Just Another Date

There's this Aussie man I've had the biggest crush on for the longest time. Big time crush, I'm not kidding. The type that makes me swoon everytime I see him across the bar from me, ordering his whisky and coke. The type that makes me speechless and blushing like a 13-year old everytime he says, "Hi Rye!". The type that makes me drop my cigarette go scampering for some gum everytime he says, "Smoking a lot again?"

He's 39 years old, very, very handsome, has a well-kept physique, a pair of gorgeous blue eyes, a nice set set of small teeth, and very, very masculine facial hair. He's extremely sexy --- physically and personality-wise. But I never fantasized about him. Ever. I've always thought he was waaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my league. He was, to me (ok... hold on to your seats and take a deep breath, what you are about to read next is disgustingly cheesy), like a star. A sight to behold. And just that --- a sight to behold and not to possess. Or even touch.

Monday night, I got an sms from him which said: "Hi Ryan! How are you?" I was dumbfounded. I didn't know how to reply. I couldn't even decide whether I should reply at all. For all I know, he could have meant to send that message to another Ryan. Eventually, I took a chance and said "I'm all good. How've you been yourself?"

What followed was an exchange of 64 messages in 2 hours, all in all.

At some point, our sms turned to flirting, which led to him asking me when I last jacked off. I shamelessly gave him an honest answer: "Before the first dawn of 2008."

"You've never wanked since then?" he asked again.

"No. I'm saving it for my first sex for the year."

"Oh! But it's been a week already."

"I know. I have to catch up. The first week's officially over in a few hours."

"Well, cutie, you have to get outta Tung Chung if you wanna get laid." Did he call me cutie? And was he suggesting I went to his place or something?

"I probably will if somebody interesting invites me."

"Hold on. Let me check if my flat is presentable."

...will be continued. promise.

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Lessons On Medical Check-Up

With an air of cockiness, I went out of our apartment door 10 minutes to 9 today. It was a Friday morning, my day off, and I was out and about early enough to run errands and conquer the world! Ok, maybe the "conquer the world" part was a bit too much. The point is, I was gonna be productive today and it got me all excited. And cocky.

By 10:45, quarter of an hour ahead of schedule, my first major task for the day had been accomplished. To reward myself, I went down to Jollibee in Central and treated myself to a Champ. Deh-lee-cious!

Later on, I took the train to Tsing Yi for my pinaka-major task for the day, a obligation I had put off for more than a month but which I needed to accomplish today lest I wanted to be deported: the mandatory employment medical check-up. See, I am very, very conscious of the food I eat, but I smoke a hell lot and I party way too much, that I needed ample time to prepare for this major event.

After submitting the medical questionnaire, Ling (the chinese nurse who attended on me) handed to me a cup which was to contain my urine sample and showed me the way to the john. I complied. As, out of curiosity, I examined my urine sample, I remembered the cartons of cranberry juice that I had picked up from the grocery store days ago. I was supposed to consume all of them before today, in order to "naturally" cleanse my liver of the toxins and free radicals that pollute it. I didn't finish even one carton. And yesterday, the most crucial day of my crash detox, I failed to reach my quota of 15 glasses of water. How irresponsible of me! I shook my head in disappoinment and went back to Ling.

Chest x-ray followed. Their xray procedure here is less scary than in Manila. It somehow felt safe, unlike those back home that feel like allusions to pre-death hospital scenes in melodramatic movies, where whenever one went into the xray room, he felt that he had brain cancer or something.

She later took my height and weight. I found out that I finally gained those elusive 5 lbs. I've been trying to put on over the past 13 months. FINALLY. After tubs and tubs of protein shake. 13, approximately. She checked my eyesight. No mistakes. Then my color vision. Perfect! Then she took my blood sample. As soon as my blood started to slowly fill the tube, she asked whether I've already had water since I got up this morning. I said no, which was the truth. She said I should have. I knew that. But I was in a hurry to conquer the world that I forgot. Afterwards, she instructed me to sit in the reception area and wait for my name to be called.

