Polu Kai & Wilgin

Two Names to sum up the weekend.

SATURDAY: Afternoon at Galleria to pick up Twilight books for Sis while taking advantage of Lola's NBS employee discount. After this it's the bargain basement Nicholas Sparks books on hardcover.

Later tonight it was time to meet her circle of friends at the Hawaiian-themed Polu Kai restaurant in Serendra (but not before hanging out at Fully Booked). One of them (belated B-Day celebrant Pearl) was escorted by BoiT to her ball when she was a sophie in ICA. Tonight was a post birthday and prewedding dinner w/ fiance Mark. To complete the roster there was Tanya (niece of not-name-dropping-just-stating-fact Lani Mercado), her beau Jay (saxophonist), Leslie and Vince (commercial model and current ambassador of MSG--seriously).

Food was similar to your average big-family meal resto, save for the half-off cocktails menu for first time customers (she had a mai tai). After dinner it was a nightcap at CB&TL and occasionally receiving texts from Ma. Sigh.

At least this time a good excuse for the lateness was to be had, namely getting lost on the road again (really hate driving out of The Fort at night) before finding our way back to Ortigas. The long winding trip gave us an opportunity for A Talk. Boundaries weren't exactly set, but she knew where I stood on things. While she hasn't fallen, at least she's leaning in that direction. While I said she scores Yes answers on my 3 Qs to know when I'm into someone (plus the uncanny amount of things we have in common), she said I make her laugh. One down, 3 to go. And no besos this time. We're moving on to body contact.

SUNDAY: TinTin's wedding day. She met Wilgin at the wedding of 2 other Beijinoys, Ajin and Edison (who were present, along w/ Joy, Eileen and Ivy at both ceremonies). Vows were exchanged at the church in Damar Village (I did First Reading, Boit on Responsorial Psalm and Wilson on Second Reading). 'Son and I spent most of the ceremony commenting on the camera and video people. The lady photographer stood out mostly because of her hunched, s-shaped frame, like someone externally following her spinal curvature. If this was the long-term effect of lugging around 2 bulky digital SLRs w/ big-@$$ lenses attached to them at a time, I would've invested either in hiring an assistant to let him handle impending scoliosis or buy a push-cart.

After the wedding we stopped by the newlyweds home, located on the 3rd floor of a vertical condo almost similar to the one I stayed in in Beijing, only less cramped. The multi-colored blips and faux crystal cover on the ceiling lights were enough to convince me that a Chonker thought of the design. (The 2 40-inch Samsung LCDS were a good distraction.) Snacks were served in the form of sodas, bottled water, mamon and chiffon cakes.

Reception was at the Makati Shang, where they set up a snack stands (mildly spicy mixed nuts and mild wasabi-flavored potato chips) and a water bar outside the Rizal Ballroom.

We were again treated to the hosting skills of Michael. Didn't win the Bingo game, but at least they decided to forego any bouquet/garter-centered games.

(Non) Date Dont's

"It's a non-date," he told himself. A date is dinner and/or a movie, a nice stroll, mebbe watching her shop for clothes and shoes while observing other men with their own female companions doing the same. At best tonight was gimik thing watching a show (free S.P.I.T. performance again).

Then fate (or luck) steps in. One friend calls in sick. Other friend to visit a sick relative. The sick scenario is never disputed nor questioned, he knows. Not that he's ever used that excuse before (he prefers the no-transportation line). Smooth sailing? Not exactly. Murphy's Law was being enforced.

First, the unwanted promise of a rainstorm. News said it was passing by 48 hours ago, but apparently it doubled-back just to screw w/ his day. He already knew the romantic concept of rain is only when you're indoors.

After nervously looking at every other street corner to make sure he didn't miss making that crucial left turn, he found the house. While entering the driveway in reverse (practice) gate he hears a crunching noise (needs more practice). Great first impression at the house, Poindexter. Luckily it was just a scratch on the plastic fender. Taillights were still intact. Why did she want him to come in when both of them were already good to go? To meet her father. Ah. Nice.

Second, the traffic jams. Didn't help that he made that right turn at Buendia too soon and had to take the long U-turn back to correct it. Didn't help that all that pitter-patter of H2O made him (and his non-date) want to hit the loo the second they got outta the car.

Third, when about to pay the parking fee guess who forgot his wallet? (Sure he had time to pack a camera but didn't take any decent pictures. Who needs money?!?)

She was amazing during the whole thing, paying for everything, including the lemongrass chicken dinner and 2 light beers. Yes, he owes her in more ways than one.

