Planet R.

The Planet R. Council would like to inform its visitors that due to some technical reasons, Planet R. will be relocating to a new and a much bigger universe.

The Council would also like to take this chance to express its heartfelt gratitude to Friendster Universe for taking in Planet R. in the past.

As mentioned above, Planet R. is just relocating and not necessarily fading into oblivion. Hence, you can still and always visit Planet R. at the link below.

http://planetryan.wordpress.com/

We are looking forward to your visits.

Planet R. Council

Immigration officer : Your passport please.

Guy: What passport?

A friend took the passport from the guy’s bag and gave it to the immigration officer.

Immigration officer: What are you doing in Jersey?

Guy: Well, what are you doing in Jersey?

Immigration officer (after looking at the work permit on the guy’s passport): So where do you work?

Guy: I don’t work. I save people’s lives. I am Superman.

A friend answered the questioned instead. The immigration officer shook his head. After making a call, he let the guy in.

Lessons:

Don’t get too wasted if you go to France and go back to Jersey on the same day.

Always go with friends.

Superman can always save you.

PS This event is purely based on the author’s imagination. Whatever similarities this may have to any actual events are purely consequential.

First lesson. I should start playing soduko in my spare time just to improve my mathematical ability. I don’t know about you but I really find it hard to read military time. Up until now, I still couldn’t understand why would people use such when it’s easier to just put AM or PM. So anyway, that said, obviously I miscalculated the time, hence the confusion on my part.

Second lesson. When a child is seated in front of you, you shouldn’t be too friendly. I have had this experience before already but still I haven’t truly learned the lesson. It normally starts with the child smiling and waving at you. Then you started smiled and make the “where’s-the-baby” gesture. The next thing you know, the child wouldn’t stop doing it for like the entire flight and even if you wanna sleep the child would keep on bothering you, poking you with anything. You are lucky if the parents of the child are sensitive enough like the ones I have met, although, the mother actually saw me giving the child the devil look…J

Third lesson.  Internet connection in Hong Kong airport is free unlike in Heathrow.

Last lesson. Well, this is more of a reconfirmation. Filipinas are really beautiful women. I was queuing to get inside the waiting area when I met this British guy in his early 40’s. The conversation started with the swine flu and then went on to his purpose in visiting Philippines. He is going to marry a Filipina of his own age (I’m sorry but I really dared to ask the question if how old his fiancée is, in a very subtle way though).  The lady is from Mindanao so we have a very lively discussion (nosebleed).

Right now I’m sitting at the waiting area mostly with my fellow Filipinos chatting about their various work experiences.  With home just about an hour flight away, I’m starting to feel at home….

Eto eh kuwento ko base sa karanasan ko lng din, puedeng yung iba eh may iba ding opinion sa bagay na to.

Sa mga di nakakilala sa akin ng lubusan ako po yung taong laging nakakatanggap ng comments sa report card dati na “he is good but he’s VERY talkative”. Sa madaling salita, magkakasakit ako pagka di ako nakikipag usap sa ibang tao sa loob ng isang araw, minsan nga sarili ko kinakausap ko nalang (LOL!)

So nung nagkaroon ako ng kaibigan na Inglis lng yung alam na linguahe eh laking problema ko. Kung bakit kami nagiging magkaibigan eh ibang estorya naman yun. Basta naging magkaibigan kami yun na yun. Unang una, tuwing nagtetext ako kinukumpleto ko yung bawat letra kasi di ko alam kung maintindihan niya yung mga nakasanayan kong mga abrreviations kasi kung siya naman yung nagtetext sakin eh kumpleto pati punctuation marks. So para akong nagsusulat ng nobela tuwing nagtetext ako.

Tapos tuwing week ends, pagkagising ko palang sa umaga kailangan ko na agad mag Inglis , okay lang sana kung hanggang “Good morning” lang yung usapan eh medyo nosey pa naman yung kaibigan kong yun so pati panaginip ko tinatanung. So diba umaga palang nosebleed na ako kakaexplain kung ano yung panaginip ko, tapos ingat na ingat pa ako nun sa mga words na ginagamit ko kasi puedeng pagsimulan na naman yun ng away.

