DISCERNMENT

I don't drink that much anymore.

Or maybe, the right words are "I seldom drink now".

Seldom but I still do.

And when that happens, I really drink. 

Perhaps that's why I now snooze on the table which I never did.

I was not a regular biker before.

I do now, a lot, and chase roads and trails even when there's none.

Especially after one those "seldom drink" and "really drink" moments. 

The idea was to burn the prohibited intake, to abort the fat and alcohol from spawning into stones that made a quarry of my bile, so I can "seldom drink" and "really drink" again.   

I biked a lot after my retirement.

And drank a lot too.

Not after the fact but to renew and celebrate friendships that work and distance have eclipsed.

But more than the wine bottles and kilometers amassed, retirement also reminded me that there is another world.

And that I never really left that world, like the old friends who remained.

That mountain biking is not just burning excesses but a lot of hidden trails out there waiting to be explored.

Like those two dirt roads between Mangandingay and Burgos which I never knew existed.

Today, I nailed (Ret) after my name with no regrets.

I thought I did good and I can do more, but I'm not coming back...

PHOTO CREDITS: To Angge Serdinola is credited my alcohol-induced stupor which she took with Jet Alonzo's camera, while Bong Soriano captured the moment of my foray into Aloha Falls and a frame from Fr. Apolo de Guzman's bienvenida cum despidida.