Drowning

I was just getting the hang of swimming...

Bolinao Falls--Somewhere in Pangasinan, I thought I'd lose two of my closest friends. If I counted right, that incident marked the third time I brushed with Death. The first with companions though, and that was the toughest part.
No lights, no nothing. None of that crap about your life passing before your eyes. But for those three times, I assume the way time slows down is always a constant. I'd guess it only took less than a minute... It felt longer though.

Here's how I saw it...
I can't swim. I can stay afloat for a few minutes I guess, probably drift a couple of meters, but after that I'd drown. I believe everyone's born with the ability to do the dog paddle, so I don't consider my ability to do that "swimming." My left calf just recovered from the cramps. And now the right is in trouble. Jeff, with Sef hanging on him, was swimming toward the rock where I stood. Even when on the rock, the water's still up to my chest. Off the rock, it could have been six feet or less. When they came closer I took Sef's arm and pulled her to the rock. My right calf's killing me. There was only space on the rock for two--one and a half really, so Jeff just floated around it.

That's when Sef said, "Ang sakit ng likod ko." And she arched sideways. Off balance, we slid off the rock. Great. Two people who can't swim. Jeff quickly reacted by pushing us back, but he pushed a little too strong. So after swinging back to the rock, all we really did was fall to the other side. I made a desperate move to shove Sef back to the rock. In the hopes that Jeff would save her. I slid off the rock, and tried to float.

Sef was screaming. "What are you doing?!" I was actually surprised I stayed afloat. Sef was still screaming, "Why are you drowning me?!" An arm's length away from them I saw everything. Jeff had his hands around Sef's waist, pushing her up. Sef was holding to Jeff's shoulders, pushing him down. I don't know much about drowning, but I thought then that Jeff, wouldn't last a minute like that. Of course there was no way he could breathe under water, but at least Sef was not sinking. Unfortunately in her panic, Sef's still not breathing, even when half her body's above the water. She's still screaming.

And then in another desperate attempt to push upward, Sef pushed on to Jeff's head... And then clung to me. I was pretty certain I could stay afloat... On my own. With a passenger I'm doomed. For about three seconds we managed to stay afloat. Jeff is still under water. I guess I started to panic myself, because we started sinking. I opened my eyes and saw jeff still under taking in gulps of mossy water. With my breath I could probably hold on for 30 seconds more, but seeing two of my friends so near death, I panicked even more. My feet touched the mushy pond floor. I pushed with all my strength (at least those I still have left) I managed to get Sef and me up for maybe two breaths of air. Again unfortunately for her, she still didn't breath in. We started to sink again. I pushed up again the moment my cramped legs touched the floor. This time, it wasn't enough to propel us up. I didn't know what to do next. Apparently, my calm in tensed situations only work when I'm the only one in danger. Hope slipping away, I felt a shove from behind, and I drifted toward a shallow part of pool. I turned quickly, and caught Sef, also drifting toward me. I looked at Jeff and saw that he actually made it to a rock, and was weakly hanging on. My legs gave way.

It felt (and now sounded) like it was a really long experience, yet it must have taken only around 45 seconds at most.
Looking back, it's funny how if we all died, we'd have gone with really bitter memories. Jeff would take the thought of his failed rescue to the depths of eternity. Sef's last thought was that we drowned her. Me, well, I would have been the last to die. I still had air when Jeff was about to pass out. I would have carried the memory of my friends dying before my eyes to the confines of hell.

Oh well, we're alive. So, no worries.

on Force Fever

My, my this here Anakin guy
Maybe Vader someday later now he's just a small fry
He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye
Sayin' soon I'm gonna be a Jedi
Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi

Everybody knows Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Everybody knows Palpatine is actually Darth Sidious. Everybody knows Padme dies of child birth. And yet, everybody's just aching to see Starwars Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Some Revenge of the Sith comments overheard:
Trivia Gurl:Alam mo kung sino magiging bad sa Episode III?
Girl Unaware: Sino *excited*?
Trivia Gurl: Si Anakin?
Girl Unaware: Talaga bakit?
Trivia Gurl: Kasi di ba nung Episode 2, may hint na magiging bad sya nung pinatay nya yung people dun sa may mom nya?

--Ugh! So back in the Phantom Menace, you didn't know that podracer kid was actually Darth Vader?

Storyteller: Uy Starwars III na! Manonood ako!
Tao: Di ko napanood yung II eh.
Storyteller: Bakit naman.
Tao: Na-miss ko. Ano ba ang nangyari?
Storyteller: *isip malalim* Nung II kasi, ano... pinatay ni Anakin si Darth Maul.

--Hindi mo rin pala napanood eh. Or tanga ka lang.

Revenge of the Sith Whatifs: (spoiler alert)
The scene where Sidious tells Vader something about learning to use the Force to save Padme:
Anakin: What the fuck? You mean you didn't know?
Sidious: Well... err. I told you there was once a Sith who can do it.
Anakin: You friggin liar!!
*Anakin slices Sidious' head off*
Darth Vader first appearance scene:
Sidious: Rise Darth Vader...
Vader: *looks at his getup, notices panel on his chest* What the fuck? (in breathy, metallic voice) Unlimited technology from the ends of the universe and you put a panel with three buttons on my chest? What the hell do you think I am a microwave?!
Sidious: It's better than this loose pale skin, if you ask me.

*Vader throws Sidious out into the emptiness of space*

Senator Organa adopts Leia Skywalker:
Luke: Hey! What is this? My sister gets to be a princess and I'm a farm boy?! In Tatooine?!

