Gasoline goes up every week. Thank God our car is diesel powered because at least it is cheaper than gasoline. But that is not much help either. The price of gas is just too much. I am thinking of selling our car and buying a "habal habal." Or bicycle. Or motorcycle.
Because of the price of gas we need to plan our activities and "pasyal." Thank God that Gabo has finally graduated from high school and we do not have to go all the way to Matina every day. That stretches our gas consumption an extra day or so.
So now our trips today do not make us cross the Bankerohan Bridge, which helps if you live in Lanang.
I am also thinking of buying a hang glider. My problem is where to launch it and the bigger problem is my weight.
I might also convert our car to LPG. Then transform our car's dashboard to a griller. That way we can have a car and kitchen at the same time.
LPG is another thing. Of course we have to eat and of course we have to cook and when you do, you use LPG, which has increased my bad cholesterol.
Sometimes when I think of our consumption I am sometimes tempted to eat sardines because at least they are already cooked and you do not have to use the, you guessed, LPG.
I am planning to change our eating habits by shifting to food that need not be cooked. Salads, kinilaw, sashimi, or steaks cooked rare! I may even shift to fruits. We can have bananas and mangoes!
Then there is rice (I honestly think there is no rice shortage!), and toilet paper. (People better make sure there is no shortage of this!) And soap. And butter. Cooking oil, noodles, sugar, coffee, corned beef, (wait, I am trying to recall our grocey list!) eggs, bulad, sour cream (I have a great recipe for dips using sour cream!), detergent, milk, junk food (pero limited na!) vegetables, fish, meat, chicken, toothpaste and whatever. You get the idea!
Of course there is the water bill. So instead of taking a bath three times a day, I do it twice. When I wash my face, I just sprinkle my face! My brushing of teeth has now been cut to two minutes because my tongue can only withstand so much tanginess. I am issuing an order this week that we can only drink water when we are thirsty. Otherwise, drink Coke or Pepsi!
And then there is power, the electricity. Because of the almost immoral cost of power I find myself brushing my teeth in the dark. I have also instructed our household help to cook in the darkness. They can monitor the cooking through the flames. Or use the flashlight that I gave them. The candles I am reserving for emergencies only like when I can no longer pay the electric bill! We watch television without lights!
I still have not found a way to make light by using firewood! Or making the appliances run by wind power. I always love to take a bath in warm water but now I cannot do that anymore! So what I do is just think of all my problems. That makes me mad and that raises my body temperature and when that happens I rush to the bathroom and take advantage of the heat generated by my body. That way I get cleaned both ways, with water and steam!
And then there is education. Migoy is taking his Masters because he really wants to teach. Raphael is in his third year in college and after that he wants to take Law. And Gabo is going to Manila for his college degree. Nyaaaaaaah! What can you do about that? As parents we need to equip our kids. It is our obligation and duty to give them an education.
I was just reading a news article that a lot of schools have increased fees.
Parents are scrambling nowadays to get the money for the education of their kids.
Education is fast becoming a privilege in this country when it ought to be a right. I think we just have to close our eyes and take the plunge! God will provide!
And that leaves nothing for my vices. I am glad I have stopped smoking and the only vice I have left is collecting dvds. But now I cannot even do that anymore. I used to buy seven to eight dvds at a time but now because of these spiraling prices I can only buy three.
For the day! That is bad enough but it turned worse just last week because I found a place where they sell hard to find movies! Old movies at that. Now I really have to choose because I can no longer afford to buy seven to eight discs at a time. To borrow the immortal expression of my wife, ha-haaaaaaaay!
