friends – Page 11 – Eliza Victoria

weekend!

Well, not exactly the weekend because my schedule’s weird, but whatever.

Oct. 16 – IV- 1 whut.

cyma6

cyma4

Dinner at Cyma (Greenbelt 2) and coffee at Trinoma with high school friends. Still sabog, still fun. :D

More pictures here.

Oct. 17 – Nice night at Serendra, na nauwi sa alay-lakad and peoplewatching.

Bummer, I didn’t know Bruce Wayne’s already dead. And a time bullet? Wha~? /end nerd

* * *

Random: I had my ID picture taken at Waltermart for ze French class. My hair’s blue in the picture. TRUE STORY.

Some pipe or whatever exploded in the condo unit washroom. Got drenched. (Quick: think boom box, car, boys, SOAP SUDS.) Ondoy-like flood indoors whut.

* * *

Very quickly: my new poem, “Cliffhangers”, can be found in the latest issue of the Philippines Free Press. :)

notes on the storm

‘Ondoy’ dumps heaviest rainfall on Manila in more than four decades

– When I heard on the news that the storm would hit land Saturday, I didn’t think too much of it. I mean, we get a gazillion storms every year.

– That day I even woke up early, thinking I could go for a jog if the rain had stopped. I couldn’t hear anything because the windows were closed. I pushed back the curtain and boy oh boy.

– A flatmate had work that morning; she came back minutes later and said she couldn’t cross the street, the water in front of the condo had already reached her knees.

– An office mate informed me through text that the front steps of our office was submerged in flood water. Dahil ganito kami sa Makati, y’all.

– It ain’t just Makati, it turned out. At around 2 p.m. my sister sent a text message saying there’s water now entering the first floor of her boarding house (she lived in Manila), and that she couldn’t contact our brother, who left at 10 a.m. for Bulacan.

– I managed to go online briefly, and a friend sent a message through chat: This is the first time a storm has ever scared me.

– I stayed glued to the TV. At one point, actress Jennica Garcia, Jean Garcia’s daughter, called Startalk to say that the Marikina Riverbank had overflowed, and that there was now water reaching the second floor of their house. She was crying and begging for rubber boats.

– It was so surreal.

– Later we heard that Ara Mina’s sister, Christine Reyes, was on the roof of their house with her pamangkin, also asking for help.

– My brother was still missing.

– The news said that several towns in Bulacan were now flooded.

– At around 7 p.m., my brother finally sent a text. He was stranded in Isetann.

– My office mate, who lived just behind the office, couldn’t get home. She texted me at around 11 p.m.

– My mother texted: There is now water inside the house.

– At 7 this morning (Sunday) my brother was still not home.

– I watched TV and was infuriated by Kris Aquino’s cheeriness. “They just pledged 2,000 bottles of VitWater. VitWater’s the one with Pacman, right? Okay yan o, may nutrients pa.” Te, te, bagyo kasi ‘to, hindi piyesta. Imbiyerna!

– Brother finally reached Bulacan at 10 a.m., 24 hours after he left Manila.

– Now I’m looking outside the window, and it is sunny. If you’re cranky and tired like me, you’ll probably consider the sunshine as an insult.

– I hope you guys are okay.

because the rain can’t stop me

Friday. Dinner and coffee with Ace, who was overflowing with chika. I was bombarded with stories even before we could properly sit. I loved this of course. I particularly enjoyed the “promdi moment in New York” anecdote: standing in awe of Times Square, immobilized by the sight—and being pushed and prodded by New Yorkers, who were nice enough to call her “bitch”. I mean, they could have used harsher words. She was in the way.

Also, I didn’t know it was possible for alienation and homesickness to force you to watch Daisy Siete. I had never thought of turning to the Sex Bomb dancers for comfort. Interesting. Haha.

* * *

Saturday. Gig Book photo shoot with Mandy Navasero. I went with Andrea, who had French classes and knew the place, and also because Makati is still for me a senseless collection of streets. Hay, kailan kaya kita makakabisado.

Ms Mandy’s studio is housed in a building filled with art galleries and all sorts of pretty things. Even the restaurant inside looked like an art show! (Thank you to Andrea and the menu displayed outside the glass doors – if I were alone I would have gone inside the restaurant and looked at the display, nodding every now and then in appreciation, instead of, you know, sitting down and ordering. Wonder what the staff would have thought of me appraising their furniture like that.)

