BLISTERING, MADDENING & BEAUTIFUL

What a difference a day made, twenty four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers where there use to be rain
My yesterday was blue dear
Today I'm a part of you dear
My lonely nights are through dear
Since you said you were mine
Oh, what a difference a day made…
And the difference is you, is you”

"What a Difference a Day Made," by Dinah Washington

We hardly ever, if at all, copy and paste lyrics in our entries.  Which can be sometimes intriguing, ironic and regrettable as Gab and I both have such different, voracious, and accessible tastes in music – i.e, my experience as a performer with Center for Pop, and Gab’s as a bassist for three amateur bands. We’ve only managed to share a handful of eclectic/pop/sentimental renditions in our wed-site, although surely, the remaining weeks before September should allow us to swoon everyone with an additional wholesale inventory of Videoke hits. :-)

Gab in his revered den

Banyo talk w/ the architect

  …But the lyrics to the song perfectly capture our present Manila State of Mind. That – despite the extra-ordinary, super-sized, bottomless busy-ness surrounding our blistering days/nights/in-betweens, we’ve kept at our sweet, lovely miracle like two little engines that could.  Every week is a heatstroke-worthy trek to the condo, to a wedding fair, to Wilcon or Home Depot, to meet a vendor, to meet our contractor, to go over our priority list, to meet up with friends and guests, to the bank/parlor/dress shop/Church, or to have my lovely gown refitted, etcetera.  Our weekends these months in no order comprise city-wide searches for stylish (but reasonably-priced) lavatory/bathroom fixtures and floor tiles, canvasses for wedding favors, scanning the WorldWideWeb for prenuptial, reception and floral arrangements, and putting in the work for DIY items. WHEW.

DIY resumes at 38 degrees C.

 Oh. And gasoline prices be damned!

But we’re still smiling and shining ala Stevie Wonder and Friends, never minding the torturous perspiration and agitation.  I should be so lucky that Gab is very much involved in the fiery planning process (and I thought guys weren’t supposed to dedicate their time on these granular, petty details?? Awww.) – because I wouldn’t last another day without him :-) Our cash flow/accounts are also taking a s-e-r-i-o-u-s hit because of these regular appointments and disbursements; but luckily, we’ve been gifted with the occasional generosity of a few friends and family members.  God’s love still truly works in the ways of others. :-)

...with another Save-the-Date fan and fellow frappe-drinker, Ao.

Sometimes, our quieter moments at our respective offices provide stables for reflection and perspective.  Reflections and revisitations can never be mundane: what started out as an honest albeit playful “what-if-we-get-married proposition” back in February 2010, has become this epic, maddening kind of life-altering event that has pretty much consumed our every spare weekend and centavo over the past year!

We wonder to this day, less than 4 months from our D-day: how did we ever get here? How did we ever fall into each other’s place, countenance and comfort?  How did it happen – plunging headlong into each other’s ethereal daydreams and thick, ice-blended concoctions – that we’ve ultimately found ourselves joyous and resolute atop our very wishes-on-a-star? Was it the first kiss, or a crooked, circumspect smile, or the gentle tap of two fingers on the shoulder, that did us in?  Was it the first trickle of iced coffee intertwining with our first share of shallow stories as they ascended from our larynx and out of our lips? What made the difference?

with Gab's cutest nephew, Zeke

world's finest: bride, couturier, bridesmaid

A lot of conjecture can be thrown in and out of the furnace, and be wrought from its voluptuous flame, so to speak.  None of which would be entirely accurate, but, romance has its way of filtering out all logic and deduction, and to speak only through metaphor, if not, hyperbole.  And we are romantics, are we not?  What we can tell with some veracity is how, one slow afternoon in 2009, we ended up having drinks at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet in Q.C., and snacked happily on the remains of the day.  Fittingly, Gab and I turned from mellow acquaintances into good friends that day; although it wasn’t until a few months when our partnership took off in which we concluded our first out-of-town dinner (Bag of Beans) with memorable frappuccinos amid the cool palpable darkness of Tagaytay.  The smaller dates that would follow were no less evocative.  

Bag of Beans, baby

Starbucks Tagaytay (2010)

In hindsight, we sort of regret not to have taken pictures of our “older” events - particularly, as neither of us anticipated the momentum that would transform our cheerful friendship into a lifelong commitment – the greatest and happiest decision we’d ever made. :-) But while there are only a few photos to tread our just-friends past with, the places themselves retain their relevance, ambience, and indelible power.  For posterity’s sake, we’ve managed to somehow sneak into the thickets of wedding preps a few quaint dinners at those very cherished places.  (Sadly, the old Coffee Bean outlet’s been shut down, since)

Commemorating partnerships and sweet transitions at Chocolate Kiss Cafe, UP Diliman

But at the end of the day, we realize: we’d still much rather head home. We’d much rather find time to chat, lie down and relax, embrace, sleep, tug, dream and care about each other as if it were the most precious alibi for missing out on the many fleeting, immaterial urgencies of the waking world.  The beautiful difference had always been with us, no matter how sentimental, no matter how grandiose the world allows our metaphors to be.

