NagaDay and NagaNight

Flew in w/ the 'Rents to Naga via Cebu Pacific. Airport displays Thank You banners of JP Enrile and Bong Revilla, much to my disgust. The driver of 5-Kim's CBD Plaza Hotel shuttle service picked us up, and on the way to Mabulo (5-Kim's place where we stayed for the duration of this trip) I was given some insight into Gov. Villafuerte's ego (or insecurities) when every other multi-purpose hall and waiting shed had his named painted on their roofs.

Had birthday mi-sua for breakfast at birthday man 3-Ku's house in Bagumbayan before we headed out to visit dearly departed relatives at their gravesites. While dearly departed 2-Ku's gated tomb at Sto. Niño Memorial Park could use some work, 5-Kim's parents have an air-conditioned mausoleum complete w/ cable-tv access and welcome garden. Went back to 3-Ku's place and had krispy pata, clam soup and salted sliced tomatoes for lunch. Fruit desserts included grapes, home-made mango ice cream and insect-riddled lanzones.

That afternoon we went to CBD Plaza Hotel (located along the sycophantic sounding Ninoy & Cory Avenue), the latest working project of the Maryselle Olivan mini-empire (future projects include a wet market and an extra wing added to the 60-room hotel). While for me the room rates are a little steep (minimum 1000 for overnight stays 500 for... 3-hour naps), the rooms weren't too shabby. The Schindler elevator had a nice futuristic design, contrasted by act deco lighting fixtures in the lobby and their America-circa-1959 polka dot curtains. Someone should also talk to them about Photoshopping the wrinkles out of the not-so-tightly-tucked-in bedsheets on their room gallery menu.

When the (older) adults opted to drive outta town to check out the Seaoil refineries, I asked to be driven back to Mabulo, where I web-browsed and caught up on much-needed sleep. A couple of hours later Evett went in the room to change for the 3-Ku's bday party. Good thing he did, too, because everybody else thought I already went ahead to the party venue, and they would've gone ahead had Evett not decided to change to a red shirt.

I'm sure hosting 3-Ku's 70th birthday party at a place called Lolo's Music Bar and Restaurant was just a coincidence. Who cares, they served good cheesesticks, chicken fingers, cucumber and carrot sticks for appetizers, salad, angel-hair pasta and steak, and pie ala mode. The highlight of the program was the professionally produced/edited AVP of 3-Ku's kids, grandkids and wife Auntie Rose talking about him in one-on-one interviews w/ old pictures spliced in between. No star-wipes or corny-@$$ graphics, just sincere and heartfelt stories.

Another thing to look forward to at Olivan parties is when 4-Ku and my ninong, Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo sit at the same table for some political and business gossip. Screw SNN, this is where the really juicy stuff comes out. Thing was, it was hard to catch all the dirt when the restaurant's featured singing quartet kept belting out at crucial moments of Ninong Jess' anecdotes. Some highlights: Chiz and BF may be moving to support Noynoy, Erap's popularity waning, the Villafuertes feud is only for show, Mar may be in the closet, and retired generals really run The Show. We're actually living in a militocracy.

The storytelling, sans Ninong Jess, continued at a coffee bar nightcap. I learned it was bad to do business w/ SMC, warehouse rental is viable, and you have better odds at a casino than investing in the foreign exchange market.

Birthday Boy Barandiaran at Boni

It was deja vu when I found myself back at The Fort Strip to attend Manol's open bar birthday party, two days short of a year.

Piedra was now called Fuel. I came alone: no Diana, TinTin or The Ex. This year I had dinner first w/ Fernds, Jella and her friend Jade at the Cafe resto next to The Fort. Manol, Dave and Marco joined us later on for some storytelling. It was also my second time too meet Feesca (and her hubby Ed) face-to-face (when I'm not leaving relatively humorous comments on her Facebook page, that is).

The music was just as loud, tho' the DJ couldn't decide on a specific decade for his playlist. I had a better time this year, surprisingly, as I was able to mingle more. I even tested my tolerance for low-level alkie drinks, now up to 2 Rum&Cokes. Whoo, I'm a lush.

