Saturday, December 31, 2005
this is going to be long. bear with me. promise. it'll be an interesting entry. i'll do it chronologically to avoid the hassles.
december 24th - abastillas family costume dinneryes, we actually pushed through with it. it was actually as much fun as it was humiliating. my dad was
Batman [but cheated by simply wearing a black shirt with the picture of Batman on it. he later just became the benefactor for the Best Costume prize] my mom was
Darth Vader, ate abby was
The Incredible Hulk, ate pam was
The Little Mermaid, doyti was
Gollum, and i, unfortunately and unintentionally, was
Princess Amidala. yes, i had to cross-dress [again]. and painted my entire face white. boo to that. but it was incredibly fun and all original.
didn't feel Christmas all that much though. after Noche Buena, i spent the night up on the roof with my cousin. pretty cool. never been on emo-mode during Christmas.
december 26th - abastillas clan family reuniona yearly tradition that seems to recur yet outdo itself every single year. food galore, catching up to the latest news, color coordinated clothes, etc. and even though i don't know half the names of my cousins, nieces and nephews, it's pretty cool to hang out with them at least once a year. in our family reunions, the "pila" game is still done every year. no, it's not only the young ones, but for the young once as well. aunts and uncles who are still "chikitings at heart" still fall in line. the weird thing is, what we form aren't actually lines but a circle that rotates with a tangential point which dispenses what seems to be an infinite amount of twenties and fifties [and when things start to get juicy, hundreds]. hahaha. fun fun fun.
maraming katas ang pasko.
meeting peopleat the reunion, one of the games all the couples played [the uncles and aunts, the married cousins and such] was the "how-well-do-you-know-your-honey" game. both are asked a question and their individual answers must match in order to score a point. most points win. one question which was asked that made me think was "where and when did you meet?" it was weird because some of them met their spouses in the mst peculiar places. tricycle stations on the way home one day. the city hall while filing a complaint. a business seminar that had a 50% chance of not happening at all. i guess it just made me realize that you DO find love in all the wrong places and that the best way of finding something is to stop looking for it. haha.
december 28 to 31 - Bintan, Indonesia with Doytii went to Bintan, Indonesia with my sister Doyti for three days while the rest of the family along with my cousin TJ, my granddad, our 98-year old family friend, my sister's American boyfriend and his brother all went to Cebu. the reason was that the trip to Bintan was supposed to be meant for my sister. ahem, her honeymoon. but unfortunately, with the wedding postponed, her honeymoon trip would have gone to waste. soooo, we took it. hehe. but yeah, you could imagine. i'm off to a romantic honeymoon spot with my sister. that is wrong on so many levels. haha. but nevertheless, had lots of fun anyway.
eccentric travelerswhile we were checking our bags in, we found ourselves in the middle of the aviation officers' conversation. upon seeing a familiar traveler enter immigration from the distance, this conversation emerged:
AVO1: pare, diba yun yung laging naka-costume pag lumilipad? [points to an old asian man in the distance wearing a bright green and gold gown/coat resembling a chinese emperor]
AVO2: oo pare, once a month lumilipad yan, laging iba costume! nung isang beses, shaolin, nung isang beses, monk, nung isang beses, parang ninja pa! [laughter]
AVO1: baliw nun ah. hahaha. o, eto pare, isang beses may isang baliw gustong umalis ng bansa papuntang states. sabi niya, siya raw yung Presidente ng Pilipinas. tapos tiningnan ko yung passport niya, walang visa, sabi ko, 'eh madame president, kailangan niyo po kasi ng visa para makaalis ng bansa eh.' sabi niya, 'di mo ba ako kilala? ako ang pangulo ng pilipinas!', ' eh ma'am, kailangan niyo pa rin ng visa eh!', 'a ganun ba? teka lang ah.' tapos pare, bumalik siya after a while, sabi niya, 'ah eh tinawagan ko na yung malacanang, sabi nila hindi ko raw kailangan ng visa!' [laughter]
so funny. the way they were telling it was hilarious, copying the way the people actually talked.
