"you lied when you said in your blog you weren't a movie person!" a friend told me yesterday as i proceeded to point out movies that i want to watch in the near future.

i didn't honestly know what he was thinking when i invited him to watch now that i have you with me. another friend gave me passes when she found out that i wanted to watch a movie. "watch it anywhere, even rockwell" she said "as long as you don't do it on a sunday or a holiday. bring pat"

well i did want to bring pat with me but (1) he didn't like abs-cbn and its affiliated companies (he claims he's kapuso) and when he finally did say yes (2) stupid teacher extended class the day we were supposed to watch and i arrived 10 minutes after the movie started showing. since we were both hungry and parking was a horrible mess and he didn't even know which side of megamall had the movie theaters which meant i'd have to look for him on top of being late already, i said, ok, let's just watch it next time.

exams + rain + busy schedule + katamaran = rosa not being able to watch movie.

i nursed those passes for two weeks, checking click the city every so often to make sure it was still showing. i invited and un-invited people to watch with me, and people invited and un-invited themselves to watch with me. but yesterday, when work was just really awful and going home to the dorm seemed like a very lame thing to do, i called a good friend who i had enjoyed many good (and bad) movies with and ask him to watch with me.

he was shaking his head in disbelief, sniffing every so often to remind me that i pulled him out of bed and that he was quite sick, thankyouverymuch. i dragged him over to cinema 8, bought popcorn and awful-tasting 7-up, and then settled down.

two hours later, we emerged, laughing and kidding ourselves that it was better than any movie either of us had seen in the last couple of weeks. yes, it was a tagalog movie (*snobs*) and yes, we watched it in a theater which leaves much to be desired in terms of features and what not, but at the end of the day, it was a movie which we both enjoyed, a movie that kept us laughing every so often, and a movie that was best shared with a good friend.

cookies made me cry

an exam is never a good thing. an exam on a sunday is even worse. my entire weekend was reduced to that short time between "end of exam" and "time to go to sleep so i make it at a decent time to work on a monday". i tell you: exams are nothing but a teacher's way of torturing you.

i digress.

my teacher, on account of the scheduling difficulties, decided to have our midterms on a sunday. since i only get to see pat on weekends when i go home, this almost amounted to sheer torture. part of me wanted to cave in to self-imposed pressure and go home to bf. the more sensible part of, which thankfully prevailed, told me to stay put in the dorm and study my ass off. i faced my weekend of studying armed with two grocery bags full of chips, raw food for cooking (which i actually don't do, which meant that me in the dorm kitchen elicited gasps of surprise and bewilderment from the kitchen regulars), and a 1.5 gallon container of water, plus a promise from patrick that we'd go out on a date after my exam.

sunday dates, especially on that one special sunday when your dad is in town for a manila-bangkok flight, are a bit tricky for pat. up until the last minute, i didn't really count on him coming all the way to UP to take me out. but then he was right there, parked in the deserted law complex parking lot, ready to take me out.

and take me out he did. we went to the podium, where we had a simple dinner at thai in a box where he allowed me to pick the appetizer of my choice. he then took me for desert at pagliacci where i had the most divine mint ice cream. we strolled around, hand in hand, and ten minutes before the movie started, we settled down in our seats with our usual huge tub of popcorn, softdrinks, and a bar of chocolate.

except that a minute after settling down, he excused himself. bathroom call, he said. he didn't reappear until much later with a huge bag from plaid. he asked me to close my eyes -- he had a surprise he said -- and when i did, handed me a bag containing two huge chocolate chip cookies from subway.

see, right before the exam, when the pressure was all there and i was tense and scared and all that, i sent him an SMS saying that i'm going to buy me a chocolate chip cookie if a get out of that exam room alive. bagoong rice plus finally tasting that mint ice cream that dindin was raving about made me forget about the promise i made to myself.

he didn't.

and so cookies made me cry.

lest you think i'm a smelly old fart, no pun intended, i turned my attentions to better things...

like commuting.

there's this stupid dude in the philippine government who suggested to the big three that maybe they should increase gas prices in small, but frequent, increments. well give them an idea, why don't you? well, the big three probably thought, "hey that's a good idea" and went to increase gas prices every f*cking week.

did they think it would make it a wee bit easier? hell no. because no matter how much i fill my car with gas every possible moment i get, unless i dig a pit below our house and come up with a gas reserve, i'd still have to shell out way too much money for gasoline.

and since i've never been a princess, and a car really is a luxury i cannot afford anymore, i decided to commute. after all, the road rage is giving me a way too acidic stomach and pre-mature wrinkles every time i venture out.

i made a resolution: cars on weekends, cars on hearing days, and cars on days when i have to lug around my laundry. i can always pretend while riding the mrt that i'm in new york, right?

no. today, while my car was sitting pretty -- and quite dry -- in my basement parking slot over in ortigas, i was forced to venture out in the not-so-pretty rainy outside. i hesitantly stepped over muddy puddles and waited ...

