recital

1. on december 18th, 2007 i received from the mail a parcel containing a cd of infrequently heard songs from the 70's and an intriguing book called 'the principles of uncertainty' written and illustrated by maira kalman, sent in by my friend jet david from southern cal. the gift didn't just seem to cross the country from coast to coast but have dropped - pardon my use of eloquence - from sender's heaven to receiver's earth.

2. the evening of that date i started packing; not one pair of socks, not one pair of briefs, were ready yet to fly with me to the philippines that time. captain & tenille was playing from the cd and soon enough i remembered the 70's (please people, don't do the math.)

3. but to ell with luggage, if i may quote a guy from pampanga. instead i started reading and enjoying kalman's book whose illustrations reminded me of alex katz' abstract expressionisms, and whose text eerily resembled jay david's own funny take on the mundane things of this world: a stream-of-consciousness like narrative that is part-travelogue, part-home companion, part-entertainment, part-life & leisure, and part allusion (if indeliberate) to Keat's Ode to a Nightingale treated as a representation of surrogate reality.

4. i was seated by the window, this was the 19th. when flying i always take the window seat because earth from 20,000 feet up is always awesome, as opposed to the face, the breath, or the reading matter of the one seating next to me which at times are terribly awful. of course that day/night, the face, breath, and reading matter of the one seating next to me was awesome, that was my mom, are you crazy?, she of the sweet breath, she whose reading list are of my courtesy (bronx is burning, my christmas gift, kept her occupied that day/night and unwary of the bukol on her forehead).

5. united airlines had an interesting device up its airline sleeve: a tv screen at the back of every seat that allowed every passenger to know the flight path on real time. i looked out the window then looked at the screen: thunder bay. i read my book, slept a little, ate a little, then looked out the window and looked at the monitor: manitoba (hi angela!); i read my book, looked out the window and looked at the monitor: yukon territory; i read my book, drank vodka, ate, slept, looked out the window, then looked at the monitor: bering sea; i talked to my mom (i think i borrowed money, wehehe), went to the men's room, walked around to find some cute passengers (found a few, wehehe), read my book, slept, then looked out the window and screamed, whoa!, what the cold hell is this place, rugged mountains all covered in white, not a bacteria will survive in this place!, then i looked at the screen: siberia.

6. i looked out the window then the tv screen: sea of okhotsk, omigodstk!

7. slept, read, went to the men's room, drank vodka again, looked out the window again, then looked at the screen again: tokyo. no time at all the light flashed, seatbelt.

8. manila was only 3 hours away. titorolly, ghost, gwen, and non-toni were only 2 days away.

9. i was not going to be the same again.