Sunday, December 08, 2002
DORM FILAMZ IN MANILA
Not quite the sequel to "Abdul in Manila" but quite close by new experiences!
LAST Friday was Ramadan, and as of last year it is now considered a National Holiday in the country. Unfortunately, I have a class on Saturday so that means I really have no intention of going home and enjoying a long weekend. (it turns out later that there was no class on Saturday, go figure).
Early morning and Joel and Aldrich emerged out of the combined beds of room mate Jan (who went home already) and Lance. I took a shower and got ready then Lance did as well. We were all set. I had to note that my companions were all suited up in nice looking clothes and I was just wearing casual civilian minus those accessories. I did bring the necklace that G7 Joy gave me back in High School though and my simple new watch my dad sent me. But that was it compared to the shades, shell necklaces, bracelets, headgear, and sorts that these guys brought. I fit more with Joel.
Seven of us. Joel, instantly and perhaps the instant outcast. He hangs out with us I know, but generally he's still different. The seven compose of the three guys from Kuwait and the three guys with similar background (once again, we're M-Bratz). Add Joel, his driver, and a big van, and you got yourself a trip to Metro Manila.
Our first stop was at Makati Medical Center (MMC) so we could go with Karl to visit his grandparents who were in a hospital room. This is was the start of this experience as part of this group. I mean, it's no longer "just pinoy" and plain old shopping or going places. I was with a group of english speaking people in the Metro. These people have credit cards, motives to find nice clothes, and have some fun. Of those three things, I only fell for the last one.
To have some fun.
I did. There we were like a gang in our baggy clothes or "outlandish" clothes if we speak of Aldrich. His clothes are cool partly because they're different and so "out-landish". No wonder he got spotted later on. We walked down Hospital hallways like on the set of some TV show. We reached a dead-end area with a Cardiac or Heart Medical sector or something which required us to switch our cellphones off.
Eventually after much walking we found the room and that's where we decided to split up. Like in "Abdul in Manila" with the Heraldo Filipino last month during our grand research in Manila... I guess I can separate us into GROUPS.
GROUP M-BRATZ which composes of Lance, Aldrich, Joel, and myself. Joel, is an M-Brat. Believe it or not. His dad has a rank which I won't exactly mention here. Joel's dad has a rank in the Philippine Army. That makes him a son of Military serviceman, thus naming him a Brat like us.
We proceeded to Fort Bonifacio to visit Joel's house, or apartment. It's a Philippine version of an on-base housing unit! I remember those days. The atmosphere too. We stayed at his house for about thirty minutes. I met Thea, she looks really kind to Joel. AXN was on and some Iced Tea plus a Hershey's Almond Chocolate Bar later we found ourselves in that van again heading straight for SM Megamall to meet with the other group.
GROUP KU-W8 composes of none other than Basil (who is truly half-Arab, half-Filipino), Brian, and Karl. The three are always out tripping like this. To the mall, to Island Cove, overnight here and there... they live the crazy life almost! And to say, they are a year or two younger than GROUP M-BRATZ by average.
Often times I feel that it's my duty to somehow watch over these guys. Of M-BRATZ, I'm the youngest. Joel and Aldrich are 18 while Lance is 18 next month. I still have to wait till July next year. But it's just my usual way of learning through past experiences of life as a Balikbayan... I see these three from Kuwait and still I know they don't exactly realize what they're getting into as they live here in this country. They still have so much to learn about living here. How to not hold your cellphone in traffic. How to silent your cellphones in a crowded bus. How to turn down their voices and not speak English so abruptly. I pray for these people.
Anyways, GROUP KU-W8 stayed at the Makati Medical Center and later met with us GROUP M-BRATZ at this expensive food court at SM Megamall. On the way to Megamall we were enjoying the latest songs on the radio inside Joel's big van.
The four of us searched for a place to eat. I wanted McDo since I had a craving for McDo's Crispy chicken. But Lance had to comment about "going so far just to eat at a McDo" so we went somewhere different. It resulted in me paying for a dish costing P70 with pieces of yucky meat fat on it, a cup of fried rice tasting like it came from yesterday at P28, and the only good thing I had was a P25 Egg and Crab Meat soup. Overall with the drink I spent P141 on lunch for some lousy meal.
