someyougiveaway

Today was inevitable. I have been nursing the thought for months now and finally I got the time and resolve to make this move. Thank you tabulas community, Roy our one man-team, to the three thousand something who visited my little corner here, thank you for being with me for the past year or so. But it's graduation time and I'm moving on to the next level. (Not that my blogging has burgeoned into the commercial type). I will still be me. There just some things I won't write about, (emphasis on the word "won't") these things I happily leave here. 

with that, I'll see you all over at my new home!

someyougiveaway

That was my song when I took the bar a few years ago. It might as well be resuscitated from memory now considering that I'm embroiled in yet another bar operations for a couple of friends (used to be three, I scratched the other one from the list, from my life actually). Anyway, I got to work Saturday night, made sure the food and tips were taken cared of,  that the bar kit was complete and then went on to solicit for hotel funds to cover one of my barristers' lodging. Although I missed it last year, I think I still got it (according to my "clients" who had no complaints).  

Like I usually do, I swung by my sorority's headquarters and said hello to my gorgeous sisses who,of course, didn't forget to squeeze some moolah out of me.I always make sure that  I have something set aside for the bar season, my way of showing eternal gratitude to those who bar operated me in 2005. Paying it forward, kind of but not entirely because I've enjoyed doing it since I got into law school. There's a kind of rush, a shot of adrenaline that takes over me every September and I literally get high.

After bleeding my pockets dry, I checked out early and left Santi with his brods and their yearly pusoy session.You'd be amaze at how much stuff they lose in this supposedly harmless cardgame, in cash and and in kind. On the second sunday of my bar exams, Santi totally forgot about me trying to recover his "losses". I took a cab from the hotel to the barsite because he conveniently had my car and its keys. He got a mouthful from Elvie which, to date, he has nightmares of. Buti nga. 

Going back to the adrenaline part , I didn't quite feel the "high" this year. Maybe because my buddies G (in Hollywood) and C (in Ormoc) were in other parts of the planet and left me lurking around  the cold corridors of Sheraton alone. (Bumalik na kayo dito mga bruha!) Or maybe because the noise was toned down by the Supreme Court (Kj ni Justice Puno!). No more bands, ati-atihan, snake parade and all the other fantastic gimmicks that law schools think of to buoy the spirits of their bar candidates.Nada.The barristers looked like they were entering the gates of hell with their glum and/or scared faces. Poor things. Thank goodness for this funny banner that served as the comic relief of the weekend (I wanted to take a picture but didn't have the digicam on hand). It said in bold italics, "Karla Made It, You can do it, too!" 

Hahaha. I-pressure ba? At sinung topnotcher ba si Karla? 

Whoever that banner was for, I'm sure he had the face of Karla breathing on his/her neck as he struggled to enumerate the requisites of a warrantless arrest. May the banner be with you!

In any case, I wish this month to be over with. For the the sanity of my barristers..and mine. I'm getting too old for this. Or the whole thing itself is getting old. Or maybe, like most things in my world lately, I'm just over it. 

Minz is: blah

someyougiveaway

A few weeks ago, I inquired about admission requirments to nursery at Poveda. Like what Santi and I expected, they informed us that Sofia is a little too young to start pre-school next year. Knowing that our child was up to the challenge (Santi is convinced that his daughter was born ready!), we remained undeterred. Having been advised that all the other parents who asked for a reconsideration were denied, we forged ahead and drafted a letter/pleading addressed to the prinicipal stating our case, defenses--complete with research about the school's history, mission-vision, Saint Pedro Poveda's path to sainthood. At the conclusion of the letter, we had our knowledge of Poveda pat down to its last square foot. We submitted the letter and crossed our fingers. As the days dragged on without  a word from the principal, our hopes of getting Pea to Kinder-1 went from slim to none. We resigned ourselves to another year of toddler school and flew to Boracay to unwind with some friends.

