Monday, October 31, 2005

Steboy

I remember when I was about eight, and I'd always hangout with my neighbor Steve who was then 14 and was in high school. He'd bully me all the time, teach me new things, let me try out stuff. We'd always do "criminal" acts that deserved us spots in juvi, and at the end of everything we'd end up laughing so hard. He was, well, the older brother that I never had.

And there was this time last year when I got into real trouble and when he found out, he beat me up, punching me in the face so hard, telling me how dumb I was, he didn't stop till I wasn't fighting back anymore, till I was on the floor. I didn't understand it at first, but now I seem to get it.

And the first few times we drank beer together when he would teach me how to tolerate bottles and bottles, to just go and drink.

And how we spent our summers going to his school's park, playing hacky sack, then taking a nap in the dirty grass. The guard would always try to wake us up, but we'd pretend we were in deep sleep.

Steve is moving to Australia tomorrow along with his whole family. 'Pag umaalis ako for vacation, maghahatid si Steve sa airport tapos bago umalis, may kukunin siya sa pocket niya tapos papakita niya sa 'kin. Peace sign. That sounds corny but I dunno, that's what I'm gonna miss the most.

Man, you come back or I'll kill you.

Friday, October 28, 2005

And we're back in the game

After a two-week whirlwind of Rug, going out, obsessing on figuring out the endgame of Lost, and sleeping in different couches, I started getting my act together today.

Spent the morning in the grass for two hours, played really bad, the rain didn't help, got more bruised than ever, including two cuts in the face. Right after taking a shower, Mico calls.

Mico: Saan ka?
Me: *Cough* *Cough* I'm sick.
Mico: Gago, luma na yan.
Me: Saan ka?
Mico: Sa school, tara kunin natin classcards.
Me: Sige, one hour.
Mico: Ano, bakit ang tagal?
Me: Nasa Alabang ako!
Mico: Ang tagal!
Me: Ano kita, girlfriend? Huwag kang demanding.
Mico: Sige, bilisan mo.

Oh man, University Scholar ako! A nice way to end a great fun sem.

But that's not important. These conversations are more essential.

Me: Nakita ko si Champ kahapon.
Kim: Yung hamburger na mascot sa Jollibee?
Me: Um, oo.

After five minutes.

Me: Si Champ, yung may banda.
Kim: May banda na ang mga mascot ng Jollibee?

After a few seconds.

Me: Oo drummer si Hetty, tapos si Chikee sa bass.
Kim: Ang galing nun, a!

And there's more.

Nina: You two wanna go with me to the museum?
Carlos: What's in there?
Me: The usual.
Nina: Not just the usual! They have this great archeology room with an interesting cartouche flewn in from another museum abroad.
Carlos: I don't even think I can spell cartouche.

In other news, I'm traveling next week, getting myself lost in a foreign place.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Gardener

We gave you a chance
To water the plants.
We didn't mean that way--
Now zip up your pants.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Qwerty

Went to Power with Dre' and Greg today, stopped by at Zara's launch, then left immediately after getting free drinks 'cause we're cheapos like that. Ate a ridiculously expensive Japanese dinner where we had to take off our shoes and sit on nice pillows wrapped in silk, forcing us to be proper well-mannered kids. On the road to Makati, the radio played "Sakayan ng Jeep" by Nikki Gil, prompting Dre' to blurt out, "Oh man! That's like super sucky!"

Met up with Kevin, Ina, Eddie and the rest of the YeahYeahs for a few drinks and almond jelly and buchi. The night wouldn't be complete without doing something significant for the world, so Rissa initiated a game called, "If you were a dessert, what dessert would you be and why?" As you all know, this is a game that is commonly played in most social circles around the world.

Ed dropped me off at Pammy's for her birthday, and I left my gift in his car. I realized this when Pammy was opening her gifts, so I texted Ed, "Left movies in your car. Don't mess with them. Will get them tom." The gift was two of Kris Aquino's chop-chop lady massacre films, so I was confident Ed wouldn't take interest in them since, well, he can't really understand Tagalog, except for a few essential phrases we taught him like "pahingi ako," "angas mo a" and "ako magbabayad." But alas, around 2am, he calls up, "What the f? This is nuts! Crazy! Blood all over! The villain's putting the lady inside a suitcase!"

Leche pinakialamanan ang regalo.

So Pammy's birthday was fun, played family computer and ate more goood food, including a brownie with gravy on top after losing a game.

I'm sleeping now at Ed's, tired, legs aching like hell. Been feeling like this for the past three days, after started playing in the grass again. Training tom. at 7am and I'm going to wake up 'cause Rug's the best thing in the world. I swear I'm not gonna stop till I get killed on the field.

Suddenly feeling like eating dumplings and taho in DEC, and bum around in Promenade.

Grass

And the quote of the day comes from Kevin, who, after Nic attacked him and threw him to the ground during Rug, said:

"I can't feel my back and legs. I'm bulag na."

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Terrorista

An hour ago I was watching Insider on ABS-CBN and they were showing a scripted terrorist attack in Fort Bonifacio High School, supposedly aimed at educating society on how to act in case terrorists bombard the city.

At first it was hysterical, as kids and teachers were running, screaming for help in the corridors, some of whom were even limping, as if their hips and legs got shot.

Then they showed kids laying flat on the floor, splattered with fresh red blood all over their white uniforms, some were dead, some were still crying softly for help.

And that’s when I thought to myself, grabe sabog ‘tong mga olats na ‘to.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

It's late but we're all awake

So it's 2:41 in the morning, and let's see what's happening in our living room!

There's the TV and look, it's my favorite show in the world, Jamie Oliver on BBC Food. Apart from glancing occassionally on the screen, I'm typing this right now, and I'm half-done building a piece of furniture called a lamp table.

Wait a sec, Jamie's explaining something interesting.

And we're back. So he talked about how he cooked his first meal for his wife and how he was so bent on pleasing the girl that he prepared seven of his best dishes and the wife was like, "Jamie, I can't finish all these." Oh look, he's now making a tossed salad. Classic Jamie. I bet he's gonna put salmon there.

I'M RIGHT! He's now cutting thin slices of salmon meat and putting it on the salad. And now he's tossing it.

Meanwhile, my younger cousin Kyle is playing with my PS, which he claims is his. At first, he tells this only to his playmates next door, then what do ya know his whole class in Zobel knows that he has one, and then now when he sees me playing with it, he comes up to me and says, "Kuya, did you ask permission from me?"

He has school tomorrow but the brat is still awake.

My Tita, Kyle's mom, is playing with her kid's Gameboy Advance. She's been doing that since after dinner, and is surprisingly good at it.

My mom is playing with Kyle's other Gameboy, the new one with two screens. She is the loudest Gameboy player in the world, as she screams, jumps for joy, and brags endlessly whenever she finishes a level.

My two neighbors, Steve and Nina, are on the couch playing online games in Steboy's laptop. I love this couple, although it's almost 3am and I'm sure they got houses and couches so I wonder why they're still here. I bet those lazy asses are gonna end up sleeping there in the couch.

Before dinner, we all went to the mall nearby and spent a good two hours in the arcade.

Late Monday evenings are usually spent like this in the house, where everyone's pretty busy with really important, significant things, like video games.

hhhooooOOORRAAAYY.

In other news, tomorrow I promise to kick ass. Game na talaga.

For now, I gotta get back on this lamp table. I swear am gonna finish this before the sun rises.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Let's Blow Together

This afternoon was the first birthday of Elki, Yam’s baby boy. Yam and his production designers built safari jungle sets all over the ballroom, with all kinds of animals and the works. Amaaazing. And oh wow they had overflowin' milkshakes, snowcones (snowcones!!), and ice cream. And they had those bubble girls that Tals once told us about. They called out kids in the audience and put them inside giant bubbles. Trippy.

What made the otherwise perfect party awkward was the program host who was annoyingly (yet amusingly) gay. He was in full tour guide attire a la Jeff “I go tally THE votes” Probst, with a giant button on his left vest pocket with his name on it. With his Britney lapel mic, he is unnecessarily over-perky to the kids, and evil to his production staff as he shouts out after every dramatic spiel, “Cut the music! Cut!” or “Up mic! Down music! Down!” or “I don’t want that song. Change!”

When it was time for Elki to blow the candles on his giant cake, Mr. Host repeatedly and cheerily shouted, “Let’s blow together! Let’s blow together! Let’s blow together!” to the amusement of the dads. He also has a whistle that he uses to hum along with a song (as a result, ruining it), or to shut up the screaming kids and the chatting adults. Nuts I tell you.

The highlight of my day was of course seeing little Ella finally in person. When they call for a volunteer, she’s the first to raise her hand. She’s also the first to run onstage to get cupcakes, first in line in the dancing part, and when everyone was called for a big souvenir photo, she ran to the center and posed, positioning herself like the star that she is.

And they gave iPod Nanos, and PS2s, and watches, and phones, and cameras, which of course brought the house down, proving once again the inevitable fact that the only sure fire way to liven up a group of people is by having a raffle.

Time to get back to what I was doing a while ago. Oh wait before that, here’s what I wrote in the card on my gift.

Ey Elki. Happy 1st bday, man. I promise that when you’re six, I’ll teach you how to play rugby. And when you’re eight, I’ll read with you your first comic book. And when you turn 12, I’ll take you to your first rock concert. And when you turn 18, well, ahem ahem... your mom and dad are reading this so I’ll tell you nalang someday. Go and be an awesome kid! Kuya/Tito James.

Okay, now I can go back to what I was doing a while ago, which was absolutely nothing.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Shaturday

Saturday was really grreat. I was able to sleep well, with a dream about living on a beautiful farm in Visayas with lots of trees and grass, and having a nipa hut, and having sun-kissed kids, and and and the wife who's just really awesome. And then suddenly these police guys go inside the nipa and arrest me and take me to Manila where they lock me in jail and the presos inside kill me and eat my body. I like this. Dreams that let you eat all the ice cream you want, and then slit you in the throat.

Woke up at 2pm to eat lunch then went back to sleep again. This time, without a fun dream.

Went with Wacky to that building beside I.S. in Fort, the one with those bright royal-blue glass windows. Was glad I came, 'cause wow it was tons of fun. The people were all college kids/young pros who've gathered to talk about their plans in their lives, and the private group talk with Wacks, Monique, and Anna somehow put a direction on what I wanna do in the coming months. Will surely go back next week.

Drove to Trio for Shari's 18th birthday, which was a blast. It was awesome to see everyone again, and it's funny when you think about the soiree days when everyone would be sweating of nervousness and the atmosphere is either pa-cute or desperate. A while ago we were all just having fun and celebrating Shari's day and catching up with each other's lives, without any sign of uneasiness. Really appreciate it that Shari gave us a chance to be a part of it.

Rode with Dre and Greg going to Ernest's place for his bday, which was equally awesome, seeing highschool classmates who I haven't seen in a loong time, drinking, and laughing endlessly, talking about how we're all in different places, but we've never really changed in terms of kalokohan.

I'm sleepy now.

Ern

Ernest, a best friend, celebrated his 17th birthday a while ago.

When we were in first year, he was the first friend that I had in class. After lunch, he'd try to annoy me by sitting on my chair and refusing to leave, until the teacher enters and there I am standing up, chairless. He loved the look of desperation on my face.

The year after, some funny force made me greet him "Happy Birthday" every single day for almost a whole month. He'd giddily say thank you every single day. And whenever I'd bully him, he'd say I can't do bad stuff to him 'cause it's his bday. Oo nga naman.

And he cracks the corniest jokes and you'll laugh because, well, it's Ernest.

And we never talk about negative things, for us it's always about enjoying being a kid.

Now whenever I see Ernest in school, being one of the great guys running his org, going home real late, and hanging out with tons of girls, I see that Ernest has grown up. And become a chickboy. Ha. And he's still pretty corny like in the past. Sometimes I think about that young Ernest who'd get my seat all the time and I miss that, 'cause now we talk about mature stuff, like things in the real world. But I'm glad to see Ernest like this now, from the looks of the people around him, I'm pretty sure he's got a long way to go.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Sweet Valium High

I love my cousin. He's seven but he thinks and acts like he's four and I like it 'cause we get to do dumb stupid stuff and end up with bruises and bleeding noses. He's asleep now beside me after our routine one hour of sakitan, patayan, and rambulan which involves throwing around and destroying my Hero Clix collection. His charm and cuteness (cuteness?) make me forget about the damage and demolition done by that awesome champ, but on days when I'm sane and normal and uncheesy and I see the heads and legs of my toys cut off, I scream in my head I'M GONNA GET THAT LITTLE MONSTER AND HUNT HIM DOWN AND NEVER LET HIM SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!!!

Here's our deep and pang-college discussion 20 minutes ago.

Little Monster: Kuya, let's destroy your things.
Me: Sure, if your promise that after that, we'll set to fire and burn all your little truck toys!
Little Monster: No! No! If you do that, I'm going to destroy your room and when you wake up, you'll be in the floor because I destroyed your bed!
Me: If you do that, I swear I'm gonna give your Euro train collection to your playmates next door!
Little Monster: I'm going to kill you and give your body to the salesladies so they can sell you in Podium!
(In my head: Pota ang cono ng batang 'to)
Me: Who owns a Euro train collection circa 12 A.D.? Ha? Ha? Ha? You're such a dork!
Little Monster: I'm going to kill you, you stupid poopoo head!
Me: Not if I flush you in the toilet first!
Little Monster: Not if I cook you in the oven!
Me: You arrogant cannibal! I'm gonna kill you right here right now and cut you into parts and deliver them in the houses of your girlfriends! Let's see if they'll still be in love with you!
Little Monster: I'm hungry, do you have Twix in your backpack?
Me: Yea, stay right there, I'll go get them for you.
Little Monster: Yey thank you Kuya.

I love.

Will stop rambling now. Have to be at Steboy's early morning.

Shramblings

I'm now pretty low on funds, a bad time since Oct. is the month where most of my friends are celebrating their bdays. Now I miss highschool days, where I had an allowance to spend on useless, crappy things. Now where did the moolah go?

1. A month ago, I bought an iBook. I was bent on buying a model half the price, but I got a great offer from someone based in Hong Kong, referred to me by a photographer who I met in a shoot... so there I told myself, screw it all, here's the money for my Germany trip and the money for my new school and the money for my future kids' education, now give me my Hunter! Yes, it's named Hunter, the name I baptize to every single gadget/pet that I own. Tals bought her kiddo too last Monday, which is awesome, 'cause you can just imagine us giggling and talking ever so passionately like parents do about their kids when they graduate from kindergarten.

2. Putting aside some cash for shat am planning to get, aside from saving up for a trip with the Luceros. Yes, I'm gonna treat the Familia to a trip back in our paradise, an Italian restaurant with an obnoxious bartender and which serves the most awesome food and is located in the deep end of a beach on some island. I love my friends.

3. Food. Trucks and trailers of. Now heeey with this I have no problems spending loads for.

4. Been going out a lot and this is quite bad 'cause sometimes when it's 4am and I feel sooo kind and giving, I pay for the bill, and easily blow off a month's paycheck. This I promise to stop by not bringing any credit card or excess cash whenever going out. Beware friends, I've turned selfish.

5. Keeping a small box inside one of the drawers in my desk which is labeled: Para Sa Iyong Kabutihan Ito. It's paper put aside for "Condo," the short film I'm making with The Pepe (originally titled "Ritwal" but I change my mind every three minutes, what do ya know, it might be called "Bopis" by tomorrow). I'm trying to save up for one main reason: I want to feed well the people I'm gonna be working with. I swear, I'm gonna keep your belly full as a way of saying thaaank you for working with us for free.

Will get my act up in a while. Have to play and wrestle with my seven-year-old cousin.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Stolen/On the Farm



V: You go to heaven, God's there, and he says what to you?
M: He says, "You got the wrong door."
V: And you say, "Boy, it's hot in here." So how ya doin'?
M: I'm pretty good.
V: And how's the girlfriend?
M: Came home and she had a tattoo of a cat on her arm. I go out of town for a couple of days and she gets tattooed.
V: Was it a real tattoo?
M: Well, that's what I wanted to know. But I inspected it, and it's just a wash-off thing. But they look like real tattoos now.

M: So what does (job) give you that nothing else can?
V: Work. A sense of community. A place in the world. Otherwise I'd be like the 7-Eleven bandit: I'd just be getting into trouble somewhere.

V: I remember when we were last working together and you'd say, "Was that creamy?" after accomplishing a certain task. How do you know if it's a creamy one?
M: It's when you get that kind of weird tingling up the back of your neck and something unexpected happens: You lose yourself, and it stops being about hitting your mark. It just has a natural rhythm all its own, it's a feeling of getting lost for a few seconds.

M: Basically, I'm just trying to go with stuff where I feel like if I take this journey, I'm going to grow in some way.
V: If it doesn't have that, we're back to robbing banks.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Sleep/Scoop/Slash

I identify completely with the desperation that obsessed my parents. I live with it myself daily: the fear that you will be thrown back to where you started. My dad taught it to me and my mom taught it to me, and I had my own lessons. I lie awake at night thinking about it, feeling exposed, vulnerable—but feeling again the gratitude that I have what some people missed in life—a way to be happy.

I sometimes think of the day I discovered it. In the backyard of Pre-Primary Growth Center I was a lion in the nursery play, a hit in a major role performed in front of a semicircle of chairs filled with grades pre-nursery to prep and teachers and parents. On my head was a fierce cool lion hat with orange felt ears. Afterwards, wanting to continue my happiness forever, I refused to take it off. I wore it home, wore it at dinner, and in my bath, and wore it in bed that night, sitting there feeling special.

I was waiting, very excitedly, for my dad to bring up guests from the dinner gathering downstairs. I knew they would make a fuss over me, saying, “Aren’t you a darling,” and be really impressed because on my black hair was my fierce cool lion hat.

I wanted to experience again the feeling of that afternoon in front of people—the ecstatic sense that I was a lion because grown-ups were accepting me as a lion—the sense that I could say, “I want to be somebody good and walk out on stage and be the fierce cool prince,” and the world would say, “Yes, you are the fierce cool prince.”

Sunday, October 02, 2005

56K Access/Happy Days

After its demolition then short stint in Wilson St., DEC is finally back in Greenhills!!!

After going home at 5:30am a while ago from a tiring tiring but great night (filled with strange music, strange phone calls, seeing great friends, seeing friends from grade school (!) and finally seeing Tals!!), I found Migo and Kate and Erin inside my room watching Malcolm in the Middle. I thought I was just dreaming, till I woke up around 10am and they were still there. We found out DEC was open so we rushed there for early morning Sunday chow and the place looks a lot better and the food is still awesome.

And now I'm really happy because today I also got an e-mail that I've been nervously waiting for. And I finished writing my stuff for next week's issue. And someone sent in stuff from my favorite place in the world.

I'm missing La Salle a lot so I'm sitting in this week at Yky's and I.M.'s classes before I finally go in a month of relaxing/doing nothing/going to random places/commuting with Jay-Ar. Which means after the sit-ins, I can go straight to DEC which is a few streets away!

Fuzz, go and have fun! Dannylicious and Little Store and more "pang-dove" people when you come back! Competitive!

Everyone, go waste time asking a chicken to do whatever you please at SubservientChicken.com!

About Me

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NintendoDS and pencils. That's all I need.