The Road to Equus

Exactly a week ago, I bought one prime seat--three rows away from the stage--to the final matinee performance of Repertory Philippines’ revival of "Equus"--that Tony Award-winning play by Peter Shaffer about a young man’s psychotic adoration for horses, recently made more popular (and controversial) by Harry Potter himself. This was going to be my very first "straight play."

That show was yesterday. And the whole ordeal of getting to the venue reminded me of that Chinese adage my brother used for his high school valedictory speech: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In my case, though, it seemed more like "a single step begins a thousand-mile journey."

It started pouring around noon--and didn’t stop ‘til evening. The stupid part was that I decided to wait it out and leave at around 2:15. No luck getting a cab along Juan Luna St. I even walked as far up as the plaza, to no avail. Walked back home, but the guards in our building didn't have the numbers of taxi operators. Walked back to Juan Luna again. Since desperate times call for desperate measures, I boarded a random jeepney. It was already 2:45.

Manila was flooded to the shank, apparently. In what I consider to be a stroke of destiny, I actually boarded the wrong jeepney--the ones that pass along Orosa, Kalaw and Del Pilar. By that time, I was already thinking of just getting off at Robinsons and watching "Inception" instead. But the farther we traveled, the more empty taxis I saw, and that was how I decided to get off at UN-Del Pilar and head for Bayview Park Hotel. 

I was right. At around 3:03, I easily hailed a cab at the corner of Bayview. He agreed to drive me all the way to Greenbelt, but for a higher fee, since we’d be passing through flood-submerged roads. Between missing the show and shelling out a little more, I’d choose the latter anytime. There was heavy traffic again along Osmeña Highway (apparently, SLEX Manila-Makati is not spared the floodwaters), so we had to go ‘round EDSA and Magallanes.

The ending: I missed the first ten minutes of the show.

About the production: Miguel Faustmann totally brought the poor psychiatrist Dysart to life and hit all the right spots in his monologues. Marco Manalac's Alan Strang actually impressed me, his lanky frame wrapped in palpable pain. The slutty girl, however, was a bit annoying (maybe it was the accent).

Again, this was only my first "straight" play, so there's really no way for me to say how good or bad it was. I did have a great time, though, but then again, don't we all have a great time at the destination after thousand-mile journeys?

I should be studying for the OrgChem exam tomorrow, but instead came up with this.

Net connection is finally back. After three freaking days. I’d like to describe those days with more, shall we say, deplorable adjectives, but I’d be too lazy to clean up the stains they’d leave behind.

I’m issuing a Fatwah here. For the ignorant-when-it-comes-to-Islamic-terminology, a fatwah is an official announcement by an imam, proclaiming the Muslim community’s stand on a certain issue. It’s something like a statement, like GMA with her ‘I am Sorry’ televised speech. Only that she had the first three words and the entire country had a billion more afterwards to condemn her.

But we should move on now. The woman’s no longer in the Palace. New administration, people. New guy in the house. Semi-bald guy in the house. I wonder if they’re going to paint the Palace yellow.

Anyway, going back to fatwah. So you may as hell be wondering why I’m going Islamic all of a sudden. And you guessed it right: It’s one of the few darn items that I missed in the History exam last Mundee. Sir Esguerra’s hint went like this: There was this fatwah after the 9/11 attacks. So I answered demon. As in the supposed face of Satan in those pictures of the smoke billowing from the WTC. Maybe in a past life, I was an imam. I really believe I was an imam.

By the way, thank you to the iffing storm that jumped out from behind last Tuesday. Really nice trick you pulled on me back there. You waited for me to board the jeepney, then peed on Manila on my way home, and finally vomitted a skyful of rain at me as I got off the jeepney. Really wonderful experience walking on swollen Dasmarinas street, by the way. The water was just lovely.

Thanks to the blackout too. I really appreciate it. Go to storm-hell.

P.S. Imed 2016 is raising funds for this year’s LadyMed like wolves on the hunt, and I like the fun. Oh yeah.

P.S. ‘Eclipse’ is waaaaay better than ‘Twilight’ and ‘New Moon’. It’s got some cool fight/chase scenes… but still crappy. The whole saga is.

The Second Jarby Anniversary

Happy 2nd birthday, The World According to Jarby! Sorry the greeting’s late by a day. Blame the net connection.

July 2009:

It’s All About the Free Sundae – when Jarby celebrates a fake birthday at Gumbo’s in order to have their free sundae and satisfy a craving.

The Referent Theory of Talking – when Jarby applies what he’s learned in Philosophy I and tries to explain some people's principles on conversation.

Diliman – when Jarby has a day of firsts, the highlights being his first ride on the LRT and his first walking tour of UP Diliman, when he accompanies three other classmates to visit their high school classmates.

Walt Disney films in the UP curriculum – when Jarby puts a crazy idea (and they are countless in his mind) to writing: Disney films as part of the University’s curriculum with exams about the films – UP style; this, being a result of his mapping out the family tree of Simba out of boredom.

August 2009:

Walt Disney films in the UP curriculum II – when Jarby transforms a beloved Disney film into an exam, as a continuation of his imaginary curriculum.

That Blasted Bird – when Jarby gets attacked by what he suspects to be a mutated sparrow while walking along Padre Faura street – or maybe he was just imagining things?

The Queen – when Jarby writes a descriptive essay as a requirement for Lady G’s class, about a cat that is in real life, Lady G herself.

