One Last Random Dump of 2006 Stuff -- The Christmas That Was

From mosquito kill counts to carolers to adventures in a motel and a race track...

Digression: mosquito kill count

two nights ago = 7 sighted, 6 killed
rating: Raid, keeps mosquitoes (thud) dead.

last night = 5 sighted, 5 killed
rating: Dreygohwn Khetowl, bhestah lehmowk teypowk!

What curse has fallen upon us? Last weekend marked the start of an invasion of mosquitos in our unit. It's a strange phenomenon, considering that for the past three months that we started living here, we have almost no flying, whining visitor. Now, not even the afternoon spraying of Baygon could deter them. That's why whenever I see them, I transform into a combination of the Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spiderman: aside from enhancing the already-occurring Tobey Maguire geeky cuteness and Eric Bana angsty passion (minus the muscles, sad), these pests have provoked my spider-sense, sharpened my spider-like reflexes and fueled the raging urge to kill them all in a rampage.

-oOo-

Applied effective begging

The carolers were at it last Christmas, and I was on my toes dodging them. On one occasion, I espied carolers at the upper floors of our apartment. Instead of proceeding to our unit, I stayed at a lower floor, staring outside, waiting for them to come down. To my annoyance, they lingered at my back instead. One of them finally said, "kantahan na lang natin si kuya dito," then they started their modest singing. I asked them if they had sung at the units on this floor. The one on the left had given them something, they replied, but the one on the right had no one home. I said the generous unit's offer should suffice. They asked me if I was from that unit. I lied pointblank and they knew. However, I insisted, so they left empty-handed. In hindsight, I should've given them something since, at least they still have genuine smiles and enthusiasm. In fact they were slightly better than this one caroler who cornered me in our unit one afternoon earlier. He gave me an envelope, saying that he was from some youth group, and then started a dominantly nasal rendition of perhaps their original Christmas composition. I winced some more when I saw his strained effort to smile. I scanned the envelope for some semblance of legitimacy like organization name, address and phone number, but all I saw was a long Christmas verse I did not bother to read. But since I noticed that his companions were also singing in the lower floors, I, having done some organized "begging" before, gave him a piddling 20 pesos to shoo him away.

I'm a Scrooge therefore? I beg to disagree: I am merely disappointed. Disappointed that the majority of carolers now do not recognize their unwritten duty to uplift, entertain or infuse into the fortunate listener of the Spirit of Christmas. Sadly, the smelly, breathy monotone I hear from kids--from kids, of all the people here on earth!--does the contrary. Please! It's Christmas, keep your depression and despair to yourself!

(Suddenly my conscience whispers, "then do something to remove their despair." And I know it's not about giving them a huge amount. That's like rewarding their current depressed behavior. I know it has to be something else...)

-oOo-

Christmas mini-adventures with officemates

Inside Victoria Court Pasig: I thought it was a strange, perverted activity to do in a motel, but there we were, all 30 of us, men and women, young and old, all raring to do the act. We deviants might have been a sight to behold to the usual couple finding a room for a little tryst. Our collective prying eyes must've made them zoom their car into their room's garage, the door immediately covered so that their persons will not be seen alighting from their vehicle. Privacy Guaranteed, Shh. The usual couple would value this business proposition, but we do the taboo by throwing it to the air, like me sharing things here in my blog. Some are even ready with their cameras. So what did we do? We succumbed to our primal urges. We splurged on food, liquor, and the videoke. The older ones sang their videoke piece while gyrating inside a cage amidst our lusty cheers. Some satisfied their need to rest by wantonly lying on the circular bed. Our material desires were met with raffle prizes. That's it. Now what primal urge were you thinking about?

Go-Kart Racing at The Fort: I was leisurely driving around the course when--BAM!--somebody considered me too slow and bumped me hoping that it would induce more kinetic energy within me. What the...! Oh, yeah, this was supposed to be a race. We were clumsy, bumpy amateurs frequently pulling over for some driving "seminar." When our time was up, a caretaker sought out one particular kart driver who turns out to be me, and told me, in a low and serious tone, that I nearly got him back there in the course. Honestly, I didn't know what he was talking about; things were all whizzing by at 20 kph. Maybe I should've told him I was dizzy from my own driving, at least he might laugh (or he might actually lose it and sucker punch me while shouting to the whole world what a murderous incompetent bastard I am). It's doubly embarrassing given the fact that before our turn, a bunch of pros (I think) showed us how it's done, with all the excitement of neck-to-neck aggressive racing, sharp turns and the occasional acrobatics. And when these racers emerged from their karts, we discovered that, dammit, they were grade school kids!

-oOo-

A blessed new year to all you readers and may the spirit of Christmas still be with you all throughout the year! Salamat Sa Tumatangkilik (SST)!


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