As I sat in the middle of kids who seemed cockier than I was, I saw a printed word document posted on the wall that said something like:

"Reminder to patients undergoing medical check-up: Please remove your shirt,
pants/skirt and accessories and wear the provided robe. Do not take off your
underwear."

It was then that I realized I left the house without any underwear on. I don't usually wear anything under the wear that wearing a pair of briefs or boxers, for me, needed some planning and reminding myself. And I did plan to. I just forgot. Hell, I was in a rush to conquer the world!

I remembered how humiliating it was when I last did a physical check-up, just before I left Manila in 2005 for this same job. The doctor examining me instructed me to pull down my pants so that he could check me for hernia. Little did I know that in this day and age, some doctors do not ask their patients to pull down their undies anymore. They could feel it even with the patient's undergarments on. That doctor was one of them. I pulled down my pants and exposed my soul to him. Then he told me to pull my undies back up. With a little bit of sarcasm, he said he didn't need to see my package. I embarassingly told him I didn't have any. Today at the reception area, I was sure I would be humiliated again!

In no longer than 10 minutes, I was called to room 4 by the doctor. He asked about the history of diabetes and hypertension that I have indicated in the medical questionnaire and I answered him turthfully. He asked whether I was being scrupulous about my health, given my genetic conditions. I said yes. He said. "Apparently not enough. You smoke more than a pack a day." I gave no retort. I dared not. Then he checked my blood pressure and said that I was a little bit on the hypertensive side. I found it quite alarming. This was the first time I was ever told that. After telling him how I felt, he told me not to worry. He said it could be just the effect of some external factors. "Like what?", I asked.

He said, "Like... Are you nervous now?"

"I am now, but not while you were taking my bp."

"Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yes."

"How many hours?"

"Four."

"That's not enough. Did you have breakfast?"

"No. But I had a burger half an hour ago."

"And you drank last night, didn't you?"

"Do I smell of alcohol still?"

"Yes."

I smiled.

"See, that could be the reason. Next time you go on a medical check-up, try not to drink the night before, have at least 6 hours of sleep, have breakfast and drink some water with your breakfast. That way, you're sure your medical check-up results won't be confusing. And alarming." Then he followed his quick lecture with a smirk.

______________________

"just like the seasons
there are reasons
for the path we take
there are no mistakes
just lessons
lessons to be learned"

--Barbra Streisand, "Lessons To Be Learned"

And the lesson for today is:
"Don't schedule a medical check up at 11 fucking 30 in the morning. It's depressing."
___________________________

A Week Late

...but Happy New Year, nonetheless!

S2 Ep 24, "The Late New Year's Ep" of The Dan & Rye Show, Out Now!

Sorry, we know this is a bit late. But you know what they say, "Better late than never."

mahal namin kayo!

Don’t forget to email us your comments, shout-outs, suggestions, etc. thedanandryeshow@yahoo.com. You can now leave your comments in our mypodcast.com page too! and also, please join our yahoo group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thedanandryeshow. Enjoy the show, mga kasuy!

It's A Small World. Made Smaller By Blogging. Made Even Smaller By Volume.

An sms from Kiks, received 10 minutes ago, as a reply to my comment on his latest blog entry:

"Anatomizing sadness can be exhausting. Right now, I'm just so devoid of emotions. Thanks still. I'll call you when I'm not numb anymore."

My reply:

"Big kiss. You have a friend here in Tung Chung."

Three points:

• In exactly 14 days, my ex and I would be separated for a year. After a year of uncertainty (whether I should go on hoping for reconciliation or move on), I finally got his message clear. I should really start moving on now. I have been readying myself for this moment. I was gonna get drunk, cry, wallow in pain, maybe call in sick even and just refuse to function at all. I was gonna write an entry that would end in something like, "I thought the hardest part was the break-up. I was wrong. Realizing the break-up was final and it is time to move on is even harder. The hardest, I could only hope." Surprisingly, I am not sad. Though I want to, I am not even going through that tedious process of anatomizing sadness. And pain. I've probably gone through that profusely over the last 11 months and 2 weeks that there's nothing left to anatomize anymore. Kiks couldn't have put it any better than the way he did in his sms. Anatomizing, being devoid of emotions (or reason), being numb --- I went through all that for almost a year. Gone are they all when I expected them most.


