February 23, 2007

if ill want a part of my life novelized, (novelized, not moviesized. iwont want to get insulted with whoever theyll hire to play the part, pft) my second choicell have to be yesterday. the first one, well thats too mushy for any director's stomach to take




PIGGY-that-just-walked-by-an-abandoned-butcher-house-BANK

-the night before, iwasted my money on a play of miss estella's organization. she didnt even appear
-ilost my spongebob notebook that contained two month's worth of education somewhere in that play's theatre
-my prospect's ignoring me, in every sense of the word, and idontknow why (but she already knows of my intentions from the start. why then the rejection aura just now???)
-iscoured up my bag only to realize that iforgot my ballpen
-the professor in journ told me that ginebra-smb looked like a scripted play
-somebody took home the books i need for a project. selfishness tickles me at the temple
-the anatomy book iborrowed for an open-book activity sucked. it was a dissection guide for anatomists
-ifinally noticed the pile of requirements piled themselves up waiting for me to notice them
-the food in the carinderia took about an hour to be prepared. and it still required money
-infront of a group of collegialas, istepped on a gum


DANCING QUEEN

itold richmond to seduce edree (ebz) by cornering her in a corner and doing an ABBA

the commotion was that ebz and her partner (some junathan guy, iheard) bested five other couples in a slow-dance contest for the gold

what else would a queen want but a king, ayt?

too bad. iwas not in the mood to congratulate ebz when she visited us cheerers of hers later

the venue was an over-sized spa

and the contest proper was taking too long. it had gone for 4 boring (except for the roughly 20minutes our classmates performed) hours already and a special event iwas needed in was starting in about 1 and a half

"iwanted to congratulate her (ebz) badly but meg and the others had teased me even before ihad begun :("

thats by richmond, when we were in the LRT. gossip-lovers, ientrust this information to you



OUTSIDE ARANETA

my face was that of Romeo when he saw Juliet in the coffin (Shakespearean. you better believe it) when we got down the stairs to the ticket booth of the Big Dome

all the seats but Gen Ad already had butts on them. and yet gametime was still 30minutes away

Upper Boxes A and B had SOLD OUT next to their displays, as well as SRO (Standing Room Only)

my words to richmond earlier in the classroom got spitted back in my face

"okay lang sakin yung Upper B, sigurado namang may aabutan pa tayong ganun,, pero kung Gen Ad nalang, wag nlang noh"

ilooked at my friend, and seeing him not reading my mind, ipaid for our tickets and went on to the stairs to the topmost of araneta coliseum



INSULT

we dropped by gen-ad's male CR before entering the arena. was idissapointed

there were no urinals. instead there were rows and rows of tiled walls with dripping faucets at the top

babsy told me the day before that ilooked like someone who used walls for cock spitting. it was an okay joke for me

but that one of the gen-ad

tsk. itseemed to me that the aranetas designed the place specifically for the people thatll be using them:

GENERAL ADMISSION PEOPLE. THE ONES THATLL BE WATCHING THE BIG DOME SHOWS AND WILL BE PURCHASING THE CHEAPEST TICKETS

no words for what ifelt, really. Join The Club iheard watched UST-ADMU Game3 from the ceiling seats

but other than that, discrimination was in the air


mater et magistra (3rd Encyclical of the Roman Catholic Fraternity in Rome)
-the widening gap between the rich and the poor

youre not doing a good job, enforcers of christianity




THE VIEW

even the gen-ad was full. richmond and i watched the game on our feet, the uncomfortable seats of the other thirty-peso paying customers in front of us

that wasnt much of a trouble when the game began, though, thankfully. as richmond offered, icould finally yell and jump all iwant without having to bother with my inhibitions. the venue after all wasnt designed to accommodate the goody-two-shoed-"no-we-must-not-be-too-boastful-and-arrogant-fellahs" type of fans