... and waited...

... and waited ...

... and waited for a jeepney to arrive. after almost 20 minutes of standing in the rain, i caved in, and resolved to take a cab and forget all about saving money.

except no cab arrived. no jeep either.

an hour and a half + very wet shoes + very wet pants later, i arrived in the office.

commuting again?

maybe.

but not any time soon.

in the past, there were things your grandmother avoided showing your grandfather before they got married.

how she looked without coiffed hair and make-up.
her upper arms and thighs.
her room.

but then there was the 70's and then we all got a bit less conservative, even us filipinos, and then our parents tried being "friends" with us by being as lax as they could without getting us pregnant. the result? your boyfriend probably knows a lot about you.

i'd like to say that pat and i are fairly close. we've shared pretty embarrassing stories about our past. a couple of weeks ago, we went on a date just to play "truth or dare" where we didn't only ask sensitive questions but also "yucky" questions about each other. we've seen each other in ratty pambahay clothes. we've cried and laughed and shared special occasions together. one particularly awful day, i broke down in front of him and he accepted me at my worst.

but then yesterday, i did the unthinkable.

it was unplanned. it was something i didn't plan on doing anytime soon. if i had my way, it would never have happened at all, not in this lifetime, not even in the next.

i let out a loud fart.

::you can snicker now, you evil blog reader you!::

i'm glad it didn't smell, and i'm glad it was loud but it was a short one. but in a living room where there was only the two of you, it was undeniable. it was mine.

lemon in your kili-kili and then some

let me turn you off by sharing that my armpits aren't pretty. they're not commercial worthy, unless i'm the "before" of that skinwhite commercial. so this morning, upon the advice of a very knowledgeable student who swears by this procedure, i rubbed lemon juice on my armpit.

i'd like to believe they're a little prettier after the procedure.

after oatmeal on your face (to exfoliate) and cucumber slices on your eyes (to reduce puffiness), i'm beginning to think that the kitchen has more things in store for my "beautification" than my vanity table and medicine cabinet combined. however, at the end of the day, i still have some problems that you -- yes you! -- may be able to help me with.

how do i remove hard water stains in my bathroom?
how do i prevent pretty fabric insoles from getting dark (i wash my feet and powder them like crazy but after a while the fabric insoles of some of my shoes still get dark where my feet touch them)?
how do i prevent ingrown hair after waxing?
what's the best way to prevent leg hair from growing back too soon?
how do i make my hair grow long?
where's the best (and most affordable) place to get my hair relaxed?
who's the best stylist who can make my hair pretty?
who should i go to for eyebrow threading?
how do i shrink my pores?

help?

sometimes (well, honestly? most of the time) i sit (stew!) in the middle of traffic and begin to think about me and pat.

i love reading, he hates reading.
he loves watching movies, i can do without movies.
he lives on coke (the softdrink, mind you!) and i drink any softdrink EXCEPT coke.
i absolutely love the mall, whether it be full of people or not, and he just hates it.
he likes he nike huarache, i don't get why they're supposed to be pretty to begin with.
he's s-files, i'm the buzz.

the list is long. and because of the many things on that list, it's inevitable that we get into nasty little fights. it came to the point that saturday was "fight day".

and they said opposites attract.

phooey.

but at the end of the day, what's important is that both of you love each other and are willing to work things out. while i was freaking out on the phone being pissed and all, he made me laugh by laughing at my anger and saying "i love you" until i simmered down. when he was freaking out and stomping his hand on the wheel, i slid over his side (thank god for the ford explorer seats which, well, allow you to slide over) and just held his hand till he calmed down.

and you realize that differences and all, you've got things in common too: popcorn & chips at the movies, preference for hugging over kissing, and ice cream. we both love ordering the same thing wherever we eat, and we both love fridays (sometimes). we're close to our parents and we both don't have huge barkadas we go out with weekends. we both like lounging around at home and he doesn't mind if we're supposed to be together but he's stuck watching basketball in the kitchen and me watching something else in my room. we've got a good thing going, and in this day and age when even finding a date is difficult, i'm lucky.

very lucky.

there's this dude i know, and he wooed his wife by being dropped off at her place every night. before they got married, they spent each day together, except monday evenings, when she retreated to her room to watch charmed and he to his room to watch x-files. they got married, had a kid, and now live in a tiny little house where they've planted fresh basils outside so they can make pesto any time they want.

sometimes we tell him he's a better officemate than a teacher to piss him off. sometimes, we mock his driving to piss him off more. and most of the time, we try to push him over the edge till we get what we want.

but in the end, we know (vanessa and i) that life would not be the same if he left us to put up his julie's.