firstsanyway, like i said, the trip was really fun despite the fact that it was soooo inappropriate for a number of reasons. the following firsts were accomplished:
1) puke-o-mania - when we were on a ferry on the way to Bintan from Singapore, the waves were, umm, uncooperative. haha. it isn't an exaggeration when i say that half the people around us had a bag attached to their mouths as they profusely expelled unwanted human wastes like bullemic people. it was like riding "Anchors Away" in Enchanted Kingdom with the speed on maximum, without any harnesses, and on repeat for an hour. funniest thing ever. after a while, the entire ferry smelled kinda funky.
2) riding an All-Terrain Vehicle - yes. doyti and i rode on ATV's and ventured through a very rough and uber muddy jungle path and went around for five laps. i'm suddenly considering becoming a professional Four-Wheel Frenzy Driver. haha.
3) body boarding
4) fighting waves - quite literally. you slap yourself against 7-10 foot waves and see if you come out still breathing.
5) the starriest night ever - i've never seen the ENTIRE [i mean the ENTIRE] sky cast with stars. makes me sad i was with my sister on the particular moment
6) saw the clearest shooting star - the 3rd shooting star i've seen in my life, best and clearest of all [grant my wish]
7) seeing fireflies
8) catching fireflies
9) seeing flying fish
10) open-air, candle-lit, beachfront dinner underneath the starriest night ever... with my sister - yes. wrong. wrong. sick. sick.
**
2006four more hours. Happy New Year Everyone. i'll blog again tomorrow or the 2nd to rate the year 2005. hahaha.
**
that's all for now. gonna take a pre-new year nap. hahaha. i'll post all the pictures in my
Multiply tomorrow.
the adventure ended at 6:47 PM
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
school and lack of content has prevented me from writing an entry sooner. now, i've got two weeks of immortality once again [yes, i officially refer to vacations as 'periods of immortality'], but still no interesting content to write about.
getting to know yousometimes, the people you count on knowing every little thing about you tend to lose sight of the big picture. you think you know someone, but you really don't. and the worst part is, you still think you do. people assume too much. time spent and experiences shared does not completely justify and confirm one's knowledge [or should i say assumptions] on someone else's identity. it pisses me off when people think they know me. it pisses me off even more if they're the people who REALLY SHOULD know me.
"you're so lazy."i'm selectively passionate. give me something i really wanna do and i'll do it until i get hurt, until i die.
"you're so secretive."they're only secrets because you're interested in them. if you weren't, they'd just be called 'my thoughts.'
"you're so superficial."i'm idealistic. [yeah. this is bad. i should stop this.]
"but no one's perfect, you know."yes. but there's someone out there who's perfect for
somebody else. there's a difference.
"you're so messy and unorganized."i'm spontaneous and i take things as they come.
"you don't understand. bata ka pa."you don't understand either.
matanda ka na."why don't you want to succeed in life?"success is so subjective. i don't even know where to begin to explain this. and besides, building castles in this life will prevent one from entering the kingdom in the next.
anyway. only recently have i come to fully realize that there really is NO pleasing everybody. there WILL be someone who'll think you stink more than a field of horse shit. but i guess there's comfort in knowing that to some people, horse shit smells heavenly.
**
when you're with someone everyday, you see how he/she talks and acts, how much soy sauce he/she likes on his/her viands, and what little things he/she can do just to get on your last nerves. face it. at one point or another, being with the same people 24/7 will get rather annoying if not completely enraging. love and compromise are what keep things at bay. if these two factors aren't in the picture, some of us would just reach for the door and get out.
it's tough when you're a black sheep in a family of wolves. sooner or later, you'll relaize they're just fattening you to eat you up. yeah, that's what i'm feeling right now. being eaten up. and when the moon is full and the pack's on top of the hill, a cold tone will be felt all over the forest as each of them howl majestically, affiriming their rule over all the land. and suddenly, the chilly, creepy mood is broken... "BAAAAAAAH!" bah, bah, blacksheep.
