one fine day

my eyes opened...partly. lack of sleep. i had a choice, i could stay but i'd rather go home. home for a snack and forty winks.

a new day after a night of fun at ayuyang, after a night and day rather.

so we rode the jeep. expecting i won't get a peck on the cheek, got down at that irritatingly bottleneck of a rotunda and walked home. the sun really felt good. the rays directly on you, with my shades on and a smirk on my lips.

my father was in the sala, watching his daily dose of ANC. does he really watch and listen to that channel? well, it's his daily habit anyway--to monopolize the television.

i locked the door. switched on the radio, took of my pants, ate one of the oranges i left on my bed, wore my sister's pink tie-dyed shorts and fell asleep on my bed with a pile of clothes. i haven't continued fixing my room that's why i keep it locked, well aside from another reason i don't want mama to know.

the texts kept on coming. my sister asking me where i was and if i'd date today. i replied, "home. sleeping. no date." then dennis texted pestering me with questions about my singlehood. he annoyingly uses this statement " sorry ha kung matanong ako". duh! in a way i wonder why i ever placed my arm around his waist on my day. harhar! no regrets. more texts i'd rather ignore.

anyway, i got up, ate my rice meal while my father watched NGC. took a bath. dried up. wore my blouse for the day. groomed myself with the usual - facial lotion, cheek tint, mint lip balm, pink lip color, pink eye shadow, a glittery eye liner and revlon mousse then i comb. then i choose the earrings and the bracelets and put on my jeans and spray raspberry scent on my chest, neck, blouse, jacket and shawl. hmmm... smells good. now i'm ready to face this hyped up valentine's day feeling pretty.

so i go to class but only lourdes, jenny and this pretty married girl in the room. "no one else?" "only us, probably because it's valentine's day". so i peed(?) and left them.

off to session road! where you meet all these made up girls and guys holding hands and flowers on the other arm. cheez! this day is really a big deal. it wasn't like this last year. but i don't feel sad which is a good thing for me.

i enter lester's shop, he's doing this henna tattoo for a kid. ah, my welcome kiss and a strawberry shake on the way. yum! i wait til they're done. lester decides to come with me to see anne. i go out first and greet tommy hafalla seated with a couple of artists. and so we walked, lester offers that we ride a cab, so we do, him in front and i at the back. the driver fuels the taxi at a nearby gas station. why in the world should he be doing this now when he could've done it when he had no passengers?! so we pass through south drive and reach lualhati. i yell out for anne, peep inside her room window and she comes out front.

we walk up the hill and along the dry "lake"? hmm... what to do? buy beer! harhar! so after buying a bottle each of red horse and a few chicharon - all courtesy of lester - we go "saan tayo iinum? tara sa tago". when we reach that tago site, it's evident that the couples there had the same thing in mind. we laugh it off and joke, "tara nalang sa kita!" eventually, we sit on anne's sarong and drink up with the setting sun obscured by the pine trees and the rising last quarter moon over our heads. ah this is the life, with stories to tell and memories to share, we face the road from that hill and bask in the unconventional heart's day activity we have abruptly planned for ourselves. yeah, you don't need a mushy place with flowers and candlelight alright. it just takes a fresh outlook, or maybe we were all vacant and dateless? could be. so the sun sets, the beer made me even more sleepy and innocently funny. we ride a jeep to town.

so, lester left us and we look at each other, "let's walk". up session, we wanted to have a cup of coffee at Oh my gulay! it was full of dating couples. i asked robert for a vacant table at the veranda but to no avail. we sat near the wheel, sonny came over for a little chat and we finally left the place. meeting Kidlat Tahimik as we descended the stairs, i greeted him happy heart's day, hmmm... well, what do you expect, he's an artist, he wants to be different. so he's celebrating the heart's day on March 14, princess someone's birthday (how stupid and irresponsible for me - a filipino - to forget this ancestor's name); so yeah, we'll celebrate it with you next month!

the perks of walking? anne was seen by a long lost friend, Cesar, who turned to know my name because he knew my father. old timers. oh well, it led us to have coffee and tea at volante and tell stories. the valentine texts kept on coming the lovers entering volante kept on coming like this place was so big that no one was leaving, they were just going in and in and in. it was noisy now in volante, it was already filled with people you don't know, like they were taking it away from you and you want to scream "who are you people? you don't have the right to be here! you're not from Baguio! leave Baguio! and let us be! you don't know how Baguio means to us locals!" grrr!

anyway, the text i was waiting for from someone arrived; i left anne with Cesar and Duds and i met brandon with his new hair - he looked cool, even cooler- we bought beer, some food and rode the trip to his crib. he was my finale. my heart's day date but it isn't really that way with us.

brandon is my february, just like charlize theron in sweet november- minus the illness, and probably, like what i told him from the start, my someone who makes me feel a little less alone.

we had a good sleep... first time in weeks. this was how my one fine day ended.