of cowboys and latin lovers
i am glad this week is over. don't get me wrong.. it was a very fun week but i am so tired. enough alcohol, enough loud music and enough sleepless nights please.
.. medyo mahaba 'to.. pero fun
monday and tuesday, the reunion.
the big araneta reunion is finally (and regretfully) over. we had our last big rehersal monday night at the big old white house in cubao. in most reunions, there are production numbers. my generation managed to finagle out of doing a dance number and worked on james taylor's 'shower the people' instead. that went well enough. but the jury of elders wanted something more upbeat so we managed to pull of 'ain't no mountain' during the last rehersal. it ended at around 11. victor and i still wanted to go out but as were procrastinating, we were invited up to the 2nd floor room of my tita baby. it was like fucking studio 54 (or how i'd imagine it to be at least). white carpets, those fun fiber glass-60's version of space -age chairs and alcohol... oh the alcohol. when we got there, some of the elders were sitting around the dining table (bedroom to ha.. tandaan), drinking and eating gorgeous food straight from the kitchen...ajoining the room. to top it off, there was the little yorkie, camilla..walking around, yapping at everyone. it was so fabulously diva. if only that room could talk. vic and i stayed awhile the headed off to zigurrat, where we were joined by naz and vic's friend mico. more alcohol and chit chat. left around 330.
we had to be in the white house by 330 the next day and when i got there (in my color coded t-shirt), many relatives known and unknown had already settled down...with a few shots of tequila here and there. after the picture taking and mass... we could all drink out in the open. there were these fabulous vodka lemon shots being passed around and we had the waiter bring tray after tray over to our table, with beer, wine and tequila in between. finally, it was showtime... we pulled off our numbers pretty well. (although i don't think it really mattered as everyone and their mother were already merrily drunk.) after the performance, juan pablo dream played some motown hits... of course many people (myself included) had to jam. the dancing continued until the dj stopped playing and i got stuck bringing home 2 very drunk and incoherent cousins. thankfully, they did not puke in the car.
ride 'em cowboy. wednesday to friday morning
woke up the next day with a smashing headahce and a ravenous appetite. it seems i had forotten to eat during the reunion and concentrated more on the drinking. met up with my (equally hungover) mother and uncle for lunch and went for dvd's in cinema square. i still had those damn sashes to finish, so i headed home and got to work. 8 hours later, i was done and had to pack my bags to be at the airport at 5 am. by 7:30, we arrived in the wonderful town of masbate. after a quick breakfast and nap, we headed out to where the fair was. there was the usual tiangges and wobbly carnival rides, but this town had something special... a rodeo. before the judging for the livestock show, we went over to the arena and had a look-see at the rodeo, masbate style.
this was serious stuff. surrounding universities and colleges all had their won rodeo team. cebu's team even had an import... a very scary looking and large white man with lots of tattoos. think hell's angels only with a cowboy hat. there were numerous events (i want to join the bullwhipping contest next year...:P), mostly done on (very small) horseback. it was all great fun except for this guy i call boy chico who was constantly bugging me. we headed back out to the livestock area to watch the judging. this is where my sashes were put to use. again.. it was a serious competition. many local hotshots had entries in the different classes and honestly, the quality of the cattle were getting better and better. the judge had a hard time. finally, the grand champion cow and bull were announced and we made a last stop at the tiangge (where they had really, really funky stuff) before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the congressional night dinner,
of course, we got to the dinner before anyone else did. buy this time, most of us were very tired and planned to go home asap. there was an extremely loud band playing. extreeeeeeemely loud. ugh. fundador was brought out... so might as well try to enjoy right? and then... and then.... the rodeo teams started to arrive. *sigh* now, the whole cowboy bit has always worked for me... and some of these guys were really good stock. sure.. it's a bit displaced... the american west in the a tiny island off luzon in the philippines... but heck... there were some real hot honchos. specifically, this one guy from the del monte team with long, long hair and a beautifully solid body. most of these guys were built. not gym built but manual labor, working the animals built. yummy. so there i sat, with my fundador in one hand, cigarette in another, enjoying the sweet eye candy passing by when congressman espinosa (and posse) arrives and invites us to sit at the main table. shiyet. i managed to grab a seat near the end, and near the beer so i could still enjoy the scenery. the rest of the evening passed by like a scene in a 1980's pinoy movie. the barok host, the ballroom dancing (yes.. they had d.i.'s), the horribly loud singing women, the politicians and numerous renditions of counrty western hits such as achy, breaky heart, country road and mama, don't let your sons grow up to be cowboys. (why not? i ask) it was all utterly but fabulously displaced. i am going back next year.
yo quiero mambo! friday night
we arrived around 9am friday morning and i headed straight home and to bed. i had a long night ahead and was so very lacking sleep. got up around 5 and got ready to go to my lola's house in san juan, for my cousins's graduation dinner. i had, in tow, my dancing shoes... for later that night.
dinner was lots of fun. my cousins never fail to liven up every discussion ever so amusingly. to-dos with the gomez bunch is always highly entertaining. but alas, i had somewhere to go. i told my tita i'd go watch her band (it was the singer's last performance) at bykes and chilean salsa boy, apparently, was looking for me.
so off on my merry way i went. danced a couple of times with some accquaintances of my tita, had a couple of drinks.. yadayadayada. the band ended about 1 am, but since i'd slept the whole afternoon.. i was raring to go. apparently, my cousin was spinning at embassy. why not diba? at least hindi ako mauubusan ng spanish kay salsa boy dahil malakas masyado ang music.
after fighting our way to the dj table to greet my cousin, we were surprised to find the la carlota drummer dudes punding away like there was no tomorrow. and i saw jorel there. so my first ever field trip to embassy was actually , surprisingly fun. free vodkas, and great percussions made for a very surreal evening. salsa boy was behind me and we were um.. dancing.. kinda. (i'm blushing as i write this but it's too surreal for the probinsyana in me to not write about). so.... um... ayan.. so sige sayaw ang lola nyo. giling dito.. giling doon. sus ginoo. humaba buhok ko hanggang ground floor. maygad.
so.. after about an hour or so... we head out and of course i must drop salsa boy home, as my tita was headed in the opposite direction. so i dropped him home.
his apartment was so saturday night fever.
i was so saturday night fever.