Braising my Beef

1 EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING?
= no. sad, isnt it?

2 LONGEST RELATIONSHIP?
= 4 years.

3 LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED?
= yet another purse, from aggie this time (the last two ones were purses too, both from pauline!)

4 EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE?
= yeah. sometimes, it even bounces on concrete.

5 WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT?
= looong time ago. i walk a lot because i dont have a car. hehe.

6 THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON?
= rent, travelling and gifts for the home team.

7 LAST FOOD YOU ATE?
= slice of pizza.

8 FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE
OPPOSITE SEX?
= porma.

9 ONE FAVORITE SONG?
= wala.

10 WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
= new york

11 LAST SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED
= up diliman

12 CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER
= t-mobile

13 FAVORITE MALL STORE
= target (though it really dont counts as a mall store.)

14 LONGEST JOB YOU HAD
= 3 years! (and im hating it more as the days go by)

15 DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE?
= no

16 DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE?
= that’s a waste of minutes.

17 LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED
= joby’s in key west

18 FIRST FRIEND YOU’D CALL IF YOU WON
THE LOTTERY
= my mother

19 FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT
= kfc

20 BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD
= i’ll see you at the meeting place on time!

21 WHERE’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT
WITH FRIENDS?
= most of the restaurants downtown.

22 CAN YOU COOK?
= yup.

23 WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE?
= i dont. i take the subway.

24 LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
= can’t remember

25 MOST DISLIKED FOODS
= im starting to grow a dislike on mushrooms, i dont know why.

26 THINGS YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF
= my skill in buying stuff for less.

27 THINGS YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT
YOURSELF
= my impatience with things that tick me off.

28 LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A
JOB?
= all nighters at the design studio and television.

29 FAVORITE MOVIE/s?
= just check my profile

30 CAN YOU SING?
= karaoke! hahaha. i dont know how i manage to get a high score but i do!

31 LAST CONCERT ATTENDED?
= ABC

32 LAST KISS?
= yday

33 LAST MOVIE RENTED
= failure to launch.

34 ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE
HOUSE WITHOUT
= my keys. even if im just taking out the garbage.

35 FAVORITE VACATION SPOT?
= ive only been there once, but boracay really tops my list.

36 LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER?
= either. as long as i have internet connection

37 FAVORITE COMEDIAN?
= myself.

38 DO YOU SMOKE?
= no.

39 SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHES?
= with. it gets cold, you know!

40 WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT?
= frusty the bear

44 DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS
WORK?
= if both parties work at it, yes.

45 PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST?
= tapsilog or tocilog please?

46 DO YOU LIKE COFFEE?
= yeah but only in the morning.

47 HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS?
= sunnyside up and runny with my tapa and sinangag!

48 DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY?
= no but its fun to read

49 NUMBER OF PILLOWS?
= 4

50 WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?
= jeans and tshirt

51 PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC
= the hills are aliiiive with the soooound of muuuuusiiiic!!! (ever since i saw the judy garland stamps, ive been singing it. i know it was julie andrews, but what can i do? its stuck in my head!)

52 WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON
YOUR PB & J?
= none

53 CAN YOU PLAY POOL?
= i can

54 CAN YOU SWIM?
= as long as the water is not above my head

55 FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
= anything chocolate based, and ive grown to love banana split. and of course, bailey’s.

56 DO YOU LIKE MAPS?
= yes. i think very highly of my navigation skills.

57 TELL ME A RANDOM FACT ABOUT
YOURSELF
= im obsessive compulsive in the kitchen and bathroom and a clutter everywhere else.

58 EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY?
= yeah.

59 WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
= summer

60 LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING
STUPID?
= jigg’s "cute directed" workout.

61 WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS
MORNING?
= 815am

62 BEST THING ABOUT WINTER?
= food hardly gets spoiled and the outdoor fridge. i dont like snow, i hate bundling up and i dont like wearing snow boots.

