May 29 2008
Week-Long Getaway Part 1
I’m back! Yay! Well, not really yay… I’m back in Manila, meaning, back to reality. I hadn’t taken a rest yet when I got back on Monday night when my sis started telling me neverending stories about my family and how I wished I wasn’t back home yet. Sad! This is why I suddenly went on vacation with AA even though I planned to stay away from him. It was really crazy of me doing that but thought that I really needed that break and even CO agreed with me.
Sunday night, I thought it was okay for me to go online in YM cause AA never goes online on Sundays and his UncleJoe from the US is in town and I thought he’d be busy entertaining him. I suddenly got a message from him asking me if I’d want to go to La Union with them the next next day and would be back Friday. I had to laugh because it was already late and he’d pick me up very early the next day, then be gone for almost a week (not even sure if we’d be back Friday) so I thought he was joking. But he was serious and was waiting for an immediate response. I had no money, only had 4k in my ATM, and still had some unfinished work. But I said yes and thought that the change of environment might do me good since I’ve been feeling so down and depressed lately. Anyway, bago ko maiyak, on with the kwento…
Monday (May 19)
He picked me up at my house at around 7 am. Met UncleJoe for the first time, and his pinay girlfriend, Jess. They had a little chitchat with my dad then off we go. Our original plan was to go to La Union, spend maybe a couple of days there or so, then head off north to Ilocos. AA’s the driver and I was the navigator. We’re guided by my Lonely Planet books and my former editor, Jorge, who’s based in La Union. Traffic was good since it was Monday and everybody’s off to work already, except when we got Urdaneta, grabe, major traffic! And the area was still flooded from typhoon Cosme! Pinasok yung car ng water, buti na lang hindi tumirik! The ride was kinda funny because AA always got sleepy and we couldn’t even sing along with the songs on the radio because we were listening to UncleJoe’s MP3s and we didn’t know the songs. I needed to stop by an ATM pa cause all I’ve got was 500 bucks in my wallet. Every time we’d see BPI, ituturo lang ni AA but he wouldn’t stop saying that he’s not yet sleepy and he’d look again when he gets sleepy. Nangyayari naman every time we passed by BPI, he’s not sleepy so he wouldn’t stop and when he’s sleepy wala namang BPI. I was texting Jorge from time to time to ask for directions and he invited us over to his place for dinner. We got to La Union a couple of hours after lunch. AA went surfing while I took some rest. Then we headed off to Jorge’s place around 5pm. His place is really nice and he cooked Paella and potato salad for us. Natuwa sobra si UncleJoe kay Jorge because he’s really funny and he presented our dinner beautifully talaga. As in he set the table pa talaga as if there was a special event. He wrapped our utensils with the table napkin and tied it down with sequined band and put three different kinds of flowers in each set. He served dinner complete with red wine, canapés for appetizer and fruit cocktail dessert with mango cream on top and then he also prepared fresh green mango juice. After dinner, we headed back to Se-Bay (where we checked-in) and siempre inuman na kami ni AA. They have a resto downstairs, inside the resort and they have also have like a carinderia near the entrance. We had to go back and forth because they were only serving Red Horse in the carinderia. I didn’t count anymore how many beers I had, basta inom na lang ng inom.
