Living, Dying, and Everything in Between for the Christmas Season

Christmas Party and Work

We had our Christmas party last Dec 18 and it was cool, or “groovy” as we were in our 70’s costume. Yeah, well, so I looked more like an 80’s guy than a 70’s person, but I dressed up (somewhat), and that’s what I think matters. Initially I wanted to win, but after seeing how much effort one of our account managers put in, I thought I’d just enjoy the show. It was a party full of old people enjoying themselves. It’s not as much fun for me, but I felt like I was part of something, which is actually a good thing to feel especially in this friend-forsaken (age group-wise) office.

We had our presentation which was fun to do since I got to spend time with the fragrance team who made me feel worth something, and a significant part of the group. And when the party took too long and Che wasn’t doing anything in her office, I asked her to drop by because I felt like the fragrance team and the other people in the office were somewhat of my parents/uncles/aunts that I had to introduce my girlfriend to them all. Yun lang, mahiyain si Che. But at least she saw a couple of persons kinda close to me in the office, Ms Cindy, who gives me my whole workload, and Ms Tess, my boss.

 

Anyway, now that that’s over with (Christmas party) everyone’s out on vacation. But since I’m the contract guy, I can’t go on no leaves. So I have to be here in the office, with nothing to do since all my bosses are on leaves, and even the regional office is closed. Hence, I’m all clear to write my first blog after more than a couple of weeks.

 

Taking Off from Work

 

Here’s the thing I like about my job which the receptionist and the guard tipped me on: I can leave the office and not come back. It’s like this: I’m the marketing person, and their idea of marketing is someone that goes out to the market. Sure, there’s the market analysis and stuff from time to time, and the presentations as well, but most of the time, that’s “marketing” for them. So, I’m legally allowed by my work to leave the office to check different supermarkets for new products or prices or something. And if I don’t have deadlines, I could actually choose not to go back to the office especially if its like 4:30PM since I could leave by 5PM anyway – a tip that I used/am using to my advantage. What I do is leave work by around 1PM, take a quick check at Robinson’s grocery ,then leave for wherever, and not go back to the office.

 

It’s one of the things that make me lazy at work, and which makes me think I’d feel frustrated early if I get a new job that won’t allow me to do such things.

 

Basketball and the Monster Named Reinier

 

Ewan ko kung tama spelling ko ng pangalan nya. Pero Philo friends should know who I am talking about.

 

Anyway, we got this guy who’s got mad game, na nakakainis bantayan. If the ball doesn’t shoot, you’d actually be surprised because you’re so used to seeing the ball go in every time he has it. He can drive, he can shoot, he can defend, he can dribble. He’s relatively tall (para sa kin matangkad siya. Pero compared sa players talaga, ndi ganun katangkad) and can actually challenge Dylan Ababou’s game (or so I think) just coz they’re both such complete players.

 

All right, so I’m hyping him up. Here’s the thing, there are some moments in my college basketball life that I could clearly distinctly remember:

 

1. A good shooting day at Kapatiran when everything was falling for me. (highlight: shot one three pointer and turned around before it even fell in)
2. Josec’s one-dimensional move (fake pass to the right on a fastbreak then lay it up himself)
3. Monte’s sidestepping move over 4 defenders off a bullet bounce from Imon
4. Boj’s block on Diaz on the break
5. Me pushing Imon while he was on the air for a layup
6. Jason’s kiss on his defender before hitting a trey.

 

But one thing that I know is common to all of us was THE BLOCK. The setting was – Imon drives, I set my feet on the corner. Imon posts to give me a screen from Reinier, then handed it off to me. I set up and as if the whole thing went in slomo, Imon heard Reinier slap his thighs as if they were wings then leaped so freakin high that he got to my shot and blocked – no, VOLLEYBALLED – the ball to the stage with such power that everyone, even Imon, the guy who passed to me, could only say “ooohhh!!”. It was a confidence-buster.

Fast forward to last Wednesday: I was shooting from 3 the whole game, where Reinier couldn’t get to me. Then, at 29-27, a teammate of mine decided to take a shot. He missed, but I was right there. I heard Reinier from behind when he said “ui!” so I thought he was off-guard. I didn’t bother to fake, and I just took the shot off the rebound. And guess what, another volleyball-spiked ball courtesy of the same guy. Asshole.

 

 Oh, and must be noted in the game: Imon’s hot shooting early, pero walang pang-close. Haha..

 

 

The Supposed Joy of Christmas

 

You get to feel Christmas is just around the corner because just about everywhere, there’s niceness all around. But thing is, sometimes people tend to abuse it.

 

Case in point: Going home, me, Imon, and Ella caught traffic along Laong Laan. Two kids approach us, shouting Christmas carols. Our ride was a non-aircon one, so windows were all open for interaction. Thing is with these beggars, it’s like they obligate you to give them something if you talk to them. So these kids pushed their luck and kept insisting that we give them something. Ok, so probably “demanding” is a more appropriate word for it. The kid who looked like 6 even threatened at one point: “Kahit piso lang, sapakin kita dyan eh!”.

