Last week just sort of passed by. Too much stuff going on at work – the only rest I could manage was lunch and yosi. I had to extend a few after work, and Wednesday night drinking session at Gov was a welcome stress-buster. If they say laughter is the best medicine, I’d say drunken laughter is tons better. Haha.

I was waiting all week for Friday night. After the volleyball game, I headed home instead of going to Tagaytay with the rest of the kids. Didn’t think I could manage the drive. Had dinner at Jeck’s instead since I dropped him home - yummy chicken curry and pork bbq from the store next door. I got home around 10PM, and R was due to arrive @ 11, so I had about 45mins to spare. I just cleaned up a bit, drank Lipovitan since I was lacking sleep the whole week.

Saturday was last summer hurrah/despedida party at the beach. After debating on whether to proceed to San Juan or not, we settled for Nasugbu because R’s brother was intent in bringing lechon as “baon”. I thought he meant like a few kilos, but when we dropped by at Mila’s, pakshet, it was one whole lechon. For a party of five, plus one kid. God bless him, but don’t know what he was thinking. We also brought pansit, the usual staple for parties and what not, stuff to barbeque, some chicken wings, lots of chicheria. I introduced them to my good friend Don Enrique as well. Had to drop by Rustan’s for that, and got ripped off for more than P200 apiece. Howell. Still much cheaper than Cuervo.
Nasugbu seemed like an interesting town, and even with the muddy sand and all, I would like to explore this town a bit more someday. We only stayed overnight, so didn’t really get to check out the town – the islands nearby, the tourist attractions, the local culture, etc… The whole beach strip reminded me of Boracay, without the powdery white sand, and the night life and restos. Ok, so I guess it shouldn’t even be compared to Bora. But I still liked the place, much more because I was with R. Naks. Hahaha.

We arrived past 6PM at the resort, and only had time for a dip in their pool, dinner and tequila afterwards. My biggest accomplishment was finally learning how to pay tong-its. Hahaha. Oh yeah, I’m like an expert card player now. First poker, now tong-its. Lumelevel-down ata. Wahaha. R was the first man down due to Don Enrique, so I was left playing with utol (whose wife and kid were already upstairs sleeping) and R’s nephew. We managed to finish about a couple of shots on the 2nd bottle, which is actually a lot considering it was nephew and me just drinking most of the stuff since utol does not really drink. I paced myself though, so no drunken girl tactics of any sort this time.

After about 4hours sleep, I got up at 8AM, and walked on the strip. It’s just nice to feel sand on your feet. But I had to stay away from the dry part, as the sand was just too hot. That’s another bad thing about dark sand. I wanted to go to Kawayan Cove via boat, where the sand is white, but sis-in-law was hesitant because we had a kid in tow. Didn’t push it. Another time.

We ended up playing badminton and throwing a Frisbee. In no time it was lunch, and we barbequed some pork, fish and pusit. Yum. We did end up throwing away most of the pansit the night before (by dawn, it was already spoilt), and we only ate about ¼ of the whole lechon. My dear brother, why?? Hahaha. There was just too much food. I couldn’t try and spill my I’m-on-a-diet line, sobrang sayang the food.

We resumed our Don Enrique session after lunch, sang some videoke and went back to the pool. Everything was all good until a little mishap just as we were about to call it a day. Nephew threw the Frisbee too high so I wasn’t able to catch it, and it hit one of the resort guests on her side. Mega nag inarte cya and she wanted us to pay her for potential cost of check-up/xray. Hello?? OA masyado. Bro flared up and told her they should just see a doctor right away. After making us wait for about 15mins (we saw her washing clothes, I think she was some kind of nanny), she finally resurfaced. Eh kung talagang she wasn’t feeling well and kung me fracture nga cya, dapat mega fly na siya to the doctor kaagad. Me oras pa cya maglaba. I mean, wtf.

Since this is like in the outskirts of Batangas, they finally saw a doctor in one of the nearby towns. Goodness. It took them more than 2hrs to do the whole thing and R was telling me even the doctor was amused at the woman’s pag iinarte. He gave her 10 pain killers, and I hope she drinks them all at the same time. When they arrived at the resort, she just walked away daw without even thanking R and bro for indulging her whim. Hay naku, mood killer. It was almost 9 when we left the resort. I took them to Magdaragat for a seafood dinner (gusto ni bro eh), and by the time we arrived, most of the places were closed. Buti na lang this place opened up again for us. Saya. Sarap the sinigang sa miso. Aguinaldo is a breeze around midnight, and I finally got home 2AM. Whew, what a weekend.

I did have so much fun, but on the other hand, I wish I didn’t gel so well with the fam. This is so hard. Sis in law was telling me, she never got used to her husband working overseas. And I told her I didn’t believe in long distance relationships either, not unless you’re married, so then you’re just obligated to want it and make it work. Short of telling her, this thing with R is still fairly uncertain. She did manage to reply that I’m about to go into an LDR as well, and I just sort of nodded.

R and I are opposites in so many ways. He’s the flip side to my serious nature. The carefree to my OC-ness when it comes to planning and organizing. He has no plans, no career path and he just takes it one day at a time. But the fondness I first felt for him when we were kids is much stronger now, and so ladies and gentlemen, I think I love him already. Insert sigh here.

He makes me happy. He makes me laugh. He makes me smile. And when I see him sleeping soundly, I know that I can wake up with him everyday. I was crying the other day because he was teasing me, and because I’m in that mood, tears just started to flow. He wiped every single one of them, which made me cry even more. Powtah, I’m reduced to such a lovefool, and I don’t like that feeling at all. It makes me feel so … vulnerable.

But everything with us just seems so natural, so normal, that none of the alarms are sounding off hard enough. Or maybe I just refuse to listen. I just want to give this a shot, and if it doesn’t work, at least I tried. We tried.

He is leaving in a few days. And then things will get back to normal in xyland. No more harried weekends. No more trying to squeeze all the memories in an invisible bottle. Only a big bad void. I hate that I know for sure that I will miss him so much. I hate crying silently in the middle of the night because I know that our days together are getting fewer. I hate the sound of our goodbyes when we part ways, even when I know I’ll see him again the day after. And I know I will hate it even more when I know that it will be long before I can feel his hand in mine again.

I just wish the people I love would stop going away for once.