She was slightly shell-shocked at being out "late" (it was barely past 9) the loudness of the cafe and the potency of the light beer. Obviously she hasn't been out this "late" lately, at least not on a (non) date. Meanwhile his dad keeps calling him on his cel just because he's still outside when he said he'd be home by ten! Sigh. Both liked tonight's performance for the most part, epsecially when the joke didn't consist of rambling like a reality show host at the Emmys.

With the Cinderella curfew they hightailed it immediately after the show. Second to the last mistake was going the wrong way in EDSA (AIRPORT sign was the clincher). Thank you, big-@$$ U Turn. Now on the right path they barely make it before midnight. It might've ended w/ a handshake had he not said, "No, too formal" (his brain was saying come ON...) and instead went for the beso. As he drove off to leave the compound the gate he first came in when he picked her up was already closed. Murphy's Law endcap, thank you very much.

She texted "it was an unforgettable night." Can't wait to do it again.

Wealthy Wanker Showoff of the Day

Some posers just deserve to be observed like an anthropology project. Case in point: spotted at my local bank today..

Showy jewelry: check. Inconsiderate use of celphone: check. Sign on back that says, "ROB ME": missing.

SMX NBS and B&D VH 900

It's uncanny how the new girls I meet all studied in the same high school. It's that's a Sign the only thing I'm interpreting from it is other school-girls are either married or not getting out much.

But let today be a day of fates and irrationales. Had I not decided to go the SMX to check out the Book Fair, I might not have run into Lola at the National Bookstore booth and met her friends Liza and Paige, both avid bibliophiles. While Liza bought the lion's share of books (and upon my recommendation bought Book 2 of the colored version of Bone, though I offered to just give her d-loaded versions of Books 1-7) to also avail of free bags, I disappointed Lola by buying a nonfiction title (she's in charge of ordering all the fiction titles for NBS) and accidentally spilling some of her (thankfully not too hot) cafe latte.

I might have decided to spend the rest of the afternoon w/ Liza and Paige, in between deciding whether or not to watch Hellboy II (didn't) or have an early dinner at Tokyo Cafe (did). I might not have enjoyed spending time and chatting about books, pop culture, online RPG marriages and the nuances of tsinoy family life. But I did. And I'm glad.

I parted ways w/ the girls and met up w/ Ma at Ace Hardware. At the end of her shopping stint we asked for a demonstation of their Black & Decker VH 900 vaccum cleaner. The sales clerk was trying to push us towards those gray, egg-shaped "As Seen on TV" vaccum cleaners, w/c I was suspicious of. He plugged in the latter to how us how it had stronger suction power. Yeah, yeah, I thought, just get to the one we want. When the clerk turned it on the VH 900 did seem weaker, so I decided to give it a try to make sure. Not two seconds after I turned it did the power on it go out and we smelled something burning. The frakking thing blew a fuse! I told the clerk in Tagalog "That better not be 110 (volts)," and Ma and I decided to hold off buying a new vaccum cleaner, at least until we can get one that only sucked in function, not quality.

Sy Association Run. (Run, Association. Run!)

My father has few constants in life: Casino Filipino after lunch, control freak issues and Sy Association officer duties. Guess which one I tolerate w/ease.

One family obligation I have never been a big fan of is having to attend Sy Association luncheons or dinners. Now as the only child left unmarried, as well as being default driver on Sundays, my presence becomes more or less mandatory.

These meetings are always held either at President's Tea House in Binondo or Dragon Gate Seafood Restaurant along Roxas Boulevard. Today it was at the latter to commemorate their 50th Anniversary. Every year I show up I don't recognize a single face if it didn't belong to a relative, and even then it's a crap shoot where my father's side of the family is concerned. Every year they have members (or more recently the inaptly-named youth org that's lacking in youths) sing Chinese songs onstage amidst a barely attentive audience too busy scarfing down coldcuts or whatever part of the 8-10 course meal has been presented.

By way of compensation (or "thanks for putting up w/ this") raffles are held. Sadly the odds are always against me in terms of winning prizes bigger than Door. Still, ang bao beats Certificate of Attendance anytime. All I have to do it sit w/o interacting w/ unfamiliar faces and listen to godawfully interpreted songs. Like wathing a pre-school Xmas play/variety program. If I had no scruples I'd get up on stage and belt out some Air Supply. That'll shut 'em up. ;)

* * *

On our way home Ma and I stopped by that new SM grocery store along Nagtahan. If its goal was to compete w/ the Robinsons Otis I'd say it already lost by not offering free parking. We felt "compelled" to buy some fruits (and a bottle of mustard) so we can't say we paid 25 bucks just to look around.

