Online Again

Henyo, isa kang henyo, Jerry Jimenez. I'm back online - and in a matter of seconds after an SOS phone call to one of my most reliable, dependable, o sige na nga, lovable friends. All I had to do was report my ineptness and he came up with the diagnosis in three seconds flat - the same amount of time for me to fix the problem and reboot - and tadah! I'm cruising the information superhighway once again. Apparently my laptop's removable disk drive got jiggled loose during transport (no wonder my Windows' refusal to boot up only seems to happen to me whenever I subject my laptop to arduous travel circumstances) and it only took one sentence from me - "sinubukan kong buksan yung disk drive, ayaw" for good old Jerry to figure the problem out. Well, the fact that he's on his way to a Master's in Computer Sumthin-sumthin at the Ateneo should count for something, but he credits his knowhow to years of experience wrecking PC's (but if that's the case I should probably be the Stephen Hawking of computer technology).

Anyway, this isn't the first time that Jerry's come through for me - he's fixed my car (I already wrote about this a few years ago: my car's new battery wouldn't work whilst I was parked along Katipunan on a Sunday, and I could think of no one else to come to the rescue but Jerry with his jumper cables. And he did. Talk about dependable!) and my guitar (once upon a time, I owned an acoustic guitar that accidentally got cracked in my car trunk, so he took it home and lovingly bonded it back together, although today I have no idea where the heck I put the thing). He's also indirectly responsible for most of my car's body repairs - by introducing me to the magical Mang Max, he's managed to spare me from the grief of expensive restoration jobs. Mang Max, isa kang henyo!

Come to think of it, I think I appreciate my friends' practical talents more than their extraordinary ones - I'm not the type to be impressed by prowess in sports (Jerry's one heck of a badminton/basketball player, and I know some people who kick-a$$ in basketball, swimming, football, and what have you, but those things don't really matter much to me) or the arts (I like my artista and artist friends for reasons far beyond their lead roles in Repertory Philippines or international motion pictures or whatever exhibits their work has been featured in) or the academe.

What really impresses me is how someone can juggle motherhood and professional life without losing one's sense of self. Or how one can change a tire/s in the middle of a thunderstorm and still manage to smile. Or whip up a quality meal for the multitudes. Or take care of a household of reformed boys, full-time, 24 hours a day, while teaching them new skills and honing talents. Or minister to the poorest of poor, feeding these sheep with spiritual and physical meals. The practical ability to meet the most mundane - yet most essential - needs matters most to me, especially in the moments of greatest necessity. And I'm thankful that I have friends who fit the bill. If you're reading this, you're probably one of them. :-) Henyo kayo, henyo!