kill joy and other stories

Call me “kill joy”, but is it just me who finds it annoying that neighbors a few houses from ours are having a videoke session broadcasted over a loud speaker system; one that can easily figure in town fiestas, perya coronation nights, pa-liga—things that make up a common probinsyano’s mode of entertainment circa 1980s; what with its blaring subwoofers and that damn singer, whoever he is, who’s been trying too hard to fake an accent, that, at its best, would still fall in the “trying hard” category despite the “your a good singer” rating he keeps on getting from the recorded grading mechanism in the videoke. Not that i have anything about “promdi entertainment” as i call it; in fact i’ve been part of that kind of entertainment when i was still a kid growing up in this barrio. I’m just pissed that there is presently no occasion to warrant them holding a session like that—it isn’t Christmas, Halloween or Valentines to be singing at the top of their lungs at this hour, 9:30 in the evening, at the expense of your neighbor’s peace of mind. They were like this too, a week ago. When i inquired from my mom who these people were, she said it’s the tropa of one of the uhugin kids that play barefoot along the unpaved subdivision roads when we moved here in the mid 1990s. Fuck. So he’s playing it hip now, huh? And to gather your tropa each weekend, for an entertainment such as one that will require the full attention of your neighbors, that really takes a lot of balls. Fuckin lots. We’ll he’s not a son of a fuckin big-bellied policeman for nothing. i bet the fruit takes a lot after the tree.

Was at Robinson’s Place Pioneer last Thursday night. I ate dinner at KFC; decided that a two piece chicken meal was in order after having sweated it out, jogging my wits out in Baywalk with officemates during our office’s sports hour. (see related previous entry). After the hearty meal, i made my usual rounds at the tech outlets that abound in the mall. One of my stopovers was this hole-in-the wall shop called gadget house. What set them apart from the other tech shops is the low prices with which they sell their products. I inquired as to how much they sell a Nikon D60 and they pegged it at 34k. That’s a fuckin 10k difference from a shop selling a similar item not 20ft away. Across gadget house is an equally obscure corner called pick-a-book that sells second-hand books. Whadayaknow, they got a hardbound jewel kilcher poetry book a night without armor selling for P160. That’s a big bargain considering that it is hardbound. When it came out in the bookstores some five years ago, if i’m not mistaken, it sold for P700 or P800. Didn’t buy it though, i bought A.S. Byatt’s Possession which i found lying alongside Philip Roth and Jane Smiley titles. I read it immediately upon arriving at my place, stripping out of my clothes and going directly to the C.R. i dunno if it was the weather, or the book itself. I found myself sweating profusely in minutes. The language was romantic and will no doubt memerize, but it is not anne rice romantic—it’s something else; fuckin lot more verbose and a certified nosebleed material. After a while, minutes after lying down on my bed i fell asleep. Maybe its A.S. Byatt, or the earlier jog, i dunno. Let us see in the following days.

Yesterday, i was with my sis and my bro-in-law; we went to Cavite to attend the wake of an aunt there. Sis was open to the prospect of going to Tagaytay after, as our cousin mentioned that it’s just a P38 bus fare and one is already in Tagaytay. She didn’t insist on the idea though, as kuya might oppose; what with nanay and the kids left alone by themselves at the province well into the night, going there will surely eat up precious hours of travel. Going back to the bus terminal in the afternoon, Pangasinan bound, i took the reigns of the triumvirate and suggested we ride the MRT; it surely saved on precious hours potentially lost in traffic jam, have we decided to ride the local buses instead. It was Ate’s second time to ride the MRT, and the idea delighted her that we could go to Ambos Mundos by train should we decide to take an adventure in the metro by public transport. Hehehe, lakwatserang ate. : )