standstill.
I went to the World Pyro Olympics yesterday, the last day. Obviously, it was jam-packed with Filipinos (although I saw the occasional foreigner wrinkling his nose at the masses) all pushing and squabbling over standing room. My tito and I were lucky enough to have the money to squeeze into an over-crowded (coffee shop turned) restaurant and we had good enough seats that we didn't even feel the need to stand up. Good thing too as that was to be our prison for the next five hours...
Most of the said five hours were spent waiting and drinking iced tea so we could keep our seats without any angry waiters trying to shoo us away with their menus. The waiting period between both presentations (China and the Philippines I believe) was roughly half an hour longer than our original wait of 7:00am-8:30pm-- dinner to the start of the show.
Part of me is glad that I didn't go with you guys (sorry dudes) because a.) The wait would have killed you, b.) We wouldn't have found a restaurant without my tito waving his wallet in people's faces and c.) We would've had a hell of a time going home. Honestly, had I gone with anyone else I probably would have had to resort to sitting on the sidewalk with the other children.
Although the wait was hot and more bothersome than some people would have appreciated, I think it was well worth it (unfortunately for me, most Filipino's are stubborn and refuse to vacate the premises even under severely uncomfortable conditions). I don't get bored easily even without paper and pen so it wasn't quite the sacrifice on my part. Iced tea kept me cool although it really reminded me too much of Sir Ian. The crying children made me laugh.
I guess I didn't mind so much because I actually do like fireworks. Sure, they're noisy pieces of crap that destroy the environment (a certain part of me still greatly dislikes them) but I like how they light up the night sky. Although, truth be told, I enjoy other people's reactions more.
And, boy, are Filipino's a great audience. This is the part of me that's optimistic about why they hold the competition here of all places. They cheer, they clap, they hoot good-naturedly. The children are usually wide-awake, enough so to join their parents in the mass production of noise pollution. And sure, it gets noisy but it's never anything I can't block out.
Although the moment the fireworks started it seemed like everyone froze. For one moment, they all went quiet. It was like they'd fallen into some kind of happy trance.
But, as are most things in the Philippines, it was temporary (oh, go on, bash me for this) and their immature heartfelt cheers couldn't be stifled. Everyone felt the need to clap whenever a firework went off. Keep in mind that this was a fireworks competition and, thus, there was a lot of clapping going on. It was funny, mostly because of how in sync everyone was. Whenever a golden rocket would slowly make it's way up, they all held their breath in anticipation (I can still hear the "uy! uy! uy!" behind me); when something big and explosive would spread across the starless sky a resounding "Oooooooh" would prevail; and when something truly amusing would crop up everyone would "woot" to their heart's content. It was as if none of them have ever seen fireworks before. I, personally, attribute it to an in-born immaturity in the human race and try to view it as a mom views her children cheering for a character on TV it's not like I do that, of course not. Nope. No way Jose *hypocrite*.
There was also one set of fireworks, a bunch of strange gold flares that lit into the sky one by one, that dominates my memory primarily because of a joke someone made about it. I forget what it's called but it acted like a rocket or a flare, flying up into the sky leaving a bright trail behind it. It didn't blow up or end in a shower of sparks but merely wound its way up before suddenly disappearing (zigzagging and swerving enough that a police officer should have ticketed it). Speaking of the police, I saw one using his cell phone to take a video of the whole thing. It was amusing.
I was marveling at how pretty it was when, suddenly, someone from the back (standing room) yelled out "Parang SPERM O!". It seemed to me that, for one moment, the nation was united in their amusement over a sperm joke. We're so mature. Hell, I laughed.
It was fun though. Like I said, I enjoy seeing the sky lit up with fiery messengers of doom fake stars. It seems apt for some reason.
Although I really wish it didn't take me three hours to get home (the entire thing let up at around 11:15pm). I also wish that I didn't have to walk 30 minutes just to catch the car in an area where the traffic wasn't at a stand-still (I'm still itching from the bus fumes.) But wishes never really come true especially if their expiration date was 24 hours ago, so I won't be bitter this time.
