A Peryagabs Holiday

I spent the whole day yesterday driving around the city, eating at Udang's, and slurping peppermint froccino with college friends Vanessa, Rezil and Christine, three of the limited population of the Peryagabs Club. Thanks to another member Carlo, who did not grace us ex-NBSBs* with his effervescent presence, the group was almost defunct. Meanwhile, we excuse the presence of the following: Marc-lot who under the laws of physics cannot teleport to CDO in time, but whose absence was sufficiently made up for by kilometric text messages and a brief phone call of well wishes; Janice,  who had to gobble, sans salt and pepper, a ginormous serving of laws and jurisprudence in preparation for the dreaded final exams; Marjane, who is in Norway breastfeeding as of press time (Congratulations,  mommy and daddy!), basking in the afterglow of childbirth; Mabel of California, in the afterglow of a four-year marital bliss; Febrose, who is presumably in Dubai working extra hard to be able to treat us to Bora upon her return; Mai_u, whose whereabouts are left to our flimsy conjectures; and our dear Seminarians Mike, Datoy, Antolin, etc., etc. who cannot take the day off from St. John Vianney lest they succumb to the corporeal temptations we, the Peryagab Girls, willingly pose. Roll Call having already been dispensed with, the details of the day follows. (I scrapped out the scandalous parts which, by the way, made up 90% of our day-out)

I left the house at twelve noon after watching bits of the Oscars. I noticed an anomaly in the car steering, so I stopped by a gas station to fill my tires with air (yes, there is a non-cosmic connection between the two). Then I picked up Rezil and Vanessa and we drove to Cristine's apartment. We decided to eat late lunch at Udang's which charges only a hundred pesos for all the seafood goodness of crabs, shrimps and mussels. So off we went. But before going to Udang's, we took an unexpected detour to Apovel to harass the no-show NBSB** Carlo. It was already past twelve and our stomachs were churning acid. When we made it to his house, Cristine and Vanessa introduced themselves to his Ate as the impregnated minions of the Carlo Cult seeking extra-judicial support from their babies' progenitor. His whereabouts, however, was left to our flimsy conjectures yet again. So we moved on with our lives, starting with lunch.

Finally, we made it to Udang's. The restaurant was a fab find by Rezil. Not only were we treated to gracious waitresses, we were also ushered inside by an umbrella-toting boy (since we were parked under a very angry sun and the five-meter walk to the resto promised death by heatstroke. Plus, we eyed a Korean pubescent cutie earlier at the gas station)! The mood was festive with colorful draperies hanging from the ceiling. We arrived just in time for new servings of chicken and spicy crabs. Yum-O!

After an hour of chitchat, we drove to Rosario Arcade looking for a generously airconditioned tambayan to ward off the heat spell. One coffee place looked really inviting so we went in and found seats at the back portion where we can see (and make fun of) every sampling of multitude wanting to buy coffee. Some came in with super short shorts, others came in with laptops and girlfriends in tow, and still others just, well, came in. Lucky for us, Cristine bought four tall glasses of peppermint froccino, which was the perfect cold drink to ease off our hot flushes and sleepy spells. Thanks Tin! What followed was an overflow of chitchat about the most profound, insanely baffling and extremely welcome distraction in life--Boys. With froccinos as our creamy witnesses, we poured out tales of love lost, love found, love not yet found, love lost and not yet found, and love found but almost lost---the categories are extensive, I'm sure you will fall in at least one. In the course of our confessions, I found out that Rezil and I shared more than we think we did way back in college. If I got  you curious on this one, I'm sorry I'm doing this on purpose for you to want to join us next time. Just make sure you are a certified Peryagab.  Hahaha!

By six pm, Rezil was off to a date with her boyfriend. Vanessa went off with her friend for a nightcap. Meanwhile, Cristine stayed at the coffee place to finish checking her students' written assignments. Go Ma'am! And dear gorgeous moi had to go to my cousins' thanksgiving party (re: nurses' board exam). So I kissed my girls goodbye and headed to the parking lot. To my horror I found two of my tires flat, as in, nada, no good, leave-it-at-the-parking-lot-and-get-back-to-it-later flat. Whew, and I thought nothing could ruin my day. Well, the flat tires really didn't ruin my day  because I left-it-at-the-parking-lot-and-let-my-father-get-back-to-it-later. How convenient. Plus, I befriended the guard to make sure he watches over it while I was away. I went to the party and became instant emcee. Clap clap. (Congratulations to my cousins Katy <placed 6th in the board> and Tetet. Cheers!)

By the end of the day I was exhausted from all the driving, chitchatting, eating and the collateral hosting I did. Whew! I hope there will be more days like yesterday. More national holidays, legislators!

Pictures of the day to follow when I get home. Have fun everyone!

Good times.

*No Boyfriend Since Birth

**Never Breastfed Since Birth