OverJoyyed

Courtesy of Joy during my recent visit to the Metro. She's a friend from college who befriended my sister...they are officemates. Small world, huh.

Carnival

The grand carousel that I didn't ride. Thinking I'd give my space to kids who want to ride the horsie-horsie. With my sister and our friend, Joy...we went to the carnival. We bought the ride-all-you-can tickets and realized it's a mistake after seeing people screamed while being flipped and tossed in wild rides.

It drained our courage...except for the ferris wheel. That one looked familiar. I got to ride that back in grade school...and back in our little town in far South. Only this time, the ferris wheel is a mammoth machine towering near the boulevard. Off we rode and screamed at every creak and squeck as the machine turned up then down. Up, down. Like our hearts, too. Up, down.

Thankfully, we get used to it after a cycle. We were with a Korean couple who has been living in Pinas for 7 years already. The woman was clutching her husband and murmuring something, I didn't understand it...but I'm sure...the rough translation would read, "Honey, I'm scared!".

The view on top of the ferris wheel. My sister and I rode the roller-coaster, too. And until then I realized the meaning of the phrase, "life is a roller coaster ride." In carnivals, in the name of fun and excitement, people (including us) entrust their lives to the integrity of contraptions, nuts, and bolts. Somehow, we got to trust something.

Coffee girls

Once, sipping coffee at a coffee shop, I noticed two girls asking money from diners. They ate the left-overs...with so much gusto, they could model for langhap sarap. I called one of them, the bigger one. I asked where she's from. In Quiapo, she said. They often go to the mall to ask for pamasko. Then I asked for her name, I forgot the name. But not her apelyido. KUTO. She's little Ms. Kuto.

Speaking of kuto, mothers used this kuto tale to scare young ones. If you have so many kuto, they'll fly you and drop you from the air. I got scared of that when I was little. It's an urban (rural) legend that was told so convincingly. But aside from the scare, I thought, it's tasteless and so incredibly base to be flown away by lice. Goodness....

"Dont' disturb"

Everytime "don't disturb," is the customized message in someone's chat channel, I can't help to smirk at that incredulous post. It's actually a misuse of technology and a bloated sense of self-importance. Why make yourself available in chatrooms and say, "don't disturb?" Just get out of the cyber world and save on eletricity. A bloated sense of self-importance...you logged in only to tell the world you have better things to do than returning a hello. I don't know...