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Coloring Books for Adults, Anyone?

Crayons, Coloring Book for Adults — Image from Flickr Creative Commons

Years ago wifey purchased something I never knew would be of interest to someone her age. It was a box of crayons and a coloring book along with it. What I find funny is that it was way back when we do not have Marcus around yet. Knowing wifey as someone who seldom spends on anything unnecessary—either by choice or not—I let her grab her art stuffs because for an employed adult these are cheap anyway. While at some point in my elementary days I wished that I also possess a box of crayons with built-in sharpeners, I have let go of the thought as soon our art subject is over. But for wifey, age didn’t matter.

I do not consider my wife as someone who is really into arts so I was thinking all along that she would soon ditch the crayons as soon as we reach home that day. I was wrong. She did manage to spend time coloring the book as if it will be graded by a teacher. In my opinion, she rendered the colors well. She also made sure that her crayons are all in proper order after each use and that anything that starts to dull gets sharpened. Her crayons remained almost pristine until the day someone came into the picture.

Our kid eventually took over wifey’s 48-color Crayola. And I know that she had some reservations giving the crayons due to the fact that she knows the fate of Marcus’ basic crayon set. Some got stripped of labels, some broken in half, and some lost in the Kindergarten battlefield. Some made their mark on our wall—thanks to baby oil, these got erased easily.

Today The Guardian released an article Colouring books for adults top Amazon bestseller list and it made me discover that wifey isn’t alone. Surprisingly, there are also others who are into crayons and coloring books regardless of age. (Whew!) Now I wonder if it is a good time to buy a Marvel coloring book. Nope, not for wifey. Not for Marcus either. You know, it does not hurt to start all over again.

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Mood: 4/10 Honks! (Two days away and I miss them.)

Black Cat

This is the second cat drawing by Marcus using the Paint app but I like the first one he did which was mistakenly not saved by wifey. This is also my first post, if successful, directly coming from the Paint app. (It didn’t work so I’m back to posting via Photobucket’s direct share link.)

Back in the days one the few ways to display a child’s drawing was Funny Komik’s This Is Your Page section. I think my mother got three of my drawings published. How I wish we were able to saved copies the comics we used to buy every week.

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We now know that cats love playing with bags. She is the inspiration of Marcus’ cat drawings.

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Mood: 1/10 Honks! (Anxious to see typhoon Ruby out of the country.We are expecting it tomorrow.)

Cat’s Spay Day

King's Road Veterinary Clinic, Where to spay cat in Cavite, Cavite spay, Cheap cat spay in Cavite — Mittens still figuring out what we have done to her.

Responsible pet ownership has a price. Once a person decides to have a pet(s) he or she commits to take good care of it until its lifetime. Pets will need food, it will need grooming, and it will soon find a mate. And it could multiply which is just fine if planned such as for breeding and selling. Otherwise, the owner–as the more intellectual being–must ensure that the pet doesn’t produce young ones that it cannot properly take care of.

What we call in here in the Philippines as askal and pusakal are usually products of pet owners who do not have any idea–or some, sadly, do not care–about pet birth control. Anyone who plans to have four-legged companions must therefore take everything into consideration including neutering (male) and spaying (female) to curb the increase of stray animals. And it is what we just recently did.

Two weeks ago, our cat was in heat. It became restless, it exhibited the signs that we have read before. It became more eager to go out of the house, it rubbed itself on walls, it rolled like crazy on the ground, and it made those weird mating calls. Not wanting to get it pregnant by male cats who seem to all of a sudden appeared in our yard out of nowhere, we kept our feline from getting outside. We closed the windows and doors, we too got boxed in.

The experience of dealing with a cat in heat compelled us to take actions. Initially we planned to bring the cat to PAWS (The Philippine Animal Welfare Society) as their spay service is significantly cheaper (based on their website it is only P1,000) than any other clinics we know. However, after realizing that the procedure requires some prior tests and the fact that it’s a long drive from home we cancelled it. Wifey then tried to locate veterinary clinics within Cavite that charge the least and she found one.

