All Saints Day

It's All Saints Day and it's a holiday. I like it when there's no traffic and the streets are not busy. It's drizzling when I left earlier to attend a week day mass in Quiapo Church. The travel time is only 30 minutes would you believe it? How I wish everyday's a holiday and the weather is humid so everyone's relaxed. I still get confused with November 1st as All Souls Day and the 2nd for All Saints for some reason. 

It's my first time to see an "e-burol" or electronic burol (wake) I saw this while watching the news on ABS CBN years ago. I just happened to remember maybe because it's All Saints Day. "E-Burol" was introduced by the St. Peter Memorial Chapels. It's an online viewing facility geared towards overseas Filipino workers who face problems on finances and proximity. Let's say an OFW family member dies and can't go home due to financial constraints, they can view the burial online 24 hours provided that they have Internet access from where they are just by simply logging on to St. Peter's website so it's like being in the wake too. When I first heard about e-burol from an officemate I thought it's kind of freaky. I mean seriously? So anything is possible nowadays because of technology? I think it'll be really beneficial not just to OFWs but also to families who are in the province who cannot travel to their far away loved ones to attend another family member/relative's wake. Although technology cannot replace the presence of a loved one but e-burol is quite practical. 

Overthinking

Today is my Interim off and tomorrow is the start of my 5 PM shift. Okay great, starting next week I'll be on Sat-Sun off. I'm kind of ecstatic because my sister and I will have more bonding moments. We can go on a lot of food trip and workout together. However, I still hate coming to work or going home on wee hours of the morning. I just thank God that in my seven years of work I've never had any worse experience yet except when I had my bag slashed off while on my way to work I lost my cellphone. My officemate once told me that she got robbed inside a cab on her way home. The taxi driver took all her belongings and asked her not to look back but didn't do any harm to her and it's just a few blocks away from their house. There are way too many horror stories for people who work at night since all the risks are there but still, most people prefer to work at night because they aim for night differential. Who wouldn't want a bigger take home pay right? Working in BPO indeed pays good money compared to other jobs but seriously, it's not an easy task to take the risks to go to work every. They say that prayer is the most powerful weapon a person can have and I believe that. You see, I'm not a religious person but I always keep a rosary inside my bag for protection.

Twin sissy and I heard mass at Quiapo church. We arrived thirty minutes late but just in time for the homily. It's so hot inside the church good thing she brought a fan to cool us down a little. The air coming from the wall fan didn't help at all. We decided to move towards the aisle when I noticed a statue of this little boy holding a tin can with words engraved under his feet "Pondo ng Pinoy." I seriously would like to take a picture of him he's like a celebrity status but I think it's a little awkward to do so I'm inside the church I don't want people to think that I'm not paying attention to the mass. When I got home I searched the Internet if I'll find a picture of him, unfortunately, there's none. Everyone who sees him can't help but drop a coin on his tin can like a real miserable kid begging for mercy just by the sad look on his face. After the mass, we had breakfast then come dessert we had Choco San Rival gelato (Gelato is Italian for ice cream) at Amici. Sweet!

I saw a real cute hoodie jackets in Lee. My sister love the black one I thought about buying the gray jacket but it doesn't fit me so I end up with the black one even if it's much more expensive. Anyway, it's worth the price plus I got a free bottle umbrella. Nice!

Trip Down Memory Lane

I accompanied my mom and dad to Raon in Quiapo this morning where she bought a videoke machine. My mom is planning to convert her mini store in Baguio into a videoke bar while my brother is also starting his "lugawan (porridge) business." I didn't realize that installing wires inside a videoke machine will take 2 hours. We had lunch at around 1PM imagine how hungry I was since I had breakfast at 8AM. The original plan is that they will drive me to the apartment but mom had a sudden change of mind she decided to go to Raon. Of course I'm not able to say no since I haven't been there for long time, I miss my birth place sometimes. 

Quiapo look so different now. There are designated areas for vendors now unlike the last time I went there they are everywhere. It is a lot cleaner too. There are too many "rugby boys" around the church before but I don't see them there now. I'm talking about kids addicted to sniffing rugby who does that because they want to forget how miserable their life is. 

Quiapo brings back a lot of childhood memories. I will never forget that mom used to take my twin and I with her to a school supplies store somewhere in Quiapo to buy coloring books for us. We also hear mass every Sunday and eat out as a family. Quiapo will always have a special place in my Heart.