17,000+

this was a disappointment, too. seeing that much people stuffing themselves in a dome of concrete and steel, iwas confident that the numbers would reach 20k, even with a chance to dwarf Crispa-Toyota's achievements

iwas real bothered with the twenty thousand live attendance of UST-ADMU Game3, you know. it was like another insult: these amateurs are more famous than my professional boyfriends. how sad :(

ipromised myself then that should Ginebra reach the Finals, the sales would be bashing UAAP's pride so hard that itd fold up for sure

but it didnt. despite being sandwiched by the average filipinos from all sides, ilooked at the announcement of gate attendance that indicated no more than 17,999, not even a record for ginebra (the most ican remember since jawo's departure was 18300)

damn ginebra fans



NO HARD-ONs

usually, the astig pba dolls and the extreme magic dancers elicited hoots and whistles from the araneta crowd

for most of the game however, their intermissions produced only dead air

no, thats not from getting tired of the repetitive music they try to move into

ginebra was down by as much as 16 during the game

and danny seigle (SMB) (the gorgeous professor mentioned his name. you must then acknowledge this guy's ball prowess) was even sitting for most of the first 30 minutes

caguioa was having an offnight. ginebra could not do their fastbreaks. my best pals tugade and wesley gonzales (SMB) were hitting their lucky shots. racela's (SMB) mouth was wide open with happiness. SMB's fans, despite numerical INFERIORITY, were squeaking with delight. the trouble of getting tickets for the game threatened to commit suicide in the drain



I SEE MYSELF IN YOU

ill have to watch the game's replay tomorrow just to see where and when exactly ginebra's comeback began

iwas waiting for it so hard that forgetting to mark what play or minute it happened is such a regret for me

but anyway, when it did, the coliseum was in a riot

i managed to use my cellphone's recorder to secure a copy of the moment. ilistened to it a while ago. it was rumbling with araneta's uproars. but nothing still to remind me of the plays that put the place to life once again

richmond told me that the mid-thirties guy beside him was possessed with KiLiG the whole time. yes, kilig, like when your crush's skin brushed by yours. the guy was clapping so girly and so hard that richmond found it hard to suppress his giggles when storytelling later

the guy beside me was more manly. when Sunday Salvacion (Ginebra) hit a big three-pointer, his arms swung down to his hips hard, like he was doing the boom-tarat-tarat with passion. he did it so many times that it became obscene already

a guy two homo sapiens away cringed the same way idid when Billy Mamaril (Ginebra) missed his freethrow. that is, going straight to the wall behind us and hugging it wishing for our deaths already

ipity richmond. hes got lots of stories of geh doing sugar by pinching him on the arms. i, however, was so sugary that he mustve wished iwas geh. iburied my head unto his shouder when Jayjay (Ginebra) missed a big jumper. ipunched him when Sunday took an out-of-balanced three and missed it. ishook him around hard when Hatfield (Ginebra) got a nice lay-up coming off an offensive rebound. ithink i hugged him more than a few times during the endgame, especially when Sunday buried that long jumper to tie the game, 94 all



WISHING I HAD A REMOTE

one good thing about watching via TV is that everytime the game goes down the wire, ican easily switch to another channel, thus saving my family from hospital bills

freethrows deserve the ESPECIALLY

SMB took a timeout after Sunday tied locked the game at 94, with around 30 seconds remaining. by that time, iwas already breathing and sweating so hard it was easy to guess that ihad just done something impure. my hands werent cold though, thank god

richmond told me later that iwas shaking

Ginebra did a good job on that play, doing defense and making racela look stupid. for some reason however, the ball landed on an open Lordy Tugade (SMB) and time suddenly stopped; ididnt even hear my own shriek

"pano kaya kung puro kamalasan mangyari, noh tol?" iremember joking richmond earlier, on our way to Cubao. "offnight si caguioa, pumutok si Danny S, magdown the wire, tas si Tugayde mkatira ng heartbreak shot? iyak siguro ko nun, noh?"

the ball hit the inner rim, then bounced hard upwards before landing in Jayjay's hands. he took a timeout at once. 16seconds

idontknow how to describe myself then. iwas wishing ihad a remote

when play resumed, bonkers became a tame word. my heart came up with a mantra of its own: ohmygod. ohmygod. ohmygod

they gave the ball to caguioa and araneta roared

(im having goosebumps right now, thinking of 47 struggling the entire night, and yet was given the play to drive down the lane, battling defenders and critics, and going in the air for that game-winning, CHAMPIONSHIP-clinching basket. god, goosebumps again)

but wesley gonzales was too tight on caguioa, prompting him to return the ball to jayjay

at the 4-second mark, jayjay took a screen and slashed through the defense for a lay-up. the ball rolled around the rim for a while (araneta was holding its breath, im sure) before going out. he was going to take two freethrows

iwished again that ihad a remote

how the hell did jayjay ever made those two? can you put a thread in the eye of a needle while a million people watched you?