happy birthday boss. only you can make friday the 13th a day to look forward to.

drive, drive, drive your car....

i'll be the first to admit it: driving is not my forte. yes, i can drive spike to and fro metro manila but when even your sweet boyfriend has taken to sleeping when you're behind the wheel, you've got to admit to yourself that there's a bit of a problem there.

i've always wanted to drive. due to an amazing -- but unexpected -- chain of events, i was left with an 8-year-old lancer glxi which i have never driven my entire life. one night, after having driven on a main road only twice, i decided that i could not spend another night in UP and i wanted to go home. i let the thursday evening traffic pass, then at 9 p.m. i sat behind the wheel, and slowly, but surely, began my trek home.

the engine died on me 10 times. i switched both the airconditioner (my hands were really cold) and the radio (too distracting!) off and stared on the road like a mad driver. i clung onto the steering wheel for dear life. and when finally, i made the right turn onto my street, i sighed a huge sigh of relief and sent an SMS to every person in my phonebook. "i made it home, DRIVING, alone."

almost two years later, and a car to replace the glxi i smashed to smithireens, i continue to be the same menace on the road. i, however, do not see the need to turn the aircon off anymore, and i drive with the radio on so i can sing along. my hands are sometimes everywhere except the wheel -- texting, holding a siopao for breakfast, rummaging my bag for a pen i thought i lost, etc. etc.

today, however, i return to rosa, the quiet, scared driver. why? because our school's assistant dean just asked me if i could drive her to greenmeadows.

i'm scared. very scared.

and to think i thought this monday was going to be a good one.

i must've been on dope.

from the moment my ass landed at home friday evening to yesterday at 4p.m. i've been plodding around the house doing nothing but eat, sleep, and watch t.v. by 3 yesterday afternoon, i began seeing redrum* everywhere and so i took pat's invitation to go out and meet his friend which meant going to the mall which meant seeing the sale which meant buying cheap but lovely new shoes on sale at janylin.

and as we all know, lovely new shoes means ultra-mega-watt excitement to go to work, even on a wet cold i'd-rather-stay-in-bed-all-day weather. of course, pat promising to drop by for lunch was a good thing too. new shoes + sweetie seeing me in new shoes = amazing day.

sometimes, not even new shoes could change the fact that your boyfriend cancelled on you.

fever, albeit a very slight fever.

pat, being a boy, of course did the let-me-try-to-make-you-feel-guilty-by-saying-i'd-go-anyway route. "i'm sick" he said, complete with the whiny baby voice.

"really?" i said.

"yeah." ::coughing::

"so you can't come?" i knew it, i told my myself. four days in a row is too good to be true.

::coughing:: "i'll try" ::coughing:: "i'll drink medicine" ::whiny gurgling::

so in the end, i knew what he wanted me to say was "it's okay sweetie, no problem, just stay at home" and so i said that, forget the fact that my ears were getting red cause i'm so sick and tired of him being, well, sick all the time.

i know i'm evil.

but sometimes, i just couldn't get it why some people are sick all the time.

it's windy, they get sick. it's drizzling, they get sick. it's sunny, they get sick.

no wonder doctors make a whole lot of money.

and so today i'm cranky.

this monday ain't gonna be a good one.

*come on, you must know this one, right?

-oOo-

i finally met ara.

it was great, we laughed a lot, and we found out that we've got at least one thing in common:

a disbelief that anyone who has stopped wearing socks with her uniform has to be home by 9.

really.

i've got a problem with sun cellular. a huge problem.

i've forgiven you for the generally weak signal. even if sometimes i have to stand outside the dorm with one hand outstretched to catch whatever microwave signals filter in through the trees, i don't mind.

i've forgiven you for the bills that never arrive on time, for the mentally-challenged (oh, we're so p.c. right over here) customer service person who asked me to give directions to get to pearl drive in ortigas when it's just about become the katipunan road of pasig.

but to cut me off like that, for three, and possibly more, days away from text messaging and phone calls to clients who do not have landlines less than a week before a huge criminal trial -- that i cannot forgive.

i've been good. i settle my bills the day they arrive. i even round it off and try to pay a little more than my bill, just so next month's bill won't be that much of a shocker. i try to use my sun phone to call my parents in the US, my clients, my students, my friends, and my boyfriend even just so i can generate enough revenue for your struggling company. whenever anyone asks whether i'm happy with my sun phone, i say "yes" believing that one day, you will finally come through for me.

but come on, if we have another year and 4 months before we can call this relationship quits, we have to settle our problems.

listen up.

first, i do not want to pay off bills that have not arrived yet. that's why it's called postpaid. give me the bill, i pay it. my mom trained me that way. do not, i repeat, do not have your collection people call me on a bright cheery wednesday afternoon while i'm doing my grocery to tell me that i have to pay a bill that has not arrived yet. had i been the kind of person to do that, i'd have stuck to my prepaid line.

