…Holidays, Fixing, and Crab…(+bulalo, edited)

(note: composed after a long period of time na walang blog. disorganized, relatively short but still it's kinda long. rusty writing. haha)

This is long overdue. I’d try to make it as short as I possibly can, but if stuff pops out of my mind, it might get longer.

The last holiday season may probably have been the longest, but most uneventful holiday season I’ve ever experienced. Sure, I tried to make the most of ate’s time back, but for the two supposedly most important days of the holidays (Christmas and New Year), it was unusually plain.

Normally, a Lozada Christmas would be a huge gathering in a house, with everyone having their thing, then when the clock strikes 12, everyone starts greeting everyone in such a merry fashion. Then a designated shouter shouts out the name on the gift by the Christmas tree. For every gift, one poses for cameras, a dozen others try to squeeze themselves in the background, and that goes on until about 2am. Some years back, we played bingo with Uncle Jun’s stuff and some cash from the elders as prizes. We had so much fun that we did it again the next year. And the next. And henceforth we accepted it as a tradition. The last one was last year, and it would be the last one, as Uncle Jun and all his bravado got his hands tied by the government.

This year, so much confusion and unwanted events happened before the actual Christmas eve. Started out with us fetching ate at Clark, then went straight to a mass offered for our aunt who passed away on the 24^th of last year. On the way, we got a call from home that amah (my Chinese grandmother) fell in the bathroom and hurt her arm. So we decided to just take her to the doctor, since my mom had to go to the office. We ate and spent time with the relatives ‘til about 10:30 I think, and we went home, cutting short our get-together. We took amah to a clinic, where we’d find out that she broke her arm in 2. We took her home, parents took care of her, me, my sis, and Che (who came from work) went out to get something in Megamall, then went to Tiendesitas where we “Fixed” ourselves to new looks.

Then we went home to the arguing family where my dad and his siblings were debating as to whether or not to go to La Salle because of some issues that were raised in the morning. At the end of it though, my dad got all stubborn and went on to La Salle to visit Uncle Jun before 12am, then we went back to my aunt’s house for the annual celebration (where the food wasn’t as great as it used to). We played tong-its outside, but I swear I didn’t hear my name called. I didn’t even get a gift from my ninang, so I don’t have my usual Christmas Blueberry Cheesecake. Crap. No new shirts, no new shorts, no new nothing. It’s not that I’m bitching about it, it’s just that, it’s such a new experience. And to think I immersed myself to NBA gambling to earn money to buy these people gifts. Yeah, true, it’s supposed to be better to give than to receive, but man, this early in my life, no more shirts? Demn. It’s one of only two times a year that I get new wardrobe, the other one being my birthday.

Anyway, what also made that night uninteresting was the fact that at 2am, me and my 2 cousins were the only ones awake, playing tong-its. No viewers to make noise, no other people who psych the other out, no one. Heck, one of my cousins was even too sleepy to go on. So Jon and I went out to Minute Burger for Abi, and it was freakin cold. That ended my night. Minute Freakin Burger. What a Christmas.

New year was no different. Day started out (as I was told) with my mom ranting to my dad about a Silverworks receipt she found.

MA: Ano nanaman to? Walanghiya ka talaga, di mo nanaman natiis bilhan babae mo ng alahas no?

PA: Huh? Wala akong binibili.

MA: Sinungaling ka nanaman! Kitang kita ko na tong ebidensya o!

PA: Ndi sa kin yan.

MA: Eh bakit ba?! Sino pa ba ibang “A. Lozada” dito?!

FYI, my sister’s name is “Alexandria Lozada”, and both of us pattern our handwriting to our dad, though she does better. It turns out that ate bought something from Silverworks the day she came back, and that was the receipt my mom found.