Quiz Show

My initial reluctance to attend my first ever Quiz Night at Alegro 121 Bar (Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati) was born out of an irrational fear of driving to faraway (read: any place that needs thorough map reading from me) bars and passive laziness. I committed myself to making the trip by asking Rona and Dee to join me after I got the invite from The Contessa.

Thankfully the enjoyable evening put my fears to rest. I thought Rons and I arrived early, but in turned out Contessa 'n' Friends were having a ciggie break outside. I found that out too late and registered the team name Contessa in her honor. (They used to be Team Itlog, for some reason.) We had 2-3 false starts w/ the whiteboard markers, and I was made de facto Board Scribe. More people (and Dee) arrived in time for gametime.

We started slow w/ Sports (Manny Pacquiao) and Geography, but thankfully I/we/I killed in the Steve Martin and Cartoon Sidekicks categories (save for one hiccup in the former --Leap of Faith, idiot, not Keep the Faith-- and the names of Inspector Gadget's dog, Bravestarr's horse, the Jetson's springy pet and Space Ghost's monkey in the latter). Everyone in the group was dumbfounded (no pun intended) by my writing down correct movie and cartoon answers like Hollywood Rain Man. For my part I always knew useless stock knowledge would only prove useful in party situations and not employment options. Everyone on our table w/ a digicam wanted a picture w/ me as a keepsake. (Hurrah, geekdom!)

The Science category we did ok in, but stunk in Current Events. Whatever chance we had of winning any gift certificates was long gone. But who cares? Rons bought me a beer (tardiness penalty) and I had fun. Got home past 1AM w/ Ma waiting for me upstairs, but still had fun.

Oh, Bi the Way...

My fellow TV-n-Movie pal had "kwento" to share. No, it wasn't about the Ex texting her (although that did happen). This time she was about to share news about her being in a relationship. Can't share the conversation verbatim, but key words for me were manic depressive, second suicide attempt, drugs, cry for help and writer. (Ok, that last one wasn't really as bothersome.)

They're old graduate college classmates, but she never finished getting her master's degree. She said she ran into him at this year's book expo (man, that event's starting to feel more like a curse than a coincidence) where she was working and reconnected there. Recently the guy had another "episode" and is currently seeking treatment scheduled (read: "confined") until January next year.

Being that this is her first "real" like-like relationship in 2 shades of forever, this wasn't so much dangling her toes in the water and more like jumping into the Olympic diving pool for wading lessons. Ignorance and an overactive imagination had me picturing Tim Burton, Vincent van Gogh and Jeremy Sisto's bipolar character Billy in Six Feet Under. My Freudian slip came when I said, "Well at least manic-depressive lang, hindi bipolar." (Later research reveals they're the same thing. Oops and yikes.)

That said, you can't help who you fall for, and when you do you're more forgiving of their past. Being her selfish, concerned and ignorant friend, I played supportive Devil's advocate. I told her I'm happy she's happy, but thought she could do better. I said I worry for her physical safety, but if her effect on him is similar to Helen Hunt on Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets, then I guess she'll be fine.

Ok, I'm gonna stop now before I shove my foot up my mouth any further and have to go to Mr. Quickie for treatment.

Ad Extremeet

The classmates of SJCS 1994 have long since gone their separate ways and "cliques." Last night wasn't what I'd call a 15th Anniversary reunion. It's not like I'd call up everybody on the batch directory and hope they show up. Just those I feel close or enjoy talking to... and hope they show up. About half of them made it.

In a way this meeting was arranged for Irene's (second from left) benefit. Sem-break had just started in SJCS (where she works) and she said she doesn't get out much, much less go out w/ friends. Two birds and all that, I thought. Contact a specific group of friends and a mini-reunion out of it. Keep the gathering small, intentionally or otherwise. Nikki, Wijinne, Stonibert, Wendy and Jean Agnes had to bow out.