Kings Road Veterinary clinic is just more than 10 kilometer from home. Setting an appointment was easy and the spay operation was faster than I expected. Our cat and I reached the clinic minutes before 10 am and the vet, Dr. James, immediately started the procedure. He performed the blood test and then the operation proper. Before 12 noon he is finished and few minutes later Mittens is already conscious.

Dr. James’ clinic is located along Daang Hari road. He has two units–one clinic and a grooming station–within the same building. Both facilities appear bright and well maintained. Kings Road vet has a Facebook page so do check it out for your pet needs.

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Mood: 1/10 Honks! (Got kid’s class card. Marcus still his class’ top 2.)

Texting Solutions

There was once a time when social media weren’t as popular. 10 years ago people still buy and read newspapers and I was among them. It was also during this time when boredom leads to texting and some texting results to bragging rights. Here’s an example.

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Mood: 4/10 Honks! (Keep calm and wait. For the next payday.)

The Real Oggy And The Cockcroaches

Cat and mouse. This I’m sure that anyone will recognize the famous rivalry. It’s been like that. For example, when I say Tom, someone will highly likely say Jerry. When I start with ‘when the cat is away…’ it will be easily continued by anybody with ‘…the mouse will play.’ Yes, everyone just knows the relationship between the two.

But how many are aware of cats and cockcroaches. For one, I don’t, I never did. I was so clueless that I scratched my head when I first saw the cartoons Oggy and the Cockroaches. Who would have thought that it’s a good idea to create an animation about the misadventures of a blue cat named Oggy and his archnemeses Dee Dee, Marky, and Joey. Well, Jean-Yves Raimbaud seems to know what he was doing.

Marcus started watching Oggy and Cockroaches when he was a lot younger. He loves the show so much that now at age six and with our cable TV subscription gone, for a year and half already, he would mention that it is still one of his favorite cartoon shows. He now hates the others he once watched almost regularly–like Ben 10, Dibo, and, thankfully, Barney–yet his fascination of Oggy and the Cockroaches stays. But do cats and these horrendous smelly creepers meet in real life? Yes, just not as amusing.

We have seen our cat, Mittens, so many times bring inside our house– of course, to our utter disgust–cockroaches to play with and eventually kill. I would often wonder if the poor cockroach would have preferred being sprayed with pesticide rather than the torturous demise due to being tossed around from the cat’s fangs and to be pummeled by its soft paw with sharp claws. Sometimes out of compassion, I deliver the quick death with the classic slipper whack.

The latest encounter happened this early morning while I drag my sleepy self from bed to the toilet. As I was about to open the faucet to wash my face I came eye to eye with the shiny brown pest and by instinct I had my hand ready with a slipper. I saw also that Mittens was right behind me, its iris opened, fully focused, and ready to pounce. The poor cockroach was almost trapped, it hesitated, and decided to avoid the cat. It seems that our cat’s notoriety has spread around the filthy roach community. Oh by the way, its name should’ve been Oggy but we later learned it’s female.

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Here’s a trivia I read from Wikipedia. Did you know that Dee Dee, Joey, and Marky were among the members of the American punk rock band The Ramones? Now what are the chances that their song I Wanna Be Sedated is about a cockroach begging to escape slow death from a cat.

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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Holiday today. Another day off for Marcus.)

Goodbye Bad Hair Day

What was supposed to be a short trip with Marcus to a sari-sari store to buy a Coke led to something else. This was after I realized that the stores I used to know near wifey’s place have either closed or have ran out of softdrinks. And so moving farther we eventually reached the area close the barber shop where we both get cheap haircut whenever in Batangas. Feeling the late afternoon heat I decided that it was the best time to get a haircut. Or rather something shorter, cleaner–a bald head.

It was my first time to have my head shaved cleanly. I was excited, Marcus was curious. I can see him watch from a bench behind me with a funny expression when the barber started using his razor to remove slowly every bit of my hair that was left by the clipper. At some point I was thinking if I should, or could, still stop the barber from proceeding further as he slowly exposes my scalp. But it was over soon. Barely ten minutes after I saw nothing but shiny flesh.

