Tonight, I am Summer.

It’s been a while since I last spoke about Sir Boy.  It is not easy to talk about him still.  I can mention him in passing or in jest, but for him to be the topic, I can’t do it still.

As the years pass, I think everyone who has lost someone would agree with me:  it doesn’t get any easier, you only get used to it.

So, thank you, Summer, for speaking exactly what I wanted to say.  Tonight, I am you.  Thank you for being every bit of brave at 10.  I wish I can write a letter the way you do.

Summer's Letter to Daddy

(Source)

I love you.

REVIEW: Mad Mark’s, Glorietta 5

The thing with Saturday classes is you’re always tired.

For my final academic term in grad school, I made a decision to completely separate work from school and opted for whole day Saturday classes instead of evening classes.  So far, it’s been working quite well.  Apart from a couple of work stuff that kind of got in the way, everything’s been balanced.  Except my hunger.

First class is from 9:00am to 12:30pm, and next 12:45pm to 4:00pm.  Although our professors are quite lenient on in-room food consumption, trust me when I say on this day, I am always hungry.

So when my classmate Mariah suggested we go out to eat (since she’s starving herself), we headed over to Mad Mark’s in Glorietta 5, Ayala, Makati.

Here’s their full menu:

Mad Mark's Menu

Right off the bat, the items are quite affordable and unique.  Naturally, I got the signature steak.

I asked the staff why is there a price difference.  They said it’s because of the size of the steak.  I chose the smaller one because eh.  I might be biting off more than I can chew.

I didn’t get to take a photo of Mariah’s food, the Yard Bird and Bacon Slab, because she inhaled her food.  Here’s my pretty plate:

Mad Mark's Signature Steak

I asked them to have it just medium rare, so you can imagine my disappointment when I cut it open and it wasn’t so pink.  It still had that soft chewy state though, but I would have loved a little ooze here and there.

The dish can be matched with two side dishes.  For that afternoon, I had garden greens (their version of vegetable fried rice) and mashed potatoes.  I also chose the Bootstrap sauce, sweet and tangy at the same time.

It was absolutely filling.  The cut may seem small but it’s just the right amount for the appetite I had for that day.  The staff was so accommodating too, we had so many questions about their menu.  The names were too unfamiliar I guess, or perhaps comprehension was low because of the hunger.  But they gladly walked us through and even offered their signature ice cream for dessert.  Too bad we didn’t have room for it left.

Drop by Mad Mark’s for filling and affordable food.  I would gladly come back here after class.

 

4 out of 5 stars because it was far from RCBC Tower hahaha

#WearYellowForSeth

So I wanted to take some time off from the lazy nothings of this blog and urge you to #WearYellowForSeth.

Seth Lane, age 5, is a British “bubble” boy.  Born with almost no immune system, he has to live constantly in a sterile environment to avoid infection and other diseases.

I don’t know about you but anything that has the word “sterile” in it is hardly fun.

Huffington reports Seth is in The Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle, England, awaiting a bone marrow transplant (a second attempt after the first one failed).  He’s been there since January.

Now, Seth’s parents are making the rounds in the Internetverse, urging everyone to wear Seth’s favorite color on March 27.  They plan to print out the photos with the hashtag #WearYellowForSeth and pin on a laid out map where the photos come from.

Who can resist this?

WearYellowForSeth

So please please please be a doll and become this boy’s ray of sunshine on March 27.  <3

To know more about Seth and his journey, visit his blog.

SCID affects about one in 100,000 babies in the U.S., according to Be the Match. There are more options available for children with SCID now than when the disease entered popular culture in the 1970s with the famous “bubble boy,” David Vetter. — NY Daily News (link)

S/HE SAID: I need something to be good

Credit: Bob D'Amico/ABC © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Photo: Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd)

Credit: Bob D’Amico/ABC © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. Photo: Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd)

I need something to be good. I need something to feel right. OK? I’m not depressed. My heart is not broken. I’m not grieving. She’s not dead. She’s out there. She’s living out her dreams. And I know, I know she’s happy. And that makes me feel proud for her. But there is this other feeling that doesn’t completely feel fair. Or right. Or good. She goes on day in and day out, happy without me. And every morning I wake up and there’s this pit, this feeling here that maybe my dreams are over. Maybe, maybe I had my dreams, and they’re over now. And I’m going to be this single guy. No wife, no kids, no family. She was my family. And now she’s someplace else, and I let her go. And it’s good that I did. I mean, it’s better for her. But for me…  So I need something to be good. I need a reason to get up every morning, to not crawl back in that cave that I was in before I met her. You know she saved me. You were there. You remember how I was. I was dark. That war made me dark. And that darkness, it is still in me. She just lit it up. So I just thought, I just thought, maybe to beat back that darkness, I would be something good. I would do something good.

— Owen Hunt, Grey’s Anatomy, Season 11 Episode 3