The Stranger on the Bus

The episode from my life that I will relate now actually happened a few days ago, during the Chinese New Year. But before I get to that, let me share the story that made me think of it. This story was shared to me by my friend Chrissete earlier tonight. She said it was a cute story so I read it and sure enough, she was right! The story gave me goosebumps in the end.

A Winning Smile 

When I was still teaching in the University of the Philippines Los Baños, I used to tell my students the story about how I met a stranger on a bus, as an example of an autobiographical report. Semester after semester, the reactions I got were always the same: kilig. Here goes:

It was a Monday night. I boarded an HM bus in Cubao after my evening class in UP Diliman. As usual, I took the window seat and stared at the carbon-monoxide laced window. Instead of pondering Metro Manila’s pollution, I recalled an incident that afternoon: I had reserved a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s autobiography at a book sale in UP, but the staff sold it to somebody else, so I ran to the ladies’ room to cry (silly, I know). I smiled at the thought of this but quickly put on a straight face because I didn’t want to be seen smiling by myself. A guy sat beside me, but I hardly paid attention to him for I was still immersed in my thoughts on Gabo’s book and missed opportunities.

He asked whether that bus would be passing through Calamba. I found the question dumb because the Sta. Cruz signboard had “College” and “Calamba” on it, so I just nodded a little while still looking out of the window, sending the I’m-not-interested message across.

As the bus left the terminal and the conductor started collecting fares, I suddenly realized that I had no ticket. I strained my neck, looking for the conductor. The guy beside me said the conductor must have thought that we were traveling together because he gave him two tickets. I was about to raise hell but when I turned to look at him, I forgot about hell. He was so gwapo.

His eyelashes were longer than mine. His eyes were adorably big. Lips, pinkish. Nose, perfect. Complexion, smooth. And he smelled good.

Read the rest of the story here.

After I read the story I thought, awww, so cute! Wouldn't it be nice to have an experience like that? Then I suddenly realized, wait a minute, I could've had a story just like that indeed! But the only difference between her story and mine is that the guy who sat beside her was her type, while mine was not. And the lead male character, I realized, makes or breaks a story.

My story went like this. It was Chinese New Year, and even though it was a Singapore holiday, I had to work because we serve different countries and don't follow local holidays. I'm okay with that arrangement, though, because we get vacation leaves in exchange and aside from that we also get free lunch and we could dress down, and I always grab these opportunities to wear shorts and flip-flops to the office. I climbed into my usual bus and noted that it was practically empty. It was this emptiness, perhaps, that made it a lot easier for him to spot me; either that or the red tank top that I was wearing to celebrate CNY (red is the Chinese lucky color). The moment I got in he said "hi." He caught me off guard so I smiled, albeit tentatively, then proceeded to the back. He turned his head and asked if he could sit beside me. I wanted to say no, I hate small talk with strangers, but once again he caught me off guard, so I nodded, also tentatively.

He sat beside me and introduced himself, then asked me for my name. I could've written him off as just a friendly stranger if not for his numerous flattering comments about my complexion and perfume and this: "I know a lot of pretty Filipinas but you're prettier than all of them." Yeah, right. He kept asking me if I've been to certain places and each time I said no, he said he'd bring me there. Then he asked for my number and once again he caught me off guard so I ended up giving it.

Now if he had been my type, this story would probably have ended the same way as that other article did. I would have gone to work giddy and immediately replied to his texts when they came instead of pretending to be a wrong number. I would have gladly answered his call instead of running across the room to get my guy friend to answer my phone so that he'd think I was a guy and stop bugging me.

And I realized that if you take all the cutest love stories that you know and replace them with a repulsive guy, you'll end up saying "ewwww" instead of "awwww." Change the letter and the word takes on a whole new meaning. Change the guy, and the story does too.

Welcome to My Sitcom :)

Some time ago, I came up with this thought:

 Life is like a movie. There are quotable quotes, comedy, songs in the background, giddy moments, tears, unexpected twists, moral lessons, villains, leading men and happy endings. But it's completely up to you if you'd like to play the lead role or just be an extra.

This morning, I realized that it was not.

Movies, you see, are supposed to be cohesive and have a point. Life rarely does.

Life, I realized, is more like a TV series. It has all those same things I mentioned in my quote (can you call it 'quote' if you're the one who said it or does it sound awfully pretentious?) but it comes in lots of episodes, not all of which necessarily have to tie together into one cohesive whole, even though the narrator insists that it all ties together in the end, promise.

And if my life is a TV series, then this blog is the TV.

Also, how crazy is it that I started this blog on the very same year that my current favorite series How I Met Your Mother began?

