Divine Tuesnight..

It’s almost every Tuesday that I go to church, Greenbelt in particular, after work. And normally I would see few people, and that would be the best time to make “tambay” in church and make “katwiran” (I learned this from my college friend) to Him, which is the way I mostly talk to the Above, if there is. Other Tuesdays, they have charismatic gatherings, where once I found my self singing along. And last Tuesday, December 8, I was surprised when I saw many people, and there was a mass held. Having no choice, I just stayed and attended it. As soon as I got home, I asked my mom and my older sister what’s up and why there a lot of people in church that night. Because I normally see that kind of crowd, let’s face it, only during the first up to the third mass of “Simbang Gabi” and the other was “Misa de Gallo”, and the mass before New Year. Since I’ve been busy recently (naks! Parang artista ah!), I’m somehow outdated with the news and current events. Moreover, I sometimes actually forget what day it was. I didn’t know it was “Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion” that night until my sister told me about it.

Moving on, last night, Tuesday, after work, I found my self again walking towards greenbelt church, and thought it was a good time for a quiet moment. Since it’s a sort of a long walk, I put on my earphones from my phone, turned on the radio, and listen to “The BrewRATS”, a radio show composed of DJ Angel, DJ Tado, and DJ Ramon. I love listening to these guys especially when I heard that they also idolize “King DJ Logan (KDL)”, which is also one of my favorite radio jocks. When I reached the church, to my surprise, it’s as if I’m in the same scenario as last week, with almost the same number of crowd..

“Ano na naman to’!?”

I just stood at the same ground where I ask my self that question. Listening to “Our Father”, I removed my left earphone and retain the right to simultaneously listen to the BrewRATS where they have, “bring-a-friend-tuesnight”, and they have a priest guest, Father Francis (I didn’t get his last name), and their topic is about Christmas, and all. I noticed that he was cool and delivers good humor while conveying good information about the Christian life, particularly during Christmas. I’m learning a lot.

Benjie Mode:
(Benjie is an old officemate who knows a lot, and talks a lot at the same time. ^^)

“Did you know that Christ was born on 6 B.C.?”

I bet you didn’t.

Meanwhile, I heard the voice of the Greenbelt Parish Priest through the church’s speakers, and noticed his American accent. Intrigued, I moved closer to the church to take a closer look. That is the time he was just giving the final Blessing. Afterwards, he mentioned about the book “365 Days with the Lord”. I learned that he was a Filipino the time he spoke tagalog and cracked a joke about the book.

“Ayos ah! Ang cool ng mga Pari ngayon!”

By the time most of the people left, I entered the church and planned to buy the book and have it signed by him, the cool priest. Since couples of persons were lined up for the book, I decided to sit and wait. Still having my right earphone on, I continued listening to the radio. When I noticed the people cleared up and saw the priest is still there helping to distribute the books, I approached his assistant for one copy of the book, paid for it, and asks if I can have it signed by the priest, he said, “Opo, pwede po!”.

“Ayos!”

By that time I was already beside one woman standing next to the priest, but she was busy talking to the other woman on my back, so I got the chance to make an eye contact with the priest..

“Excuse me Father, pwedeng..”

Then I gave him the book along with my pen. He said, “Sure!”. While he’s writing on the book I mentioned my first name and realized he do not usually write names, maybe because he’s not used to signing books, but he wrote it anyway. Then the woman between me and the priest asked if she can, borrow my pen, and have her book signed just like mine, so I said, “Sure!”. After that, I asked for the priests’ name while reaching for his hand and placed it to my forehead. “It’s Father Mario. God bless.” Then I thank him.

As usual, I make “tambay” in the church for a while. Still listening to the radio, after about 5 minutes of browsing in my new book, I put it inside my bag and decided to go to Greenbelt Park to see the water fountain. I love fountains! In the pathway of the church, I turned around to my right, faced the altar, and gave off a sign of the cross. When I opened my eyes, I noticed in my peripheral vision that a woman on my right was looking at me. I did not mind her, and instead I turned around to my left. After a few steps, I took a peek at her to my left, and saw her once again looked at me. She is not the girl with the mark on her forehead (maybe I’ll tell you about that story some other time). I continued walking and sat beside the fountain in greenbelt. It’s about a few minutes before ten, and the show it about to end (the BrewRATS). I heard that they’re now accepting phone calls for any questions to their guest, Father Francis. Looking at my book I formed a question. Knowing I don’t have enough load for a call, I just texted them. By the time I sent my message they have just took a caller. Few minutes after the caller, I send the same message again. A moment later, I heard DJ Angel talking to the priest, “Father from the text line, Minsan may Isang Kamote is asking, where is the original Bible?”. Father Francis answered in details and said it was in the Vatican City, split up. After that, they asked the priest for a parting message, and gave their closing remarks.

