Of ur usual reunion.

Aunts and uncles will always ask you the same old gritty question, “E kelan ka ba ikakasal?” or some out-of-the-blue question, “Asan ba ang gelpren mo?”

Every reunion, every year you can hear that question reverberating through the ages due to people, not a person, will ask this to you.

They won’t care to ask on how you were the past year or how your studies are or how your work is. It is as if it should’ve been the most important question ever made and you wouldn’t even find it in the English dictionary (e obvious naman na wala sa English dictionary yun. Unang-una Tagalog sya. Pangalawa fragment of a sentence or a simple sentence sya e ang pagkakaalam ko sa isang dictionary word-based yung hinahanap mong meaning so yung whole sentence na yan hindi counted. Bwahahahaha.)

And living in our country is dashit. We can’t ask our elders questions that are related to what they’re asking, “Masaya pa ba kayo sa piling ni Tito?” or “Kung sasagutin ko pa yung tanong nyo at kahit na may trabaho na ko at lahat, bibigyan nyo pa din ba ako ng Pamasko?” or “Kumusta naman po ang sex life nyo?”

Thank God for my hyperbolic genius and wit, I can always give to them my same old answer year after year, “Ay Tita, lalaki na po ang hinahanap ko.”

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The only thing I like in family reunions is the food. I don’t care if you’re not really comfortable with your kin, as long as they cook the same old family recipe. I’m absolu-freakingly fine. I guess the molo, the laing, the morcon, and the isfeycial chicken will balance out the awkwardness with some of your relatives.

And I still do hate the fact that I wasn’t able to give out any gifts this year. I hate the Christmas rush and I hate it when the thirteenth month pay is given during December. (kasi mina-maximize sya ayon sa accordance of the law. Law my ass.)

(Pero ang totoo nyan, ayoko munang maglabas ng pera kaya hindi ako gumastos for this year. Kailangang mag-ipon sa kadahilanang may kailangang bayaran sa mga oras ng pangangailangan…

O dahil ako ay kuripot lang. Sa taong yaon lamang.)

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(Pero nandun pa din syempre yung gusto mong maging kaibigan ang lahat ng kamag-anak mo. Ayaw mo syempreng maging bitchy. Hindi naman trabaho yan e. Kadugo mo yan. Pagbali-baligtarin mo man ang takbo ng direction ng time space warp ngayon din, mauuwi pa din yan sa… ay nawala na ko sa iniisip ko…

basta yun.)