hey, what's come down over me?

I can't stop thinking about Moscow Olympics ever since my ex-colleague Lolo Reggie mentioned them last weekend after we gorged on gigantic pizzas as celebration for the end of the hell season at work. All he needed to say were the key concepts "Filipino band", "parang 80s" and "Swedish record label" and I was intrigued. I wasted no time googling them and wound up in the band's MySpace site. After listening to 2 tracks I became a fan. ;)

Now, while waiting for the band's album release, let me share with you what I think is one of the best duets in the history of music (it's right up there with Billie Holiday and Satchmo's "My Sweet Hunk O' Trash"), from one of my favorite albums of all time. Even though I have been listening to them for years I still wish I had known about them earlier (mas winner kung in grade school).

grand moff tarkin

This is Grand Moff Tarkin, the evil cat who is always prowling around the block next to mine. I usually see him/her when I'm walking home at night, or during lazy weekend afternoons when I go to the convenience store to buy junk food. He/she can be so sweet and cuddly and playful, but only when he/she knows I'm carrying food (especially if it's Meiji Milk Chocolate or those fat fries from MOS Burger). And each time he/she acts indifferent towards me--like he/she did a while ago--or he/she plays with other guys in the neighborhood, I become so upset that I pray to the gods that he/she be caught by the local cat-culling maniacs.

Chingky desu! Who am I kidding anyway? I know I can't stay mad at him/her.

sometimes I feel like I'm in the Milky Way

I was on my way to Cathay Cineleisure to meet with someone and catch the 9:30pm screening of The Orphanage when I bumped into one of my high school friend’s ex-girlfriends. I had just crossed the street when I noticed a pretty girl with short hair walking towards me. Since I wasn’t wearing my shoddy pair of glasses I sort of stood there frozen, squinting my eyes, trying to figure out who this girl was and why was she calling my name.

“I know you!” I said, “But somehow I don’t recall your name. It’s really embarrassing. Wait, don’t reveal your name just yet.” I taxed my memory for a good number of seconds while mumbling random associations. The longer it took me to remember her name, the more awkward it felt—she was just there grinning while I stuttered like an ass. It was really frustrating because I did recognize her, I knew I hung out with her in more than one occasion and I remembered liking her a lot.

“Yes! Now I know! You’re the one who lives in Las Piñas! (Pause) You used to live in Las Piñas, right?”

“No, I’m not from Las Piñas.”

“Oh.” Then I remembered that it was Wacks, my high school friend and her ex-boyfriend, who lived in Las Piñas. Eventually I got her name. Specifically, milliseconds after she mentioned it.

“This is amazing! I just learned from Wacks that you’re working here. He said he’ll try to look for your number so I can contact you.”

“If you want, we can exchange numbers now. Do you want to exchange numbers now?” I couldn’t get over the fact that I missed her name.

After I gave her an overview of what I have been doing for the past 1¼ years in this country, she told me she’d just moved here recently. She’s now living with her two sisters in a flat near Mount Elizabeth Hospital and has been trying to secure a job here, preferably in the Human Resources field. Due to time constraints, however, we weren’t able to talk about those personal milestones (?) we have established since we last saw each other a decade ago.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “We’ve got plenty of time.”