---------------------------

And it always starts out best, as friends.............................

Summer 2009, seasons of true friendship

office sendoff, August 2009 - a larger destiny beckons...

Home Sweet Home, October 2009...our first official date @ Le Souffle

 

Celebrating our first "lavish" dinner @ Lemuria (November, 2009)

...followed by a most memorable Christmas (City of Pines, 2009)

High in the sky, on our first Valentines (Cebu, 2010)

Turnin' the tables: reminiscin' the friendship @ our old office (March 2010)

..and a well-deserved summer romance (Pearl Farm, May 2010)

Falling into place, the best Engagement dinner @ Tosca (end-August 2010)

... and a post-engagement weekend at Hong Kong (October, 2010)

2011 is LOVE -- as in the flourishing of greens and blues and earth (February, 2011)

...as in the inspiration we find and recreate everyday.... (Tagaytay, 2011)

As in the differences we celebrate every passing moment, w/ every cup of coffee (Cafe Ysabel, May 2011)

A Different Kind of Summer Romance (and Finding Time to Do Everything)

We GET it.

Hitting the resort after a birthday party

Its torch-like out there, the prickly heat of the sun like hedgehog quills, and its glare – especially at midday – is overwhelming every bit of Earth and infrastructure. Day-lit working hours tending to be a bit more sluggish, office loads more grueling than usual, and our traffic-tested tempers lousier than we’d wish!  A/C seems to be broke even at full blast, and I’m ‘fraid there just aren’t enough horses to ramp up the, er, horsepower. Gab sweats a lot, lot more than I do, but I’ve had my full and unfair share of changing shirts within the same hour these days.  And if you’ve driven past by those thermostats beside the traffic lights: we’re looking at 38, 39, 40 degrees Celsius! Wow. Literally, enough to induce human convulsion.

Calm moment at Club Manila East

So you can imagine how much of another miracle its been that, despite the furious, unrelenting heat here in Manila that Gabby ABSOLUTELY despises, we were able to accomplish our fair share of grown-up tasks, eventful due diligence and rewarding rendezvous(es?) the past 2-3 weeks to keep our happy momentum from melting down, or burning down from its own flame.  Of course, we haven’t hit the beach either, as much I’ve been wanting to, but that’s always an open possibility right after marriage.  And that’s just about the most comforting, lovely reality thereafter.

SVD dinner @ ShangriLa Mall, w/ Tonet

late visit with Frances & Baby Chloe

As we had hoped, we’ve gotten great responses and more than a few thumbs-up for the Save-the-Date packages we started distributing out since late March to friends we hadn’t seen for a while now.  Its been dubbed a “labor of love,” by a few friends – and that’s what it is precisely.  Others wondered if those were our Invites, already, and if receiving one meant getting a free Frappe. Hmmmm!!? Other friends were more hilarious, as they tried in vain to twist and open the coasters as if opening Forrest Gump’s box of Choc’lits.  Gabby calls it a fusion of strengths: our love for the café culture, and matching, granular workmanship from our lady friends at Creative Prints. We love them dearly… But its mid-April now, and we still got several dozen SVDs waiting to be released as soon as we’re able to reach a “binding” decision on who else makes it to our guest list.  If only money grew on trees… (we’d plant more of them every day!)

First jam w/ TNJ in two years, and first to get married. That's my bassist :)

 The other week, we also took a day off from work to finally meet with our preferred lensman at NICEPRINT. Niceprint hardly organizes early 1-on-1 meetings with their more coveted photographers, so we felt privileged to be a rare exemption!  We wanted to check firsthand if we’d hit it off well with our guy, if there was real or just contrived chemistry between us, and more importantly to solicit his views on our pre-nup shoot scheduled very soon!  Very fortunately, he (barely in his 30s) was very receptive and engaged by the ideas / concept that’d been brewing ala Caffe Ti Amo concoctions in our heads for some months now!  Exciting exciting! Around us, vivid wallpapers of John and Priscilla, Ogie and Regine, and posters of elegant couples perked up our smile not because of their conspicuous, Photoshopped-caricatures, but because we feel we are already affiliated with among the industry’s most admired and respected names.

