[1034] Looking Back on November 2023

I don't usually do a retrospective of the past month, but I sort of feel like doing one now.

During the last weekend of October we drove over to Lucena to visit my aunt who had cancer. My wife always made it a point to remind me to visit my aunt. We had lunch on Sunday, and since we were staying with my folks for three days, we went a bit later on Monday and had merienda with her.

We got her chocolate ice cream, she was very delighted and ate a lot. Asked for a second serving, and even mixed some cake we brought the day before. That Monday one of my cousins also went to Lucena to visit her.

That week of Nov 1 she was visited again by my other cousins and their mom and dad. Spent an afternoon with her before driving back.

November 6 my uncle told me when he went to check on her she was so radiant and talkative, a far cry from how she usually behaved. She was so upbeat that he had to excuse himself instead of the usual other way around.

Early November 7 my aunt passed away.

I think I'm just repeating an earlier blog but I'm just processing my thoughts. I miss my aunt. I miss visiting her and chatting with her and telling her I'd be back so please buy some good food.

The rest of November was a blur. I can't believe it will be December in a few days.

Out.

[1033] Car Daydream

I've sort of narrowed down what four types of used cars I would consider. These were mostly aided by advice from the owner of the car shop we send our cars to for maintenance and repairs.

Basically the owner told me that Toyota's Vios and Yaris are good cars to consider. Veer away from buy and sell, and always ask for service records. When I asked if the Honda Jazz was a good option he also said it was.

So there you have it. I'll be narrowing my search to either a Toyota Vios, Yaris, or Honda Jazz. I'd like to get them as new as possible, maybe anything older than 2011. Of course I also need it to be an automatic since that would be the best option for a fuel efficient daily driver in Metro Manila conditions.

Engine size isn't a big deal for me anymore with those three options. Their smallest engines are 1.3L here and the biggest is 1.5L so hopefully it's not much of a difference with regards to fuel efficiency.

There's also the wildest of the wild cars, the Japan surplus DA17V Suzuki Every Van that has been on my dream car wishlist since a few months ago. The biggest hurdle here would be the fact that it is a right-hand drive conversion so a lot of quality of life features will still be for right hand drive.

Features like the wipers will be oriented for right-hand drive. The light and wiper stalks will be reversed. If the side mirrors are power adjust the angles will also be for right-hand drive. The hood opener and gas tank opener switches will be on the right side. If there's one thing I could change there it would be the wiper and signal light switches. That's the biggest thing i want converted to left-hand drive, second would be the wipers for better visibility in the rain.

Out.

[1032] Thoughts

I was never looking for glory or acknowledgement when I heard some relatives tell me it was a good idea I asked my cousins to visit our aunt who passed away recently.

Truth be told I honestly didn't want to tell them to do anything. I'm not the type of person who does that, specially to my relatives. Like my uncle said, I may have had a gut feeling that made me go out of my way to message one of my cousins and give her a certain sense of urgency about visiting our aunt.

And they did visit her. A week before she passed a lot of people suddenly went to Lucena to visit her and have lunch with her. She saw the daughter of one of our cousins. She ate a lot of ice cream. She was happy.

My uncle told me the Monday before my aunt passed that she was so happy and talkative talking to him. She was saying how many people visited her and was also recalling stories of the Vietnam adventures of her other cousins.

Then she passed away that night.

I never asked my cousins to visit to get credit. I wanted them to visit because I knew it would make my aunt happy. And like I keep telling the cousin I was close to, dying alone sucks.

Out.

[1031] Life

My aunt passed away yesterday November 8, 2023.

Rest in peace, you will be missed.

Out.

[1030] Two Car Garage

I've blogged about two car garage rosters before. I'm too lazy to find and share the links here so just take my word for it. This time it will be a bit different.

Our 2001 Toyota Rav4 is my ideal second car. Just the right size as a road trip vehicle and a number coding car. Meaning this won't be the daily driver.

The other car has to be a smaller, lower displacement, more fuel efficient car. This would be the daily driven city car that should also be a practical car. Basically it has to be a hatchback.

I'm a really big fan of hatchbacks, probably because the Rav4 does have hatchback like qualities even if it's considered a wagon in the registration. The biggest difference between the Rav4 and a hatchback is that the Rav4's rear door opens sideways instead of getting lifted up.

So that's it. Ideally that's the two car garage I'd want. Our 2001 Toyota Rav4 and whatever practical, fuel efficient car I can find.

Out.

[1029] House Repairs

My folks recently decided to get some repairs done on our house. Started with the roof, and now we're having the ceiling and electricals repaired and updated.

Which is a good thing because I don't think the electricals of this house have been updated since it was built maybe fifty years ago. The only update I know is the change from a fusebox to a circuit breaker.

It's been stressful with the repairs, but I'd rather not blog about why. I just hope when I do look back and read this blog I will remember why. It is worth it, though. I've lived in this house almost my entire life and I honestly have plenty of great memories here.

Out.

[1028] Road Trip

Last Sunday we went to visit my parents and my aunt in Quezon Province. This was planned for a long time and something I was looking forward to because I wanted to drive to and from the province.

Usually we go to visit either on long weekends or Saturday to Sunday with my mom's driver driving, but seeing as how this week was going to be relatively work free (because of declared holidays or leaves filed) we decided to give him some time off and I would do the driving. How bad would it be?

Not that bad. Going there we got stuck for an hour or so because of a road accident and there were times I lost my cool because of selfish drivers who'll take the right lane and cut in front of you even if they can see from far away that the road funnels into one lane. Don't tell me about zipper lanes because they're running way faster than the average speed and will perform what I call the "braking overtake" where they will go really fast, slam on the brakes and dive into your lane. Usually without warning or signal lights.

Aside from that it was a pleasant drive. Same with the ride home. Biggest difference was I told myself to just let those assholes through and not to spend too much effort or anger trying to not let them get through. So we were basically plodding along around 60kmh along the provincial roads until we got to the expressway where speeds picked up to around 80 to 100kmh depending on how fast the car in front was or how open the roads were.

It was a great trip for multiple reasons. The road trip drive was something I guess I needed because I actually feel pretty great now. Hopefully this will carry me until the Christmas holidays.

Out.