UNWEAKENED WEEKEND (happy na, weekend pa!)

1. I started feeling weekend-happy again after doing the gym every night since Monday. When the abs guru said, A strong tummy means a strong back, I knew then I have to rekindle my love affair with the treadmill, the weights, the statio bike, and those gadgets with their unrelenting chuva of push and pull. And tadaaa, after just three nights of sweat I feel the backache slowly backing off, where only a week ago the back was going totally bako.

2. Nung isang Linggo, matapos kong ikarga sa trunk ang aking for- the-week's groceries at pinaaatras ko na ang kotse, nasulyapan ko na may paatras ding kotse na deretso ang tumbok sa akin, isang nangingintab na puting topdown Mercedes series ewan ko. Nagpreno ako dahil tipong nauna naman syang umatras, at inacknowledged naman ng driver ang pagbigay ko sa kanya ng right-of-way sa pamamagitan ng pagtaas ng kamay a la Pope John Paul II kaway-kaway. Si Tim Hardaway ang magiting na driver, kaya naisip ko na kahit siguro itinuloy ko ang pag-atras e di ko rin sya mababangga dahil magpapagewang-gewang lang sya gaya ng ginagawa nya nung kanyang dribbling days of yore.

3. Years ago, another weekend, my brother and I went to the Riviera Cinema to watch some movie - I forgot which - though I remembered sitting next to a huge guy who bawled and guffawed so loud and infectious that I also laughed at certain scenes which I didn't even find funny at all. I thought I knew the laughter very well but only after the lights went back on that I was able to match it with the huge silhouette's: it was former Detroit Pistons player, John Salley, who now harks his famous laughter with Charlie Rose at the great sports show The Best Damn Sports Show, Period.

4. Sinamahan ko si Inang sa ospital nung isang Sabado para sa kanyang scheduled MRI (bad back; like mother like son!) at nahalina ako sa mabait at charming na African-American receptionist, kaya napaghulo kong angkop lang yung titulo nya na nakasaad sa tag sa ibabaw ng receptionist's counter: Director of First Impressions.

5. Early Saturday morning, around 7:30, I was at the nearby Starbucks and being awakened from my Friday night stupor by a grande cup of Colombian coffee as well as by the stunning narrative of Orham Pamuk in Snow - about a left-leaning poet named Ka who went back home in Kars, Turkey after years of exile in order to find an old flame (but somehow got caught in a web of issues and events: a rash of suicides by teenaged schoolgirls; a local election where a mayoral candidate was the ex-husband of the old flame; a witnessed assassination). The cushion of my chair was so comfortable, like a lazyboy's, and somehow tried to put me back to sleep. But both coffee/book, and chair, were no match to the group of students seated on a table across from me who talked so loud and with plenty of "like" in between words that I can't help but to pay unwanted attention to their conversation. One guy stood up. He wore a shirt that says "Define Girfriend" and I was a bit curious as to what gives. I wanted to check his back and find a catch, or even ask him point blank, Sige nga, define it for me?, but eventually thought the better move would be to check out the other tables for a more engaging moment of eavesdropping.

6. Magpapaka-nosey ka na rin lang, mamili ka na ng maganda-gandang subject. Dito ko naalala yung kwentong "Nina" sa libro ni Prof. Dennis Andrew Aguinaldo na "Shift of Eyes and Other Stories" kung saan inintegrate ni propesor yung isang post sa kanyang Tekstong Bopis blog (entitled Alone, In A Cafe) para ibigay ang isang voyueristic experience ng isang bagong graduate sa isang cafeteria: kalahok ang stanzas ng isang tula ni Jan Elburg, nilibot ni Nina ang mata nya sa paligid ng kapihan at sabay bigay ng opinyon sa kanyang hinuha, nagpaparang eksena sa isang pelikula ni Brian de Palma ang feel ng istorya. Ganung-ganun ang naranasan ko sa Starbucks nung umagang yun, para akong variation ni Nina, si Nino (or for whom, Ka Nino).

7. A table away from the students were four middleaged Caucasians, 2 men, 2 women, although I can tell one of the men was Latin American, and the other, Eatern European (the first from the outward appearance, the other from the accent). That early morning, dear lord!, they were talking politics, but there was something about their hushed tones that made me feel very interested. I covered my face with the book as if I was a legally blind reader (a covert scheme) and listened intently. They were talking about the forthcoming elections, and one of them, a woman, predicted a sweeping victory for the Democrats in both Houses. The other woman, interestingly, concurred, and noted that the trend in Latin American politics to veer towards the left was a good barometer and forecaster of things to come in these American elections.

8. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, ayus, pre, umagang-umaga, Sabadung-sabado, politiko. Tapos napabalikwas ang utak ko dun sa binabasa ko. Poet. Left-leaning. Ka. Elections. Old Flame.

9. Very well then, sige nga, define girlfriend?