We went to the condominium unit in Pasay City where my balikbayan godfather is staying. He told us to come there because there would be a grand fireworks display along Manila Bay that night. So before that, we stayed at the room (a very very small unit, actually) and my parents’ and my godfather had the usual family clan talks I better not meddle with.

At about 7 in the evening, we went to the edge of the enormous reclaimed area off the Pasay City-part of Roxas Boulevard. I never realized how HUGE the reclaimed area of Manila Bay is. It was a vast, vast talahiban — perfect dumping ground for the bodies of murder victims you don’t want to be found! The roads were very good though but not all avenues are opened yet and lit. So yeah, we got lost. Until we finally made it to the avenue along the breakwater.

We found a concert area being packed up so we asked what was happening. Some guy told us that the concert for the fireworks display was cancelled but the fireworks will still push through at half-past 7 in the evening. So we waited there along with tens of other hopeful spectators. Until 8 o’clock passed by without any magnificent fireworks display. The people beside us said that they weren’t able to obtain a permit from the air transportation office since the area is where aircrafts landing at the international airport descend. Come to think of it, it is hazardous. So we decided to just leave and have dinner at Baclaran.

While waiting for our order at Max’s Restaurant, the stupid fireworks display began. UGH!! So there we were looking at the glass window like bittersweet puppies watching the AWESOME fireworks display. I swear, you should have seen it. It was good!! Humongous fireworks of different colors and shapes! It was magnificent!

My godfather said that those fireworks were from China, who was participating in the three day La Mancha fireworks festival or something.

Oh well. It would seem that I won’t even get to go to an eye doctor (what do you call an eye doctor again?) because my mom said my frequent migraines aren’t because of eye problems. I’m just always fatigued and stressed she said. Goodbye to any dreams of having cool eyeglasses.

So here I am wasting some time away writing an entry. I still don’t know what the hell happened to my network connection. It’s probably some complications with the LAN card or something. Damn, I hate spywares that ruin your registry when you uninstall them. So here I am using my parents’ laptop.

December 20, 2003, Friday. We had the annual Christmas mass and party in school. I love the Christmas mass. It’s one of the only times the musical instruments used and the church songs are played in rock style with drums and electric guitars and all. And it’s one of the only school masses held at night when the breeze is cool. And it’s when there’s a Christmas program. Basta, it’s great. I feel so guilty that I wasn’t able to give any of my classmates gifts. My mission to give gifts this Christmas to my friends failed. I feel embarrassed because I received gifts from them.

December 21, 2003, Saturday. We attended an anticipated mass a while ago. And I haven’t mentioned this but you know, recently I always get distracted (that’s not what’s recent though) by … well, people. I always seem to go looking all around the church. I know that’s not really the right place and time to be doing that. But anyway. You see, tonight, I chanced upon someone who caught my attention. She was sitting at a pew in front of us and I was… well, she looked really good from behind. When I finally saw her face, I just knew I already met her somewhere. Then I realized that she was a grade school classmate whom I never really got to be close with. Wow. She’s really pretty now.

Anyway, after that we headed to the annual Christmas party held by my godmother. It was quiet different from the previous years. There weren’t many intimidating rich government officials like before, which was good because I really can’t stand that.

So there I am home. And sleepy.

Early morning yesterday, I was installing some programs and it just took me a couple of minutes before I decided to uninstall them because they were filled with bundled sponsors and spywares. So there, I uninstalled them all and pressed “yes” to all the questions regarding deleting, whether it was about deleting a shared file or a registry key.

After rebooting my computer, I couldn’t go online anymore. My network connection couldn’t repair the IP address no matter how many times I pressed “repair”. So there you have it, my computer is disconnected from the internet, great!! Pfft. I was trying to fix and reconfigure things up but I am an idiot so I couldn’t. Now I just borrowed my mom’s laptop without her permission and hooked it up to my cable modem that’s why I am able to go online at least for a little while.

A good early morning. I’m so relieved. I slept for a total of 10 hours already. You see, I woke up with a severe migraine. My eyes felt like they were rolling by themselves. But still I went to school. During the first three periods, I couldn’t concentrate on anything and I tried to nap off my headache but couldn’t since I knew the teacher would immediately notice a very attentive Victor sleeping on his desk. During the five-minute breaks, I kept vomiting outside the room. Then I couldn’t handle it anymore. We were to have a social-studies long test and probably a few quizzes and I just knew I couldn’t take any of those so I went to the infirmary and told them of my condition. They were a little friendly in the infirmary at the most. They readily thought I was just acting up so I could skip my tests. Me? How dare you. Anyway, I got sent home nevertheless.

I often have headache and migraines like this. But only today did I finally give up on keeping up with the pain while studying. So I told that to people, and all of them suggested that I may have some eye problems and that I should start wearing eyeglasses. Ooh cool, I can’t wait.

Well, I wasn’t able to write an entry for almost 5 days. Well, I’m back. Actually, I got back from Zambales on Sunday but I was too tired and lazy to update. Anyway, here’s my chronicle of the past weekend spent at Cabangan, Zambales.

You see, my stay there last summer was such a profound experience. Me? A city-boy who lives for a week with a poor fisherfolk family far from the confinements and isolation of imperial cosmopolitan Manila? How could that be not profound and meaningful?

