One Night

If I have my way
I’ll turn back time
And be on that right place with you
No regrets, no what if’s
Give me just one night
And you’ll see your future with me.

If I have my way
I’ll be at that place with you
Be there and wait for me
I’ll make everything all right
Just one night
That’s all I’d ever ask.

Bring me to that right moment
I’ll be there and I will stay
One night
No tears, no goodbyes
Hold you, kiss you
Make your dreams come true.

Lessons You Must Learn

     I did something which I won’t normally do if I am sane¾ I resigned from my work in an effort to join the millions of unemployed Filipinos. So why did I do it? I can list numerous reasons but I guess they will just boil down to this: I was sooooo burnt out!         

     Just imagine yourself trying to be Superman or Wonderwoman only to realize that you are not! For the past two years, I learned many valuable lessons. I’m going to list some here because…uhmm….well…because I have so much time to write now! Yey!  

1.     Sleeping an extra minute is much, much more sensible than having breakfast. 

2.     Snooze button is useless. 

3.      Staring at a blank monitor with a blinking cursor will make you sleep. 

4.     Train’s rocking motion will lull you to sleep.  

5.     When trying to sleep in a public transpo, put your chin on both your hands, otherwise you’ll find yourself being stared at because they caught you sleeping with your mouth wide open (drools for extra humiliation). 

6.     Centrum is not good for the body. If you swallow it and you have esophagus as narrow as mine, you’ll die choking in attempt to make yourself healthier. My suggestion? Throw the pill and get more sleep, grab more food, watch more TV, drop the pen and completely stop working. But if you are sane, just gulp loads of water after taking the gigantic pill. 

7.     Eating when your mouth is full is not rude at all. It exercises your multi-tasking ability: eating and catching up with your friends’ lives. 

8.     If you will make teaching your profession, throw all your beauty products. Or give them away. You won’t be able to use them. 

9.     You can sleep while appearing to be listening to your friend talking. Trust me, I did it so many times I was never caught. 

10.            After high school, choose the best school for college. The more expensive it is, the better! And then, hang out with the richest group. Seduce one of the guys. Make him marry you. Don’t work! Be a rich bum (but rich nonetheless!) and live, eat, and sleep happily ever after!!!   

Note: The ideas presented were not entirely those of the writer. It was her alter ego writing. Plus, she’s saner. She have a new job.

Rollerblades and Bikes

 I remember it all so well. I was caught at the middle of a very heavy traffic one humid afternoon. There I was, at lunchtime, sitting in a bus with a screaming baby in my front and a crazy old woman behind me who seemed to think that my hair has this huge signboard that says pull to stop. Needless to say, I was so irritated and on a verge of hysteria. I want to scream at the driver! I want to yell at that traffic! I want to ball my fist and yell at the sky!
     Then it happened. As if in a movie. A motorcycle zoomed passed our bus. Passed other cars. Passed the trucks and disappeared out of the traffic. Wow. At that very moment, I was filled with this overwhelming desire to own a motorcycle!
     I had so many plans for us. I will ride on it. We will breeze through traffic in no time at all. We will go through alleys and the narrowest street. People will look at me and will think that I am the coolest babe in town. Yeah, I want that motorcycle!
     But then, I remembered something! I do not even know how to ride a bike.
     Who am I kidding? Me? In a motorcycle?
     Sure.
     I tried to put my feet once in roller blades. Incredible! I did this funny herky-jerky spin and finally landed flat on my butt. I swore off anything that has wheels on them after that.
     However, I am turning into a senile old woman. I forgot all about me being wheel-cursed or something. Last year, my guy had the bad judgment to teach me the rudiments of driving. It was a disaster. My foot cannot seem to step on the right pedal. Plus, I cannot seem to get my eyes off the road or my hands off the steering wheel. So it is either somebody will shift gears for me or I have to grow a new arm to stop the car from crashing. My guy had to remind me all the time to step on the gas, let go of the brake, shift to 1st gear and so on. (I do not want to think that I am stupid or what, so I will just blame this weird phenomenon to some part of my confused and wired-up cerebellum). He stopped teaching me after that. Either he feared for our safety or he was worried about insurance.
     What is the problem with me? I cannot drive, cannot balance myself on a bike, cannot make those blades to roll and I do not even want to think about trying it on a skateboard! No wonder I almost flunked my physics in high school. I have so little concept of motion and speed and velocity.
     Well, I guess some things are really left for someone else to do. And I am hoping that maybe I was not created to drive a car or ride a bike.

