THE DAY AFTER I woke up blankly wondering what hit me the other day. Well, it was my birthday, so what? It happens every year. But this birthday was entirely different. I was alone since my wife was in Manila to attend a Rubi Wedding Anniversary. I quickly dressed up to attend the early Mass just to discover that there was no early Mass as it was a Wednesday and the Mass was in the afternoon after Mother of Perpetual Help Novena. The next best thing I thought was to open the TV until a found a channel were Mass was being said. It fulfilled my first Birthday wish. I took my breakfast all by myself then proceeded to my favorite Netcafe to do my routine. I discovered many greeters as well as in my cell phone. Back to the house I instructed my gardener to buy one chicken and cook ‘arroz caldo’ just in case anybody comes around for whatever reason. It was somewhat ironic that for the first time our former housemate failed to gift me with live chicken to be killed in exchange for my life. Since my wife was far away she wasn’t able to cook ‘pancit’ for ‘my long life’. Smilingly I wondered if this would be my last birthday as no chicken was killed to exchange for my life and no pancit was cooked to stimulate the extension of my life. But of course I don’t believe in superstition. Surprisingly, not even one greeted me verbally, a sign that machine can someday substitute for human actions. No one but no one even accidentally happened to pass by our house, so, come lunchtime my helper and me celebrated my birthday with a bowl each of ‘arroz caldo’. After going to my daily siesta, my gardener and I took another bowl of our afternoon snack at around 3:00p.m. I had the chance of my life to read the whole newspaper but the stories were as boring as my birthday. It was 10:00p.m. when my wife arrived from Manila quite tired to take a taste of my especial ‘arroz caldo’ until breakfast time the following morning. Now do you understand why I woke up feeling blank? And don’t argue that what I experienced was just another senior moment. Here in the Philippines it is fun to grow old.