Speaking of away, eto yung pinakamabigat na dahilan kaya mahirap talaga pagka Inglish lng yung alam nya. Kasi pag nag aaway kayo ang hirap hirap. Ako kasi di ako patatalo lalo pa’t nasa tama ako. Kaya pagka nag-aaway kami dati, doble yung epekto nun sa akin kasi nagalit na ako nagkanosebleed pa ako…tsk tsk tsk…

Kaya nung bandang huli naisip ko di na tama to kasi baka mauubusan ako ng dugo kakanosebleed.  Buti nalang nangingibang bansa yung boung pamilya nya, nag migrate bah, tapos sumama na rin siya. So parang lumabas na di ko kasalanan diba. LOL!!!. Kasi balak ko na talaga sanang putulin ang kung anumang namagitan sa amin, buti nalang…

Ang moral lesson sa story na to is mahirap makipag away ng nag e-englis, galit ka na nga nosebleed ka pah. Kaya simula ngayon, ayaw ko na nung Inglis yung first language niya, dapat iba naman, kunyari Polish, Swedish or Portuguese, basta marunung lang mag Inglish para naman magkaintindihan kami kahit papanu. Ayan yung maganda para patas yung laban. For sure bihira kaming mag aaway nun kasi mahihirapan akong makipagaway in Inglis at siya rin mahihirapan.

I guess what I’m trying to say is kung may kaibigan kayung ganun, pakilala nyo naman ako… ha ha ha

I was there sitting at the airport cafeteria with my sister. Words were barely spoken. There were so many thoughts in my head that moment that I felt like I’m going to be sick. After a while I decided to take off, as I could no longer take the uncomfortable silence. I bid my goodbye to her and went straight to the check-in counter. My mobile kept on ringing but I didn’t answer it.

When I got passed the immigration officer, my mobile rang again. It was my mum calling. I immediately took her call. She said lots of things but one line really struck me – “pag amping sa imung sarili kay ala na ra ba kay mama didto” (You take care of yourself for you don’t have a mum there). That line made me emotional. All the facades I’ve been building ever since I left the condo earlier that day were all torn down by my mother’s words. I started crying.

Minutes after I spoke with my mom, my best brad called. By then I was already so emotional. I couldn’t speak comprehensibly and so was she. We were both crying despite the promise we made earlier not to shed a tear. We laughed at ourselves in the end realising how silly we sounded.

Then my best friend called. She was very composed and strong as ever. I couldn’t even notice the sadness on her voice. She must have loved it that I left so she could concentrate on her lovelife . 

Then my Kuya in my previous employer called. As always, he gave me some advices. He maybe young but he’s so full of wisdom. As soon as I hung up the phone, I called one of my closest friends, who, although was in Thailand for a vacation, still managed to came out of her way to help me. I apologised to her for any inconvenience I’ve caused and thanked her for everything.

Text messages from my previous officemates and housemates, friends and relatives kept on coming. All of them wished me well in my endeavour. Some in a very hilarious way while some in a more dramatic manner.

That was almost one and a half years ago but I can still vividly recall every detail of it like it was just yesterday. Those were the last few moments before I left Philippines to work in another continent.

Here in Europe, I settled in more quickly than I expected. I think my being an absentee child really helped me a lot in adjusting with the new environment and culture. Plus, thanks to the modern technology, I don’t feel that lonely as I could easily contact my friends and family back home whenever I wanted.

I am enjoying my work and my life that time has passed so quickly without me noticing it. And now that I’m going home for a three-week vacation, memories of home start flooding in my mind and I couldn’t help but be excited and nostalgic at the same time.

The thought of eating my favourite foods that I couldn’t get here makes me drool. I would surely have bagaybay, chicken adobo, lechon, krispy pata, panga ng bariles, kinilaw, suman, bibingka, native coffee, durian, pomelo, and of course a little bit of Coke Float among many others.

I even started to get enough or even more than enough sleep while I’m still here for when I’m back home, I would probably be at the Blugré Café (if I’m in Davao) or at Starbucks (if I’m in Makati) at least around 2:00 AM with some friends talking just about anything. Or I might be out singing my heart out at Club Med, Cats and Dogs, K1 or wherever my friends fancy going. Or I might just be out clubbing.

I also plan to have a Thai, Shiatsu or Swedish massage.

Of course my vacation won’t be complete without paying a courtesy visit to each of my close relatives’ house. It might even be a good time to explain to them that just because I work abroad doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m rich. And for sure I will be asked when I am getting married and when will I find someone. And for sure I also couldn’t answer them for I am also asking myself those same questions:-).

If I could only have the remote control that Adam Sandler has in “Click”, I would surely have the next few days fast-forwarded, for I could no longer wait for the day to be back to the beautiful and noisy place I called home.

Those who knew me knew exactly where to see me at lunchtime. Unless I’m with some other friends who fancy going somewhere else or if the place is so crowded, I normally have my lunch at the Croissant Gourmet Shop. My friends and I even have a joke that I should get a discount card for dining there almost every day.