Our sneak "pre-nuptial" preview + another Gabby/frappe sighting :)

recovered plywood from Gab's backyard

The DIY Spirit also continues to inspire us at every turn! We were such busybodies during the SVD preparations, that we’ve completely embraced the risks, the rewards, and the intimate process of doing some of the additional wedding items ourselves! For the SVD cups and frappes, Gabby did most of the graphics and editing, re-coloring and general design, I did the reproduction, trimming and cutting, and inking all the names.  It might not seem all that much work until you start putting in the long hours right after office, and then see your sleeping hours fall to the sound of timbeeerrrrrrr. :)

giving birth to another DIY Project :)

So what’s our next DIY project? We got the base material with us, but we’re still figuring out an effective design amid the crisscrossing of daily events. Gabby, however, is already doing his best impersonation of a carpenter who thinks he can do a little more than just nailing and hammering. :) I love him!

At any rate, beads of sweat, fuel, food and vendor receipts aren’t the only things piling up these days of wedding planning.  As if wedding schedules weren’t enough distraction from our work, the intermittent renovation and improvement activities involving our  1-½ BR condominium near Ortigas/New Manila has also been well underway since the start of the year.  It still amazes me how we've managed to be so productive and proactive in meeting both our wedding and condo-related responsibilities, on top of being soaked at our respective offices.  I'm just so thankful that Gab hasn't ever been remiss in his property+contractor obligations, design consultations, and weekly inspections, despite the  humidity outside and the distressing number of scheduled payments and other preoccupations! (i.e., Gab also does some freelance writing)  And he isn’t letting up on making sure our modest place is as alluring and accommodating as our shrinking peso-denominated bank accounts can afford… hehe. 

True to form, we’ve been visiting the nearest Wilcon megastores on our spare weekend hours to peruse through and list down estimates for floor and wall tiles, kitchen and bathroom wares – and those in fact are getting to be more entertaining than we initially thought!! Oh, and one time we went accent piece hunting at the popular LRI Design Plaza and the upper-crusty Kish shop in Reposo St., Makati – but came out empty-handed and humbled at the same time. Though we are definitely purchasing an item or two there soon....

...only, not this semester, I’m afraid! :)

But we get it. This is already getting to be a summer like we’ve never ever romanced before.  Oh, summer breeze, you make me feel fine…

Adulthood takes another step forward with help from a small sledgehammer

My fiancee the white-collared carpenter, perfecting the art of chipping cement blocks :)

..a few weeks later...

...VOILA.  (Gab peers out from his self-styled, custom-designed coffee den/type)

Busybodies that we are -- we deserve THIS

Caffe Ti-Amo means "I love You,"  with rich foamy milk on top :)

CHOCFRAPPE, THE HONG KONG CHAPTER

  

It would feel like it’s best starting off this entry by saying: “When in Hong Kong…” And it’d mean a world of difference: to engage in an instant the audience’s litany of predilections, preconceptions and affectations over a city that’s been marveled at as a prime shopping hub by all sorts of vacationers across Asia.  A city that’s been defined and redefined several times over by its plural business and port-based economy, and by endless, random motion – the hustle and bustle of people bursting from within and everywhere across the seams of the city’s wholly urban tapestry. A wondrous enigma of a city thriving on the whimsical caricature of hardened oriental traditions, but synergized with fluid state-of-the-art technologies, meaningful diaspora, and ever-improving English.

 “When in Hong Kong…” evokes being hungover on a tempest of dancing lights and cooler nights, of razzlin’, dazzlin’ midnight flea markets and designer boutiques, mismatched rice bowls and joyless fastfood, Cable cars and Lamborghinis queued like Toyotas on a routine Saturday night traffic somewhere in Tsim Sha Tsui!! And MTR stations everywhere and anywhere you like.

But, “When in Hong Kong…” seems best left for mechanical entries scribed down TripAdvisor, or those delirious entries your heart manages to eke out during lonesome nights accompanied only by freeform jazz, static and the latest Starbucks Christmas diary.  Instead, it feels much better revisiting and reflecting upon our trip to Hong Kong some 14 moons ago with a deservedly well-worn adage:

“Life is measured not by the number of breathes you take, but the number of moments which take your breath away.” 

The thought process itself behind the statement is clichéd enough; but its juxtaposition across Hong Kong’s important borders glitters and glistens especially against the unfamiliar prefectures, skylines and cityscapes we conquered.  Never was this in greater display, than when we walked our shoes roughshod and through the ground for a couple of days, roaming aimlessly around the city’s homogenous parts with our hands clasped together and fatigued heads occasionally resting on burly shoulders.  Forty-eight hours walking under what had originally been a cool drizzly morning (courtesy of Typhoon Megi), until alas we’d be witnesses to the pale moonlight rendered negligible and helpless amidst Kowloon’s resplendent nightlife.  And as we descended the MTR subway anew, our eyes, arms, and hands would search for each other’s shelter.  We were each other’s solace as we found ourselves overwhelmed by a relentless sea of cosmopolitan twentysomethings, distant professionals, and faceless commuters.  It was the same loving search that brought us peace and togetherness in 2009; the same love brimming with shared realizations, hopes and convictions.

