the end of the month. With typical monomaniacal focus and drive, they've been going through their moves and honing their skills. I'm sure they'll bag the 'coon skin and hang it up on the wall when the end of the month rolls by.

Speaking of Fenris, Dennis, who now leads the team is due to have a third child. His wife Lissa is pregnant with their third, after having two great sons Red and Cale. Maybe it'll be a girl this time? I'm sure she'll be the apple of her dad's eye if the child turns out to be a girl.