We took photos! I’ll wait for Andrea to upload.

Oh wait, here they are:

These stuff are actually inside the restaurant:

Andrea also smuggled me into Alliance. Now I want to take French classes. (French or Japanese? I’ll toss a coin, maybe, or consult my savings. I think Alliance offers cheaper rates than the Nihongo Center.)

(I am waaaay too lazy to apply for a master’s degree – I know this now. Le sigh.)

* * *

Thanks to Charles, I have finally gotten my hands on the Sept. 12 issue of the Free Press, which contains my story, “Reunion”. (End subtle plug.) This issue also has an article about the Free Press Lit Awards and holy shit, Tim Yap was there? I thought Sasha was only joking.

* * *

Charles also lent me two books: Year’s Bet SF 14 and The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Vol. 3. I now tenderly put them atop my overwhelming pile of unread books (I now have 10 in my list; I’m halfway through Eden Express and Blind Assassin, almost done with The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.). And yet, and yet – I dream of going to the Manila Book Fair to purchase more. Am I insane? (Yes.)

* * *

Sleepaway, an anthology of writings on summer camp edited by Eric Simonoff – I recommend this. Contains some of the most interesting essays and short stories I’ve read so far. What happens inside Jewish summer camps, leftist summer camps, music summer camps? Lev Grossman talks of a music summer camp he once attended, where the campers during an unsuccessful softball game avoided the ball “for fear of spraining their long, limber fingers”. James Atlas, in one of my favorite essays in this anthology, talks of a summer camp for intellectuals and writers, where instead of flashlights they were asked to bring Bic pens, and where nobody played baseball and the “tennis court was deserted”. In a letter to his parents he rattled off his activities (panel discussion on modern poets, Shakespeare Festival, jazz music and Chekhov) and ended with “Culture! I can’t take it anymore; send comic books – anything.”

pizza picture perfect

Because we ordered pizza. Because Cyril brought a camera. Because we’re hoors.

Bring it!

Continue reading pizza picture perfect

in the company of worldbuilders

I was about to use “writers”, but I think this word is better. (Source: most probaby Neil Gaiman’s blog, or his Twitter page, or one of his stories.) Such a beautiful image, and such an accurate word to describe approximately 10,000 hours of staring at a blank page and too much potato chips and having absolutely no social life.

I’m kidding. Maybe 1,000 hours.

Anyway. Book launch yesterday (Feb. 28) of the fourth installment of Philippine Speculative Fiction.

I’ve been published in an anthology before (a collection of flash fiction) but was not able to attend the launching. (Actually I’m still not sure if there had been one.) So the event yesterday was my first ever book launch. Attended it with my friend Eula, who frequents the place because she lives nearby.

I, on the other hand, have never been there before because (kindly refer to first paragraph).

The venue was the U-View Theater inside the gigantic Fully Booked branch on High Street, and to get to there we had to pass the Graphic Novels aisle. It killed me. The books were unattainable. Dear Fully Booked, kindly put the graphic novels on sale. Ktnxbye.

The Alfars (who edited the anthology) were very welcoming, very lively, and just the right amount of insane. I LOVE IT. Each author’s bio sketch was flashed onscreen, which Dean Alfar read out loud. Fun, really fun, except that the authors had to get up and say something. In my head I prepared this speech: “I am so thankful to be in this room filled with writers and readers. This is the kind of room that I’d like to embrace (and do crazy stuff with).”

Instead when I finally got up to get my copies, I said something like: “OHMYGOD I am so THANK YOU [laughs like a hyena] [starts moving around like a jackhammer]” I was moving around so much that Eula said she had a hard time taking a photo of me.

You see, this is why I write.

* * *

Big, big mistake: I didn’t stick around after the program to collect signatures from the other authors. STUPID!

But anyway, at least Eula and I had time to give ourselves blisters walking around Fort Bonifacio. Dinner was fun. Eula, we should do this again!

sammich for a "healthy" dinner — "healthy" dinner

* * *

This stuck with me, though: when I came up to Dean Alfar to shake his hand, he said: “We wanted so much to meet you, you made us cry.”

You see, this is why I write. :D

Do buy a copy. :)

(The rest of the photos are over here. And here be a bunch of links, compiled by Charles Tan. Know the other authors! Hehe.)

laiya

beach

at-sea

laiya

[Lah-eee-yah, apparently – not “free”.]