 

What the hell ever happened to Christmas? Has it become so commercialized that people see it as a moneymaking venture rather than a time of genuine giving and niceness?

 

Paskuhan ‘08

 

I’ve been to Paskuhan for all my years of stay in UST. I went last year, Che’s last year. Year in and year out, it’s a fun time to watch the fireworks display and sometimes the bands that perform, and take pictures when everyone’s leaving. This year was exceptionally disappointing.

 

First, I get pressured by an underclassman to be at UST by 7PM. FYI, SDP spends Paskuhan together by the big Christmas tree every year, and stay there till the crowd pacifies so that we get to have our pictures taken by the Christmas tree or on stage. This year, me and Che had to contend with freakin traffic in my car with no aircon after work. And I get repeated texts from an underclassman to be there already. It’s bull. I don’t appreciate it in any way. Then as soon as we arrived, I don’t see her. Or anyone else for that matter. Fine, I saw Manny, but probably because he was sick. And Kamla, because she was taking care of Manny at the time. But all the rest? Going ga-ga over Bamboo.

 

Second: THE PLACE IS TOO FREAKIN CROWDED! It seems like its been too hyped up that the other U-belt schools don’t bother to make a big party to end their calendar year and just let their students attend the Paskuhan. When before, there was a breathing room at the edge of the field (as in the corners), now there wasn’t. The place was filled with 2/3 of the Luneta crowd (as in the people who were supposed to be in Luneta), half of each U-belt school population (half of the said population have food stubs supposedly exclusive for UST students), and all UST students and some alumni. It was crazy stressful.

 

Bamboo played, which is good, but man. The crowd was just not right. I hope the 2011 Homecoming will have tighter security that allows only students and former students of the university to be in.

  

Last Minute Christmas Shopping: In Pursuit of 3Musketeers

 

Everyone does it. And nothing made it more clear than what Che and I had to endure last Saturday. It was way too traffic, and all places were crowded. Now, I was already thinking of settling for SM Marikina (we had to go to SM. We had a bunch of GC’s waiting to be spent.=P) because of the freakin’ traffic, until a DJ in 94.7 read a message from their textline, who asked where she could buy 3Musketeers. Now, I’ve been going around everywhere looking for this around Manila (I’m already sure Puregold in Clark has it) to no avail. And it’s not like I’m looking at selected stores, I check almost any store that I can because it is part of my job. Anyway, DJ says there are a lot of 3Musketeers in SM North EDSA, and they even have the minis available. I looked at Che, and she looked back at me. She knew what I was gonna say: “Tara, SM North tayo!”

 

And ‘lo and behold, there wasn’t any 3Musketeers available. Just a bunch of Baby Ruth chocolates.

 

When will people realize that Babe Ruth and 3Musketeers are 2 entirely different kinds of chocolates despite their similar-looking packages?! Demmit. I was hopeful.

 

We did get to buy a bunch of stuff at SM, and were able to buy Horny, the newest addition to our stuffed-toy family. (And no, you perv. “Horny” is named such because he has horns.)

 

Me and Che had dinner at Tokyo Tokyo that night. This guy seated next to us asked for extra rice. He asked twice, at long intervals. By the third time, he sounded a bit irritated, to which an employee shot back at him at a similarly irritated voice “sandali lang po sir!”. Guy gets pissed and asks, “anong sabi mo?!” then walks toward the employee area where he dares the waiter to come out.

 

What’s shitty about what happened is that the waiter didn’t have to shout back the way that he did. But what’s really a mess is the guy who looks like he’s a gym rat. Nakakainis mga taong ganun. They work out so that nobody can mess with them, and they make sure that that’s how everyone feels by challenging anybody who does any little thing against them.

 

Finger-roll Pass and a You-Can’t-Not-Take-A-Picture-With-Us Script

 

Watched a PBA game yesterday at Cuneta. It’s been long overdue, and it had to happen all too suddenly. Anyway, Kali and Jason did their thing with the scalpers, and from the original price of 300, it went down to 250, and then finally 200. We were surprised when we weren’t allowed in because, get this: we were wearing slippers (at least Kali and I). They said it was ok if we had socks on. But since we had 2 guys who had shoes on, what we did was wear their shoes, and them walk in with our slippers. We did the whole changing thing right in front of the guard. Tapos pagpasok namin kung sino sino rin naman pala nakatsinelas. Talk about rules.

 

Here are the things that made the ticket well worth it:

1. Highlight of the game night was a Cyrus Baguio and-one play off a fastbreak, over Joseph Yeo. He carried the ball, took 2 steps, jumped, where Yeo grabbed him, and right before he could get down on the ground, he threw the ball up, and it went in. It happened right in front of us.