• I hope that text messaging technology can convey how much I meant my message to Kiks. It was short and nothing remotel close to preponderant. But it came from the heart. I wanted to begin this entry with "An sms from fellow blogger, Kiks..." I didn't. He's a friend now. Not just a fellow blogger. Thanks to blogging and Volume for bringing us to each other's midst.


• I love it that Kiks doesn't misspell his words intentionally to save time time, energy and text space when typing important messages such as this. That makes him more than just a friend now. He's a KC.

"It is when you start to run and you continue to run. And run. And run."

-Kiks, Anatomy Of Sad

____________________________

Another One For Julius, My Walnut

Julius wrote on Multiply:

i just miss ur company...ung usap ng mga bagay tungkol sa buhay buhay. inuman. coffee. sat nite. grabe, ang bilis ng oras. pero thankful ako kay sa Kanya dahil at least ngkasama tyo dyan at nging close. hehe. i just told nigel that im having a hard time meeting new friends here. wala akong mpuntahan kung nlulungkot ako or masaya ako. missin the old days. lets have coffee soon. hehe. sana ganun kdali. i know that ur all busy over there. request...text text nyo na naman ako oh...pkisabi din sa mga sea creatures...dan and cris.

miss u friend...happy new year.ano ng nangyayari sa buhay mo dyan? r u dating smebody rite nw? kwento ka nman-)...im happy with nige pero miss ko kyo!

It would be fair to say that to receive something like this from Julius is not totally unusual. But the timing of this message is quite is quite surprising. Pleasantly surprising, I mean.

After quite some time, only today did I find the inspiration again to give a dance class. After the class, most of my colleagues thanked me and it gave me so much joy to see that a lot of them enjoyed the combination that I gave. There was not a single walk-out, and my colleagues from the afternoon shift who came in the rehearsal hall, before my class ended, for their briefing seemed to enjoy seeing what they saw. All in all, my class was, for me, fulfilling. A simple victory, in a venue with dancers of different dance backgrounds, various temperaments, and dissimilar drive and interest levels. In the middle of the class, though; after seeing my first group of boys do the combination, I started thinking about Julius. And I thought about him even until Julie and I started discussing the dynamics of french contemporary dance vis-a-vis the modern american technique, 6 hours after the class. I couldn't help but compare Julius to the boys, especially the new ones.

Julius has always been a bit insecure about his modern and contemporary technique. He doesn't seen it, but the ultimate reason he hasn't gotten over his insecurity is that he has never seen himself perform. He's one friend-slash-fellow-dancer I love experimenting on, choreographically, because we have mutual trust and respect for each other as artists. And being one of my closest friends, he can read accurately the emotional content of my movement vocabulary. As friends, our opinions are on the opposite sides of the spectrum. In effect, he is probably the friend I argue most often with. But in the rehearsal hall, we are kindred souls. And nothing could ever go wrong between us, and to us, together.

Coming home from work, I got an unwelcome sms from some guy. I thought of replying, "I'm tired of your games. Let's just forget we ever met." But I didn't. I realized I would just feed on his need for attention even more if I did. Then when I got home and I turned on my computer, I found an email from an ex who's been acting inconsiderate and cold lately and it's really disconcerting. This made me remember Julius again. In one of my blog entries, I said,

"[My friends] are those who constantly witness; painstakingly try to bear with; and are often subjected to my, what other people may call, bitchiness. But of all the friends I have, the sole person who holds the throne of being my favorite prey is Julius. Not because I secretly harbor ill feelings against him (I can’t. He is such a good person for anyone to do that.); but because he’s a Leo. And there is a long list of Leos who have broken my heart. I sometimes see them in him so he automatically becomes my punching bag. "

Today is one of those days when the I say, "Why can't all Leos just love me the way Julius does?"