I can’t swim, and I’m too terrified to stay submerged in the water for even a few seconds, so I don’t know why I kept coming back to the ocean.

But what the heck – I love my high school friends. This was the bunch of people who elected me class president for two consecutive years, which makes me love them more because that just proved that they’re all insane.

Anyway it all began with a badminton game, a meal at Jabi (we will always have a soft spot for Jabi), running into Gale somewhere in Malolos, and before I knew it my mail’s being flooded with itineraries and a desperate plea for a kawali and a forum about yuppie life. After the grievance board was erased we went back to itineraries and a debate about canned goods.

Final head count was 17, and we’re off to Laiya.

van1 — huwag nang bilangin, nasa CR yung iba.

No airplane involved, and it wasn’t exactly a crazy roadtrip, but hey, it was still a big deal. All through high school and college we suffered through pool parties in this Bulacan resort that made my skin itch afterwards.

The entire ride was like a sitcom and it was exactly what I needed.

I felt sorry for the driver, who now probably thinks I actually keep a battery-operated toothbrush that I don’t use for brushing (wink). Kuya, ako’y mahilig magsulat, at magbantay sa paglubog ng araw; nais ko sanang ipagtanggol ang aking puri’t dignidad pero kebs, ‘di ko naman siya kilala.

At one point we stopped to ask how to get to the resort, and the guy said something that I swear sounded like “Angelina”. Basta drug store daw, tapos kumanan. Minutes later, while we were still craning our necks and wondering where this supposed “Angelina” was, Jayson became rather animated and pointed angrily out the window, na para bang hindi namin kayang mag-U turn. Chos lang. Sabi ko, “Nasaan?!?” kasi hindi ko talaga makita.

When we made the turn I saw this sign:

AB A

FARMACIA ABGELINA pala, pota. At kumusta ang sign ng landmark na ‘yan, ano.

So eventually we got to the resort.

complete1

Seventeen people in one room – gotta love it. The water was cold, we brought sand everywhere; later the food was prepared and we had to burn my Medicard memorandum (ewan, nasa backpack ko eh, ‘wag mo ‘kong husgahan) and Ghia’s brown envelope just to ready the coals.

grill

food

kain

The rice was perfect, and so was the fish – seriously I didn’t know fish could be that soft. Love. There was liempo, and kamatis and itlog na maalat and tuna and bananas and mango and I just made myself hungry, great. Later on, inuman na! Labingdalawa yata kaming naghati-hati sa vodka (2 bottles) at brandy (2 bottles nga rin yata) na iced tea at Coke ang chaser, saka Red Horse (2 bottles, masarap din pala ang beer kapag sobrang lamig. ‘Di ko kasi masyadong type ang beer). Labingdalawa. Paano ka naman malalasing ‘di ba.

Pero nalasing ako eh, wala na. Loser. Sa totoo lang, wala na akong masyadong maalala sa (mga) pinagusapan noong gabing ‘yon. Ang naaalala ko lang, niyayakap ko si Maricon, o minsan yung basyong bote ng Coke, tapos nung nag-CR ako akala ko butiki yung nasa dingding tangena palaka pala tangena may palaka sa CR, tapos kapag makakatulog na ako hinihila ni Richard yung buhok ko, tapos may nagtanong sa akin kung gusto ko na bang mag-kape, tapos alam ko may tinanong akong lalaki kung open siya sa isang gay relationship tapos sabi niya oo raw pero di ko na maalala kung sino yun. Sino kaya yun.

So anyway, the next day, boating, snorkeling.

vest

I loved the wind, and the view, but not the thought of being left in the middle of the sea. When we got off, I refused to let go of the side of the boat. Ayoko na, shet, isa itong malaking pagkakamali. Gracezel said I’m safe, I have a life vest on, but seriously, I really believed at that moment that if I let go of the boat I would sink to the bottom. While making my way around the boat, Richard said, “O Eliza, bakit ka nagra-rapelling diyan?” Later on I realized that hey I’m actually floating I am so amazed, and I was handed the snorkeling gear, but I still couldn’t breathe that well – I only saw a snapshot of corals, some blue fish.

Now I am certain that I will never scuba-dive, and that the worst thing that can happen to me is to be left in the middle of an ocean with a life vest. Mas maganda yung wala nang life vest, or imbes na life vest blade na lang o lason. If this is a phobia and the only cure is to throw me into a body of water, then I’ll stick with my phobia, thank you very much.

