Excess Baggage

It is the first Saturday of the year yet I choose to dwell on several events that took place at the lattermost part of 2006. My excuse? They are too good to let pass unnoticed.

So here goes a few of 2006’s excess baggage.

I did my Christmas shopping morning of December 24. I never planned cramming for Christmas but for the days preceding it, I was either busy or sick. I hardly had the opportunity to enjoy the holidays.

I heard David Letterman say, “if you haven’t done your Christmas shopping, you’re dead!” I nearly thought that I’d be dead. Surprisingly, Megamall wasn’t packed the day before Christmas—at least not in the morning.

During Christmas day, I opted to spend the time alone in order not to be lonely. Contrary to what it might have seemed to be, my decision to stay at home all by myself wasn’t an act of protest. It was rather my way of putting things into place.

And putting things in place I did—well, at least a few of my things. I finally found the time to clean up some of my mess and put a little bit of order in my chaos. By doing so, I discovered that I have bought 5 new books, all of which I haven’t read. Then again I have seven other pending readings—making catching up almost impossible. I am the slowest reader in the world. I blame my short attention span for that. Twelve books will definitely take years.


I got the result of my X-ray. As you can see, it says “No evidence of fracture nor abnormal bone reactions seen in this study.” It didn’t validate what I felt because at that time, I realized that it wasn’t my boob muscle that’s tormenting me; it was my ribs. The doctor said the pain won’t go away until three to six months after. I repeated with disbelief what he said right in front of him. I meant to mock his field of expertise for not finding a way of sparing me pain.

It’s either I am developing a resilience to the wrath of my injury—in other words, I may be getting used to it—or I’ve managed to scare away my pain because as of the moment I am pain free. I just hope that it stays that way forever—if it’s not too much to ask.

Then I got my holiday haircut which was weird because instead of coming out of the salon with shorter hair, I ended up with thinner hair. Actually (I hate to use “actually” but I cannot find anything accurate to replace it), the whole haircut episode was odd, thereby making it noteworthy.

When I had my hair shampooed by the hairstylist’s assistant, I couldn’t help but say, “aray!” while holding my injury site. Then I told my sister who was lying down at the long chair connected to the sink next to me, “masakit pala kapag nakahiga dito.”

My friendly hairstylist’s assistant, probably to sympathize with my pain, proceeded on asking, “bakit ma’am, nagpa-lipo kayo?”

“Kung nagpa-lipo ako e di sana payat ako.” I quipped which of course led me to laugh like crazy which wasn’t at all good for my injury.

Innocent questions that concern, if not ridicule, my weight hardly embarrass me, especially at a time when facts show that I lost weight. By seeing a doctor for my well-publicized injury, it has been brought to my attention that I have become lighter. I’d like to thank stress, sleepless nights and laziness for keeping me “fit.” Those three elements proved to be more life-changing than enrolling oneself in a fitness club. And yes, I did join Fitness First in 2006. (I have to admit; even I didn’t see that coming.) It was futile though, at least for me. I cannot bring myself to workout without constantly asking why I am torturing myself. I guess me and the gym, no matter if it is disguised as a “club,” we don’t go together. I cannot program myself in believing that the times I spend there are in any way healthy for me. But that’s just me. However don’t ask me what I was thinking for joining Fitness First because, most probably, I wasn’t thinking at all.

Oh well, there are some things we learn after thinking after not thinking. If you think there’s a logical error there, don’t.