Punzi's Corner Blog

After working like a dog last Monday and Tuesday, I spent the rest of my workweek up in the northern part of the Philippines to attend a hearing.

I was not really feeling well when I took the trip because my car's air conditioner chose a fantastic time to break down. So I basically spent my Wednesday there resting, attempting to recover some energy for the Thursday road trip to my hearing.

My cousin could not accompany me to that hearing (which is a good 2-hour drive away from where I was) because he had appointments, so he lent me his gas-guzzling SUV and I drove myself there. I always get lost the first time I drive to an unfamiliar destination and this was no exception. Missed it by two towns and it was a costly mistake (in a gas consumption point of view).

But I arrived at my destination just in time, only to discover that there was no hearing because the judge just had an operation. Oh, well... But these things don't bother me. I'm still getting paid for going there.

Getting back to my cousin's place, I was trying to decide whether I will make a stop-over at a friend's place which was on the way. I figured I let fate decide and gave my friend a ring. He was in the area and insisted I visit.

It was a good decision. Spent a few hours with him in his clinic and then stuffed ourselves silly with the native grilled dishes (grilled pork spareribs, grilled squid plus crispy pata, which is deep fried crispy pork leg and knuckles) ... Had trouble concentrating on driving on the way back to my cousin because all that food made me sleepy...

I would have been on a bus going back that night but I wanted to help my cousin drive back to Manila the following morning. Let's just say I have a new-found respect for him since he makes those road trips on a regular basis and he alone drives that 10-hour way (even if he has a cool SUV with an automatic transmission).

So that was last week. This week will be spent on recovering the time I was away. I also have to step up on collection efforts because of tuition month. I have collected enough for Bea's enrollment, but not much for everything else.

Hope this week will be good to me...