I miss you too, Julius. Know that neither time nor distance can change how much I love you.

Taking A Break From The Highlights

an excerpt from a YM window

...

Law: yun lang. I hope you're not that affected by it.

Ryeness: not at all.

Law: great

Ryeness: i barely know the guy.

Law: so it's over?

Law: i hope?

Ryeness: sobra.

Law: buti naman

Ryeness: it was a momentary high.

Law: sabi ko sa yo eh

Ryeness: natuwa lang ako coz he made me feel desired even for but a fleeting moment.

Law: he's good at doing that.. but he can also drop you like a hot potato. buti na lang you didnt have to experience that. medyo naloka ako sa yo nung mga panahong yun eh. di ko alam kung anong gagawin ko.

Ryeness: true. well, i didn't go through all that heartcahe in the past for nothing

Ryeness: i am stubborn but i do learn my lessons. :-)

Law: :-)

Ryeness: as a matter of fact, there are more lessons that the universe is slapping me with right now.

Law: tell me more about those things when I get back, ok?

_________________

The 12 Days Of Christmas Highlights 3

...continued.

Day 6 (Dec 25) - Christmas Dinner at Steve's. On his Multiply account, Steve said: "This gathering is not about Christmas or New Year... but I just moved flat, and found an excuse therefore to invite some friends for some food and some booze." So it was more like a house warming party-slash-G4M HK-mini-EB. Hehehe!

The two buckets of Chickenjoy were, without a doubt, the main feature on the dining table, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Enan's pasta, shrimps and sweet & sour fish were even more heavenly.

When Steve invited us days before the actual event, I joked about wanting Moët & Chandon for Christmas. That evening, he apologized for not being able to get a bottle of Moët & Chandon. He got Veuve Clicquot Brut instead. And not one, but two bottles. Besides that, he also got 4 bottles of vodka, and a bottle of Merlot.Isn't Steve such an angel?

Day 7 (Dec 26) - Chris's Boat Party. Chris turned 23 and decided to celebrate with 50+ friends, on a boat that cruised from Marina Bay, Discovery Bay to Central. On the photo above are me and Chris, unwrapping the cheeses and cold cuts.

the class photo at Marina Bay, taken 2 minutes before we boarded the boat

Halfway through the trip, some people started getting seasick. Others started getting drunk. Some just kept taking photos. Everyone was cold. And I hoarded the Camembert and a bottle of Bordeaux and stayed in my own little corner on the upper deck of the boat.

Day 8 (Dec 27) - An Affair To Remember, The Christmas Prom. Sometime in the first week of December, Ate Des approached me at work, told me about this Christmas party her husband, Ralion was organizing, and asked me whether I had the time and the interest to design the invite. I eagerly said yes and came up with two studies: the one above (the official invite) and the one below (my personal pitch). Everyone got excited right after the invites were sent out and some people started looking for something nice and dressy to wear. Dan and I started scouting for potential prom dates.

Dressing up as fantasy or fictional characters is something we do on a regular basis. Dressing up sharply isn't. In the morning of the 27th, I woke up with a minor stiff neck that got worse at work. But I didn't let that stop me from coming to the party (and I got in trouble for doing so). When I got to the party, I was delighted to see that there were more than one Justin-Brian pair. There were (photo below) Steve-Dan, Ryeness-Ryan, and Nelson-Mansley.


me and my very adorable date, Ryan dancing to "King & Queen of Hearts"
The Dan & Rye Show goes manly. A very rare TD&RS event.

Had the organizers decided to pick the "Prom King & Queen" that night, I'm pretty certain these two would get the award:

"looking stupid and doing it with INTEGRITY" -- Marah's very own words, describing her look for the night.