Slice N Dice

Ma has an annual Mooncake dice game w/ her old classmates every year. This year Pa couldn't make it (Sy Association officer duties), so I subbed for him. The "Gang" (a number of whom I've met and travelled with) met at what was formerly the Hancourt restaurant at Annapolis Street in Greenhills. Halfway through the 8-course meal most of us were already feeling full. (Senior citizens don't need much, really.)

As for the dice game we played for cash and hopia bought from Salazar's Bakery. Every ang bao won also netted you 1 hopia of various sizes (bigger prize, bigger hopia). Eventually we ran out of hopia and started giving away the dinner leftovers and unopened cans of Coke. (Like I said, they didn't need much.)

I didn't do too bad, especially compared w/ Ma's game (tip: toss dice w/ only one hand). My biggest prize was from getting 2 sets of triples--3 ones and 3 fives. While Ma didn't make back her thousand-bucks-per-head buy-in (x2), we did end up w/ a lot of hopia and leftover chicken and abalone soup scooped from a coconut.

All I did was show up, eat some seafood and left w/ almost 900 smackers. It was the low-end version of Paris Hilton being paid just to show up at a party. (Only w/o the venereal disease and subsequent sex video.)

Be Cool Weekend

Typing this from my cousin's house in Bagumbayan. Just had toron, and before that 200mg of Midol. Think of it as preemptive medication for what my cousins are telling me about impending muscle soreness after wakeboarding.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

SATURDAY--
Didn't sleep before the 6:45AM flight to Naga (weekend trip w/ the 'Rents and 4-Ku) and instead organized all my recent comics purchases (missing #107 --but inadvertently bought a variant of #54 on sale-- of Ultimate Spider-Man). We left the house a little after 4AM, and at he new Terminal 3 we ran into Ninong Jess Robredo (mayor of Naga City), and the mayor of Palawan standing w/ us at the check-in line.

While it was certainly bigger than our last two international airports upon closer scrutiny you can tell some things were rushed at NAIA 3. Water stains on the ceiling. Flatscreen TVs brought in from the original NAIA because the airport flight information monitors weren't working. Airport clocks were out-of-order, too, so God help you if you come in late and watchless.

We had sammiches and coffee at Dèlifrance, who thankfully retained their original overpriced menu items, as opposed to the average inflated airport price. (And they have WiFi! Shoulda brought the laptop.) At baggage inspection they asked 4-Ku to check in his bag because he brought a Swiss Army Knife and safety razor. Meanwhile, despite the liquid ban my big bottles of mouthwash and shampoo made it through w/o incident. Near the end of the X-Ray machine was a giant dropbox holding all the confiscated cosmetic and toiletry liquid containers exceeding 100ml in volume. What a smelly and fragrant waste.

Half an hour's nap later we landed in Bicol. We settled in 5-Kim's recently renovated Mabulo house (now w/ way-better bathrooms, plasma TVs and no sign of flood damage) before going to the ribbon-cutting and blessing ceremonies of the SeaOil Mega Station. Now surrounding the Seaoil Olivan gas station was the Olivan Home Depot (run by son Donald), Total Smiles Dental Center (run by daughter Wenny), a Ford service center and a branch of Banco De Oro. Across the street was a Shakey's, Mercury Drugstore, The Coffee Beanery, David's Salon, PruLife UK and Little A.Sia Restaurant, apparently not connected w/ Little Asia (and cutting it close w/ the copyright issue).

Festivities included a motorcade, a marching band, balloon constructs, buffet food, relatively sexy models w/ SeaOil Lubricants printed on their tanktops (LUBRICANTS printed strategically below the boobline, a seemingly subliminal incentive for customers who need more convincing after they read the Free gift w/ every purchase of Lubricant sign out front), lion dancers and street kids waiting to take advantage of the post-blessing coin and candy tossing (and swipe some of the balloons). One display in the Olivan Home Depot I thought was clever was the bathroom setup fastened on the wall in a 90-degreee angle, including toilet and sink! Wasted a perfectly good copy of Maxim, though.