So kids, I'm gonna tell you an incredible story. Probably not the story of how I met your father, but who knows? I might get to that eventually. In the meantime, just sit back and enjoy season 8. Feel free to peruse the previous seasons' archives at any point. ;)

My First Pulau Ubin Adventure

So there's this island in Singapore called Pulau Ubin that is known for being one of the last rural areas in Singapore. Nantoy has been inviting us to go there since last year and we finally had a chance to go yesterday. It was really awesome except for when I got thrown off my bike and got two bloody knees and a sprained leg. Totally my fault, but I'll get to that later.

We met up in Pasir Ris where most of the gang lives and took bus 89 to the Changi Point Ferry Terminal. Once there, we queued up to ride a bumboat that can take up to 12 passengers, each paying S$2.50 for fare. We made sure that we were on the right queue, else we ended up boarding a boat to Malaysia and there we were with no passports or anything.

Bumboats on the Changi Point Ferry Terminal

After a short (around 10 or so minutes) ride across the sea, we arrived.

Finally!

We walked in and not even two minutes later, we found ourselves facing bike rental stalls. 

No it's not. That's the price for kiddie bikes.

We found out it cost S$6 to rent a small adult bike, which was the same price as in Pasir Ris Park, but we brightened up when we found out that it was the rate for the entire day, as opposed to Pasir Ris where the rate is for an hour, or for two hours on some days. We quickly chose bikes and rode off, then Joc's bike's chain got loose so we had to go back and have it fixed. Then we were off again, and we cursed whenever a huge black smoke-belching vehicle roared down the narrow road and we had to make way for it because we didn't want to die. This happened a lot on the roads closer to the ferry but when we went farther into the island, the vehicles disappeared, probably because they could no longer pass through the narrower roads.

As we biked along, we couldn't help but comment on how the surroundings looked like our provinces in the Philippines. "This place is supposed to be what old Singapore used to look like," I said. "So I guess the Philippines is stuck in time, huh?" We laughed.

Thanks to my spider tripod, we have this picture. It's the second shot.
The first one was ruined when a couple's bike passed by at the exact time the camera went off. 

A-biking we will go!

We went on a cement road for a while till we made a turn towards Chek Jawa, the most popular spot on the island, when we were faced with uphill gravel roads and it became really tough, so tough that we had to get off our bikes and just wheel them up at times. 

My tripod was wrapped around my bike's handlebars for this one.

We saw this wonderful big tree and just had to stop.
We offered to take a couple's picture so they'd take ours. So clever huh?

Into the woods!

Then we got to a point where no bikes were allowed, so we had to leave them. We hesitated at first because our bikes didn't have any chains on them and someone might make off with them or something but then we realized that everyone came with a bike and were doing the same thing, so why shouldn't we? Besides, Dred reasoned, if someone stole a bike, they couldn't exactly get it off the island without being noticed. So we stashed our bikes and went on foot.

The bike park

We had no idea what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised when we found the Chek Jawa Visitor Centre, which is a very lovely brick house, the kind that you see in American movies and don't belong in tropical countries like Singapore. 

What a lovely brick house!

I found a tree to wrap my tripod around. The leaves act like a framing device.

This is what I mean.
Why would anyone need a fireplace in a tropical country?

The Meteor Garden pose is sort of our thing.

On the matching brick steps

We walked through the house and emerged outside, where there was an amazing view of the ocean with a pier.

Tripod on the doorknob. Lovely seaside view from the house.

Look at that view!

House looks awesome from here too

Fistbump!

We eventually had to leave because we wanted to see the rest of the island and we had little time. We walked on and found ourselves staring up into the sky at this really tall viewing tower. It was about as tall as a five-foot story building and we had to climb all the way up using the stairs. It wasn't a relaxing experience because not only was it exhausting (I had to pause to catch my breath like twice) but really scary as well, especially for Jemma and me who are scared of heights.

The viewing tower

We freaked out a bit, but thanks to Mildred chanting the words to the "Don't Quit" poem (You know, the one that goes: "Often the goal is nearer than/ It seems to a faint and faltering man/ So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit/ It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."), we managed to get to the top where we got to have a view of the sea and a whole bunch of treetops.

View from the top

That's me being scared of heights

Dred on top and Nantoy below. I love this shot!

We climbed back down and walked further on the board planks that led to some mangroves.

Mangrove forest

We ♥ SG. And this arch.

We eventually found ourselves back to where we had left our bikes, so we got on them again and took another road out. Mildred was ahead of us and when she got to the top of this hill she went, "Wow!" which should have served as a warning but when I got to her, I said the exact same thing, and so did everyone; the words just jumped out of mouths, we couldn't help it. The view was just legen - wait for it - dary! It was a breathtakingly gorgeous turquoise lake framed by trees and grassy hills. My camera does not do it justice.

