BINONDO TO PHNOM PENH: Our Weekend Bonifacio Walk

In the 5 hours that we waited for our follow-up check up, I had a reference check and watched all 8 episodes of Tour de France Unchained on top of finalizing the agenda for a national dialogue in Vang Vieng. 

The next day, I became Pello Bilabao on my way to the bank to check my consultancy fee remittance so I can buy riels and a travel insurance for Phnom Penh as insinuated by the Oxfam global staff survey on the best pairing for pork barbecue and chips; then being Matej Mohoric who hunted in vain for the green towel jersey that darted across the street many years before Bulan turned 26, before his birthday dinakdakan and sisig were boiled and singed, after the  Pulmunologist realized the wrong account number and ordered a CT Scan and sputum culture to finalize the regional convening while the PMU wondered when he-who-should-go will actually go just as P1,726,577.33 was credited by the Land Bank of the Philippines to  a BPI checking account.

The squint-eyed lady in the bus and a big butt at the modern jeepney distracted our trip to Plaza Miranda, salacious images that were eventually overwhelmed by the sweet smell of Excelente's ham sandwich which enticed us to a batch of freshly baked hopia monggo at nearby Kim Chong Tin that are much better options than the chami and lechong kawali of Cafe Mezzanine, which is why we got lost in Divisoria  on our way to the Baclaran church and a late lunch of sinigang na ulo ng salmon, laing and baby squids at Mesa. 

Bulan was finally able to join us in Tutuban where the Father of the Philippine Revolution was born on 30 November 1863, which is 750 meters to 72 Paseo de Azcarraga where the Katipunan was founded 29 years later on 07 July 1892, which is 650 meters to Calle Madrid  where an 18-year old Gregoria de Jesus was hidden by her parents from the courtship of Andres Bonifacio who was a 29-year old widower at that time, which is 1 kilometer to the Binondo Church where they eventually got married in March 1893, which is 1.5 kilometers to the Bonifacio Shrine where the unofficial first Filipino president and the Katipunan were honored with a monument and a mural at Lagusnilad.

At nearby Manila City Hall, we climbed all 7 floors of the Clock Tower Museum for a panoramic view of Old Manila and an art exhibit with an interesting pun on historical figures including  Aling Oriang in a Mona Lisa pose, "Ang Huling Inuman" featuring Filipino heroes in Last Supper arrangement, and "Ikaw" where a bloodied Gen. Antonio seems to be pointing to Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo as the instigator of his brutal murder in Cabanatuan that were eclipsed by the image of three lanky sad men, handcuffed together and apparently being booked by police for an offense, as we exited the grounds of the City Hall.   

The founders of the Katipunan are all Freemasons so the kids insisted on visiting the Grand Lodge of the Philippines which we did by hiring an e-trike for P150 that carried us through 1.8 lkilometers to a gallery of Grand Masters, all reknowned and respected during the early years but not so much in the later years, where 400 meters away at a National Cathedral, an almost invisible bust of Fr. Gregorio Aglipay who co-founded the Iglesia Filipina Independiente remained oblivious to passing pedestrians who took the train with us to a late lunch of Gumbo's creole Classic Caesar, seafood boil, barbecue-style baby back ribs, and New York-style grilled steak.

Several hours later, PR 571 landed in Phnom Penh where I spent Sunday walking the length of the Wat Botum Park  to Koh Pich Riverside before bar hopping through Bat Muk Yu, the Red Bar and Casa Diego along Street 308.

THE CURVE

Real women have curves.

And research indicated that 1 in 10 men prefer chubby women.

I might be one of the "1" but I did not choose "R" to do our 2D Echo Cradiography test on Tuesday, nor did I expect Miss X to show up during my Thursday Fluorescein Angiography procedure with Rudi Gernreich's provocative and sexually liberating haute couture prominently etched in her fat ass.

Both are classic BBWs who remained anonymous with their  N95s that were not taken off even for a reheated lechong paksiw, air-fried ham and all the non-alcoholic beers and Mexican pale lagers in Bakal 2. 