Stepping out of the barber was weird. So was walking back to wifey’s place. And I had that same feeling when I finally arrived home that night and stared longer at myself in the mirror wondering once more if I regret the new look. Then there’s that anxiousness showing up at work bald for the very first time. Thankfully I got over it sooner than expected. It was just a matter of meeting every people I know and showing them the new me–whether they like it or not.

Since then, a month and two weeks after, I have learned to love being bald even if it takes new routines to maintain it. I don’t know if I should be glad that my hair all over my head still grows fast as it requires me shave my head every other day just to stay bald. I have yet to perfect shaving it myself so every now and then I get those nasty cuts especially if I do it in a hurry. And while I have lessened my need for shampoo, my head needs an aftershave and a lotion to prevent it from flaking and razor rash. Right now I use wifey’s lotions, good thing she doesn’t have those with strong scents that I smell at work, but the internet tells me that there are products appropriate for bald heads. Well, there’s always a price to pay for everything, a price for saying, “goodbye bad hair day!”

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Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Car needs battery.)

Egg Hack

Someone this morning posted on Facebook ‘The 22 Most Brilliant Life Hacks Every Human Being Needs to Know” but it wasn’t the title that captured my attention, it was the picture that came along with it.

Back in 2008 while waiting for Marcus and while waiting for an employer to get me out of bumhood, I had all the time to try my luck in cooking my own perfect sunny side up. So when I saw this I got excited (nope, I’m not saying it as egg-cited).

Today would have been the best opportunity for me to try this hack as Marcus was left under my mercy–wifey went to Batangas after breakfast–but I soon realized that I need a big onion as shown. So as I have imagined our day, kiddo and I ended up eating my own version of corned beef omelet for lunch which he enjoyed anyway.

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Days ago, out of nowhere Marcus asked me while on our way home from school, “Daddy, why can’t you cook?” Ti abi.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks! (The selling resumes tomorrow. Hope the bike behaves this time.)

No Humpy Dumpy

It’s exactly a month ago when we picked up our cat from the gas station and contrary to popular belief—which is by the way one of the greatest fears that I know my wife and I have kept from one another when we rescued the kitten from being a potential road kill—the house doesn’t not stink. There’s no dreaded Humpy Dumpy smell.

Humpy Dumpy was once a popular snack here in the country. It is one of those snacks that taste good but smell funny or weird. Almost everyone before would agree that the best description to it is that it smells like cat poo. I don’t know if it was the reason it eventually got pulled out of the market or if it is because–I just realized–its name brings a lot of pun. Humpy. Dumpy. How can the manufacturers make such oversight.

Here by the way is the TVC of Humpy Dumpy. See if you can also identify the commercial models.

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There is one reason the house didn’t stink. Or at least that’s what the three of us believe. The litter box. Truth to be told, the only idea I have back then on how to toilet train the cat is to spread a newspaper in one corner of the house and expect him to identify it as to where he should dump. It worked before for our bully guest so I had high expectations it would work for the kitten. I was wrong.

It’s a good thing that even the kitten held on. The first day was uneventful–he didn’t dump which made us wonder when and where it is going to happen. Luckily, my in-law who has cats living with them inside their house told me to get a litter box. I’ve heard of it but never knew what it was and what it does.

So I went around, asked a pet store about it, and I was told that a litter is just actually sand. I rushed back to our place and I just knew where to get one–our neighbor was renovating their house and they have a pile of extra sand outside.

Lo and behold, the kitten used the litter box. It was like a miracle happening right it front of me when I saw him dug in and sit as if he had the litter box since birth!

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We made a mistake. Few days after our son proudly named the kitten Oggy, we learned from the internet that we got a female. Thus the change of name to Mittens which is a namesake of the Stampy’s cat. Stampy by the way is Marcus’ favorite source of Minecraft tips on YouTube.