The ride home was quieter, dahil pagod na ang lahat. I saw Kuya Driver glancing at June and Richard (who were asleep) and shaking his head, na para bang hindi siya makapaniwala na kaya pala namin tumahimik.

That was fun, had a great time. Everyone’s changed, somehow, pero kantyawan pa rin kapag may nagsabi ng “Yah” or “Oh fuck”. Bawal ang “yah” at “oh fuck”, binabalatan ang umi-Ingles. The other batches in our high school seemed fragmented, and I’ve always wondered why the members of our batch are still great friends. I’m thinking one day all my former classmates would be paired off, and I’d be left somewhere in the periphery. Well and good, what can you do right, but I’ll always appreciate an invitation to a cup of coffee or two.

Basta lang hindi ako tinatamad, or hindi ako naglilinis ng kwarto or nagbabasa or nagsusulat or nanonood ng DVDs, or doing some other dorky thing. No wonder nalasing ako kahit more than ten people ang naghati-hati sa kakarampot na alcohol. Anobayan.

(Photos from Maple, Gale, June, Melai. :) )

cebu bohol cebu

So I’m writing this at home on a Sunday (Jan. 25), which feels weird because I work on Sundays and yet here I am typing nonsense and making myself fat after having stashed away the bags and the clothes. I’ve also done some laundry so I thought I might as well write about the trip. Blogging’s good practice for people with bad memory. Oh, and if you’re planning to go to Bohol you’ll love this. I’m Alt-Tab’ing to our itinerary and budget yes we have an itinerary and budget in pdf (na may WordArt) and Excel formats because my friend Grace is insane like that.

(At nagsalita yung hindi kumakarir ng blog post tungkol sa bakasyon.)

Here it goes.

Jan. 22 (Thursday)

Don’t you just love seat sales? We were able to purchase roundtrip tickets to Cebu at just 1000+ each from Cebu Pacific. (Ooh, a little disclaimer: The establishments/businesses that I’m going to mention here didn’t pay me to mention them.) We’re booked on the last flight out of Manila, but of course the flight got delayed, thankfully by just an hour. (See, I told you they didn’t pay me to mention them.) I don’t go around much, so that was my first plane ride ever. I know. Since I’ve never been to the terminal, when we got to NAIA it didn’t impress me much because I thought that’s how terminals were supposed to look like – clean and sparkling and new. But after speaking with a friend who’s been to the old terminal I began to appreciate the “changes”.

p1010020

p1010022

p1220639

As for the flight, it was okay. It was like riding a cramped bus (as if may bus na hindi cramped), except that you’re several thousand feet above the ground and every now and then your ears pop. Gusto ko yung pag-internalize ng isang flight attendant during the life vest demo – mukha talaga siyang alarmed. Siguro first time din niya chos. The sight of the barf bag scared me, but I didn’t use it, thank goodness. There was one turbulence warning, which I spent marveling at a Kris Aquino White Flower ad in the in-flight magazine so I didn’t know how turbulence really was supposed to feel like. Si Kris lang pala ang katapat.

p1010033

p1010030

Window seat! To say that the city lights were breathtaking is an understatement.

We arrived at the Mactan International Airport at half past nine. From there we rented a van to the Apple Tree Suite.

Ate: 900 po ang rental, ma’am

Ghia: Hindi po ba pwedeng 800?

Ate: [rumadyo sa driver] Okay daw 850.

Kumusta ka naman, ate.

We stayed at two deluxe rooms at 1,500 per room. Wala naman akong reklamo sa kwarto.

p1010045

p1010046

p1010062

After dumping our bags, we headed over to Larsian. It’s this 24-hour barbeque place where, the moment you enter, the owners of the different stores will converge and approach you and beckon you to them, as though they were Edward and you were Bella. I didn’t know this then so the sudden incessant psst-ing surprised me. I was so hungry I could only think of Twilight references.

We chose the stall with an electric fan. Electric fan lang talaga ang criterion ano.

For rice they had what they called pusó (not “heart”; put stress on the second syllable), na parang konti pero mabigat pala sa tiyan. Cost was 2.50 per.

p1010057

They don’t have utensils so they’ll give you a clear plastic bag that you’ll put over your right hand. Kung meron lang matinong hugasan magkakamay na lang ako. Madulas kasi.

p1010058

We only spent 75 per for all those food, pusó and drinks included. Solb.

p1010061

Jan. 23 (Friday)

Very early in the morning (like just a little after 4), we headed over to the pier to get to Bohol. There was some promo, so the ferry ride cost only 836.25, two-way (Cebu-Tagbilaran, and back) kasama na terminal fees.

