It was already 11 p.m. when Asian tigers arrived to collect my painting, I know that it's an unusual time for a courier to pick up a package but this one is a different case because they've been travelling half part of Mindanao just to collect paintings and given the distance of Davao to Zamboanga and finally arriving here in Bukidnon, it took them about almost a 24-hour drive inland according to our hard-working organizer who has been monitoring them for their safety.
I also don't mind staying up late for them since I feel like I'm helping them to finish their work quickly.
I talked with the Asian Tigers staff about the paintings they collected in Zamboanga, and the staff happily showed me two beautiful paintings.
I was momentarily happy until my father commented something irritating: "Their paintings are more beautiful." if I could slap my father, I would do so right then and there.
Now that I look back on the past, this man hasn't even complimented my work once. He always has something bad to say, and what's more fucked up is witnessing him brag about me to his friends. I always see him as two-faced because he is a devil to his family but an angel to others. His workmates even commented that he doesn't know how to get mad. "Oh please, upon hearing that, I feel like vomiting; if only they knew.
I realized that he always compares me to others. Despite my success, I still get seen as a disappointment. The more I realized that he was the number one reason why I grew up having confidence issues.
If you say he must be teasing, nope, it's not; he uses a provocative tone when saying it, and when I try to defend myself, my actions would be considered as talking back and disrespectful, which would start our fights. He is one fucked up father.
I get his attitude, but it's not something to get used to; it's more of hating him. But you know, I ignored it and just continued with my business. I didn't wanna ruin my night since it was supposed to be a happy day for me.
I could see the staffs were tired from the travel, and though I offered for them to sleep, they wanted to finish packing so that they could proceed to go to another place to collect more paintings
I enjoyed talking to them when they asked about my painting and also about their transactions of collecting paintings in different places here in Mindanao. They are already used to packing these kinds of stuff.
I love topics like this because I rarely talk to people who understand and appreciate my profession so well. I should be in an environment with open-minded people like them. I'd feel motivated to paint every day.
I also love seeing how their packaging works since I love to do these kinds of things. I'm so happy to learn about it, which I will apply next time if I don't have to roll my paintings when I ship them in another business transaction.