A flashback on hair adventures

All those years prior to my sophomore college life had a boring hair profile. My hair’s only consolation was how my classmates noticed how healthy my hair was, and that was all. It’s plain straight, thick in volume, and shiny black. I was lucky to not be primarily included in the target market of shampoo commercials. The boring part of it was my failure to at least pay attention to it.

Conception: How and When

Dear Baby P,

In the early weeks of your rapid development, while the thought of you in my womb was still sinking in, I kept on looking back on how I managed to conceive, and when the conception happened. Your coming was a remarkable turning point in my life, and I wanted to remember it forever. It was a miracle for me to have you in my life, because I never thought that it was possible for me to conceive despite my health situation.

A music enthusiast’s flashback: teenage drummer

I was 14 when my ears got fascinated with the simple drum pattern of Rage Against the Machine’s “Bulls on Parade”. I tried looking for the song’s drum tabs on the net. I realized that the only simple part of the pattern was the coordination of the left hand’s snare and the right hand’s steady hi-hat. I didn’t expect how frustrating it was to coordinate the right foot on the bass drum, with my steady right hand. The bass was supposed to be hit in between the steady hi-hat beats, but my right hand couldn’t help but hit in unison with the bass drum’s pattern, which was so wrong.

I hated that boxed part of the pattern so much!

Travel flashback: Mt. Daguldol climb in San Juan, Batangas

Mt. Daguldol is still so far the first and only mountain I ever trekked. It was one of our many activities for our summer 2007 PE class, which is Camping. The mountain, about 670 meters high, is said to be of Level 1 difficulty.

When we arrived at our beach spot in Laiya, we left our things there first, and rode a motorized boat, which dropped us off at the jump-off point of Mt. Daguldol. And the hike began.

Music scene flashback: Nuno in Manila, June 2005

I got to see Nuno by chance because of my heaven-sent fraternity brother who donated his slot and ticket to me. Big thanks to him! Nuno’s vistit was supposedly to hold a guitar clinic, courtesy of Washburn Guitars and Yupangco. Nuno Bettencourt was best known as Extreme’s lead guitarist. Yes, the easiest reference is “More than Words”. But the very first song I heard from him as a solo artist was “Crave” from his solo album Schizophonic, which I first watched its video from now defunct UnTV.

Promotional poster & ticket

Relief and Gratitude

Dear Baby P,

September 1, 2011. Two days after we learned the news of your existence in my womb, I went back to our OB-Gyne, Dr. Meneses, this time in her clinic in NeoMedica. I was with your Mommy because your Papa was at work on a Thursday. I showed her the results of my ultrasound, urinalysis, CBC, and pap smear.

The Baby News

Dear Baby P,

August 30, 2011. This was the day I learned about God's greatest blessing to me and your Papa.

I had been feeling nauseous in the past few days during the last week of August, and noticed that I urinated too frequently that I ran to the toilet every 15 minutes. I almost forgot that I had missed my menstrual period since April, but I didn't worry about that part because I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). It's not surprising for me anymore to miss my period for three months.

To my Baby P

Dear Baby P,

You would probably be reading this at least a few years from now. I write to you now as you grow inside my belly, marking the 27th week of our intimate journey together.