driving my brothers crazy
this weekend, i gave up an out-of-towner for family. it was my brother's birthday last week and the celebration was last sunday, and when i hinted that i might not be able to go, my mom began this drama about me always being absent in family affairs. i confess, my escapades are almost always arranged before-hand, and i hate people who back out at the last minute so i try not to be like that. so i decided on saturday that i should fulfill family duties, and went home in the afternoon after a last-minute trip to the salcedo market. a tip for anyone wanting to stock on yummy food for the rest of the week: go to velasquez park when the stalls are about to close (around 2pm, but not later). the food stalls don't go for broke, but they give large discounts.
so on sunday morning, i woke up late and asked my parents: what time are we supposed to go? and they said, we were just waiting for you to wake up. my mom already had a batch of baked pasta ready for my brother's party in cainta, rizal. i'm very rarely in these parts of luzon, but it was a dreary, rainy day, and we've all heard of stories about streets turning into rivers up in cainta (hence the irony of referring to these places as "up there"). i was really looking forward to playing with my 8-month old nephew luigi. too bad i brought along my camera and discovered that i left behind my CF cards. so i ended up having no pictures! anyway, luigi's grip is really good, and he can now walk (on tip-toe) while holding on to my fingers. he's so big now. and he has big eyes like me!
after eating, my brother decided to give me some driving lessons, so we took their honda city out for a spin. i haven't spoken about the time when manny DLS and i were both so drunk, coming from this party in pasig, and he couldn't find his way out of the village, so given my navigational skills (i've always said my spatial intelligence is extremely high), he asked if i could drive. i said i didn't drive. he said what? so we exchanged places, and after a 10 minute lecture, i was driving the car out to the gate. and when we got there, i thought that was it. i drove all the way from pasig, went to shaw boulevard, turned left at edsa, and kept cursing as all these buses and trucks were passing us (i was running at a max of 60kph in 5:30am traffic!). but the car survived without a scratch, and we're still alive so i guess you could say that was a success. but that was an automatic honda CRV. it isn't so different from a bump car in fiesta carnival. so driving a manual transmission sedan was something else. the lecture was less than 10 minutes, and my brother just emphasized that i should never let go of the clutch, or something. my other brother jumped into the car to observe and i think he was hoping to laugh out loud or hold on for dear life, but i think i acquitted myself rather well for a first lesson, and the engine did die on me because i kept letting go of the clutch. but that was a good start. if this coming weekend were any less busy, i would probably walk into a driving school. hmmm... plans, plans, plans.
so on sunday morning, i woke up late and asked my parents: what time are we supposed to go? and they said, we were just waiting for you to wake up. my mom already had a batch of baked pasta ready for my brother's party in cainta, rizal. i'm very rarely in these parts of luzon, but it was a dreary, rainy day, and we've all heard of stories about streets turning into rivers up in cainta (hence the irony of referring to these places as "up there"). i was really looking forward to playing with my 8-month old nephew luigi. too bad i brought along my camera and discovered that i left behind my CF cards. so i ended up having no pictures! anyway, luigi's grip is really good, and he can now walk (on tip-toe) while holding on to my fingers. he's so big now. and he has big eyes like me!
after eating, my brother decided to give me some driving lessons, so we took their honda city out for a spin. i haven't spoken about the time when manny DLS and i were both so drunk, coming from this party in pasig, and he couldn't find his way out of the village, so given my navigational skills (i've always said my spatial intelligence is extremely high), he asked if i could drive. i said i didn't drive. he said what? so we exchanged places, and after a 10 minute lecture, i was driving the car out to the gate. and when we got there, i thought that was it. i drove all the way from pasig, went to shaw boulevard, turned left at edsa, and kept cursing as all these buses and trucks were passing us (i was running at a max of 60kph in 5:30am traffic!). but the car survived without a scratch, and we're still alive so i guess you could say that was a success. but that was an automatic honda CRV. it isn't so different from a bump car in fiesta carnival. so driving a manual transmission sedan was something else. the lecture was less than 10 minutes, and my brother just emphasized that i should never let go of the clutch, or something. my other brother jumped into the car to observe and i think he was hoping to laugh out loud or hold on for dear life, but i think i acquitted myself rather well for a first lesson, and the engine did die on me because i kept letting go of the clutch. but that was a good start. if this coming weekend were any less busy, i would probably walk into a driving school. hmmm... plans, plans, plans.