Ice Carvings

Yes, I know. I’m supposed to write happy thoughts about our last vacation while my skin voluntarily flakes off from my recent bout with sunburn. I’m supposed to write about happy thoughts that began with a bus ride from hell crammed with assorted characters, ranging from the Euro lover of Asian-looking women, to the solo scratchy weirdo, to hardcore members of the Brokeback Mountain fans club, who suddenly decided to anoint a wall in Batangas with callings from nature: Then, I’m supposed to write happy thoughts about fighting your way into the passenger terminal on Batangas City, where everybody and his mother decided to spend Holy Week. About crawling in the midst of the horde while I lug around 2 huge gym bags which Nel deemed less than enough for a 3 days at the beach. Next, I’m supposed to write happy thoughts about the one-hour plus boat ride on something totally made of wood, where we greet choppy waves out to impersonally maim us. On disembarking, we were greeted by establishmen...

In the tradition of movies such "300," "Platoon," and "The Full Monty," the boys from our group were selected to help out in cases of emergencies like a fire. As boys, playing firemen and cops were high on my to-do list, and getting at least an hour off real work was just icing. Part of the privilege was being issued badges like "Floor Chief," "Assistant Floor Chief," and "Search and Rescue." Mine was something a bit more obscure -- "Fire Response" and my primary duty was to grab hold of the extinguishers and spray it at the source. Me. Yeah, right... When the fire drill was announced later, i guess we were more than prepared. We managed to get everyone out of our floor and herd them to the waiting area. Then, the whole fire team turned around and realized how complicated things were: Judging from the reaction of the womenfolk we "saved" earlier, I'm just glad Fire Prevention Month is over.