about the talking fish

My photo
Writer. Wheelman. Occasional DIY mechanic. Walking collection of hang-ups. Hopeless romantic. Old-school. Analog soul in a digital world. I am all of these things and more.

Friday, April 22, 2005

I'm posting from my cousin's house in South Pasadena, CA where we'll be fighting off the effects of jet lag before we act out on our planned itinerary...or at least what we can follow of it.

The flight was pretty smooth, I'd say. It was a boring 12 hours as most people were asleep, but I'm pretty sure most of us airline passengers would take calm and boring over uncomfortably exciting any day. The US customs and immigration officers that took care of us were some of the nicest people, although I did notice that they in general tend to be overweight. Hmmm. Probably one of thr fringe benefits of confiscating undeclared food items?

Jet lag's still working on me though. The other night I was asleep for all of 3 hours, and I was up at a ridiculous 4 am waiting for the sunrise. I got a similar situation now: it's 1:42 am and I'm awake after having been asleep on and off for 6 hours. Looks like I'll be stupidly waiting for another sunrise at this rate. Apparently I have the knack for awakening when everyone else is going to bed.

It's just great seeing Czasha and JB again. We were out on lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Old Town and I saw a more mature Czasha while we were talking about stuff in general. She's really gotten the elder sister act down pat, I'd say. JB meanwhile is the same gamer guy he's been, although he's also grown over the past few years---probably more so than I'd like, but hey, that's his life. His front teeth had been punched in by some juvenile delinquent who was jealous about him seeing a former girlfriend...talk about violent huh?

That's it for now, I guess. I'll be posting as much as I can.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Finally the big day has come.

Our flight's leaving at around 9 pm tonight. And here I was thinking that it'd be tomorrow, all this time. Perhaps I'm a wee bit underwhelmed at the prospect of actually going to North America's West Coast for vacation.

This probably means I'll be off my blog for a month. I'm not sure when I can be able to go online as the itinerary seems to call for a different destination every week. I'll try, but I won't count on it. I have no idea what the density of Internet cafes is in Vancouver, South Pasadena or San Francisco.
===

Honestly I have my little fears of flying, mostly brought about due to the documentaries I've watched on NGC or Discovery about how things on a plane can go wrong. When I board the plane later, I guess it's all up to the Man Above for 16-odd hours.

I also have not-so-unfounded fears of gaining weight when I'm there. Goodness, Americans have the most fattening foods---a fact I realized when I came back from a similar trip 8 years ago. Right now I'm just a bit overweight for my frame; I'm at 168 lbs. That's going to be a point of reference for me later. I do hope I get to maintain it.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

It's funny how some things don't seem to change, even after years and years.

Mela and Mark had organized a little quasi-reunion of us Honor Section students from high school Friday night at Dencio's Sucat. For such an informal gathering, a lot of us were in attendance---there were easily more than 25 of us on the two tables. And man, was it noisy in there. I would imagine the atmosphere to be a bit more restrained as many of the erstwhile Honors Section went to Ateneo or UP for schooling, and those campuses aren't really far from each other. Was I proven dead wrong or what?

The same people were hanging out with the same posses and cliques, just like in high school. Apart from a few faces most of us looked exactly the same, apart from some weight gained or lost. Some couples that began in high school were even still intact---quite admirable, I should say. Our two Denises were already newly employed, too.

Denden was in her first week working as a financial analyst in a bank (I just forgot which one), and it seems she was enjoying herself despite confiding that most of the stuff she encounters in the office flies by over her head. Knowing her, I'm pretty sure she'll work it out in a month. She did say that she was planning to stay for just a year, then move on to another job.

Patrick had become valedictorian---I suppose that really shouldn't come as a surprise, given people were badgering him to forget studies and work on girls this time around. Most of us had already graduated already, save for the DLSU people and others who began their medicine courses in other colleges.

I did notice some...er, changes, more in me than in them. I noticed that for once I'd become more relaxed with just being myself, without feeling I had to get everyone's attention somehow. I was content with talking to just a small coterie of friends. Also noticed that some old crushes back then didn't hold a candle to the bevy of beauties from DLSU. I think these are proof that I lived in a very small world back in high school---one that revolved around the school way too much.

I'm glad I got to see these old friends again. Still, I have to say I prefer college life more. I had made better and more lasting friendships in my four years in DLSU than I did in thirteen years of DLSZ.

By the way Marmar mentioned that all of us Honors Section students had become relics: the program had been canceled, along with many of the lessons we used to study.
===

The next morning I was in Alabang playing badminton with Benjie, Grace, Francis and Marmar.

I have to say I was impressed with Benjie and Francis in particular. They were moving really well, performing consistently good drop shots and well-aimed smashes. Grace and Marmar were competent players as well. With a little more training we'd all be better at the sport. I was even inviting them to the DLSZ Alumni Association badminton tourneys, which I once joined---just for fun.

After 7 months of not playing my body aches and hurts all over, but that's my fault.
===

Mela was particularly excited about Friday's reunion.