September 2009:

Dreams and Pastures – when Jarby writes about how the Filipino youth can help build a globally competent nation, an essay that won him 2nd place in the Palanca Awards Kabataan Essay English category that year.

ananlyzing a patch of dreamy pasture – when Jarby does just that: analyze a patch of grass.

Wrapping Up – when Jarby summarizes almost an entire month’s worth of travails, including a trip to Clark, a meet-up with an old friend, and sharing a bed with Dengue.

October 2009:

how i finished my term paper body – when Jarby gives credit to Typhoon Ondoy for giving him time to finish his research paper for Lady G ahead of the deadline.

remembering tagaytay… but it’s not dead – when Jarby bulletizes Intarmed 2016’s History 5 field trip in Tagaytay and its neighbors.

Gorilla – when Jarby remembers a particularly brainless incident involving him, an ape, and a black butterfly.

Cruising in Midtown – when Jarby takes a leak at a restroom in Robinsons Midtown, only to discover that wild things happen there.

November 2009:

Just something – when Jarby discovers something about someone somewhere and gets the shock of his life.

December 2009:

Christmas Day – when Jarby creates a collage of thoughts for the holiday.

January 2010:

The Definition of Instinct – when Jarby writes down his thoughts on the riot that has been going on in Intarmed 2016’s Social Science I class under Vitz.

Waking Life – when Jarby publishes a writing assignment on a film they watched in Philosophy I under Tius.

Addicted – when Jarby writes about a former drug addict who dropped by for a talk during an NSTP class the previous semester.

The Blind Side – when Jarby patronizes two films that he watched on his own and mesmerized him, sort of.

February 2010:

V-Day – when Jarby rants about the one film that somehow defined Valentine’s Day for the year.

A Song About Painting – when Jarby waxes poetic on the case of the ‘doctors to the barrios’ and wins a prize in the process.

March 2010:

Postcard from Hellmonth – when Jarby emits a postful of thoughts amidst the hustle and bustle of the heaviest and final month of Intarmed Year Level I life.

Your Island – when Jarby is inspired by Kevin Jer David’s story about the deaf frog in the hole.

I’d Like to See Your Face – when Jarby expresses his rage over his most disastrous exam in any Math subject in UP.

You’re a Little Bit Racist – and I’m a Little Bit, too – when Jarby finds love in Avenue Q.

To Zurich, with Love – when Jarby brings out the poet in him for a trip to Switzerland.

April 2010:

She made my day. – when Jarby meets a check-in counter attendant bursting with corporate sunshine at NAIA 2.

Four Poems – when Jarby publishes four pieces of poetry that had previously been published in high school.

Something – when Jarby fills up space while making something else.

June 2010:

June – when Jarby welcomes himself back to the blogosphere.

Retrospection – when Jarby does just that: retrospection.

Children of Change – when Jarby publishes his failed entry to this year’s Palanca Awards. No Peninsula this September 1, then.

Our Piece of Earth – when Jarby, as a high school senior, pretends to be an eighty-something survivor of the Second World War.

Flies and Freedom – when Jarby laments the sad case of journalists in this guilt-ridden country.

Movie Mania – when Jarby laments the horror of trash that is SATC 2 and explores the cases of recently seen movies.

Fish – when Jarby shares with the entire animal park-hating Filipino community his thoughts on Manila Ocean Park: That the place is cooler than they think. Went there with the Madi, the Clam, the Wowie, and the Theia.

July 2010:

A Little Fall of Rain – when Jarby finally accepts the fact that the rainy season has arrived – and that slippers are never good for school.

religious at ten forty-four – when Jarby drops a line while studying for the Histo exam where he surprisingly scored 94% or a 1.3.

religious at ten forty-four

I just finished scanning/semi-reading/underlining twenty six pages of Jewish-Islamic-Zoroastrian paragraphs. This is what we get for being a class that has no equal anywhere else in the world – not in Antarctica, not in the marshlands of cephalochordates. As the saying goes, the cream of the crop deserves more cream. I wish it were mango- or vanilla-flavored ice cream, but unfortunately, ice cream’s out of stock.

After crossing the majestic sea of embryos and integument, we now have to go inside a mosque, celebrate Rosh Hashanah and eat honey-dipped apples, have our own mental pilgrimage to Mecca, and get to know Malikkud Jaban, Uruwana, Vohu Mana, and the rest of the gang. On the upside, we get to go to Mecca for free… maybe not.

There’s another manuscript lying just above the ‘Burn After Reading’ pirated DVD (you read that right: pirated, so go get the MTRCB or Edu Manzano or whoever). The title: Origins of Religion. A back page or two has some scribbles; otherwise, the entire thing’s basically untouched by ink.

Sleeping late, for the glory of History 3, is no longer an option.

A Little Fall of Rain

This is why I never want to wear slippers to school ever again, for as long as I can bear it.

What was supposed to be just a two-hour play time turned out to be a leadership seminar that was pretty much undirected in itself. The whole affair, complete with the usual question-and-answer portion where participants ask the most clichéd questions, had to end just in time for the rain to fall. And fall it did. Real strong and hard. And got my feet all wet.

Slippers, you may look comfortable – and seem to provide the toes with lots of fresh air, no doubt for respiration – but when it comes to the rain, you are a bitchy traitor.

Also, thanks to either climate change or the erratic weather of Manila for the snowflakes. But of course, there were no snowflakes. Just water. And wet dirt all racing to cling to my feet.