Author: crisn
I'm Cris Nacionales from the Philippines.
11 To Go
In a snap of a finger. In the blink of an eye. Time warp. Time flies. Didn’t see it coming. Like a speeding bullet. Faster than the speed of light. Voilà. Use whatever cliché you want but one month is over, 11 more to go. Just like that February is here once more.
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Shown above are original Lego stuffs. These are dishwasher-safe Lego mug and calendar Marcus got from her aunt in the US who happens to be celebrating her birthday today. Happy birthday pards, enjoy your day!
The Promise
It was during Christmas dinner last year— over fatty foods, beer, and good company–when I first heard of Timehop and I loved the app since then. It’s the crystal ball of social media. It made me take a look back at whatever I’ve posted online years back. Some cringeworthy, some that I am proud of. This Timehop post is the first on my blog just so I could test how it would look like. See more in the next days.
WordPress App
The app that I once find useless is now a convenient tool that would allow me more control even with just my smartphone. I downloaded it last year only to realize that this doesn’t work with WordPress.org. Now that I’m back to free hosting I can now utilize this if I don’t have access to the laptop that Marcus and I share.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Survived Monday.)
I Love Mondays?
I love Mondays. I also try to be honest. Kidding aside, other than the fact that Monday is the very day that spoils the weekend, my sentiment about this most hated day is just influenced mostly by the fact that everyone, if not all, feels the same thing. The hatred is that contagious. Even a cat shares the same disgust. Ask Garfield. But frankly I never had my own Monday that I truly despise forever.
Last Monday, however, seems to have made its stamp. It was like all Mondays ganged up on me so much so that the experience would like stay imprinted for a while in my brain. And in my nose. That day I summoned every positivity I had but that Monday almost overpowered all of it. Yet all is not lost. At least I realized that when push comes to shove and when hell breaks loose I could after all arise and face the challenge. However stinky I might be. (Take the hints.)
Seven days later, the cycle starts again. I still have few hours left at home before I could say that everything is all clear. That I won’t get stuck in one place face to face with the unknown and the unseen but one that can be definitely smelled. Well, I guess it won’t happen. I pray it won’t happen. Marcus has been eating enough fruits this week so it is highly unlikely that that sh*t would happen again. But then there’s work and that is another Monday story. Well, hopefully something that could make me say I love Mondays.
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Mood: 3/10 Honks! (This flavored lambanog tastes sweet.)
Back to Free
Finally this blog is back to free hosting. I didn’t expect the migration to happen this fast but around Tuesday last week I got the email from WordPress.com that they have already transferred the domain mapping to marcuscanblog.wordpress.com. Then today I was able to finalize the migration after changing the nameservers on Godaddy. So welcome to the new look and feel of our website. I’m excited to start writing without the worry of having to renew something that would need my credit card.
Migration
Our recent trip to the US had me think of the possibility of migrating. If that’s going to happen, we never know when and how. I know we are all unanimous in wishing we stay there for good. Anyway, the only migration that’s going to happen this year is the one from my self-hosted blog back to the free WordPress.com. My GoDaddy subscription ends this March and I have decided not to continue it as it is becoming more expensive to maintain. My initial plan back then was to have this blog monetized through ads but it never happened the way I expected it to be. Nuffnang wasn’t just enough to cover the renewal fees and this year subscription to the cost of the economy alone has tripled. It was only P7000 the last time I paid for it. I have already started the transfer to the free blog environment and I am now in the process of linking marcuscanblog.com to marcuscanblog.wordpress.com so all updates moving forward will be done on the latter.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks!
Moving On
What seems like in a snap of a finger, we find ourselves staring at 2017. Now we once again wonder what this new year has in store for us with all hopes up that it would be better than its preceding year. In our books, 2016 is hard to beat especially that its last days ended with a bang. But after three weeks of living the life in the land of milk and honey, our life goes back to normal. We have returned home, we move on.