Saturday morning, I woke up at about 2 and tried to finish layouting the third issue of Hilites Magazine, our school paper. I needed to finish it before I went to Zambales. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to so our Hilites moderator went paranoid and I felt bad. Anyway, I tried to forget school work and braced myself to immerse in the experience of our visit to Cabangan, Zambales where I spent a week last summer as part of the school’s social immersion program. You can find my entries about it in my old journal. Sorry, I’m too much in a hurry to link them up right now.

My dad brought me to the Victory Liner Bus Terminal at Monumento in Caloocan City early in the morning. I was quite apprehensive when I got there since I didn’t see anybody I knew. I was carrying a light back-pack and a package with an air pot inside (which I planned to give as a gift to my foster family in Cabangan). I was wearing shorts and a white shirt covered up by a khaki jacket. So there I waited and then a few minutes later I saw one of our teachers. Then everybody else started arriving. There were nine of us all in all. Seven students and two teachers. We boarded the bus for Iba, Zambales which left the terminal at 7:50 AM.

I sat with Julius and Arkel at the back of the bus with the rest of our companions. Talked with Julius most of the time. Had several stop-overs. Then the bus broke down when we were at San Fernando, Pampanga. Other than that, it was a smooth 4-hour bus ride north of Manila.

We got off the bus along the highway in front of the municipal hall of Cabangan, Zambales. Unlike last summer when I felt very anxious upon stepping down from the bus, I was quite glad to have set foot on that town again. After recollecting ourselves, we rode some tricycles to the fishermen community of Sitio Agoho, San Isidro a couple of kilometers from the town center.

I very much enjoyed the tricycle ride. I was seated at the back of the driver’s motorcycle absorbing the sight of the countryside as memories came flooding back to my consciousness. I felt great. Things looked the same. The harvested rice fields, the wide, wide stretch of white sand and the titanic blue ocean which stretched far into the horizon.

We got off at the community headquarters where the community chief greeted us and offered us some rice cakes and softdrinks. After a couple of minutes, Kuya Tan and I decided to start walking to our foster family’s home at the farm next to the beach. It was so windy there. Nevertheless, it was a great walk. The place was so beautiful. From afar, we were greeted by our foster mother, Nay Teng and our brothers Robert and Arjay. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m here again.

So there, the usual kumustahan. Nanay had a new hairstyle because it was too windy for her shoulder-length hair. Arjay on the other hand, was busy fixing himself up because apparently, he’s courting someone. That kid! He even courts someone before I get to know and get close with a girl. Kuya Robert, well, he just graduated from high school and is already a college boy. It was great getting to know how things had been for them for the past months after I’ve left. Great. Everything was great. I felt good. I felt so relaxed and free. I was glad to forget my life back in Manila. All I wanted was to immerse back into this kind of life. Good riddance to all the stress and people back home. I was happy there.

So after fixing ourselves up a little, my foster brothers, Kuya Tan and I went to the community headquarters near the beach where we waited for some of our companions. Then, we rode tricycles to Felmida Diaz, another fisherfolk community a couple of kilometers up north along the beach. Bumpy ride.

When we got there, I immediately saw Julius and one of my batchmates frolicking in the beach in the water. I was so envy, I didn’t mind having my clothes soaked and wet even though I didn’t have any extra. It was great! The waves were strong and the beach was so wide and so was the sea which stretched far into the horizon. Talagang, good riddance to all my problems, I thought. I was enjoying myself so much.

Later that afternoon, I went with Julius to his foster family’s cottage where he lent me some of his clothes and I quickly changed for the community party.

So there we were. We were treated very hospitably by the locals. Everybody was gathered in the small area near the beach. There were so many children, most of them where little girls dressed in skimpy clothes. It was a pedophile’s paradise. Especially since all they did all night was dance the songs of the Sexbomb Girls and Las Ketchup with all those pelvic thrusts. It was hilariously nasty. But sure… everybody was a fabulous dancer.

I don’t want to hear any more of that Ketchup Song and Bakit Papa. Those are the only songs that were playing all night. It was crazy!! But it was fun, kind of.

At about nine in the evening, the party ended and we all walked back to Sitio Agoho along the beach. It was a long tranquil walk along the dark beach walkway under the full moon. It was cool.

Then we went back to our respective foster homes, got some straw mats and headed to the beach where we all slept under the stars.

The next day, we left our foster families and went to the town center where we got a jeepney on route to Iba, a town some kilometers north of Cabangan. There, we got down at the Victory Liner bus station where we boarded the bus going back to Manila.

We arrived at the bus station at Monumento in Caloocan City four hours later. God, I’ve never been at Monumento in the afternoon, and boy I was culture-shocked. Heavily terribly polluted, dirty and stinky. I don’t know why I felt terrible but maybe because it was ironic that in that chaotic croassroads is where one of if not the most beutiful monument in the Philippines is. Shame, shame. So many beggars, street vendors and maniac cab drivers! Can you believe almost all the cabs we hailed dindn’t want to let us ride because we were boys? Morons. About thirty minutes later, we finally got one who let us ride back to Ateneo.