(In hindsight I broke my own rule of not going to a expensive restaurant since the main goal was to meet friends and chat, not order pricey pasta.)

Everyone who came had been my classmate at one point, be it in elementary or high school. I seemed to have the most amount of recall w/ recognition, as Junius (second from right) barely remembers. Then again I forgot Jasper (behind Junius) didn't graduate w/ us and instead continued his studies in Singapore. Now to update from left to right:

Lisabelle Chan (Teng) is married to Gilbert Teng and now works as a Bowen Technique practitioner and Physiotherapist at Fort BGC Branch of The Spa.

Irene Tang Uy works in the administration office of Saint Jude Catholic School.

Adeline Ting works in the administration office of Philippine Cultural High School.

Jasper Soon works on government information technology projects.

Junius Yu is a published author, w/ the first book of his Legends of the 9 fantasy series already out and available at Fully Booked. He is currently working on the second book.

Baby Talk

In my attempt to save electricity I inadvertently woke up my 3-going-4-year-old nephew Jian from his afternoon nap. (Seems his sleep cycle was attuned to the air conditioner being turned on or off.) I tried to keep quiet, hoping he'd still be too groggy and fall asleep again. No such luck, as he saw me and made half-opened eye contact.

The weirdness started when I asked him (quietly) to go back to sleep. "What?" he asked, eyes tearing up and mouth blubbering. Whuh?

I repeated myself. Ditto for him w/ the tears and blubber. What did I say to elicit this reaction, I thought? Maybe he was lying on one of Mr. Potatohead's appendages and it was digging into his back? Unlikely.

While he was still awake I couldn't just leave the room. But after I browsed enough books I decided to make a go for it and ask him to come w/ me downstairs. More sniffling from him, almost about to bawl. And for some reason he was pointing to the table by the wall.

Now to place some things in context. One: Jian is of the generation of toddlers who speaks English as a first language and in complete, academic textbook sentences, since that's what his preschool teaches him. So if I want to make sense of what he's saying (and his inability to pronounce the letter L) I speak to him like we were on an American sitcom (i.e. like a small adult, but patronizing.)

Two: As my brother BoiT has taken on the role of fun-loving, ready-to-play uncle to our nephews and nieces, I have resigned myself to being the stern-but-not-completely-unapproachable, no-patience-for-whining uncle (the latter role my sister has taken for her kids, as well). I'm always reminded of that scene in House where Hugh Laurie's character takes a firm tone to a crying baby and tells him to be quiet, and the baby complies.

While I haven't tried it on babies, it seems to work on toddlers who speak English in complete, academic textbook sentences. Our exchange:

ME: Jian! What? What is it?

JIAN: (Sobbing.)

Jian. Shoti! I cannot talk to you when you're crying.

(Sobbing, points to wall)

Jian! 3-Tsiak will leave this room if you don't stop.

(Stops crying.)

Ok. What is it? What are you pointing at?

(Blubbering, points to wall)

Is it the table?

No... (points in general direction of wall)

Is it the mirror?

No... (points in general direction of wall)

That's a vase.

No... (points in general direction of wall)

Those are slippers.

No... (points in general direction of wall)

Is it the wall?
Yes...

What? The wall?
No...

Is there something on the wall?
No...

Is there something inside the wall?
Yes.

Shoti, did you have a bad dream?
Yes...

Are you still asleep?
No.

So are you awake?

Yes.

Shoti, you're awake so there's nothing there.

No... (in denial)

Shoti. Shoti! Who's in this room right now?

(Points to me.)

Yes. And?
Shoti.

No-one else, right?

Yes.

Ok. Let's go.

Ok.

Go wear your slippers.

Let's see Mamet come up w/ better dialog than that...

DACS' Day

Baptismal party for my latest nephew, Darren Anthony Chao Santos, or DACS. I missed the actual ceremony, since Mary the Queen's baptismal room frowned on latecomers. Killed the half-hour w/ Mia and Ryan buying overpriced taho just outside the church. (Twenty bucks a glass? It's not Starbucks saggoccino.)

