Day two in Bacolod and morning sun is out shining just like the other day. It was another good opportunity to stroll around with Marcus who surprisingly still remembers the streets very well. In fact, he decides where to go and I just push along.
It was more than a year since we were here as we skipped last December’s vacation. Our subdivision hasn’t changed a lot, except for an ongoing construction a few blocks from our house. It would be the largest in the area once completed.
The place in general didn’t improve a lot but it didn’t deteriorate any further either. At least moving around wasn’t as depressing like in the past years. Or maybe I have just gotten used to seeing houses gradually changing from grand to bland state. Others almost becoming deserted for whatever reasons. Maybe nothing stays permanent after all. (My mother’s car is gone but except for the inconvenience of losing transport for Marcus’ wheelchair I’m happy that it’s gone due to the headache it’s been giving her.)
Fake fireplace, real smiles.
I don’t know when we would be back again after this short vacation but our neighborhood of mixed social status will always be a perfect reminder for me that neither will stay rich nor poor. We are all just passing through. We will all just pass away anyway, ready or not.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Always a pleasure to have a talk with mother.)
Our car isn’t going in any showroom soon. Not even in any car club’s show and tell EB. The current state of it’s exterior has obviously seen better days. Thanks to our resident cats. Shown here is one those that always grabs the opportunity to make our car their siesta spot and scratching post.
The car still gets us to places though. Yesterday we almost didn’t make it to our flight to Bacolod after an accident somewhere near Alabang had us moving in a crawling pace for almost an hour. I went maximum legal speed the moment we cleared the area and thankfully made it to Park ‘N Fly then to the airport. Our names were on PA just when we passed through the X-Ray machine. That close.
Happy to be singing we are flying on an airplane.
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Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Attending a wedding later. Free food.)
Marcus is big fan of Batman and I’m a big fan of movies for kids with strong messages for adults. This weekend, The Lego Batman Movie (2017) satisfied both choices. DC and Lego made sure this film sets itself apart from the previous Batman films. These guys behind the production did their best that the movie entertains both kids and parents alike. For one, playing Cutting Crew’s I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight while Batman ogles Barbara Gordon made my day. Our caped crusader watching Jerry Maguire in the Batcave’s personal cinema surely tickled wifey.
I have to admit though I was in dreamland just almost the same time when Batman got zapped into the Phantom Zone. For a sec I felt like being scanned by the brick and my bad credit records being projected on the screen. No thanks to the Saturday night shift I rendered to cover for the vacation I would have this week. But trust me this movie is worth watching again.
Mall is already deserted when the movie ended. By the way, we’ll wear a cape next time
The first part of the movie shows Batman foil an attempt by Joker and company to send Gotham City into oblivion. It was like all in a day’s work, like it’s no big deal. True to his nature, despite everything, Batman dismisses Joker as his worthy opponent. Crime takes a hiatus while Joker tries another way to claim his spot as Batman’s archnemesis. During this time, without admitting it, Batman loses steam and his life as a crime fighter drags on.
In most fictional stories, a hero needs a villain, a villain who would strike unspeakable fear to the masses. Without fear, the role of a hero is downplayed. There must be conflict of some sort. This is why our children, however innocent their minds are, understand such simple logic: their hero needs someone to fight with. So it’s no wonder they beg that their Batman figure needs a Joker, a Bane, a Penguin, or an unsuspecting Iron Man to smash before the victory of their games becomes worthy of the celebration.
Yes, no fear, no hero. Simple as that. Shamelessly, this is very same concept used by some of our leaders nowadays. They want to be seen as heroes no matter what it takes and for that to happen they sell fear at the expense of innocent lives. Their irrational means would justify their fantasized end.
It is a fact that evil exists. Most of us recognize it. We don’t like illegal drugs. We despise all forms of terrorism. We hate the bad guys. This, however, is not an excuse to disregard the rights of others in the fight to eradicate it. We cannot start killing people just because they happen to live in the same slums suspected to be a haven of drug pushers. We cannot hate a race just because a deranged group exists in their midst. We must all remember that we are dealing with someone made of flesh and blood. That when we discriminate and hate, the victims are children of parents, parents of children. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. They are not Lego blocks we could assemble back to original form once we realized we made a snafu.