We would go around the mall from then on. We spent the whole afternoon going to places like Penshoppe, Bench, and several other stores. I got my film fixed for developing down at Island Photo on the lowest level of MEGA B. My camera had been jammed for a while now ever since the film got stuck while rewinding. The guy fixed it and I was to pick it up at 3 o'clock PM.
I found myself more with Joel. Lance and Aldrich went shopping. Lance was going for outlandish clothes like Aldrich while Aldrich was searching for things to add to his outlandish style. The three from Kuwait went places as well went shopping. Joel wanted to look at comic shops while I was just hanging around looking for gifts for family, friends, and classmates.
Aldrich met with some guy named Uriah, a tall American guy working somewhere in Megamall or somewhere near it, I forgot.
The things I bought was a VCD of EPISODE II: AOTC (Star Wars) and a few gift ideas. Simple things. I wanted to get X'mas shopping over with.
Other than shop, we couldn't decide on an "CHOICE GIMMICK".
Ice Skating? Joel really wanted to but Brian and I haven't done so in ages...
Bowling? We stopped right before paying.
Billiards? We looked at it but we didn't give it a 2nd thought.
Movies? I agreed here, but what was to watch?
Movies it was. We went upstairs and decided to watch "Ring". A Japanese horror movie. Oooh. Sounds different. Unique. I'm "go for it!". The movie would begin though at 5:40pm so we had an hour from that moment we ordered tickets.
During that one hour of waiting before the movie, we ate at Jollybee and then reunited as a group. It was now six of us though. The three from GROUP KU-W8 and GROUP M-BRATZ minus Joel because Joel had to visit someone at a nearby hospital. (Are people okay? What's with the hospital lately?)
I convinced the guys that we take a Studio picture in the meantime. I ended up making these five other souls walk with me end to end on the highest floor of Megamall which was SUMMIT I believe. Sorry guys, but I wanted to find the best Photo shop as I read in that Directory.
We went around the whole area and took several stops. But we didn't find any good one other than the first shop we stopped at which was TRONIX Photography. I got in, and we had two shots made into 8 pictures for P140. All of us had to pay around P20 to P25 to get the picture. Worth it too! These guys now have a memory of this event.
We didn't get the picture until after the movie. We just had the picture taken and then we rushed downstairs to the third floor and into the SILVER SCREEN movie area and into CINEMA 5 to catch the opening of "Ring"
*** *** ***
This movie is the first movie to really freak me out! One thing that made it scary was that it was Japanese and it wasn't just another american or english horror movie. It was different, it was totally different! The feeling.
We entered the deluxe area in surprise to find that many people had taken many seats already. Just like with my Broadjourn classmates with watching "007 - Die Another Day", we were forced to sit up front or near the front. We did.
We got separated. I was with Brian and Karl who wearn't that interested after they saw that the film was Japanese with english subtitles. I was interested so I stayed. The three of us were in the very front row on the left side. Aldrich, Basil, and Lance sat on the right side but on the fourth to the front row.
The movie was just freaky. I don't know how to explain it, but just watch it in a theater. It's just so frigging eerie! About 2/3rds into the movie I couldn't stand being alone in the front row on the left after Brian and Karl never returned (they went to buy drinks). I joined Basil and together Basil and I just freaked out with the scenes around the end of the movie.
Like my quote for "007 - Die Another Day", this movie was "Brilliant!". A simple horror flick at the end with a story, but still twisted with how unique it was since it was Japanese.
** ** **
Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!
We finished the movie with a thrill down our spine. It was just awesome! I want to experience more movies like that. I have never been so hit by a movie like that.
We made our way down to pick up our pictures, partly weary of how we would all look like. In the movie "Ring", the guy took a picture of the woman with a Poloroid and the picture that developed seconds later was so freaky! What if our faces were blurred or something.
We picked up the pictures and were pleased. We now had something from this trip to keep now. No more than a few minutes we headed down and around once again. We argued where to eat and we landed in front of KFC. This is where...
Aldrich gets spotted by a Talent Manager.
A girl approached him. She was holding a Nokia 7650 (with the camera) but she made it look kind of old, like she's had the phone even before it came out or something. Her name is Maxine Javier, but her last name was changed. Why? She's a model and she approached Aldrich while the three Kuwaiti guys were fooling around. She told Aldrich that a talent manager saw him and is interested in meeting Aldrich after the manager eats or when the manager has time.
We spent a few minutes and it resulted in Aldrich giving Maxine his cellphone number. She didn't do it in return due to "private reasons". We left and Aldrich was still calm and controlled, and maybe inside he was all excited and jumpy but we didn't see any of those things. We decided to eat at the real Food Court downstairs (compared to that expensive one on the third level or fourth level).
Aldrich and I ordered on the far corner of the food court, almost the furthest from where we sat. After eating we all waited it out a little more until around quarter to 10 o'clock in the evening. The mall was starting to close and we had given the Talent Manager enough time. Aldrich wouldn't be receiving a txt message from Maxine and the Talent Manager until Saturday morning.
** ** **
Now it was a problem of getting home. We knew the way, but personally it was starting to get stressful because there's no fully mature person to lead us home. We were just a group of english speaking people on a dark night in the middle of the city.
Next thing I know is the feeling of a rush of adrenalin. There we were, six guys, crossing the high way in front of SM Megamall. Cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, jeepnees, all at high speeds! On the first crossing towards the center island under the overpass, under the orange lights... it was ok and controlled. But after the island towards the other side we all just ran for it like crazy. I didn't want to run, but you can't just stand in the middle of the road can you?
Luckily on the other side, no longer than three minutes a near-empty bus bound straight for Dasmariñas Bayan and Imus came by. It was well lighted and looked safe. I called it some kind of blessing by God that we didn't have to stay there on that dangerous side walk. In fact, I had been praying throughout the trip about "may God watch over his children on this trip, we aren't exactly the normal group of people in a mall, we could face dangers such as hold-up, kidnap, hostage, possible bombings since it was a Holiday and people head to the malls".
Brian and Karl wanted to sit way in the back like it was a fun field trip. But it was late at night and the back of the bus was pretty far. A place for bombings, you could be cornered by addicts, and it's hard to escape from there. I didn't follow them and just sat three seats behind the driver on a three-person seat. Aldrich and I where there while Basil and Lance were behind us. It took quite a while before the bus filled up, but at least we were safe.
We went down the high way towards Roxas Blvd. On the way we saw Fireworks on the left side. That was the only thing that cheered me up. The fireworks were probably for Ramadan or some other kind of celebration. We arrived in Cavite, then in Dasmariñas, and we went through the Bayan but got off at the 7-11 store at the crossing near Waltermart. There, it felt more dangerous once we got off. The clothes we were wearing, the shopping bags, the cellphones that were out (i was completely discreet though), and eyes prowling on us from the sides in the shadows.
We got into an AREA C Jeepnee after five minutes. It was beyond curfew time and Karl and Brian did not want to get an offense. I tried my best to convince them that nothing big will happen. The worst thing that can happen is a MINOR OFFENSE but not a MAJOR OFFENSE. Three Minors = One Major. And it was a Holiday and a Friday night, not just an ordinary night. Exceptions may be made.
Karl and Brian left making us a group of four bound for La Salle. Those two would rent a Hotel (oh, *sarcasm* how romantic) while the four of us headed towards Gate One of La Salle. Lance was calm. Aldrich was probably thinking about him getting spotted. And Basil was still worried like Karl and Brian but he went with us still. Basil even wanted to make excuses to the guard.
I, on the other hand, wanted to be completely honest. That we went to Megamall and that we encountered traffic. The four of us got off in front La Salle and I marched in front of the other three towards the guard. I smiled and looked at the Guard. He asked where we came from. "Megamall". Then he asked why we were late. "Traffic."
He let us in, as simple as that!
No use spending P1,000 on a hotel like Brian and Karl! Hahahahaha. Too bad.
We walked down the dark acacia avenue just talking about the movie "Ring" and we entered our dormitories without a single problem. Sheesh. No fuss too. I put in EPISODE II inside Lance's computer and we watched as we dimmed the lights and did our assignment near my desk.
** ** **
A very enjoyable trip. One that I'll never forget. It's fun to be with these guys. Although there are immature set-backs, which I will honestly speak of. There's nothing wrong with letting the Kuwaiti-guys-kind-of-fun into your system. If I need an adrenalin rush, I'll go with these guys to these places.
Not quite the sequel to "Abdul in Manila" but quite close by new experiences!
LAST Friday was Ramadan, and as of last year it is now considered a National Holiday in the country. Unfortunately, I have a class on Saturday so that means I really have no intention of going home and enjoying a long weekend. (it turns out later that there was no class on Saturday, go figure).
Early morning and Joel and Aldrich emerged out of the combined beds of room mate Jan (who went home already) and Lance. I took a shower and got ready then Lance did as well. We were all set. I had to note that my companions were all suited up in nice looking clothes and I was just wearing casual civilian minus those accessories. I did bring the necklace that G7 Joy gave me back in High School though and my simple new watch my dad sent me. But that was it compared to the shades, shell necklaces, bracelets, headgear, and sorts that these guys brought. I fit more with Joel.
Seven of us. Joel, instantly and perhaps the instant outcast. He hangs out with us I know, but generally he's still different. The seven compose of the three guys from Kuwait and the three guys with similar background (once again, we're M-Bratz). Add Joel, his driver, and a big van, and you got yourself a trip to Metro Manila.
Our first stop was at Makati Medical Center (MMC) so we could go with Karl to visit his grandparents who were in a hospital room. This is was the start of this experience as part of this group. I mean, it's no longer "just pinoy" and plain old shopping or going places. I was with a group of english speaking people in the Metro. These people have credit cards, motives to find nice clothes, and have some fun. Of those three things, I only fell for the last one.
To have some fun.
I did. There we were like a gang in our baggy clothes or "outlandish" clothes if we speak of Aldrich. His clothes are cool partly because they're different and so "out-landish". No wonder he got spotted later on. We walked down Hospital hallways like on the set of some TV show. We reached a dead-end area with a Cardiac or Heart Medical sector or something which required us to switch our cellphones off.
Eventually after much walking we found the room and that's where we decided to split up. Like in "Abdul in Manila" with the Heraldo Filipino last month during our grand research in Manila... I guess I can separate us into GROUPS.
GROUP M-BRATZ which composes of Lance, Aldrich, Joel, and myself. Joel, is an M-Brat. Believe it or not. His dad has a rank which I won't exactly mention here. Joel's dad has a rank in the Philippine Army. That makes him a son of Military serviceman, thus naming him a Brat like us.
We proceeded to Fort Bonifacio to visit Joel's house, or apartment. It's a Philippine version of an on-base housing unit! I remember those days. The atmosphere too. We stayed at his house for about thirty minutes. I met Thea, she looks really kind to Joel. AXN was on and some Iced Tea plus a Hershey's Almond Chocolate Bar later we found ourselves in that van again heading straight for SM Megamall to meet with the other group.
GROUP KU-W8 composes of none other than Basil (who is truly half-Arab, half-Filipino), Brian, and Karl. The three are always out tripping like this. To the mall, to Island Cove, overnight here and there... they live the crazy life almost! And to say, they are a year or two younger than GROUP M-BRATZ by average.
Often times I feel that it's my duty to somehow watch over these guys. Of M-BRATZ, I'm the youngest. Joel and Aldrich are 18 while Lance is 18 next month. I still have to wait till July next year. But it's just my usual way of learning through past experiences of life as a Balikbayan... I see these three from Kuwait and still I know they don't exactly realize what they're getting into as they live here in this country. They still have so much to learn about living here. How to not hold your cellphone in traffic. How to silent your cellphones in a crowded bus. How to turn down their voices and not speak English so abruptly. I pray for these people.
Anyways, GROUP KU-W8 stayed at the Makati Medical Center and later met with us GROUP M-BRATZ at this expensive food court at SM Megamall. On the way to Megamall we were enjoying the latest songs on the radio inside Joel's big van.
The four of us searched for a place to eat. I wanted McDo since I had a craving for McDo's Crispy chicken. But Lance had to comment about "going so far just to eat at a McDo" so we went somewhere different. It resulted in me paying for a dish costing P70 with pieces of yucky meat fat on it, a cup of fried rice tasting like it came from yesterday at P28, and the only good thing I had was a P25 Egg and Crab Meat soup. Overall with the drink I spent P141 on lunch for some lousy meal.
We would go around the mall from then on. We spent the whole afternoon going to places like Penshoppe, Bench, and several other stores. I got my film fixed for developing down at Island Photo on the lowest level of MEGA B. My camera had been jammed for a while now ever since the film got stuck while rewinding. The guy fixed it and I was to pick it up at 3 o'clock PM.
I found myself more with Joel. Lance and Aldrich went shopping. Lance was going for outlandish clothes like Aldrich while Aldrich was searching for things to add to his outlandish style. The three from Kuwait went places as well went shopping. Joel wanted to look at comic shops while I was just hanging around looking for gifts for family, friends, and classmates.
Aldrich met with some guy named Uriah, a tall American guy working somewhere in Megamall or somewhere near it, I forgot.
The things I bought was a VCD of EPISODE II: AOTC (Star Wars) and a few gift ideas. Simple things. I wanted to get X'mas shopping over with.
Other than shop, we couldn't decide on an "CHOICE GIMMICK".
Ice Skating? Joel really wanted to but Brian and I haven't done so in ages...
Bowling? We stopped right before paying.
Billiards? We looked at it but we didn't give it a 2nd thought.
Movies? I agreed here, but what was to watch?
Movies it was. We went upstairs and decided to watch "Ring". A Japanese horror movie. Oooh. Sounds different. Unique. I'm "go for it!". The movie would begin though at 5:40pm so we had an hour from that moment we ordered tickets.
During that one hour of waiting before the movie, we ate at Jollybee and then reunited as a group. It was now six of us though. The three from GROUP KU-W8 and GROUP M-BRATZ minus Joel because Joel had to visit someone at a nearby hospital. (Are people okay? What's with the hospital lately?)
I convinced the guys that we take a Studio picture in the meantime. I ended up making these five other souls walk with me end to end on the highest floor of Megamall which was SUMMIT I believe. Sorry guys, but I wanted to find the best Photo shop as I read in that Directory.
We went around the whole area and took several stops. But we didn't find any good one other than the first shop we stopped at which was TRONIX Photography. I got in, and we had two shots made into 8 pictures for P140. All of us had to pay around P20 to P25 to get the picture. Worth it too! These guys now have a memory of this event.
We didn't get the picture until after the movie. We just had the picture taken and then we rushed downstairs to the third floor and into the SILVER SCREEN movie area and into CINEMA 5 to catch the opening of "Ring"
*** *** ***
This movie is the first movie to really freak me out! One thing that made it scary was that it was Japanese and it wasn't just another american or english horror movie. It was different, it was totally different! The feeling.
We entered the deluxe area in surprise to find that many people had taken many seats already. Just like with my Broadjourn classmates with watching "007 - Die Another Day", we were forced to sit up front or near the front. We did.
We got separated. I was with Brian and Karl who wearn't that interested after they saw that the film was Japanese with english subtitles. I was interested so I stayed. The three of us were in the very front row on the left side. Aldrich, Basil, and Lance sat on the right side but on the fourth to the front row.
The movie was just freaky. I don't know how to explain it, but just watch it in a theater. It's just so frigging eerie! About 2/3rds into the movie I couldn't stand being alone in the front row on the left after Brian and Karl never returned (they went to buy drinks). I joined Basil and together Basil and I just freaked out with the scenes around the end of the movie.
Like my quote for "007 - Die Another Day", this movie was "Brilliant!". A simple horror flick at the end with a story, but still twisted with how unique it was since it was Japanese.
** ** **
Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!
We finished the movie with a thrill down our spine. It was just awesome! I want to experience more movies like that. I have never been so hit by a movie like that.
We made our way down to pick up our pictures, partly weary of how we would all look like. In the movie "Ring", the guy took a picture of the woman with a Poloroid and the picture that developed seconds later was so freaky! What if our faces were blurred or something.
We picked up the pictures and were pleased. We now had something from this trip to keep now. No more than a few minutes we headed down and around once again. We argued where to eat and we landed in front of KFC. This is where...
A girl approached him. She was holding a Nokia 7650 (with the camera) but she made it look kind of old, like she's had the phone even before it came out or something. Her name is Maxine Javier, but her last name was changed. Why? She's a model and she approached Aldrich while the three Kuwaiti guys were fooling around. She told Aldrich that a talent manager saw him and is interested in meeting Aldrich after the manager eats or when the manager has time.
