Day One: The Arrival

Day One – One Day Before the Prep Course

May 25^th, 2011

Okay, so I’ve been thinking for over three minutes about how I should start writing this post. I guess the easiest way is to start from the beginning and work my way to the end, unlike those complicated movie plots where they show flashbacks simultaneously with current events (like The Social Network).

We were set to leave Timog (the place I affectionately call my home) at 8:00 AM. My older brother, Francis, would pick us up (he’s an adult so yeah, he doesn’t live with my parents anymore) and take us to my flat in Katipunan, One Burgundy Plaza, right in front of Ateneo. The night before, I set my phone alarm to 4:10 AM. It was only before I fell asleep that I realized I alarmed my phone 4 hours before I actually had to leave. So I woke up at 4 and went back to sleep and woke up again at 5. This is totally irrelevant but I’d like you to know that because it is very important throughout the story.

The first thing I did, obviously, was to go on Facebook. I replied to some posts by my best friend, Paolo… most of them regarding the 2011 French Open. And speaking of my best friend and the Roland Garros, I feel it necessary to share with you an exciting experience I had had yesterday.

So after doing my cardio exercises (yes, I do that) in my room while watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S., I took a long relaxing shower. I was home alone at that time so I brought my phones in the bathroom with me in case my mom would call.

Have you ever imagined that you had super human intuition? Like, sometimes you can predict things that were yet to happen. I normally find those experiences awesome, but this time I really wished I was wrong.

So there I was, shampooing my hair humming Simple Plan’s ‘Jet Lag’… when I mentally FACE PALMED myself and remembered that the French Open airs live every 5pm. And yeah, it was past six already.

I hoped Masha wouldn’t play that day (looking back, that already seemed hopeless since it was already Day 3 of the 1^st Round and she still hadn’t played), and as I was slapping on some conditioner, my ‘One Missed Call’ message alert tone played. I grabbed my 4-year old pitifully damaged Motorola flippy phone with a wet hand and saw Paolo’s text:

“SHARAPOVA ON BALLS!!!”

*that may not be exactly what he said, due to my inbox having a max capacity of 40-something messages, I had to delete it and I wasn’t able to memorize it.

I—quite literally—jumped in frustration. Good thing I didn’t jump that high or else I would’ve slipped and this would be a different story. I made a sound sort of like, “GRAGH!” and considered my options for a split second.

I grabbed a towel and ran, dripping all over the floor completely, uhm… unclothed… to the living room and turned on Balls TV. I felt weak with relief when I saw that it was only the first set and the score was, I think, 1-1.

Yes, that is probably a sign of addiction…

That's Masha's serve against Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan. A match that I did miss because I was in Manila at that time. The game I was able to watch was Sharapova v Lucic.

So anyway, I finally logged out and got ready for the trip. The time it takes to get to Manila from Pampanga is around 2 hours, I guess. While waiting for my brother, I got to watch the first bits of Nadal vs. Isner, the match that I missed last night because I had to sleep early. Nadal was clearly not doing well against Isner.

So my mom and I got to our flat and brought up some appliances like… some sort of hot water maker thing and something I call a ‘skillet’ even though I don’t think that is what that was.

Then my brother dropped us off at Trinoma on his way back to Pampanga. To pass the time (we would later meet with my dad, my sister, and her husband for dinner), my mom and I watched a *shiver* Tagalog movie, and if you’ve read my previous blogs, you would know why I tolerate such things.

While I was watching, I told myself this would be good experience for when I become a director: I would know what to fix in Filipino movies. The story was better, the writers were obviously aware of the redundant storylines of other romantic movies, so this movie felt more real. The events were believable, but the results were not. I don’t want to get into it, so we’ll move on.

I looked for Lady Gaga’s next album (an early birthday present for the aforementioned best friend) and was forced to ask the saleslady at AstroVision if they had it, making me look like a fan. They said it would arrive tomorrow, and I couldn’t be there tomorrow since my Prep Course was from 8 to 5.

