Growing old

This month I turn a year older. Celebrating another birthday always makes you conscious of your age and growing older, when other days of the year would not.

You could reason out, you don't really find particular differences between today and yesterday or two weeks ago, or even two months ago. You don't feel having grown older. Nothing seemed to have changed with the way you look, no more gray hairs than normal, no weakening of the bones, memory lapses, anything to tell you that you're turning a year older, that you are more than halfway past the life expectancy average which mean you're past your prime and it is going to be all downhill from then on. But on your nth birthday, you ruminate, and feeling old happens during these moments of introspection.

There are other times, too. Perhaps you find a picture of yourself taken ten or twenty years ago, and you compare the image in the photograph with your reflection in the mirror. Then, you notice the wrinkles, bald spot, the tired eyes, all signs of aging which the mirror throws back at you, but which are absent in your old photo. You feel old. When you remember the songs of your youth, your favorite movies, their actors—some had passed away—and when you find yourself remarking about how things were all better in the past, you suddenly feel old. You also feel your age when you ask a kid if he knows Duran Duran and Tears for Fears and he stares back blankly from non-recognition or grins because he thinks you're making up funny names; or when you find how you have to squint or need reading glasses to be able to decipher the tiny print on the information leaflet inside the box of anti-hypertensive pills (or the fact that you're taking anti-hypertensive drugs). You feel old when you try to do a somersault and you couldn’t, while they were so easy to do when you were 20.

But at these same moments, when you acknowledge to yourself that yes, you are indeed growing older, you change perspectives and tell yourself, age is only a number while youthfulness is a mindset. By fooling convincing yourself this way, you are young again. 

 

 

The choices we do not make

You finally find what you think would make you happy. In your heart and mind you know what you have to do. Then fate refuses to take your side. The choice would either break the heart of someone who loves you, disappoint your family, friends or other people who have long cared and supported you, or it could send everything that you’ve worked hard for toppling down in one blow, destroying your name and reputation. So you choose to withdraw instead of fight for your happiness, and simply allow yourself to be carried as by a strong sea current towards wherever destiny leads you.

Soon, you will find yourself settled into the life others (or circumstance) have chosen for you. There could be feelings of regret but you will have come to terms with your fate by then. Sometimes you will ask yourself what could have happened had you chosen to defy the odds, had you sacrificed everything for what you strongly felt then was the best choice to a happier future. But these moments of uncertainties will pass. When you are old, you accept things as they had turned out.

Things I Like: Oral Fixation Mints

I was okay with Tic Tacs, until I saw Oral Fixation. It tastes more than your usual mint. Then, there's the cool packaging.

Riyadbank: My not-so-perfect bank

Riyandbank has an excellent online banking system. You can do basic banking needs like transfer money into other accounts, pay bills, manage your credit cards, and retrieve statements up to the latest transactions. The bank has ATMs everywhere in Saudi Arabia and seldom go offline. In short, Riyadbank's electronic and automated banking system rocks.

I can't say the same, however, for when I have to deal with people in the bank. I have had not-so pleasant experiences. It was my second year in the Kingdom and I applied to withdraw my account and transfer it to another bank because customer service regularly frustrated me. I filled-out forms, got them signed, and after accomplishing all the red-tape requirements, the clerk asked me to come back after two weeks to follow-up on my application. When I came back, I was told to come back for another two weeks because they were still waiting for a reply from head office. After two weeks had passed, I was asked to return after another couple of weeks. When I came back for the fourth time, the clerk had been transferred and the new employee had no idea what happened to my application and asked me if I could please apply all over again. So I got stuck with Riyadbank.

Last year, my credit card expired. I got an e-mail which instructed me to claim the replacement card in my branch. When I went, they looked for it, couldn’t find it, and asked me to come back after two weeks. When I went back, they said perhaps Fedex lost it, and asked me to apply for a new credit card. I wrote to Customer Service in the Head Office. The reply, however, only insisted that my card had been delivered into my branch and so could I please claim it there; furthermore, they were closing my complaint and considered it Resolved. I gave up.  

The only improvement I observed after the Al-Sinaiyah branch moved to the new building across Pizza Hut from the old one in Al-Nawa was that the bank started using an electronic number system. Before, your chance of getting entertained depended on how aggressive you were in shoving yourself in front of a crowd that would not queue. Now, at least, people wait for their turn. But there's a glitch to the system: if you are friends with anyone, you don't need a number or fall in line. Just go directly to the counter and Assalam'alaikum your employee friend, never mind that those who had come before you seethe in quiet rage (or envy).

The only time that I actually go to a physical branch and deal with a human representing Riyadbank is when I have to renew my account every year. Even then, I always dread doing this because it usually means spending the whole morning or afternoon queuing since one other thing I observe is that Saudi office workers move ever so slowly. They don’t have that sense of urgency in dealing with clients that is a characteristic of efficient workplaces.

