Where is the love?

Need I speak?

Train of Thoughts

With the usual push and shove I entered the MRT (Metro Railway Transit) going towards Edsa Taft to board the LRT (Light Rail Transit), I just came from The Reading Room, Sandy's Shop at the former Marikina Shoe Expo site.

It was a good idea for the MRT people to reserve an exclusive ladies, kids and senior citizen cab. At least ladies don't put too much effort in trying to shield your body from unwelcome touches, accidental or otherwise and finding balance before the train leaves the station.

Looking around one realizes that each individual there (at least) sports a pondering or far away look. Some expressionless, others with a smile on their lips and some eyes crowded with worry. Mostly females, you wouldn't miss one or two checking out other girls' get up and accessories mentally judging.

This is the perfect definition of the phrase; train of thought.

Nippy Thinking

The best word that describes Baguio City especially in the "ber" months is nippy.

September marks the onset of the dropping of temperature in most parts of the country but it is, I believe, most felt in the highlands. At this same time the scent of pine gets more intense and the people, perhaps, because of the weather or in anticipation of Christmas become warmer, smiling more.

Of course, this is the best time to dress up. Residents resurrect their leather jackets, trench coats, wool, cashmere, scarves and shawls from the closet. Session Road becomes a cat walk and everyone a model.

Longing, I am, for that nippy air that gets into your clothes, chills your cheeks, ears and hands. That cold air that tries hard to get in between the sheets as you clutch your comforter closer. That climate that makes it more enjoyable to drown your choice of poison in the company of friends around a bonfire or just in the local hang out.

Soon...I am getting myself "nipped".

Shortchanged

He was pretending to look for coins, which was obviously not there and if there were then he would pretend it did not exist.

Dressed in dirty white polo, time-worn sando peeking from the inside, dark pants he looked at me and flatly delivered a mantra I always hear before I alight, “wala ho ba kayong barya? Wala ho kasi akong barya eh.”

Sighing I rummage in my bag to look for the exact amount needed. I have heard this line too many times that I am tempted to say the words even before I hand in my payment.

Retrieving the one hundred peso bill, I handed him a fifty peso bill saying, “meron po pala dito.” Then I look him straight in the eye, expectant, alternating my gaze from him to the red figures in the taxi meter which proclaimed what I owed him, forty five pesos, no more, no less.

He too looks at me questioningly, wondering what was keeping me in his smelly cab. His first impression would be I was either a loony or a scrooge.

A month in Metro Manila does not make me an expert on how it is to live here. But coming from Baguio City where taxi drivers are known to be honest, considerate and often courteous, it is quite hard to recover from this culture shock.

Bite me!

Scrabble, of course

Coffeehousing is a scrabble tactic to distract one's opponent. I used to be a scrabble addict and I only "coffeehoused" during friendly matches. And yes, scrabble is considered a sport by those addicted to it.

It used to be fun but when it got serious I did not want to be drawn deeper into it. Oh, there were times I went to sleep with letters floating in my head, automatically anagramming every time I spot a seven-letter word and reviewing every game I played. I even memorized the two and three letter wordlist most of which I do not know the meaning of.

I was introduced to scrabble by an uncle, Joemol, and was brought to the competitive level courtesy of Pigeon.

It was a puzzle for me at first why I fell out of love with the game. Lisa A indirectly answered my question when she said, "Engineers excel at scrabble because they tend to look for the highest point they could make out of every move. Writers (referring to moi) tend to look for the most beautiful word in the rack." Very true.

Who doesn't want to win all the time anyway? In order to do so, one has to be good in calculating, add to the equation the number of tiles left in the bag, the probabilities and so on and so forth. Not exactly my favorite subject.

Also one has to keep an updated word stock. Yup! You have to memorize all the words that are "playable" even if you will never find an opportunity to use those words outside of the 11x11 board. And if the scrabble gods decide to delete a word from the list, well you have to do the same. Well, there is the luck of the draw but it will not always assure you of a win.

It started to get crazy for me when these words started appearing on the board UNFAIRS, TAENIAE, PEAG, VAREC, ZEBRASS, EUOI. And when my opponents challenged common words and placed an unheard of mix of letters, that gave me the go signal. Imagine SOME top scrabble players challenging TROD and placing PEAG. Insane!

Don't get me wrong, I admire a lot of scrabble players. Kudos to NASCAP, SCAPI and BBCS.

But I choose not to go through what I think is a futile exercise of memorizing words that mean zilch to me. Occasionally I still play on the 11x11. But not as enthusiastic as before.