mindfield

Weekend started Friday night when 'Win picked me up. Well, rather Pur did. Pur's his buddy from college - the one that sticks until now. Good lad, he is.
I didn't realise we use Pur's car until later when we actually got home again. I wondered why he was driving instead of 'Win but thought nothing of it. After all, we're all reuniting: I haven't seen Win for a while and Pur had been out in Riau or Bangka (I wasn't sure) taking up a job there three months ago; Dewi and Ivon I haven't seen since probably a year ago.

Pur got his hair all shaved off - he looked like Won Bin being drafted! Dewi was the same, all giggly and funny. I talked with Ivon for a while and as always had an interesting conversation.

Edwin's very well-known at PH and we got this place reserved at the bar. His fave girl immediately placed a free pitcher of the notorious Terminator. (I was hoping I wouldn't see it!)
Nevertheless, he urged us to order our own stuff and for a while, I thought, he's crazy. We'll be downing his Cointreau, the big pitcher of T and yet another? (According to fast fact, Asians have the lowest tolerance towards alcohol.)

But that's what high-school and college chums got you: crazy. So I got myself Margarita. Dewi wisely chose a non-alcohol bev: Home Alone, though it was she who turned out drunker than anyone. The boys stuck to Terminators and Ivon nursed Sprite.

Still in the spirit of the New Year, late night dancers climbed up the counter wearing super short Shanghai get-ups which looked great but for those additional, despicable fishnet stockings. (Lord, I wish people got wise and banned those 80s comebacks.)
'Win laid back and enjoyed the spectacle, Dewi and I whistled like drunken truck drivers while Ivon grinning over her drink. Poor Pur had chosen the worst place, he actually had his back towards the bar counter!

Right before us, sat these three guys, all Caucasians though they range from middle age, thirties to mid twenties. Dewi and I argued if the youngest was gay - he looked too sweet, with superfine features and somewhat feline movements.
Later, we thought No, maybe it was just his bad luck, having such outer features. (After all, Iker looks supersweet too.) But for the life of me I couldn't imagine my darling goalkeeper eyeing a girl the way this Iker #2 did. He was cute yes, but not in the least shy as Iker would be!

There was only one Indian that night. One! Usually the bar's full of them. I was expecting to see more of them... After a while, Dewi, who couldn't stand smoke, asked if we could get seats in the restaurant.
We did and stayed a while to watch the band. Lots of dangdut that night. When the dancers trooped back into the bar, Dewi and I fussed to get back there too - just to continue whistling!
Pur trudged along and we stood for while at the bar watching the girls and argued which one looked best. (We later zeroed on the one wearing orange top - she looked like Rachael Leigh Cook.)
One bad thing about PH was that the restaurant's closed at 1 AM. And seeing that Ivon and Dewi wouldn't go back into the smoky bar, we decided to head home. At the end of the night, Dewi and Ivon had gotten all agiggle and spoke of nonsense such as Kolor Ijo (the notorious half-human, half-supernatural creature who attacks and rapes young women, out of nowhere. Allegedly the creature wears green underwear, hence the name).
In the car, we all ragged Dewi, telling her the rumour was true, she'd get all giggly whenever she's stoned. It's true, she get funnier and wouldn't stop laughing.

Wasn't as drunk as I thought I would be. I just got super sleepy as always. But still, I didn't sleep until dawn and was woken up by this call I didn't expect at 11.
Feeling bear-like, I picked it up only to find solid cash waiting for me at the other end!
Was making a sale and still I tried talking the guy into meeting me "tomorrow"! Poor, kindly guy told me the next day would be Sunday and I woke up. Jeez, how stupid can you be? Just so I could get more hours to sleep, I almost let a hundred bucks slip away.
Quick wash, caught the bus and I picked it up in less than an hour. Haha, nice solid cash to spend! Good weekend, indeed. Mi padre had asked me to buy an new battery for his cell phone - the original one gone bad - and slipped in a request for a Conway Twitty record. Conway Twitty! Goddamn the guy, I've searched for more than a month and there's absolutely no trace of him. It's much better when Dad asked for Cat Stevens - that guy's still around, somewhere on the racks.