There was more walking around and buying of appliances and utensils. By that time we already met up with the others. We then left Trinoma—not before I saw who else but MR. RAMOS! It was unmistakeable. My mom and I were ascending the escalator from the supermarket when I saw the ever so familiar maroon shirt that my teachers (and sister) wear frequently.

My first reaction was, as is true to all students, to HIDE. But that was unnecessary since he was in front of me anyway. He was with a female teacher that seemed familiar from the back. He waved good-bye to her and they parted ways, he going left, she right.

The floor of my room is made of marble.

When I touch the floor,

it’s so cold it feels like it’s wet.

So we left Trinoma to eat at Banapple where we talked about tennis, Ateneo, etc. Then my phone ran out of battery.

My brother-in-law took us back to our flat and so here I am, a little over an hour later, typing this in MS Word on my dad’s netbook. There is no wifi in this building, and no lovely neighbour to supply me with one. I really hope my dad gets the connections up by OrSem. (I’ll post this when I get back home.)

In my luggage bag I brought an assortment of clothes. Most of the shirts for my ‘house clothes’ are my Senior shirts from high school. I also brought five pairs of socks because I was told it was going to rain. Unfortunately, I only brought four shirts because it slipped my mind that it was going to rain when I packed my shirts. Yes, I am that stupid.

I also brought a handful of keychains, all displaying my love for my birth country, Canada: four keychains for Vancouver, one for Manitoba, and one for Canada itself.

I also brought with me an ‘I heart OB Montessori’ blue pin that my brother bought during the homecoming Formal Dinner.

I also brought a very special… minute-glass given to me by my other best friend, Harvey. It’s glow-in-the-dark and its design is suspended animation. I wanted to bring something from Paolo, but at that moment, I couldn’t remember anything but the book, Ideas and Opinions of Albert Einstein, and that couldn’t fit anymore with the other stuff. Just now I remembered that photo of us and our other friends at Ocean Adventure. I’ll take that next time. I can’t wait to decorate my room!

I’d love to take photos of the scenery but there isn’t one, really haha. It’s just the yellow headlights of cars passing by. I can’t see the buildings because it’s dark outside.

My foot hurt just now,

probably from the radiation of the charger.

I’m listening to an iPod with earphones that only work in one ear,

which I put on my right ear because

if I put it on my left I get a headache.

There must be some explanation to that

but I don’t really have the means to search for it.

It is ten minutes to nine. I will sleep at 10PM and wake up at 6AM to get the exact sleeping time of 8 hours. Any more or any less, and that would increase my risk of getting a heart disease. Sigh…

So yeah, tomorrow is the Prep Course. Prior to an hour ago, I was pretty nervous about not being able to get in because I may have left something back in Pampanga, and that would suck because no one could bring it to me in case I did forget something. So at dinner, I contacted my facilitator, Aldrich Alcantara, and asked if all we needed were really the money and a water jug.

I did not bring a water jug because my flat doesn’t have a refrigerator yet. So I’ll just buy a bottle of 100 Plus at 7-11 downstairs. Speaking of downstairs, the elevator in this place is freaking annoying. The door closes after a few seconds so if you’re carrying a lot of stuff, be prepared to get your shoulders squeezed by the cold, metal doors.

I just moved something on my aircon. I thought it was the thermostat but apparently it was the timer. Now I don’t know what will happen. I can’t really think of anything else to say, so it’s probably best that I save this document and start reading. I brought a bunch of books… The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Hamlet, Oliver Twist (Paolo said that was a sign of desperation haha), and I have Sherlock Holmes on my iPod. My eyes are getting scratchy now.

See you in the next post! There might be pictures. Of course, by the time I actually upload these blogs, I would know whether or not there would be pictures, so disregard the “might” and let’s just say “will”. That is, if I would be able to take pictures. EDIT: The only pictures I could get were from the Group page on Facebook.

Good Night, Travel Well.

P.S. ^ That is a song by The Killers and if I could, I would have it played during my funeral. Good night.

[Photo by Getty Images]