04.29.2003
I feel sleepy. It's, like, my head is throbbing or something. I got up early for 2 straight days because I wanted to prove to my aunt and uncle that I'm a good babysitter. Well, let's just say someone's taking over the one thing I came here for and I'm not gonna let her. So far, I've done a pretty good job today. I watched reruns of Dawson's Creek while waiting for the kids to wake up. And just like the old days, I was the one who made their breakfast and lunch. I also took them to the playground and gave them a bath afterwards. Right now, they're taking a nap. So I get to rest for a while.
Let's backtrack, shall we? I went to Houston last Saturday with my brother Jay and his friend Steph. At first, it was supposed to be just me and Jay cause Krizia couldn't come. For reasons still unknown. Good thing Steph went with us at the last minute. She was Jay's navigator and for some reason, we got lost for some twenty minutes going to...
T-Town Club
...It was supposed to be a 1-hour trip but since we messed up the directions, we got there at 1am even after rolling out at 11pm. I'll admit it, I can't dance the way people here do. Parang nags-sex na sila, eh. Di ko masakyan... Plus, I had the monthly curse going on down under so I couldn't move freely, much as I wanted to. I kinda just walked around even though I was kinda buzzing from the vodka I loaded up on in the car. (I can't drink at clubs, remember?) For a place so big, it was all hot in T-Town. And when it's like that, I often feel faint. I stayed in the bathroom for a while and to cool myself. Then I went back in cause Steph was looking for me.
Some guys were kinda grabbing my hand but oftentimes I'd just ignore them. I don't know..I just wasn't feeling it that night. I think I only talked to 2 guys. I wasn't even listening that much to them cause they were slurring. Drunk, obviously. When the club started to close at around 3am, Jay and Steph were kind of bummed cause they wanted to dance some more. So while driving around not wanting to go home yet (we weren't planning to stay overnight), we came across some black folks and asked them which club closes at 6 or somethin. Then, they told us about a place called Rehab and then we followed them there. The place was more chill than T-Town. It was smaller and it had 2 sides: one that plays techno, and the other one, r&b songs. Obviously, more people were in the r&b side where everyone was bumpin and grindin as usual. This Hispanic guy grabbed me and I thought he was kinda cute in his own way so I danced with him. (Looks do matter.) I tried to dance the way he did, I really tried. But it felt gross so I told him that I just wanted to talk as to not make it obvious that I was too conservative. He said he was Puerto Rican and when I told him I'm from the Philippines, he reacts, "For real??" *sigh* That's what all the guys who approach me say. Do they not believe me or they just don't like Filipinos? Beats me. Anyway, this same guy got pissed because I didn't want to hang out with him after and that I didn't want to give out my phone number. He just left me there. Kupal.
I didn't dance much but I've had enough of that. I sat in one corner and just smoked. Another guy approaches me and we talked a little. His accent was so hard to understand I couldn't even remember his name. All I remember was that he told me he was from Columbia and that he was a "septy man". Get it? Safety man, whatever that is. I told you he was hard to understand. Hehehe. He was nicer than the other guy, though cause when I didn't want to give my number, he just stayed there. I just got a bit annoyed when he asked if there were clubs in the Philippines. (I remember when some American guy asked Jay if there were rollercoasters in the Philippines...argh...) I was, like, "Hell yeah." Is he implying that Philippines wasn't civilized or whatsoever... Some people from here watch news about our country and think that Mindanao is the only island there. So they think that it's all terrorists and stuff like that. Well, I just wanna say that the place where I come from (Metro Manila) is even better than......never mind.
Oh well, Rehab closes 6 but we left when people started to leave already. (Btw, some people there were actual pimps, gator shoes and all, know what I'm sayin...) That was around 5 past or somethin. I fell asleep in the car because I woke up early that day. The sun shining on my face woke me up, though but it was okay because we stopped by Mcdonald's drive-thru to get some breakfast. Steph wanted real food so when the person taking our orders told her that only breakfast stuff was available, she was like, "Ah shit, I don't want that shit!" in her fast-talkin, loudmouth voice. Me and Jay just laughed it up because we were used to Miss Ghetto Fabulous saying stuff like that.
We got home at around 7:30am. We just collapsed on our bed to catch some ZZzzzs...
