July Weekends

Category: Journal of Journeys 

                                             "There I was on a July morning looking for love.With the strength of a new day dawning and the beautiful sun."

-- Uriah Heep (July Morning lyrics)

There are weekends spent alone,

Reading stories in solitude,

Playing sweet melodies in my head

That gently rocks the lonely soul

Until each note becomes pearls

Rolling down my eyes

Dripping like a frozen waterfall—it drowns my heart,

Filling my life with so much emptiness!

There are weekends spent with friends, when the days are long and the nights are sleepless —but it’s never lonely! 

The timer is ticking on my computer screen as I stare at it intently, waiting to log out on the dot. But the seconds dance so slowly as if proving the physical theorem that time is relative. It’s a wonder why when you are anticipating at arriving to a certain point in time; the moments turn to slow motion. Time trickles like a frozen river creating ripples in the universe. Every moment in space is a moment in time as the cosmos conjures. That’s what I’m thinking when my Avaya flashes 12:00 noon. It’s when you do the fastest-finger technique; otherwise you would have a last-call syndrome.

My shift ended, but my July morning is just beginning.

Truth Order

It never occurred me until recently that that famous game is called Truth Or Dare. I’ve always thought it’s Truth Order. It’s a childhood game we play which one either chooses to tell the Truth by answering revealing questions, or allow someone to Order him or her to do daring task. See, there’s no absolute truth. Truth is subjective. You believe in something you know is true, but what if everything you know is a complete hoax?


Saturday afternoon is not a good day for call center people to chill out because it’s the day everyone hangs out.  The malls are jammed with packs of noisy creatures that have no classes on weekends.

Gail, Rod and I are queuing on the Cinema lobby at Shangri-La for the Egai Sai (Japanese Film Fest 2011). There we met Bej and her friends but they left early because there are no more tickets for the 4 PM time slot.

The movie tickets costs nothing but an ample amount of patience and strong knees. It is not surprising then that there are no more seats available for the next screening. We have to stand for several hours on the line.(If you ever reach the highest level of Snake on your cell phone, that’s how the queue looks like.)

To ease our boredom we sit on the tiled floor and play Truth or Dare using Rod’s Blackberry as a substitute for a Coke bottle. One rotates the phone and whoever it points to gets to do embarrassing task.

I always try to find a way out of the difficult tasks they dare me to do. But the two are daring indeed! Gail did high five with the pop corn vendor. “Kuya, apir!” The startled guy can’t think otherwise but to comply. The next dare is to ask the stranger on the other end of the line what book he is reading and which chapter he is in. Armed with a phone recorder, Gail rushes to the guy and asks, “Sir, Bob Ong ba yang binabasa mo? Anong chapter ka na?”, That startles them; nevertheless, the guy answered with all honesty. While he and his friends are trying to make sense of what happened, we listen to the recording laughing our lungs out until we almost run out of air. If one dies from so much fear, can one die from so much laughing? (On a side note, in Iloilo, where one laughs as if there’s no tomorrow, we have the expression “patay patay gid ka kadlaw”--dies-dies laughing.)

Gail does more tasks. She goes up the escalator and shouts “The Smurfs” loudly so everyone downstairs can hear it. She also escorts a lady on a stairway to the next Cinema. Rod borrows a book from a stranger and got to kiss the M&Ms mascot on the lips making everyone giggles (including the nuns). I, on the other hand, just take pictures of myself on one of the movie poster while every pair of eyes is fixed on me. And that makes me blush faster than the camera flash!

Source: asianmediawiki.com

The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones

The title of the movie alone is enough to make us withstand this great ordeal of standing idly for hours. And we are a bunch of mountaineers anticipating to watch a movie about mountaineering. But, ah, the agony of torturous waiting!

The Summit chronicles an expedition on Japan’s solely unclimbed mountain. A group of surveyors from the army were commissioned to make a reconnaissance of the mountain and set up triangulation stones for survey purposes. They would venture into a mountain no human being has yet set foot, or as they believed. The mountaineers risk their lives to summit The Mountain of Death, Mount Tsurugidake.

In a race to gain the honor of being the first group of people to reach the top of one of Japan’s treacherous peaks, the Army Geological Survey unit, must overtake the Japan Alpine Club (an amateur mountaineering group who climb mountains for fun). The ordeal was more than tricky, it was in fact deadly. They must endure not only the elements but also themselves. All for the sake of completing the map of Japan in 1907!

Throughout the movie, we are mesmerized by the beauty of the mountainside which slope blooms with bright and lovely flowers, and shrubs that dances with the wind. (Not to mention the magical Cherry Blossoms! And whenever we hear blossoms, it reminds us of the Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros.)

The climbers are descending the snow covered slope when the deathly snowstorm hits. Then the screen becomes a dreamlike white out which makes us drowse off our seats shivering in a cold, gloomy theatre. Then we wake up again on the breath-taking vistas, so beautiful and panoramic it would make great postcards or wallpapers. I’m glad we watch it in the big screen, where something this grand and stunning deserves to be seen.