 

2. Kelly Williams dunked. I said once Sta Lucia switched courts, Kelly will dunk the ball. And boy, was I right. Sta Lucia applied pressure D and once Yeo  got the ball, he immediately passed to a waiting Kelly Williams, who slammed the ball in.

 

3. Norman Gonzalez became my least favorite player of all time. Off a steal, Norman ran the whole length of the court, and led a 3-man fast break, with Kelly Williams running in the middle. The freakin Norman Gonzalez killed the crowd’s anticipation of a Kelly Williams dunk by laying the ball up by himself. Freakin asshole!

 

4. Marlou Aquino’s Finger-roll pass. It was all the way to the other side of the court, but we were in full view of it. Marlou posts up, then sees a teammate near him. He literally hands the ball over to teammate via a finger-roll looking pass to the teammates chest. It was hilarious.

 

5. Jeff Chan fired up a bunch of points which helps me and my fantasy team.=)

 

6. We got a picture of Lia Cruz! And I’m in it! Imon, link the people!!

 

7. We got a picture of Pak-yaw.

 

8. We got to bash some gay guys who were paid to watch the game.

Magic Mental Block Moment

(Salamat Imon sa pagpapaalala)

Got to call Magic. Longtime listener of the morning show, but never got the chance to call. Tapos trip trip lang, nagtry ako tumawag last Tuesday ata. Akalain mong nag-ring. Akalain mong narinig ko sila sa telepono ko. Demmit. Trapik sa Julia Vargas.

Ayun. They took the call and gave me a chance to win 10k if i won his game. The game's called "Ang Yabang Mo", and it goes like you suck up to Mo evertime he says a statement. I know I could do it, I know it's easy, and I've always said I could win that game any day. But that wasn't the day. My heart was racing too fast that I couldn't think of anything to say to his "Christmas is a time of giving" statement. Demmit. Ambobo.

Sir Obusan and Books

 

How do you want your life to be defined?

 

Sir Obusan, our Latin professor, passed away last week. I know we rarely attended his class and we didn’t take his classes as seriously as we did the other subjects, but we loved Sir Obusan for his happy personality. He NEVER got mad at us, no matter how rowdy we were. He was the prof we talk to about the recent UAAP game and upcoming UAAP games. He was the guy who read a lot, so striking a conversation was never an issue for him, because he had all the topics under the sun in his mind.

 

We went to his wake yesterday, and several people close to him had some words to say about him. Then there was a presentation about him. I had a couple of realizations because of those.

 

1. Pictures are truly priceless. I hate taking pictures of myself. When I was a kid, I didn’t want to be in pictures. Then there was the time the whole family went up to Baguio and we all wanted to have something to show, so we all wanted to be in the picture. Since then, I was ok with taking pictures. But still, it always had to be in groups. Anyway, while watching the presentation, I realized pictures are the only things that people you leave behind would have to remember you by. Lack of it gives them less memories to remember you by. After you’re gone from this world, it’s the memories of you or with you that keeps some people going. You have to help them help themselves. You have to give them mementos of happy memories not so they could mope at your loss, but rather, to show them that you’ve had a life well lived, and it’s time to move on and be happy for your soul that is once again reunited with the Lord. To show them that you’ve had your time together, and it was fun while it lasted, but it’s now time to make memories with others, as the one who left you made memories for you.

 

Hence, I made a resolution to be in pictures, whenever there is a chance. To keep memories. And if Che decides to go on with the DSLR plan, I would want to take pictures of people around me, that I may have a “recent picture” of people close to me. Hey, you never know who the next one could be.

 

2. You define what your life would be. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you (a person who knows Sir Obusan) hear Sir Obusan’s name? I’m thinking, 9/10 times, your answer would be “books”. Sir Obusan had such passion for text that aside from being well-read, he also sells books for really cheap prices. He is God’s gift to Philosophy-inclined students because its too damn hard to find Philosophy books (especially primary sources, and most especially cheap ones) but Sir Obusan has them available. He “lived a life worth living” sabi nga nung presentation. I believe that. I do because he did what he wanted in life: pursued education; learned new things everyday. And at the end of the day, he was best remembered for the very symbol of education: books. He died checking test papers. In the academe. I don’t know if he could have it any better. I just wished he saw one last Paskuhan or one last new year.

 

Anyway, God probably told him Paskuhan was gonna suck this year anyway, so he might as well just go with him then, after all, he already gave his gifts to his friends in the faculty.

 

Oh, realization. I just want to be like that. Having been able to define his life doing what he wanted to do all along. He knew what he wanted in life and enjoyed his whole life. And even in death, he is remembered as the same thing he probably wants to be remembered: a teacher.

Thank you Sir Obusan, for a life indeed worth lived.