Normally, if my friends would go out for lunch they message me at around 12:30 PM asking if they could join me. It’s as if it’s already given that I always go out for lunch, which is also quite true. I couldn’t be bothered really to bring my own lunch. Well, at least not as of the moment

Anyway, at this particular day, nobody bothered to message me so I headed to the shop by myself. It wasn’t so crowded when I arrived there which was good and the best part was my favorite spot hasn’t been taken yet. I ordered for my all-time favorite pasta, paid the bills and then seated at my favorite nook. Around five minutes later, my order was served.

The thing I like about my favorite spot is that I am actually facing the street while eating, seeing all the people passing by through the glass wall. Because in a not-so-creepy-way, I enjoy watching people doing their thing

I was starting to have my lunch when I saw a friend with her boyfriend walking by. I just waived and smiled. Her boyfriend’s right hand was all over her. Those two should get a room!

Then I started concentrating on my food. I noticed that I’ve got lots of chicken strips in my pasta that day. It must have been the owner’s way of saying thank you for always dining here. Whatever it was, I don’t care. I was enjoying my pasta with lots and lots of chicken strips.

Then my classmate in the guitar lesson passed by, although I didn’t hear what he was saying, I was very familiar with the pleasantry “Are you alright mate?” with the “are” not pronounced, complete with the thumb up sign. I just nodded.

At the other side of the street was a mother trying to console her child. I think the child was about 5 years old. She must have wanted something that she didn’t get that’s why she was pretty hysterical. She was shouting and crying yet the mother stays very calm. Wow! If that child is from where I came from, she’s very lucky if she’ll only get a prick.

At the far end of the street near the intersection, I saw one of my client’s directors walking towards the shop where I was eating. I don’t know but for the life of me I don’t want him to see me. Maybe because I don’t want to spend my remaining English words that day with him  So I pretended to concentrate on my eating, bowing my head all the time acting like I was digging for gold hidden under my pasta.  He was almost at the door when my mobile vibrated. I was totally relieved, or so I thought.

Funnily enough, the person calling is a friend who could only speak English (apart from some of the Tagalog swear words). He was at HMV buying another Wii game and wanted me to come over to check the game out (or maybe he just wanted to brag ).  I was about to finish lunch anyway, so I decided to come around but I didn’t end the conversation until I got passed the counter where my client’s director was queuing. I just smiled and did the thumbs up sign to him when I passed by.

The thing about HMV is that every time I visited there, I always felt not-so-happy after.  There are plenty of things I wanted that they are selling but I couldn’t afford. Like the box set of Friends, West Wing, Will and Grace, to name a few and all those movies that I would like to have an original DVD copy. On top of that they have this shelf that I love to hate – the Wii games shelf. If only I am a Trust Fund child, I would have bought all those games. On the other side of the store is where the iPod Touch is displayed. The place is really a paradise if you wanted those stuff and if you have plenty of cash to spare and credit cards to max out, if you don’t have those, then the place is like a torture chamber.

I was near the store when I saw my friend carrying HMV bag on his right hand. He didn’t wait for me any longer, as it was about to be 2:00, which I didn’t realise. He bought another race game (lucky bastard!). I wondered how much he’s earning on his job. I might ask him one day and I might consider changing career. For the meantime, I shall stick with my job as I’m still enjoying it. Plus that new game would still end up in my hands anyway LOL!

I arrived at the office just before 2:00 PM ready for the next 3 hours of work.

A man was disinherited for not marrying the one his parents chose for him but instead ran away with the love of his life. (sweet!!!)

A mother turned down a very promising job promotion as it would mean that she would be spending more time on her work and less time taking care of her children and husband. She knows quite well that money and happiness are two different things and that love can sustain them. (A specie on the verge of extinction)

She’s got six children and her husband just died last year. His wife run away three years ago with a foreigner and he’s never heard of her since. He’s taking care of his three children. They decided to move in together. (One big happy family… good luck to that!)

 “Where did I go wrong I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness. I would have stayed up with you all night had I known how to save a life”. A friend lamented after her friend committed suicide over unrequited love. (sad story…)

His girlfriend broke up with him because he didn’t change his Friendster and Facebook status.(Beginners mistake…)

He wrote her a letter one day saying how much he loves her. She politely declined his love for she’s not yet ready for it. After a while, she went overseas for a job and its when she realised how much she missed him and how much she loves him. She went back home one day only to find out that he already married her bestfriend. (Ouch… !!!)

An accident involving a 10-wheeler truck and a bridal car caught the media’s attention that day. But what’s more captivating about the news is the fact that the groom still decided to marry the bride that day… at the morgue. (wow!)