We woke up at around 3pm, feeling all groggy. But we still went to the mall to maximize the time we had left before returning the car. Soon enough, Jay had to say goodbye to his rented pimp car...hehe...the Dodge Intrepid. I really don't appreciate cars that much but I would say that I did like the Intrepid. Really comfy seats. Hehe.
That was quite a weekend...
04.23.2003
I deleted my last two entries, 04.21 and 04.22....
The hell was I thinkin posting stuff about my family?!
Some people might think I'm being weak, whiny, bratty, etc. Some people might comment even if they don't even know me well enough to judge me. I hope those people experience what I did and see how it feels.
Yes, I think it's for the best that I deleted those entries.
04.22.2003, Tuesday
* deleted * Give me a buzz if you wanna know why...
04.21.2003, Monday
* deleted * Give me a buzz if you wanna know why...
04.19.2003, Saturday
Is it such a crime to say how you really feel? I mean, I don't even have issues with racist people even when us Filipinos always get victimized by them. But if I'm not exactly having the time of myself, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt one bit if I let it out instead of having bottled feelings. I don't like to share in person. That is why I write my thoughts in paper. Or better yet, I type them in my computer. And sometimes...I let the whole world know by putting these thoughts on my personal webpage.
Hmm...enough of that. Yesterday, I woke up much earlier than usual to take my first GED tests: Science and Social Studies. Science wasn't as hard as I thought it would it be. I mean, it was all there. You just read something and base your answer from there. Social Studies, on the other hand, made my head hurt. It was reading comprehension stuff and all, like the Science test. But since I'm not familiar with the basics of American history and politics, I had to read the passages twice. It was sooo boring. Glad that's over. I can take a long break since I'm having my next tests on May 9th.
I've been doing some powerwalking with my cousin Krizia for the past week. I would say that it improved my sleeping habits, body circulation...blah blah blah...but strangely enough, I feel fatter. Perhaps I've been psyching myself into thinking that I could eat and eat since I was "exercising". Stuuppiidd... But you know what? This is also my grandmother's fault. Ever since she got here, I've been eating real food for breakfast and lunch. Haha. Dinamay ko pa Lola ko, eh. (Sa bagay, puro bad vibes naman dala nya, eh.) No, it's true. When it was just me and the kids before, I usually just pop in a waffle in the toaster or have a cheese omelette. No rice or meat. Pero ngayon, medyo napasarap kain ko. Oh well...
It's really no biggie but I'm kinda bummed. My December 2002 and January 2003 entries are missing from my file manager. Did I delete them by accident or did Yahoo!Geocities simply erase files that have offensive material in them? I don't know, man. I'll try to look for my December file, though, it may be in one of the diskettes I brought from home...
I wonder what my cousins back home did during Holy Week. It's Easter there and I bet they're doing something fun since they couldn't during Good Friday. Well, that's what we do back home. Holy Week is a big deal. On Maundy Thursday, we go to 14 different churches to do the stations of the cross. Then, on Good Friday, we'd go on a procession for an hour or so...enough to kill your feet. I remember those times when my cousins and I would "cheat" a little and just rest on one of the dark spots in the neighborhood. Sometimes, we'd even buy drinks cause our throats were parched.
I wonder if that Good Friday superstition from back home is true. My relatives used to tell me that if you get hurt on that day, your wounds would take an extremely long time to heal. Cause you see, after my GED, I walked from Henderson Hall to my aunt's office and then from there to my uncle's office. I was wearing comfy leather flip-flops but I got cuts on both toes. They look ugly. Now let's see if the "wounds not healing right away" is just a load of crap.
Life...see where it takes you.
04.03.2003, Thursday
I love a good scare. For me, it's never too early or late for a good ghost story. If you want to see my latest discoveries (haha), click on the link below:
::UNIVERSITY GHOST STORIES::
I'm sooooo glad I'm not in the Philippines right now. Moreover, I won't be studying at any of the universities there.