I also expected to experience motion sickness but I didn’t. We even went up to camwhore, yehess.

p1010076

p1010083

The ride to Tagbilaran was long, almost two hours.

Pagdating doon, ayan na ang walang katapusang countryside tour. Parang wala siyang katapusan kasi ang init sa Tagbilaran (at 8 am pa lang yun ha) at atat na akong mag-beach, hehe.

Here be a bunch of pictures:

p1010101

p1010103

p1010107

p1230636

p1010126

p1010136rot

p1240892

And then: Panglao.

A thing of beauty, etcetera, etc. At one point I said, “’Wag na tayong umuwi. Dito na lang tayo tumira.”

p1240772

p1240778

p1240786

p1240848

p1240784

p1010146

p1010148

We stayed at the Dumaluan Beach Resort. Deluxe rooms cost around 3k each, inclusive of breakfast. Food is expensive (We had to buy dinner; actually okay
naman ‘yung price, ‘yung ulam 200-300 and good for two, BUT they sell rice at 22 per cup I mean, come on) but the beach will more than make up for it, don’t worry.

Get up early, like around 6, to see the beach at low tide.

Jan. 24 (Saturday)

Back in Cebu at 6 in the pm. We weren’t able to do much, just went to SM Cebu (o dumayo pa ng Cebu para mag-SM) to buy stuff and was stunned by the fact that the taxi drivers actually give you change down to the last centavo. While inside the mall there was a commotion at the entrance. I didn’t see it myself, but Kuya Wendell said halos kuyugin na ng guards yung isang taxi driver na namimili ng pasahero. My goodness, nabibili kaya yung mga guards na ‘to? I’ll bring them by the truckload to Metro Manila.

Oh, I forgot to say, on our way inside, I had this conversation with one of the security guards:

Guard: [while checking my bag] Samting samting samting bag samting samting samting check samting samting

Me: [blank stare]

Guard: Samting samting

Me: Ay naku sorry po, hindi ko po kayo maintindihan.

Guard: Ay Tagalog lang po ba, ma’am? [smile] Kaya pala.

Me: Hehe.

Bakit nag-assume na siya na Tagalog ako. E kung sabihin ko kaya, “No, no, Malaysian.” Chos.

Jan. 25 (Sunday)

At the Apple Tree Suite, we were given two rooms that faced each other on the third floor. So nakabukas yung pinto ng parehong kwarto because we’re shuttling back and forth across the corridor (Well, at least si Maricon, na parang di mapirmi sa kwarto). At one point a cranky tourist (Didn’t see him, but I guess he’s American, judging on the accent) passed by and said, in a booming voice: “Can you please shut the doors? This is a hotel.”

Possible comebacks that we weren’t able to say because this was real life and not the movies:

– Well, this is our country, so can you shut your mouth?

– Oh, so you mean you don’t close your doors at home?

– Hotel na ba ‘to, kuya? Hindi ba inn?

– No, no, Tagalog onli.

– EH DI ISARA MO YUNG PINTUAN MO PAKIALAMERO KA PALA E.

I’m sorry, I just can’t imagine myself being in a foreign country and telling the locals to shut their doors, haughtily, scolding them as if they were my unwanted children. Hello, mister, this isn’t your colony anymore. (Tapos biglang sa kanya pala yung Apple Tree ano. Eh basta, kaasar siya. Sana makatapak siya ng sea urchin.)

Our flight back to Manila wasn’t delayed, isn’t that cool? The morning flight gave me a view of clouds, some islands, and the back of the head of the guy next to me because I wasn’t able to get a window seat.

And then we’re home. :)

If you’re lucky enough to avail of sales and promos (and you have seven other people with you), you’ll spend around 4k. Hindi pa kasama food and incidental commute fares and souvenirs and pasalubong, so just prepare around 7k. That’s more than enough.

* * *

Now, about sungazing:

p10100672

p1010069

(Photos from my camera and Grace Anne/Wendell’s camera and Ghia/Ed’s camera.)

(Special thanks to Ghia for blow-drying my hair on Friday hehe.)

(I’ll upload more pics at my Multiply.)

(EDIT: Uploaded!)

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: