"Forget Prince Charming. I'll take the wolf." - Emily the Strange

Monday, October 09, 2006

Breaking the Record

The coming of Typhoon Milenio allowed the hastening of my third date with Ramon. We were supposed to meet Saturday night after Ramon’s class and my stint in the office but Mother Nature sabotaged our plans. Well, in a good way though.

After dillydallying for an hour on Friday morning if my meeting with a client would still push through, I decided to just stay at home. I rationalized to myself that it’s the day after the huge typhoon and the metro is still in shambles. We were lucky to have the power back on in Marikina Thursday night when the rest of Metro Manila and a couple more areas in Luzon, for that matter, powerless for more than 24 hours. Besides, when I was trying to call the person I was supposed to meet and her secretary, both their cellphones were dead. I figured that they probably weren’t in the mood to work as well since Malacanang has declared that all government offices would be closed for the day (except those agencies whose services would be needed for the recovery and relief efforts).

Right after much deliberation and consultation with my mom, I settled in on the couch and was watching the last couple of “House” Season 2 episodes that Angelee borrowed from her classmate when I received a call from my client. He was saying that I need to come right away for instructions from his boss. I was out of our house in no time and I was certainly thankful that I already took a bath. Despite having a hard time in getting a cab, I was able to get to my client’s office in Taguig. What irritated me was that my meeting lasted for no more than 5 minutes. Under my breath I kept muttering that they could’ve written a note or memo and had the documents sent by their messenger or picked up by our messenger.

As expected, Ramon and every other student in the metro didn’t have classes. He and I made plans for the day and my sudden departure complicated things a little bit. After a couple of text messages going back and forth between the two of us, we agreed to meet up at Greenbelt and wing it from there. We had hoped to see each other the day before but the weather was that bad such that we had to postpone. It wasn’t so much the rain but the really powerful winds. We’re both thankful we didn’t go out because it was only during the aftermath that we were made aware of how tumultuous the typhoon’s path was.

When we finally rendezvoused at Greenbelt, we decided to have brunch since it was already lunchtime and we figured we could use the time to map out our itinerary. He was planning to drop by the Armscor firing range near my house but the traffic in C5 was so bad that we just rushed over to the indoor facilities that they have in the Makati Cinema Square. It was a blessing in disguise that I was such a bad navigator – our missing our exit to C5 from The Fort saved us at least 3 to 4 hours of sitting through the worst traffic jam ever. Along the way, we went sight seeing for weird, kitschy sights of a typhoon’s aftermath.

Forty to sixty minutes after missing our exit, we were now inside the Armscor indoor firing range. That was pretty interesting. Never mind that I looked funny with the big goggles and the stuffy ear muffs on. At first I was just watching him blow holes in the paper target but I eventually mustered enough courage to accept his offer to teach me how use it. It was fun and it wasn’t rocket science. It became even more fun when I found out that I don’t flinch and how easy it was for me to shoot a cluster. That was the first time I got to fire a gun and I got a hit on the head and two in the chest.

Shortly thereafter, we then went back to Greenbelt to catch the screening of “Flyboys.” We were having lunch when my sister Angelee texted. In her text message, she was asking me if Ramon and I would be doing anything because she and Louise would be going to Glorietta for the 8 pm screening of “First Day High.” Louise had work that night and wanted to be near her office because of the transportation problem in the typhoon’s aftermath. Besides, she apparently was on the hunt for a pair of sunglasses.

We got out of the theater early and just met up with my sisters in Music One. Ramon was really sweet, he offered to drive my sister to her building even though he didn’t have to. After dropping off Louie at the Citibank building, Ange and Ramon had a crazy idea – that they go all the way to AKIC (Angelo King International Center of CSB) just to check if they’d have classes the next day. They did and they triumphantly rejoiced when the security guard verified that they indeed had no classes the following day. Ramon then headed over to Malate to check out what the damage is to the area and to his family’s property.

