Zis iz ze life!

With no attempt to plagiarize, the phrase “Real life starts once you leave your comfort zone” is probably my mantra now. I’m starting to live more independently, payday after payday.

A few days ago, I already moved out of my aunt’s house (the place where I used to stay in Manila during my college and pre-earning days) and found a new place near work. It’s a small bedspace room that I share with a person of the same nickname. I find it really weird to call my room mate every now and then with his name. It’s like trying to talk to yourself but another person answers. Somehow, the universal name “uy” made it less awkward.  Later on, I figure that writing my name on each item I bring just to separate what’s mine and his was useless. I gave up on it after seeing his shirts marked with my name on them.

The place is okay, not really the best one there is but it's definitely affordable, given the salary that I’m earning.  One thing that I love about our new place is the shower. I feel like I have a deep connection to it, somehow. And it all started when I opened it the first time to take a bath. The water came like a gushing river, full of vitality and movement. It felt like being continuously poured with water using a thousand pails. No, this isn’t one of those silly metaphors.

Part of my last pay was spent on keeping myself alive for the past three weeks. I alloted much of it for food. It’s a good thing there are a lot of cheap eateries around my place so food isn’t really a problem. I finally would get to try them all since I used to bring packed lunch when I was in college. So far, I’ve been raving about the serving size of Dimsum treats and its variety of siomai selections. They have mushroom siomai, beef siomai, Japanese siomai, quail egg siomai, etc. Name it, they have it. I’m also liking the barbecue of Enzo’s Shawarma although it’s quite pricey at 20 pesos per stick. Sisig Express, fondly called as SEx, also serves the good ol’ Kapampangan dish exellently.      

So far, life’s treating me fairly well. I mean, in just a span of two months, I had a lot of changes going on. I became a registered nurse, moved out to live independently, and earned for my keep. Sometimes I wonder why people use “This is the life” whenever they’re at the acme of pleasure.   But for me, I would like to use it to say that life isn’t easy now as it used to be, but slowly, I’m really starting to feel the personal growth happening. Zis iz ze life!