We were in the middle of a tilapia autopsy by the beach when Poveda called, on the last day of procuring application forms, and told us that they are accepting Pea's application to Kinder-1. A wave of pride, joy, victory came over me. It's not so much that our daughter is on her way to pre-school at Poveda--there are hundreds of good schools in Manila to choose from in case it didn't pan out. I was elated at yet another confirmation of a belief, one which I had doubted for a long, long while until that day at the beach while operating on my pinaputok na tilapia.  

Sometimes it's not what you ask for, but the way you asked for it.

Santi and I could have easily turned our backs and tried our luck with another school. Or submitted a pro-forma letter of request just to tell ourselves that at least we tried. We could have written a highly-critical bordering abrasive memo slamming the school's entry-age policies just to make a point. We could have opted to do all these things but didn't. We felt there is a silver lining to those who simply ask.  How hard could that be?

I learned this from Elvie (that's my mom) but somehow forgot it somewhere in law school where people thrive on verbally harassing each other . Matuto kang makiusap, anak. So she said. You stand to lose nothing but just might gain something in the end. I'm tacking this to my Mommy basket of tips to live by.

Now, if only there is a baseball angel I can ask for a playoff berth for my beloved Yankees, I am good for the year. Amen. 

By this time, all of Manila would have heard of the "tragic" end to the Eraserheads Reunion concert. How Eli "collapsed" from exhaustion after singing 15 of their hits. For my friends and I who were there by 3 p.m. when the concert was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., this is tragic, indeed. Sulit na yung 15  but of course, everyone wanted more. There's nothing much we can do about it now except wish that the promoters have another go at it for loyal fans like us who grew up with the Eraserheads and their music. I will be there by dawn if it need be.

Whilst having our butts slumped at the Fort Open Field, the gang reminisced about the 1990's , when we were still in highschool--the first time the Eraserheads broke into the pinoy music scene with their first hit "Ligaya". I think there's no question that what E-heads brought into  the  table was their ability to write songs about the simple joys of life, of Filipino life at least.

"Ilang isaw pa ba ang kakainin, o giliw ko? Ilang tansan pa ba ang iipunin o giliw ko". Who would have thought a song about a dude pining over an unrequited love for Ligaya while gorging on isaw and counting bottlecaps will spur a cult following? 

My friends and I realized with so much pride and wistfulness that we were lucky to have lived in a generation when simple things carried so much meaning and brought so much joy to the daily grind. Take for instance the following:

Those times when we had to wait hours for people because we didn't  have celphones -- only quarters for payphones.

"Hika and inabot ko, nang piliting sumabay sayo".

Or those times when we didn't wish to have a car, but just to learn how to drive was enough.

"gusto kong matuto mag drive (kahit wala akong kotse)."

Or our memories of youthful rebellion and the angst that went along with it.

"Ang daming bawal sa mundo, sinasakal nila tayo...akoy's lumilipad at nasa alapaap na, gusto mo ba sumama?"

And our early doses of hopeful idealism. Well, mine at least.

"Lift your head , baby, don't be scared, of the things that could go wrong along the way, you'll get by with a smile, you can't win on everything but you can try."

I guess what we all wanted to say was that we are damn lucky to have lived in generation where the Eraserheads wrote and sang songs of our lives. This concert might just have been the last hurrah, ang huling el bimbo. It didn't last long, like most good things are. But we are grateful for even just a while. We were kids again.

To our E-heads and its fan-dom, "minsan sa may Kalayaan, tayo ay nagkatagpuan...sanay' huwag kalimutan ang ating pinagsamahan."

Eli Buendia, lead, august 30, 2008

Our very own ultraelectromagnetic pop pose, Fort Open Field

someyougiveaway

It rained of good times, good friends and good news.( I will expound on that later, we have an Eraser heads concert to catch.)

In the meantime, these will have to do.

Just an aside..they say good things happen to good people but I think what really happens is that

good things happen to those who choose to do good things when it's far easier to look the other way.

There's a difference. That's the difference..