February
FEB 16 Monday
Dear Yraid,
I hate it when I go out of
schedule. My plan for this day was: tidy up my webpages, sleep a little,
take a bath, go to school to discuss at 4, train at 5:30. I wasn't able to
go to our tambayan because Ma made some grocery shopping and she arrived
at 5. My philo discussion was again postponed early in the day so it's
alright. But I had to meet my Anak (Jomar) for the gummi bears jar and his
arnis. Sorry Jomar for waiting too long for Inay. In short,
I didn't train again; we were supposed to do arnis practice. I missed it.
Shucks. Dollar and I had a running spree (read: nakakawala si Dollar at
hinabol ko sa daan) in lieu of everything (read: mga kabadtripan)... and
everything. I felt free. No worries. Nothing's ever serious when you're
with a dog. Too bad he's got pulgas. He only had them like
yesterday. They're crunchy.
FEB 17 Tuesday
Dear Yraid,
I can't believe it. This is my first class
to require us to attend a sympo -- for the third time (that is, for next
meeting). Ma'am said, "If I were given the choice I will not let you go.
[...] There are lessons to finish. Hmp, bahala na." And which lessonsss
would that be? We are still in the introduction to the course for crying
out loud! Just so you know, Ma'am is a good discussant. I get a conceptual
framework of world events. I mean, I fit in tit & tat here and there,
like how the Magna Carta arose, why Tom's character in "The Last Samurai"
smelled like a pig, who Enrique Iglesias's mother is, and so on. Honestly,
I want to learn about the subject matter MORE than its peripheral
happenings whatsoever. Translation: I suggest we revolve around the topic
and not the world (literally and figuratively). Translation again: I
hope we discuss them [oops, top secret. haha, yeah right.] before our
exam. Let's go to Journ
109. Ten and Jeff were in the viewing room when I arrived. I was
rather early because I had to borrow from someone the previous meeting's
notes. Luckily Ten's notes were absentee-friendly. I photocopied them in
the College of Music where I met Amats, whom I didn't recognize at
first... first two minutes actually. When she said "miss ko na Banahaw"
that's when it registered to my head. An MGB (Meteor Garden sa
Banahaw) fellow like Jen and I. Gosh, I feel a bit queaky (whatever
queaky is) in the stomach; I think I need to jebs now na. But -- mind
over matter. I have a pending philo discussion to attend to. There you
go. Nice and queaky. I forgot about it. Deliberately forgot about. I had
to forgo it. For the Love of KAPITAS, Yes I can. The discussion
went fine. Orderly. The topic was kabastusan so it was relatively easy and
there were only five people there -- two new mems and three apps -- that's
why I didn't feel threatened. Where are the kids?! Probably doing their
homeworks. Only a few of them make tambay these days. [When I discussed
"Rizal & His Filipino Philosophy",
which coincidentally fell on Rizal's 142nd birthday (June 19 last year), there
were like 6 kids plus Acad Com Head Ms. Khalim Tangilag.]
FEB 18 Wednesday
Dear Yraid,
We're coming home.
Kamatayan ni Kuya Boy ngayon. At 5:30am Ma and I rode a taxi.
"Never ask a taxi driver who he will vote for," I told my mom when we got
off it. Most likely he'll be pro-FPJ and he'll be defending his bet down
to the very end, don't you agree? I want to be dog: sit, stay, frolic in
the sand, play like there's no tomorrow. But at least I wasn't a poor
child; I didn't suffer child labor, I wasn't scold at by an illiterate
mother, I enjoyed the luxury of studying. We rode a bus, and another bus,
and at 8:45 we arrived at Inang's house. An hour later Tita Che and I went
to my adviser's wake; I stood for five minutes or so beside her coffin...
philosophizing. I remember my Philo 174 -- is the dead person the same
person you knew? (siya pa rin ba siya?) I had to ask myself, "What does it
mean to be dead?" How much of a difference does it make when you know a
family member is dying? Her family expected she's not going to be here for
long. Ok, my adviser's really dead. Personally I had to face that. I had a
big lunch at Inang's. We played with my baby cousins. Then my old cousins
and I made kuwento to each other. We even toyed with Reggie's
Nokia-camcorder. We all had merienda (Tita Lou cooked sopas, which had
meat in it, and tikoy). I petted the dogs there -- Tiyong Puti, Jingle,
Gagay, Buster, and Elsie. Ma and I left at 4 for the return trip, with the
return goods, eg: chocolates. Boob-tube time! Fastlane rocks.
FEB 19 Thursday
Dear Yraid,
Still sleepy. Do not try to pull me out of bed. If I do not pull myself up do
not do it for me. Do not talk me out of it. Do NOT. Ah, never mind. Ma did
it today. She made me walk the dog because it's late and she needed to go
to the bank. Bad omen. It's my devil you know, almost like Descartes. If
he had aversion to waking up early, I have aversion to being
waken up earlier than I want myself to be up. I have an alarm clock -- let
it do its job. If I didn't set if off, don't be the ring. See, I'm hanging
in front of the computer again. I'm passing my time out on Friendster
instead of making my thesis or my comic book script or calling to follow
up on the politicians or massaging my dog. GA at 4. I paid the water bill,
bought a CD-R, met with my constituents who weren't constituted enough to
form a quorum, went home. Home sweet home. If only my mother wasn't
menopausing. "You didn't answer the phone, you left your clothes lying on the floor
like garbage, blahblahblah." I told you before (through my behavior) that
it makes my day b-a-d-d. Do not wake me up mom. I hate you.
FEB 20 Friday
Dear Yraid,
The retired
Pol Sci prof made the sympo worth reacting to. From the Balay Kalinaw
after the Toki ride, I walked from Narra to AS. But in front of Educ I
encountered Kristyl. So we talked for a while... mga 40min, hehe. Made
chika about the Coke commercial girls who reported/purportedly got raped --
one of them chop-chopped. Made chika about Milo Kid Japoy's new
commercial. Made chika about certain people. Made chika about the
pollution. Made plans of watching ROTK. ad infinitum. Then the usual:
tambay. I graded our apps' academic papers, ate aplets&cotlets
(courtesy of Uncle Willie) with Aya and Anak, checked if Ayi went to her
2:30 class, saw my former former former crush who just broke up with his
gf; at 4 my former former crush passed by the tambayan, he was wearing his
trademark shades. And at 4:10 I attended the meeting (Aya and I were the
first ones there) about the CSSP Week. I saw Gabby -- my co-clubber who
also came from PE2TW -- on the ride home. Since he wants to go back and
train, I told him that we can train this Wednesday. Before we parted near
the overpass, a man from the MMDA's wrecking crew kicked a vendor's box,
which stunned me at first. Then I realized, this is just what I needed for
my comic book script. Nightfall. It's a wrat! I mean, a rat (pun intended
on wrap, like Britney Spears saying "It's a wrap!" after shooting a music
video). Ma asked me to help her trap the rat but I didn't. I bounced up and down when
I saw it. Later Ma cried and cried because she thinks I'm the most
valueless creep she knew. Perhaps more valueless than the rat she wants to
throw out of the house.
FEB 21 Saturday
Dear Yraid,
8:20am. Breathe in. It's the day of the
apps' Academic Interview. Breathe out. First applicant. The panel was
relaxed. Whew. Good thing for him. Second applicant. The panel still
relaxed. Third applicant. Ate Sherry (one of the past supremos) arrived.
NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Our applicant's doomed! Ate Sherry, the utmost
gadfly, won't let any applicant go without stinging them to life.
Fourth applicant. Oh my god. I hope she's doing okay now. Fifth applicant.
This is the stinger. We exceeded the normal 1-hr interview. It's almost
4:20pm. When the members came out of the room, our heads were almost
aching from the magnificence that was Ate Sherry. None of us were able to
stay for the Pasiklaban practice. I rode the jeep with Jubal (one of our
alumni panelists) and we talked about stuff. I asked her what she thinks
about Calai's pregnancy and we both ended up admiring her strong
personality. We scheduled our next trip to Ateneo-Rockwell. Gosh, I needed
to sleep. But then there's the rat. I told mother. She prepared the rat
pad and got him. Got the rat. I have a soft spot for rats so I
kinda cried when Ma was telling me to remove the pad and put it in the
garbage. He was squeaking. Ma made him (or her -- don't really know because
we only got acquainted last night) stop.
FEB 22 Sunday
Dear Yraid,
"Love... against all odds."
This is the summary of today's Gospel. So when some guy stood near me -- I
was outside the church because I was late -- I moved away. Haha. Hey, what
a great lunch I had. Ma perfected her daing na bangus at last.
Before she cooked it I asked her a question, "Why don't people eat rats?
At least the rats' status in society will be elevated in that way." Sh*t. Just
how absurd am I?
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