After mandatory pictorials and handshakes everyone headed for Agno for lunch. While the tacos didn't make as much impact at the DIY lumpia, I was particular to the crab drumsticks. The roast beef and stewed lamb weren't bad, either. Since it was Dacs' baptismal and not his birthday, cake was not in the dessert list. Halo halo and ice cream, on the other hand...

With the combined number of nieces, nephews, plus Boit and Dionne's friends and relatives' kids, it's a wonder we didn't hire a magician or clown for them. Hell, we didn't even set up a Wii. Good thing mababaw lang kaligayahan nila, so shooting hoops, short races and a game of Catch the Flying Pooh (trademark) sufficed. Save for one race-related injury (grazing, really) everything went smoothly, w/ the help of a bottle of Chinese Mercurochrome.

Now that everybody not directly related to us has gone home, all that's left is leftovers (mmm, tacos...) and cleaning up.

Bytes and Pieces

• Sick of having to wait our turn to use the office PC, BoiT first tried setting up a second desktop unit on my desk, but the CRTV monitor and crappy mouse proved too cumbersome. In the end Ma splurged for a Chinese mini-notebook. Wirelsss router was set up 2 days ago.

• Stopped by SM Centerpoint the other day to buy a multiport USB hub. The mall was still in flood damage cleanup mode so they were still clearing out the basement area. What really hit me was the smell. Every other area of SM Sta. Mesa had really bad case of halitosis, or if it had cavities a piece of food got stuck there and stayed stuck.

• Attended another Sy Association dinner last night. It seems these things are the opposite of weddings in terms of seeing familiar faces. At Tsinoy weddings I always manage to recognize someone in the crowd, proving the Small Tsinoy World Theory. But at clan association meets this theory is disproved. Worse, the mini-notebook's battery didn't get past the 2nd comic reading of the evening before it conked out. Portability is gonna be a problem if I have to start bringing a 2nd battery. If the ill-named youth choir (composed of 70% middle-aged member who really don't know when to quit) wasn't enough to make me regret coming, having the speakers blaring in our direction made me wish I brought my MP3 player instead to cancel out the noise. And as a final boring kic to the gut, Pa missed the raffle's cash prize by ONE DIGIT.

Remember, Rejoice, Renew (or, Thank Jehan for Free Tickets!)

Last Saturday Batch '84 hosted this year's Saint Jude Catholic School grand alumni homecoming and also celebrated their Silver Jubilee. Batches '89 and '94 were in their 20th and 15th year, respectively, so they each got 10 free tickets, and 2 of them ended up in my hands. Neither sisters Mona nor Melody could/would make it, but luckily batchmate (and one of my favorite phone-pals) Irene was nice enough to accompany me to SJCS (where she currently works at their Administration Office).

By the time we arrived the buffet dinner had already started. Irene and I deposited the gift bags the folks at the registration table gave us at her office before riding the elevator up to the 5th floor dining hall. Food was courtesy of North Park (other restaurant sponsor Gerry's gave meal coupons as raffle prizes), and there was even a photobooth set up. Ran into other batchmates Stonibert and Jean Agnes, both of whom were set to perform later. Their being cousins was the closest thing my batch had to a singing duo resembling the Osmonds.

After dinner we went up to the auditorium, where fellow alumni and current prep-school teacher Lourdes Tiu (and sister to my batchmate Paul Eric) managed to snag us seats near the stage. (Helps to know someone on the inside.) After the requisite "thru the years" video montages, tributes, song and dance numbers by various members of Batch '84, we got to the meat of the program (no pun intended).

