It Has Begun

Marga and Butch started dating a few weeks back. I was out of town for work when they finally hooked up and was back in Manila the day they went out for the first time. I even got a nervous pre-date call from Marga -- Fate's way of rubbing it in my face, I suppose.

In my attempt to render my senses numb, I ran the length of Roxas Boulevard despite the harsh humidity. Twice. I got to my flat (just moved into a new place -- my first official bachelor pad -- another reason why I haven't posted in a while) at nine thirty, expecting to be exhausted out of my wits; but no, I was alert as hell. I showered, looked through my mail, called for pizza, read some magazines, and spent thirty minutes deciding between a "Lord of the Rings" or a "Matrix" DVD marathon. Past midnight, I was about to start on my family stuffed-crust meat lovers' pizza, when I got another call from Marga. This time, she was near tears. And since I couldn't shake that goddamn Kuya tendencies, of course, I drove to where she was to help.

I found Marga and Butch at a parking lot in the Fort in Makati. Butch couldn't see out his right eye, something was stuck in it. And since he couldn't wink either (yes, you heard me right -- the man could not WINK!), he couldn't keep the left eye open long enough to drive himself to a hospital. Marga couldn't drive; so they called me. They were both vague as to how Butch got this way, and I didn't push it.

The doctors declared it a "corneal abrasion" from sparkly dust -- the kind they use in kids' art projects. I declared that to be one of the weirdest date enders in history.

So that was Date Number One ...