...will be continued.

_____________________

The 12 Days Of Christmas Highlights 2

...continued.

Day 3 (Dec 22) - The Dan & Rye Show's "secret friends" came over for drinks.

Day 4 (Dec 23) - LK Christmas Party. Fran, a hideously talented young dancer backed out from doing the invocational dance on the account of an injury he got 3 days before the party. Being one of the very few serious numbers, "Silent Love Runs Deep" (choreographed by Mamu, performed by Belle & me) was moved to the beginning of the program. Though short, the piece was well-received by our colleagues and was applauded generously. Thanks, Mamu! And thanks Belle for doing the piece with me despite the very limited number of rehearsals. Can't wait for the full version to be choreographed.

Another show-stopper. The trockadero-ish version of Mamu's Ballet Les Femmes, performed by (what Dan calls) Big Girls' Society--- Chris and me.

Modesty aside, this number by Chris, Dan & me (what remains of the Swarovskis), and our respective partners was much-anticipated. The cha-cha-cha, choreographed by Nick.

The Dan & Rye Show goes glam in the annual mock awards.

Day 5 (Dec 24) - Noche Buena. A very dear friend, Gil, flew in at 9pm of the 24th and joined our little Noche Buena at Ayi's.

The embutido, keso de bola, garlic mushrooms and fiesta ham were so disgustingly yummy, we couldn't stop munching. In less than 15 minutes, we were too stuffed, we hardly had any more space in our humongous guts for hotpot and dessert. Ben, Jojo and I decided to take a break. With their SLRs and a saber sword, we headed down to the parking area and decided to do a little photo shoot, which didn't really last long. It was freezing outside and in just a few clicks, my nips were perky like crazy and my jaw was gritting like that of a madman.

...will be continued.

_____________________________

The 12 Days Of Christmas Highlights

Day 1 (Dec 20) - The Christmas Cabaret. That's me in the photo partnering Terasa (former principal dancer of HK Ballet), in the neo-classical choreography of the chorale version of "Do You Hear What I Hear"
Right after the Cabaret, I headed off to Law's in Causeway Bay for a little bit of catching up. Bored and still awake at 4 am, we donned our sweaters and went to the 24-hour grocery store near his building to pick up stuff for the dinner we were gonna have the following day.

Day 2 (Dec 21) - Pre-Christmas Dinner at Law's. Law was flying home to celebrate the holidays in Manila on the 22nd, so he planned to throw a preChristmas dinner for us, his HK circle. Ok, he it wasn't his plan but mine. But he paid for everything. Even bought a new salad bowl and some cutleries. C'est moi in the photo, checking my mail while letting my pomodoro simmer in the kitchen.

That night's menu: continental baby greens with vinaigrette, swedish meatballs in olive oil, pomodoro with anchovies, baby back ribs brought by Ryan Lee (I would claim the credit, but that's not right), meatlover's pizza

Of us 7 dollar-earners, only Ryan, the youngest in the group, brought presents for everyone: cream-coated polvoron with Oreo bits. Yum! he brought a box for each of us. The following morning, when we woke up, they were all gone. The culprit? The guy who left at 6 in the morning.

After dinner, they urged us to... podcast! How predictable was that, diba?

We did, anyway. Nag-enjoy naman sila.

...at na-tense nang konti. Diba, Steve? It was a good exercise in extemoraneous speaking, spontaneity and wit. After that night, Steve set up his own podcast. Send me a message if you want the link to his podcast. ;-)

That's the 7 of us. (clockwise from the guy whose head I'm holding) Ryan (the polvoron guy. Thanks again, 'nak!), Steve (my financial planner effective soon and my Adidas Philippines jacket sponsor, satisfying his vodka-cran addiction even in front of the camera), Chris (parang Nokia --- connecting people), Enan (the virgin), Law (the kuya, the host, the Absolut Disco guy), Dan (the guy whose name appears the most in my blog, and the other half of TD&RS), and moi, the Divine Ryeness. This photo was taken for the podcast site. Few minutes after this pic was taken, we played charades. I mean, really.. Couldn't we be any gay-er?

