Nap Time Rocks! » Short Stories & Mood Swings

Hey birthday girl

Iris — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:06:40 +0000

Hey birthday girl

You’re 5 now. Last week you were a little 4

You’re still little, but you’ve grown a bit more

I could pretend like you wouldn’t turn 6

Or 7, or 8, or 18 next

I could keep you safe, away from the evils of this world

But I’m not God, so you can just have my hand to hold

When your classmates and peers tease you don’t worry

They don’t know .0001% of who you are

There’s One who does, One who you can’t see

And then there’s me, family, and real friends of ours

I want you to grow up knowing how to love

But more than that I want you to know Love

You will hear this from me more often than not

That Love is not a where, a who, or a what

It is He Himself.

Arguments and fights would probably be part of our relationship

But I hope never because it’s our lifestyle to keep

I’d hate that very much, because I want us to be friends

I want you to tell me everything, beginning to end

So if you’re tired of all the shallow talk

About Bieber’s DNA or Korean Pop

Talk to me little girl, mommy’s all ears

I will never tire of your stories, impromptu songs, or wiping your tears

Hey birthday girl I think you already know

How much I love you and how much you’ve been blessed

Read this again in times you forget

Or just when you’re bored or before going to bed

So go see the world already and all the good in it

Make sure you have God’s Manual so your path is lit

Make sure prayer and faith is in your blood

Other than that I think you’re good

I love you for always, my baby forever you’ll be

I love you right up to the moon and back you see

And I love you with all the love that God allowed me to have

Which is not as much as He is, but I think it’s enough

To see you through booboos and whatever

Through forever, and ever, and ever.

- Hey Birthday Girl, 11.20.11, your 5th birthday

———–

I don’t write like Neruda or Cummings, my dear birthday girl, but I hope you get the message.

Iris’ 7 tips to know if the guy you’re with is up to no good

Iris — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:00:52 +0000

he’s already committed (in a relationship, engaged, married, whatever they want to call it). most men are really just naturally (and annoyingly) polygamous.
he’s gay. or pretending to be one. either way, you can never get anything real from that person.
he’s single and he’s ready to mingle with you. and her. and her. and her. and her. and her too.
you’ve touched 3rd base and you just can’t remember his name. he doesn’t even know yours, for crying out loud. you said you’re Nikki when you’re really Michelle.
all you can talk about is the weather or that the toilet backed up this morning… at times of desperation, you talk about the neighbor’s dog.
his archive of sex videos, scandals and/or photos will shame the National Library’s vastness of collections. i don’t know about you, but someone idolizing hayden kho’s ‘antics’ might not exactly have that much respect for womankind.
his theme song is “I’ve got a girl” by Lou Bega. look it up and go figure.

not that i’ve had so much experience, but i guess being surrounded by guys almost all my life has its “perks” too — one of which is knowing who to avoid when dating. oh, and by the way, these are all based on real characters

Fate [lp]

Iris — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:15:51 +0000

imposible bang mangyari yung nababasa natin sa mga fairy tale books?

then the prince kissed the girl, they rode towards the sunset, and lived happily ever after...

gusto kong i-share ang isa sa mga short stories na sinulat ko nung 2006 tungkol sa proverbial ‘fate’. sana magustuhan ninyo. pagpasenshahan niyo na, kung madiskubre ninyo kung sino ang tinutukoy ko sa kwento. hehe. a girl can dream, sabi nga.

–

the tv fizzed and came to life. blurred images of girls with long hair and long legs filled the screen and made their statement that this is beautiful. I ignored them, quite content with my hair, and my legs, which have never failed me in the boys department so far. There have been misfortunes, but then, nobody’s perfect right? Except those girls on tv. Right.

I have better things to think about anyway, and American Idol is coming up. i wonder if the fil-am is gonna make it? i hope taylor hicks wins. I settled into my favorite couch and sipped my homemade strawberry-carrot-and-banana shake.

Knock, knock. Someone’s at the door.

Oh. It’s the pizza guy. How much is it? here’s an exact bill, keep the change. Back to my couch and taylor hicks.

I know it’s a Friday night, and the girls have been calling all night to get me out of the apartment for a usual night out. I said no, said I wanted to spend this night by myself and just be a couch potato for once. It’s been a busy week, what with the promotion and all, and my new boss breathing down my neck every hour or so.

the next contestant croons on the microphone kinda like how my new crush does…

***

the crowd applauds after the last note fades out, and I opened my eyes to bright lights. The audience seemed pleased with the performance and I smile back. All part of the life. the cameras flashed and phones were raised up to take pictures. I continued to smile, took a bow and said thanks for coming tonight, I’ll see you in my next gig. Please be there!

My manager, tony, ushers me into the dressing room, giving me a routine pat on the back.

