another start (and the day before it)

I guess the sembreak is already over. I'm back to work now and will be back to school tomorrow. I can't say I do not want it to end yet, as I've kept in mind that this would only be a brief one. Nevertheless, I can't say I'm prepared for the very busy days ahead again.

Workload is pretty much stable. Law school subjects are becoming more and more uninteresting to me (not law per se), especially civil and commercial law. My mother would have to continue her chemo sessions and radiation therapy afterward, including the trips to doctors in-between. The last of the three proves to be the most taxing, the most difficult to accomplish, and the most important one. Nothing else to do but to move ahead, finish everything, and look forward to another break.

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I spent the last day of this semester break simply and quietly, just like most of the days in the past 2 weeks. I woke up pretty late, ate breakfast/lunch, and spent the afternoon goofing around with little Eduard and Eric, after which Eric and I fell asleep in my room. Had it not been raining, we would have started arranging the Christmas decors and of course, our old Christmas tree, complete with recycled Christmas cards and fake wrapped gifts beneath it.

At around 5 pm, the kids' father picked them up, and the break ends for them then. I, together with a friend, accompanied Lola to the optical store and to an ATM. Instead of going home, Lola wanted to go see the still unfinished basilica in our city. She likes going there because the place is serene. When we got there, the place was empty, save for a priest and 4 seminarians who were about to leave. Lola proceeded to the altar and wiped the image of Jesus Christ in the crucifix with her hanky. She said she would give it to my mother so she would be healed. Afterward, we circled around the church and read the names of the deceased in the crypts, and we found a few names of people we knew. Surprisingly, that activity was relaxing (perhaps because of the quiet place and the fresh air passing through the church).

After the trip to the basilica, Lola wanted to go to the isawan owned by a friend's family, whom she holds dear. She said she missed isaw, and Alex (the owner), so she thought we better drop by before going home. So we went there, and the sight of a grandmother in a place filled mostly with young people and those drinking beer was peculiar and funny. She didn't mind though, and she just enjoyed talking to my friend. We took all our orders home (which Alex, by the way, insisted that we not pay for) and ate it there.

While eating dinner, my friend and cousin Ian watched Step Up 3. It was an enjoyable movie. At around 9:30 p.m., I was already alone in my room. I opened Anne Rice's book and continued reading until I dozed off...