...on living, drinking, and understanding...

a cat has 9 lives... i was born year of the tiger (1986) if i'm not mistaken... so let's see just how much lives has rubbed down on me:

1. grade 2: i was riding my bike from a classmate's house... we played SNES, when mortal kombat 3 was the coolest thing on earth... of course, being a kid, i wanted to drive fast, despite knowing that i didn't have brakes... at one point, i saw a huge field-trip type of bus making a turn toward the other side of the road i was taking (which, as i was in a village, was half of the road) while on my side of the road, there was a parked tricycle... i don't have brakes, and i'm too near the tricycle to try to stop... hitting the bus kills me, hitting the parked tricycle would injure me, and might actually kill me... i did the best thing anyone could do at that point...


i closed my eyes... i opened it upon feeling a bit of heat on the left side of my face... akalain mong nagkasya ako sa gitna ng bus na kumain ng isang buong linya at tric na kumain ng 1/4 ata ng linya...

2. summer heading to 3rd year high school: rode a jeepney with my sis from i don't know where... was heading to marikina... upon reaching Ligaya (it was dead heat of a saturday afternoon, and snail-moving traffic), about 4 men hung on to the end of the jeep (sumabit sa likod, para sa mga mangmang), and i was sitting at that end of the jeep... they went down, only to come back again, with one even saying "wag dun, mei kalaban dun eh"... this was a guy wearing a crappy shirt, but had a collared shirt on his hand.. me, believing in the natural goodness in men, didn't think they'd try anything... trying to sleep, i felt someone suddenly trying to grab my phone (pag pumasok ka ng jeep, nasa dulo ako, kanan), a 5110 which i put on my right pocket... i looked at him and he had a piercing look in his eyes... i looked down a bit and saw a piercing object pointing at me, a 5-inch balisong right on my stomach... my sis woke up trying to plead to the person not to do anything... me, i lifted my left foot, all the while thinking "pag sinipa ko, tatama xa sa tao sa likod nya, di malalaglag, sasaksakin lang ako, patay na ko. pag di ko binigay telepono ko, sasaksakin nya ko, patay na ko. pota. hirap naman. gusto ko naman ibigay telepono ko, kaso mali kasi paghatak nya, baka isipin nya, nakikipag-agawan ako. peste. labo naman. ganito pa ko mamamatay..." i don't know how long that took. a man near the driver side suddenly stood up, took out a file (file tawag namin sa mechanical shop dati sa don bosco. pang karpintero), and moved to try and defend me...


the men went down, cursing. didn't get anything, but came away clean.


3. Bataan swimming, around the same summer, if not the next: im not the best swimmer in the world.. my sis and cousins can attest to that... but at the beach, with me being a kid, thinking i can do anything, agreed to my dad's officemate who wanted to cross the beach by swimming... i thought, why not... its about as far as from metrowalk to galle ata, or from españa to dapitan and a half ata... ewan.. basta, matatanaw, but not actually that close... but hey, mei breathing naman, so why worry? so i tried... almost halfway, i felt tired... but then i kept going... then, di na kinaya... i wanted to rest... i stopped... but i couldn't step on anything... i was too tired to try to float... i panicked... i wanted to shout... but i lost too much air to shout... i was so helpless... i was drinking water... i'm shouting but there's no sound...

almost drowning, i was thinking "ang yabang ko kasi. tanga tanga naman ng pagkamatay ko... di na lang ako nakinig kei ate... hay... baduy.." my vision was getting blurry... i could see my sis and one of my dad's officemates heading out to save me... i was losing hope that they could actually get to me in time... and when they did, i needed just a little push to get to a spot that i can actually reach, as in less than a foot away if i tried to make a step to the right, which makes it more pathetic, knowing i could've died with safety less than a foot away...