second, i hate having to call back simply because the line was cut. a hotline is a hotline. i do not want to deal with everything i have to say in four minutes. i cannot say everything i have to say to your customer service representative in four minutes, especially if he happens to be mentally challenged. i am mad, i am pissed, i am fuming and hungry and sleepy. being polite over the phone is the least of my concerns. whatever glimmer of politeness i have disappears when i have to call three times, and give my name, my cellphone number, my middle name and birthday for verification, and repeat the root of my complaint every single time!!!

third, review your policies. i have a P1,000 credit limit. my bill amounted to P779.80, due on august 16, 2004. my running balance is P380++. i paid my bill last july 31, and according to mentally-challenged customer service representative, they received my hard-earned P780 on july 31, 16 full days before it was due. yesterday i got my services redirected. yes, you got my payment, yes my running balance is now well within my credit limit, but you're sorry you cannot return my outgoing services until i pay another P180 so that my outstanding balance is 20% of my credit limit. i'm sorry but no matter which directions my neurons fire this morning, i do not understand why i have to make another payment, especially when i have not been billed yet for those services (go back to number 1).

i never thought i'd say this, but i miss my globe. humongous bills and all, globe never let me down. globe was with me in the middle of the ocean to bacolod, in the middle of bangkok hopelessly lost with only a cellphone to find my way back to my aunt, and while the pilot and i were starting our relationship and all we had between us was his bangkok simcard and my P2,500 globe credit limit.

sun, sun, sun. take your crummy free phone back (i never really got used to texting using that anyway). take your inspirational what-nots that i never subscribed to anyway. you're a lousy cellular service provider.

hrmph.

99 pesos in one-peso coins and a 60-peso e-load

sometime last month i asked how much time a couple should spend together.

most of you replied, enough time.

given the recent 50-centavo increase per liter of gasoline, us staying on opposite ends of metro manila may prove to be a tough hurdle to overcome. a huge pldt phone bill that nearly gave his mom a heart attack plus a sun cellular bill that never arrives on time therefore resulting my phone line being cut may mean hardly any time at all for us to bond.

never to be daunted by time, financial constraints, and what not, pat presented me with a "gift" last sunday: a nutella jar filled with one peso coins. "so you can call me from the dorm!" he said.

and yesterday, after i complained that my sun phone has been cut yet again and my emergency smart prepaid sim does not have any load, sent me P60 e-load.

that's how he is.... sweet, thoughtful, and generous.

and that's why today, we celebrate our fourth month together.

there are a few things in the world that can actually make me cry.

my girl, that really cute movie, didn't.
graduation from college didn't.
getting into my dream law school didn't.

and no matter how amazing my mom's palanca letter for me was in my grade 7 recollection, or how romantic the setting was when pat asked me to be his girlfriend, neither of the two prompted my tear ducts to produce salty liquid.

strangely enough, last night's replay of the amazing race, did. i was glad that i was alone in my room; i didn't know how i'd explain to anyone why i was tearing up by the time the internet couple was eliminated.

now, 12 hours later, i think i can attempt an explanation.

more than the amazing places they go to, the difficult stunts they attempt, and the $1M cash prize, the race is actually all about relationships. those who were fans in the past sometimes didn't really care who won in the end, but we all applauded zach's patience for all of flo's whining. we all hated the harvard law school roommates, just because, well, they didn't seem like they really liked each other. the married gay couple, chip and reichen, had this amazing devotion for each other, and who can forget that goth looking son and his dad who, at the end of it, actually realized a lot of things about each other.

this season's pairs are quite ... well, for lack of a better word ... amazing. there are teams you hate (the bowling moms, charla & mirna) and teams you love (the military dad and his daughter, brandon and nicole, chip and kim).

and last night's replay, where they were all stuck eating caviar, was the best TAR episode ever. at the end of it all, right before they were eliminated, when bob and joyce were on the sleigh ride, both kept saying in their voice overs that they've been given a second chance at love and that they're glad they found each other. during the roadblock, brandon never complained when nicole had to sleep of the wooziness brought about while eating a kilo of caviar before actually finishing the stunt. one of the twins told the other twin that if she could, she would do the roadblock herself. (of course hateful charla just kept asking mirna to shove it down her throat, argh.) after watching 9 gruelling episodes of couples fear factor where everyone just kept fighting with their partners, TAR episode 4 brought back my faith in relationships.

and so last night, as pat and i were eating a late dinner at serye, i looked over at him and told him that should i get the chance to join TAR, i'd pick him to be partner.

his reply?

"that's so sweet, kasi yung girlfriend ni jong-jong (his cousin) ang gusto salihan nila, temptation island."