THE PEDAGOGY OF THE DISTRESSED

-11- 

Monday started fine

layers of blue, white and green

Amorsolo lives 

-12-

charred wings and braised beef

shitty Wednesday unmasked

milkfish drowned in beer

-13-

life popped through email

bureaucrats and murderers

solace in the trail  

-14-

gin tonic for lunch

heels cooling off in the lounge

Bangkok here I come

TWO FUNERALS AND A BIRTHDAY

first we honored Kuya Jojo // posed for a Recuerdos de Patay // before burying him in Paniqui

on the 18th day of the year // pares found me in Morato // Patty & Cocoy showed in the bus // Shakey's gave away a free pizza

i was 48 // got home late and ate my cake // sipped brandy and went to sleep

then they came // Constance who refused to be tempted // Don Vito who was seated in the East // the Deacons standing for a fallen brother

rode my bike against the wind // took my wife for a Korean lunch // and missed the funeral on Sunday

THE YARD

grilled pork belly with Superman [pwe!]
crisp Buffalo Wings while breakdancing [puede!]
fresh quesadillas for the Wolverine [puedeng-puede!]

three nights, three dinner, three movies
all washed down with the same beer 
The Yard in Timog is both straight and queer

pares and free soup for 97 pesos [ayos!]
igado, sinanglaw and torta for 115 bucks [okey!]
brainless dinakdakan for 50 [puede na din]

three mornings, three breakfasts, three rides
no coffee though to burn the tongue
My Yard in QC is both boring and interesting

enough of old GP movies from The Yard I declare!
more of pleasant rides in My Yard is my say!
but shouldn't the Recuerdo be posed in the yard?

tasselled violet and tasselled blue
let me ask the wisdom of Masters
they have huge yards while I have a plot

all the world's a bike yard
says me not Shakespeare
and all the mall's a yard sale
says she not me

THE TAROT CARD READER

There was a journeyman who travelled the world in search of life, a poet who fancied Nora Aunor and ate banana cue for lunch in his younger hungry days, an eccentric guy wearing a combination of old-style barong and jeans who invited me to a Century Tuna dinner in his blacked-out apartment once upon a time, someone who has learned to divine our lesser and greater secrets by simply shuffling Tarot Cards in Kilometer 0, who honored us with a dinner in fancy Provenciano along pricey Maginhawa Street.   

I would have wanted to ask him to read the cards and discern what we were thinking during our last bike rides of the holiday season.

Or perhaps where can I find the best dinakdakan at the SIDCOR Sunday Market, or a Lao beer mug that may be for sale in one of the stalls, or if Bulan will be able to complete his Psychology-Sociology course in the 4 years that we have agreed for him to do?

And whatever happened to Bulan's novel?

What was the fate of Paula and Claudia after the war?

Was Don Perico a Mason who later collaborated with the Japanese like his brothers Jose Laurel and Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo?

What would have happened if the spinster sisters sold the portrait to the American buyer?

But we talked only about old times, of LAHAR and the people who changed our lives, of growing old and the upcoming essay workshops.

Then it was time for the Tarot Reader to go.

So I consulted a Tarot to find the shortest way possible to his hotel.

It's called Waze.

CAUGHT BETWEEN HOLIDAYS

Between Christmas and New Year's Day are 6 days and on the sixth of these days, I should be submitting a final report that as of Christmas Eve stood at 70 percent completed with two partners' reports in except for two case studies, one big report and two smaller ones being chased, and a colleague in Bangkok churning out the financials from OPAL. 

In other words, redeeming my Mabuhay Miles points with a Bangkok trip with the wife between the holidays popped out like a sweet dream punctured by a nightmare and I can't go anywhere either as I have been crucified in my lap top until deliverance through the submission of the remaining narratives from the field and the draft spreadsheet from Bangkok.

But first there was Christmas which is happy wedge of cheesecake between two hard slabs of stale fruitcake and we did have a Christmas cake presented by friends, brunched on noche buena left-overs that was our sole Christmas meal and got a high from the sweet aroma of chocolate cookies Bulan baked for the holidays.

And on the first of the 6 days between holidays
a partner sent a final reviewed report
an Auditor said he will send a bid
Jakarta emailed a reclassification request
and I was still hungover from last night.

On the second of the 6 days between holidays
Bangkok finally responded from India
a draft financial report was conjured
I got the last regional case study
consolidation and editing in full swing.

On the third of the 6 days between holidays
someone responded for somebody on vacation
four briefs were sent for sign-off
I got started with the UP narratives
we conferred the 19th-30th degrees.  

On the fourth of the 6 days between holidays
the donor okayed another extension
somebody took over from someone
still no word from Jakarta and Bangkok
tested some whiskey from S&R in Pampanga. 

On the fifth of the 6 days between holidays
Jakarta finally sent a report
Bangkok responded through Facebook
I attended an official EJK commemoration
drank cheap brandy at another party.

And on the sixth of the 6 days between holidays
Lotus Notes went on holiday
the 31st has been moved to January
so I went for my 3rd ride of the week...

...and prayed my thanks in a Monastery.

Then came the first day of the New Year so we cooked all the the remaining spaghetti packs, packed all uneaten holiday junk and hired a van to Pangasinan where we I got reunited with my younger sister and her clan.

They had fake waves and clumsy slide rides while I nursed my wine [Australian, Chilean, French in that order] with grilled and ceviche-d Bonuan bangus and blanched oysters because the pigar-pigar will only be available for dinner.   

It was the 7th day after the 6 days between holidays so here's to 2018 and the health of the Cardinal Pope!