Spinning Bottles

Culture shock. Again? Mini skirts. They're totally common here. I 'm wondering what would you guys think if I would wear one. Hahahaha! You'll probably have a heart attack.

Bisaya. It's hard man! As in. I'm hanging at every word they say so that I would be able to pick up context clues. It's quite easy. But they don't have to speak fast.


One time, they all yapped in Bisaya. I can't help but shout:

HOY MGA BASUL! T'rn kanu san ka di ako pakatuntay! Mga gasugat anya a kilat ang mga wata! Di mataw b'dtalu sa tagalog! Mga bisaya ged! [TRANSLATION: BASTARDS! Stop talking in Bisaya because I can't get a hang of any word you're saying! Can't you just speak in Tagalog instead?]

And just as expected, they said a thundering "WHAT?" in unison.

I didn't tell them what that means, of course. At least, I can understand a few Bisaya words but they knew nothing in Maguindanaon. *evil laugh*

Nevertheless, they were all nice. I went home last night at about quarter to twelve. We hang out at Bayani's pad in Ladislawa, Buhangin. I love that place. It's so homely. Luxuriously homely.

They were having a round of beer. Actually, it was rounds of beer. "Shotting" as they call it. I didn't mind. They're of legal age anyway. There were ten of us. Florence, Paola, Cheska, Adela, Kuya, Nigel, Kitz, Earnst, Kuya Paul and Kuya Bayani. Kuya Bayani hates it when I call him Kuya. He says it makes him OLD.

Me and Adela were the only ones who never let a drop of beer touch our lips. We're minors. (1989)

They were playing Spin the Bottle. And the dare would be a kiss.

I'm exempted, of course. Trust me on that. I would never be caught dead handing my first kiss to someone I don't know much.

They dared me to dance. Did anybody say dance? I gave them an ounce of our Choco-latte stupidity. And they sure rolled on the floor laughing. Adults never fail to amuse me.

I can't keep up with their Bisaya talk so I busily buried my nose in a book. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is one-of-a-kind! I love it. It's way cool. Bayani caught me reading, so he threw the book away. Waaaaaah! They tagged me as KJ and very (stress very) Anti-Social.

I took refuge in his laptop. I was in the middle of a serious game of Solitaire when Bayani snapped the pc shut. UNFAIR!

Sigh.

I think I have to socialize. It was fun anyway.

I'm missing my batchmates. Those weirdos. They can't get out of my head.

I called home. Long-distance. PLDT's offer of 10 Php every call sure saved the day! I was wondering why our phone number is "not yet in service", then it hit me. My grandmother cut it off! I was about to call Nhile but I forgot her number. *snicker*

I miss my friends. And I learned something. Just like En's never-failing photo captions about Taekwondo and Tug-of-War as reflections of life, I have one too.

Spin the Bottle. A game of life.

There will always be moments when the bottle would land at you. You were to be asked: TRUTH or DARE?

I chose DARE on my last round. A dare to face the future. And I was about to do it. I dared to go a different path. It's like, my batchmates chose to go along Sinsuat Avenue but I dared Sousa and rode a multicab. It was a difficult dare. But because of that, I had measured their worth. The worth of true friendship. A worth that exceeds all measurement of worth.

And that is the TRUTH.