WOW!!!!

Did so many people really merit that barrier and that sign?

We would've stayed longer if not pressed for time, but we needed to press on, and it was after this that my accident happened. We had been passing all these steep roads that had these "slow down" and "steep road ahead" and "dismount and push bike" warning signs preceding them so in the island's defense, it wasn't its fault but completely mine. I normally half-pressed my brakes all the way through these descents but on this one particular road, on my way down I saw that after going down, the road went up and I knew that I needed to get momentum in order to go up, so I stupidly thought, hey, I should go down fast so I can go up fast too! and didn't press my brakes and halfway downhill as my surroundings sped by in a blur, I thought, shoot I'm moving too fast OMG I am gonna cr- and the next thing I know, my bike had spun out of control and I flew off its handlebars, landing on the road a few feet from my bike. If there was one positive thing about what happened, it was the fact that nobody was there to witness it. I had been going so fast that I had left everyone behind. So by the time they arrived, I was on my feet, brushing myself off and lamenting my two bloody knees. I asked Mildred for hand sanitizer and put it on some tissues to mop up my wounds. Then I asked Nantoy to help me fix my bike's chain, which had gotten messed up in the accident, and we were on our way, even though my left leg hurt like a bitch.

We rode on, and we found a beach where we stopped for pictures. You can't even tell that I'm in pain, can you?

Yey! A beach!

On the way back to the ferry we saw some monkeys sitting on the road. We got a bit scared that they would jump on us or something. Luckily they didn't.

Monkeys on the road

We finally headed back to the ferry side and found a restaurant where we had an early dinner. We ordered fresh coconuts, seafood fried rice, deep fried baby squid, cereal shrimp and broccoli in oyster sauce. Everything was so tasty, and we didn't feel guilty about eating this feast because it only offset all that calories we burned from biking and walking up stuff. We most especially loved the cold fresh coconut though I wish the meat had been more tender.

A delicious dinner for a seriously exhausted bunch

After polishing off everything, we returned our bikes to the rental stall and walked to the pier where we boarded another bumboat back to Singapore mainland. This time around, we noticed the small island with a white sand beach right across the pier and vowed to go check it out next time.

Lovely white sand beach

On the way back home, there were moments when I suddenly cried out in pain when I put too much pressure on my left leg, and my friends volunteered to hold me up on each side, which made me look like I was drunk at merely 7 o'clock in the evening, so I stopped because it looked too funny. I finally thought that I was okay and told them to leave me, but when I got off my bus stop, I walked a few steps and then just couldn't walk anymore, so I just stood there till a couple of girls approached me and asked if they could help me, and also spotted me, one on each side, like my friends did earlier. Aww, that was so touching! There are good Samaritans left in the world after all. I finally got too embarrassed to have them do that for me all the way to my block which was like 15 minutes away on non-limping time, so I said I was okay and I would just get a cab to take me to a clinic, and they actually stayed till my cab came and they even helped me into it. The mall clinic wasn't open, though, so I took another cab home instead and hoped that all my leg needed was rest. It was tough to sleep face up because I usually sleep in the freefaller position (face down), and I woke up each time I moved my leg (I move a lot when I sleep) because it gave off waves of pain. But when I woke up in the morning, the pain was gone. Not completely (it still hurt when I used it for walking), but definitely manageable. Sleep, you are a miracle-worker! As for my knees, let's just say it's gotten used to abuse from me by now. Let's just hope Terramycin works wonders and heals them fast because I love wearing shorts and skimpy skirts. :P

But you know what, I don't regret going on that trip. What's a little pain in the grand scheme of things? And that, I realize, should be my motto for life. Looking forward to the next big adventure. :)

Go for Barry!

It started with Jemma. We found out that her father calls her Jimjim. (Side note: why do we have a lot of repeat-syllable nicknames in the Philippines - Junjun, Tata, Dodong, etc?) So we decided to call her Jim, which actually sounds like a Bisayan version of her actual nickname. I thought it was cute; it sounded like a guy’s name. So I said, why not have one for everyone? So yesterday we all had new opposite gender nicknames derived from our real names. Confused as to where mine came from? It’s in my surname, same with Dred’s.

Me – Barry
Jemma – Jim
Maya – Mario
Dred – Duncan
Rey – Ria
Joc – Joe
Josie – Jose
Nikki – Nikko
Farrah - Farrell
Maybelle – Bill
Ivy – Ivo
Ralph – Roffa

Yeah I know, Roffa’s a hoot. Haha.