This (plus Dan who took the pic) was our team. We intimidated the other team by our credentials. Hello! All four of us are performers --- actors and dancers who know how to move our bodies. There were only 3 of them in the other team; Chris being the only performer. Steve and Ryan are both money boys (not prostitutes. Steve is in finance and Ryan works for a remittance company).

After 10 rounds, the score was 5-1 in favor of the money boys.

Last (pa-)Men Standing. Ryan had to go back home and Chris just passed out after the tagayan initiated by Dan. Enan is trying to say something in this pic. One point? O first time? Only he knows. Well, not really. He blogged about it at 5 that morning.
_________________________

First Midnight Snack Of 2008

I'm quite sure Mamu won't be very happy when he gets home tonight from his bible study. Our flat reeks of danggit stench all over, and the cinnamonn candles don't seem to help at all.

After going through some blogs, trying to catch up on what I had missed over the past 10 (or so) days, I stepped out of my room to get myself something to drink. I saw Dan, standing by the kitchen door having a banana, which he preluded with my most recent addiciton: Doritos Fiery Habanero. I asked whether he was hungry and without missing a beat, he gave out a no, which sounded more like whatever you're intending to cook, cook it now. let's eat!

I got him to come to the kitchen where I showed him the contents of a bag that my good friend, Novy, who was here for the New Year's, brought us for pasalubong. I urged him, "Mamili ka. Danggit, tuyo o dilis?" He smiled the kind of smile that said he liked the idea but he didn't wanna be the one to choose because he didn't wanna be responsible. See, when you've gone past the age of 25, weight maintenance gets a little more difficult. Yes, even when you are a dancer. This is a fact. And eating mindlessly, especially full, heavy meals late at night is among the biggest sins of all. Neither one of us wanted to be the mastermind sinner. Trying to still not be the mastermind sinner, he eliminated dilis from the options leaving me to choose between danggit and tuyo. I chose the former.

When I finished frying the danggit, I made some fluffy scrambled eggs and vinegar with garlic. I wanted to make sinangag out of the leftover rice in the rice cooker. Dan stopped me, saying it would just make matters worse (read: more carbs consumption).

It was 1:20am. Our midnight snack had been served.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I told Dan I was starting to get bored and restless. Without even having to think or ask me why, he said it's only because this is the first night, after 9 days, that we're not drinking or out partying. And this is the first night, after a week, that there's only the two of us in the flat --- no visiting friends from the Philippines, no dinner guests, no kainumans. Although I've been complaining that I never really felt Christmas this year, it has been one big party season and that, I can probably never experience at any other time of the year.

• Dec 31 --- New Year Countdown at Volume; party at my place


• Dec 30 --- party at Nelson's


• Dec 29 --- Gil's departure; Jojo Mamangun's birthday; Joshua & Cat-V's thanksgiving party


• Dec 28 --- arrival of Novy & Roy; Volume & CWB night


• Dec 27 --- "An Affair To Remember", the Christmas Prom at Makumba


• Dec 26 --- Chris's boat party


• Dec 25 --- dinner and drinks at Steve's


• Dec 24 --- Gil's arrival; Noche Buena at Ayi's; drinks at Drew & Noelle's


• Dec 23 --- LK Christmas Party


• Dec 22 --- The Dan & Rye Show's "secret friends" came over for drinks


• Dec 21 --- Pre-Christmas dinner at Law's; podcast


• Dec 20 --- Entertainment Christmas Cabaret; catching up with Law

Oh so it looks like Dan was wrong with he said it had been 9 days straight. 12 days. In the following days, I will be posting pics and anecdotes on how I (together with my friends) spent my 12 days of Christmas. For now, I'm gonna have to end this post and spend what remains of my energy to find a way to conceal, if not eliminate the smell of Cebu in our flat.

_________________________