The Pensive Bull: Domus Amicorum

That bitching spirit has been dormant for quite some time now. I'm still that bullying friend everyone thought about. But somehow, these past days, I have been in so much pleasantries I could not get myself into that bullying mode. Yes, it is a mode rather than a mood. How could I be so mean when, at a short notice, friends would converge to honor you or those who are close to you. Say for instance, last weekend.

Bet your ass, Ninghao?

Bagbag is due for his UN Volunteer assignment in Haiti in fifteen days. My sister-in-law wanted to throw him a farewell party. But my brother offered Shell refinery’s staff house in Pililia, Rizal, provided all of Bagbag’s friends would be there. My brother wanted to fill up the whole place with so many of our friends. He thought the pool is too big for my three nieces. The lawn is too big for that half-poodle-half-oyster of a dog. The staff house is too big for only the eight of us if no friends would come. Or maybe sis-in-law just wanted to worry about how many disposable plates are available for the next meal. As they say, the many-er, the merrier.

If not for Gab, we could have starved.

No more beer... pero maraming kalat.

Plenty of food but no plates.

Too big for the nieces.

This is how the guys gyrated last night.

With a butt like that we definitely need more room.

I’m still having a hang-over from that dispedida. The longest I ever attended. I’m short of words to describe it. Bagbag was teary eyed when he saw the slide show presentation of the photos I made in Baby Macy (that’s my MacBook). So here’s something, an attempt on poetry, to subtly express what I and Babag felt.

Domus Amicorum

You would fill your hearts with joyful sentiments
And wish they’d be free from the spoils of sorrows.

You would spread your tables with fabulous recipes
And wish nothing but only the gourmande’s choice.

Around your garden you sprinkle seeds of blooming colors
And hope that no winter shall welt them away.

In your album of memories you only long to see smiles.
Happily they stare back at you with shiny teeth and ever arching lips.

You keep the good, you cherish the true,
You keep things proceeding in as much the pleasant way.
The things you hold shiny and new.

But nothing lasts.
Nothing is always you .
The surest of all occurrence is end.

And in the midst of these frustrations
A good heart can always find
A room full of laughter.
A roof raised by warmth.
A kitchen churning a pot of good counsel.
A living room laid with tender care.
A bedroom of benevolence.

You find yourself in a house full of friends.

Friends? Family.

Thank you guys. Thanks for Ryoichi, Praxedes, and Cyclopes for taking in my durian burps all the way back to Manila. That’s what you get for not telling me which road and corners I should take. And Nympha for driving all the girls off that night to a gaybar. Bagbag and I had a break from all the aching laughter whenever the group are together. Ang kukulit! But I had my laughs for sending them off to a gaybar that’s waaaay off the distance I estimated. Ninghao was ever fun and loud. Good thing there was no neighborhood to disturb.