A little here and there

April 21, 2014 / iamsupercarla / 1 Comment

How have you been enjoying our National Poetry Month features so far? I wish to be more consistent, perhaps to catch up with the days I’ve missed — from both ends — I may be uploading more than one select poem a day. Bear with me, but if art is something you wish to consume, I’m happy to serve it to you.

Here in the Philippines, we just enjoyed a good 5-day weekend, thanks to the Holy Week. For the Catholics, it was a period of penance, but for us, it was more like stewing in our own sweat. The summer heat is really knocking and it’s almost dizzying! For now, we’re just thankful that the water company’s planned service period was put on hold. We didn’t have to endure the humidity waterless.

I’m really thankful for the weather especially last week because the Sisterhood went for a quick photoshoot at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. More on that later. ;)

I think I’ve been bathing twice a day now. I really am not fond of summer, and it’s quite ironic, given that I live in a tropical country. I love the rain still. They have a word for it, I believe:

Le Beau seems to be on a mission to make me love summer, or at least the beach. He comes for a visit by December — just in time for my brother’s wedding — and some much needed R&R with me. He asked me to take him somewhere we can really just relax and unwind. My mind immediately goes to the summer capital of the Philippines and some light trekking here and there, but then, he fell in love with this view:

Oh yes. We’re headed to Boracay.

I’m still looking for a good enough hotel — not so cheap, but not so pricey — that can give him quick access to the best sand in the world, and a fantastic lounge area for my reading needs. I know I know, I can be boring like that, but I can’t deny the joy and the calm that come with reading a book by the sea.

They say Boracay sand is perfect. Never heats up. Always cool. Perfect powder.

I hope I enjoy it as much as he does.

That’s the basic musings for today. Then again, it’s just Monday.

61

April 15, 2014 / iamsupercarla / Leave a comment

Last April 11, my father would have turned 61 years old.

The last (and most likely only) buffet he thoroughly enjoyed was Vikings, so most likely we would have celebrated there. Or at Sizzling Pepper Steak. He was always loyal to his favorites.

It was a Friday so I can imagine negotiating with him to just come to Makati or at least leave the premises of Las Pinas, and he would say, “Traffic is so bad there, let’s just meet at the Mall of Asia,” and by meet, he means “You better get there first because there is no way in hell I am going around that mall to look for you.”

He didn’t go out much. He mostly just went out because my mother asked. He often refused her, at the same time often joined her. It was as simple and as complicated as that.

If we’re at a buffet, he would look for the dishes that he can copy. Our clan has a penchant for meeting almost every week (and still has the gall to celebrate an annual “reunion”) and he was always thinking of new recipes. I think that was the reason he liked Vikings; I would like to think he picked out a lot of dishes to cook from there.

Then, of course, after the meal, he would sneak out for a smoke. Most people would say it was the cigarette that killed him and as much as I acknowledge my father’s efforts to trim it down, I have to agree. But he would just smoke one, linger outside for a bit, and then whisper to my mother, “I need to poop.” That’s the signal to go home.

But that was always a lie, I think. Because even with the need to poop, we would stop by for dessert elsewhere — coffee for him and my mother to share — chat for a bit, and before we even noticed, all three — my father and my two brothers — start calling dibs as to who would be the first to use the bathroom.

He would have been 61, and he would have bragged about his glorious 20% discount on almost everything.

He would have given me some money to pick out perfume or a bag for my mother’s upcoming 60th birthday. He would have said, “Make sure it’s something she likes ha.” He would have suggestions, but he would trust my choices more.

He would have bugged my brother Ted to drive home, because he would have been too full to drive. I think that was just an excuse to sit at the back with my mother. He liked hanging out with my mother.

He loved hanging out with us.

He would have been 61.

Dad