We spent a few minutes and it resulted in Aldrich giving Maxine his cellphone number. She didn't do it in return due to "private reasons". We left and Aldrich was still calm and controlled, and maybe inside he was all excited and jumpy but we didn't see any of those things. We decided to eat at the real Food Court downstairs (compared to that expensive one on the third level or fourth level).
Aldrich and I ordered on the far corner of the food court, almost the furthest from where we sat. After eating we all waited it out a little more until around quarter to 10 o'clock in the evening. The mall was starting to close and we had given the Talent Manager enough time. Aldrich wouldn't be receiving a txt message from Maxine and the Talent Manager until Saturday morning.
** ** **
Now it was a problem of getting home. We knew the way, but personally it was starting to get stressful because there's no fully mature person to lead us home. We were just a group of english speaking people on a dark night in the middle of the city.
Next thing I know is the feeling of a rush of adrenalin. There we were, six guys, crossing the high way in front of SM Megamall. Cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, jeepnees, all at high speeds! On the first crossing towards the center island under the overpass, under the orange lights... it was ok and controlled. But after the island towards the other side we all just ran for it like crazy. I didn't want to run, but you can't just stand in the middle of the road can you?
Luckily on the other side, no longer than three minutes a near-empty bus bound straight for Dasmariñas Bayan and Imus came by. It was well lighted and looked safe. I called it some kind of blessing by God that we didn't have to stay there on that dangerous side walk. In fact, I had been praying throughout the trip about "may God watch over his children on this trip, we aren't exactly the normal group of people in a mall, we could face dangers such as hold-up, kidnap, hostage, possible bombings since it was a Holiday and people head to the malls".
Brian and Karl wanted to sit way in the back like it was a fun field trip. But it was late at night and the back of the bus was pretty far. A place for bombings, you could be cornered by addicts, and it's hard to escape from there. I didn't follow them and just sat three seats behind the driver on a three-person seat. Aldrich and I where there while Basil and Lance were behind us. It took quite a while before the bus filled up, but at least we were safe.
We went down the high way towards Roxas Blvd. On the way we saw Fireworks on the left side. That was the only thing that cheered me up. The fireworks were probably for Ramadan or some other kind of celebration. We arrived in Cavite, then in Dasmariñas, and we went through the Bayan but got off at the 7-11 store at the crossing near Waltermart. There, it felt more dangerous once we got off. The clothes we were wearing, the shopping bags, the cellphones that were out (i was completely discreet though), and eyes prowling on us from the sides in the shadows.
We got into an AREA C Jeepnee after five minutes. It was beyond curfew time and Karl and Brian did not want to get an offense. I tried my best to convince them that nothing big will happen. The worst thing that can happen is a MINOR OFFENSE but not a MAJOR OFFENSE. Three Minors = One Major. And it was a Holiday and a Friday night, not just an ordinary night. Exceptions may be made.
Karl and Brian left making us a group of four bound for La Salle. Those two would rent a Hotel (oh, *sarcasm* how romantic) while the four of us headed towards Gate One of La Salle. Lance was calm. Aldrich was probably thinking about him getting spotted. And Basil was still worried like Karl and Brian but he went with us still. Basil even wanted to make excuses to the guard.
I, on the other hand, wanted to be completely honest. That we went to Megamall and that we encountered traffic. The four of us got off in front La Salle and I marched in front of the other three towards the guard. I smiled and looked at the Guard. He asked where we came from. "Megamall". Then he asked why we were late. "Traffic."
He let us in, as simple as that!
No use spending P1,000 on a hotel like Brian and Karl! Hahahahaha. Too bad.
We walked down the dark acacia avenue just talking about the movie "Ring" and we entered our dormitories without a single problem. Sheesh. No fuss too. I put in EPISODE II inside Lance's computer and we watched as we dimmed the lights and did our assignment near my desk.
** ** **
A very enjoyable trip. One that I'll never forget. It's fun to be with these guys. Although there are immature set-backs, which I will honestly speak of. There's nothing wrong with letting the Kuwaiti-guys-kind-of-fun into your system. If I need an adrenalin rush, I'll go with these guys to these places.
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