First night

Tonight is the first night after so many that I would be ending my day in a, more or less, normal way.

By normal I mean any or all of the following: fetch my wife after work and go home together, have dinner together, watch the evening news, workout a bit, catch up on reading, go online and greet some people, blog a little, log-on to my favorite online game and say hi to in-game friends, and/or sleep on a real bed.

I've done most of the abovementioned, so far.

After this blog, I'll log-on to Perfect World and greet my clanmates, who are probably the happiest people in this side of the virtual world right now after winning our very first Territorial War.

Congratulations, Sanctius!

To the forty-three brave souls who were online last Sunday evening to make this dream come true, I salute you all!

The stories they shared about their victory made me envious that I wasn't with them at the battlefront. That Sunday evening was their first night in a place we can really call our own.

So where was I last Sunday evening?

Like in many nights before tonight, I was working late. In some nights, I was sleeping next to the laptop, dreaming about the numbers that need to be put into words. There were nights when I end and start the day wearing the same clothes, either in front of the computer or on a portable mattress laid on the office floor.

Anyone who've worked for a self-sustained NGO with a certain advocacy would know that a big paycheck is the last thing you'll get from all this hard work. You do this for something else entirely.

Fatigue does wonders to the mind. I had a dream during an overtime work at the office. It tells of a rabbit running careless and free in the jungle, with the cold night wind caressing its feet. Morning breaks and the jungle returns to the way it is -- a jungle.

Dreams can be such great reminders of reality.

Caffeine is still running thick through my veins. It's unlikely that sleep will come soon.

But no worries.

A real bed is just waiting beside me.