My Holiday Experience (A Christmas of Fours)

When we were in elementary, one of our first post-Christmas vacation seat works would involve essays with the above title. Most of my classmates hated it not only because it involved writing (or oral presentations) but also because it was an activity that happens every year, particularly if the instructor was too tired to think of an activity that involved less noise.

But I loved it, because I get to write.

This year, vacation meant going home to Iloilo and spending time with the family. I got my wish but this Christmas was unlike any other I’ve experienced. This was also a Christmas of Fours:

1. This year, there were only four of us at home as my father is on board.
2. December is the most expensive month of the year for Pototanons. We have at least four events to look forward to: Christmas, IWAG (the Lights Festival of Pototan), patronal fiesta and New Year.
3. There was only one round of power interruption, but it lasted for four days and four nights.
4. Murky water seeped through our kitchen. It was only ankle-deep but it happened during the blackout. We heard news that the nearby townspeople’s houses got flooded and many had to evacuate to gymnasiums. Four of my friends texted me that they cannot come for the fiesta.
5. I was able to meet up with college friends and high school friends and it’s something I’ve always looked forward to every year. The dates I met with them were: Dec. 21, Dec. 27, Dec. 30 and Jan. 3.
6. During our fiesta, the first people to arrive were my guy friends from high school: Mario, MJ, Rene and Geron.
7. I was able to attend the Misa de Aguinaldo for four nights. The most I attended was once, because I hated waking up in the wee hours. This time, the parish priest was kind enough to celebrate mass with us during the evening. Why only four? I arrived in Iloilo with more than half the number of masses already celebrated.
8. I have four books to enjoy over the break. London Bridges by James Patterson, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, Stories by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio and Hanging Out with the Dream King by Joseph McCabe. The last two were from Wila.

It’s funny because I only got to realize that this was a Christmas of Fours as I type. How was your Christmas? Was it also un-Four-gettable?

Home and what have yous.

Sometimes, I cannot help but feel something akin to this. Don’t get me wrong, I am no insomniac. I sleep as much as 7-8 hours a night.

But sometimes, I feel that something took flight from within me. I lost that something which gives me a certain kind of balance. I still don’t know what that is but I hope to find it when I get home. I have been aching to go home, but for more practical reasons, I kept postponing.

I wish to find it soon. My bliss. The reason my smiles can no longer get to my eyes. I laugh but I cannot feel it. Only others can. And they are not that close to me to know what I really feel.

Arrg, I need to get my ass home. But first, some shut-eye.

No enjoying bus ride here.

I like bus rides.

But not here in Manila. If I’m riding a bus here in the metro, there would only be five to ten minutes interval among checking if I still have my bag, checking if the bus did not go beyond my stop and watching whoever it is I am seated next to. Manila bus rides gives birth to the praning in me, so to speak.

But whenever I am in Iloilo–especially Miagao–words are not enough to describe my bus ride bliss.

I think that bus rides are therapeutic. They make anyone think. And see the rest of the world from their side of the 3×4 bus windows. When I ride buses, I think of the good things which happened to me. Then, I would smile. I don’t know about you, but bus rides give me this enlightened and light feeling. When I step out of the bus, I feel like I just came from the comfort room–refreshed and *cough*, relieved.

It saddens me that I cannot do the same thing here in Manila.

If there’s another thing I miss in Iloilo aside from my family, it would be bus rides. And maybe that someone I can sit next to and hold hands with and not talk about anything–just taking it all in.

The Home That Is Iloilo <3

When I am at home, I feel different. The positive different.

Unlike when I am in Cebu or Manila where work calls me to be up and awake all the time, Iloilo is like a pillow-blanket-mosquito net combination. The place enables me to laze around all day and be happy in a world full of anything but rules and needs.

When I am at home, I have time to think. About me, my life and the people who surround me. I can think about them and space out for hours. Only my mother’s calls of the three most wonderful time of the day can break the spell.

Iloilo makes me lazy. While Cebu and Manila demands of me to clean my room or wash my clothes, Iloilo encases my being and makes me a bum. My mother would bark the list of chores that needed to be done, and I would pause for a moment and think that these is one of the best music undiscovered by men.

This is the only place where I feel most comfortable even when I have not taken a bath for days. All I seem to do all day is open the refrigerator and plug in something in the socket.

When I am in Iloilo, I can be very productive in the ideal sense. I have time for stimulating thoughts—not the ones filled with memos, attendance and office rules.

I lavish at the thought of leaving this place to go back to the workroom. Because it is only during that moment that I look forward to the day I can go home to Iloilo once more.

Selfish me.

The people at home are teasing me. They said I’ve become more selfish. Hahaha!

What they said was entirely true. I was and still am selfish. I work too hard. I seldom spend time with them. I am even more stingy.

Father: “Ikaw, kung i-text ka Monday, Friday ka pa ga-reply.” Awts.
Mother: “Abi pagturog don, indi sagay pulaw. Ikaw lang da mamanggaranon eh.”
Brother: “Te, indi mo gid ko pagtaw-an ka dang ginakaon mo?”
Sister: “Binli man ya ayam.”

Translation:

Amay: Text back ASAP, you!
Iloy: Sleep now, pay later.
Utod nga lalaki: Im hungry too, you know.
Utod nga babaye: Arf!