To this day, we’d trade the city life for an island with each other…

The trip had been planned out several months ago – eventfully, we should add.  It would be the first trip overseas for the “kids” (Kris, Kristian and Cyril), and the first trip together overseas for ChocFrappe as well.  It was, in a word, memorable.  But it would also be daunting.  By the time we had all crossed the first walkalator in NAIA-3, in which we’d told the kids to “walk on the walkalator, not STOP,” we knew this was a vacation that’d create as many memories than our year would ever allow. By the time the plane had left Manila – some 45 minutes later than scheduled – we’d already snapped close to 50 pictures.  That’s around a hundred smiles already, guaranteed.

  

The four prior trips we’d both taken to Hong Kong had given us reason to be more confident and cavalier as we alighted and shifted between MTR stations – or as we challenged thick, busy crowds when we went about to navigate our way towards somewhere familiar, tranquil and/or edible.  We imbibed this devil-may-care attitude despite needing to remain watchful over 6-year old Cyril, 15-year old Kristian, and Kris the Reluctant Shopaholic.  Hong Kong’s streets bled from a never-ending array of bright neon lights, cheap sidewalk stalls, trendy clotheslines, and fantastic plazas.  When we’d see something new and beautiful, we’d preserve it by way of a Lumix-approved picture, or by using John’s sophisticated Nikon DSLR.  In these pictures, we’d glow even under circumstances in which our feet and legs would no longer agree with us walking.  We’d glow even under the circumstances when fatigue would begin to sap out the adventurousness and jovialness from each and every one of us.  Yes, we’d glow even after our lives had been nearly pulled out from under us by a space-bound rollercoaster streaking in at the speed of sound!!

We’d told the kids that Hong Kong is a city for walkers, not slackers or slouches.  We led by example, because, foremost, we were the grown-ups in the group.  And, secondly, because we already readied ourselves for the murderous itinerary around the famous city.  If it meant walking around every celebrated patch of land in Disneyland for 12 straight hours, so be it.  If it meant queuing under the blistering sun just to handshake two overgrown cartoon mice, so be it.  If it meant skipping our usual helpings of quick meals and Western soul food just so we could reach our next locations in time, so be it.  If it meant leaving behind our conveniences and accustoms just so we could venture into uncertain destinations populated by porcelain-skinned strangers and alien dialects, SO BE IT. 

To us, what was more important were the many moments in which we’d smile and hold hands as we relished in faith that Chocfrappe was meant to be memorable.  That Chocfrappe was meant to smile and shine through and through in spite of conflicting tendencies, constraints and wants within the group…and despite the distance it took moving from one place-of-interest to the other.  That our commitment to each other was lifted up with the unfolding of every new moment, sensation and encounter that transpired and which were ultimately stored into the avenues of our minds and hearts.  That our trek together – across the glorious harbor, atop the picturesque Peak Tram some 1,200 feet above sea level, before the magical off-Broadway shows in Disneyland, amidst the revelry of Mongkok’s vibrant night markets, or inside the cozy double-decker bus –  was our way of constructing our own legend. 

(For Chocfrappe to be legendary, and to be nothing less.)

  

  

Each and every of the several thousand steps we took throughout those 3 nights brought us closer back home (or to the hotel), in which we’d get to stretch and nurse our legs back to health, put down our shopping bags and bayongs, and then finally finally finally curl our way back into each other’s warm embrace.  A sweet embrace that would dissipate our fatigue.  A tender embrace that would galvanize and reenergize our bodies.  An embrace so perfecting, it would sooth our spirits, and placate the restlessness of the world out there. 

And just like that, Chocfrappe bid Hongkong a very good night as we departed for Manila in the evening, Sunday.  Back in the plane, the city of dancing lights mellowed down to the rhythm of the engine before the lights shrunk completely from view like countless fireflies fading on a clear night.  The kids were still enjoying everything about the brief but well-deserved vacation, though their present excitement was being curbed by the whizzing and humming of the plane. 

 
We kissed each other gently on the plane and secured our hands together as we braced for the 2-hour flight home. Happy thoughts floated and flowed across the universe like endless rain into a papercup.  Love.  Time.  Space.  One shared look carving two beautiful smiles.  And several hundred pictures creating a magnificent avalanche of a thousand more magical memories. 

As one of our favorite Disney song, goes, “tale as told as time…” We know this to be true: be it Sri Lanka, be it Baguio, be it Davao, be it Hong Kong…ANYWHERE, for that matter…our breaths taken, and our breaths taketh away. 

Easily.

Chocfrappe: Hong Kong Edition, end of chapter.