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Is what became of my dad when I saw him last April. He looked so much like his father. Cheeks sucked in, especially when he is not wearing his dentures. Which are by the way, a denture made by a dental student. I'm not sure but that is what I like to believe in.

He was an angry man. Back when he still had his youth and energy. I always hear him shout, he always notices the wrong things, he has always something negative to say. But he never admitted his feelings. His sentiments always go through my mom. She was the one telling us the things he couldn't say.

A lot of the things I hate today are product of what I grew up with and the culprit is mainly him. I didn't want to be shouted at, because who wants that? Many times, when he's angry, he shouts and bolts out the door. He would always bang his hands against something, hit or throw things. We were afraid of him. So when I hear some angry shouting (e.g. my new neighbor shouting at her dog), it irks me. I've spent almost six years without it and would not want to experience it again.

At dinner, he was like a priest delivering a sermon. Literal sermon for everything - work, life, family, friends, neighbors, etc. When he reprimands us, he does it at dinner. I would finish my meal fast even though I would want to savor the food, just to get out of that table. It is the biggest reason why my sisters and I are quiet when eating with friends or coworkers. We don't talk unless spoken to. Personallly, I don't like conversations during the meal - let me eat in peace, we could talk later.

I just balled my eyes out from the romantic novel I finished reading, and I am not about to cry again because of family drama.

For some reason, the situation I am in right now, is similar to one of the characters' in the novel. The one where they were struggling financially. That was fiction, mine was real. Both are stories, though, I just hope that I get a happy ending too.

To be honest, I thought I could teach my parents a lesson. But life is already at it. Tugging at their sleeves, asking for their time, their health, their lives. We couldn't do anything but to provide. They're basically incapable now. But how can I possibly give if I don't have enough? Something has to be compromised, again.