Sunday, October 31, 2004
BAYWALK AND THE BLUES
The Damage Report - Year 3 - Sembreak Week #2
Background Music: "Wherever You Are" by Southborder
NOTE: This is a weekly blog entry that summarizes a series of events of a finished week in and around La Salle.
I munched on the last piece of Blazin' Burger just before it fell apart. I looked at the Bingo Station on the third floor from my seat at Burger King and noticed a young lady leaning on the railing. She was wearing earth colors and she was staring across the spacious opening at the center of the mall.
It was Joy. My close friend since high school. On Thursday we successfully put up another get-together. Yes, meeting with four old friends is successful enough.
I sent the prepared text message I had in my drafts. It said "I can see you, can you see me?" after I sat at a table where I could see our meeting place upstairs. She looked down, waved, and smiled.
30 seconds later I was joining her upstairs in front of the Bingo Station. I think she got thinner from the last time I saw her which was in July. We scrolled the mall and waited for Nikki at 2:00 PM.
I attended the orientation for new drivers at the A1 Driving School on the lower ground floor in the morning. I also commuted to SM Bacoor because our driver was at his home tending to his new baby boy.
Joy and I went into National Bookstore and browsed around. We ran into Tintin (Martina Abiera), a fellow batchmate. The last time I saw Tintin was when she came over to my house with members of Gnotek during the Tanza Fiesta.
We enjoyed ice cream and this delectable fruit shake up at Juice Avenue near the Bingo Station. That's where Nikki showed up at exactly 2:00 PM.
The three of us finished the fruit shake and went to *Human to buy Rom his birthday gift. Nikki thought of buying him this beige cap which looked nice and made me wish I could have one too. But then again, I'm not used to wearing caps or hats.
Afterwards we were crossing the pedestrian overpass on Aguinaldo Highway and managed to get on a Lawton-bound bus from waiting in front of the Meralco building.
We were actually quite worried about where to get off. Intuitively, we knew where Baywalk was at. But technically speaking, we didn't know the route or exactly what stop to get off at. The conductor didn't know what Baywalk was and that was crazy.
The conductor suggested we get off at Ospital ng Maynila and that sounded like a best bet. The hazy horizon of the metropolis and the cloudy atmosphere tamed whatever excitement we had in catching the famous Manila Bay sunset.
We got off at Ospital ng Maynila which was sitting near the start of Baywalk. Perfect. The three of us found a Ped Xing and used it to cross Roxas Boulevard. We landed on the shaped cement tiles of Baywalk and cruised down searching for a nice spot.
We found a spot and just sat down. There was no sunset, just clouds and the stench of the bay shore. It was no Puerto Galera, but the sentimental value of it all was just as strong. I was with Nikki, the girl who graduated Valedictorian and one of the few friends from HS that I can really depend on. I was with Joy, the girl who I made confessions with at a previous get-together. She is also one of my few HS icons that I can really talk to.
Eventually we decided to hit Malate because it was sprinkling and everytime we put an umbrella up it would stop and when we'd put an umbrella down it would start raining again.
We crashed at Tabi-Tabi Po Coffee Shop and we figured to just order something. We had Ham and Cheese sandwiches which were expensive. They looked so simple too. The soda in cans were Php 25.00 already and to think there was a 7-11 just across the nearby intersection.
Rom finally showed up and he was looking haggard. He sat down and started explaining what just happened to him at his interview for an organization in Mapua.
Laughing, we walked back to the Baywalk area just as the kiosks there started to open one by one. Tables were starting to be set up. It felt weird though. For one, I wanted to enjoy Baywalk for what Baywalk was... a libis by the bayside. I also wanted to enjoy Baywalk with the comfort of knowing that we had a car, not a blank commute.
Despite those thoughts, we made the most of everything. We sat down at a table and shared a plastic cup of Mango Shake which had plastic flakes in it. Weird, I know. But that only added to the fun.
Rom started to sing all the catchy songs that played on the stereo system nearest our table. We were catching up on a lot of things. Erika couldn't go because, well, she couldn't (according to her). Lance had financial restraints which kept him at his dorm back at Dasma. While Candy was with baby Ethan.
Nikki is still with Bryan and they've gone through a lot for their LDR. Did I get that right? LDR, long distance relationship? Bryan is back in New Jersey. Nikki also made it into an organization related to her course Chemical Engineering.
Joy, on the other hand, actually kept quiet about more personal things. I asked her about her relationships and if there were any developments at UP for her and as a Psychology student. She turned it around and started asking me about my own love life.
I didn't want to say anything, that's one thing. I didn't want to be reminded of the moral dilemmas which transcend that part of me. Instead, we decided to talk about Rom.