I love my new nickname, because now whenever my phone rings, I can answer it with an upbeat “Go for Barry!” which sounds like “Go for Barney!” which is how my favorite How I Met Your Mother character answers his phone. XP

I like nicknames that get formed within friendships, don’t you? There’s my college friend Jesse whom we call Chu (because most people named Jesus are nicknamed that), my P&G friend Janice whom we call Kes (because her second name is Eden, a cheese brand), and my current colleague Nikki whom we call G, short for Grumpy (coz we call ourselves Snow White’s dwarfs and she is the grumpiest of us all LOL).

As for me, I have three friends who call me “Master” supposedly because they’re scared of me or something, I’m not really sure why, actually. In turn I call them Bibi, Lottie and Anoop and there are funny reasons behind each nickname.

The nice part about having these exclusive nicknames is that the mere utterance forges a bond, maybe even dislodges some memories that go along with the name, with the friendship that it belongs to.

Now I don’t know if these nicknames will stick but in the meantime, go for Barry! :D

Alisputable

Lesson learned: don't make up words when you're the type who likes to use big words because people might not be able to tell the difference. LOL!

Me: Di mo pa ba sya nakikita? Super naalipusta kaya sya nina A at C.

A: Bwahahahahaha! Uy hindi naman, pero kasi talaga naman! Hahaha!

Me: It's ok. Alisputable naman talaga sya eh! Haha!

C: Nosebleed. Death sentence. Haha. Alisputable. Hahaha.

Me: Mali pa spelling. Alipustable pala dapat. Hahaha. As if naman word talaga yan para may tamang spelling.

C: Infernez. Kala ko word. Lol!

T: Kakagamit mo ng big words, pati gawa-gawa na lang, mukha nang totoo. Hahaha!

Vanity Kit

So yesterday we went hunting for a birthday gift for a friend and found this really adorable red crocodile leather vanity kit in Bugis Junction. There was also one in my favorite color, purple. I don't have a vanity kit with a mirror built into it like the heavy brown case one that my mom used to have, so I decided to get one for myself.

I already have a plastic kit where I keep my beauty products in my room, so I plan to use this for travel and overnights and when people need me to play makeup artist.

Since we're on the topic of beauty products, might as well blog about the ones I love to use lately. I actually make a list of my fave beauty products once every couple or so years, so I guess it's about time.

Skin Care

1. St Ives apricot scrub (blemish and blackhead control). I know I keep on mentioning this product, but I fell in love with it in 2003 and just can't stress how important it is to my regimen. I use it every day (even though experts frown upon exfoliating daily) so it sloughs off old skin cells, causing my skin to be constantly regenerated, hence the smooth "no pores" appearance and near-non-existence of pimple scars.

2. Hada Labo Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion. I just recently discovered this product which is all the rage in Asia these days; apparently one is sold every four seconds in Japan! This product is actually a toner despite its name and it boasts of being so hydrating that it locks up an ocean. It's as clear and fragrance-free as water and after you pat it on your face, it really does give your face that "toing-toing" bouncy feel. True story.

3. Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Anti-Ageing Cream. I've been using this as my moisturizer since my P&G days. It fights against 7 signs of skin aging. Need I say more? Haha. I don't know if it actually works but most people say that I look a couple or so years younger than my real age so maybe it does! Or maybe they're just lying. LOL.

4. Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Anti-Ageing Eye Cream. I don't know if I should still be using this when I'm already using the moisturizer on my entire face, including the skin around my eyes. But I read that the skin around the eyes is the most sensitive and thus, is also the first to age. So we need to take the best care of it by using eye cream and wearing sunglasses whenever we go outside. So I don't take chances and follow that advice.

5. Laneige sunblock. Are you familiar with a popular commencement address called "Sunscreen"? The speaker gives out advice for the graduating batch that starts off with "wear sunscreen." In the end she says she isn't sure about all of the advice that she gave except for the first one. Well I decided to take heed. After all, all these old people keep saying that sunblock is the #1 anti-aging product (except for maybe Botox?) so they must know what they're talking about. I chose this after spending hours going through not-so-pricey sunblocks in Sephora and discovering that this one didn't leave a heavy sticky feeling that others do.


Makeup

1. Bio-essence Bio Multi-effect BB Cream. This was voted as consumers' favorite in one of the Singaporean magazines last year, so I gave it a try and loved its effect on my skin - it covers up blemishes and makes your skin look smoother and fairer and flawless yet natural-looking and dewy. It's quite affordable compared to other BB creams in the market.

