5/31/2021 ‒
The awakening (the fourth mini album)

I could say it's the face mask and the fucking face shield. I mean, they are designed to prevent us from breathing in viruses... and, well, breathing in altogether.

Walking around the mall for five hours isn't unusual for me. Perhaps it's the most exercise I can involuntary make. It would always mean tired feet and tired legs. I mean, I'm also driving to and from the mall. It's nothing unusual.

But a couple of weekends back I felt extra drained when we got back home. Shalla was, too, but then she did a lot of shopping and I did a lot of following around, And carrying shopping bags. But it's not those, and it's not the face mask, and unfortunately, it's not those useless fucking face shields that failed to prevent a surge in coronavirus cases.

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5/24/2021 ‒
Parallel (the fifth mini album)

I knew that, in the end, we will not cross the finish line before most of everyone else. It's just how things go.

The spoils always go to the rich countries first, and they almost always will be on the so-called western hemisphere. They have the means to create the vaccines, the funds to buy every available supply and all the rest that will come in the next year or so, and the means to get those vaccines into the arms of everyone within their borders.

This pandemic is just one example. History is littered with how these countries that have, by luck or force, locked up everything for themselves tend to move ahead before everyone else. And once they cross that proverbial finish line, they get first dibs on a lot of other things, naturally. Just take international travel. Does it matter if that's almost impossible for us at the moment? Our passport isn't powerful. They can go pretty much everywhere without a visa. We have all these hoops to jump to begin with. Nothing's different. The cycle continues. It's just how things go.

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5/17/2021 ‒
Tribes

I'm not a sports guy. I mean, I won't go out of my way to watch it, whether it be on television or in an arena. I may have made a personality trait out of being a Lasallian who has never watched a UAAP game live. I guess I felt it made me special, in a weird way, because I'm not like everybody else.

But, I must reiterate, it doesn't mean that I don't watch sports. I do. Sometimes. If it's caught my interest, I will. Last week I saw tweets marking two years since Kawhi Leonard's buzzer beater - "the shot" that arguably led to the Raptors winning the NBA championship in 2019. I remembered that I actually watched that live, on television, for some reason.

Well, obviously my brother and father were watching it at the time. They always watched these games, even bonded over it. They'd have conversations I would never understand - inevitably, because I don't follow it. But all I really needed to actually stop and watch that last possession is the fact that it's a game 7 and the score was tied. So, for some reason, I saw one of the most highlight reel-worthy shots in, perhaps, all of NBA history, or at least its recent history.

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5/11/2021 ‒
Small talk in the 22nd century

Yes, time has bent that much in the past year that I genuinely believe we're actually in the 22nd century. I guess that means I've lived over a hundred years now, which is impossible, because I also genuinely believe I'll die earlier than my peers. But, well, time has bent that much.

Yet, some things remain the same. We may be working at home - yes, I know I have been doing this for years now, but it still feels different this time around, because we've also lost those moments that punctuate the tedium of being in front of your computer for most of the day. No more meetings, and the free coffee that comes with it. (Reminds me of a government bureaucrat offering me Starbucks because it might be my preferred coffee, when I'm really just fine with the coffee-flavored water at the conference room. Still, the idea of tax-funded Starbucks.) No more feeling around the room, finding a way to either be an active contributor or someone who's quietly listening in. No. Everything is a call, and thus the expectations have been recalibrated.

I realize I have more meetings lately. I talk to companies from here and abroad looking to understand whether there's something to be gained from working with us. In the old days these meetings will be awkward. This should be an email, I once told myself, as this lady said she didn't realize the sandwiches she ordered would be for two, and offered me one of the sandwiches. And yes, I ate the sandwich, because it'd be awkward not to.

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