shorts

I'll borrow a page from my friend M's blog and (No, no, I will not post in Ilonggo.) post key words/phrases for expansion on a later day, when I feel like writing and updating. Today sucks.

1. Got a granny-style japanese bike from a friend for the price of lunch! Woohoo!

G. gave me a bike-with-basket, which having owned only mountain bikes before, I automatically categorize as a granny-bike. Went to his house a couple of weeks ago to get it and we went out to lunch, for which I gallantly offered to pay. It all came to about P150, with tip. Double woohoo!

2. Fear of death while crossing Katipunan with said bike--I had a dream/foretelling about this: "Corinne Baily Rae video turns bloody" is my anticipated headline.

For a week before I got the bike, I would have this dream of riding it to school, braving Katipunan Avenue and its weird U-turn slots. The dream always started out like that Corinne Bailey Rae video--a group of girls in skirts riding girly bikes, with me leading the pack, wind ruffling our hair and hems. Then I'd give the snappy little bell a flick, anticipating its krring-krring sound. Instead, the pee-in-your-pants whoosh of an air brake sounds from behind me, and when I turn around, the girls had been replaced by an 18-wheeler.

So until now, I haven't yet taken that bike to school. I'm not ready to cross Katipunan, and that thin line between brave and foolhardy--fool being the operative word.

3. Was put on a spot the last poetry reading--"a victim of circumstance" I said then, but I should've bet on the lottery that day, see if all that strange "luck" applied.

Well, that Monday started out weird enough. Went to a Starbucks near my house and when I got to the cashier, they perkily informed me that I was the lucky 100-something-th customer and that I get a free next-drink after I pay for my first drink, simply by visiting blah-blah-blahdotstarbucksdotsomething and encoding some 10-character code then answering a survey which will give me the code which I have to write down... (Pretty smart, offering one a free drink for answering a service survey. Goodwill to us and free coffee for all!) Anyway, never being one to win anything, I felt I hit the jackpot--which made me think of buying a lottery ticket. I mean luck works like credit card rewards right? The more you use it the more you get?

But. That Monday night proved weirder--This guy J. shows a short-film-cum-poem whose title was similar to my name. Which! which! nobody would've noticed except that the host calls me to read right after because! because! the film was named such-and-such. Which! which! of course lead to teasing hoots and speculative looks and inane questions (like, "Who were you in the film?" "Didn't the girl there look Japanese/Korean?" I mean, do the math, will you?). Thus, the victim-of-circumstance comment. And if that isn't enough, the poem I read then was a new one I wrote after I remembered Pascal's Wager (another post for another day...)!

(I mean look at this: future free coffee, almost-my-name-titled film, wager poem--all in one day! What does it all mean?)

Aside. When I was 17 or so, I got this eye infection from contacts which, my doctor told me, happened to one in every one million contact lens user. When my dad heard this, he immediately asked me for six numbers between 1 and 42. Apparently, he didn't share my luck-as-credit-card-rewards definition. Perhaps he thought it was catching, like an infection.

4. Saw pictures of Batanes' boulder beach, rolling hills, kitschy lighthouse and weird cattle. I want to go, I want to go.

I want to go.

5. Books, jeans, hair color. Oh my!

Last week, my dad gave me around P2,000 to buy whatever I want. Since it wasn't my birthday nor his, this was like christmas mid-year--or christmas when I still got presents from my parents, anyway. I thought of buying a nice pair of jeans. Then I thought of a trip to the salon. Then I learned that this weekend is the last two days of the international bookfair. I am going to have to make do with my torn jeans and the fact that my hair is now two-toned. And I'm going to need another shelf soon.

6. The past few weeks I was a slave in front of the computer at work. So I decided to paint my nails royal purple. Makes sense, no?

What else can I say?

7. Met with a cousin I haven't seen in years--no, decades--last Sunday. He's been all over the world because he shipped out, literally, when he was 18 or something. Asked him if there where any females in the tanker where he worked--Except for the wives of some officers, no. Sexist, yes? I gotta find me a sailor.

Aherm. Did I say that?

8. This is the same cousin who fell in love and married his first cousin on his father's side. (He's my cousin on his mom's.) My aunt told me how he'd gone home--on his knees, crying, to beg her forgiveness--and how happy she was that their priest finally gave in and married them. What bothers me about all this was how proud she seemed about the "kneeling and crying" bit. If this is religion-induced guilt and pride, I think, I'm glad my parents never imposed religion on us.

Don't tell my Tia M. about this. She'll be hurt and bewildered and convinced that my family and I are doomed, doooooomed! "And all that rock music. The work of the devil, I tell you. The de-vil."

9. This is the goddamn truth: Heart's version of Led Zep's "Battle of Evermore" is way, way better than the original. I'm sorry, but it is. And yes, Heart of "Alone" "Barracuda" and "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You" fame.

Speak of the de-vil. Funny, the same week I came to this conclusion, I met D. who's also a Led Zep fan and shared my sentiments exactly. His wife B. used to sing great Heart in karaoke during our Japan days.

10. Who needs a drink?

Who doesn't? To misquote The Boss, "You can't start a fire without spark"--If I learned anything from my chemistry days, alcohol is generally flammable.