He’s a teacher. She’s his student. They love each other but couldn’t show it publicly or else he’ll get fired from his job. She ran away one day. After six years, they accidentally bumped into each other. He’s with his wife; she’s with her five years old son. She could only wish she could say to her son “that’s your dad”.  (I feel for the child…tsk tsk tsk)

He is 25. She is 54. They’re getting married in June. (Best wishes!)

He’s from the North. He’s from the South. They’re also getting married in June. (Best wishes too!)

Of course, these friends that I am referring to are not really those that are very close to me, some of them are just mere acquaintances, some were my schoolmates in high school and in college, while some are those that never bother to invite me to any important events of their lives but still are my friends - those kind of friends, if you know what I mean.

And then I realised that many of my friends are either already married or are in a serious relationship who might decide anytime from now to also get married.

But should I be jealous that while everyone else is settling down, I’m struggling to sustain even a short-term relationship? But is there even a thing in settling down that I could not get when I remain single?

Let me see. When you’re married, tendency is, you tend to follow the norms (which I truly hate). After being bored with the plainness of your relationship after a while, you will decide to have children just to have some reason to keep the two of you together, or in order to fulfil your emotional needs, or in order to follow what your god says – go to the world and multiply.

Then a child came, you seem very happy. To you the child looks very beautiful and adorable although everyone else says otherwise but just couldn’t say it straight to your face, as the general belief is, every child is beautiful, full stop.

Along with the child, came big responsibilities like raising them well, providing foods and education, etc. If you’re lucky, your child will do to you whatever awful things you’ve done to your parents before and if you’re quite unlucky, your child will do all the awful things that you never even did to your parents before. Then you will realise that you might have wrongfully raised your child and that you need a second chance, so you will have another child. You will raise the second child differently but still the result is the same. On top of these, you started to be suspicious that you husband/wife might be having an affair.

But when you are asked by someone like me as to how is it to be a parent, you will do just like any other self-respecting parents would do – you will put a big smile on your face and project to be proud while saying the immortal superficial line “I’ve never been happier”.

When you’re single on the other hand, you have all the time in the world for yourself. You don’t have to ask permission from anyone whenever you wanted to go somewhere and there isn’t anyone who will nag you whenever go home late. Everyday is an adventure as you can do whatever you want whenever you want.

As you are not committed to someone, you don’t feel guilty of having to sleep (safely of course) with anyone anytime you want. And when you feel emotional about not having kids, you could always visit your nieces and nephews and be their cool uncle/auntie for a day or two. And if that still doesn’t satisfy you, you could adopt a baby just like what the famous Hollywood stars are doing. But you will choose a child around 4 to 5 years old. In that way, you can skip those sleepless nights attending the child’s needs just like the married couples do. And as soon as the child can understand what you’re saying, you will tell him/her that he/she is adopted and that he/she should behave or else you will return him/her to where he/she came from (bwhaha).  This style works both ways, you can make sure that the child will behave and at the same time, you have followed what your god commanded you to do – be honest.

You couldn’t care less how the child looks like and your friends could say straight to your face how they think about the child. And since you only have one additional mouth to feed, you won’t suffer that much financially. You will enroll the child in a public school so he/she would experience what real life is and at the same way you could save money. And since you don’t have much expectation to fulfil, you won’t be adopting another child. One mistake is enough!

And when asked by someone like me as to how is it to be single and having an adopted child, you would answer without batting an eyelash – “I’ve never been happier”.

So, which would you prefer? Should I still be jealous to be emotionally unattached?

(PS: with all due respect to my married friends…hehehe)

As he picks up the mail, he double checks it if it’s really for him since he didn’t order anything from the internet lately, which would normally what he receives packed as neatly and securely as the mail that’s in front of him. But yes, it’s indeed for him. The return address indicated on the other kinda rings a bell.

He then climbs the stairs up to his flat, a bit excited as to what’s inside the mail. After taking his coat off and hanging it in the rack, he excitingly begins to unwrap the mail just like unwrapping a Christmas present.

The first layer is a very hard cartoon box covered with masking tape. Then a bubble wrapper, then a soft cloth-like wrapper, and then finally the content.

It’s an oil painting of himself in an A4-size cardboard.

The words at the bottom of the painting reads “I know you’ve been through a lot…”

“Yeah right!”, he says to himself. The sender is obviously a friend who migrated to Switzerland just recently.

He’s not a painter himself unlike his friend, but he could tell if the painting is diligently done down to its last detail and the one he’s holding right now is definitely one. But what catches his attention is the look in his eyes in that painting. He doesn’t see it in any of his pictures but it looks very familiar to him.

