Post 0008: Three Days

Saturday, November 17.

Since sweldo naman nung Thursday, as always, I went to the local surplus shops sa Calamba before heading off to Las Pinas. I managed to buy one from the new arrivals. I saw this large black shirt of the 4-Star Theatre and a gray Sundance festival shirt. I opted for the former because the color of the latter was simply too faded. Anyway, proud of my new shirt, I decided to have it tailor-fitted para naman mas astig tignan. Hehe. Pagkatapos nun dumeretso na ako sa Las Pinas. Cuddled with Sean and Rikki-chan, then proceeded to play HoD ulit. For the record I believe that it was the longest playtime I've had for ages. 5 hours in total. I knew that the end was near, considering that I've covered 97% of the map already and there's just but one room unexplored, plus I already have most of the items I think I should be having at that time (Kaiser Mail, Platinum Tip, Crush Boots, and all sorts of random equipment). Ang masama nga lang nito eh hindi ko pala na-save state yung laro so I basically wasted around 45 minutes of gameplay. Cool, huh? Bad trip na sana, if not for the dried squid na ulam. Kung hindi lang nakakahiyang pumapak at magbaon pauwi ginawa ko na. Haha. Still hungry, I decided to look for beef pares as soon as I set foot on Calamba again (epekto ng pagkain sa Jona's sa Robinson's Pioneer – ansarap ng pares nila dun mga bords). Of course I didn't want to embark on this epic quest alone, so I recruited the services of my trusty friend Julius. I somehow persuaded the bastard to go with me so deretso muna kami sa bahay para iwan ko yung bag ko tsaka magpalit ng pambahay tapos dumeretso na kami papuntang Crossing. Tamang lakad lang para makapag-usap tungkol sa kung anu-ano. Naalala ko na may lagi akong nakikitang karinderya sa malapit sa estasyon ng tren na ang pangalan e 25 Hours (LOL). With thoughts of obtaining the fulfillment of my gastronomical desires there, we stopped over and check their menu. It didn't have the pares but almost everything on the menu was below 30 pesos so syempre dun na lang kami. Umorder kami ng Gotong Batangas, 25 isang order. Yun ang unang kain naming dalawa ng ganun at dun namin na-realize na anlaki pala ng kaibahan ng gotong yun sa alam ng karamihan sa atin. Walang kanin, puro laman, pero panalo sa sabaw. Gusto ko nga sanang umorder ng kanin kaso baka pagtawanan kami ng tindera, kaya ang sabi ko may round 2 elsewhere after ng tsibog namin. Tinanong ko si kumag kung anong suggestion nya. Hamburger daw. Fortunately e merong stall ng 2-hamburgers-for-20 sa may Crossing so dun na kami dumeretso pagkatapos tumira ng goto. Nakikipagkulitan pa sa amin yung tindera, halatang bored out of her wits na sa graveyard shift. Haha. But it was all good. Nakaramdam kami ng pagpatak ng ulan so nagmadali kami pabalik ng bahay ko para dun na lang kainin yung mga hamburger. Sakto naman, kung kelan andun na kami saka lumakas. Tambay saglit sa labas habang tumitira ng hamburger hanggang parehong antukin at maguwian. Hehe.

Sunday, November 18.

