the moron from coron

actually, there isn't one. or there is one but i've never actually met him/her/it.

went out with the gatula boys last saturday night to celebrate J's first prize palanca for poetry in english over warm beer at this dive called purple haze somewhere in marikina. (past the bridge from riverbanks and right at the intersection, if i'm not mistaken.) E's and J's and C's band (actually they're all in it together, haha) has a regular gig there two saturdays a month. they were going to call themselves The Forces of Evil but apparently some ska band in the UK or the US had first dibs to the name. so now they're thinking of calling themselves Bayaw. as in, "Dude, mukha ka namang bayaw ngayon." as in, mukhang tricycle driver with greasy sando, good morning towel and those chinelas things na suot ng mga lola. good luck to them.

E opened the set with a cover of Here's Where the Story Ends by the sundays, except it sounded like harriet wheeler was tripping on barbiturates and/or had a case of demonic possession. it was sooooperrrrssssslooooowed dooooooowwwwwwnnnnn the way morissey sings then E jacked things up a bit by screeching during the refrain. it was hilarous. they played the usual bastos songs like Caloocan, Ambing, Vibrator, Satan Rules, Maling, Buko Juice and some sweet little power ballads like Shiela Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Rockets (whose refrain still sounded semi-bastos). there's one that really bothers me because it seems to mask a misogynistic streak behind creepy surreal images (Patay na Babae sa Loob ng Bahay). they also did a cover of weezer's Say It Ain't So that had me singing and growling the guitar riffs in my head all day yesterday. mighty distracting, especially while trying to teach grammar at 8 in the morning.

so who is the moron from coron? some idiot british guy that friend L used to rave about a while back. some dive master yata sa coron who seemed like the hottest thing ever, if you went by L's descriptions. anyway, when I & E finally saw him, they were like, "Yan lang?" enough said, mwahahaha. at least when i go all googly-eyed over someone, he's usually smart or cute/drool-worthy or both.

this is all just to say that i'm leaving for the beaches of northern palawan tomorrow with B and supercrush R and a couple of other people. hope the weather down there's better as i intend to be toasty brown when i get back.

goodbye phone

i was so distraught yesterday when i realized that i had lost my phone that i almost lost my beautiful purple wallet and i definitely lost my right contact lens. but i'm getting ahead of myself. as always.

was hungry and had no packed lunch from home so i decided to eat a huge bowl of veggie monster at khas, the persian place at the UP arcade, that rundown building beside the university's infamous Swimming Hole of Death. spitting distance from the dome of the catholic church and the shopping center. checked horrible papers while eating, liberally sprinkling both food and papers with spicy patis. it was a hot afternoon and so against my better judgment, i took a TOKI jeep back to the faculty center. i usually just walk.

anyway, so i rode the jeep and once back at my office, i unloaded my bag as always: umbrella, sweater (haha, yes, on a hot day), palm, wallet, coin box, pen, bad papers and nothing else. no phone with kitty's picture as wallpaper. it was a shock that lasted well into the night.

M happened to be snoozing on the banig on the floor of my/our office. i rarely see her now as she has an admin job that takes up most of her time. anyway, she had the presence of mind to call my phone and talked to the kid who found it on the jeep. he spoke in english, probably a student. i called him, got his name ("David Peterson Hernandez/Fernandez") but was still too stunned to do much else. stupid me. i didn't get his number or anything else.

asked him to come to FC and bring my phone but he said he had an exam at math. so i said i'd go to him but he said he didn't know yet where the exam room was. i said i'd call again in 30 minutes and i did but i couldn't contact my phone anymore. either the battery died or quote david peterson fhernandez unquote is a bad person who lied about giving my phone back.

awful awful awful day. tried looking for him using the people search function of the UP website. tried asking the records section of the university registrar's office. no matches found. apparently, he or his name is just a figment of his/my/the imagination.

to misquote anne frank, i would like to believe in the basic goodness of people but i find myself reeling at the evidence proving the contrary. i've sort of resigned myself to the idea that i am not likely to get my phone back.

there's a lesson here somewhere, even if it's just the one about not using that damned mesh bag ever again on public transportation. it kinda made me wish i had just used the 6k i spent on my 3-month-old phone and used it to buy that beautiful green leather bag at fino.

about losing my wallet (almost) and my contact lens: left my wallet on M's desk at the ICW because i was so upset/dazed/stupid about having lost my phone. i didn't even realize it was gone till she went down and gave it back to me. how i lost my contact lens is still a mystery. i remember putting it into the lens case when i got home last night but i after i put on the left one this morning, i just couldn't find its pair anywhere. haaaay.

let's end with another quote, this time from poet's poet elizabeth bishop: "the art of losing isn't hard to master. so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. lose something every day: accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour dadly spent... it's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (write it!) like disaster."

yeahhh.