To some people, the feat of ancient mountaineers battling against extreme weather conditions without sophisticated gears, relying solely on instincts and determination to achieve their goal of reaching the glorious peak; is inspiring. For self-proclaimed amateur mountaineers like us, it’s terrifying! But how many of us still dare to go to places beyond the usual reach of men? Who are brave enough to go an a journey taking the route yet to be charted, creating foot prints in an unfamiliar paths, leaving the other generations a trail to walk and a story to cherish—a tale about the courage to wander to the farthest places to reach the summits of our dreams! As the movie quote goes: “nature is eternal but life is fleeting”. We must make use of our time exploring the universe.

Source: asianmediwiki.com

And all I can think about at that moment is the chicken pork adobo (CPA) dinner at a cold, misty evening in Mt Batulao; the spaghetti and the marshmallows we barbecued over Butane stove, and the abundant 3-in-1 coffee we drank while having breakfast on top of a big rock in the middle of the river in Mt Manalmon; and the hottest and most delicious sisig I’ve ever tasted, which made me dance on top of the papag (a makeshift table) one starry evening in the rockiest Mt Makulot. What a wonder the mountains are! I wish everyone who watches this movie climbs a mountain at least once in their life.

Eat, watch movies and read books…eat again!

July mornings were either wet or extremely humid. The summer sun was sweltering overhead as I walked to Cash & Carry to have brunch. 

Later that afternoon, Love (Convergys), Jovie (?), Jayla (AXL), Xtian (Aegis) and I (24/7)—no two of us works in the same company--had a big lunch at Shakey’s in Glorietta. Then, Xtian and I went to Cubao to meet other friends to watch the Transformers. We met Regina at the MRT station in Cubao where we waited for Bingo and Sashi. When they arrived, we dined at the Old Spaghetti House around the Araneta Center.  We fancied the obese version of Mona (a Mona Lisa parody) printed on the fliers resting on our table tops.

After fetching Lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds at a taco store, we went to Gateway to watch the movie in 3D, devouring our pop corns all night. It was already past midnight when the movie was finished. We strolled around to find a something to eat before going to Bingo’s place for a sleep-over.

When we woke up the next day, all of us went back to Araneta Center and had an early buffet breakfast. Then Lucy, Xtian and I went to National Bookstore and bought books (Losing Gemma by Katy Gardner).

Then I received a text from my brother asking me to transfer funds to his SmartMoney account, so I hurriedly went back Makati in time before the bank closes. While most banks close at 3 PM, Banco De Oro branches operates longer hours and are even open on weekends so I decided to go to BDO in Aegis PeopleSupport Center.

While crossing the street across Aegis PeopleSupport, I saw Otep, one of the first people I come across with when I joined the call centre industry 4 years ago. We crossed the street together.

When I arrived home, I watched the movies Gail saved on my laptop, then ate, read my books…and ate again! It was curious why I don’t ever get fat!

This is your show, this is your time

We are all aware that the early bird catches the worms. I don't like worms, so I don't wake up early. I'd rather wait until all the worms get eaten. Maybe the not-so-early bird gets to eat a banana...

I thought I heard something that sounds like the buzzing of the fire alarm, or was it just the ringing in my head? I tried to ignore the ringing until it made me half-awake. It was then that I realized that that conversation with myself wasn't occurring in my mind but rather in my dream. I dream about myself thinking within myself. Thoughts can exist in deeper dimensions.

Then, the ringing became persistent and I realized it was my phone. It was Karen texting me a minute-by-minute "hurry-up" messages. She was waiting at McDo. When I arrived, she was alone. I thought I was the only one they were waiting for. Ellen and Xtian arrived respectively. And off we go to ABS-CBN.

We would be audiences on Showtime, a top-rated show on the giant local TV network. Karen booked the reservation several months back. I was lucky to be invited. At ABS-CBN, everyone we asked where we should be going told us to go to "Studio Thirst" which turned out to be Studio Tours.

They show us the studios where they film The Price is Right, Happy Yippie, Yehey!, etc. Those studios were smaller than how they appear on TV. They explained that they were using a wide angle camera to make it look like a gigantic stadium. We also went inside the room where they film the TV Patrol program. We took turn posing as news anchors, having our pictures taken against the backdrop of the actual sets they were using for the program. We also had our picture taken with Pokwang and Arnel Garido of Azkalz.

After Showtime we went to Megamall. We ate at Papa John’s. The Super Papa’s pizza was super. I was never been fond of eating pizza but that one tasted so good that I have to ask them my name after. The pickled peppers, and the what-ever-it-was yellow dip, were perfect! We had the super-sweet Blueberry cheese cake for dessert which was too fancy for my taste.

Boy, have I just eaten the best pizza in town!