Post-festivity activity for me was a trip to Pasacao, Ma's hometown. We stopped by her old office/home, SeaOil's refineries (hidden behind Shell's bigger refineries) and a couple of small beach resorts. The Euresian (sic) Resort's loosely placed stone flooring made for difficult walking, and light fixtures on the patio were non-existent. At the Seascape Beach Resort (rumored to be owned by relative of ex Erap suckup Ronnie Zamora), there was a single cottage w/ satellite TV hookeup, but also an ugly coastline at low tide, where you can see everything you wish you hadn't stepped on had it been high tide. The one common feature of these beach resorts is copra. Ah, the smell of dried coconut meat. Distinctly Bicol.

Dinner was at the Red Platter where we were served Dampa-like entrees of seafood (didn't touch the paella negra). Missed the mango shake on the menu and ended up w/ mango nectar. Brownies and Food for the Gods for dessert. Caught up on some reading before going to bed, the A/C's glowing blue LEDs beaming down on my as I slept.

SUNDAY--
Donald took me to the CWC (CamSur Waterboarding Center). Since it was morning there weren't that many people (nor an Aga Mulach sighting) and the sun wasn't beating down too badly. One waiver form, vest and helmet later and I was set. After some tips from Don ("lean to the left") and 1 round w/ the beginner's board (wiped out after 1 round), I took up the skis.

One thing Don didn't tell me was if you use the skis the speed of the cable pull forcibly shoves the water up your butt like a bidet on steroids. Every minute I was skiing I was also getting an involuntary enema and choppy water chafing on the hiney. The 1st two turns were treacherous as it lulls you into a false sense of security before the 3rd (as well as the 5th and last) snap and pull you even faster, threatening to wipe you out and remove your shorts (note: wear securely-tied shorts).

What surprised me was that it wasn't the wipeouts that... wiped you out, but swimming back to shore. At certain parts of the artificial lake a weary wagon can pick you up and take you back to start, otherwise you paddle and wade through the murky, tasteless (probably drank a glassful) water, pulling the skis/board along. When I finally moved on to the board I managed to ride (and wipe out 4 seconds later) it before our hour was up.

Don comes here so often he meets more tourists from Manila than I do, even his ear doctor Ato (whom I also met, along w/ his colleague Mai). After a chicken burger lunch and a Joey Marquez sighting we drove back to Bagumbayan, but not before dropping off Ato and his colleagues at the institute for the deaf they were working in.

Spent the rest of the day (and evening) at Bagumbayn, so, back full circle w/ the blogging. Butt and abs sore now. Shoulder blades to follow.

Chip IN My Shoulder

The persistent consequence of the P90X program is still persisting: pain in my left shoulder area.

Describe the pain, please.

Pinchy, but from the inside.

When does it hurt?

When I raise my elbow almost above my chest.

What else have you noticed?

Once in a while I hear either a small pop or a dull grinding sound when I move my left arm across my chest.

Any swelling or bleeding?

Nope.

Have you taken any medication?

Alaxan, but it doesn't help.

Have you sought any other kind of treatment?

Twice I had a massage. Afterward the pain went away, but after about 24 hours it came back.

Yargh, Me Mall Mateys

(Made a voice memo about this on my cellphone yesterday, but still forgot to blog it. My memo needs memo.)

I was reading The Graveyard Book while waiting for Dee at the Coffee Bean (and Tea Leaf) of Robinson's Place when I saw a burly foreign dude pass by. He was sporting a wooden leg (hard to miss since he wore Bermuda shorts) that started just below his left knee.

In this age of plastics, pneumatics and flesh tone latex rubber it was surprising to see something so old school in terms of prosthetics. Given his physique the guy was one eyepatch and a parrot away from being a pirate, only his "peg leg" was punctuated w/ a big brown left shoe instead of a stump.

I was temped to take a picture but couldn't set up the cellphone cam in time (plus I was doing that stupid voice memo thing). Then again if he saw me he might have keelhauled my ass.

* * *

Went to purchase tickets for me and the 'Rents for a trip to Naga this weekend at the Air Philippines office. While waiting for the receipt another couple --old man and I'm assuming his daughter-- came in to purchase tickets. By coincidence they were also going to Naga on the same date.

When I went to meet up Dee at the Coffee Bean who should also arrive but the same old man and daughter. They even took the table next to mine, with the old man sitting while daughter goes in to order. I was thinking of asking him about their trip but what seems to be an amusing coincidence in thought might seem creepy-stalkerish in reality.

"Hello, 'di mo po ako kilala but I was at the Air Philippines office when you and-- anak mo ba yun-- were getting tickets. Punta rin po kayo sa Bicol? Ako rin!"