#RPintheRP: A Travelogue

Day 12: Party-Crashing

This was supposed to be a simple day. I wanted another rest day, but I guess the day took turns that were rather unexpected.

I started off with one small goal — go to Ateneo to get a copy of Floy Quintos’ books. Nice. Simple. Manageable. Right?

After a quick breakfast at Ate Fe’s in Maginhawa (while this was on the gustatory checklist, I do regret eating here. There. Was. A. Freaking. Cockroach.), I took an Uber to Ateneo. And, yes, this means Katipunan. And, yes, this means, banging my head against the car window in frustration.

To add to the frustration, Waze told us to turn left and enter not at Ateneo but at Miriam. However, instead of being all rant-y about how much I despise Katipunan (and this hatred for this avenue is not new — I’ve always avoided going there even as a student), I want to talk about the peculiar relationship between Uber drivers and Waze.

***

Waze is an app. It’s kind of like Google Maps on steroids. It tracks real-time traffic, road closures, etc. It’s actually pretty neat.

What I find most peculiar about Waze is how drivers almost consider it a “person”. They would say things like “Well, Waze said” or “Waze is acting up”. The difference is most pronounced in Filipino with lines such as “sabi NI Waze” (instead of “sabi NG Waze”), “itong SI Waze e, tumotopak” (instead of “itong Waze e, tumotopak).

It’s cute and I guess having a disembodied voice kind of makes it a person?

***

I thankfully got into Ateneo Press just five minutes before their lunch break. I got a copy of the Quintos books. I was about to go home when I got a message from a guy who would eventually be Four. He wanted to meet up a little later. I decided that, to kill time, to go back to Trinoma and pick up some of the books I’ve been contemplating on getting the day before.

***

A Trinoma trip and a lunch at Tokyo Tokyo done, I decided to also take a quick pit stop to UP Press. I texted my friend Vyxz, who works as a professor in UP, and she invited me to a party at UP’s Sunken Garden.

After picking up a couple of books from UP Press, I sat at Magdangal Statue, waiting for Vyxz to finish her class. It was the perfect reminisce — having a Marlboro Black by the feet of Magdangal, while reading and waiting for Vyxz is a perfect throwback to university days.

This is one of the most nostalgic places I’ve visited. And I felt it, the rush of memories coming back. However, and this is a funny story I shared with Vyxz after her class, it is interesting that my whole reminisce and nostalgia took less than a couple of minutes. After that rush, it was time to check Grindr for the nearby boys for more than fifteen minutes.

***

I then crashed a party with Vyxz’s friends. Well, I was invited but I always feel awkward in situations like these. Thankfully, they were all very kind and they had a ready supply of spaghetti and barbeque and, just wonderful Filipino picnic/birthday food. And lambanog. Of course.

ONLY IN UP: There was an event where students would “run like Naruto”. It was such an entertaining scene to watch! Ah — to be young and full of energy again. (Although I doubt I would’ve partaken in such events even when I was younger.)

I said my goodbyes to my new friends and took a jeepney ride to the Shopping Centre (see, I’m not bourgeois. I take jeepneys too!) I really wanted a UP hoodie; however, and it wasn’t much of a surprise, they had no sizes for me. Sad, sad.

***

I do not understand Filipino sizes. Generally your Western size is two sizes bigger. For example, a Large in Canada, would be an XL or even a 2XL in the Philippines. I already have enough body image issues, Philippines, stop making my body bigger!

For some reason, shoes are also measured slightly differently. And this is where I draw an imaginary line. I get it that not a lot of people are as big as me — but there’s very little I can do about my size 12 feet. Why don’t you sell size 12’s?!

***

The trip wasn’t for naught though as I ran into my resident linguist Iji! It was such a fortunate stroke — I was leaving the UP merchandise store and, lo, behold, there was the good ol’ Iji and we were both in matching colors.

Before leaving, I have to note that my app notified me that Two was nearby. We tried to chat with each other but I guess Two wasn’t meant to come back to my life. With a heavy heart, I went home and waited for Four.

***

Just like me, Four was Aquarius — a fact he pointed out when he saw my Aquarius T-shirt. Four was a lovely guy (although I am biased towards favoring people of my own sign). The thing I remember most was that he too was into Pokemon.

I unfortunately did not bring my 3DS with me to the Philippines but I did tell him that normally guys need to defeat me in a 6v6 battle before I allow them to defeat me in bed. I gave him an exception not normally extended to most people as he was rather cute.

***

A few days ago, when I was in possession of my 3DS, Four and I had the much awaited Pokemon Battle. He ran a Bug-type team while I ran a Dark-type one. The match initially was even, however, it took a turn for the worst, when his Shedinja used Baton Pass to pass Speed Boosts and Swords Dance to Araquanid. Araquanid pretty much murdered my entire team.

It was a fortunate Krookodile that outsped and KO’ed it with Dragon Claw that turned the tide. He still had around 4 Pokemon and I was down to Krookodile. Thankfully, my Krookodile had Moxie — Attack goes higher the longer the match goes.

Long story short — I won, though it was by pure chance

***

Nonetheless, I actually quite liked Four. He was witty, intelligent, quick on a retort, and cute as cute can go. I thought things could’ve developed a bit more (and he seemed interested in exploring too) but, well, let’s let the rest of the days tell themselves.