All Is Well

As I write this, I just changed into my usual sando and boxer short ready-to-sleep attire. I got home revived from an overnight stay with Barkadang Walang Panglan at Arianne’s crib in Silang, Cavite.

Prior to my distressing, I suffered through four gruelling days of overstaying at work. Tuesdays and Wednesday were spent 0930 P.M. for lay outing a news release for our Foundation, Thursday was spared in preparation for our company’s Trick or Treat. That one was until 1000 P.M., and then Friday morning our call time was 0700 A.M. Included in the list of the hurdles was the recent typhoon. With all these in mind, I only thought of one reward: by Saturday and Sunday, I will be with my dear college friends and genuinely enjoy their company.

As part of bonding with my long missed and equally burdened friends, we watched the film Three Idiots Pre; Bollywood film focusing on the story of three engineering students-turned-best friends and their journey through fighting for love, pursuing passion, overcoming fear, and doing everything imaginable (and unimaginable) for a friend.

I know that those of you have watched the film may be teary-eyed now or to better put it, crying. I understand you; for I fell in love with the film as easily as within the first ten minutes. The screenplay is simply beautifully-written. I bet the writer is someone who has been either through so many trials and triumphs in his life or has been unfairly favored with the gift of writing by our Master Scribe. The film is heartwarming. I cannot stop crying not because it is painful, but because it is so inspiring. It made me miss my guy friends Derick and James. Needless to say, among my groups of friends, they are the only ones whom I have not reunited with, yet.

Good news no. 1

The film taught us that whenever we feel unsure, worrisome, afraid, or hopeless, we just have to tap our hearts and whisper ‘all is well’.

Indeed, all is well when you are surrounded by seven of your countless trusted buddies and you are excluded from the hustle and bustle of the metro. All is well when you swap doing the chores, cooking food, buying them in the groceries, and taking pictures. All is well when you know that you missed them and you would endlessly chat in the dining table and the sala. All is well when you know that even if tomorrow you would have to work, you can recall two long days of laughing and loving inside your comfort zone. All is well when you know that after all, they got your back and you got theirs. All is well when you know that no matter how hard hitting your jokes may be, it only meant to say ‘I love you friend’. All is well when I am writing this blog and cannot contain my emotions because I know that we felt better inside and out after our reunion. :’)

 Good news no. 2

I felt particularly excited for Sunday morning because I was anticipating our release in Manila Standard Today. We made a publicity deal with them as part of promoting the efforts of my team, Megaworld Foundation.

By the time I got the copies, I felt thrilled and glad because for one, I was given a chance to do it. Second, it is part of a special edition called ‘CSR giving back to the society’. And third, it was a testament that I can still do things I learned back in school.

B Roll (cut scenes)

By late night, we watched The Hangover II and laughed hard because Chow is one stoned, died, and resurrected bitch, and Alan is annoyingly immature.

We took a series of secret shots of two porn aspirants as inspired by Japanese Hentai. In case you’re wondering, the pics are decent enough to be kept in a comfort room or in a drawer, along with tissues and alcohol. LOL.

We intended and insisted that we swim in the club house but Ayang said otherwise. No one was able to convince (tame) her.

Nadz has a French suitor. Hsam knows the story. We barely do.

Gamz and Ayang nailed most of the pictures themed ‘high fashion’ and ‘sensual’ while I won the ‘alien’ category. Does this mean something? Am I ugly or are my friends really bitchy? Haha.

Hsam is a promising home wrecker. Actually, Mylene predicted she would be one without her 'knowing it'. I can picture Hsam, 40 years old, cyring in the corner and cursing Mylene for that. Sadly Hsam, you first knocked on glass, not on wood. Joke. But it’s okay, as per Zenaida Seba:

Ang mga tala ay gabay lamang. Mayroon tayong free will, gamitin natin ito... Your call, friend.

We drank and barely emptied a Tanduay Mojito. It does not taste good even when cold. Nobody got drunk and/or tipsy.

Kath lost a lot of weight. Her hair cut fits her so much better. She works as a specialist for a water-distribution company. We thought she is a receptionist.

Even when we are already friends for four years, we had A LOT of awkward moments during dinner. I don’t why but we were just crazy that night. We even tried to stop talking to each other over dinner but by at most, ten seconds, we were bursting with laughter. It was just pleasantly, happily awkward.

Encore

God, I feel so blessed. And I thank You because You surely know how to uplift broken motivations, refocus distracted people, and reunite an awesome barkada.

Kafka on the Shore (2005)

Haruki Murakami/ Novel

I have long wanted to read Murakami as he is one of the most recommended Asian authors there are. And to my judgement: he never failed his readers. It feels good to be an addition to his followers.

As promised by the synopsis, Kafka on the Shore took me to a journey involving talking cats, raining fish and leeches, Johnny Walker as a Villain and Colonel Sanders (KFC icon) as a concept. We have Kafka; claiming he to be the world’s toughest 15-year old boy. He ran away from home having an utter disgust for his father. And we also have Nakata, in his sixties, a victim of wartime affliction; something involving the air which made him two weeks unconscious, and upon waking up, lose all his memory and intelligence.

Aside from hating his father, Kafka also tried hard to escape his father’s curse of killing him, falling in love with his mother, and sleeping with her sister (Oediphal prophecy), but to no avail- so to speak.

