mishmash in the heat

there's nothing like a brownout (apparently a filipino slang for power failure) to jolt us back to reality. that and mosquito bites, especially so unavoidable when you're in the moshpit that is the masskara festival. but it is way, way better than the binay territory that is the financial capital of the philippines. "the taxi cab left us in the middle of the road, why?" the other half voicing out his query. "he said our inn was not in his map." my unequivocal reply.

bacolod was an improvement in local transportation terms compared to sweltering makati. should be. as i professed to memorize every nook and cranny of my hometown. i'm provincial and proud of it. poverty was everywhere in broad daylight. homemade pool tables in two corners of our subdivision. manila will host the next three editions of the world pool championships. and i'll be able to follow the action on sky sports. i can't handle a cue stick if the life of my entire country depends on it. practice? that goes for my culinary skills. not eight-ball pool.

it was extremely humid at the NSO. the staff behind the counters weren't exactly profused in benevolence. an office so cramped yet replete with common folks requesting for their legal documents. i can't find rich people or they don't look like rich people. why sweat when you can pay an agent? it's an arduous task to memorize a mother's maiden name, her date of birth, the date of birth of her parents and their parents and so on. explain that to a person who has difficulty grasping his full name or his date of birth? "ano ang ngalan sang nanay mo? san-o siya natawo?" (what's your mother's name? what's her date of birth?), the counter lady interrogates via the microphone and in full hearing distance of the entire office space and the next building.

the prices of basic commodities are inflated. every brand of whitening creams proliferates the market. captain barbell rules the visual world. "ako si richard, ako si raymund. kami ay twins!" not a lot of changes. except richard guttierez is now the biggest star in the philippines (photo from bacolod city.be).