Rom, is a Computer Engineering student at Mapua. Nothing has changed much with him bickering if he was shifting to a different course, transfering to a different school, going abroad, applying for Starstruck, and what else. We all smiled.
We spoke about what we think we know is going on with our other friends' lives.
On Erika, there really isn't much that I know other than the stuff we read on her LiveJournal. She's a Nursing student at MaDocs after shifting out of DLSU-Manila as a Creative Writing major. A year behind, she's going to graduate at the same time Nikki does in 2007 since Nikki's major is a five-year course.
On Lance, I managed to fill in my own sentiments. Nikki and I were worried about Lance and his absence at the get-together only fueled some of that worry. Lance is financially restrained. His priorities are far different than everybody else. And our parallel desires on wanting someone to love and to hold isn't that parallel because I don't think I'm that desperate. His motives here in the Philippines are also, what's the phrase, really out there. I'm not bitter, I'm just straight forward.
On Candy, she's with her Aunt and she's taking care of baby Ethan. It was this past month that Ethan took his first baby steps. Other than that, there really isn't much we know about her right now.
After some pictorials and candids we walked down the night time Baywalk and spent more than thirty minutes looking for a bus on Roxas Boulevard to take us back to Cavite. We had to walk as far as the PICC to squeeze ourselves into an over packed air-conditioned bus.
The four of us were standing on the bus and it was mayham. It's not that I am or am not used to standing up wedged between two to three other people also standing up, it's because it only reminded me more of why I hated commuting. It wanted me to just drive a car next time around.
After grueling traffic at the end of the Coastal Highway entering Bacoor, we started to swim our way to the front of the bus just in time to get off at the first intersection in Bacoor. We hopped onto a jeepnee and found ourselves at our favorite dinner place, Tapsihan sa Balsa.
We ordered BBQ on sticks and a nice hot bowl of Pork Sinigang. When we got our meal we ate like crazy... the food was delicious.
This time around it was Rom's first time to join us at the Balsa. I wasn't in the mood to order drinks because the following day was enrollment.
We played around and did skits like on Starstruck. Act happy. Act sad. Show me scared. Show me angry. It was fun, but Rom didn't play along. He just kept smiling at the camera and doing his own pose. And he says he wants to be an actor or a model? Show me happy. Show me sad. Show me scared and angry, Rom. Haha.
Even if it was late (read 9:45 PM) the four of us were still deep into conversations and jokes and other things. We waited for Nikki's pick-up and I was hitching a ride to Tanza to avoid another traumatizing baliw woman episode on a bus.
It was during the last five minutes before Nikki's dad arrived which was spooky. The street was silent. The balsa was closed. We were at this waiting shed and it just felt like anything could happen to us.
When we got in Nikki's green Mitsubishi Adventure and closed the door, that eerie feeling went away. I'm having goosebumps, what if at that moment we were being watched? (Not by living things.) Oooooh.
The trip was amazing. It felt good to re-connect to close ties and to find out new things on each other. It so happens that the four of us who went on the trip all have organizations and all of us are well on our way towards Graduation on time.
We've heard many stories coming from our batch. And they're not even rumors because they're facts. We've got one or two married batchmates. We've got one or two batchmates who are pregnant or are already moms. We've got batchmates who've transfered to different schools from the first ones they entered.
And to say, none of these things are even "bad". If they're happily married, congratulations. If they have children and can take care of them, more power to them. If they moved to a different school and are finding new life and enjoyment there, God speed towards them.
I'm thankful even more today that I've survived the demons that I've faced in the past two and a half years or ever since I graduated high school. The big scary world after my high school graduation turned out to be one of the best worlds' there could be.
And to share this great world I've been honored to take part in with the friends from high school that really matter the most makes it all even better. It makes this whole thing priceless. I know Nikki and Joy are doing great at UP. I know Rom, despite his doubts sometimes, has a direction he wants to go in even if he can't express it straightly to us. I know Lance knows where he's going despite his financial problems.
***
Spinning the turntable
Enrollment on Friday was a mess. I got my Academic Folder at CAD and walked upstairs to JFH 202 where my classmates where at. As I set foot on the 2nd floor I instantly felt nervous. I was walking up to the classroom door at the same time sweating.
I sat inside the classroom and sat next to Eric. We waited for a while for whoever our new adviser would be. Instead, we were told to transfer rooms to join Ms. Enriquez who will release our pre-registration forms.
For one, I don't really like Ms. Enriquez. She's the coordinator of Broadcast Journalism but not once did I see her enter our classroom. And when she called us, it went something like: "Okay, next... JOU3-1 and JOU3-2..."
It's like she was processing meat! What a friendly introduction.
