this is the best gift i received for my birthday...
thank you chuck...
Looking back I cannot help but wonder how six years of my life would have ended up as awesome as it was now if it wasn't spent with Jeanie.
I was barely a year out of high school when I first stumbled into Jeanie. I was eating a bag full of Nova (or was it Piatos?) in the MassComm lobby alone and introverted as usual when all of a sudden she came right in front of me asking if she could have some of the snack that I'm at that very moment consuming. It was really weird every time I come to think of it and she was with her friends Angelica and Gisele at that time. But nevertheless that was simply the beginning or better yet a foreshadowing of something big that's to come.
It wasn't until the closing days of the school year when I later caught up with Jeanie again, it was my band's first gig at school and it was the foundation day of our college and we were about to play our set when I heard Jeanie screeching: "Go Chuck" as she sat on the floor perpendicular to where we were about to play our music and get ourselves humiliated big time. As I think of it now really I cannot help but laugh as well because after the 'go Chuck' was the sound of her voice yelling: "Whooo drums!" which was really all about sarcasm since our drummer at the time Jarme, (who also happened to be one of the lousiest drummers that I've known if ever there is one) was playing this pathetic beat mimicking The Offspring's 'Come Out & Play'. The gig ended right in the middle of our second song the organizers were poor planners and they could not accommodate all the listed bands that are slotted to play so they decided to cut off our playing time, so as to give way for the next band, and by the time that I was out and off the stage after a lawful of cursing the sight of Jeanie was there no more. But that again was still another foreshadowing.
A couple of days later I was surprised when Damaso, (the designated class irregular-student-bum in our block) asked me to write down my number on this piece of paper so as to give it to Jeanie. I was flattered so as if I was trying to impress her or something like that I wrote down 2 telephone number one is for our PLDT and another is for our Bayantel phone that was installed by my brother for his modem. It was around 10 when I got to talk to her via our Bayantel phone. She told me about how she was a friend with another band that played in the same gig, and how she loves Korn, Rage and a whole lot of other bands that played that angry rap-m stuff at the time. While I told her I was into punk rock and that my most influential musses are Greenday and The Cure. Again that was but another foreshadowing.
But as time pressed on and went into its natural course and direction things unfolded at the start with a symposium that me and Laix went to because Jeanie invited us. But going further it grew and blossomed into almost 6 full years of things that I could no longer make mention in a mere simple paragraph of sorts but instead I'll simply make mention of solidified independent sentences that speaks of that 6 full years.
Looking back I could all but remember the:
The Bible stories.
The nighttime prayers.
Playing Tekken 3 and beating up a host full of challengers and the occasional team-ups with Reginald.
The late night talks.
The long idle chitchat and gossiping at Ali's house.
The countless movies. The horror flicks.
The Cartoons: Cow & Chicken, Ren & Stimply, I Am Weasel, Hey Arnold, The Rugrats, Wild Thornberry's, Spongebob Squarepants, As Told By Ginger, GTO, Justice League, Teen Titans, X-Men Evolution, Beavis & Butthead, The Simpsons, Futurama etc.
The late night movies search for B-Flicks with gore and senseless violence.
The music we've listened to and sang: The Ramones, The Clash, Plumb, Texas, The Cure, Greenday, Letter To Cleo, Save Ferris, Gin Blossoms, The Sex Pistols, Rancid, Ash, MxPx, Sonic Flood, Jars of Clay, Sixpence None The Richer, Blink 182, Dashboard Confessional, United Live, Hillsong, etc.
The affiliations that have been: TABAK, KATRIBU, ANAKBAYAN, CEGP, Anarcho-Punks, BK, Youth On Fire
The dogs that have come and gone: Black, Jaguard, Murphy, Druiness, Jarod, Odie, Klondyke, Kuya, and Grownor.
Buying countless P35 cassttes on the sale bins at SM record bars.
The October and Novermber Christmas shopping.
Saint Jude, Santa Clara churches.
The long conversations about how life is as a punk in his 30s with Darwin and Ab at Radiation Area Distro.
Our escapades on ACA San Juan, Star City, Bicol, Taft Avenue, Robinsons Place, Mendiola, Greenbelt, Tandem Recto, Ali Mall, Riverbanks, PCBS Powerbooks Makati etc.
Our long walks in Ayala, Cubao, V. Mapa, UP, Teachers Village.
Me being hospitalized twice.
The hospitals we went to for a number of times. Most recently with the tuberculosis diagnosis that she received from her medical exam at EAC.
The friends and acquaintances: Laix, Gisele, Angelica, Buddy, Cheng & Len Len, Ali, Raquel, Reginald & Weng, Cedric, Mark, Jarme, Melody, Mia, Fritz, Toto, Marlo, GL, Riva, Karl, Marianne, Edward, Jocson, Bunny, Delbert, Michelle, Gera, Ana, Rovic, Michael, Shirley & Ruth, Shondel, Lolo Eliseo, Mang Bruce, Aldy, Kiko, Gomer, Chris, Ms. Elaine, Charisse, Jem, Aga, Monica, Aina, Darwin, John Fishbone, Mang Jun Alberto as well as the lefties, greens, anarchists, skaters, goths, emo nerds, indie geeks, punks, and Jesus freaks that we've met along the way.