But that little mistake didn’t stop my mom from cussing the whole day. We went to Uncle Jun’s house (where they were allowed to spend the holidays – all three days of December 31 to January 2), again, amid a lot of confusion between the families. I was suggesting to just drop by Uncle Jun’s place after we’ve had our house celebration. But they said we were invited for dinner, and so we went. Again, we cut that visit short, since we had to go back to amah and the house celebration. After a few fireworks, the jumping around (or in ate’s case, the bouncing), the group family hug (which was actually nice), the dinner (which I would talk about later), and 80+ levels of Burger Shop, I got sleepy and went off to bed. It was 2am. We weren’t able to go back to Uncle Jun’s place because we were too stuffed to move, and when we could move already, we were too sleepy and lazy. And we weren’t sure until what time everyone would stay there. 2am sleep when normally I wouldn’t on a New Year’s eve.

I must note that you, my dear relative who is reading this, must not mention ANYTHING about what you have just read or make jokes about this in front of my mom, else my mom will cry her eyes out on self-pity. I rant because these events caused my holidays to be forgetful, and not to make fun of anyone.

Bawal Kumain Ng Crab sa Gabi

Lahat tayo mei kanya kanyang kasabihang sinusunod: bawal magwalis sa gabi, kukunin ka ng bumbay pag makulit ka, pag mahipan ng hangin mukha mo, ndi na maaalis sa mukhang ginawa mo, etc. Pero eto pinakamatindi kong narinig. Umaga ng 31, umalis kami ni ate para bilhin ang mala-Coke na laking crab daw nila Bolz. Pero dahil in demand, wala na kaming naabutang ganun kalaking crab. Inuwi muna namin un at napagbilinan kaming bumili pang crab dahil malamang kulang un. Hindi na umabot ng tanghalian yung crab, so naisip namin dinner na lang. Kaso nun dinner, ayun nga, kela Uncle Jun daw. So naisip namin, sa Noche Buena na. Pero ayun, nabanatan kami ng nanay namin :

MA: Hindi daw pwedeng kumain ng crab sa gabi.

ME: Huh? Bakit?

MA: Basta.

ME: Di nga? Dapat mei dahilan.

MA: Eh. Kasi daw gagapang daw ang buhay sa susunod na taon.

ME: Huh? (Nag-isip ng pambadtrip) Eh di dapat pala kumain tayo ng aso, para maging best friend tayo ng lahat (na ngayon ko lang naisip), o kaya maging pampered tayo buong taon (na actual kong sinabi). O kaya kabayo para mabilis tayo buong taon.

MA: (Walk out.)

ME: O kaya...

ATE: Tigilan mo na. Bad trip na eh.

Naknangtokwa naman kasi. Kinabukasan na alis ni ate. Puyatan pa. Panu pa makakain un sandamakamak na crab na un? Ayun, inalmusal ata ni ate at ni-lunch. Dalawang araw din xang natakam dun. Kun pde nga lang i-pulutan, pulutan na rin siguro sana namin un eh. Pero ok na rin nakakain xa dito bago umalis. April na ulit. At sana, mei stock na si Bolz ng mala-coke nyang crab.

 

Inuman at Bulalo

Binisita namin un buntis. Nun mga panahon na yun, anytime lalabas na si Joaqi eh. Red Horse ang inumin dahil mahal daw beer sa Singapore. Masyadong nagkatuwaan, siguro 3AM na kami pasado natapos.

 

Antok, lasing, wasak, nagkaayaan kumain ng bulalo sa San Juan. Ako pa nag-aya eh. Pag-akyat sa taas:

 

People: Anu sa tin? Bulalo? Ilan kanin?

Me: 9!

People: 8 lang kaya tayo.

Me: ok lang yan!

People: ok na.

Me: er. yuko muna ko...

 

<after Godknowswhat>

 

People: ter, ter, gising na! ubos na un pagkain o!

Me: Gago... <looks at table> ULUL?! UBOS NA NGA?!

People: oo, kanina ka pa namin ginigising ayaw mo gumising

Me: pota..POTA!

People: kami na nga kumain nun extrang rice na inorder mo eh.

Me: POTA!!!!!!!!!

 

antok, lasing, wasak, pero nun pauwi na kami, ndi ako nakatulog, kakaisip ng bulalong dumaan sa harap ko at di man lang dumapo sa labi ko. demmit.

 

gusto ko tuloy ng bulalo.