i can't stress enough how distanced i feel towards my family. i try my very best to relate with them and i try my very best to fit in, but in the end, i just don't seem to. i would have to shave my own wool and learn how to howl like the rest of them. the toehr day, my two sisters entered a looong conversation on the way home from a family reunion. an emo talk, if you will. and my, my, it's rather different from all the emo talks i've ever experienced. and it's weird cuz all the other emo talks i've ever had were essentially the same. even though the people were all different and the topics varied, the same dark cloud always seemed to be present above us. always looming, and pouring out the same cold drops of rain that somehow brought comfort and relief through the piercing frigid feeling. but this time, it was just weird. like the raincloud had changed into some sort of weird looking space-ship like object in the sky which will just leave you dumb-founded, jaw-dropped and saying... "what the fuck is that?" di talaga ako maka-relate. even if i tried. so i just tucked myself on the seatbelt and pretended to sleep.
it's weird that i'm feeling this right before Christmas. are the relations i have with my family merely skin-deep? maybe my skin is just too wrinkly and too damn thick for their needles of business, success, and O.C.-ness to penetrate.
the adventure ended at 7:53 PM
Monday, December 12, 2005
fate is a hobofate's hands may seem filthy at first glance, but they're cleaner than you think. so don't be shy, take its hands.
ever notice how the little things you do suddenly turn out to mean something? this morning, as i was preparing to leave for another half-dead day of school, i contemplated on whether i should bring two small towels or just one. it's something you don't really think about, but somehow, today, my braincells were racing and solving the seemingly impossible riddle of whether TWO towels should be brought [for my basketball game later on in the day] or just one. after what seemed like a hundred days of scientific process, theories, and possibilities, i ended up bringing two towels.
on the way to school, i noticed that the little bar on my gas meter was forcing itself to reach the red line, as if desperately trying to say, "pa-gas ka na, gago!" but, a stubborn self and fifteen minutes left till my first class prevented me from making a thirty-second stop for gas.
fast forward.
third quarter of the Organization Division 6 finals between the Ateneo Rifle Pistol Team "Tira2Bang2" and the AComm Sophomores. Tira2Bang2 is down by ten [yes, we ended up losing terribly]. some guy from the other team pulls up for a jumper. missed it. Tira2Bang teammates JV [forgot his last name] and Nino Santa Maria scramble for the loose rock. in an act of pure intensity and desire to win, JV accidentally elbows Nino hard in the face as he grabs the rebound. the possession goes on as the eyes of the crowd slowly shift to the other side. then, we notice something, "o, ba't parang kulang tayo sa offense?" i look back on the defensive end and see blood on the court. Nino's cheek had burst open. "o, putang ina, nagdudugo si Nino!!" was the first thing out of my mouth. blood gushing out like there was no tomorrow. spectators and even bench players from the other games begin staring. the game stops and we rush to his aid. his hand was all red and drippy as he put pressure on the wound. then it dawned to me, i had two towels! [cue "tenen!" music] i rushed to my bag and got the second towel out and ran back to give it to Nino whose face made him look like the inside-out boy. hmmmmm.
fast forward.
on my home, i finally fought off my laziness and stopped for gas. as i pulled over beside the gas machine thing, i reached for my quaint-little-bag [as mon so lovingly calls it. it's a term for the little bag you carry around when you've got another big bag. it's a container for all your essentials] and lo-and-behold, it was not in the car. "o, putang ina, nawawala bag ko!!" was the first thing out of my mouth. with the gas attendant knocking at my window saying, "good evening po! welcome to shell!", i "too-fast-too-furioused" back to Ateneo to find my quaint-little-bag [which contained my wallet, license, cellphone, and most importantly, a tuna sandwich]. luckily, it was still right where i left it on the courts. it took me an hour to get home and if i had realized the bag was gone by that time, it'd have been impossible to come back for it. hmmmmm.
maybe it's all just a big "co-accidence." i guess it's up to the beholder. to have faith in fate? with the way things are in my life, there's really no reason to be intense and to try and make things happen too much. just gotta ease in, and let the universe unfold as it should. hehehehe.