The quest for Twitty turned out another failure, I went back early, at 5, to wait for American Idol and my darling Clay. It's Country Rock music this weekend but he sang Barry White's Someone Else's Star. I agreed with Simon, Clay sounded just like last week. But then again, I didn't think Clay's for country music.
The thing about Clay is that he could turn every badass of a song into something marvellous. Like Paula Abdul did, I wondered where had that voice came from? How could someone seemingly so frail and yes, ordinary produce such a clear, strong and exquisite voice?
I've never really cared for Barry White but the song came out beautiful when Clay sang it. And the song Somewhere Out There? Ultimate badass of a soundtrack - while soundtracks usually are ear-friendly. But I was entranced as Clay sang it, didn't remember anything else, didn't notice anything else. Just that magical voice.
(Evil-tounge Simon was properly impressed, too, saying that he thought Clay would be IT.)

But as I found out last week, Clay's to be the runner up. Housemate Eti and I argued wheter it would be Ruben or Trenyce. (We don't think much of other contenders.)

Rule #1 in money spending: when in luck, go immediately for a new John Irving's book. I found that QB Bookstore had expanded its collections with Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. But then again, Quality Buys meant lots of money. So as usual, after lovingly caressing the hardcover editions, I turned to Kinokunia and bough a much cheaper stuff. This time, it's Setting Free The Bear.
There's this other bookstore at the back of Sogo (or Metro, I could never remember which) but they sale mostly magazines. Ran into the annual edition of People with Clay's face at the front (along with J.Lo and Ben, Jessica Lynch and others I don't remember now).
The Idol is Ruben! Oh well, he's great, too. He sang A Whole New World last week and as Randy Jackson said, he got us right from the first three notes. He has amazing voice, round, clear and pure, and also he got the flair to be a star. Good choice of songs, confidence and personality. He doesn't hesitate in wearing T-shirts and he did look good.
I cried during A Whole New World but at the time, I thought it was because I saw his father, so supporting and looking damn proud of him. That kind of thing always gets me. But when I heard him the second time, Sweet Home Alabama it was, I realised he really did make people feel warm. Way to go, Ruben.

From soccer front, Iker was drunk too, I see. He played beautifully up until that doomed goal. Field commentator even dubbed him Man of The Match (as did our local, Bung Oland - I love you!) He executed four brilliant saves, 4 paradas, Iker! And went and conceded such a stupid goal.
The Villareal guys didn't actually have any chance, they couldn't get past Madrid's midfielders (defenders were another story). Hollywood star-wannabe, Solari sent home Madrid's first goal during first half and Ronnie added another after the break. Villareal got a corner sometime afterward and Ballasteros freely nudged it into Iker's net.
Crazy Madrid defenders didn't do anything at all, dormida como siempre! Iker was to blame too, he misjudged the shot, thinking it would miss - the first time ever I saw him misjudging such a close attack. It really was a very stupid goal he ever conceded.
2-1, Casillas, while it could be 2-0. Grrrhhhhh.

Post flood, my sleeping schedule's ruined again. Before the New Year, I was successfully back into sane person's sleeping schedule - namely, from 9 or 10 PM to 5 or 6 AM.
Now it's back to 6 or 7 AM to 3 or 4 PM. Imagine that. For a writer, you could indeed still be productive but a student? I need to find a printing workshop which is open 24/7.
Competitive equals Jakarta, somewhat. Retail stores and big companies nowadays are quite familiar with the secret of little-but-successful enterprises: Go the extra mile and please your clients, anyway you can.
Still it's hard to ask people here to try and provide longer service hours. Especially when they feel they're superior. (Read: you need us more than we need you.)
Hmm.

But it's drinking time tonight!!! After being MIA for a while my Terminator Guy's back. Yes, cuz Edwin called just as I woke up this afternoon - accusing me of not texting him back, too. Well, I was asleep.
We're going to his fave cafe tonight and "open a bottle." Thank God, I'm sick of seeing him taking Terminators over and over again. Can we expect a whiskey tonight? (Nick-o, my man, been missing ya!)
Too bad BC's still renovating - they serve the best Tequila. Anyway, 'Win called in such a hurry I forgot to ask him the occasion: Is he celebrating the New Year this way? His late grandpa would be rolling around in his grave.

Boss Mark emailed the other day. I was relieved, I thought I was out for good after handing in the assignment a week late. Turned out the email network wasn't functioning and he asked me to re-send the work. I was late, mind you, but Boss told me I'm still on time somewhat and thanked me. Oh finally, after that nightmare of Mr. Vinod, I find a supernice boss.
In publishing world slacking writers are everyday meal to the editors, I think.
Isn't it ironic that when I was at my worst, I got a normal boss and when I was at my best I got a monster of a boss?