4. 2nd year college, che's debut: got my license the previous summer... asked my mom to drive her crosswind (which, at the time, was around 6months and a couple of days old) to be the service for the guests... had a memorable night, didn't drink a single drop of alcohol knowing i was gonna be driving the guests back to uste... but i didn't get back to sleep... 5am, people asked to go... i took them home.. sleepy going there, but managed to take them safely (well, to those who were sleeping the whole time) thanks to a bottle of C2 apple bought at ministop sta mesa... going home, it was me and che... still sleepy, but i have my c2.. che was sleepy... i told her to sleep.. she asked if i was sure and if i was ok, i assured her i was.. so she slept, meralco ave, right in front of meralco, waiting for the traffic light to turn green so that i could go to rosario... drank the last drop of c2... and then green... it was my last memory...

next thing i know, the car was bouncing around somewhere... after the turmoil, we stopped... sat back, looked at che, who was shaken up, and could only say "anung nangyari?"... all i could say was "shit! kotse ng nanay ko!!"... checked the spider-like crack on the windshield and examined the center... got some hair.... "ang tigas ng ulo ko!!"... "ok ka lang?" i asked che... "ok lang.. tumama lang tuhod ko sa harap"...


car was a total wreck... i didn't drive for a full 5 months i think... wasn't able to sleep that day until i was checked out in the hospital... they said i was ok, but i wore a neck brace for a couple of days, i think...

6. sometime this year last year: got invited to a birthday bash of one of my good friends back in ICT... thought it was a real get together... turned out, there were only 4 of us who got to meet up... i drank with family before i went there... i got there (somewhere in retiro) at around 12:30am i think... drank a couple of beers, and went home... to be safe, convoy... driving the red anfra with dark tint all over.... it was around 1am... from españa, we made a u-turn and took a right going to e-rod... my friend on the other car was playing and honked his horn. i knew it was him, but the light was red. then he honked again. i get irritated if i get honked on... so i went on, the road was clear anyway, and it was around 2am i think... i didn't see the road was under construction... i hit a steel barricade... i stopped, but was too late... it fell straight at me... it broke the windshield... they helped me pick it up... we were thinking what to do, but we were all stumped, knowing we can't report at our state (having drank and all)... so we drove slow from there... the hole in the windshield started out around 5inches in diameter, i think... by the time i got home, half of the windshield was on my lap....


7. last summer, i think: drinking at my aunt's home, i decided i wanted to come home for dinner... i did.. ate some, then headed back out... as i turned the corner, i looked at the front rim of my bike, as there seemed to be something wrong.. next thing i know there was a car right in front of me... i hit it... yes. i hit it... it was parked... salpok mukha ko sa likod... nakasuot ako salamin, my frameless glasses... needless to say, basag salamin ko... bad thing was, nun nalaglag un salamin ko, isa lang un kamay... the other, stuck on my eyebrow..

that was the most blood i lost in my life... i didn't have a cellphone, my bike was too messed up to be ridden, so i ran back home... bloodied and all... blood dripping wherever i ran...


so... out of 9 lives, i got 2 left... i'm thinking of risking one for bungee or sky diving...=P

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i drink not because i like alcohol... it doesn't taste good... meron "swabe" but it doesn't mean it tastes good as in juice-like good... but ask me to drink out, i would...

i like to drink, but i'm no clubber nor party boy... if i came with you, i'd choose to stay by the bar or by our table while you dance your heart out or flirt with anyone you choose to...

i don't drink because i love the feeling of a hangover the next day, because i don't...

i like to drink not because i like alcohol running through my system... i don't drink to try to solve my problems because i know it won't...




i drink for the interaction... i drink because you are there, because we can talk... because you are not afraid of pouring your heart out... because you can laugh at the stupidest jokes..

i'm not alcoholic... i don't drink by my lonesome... there's no reason for it... i drink to talk... i drink to listen to someone talk... i don't drink for no reason... it's always to talk...

yes, you can talk even without alcohol, true... but i don't know... there's a social bond you form with people when you drink...

i forgot the latin term, but there is such a phrase that says "in wine, there is truth"...

i'm not inviting non-drinkers to drink. but hopefully, non-drinkers would understand why i do...

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no amount of time can possibly make men understand women and vice versa... it just isn't possible...