Poetic Justice

I hate to admit this but of all the things that I say, the phrase “I will not buy books this day/week/month” is the most unbelievable. I am a self-confessed bibliophile and that explains everything.

Well, this weekend, my excuse is that I felt exceptionally downtrodden after a visit to the hospital and I just have to have something to get my mind off it. Voila! Eight new books! And I am happy to say that I am on a Philippine publications mood - 6 out of the 8 that I bought are local publications (the anthology book on the Eraserheads among this purchase, see Rantings and Ravings on my multiply site).

Okay, okay, my next purchase will be on September 20, as Brisingr (3rd book in the Inheritance Series) by Christopher Paolini will be out by then. So there.

As I am writing this blog entry, I am listening to the Eraserheads’ Anthology album, reliving memories of my happy college days in UP Diliman (1992-1997), which was right smack at the height of E-heads’ popularity as a Pinoy band that reinvented and rejuvenated Manila sound. The Eraserheads for us then is our voice, the pride and joy ng mga iskolar ng bayan, and well, perhaps the band was even the voice of the entire youth of the nineties.

The band came out with hit after hit, had successful concerts, performed in the Ms. Universe pageant held in Manila, got an MTV award, became successful product endorsers, toured abroad, then in one abrupt moment in 2002, disbanded, leaving throngs of fans with cult-like devotion in shock and denial.

How many dreamed for an E-heads reunion? For years, fans kept on hoping and in August 2008, it finally materialized. It had the makings of being the concert of the year, even bigger than all the foreign artists who had a concert in the country put together.

I was not there, but it did not make me less of a fan. I was excited for my friends who were lucky enough to score tickets, and looked forward to see their pictures as I know, will be posted in their blogs, with kilometric accounts of the happy, once-in-a-lifetime occassion. The band, all four of them on stage - Ely, Buddy, Marcus and Raimund, seeing them perform their well-loved songs once again, would be enough to put a fan in a schizophrenic state of elation and break-down-in-tears-devotion.

But alas, the concert ended bittersweet. According to friends’ accounts, the band had a great first set, with the promise of a killer second set. Unfortunately, Ely was physically (and emotionally) not strong enough to go on and the concert had to be cut short. The beloved band seemingly is still not fated to sing their Huling El Bimbo.

So what is my personality in writing this entry, when I was not even in the concert, when I am seemingly a fan of less devotion? I write this piece because I had, once upon a fortunate time in 1996, with the stars shining down on me, met Ely. We talked a while, and starstruck, I asked for his autograph, which he willingly gave. I have it with me for more than 10 years now, kept among my prized memorabilias. Sometime in my life, kasama ako sa libo-libong umiibig kay Ely ng tunay, dreaming of being the muse for whom he is singing "Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka." 

"Buhos na ulan, aking mundo’y lunuring tuluyan
Tulad ng pag-agos mo,
‘Di mapipigil ang puso kong nagliliyab
Pag-ibig ko’y umaapaw,
Damdamin ko’y humihiyaw sa tuwa
Tuwing umuulan at kapiling ka"
- Lyrics by Ryan Cayabyab, Cover by the Eraserheads 1996

Several things triggered this trip down memory lane for me - seeing bar reviewees at Starbucks burning the midnight oil, it being almost the month of September, attending a BiCam Conference at Sofitel Philippine Plaza (formerly Westin), dropping off Roy’s niece Bobbie at DLSU Taft, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Four years ago I was among those who are panicky, jittery, almost cramming, and ultra nervous on how I will fare in the Bar Exams. What got me through? A lot of things. My family. Roy. My friends. Four years of diligence in law school. A lot of prayers. Strong faith in God. Watching television. Enough sleep. Food. An occassional movie. And the occasional road trips (going to church) with CaDaBarBeQueJan, Charmane (now Attys. Majah Casaje, yours truly, Arvin Barrientos, Ria Berbano, Mildred Que, Azenith Viojan, Charmane Kanahashi, ) and of course, Roy.

I suddenly remembered that out of boredom at 2:00 a.m., I took a picture of my bar review table. Its a small round wooden table which usually contains my bar essentials - water bottle, thermal mug, my small eeyore with a butterfly on his nose, hair ties, fountain pens, hair tie, schedule notebook, keys, post-it flags, post-its, notebook/pad for notes, yellow lion city dermatographs, bookmark, and my current book for the week (pictured above is remedial law by regalado). My harry potter glass was missing in this picture. The white mug is a container for small trash, like the paper wrappings of the dermatograph and the spoiled post-its. Call me obsessive-compulsive but my table, in essence, did not change for 5 months.

I remember having the tv on while taking down notes to keep me company in the wee hours of the morning. I used to be a morning person but during the bar review, I was a night owl. I was watching MTV a lot then, and the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece during the month of August, the olympics where Michael Phelps first shone, and became known.

Starbucks was where I used to get my caffeine fix when I need to be in school early on the few days that I choose to attend review classes at the Ateneo. Westin Philippine Plaza was where we were billeted for the 4 Saturdays of September so that we will be near DLSU Taft - the place of the dreaded Bar Exams for 4 Sundays of September.