I'm just happy there is electronic banking. A few clicks of the mouse or taps on the ATM machine keyboard and you accomplish lots of things, way more than a single transaction that requires interacting with a bank employee will do. I hate to take sides against my fellow humans, but my own experience with Riyadbank has shown that in my branch here, the machine works better than the human.

Jollibee in Yanbu: A taste of home for Filipinos

When the palate wants to remember home, the Filipino craves for adobo, kaldereta, pakbet, pansit, sinigang or paksiw. These are ordinary, everyday dishes but during Filipino parties abroad, they constitute the main course. Filipino restaurants in Saudi Arabia include them in their menus. 

When it comes to Filipino fastfood fare, however, survey every kabayan and at the top of anyone's list will be Jollibee. There is nothing special about Jollibee's menu. The burgers cannot rival McDonald's. The palabok tastes weird. Its popular breaded-chicken called Chicken Joy is not as good as Al-Baik's broast. It is even more expensive considering that an order of broast chicken gives you four large pieces while, for the same price, you only get two in Jollibee. However, it is that distinct taste of Chicken Joy that all Filipinos have grown to love which keeps them coming back to Jollibee at Dana Mall. It is a taste that is etched in memory, evocative of moments spent with family and friends at various times in a Filipino's life—because every Filipino has memories with Jollibee: a kiddie birthday party, first date, pig-out after a break-up, office lunch, first salary treat, reunion with high-school chums, anniversaries, etc.  Eating at Jollibee, therefore, provides pleasure and comfort to the migrant worker away from home. In those few minutes while you're enjoying your Chicken Joy, it is as if you are with family and friends, and you are able to forget albeit briefly that home is thousands of miles away. It is true: Pag lasang Pilipino, at home sa Jollibee.

An order of Chicken Joy comes with fries and a bun;
you'd have to specify if you would like rice to go with your chicken.

There's this place...

I don't know why it is there but I love passing by this place every time my friend and I do our afternoon walks from our flats inside the campus grounds to the coffee shop about a kilometer away.

Adjacent to Movenpick is a round basin of water, one side of which opens out into the sea beyond. It is below street level, you have to climb down a concrete stairway to get near the water. A paved walkway going around the basin is fenced by railings to prevent people from falling over into the water. Lamp posts are placed at close intervals and their reflections create slivers of light upon the dark turquoise surface. It is quiet here at night; the sound of traffic does not reach you. Even the water is still except when it is rocked by the wind and the occasional fish that jumps out of the water.

Thing I Like: Zombie Tsunami

 I like playing video games. Not the highly-popular but violent kind like Halo or Resident Evil. I get enough violence from the movies, thank you. In fact, violence in video games bore me.

I play games on the iPhone, too. They are great to keep you entertained while waiting for your flight at the airport or your turn in a queue at the bank. I don't play game apps in earnest, only to fill the lull during a wait. That was, until I downloaded this game called Zombie Tsunami. The game has turned into an obsession instead of simply a form of recreation. I play Zombie Tsunami before going to work, in between breaks, before going to bed, and at other free time in-between. I'd constantly be telling myself, "one more game, just one more, one last game, and I'll get moving," but I would sneak in more games. Good thing is that, unlike other smart phone game apps, this one has an ending (a final mission to accomplish and a final trophy to win) and | am almost there, which means the cure to my current addiction is at hand.

The objective is simple. A pack of zombies race on top of a never-ending pavement with holes and gaps and you have to make sure your zombies don't fall into the gaps or it's game over. The background features scenes from different cities in the world such as Paris, Las Vegas, New York, Cairo, You start with three or four cute green little zombies and as you keep running, you eat the brains of normal-looking fellows along the way and turn them into zombies, too, to increase the number in your pack, and your brain points. There are also coins to collect, which you use to buy upgrades, backgrounds, and costume hats for your undead creatures. Citizens riding cabs, buses and tanks can also turn into zombies as long as you have the right number of zombies to overturn the vehicles. For instance, you need at least 4 zombies in the pack to overturn a cab with one passenger, and 8 zombies to overturn a bus with three passengers. You keep the pack from hitting speeding cars and bombs which kill a zombie for every crash or explosion. At certain points are bonus rounds where, for about 30 seconds, your zombies activate special powers which make them invincible to the obstacles. And to keep you playing and collecting coins and brain points, there are special missions to accomplish such as you have to jump a certain number of times on top of speeding cars during a game, gather as many as 30 zombies in a pack in one game or wear a Santa hat while racing through New York.

I'm two months into the game and after two more missions, I would have won the final trophy--and be at peace and delete the app from the phone forever.