2. Mac Studio Perfect SPF 15 Foundation Compact (NC35). I usually prefer liquid foundations over powder compacts, but compacts are a must for retouching and I love this one over all other compacts I've tried so far. Or maybe that's just because I finally found one in my right shade. I think my face is acidic; powder turns darker after I put it on, so I look darker with makeup than without it (once, a friend asked why I looked so white after I took a shower and washed off all my makeup). When I told the Mac lady about my acidic problem, she found the perfect shade for me so now I don't look darker than I really am, even with makeup on. This one is quite pricey, though.

3. Sephora Hydrating and Smoothing Foundation (R30). I use this only for special occasions when I need heavier, more long-lasting coverage. So far all the ladies I've put this on have loved it and asked its details so they could buy one for themselves. It's relatively cheap compared to other high-end products too, so I'd say it's a great buy.

4. Amazing Cosmetics Concealer (Medium Beige). I never get dark circles, but I have crazy eye bags, and this takes care of that, along with the wayward zit mark that shows up at the most inopportune time. It's very expensive, though, so I only use it for special occasions and get miffed when people ask to use it on normal days. My friend who recommended this to me said this was being used in Hollywood and can ever cover up tattoos. I don't have any tattoos to try this on, so you'll just have to take her word for it.

4. Makeup Forever Waterproof Eyebrow Kit (Lightest Brown). This was recommended by my friend and in turn it was recommended to her by a well-known celebrity makeup artist in the Philippines. The eyebrows frame one's face, so you should therefore make sure that they are groomed and defined. In the past I used powder (I hate pencils, they look too harsh) but I find that this one, which comes in cream form, is much easier to manipulate and erase should you make mistakes. I chose the lightest brown color so it doesn't look too harsh. It's quite pricey though but as you only need a small dot per application, it lasts very long. My friend says she's had hers for over a year now and it still hasn't run out.

5. Mac Studio Fix Lash (Black). I don't like the typical mascara wand because it usually makes your lashes clumpy. I loved Loreal's telescopic mascara but they discontinued it, so I was at a loss as to what to replace it with till I found this. This one just separates the lashes and thickens each strand just the right amount. My concern with it, though, was that it wasn't waterproof so it would run when I cried (which I happen to do a lot; I'm very easily touched and brought to tears by things I read and watch), but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because removing waterproof mascara is usually a bitch but this one can be taken care of by just your nightly face washing ritual then simply running a cotton swab over your lashes.

6. Mac Technakohl Eyeliner (Graphblack). Nothing makes eyes pop like eyeliner. This one is soft (unlike pencils) and retractable so it's relatively easy to use, especially for tight-lining - this is when you line the inside of your eyelids. I know it sounds (and looks) scary, but it's really not that bad and it looks more natural. Unfortunately it's not as waterproof as it claims so sometimes I end up looking like a raccoon at the end of a day.

7. Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm. This one is made for men so it comes in a clear petroleum jelly color, perfect for using underneath lipsticks so they don't change that lipstick's color. It has natural mint and shea butter so it feels really moisturizing and refreshingly cool on the lips - like toothpaste. It also has SPF 25 so it protects your lips from the sun too, and it's very affordable. You can find it in Sephora.

8. Mac Satin Lipstick (Captive). I love Mac lipsticks because they're not too soft and break off when you apply too much pressure while putting it on (I hate using lip brushes, takes too much time) like other lipsticks do. Mac has lots of lipstick finishes, but I love satin because it's not as dry as matte yet not as glossy as lustre. My lipstick shades are tricky because they can't be too light or too dark and after years of trying different lipstick shades, I finally found the perfect one that's just between pink, brown and red and this is it.

9. Mac Lip Glass (Viva Glam). I don't usually like lip gloss because they're not long-lasting, but this one surprised me. It stays on even after I eat and drink. However I wish I hadn't bought one in a shade that's a tad too bright, bordering on red. Maybe I'll buy another one in a different shade next time.

10. Nars Blush (Orgasm). I used to prefer liquid cheek tint because they looked more natural and were more long-lasting, but I changed my mind when I tried Nars. It looks like a healthy flush that brightens up your whole face, making you look blooming, and it's quite long-lasting too.

Chuan Yi Pin Barbeque Steamboat Buffet

Gay suggested going for a steamboat dinner in Bugis yesterday, so we went with Maya. I had heard of the place before but it was my first time to go there. We found the place right across the street from Bugis Junction - it's called Chuan Yi Pin. The name isn't written in English, though, so just look for the pic below. Sorry I can't read Chinese characters!

They charge S$23.80 net per head for a buffet of either steamboat or barbeque. We chose the latter because it comes with a steamboat as well so we could try both. It's a really good deal because you can have your fill of all sorts of meat  and seafood (fish, crab legs, bamboo clams, mussels, shrimps), dimsum, and veggies. Cooked noodles and vegetable dishes are also available, as well as crispy buns, drinks, and ice cream. Like I said, a friggin' steal.