I made the modifications to my pre-reg and submitted it. My friends waited for me and we walked all the way to CBA to have our pre-reg processed. It so happens on the way waves of familiar faces in CLA passed by saying we had to wait till November 3 to get our new reg. forms. Damn.
It was horrible. It was a bad morning already because I had entered JFH 202 with a dilemma repeating in my head and then finding out the day was cut short was just maddening.
We reached CBA and submitted our reg. forms. Kate, Eric, and I headed for HF. Joanna, Heidi, Junjun and other CLA peeps where there. We all couldn't enroll. Wait, except Deofelyn who I saw collect her reg. form in that CBA classroom we were at. She's an early bird. We, JOU3-1, didn't get our reg. forms on time. Hymp.
I decided to text Abbie and ask if they had any lakad that I could hitch onto. It so happens that their whole tropa were going to watch a movie at SM Dasma and that was something I wanted to do. The thing is though, my classmates and friends went straight home. Financial reasons? The reasons sound the same as they sounded months ago.
I edited some paperwork and rushed out of the office to the kubos to meet up with Abbie and the JOU3-2 people. It would be my first time to go out with these guys.
Already in the jeepnee they were lively with conversations. I wanted to let them feel that I loved these kinds of lively conversations and that I was against the dull serious type.
Let's just say the wind slapped my face as the jeepnee rode down the sunny roads of Dasma on the way to the SM and that I was licking my lips because they were getting dry.
We ate at KFC, which was really crowded by the way. It was also my first time eating with my soon-to-be classmates.
I was nothing but smiles at the table.
Perhaps it was the strange tasting Side Salad I ordered. Abbie loved it, I was trying to get used to it. It was all good though.
We went upstairs to argue if we were going to watch a movie or not. Then we all decided to watch "Three".
Members of this strange family tree.
We entered the cinema and all the hassle and depressing thoughts of the past few days faded away during the moments I shut my eyes to the scary parts of this feature.
"Three" happens to be three asian horror movies wrapped into one feature. The first one was called "THE WHEEL" and was made in Korea. It was eerie with all the mystery in it. It's about this young woman who is a ghost but she doesn't know she is a ghost. Some tragic love story that was quite brutal, especially the scene in the bathroom where her fingers fell off.
The second one was "THE CURSE" or something like that. I didn't really like the story... it took place in Thailand and was about these cursed puppets.
The last one was a surprise, it was more of a romantic drama than a horror flick. The name of it is "GOING HOME" and takes place in China (the shots where in Hong Kong though). A man and his little boy move into this abandoned condo tower and then the little boy meets this little girl who happens to be a ghost.
The little girl.
The father looking for his son.
The boy goes missing and the father goes to the only neighbor he has in the old building. The neighbor happens to be treating his dead wife with Chinese herbs saying that his wife will come back to life [they say it like: "she will REVIVE"]. Then the guy happens to be a physician locks the father up... and well...
The physician prepares his dead wife's herbal bath.
The big day turns out frustrating on the physician.
The physician waits excitedly on the day his wife is supposed to "revive". The wife doesn't move, and nothing happens.
Then the police come and start searching for the kidnapped father who was looking for his son. They bust into the old apartment and find everything is a mess. A dead woman on a wheel chair. A man tied up to the back window frame. It's just this terrible scene.
The father is tied up.
The father stares in awe at the physician's strong belief that his dead wife will come back to life after three years. The physician is arrested and is put into a car and then he watches as the metal casket his wife was put in is stored into the back of a truck.
The physician makes a break for his wife's casket.
This triggers him to make a run for the casket. It's a moment of suspense. I didn't know if the police were going to shoot him or if his wife was really come back to life after three years of talking to the soul inside the body.
His wife revives. But, it's too late.
When he couldn't catch up to the truck, he turns around and looks at the police. Then he gets runned over by a fast-paced car since he was standing in the middle of a street.
The physician's wife gives a message.
*Pictures courtesy of HORROR DVD TALK.
Then the physician's wife wakes up and has to do the same thing her husband did to her when she was dead. For three years she would bathe her husband in chinese herbs and talk to his soul so he'd "revive".
End.
It was a dramatic, sad ending. I was hoping for a fun scarefest. But it wasn't that. Even if the ending was like that, I still felt good inside somehow.
We went around the crowded mall and there was a sale. I accompanied Juno to buy a gift for someone in the convent back in Tanza. We dropped Abbie and Sky at the Robinsons' Dasma sakayan. Franco went straight to the sakayan across the street while Juno, Peepo, and I got on a Trece-bound jeep.
Watching a movie with my future classmates felt good. It definitely turned the bad mood of the morning into a happy one just as I got onto the jeep with Juno and Peepo.
I can only pray for more moments like those.
Comments:
Post a Comment