When you're tired from a full week's work, go home.

The past months have been cruel, ruthless, and I had no choice but to live through it. So when I finally had the chance, I gave myself permission to act immaturely for a while, just to release some pent-up emotions, and therefore, cultivating measly attempts at self-destruction.

Last night, I told myself I'm going to stay away from alcohol for now, not only to give my liver a break but to balance by body chemicals too; I have been having severe mood swings and it would be really unwise to push it. See, I have been trying to be more responsible and to put discipline back in my programming.

So I turned down a couple of invites last night hoping to spend a quiet night at home: play a few rounds of Hearthstone, watch a movie, write a little, fall asleep, wake up early to jog. And so at 12mn--right after work--I went straight home, content. I was proud of myself.

But family pressure is more powerful than the peers. Cousins, aunts, and uncles calling you at 1AM is always serious business. You know what's going down as they pass the phone from one drunken family member to the next. You feel powerless and only manage to to squeak out a pitiful "no, I cannot come" causing them to raise hell as you try to calm them down and mumble bits of pathetic explanations. And then you know the ending. You should never--YOU JUST NEVER--say no.

So I booked a GrabCar from QC to Makati in the middle of the night, still tired from a full week's work, shaking my head at the absurdity of it all.

I arrived in twenty minutes as if the driver knew my life depended on how fast I could get there. Everyone cheered as I entered, and God, how I missed this; the few people who have seen you cry your lungs out, throw fits, bitch around, destroy the house, make wrong decisions, disappoint everyone around you, and grow up to be the real piece of greatness that you are now.

They scold me for attempting to say no as we recalled our childhood, swimming at icky fish ponds, scraping every part of our body during adventures, summer vacations in Pangasinan, firt-times and last-times. Then we talked about growing up, some things fucking up, how life isn't all dandy, not being where we imagined ourselves to be, not seeing each other as often, having kids--the pros and cons of it all, being each other's ninongs and ninangs, when's the next inuman, and just never saying no.

So here I am lying in bed, waking up too late for a jog, curled up with a familiar case of a hangover, thinking, hey, I have the best family ever. I may have been having shitty days and it may have been unwise to be drinking alcohol again, but I knew why I had to come; when shit goes down, all I really have to do is give them a call in the middle of the night and they'd be there, handing me cheap brandy on the rocks.