The Marocharim Experiment

Up the Ironies, c. 2002

Second Coming

By on February 7th, 2008 in Food and Travel | Leave a Comment

   So I’m back here at Manila, with a brand spankin’ new haircut and some gall.  A lot of gall: these are times where I have to put my head on the proverbial chopping block, and take what’s coming to me.  Because that’s just the kind of guy I am… whatever.

   I’d like to play to my King Leonidas-level testosterone and say, “This is MANILA!” while people around me go “A-whoo, a-whoo!”  I’m still pretty much a stranger in a strange land, but I’m far from being a complete stranger.  At the very least, I know a thing or two about the Metropolis these days.  At least two things:

  • Bus routes heading into Ortigas Center, and;
  • Bus routes heading out of Ortigas Center.

   But then again, I’ll play to my strengths today.  Whatever should happen will happen, but I’m coming at it with all I’ve got.

   Wish me luck.

Prick Land

By on February 7th, 2008 in Life | Leave a Comment

   It’s times like these when I just love being a blogger in an Internet café.   

   Just outside the door, a couple is on a heated argument over what I think to be a “third-party” thing.  She’s holding what I think to be a love letter, and he’s playing defensive.  And now she’s crying:

Asawa mo ako, di mo ba alam kung gaano kasakit sa akin tong ginagawa mo?

   And on the defense:

Gusto ko lang malaman mong nandito lang ako, pero hayaan mo lang ako. 

   You go, girl!

A Cut Above

By on February 7th, 2008 in Life | 3 Comments

   My friend Erik said that if I’m going to really settle down at Manila, I have to get a haircut.  It’s not the first time somebody told me to cut my hair: just about everybody tells me that I have to get a haircut one way or another.  Here are some of their best reasons:

  • Employers are reluctant to hire long-haired men, on the assumption that they are either drug addicts or government rebels;
  • The weather is often too hot that long hair is impractical;
  • Nearsighted people and convenience store cashiers often mistake me for a flat-chested woman, and;
  • I look better with shorter hair.

   I couldn’t really make a good defense for having long hair, so I decided to have a haircut today: my first haircut in over two years.  It cost me P190 and small talk with an openly gay hairdresser.  It is, after all, Chinese New Year: one should enter the new year with a fresh outlook and some much-needed changes.

   I don’t know about the feng shui of haircuts, but I was quite disappointed looking at how much of my hair was cut out by the hairdresser.  Worse, almost every customer was looking at me with those sick smiles on their faces.  I think it was a slow day for business: I entered the salon with hair over a foot long, and ended up with a completely different hairdo.  To use the term loosely, it was revolution on my scalp.

   Kung hei fat choi!