That look reminds him of his reflection in the mirror minutes before he decided that the pain was just too much for him to handle, and that it was time to say goodbye to the one he dearly loves but can never return the feeling, to his friends who were always there for him but unaware of what’s really going on inside him, to his family who always believed and trusted him, to the world that doesn’t seem to care, and to life, which has never been fair to him.

That look, he realises, was also reflected on his bestfriend’s eyes during their conversation after he recovered from his failed attempt to escape from this world.

He might not be aware of but that sad eyes in the painting could be the same sad eyes that he had when he bid goodbye to his friend, who migrated to Switzerland, weeks ago at the airport knowing that there’s a fair chance that they might not see each other again or might decide not to see each other again in the future.It might even be the reason why his friend chose to paint him as such.

The look of resignation in his eyes on the painting brings back memories of rejection he suffered just not long ago and the awful things he did afterwards like joining in some stupid betting games supposedly to make him feel better but proved to be remarkably unsuccessful.

He hates to admit it but the painting really projects the emotional phase that he is in right now. He can’t describe it in words but the painting says it all. He knows that a picture paints a thousand words, but this one definitely paints billions even trillions of words, in as far as he’s concern.

Carrying the painting on his right hand, he goes to his bedroom and sits in front of the mirror. He sits there for a while staring at the window of his soul and then he looks at the painting again. The resemblance is undeniable.

He wishes he knows how to end the sadness engulfing him. If only this is just a simple problem like boredom, of which shaving his head would normally do the trick, he wouldn’t be disturbed this much.

Realising that dramatic moments like this wouldn’t really help him and that he can’t really find any answer to his problem right there and then even if he will exhaust all his brain’s extremities, he put the painting aside and start undressing getting ready for a quick shower.

But lo and behold, at the back of the cardboard is another painting of himself in his most perfect smile with his eyes sparkling with life.

The words at the bottom of that side of the cardboard reads “..but I know you can make it. Happy Holidays!!! – MS”.

He immediately grabs his mobile and calls his friend.

I could have not seen it coming. I was there at the hotel lounge with a glass of champagne in my hand, chatting with some of my work colleagues while waiting for the party to start. Since we all came from different places, someone from the group started talking about her country, I thought to myself, “this is nice, I could get to promote my country later”. Well, it turned out to be a disaster.

To start my said promotion, I asked the lady beside me where she came from. She said without batting an eyelash, “I’m from Zimbabwe”. I don’t know if it was the champagne that was taking over me, or if it’s the Christmas Ball spirit that consumed my politeness. I don’t know, but I replied “seriously?!” (in a tone of disbelief). And she asked “why?”. I was staring at her looking (and praying) for some signs that she might just be kidding. But there was none. I asked my other colleagues, who were at this time also busy having little conversations with the person next to them, if they knew that the lady beside me is really from Zimbabwe, and they all said yes.

It was on that moment that I wished I could turn back time and just kept my big mouth shut. It was one of those times that I wanted to just shrink and disappear.

I offended her, that’s for sure but more than that, I embarrassed myself and I feel very stupid for my bigotry. Our ignorance sometimes could really get us into trouble. Well, that is if you don’t keep your mouth shut.

I apologised immediately trying to repair the damage I have just caused.

Anyway, she was very nice to say that my reaction was normal because my knowledge about Zimbabwe is limited to what I’ve seen on telly. She clarified though that her country weren’t as chaotic as reported on CNN, BBC, Sky News or GMA. Although she admitted that some parts of her country are in some sort of mess, most part of it are in a normal state and what we’ve seen on telly shouldn’t define her country as a whole. She continued to say that her country is very beautiful; in fact, it’s got some of the World Wonders like the Victoria Falls. In the end, she must have sensed that I really felt awful to myself with what has just transpired, she said that I don’t have to feel embarrassed, and that if its anything she should be thanking me for being honest with my reaction and thus giving her the chance to correct the overly sensational reporting the media is doing.

Although I could sense that she really accepted my apologies sincerely, I still couldn’t take the conversation out of my head. You see, before last night, I was on her shoes (not literally though heheh). I was the one who gets the “seriously?!” reaction from people when I told them that I came from Southern part of the Philippines. Prior to last night, I was the one who keeps on explaining to people that whatever happened or whatever is happening to some part of Mindanao doesn’t necessarily reflect what the whole Mindanao is.

I reckon that she must be frustrated, just as I am, that almost every news regarding the place we came from were almost always negative. But just like her, I am also doing my campaign, in my own little way, to correct the wrong impressions that our places of origin have.

To Knombi, thanks for the very interesting conversation. You looked terrific last night by the way, and your NEW name also is kinda cool.