Firsts

The week has barely begun yet so many things have happened for the first time in my life. It's only Wednesday so I'm thinking...should I be scared or excited? *starts pondering really hard*

FIRST HOSPITAL SLIP IN, SLIP OUT, SLIP IN AGAIN

For as long as I could remember, my grandfather has been a frequent visitor in the hospital. He has problems with his lungs, his liver, his leg, his spinal cord and lately, his bladder. Despite all this, it's amazing to note that he's pretty alert and manages to hoist a Monobloc chair on his shoulders as he limps from one place to another, his terrier-daschund Sam at his heels.

This has been the first time that my grandfather was admitted in the hospital, released after a week and then admitted again after another week had elapsed.

He's been into a lot of serious medical situations before and he always managed to squeeze out of them still intact. But I know he can't keep on managing to escape for all eternity. This is one race we have to yield to at some point.

But on the brighter side, I enjoy having him in the hospital because he acts like everybody's big baby and even pouts when he does not get what he wants...like when we reprimand him for sleeping too much.

This is how our big baby looked like this afternoon, all bundled up in his favorite pink blankie.

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FIRST TICKET

I was driving on my way to the hospital this morning. I was rushing since I overslept and I had to drop by the mall first to buy something. I made a left turn near the mall when I got flagged down by a uniformed guy. I instinctively glanced at my seatbelt and I furrowed my forehead, thinking what I did wrong. I have been driving for four years now and proud to say, I have never been apprehended or involved in a vehicular accident...well then again, almost!

I stopped by the roadside and asked the nice Mr. Police Officer what I did wrong. He told me I made a left turn when a sign clearly said (and it was "gigantic" according to him) that I should be making that left turn somewhere else. I found myself swearing before him, complete with my right arm raised, that I did not see the sign. All I needed was a Bible and it would have seemed like a scene straight out of a courtroom. Mr. Police Officer must have thought I was downright blind because I had my glasses on.

Anyway, I must have seriously lacked charm because he issued me my first ticket (first of many to come, I suppose?), telling me to get my license at the City Hall tomorrow.

For some sick reason, I felt excited at the prospect of getting my first ticket.

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FIRST MOVIE

We had a victory party last night because the office's contract was renewed for another ten years on Valentine's Day. My vocabulary was totally parched that day so I could think of nothing else to say but "great."

My mom thought we should pay a tribute to the people in the office, especially to those who were working on the field so we took some videos of everybody and she had me author a 45-minute video which was shown during the office party yesterday.

I have to admit I was not at all that confident about showing my work, given the fact that only my parents and close friends have seen some of the previous ones I made. I got started into video editing when I got a cool video editing software and my earliest work consisted of short, 4 minute music videos on Wang Lee Hom or my favorite scenes from MISA and sometimes video tributes for family members when I run out of ideas or cash to buy them something decent for their birthdays. When my mother bought a mini-DV camera, it became a serious hobby. My first major project was a 3-hour video I made of my trip to Korea last September which took me about a month to make.

The video we showed yesterday was only my second major work and by the time it was over, my preacher-cousin FNeil, who will get his license to perform marriage ceremonies this May, teased me that I could now handle weddings. That got me thinking...I think I want to do the video for my Tita Marie's wedding to...don't wanna say his name here though...or I'll never live to do it. And oh FNeil said he can do the wedding ceremony.

So I can say my first public exhibition went puh-retty well!

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FIRST FRUIT

It has been about a year since my grandfather decided to go into a state of what I call semi-retirement. He works four days a week and spends the rest of the time taking care of his plants. My grandmother raises the ornamental kind but my grandfather is devoted to raising fruit trees and vegetables, especially the ones which land on my favorite bowl of vegetable soup (to my horror, it all of a sudden sounds "sosyal"). I am not particularly fond of fruits, my fingers being greater in number than the fruits I like to eat, so I leave them to my sister's teeth to sink on.

Last night, when mom and I accompanied my grandparents' to the hospital when my grandfather was admitted, my grandfather took out a small plastic bag tied with a thin piece of string. He proudly told me it was the first fruit of his lomboy (blueberry in English, I believe) and he wanted me to see how it tasted. After more than two decades of existence, it would be my first time to plop blueberry into my mouth. I untied the string and took out the blueberry. I washed it in running water like what my grandfather told me to do. Then, with a little caution and a deep breath, I took a bite.

Sweet.