A letter to a Mother

Dear Mama,

I just want to talk to you. These past days have been so stressful I needed to unwind through drinking beer. Also, I have been so much junk food in my free time. I think I had too much pork in me that my chest is aching sometimes. Remind me that I have the tendency to be a glutton.

Sometimes Mama, I can’t help but to click on the profile pictures of some ladies in social media. I’ll just notice later on that I am already ogling at their photos. I know I am attracted to beauty and this attraction is somehow a blessing and a curse to me. Please teach me chastity and respect to your fellow women.

Last night, I played basketball. I can still play a whole game so we still got stamina in here. At the end of the game, I got too cocky I hanged on the ring and my legs wobbled when I landed. Fatigue or wrong landing maybe. Thankfully, it’s not cramps or a muscle injury. Remind me that I have the tendency to be proud and show off. Teach me humility.

I’m thankful that I got to sleep early last night. But usually, I can’t sleep early in the evening so I stay up until night with my phone in my hands or listening to a podcast until I drop. I caught myself scratching my left eye this morning, 4:30am. I forgot I had it operated. Don’t want to lose sight yet. Though I haven’t able to sleep again until 6am. Also, I am not praying that much lately. Or even spending time just to reflect. I can’t even focus and finish a book like I used to. I am again feeling restless. But remind me that I will feel this way as long as I live until I rest in the Lord. Lead me to your Son, Jesus our Brother, who promised that He will give us rest. 

And by the way, I would like to greet you a happy birthday, Mama Mary. Thank you for being a Good Mother to us.

From your son,

Allen

School updates, teaching duties, Basketball, NBA Conference Finals, and waking up early

It’s almost Friday and I can’t wait for weekend. I started work here in Notre Dame of Cotabato since Wednesday last week and it’s a series of workshops, seminars, meetings, and lots of lesson planning for the next school year. Classes will be starting at June 13 along with the public schools nationwide.

Anyway, going back to my anticipation of the weekend, I am looking forward to the sports event of all the Notre Dame schools here in Cotabato City this coming Saturday. I am to choose whether to play basketball or chess. I don’t know which one to choose. If I’m going to choose chess, it’s because I’m good at it. If basketball, it’s because I enjoy playing and not because I am good at it. In fact, I suck at playing hoops. I am taller than the average Filipino so it’s normal for me to be assigned inside the paint. As much as I love putbacks, I still do find pleasure in shooting threes. I just love the swish and the sound of the net when I shoot from the perimeter (except when it’s airball). Maybe it’s because of the NBA Conference Finals that’s happening. I am rooting for Cleveland Cavaliers!

I’m still adjusting to the school and so far, I am still learning about the bankruptcy by listening to small bits of info about what happened to the decisions made in the previous (mis)administration. I am still finding it hard to adjust to waking up early. And that means the alarm sounds at 5am! That’s all for the meantime and please catch up with me in my Twitter account. Might be offline depending on the schedule I might have since everything’s tentative so far.

What running means for an INTP like me

I don’t know how running really started. Out of impulse, I downloaded Nike Running app on my Lenovo A7000+. I am always walking long distances that I wanted to keep track of it. I have this habit of keeping track of any statistics such as:

• number of books read
• hours of silence spent
• anime episodes watched
• basketball shots made.

The latest fascination? Distance walked.

But when I tapped “Coach”, I discovered that I can choose what race distance I want to train running. So I created a new goal with modest goal of 5K. I first tried and I got 35:17 minutes which is the average time. I am now training for 3 weeks and it’s my rest day today.

I am running not because I am health conscious; I am running to test myself. The only benefit that I want to get from it is the stamina for basketball so I can run on the transition. Not even trying to join any race.

Maybe this fascination will fade in the future but thanks to this app I can keep track of my walking.