Tuesday (May 20)
AA and UncleJoe left to buy breakfast at McDonald’s so I just hanged around the resto with Jess and tried to figure out how to check the balance in Smart Bro. Damn Smart Bro! We spent half of the day trying to figure it out. Jess pa forgot the password and we weren’t able to retrieve it. After breakfast, AA and I went back to San Fernando because McDo gave them only 2 Sausage Mc Muffins when they ordered 4. Then we also bought some load for the Smart Bro and UncleJoe’s cellphone. When we got back to the resort, AA cleaned the car. Grabe energy ni AA, ako ang napapagod sa kanya. When he was cleaning the car, I watched him lang. Natawa pa ko kse nagmamadali siya para daw ndi matuyo yung water. He asked me na banlawan yung isang side while he washed the other side. Bad ko, hindi ko tinulungan kse sabi ko ayaw kong mabasa. Haha! Ang role ko na lang was to turn off the faucet. Medyo malayo kse yung patayan. Haha! He also cleaned the interiors kse nga binaha and nagmo-moist at night and medyo nakukulong yung smell. After that, he went surfing again while I had some beer. Yep, instead of eating lunch, I had beer. They brought down Red Horses in the resto already, got myself two bottles (luckily one was a Happy Horse) then went back inside our room to take a bath and drink my beer. When I was going to return my bottles na, Jess and UncleJoe saw me and joined me in the resto. We took pictures of AA surfing then inuman na. We also invited oursleves to go back to Jorge’s place that afternoon for an early dinner. Before we left I had 5 bottles already kaya ang kulet ko na when we got to Jorge’s. This time he cooked carbonara and we brought some litson manok to go with it. We didn’t stay long because UncleJoe has a back injury and it was hurting already. When we got back to Se-Bay, siempre inom na kami ulit ni AA. After a couple hours of rest, UncleJoe and Jess joined us again. UncleJoe had fun watching us get drunk. Nag-brownout pa. Haha! Nalaseng si Jess and I was the one who took care of her (since ako yung girl) and helped her throw up and brought her back to their room. UncleJoe was thinking “Jess was drunk, B’s taking care of her and she’s drunk too… who’s taking care of B?” So he followed us in their room and kept laughing at us. Haha! I taught Jess how to force throwing up so she’d feel better when she sleeps. I even put a pail beside her bed in case she wanted to throw up while sleeping. Haha! Then I hugged UncleJoe goodnight and went back to AA. Aba ang lolo niyo inaway ako! I forgot na what he said basta nainis na lang ako kse parang nag-alaga na nga ako tapos pagbalik ko parang ako pa yung may ginawang masama. I threatened him that I’d go home that night kaya medyo tumahimik na. I couldn’t remember why niya ko inaway. Basta ang kulet ko daw but I really couldn’t figure out pano ko naging makulet. As in wala talaga kong ginagawa, I just helped Jess. Nung umiyak na ko, he decided we’d better go to sleep na. Takot siguro siya cause he knew I’d really go home alone kahit madaling araw na and laseng ako.
Wednesday (May 21)
AA laughed at me when I woke up, sobrang laseng ko daw… we just laughed it off pero deep inside I decided to just stay quiet the whole trip. I had at least 10 bottles of Red Horse the night before. I wanted to go jogging but I didn’t bring my shoes so si AA na lang ang nag-jog. After jogging, we went to Mcdo to get breakfast. Change of plan… AA was thinking about the drive home if we were to go to Ilocos Norte… that would be 12 hours and only him driving. So, we just decided to go to Baguio on Friday. I called my friend PS, who is from Baguio, to ask where we could buy some stash. Matagal na talaga kami naghahanap ni AA for UncleJoe. PS was still sleeping when I called, I woke him up and he told AA that he’s clean na for a year. I was like “Huh? What’s wrong? What happened to you?” Haha! He thanked me for the wake-up call cause he was supposed to wake up and go to work anyway. After breakfast AA surfed and then we watched NBA again sa carinderia while drinking beer. In the afternoon, we went to the mall in town so Jess could buy a swimsuit cause she wanted to go surfing. I saw this button pin that says “Shit! Ang baho mo!” Haha! Laugh trip ako sobra! When we got back to the resort, Jess wasn’t able to finish her 1 hour surfing lesson so AA finished her slot and then inuman na naman. Then for dinner, AA and I went back to San Fernando to buy pizza and inihaw na liempo. We walked around the town to look for other food but didn’t find any that looks good. And yes may baon pa kaming beer habang nasa town kami pero we left it inside the car naman. Haha! Natawa pa ko kse we were looking for something different naman for dinner. May naamoy kaming barbecue and hinanap namin but we didn’t find it. So we settled na lang na for the inihaw na liempo. The liempo came with a dip na dugo na parang liver spread yung consistency. First time I saw something like that and tasted it. AA asked the tindero what was it and the mama said it’s “siwsiwan” and we just thought he meant sawsawan. Na-intrigue tuloy ako kung yun talaga yung tawag or mali lang siya. Haha! When we were in the car, AA kept asking me if I was okay. I asked him why wouldn’t I be okay… wala lang daw, baka daw hindi ako okay. And then of course after dinner inuman na naman. I’m telling you… I drank more than I ate talaga. We would have two meals a day only, breakfast and early dinner… it’s up to me na if I wanted to eat lunch or not and I didn’t. It’s always beer! Beer in the morning, lunch, afternoon, dinner, after dinner.