One look at the Mocha Girl's outfits and I had to wonder (aside from "Are those real?") if whoever hired them knew that there were going to be kids in the audience. And priests. And nuns. And in general a relatively conservative Tsinoy crowd. Ah well, if the old guard of Tsao, Yang and Tchou were still in charge they wouldn't even have made it past the side curtains. Good thing the new guard was game, albeit reluctantly in the case of poor principal Fr. Nicasio. The Mocha Girls dragged him onstage, where he repeatedly looked up and half-jokingly (I hope) had his hands clapped in prayer postition w/ that "Lord, lead me not to temptation" look on his face. Good thing the whole bit came out more funny than risuqe, especially when the girls asked to give him his "first kiss." ("Never been kissed," he said. Also: "Why in front of so many witnesses?") In the end they settled for a group hug. Hooray for audience participation.

After a mock awards ceremony the program headliner came out onstage (after the "male" dancers). I first saw Ai Ai delas Alas perform a couple of years back at the Folk Arts Theater, and seeing her now I noticed a definite improvement. She was more energetic and confident with her body, if not her costume, as she kept pressing her hand to chest in case her ai ais jump out of her reverse-worn leather corset. And ang galing humirit. Only she could turn something as mundane as a scholarship awarding (where was just supposed to hand out prize bags to the scholars) into a laugh riot.

After Ai Ai's performance it was getting late and most of the people were ready to leave (especially since our hosts give their "wrapping it up" speeches), already accepting "special guest" Kiko Pangilinan's and billed 2nd Act Christian Bautista's no-show. But the announcer asked us to wait for the latter, so we did. When he appeared we were still calm. When he decided to sing alongside a die-hard fan she went gaga (w/ husband watching). When he sang Jose Marie Chan's Beautiful Girl while walking along the aisles the wimmen went gaga. All throughout the barely 3-minute song he stopped (or was held down) to take pictures w/ the audience. Even after the show he was gracious enough to stick around for more impromptu photo sessions.

Overall I'm glad I went, storm signal warning notwithstanding. (It seems every time we overprepare for a supertyphoon it never shows, or vice versa.) It was also a chance to see the latest renovations in the old school building (e.g., all the teachers' offices on the 2nd floor are GONE, as well at the stairways leading to the 2nd floor, and they have a sunken badminton court as deep as a well-built mineshaft). Didn't win any of the raffle prizes, w/c was just as well since I didn't really pay for anything tonight except the parking fee. Also I may have learned a thing or two about what not to do in a grand alumni homecoming program when our turn comes up in 2019 ("No more dance numbers from the 80s").

The Mysterious Lives of Bookshelves

I accompanied (not-so-willingly) Mom to SNR Pricesmart at Congressional because she wanted to buy some Lifetime tables going for (more or less) a thousand bucks off. (She also ended up buying an obscene amount --26 six-pack boxes-- Safeguard bath soaps.) As an indirect form of compensation I eyed a large chocolate-colored bookshelf and asked if we could get it for my room. She said Okay.

I wouldn't call the first store clerk Ma approached, "lazy." "Incompetent," more like it. First the guy first tells Mom that it's out of stock and only the display unit it left, then he removes the price tag so no-one else asks about it. While lining up at the checkout lane Mom confirmed to me that she asked the guy to check w/ other SNR outlets for the bookshelf's availability, but the idiot couldn't be bothered, or even delegate the task if he was too busy bossing around the forklift operator or something. I tried again, but this time went to the more helpful store clerks who took mom's orders for the Lifetime tables.

Lo and behold, not only were they in stock, they were stocked/stacked behind a different model bookshelf (silver-colored and twice the price). We had it wheeled over to checkout lane 13 for purchase.

Once home I was anxious enough to finish dinner early and get to work in assembling this heavy piece of room furniture. It took about 5 hours--procrastinating time included--, and STILL I was missing one long black screw. (It'll probably turn up. ) When finished the thing was taller than me and a pain in the back to move around (heavy mother...).

I was supposed to take some step-by-step pictures of the assembly-in-progress, but only remembered to do so after I'd fastened every ('cept that missing one) screw, hammered the flimsy plywood back panels in place, and moved all the books from the gray plastic bookcase (see 2nd pic) to their new home/shelf.

As you can see there's still plenty of shelf space, tho' that won't last.