The buffet is indoors while all the tables are outdoors, each table with a stove built into its center. A stovetop grill or a steamboat pan, depending on what you order, is placed on top, and you can cook to your heart's (or stomach's) content.

My favorites were the spicy broccoli dish that was available on the side and the buttered grilled prawns and fish that I made myself. I was glad I hadn't eaten a decent breakfast or lunch and had a badminton session earlier so that I was hungry enough to eat a lot. :D

We all complained about two things after we were done - (1) we were so full we could barely breathe and (2) we smelled of barbeque smoke even way after we had left the restaurant. Oh well. At least we enjoyed the delicious food! We would definitely go back.

When Pranker Turns Prankee

When I went to the Siloso Beach countdown party, I had two sets of friends with me – from my office and from my hometown. As I conversed with my hometown friends in our local dialect, Chavacano, Nantoy overheard us and asked us to teach him some Chavacano words.

Anne obliged by teaching him what is probably the most popular word in our hometown – let’s call it the C word. “It’s something you tell a girl you admire. It means ‘you’re beautiful and sexy and I like you,’” she explained.

“Wow! What a nice word! Who would’ve thought you could say so many things with just one word?” Nantoy enthused, then started using it in different sentences.

“Hello! C___.”
“I know we just met but C___.”
“Nice dress! C___.”
“It’s dark so C___.”

We laughed. “Why? Am I pronouncing it wrong?” he asked worriedly when he saw our reaction.

“Oh no no, it’s just funny to hear somebody else say it,” Anne assured him.

But that was actually her second lie to Nantoy. I say “second” because you see, kids, the word she taught Nantoy didn’t actually mean that beautiful long phrase she had declared it to be. The truth is, the Chavacano C word is actually the equivalent of the English F word.

Nantoy had been C’d with.

And he wasn’t aware of it, and didn’t become aware of it until weeks later, when we happened to take the same bus to work. He had brought up a Bisaya word that I was not familiar with even though I was Bisaya myself. I apologized for not knowing it and he replied, “It’s okay, duh! You also know lots of words that I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, like Bisaya words?” I asked as I slid into the seat next to his.

“No, I mean Chavacano words,” he responded. “You know so many of them and I know only one.” Then he uttered the C word and I suddenly remembered that after getting distracted by beach dancing and free buckets of booze and stuff, we had completely forgotten to get to the punchline of our joke. We had never told him what the C word actually meant. Oops.

Better late than never, as they say, so I finally told him what it really meant and watched his eyes go big. He wasn’t about to be just a victim, though, no siree. So he pulled out his iphone and decided to turn the tables by sending a message to me and my hometown friends on Facebook.

“A girl slapped me!!!!
I used the C word that you taught me. I think I said it the wrong way. What is the correct way?”

After a while an aghast Anne replied with:

“Oh my God! Is this true?”

Nantoy expounded further:

“I met her at a bar. She said she grew up in Zamboanga. The first thing that popped into my mind was the C word. So I said it because she was a cutie. But I said it with a wink. Maybe it was because of that.”

Nantoy, a high five is not enough; let me give you a high six for that believable tale!

Anne didn’t reply for a long time after that. Hours later, I got a PM from her.

“Was Nantoy serious? Oh no. I feel so bad.”

At this point I decided that I didn’t want the situation to turn as convoluted as that Friends episode where they went “but they don’t know that we know they know we know.” So I told Anne the truth, and I could imagine her huge sigh of relief while typing out her reply to me.

“Eeeesh!!! Haha I didn’t know how to react! I really felt guilty! I couldn’t even eat lunch in peace!”

Hahaha!

This reminded me of two episodes from two of my favorite sitcoms. The first one is the one I mentioned earlier. In one Friends episode, Rachel and Phoebe found out that Chandler and Monica were sleeping together. They wanted Chan and Mon to admit this to them, so they staged a way to get them to do so, by Phoebe flirting with Chandler. Unfortunately, Monica saw through the plot and decided to retaliate by telling Chandler to flirt back. He did, and Phoebe and Rachel were aghast that Chandler would blatantly cheat on Monica till they realized: “They know that we know! But they don’t know that we know they know we know.” So they called Chandler’s bluff and it all came to head in a very hilarious living room forced-seduction scene between the two (seriously, you gotta watch this. Like right now. What are you doing still reading this blog? I said NOW!). In the end, Chandler was the first to cave, admitting that he couldn’t go through with it because he was in love with Monica, much to everyone’s pleasant surprise. Check out those scenes here. Youtube has disabled embedding.