Malate was completely dead; pitch black with red orange slithers of light from the power failure and the temporary source of light – candles. That scenario, however, did not stop people from drinking the night away. He maneuvered the car into seemingly winding streets with ease until we got to Skins, the bar owned and managed by his childhood friends.

We had fun hanging out as the conversation amongst ourselves was very lively. It also helped that our drinks are free. Mainly, what we’ve talked about are stories about what’s been happening lately with him and Ange in school, Ange and me as sisters and his anecdotes during the time that he lived in the area. It was past 3 when we decided to leave the area and head home. We dropped by Blue Wave for a quick pit stop for his car and our tummies. My mom, who I’m guessing was worried, called Angelee when we were about to finish our food. Soon right after, off we went to complete our journey home without any incident – except for the fact that our designated navigator, Angelee, fell asleep while sitting precariously behind the gap between the driver and the passenger seats. I should’ve taken a picture of her – maybe I could use it for blackmail or something ;p

Like the previous week, Ramon slept on our couch. At least, not before we’ve had our little snuggle time. He’s been up the whole day, he’s a wee bit inebriated and I am just not comfortable with the thought of him driving all alone to his pad halfway across Metro Manila.

I still had a buzz when I climbed into bed in my room and as such, I wasn’t able to sleep well. I woke up after less than 5 hours of sleep with a feeling of light-headedness. I kind of dreaded it as I thought it was a sign of aging. I’ve only had three bottles of San Mig Light and this was how my body was reacting when it would’ve taken me a lot more to drink to have a hangover only a couple of years ago.

Since I couldn’t go back to sleep any longer, I got out of bed and started to pop the last couple of ‘House’ Season 2 episodes I haven’t seen yet. I was on my 2nd or 3rd disc when Ramon woke up. We didn’t really have anything planned for today so we spent the next couple of hours sitting beside each other on my spot on the couch until we got to ‘House’s’ season ender. We finished the entire thing after lunch.

With no plan in hand still, we were just chilling on the couch and we started fiddling with my sister Angelee’s cookbooks. All of a sudden we found ourselves in the kitchen busying ourselves with baking this Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookie recipe from the Nestle Tollhouse cookbook. That, in turn, started the ball rolling for Angelee and Ramon to start cooking up a feast for dinner. Both of them had the ‘Philippine Cuisine’ class and right after going to the grocery for provisions, they were in a maddening frenzy for cooking some grub – Ilocos Bagnet, Ensaladang Talong, Adobong Kangkong with Bagoong (Fried Shrimp Paste) and Manggang Hilaw (Green Mangoes).

It sure was delicious and it would’ve been even better if both Louise and Angelee were in the mood for a little drink. Angelee was sure as hell excited when they thought about inviting one of their classmates named Yano to our house for an impromptu house party. I think her enthusiasm quickly faded away when he turned both Ramon and my sister down because his high school friends were hanging out in his house. Oh well, there’s always a next time.

For the second night in a row, Ramon slept on our couch. The only difference this time though is that I slept close to him. No snuggle time though as my mom was busy sorting out the mail on the adjacent room. I do, on the other hand, have a nagging suspicion that my mom was checking up on us to see if we’d be doing more than snuggling. I’ll expound on that on another entry but my weekend couldn’t have been more fun or more exciting.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Ms. diamond_blue:

My name is Peter Lee, and I am a graphic design student at Art Center, College of Design in Pasadena, California. I am currently researching a project about oniomania, or compulsive shopping disorder, and found useful information about it on your blog. I would be using different pieces of your posts with my own original information graphics to create a cohesive PDF file about compulsive shopping. My thesis is "Close relationships with store employees indicates frequent shopping, which often leads to oniomania, a compulsive shopping disorder." Examples of similar student projects can be seen on www.whoknew.org. May I have permission to use parts of your blog? Thank you for your time and consideration.


Sincerely,
Peter Lee

3:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

btw my email address is petry3386@hotmail.com
Thank you again

3:03 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

snuggling.. the greatest thing since sliced bread..

7:54 PM

 

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