If there is a way, some kind of potion, time machine, a coin in the fountain. ..

I wish I can stay 30 forever.

So it's that time of the year for parents to magically produce oodles of moolah for tuition and I can't come up with a lousy rabbit out of the hat. Between fixing the condo and my previous 6-month unemployment, we nearly finished what's left of our savings. I figured, by this time, my car would be sold but it's not (for lack of display time, really) and we are almost broke. Santi and I decided to keep the dollar account untouched whatever happens. It seems to be our thin line separating liquidity and bankcruptcy. But it's Sofia's first day of school on Tuesday. As with any other parent, it's a no-brainer that she goes. I rushed to C and borrowed some tuition money. I get my first paycheck on Friday in time to pay her back. Thank God.

Can I just say? I am lucky with the friends I keep.

Lucky, lucky,lucky.

Now, if only that condo can stop bleeding us dry, we'd be fine. and yeah, anybody wants the hottest 2001 lancer?

Sofia finally watched her first movie and she behaved like we hope she would. Apart from the occasional "little mermaid yan e!" that raised some eyebrows in the cinema, she was an angel. Except that we caught Kung Fu Panda and NOT little mermaid. She was a bit confused at the influx of characters in this big, big TV so she tried making herself comfortable by calling out the familiar: Ariel and her crew ( even Morgana!). I think Santi and I were more excited than she was, taking pictures, holding her hair, looking at her eyes widen with awe. She ate chips like a pro. She imitated Po the Fat Panda's martial arts to her lola when she got home. sigh. Pixar, here we come!


XXX

I took the first man I've ever loved to lunch last Sunday. This time, I paid and it felt good doing that. He has spent a fortune on me considering that I'm not even his type, so he says. I had the audacity to ask for a Jaguar, which he almost considered buying when I passed the bar exams. Fool for love, he is.

He dug at his tuna sashimi, his all time favorite, like it was going out of style tomorrow. I noticed how he seemed older, tanner and missing a few of his teeth. Still he is, by far, the handsomest of all. I remembered how stormy our relationship was at one point. We wrote horrible letters to each other, hurled hurtful words when we fought. One letter I wrote even said: "I don't want to be with men, I am gay!". At the time, I really thought I was but that's not the point. It is the fact I had to tell him that, of all people. Stuff you do when you were in your 20's. Crazy.

Yet, he still took me in. Loved me no matter what. Believed when nobody else did. He is the man. My dad. I will love you forever, Boy P. And yeah, surprise, I'm not gay! Happy Fathers Day.

xxx

Santi and I went for a nightcap in Blue Wave that same night. C begged us to wait for Richard Poon to come out and sing his esophagus out. Oblivious to who the man was, I stared at my beer hoping it would magically turn into my bed so I can sleep. Lo and behold this hunk of a Chinese man appeared before our eyes and started crooning "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Moon River". I was hooked. Not as much as C was though. Her eyes were all dreamy and her face looked like Cate Blanchett in Indiana Jones. I was afraid Poon would think she had her face botoxed. Anyway, I'm betting he is the next big thing to hit Manila. In the meantime, I got his autograph for C and took their picture after.

Can we clone men like that? He looked clean and fresh and..nevermind. Just thinking, I bet men like that don't give women HPV.

I just had to say.

Currently listening to: "Til I loved you "--Barbara Streisand
Minz is: chilling:)

This girl here tried.failed countless times. Is still trying and failing...

Minz is: indescribable

Instead of wallowing on things I can't seem to get done, I feel it's high time that I commend myself for the stuff I've accomplished lately. After hours on the phone with an airline agent, I got me and 13 of my friends tickets to Boracay this August--for half the price. (thanks to my employer, I'm loving this travel perk, seriously!) The crew's been bugging me to go the beach the whole summer and I knew the only way we'd actually see sand is by force. So I group texted them when I got the Cebu Pacific promo on my e-mail and left them with not much of a choice except to pay. Boracay here we come!

Before that get-away happens, I also managed to snag Pacquiao tickets this weekend in Outback for my family and a few friends. We got lucky the last time to land the very last table available. I figured this time, the earlier the better. I was right. We will be watching Manny kick Diaz' ass this Sunday on premier seats while munching on fish and chips. This is the life, right?

Finally, I'm working on my belated Big 3-0 party. This gets me everytime. I'm at my best and my weakest in weeks leading to my birthday. I was telling Santi the other day why I am this way. Told him that you never know if it will be your last, if you'd still get to blow the candle next year. I choose to seize the day, everyday and thank the Top Man up there for another year. Plus, I get the feeling I'd be leaving this world fairly earlier than most. Better get started with my Bucket List given that scenario. So bring it on. My chocolate cake, pink balloons and party hats will be groovin' it in two weeks. Here's to thirty-something!

I'm not perfect. In fact, I'm pretty evil at times. But I do get things done. Just can't deal with lightnings, late-night texts and jerks in black cars.

I got my period and I'm crying tears of joy. I'm putting this out for the world to hear. Or better yet, for the universe to conspire to make it happen.

Mina is never having a child again.
Not Santi's (bless his heart).
Not even if it were to be the next Son of God.
And especially not the spawn-of-the-devil anak ng diablo!

There.

Universe, have at it.

Minz is: relieved

I'm counting the hours til I grab a beer with C as I write this. Funny how you know instantaneously who you'd want to spend Friday nights with. Considering that there are hundreds of other phone numbers in one's phone book, one is clearly not at a loss for drinking mates here in this city. But I guess that's why there are kindred souls. People who gravitate towards each other for some unexplainable reason or the other. People who mesh. I'm lucky to find my kindred souls in a few people who are just a call away. In the middle of traffic, I need to mesh--which has led to obscene phone bills I've suffered for most of my adult life.When I'm stuck with a pleading--I mesh. Meshing is what I do best, come to think of it.

But I'm seeing C tonight without meshing on my mind. This time there will be a complete, utter silence on my part. The events of the past few days have become bigger than me. It has exploded to unimaginable proportions that I can't begin to to describe what , how,why it all came to be. I am so out of my league that I think I've truly outdone myself this time. And that is the reason why I can't mesh tonight. There are somethings that you wish you can spit out but can't. I am nobody' s kindred soul, not today, not since last friday.

I will simply sit there, drink my beer and pray for absolution that I know will never come.