63 LAST TIME A COP GAVE YOU A TICKET?
= never.

64 NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET?
= champagne the spitz.

65 DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR
OVERRATED?
= pirated movies? OF COURSE!

new york city is the city never sleeps. thank god, the subway system doesnt sleep either.

i love the fact that i can take the train at 4am to catch my flight from jfk, lga or ewr. i love the fact that when im getting off the train when it is full, new yorkers step out of the train to let you in. they actually dont step in until everyone gets out, and its almost unusual to get shoved or pushed around, even in the middle of rush hour. to me all these things are as normal as the smelly homeless person in it.

i am a sucker for public transportation. i love all the cities that have mass transit, and whenever i visit a city that has it, i hop on it and i instantaneously feel at home. i think i have almost mastered the DC mass transit, and the Chicago "L" comes a close second. i liked the boston mass transit too, but i havent stayed there long enough to know how it goes.

my last visit to chicago involved taking lots of mass transit. from ohare, i took the blue line to clark/lake to get on the brown line to diversey. and more trains and buses to get everywhere else. i loved the whole public transportation thing of it all because it made me feel independent in a place that is not my home. i liked the new york feel in a different place.

the L is not as complex as the nyc subway, but it works well. it talks at every station (like the 4, 5 and 6 trains) but it has the added touch of "doors open on the left at diversey" which i thought was cute and odd at the same time. does it really matter where the doors open? it wont open on the wrong side of the train, right?!

since i was in chicago on a thursday and friday, and was taking the subway during the evening rush hour, i was fully expecting that people who use the l would be more courteous than new yorkers. after all, new yorkers are known to be very rude and all that. (i think new yorkers are just not anal.)

train was full and crowded. trixies, chads and everyone else abound. let me tell you that these trains are a bit smaller than the new york trains, so it was jampacked. our stop came and lo and behold, that rich and educated looking person WONT GET OFF THE TRAIN TO LET US PASS! there are people behind us pushing and shoving. worse, there was even a time when there was a dickhead who wont give a bit of space to let us on the fucking train, because according to him, IT WAS FULL WHEN IT REALLY WASNT!

aaargh. and this never ever happened to me in three years of living in new york — even when i was living near the yankee stadium during baseball season! (it was hard to get in the train because it was really really full to the brim that you could count the back hairs of the person in front of you, but they no one ever did that!)

of course, let us not spare the fact that the train drivers of the l drive like old ladies! man, the trains were daaaaaaaamnnnnnn slloooooow. which doesnt help the fact that SOME TRAINS STOP RUNNING AFTER 1AM!!! and this includes the orange line that services the midway airport! (tip: if you are flying in and out of chicago, always try to fly into ohare. the train that serves it runs 24/7) and so there i was, skittering on the red line at 530 am on a sunday and waiting for a transfer on the orange line to get into midway, WHICH RAN LATE.

dont get me wrong, i love chicago and i will always take the l when im there but i will forever complain about it.

after this, i think its funny how straphangers complain so much about the subway when really, really really, the NYC subway system is great. maybe we should let the complaining take the orange line to midway airport at 2am. im pretty sure they’ll stop complaining about the subway.

few bits of things i learned while growing up — in no particular order.

• maintain your weight. gaining 5 pounds here and there would definitely sneak up to 25lbs without much precaution.
• be thankful that you are able to do the difficult things that trouble you.
• always think that you are luckier than most, at least you dont have to deal with what other people dealing with, i.e. that smelly homeless man in the subway.
• your existential dilemma will haunt you until you cease to exist. get over it and get on with your life. of course, complaining to your closest friends about it over glasses of wine is always good.
• the people that annoy you the most just want your attention. nothing more than that. (yup, they make good conversation topics too!)
  
• people over the age of 21 dont really need your concern. they need you to believe them, anything else besides that wont make them grow up.
• learn how to do every single chore at home — that includes cooking your own food and cleaning the toilet. this is your passport to living independently without major homefront hitches. (and it will majorly keep your weight at bay.)
• cleaning the toilet is not gross. it is your initial training to changing poo soiled babies. (it will never come to life and clean itself, either)
  
• getting angry with any member of your immediate family is okay. they will eventually forgive you and wont hold a grudge over petty things.
• dont sacrifice your time and comfort to please anyone. nobody will return the favor. (this apparently only applies living here in the united states. ive never experienced this in manila.)
• try to do everything on your own. asking for help is good, but dont feel bad if you get turned down. (because nobody will sacrifice their time and comfort for you. i learned this the hard way.)
  

