THE CURE

i left on her 46th

slouched in a seat of the 05:15 bus 

i left after the mass

prayed for relief that got me MRI toasted

therapy said the doctor who vanished

 so i got massaged first before the cure 

i left on a small bike

paid bills in Kamuning, roamed for ribs in Maginhawa

i left during a fire

Johnny in Luk Foo numbing the ache with whiskey

mixed adobo as nerve grease

i left on a Sunday

gin tonic and blended whiskey for an anesthetic

shook Japer's hand in the toilet then a hug from Yeb

SHOULDER FREEZETH OVER

The freeze came mid-air from Davao to Manila, on the night of April 28 to be exact, a strange sensation that scared me because I thought it was a heart attack which thankfully was not since the unease is more on the left chest rather than the center where the heart is.

And there it stayed, an itch that would go away I said which did not, hounding me in Baguio like a dengue fever, on and off, so I tried shaking it off with bike rides, from a Sunday to a Monday, 147.6 kilometers in all, but it did not go away.   

The freeze instead mutated into a permafrost, not sore or painful but more of a recurring uncomfort that is triggered whenever I take to my laptop and soothed by laying down on a propped pillow after every hour, definitely not to my liking to which the Honored Ladies suggested a Ventosa massage to melt the "lamig" which I did for the first time in my life.   

And it was with a frozen shoulder that I received my compliments as a past District Grand Lecturer, shuffling between chairs for comfort during the whole program, sitting through it the next day during my tenure as Historian of the Court and in the performance of my role as Senior Warden of the Munoz Bodies later in the afternoon, wondering how long will it last and what will it take to unfreeze it...  

BAGUIO AT 21 DEGREES

I like my room at a steady 21 degrees, and I like it even better when my ube-flavored taho chills in a 21-degree al fresco restaurant at what has become of Burnham Park, our place at a steady 21 degrees without air conditioning even at midday which ancient Inn Rocio is and should be, and the cheap wine transformed into a Chateau Giscours by the snippy 21-degree midnight air of sterile Crown Legacy Hotel which is as ruthless as my anxiety [reluctance] on being anointed as a DDGRP.     

Baguio is as Baguio as it can be but where else to go that we have not been and what else to do that has not been done, like perhaps taking a photo with ET in the absurd Cordi habiliments offered by Tam-awan that have lost its soul, or maybe an encounter with the Lourdes Grotto after an eternity of chasing my mother's black-and-white photo of a devout Adventist posing with the most damning evidence of the Catholic church's wanton violation of Commandments 3 and 4, or running after the headless Dominican priest and screaming babies of the old and haunted Diplomat Hotel, and then of course an insane P399/person buffet at the Korean Barbecue Palace where we went Gangnam Style, all in a day where intermittent rains nailed the temperature at an even 21 degrees.     

We went home smelling of Inn Rocio and a burp of Korean meats that baked in the Science City of Munoz's 41 degrees of hell, visitations and Amaranthine education kneaded with a Christmas party and a convention, vowing to get this year's work done in utmost simplicity and without the competition that transformed Honored Ladies into ruthless mercenaries of made-up reports and tarpaulined credit-grabbers, all for the sake of meaningless and hollow plaques, to which Inihaws made us chew on grilled pork, chicken, bangus and eggplants.  

My room in Panay Avenue starts at 19 degrees and ends on 25 but the Five Star bus went on a steady 21 while the tricycle got lost between Sta. Arcadia and Villa Ofelia where painted ladies crooned to be taken on a Friday night, waking up to a Saturday morning caucus and going home late from a murderous raising, all before Sunday's liquor ban went to effect which we toasted with whiskey, brandy, wine and beer in a videoke room running at full 21 degrees...      

HIKAB LINES

karakarakang humabol na gobernador na hindi man lang nagpaalam.

"e kanino pa ba magmamana 'yan?" ang sabi ng Nanay ni Bulan.

ang gintong kinain ng kalabaw ay taeng dinutdut sa kubeta ng ospital.

"alas otso ng linggo ang binyag" ang habilin ni Pare Darwin. 

ang pungay ni Kuya Roem ang nagtanim ng mikrobyo sa mata ni Kuya Ruel

madaming lasing sa Baloc tuwing unang Sabado ng buwan.

nakakatakot ang dahilan ng aming pag-akyat sa Baguio n'ung Linggo

ayoko na sana pero bakit parang wala akong magawa?