Nilakad ko agad yung pants at shirt sa mananahing kilala ni nanay. Hanep sa galing yung mama. Nakuha nya nang sakto yung mga measurements na gusto ko. Tsaka pulido yung gawa, kahit sa shirt. Next time that I buy something that's too big, I know exactly where to go now. Hehe. After namin ipaayos, bumili muna si nanay ng assorted bread sa may palengke. As we went through the people and the stalls, I remembered the days when I used to hang out that place a lot with my friends. Like more than ten years ago. Senior high downwards. Tanda ko nung single-digit pa lang ang edad ko, lagi akong sinasama ni nanay sa palengke tuwing Sabado ng umaga. We'd usually wake up at around 6am, walk on the way there, tapos ang una naming pinupuntahan e kung meat and seafood section, which I hated so much because of the different smells na naghahalo-halo sa ilong mo pag naglalakad ka. Meron akong ninang na middle-aged na tibo na may-ari ng karnehan tapos yun yung unang pinupuntahan namin lagi. Dinadaan ni nanay sa kamustahan ang discount tapos ako naman laging kinakamusta like there's always something new about me. After that, gulayan na. Mum can really bargain good. Haha. And usually yung mga na-discount naming pera, pinambibili namin ng kakanin or better yet, after more than an hour's worth of shopping, sa Jollibee kami pumupunta. Minsan pag natatagalan si ermats bumili dahil sa tsismisan or pag naghahanap pa sya ng mga bagong paninda, nanonood ako ng mga naglalaro ng NES (o Family Computer, as you know it more commonly). Aliw na aliw ako sa mga naglalaro ng Mario 2 dahil kaya nila yung 100 lives (actually I think it's more than that). As years progressed, so did the games I watched whilst I waited for mum. Dumating as Sega, si Sonic ang nakita ko. Sa SNES, a bunch of pugilists beating the living shit out of each other. There's even a couple of guys who can hurl fireballs. That's how I reallt got started with gaming, but that's a story best told some other time. Anyway, upon seeing the old marketplace, I realized that despite the horrible arson incident back in the late '90s and the massive makeovers that the surrounding areas had, it still is what it has always been. Kahit lumiit na yung lugar na kinatatayuan ng stalls ng mga panindang tulad ng karne, isda, gulay, at mga pagkaing-butil, alam mong yung mga nagtinda noon ay ang mga pa rin nagtitinda ngayon. Magkakakilala lahat, suki pa rin ang mga henerasyon ng mga pamilya ng Calamba. Naging parte sya ng kabataan at buhay ko, at ng ibang mga taga-Calamba kaya sana e kahit tumanda na ako't lahat at mapadaan man ako minsang muli e andun pa rin ang mga tindahang yun.

After my nostalgia, dumeretso na ako sa Las Pinas. Spent most of my time with my wife and kid, then played HoD. As I expected, I there was still a lot of secret items I needed to get just for the heck of making a “godsave”. Pag-uwi ko sa Calamba, there was the leftover siomai that mum made, and it was so good, I immediately went to sleep, satisfied.

Monday, November 19.

I really felt that something was going to be wrong at work today. Nung Byernes, nawalan kami bigla ng calls at around 2200 (I was supposed to call a learner at 2240). Alan and Jane weren't able to come to work nor go out with us that night because they said the HQ needed them for an important meeting. Nung dumating ako at around 1330 today, wala pa rin sina Alan at Jane, and most of us had little to no calls at all (I actually didn't have any calls today). With every other task given already done, today was a very slow day. Random Internet surfing. Killing time with injecting useless information in my head for 8 hours. I am hoping that this is the start of a downward spiral which would eventually jeopardize our career.

Kaninang umaga, bago ako umalis, tumawag si Kaji sa bahay, which was quite a surprise for us. He said he needed money because his entire stash was stolen due to a highway robbery sa Baclaran on his way to North... Waitwaitwait – Why would a cab go SO FAR when taking the SLEX is a helluva lot easier? How could a cab be stolen sa Baclaran when it'll be as easy to shout for help as well? Rikki-chan and I gave it the benefit of the doubt anyway and decided to pay back at the most 30 per cent of what we owe him every fifteen days so we can help the guy recover from this tragic event. Oh and by the way, why don't you try taking this test just for kicks? http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/09/13/machtest/

Though if there's any redeeming factor in all of this, it's the fact that I was able to finally finish Harmony of Dissonance. It wasn't as difficult as I expected, and the ending is something less of spectacular. Tip: for the best ending, make sure you equip Juste's and Maxim's bracelets when fighting the last boss(es). Now would be the perfect time for me to find walkthroughs to help me create a godsave file before I move on to conquer Circle of the Moon.

It's just 2035 in my watch, so that basically means I still have less than three hours to burn in this goddamn cubicle before I regain my sanity with some sleep. Speaking of sanity, I'll get some fresh air right now by going outside for a bit. All for now, class dismissed.~