growing up with two brothers is tough. growing up in the middle of two brothers and no sisters is no small feat, double standards and all.

i hate the fact that im missing out on having a sister, but really, i wouldnt have it any other way. my home team is a tough crowd, and in the middle of it, getting a seal of approval is a very difficult task.

it seems odd that my kuya always referred to me as the adopted one– which i always thought of funny-odd-semi-insulting, but that’s him so its just stuff that i always accepted.

ive always had the loudest shouting matches with both brothers. and its not exaggeration when i say that ive had one too many shouting matches with him that went on in the middle of the night like this — "tangina mo", "tangina mo rin!" which wakes my sleeping mother in the middle of her deep sleep after not having enough sleep many nights before and many nights after.

ive seen my brothers fight with my mom frightened in the background thinking that the older one might fracture the little one — never thinking about which one is right, and which one is wrong.

my hair has been pulled, my face has been slapped and ive had the silent treatment on several occasions by my mother, ive had one too many sermons that are still echoing in the back of my head.

ive seen my mom do the same thing to both of my brothers, and ive seen my older brother imitate my very angry mom only to convert her anger into uproarious laughter.

my brothers PROBABLY have never lied to me, not even a teeny white one because i always accuse them of what they had done to me. of course, it goes both ways. it goes like this "tangina mo bakit mo kinain LAHAT NG COOKIES!" "gago ka, di ako kumain non!" and there would be the guilty one, in his quiet and guilty and very full victory. (of course, my mom would be laughing at this whole scenario and will just buy more cookies to feed us)

one thing i like about my home team, we let each other get angry, complain about it and laugh about it after. we scream at each other, hit each other, throw the nearest shoe within reach realizing after all that no matter what we do to each other, we are still siblings, and all these "activities" wont let us carry baggages of grudge with each other. this is how we demonstrate our odd love for each other.

sometimes, i envy the other teams for being all too affectionate with each other. i realize, i wouldnt have it any other way. my home team will never say sugarcoat anything to ease something painful. my home team wont root for you until you ask for it but in their own silent way, they do.

my home team is a closet case. they are closet thoughtfuls, closet cheerleaders and closet affectionates.

i love my home team, i miss them loads. i will never trade them with anything else. not even for the experience of having a sister.

i used to not like my home team very much. back then, i used to think i was unfortunately stuck with them. now, im glad im stuck. age and all the fisticuffs we’ve gone through made our bond invisibly stronger.

im really glad i’ll never be able to bail out on the home team.

i have given up on being normal when i got into college. one by one, i stopped looking at the things that could well qualify me into normalcy - high heeled shoes, astonishingly expensive jeans and whatever the current trend is.

i hung out with a lot of weird people, who are normal in my world. drank like a fish, ate like a pig and wore clothes that would make the editors of cosmo philippines cringe.

apparently, this weirdness runs within the siblinghood. the older part of siblinghood, it seems. my kuya, is weird as weird gets. he looks normal until you notice that he’s always wearing flipflops or sandals, and take notice of the title of the current book that he is holding. he is, in odd essence, an activist against the sosyals of the motherland (but of course, he has exgirlfriends from that class, as contradictory as it may sound). thing is, you cant tell that he is weird unless you speak to him — or he allows you a minute amount of time to devote some attention to you.

on the other hand, there is my little brother. in essence, he is the true normal child of the brood. normal meaning he is always in the middle of everything trendy and trendier. i could even say as much as the fact that he sets a trend to his friends. he is the typical, TYPICAL. i highly doubt that he has asked himself if he was weird.

its funny how my kuya and i always talk about the little one. most of the time, we dont get it. we dont get why he likes to be dressed to the nines in the latest "hiphop fashion" as we call it (we like flipflops a lot). we dont get why he likes hiphop. we dont get why he is picky with his food. we just dont get him. though i think i do get along with my little brother, a part of me thinks that i dont get much of it myself.

i just realized that everything he does is normal, normal, normal. oh my god, i think i have a normal sibling?!