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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (This cat talk makes me hungry. I can smell lunch from the kitchen.)

Love Earth, Wear Dirty Jeans

What I don’t do for my jeans saves the planet. If you don’t know what I am talking about, then it is time for you to read Mashable’s article about CEO of Levi’s earth-friendly advice–do not wash your jeans. Yes, you got that right. Do not wash your jeans!

This is the second time I have read an article that encourages what I have been doing all along. Few weeks back, Yahoo! also featured tips on how to extend the life of fabric simply by washing it less often than most of us are used to. In that same article, it mentions freezing the clothing to kill germs rather than the usual laundry. I nearly tried it the last time had I found a ziplock bag where my jeans would fit as except for an almost untouched pint of ice cream, a partially filled ice cube tray, and a small bag of hotdogs, our freezer could accommodate such experiment–yup, it’s that empty.

Now that a CEO has spoken about this earth-friendly idea once more, regardless if it some sort of hype for a material and process that require less water to manufacture a pair of Levi’s jeans, my excitement to get my pants dirty for the love of the environment is becoming stronger. I am no stranger to this, in fact there was once a time when I have kept my Levi’s–I can afford one back in ’96–unwashed and continued to wear it to work for more than a month. (I now recall that it was also when Shaggy’s Boombastic became the catchy commercial jingle of Levi’s.)

Today, while I cannot accomplish same duration of an unwashed jeans, I still make it a point to wear my pants more than once. There’s just this feeling of guilt whenever I throw a pair of pants to the laundry bin worn only for a day. Maybe because I am aware of the decreasing water levels in our dams or just maybe because I would avoid laundry if I can help it. Whatever the reasons are, I now feel that wearing dirty jeans is one of my many contributions to save mother earth.

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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Will skip gym just to write this post.)

From 300 to Minecraft

Three days ago the radio station I have been listening to for several months already started to give away tickets for the sequel of the movie 300. On twitter, the DJ asked for suggestions on how they should go about the contest which on a whim I tweeted, since the original 300 movie brags a cast with washboard abs, “How about sending a profile pic showing good abs. One that can be verified on Facebook or twitter.” Lo and behold, they picked up the suggestion and got willing participants to strut their stuff. I was tempted to send my own yet let go of the idea with an alibi, “…300 days more.”

Perhaps if I maintain my current gym regiment, however unscientific it is, I might achieve, or at least get closer to, the form that I should have had years ago. While low in the standards of weight training, considering I started being more serious about it just when I reached that age when they say life begins at, I cannot believe that I have upped the ante in terms of the weights I am now lifting. The significant of which is with my chest and shoulder exercises wherein I have transitioned from the embarrassing 20-pound to 70-pound dumbbells in a matter of weeks—and that’s sans any drug supplement such as the creatine I once planned to buy. The problem now is that school will be over soon and I won’t have the opportunity to kill time at the gym, so as early as now I need to plan an alternative training schedule. I plan to be more frequent this summer and would need more of wifey’s perfect carbo-filled breakfast. (Yes, she can now cook again.)

Every Monday morning as I wage my personal war against body fat and laziness, just a street across the gym, Marcus fights his own battle—the start of his school week. Remarkably, despite the usual resistance to report to school, he has been making good progress inside the kindergarten classroom. After earning the top three spot in his class in the third quarter of the school year, his next monthly exams were a lot better. In fact, he excels in Math and Science subjects wherein he perfected his recent exams. (Reading and writing though present some challenges but I am quite impressed nevertheless.) So if in the previous grading period wifey gave him Ben 10 CDs—and a regular supply of imitation Lego figures—this time I got him a genuine Minecraft for Xbox 360. It was dream come true for him after spending several months of just watching walkthrough YouTube videos of this game from this person with the name StampyLongHead.

This is a cross between Lego and World War Z. Doubt it? Get one.

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Marcus has stopped playing the game due to the Zombies and Creepers which I think is a good thing since the last exams for this school will happen next week.

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Mood: 1/10 Honks! (Our second normal week.)