THE SADDLE OF REFLECTIONS

The goat of Capricorn is on its way to slaughter.

In this January of tectonic shifts and stressful decisions, the birthday came and passed, dry as a devout Seventh Day Adventist.

The ensuing Spaghetti Marathon was not planned at all, but I did chase a few beers in the somber shadows of a familiar wooden house while nearby, a frantic neighborhood tried putting up a float for the next day's Charter Day parade.

I thought I could invite solace in Gerona as far farmers grappled with the riddle of climate change but a brief interlude at the parish church stirred the memory of a cute girl from long ago, her deformed arm hidden by a blanket but her beaming smile visible through the cover of a green mosquito net where she convalesced from measles. Her parents were in Guam and my mother said I should marry her someday. What if I did then?   

As options and scenarios spawned and collided, I saddled Ariel Guieb Tangilig to nowhere which brought me to a hidden waterfall somewhere in the foothills of Lupao. Somehow, discernment came as I stared at the waterfall's dry season trickle. And as me and Kuya Darwin passed along the hills made infamous by a massacre of the innocents in 1987, a decision was finally made: I'm not going to Eastern Samar or any other place at all. Everything was suddenly better after that.  

The next day, I did some mental calculations on how much I must raise every month to cover what I need to do as I ride Ariel Guieb Tangilig to Minalungao National Park. Abet of Almaguer was walking to there too some 20 years ago packing a box of canned beer and watching the lost Wating trek in his office suit. Roma cooked rice in a bamboo tube while Ces and Tolits tried salvaging a flotilla of illegal forest products that got detached from its mooring after we tried using it as a diving platform. We followed Oyet P. inside a cave where I encountered a giant mosquito and we got smothered by the smoke from the torch of our lead spelunker. 

On the way back to Fort Magsaysay, I scratched General Tinio's old Sto. Cristo parish church from Ariel Guieb Tangilig's list and wrote the formula of surviving unemployment over it. 

Ariel Guieb Tangilig and Lupo Domingo Quilban payed homage to a famous prison, and I again can take on the world!

THE GREAT SPAGHETTI MARATHON

I thought it was a boring disorganized mountain bike ride with a catchy name [Uhay Festival Bike Ride], until we climbed the first hill and experienced "The Wall" and my first serious single track downhill ride.

Overall, it was a good ride and I won a tire tube in the raffle draw!

The next day, the wife cooked our stack of spaghetti from last year's holidays as me and Kuya Darwin took the 373 Bikers to yesterday's pulsating ride across the Villa Trails, and there we met Kuya Jerry on top of a hill who told us of a hidden waterfall somewhere along the hills of Parista and Lupao. Then we hit "The Wall".

The spaghetti was waiting when we got home. It went out quick including the loads of birthday cakes sent which is the most I've ever had. That's breakfast.

Then I took the kids and the nephews to Pizza Hut where they wolfed down three varieties of stuffed pizza, and a huge platter of spaghetti. That's lunch.

It was Lordee's birthday too so we dropped by Jollibee-Circumferential to watch the kids party as we parents gossiped and discreetly went out for a cigarette after each parlor game. The famous Jolly Chicken with Jolly Spaghetti was served. That's dinner.

"You're so cute!" Hetty Spaghetti whispered as she groped my butt.

I am 45 and spaghetti was served on my birthday... 

RETIRADO

Mahirap kausapin ang sulat at wala namang sumasagot sa mga tawag kaya isinama ko na lamang ang ngitngit sa mga pinasabog na labintador noong bagong taon.

Meron kayang paputok na "Goodbye PRRM"?

Sa totoo lang, matagal na dapat ginawa ang pagpapasya na kalusin ang burukrasyang sumisimot sa kaban ng yaman.

Hindi nga lang naging maayos ang pagpapaabot at hindi inaasahan ang kakagyatan nito. 

Pero naitulog na ng ilang gabi ang pagtatampo, kulay rosas na ulit ang mga gumamelang nakahilera sa kalsada, at papatapos na ang isang makabuluhang taon ng pagsubaybay sa aming Matandang Kapatiran.

Kaya nagdaop sina Duduboi at ang mga maligno ng Scout Borromeo, at muling nagkahugis ang pansit sa gitna ng nagsasalimbayang recipe ng pekeng isda [pangasius] na paboritong ihain sa SEAMEO Innotech.

Nakarating sa dulo ang Huling El Bimbo kasabay sa pagbuklat ng panimulang kabanata ng ipinabaon na Espada at ang paghubad sa Barong Tagalog na hinabi sa mabibigat na hibla ng agam-agam.

At sa unang pagkakataon ay natikman ni Bulan ang bangis ng kumpetisyon sa mga burol ng Palayan City, ang dalamhati ng unang pagkabigo sa bumubulusok na bakas ng Aulo Dam, at ang pagkakatuklas sa dakilang talata ni Grantland Rice.

"Not that you won or lost, but how you played the game".

Paparetiro na ako at nakatutuwang malaman na may mga ibang kalsada pa palang puedeng daanan...      

ANG HULING EL BIMBO

Magkahawig nga sina Kuya Allan at Captain Ramil pero ang Black Label na itinagay ni Kuya Aztec ang pinili kong inumin bagamat sinamahan ko pa rin si Kuya Allan sa pagbirit ng "Wherever You Will Go" matapos magbanlaw ng San Mig Lights sa King Hiram bilang malaking tuldok sa aking huling pulong bilang Marangal na Guro ng Logia 373.

Kinabukasan ay pilit ibinangon ang katawang umaalingasaw sa alak para muling umahon sa Maangol Trail kasama sina Andie at Placido Armando Catalan pero sa Manicla kami iginawi ng aming mga bisikleta para balikan ang ala-ala ng isang anibersaryo na ginanap ng MASP sa Palasapas Falls 20 taon na ang nakararaan.

Sarado pa ulit ang Lugaw Network, ayos ang almusal na palabok at pinapaitan sa Marquez Restaurant, at nakaubos ako ng tatlong stick ng Marlboro Lights sa basketball game ng Masonic North and South bago muling inihain ang Johnny Walker Black at San Mig Lights.

  

Nag-umpisa na ang linggo ng aking Huling El Bimbo.