The two protagonists were lucky to have loyal buddies named Oshima and Hoshino, respectively. Kafka was lost in direction and purpose in life while Nakata is literally lost- for words, meanings, memory, and personal history. Oshima was generous enough to share his wisdom to Kafka and be his guardian. Hoshino, on the other hand, turned his back on everything he possessed in order to assist old Nakata.

Upon reading the novel, I felt a pleasantly crazy feeling stirring inside me. It was plotted very wisely and words of wisdom were overflowing. Fate kept the lives of these characters intertwined. Ironically though, their roads have never met.

Kafka is indeed a very interesting central character. I felt his journey through adolescence, solitude, sex, love, and getaways. His relationship with his turned-out-to-be mother, Miss Saeki is extremely wild yet solemn. To cap it all, I just wished him all the best in life. He is young and full of potentials. I hope he could redeem himself and his youth.

Meanwhile, reading Nakata in between is a little heartbreaking. He is like a grandfather who has high morale; one you know who have lived a very good and contented life, yet it pains a lot to know that after the accident, his family disregarded him and he suffered a series of unfortunate events. What makes thing worse is that he does not know the gravity of his misfortunes. He is awe-inspiring because despite his illiteracy and ignorance, he lived a very simple, and honest life. His seemingly pointless existence has unconsciously changed Hoshino. His death made me cry not mainly because he is gone, but due to Hoshino’s attachment to him. Ah... wish you could read that chapter, too :’(

Kafka on the Shore is overall a good book to read. Just to warn you, it is long and visually heavy yet highly entertaining. It taught me to (1) accept the dictate of fate to men while living happily and meaningfully, nevertheless, (2) and accept loss and learn from it.

This is just a short entry but thank you for reading, by the way. I sincerely wish you get to know Kafka; especially Nakata.

Our James Morrison Concert Experience

On the dot at five thirty P.M.

Rushed to MRT at six.

Reached Araneta Coliseum by six thirty.

Waited to redeem my ticket until eight P.M.

A very hectic and tight time frame I had to endure only to experience James Morrison's artistry.

It is the first time of the English pop singer in the Philippines and as soon as I found out he would be performing for his fans- and I am one of them, bigtime- I did not hesitate to watch him. That is the least that I can do to welcome one of the singers who continually inspires and relaxes me with his songs.

Mind you- this is not a blog about the concert of James Morrison. This is an entry about the prelude of the concert.

Before screaming with joy, we were first panicking because of a commotion regarding our online purchased tickets from one seemingly reputable online dealer. To cut it short, we were expecting to redeem our Upper Box A tickets at the venue. However, to our surprise, both the rules and customer support agent said we should have purchased the tickets in their office at Makati. Mind you, it was not directly stated in the voucher and nobody informed us except when we called them on the night itself. So there we were, gradually losing hope because of misleading information and yet there was no one who came to our rescue.

So, as my patience emptied, I asked the woman who answered our phone calls.

- Sino ka? At anong trabaho mo?

- Si ____ po, customer support.

- Ah, so what kind of support are you giving your customers, then?

*Dead Air

***

- Anong mairerecommend mong solusyon dito ngayon? Naghihintay kami sa wala.. Wala di ba?

- (After few seconds) Wala po

The company does not deserve to be named in this blog for it did not render us quality customer service nor would I want them to pay me for making us feel like ticket-less fans. I am actually sorry that we were rude to rant on the agent as she is not the one handling such transactions; she's only tasked to answer calls and sometimes receive moral damages.

However, the company has to know that these situations really arise. And I think- just to be fair- apologies like...

Hindi po kasi namin alam na may darating diyan (Araneta) na walang ticket (voucher lang), and

First time po itong nangyari sa 'min...are plainly stupid.

As a practicing online dealer of (in this sense) discounted concert tickets, how could you not expect professional customers coming to the venue hoping to redeem the tickets on the night itself- after battling with work loads? Assuming- for the sake of argument- that we can get the tickets at your office in Makati during certain working hours, what would happen to us then if we cannot get them because- as a matter of fact- we are also working during those times. Should you not have the courtesy of informing your customers through phone calls or mail about what they should do? Or is it really hard to conduct business personally that you would insist on not sending a representative to deal with the rising temperaments of these irate professionals? Better think again.

Online businesses can not be entirely propelled by online and electronically-mediated transactions. Your purchasers are real people with real issues once you upset them. Therefore, give them face value and not the music of One Direction and Foster the People as caller ring backs.

Long before we bitched the agent, we realized that we cannot claim the tickets anymore. And so, we have to look for the next best thing: buy tickets from an insider. Instantly, I asked a guy wearing all black, looking much of a production personnel, and anxiously holding his tickets while walking back and forth near the red gate. We asked- begged him to sell us his tickets for Php 1,500.00 and we were lucky because (1) he is obviously not a fan, (2) he has a spare Patron ticket, and (3) the tix are both in the Lowerbox; much nearer than our originally preferred seats.

Needless to say, my friend Lhong has miraculously procured two Lowerbox tickets; so we already have four. After a while, Hsam, Lhong, Mhy, and I are assured of seats nearer to James.

So that was how we ended up enjoying the concert. We may have gone through a highly annoying encounter with the dealer but I think we are really destined to watch James perform live. In the end, it was an additional to-be-cherished and to-be-treasured moments with Barkadang Walang Pangalan. Indeed, all is well that ends well.

Again, I am deeply apologetic to the customer support agent, but I am not sorry- along with five others who relied on the online purchase- for standing up to our oppressor that night. And I don't think I'll trust them again because as Morrison said:

You can't play on broken strings...

How can I give anymore,

When I love you a little less than before?