04.01.2003, Tuesday
It's hard to believe that it's already the month of April. Time went by so fast, and I wasn't even having that much fun. Except of course when we went to Houston. My brother rented a car and we spent our Saturday there and left Sunday morning. Our first stop was The Galleria. It reminded me so much of G4, this mall in Pinas. The structure of all the buildings, plus with everyone all dressed up, I felt right at home. It was like being in Metro Manila, only better. Houston rocks. Anyway, I didn't get to buy anything but I did go window-shopping. Sana pala I bought stuff in Delia's and Wet Seal. They don't have those stores in College Station. Then again, I already blew my allowance way too much. For my budget, that is.
We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Man, it was so crowded there we had a hard time looking for the people we were meeting up with. Finally, we saw them---Jen and her husband. Jen is Jags' aunt who's only a few years older than Jay. (Jags is Jay's best friend). Kakahiya nga cause they paid for our food, especially since I didn't finish my order. Oh well...
After lunch, we stopped by their place for awhile to get some stuff for firing. It was soooo cold at the firing range, I got numb all over. (I forgot my jacket in the car). At least I didn't completely mess up. I still fired a few good ones, perhaps two bullseyes and some that were close enough. The rest just disappeared. Hehe. My brother was good and so was Jen's husband Marc. Then again, Jay had been doing that a lot with Dad (I, on the other hand, have only done it once or twice) and Marc has been doing it since he was a kid.
They also showed us exclusive villages that had cool-looking houses. In fact, they looked so cool my brother told me videotape them, just as I had with the buildings. We went back to their place after that just to rest. Then we went out again to eat dinner at this Thai place. Sarap ng food but I was still full from lunch so once again, I didn't finish it. Good thing Jay paid for the food this time. Anyway, after dinner, we went downtown just to do some sightseeing. We caught sight of some of the bars. I would assume that my brother was already thinking of going out even before he told me. Sure enough, we rolled out at around 11pm.
We ended up in a place called the Hurricane Hut. It was one of the bars that allowed people below 21 to come in. But I still couldn't drink and it bummed me out even more that they didn't sell cigarettes there. (I was all out of cigs). I kept walking around like a freakin L and out of desperation, I even went to other bars to see if they had any. No such luck. Finally, I went back to the Hut and hung out with my brother. That was a real bummer since we were supposed to be doing our own thing. With other people.
We tried dancing by ourselves but we felt stupid. Well, I did. There was this guy who tried to dance with me but I got turned off that he wanted to "get down" right away. Oh please, he wasn't even a least bit cute, hot or whatever. Jay told me that that guy tried to dance with other girls and they all turned him down. Anyway, I just felt really bummed out I sat on this mini-stage on the side of the dance floor.
There were some guys there who were smoking and the truth is, it was killing me to see other people smoke and I didn't have a single stick. I kept looking at the guys who were smoking and finally I talked to one of them. I asked if it was okay to have one stick and they said it was ok. I was gonna walk away after that, kasi dyahe na eh. But the guy I talked to asked me to dance so I just said yes. He turned out to be really nice and friendly. He didn't even care that I didn't want to dance, like ya know, dance. I told him my brother was nearby and he understood. I was sort of wondering why he wasn't being racist or whatsoever and it turns out that he wasn't a white boy. When I had a close look at him and I heard him talk some more, that's when I realized that he was Latino or somethin. He pronounces cigarettes as "see-ga-rits". La lang...just sharing. Hehe.
We went home at around 2, cause nobody was dancing anymore. My voice sounded kinda funny, as if I had a sore throat. (Well, right now I do.) It was probably because I was singing along (or trying to) to some of the songs while dancing. Well, I couldn't help it. They played some of my favorites. Ya know, stuff like "In Da Club", "Air Force Ones", "Gossip Folks", etc. When we got to Jen's house, I thought I was just gonna freshen up and collapse on the bed. Or the cot, rather. But we heard some black folks mouthing off at each other just outside the village. Nosy as we were, we decided to watch. They weren't only swearing at each other; they were also throwing bottles and shit. After some 30 or 45 mins, the cops arrived. And with that, we shut off the blinds and went to sleep.
We managed to wake up early even if we didn't get much sleep after such a long Saturday. We left Houston at around 10am with mocking long faces. As we were farther and farther from Houston, we kept saying stuff like, "Back to cow town!" or "Back to the land of the rednecks!" Well, can't say we're lying. You'll know what I mean when you come here.