Good job, he says. all the girls loved you out there. You were really charming, chris. a perfect singing heartthrob.

Thanks, but i don’t think you should be elevating me to that status, tony. It’s not exactly the image I want to keep, you know that. I just want to sing.

He frowns at me as if to tell me I didn’t know what I was saying. I said thanks again and left me in peace. I opened my phone to call mom to tell her I just finished the show and it was a success.

In 15 minutes I was driving down C-5 and was recounting the night’s events in my already tired mind. I’m doing what I liked most, and I couldn’t be any happier. Then there’s that dinner tomorrow night mom kept reminding me about. There was this girl she and her clubhouse friend were dying to introduce me to. She was supposed to be a politician’s or judge’s daughter or something. She’s hot daw, my friend Aki was saying.

My cellphone rings, and I pick up the phone to answer.

***

hello? I said groggily into the phone. It was my friend, tina, possibly in the middle of a party-swinging crowd in one of the bars at greenbelt. I couldn’t hear her well with the pounding club music in the background.

You should’ve been here! You’re missing the party of your life! I wanted to say that every party we go to is the party of our lives.

Well I’m happy where I am right now getting a well deserved sleep, and you should be going home. It’s 3am in the morning, Tina, who’s with you?

Everyone’s here, trish! Paul’s even looking for you, he’s looking sooo hot right now!

*sigh* part of me had wanted to go to the party, after all, it’s a weekend. but after being swamped with new assignments by the boss from hell, I just couldn’t resist a night on the couch watching Simon Cowell bash young talents.

Alright, Tina, you’ve convinced me. I should be there, but next week, ok? You guys take care and I’ll see you later. Click.

i ducked under the covers once again, and drifted to sleep.

***

the phone rang again. I opened one eye to get a glimpse of who would possibly trouble me at this time of the night. It was tina, and I snapped open my phone.

Bail me out sis, im at the precint. I hit this guy’s car who was driving too slow — yeah you were, mister! — and now they’re making me pay! I really dont care if you’re someone’s son ok? Who the hell are you anyway?

Tina you sound really drunk. Why were you driving? Where are you???

***

I’m at the Makati precint mom. No, im ok. No everything’s fine, you don’t have to come down here. i try to sound calm but this girl’s getting on my nerves. She’s drunk and still calling for back up. wake up, miss, I’m not getting into a fight with you.

Ah, finally, someone’s come to rescue you. Are you her friend?

***

“yes, I am. Im really sorry for the trouble she’s caused,” Trish gushes as soon as she comes into the police station. Oh. My. Gosh. It’s him. “Her insurance will pay off the damage. Can we discuss this tomorrow? I mean, later? I really have to take her home, you see how drunk she is. Im so sorry, Christian.” I cant believe it’s really you in person. I have the most embarrassingly biggest crush on you. But you don’t need to know that now, not after all this mess.

“Excuse me?” Christian seems a little surprised, then quickly remembers who he was to the public. “Oh, you must know who I am already.” He adds shyly. Well she is nice.

Trish reaches into her purse. “Here’s my contact number, and please call me whenever you’re ok,” Crap, I hope that didn’t sound so desperate. “We’ll fix this, don’t worry.” Crap, his eyes are really nice. And he’s so gwapo!

He took her calling card and said he will give her a call as soon as he gets some sleep. She says that they are grateful, and promises again to fix his car.

“you should get your friend home.” The police in charge interrupts gruffly, after typing away the last letters of the report, anxious to settle the dispute and turn over to the next officer in duty. He was oblivious to the fact that he had just played a part of a predestined meeting.

Trish ushers Tina into the car and drives home, wondering if she should feel sorry for her friend who just had a larger problem than a hangover, but smiles all the way home despite it.

Christian, on the other hand, takes a good long sleep, wakes up late in the afternoon, and decides to cancel dinner. That can wait. He calls the number scrawled at the back of the calling card.

Tina wakes up with the foretold headache, takes in two aspirins, and swears not to kill herself with drinking anymore.

—

Photo: Canon EOS 400D, PWN. Story: originally posted here in 2006.

Sa sakayan ng jeep [lp]

Iris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:59:24 +0000

… madilim. Ito ang istorya niyan. Sana’y magustuhan niyo.

if I had a choice to do my life all over again, I’d go back to that afternoon when I sat at a jeepney stop watching the pedestrians and traffic pass by. You see, I wasn’t alone then.

you asked me if I wanted dirty ice cream, but I said no thanks. I had too much calories in me and i’d do better without one hundred and fifty more. You shrugged and still bought one, telling the sorbetero if he could add just one more scoop of chocolate. I marveled at how much room you still had for dessert, after eating at our favorite carinderia.

you sat beside me at the stone bench and for a few minutes we took our time to scan the bulletin board for new announcements like, “wanted: lady bed spacers” or “lose/gain weight call” or “up to 70% off on all items” maybe realizing there was none worth scrutinizing, you turned to me and asked where I was going later that night. I told you I had nowhere to go; I was still grounded for coming home late the other night.

