I'm a Baby!

“GRASA”

For years I have this joke in my head pero wala pa akong maayos na timing para ibato. It’s about jeepney drivers and their perennially dirty hands. As in ‘yung mahahabang kuko at magrasa-grasang mga kamay! Since I started taking the jeepney, hindi ko maisip kung bakit they never bother to wash their hands eh lagi kaya nilang pinapakita sa ibang tao ‘yun kapag nagbabayaran! My joke would even end with my ploy of pretending to pay para paglabas nila ng kanilang nakakarimarim na kamay, imbes na barya ang ihulog ko, iisquirtan ko ng alcogel para naman mapilitan silang maghugas ng kamay!

But I re-discovered the joy of cycling. Ang paglilinis ng bike, magbobomba ng gulong, pagpapalit ng flat, pag-aayos ng kadena ay mga bagay na nakakarumi ng kamay. As in magkakagrasa ka na ang hirap-hirap matanggal, manunuot pa sa mga kuku-kuko mo! Madalas na’kong pumasok ngayon nang marumi ang kamay. At mukhang hindi ko na ibabato ever ang aking dirty jeepney driver’s hands joke.

“COCONUTS”

Kuwento ‘to ni Nana, a friend from college who is now editor of Chalk Magazine:

Even the things that I sort of regret, when I look back, turned out to be for the good.

Like this morning I was running really late. And I was hurriedly walking down the street when this coconut fell right infront of me. And I thought, thank God I was late because if I were just a few seconds earlier that coconut would have fallen on my head. Do you know people die that way? So I don’t regret anything. I just thank God for putting me where I am.