     My Guy up there must have some other idea. Maybe He does not want me behind wheels, struggling for directions, cursing pedestrians and forever getting my BP taken.

     Maybe, just maybe, what He wants for me is to stand still for a while and fly…            

Keeping Tabs

            I was surprised to realize that ten years ago, I started my “career” as a college freshman. A decade ago. I am suddenly feeling so ancient!

            I was 17 then–straight from high school. I remember thinking: “It’s my first day of school…college…independence! First act of independence: COOL-ness. Yeah. I think I read too much of those Seventeen magazines, advising freshmen-would-be on how to “look best” on your first day of school (moral: Don’t trust a magazine!Ever!) So, there I was in my most hideous attire (imagine: knee-length white basketball socks and brown hiking shoes); feeling so cool in my skintight turtleneck blouse and checkered skorts¾yeah, that garment that is neither a skirt nor short!

           

            Let me tell you (and bore you!) with the manner I wounded up with the weirdest bunch in my school (at least, in my opinion). I will tell about them according to the event that I first “encountered” them (Note: Names are changed to protect the privacy of the persons involved.):

1. Rem. DingDong Dantes. The first guy I met. I was seated next to him and we ended up chatting about the religious aspect of our lives. I was thinking: “What an accent! With that kind of voice, he can work in a call center (hehe). Which he did after 5 years. But this was his problem: He wass tooo nice! The guy-next-door-type. Opening doors for you, picking up handkerchiefs…the works! Always the perfect gentleman you could kill him for being such a nice guy. He ran and won (I swear, even Rem was surprised himself!) in the Student Council and I was worried because after that, he started assuming the image of Anak Pawis, KMU and Bayan Muna insurgents. But my worry was short-lived. He returned to his old self¾wore turban in Bicol with his too cool shirts, too cool hair and too cool English accent (sorry Ron_ie!). He is now married and living in Timbuktu. Poor guy.

1.  Apol. We sometimes call her Lorrraine (nope, the 3 R’s are not typo errors). I was seated next to her in our English 101 since our professor seated us alphabetically (how highschool-ish!). I thought she was quirky. She thought I was a snob. We made small talks. She showed me her then boyfriend’s picture. She thinks he was awesome. I thought he was awful. We started getting along fine when a guy, swagger and all (lets call him Reyman the Man) enrolled in our class. He was asked to sit between me and Lorrraine. And that’s when my friendship with Lorrraine blossomed. What? Making a fool out of Reyman the Man was nothing but hysterical. Subject and predicate was as alien to him as E.T. Back to Lorrraine. The problem with her? She was too small (fine with me). She was a sleepyhead. She was an OC (imagine: shoeboxes with labels). And I loved meddling with her love life. She now has an as-cute-as-her-ninangs-baby girl from a husband who was her boyfriend of two weeks. Poor guy.

1. Chee. Everything about him screams: “I’m a Rockstar!” How did we become buddies? Uhmm.. I can’t remember anymore. He talked with practically everybody in the class. He talked. Period. That’s his favorite. He loves to talk and giggle. You’d think because he grew up in Tondo, he’d be a tough guy. He is as tough as a worn out punching bag. He is soft at heart (I’m getting sentimental now). His attitude usually called for beating from the bad guys. But I remember him most for his The Grind moves. I will also remember him for dumping my girl-friend. But she’s happy now. I’ve forgiven him. The problem with Chee? He was so hyperactive! He would have finished running the whole soccer field even before you say the word “Run!” He sang a lot. He danced a lot. He wrote a lot. He giggled a lot. He jumped a lot. He talked a lot. And he did all these simultaneously (haha). He had a short but fun-filled stint as an entertainer for noisy kids in Intramuros. He now works as a comedian, taking calls and making them laugh, I bet. Last I saw him, he was wearing this really hot shirt and a pair of neat brown shoes. I still prefer his battered, smelly sneakers, though. Poor guy.

1. Jethro-  The gigolo. I met him because he introduced himself to me. Actually, he was introducing himself to all the girls in the class. Talking to him was like talking to Xerex himself in person. I always wondered what was with this guy that made him so popular to all the girls. Me? Fortunately, we had a purely platonic relationship (sorry I really have to emphasize that). To his disappointment. Haha. He was the only guy in the group I was most friends with. I won’t tell you anymore why because I am protecting the interest of some people here. We had the same passion for food. We fought over fatty foods, junk foods, and street foods. We got along so much because he was my male counterpart. That’s the reason too why we argued sometimes. I messed his love life (I hope he’s forgiven me) but I think he is very happy now. The problem with Jethro? He was such a clown! My belly ached with all his weird stunts. A typical boring stare-a-thon (those days when our pockets and stomach were empty and all we had to do was stare at each other, waiting who among us would be kind enough to shell out his/her last penny) would turn out to be a full-blown reality comedy. I’m surprised he did not become an actor. He could pull some people’s legs, really. And what an appetite! I was always amazed that he always managed to looked malnourished even though he ate like a horse (like me). He is now married with a son (I’m not sure if there are two of them now). Last I heard of him, his belly is so huge he could pass for a Santa. I guess all those fatty foods took their effects at last. Poor guy.