Ayan kasi, dapat nagpaalam ka maaga pa lang.

It wasn’t my fault, I wanted to tell you. nobody had told me you were coming. I thought you still had a basketball game with the boys. But never mind, we still had a great time, didn’t we? i asked if you were going somewhere yourself.

Ewan ko. Ikaw, gusto mo gumimik? Ay, oo nga pala hindi ka pwede. Hehe. Ikaw kasi eh.

yep, that did it. I began to tell you about how we ended up being friends. I recounted how we first met, what was the first thing you told me, and even what you wore. I said you were too mayabang and figured you couldn’t be as nice as they say. You laughed at me and said you were probably the nicest person on earth even if it turned over.

I wanted to say yes, that’s possibly true. That’s probably why I began to like you minus the first impressions. And you were also sweet and fun to be with and smart and such a gentleman and so much more! But I kept that to myself and just smiled. Yeah, you’re sooo humble too. You seemed to have found that amusing and playfully punched me in the arm.

It’s been three years since we met, I told you. remember that time when I got stranded in school because of the rain (and you kept pestering me to bring an umbrella but I didn’t want to) and you still went back for me anyway even if you lived in the south and I was in qc? The flooding was really bad and you just had your car washed. i was so grateful to you then. I still am.

It’s funny how I really never got to thank you for all those times you were my hero. I guess I’ve always felt you were going to be there for me constantly. You interrupted my reverie and said I was getting way too sentimental. Yeah, you were never the schmaltzy, gushy type.

But I wanted to tell you anyway.

My point is, my dear friend, hindi ka ba naa-amaze sa tagal na nating magkaibigan? Akalain mo yon, natiis kita? (haha) I’ve always hung out with you, na kahit may gustong manligaw sakin, hindi makalapit! Akala nga nung iba nating mga classmates boyfriend kita. Sabi ko nga ang swerte mo naman.

Haha, you know what I’ve always liked about you? you have such a great sense of humor! Pero alam mo, sa lahat ng friends kong babae, ikaw lang yung sobrang close sa akin. Ewan ko pero feeling ko you know me inside out, im not afraid to be myself. Eh bakit nga ba hanggang ngayon wala ka pa ring boyfriend?

Bakit ba? Wala eh, na-intimidate siguro sayo.

Nye, sakin pa? sira nalang ang hindi pa lumapit sayo, sa ganda mo na yan, matalino ka pa, sobrang bait pa. what more can they ask for?

Hmm. You think? It didn’t seem to apply to you.

Come on, you’re my bestfriend! Your prince just seems to be a little lost. You know what I love about sitting in this waiting shed with you? you always come up with crazy ideas. what’s all this over-sentimental session about anyway?

Wala lang. don’t you ever think..?

What?

Wala. Never mind.

Ano nga?

Wala nga, ok? Drop it.

A bunch of students stood near us and tried to flag down a jeepney. It just sped by. like that moment, when I could have told you. it went past us and it is never going to do a u-turn.

I’m sitting on the same stone bench at the same jeepney stop where we had that conversation. i held the thank you card in one hand and gripped the edge of my seat with the other. as if life couldn’t be more unkind; I realize i should’ve taken your offer for that one ice cream cone. I should’ve said this or done that. But it’s too late for that now.

I picked up a box full of your and my stuff, each of them with stories to tell about us. your mom told me how you’d love for me to have them. i loaded the box inside the trunk and went on my way to the church where they’re keeping you for a while. i know it’s no jeepney stop, but I’m still going to wait with you there till you board your ride home.

—–

Jeepney Stop, originally uploaded on August 10, 2005. Partially based on true events.

Photo taken in Bkk, 2008. Canon EOS 400D. Never thought this would actually go with a short story eventually.

Street Pulse

Iris — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:42:07 +0000

SFX: Massive Attack – Teardrops.

Have you ever felt like your life sped by right in front of your eyes, but you seemed to be stuck in one place? Like you could have dipped your hand literally into the rushing current only to find that you couldn’t stop it? Do you know the feeling of frustration of having to find out that nothing you do will ever halt it? Then you just bravely take that step into the rushing traffic, and get lost in it yourself.

—

BKK. Canon EOS 400D.

—

So you’re sitting all alone
You’re fragile and you’re cold, but that’s alright
Life these days is getting rough
They’ve knocked you down and beat you up
But it’s just a rollercoaster anyway, yeah

It’s not right, not okay
To say the words that you say
Maybe we’re better off this way?
I’m not fine, I’m in pain
It’s harder everyday
Maybe we’re better off this way?