Worship, drink and be merry

I was on leave for two days and I have nowhere to go. I decided to watch Harry Potter with my teammates at Greenbelt.

The Sunday after that was hectic. I attended church with Flower and her sister. It was the first time I went to Church since I went here in Manila—that was about 5 years ago. After church, I met Lucy and friends at Greenbelt 1 to watch HP7 part 2 for the second time. We watch it at Onstage, where I watched Equus (a play that starred Maco Mañalac) with Anne. Before going to the movie, we ate at Shakeys in Glorrietta. Then after the movie we drank at Spicy Fingers in Greenbelt 3.

It was almost midnight when I woke up. But I was still groggy. When I checked my phone, I saw a text message from Rod telling me to go to Volcanic Grill. I was still half asleep when I took a quick bath and took a trisikad to Florida Street. The resto-bar would be closing but they let me order anyway. The ambiance is good. When I arrived, they were beginning to be intoxicated. 

When I ordered beer, the lady told me it was going to be the last. We had fun with the crew. Earlier that afternoon, they won a Volcanic Ice Tea for finding a banana hidden in the premises—a silly but fun game!

Already light-headed, we decided to go somewhere else for an extra alcohol fix. We decided to go to Providence where we drank some more. We ran out of tokens for the videoke, so we sample Eraserheads songs in a capella. Then Rod showcased his quirkiness by going out of our cubicle singing the songs playing on the TV screen in the cubicle next to ours.  We had so much fun until we were exhausted. We spent all our energies performing the finale I Will Survive—and we did…survive! We went home at 5 in the morning.

At 10 AM, we went to Gator’s gym at the basement of Philippine Stock Exchange building to watch the badminton championship. Our friend Lucy would be competing. As expected, they won. We celebrated the victory at Shakeys. Then we went to Flapjacks where we had a lengthy conversation over pitchers of beer.

Captain America

If one has to meet another, they Starbucks themselves. My friends and I meets at Jolibee (so we Jolibeeized ourselves?). Then we plan where to go next.

Lucy, Mitch, Xtian and I were walking on the corridors at Greenbelt 5 when I saw the “I want you!” poster of Uncle Sam posted on one of the high-end restos. Whenever I see that caricature, my mind associates it with the Across the Universe (the movie that stars Jim Sturgess). Uncle Sam, a personification of the American government was the creation of James Montgomery Flagg. His illustration—a modified version of his face—was first used in the War of 1812 (United States of America vs the British Empire) and was also used extensively during the 2^nd World War to recruit young men to become soldiers. In Across the Universe, it was used as a recruitment poster for the Vietnam War. In the movie, Max (Joe Anderson) received a draft notice after dropping out of college. When he entered the building where he would be evaluated, the posters of Uncle Sam came to life animatedly, pointed its index finger to him, and started singing “I want you. I want you so bad.” Then it progressed to a scene where, wearing only underwear, they were walking through a miniature jungle of Vietnam carrying the gigantic and heavy Statue of Liberty on their shoulders. It was a commentary of the burden of being a youth during war time.

We sat in a row watching a movie about a weak and sickly young man who instantly transformed into a muscular superhero. It was a story about Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) who developed a six pack abs after being injected with a super serum. When the brain behind the super-soldier project was assassinated, Steve’s super hero career was reduced to being a propagandistic symbol: Captain America. Clad in colorful costumes, flinging his stars and stripes shield in the air, he is tasked to tour the nation to promote war bonds… Then the jingoistic (fanatically patriotic; la lang magamit lang…) “I Want You!” poster of Uncle Sam is flashed on the screen. My friend and I eyed each other, and we both laugh realizing that just an hour earlier that caricature was the subject of our discourse. What a coincidence!

Like a movie, life is full of coincidences. Maybe it’s true that everything is a singularity; that everything is related to each other. There are events that cause ripples in the currents of our lives. There are events in life that make us a super hero (or super villain if you prefer).

Steve Rogers became the true Captain America when he braved behind the enemy lines to save his friend. He refused to believe that they were already dead when everyone else already thought so. (Maybe that’s what it is in friendship, the truth could only be found in the heart.) His triumph in that mission made him back to business as a superhero. But in the end, when they are about to capture one of the big bad guy, his friend fell off the train. How tragic it was, being in the business of saving the world, when you were not able to save your own friend from falling to his death! And as in the comics, superheroes existed not for the purpose of saving the world but for avenging their friends. Captain America: the First Avenger is a nice movie to say the least.

My weekends are great, though the weekdays are toxic. And what greater remedy should there be, than to intoxicate oneself in a pleasurable weekends of July in the company of friends—old and new, fresh and stressed, funny and ridiculous… all are great and august to be with!

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Credits:
Thanks to the friends (whose names are in bold) for the pictures I used in this post. I edited and posted them without permission, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind. The rest of the pictures and videos are Public Domain or not copyrighted, unless otherwise indicated.