Indulgence

give a day

Groucho Marx
Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.

I gave myself a day today. Well, not very true. I didn't give myself a whole day, it was more like half a day. I went to work late since I woke up late and I did some work at the office and started preparing for my Palawan trip which will be in about 3 to 4 hours. I'm going to Palawan for work, not a vacation but hell, a trip to a beautiful island is a trip to a beautiful island. I'm just extremely glad for it. So when everything was done and it was decided that I should sleep at the office so I could finish more work and get picked up by the van so I can bring all the equipment to the airport, I left the office rather early for myself and watched a movie. I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and absolutely enjoyed myself. I ate dinner alone and walk home from Greenhills, smoking and deep in thought.

The other day, I gave my brother and my Father a day. Well, not very true. I gave them an evening, not a whole day but I gave them one nonetheless for it was Father's Day and they are both fathers, after all. So the three of us and my brother's wife, Kristi went to Moksha and had a fabulous dinner and then went to Icebergs after for mounds of ice cream -- all on my treat. I wanted them to feel that on a day that was given to fathers, that they are appreciated. One, for having been a great father and the other for promising to be a great one as well. Afterwards, they dropped me at Greenhills and alone, I went to watch Batman Begins and completely enjoyed myself. I found it to be a great movie and Christopher Nolan has elevated himself into one of my top 3 favourite directors in Hollywood and Christian Bale as my favourite actor as of the moment. I completely enjoyed myself in that movie and was so very glad to see it.

I guess, in a way, I needed it for Saturday was a very difficult work day for me. At 7 pm, I had gone to the Fete dela Musique at El Pueblo and Podium to cover the amazing event. 7 stages, 150 bands and an estimated crowd of 6,000. It was definitely a handful and a tiresome night at work. If I wasn't working, though, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it. I love live music, especially when done well and I was amazed to hear such great music. I would've loved to have seen the whole performance of Cynthia Alexander and seen Kitchie Nadal's performance from the front, rather than hear it from backstage where I was interviewing some bands for the show. I would've loved to see Pinikpikan and Reggae Mistress performance and then run to the electronica stage to listen to Drip and Sound and then off to the jazz stage and listen to Mishka Adams and Isha. It was an amazing event and working there was very, very tough. The crowd was impossible and were everywhere and they were getting in the way of the camera and making it difficult for us to shoot our host doing spiels. I was lugging a heavy bag and the microphone wire and when we ended at 3 in the morning, I was so tired and my body sore that I couldn't sleep because of the exhaustion.

I guess that's why I gave myself a day. Well, I gave the time and effort to not work and to just give myself some time to enjoy the simple things that makes life fun -- good food, art and entertainment, walking under a moonlight night, good company and not having to think about work.

Those are important things I'm not letting go off now. That's something I think I'm going to do a little more often now -- giving myself a day. Time is gold, they say. It's a pretty expensive gift, if you ask me.

posted by wanggo @ 2:19 AM