The Simpsons; Life, Miseries, and Pitstops PS: Enjoy the Ride

I'm a big fan of The Simpsons. On this day in 1990, The Simpsons premiered on television for the first time.

The Simpsons is a depiction of how today's family cope up with modernity. It's kinda 'like a soap opera in a twisted way which deals with a typical family's pains, problems and joys.

I have been collecting episodes of The Simpsons for years now. I find simple cathartic enjoyment in watching it. I purge my life's toxicity and angsts while laughing my heart out with Homer's miseries. I feel just a tad nostalgic while I try to understand Lisa's own insecurities with Bart. Of course, Marge's frustrations with her husband is actually a comic relief in a wicked way. Makes me actually feel that I am not the only one who has the world on my shoulders - err, sometimes. Maggie's indifference is my life story.

Watching The Simpsons, especially on rainy, Sunday mornings is one of my life's most favorite little pleasures.



On a different note, I am actually starting to count the days til our long-awaited Baguio trip with friends from the office. I know, Baguio na naman (?!), right? But hey, I love the city, man. For a couple of years now, I've been going back to Baguio with different sets of people - all of them almost equally special.

My family frequents the place, not only because it's just a couple of hours worth of detour when we go home from Manila to Ilocos, but primarily because we love the cold weather, not to metion Meng's infatuation with strawberries and Mama's first love with ukay-ukay. Of course, I need not mention that most of papa's conventions and seminars are held there.

Back in '98, Estong and I went there out of whim. We didn't bring any money, much less had anything planned for a grand tour cum vacation, but we went there anyway. We only stayed long enough for a day's tour of the city and we separated ways come sunset. It was a short trip, really, but it was fun while it lasted. The fleeting quality of it is what makes it special, come to think of it.

My pseudo siblings Lei and Kid went back with me to Baguio around the year of '99. We had a little bit of planning for this trip. We had a rented car which we used to take us around the city and the outskirts, plus a rented house in case we got too tired of roaming around.

In 2000, my beloved IKOT friends: Mei, Guise, Val and Rob went back with me to Baguio for one of the most memorable trips of my life. Suffice to say that the "ride with them was worth the fall". There is nothing more I'd like to do right now other than to ride with them again, but I guess it's not the right time yet. We'll get there, believe me. I'll probably let you in on this story in another log.

Baguio has been a venue for some of my life's adventures and a witness to my grateful existence. It has been a culminating ground for great friendships and deep family relationships. Baguio has been my heaven on Earth for a couple of years now. It has been a home to my tired and weary soul, an end-stop for a life going in circles.

And now my friends in the office which include Rico, Shelly, Mayu and Pao are planning yet another trip to this city that feels like home to wanderers and travellers. We are going to be there for a couple of nights and days, starting January 29. What can I say, I'm just so looking forward to it.
Care to come with us?
If you've ever been to Baguio and back with me, I know we're in for a long ride.
Ride with me.