Whew. That was hard. Hahah!
But honestly, yes. I am even more selfish that I’ve lost more weight from too much work. That’s why they are pressuring me to go home for the holidays and fatten up. (Execution date is near, siguro.)

But, as pissed as they are with how delicately I am handling myself, I am so glad to be able to go home. XD

Videoke sessions with people who used to be strangers.

I miss these people.

This videoke session happened over four months ago, and I am wondering if it will happen again. Some of them may not be the people whom I have known for more than a year, but it seemed that there is instant friendship between us. One that has a chance of lasting forever.

:)Hope we can have one of these again.

On madmen and mothers

I seldom tell my mother how things are with my life.

Most of the time, she bickers on and on about how the world may swallow me whole if I sleep with both eyes—metaphorically. I think she has the “mean-world syndrome”.

The mean world syndrome simply states that “we perceive the world as a dangerous one, often because of what we see on television”.

When I tell my mom something significant (read: scary), I usually am over it. So her words won’t eat me. See? I am not really unfair. I just do not want her to worry but at the same time, I want her to know how things are in my life. What I do tell her are the good things. But even when I do, she almost always kills the fun.

I usually tell my father first. He is more visionary and less pessimistic. Men are generally calm than women in the face of disaster. Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

My mother has “hen instincts”. While my father would prefer that I act on my own (like how he would when he is in my situation), my mother is like a fire extinguisher sign: Safety first.

One time while we were taking our afternoon nap, we woke up to her shouting all over the house. The front door and gate was open. And although our house is almost 15 meters away from the dirt road, she was saying stuff like: What do you do if a madman comes by and plunges a knife in your gut?

We say” Nay, we have 6 dogs.

And she’ll say: Dead, if the madman poisons them.

OK. End of discussion. We left her to bicker her way to the dirty kitchen while we wipe the saliva from the corners of our mouth. So much for an afternoon nap, yay.

missing Miagao

I miss the boondocks of Miagao.
I miss our long afternoon walks.
I miss the people of Balay Madyaas.
I miss all of my friends.

I wonder when will I have the chance to go back there and hug the mosquitoes.

K.A.O.N.

The Ice Cream Corner in CUB

Walking home to the dormitory is an option, but a very time-consuming one.
Going to the town plaza to walk around is costly (food trip is always a must-do)
Movie marathons? I am not a night owl, I usually sleep over watching movies
Eating out? Costly and time-consuming, this one needs to be properly scheduled OR all six of us must have the same level of excitement to go for it.

CUB Cafeteria

When my friends and I are just too tired to go somewhere else, too hungry and lazy to think of healthy eating options, we make a detour for the College Union Building (CUB) where there is a self-service cafeteria.

My excess baggage: Bemjo and Wila 🙂

The quality of the food fluctuates, but it is just as edible and available every time. This utter laziness in the “search for delicious” usually happens during Wednesdays, where a few classes were held and not too many students go to school to do their non-academic-related thing.

Except for my ISBL Managerial Duty, I do not have any other official Wednesday business in school. However, I was forced to go there today because I need to consult with my fellow Indie Org members on the trailer that we made for our video.

With the consultation done, I bade everyone goodbye and decided to head back to the dormitory. Then I discovered that I had two extra baggage: Bemjo and Wila. *smirk* In a childish voice, one of them said: “Kaon ta bi (let us eat), please..” and clung to my bamboo-thin arms like a rich kid would do to a nanny.

Realizing I was too powerless to decline, I went along, ordered what they ordered and drank what they drank.

Bitok mode: Coke Sakto, Ham and Cheese Sandwich (Wila’s) and Batchoy

I felt I wasted my P20 today. The batchoy which I got has a strand of hair. It does not have the proper serving of pork slices which I usually anticipate during my random batchoy days, and it tastes like uncooked batter.

I had better check if there are plenty of pork in my batchoy before paying for it next time. 😀

*my apologies for the LQ photos

an INC victory

Each year, on the seventh month, a team from ABS-CBN Iloilo saddles up and goes to Miag ao for the annually held Intra-School Newscasting Competitions. Each year, there are three winners. And each year, there can only be one who gets to take home the crown of being the Champion.

while the competition goes, in the New Administration Building

This year, another fourth year CMS student made it. Genevieve Caberte. We can smell and feel victory.

OF course, I am not bragging. Bragging is different from being proud, right? Besides, Gen has it all: the face, the voice, the stance, the quick-wittedness and the timing. Deadly and incontestable combination.

While we were celebrating her victory as UPV’s official representative to the 8th ABS-CBN Newscasting Competition, we chatted about the external parts of the program. This is where bragging comes in: Person X told us that the ABS-CBN team are always looking forward to go to Miag ao because of the light atmosphere and the students’ inability to stay put. In short, we are crazy and spontaneous and it will be a waste of time ordering us to keep quiet. They love our fun attitude and our informal way of conducting the contest.

Now that I thought about it, they seem to be enjoying all right. They laughed at Baw Baw’s (the host) antics. They kept taking photos of Oblé even when his position or look does not shift or change at all. They love Hilltop’s (a local restaurant here in Miag ao) food. Their number increased (10 went last year, 15 this year) even when it is raining.

Thank you, ABS-CBN for taking time off to go here. We will try again this year and we hope to bag the crown for good! 😀 Go Gen!

Gen (wearing a ruffled top), and us, her batch mates