precedence

so the neighbor's dog was out (nothing new) and again it peed beside the entrance to our place (the usual).

my mom's help asked me what if it bites someone and the owner does not know that the dog was out, who will pay for the teatment of the one bitten?

me:  'the pet owner!'

mom's help:  'what if the owner does not know the dog was out?'

me:  'regardless!'

mom's help:  'what if the owner is not at the house when the dog bit?'

me:  'you know, under the law, it is the responsibility of the pet owner to maintain control over their dog.  it does not say only when they are home or only when they're not busy.  regardless of where they are, regardless of what they're doing, their dog should be under control.  it shoud not be out in public on its own.  it should not be biting people.  if it does, the owner is required by law to shoulder the medical expenses of the victim.  that's a Republic Act.  it applies to the whole country.'

mom's help: 'what if you enter their yard and their dog bites you?  who will pay for your treatment?'

me:  'if they invited you and you get bitten, they should pay.  but if they did not and you just enter unannounced, i think you'll have to pay for your medical expenses.  you don't just enter other people's property.  that's a bigger offense than their dog biting you!'

there is a hierarchy to things.

champion

when i was still working, i used to get,

"Masyadong mataas ang standard mo.*"
a lot.  yes, even from my bosses.  it was not meant as a compliment.  it was more of an admonishment.  it was more of a complaint.

they'd even add, "Hindi lahat kapareho mo."
~ Not everyone is like you.

the expectation there is that you should go lower.  i found it so frustrating.  why go low?  shouldn't it be bring the others higher?

and then i watch hidilyn diaz's post-win vlog.

on july 26, 2021, at the tokyo olympics, she gave the philippines it's first ever olympic gold medal.  weightlifting, women's 55kg.  she even set an olympic record by lifting a combined weight of 224 kg.  woman power, not just figuratively but literally.

in her vlog posted july 27, she said,
"... last time na na-frustrated ako, sabi ng...
"Alam mo, Hids, okay lang 'yan.  Masyadong mataas ang standard mo."
Ganu'n talaga.  Kaya ka nga Olympian, e!"

amen to that.

congratulations, hidilyn 🎉

"Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together."

= = = = =
* Your standards are too high.
** ... last time i was frustrated, [someone] said...
"You know, Hids, it's okay.  Your standards are too high."
That's really how it is.  That's precisely why you're an olympian!"

a tale of two fur parents

so this neighbor's dog broke out, a rare occurrence.

what did the owner do?
she chased after it and didn't stop until it was brought home.

in contrast to this other neighbor.
they've been saying their dogs have simply been breaking out.
yeah, right.  through the years for 10 years.
not just long running and ongoing, frequent  ->  even daily for their previous dogs for yearS.

what do they do when their dogs break out?

1.  sometimes they try to catch it.

if they could not, with the slightest of efforts, they'd simply go home and close the gate on the dog.

the dog would be out in public or within our private property.

it would pee there.

it would poop there.

2.  sometimes they do nothing at all.

they'd see the dog go out the gate and they'd simply close the gate.

last month, their dog was mauling a kitten to death for a full 7 minutes and they did not even bother to come out.  yes, they knew.  it was some other neighbor who tried to stop it, in vain.

you'd think after what happened they'd step up in confining their dogs.  no.  succeeding days, their dogs were still out, unattended and unleashed.

two pet owners  ->  the good and the bad.

too early

yesterday, july 27, i saw a shakey's baaad burger at my parents' place.

today, i see that shakey's is offering a 50% discount on a baaad burger meal from july 28 to august 1.

what a difference a day makes.

identity crisis

the name of the store on this food delivery app is '<toot> Sushi Bake'...  the menu has desserts, drinks, shakes, cakes and ice cream...  the three different days that i checked, there was not a single sushi bake...  in their listing on another food delivery app, the bakes were on the menu.

i e-mailed them asking whether it was an oversight or the dishes were just temporarily unavailable.

40 minutes later they replied saying "sushi bakes are uploaded and available."

ei, thanks 😊

#LiveUpToYourName 

heroes

i was generating caricatures using the MomentCam app and i entered the keyword "hero."

the search results showed fictional superheroes, cartoon characters, sportsmen, armed persons and, ta-daaan!  firefighters! 🧑‍🚒

aawww...  so true...  saving life and property is their occupation.

may they be safe always. 🙏

distant

mom:  'what's the [married] surname of <niece>?'

me:  'cabello...'

mom, pointing to the newspaper:  'there's camila cabello here...  i wonder how they're related...'

me:  'huh?! that one's born in cuba!  she's famous!  she's the one who sang

♩♪  havana, ooh na-na  ♫ ♬

and

♩♪  i love it when you call me señorita  ♫ ♬'

😂

how'd you get there?

i go home and open my door and there was a lizard on the floor!

i was surprised that there was a lizard.
i was doubly surprised that it was on the floor.

i don't see lizards often but the few times that i did, i saw them on the ceiling.  in my mind therefore, a lizard's place is on the ceiling 🤭

but yeah, they cannot just pop up there.  unless they were born on the ceiling, they must have started on the floor, on the ground, someplace low.
 
just because i don't see it doesn't mean it isn't so.

thousandfold

i don't keep money in my e-wallets.  i just load them exactly what i'm going to pay.

i called my niece requesting her to transfer 20 to my e-wallet.

niece:  "twenty thousand?"

me:  "no...  twenty pesos."

for real 🤭😂🤣

tears of joy

today is my dad's first death anniversary.  in the philippines, we call it "babang luksa."

baba is to take down.
luksa is mourning.
babang luksa is supposed to be the end of the mourning period.

you have one year to grieve.
you're not supposed to be in sorrow forever.

the ones who die are not meant to perish.  they move on to eternal life.
that is cause for rejoicing.

dual-purpose

my mom asked me to buy flowers to bring to church for my dad's first death anniversary.  i ordered an arrangement in a heart-shaped box online.

when my mom asks me to buy something, she usually pays for it.  yeah, i accept the payment.  to me an errand is an errand.  a gift is a gift.

i normally get the payment later when my credit card bill is already due.  i almost always charge stuff i buy to my card.

i posted a photo of the flowers on my mom's facebook account.  was i surprised to see she replied to those who commented that they were from me for my dad.

oh!
i thought they were from her to my dad!

i don't give flowers.  i give food.

if the flowers were from me, i would have gotten a chocolate or fruit bouquet.  yup, even for the dead.

voice command

taking pics of food at my mom's house...  i was triggering my phone camera by saying "smile."

my nephew arrived.

i continued taking pics through voice control saying smile-smile-smile.

after several shots, my nephew goes, 'are you telling me to smile, tita?'

me:  'huh?!  hahaha...  nope!  have you been smiling each time?'

🤭😄🤣

return

i used a P40 voucher i won by redeeming a scratch card for 250 points in foodpanda's Rewards page.

ta-daaan!  i unexpectedly earned 300 points!

my order awarded the points and unlocked the Winner Dinner badge which you get for ordering three times between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

gee, winner dinner indeed 🍽️🪙 😊

consolation

yesterday, i preordered a slice of cake for delivery at 1:15 p.m. today.

then this afternoon, the status showed that delivery has been moved to 1:23 p.m.
after that, to 1:46 p.m.
eventually, the order was cancelled 🤦‍♀️

i was refunded
and
given an I'm Sorry voucher worth P90.
(the slice of cake was P180.)

i don't think my craving for the cake is worth P90.
put P90 and the slice of cake in front of me, i'll choose the cake.

nevertheless, i can easily order some other cake anytime.
i've never chanced upon P90 my whole life.

good enough 🙃
(...  is never good enough 🤭)

my bad

i asked my mom whether there's anything she wants as i was going out.

she touched her hair then said "eye color, medium brown"  ->  or so i thought.

i 'corrected' her.
"hair!  hair color...  contact lens if eye."

she countered:  "letter I!  iColor...  that's the brand."

oh...  wahaha...  sorry...
"a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." 🤦‍♀️

i've never dyed my hair...  uhm, i don't really comb it either 🤭

#clueless

thank you, next

i texted my niece saying i have ice cream to share.  all-natural ice cream.  no preservatives, blah-blah-blah.

my niece replied she was not at their house.

aw!

previous times when she wasn't home, i'd just leave her some ice cream in their freezer.  this time, the help was not around and i don't have a key to their house so i just had the ice cream all to myself.

wahaha...  it was nothing special, at least to me.  i've ordered two other flavors from the same shop before:  one i liked a lot; the other was just okay.  if i were to rank all three, this one would come last.

no loss for my niece;
no gain for me.
next time we'll go for win-win. 😋😊

food pics

i was at my mom's house and i took pics of her food...

mom:  'that has rubbed off on <niece>...  she did that yesterday, too...'

me:  'oh, she didn't get it from me...  that's typical of her generation...  i was just doing it too early...'

i've been taking pics of my food from back in the pre-digital camera days...

i do it for two reasons:
1.  i want to have a remembrance of what goes into my body
2.  i want a remembrance of the food before it disappears from the face of the earth 🤣

take two

i have two foodpanda vouchers expiring on july 14.

voucher terms:
1.  valid for a minimum order of P300
2.  valid for selected vendors
3.  valid for selected chains

i don't really know how i got them.  i just saw them in my account.

i tried to use them in different restaurants.  i kept on getting, "Not valid for this order."

i e-mailed support asking where i can see the list of partners to which the vouchers would apply.

the reply:
"We would like to inform you that we are unable to provide you the selective vendor so you have to choose the vendor manually."

eh?
foodpanda has over a thousand restaurants and shops!
i don't intend to choose one on a trial-and-error basis.

i requested for escalation.

the new reply:
"... voucher only for categories under Pandamart, bakery and Pets."

that's more like it!  😊

some answers are not acceptable.
don't accept them.

eat alike

i texted my niece saying i have ice cream to share.

she declined saying she was at the very moment having yogurt.

haha...  we're related alright 🍨😋

priorities

a friend sent me a youtube video in viber.

i was trying to watch it right away so i could react but my viewing kept on getting interrupted by our exchange of messages.

ok.  drop the vid.

whatever reaction i might have to the video should not take precedence over my reactions to the here and now.

be present in the present.

plus and minus

 i had my mom try this dark chocolate ice cream...

me:  'that's chocolate from davao...'

mom:  'it tastes so much like chocolate...  the M...'

me:  'what M?'

mom:  'M...'

me:  'M bakery?  M&M's?'

mom:  'no...  the davao chocolate...  it starts with the letter M...'

me:  'ah...  malagos?  no...  that one's auro...'

i'm surprised that she remembered...  i'm amused that it's only one letter...

1 out of 7...  score, 14% 🤣

factor in her age, i'd deduct the 14 from 100...  hmmm...  86% 😊

passed 🎉

editor mode

 i sent a friend

who had earlier sent me a pic of his new air fryer
a youtube video with the title
"4-Year-Old's Warning Saves  House from Air Fryer Fire."

in that video, the 4-year-old saw the fire and called her dad who tossed the air fryer to their pool averting serious damage.

my friend's response:
'oh!  where will i find a 4-year old?'

wahaha...  i'm not sure whether he's trying to be funny or he just did not watch the whole video 🤔
(or maybe he just read the title? 🤣)

it was mentioned in the latter part of the video that the air fryer was off but still plugged in.  a Deputy Director from the Good Housekeeping Institute was shown saying when you're done using your air fryer, you should unplug it.  that was my intended takeaway.

i suddenly remembered the inverted pyramid structure for news stories.  you put the most important points at the start so when your story gets trimmed they would remain.

given the benefit of hindsight, i would start the video with the Deputy Director's statement then segue to the fire and what the 4-year-old did.

of course, that's for a traditional news story.  for features, you could save the key for the very end.

it's not about one being right and the other wrong.  it's a matter of style.

order

message from food delivery rider:  "I'm here."

i go out to the balcony and see no one.  i can see the whole length of our street including the street opposite ours from the balcony.

i check the alley on the side.  nobody there.

i go back to the balcony and check for shadows in front of the garage.  none.

(haha...  i should just have checked the security camera.)

then ta-daaannnn!!!  a motorcycle appeared from the end of our street.  'twas the rider with my food!

this has happened so many times before.

i used to rush down whenever i receive such a message.  i don't want to be wasting the courier's time.

the thing is, i'm sometimes the one who ends up waiting in front of the garage.  i've waited a full five minutes for a courier before.

well, they do not really say in the SMS that they're already at my place.
all they say is "I'm here."
that could be anywhere.

should i start asking where the "here" is?
no.  i don't want to be messaging couriers while they're on the road.  safety first.

i could live with these.
but not without telling the riders it's not good to be sending such a message when they're not yet around.

in this case at least, the ranking is:
1.  honesty is the best policy.
2.  don't sweat the small stuff.
3.  time is gold.

cancel

you log in and you see,

"Someone is writing a comment..."

you got curious;
you waited.
in the end, nothing.

hahaha...  change of mind? 🤭

#SilenceIsGolden 🤫

giving and receiving

this morning, i received a message with a photo showing eleven ( ! ) boxes of my fave chocs.  yes, 11!!!  and they were being shipped to me!  wow, wow, wow, wowwwww!!!  i am soooo happy...  i am soooo thankful 😋🤗🙏

this is not the first time i'm being given said chocs.  the last time, if i recall right, i was sent eight boxes!

the sender had previously given me emphatic instructions that the chocs were all for me, i.e., exclusively mine.  uhm, the earlier ones he sent, i shared with others.  i think it made him cringe.

i perfectly understand.  i used to give my mom nice and pricey stuff and she'd just give them away.  frankly, i did not like it.  say what you will about her being able to do as she pleases with the stuff she receives, bottom line for me is that i spent that money because it's for my mom.  i wouldn't spend the same for someone else.

it went on for years.  she wouldn't change so i did.  i stopped giving her expensive stuff.

much as i'd like to share the chocs i would be receiving, i won't.  i would like to respect the wishes of the giver.  it's not bad.  it's even beneficial to me.

if i really want others to have such chocs, too, then i should buy them said chocs myself.  i don't think i will though  ->  too pricey for me.

yeah, it's easier to give away stuff you did not spend on.  which reminds me of something i learned from my dad:
"The true measure of giving is in the level of sacrifice."

no sacrifice in this one for me.

food for thought

8:52 a.m., my phone rang.  it was the food delivery rider.  my meal is here! 😊

immediately after, still 8:52, my phone rang again.  it was a courier delivering the stand i ordered! 😀

my food came someplace less than a kilometer away.  i ordered it just 15 minutes earlier.  (yes, it was quick☇)

the stand was shipped from a store in a different city.  i ordered it two days ago.

regardless of where they were from,
regardless of when they started,
both arrived at the same time.

there's something to be learned from that. 💡

to eat or not to eat

i added four bars of snickers to my online shopping cart.

tiiiinnnnggg!!!
"if you don't have it,
you can't eat it."

okay, okay.
i made it just two.
if i have four, i'll eat all four right away.

before placing the order, i went to my mom's place first.

upon entering her house, she greets me with, "we have a lot of chocolates.  get some."

tiiiinnnnggg!!!
"if you didn't buy it,
you can eat it."

chocs overload 😋

burp 🤭

killer dog

monday, june 28, all three of the neighbor's dogs were again out.  nothing new.  we've been complaining about it since 2011.  (their dog pees and poops not just on the street but within our private property as well.)  ten years later, through different dogs, they still haven't learned how to be a responsible and law-abiding pet owner.

their dog has bitten a man before.  this time, their dog killed a kitten.

two of their dogs attacked the kitten, biting and mauling it to death!

footage from the security camera shows the attack started at 11:27 a.m.

another neighbor tried to drive away the dog to no avail.  they splashed water;  they nudged with a bike; they pushed with a dust pan.

it was only when they used a man-sized plywood was the dog finally separated from the by then dead kitten.  time, 11:34 a.m.

all throughout, the owners did not go out.  yes, they were home.

the dead kitten was put by their maid in a garbage bag at 11:36 a.m.

their third dog was brought home at 11:39 a.m.

the kitten's life has ended.

may the pet owner's long-running irresponsible behavior end, too.