Ka-Blog!

Look at the picture on the left. That’s me and Ina inside the oh-so-red media
center tent in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Our tasks done for the meantime, we found a
sliver of time to check our Friendster accounts and post our latest blogs.
         Ina and I have been
planning to exchange blogs since a few months ago. But since we came to Hong
Kong together and we are roommates at the moment, we decided to
exchange blogs about our other roommates. (So check her blog as well.)
         There are 12
of us in this small room in a building along Paterson Road. We used to be
13 but, like in Kuya’s house, one of us elected to leave voluntarily. He does not want to sleep on the floor with
me snoring wildly nearby. Some people
just do not know privilege when they see one.
        But enough
about losers. Malas lang naman din ang
labintatlo.
        I’ve known
Ka Satur Ocampo for 15 years already. I’ve never seen his demeanor nor his hair ruffled even once. But I got to see how his usually slick hair
looks like after he jumps out of bed in the morning. He is a regular Son Goku pala in the mornings. But I
suspect S.O’s powers are greater than the anime hero. Ka Satur has eluded the police and military
so many times in his underground career. Lalo na siguro ngayon since he
now has more-salt-than-pepper mane.
         Bayan’s Cynthia
“Cha” Vargas, RN has the unenviable task of talking to the desk whenever we
needed something, like comforters or pillows. She studied basic and advanced acupuncture and alternative medicine in Beijing so we all assumed
she knows the most about communicating with the locals. Well, we were both wrong and right. We were wrong in the sense that she isn’t
understood at all and we were right in the sense that she could pantomime
through almost everything—from the cold weather, the need to have our rooms
cleaned, to why the hell they are telling us that our rooms are good for five
people when even my store room back home looks decidedly bigger.
        Please do not pity us when I tell you we are
bunked together with KMU’s Norma Binas and Tita Elisa Lubi of Kodao. Much that we would like an occasional pillow
fight, can we possibly do that with them around?
         Bayan Chair
Dr. Carol P. Araullo, MD spent her birthday morning and night with us. What struck me as curious about her was when
I arrived at the room one afternoon and found her working on her laptop on the
claustrophobia-inducing hallway. She was
sitting on a low chair while the laptop was propped on a stool. I guessed it was her way to squeeze out more creative
juice for the paper she was preparing the other day. May
ibinubulong kaya ang mga pader?
         Here’s one for the books—I saw BM’s Grace Saguinsin wearing a pink skirt. Plus, her doggie bags are always worth the
late nights we spend waiting for her to arrive.
        When I was
a new recruit years ago, I once rode with BM Rep. Teddy Casino on a crowded late night bus going back to Manila. I swear this guy could fall asleep standing
up. Parang
kabayo. The other night, he did it
again. I thought he was writing
something on his pad but he was already fast asleep. (Check out the pic!) But I think Teddy likes my feet several
inches from his face when we sleep. He
wakes up looking refreshed every time.
         Gian Paolo
Oliveros and Ron Papag are a study in contrasts. If we let Pao be, we would be hard pressed to
see a space that isn’t occupied by a discarded article of clothing of his. Ron on the other hand is obsessively
compulsive about making his space as tidy as possible. It his feminine side showing daw. But the only thing feminine I see about Ron these days is the owner of
the Philippine cellphone number he surreptitiously calls in the dead of the
night while he is buried under the sheets.
         Lastly,
there’s Ina who I’m gonna exchange this blog with (so I can’t say much about her). Except this: she does not flinch when we boys
strip to our undershorts with her in the room. Married na kasi. #

==================

Ina Alleco Silverio’s take about the topic (it’s on "Trephination Procedures" as well.  Don’t ask me what it means.  It is not about food.):

The
Roommate situation

My
roommates here Hong Kong in are all lunatics.
The seriousness of their lunacy are in varying degrees. Am not going to write
who’s the worst and who should be dragged off in a strait jacket – but if you
know who they are, you can judge for yourself.
        Bukaneg
is obsessed with finding the best place to have breakfast. Or lunch. And
dinner. Also the snacks in between. Because of him, we’re always looking for
the best value for our money here, as we don’t have much money. He’s lucky
because he’s so easy to please, gastronomic fulfillment wise. A true-blue
gourmand, he, however, seems to finds no distinction between a HK$5 dollar bite
of animal entrails and a HK$60 dollar per serving of, say, Peking duck. He’s
the one who made us buy and eat the weird looking and not-normal tasting Dragon
Fruit. Every 2 pm, he sends out reports to Ngayon Na, Bayan – pretending he’s
outside in the streets mingling with the common folk when actually he’s just in
Victoria Park, inside a relatively warm and toasty tent, hahahahaha! He has a
picture of himself giving Chairman Mao a smack on the cheek.
        Paulo
(or Gian, to differentiate him from the other Paolo, whom we call Miguel or
P2), is fussy with his hair. I’ve noticed that he spends about 15 minutes
coming his hair every morning, making sure every strand is in place. He’s on
the prowl for the best facial wash – one that will help him clear up his
supposed pimple problem. I keep telling him to get Kao Biore, which is cheaper
here, but he’s worried that if he gets a tube and it runs out, he won’t be able
to replenish because it’s only sold in Rustan’s or something. (This, I think, is his one biggest personal worry in Hong Kong– how his face is faring from the cold. Hey Pao
– you’re cute enough as you are; but just get a freaking bottle of Clearasil if
you’re really worried!)
       As
for Ron, hmmm. What I can say about Ron? Ever cheerful, never complaining,
often the butt of Bukaneg’s jokes and the target of his constant ribbing about
tangled and complicated love lives. Ron blushes like a teenage girl, and it’s funny. He collects, for some
reason, bottles. He has a bottle of some darkblue drink in his room right now,
and we’re all betting that it’ll taste like Benadryl or Robitussin. Ron likes
sultana biscuits, wears blue boxers to bed, and usually skips breakfast. He’s a
mean machine with a camera, and his presentation on JMS’s speech is something
to watch. Kodao’s main –man when it comes to the camera-work.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* To those who know me by my Christian and legal name, I am Bukaneg to almost legal (and some underground) activists in the Philippines.  I promise to write a blog sometime why I am called this curious name.