Skip to main content

Web log entry #113

PAST customary peck on neck—too high an aim for one who goes for peck, peck below—Estella, trader-entrepreneur from Seoul re-introduced me as her “long lost boyfriend.”

On top of such introduction, why, she usually prefers me atop her, she rues aloud that she can’t take me out on a date—uh, that’s short for accommodate and inundate hers.

Welcome my rules she has to—“take a number; fall in line; I’ll get to you after I’m done with the others or after they’re done with me, whatever comes first, but they usually come one after the other; wait to be sated.”

But there are no hard and fast rules when a gorgeous damsel like her wants it hard for a member of good standing…

She’d still pry why I turn up kim chi with local chillies—they pack a lot more conflagration and fiery flavor over jalapeños, habaneros or Cantonese capsicum. Cuisine ought to be arson in reins.

Nope, she didn’t query why I’d always lap up a raw meaty Korean yummy, something called bulbolgogi.

Pry on she would why I picked up the more brutal taekyon and hwarang-do over the more popular taekwondo… why, their techniques are a lot ruthlessly lethal and hews nearer to the spirit of kyokushinkai introduced by another Korean, a Kamikaze pilot who became known as Masutatsu Oyama.

Of quaint rites culled from the Land of the Morning Calm, I trudge off ashore and do obeisance to the sea at the dawn of each New Year… lots and lots of wetness, that’s my cup of cha-cha… so unlike a nodding Korean acquaintance who turn up every last few days of the year at a resort in Ilog Malino in Bolinao, Pangasinan to do a similar ritual of greeting the sun.

He wants it hot, I want it wet—to each his own preference of paying respects to Nature.

Such acquired idiosyncrasies struck a chord in her heartstrings… they still profess and practice kinship with Nature… that explains why I got one from the land of the morning come.

I shouldn’t be posting this entry in my Facebook account… (Name) “is in a relationship but it’s complicated.” Lousy worn out stock phrase that.

More to my liking would be a post pumped with innuendoes like this… “is in and out, in and out, in and out in what passes for a relationship, something so simple since complications can only arise in one suffering from a disease in its terminal phase, pwe-he-he-he!”

Estella tells them I’m good.

Modesty aside, I could be worse.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ALAMAT NG TAHONG

SAKBIBI ng agam-agam sa kalagayan ng butihing kabiyak-- at kabiyakan, opo-- na nakaratay sa karamdaman, ang pumalaot na mangingisda ay napagawi sa paanan ng dambuhalang Waczim-- isang bathala na nagkakaloob sa sinuman anumang ibulwak ng bibig mula sa bukal ng dibdib. Pangangailangan sa salapi na pambili ng gamot ng kapilas-pusong maysakit ang nakasaklot sa puso ng matandang mangingisda. 'Di kaginsa-ginsa'y bumundol ang kanyang bangka sa paanan ng Waczim. Kagy at umigkas ang katagang kimkim noon sa kanyang dibdib: "Salapi!" Bumuhos ng salapi-- mga butil at gilit ng ginto-- mula papawirin. At halos umapaw sa ginto ang bangka ng nagulantang na mangingisda, walang pagsidlan ang galak, at walang humpay ang pasasalamat sa mga bathala. Nanumbalik ang kalusugan ng kabiyak ng mangingisda. At lumago ang kabuhayan, naging mariwasa ang magkapilas-puso na dating maralita. Nilasing ng kanyang mga dating kalapit-bahay ang mangingisda-- na hindi ikina...

Kuntaw

I T was more than an implement—tough as metal, soft as petal—wielded like lightning to repulse conquerors. Invading Mactan in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan and his men must have thought that their fabled Toledo steel swords would be more than a match more the island’s native defenders—they were dead wrong. The Spaniards never knew what hit them. In the 1900s, American occupation forces in Mindanao particularly in the Sulu islands found themselves under constant harassment from what they called “crazy hermits” or juramentados . The native fighters would fast for days, go through special religious rites, then go forth to storm American garrisons. Even as the .445 caliber pistol was plied out in 1911 to stop seemingly unstoppable fighters, the Americans still never knew what hit them. Looking back with pride at such points in history when their fighting mettle was unleashed in battle, Filipino Muslims, especially the Tausugs of Sulu will, with a little nudge and tug at their patriotic sentimen...

LARAWANG KAPILAS-PUSO (Dulang Kyogen sa Pag-ibig at mga Musmos)

Mga Tauhan: Gombei, ang maghahabi Mariko, ang mananahi-mananandata, kabiyak ni Gombei Daimyo, ang panginoon ng kastilyo Mga Kanayon ni Gombei – pintor, panadero, magbubukid, tindera, atbp. Tatlong Paslit Tatlong Alalay ng Daimyo Dalawang Korombo bilang mga Diwata/Apsara sa Hangin Ilang Kataga sa Pagtatanghal at Tanghalan: Halaw sa isang kuwentong katutubo mula Japan ang akda. Isinalin sa anyong kyogen – dulang katatawanan, mula rin sa naturang bansa. Inangkin sa puso at binigyan ng mga sangkap na Pilipino. Karaniwang sangkap sa kyogen ang kunwa’y di-nakikitang korombo, nakasuot ng itim at madalas na tagapag-abot ng mga kagamitan sa mga tauhang nasa tanghalan. Sa dulang ito, sagisag sa ihip ng hangin at pihit ng kapalaran ang dalawang korombo. Liban sa istruktura na anyong balkonahe sa kanan ng tanghalan at mala-balangkas ng dampa sa kaliwang panig, sayad sa lupa at hitik sa posibilidad ang pagiging payak sa kabuuan ng tanghalan. Sa ganitong kapayakan nakaka...