The other episode is one from How I Met Your Mother. Ted had met a girl he really liked in a bar, and he asked for her number. Barney and Marshall told him he had to wait for three days to call her or else he would seem too needy. He finally agreed with them, but he found a loophole – he had agreed not to call, but nobody said anything about texting. So he texted her, and they spent the entire night and the next morning in textversation (sorry, I totally invented that word. But it’s cool, right?). What he didn’t know was that Barney had taken his phone and switched the number with Barney’s work cell so that if he called her, he and Marshall would bust on him. So Ted was actually texting Barney and Marshall, not Holli (which was the girl’s name). Robin found out about this and told Ted, and when Ted found out, he turned prankers to prankees by texting them that he had a confession to make – “I sometimes have gay dreams about my best friend.” Now one of the running jokes in HIMYM is about how Barney and Marshall fight for the title of Ted’s best friend, so they didn’t know for sure who Ted meant by “best friend” and started arguing about why Ted would pick him over the other. It all came down to a head in a bar scene where they forced him to choose between the two of them, and he finally replied: “Holli.”

So I guess what I’m saying is: be careful who you pull a prank on. ;)

Home for the Holidays 2012

For the first time since I moved to Singapore in 2008, I got to go home for Christmas. It was a short yet sweet vacation.

Day 1

It was an uneventful flight to Manila, and when I got to AA's condo, where I was staying, we talked for a bit before both falling asleep on her bed because it was still too early in the morning to stay awake. But not before she ate my Garrett popcorn pasalubong for breakfast. Then I had to wake up a couple of hours later to get ready to meet my friends in Makati.

My first meet up was with my P&G friends Caloy and April. We were supposed to have lunch at Dencio's near their office (my old office), but it turns out that place no longer exists, so we dined at the restaurant that took its place - Romulo's Cafe. I love the design of the place! The black and white walls scream coffee shop instead of the pinoy food restaurant that it is, but it makes it all the more cozy.

We ordered deep-fried tilapia, crispy pata, ensalada, and before we could finish saying that we wanted laing and vigan fried rice, too, our amusing waiter, who shall remain nameless, actually left us to help out another table. Whoa, talk about bad case of attention deficit disorder. He did the same thing to us again while he was packing up our leftovers in takeaway containers. Lucky for him, we all just laughed at the incident instead of screaming at him for it, which I can imagine anyone else in our shoes would have done. That wasn't the only thing that we laughed about over lunch, though, we all had fun talking about what we decided to call the "chicken" tales. Haha. April and I will always remember how we have that in common.

Caloy's work of art

Sharing the "chicken" tales with April and Caloy

It rained very hard just as we were getting ready to leave. I dropped by the Ayala malls and had my lashes permed before heading back to AA's place where she had booked a home service mani-pedi-footspa-massage combo for us both. It was so wonderfully relaxing that we both dozed off and could no longer meet our respective friends for dinner. Later we woke up and had late dinner - a Chowking delivery which I had requested. I happily gobbled up chao fan, siomai, tofu, kangkong with bagoong and halo-halo. After that, we settled down with our kindles. We copied each other's ebooks and she organized her categories while I finished reading a book I had started on the plane earlier.


Day 2

This was the day of Rodel and Monet's wedding, the main reason why I flew home. AA and I headed to the Shangrila Mall to buy some necessary things and had lunch at KFC where I had a fully loaded meal. Philippine KFC gravy is still the best! Then AA drove us home where we changed and did our own hair and makeup. We turned out pretty decent and left to fetch Chi at her office. We had underestimated the traffic so we were late for the wedding, so we decided to go directly to the reception place instead - Bellevue Hotel. Chi changed in the bathroom and I did her makeup while AA did her hair. Haha we make a good team! We laughed at our dress choices, though, because they were all purplish, so we looked like we were part of the entourage of another wedding. We still had some time to kill after dressing up, so we went to the hotel lobby for coffee before the reception began.

The wedding itself deserves a blog of its own and you can read about it here.

After the wedding, Chi, AA and I headed to Punchline where Chi's hubby Punch was having a company outing of some sort. We got disgusted with the jokes even before the main event came on, though, so we left and headed home.


Day 3

I left AA's place to check into The Peninsula hotel with my P&G friends Drew and Yen. We got a discount on the hotel rate thanks to Drew's company benefits. After checking in, we took a walk towards the Ayala Triangle and had a very late lunch at the Kanin Club, ordering their famous crispy dinuguan and my favorite sinangag na sinigang. We had a catch-up conversation filled with the usual laughter. Then Drew had to go back to the office and Yen had to go home to her baby so I headed to the Ayala malls for a Lucy Britannico salon deep conditioning treatment for my hair.