Wow, it had been 4 years. How time flies. Other unfortunate souls (that’s how i certainly felt during those times) are going through what I went through. I wish them well. After all the hardwork, in the end, they will find out that it was worth it in terms of character building.

(Is the professional title worth it? Its for everyone to find out for themselves. haha)

Everyone who knows me knows that I love ice cream. But now, I’m starting to get addicted to White Hat Italian Frozen Yogurt (available primarily at the Mall of Asia). I’ve never had Pinkberry but reviews say that its close.

My favorite toppings are fresh strawberries, cocoa puffs/honey cereals and dark chocolate drops/chocolate balls. There just have to be that crunch and dark chocolate flavor, to give the frozen yogurt that creamy-tangy-crunchy-chocolaty combination.

I actually lifted the picture on this blog entry from their website gallery (haha i’m obviously a repeat customer). Thus far, you can still check it out at this link: http://www.thewhitehat.com.ph/customerpage.php?p=4.

What’s your combination?

Another E.R. episode for me last May 30, 2008! The bruise from this I.V. needle is just coming off, even if its more than a week…

Now I belong to the group of people who are allergic to E.R.s… and hospitals for that matter.

(Roy took this picture to remind me that I should behave from then on.)

(i know, I know… matigas kasi ang ulo ko…)

(sigh.. i miss seeing my engagement ring in that picture… glad its back from cleaning now)

I am glad to say that living in the province made me grow up rich in cultural and spiritual traditions. The Bisita Iglesia is one of such traditions. For a third of my life, every Maundy Thursday, our extended family in my maternal side does the Bisita Iglesia. For the uninintiated, Bisita Iglesia is practiced by visiting seven (7) churches. Some say nine (9) churches, but in our family, we visit fourteen (14), one church per station of the cross (Via Crucis). Before, we visit churches that are near our place, the farthest maybe is in Cavite City. Then as time went by, we started to explore and incorporate family field-trips and cultural/historical enrichment activities on our trips. We already explored churches in the Provinces of Cavite (of course!), Laguna, Batangas, and Bulacan. This year, we did the NCR. But there are a lot more churches that we haven’t visited! We visited churches in the following order: 1. National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Baclaran Church) 2. Santuario de San Antonio, Forbes Park 3. National Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 4. National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe 5. Christ the King Church 6. Sta. Clara de Montefalco Church 7. Church of the Gesu 8. Sto. Domingo Church 9. Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Jude 10. Binondo Church 11. Sta. Cruz Church 12. Manila Cathedral 13. San Agustin Church 14. Malate Church I have been to most of these churches (except Sta. Clara – it’s my first time!) but seeing them during Bisita Iglesia is another experience altogether. There were a lot of tourists – and I wonder how they see our culture… and if they are fascinated with us as much as we Filipinos get fascinated by other cultures? I am a local but I am so amazed at how wonderful it is to explore our country. Every nook and cranny seemed to be a work of art. There are monuments and landmarks in every corner, sights and picturesque views in every turn. Wag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan!!

(Pictures in order stated above)

Last Saturday, Roy and I brought our wards Julian and Kyla to the Avilon Zoo in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal. There we saw several Arapaima Gigas, at the pond separating the lions from the visitors. Wow! Said to be from the Amazon, we were amazed at the length of the fish.

From our view which is the top view, it looks like there are anacondas in the water. Roy and Julian fed it chicken heads and it leapt, snapping so hard i was startled. It was a scary yet fascinating fish, resembling an arowana. Knowing about the fish and curious as to what it looks like as a whole, i searched the net and found the following pictures below.

The phrase "friendship never ends" is part of Spice Girl’s song "wannabee," which became a big hit when I was in college at the UP. I can remember Jayneal singing "2 become 1" while we were all spilling out of our HRA 109 (beverage management) lecture class at the CHE, looking perfect for the part as she truly do resemble emma bunton a.k.a. baby spice, with her pretty girly-girl looks. That was more than a decade ago, and now the Spice Girls made a comeback single "headlines (friendship never ends)" for their reunion tour.

Wow. Time really do fly so fast! Had it really been that long? The First Seven Philippines Group (what we call our group in HRA, composed of myself, vega, tammy, odessa, jayneal, mabel and adrian) is now more than a decade old! It’s great that we all still keep in touch and at least have some means of contacting each other, whether via sms, e-mail, or friendster.

I’m posting our picture (courtesy of mabel) during our university graduation (April 1998 - we were done with our practicum Summer of 1997 so we had no choice but to march the following year). It was the centennial year, so the required attire was Filipiniana or white/cream, with the UP Sablay. We were all set to attend the University Graduation for the march, despite that fact that its a very long ceremony. It was crazy, such day was recorded as one of the hottest days in Philippine history! (from left to right: jayneal anne borromeo, june tamara jaranilla-olivares, maribel ebora, adrian augustine alfiler, katherine faye darvin-dizon, odessa laset-galicia, vega garcia-atienza)

The other pictures posted below are our current pictures: when tams went home for a visit from NY, USA last December, and with Vega at her store (Haagen Dazs). Too bad we can’t all be together again all at the same time!

Friendship never ends!