1. Arlando. Let’s call him Maynard the Weird. I mean it. The guy is weird. He was often teased for bringing his older sister at the first day of class. We made sure he would never forget that. Hehe. We were thinking: “What a baby!” but how wrong we all were! The guy can kick some ass. Literally or otherwise. I remember him most for his monotonous voice and one-word witty remarks. The problem with Maynard? He was too weird and too cool. I thought I could never be friends with him because I’m waaay too jologs for him. Moral: Be yourself and you’re cool, man. He smirks at those clowns who tried to be as cool as him. (Trivia: How many times have I used the word cool here? Winner takes home a bag of Boy Bawang). After four years, he finally managed to call me by my name! Want an event that was! We were like: “Did you notice Maynard finally called me by my name?!” We were in awe. Why? He always called people “Dude” “Tol” “Pare” or any nicknames he can come up with. And he said them in a voice that is too derogatory not to find amusing. Another thing, the guy is a genius. He was too weird I was surprise that the guy’s brain was functioning at all. I don’t know what goes in his head but man; his brain is meatier than his bones. (I’ll dedicate more space for him and for my next subject for reasons you’ll know later). To know him is to be with him. What is ironic though is this…weird as he is, of all my college buddies, he is the only one who manages and maintains communication to most of us. He’ll drop a note here and an SMS there. But he’s too busy now with his career and foxy girlfriend all he can manage is a “Gusto mo manood ng concert?” text message. Last I heard he is earning big bucks Bill Gates is worried. I also heard he has a gf (at last!) and he calls her baby (wha-aaat)!? Is that you?! And last I saw him, he is still the same. Only softer somehow. Smiles often. Laughs often. Less cynical towards life. Poor guy.

1. Melanie Cloud. The girl that is too cool (sorry! That’ll be the last one. Swear.)for anything. I met her through…uhmm…let’s not talk about how we met. All I can say is that it took us one semester to make her talk. Whenever she was with us, she would do nothing but smile with those chinky eyes of hers. We wondered if she was mute or something. Of course later, we found out that she was as mute as Jay Leno. I love going with her to ukayan. She has this weird fashion sense that I really like. Cute. I endured some of her drama moments and she endured ALL of mine (hehe, not fair). We both love to read. Hers is Gary Paulsen, mine is anybody who can write. She claims she doesn’t read best-selling authors (but I bet she sneaks at Powerbooks and scan them) but when I lend her Garcia-Marquez’s One Hundred Years in Solitude, our souls were finally one. Her passions were music, books and uhmm..can I say his name here? Maybe not now. Last I heard she still works at a nightclub and WOW-ing people. I also heard she has herself a man. Good for her. She deserves to be happy. And finally, last I saw her; she has grown her hair back. She matches her boyfriend’s. Poor them.

And me? Well…I manage to screw some parts of my life but it’s a good thing I kept some tools in my backpack and straightened them out just in time. I still think I’m too ordinary compared to these guys but I guess that makes me different, too, huh? I still read, I still eat junk foods, I still struggle with directions (please somebody tell me where is the North!) and yeah, I still have THAT skorts!

 

This is them today:

         Chee                   Jethro             Rem

   Maynard          Melanie                Apol (center)

           2000                                  2005

Note: Some friends I have…they actually allowed me to go out with hair like those in the pictures…eww..

Appropriate

I have been to a lot of acquiantance parties and of course, it’s a place where you’re asked for your name, where you live, what you do…boring stuff. But these are niceties I can’t get away from (that is, if I want to be “socially” acceptable).

I’m feeling nice today so maybe I’ll write some of the “boring stuff” not because society calls for it but because as a “new comer”, this’ll be an appropriate thing to do.

On the other hand, I have seldom been appropriate so maybe, if it’s your interest, you’ll know more as I stay here more. There’s no better way to know a person than hear what they say. So, I’ll let my keyboard become my voice and, hey, let’s start from that.