Garuda and a surprise ending

Fine! I slacked! No amount of apologies or explanations can change that fact so, no, I'm not offering any. I will just shrug my shoulders and pretend that yesterday I had a blogpost... Hehehe

Now where was I?


Oh, yeah, I was telling you, how, I got to this land of Garuda, Banyan trees, and Gudang Garam, right?

Ok, fine, a little back-tracking won't hurt. Well, as you might already know, the Brunei thinggie with our family friend seemed to have flopped. Thing is, I seriously think that she's wasn't all that up front with everything. Harsh and generalizing as it may seem, I think all she wanted was for Mom to cough up more money for her supposed 'business in the land of Bolkiah'. I was just a casualty, but not necessarily road kill. After all, I really did want to leave Manila for a while and get back to Iloilo for a brief period then get back into the groove in the metro

Le Baby Sis

What I did not count on was the amazing connection that I had with my baby sister in the process. Our relationship took to new heights, way far beyond the milky way. For that, I wouldn't change a thing really. She said, I should consider just getting a job in Iloilo.She said, though I will get much less salary in Iloilo, I would rack up much much less expenses, too, thereby, being the more financially sound thing to do! Talk about getting financial advice from my baby sister of only 22. Proud of her! She knows me all too well. She said I was not really saving up or anything to really need a big paying job. She knows I just want my coffee and my poetry. The thing that got me was when she said... and if you leave and work again far from here, you will get burned out again. If you just work in Iloilo, I get to see you everyday! I won't get stuck with the feeling of missing you that much!

One thing led to another and the sabbatical slowly turned into a reintegration. I was bored shitless! I did try to get back into the groove and reconsider a lot o things. One of which is going back to Law School and finally getting my ATTY before my name. I just did not want to decide things out of sheer testicle drying boredom.

The Bora

I did try to find a job or something to that effect. I checked out Boracay's possibilities but then nothing seemed to come up well on that end. I told myself, I'm giving this a window period. Soonest would be by the start of the new year in January, and latest would be after my birthday in March. It then slowly turned into some sort of reintegration with the city I love best. Iloilo. I was just lazing around being the starving (parent-fed, caffeine fortified, nicotine vitaminized) bum poet again. Then it hit me blindside.




The trip with an S

One fine night when I was in and not out there somberly caffeinating myself to poetic greatness, my dad casually dropped the immense possibilities of a business trip he was sorta-kinda financing in a very limited capacity. It was more of a favor for a good friend than an investment. That's why, in a weird sort of way, I love this about my dad. Beneath the tough exterior is an even tougher and fiercely loving heart! The Business Graduate in me heard all sorts of warning bells going off, but I am not to be Wall Street that night. I was just listening son. He said that the lucrative enterprise require he travel along with the main movers all over Asia and with a sigh he said he was not really up to tiring trips all over the Pacific Region. He said he was not what he used to be and he was already tired. Then he casually suggested that it was MY thing, the traveling around, the risque, the business acumen, the quick thinking, the thrill and the big dough pay-off.

He further explained that this is kinda quick deals and all and since I was still a work in progress with my life and what to do with it, it won't hurt to give it a go-see. I gave a non-committal 'uhuh' and the next thing I knew, he was asking for my passport and was to leave two days after. Talk about being SWEPT!

Now, when I met the partners, I was informed albeit sketchily that this would entail trips to Hong Kong, Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Thailand, etc etc etc. It was a buy and sell thing, dealing as quick middle man between suppliers all over. Sounded like the biggies to me. Anyhoot, without the benefit of a retraction the deal was sealed and I was supposed to accompany them and learn the ropes along the way and be of whatever help and assistance I could be. So there.

Now, after two days in Hong Kong and a touch down in Jakarta, I am now in Surabaya, wasting precious time meant to be monetized, sitting in the cafe of Widodaren Hotel, sipping Java, while allowing the big beautiful but grisly Garuda Statue to stare at me while I waste my time on line.

I wrote in my facebook status message that in a land of deep mysticism, Banyan trees and Fuchsia Plumeria's (kalachuchi folks!) floating lazily on the gurgling fountain, writing should have been a given, but I think my muse is not keen on the scent of Gudang Garam, hence, poetry is light years away!

In the short span of time I have been on trip, I realized that this really could be it! It spells really big dough. I may need to stop being a Jenglot (that's a vampire creature in Indonesian Folklore) sleep a bit late, wake up early, learn Bahasa, a bit of functional Cantonese, conversational Maranao, go business all the way, and stop thinking about sight seeing, culture and poetry; and I might just be driving my new car when I get back to Iloilo, chuck this functional laptop junk for a Macbook Air, upgrade my phone to a Vertu, and all that jazz.

Me thinks, exciting, indeed! So exciting that I just have to take advantage of the free WiFi in this hotel while my two business partner went out there to monetize their time leaving me to my own devices. Now, now... this is so exciting that I am just dying for a lyric poem about me making a choice among the four Garuda Kings, better yet, Vishnu-me , riding my fiery rainbow plumed Garuda, lapping off the waters of the seas to expose the hidden dragons of commercialization and materialized wealth dreams to score victory in the worldly stage. Well there is a Garuda King named 'Garuda King Free-Of-Will,' maybe I can be that.

I checked my roaming enabled phone while contemplating my options and read again my mother's SMS. "Good luck anak, basi dira ang swerte mo. I love you more and miss you. Halong" (Good luck son, maybe that's where your luck lies. I love you more and miss you. Take Care."

Very very nice sweetened blackmail. Then again, for now, coffee, cigarettes, exchange rates, onward flight bookings, and well, this blog essay. Maybe I need a new Prada Shoes, after all. Meanwhile, google translate is slowly becoming chummy with me.
And the world turns!

Oh the surprise ending??? Well what do you know!!!

We're celebrating two years of Extra Super Special Batchoy With Egg!!!
24 effing months!!! YAIY!!!

Happy 2nd Anniversary Batchoy Denizens!!!

Or should it be...

Bahagia 2nd Anniversary. Selamat untuk kita semua!

WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!




Photo Credits:
http://blog.baliwww.com/guides/769
http://mahamudraofmarpa.blogspot.com/