[P.S. bois, this is all just an excuse for the dread of May 31, 2007. mwehehehehehe.]
the adventure ended at 7:14 PM
Thursday, December 08, 2005
modern day samaritansever had a good deed present itself right in front of you and all of a sudden you feel uneasy and hesitant? you end up letting the good deed pass and what could have been a heavenly indulgence becomes another chunk of conscience on your back. the other day, i was walking around in Robinson's Galleria when i saw this man who was reaching into his pocket. as he removed his hand, a P20 bill slipped out and i felt the exact same way i've just described. i didn't know whether i should call the attention of the man and give him back his twenty-peso bill. now, you may think "it's just twenty bucks." but what if he needed that to catch the MRT to get home to his family? yeah, there's that chunk-o-conscience i was talking about.
i ended up walking right past the twenty-peso bill. i tried making comfort out of it thinking that maybe the person who'd end up picking it up would put it to good use.
this is a piece of paper that was posted on the wall outside our house. apparently, some guy parked there and got towed. this may be going a bit to the extremes, but he made sure that no one else would experience the 'injustice' that had befallen him [well, there WASN'T any Tow-away Zone sign. but then again, who parks on street corners anyway?] i guess this would be the way this guy's conscience would clear up. it's a different situation from the P20 bill adventure, but it's still essentially similar.
this guy made me think. the next time something like that happens again, none of us should feel hesitant or uneasy. what's there to lose anyway?
why do we feel humiliated and ashamed to actually do something good? the problem is, everybody's too busy following the trends that people make up so we've forgotten the little things that used to matter and that should matter no matter how small they are. it's always the easy way or the way everyone takes. these days, doing things the right way is just
not cool. you'll be surprised to what extent people go to these days just to be
cool. i'm not gonna be a hypocrite, i know all this because i'm one of those people, hopelessly caught up in a society where what other people think matters more than it should. we're victims of our own crime. the least i can do, i guess, is to do the little things the right way. to give people back their P20 bills. to never run a redlight even though it's 2am and there are no cars in sight. to never leave garbage in smug little areas for concealing [ever notice that Filipinos loooove to hide things they no longer want? bus tickets in the seat handles. gum lodged on the escalator handrails. tissue papers and old water bottles under carseats. it's just weird and very unhygienic]
the adventure ended at 6:46 PM
Sunday, December 04, 2005
me think you prettymy family decided to do a Kreative Kris Kringle [or a Super Secret Santa, if you will] this year, as mentioned in my previous entry. it's great cuz to keep the anonymity of the whole thing, we decided to make up codenames and distribute them to each other so no one knows who's who; codenames like Gollum, Lady Lara Croft, The Incredible Hulk, Darth Vader, and my favorite of all, King Kong. so you can just imagine what goes into the dedication cards of gifts:
To Lady Lara Croft,Me think you pretty. Want climb up building with me? I give you bananas. Have nice Christmas. ROOOAAAAARR.Love, King Kong[only to find out in the end, my dad drew Lady Lara Croft and I drew King Kong. hahahaha. that'd be a hoot.]
tonight, we determined our codenames and the identities of those whom we'll be giving our gifts to. i drew the worst name of all, and my gift-ee makes the two of us a very, umm, weird combination. hahaha. we also determined the kind of gifts we'll be giving. see, it's three gifts for the three remaining weeks of the year. and the budget for each gift except the last [which would be the special free-for-all gift] is a mere P100. and for the first week, we have to get
something scary and for the next,
something beautiful. off to divisoria.
to add insult to injury, or in this case, to humiliation, we're having a Christmas Costume Party while giving our final gifts to each other. we hafta dress up as the character we've been assigned and act like that character for the party. hmm, now i really wish my dad had drawn Lady Lara Croft, and my mom drew The Hulk or something. hehehe. that'd be hilarious.
this is going to be a very Merry Christmas.
** ooh, visit my multiply btw. new pictures. that's all.
the adventure ended at 8:58 PM