Yes, we move on. One tall order after one unique travel experience. In the next days we merge back to the rat race–like it or not. In Marcus’ case, however, moving on is a pun and at the same time a big dream. And time is of the essence. This year we need to execute what we have regularly discussed between pauses during our American adventure. Our good hosts, my sister and her hubby, want to see Marcus undergo the next phase of DMD testing. They pledged to support it.
To say we were happy at their commitment would be an understatement. DMD is one of those medical conditions that is expensive to deal with despite the uncertainty of success. With the much needed support we can now proceed and see if the available DMD drug in the market would be of benefit to Marcus. So as early as this January we’ll be busy. It’s time we see the doctor again. Fingers crossed.
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We continue to realize the challenge of travelling with someone in a wheelchair. Not that we are complaining but its a struggle we have to face. This is why I didn’t have any issues staying at my sister’s home and just enjoy time with everyone. I just know that Marcus preferred it that way too.
Even within the confines of the house there’s always something to keep us occupied anyway: gym, pets, TV, toys, food. They are also fond of non-smartphones games like Uno and Jenga. And it was where I learned my second card game (Trump cards is first) while Marcus proved he can play the latter.
Marcus once mentioned that he has seen how Jenga is played but we never saw him play the actual game not until this trip. To the surprise of everyone, he was a natural. He picked Jenga blocks on his own although I carried and assisted him to be able to place the blocks when the stack got higher. His dexterity to handle the blocks gave me some sort of hope. It proves that after all his remaining muscle functions may be preserved somehow. Let’s see.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Now using Marcus’ HP PC which we fixed ourselves. Thanks to the male Santa.)
Sky’s the limit
To jump out of an airplane and eat at McDonald’s were two of the things I mentioned when I was asked by my brother in-law what I plan to do once we are in the US. I never thought the former was possible as I just want wifey and Marcus to experience their first US trip–everything else would be a plus. Then budget was an issue and the more we got closer to the trip the more I learned that weather could be a factor. But as fate would have it, the skydive happened. On a fine Elk Grove day, my brother in-law jumped strapped to our own instructors.
This is the second time I have jumped out of the plane and maybe this wouldn’t be the last. Fingers crossed.
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In pictures
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Inside an RV somewhere in San Francisco early in the morning.)
Achievement unlocked: Snow
To be in the snow seems like to be just a dream for people like us. It’s like we can see it only be in the movies, in the games. I have never imagined that soon we’d frolic in it. Yesterday it happened.
Marcus is someone who can go sleep in an air-conditioned room just wearing sando and pajama so we had a hard time getting him to wear extra layer of clothing since we arrived in the US. He would complain at every opportunity justifying he could take the cold. However snow changed his mind in an instant.
To build a snowman had been his main plan when he learned we’d be at Kirkwood. So immediately after lunch we made one for him though it didn’t look like typical–one with the carrot nose and button eyes. He named it Bally.
Marcus had fun nevertheless. He experienced his first snowfight and saw the elements he used to only see in his Call of Duty map–the condensation when he exhales, the bright red plastic fence, the massive white snow. He loves the snow so much that he would’ve wanted to stay longer.
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Wifey and I had our first ski lesson and it was one I didn’t expect her to enjoy. She was so anxious about it that I had a good laugh when I discovered she was watching YouTube ski videos during the wee hours of the morning before our trip. The tutorial seems to have paid off as she did better than expected. Had she hydrated enough she could have reached the Graduation slope with me.
There was bitterness in the experience though. Along with our ski class were kids learning how to snowboard. I couldn’t help but admire how cute they were in their complete gears.
“How old are you guys?” I asked some of them when I got close to the group after I exited the conveyor.
“I’m 5…I’m 8,” came the replies. For some moment I almost teared up. Marcus could have been one of them.
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Mood: 4/10 Honks! (Old dog, new trick.)
Marcus Can Blog 