The stargazing at Sunken Garden accompanied by the talk about physics and light years.
Designing the layout for her magazine project.
Doing the graphic design and web maintenance for Pinaybloodrush.
The hypothetical questions game that we play.
The books that we've read: The Bible, The Little Prince, Philippine Society & Revolution, The Communist Manifesto, The Bob Ong Books and countless others which ranged from Socio, Philo and Communication textbooks, to theses, to fiction and novels, to cookbooks, to political manifestos and theological writings.
The comics: Wasted, Shade The Changing Man, Doom Patrol, Batman, The Death of Superman, Keith Giffen Era-Justice League, The Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, Pugad Baboy among others.
The bai and Saudi boy jokes that we've outgrown.
The VHS tape hunt for long since forgotten movies.
The ATM pin numbers based on our anniversary and our birthdays
The cell phones lost, gained and lost again.
The seemingly unending fights over palmistry and tarot cards.
The book reading at national bookstore main.
The 1 peso snacks at their sari-sari store.
The long talks with Tina, Tutoy and her mother.
The Bicol trip with her family.
Dissing rockers, fashion punks, mall emos, poser skaters and the beautiful ones.
Having her give me silly looking haircuts.
Conducting cooking experiments and mixing cool new kinds of beverages with her mother's blender.
Having my clothes fitted and sewn by her and her mother to make it fit to my frail skeletal frame.
Learning new arcade and PC games together with her sister.
Having our pictures taken together inside a 1-hour rush photo booth.
The imaginary character of Kiko Monster.
The Earth Day celebrations.
The long drunken talk with her father about this girl with 12 fingers in hand.
The restaurants and coffee shops like: Likha Diwa, Smokey's, Salt of the Earth, Along Came Mary, Kapnay, Earthlite, Figaro, McDonalds, A&W, Tokyo Tokyo Red Ribbon, Texas, Kenny Rogers and Ate Vi's Lugawan.
The meal fads: Quarter Pounders, Hot Shots, Wing Dings, Root beer Floats, Strawberry Jelly, McDips, Barbecue.
Having this Nakarami card that served us a free meal a Tokyo Tokyo on my birthday.
The Cubao Christmas fairs in front of COD.
The Ukay-ukay expeditions from Cubao, to Anonas, to Recto, San Juan and Quiapo.
The punk shows, Internet surfing, skateboarding and habulan at UP campus.
The mobilizations, rallies and campaigns that raged and fueled our aspiration to make a difference in the world.
The theses, reports, projects, photo essays and term papers that we either did or have checked together.
The days we got by with barely 20 or 30 pesos in our pockets.
The change in our lives from nihilism, to greens, to commie/ND, to anarchists, to Christianity.
The unwavering support, encouragement and faith at each other despite of our own frailties and limitations.
Playing Greenday's 'When I Come Around and Redundant'; Dashboard Confessional's 'Hands Down; The Cure's 'A Letter To Elise, Friday I'm In Love, Just Like Heaven' on the telephone for her.
Shared various silkscreen printing adventures most notable was the the trip to Tutuban & Divisoria to canvass cheap wholesale T-shirts; Bolstering Mark's self-confidence ultimately freeing him from the shadow cast down by Cedric and his skill in that craft, reinstating Reggie and Laix's self worth.
Painting her room with dark indigo and making stencils out of scrap pieces of cardboard.
Bringing her to Youth On Fire for the first time.
Sharing our PowerBooks discovery to Riva and Charisse.
Sharing a meal at Likha Diwa with Riva and Marriane and a whole lot more of other people that I've lost count of.
The numerous times I popped up on her location while she's helping out her students shoot their short films, Mtvs etc.
When she brought the mass comm faulty of San Sebastian College to watch our first gig at Freedom Bar.
When we frolicked through gangland past midnight carrying a puppy that led through a wild-goose chase in finding the house of Gegine.
When we she'd join me Reginald, Cedric and Laix at UP to skateboard.
The weddings we attended (Reginald's and he cousin's).
The infant baptisms that we weren't supposed to be in because the child being baptized were children of people that are totally strangers to us.
The times we went to the vet with her dogs.
Our shared lament for those who've departed this realm: Lolo Eliseo, Jaguard and Druiness.
The times we brought Lolo Eliseo his supper and our search for him when he was arrested for vagrancy and was later brought under DSWD custody.
The times when she depended on me and I failed miserably for the times I said promise and failed to deliver for all the tears I incited and all the screams I shouted and all the other humiliating things that I've caused us to suffer.
The love shared and cherished which bloomed into a greater love that is one that is shared with our kindred identities in Christ.
The tears wept and shared, the angst fueled and calmed, the storms that have brought our worst selves, the cruel words said but we never really meant and the love shared but realized as a part of something bigger that God asks back of us so as to follow his Lordship in our lives.
The indwelling and renewing of our broken spirits with the comfort of God's presence.
And for all the other seemingly unending, meaningful and worthwhile stuff that we've shared which we have both either forgotten or have been stored in the back of our minds which in their own little way have molded both of us to the person that we are now we give God for all the joy and the pain which manifested and resulted with the realigning of our lives to the center of His will.
Happy birthday Jeanie.
