Foo Fighting



Last night, I fell asleep to Colour and the Shape. It reminded me of college and my housemates - how I got into a stupid argument with Pam while we were alphabetizing our records, hanging out at Tia Maria's on a school night (the old Tia Maria's in front of Ateneo, which turned into a Starbucks overnight), Master (we called her Master because she was taking her Master's degree, duh) getting herself trapped in the balcony for two hours. It was frustrating sometimes (I mean, come on, seven girls and one phone line?) but mostly it was fun.



{My Hero, Foo Fighters} - He's ordinary

Your favorite place and mine



Call me crazy, but I usually love going to the dentist. It's kind of therapeutic really, sitting there all sprawled out on the dentist's chair, watching this person poke around your mouth with all sorts of instruments. Well, okay, in a masochistic kind of way. Back in high school, when I felt depressed or guilty or when I needed some kind of jolt/rush/fix, I'd schedule an appointment with my ortho and get my braces tightened. Somehow, the excruciating pain took my mind off anything else.



Now my new dentist's office is actually one place you wouldn't mind going to. First, her assistants whisk you off and promptly install you in a massage chair. Somebody takes your hand and dips it in wax for the free paraffin hand treatment. She's running a few minutes behind schedule but you don't mind because your hands are soft and your back feels great. She actually explains what she's doing while she's doing it. Her office is spotless, her staff is helpful, the facilities are topnotch (xrays, photos of your teeth from different angles).



The hygienist tells me that she has a hard time positioning the xray because of the extra bone in my mouth, a fact that no one in 22 years has ever told me. Later, at home, I inspect my sister's mouth (siblings are useful for situations such as these) and sure enough she does not have protrusions in the lower arch like I do.



This time, however, I didn't want to be back there so soon. (I was just there last week!) But because of an accident involving ginger candy (curse you, Aji Ichiban!) and a crown, apparently I will have to promise my firstborn to my dentist. Dental care is quite, quite expensive (I guess the paraffin isn't free, after all).



{Rollercoaster, Dear Nora} - Beside the light that's getting in my eyes, a rollercoaster ride...

Guess who called in sick again today?



*points to self happily*



In my defense, I woke up and already had an outfit in mind at 6:30. But just as I was getting ready to get in the shower, I had this huge headache and I felt like puking, so I went back to sleep. Anyway, I've been quite productive. So far, I've had a sausage, egg and cheese croissant, listened to 83 of my shower mp3s (mp3s I download when I take a shower), had my jeans hemmed, bought groceries, taken a nap, and watched John Cameron Mitchell in that last scene (when he's taken off his clothes and wig and he's singing "Midnight Radio") again and again and again.



I told The Boss I'd be in tommorow, though.



{He's Kissing Christian, That Dog} - Come out, come out, wherever you are

Sick day



The other night I stayed up reading Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo. It's quite a thick book and I only gave myself until 1 am to finish it, but I hardly noticed because it fills your mind with such pretty images and you just keep turning the pages like you can't get enough of her beautiful Spanish words. Rebozo. Tamales. Sombrero.



There is a reference to "Manila mangos" in the book. Actually, the best mangoes are in Guimaras. They're unblemished (mangoes from other places are not allowed in Guimaras because of the evil weevil and fruit fly), sweeeet, and have smooth, firm, sort-of-melts-in-your-mouth flesh. Incidentally, some of my high school classmates participated in the NMRDC study of fruit flies in Guimaras way back in 1995. Cool.



I woke up feeling shitty. In a meeting with The Boss, she turned to me and said I looked like I was in a daze, or haze, or something like that, I couldn't really hear her very well. Yeah, so long story short, I took a day off today. I feel kind of guilty, knowing they're short-staffed, but I'm just not in the mood to drag my sick self around the office. I'd rather feel miserable right here. Besides, I've only taken one other totally necessary sick day. And they work me to death, anyway. I really shouldn't be feeling guilty. So, I'm gonna go and um, exfoliate or something.



{Feelin' Massachusetts, Juliana Hatfield} - Yeah, tell me something I really wanna know.

Un-saving daylight



My vacation's been extended!



Everything's going to be okay now. After yesterday, nobody's going to have to drag me kicking and screaming back to work. I will go willingly, calm and relaxed. I will sit at my desk, like a well-oiled machine, knowing the knots in my shoulders have been smoothed out. If everyone got a massage at least once a month, wouldn't the world be a better place?



So, ta-tah! I shall go and try to fit as much doing absolutely nothing as I can to the rest of Day 7 of Week 2 of My Doing Absolutely Nothing.



Oh, and go easy on the soda, will you?



{Silently, That Dog} - "You silently cheer me up.. You don't even know it." - They've already broken up but they have three albums out, so scoot on to Amazon now!

Snapshots



The Chess and Checkers House at Central Park, the old black guy and his sax at Battery Park, short trees with the season's golden leaves on Liberty Island, the immigrants' bunk beds at Ellis Island, the view from the balcony at Grand Central, bird shit on my pants.



{The Size of Our Love, Sleater-Kinney} - is that a cello in the background?

The drive home



Ha! I had a surprisingly good week-end. It was fun hanging out with my cousins, aunts and uncles who I get to see only about once a year. Ocean City was a ghost town when we got there last Saturday. The stores had signs saying: "See you in Spring 2003". The breeze was a bit chilly already. But we all walked along the boardwalk, shivered, shared a funnel cake, watched TV, had dinner together around a large table. We talked about other relatives, Philippine and American history, geography. And it's times like these, when you're not really expecting to have fun, that you actually do.



My cousin Josh volunteered to drive us (my aunt and I) home, since everybody had already left earlier. I vaguely remember meeting him when we were kids, but then they moved here about ten years ago and I only really met him again last year. The thing is, I'm not very good with enclosed spaces and small talk. And I was bracing myself for a horrible two-hour drive (you know, awkward silence, etc.; my aunt was sleeping in the backseat). And it did start out horrible. But then Josh started talking about how he used to go on road trips with his friends and how they'd get trapped in snowstorms in the middle of nowhere. And we talked and laughed and in the end, it wasn't horrible at all. It didn't feel like two hours either.



I'm just glad. It's nice rediscovering somebody - a friend or a relative that you didn't really bother to get to know before and now you realize that you actually have a lot of things in common. I'm also awfully touched because it's not a short drive, he has to drive back, he has work tomorrow and has to wake up early, and he left pretty late. Awww.



{Cold Cold Water, Mirah} - I finally got the Advisory Committee album! *starry eyes*