Now, it's been a miserable August.
Not for me personally, no. I've been busy, but busy isn't necessarily miserable. But, objectively, it's been a miserable August, even if you weren't directly affected by all this rain. If you have a hint of humanity in you, you'd feel a little bad at some point, and then you'll understand - yes, it's been a miserable August.
The thing is, tomorrow there will be a sudden gear shift. The first day of September marks the beginning of the Philippine Christmas season, after all. Yeah, sure, it's more of a marketing thing than an actual sentiment - I don't think we felt that festive in the last four months of last year - but collectively we all know that the end is in sight, so to speak, and when midnight of 25 December rolls along we, or at least most of us, should be in the presence of our loved ones, stuffing ourselves with more food than usual. And that anticipation rumbles in by August, when our social media feeds start to fill with images of Jose Mari Chan and Mariah Carey in ice cubes, being thawed.
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A woman wearing a crop top entered the café, and I stared at her intently. But not because of the exposed midriff.
Okay, it is because of the exposed midriff. But also because the rain got stronger the moment she entered, and I couldn't help but think of her thought process when she chose what she would wear before she went to the café.
And no, I'm pretty sure this is not me policing a woman's choices. But I really couldn't help but think. It's been gloomy all day. It's been raining hard last night. Wouldn't wearing a crop top make you too cold? And it's not like she had a jacket, too.
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I'm writing this from the place where I've had Bonkey groomed for, I'll say, a year and a half now.
I like this place because I could hang out here while waiting for the groomers to finish. There's coffee. There are seats. I've written so many things in here. I also like this place because Bonkey, never mind the fact that he'll never trust the groomers, is comfortable with the place, too. I could get some writing done while he walks around the shop, and we're both happy - him, with the change of environment; me, for the supposed boost in productivity.
A year and a half is also long enough for things to noticeably change. Sometimes it's our fault: Bonkey pushed one of the acrylic stands displaying the drinks menu and cracked it. Sometimes it's the daily grind: there's a statue of a dog in here that's now missing its tail. Sometimes it's life: how many of the folks who work here, who have grown to love Bonkey, have since left?
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"Ariel, ito na ba ang sinasabi nilang siyam-siyam?"
I didn't hear of that concept often, but my mother and I were talking about it earlier that day. "Ito 'yung sinasabi ni Lola O na siyam-siyam," she said, finding another opportunity to fondly remember her grandmother. Funny how this seemingly mystical concept got carried over to 2026, although there's nothing really mystical in the idea of nine days of non-stop rain. We were surrounded by typhoons. Only a couple were definitely inside our territory, but they were broken up anyway by the sheer strength of another typhoon further north.
"Wala pong bagyo, ngunit nararanasan natin ang epekto ng enhanced monsoon."
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I've long reckoned with the idea that I will lose my hair. I'm pretty sure I've written about it. What I haven't reckoned with is the idea that my hair will turn white.
My father's hair has gone white. He accepted the inevitability a few years ago, and stopped dying his hair, although I don't think he was doing that for his own confidence. But I don't know, really. It's not as if he isn't reminded of the fact, too. All his brothers have white hair now. His father had white hair, too. If, on their side, hair loss isn't inevitable, pigmentation loss is.
As for my uncles on my mother's side, I can't tell yet. My parents are roughly the same age, but my dad is the youngest in his brood and my mom is the oldest in hers. Her three brothers are on the younger end, although as a young boy I never had the idea that they were still studying whenever I visited.
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