As one line of Lego Batman Movie goes “Always be yourself unless you can be Batman.” Lost in their dreams and fantasies, children become their own Batman and they would snap out of it without any damage done maybe except for a short tantrum because they were awakened when they’re about to drive away with the Batmobile. But our leaders aren’t children anymore. And definitely not Batman. They could be real heroes only when they stop acting like self-centered children who want nothing done but their own ways.
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The Lego Batman Movie to our surprise deals with adoption. A character named Dick (of all names) successfully gets adopted by the then distracted Bruce Wayne. He is designated by Batman as his sidekick in the guise of being exploited to retrieve Superman’s gun that sends bad guys to the Phantom zone. This is also when I faded into sleep zone. According to wifey, Dick soon discovered that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person he has been looking up to has his fathers. I now wonder if Marcus went to bed last night dreaming to be Dick.
A very advanced birthday gift. Hope he sticks to our deal.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (The wheelchair travels again this week.)
I am beginning to memorize the sequence of these lights. I seem to have figured out the interval when the other turns on and when the other turns off. In a matter of three days I have observed the exchange of green, amber, and red along with the number drivers who made their own share of embarrassing moments while stuck clueless in the middle of this road intersection just a few meters away from our building. This has become my personal entertainment whenever I take a sanity break from the blinding desktop monitor and the nauseating call recordings.
Social media have exposed lots of bad drivers, thanks to the popularity of dashcams and their equally eager owners who either would have the clean intention of correcting a mistake or just have their own share of viral videos no matter how trivial it is. Whatever the intent may be, in the right hands, all these are data that could be used to improve our road conditions and eventually the flow of traffic. But is technology friend or foe?
The answer depends on whom you are asking. Try the drivers who have fallen victims to what I’ve started to call the Nuvali trap. The intersection in this area has a configuration wherein there is a wide channelization island. According to Massachusetts Department of Transportation, these islands are meant to control traffic or provide pedestrian refuge especially in a busy crossing. Those who know how Nuvali would get packed with cyclists, runners, motorists, and pedestrians and sleepy call center agents during the peak hours would understand the importance of these channelization islands.
Street view during the ongoing installation. (Image from Google.)
For more than five years, this particular intersection never had a traffic light. Flow of traffic was mutual. The sign We Share The Road At Nuvali was more than enough. Traffic incidents were confined to fender benders as far as I’m concerned. But this popular weekend venue would soon get busier than before. Installing traffic lights therefore becomes a must. And this is when the awkward moments start to happen.
The Nuvali trap is in the middle of two channelization islands. That traffic light has been the cause of awkward moments.
Drivers prematurely stopping at this intersection have been common since they activated the traffic lights. It’s easy to blame driver’s competency or even the corrupt LTO. Or even Duterte just to spark fire with the trolls. But I would understand any driver who points a finger at the presence of the wide channelization island as the factor to the Nuvali trap. The width of the islands gives the perception that the driver faces another red light and needs to stop even if just a second ago he came from a legit left turn. Trust me, the dilemma to cross or not is real.
I know this for a fact because I made the same booboo which is the very reason I’ve been frequenting the smoking area even if I neither smoke nor vape just so I could observe if I’m alone in this embarrassing moment or not. I’ve checked my Facebook and thankfully none has posted a video of a confused bald driver somewhere in Nuvali. Thanks to you SUV driver who flashed your headlight behind me as if you were having diarrhea. Now I understand. Please accept my apologies. Blame the Nuvali trap.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Stuffs we left in the US have arrived.)
So the day we played around with the iPad is the same day some scientists discovered seven earth-like planets somewhere in the vast space. If there are no collections agents in those planets, I’d like to fly there. Now.
Marcus Can Blog 