Order 66:
Sidious: *in his raspy voice* Exzzeecute Orderr Siixxzztyy zzziiixx.
StormTrooper: Say that again?!
Sidious: Exzzeecute Orderr Siixxzztyy zzziiixx!!!
StormTrooper: Too much static...
Sidious: Exe-cute-ORDER-SIX-TY-SIX! you buffoon!

Scoring Memories II

Thing is, this list will probably go on forever, and since I am not OC enough to put them in order or anything, I'll probably just add and add as I go along.

Backstreet Boys and N’Sync songs. Before the boyband saturation of course. If you can still remember the video of Tearin’ up my Heart, you'll see them quite gangly, and the hair!! I can still remember the time when I want it that way was so much of a hit that there was this guy at some Regional Press Conference who did an impromptu song and dance number. In any case, just like MLTR and Roxette songs, kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan? I think I still know the lyrics to all I have to give and I drive myself crazy.

Line to heaven by Introvoys. I think Paco was the only drummer to become more popular than their lead vocalist. I remember this song because everyone starting to learn how to play the guitar back then learned this one, as the chords were just an endless repetition of the pattern D, A, G, A.

Spice Girls songs. Admit it. "Coz tonight, is the night, when 2 become 1." I seem to remember I also saw their movie.

In my life by The Beatles. I don’t think I managed to be in the generation who’re supposed to remember this, but for some reason, I loved the show, Going Bananas. Anyway, when Jay Ilagan died, The Going Bananas cast sang this song.
Livin on a prayer by Bon Jovi. Of course, as a kid I saw that Zest-O commercial, "Wooah way to go Zest-o!" I think this is one hell of a period song. Of course, back when it was new it was one hell of a popular rock song.

Take my breath away from Top Gun. It was a time when people thought Ray-Ban shades big enough to cover half your face were cool.

Next in line by After Image. By Rhea’s request. A lot of batches used this as their Graduation song too.

Silhouette by Kenny G. The prom tune. Of course when local bold films became a hit, it later became the bomba tune.

Friends Forever (Graduation Song) by Vitamin C. During the last months of senior year, every other minute, someone will plug an earphone in your ear and say, "Uy pakinggan mo to!" And then you'll listen to a song you think is a cross between a rap and graduation mush. "As we go on, we'll remember, all the time we spent together..."

Save Tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry. The video was made to look like a chain of events involving different people. The good part was they were all portrayed by Eagle Eye. The farewell theme of this song made it quite touching.

Maniwala ka sana by Parokya ni Edgar. If you fell in love with a friend back in high school, makaka-relate ka dito. PNE songs were easy to remember and easy to play plus the "relate" value is extremely high. Other hits like, Halaga, Sampip, Sayang etc all hit the bone.

More to come. Feel free to suggest.

Scoring Memories

The soundtrack of my life. In no particular order:

Always by Erasure. I seem to remember this song from the first grade.

Ragga Muffin Girl by Apache Indian, and other similar beats. Grade 5 or 6, somewhere there. For some reason, everybody seems to be dancing to reggae.

“O giliw ko, miss na miss kita” song by Father and Sons. I can still vaguely remember that this was a trio of, guess what, a father and his two sons. Sometime during the later years of primary school too, I think.

Vulnerable by Roxette. I think this was their only song that the guy sung. I was in Grade 6 when this became a hit. Along with their other songs, I still feel guiltily happy whenever I listen to them.

Michael Learns to Rock Greatest Hits. Too many to mention. Extremely difficult not to memorize. Until now, people are still denying that they know the words to 25 minutes and Paint my Love. They were quite popular back in high school.

Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. I never got to know the verses but I can still remember the bastardized, “ice ice buko, may kasama pang puto bumbong.” I seem to remember Queen sued Vanilla Ice because he used the riff from Under Pressure.

Close to you by Whigfield. I was a freshman in High School and everybody were using this in Mass Demonstrations.

Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Well, everybody loves Karate.

Daimos opening song. Yeah, and probably the ending as well. I mean really, who can forget that very catchy “Buyase, buyase, nankani buyase?”

Fushigi song. For a different reason than remembering Annie’s white panties that always seem to mysteriously find a way to show themselves, this chant by Puma’s minions is still embedded in my head. “Fushigi shigi maka fushigi ruwa (shigi shigi).”

Standing at the edge of the Earth, by Blessed Union of Souls. I really don’t know why I still remember this song.

As long as it matters, by Gin Blossoms. Till I hear it from you will always be their most popular hit, but this one is still my personal favorite. I still can’t find my Congratulations, I’m sorry CD.

From A Distance, and other songs used in interpretative numbers. This has got to include Gary V’s Natutulog ba ang Diyos. These “interpretative” tracks always bring back memories of the childhood days.

If we hold on, from the Land Before Time. You’ll forget the dinosaurs, but you’ll never forget this song. Always a top choice in Graduation songs. Special note to Nherz.

Sweet Soul Revue by Pizzicato Five and Feel Like Dance by Globe. Nobody knew what they meant but they all danced to the beat. Well of course, Feel Like Dance meant, feel like dance.

Pinch me by Barenaked Ladies. The chorus was a tongue-twister, but for some reason (probably the title really), it always make me wonder what’s real.

I’ll be there for you by The Rembrandts. I do have friends.

Eraserheads songs. No OPM band will ever come close.

Nerbiyoso by River maya. This one’s for Dea. This is my song when she’s near.


It’s amazing how we many memories a bunch of old songs can bring. Serious songs aside, I claim that the bulk of the songs that jump and grab at you from the past are the once that you really know without actually knowing them. Truth is, you’re actually trying to forget them. That’s probably where the catch phrase, “kailangan pa bang i-memorize yan” came from. More to come, as I continue to remember.