Category: The Ride

I took a drug the whole day yesterday. I found my hands and legs moving on their own. No breakfast, no lunch. My tummy was qualmish way past noon and I just remembered bribing it. Before nine in the evening, I wanted to take off and buy some dinner.

I wasn’t relieved that the sky had stopped weeping. I prefer the coldness of rain.

So here I was at Van Lloyd’s (cousin of Jim Bob) carinderia. It is the ultimate one-stop stomach stuff (at least for commoners like me).

Anyway, I should be babbling about the drug. All the while, it looked like a stimulant as I was staring at it. I wished it answered me back and said that it was going to munch me, then swallow me in gloom.

The first symptom was shoulder blade ache then drowsiness. Followed by some quirky people making sounds by clearing their throats.

The best thing it did was it thought me how to convert this page to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. So there are tons of slashes and quotation marks underneath this page.

Ironically, the day ended when I slept the day after.

I’ll be retreating back to our province for remorse.

The [words enclosed in quotation marks] were from my friends, acquaintances, and some people I personally know by their names.

I was digging some journal entries and letters and found some useful insights I could share with myself. I prefer withholding their names for security reasons (my own).

I had so much trouble fixing the conflict between the JavaScript code in the gallery page and this DTD line in the same document.

In IE 6, the gallery had a bottom scrollbar which looked well off.. yes, well off. Firefox 1 displayed everything fine.

CSS and HTML code editing were futile. At first I thought it was the padding in CSS that was buggering me off but it wasn’t.

To solve it, I created a smaller problem. I made the DTD a comment tag. I got rid of the annoying bottom scroll bar in IE 6 but the gallery page wouldn’t validate correctly in XHTML. Who cares?

In this situation, I discovered a lot of differences between IE 6 and Firefox 1 when it comes to displaying the same document. I must not enumerate them in a 410px width such as this. I’d rather get used to using Firefox.

Just speak

until your mouth froths with flowers

and butterflies.

As elusive as the one I’m trying to touch,

your eyes have the same flutter.

We eat with eagerness of what is on our table.

The butterflies, the flowers, they disappear.

And finally, I have your eyes.

It is sudden sadness that illuminates them.

It is the tingle of your spoon that fills the marble floor.

I feel them – the fall

and the realization that this dinner

is a banquet for two.

—

Originally published in happyobituary.blogspot.com.

Nag-file ako ng tax kanina.

Pwede naman palang walang sedula, nag-aksaya pa ako ng P238.68.

Pero ayos lang, sa unang pagkakataon, nakita ko rin ang loob ng Quezon City Hall.

Malaking lugar pala.. parang parke. Meron pang dalawang lumang auto na display na lang. At sa main building, may mga nakalilok sa pader na hindi ko na tinignan kung ano. Nagmamadali ako.

Dahil sa buong linggong ito, ewan ko ba kung bakit kapag tumutunog na ang bell clock ng alas-sais, pinapatay ko at natutulog ulit ako para gumising ng alas-otso. Ganun ang nangyayari mula noong Lunes.

Buti na lang at naipadala ko pa sa labandera ang mga marurumi kong damit, kaya kahit papaano, may napala naman yung umaga ko.

Sa City Hall, mayroong BIR reps. Ngunit hindi pala sila tumatanggap ng papeles ng taga ibang lugar. Oo, unang pagkakataon kong mag-file ng tax. Minsan kelangan mo ring punasan ang sarili mong pwet.

Eto ang mga nalaman ko:

1. Dalawang lugar ang pwede mong pag file-an ng tax. Isa sa nakalagay sa “registered address” mo at isa sa address ng kumpanya na pinagtrabahuhan mo.
2. Hindi mahalaga ang Community Service Tax (sedula) Number kahit may field to sa papeles ng tax (pero wag ko daw sila isumbong).
3. Tig-tatlong kopya ng mga papeles ang kailangan mong i-submit.
4. Hindi mo kailangang paabutin ng April 14 ang pag-asikaso mo ng pag-file kung Arpil 15 ang deadline (lalo na kung may 4 na buwan ka na pwedeng asikasuhin ang mga to).
5. Form 1700 ang kailangan mo kung regular na empleyado ka lang.. ngunit kung rumaraket ka kagaya ng iba, form 1701 ang kailangan mo.

Ang lawak talaga ng Quezon City hall. Pwede kang mag-sight seeing at kumuha ng ilang litrato. Madami ring gwardiya.. mga 700 ata.

Matindi ang sikat ng araw. Lahat ng tao kumakampay para malamigan ng konti. Buti na lang at swabe ang byahe ko mula Quezon City patungong Makati Ave.

Isang mabait na ale na representative ng BIR ang sumalubong sa akin at sya ang nagturo na maling form pala ang ginamit ko. Buti na lang walang hassle-hassle at sya na ang nag-fill in the blanks. Kinopya ko na lang ang sinulat nya at tapos na.

Meron akong P100.03 na tax refund.

Mam, kelan ko ba to makukuha?

A.. next year pa yan. Ano bang pangalan mo?

Regidor po.

Anong apelido?

Sanchez po.

Sabay sibat ko, dahil nawirduhan ako kay mam na bakit nya pa kailangang tanungin ang buo kong pangalan.

Siguro kamukha ko yung batang pinaampon nya.

---

Originally published in happyobituary.blogspot.com.

I was enjoying the afternoon sun when the sky suddenly wept. There we were… sinking paper boats in the puddle.

My brother made a boat out of styrofoam. He powered it with some dynamo he got from a broken toy racing car. That was the time I learned how to play with batteries and masking tapes.

While propelling in our vast garden flood, we shot it with pebbles. We burned the hell out of that boat. How mesmerizing the melting foam was.

---

Originally published in leave.myblogsite.com.

We went home to Helen’s house after catching up too late in the streets of San Roque. I told her to stop trying beer too much.

Her house was the closest so we proceeded. There was her mom sleeping, head on the dining table. I wasn’t that sleepy so I headed for a coffee.

I waited for several hours… for several brewing hours and yet, the frappuccino I ordered wasn’t even lukewarm.

I slept at the coffee shop comfort room.

---

Originally published in leave.myblogsite.com.

The table had vanished. All we can see were food. Seafood, oil food, wheat, and everything in between. You see, it was our parents twentieth year wedding anniversary.

My siblings and I were seated like audience to the sweetness of our folks. We were witnesses and evidence to the bond they have over the years.

My little brother was dancing Macarena. I think he was mocking some waiters. They should dance to that song while serving food. That would be swell.

---

Originally published in leave.myblogsite.com.

I swear, I saw two turtles swimming in our garden flood. All the kids were playing in the rain. There I was, watching them by the second floor window.

My room is a bit damp, and stuff toy-smell could really be tangy. I just wanted to let my face sag and let my fingers tinker on the sill.

As soon as the rain stopped, I searched for the turtles. My feet glided, ignoring what the water had in store. I swear, I wasn’t dreaming of turtles.

---

Originally published in leave.myblogsite.com.

I picked up an almond from my mocha ice cream. It was 6:30 in the evening when it fell out of my mouth. It must be caused by Karen’s taunting that I can’t make a trap out of this sand mountain.

I jaw-dropped to my disdain. So, after I digged a foot-deep and covered it with newspaper, I sprinkled sand on top to conceal the hole. By the way, we half-filled it with drainage dirt.

I dusted off the almond. I don’t like it with sand coating. A step back and I fell. Stinky foot!