It’s a light jacket weather, 7th of July, Saturday afternoon, just right after our Urban Plan Implementation class [around 4pm??]. He and I rode the jeepney despite the internet station being 0.75 kilometers away only because it rained so hard few hours earlier and as expected the streets are in a terrible mess.
While waiting for the ride I took a picture of a wide rectangular hole in the center of General Luna street, right across the UPV-Iloilo City campus because this would be the last time I’d see General Luna in its days of glory; it’s fading beauty. When the flyover is done, General Luna is also definitely done.
[the pictures were terrible.]
[literally.]
So we took a jeepney.
The internet stations in the shop are located at the 2nd floor. The first floor is reserved for gamers. We call it the stock exchange area because the atmosphere resembles that of the stock exchange. allow me to expound. The kids -- all of the kids scream in either frustration or glee every time heaven or hell comes in their gaming world. There are kids standing or hovering over a favorite gamer, a pawn, maybe. There are bettings, lunching on sandwich while standing up, spending almost the whole of daylight hours inside the darkened gaming shop, and once again, to reiterate, screams of frustration or glee resembling that of a stock exchange.
Half hour into our surfing a chorus of excited/victorious screams were heard form the downstairs. Somebody has finally sold a stock.
[more screams followed.]
[somebody have won.]
35 minutes into our surfing and we’re done but there’s still 25 minutes left so we decided to download MP3s and we’re lucky – the station has earphones. I’ve been wanting to have an MP3 of elliot smith’s song from the royal tenenbaums and another song, waltz #2.
[needle in the hay played when richie tenenbaum told himself on the mirror, “I’m going to kill myself tomorrow”].
My ultimate download was waltz #2. like a 5 year-old being handed down with the most delicious cotton candy she was aching for.
For almost 9 (nine) years now I only listened t a bootleg of it with first few notes missing because it tool me about 5 seconds to jump from our pink dining table to the bedside table where the beat sony cassette recorder was and push that record button on.
I carefully placed the earphones to my ear so as not to miss a single beat. A single note.
[waltz #2….
……how gloomy and depressing that day was when they played it on the radio…]
……elliot died. October 23. he stabbed himself almost 4 (four) years ago…]
……they said my mother called. I was still sweaty from the walk from school. My head is still groggy from the formalin in the dissection class…EMERGENCY…she will call again tonight…]
……I have to go home…tomorrow…lola died. Cardiac arrest.]
Series of calls were made to the airline companies…I have to go home. Tomorrow.]
……she took a full bath and ate full lunch. At 3:00 pm, she died.]
[summer of 1998.]
[manila is sooo hot. Sad and happy. Manic depressive.]
[I am happy to be leaving such a miserable place. I am sad to be going home to such miserable event.]
I told him he should listen to waltz #2.
[his grandma also died just a few years ago.]
He said our house is more appropriate for the just-rained-down weather. Waltz #2 can wait.
……on somebody’s death, perhaps.]
An hour into our surfing and we’re done. We were again met by seemingly thousands of screams coming from only 10 gaming kids as we made our way down to the counter.
It was the best 15-peso treat ever.
Outside, I took pictures of the NU 107 signage. They signed off the air 8 years ago.
While waiting for the ride I took a picture of a wide rectangular hole in the center of General Luna street, right across the UPV-Iloilo City campus because this would be the last time I’d see General Luna in its days of glory; it’s fading beauty. When the flyover is done, General Luna is also definitely done.
[the pictures were terrible.]
[literally.]
So we took a jeepney.
The internet stations in the shop are located at the 2nd floor. The first floor is reserved for gamers. We call it the stock exchange area because the atmosphere resembles that of the stock exchange. allow me to expound. The kids -- all of the kids scream in either frustration or glee every time heaven or hell comes in their gaming world. There are kids standing or hovering over a favorite gamer, a pawn, maybe. There are bettings, lunching on sandwich while standing up, spending almost the whole of daylight hours inside the darkened gaming shop, and once again, to reiterate, screams of frustration or glee resembling that of a stock exchange.
Half hour into our surfing a chorus of excited/victorious screams were heard form the downstairs. Somebody has finally sold a stock.
[more screams followed.]
[somebody have won.]
35 minutes into our surfing and we’re done but there’s still 25 minutes left so we decided to download MP3s and we’re lucky – the station has earphones. I’ve been wanting to have an MP3 of elliot smith’s song from the royal tenenbaums and another song, waltz #2.
[needle in the hay played when richie tenenbaum told himself on the mirror, “I’m going to kill myself tomorrow”].
My ultimate download was waltz #2. like a 5 year-old being handed down with the most delicious cotton candy she was aching for.
For almost 9 (nine) years now I only listened t a bootleg of it with first few notes missing because it tool me about 5 seconds to jump from our pink dining table to the bedside table where the beat sony cassette recorder was and push that record button on.
I carefully placed the earphones to my ear so as not to miss a single beat. A single note.
[waltz #2….
……how gloomy and depressing that day was when they played it on the radio…]
……elliot died. October 23. he stabbed himself almost 4 (four) years ago…]
……they said my mother called. I was still sweaty from the walk from school. My head is still groggy from the formalin in the dissection class…EMERGENCY…she will call again tonight…]
……I have to go home…tomorrow…lola died. Cardiac arrest.]
Series of calls were made to the airline companies…I have to go home. Tomorrow.]
……she took a full bath and ate full lunch. At 3:00 pm, she died.]
[summer of 1998.]
[manila is sooo hot. Sad and happy. Manic depressive.]
[I am happy to be leaving such a miserable place. I am sad to be going home to such miserable event.]
I told him he should listen to waltz #2.
[his grandma also died just a few years ago.]
He said our house is more appropriate for the just-rained-down weather. Waltz #2 can wait.
……on somebody’s death, perhaps.]
An hour into our surfing and we’re done. We were again met by seemingly thousands of screams coming from only 10 gaming kids as we made our way down to the counter.
It was the best 15-peso treat ever.
Outside, I took pictures of the NU 107 signage. They signed off the air 8 years ago.
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