96-94. with only two seconds remaining, SMB went to Tugayde in the left corner and, covered by two Ginebra players, threw the ball in the ring's direction



SUICIDAL

ithink iwent deaf after that. the balloons started to go down and the big scorebox in the air rained silver confettis. it was one of the most beautiful things ive ever seen in my entire life

(irarely use cliches. imagine how exemption-worthy that line is)

nerissa guevarra talked about how dying while you are at the peak of your happiness is actually a good thing

who wants to go sad after just having the smiles of your life, ayt?

when asked about you, people would go like "atleast he was happy when went on"

youd be unlike they who hugged their necks with nylon only after 1) a break-up with an intimate 2) a loved one's death 3)failing the UPCAT or 4) bankruptcy

you could finally bitcherize "life sucks"

unfortunately, im too much of a coward, haha


THE PARTY

the runner-ups, the San Miguel Beermen, were re-introduced into the court after a slight lull

many of my ka.brgys gave them a polite applause, isuppose with the cliche "thank you for the nice fight you gave us" in their heads

iwas a hypocrite. before, iwas meaning to boycott them and yell even more sour-winner cusses when they took their second place plaques. idontknow what got into me and ipretended iwas an educated fan

hatfield climaxed the first few minutes by removing his jersey and displaying a body more apt for wrestlers. apparently, hes a big fan of Triple H (a wrestler), though that was already obvious when he pointed up to the fans in the left, then at the right, then threw his head back and sprayed water in the air while flexing his muscles- a typical Triple H signature

iwas about to faint then. i ignored the passing vendors of water and iced tea earlier because iwas too busy on the game. iwas regretting that decision by this time

tubid (Ginebra) went up the stepladders and cut the net

jayjay was awarded as the Finals MVP. iexpected and WANTED for him that. caguioa's just the fourth guy in my list. im part sportswriter you know; im not always biased for caguioa

caguioa, meanwhile, was weeping in the pedestal. he was put on the big monitor and the people of araneta warmly cheered. its not hard to understand why many of us love him the most among my other boyfriends



NO NEED FOR EAVESDROPPING

richmond and i watched as the rest of the world slowly filed out of the Big Dome

it felt great

when we went out, the guard was already sliding the gates of the gen-ad close. richmond and i shared a laugh for all the other people upstairs that we left behind

ididnt know if it was just me, but wherever we went, the atmosphere was so light and so contented. richmond related to me that when ginebra last won the championship with jaworski, it seemed to him like it was the entire philippines that celebrated. cubao, to me, as little as it is, felt like nirvana already (does heaven really feel that way? ibetter start spreading goodwill if thats the case)

while waiting to cross the pedestrian, a motorcycle passed by, the driver shouting "panalo ginebra! woohooo!" and many in the crowd we were in raised their arms and cheered with the driver as he went on his way. alright, iwas one of them

a van drove by, a banner of the team hanging down from its windows

another motorcycle crossed; the driver ecstatic, too

a group we passed by was hollering "Salvacion!! (Salvation)"

another one was talking about tubid, but we were passing by so fast it blurred at once

outside, the fastfoods were all full, and table after table you could hear happy opinions about the game

some gurl was trying to establish eye contact with richmond. on less moody days, whenever that happened, iwould have distanced a little from my friend- idont want to spoil the girl's view, get it?

but that night, isticked against richmond even more. iwas happy, hell, but iwasnt letting anyone feel the same way via non-ginebra routes. let her fuck somebody else



GOODNIGHT

iarrived few minutes before one in the morning. iwas still high. iwanted to update this blog immediately, but then ialso knew that ihad just 2 or 3 something hours' worth of sleep the night before. plus, the dream wouldve been terrific

iremember no dream however

maybe thats because i already had lived it 14 hours ago








ilove cheesy lines