Reunion at Kanin Club

When evening came, Drew met me at the mall and we had dinner and a continuation of our lunch conversation at California Pizza Kitchen. After that we watched a movie, just like old times. The movie he chose was Mission Impossible 4 in Greenbelt 3 and I couldn't help but notice that their HD screen was way better than the ones in Singapore. WTG Makati! We both loved the movie and nobody fell asleep. I'm saying this because we have both fallen asleep on each other while watching movies in the past. For me it was because I was both sick and exhausted after having just run a marathon, and for him, it was from the sheer boringness of the movie, which was The Golden Compass, by the way.

The Peninsula's lobby

Day 4

The next morning, we ate the breakfast that came free with our room rate and I had champorado, realizing that I hadn't eaten one in years, probably never since I moved to Singapore.

Then we checked out of the hotel and I headed to the airport to catch a plane to my hometown, Zamboanga. I thought my flight was going to be on time and the moment I sat down, I put on my seatbelt and texted my mom that I was in the plane then promptly fell asleep. When I woke up an hour later, I was shocked to see that our plane was still on the ground. OMG! 

Mom fetched me at the airport and we went home she said did I want to eat dinner? She had bought a simple noche buena for us and though this was supposed to be for midnight, I was hungry since I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so we ate some. It was a good thing we did, though, because before 9 pm, mom was already sleepy and said maybe we don't really need to stay up till midnight and I said okay, and she went to bed. I wasn't sleepy, though, so I tried to catch the Christmas spirit which had eluded me for the first time since I was aware of Christmas. I tried to watch my favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually. Didn't work. As a last resort I decided to give Glee's christmas episode a shot. Lately I had been avoiding Glee because of its lackluster season 3 episodes, but this one actually did the trick. I caught the Christmas spirit, and just in the nick of time for Christmas too.

Day 5

I spent all Christmas day with mom. We stayed home then walked around looking at houses and she showed me where she would be moving on January. Then we dropped in on old family friends and went back home so that my cousin and her family could visit us. And silly me, I completely forgot to take pictures. :-/

Day 6

Mom took me to visit my niece, who still cried whenever she saw strangers, and that included me. I gave her a stuffed Piglet because I never know what to get for babies, and after a while she actually stopped crying and rode in her mini bike with the piglet in the passenger seat.

I left my niece to meet my high school friend Flisha at Marcian Garden Hotel. We were supposed to overnight there with her barkada but in the end they all couldn't go so we asked Chu and Jefrey to join us instead. Upon checking in, we were asked for ID and we realized that we both had none, so she had to ask for Christopher's help. He came and presented his ID, and we checked out our room and had a few pictures taken before changing into our swimsuits and dipping into the pool where we had a lengthy girl talk; I had missed this! We were so into our conversation that we forgot to check our cellphones - Brian had like 16 misscalls and he was waiting in the lobby. Oops. 

After swimming we got dressed and headed to Lantaka Hotel. We were driven there by Kay who had come to fetch us. We were supposed to have dinner with Chu and Jefrey and them at another table but Kay and Brian decided to move to another restaurant instead. Chu and Jefrey had also brought Kathy, their high school friend, and the five of us shared grilled panga and a bilao of food. The main meals were good, but we made the mistake of ordering crepes and churros for dessert and those were bad. 

Dinner conversation was fun, and we kept talking in the hotel, reminiscing college debate days and asking some very personal questions of each other and gossiping about other people. Then Chu decided he wanted to eat Chowking buchi, so we called Chowing delivery and had that and siomai and halo-halo for midnight snacks. The next morning when we woke up, we had breakfast at Zalo's Point before heading back to our respective homes. I loved the drink called Zamboanga White. 

Day 7

It was college reunion time. Zenie rode a ferry from Basilan and Nald called me last minute to say that he could join. We were supposed to eat at Alejandra's but on our way there, Zenie and I spotted the new Max's Fried Chicken and changed the venue. When we got there, we realized that the ones present were all those who were not based in Zamboanga. It was like an OFW reunion plus Ronald. Luckily, Rona and Lester showed up towards the end of dinner.

After dinner we wanted to do videoke and walked over to Alejandras, but the place has really fallen so low, it turns out. The videoke place was empty and smelled like cockroaches. Ugh. And the restaurants have become like a beer garden, with girls in skimpy clothing singing up front. Lester said there was a new place called La Clarita in Pasonanca, so we went there. The place was cheap, just a little over a thousand pesos for two hours and the amount was consumable in food, can you believe that? Best of all, Lester picked up the tab. It was really fun to sing and laugh with old friends. 

And that was it. My short and sweet Christmas in the Philippines. So, three years from now again, maybe?