Me, running low on battery, still managed to switch to mp3 mode on my phone, once again passed by the church going to the jeep terminal. That’s the only time I knew why there are a lot of people in church that night..

“I think I have just attended the first mass of “Simbang Gabi” this year.”

Sobrang lapit na pala ng Pasko, hindi ko pa alam.

Merry Christmas everyone! ^^

- minsanmayisangkamote

Go ahead punk! Make my day..

Aside from having a strong “chamba”, and being lucky on the things I buy or purchase. And maybe aside from the good things I haven’t discovered of myself yet. I believe I have an eye for details because of, how do I call it, uuuhhmmm, let’s just say, good line or angle of sight, or in some occasions, awkward line of sight. To elaborate, based on a study (which I only made up), the normal or average of the worlds population, when standing up, have their eyeballs normally looking forward, straight, or at zero degrees. Me, my eyeballs would, most of the time, looking forty five degrees downward. Now, standing five feet and six inches tall, I find myself always in an awkward situation when talking to other people, especially girls, given that the average height of a Filipino woman is five feet, two inches tall. So just imagine which body part would I be normally looking at when talking to a woman. This happened many, many, how can I say it, many times.

There is this one time in my previous work; I’m talking to our receptionist and one of our consultants. This consultant was wearing “plunging neck line” that time. And pardon me, this is a compliment, she has a nice pair of, let’s replace the word and tag it, “shoes”. So being me, I didn’t realize I’m already looking directly at her “shoes”, while discussing something about work. In the middle of it, our receptionist playfully bumps me and said, “hoy san ka nakatingin!?”. Good thing the consultant just smiled, didn't mind it, and told us she’s used to that kind of situation given the size of her “shoes”. But I still apologized and said that I don’t mean to be looking at her “shoes”. Feeling that the apology isn’t enough, I told them facts on how I look at things literally, while her ending up telling us more stories, for example, in a meeting with men clients looking at her “shoes” intentionally.

This morning while riding on a jeep, and about to get stranded on a re-route in Makati Avenue (BTW, what’s the event in Makati today?), a gorgeous lady steps on. She is wearing a gray corporate blouse on top, a skirt (extra short), and black stockings, which I thought to be a BDO (Banco de Oro) uniform. She happens to sit “in front” of me and I “immediately saw” her, wait for it, brown eyes. Hey I know what you’re thinking!! We’ll get to that.. Now going back to the story, I’m curious if her eyes were real or she’s just wearing contact lens. Anyway, I constantly look at her eyes every time she pass my sight.

As most of the passengers dropped off at Greenbelt, people left in the vehicle can now be more at ease, including me and, ehem, the skirt girl “in front” of me. Having told you about my angle of sight earlier, it is now mixed with my “chamba”, when the driver had a “semi-rough break” of the vehicle, causing us to “semi-buckle up”. With that, just imagine how a woman in a mini skirt would react in that situation. But I saw nothing because of the lighting condition inside the vehicle. Being polite, I prevented of how things would go worse (or better in some other state of mind), by sitting sideward, and moving a bit backward. But as my “chamba” waves his magic wand onto me.. There it was! ♪ Hallelujah! ♫ The sunlight coming from my left, goes straight under her skirt! I said to my self, “I think I just saw her undies!”. White. But I don’t mind. Seconds later it happened again. That’s the time I realized it is “panty hose” she’s wearing not just stockings. But there’s more. Even with her black panty hose, through right amount and angle of light bestowed upon me ♪ Hallelujah! ♫, I still happen to notice the red star design on her undies! I can even tell which cheek it is on! (hardcore na to’!).

Mixed emotion, I don’t know if I should be disgust of myself, or just enjoy the moment. As it happened a few more times, I thought to myself that I ought to be doing something already, like telling her what I just noticed. And that’s the case; Should I be telling her? Again I’m confused. This always happens..

But the occurring things between me and the opposite sex is a different story.