While chatting on YM we were mulling over what would happen in the near future. She told me she was a bit scared that people had very high expectations of her, as if it had been predetermined that if it's from Mela it should be really good.

I was in turn scared about what would happen when we graduated from college. We've taken for granted that there would be something more or less sure to look forward to in the past, such as grade school expecting to get into high school, or high school on to college. After college however, the chaos factor plays a greater role simply because we're literally on our own, left to our own devices and free to do what we please---of course, within the limits of time and finances. That just means that there's more uncertainty thrown in---and that's unsettling for me. That comes with having to adjust to a new grind, different from what we've been used to for the past 17 or so years.

Perhaps there was a reason why you organized this reunion, I told her. Maybe it's because you wanted a place you could go back to if and when things go wrong. In hindsight the problem of that analogy would be that this "place" is nothing more than a loose collection of people, all with their own agenda to follow and lives to live, so going back there also has a chaos factor thrown in too.

At the reunion Aimee seemed to read my mind in advance and had an ingenious answer: an e-group for all of us. So much for that chaos factor. Heheheh.
===

Just when I had vowed to save money and not spend on anything major until I had financed my total debt to AVON, along comes a MAHQ.net review of the Master Grade Zetaplus A1/C1 model kit that had me wondering where to get one. (And here I was thinking that I'd restrict myself to an MG Nu Gundam for Christmas, or an HG 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame for kicks.) I was pleased to hear that the transformation mechanisms were more solid this time, thanks to tighter manufacturing tolerances for the parts and screws provided for the legs' interior assemblies. I wonder how long I'd take to build it though.

Looking for an MG Zeta Gundam had become hard enough---what more for the Zetaplus? I will ask around and find one.
===

April 22 can't come too soon. Los Angeles, here I come.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Despite the finals not going too well, I'm just glad the term is over. I'm not gunning for Dean's List status any more; I'll be perfectly happy if I can pass my subjects. Besides I already have two 3.0s from MARKNAL and MARKPRO that will surely pull up my term GPA to a decent level.
===

With summer comes another traditional problem: boredom. And it's at its worst level this year. My PlayStation's CD-ROM lens seems busted so I'm able to play just two games, and that gets boring pretty quickly. I'm also short of cash and I'm no longer willing to spend what remains in my savings. People haven't been paying me their dues on time, and whatever payment does come in, I have to reserve to pay for my outstanding debts at AVON. With gas prices at an all-time high I'm also discouraged to drive anywhere, and my car's aircon system needs work.

Oh well. April 22 can't come soon enough.
===

What's happening on the 22nd? I'll be in the US and Canada for a month. I've had to put off joining a Pops Orchestra summer outing in Bataan on the 16th for that one. That means meeting up with my cousins Czasha and JB again. Cool. Am particularly interested in how JB's grown up. The last time I saw him around 3 years ago, he was a pre-teen...and at this point in time pre-teens grow quite quickly.

A part of our trip entails going to Seattle and Vancouver too---a couple of places I've never been to. We're probably taking a bus going there. Shucks, I was hoping it would be a real road trip. Oh well.
===

After course card distribution on Friday, Mela planned a little get-together for all of us ex-Honor Section people back in high school.

While I said I'd come, I'm not sure how this kind of thing would turn out. I'll be lying if I said I missed all of them, because quite frankly I'm one of those people who enjoyed college more than high school---simply because I made better friends in DLSU than I did in DLSZ. There's also the matter of meeting a few old flames once again, some that probably have to be reduced to ashes at this point in my life.

Well, we'll see.
===

Suddenly every site I see on the Web is offering some sort of blog facility. Yahoo 360, Friendster, LiveJournal...what's the deal with all of these copycats?

I dunno. Despite being the simple no-frills site that it is, I'm still hooked on the original Blogger.
===

Decided to return to OB after a long hiatus. After all the fights and rumors and petty squabbles and power-grabbing moves I still have feelings for the friends I'd made there.

As for those old enemies of mine who are still there...let's just say I'm haunting them. I'm just glad OB returned to its quaint old hangout, 80% devoid of Ragnarok Online mania.

Friday, April 01, 2005

Summer is definitely here...and it's not very welcome. It's turned scaldingly hot all of a sudden. Driving with my windows cracked open and my aircon off, in the interest of saving fuel, just isn't a good idea anymore.

This excruciating heat coupled with some ill-adjusted home aircon turned up to freezing left me with the massive head cold and flu I have now. It's perfectly bad timing too because this is finals week and I'm sick.

There's so much stuff left to do...all I want to do is get this term over with and recuperate.
===

I'm pretty low on cash too. People owe me a lot of money and they haven't been paying on time. Sigh.

Gotta get around to buying my long-planned present for my dad's birthday...
===

An old crush of mine, whom I parted with in not-so-pleasant fashion, apparently returned to our old roost recently---which I no longer frequent. Apparently she's getting married soon and has her own kid. I'm told she's mellowed down as well.

Mellowed down, my ass. She probably still has that hatchet with my name on it.

Let's see how it feels having your own glamor working against you, bitch.
Powered By Blogger