Thursday (May 22)
AA and I went to Mcdo again to buy breakfast… yep, neverending Mcdo and Sausage McMuffins. We also saw this mamang bangka who sold freshly catched fish on the shore. AA bought 3 pieces of milkfish for only P50 and asked the resto to cook it for us. Siempre mas mahal pa yung paluto kesa dun sa bangus. Haha! There was a group of police who was having a conference on the resort kaya medyo we’re stuck on one corner. Nakinood pa kami ni AA ng NBA dun sa store sa kapitbahay because malabo yung cable sa Se-Bay. Lunch time, UncleJoe laughed at AA. There’s this guy kse from the resto, his name is Ed. Actually, night shift siya so he’s there to take care of us pag nag-iinuman. He even witnessed our fight the other night. So while we were having lunch that day, the police conference was on-going. When we were going to order drinks na, AA said he’d take care of it and then shouted “Ed!” Eh di siempre nagtinginan sa min yung mga police. Tawa ng tawa si UncleJoe, and it became a joke na whenever we wanted something, AA would say he’d take care of it and then he’d shout “Ed!” AA didn’t go surfing this time… napagod na siguro. Haha! That afternoon, we watched basketball, again, dun naman sa carinderia upstairs and again inom na naman. Wala nang Red Horse! Then AA and I went back to San Fernando again, this time to buy pineapples and mangoes. We were talking about fruits and UncleJoe suddenly craved for pineapples. He could finish a whole pineapple by himself. So we bought 2 pineapples, 1 for UncleJoe and 1 for the 3 of us. Then we also bought mangoes and also tried to look for tequilla cause Jess said she wanted it. And that’s for dinner, pineapples and mangoes and of course beer. Wala na ding San Mig Pale Pilsen! When AA asked Ed and Ed said na wala na, AA told Ed “Drop and give me 10 push-ups!” Again, naging joke na naman sa min that would last until Baguio. Haha! And since there’s no more Red Horse and San Mig Pale, AA went to the store next door to look for Red Horse. Natawa kami because he was so excited to tell me he got us Red Horse and sa sobrang excitement niya, he forgot that there was a hole on the sand, like a canal, and nahulog siya don. Hindi na sana namin malalaman pero kinwento pa niya. Grabe, sakit ng tummy ko kakatawa. Na-imagine ko lang kse na ang laki-laki niyang tao tapos nalaglag siya don sa hole and he was more concerned not to spill the 2 bottles of Red Horse he was holding. Hahaha!
Friday (May 23)
Mcdo again for breakfast and wala pa ding Red Horse and San Mig Pale… lasang water yung San Mig Light. We just had breakfast, then AA and I took a nap, watched NBA again sa carinderia and then prepared to leave for Baguio.
To be continued…
Popularity: 34% [?]
1. Daming BPI but AA wouldn’t stop by one
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My friend JT, who’s based in Romblon, is in town and wants us to have a get-together. So we went to MC’s place Saturday night. MrsMC cooked bagoong rice. Yummy! We were supposed to drink but MC fell asleep and AA wasn’t there because he has a basketball game early the next day. So they just played poker. I didn’t play, I just watched them. And while playing we were watching Nacho Libre. It was funny and most of the time the players were distracted by the movie. After awhile, MrsMC’s nephew, who’s 5 years old and was there for a vacation, got out of the room to watch the poker players. It was already about 12 midnight and he’s still awake. Then after a few minutes, maybe he got bored, he switched the TV channel to Disney Channel. Shaun the Sheep was on and, again, the players were destructed. It was hilarious because there were 7 of us there who were grownups and only 1 kid. We were all laughing so hard at the show and MrsMC’s wasn’t. Haha! He was the one who was supposed to be entertained because it was a kid’s show, but instead, the grownups were. As in we were all laughing so hard and so loud, we woke up MC. My stomach was already hurting from so much laughter. 
It wasn’t planned. I was just my usual stuff on my PC when AA sent me a message in YM. His uncle arrived last Friday from the US and they’re going to La Union tomorrow. He asked me if I wanted to come and that they’ll be back, the earliest, on Friday. I didn’t have much time to think about it cause he was in hurry to get my response. So, I said yes. We might go all the way to Pagudpud and who knows where else. Bahala na si Batman! 
Finally, I finished watching the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It took me 3 days (Yes, 3 days! Haha!) to finish watching it. No, it’s not boring… it’s very interesting and intriguing actually… I just watched it at the wrong time, twice. Now it makes me want to read the book or any other book about Jesse James and the movie made me 
Brad Pitt more. Haha! I even looked for his Jesse James’ photos in the internet, especially the ones when he was already dead. Now, I’m off to watch No Country for Old Men starring Tommy Lee Jones and James Brolin. I hope it’s a good one too and that it won’t make me fall asleep. Happy weekend everyone!