At least I got to see stuff explode in the sky. That's a definite plus.
I was hoping that one of them would apply the "Spider" effect but I suppose it's difficult to use it in a competition. :/
*still doesn't want to go to school in the morning*
Most of the said five hours were spent waiting and drinking iced tea so we could keep our seats without any angry waiters trying to shoo us away with their menus. The waiting period between both presentations (China and the Philippines I believe) was roughly half an hour longer than our original wait of 7:00am-8:30pm-- dinner to the start of the show.
Part of me is glad that I didn't go with you guys (sorry dudes) because a.) The wait would have killed you, b.) We wouldn't have found a restaurant without my tito waving his wallet in people's faces and c.) We would've had a hell of a time going home. Honestly, had I gone with anyone else I probably would have had to resort to sitting on the sidewalk with the other children.
Although the wait was hot and more bothersome than some people would have appreciated, I think it was well worth it (unfortunately for me, most Filipino's are stubborn and refuse to vacate the premises even under severely uncomfortable conditions). I don't get bored easily even without paper and pen so it wasn't quite the sacrifice on my part. Iced tea kept me cool although it really reminded me too much of Sir Ian. The crying children made me laugh.
I guess I didn't mind so much because I actually do like fireworks. Sure, they're noisy pieces of crap that destroy the environment (a certain part of me still greatly dislikes them) but I like how they light up the night sky. Although, truth be told, I enjoy other people's reactions more.
And, boy, are Filipino's a great audience. This is the part of me that's optimistic about why they hold the competition here of all places. They cheer, they clap, they hoot good-naturedly. The children are usually wide-awake, enough so to join their parents in the mass production of noise pollution. And sure, it gets noisy but it's never anything I can't block out.
Although the moment the fireworks started it seemed like everyone froze. For one moment, they all went quiet. It was like they'd fallen into some kind of happy trance.
But, as are most things in the Philippines, it was temporary (oh, go on, bash me for this) and their immature heartfelt cheers couldn't be stifled. Everyone felt the need to clap whenever a firework went off. Keep in mind that this was a fireworks competition and, thus, there was a lot of clapping going on. It was funny, mostly because of how in sync everyone was. Whenever a golden rocket would slowly make it's way up, they all held their breath in anticipation (I can still hear the "uy! uy! uy!" behind me); when something big and explosive would spread across the starless sky a resounding "Oooooooh" would prevail; and when something truly amusing would crop up everyone would "woot" to their heart's content. It was as if none of them have ever seen fireworks before. I, personally, attribute it to an in-born immaturity in the human race and try to view it as a mom views her children cheering for a character on TV it's not like I do that, of course not. Nope. No way Jose *hypocrite*.
There was also one set of fireworks, a bunch of strange gold flares that lit into the sky one by one, that dominates my memory primarily because of a joke someone made about it. I forget what it's called but it acted like a rocket or a flare, flying up into the sky leaving a bright trail behind it. It didn't blow up or end in a shower of sparks but merely wound its way up before suddenly disappearing (zigzagging and swerving enough that a police officer should have ticketed it). Speaking of the police, I saw one using his cell phone to take a video of the whole thing. It was amusing.
I was marveling at how pretty it was when, suddenly, someone from the back (standing room) yelled out "Parang SPERM O!". It seemed to me that, for one moment, the nation was united in their amusement over a sperm joke. We're so mature. Hell, I laughed.
It was fun though. Like I said, I enjoy seeing the sky lit up with fiery messengers of doom fake stars. It seems apt for some reason.
Although I really wish it didn't take me three hours to get home (the entire thing let up at around 11:15pm). I also wish that I didn't have to walk 30 minutes just to catch the car in an area where the traffic wasn't at a stand-still (I'm still itching from the bus fumes.) But wishes never really come true especially if their expiration date was 24 hours ago, so I won't be bitter this time.
At least I got to see stuff explode in the sky. That's a definite plus.
I was hoping that one of them would apply the "Spider" effect but I suppose it's difficult to use it in a competition. :/
*still doesn't want to go to school in the morning*