Not-so-Holy Week

Trainspotting

Every year, I do the same thing during Holy Week. I go home to our house in Cavite and lounge around doing nothing but sleep, watch TV and stuff myself silly with my mom's cooking (so much for fasting and penance). This year was no different, except I've added "play with my pamangkins" to the list of activities. That is a pretty big deal, considering I have recently discovered that, but for a few notable exceptions, I am no great fan of small children. There. I've said it. People can officially hate me now. I am an evil person. If not liking little devilish creatures who whine and wail a lot and disrupt my sleep and hours of rest constitute being a horrible and nasty person, well, that's me. But I'd rather that than pretend to be all googly-eyed and cooing whenever some random infant is presented to me.

Now where was I? Oh yeah, Holy Week with the family. Like I said, there are a few notable exceptions to my disliking babies rule. Like my friend Ayen's baby, Kiro, who happens to be my godson. And my own niece and nephew. You'd fall in love with them too, if you ever get to see them. My nephew - unbelievably cute, in my opinion. Everybody, down to the relative I hardly know, says he looks a lot like me when I was a baby. Which doesn't mean I think I'm cute. Not at all. He's way cuter, trust me. And my niece - whoa. Impossibly gorgeous. I'm not exaggerating. She's so pretty, I can't wait to see her when she's all grown up. That kid is gonna break not a few hearts, I'm pretty sure of it.

So yeah, I played with them, but only when their guard was down. I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with them, so whenever I do, they act all guarded and wide-eyed. They probably think I'm some goon out to kidnap them or something. But there are times when I think they're slowly, finally recognizing their "Tito." Especially my nephew. He's almost three and he doesn't hesitate to give me a kiss on the cheek when I ask him to. Aww, I miss him already…Was I just being sappy there? Oh well, I do have my moments…

This year, the cable was out in our village, so what'd we turn to? DVDs, of course. Our friendly neighborhood pirated DVD store was just a five-minute walk away from our house, so between breakfasts and lunches and meriendas and dinners, we all couched in front of the TV. Let's see, we saw…"National Treasure," "The Bourne Identity" (apparently, my brother hasn't seen it yet, despite the countless reruns on HBO) and "The Bourne Supremacy" (2-in-1 disc, for the low low price of just P100!), "Taking Lives," "The Incredibles" and six or sixteen episodes of Smallville, Season 3. During breaks, I snuck in a few viewings of the Goo Goo Dolls Live in Buffalo concert and Travis Live in Glasgow DVDs.

Oh, and yeah, I almost forgot, we also saw "Trainspotting." Now that was torture. Ever try watching a movie filled with sex-starved heroin junkies with your parents and brother and sister? (The kids were asleep) Nah, didn't think so. And I don't recommend it. Every time Ts&As (tits and asses, as if you didn't know) came on, I wanted to crawl beneath the sofa. About halfway through the movie, after Renton and Diane's sex scene, all my mom could say was, "Puro kabastusan naman yan." Sheesh.