This I did not report in my first A&C team meeting after an absence of almost 3 months because the lanky insurance eceptionist who liquidated my P211,525 Abundance Plus investment was wearing a shelf bra that failed to lift her sagging breasts even after divesting P60,000 for my second MP2 ccount

We feted Inge Edler with classic putok-batok --- lechong kawali from Marquez-Palengke and  sizzling sisig at NE Pacific-Crossing  while the younger Achim Wessing had a diabetic dessert of McDonald's Caramel Sundae and Mang Inasal's Extra Creamy Halo-halo before I met with my new Line Manager for the first time.

I had a bike ride for our 126th year of idependence and got my hair cut before a heavy late lunch of junk food  (burger, fries, pasta) that we walked to burn --- from the bus stop to the hospital to a red checkbook wallet to the bus station, and from the Center and the drug store to the market to Smasher Diner in Bakal 3 to Bakal 2 --- calories that were replenished with a glass of malbec, dinakdakan and ginataang isda as the national and regional convenings were felled by an emerging incompetence that I might need to confront in Phnom Penh.  

A curve was thrown at my professional life on Friday afternoon, the second of the month that I tried to forget by hunting for unripe grapes and pruning ur Garden of Eden after watching Penelope Featherington finally reveal her naked curves. 

But a curve is a curve so I led a Fathers Day bike ride to add to my Independence Day solo, took a bus to Cabanatuan for a breakfast of lechon and pinangat na hito; created a reel about the red wine gallery of SNR; endured a lunch of Peri-peri chicken at the mall, and poured bottles of  Red Horse while waiting in vain for my favorite MILF to appear.  

She's a BBW, she certainly got curves, and she did not show up...   

THE JUNE 3 EMERGENCY

There was an incessant ringing in my ears and I was floating helplessly.

That was 15 minutes after going out to to buy a stick of cigarette for my after-dinner smoke and just after plugging  a desk fan.

Is this dying?

I'm not ready yet so I asked to be brought to the hospital --- in an ambulance which is my second time, hooked to an oxygen tank which is my first, carried in a wheel chair which is my second, was declared well, then discarged from the ER. 

A nursing student said I had an episode of orthostatic hypotension.

It has nothing to do with my scope of work from June until November or Monday's bloodletting for our quarterlies nor having to pay my social insurance myself. 

Still, the doctor ordered a 2D echo test.

Not because I paid my huge credit card bill although the first installament for my second consultancy was still unremitted which is why I requested another SWIFT code for my third consultancy that will cover both co-convenings and a side event.

The sad thing was to be told not to ride a bike, for the meantime. 

So we walked in Munoz to buy a bit of our prescriptions, in San Jose for an  appointment with our eye doctor, in CLSU where I reminisced about blowjobs in the bleachers.

The eye doctor ordered a fluorescein angiography.

I had two bottles of Chilean merlot and an Argentinian  malbec but it was Red Horse that got me as I passed on the cigarettes, enough for Bulan to come home and grill pork ribs and tuna parts for the Mistahs and the Sunday bikers of Bakal 2...

THE RETURN OF THE JEDI (A Sequel to "The Unemployed" Series)

The Jedi in this case is not a master of the mystic-warrior way.

He was in an Order whose symbols were disposed in toilets and garbage bins, an inactive Master of the Royal Secret that track desolate desert planets for leftover tinumis, lechong paksiw and bopis that powered the lightsabers of a Thursday night session in Bakal 2, and a substitute guard of the outer door to King Solomon's Temple who allowed the personal representative of the Grand Master to pass through. 

The hocruxes of Jabba the Hutt were dissipated by static (+), a transient ischemic attack (T), and a skyrocketing ichor (T) but Darth Vader probably still sells protection from financial lose so he too will soon be judged by the Rebel Alliance.   

These are the reflections and recommendations from a communique, that care will not be enough and investments for affordable shelter financing and universal health coverage were paid until December to ensure adequate social protection for the unemployed and therefore the continuity of his appointments with ajumma (The Principal) and noona (The Nubiles) too.

A 5-month contract was finally signed on Wednesday after April's CANSEA stint (6 days and paid) and May's EI work (13 days and unpaid) so $785 was deposited to upgrade an aircon power outlet, renew a driving license, and validate a national convening in Vientiane.

Thus, he will remain to be The Consultant who is fond of pairing Irish whiskey with sisig, adobong bibe and kinilaw na bangus; a classic operator who becomes better with age, Like Fine Wine, and the Tadej Pogacar of ASEAN influencing that is guaranteed to make things happen.