Tri-State Tales Tinged by Patis

The often overlooked difficulty with getting in shape is that it is absolutely horrendous when you mess up. I lost my focus for a few days and relapsed in to my see-food (I eat it) diet, and the weighing scale punished me.

Crap.

The scale I use in the gym is the platform balance type, and if I remember correctly is one of the more accurate ways to check it. That bad boy has caused me both much pain and joy in the last couple of months.

After three days of food chomping galore I got a rude awakening of what happens. The damned sliders of the thing slid half a pound right.

For those who are just tuning in or not used a platform scale before, if you have less weight, slider moves left. Eat one too many meals like I did, it slides, easily like melted buttah, to the right.

I have tried to recoup the damage with intense work Wednesday and Thursday, but I will not know until Saturday A.M. if I am on track with my goals … or have failed miserably.

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata sa …

(in the most affected, whiny, Kris Aquino voice I could muster)

Pumyat K N B ?

I read over by my bene yahoo groups the various going on activities that
engross my former high school classmates, and I chuckled to myself.

I was always a faceless, background type of guy in Bene. Living in my own
little bubble even. Sure, Stephen, and later on, Rholand, would turn out to be
keepers as friends, but I have always considered my Bene stay as a general
place of unpleasantness and not so nice memories.

What I think has contributed to this was the fact that Bene was an elitist
school, at least to me. I am a son of a middle class family who did business as
a meat retailer in Divisoria.

You do not get any more masa or baduy than Divisoria, guys.

So there I was, ten years studying in a school were the values were of being
a cut above the rest, the entitled, and the special.

I hated it. Hated it with a passion that still smolders today.

But after further reflection, I must be truly mellowing out now. I realize
now that not all of my classmates were shallow creatures focused on who was
cool, or the latest tag brands, or how their classmates were so beneath them.

A good chunk of them were from practical, middle class families too.
Especially the not-popular ones; I read about them now in Friendster and yahoo
groups and I see the humanity; the same fears and insecurities that permeate
other people; the same ones that filled me in my time there.

I read about Althea, and her concerns on the improvement of her craft, and our
common bond with the crisis in the faith stemming from second year CVE class.

I read about Dandi, not considered a popular, but living the former dream of
mine to be in the journalistic and literary field.

I read about Edgar, who is serving his country as a soldier of the armed
forces.

Rholand, my best friend, and I know first-hand, of the qualities that some
women can only wish for in their significant others.

Then Keith, an up and coming doctor grounded in his roots.

Real, substantial people, some whom I never got to know, because of my
prejudice, and my own internalized and reckless hate of all that I thought Bene
was about.

The materialism, the cliques, and the bullying. All of it is normal for High
School, no more in Bene than in other places in the world.

Then I realize I am at peace.

Maybe this school has scarred me like I think it has. But as I once said in
a poem to my wife:

" … even though the pain can be
       like the waters that can cut through the strongest
of rocks,
       in the end, it may shape the majesty and beauty of
the Grand Canyons. "

Bene had its role to play in my life. Maybe to all of us from Batch 1994.

Bene aint so bad after all.

Wow, I just heard from a buddy from way, way back to 1994 who was really a big part of my learning about life and the way that other people live. Gil S. was an awesome buddy who I felt was a street smart and crafty as they come, and together with Herbert really helped make my adjustment to College life a fun and smooth one.

Plenty of drunken stupors and not-so-wholesome adventures suddenly pop to mind.

Anyways, moving on.

He is some where out in CA and I hope to get to meet him again soon.

Life really is great when these things happen.

Requires:

Four Slices each of mozarella and spicy jack cheese

Two wrap roll ups sheets

Two small chili servings, available for 99 cents each from your local Wendy’s

Directions:

Cut wraps into quarters, place cheese on each quarter then toast on medium for about three minutes. Make a mistake and do five, and be prepared to eat very crispy charred food.

Remove from toaster, spread chili on top. Proceed to consume.

Diet soda optional.

Mmmmmmmm. Excellent dinner even a kitchen ninny like me could do.

Check out this web comic while this is still up.

What a story that family has.

It is 1:33 am and here I am pecking away on my pc. Not even playing Diablo or anything.

It sucks when I can not get to sleep.

Oh well here I try again to sleep anyway.

B

So Consie and I were at Kellogg Garden, a chinese restaurant in Jersey City for a late lunch.

(Excellent Crispy Flounder !)

There was a family finishing up their meal behind us, and we over heard the following snippets of comments …

" … the food tastes fishy … "
" … it is not very good … "
" … we will not come back here anymore … "

So imagine our surprise seeing them taking doggie bags home of the very food they did not like.

Heh.

Another thing that really … struck me was this older gentleman waiting for them to leave. He was leaning on a table, then bumps those strut bars that servers use to temporarily hold food while serving fell over.

So what does Mr. Gentleman do, you ask?

He hears the falling bar, looks at it, steps away from it like he was not the one who knocked it down. He actually replants his ass nearby and observes one of the waiters, who was eating, to stop and fix the mess he clearly made.

Cheers to Mr. Gentleman who was too good to pick up his own crap.

Argh.

Oh, my Gu-Lay! (line stolen from Kuya Joy). It was 79 degrees today! I actually had to take my jacket off! Wooooohoooo! Spring has sprung!

Rholand has found a gem of a practical joke played on some hapless girls … hilarity ensues!

Hey, if Rho endorses it … " it must be good! "

I have started to be able to run again, and gosh, it feels good! I was kind of puzzled why it felt so easy to run now as compared, say, to four weeks ago. Then I realized what I was back then was whatever I weigh now, plus a sack of rice that Consie and I usually buy.

Yikes.

Hopefully I can stay away from the luscious temptations of the world and stay on course. I am sure my knees would appreciate the lighter work load.

B

It took a while, but the block impeding my ability to blog has lifted, so shall we begin ?

First, sadness in the world lingers with the passing of Pope John Paul II. Agree or disagree with the man, he has done much good in this world. The human race is lesser without him.

Second, Terri Schiavo. I do not wish to initiate a conflagration of flame posts, but please do me a favor: get your digital camera/video camcorder; decide now, then record, and most importantly tell both your spouse/significant other and you family your wishes upon end-of-life medical treatment. Do it. Quickly, and put the copy/CD/letter in a drawer and hope that you never need to use it.

Third; grab your loved one, hug ‘em really hard, then tell them how you love them and that you are grateful for each moment that you have to experience the gift of life and living that God, or Allah, or Yahweh, or your deity of choice has given today.

If you do not believe me, consult bullet points number one and two.