between school, parents, and church, you would think that these three would've taught you most of what you needed to get along in life. you learn to read. you learn to write. you learn to get along with people you don't like and you learn to be good. you learn the good stuff, you learn the bad stuff.

but what you never learn is how to get through a two-hour lunch with your boyfriend's family.

sunday lunches are sacred. i can see the boy saturday evenings, sunday afternoons, and monday late night, but not on sunday lunch. sunday lunches are spent with his entire family. sunday lunches are spent on family meetings. sunday lunches aren't spent with the girlfriend.

that is, until yesterday. the girlfriend of four months going on five was invited to THE family lunch.

it was his sister's birthday and she was paying. she told the boyfriend to invite me, and in spite of nervousness, tension, and great alarm that one only feels right before an exam one didn't study for, i said yes.

my chopstick skills - one i had since grade four - failed me. my let-me-peel-the-shrimp-with-my-spoon-and-fork-instead-of-my-hands-skills - which was non-existent to begin with - failed to appear miraculously. even my appetite - especially for all things yummy - failed me.

all i could manage was to bob my head and smile.

after all, what could one really do, especially if the first greeting i got after sitting down was from his five year old nephew who blurted in the loudest voice imaginable, "who are you?"

all i wanted was a cheeseburger and see where it got me

it was a saturday, and saturdays are tax days.

i don't really like tax. at best i tolerate tax. it is, after all, a bar subject. six units of my law life, nothing i actually understand, is actually 1/8 of my bid at lawyer-dom. it's unfair, i know. don't even get me started on negotiable instruments law.

still, this saturday wasn't at all bad. it was one of the rare times i actually had tax cases with me on friday night, i actually attempted to be ready for class, and banking was cancelled due to jessup. tax was just a three-hour torture that i had to get through and over with and my weekend would be on its way to a glorious start.

and in less than three hours, it was over. and i realized right there and then that all i wanted was a cheeseburger. that being the case, i planned my route around the cheeseburger. i would pass by the drive-thru at mcdo katips. home would be through aurora, then left at edsa, then airport road, then home.

told my self, one hour. one hour should be good enough.

the long line at the drive-thru should have been a sign. i didn't heed it. i fell into line, waited a horrendous twenty minutes to finally get my cheeseburger meal, and consumed the damn thing in five minutes flat, fries and drinks included.

the wolfing it down part was really bad. i wasn't even in anonas when i was hungry again. yes, i waited twenty minutes to figure out whether i was hungry or not. yes i tried to resist the temptation in the form of street food. no i did not succeed. pop rice, in the middle of horrible traffic, was my friend.

by this time, it had been almost an hour since i left law. i was nowhere near my house. it didn't help that i discovered only then that it was impossible to make a left turn at edsa. i could've, except that i wanted to keep my license in my wallet where it belonged.

so i went straight ahead and found myself turning right at hemady, left at 3rd st., and left at gilmore. and what do you know, i attracted an admirer.

a spanking cherry red crv pulled up next to spike and the driver started to say something. did i cut across his lane? did i ding his bumper? did i do any of the millions of things jay specifically told me not to do while driving.

apparently, i did none. it turned out that he found me cute and wanted to know my name and number, and he wanted to be friends.

smooth. real smooth.

picture rosa.
picture rosa with a huge smile on her face.
picture rosa with a huge smile on her face twirling around in happiness.

thanks dude.

birthday plans

the day i turned 24 i caught chicken pox.
the day after i turned 25 i broke up with someone.
the day i turned 26 i spent re-evaluating friendships because friends who were oh-so-very-important didn't show up.

god help me that my 27th birthday was going to be anything like the past three birthdays. so, i made a good friend promise to spend my birthday with me.

he didn't do just that, he's been sending messages about his plan almost every single day.

he wants a party. he wants it in antipolo. he wants all of my favorite bloggers there. he denies it's an eb. he denies it's a ploy to invite HIS favorite blogger.

it should be fun, he promised.

but i don't have cash, i said. beyond broke even. and who would come, i asked him.

he had a guest list ready. and yup, the guest list involved a few of my favorite people.

maybe it'll work. maybe not.

we'll see.

oh, and you're all invited.

valentine humbug

by 6 p.m. on friday the thirteenth, i've started to believe that the gods have been conspiring to make v-day swell for me. my half-month salary was in the bank, saturday morning teacher cancelled class, aunt became free the entire saturday to help me cook, and students have helped me put together everything i needed for the plan. i should've known better.

the plan, at best, was a disaster.

i got everything covered, that is except the venue. evidently, that was enough to tick him off. suffice to say, it ruined our valentine's day.

we fought when we both got in the car, we fought when we just decided to take separate cars and go to my house and have the picnic there, we fought when we got to my house, we fought when he left, we fought when he got home and it was three in the morning and couldn't figure out whether what we had was worth keeping.

we both woke up exhausted, yet still very mad at each other. we had awkward phone conversations throughout the entire day, not knowing whether the "i love you's" we say at the end of each call still meant anything. no angry words this time, no shouting, no tears, and yet everything was bubbling beneath the surface.

at ten in the evening, after a very uneasy dinner, we talked.

we're good for another round. no one's giving up on anyone, at least not yet.

so over the weekend, i've lost whatever idealism i had for valentine's day. yes, vanessa, it's a highly commercialized event aimed at helping flower shops rake in money. yes rey, too much planning sometimes leaves you more disappointed than happy. there is nothing right now that will make me even remotely look forward to it next year.

still. last night, as i was lying in my bed thinking of what could've been - a nasty break-up before my nego midterms - i realized that i've finally found the one my heart, mind, and soul loves. i've finally found the one who's not just there for the ride but someone who is willing to sit behind the wheel with me and determine our direction together. i've found not only a partner, but a good friend.

i don't know if this is the great love that gary keeps talking about. i don't know if this is my mad passionate love. i don't even know where we'd find ourselves next week, next month, or next year.

but i'm glad, because today, we still have each other.