HEAT

I feel my heart steaming towards you
I am wrought with the flames
     Of passion
     Consuming me
‘Til I am nothing more
     Than smoldering ash

I feel my body steaming towards you
I am drawn without resistance
     To your fiery seduction
     Burning deep into me
‘Til I am nothing more
     Than trembling desire

I feel my mind steaming towards you
I am controlled by this irresistible fascination
     And unrelenting obsession
     Taking over me
‘Til I am nothing more
     Than sheer madness

I feel my soul steaming towards you
I shall sweetly surrender
     All that I have
     And all that make me
‘Til I am nothing more
     Than your wasted possession

Hell’s bells!

I never realized this photo existed but, yes, it does. Gosh, I never expected to see this online, and in FaceBook of all places!

Anywho, my longtime friend, high school classmate and college schoolmate Ramon (now based in Dubai, OFWs r0x0rs!) recently uploaded this picture onto FB and tagged yours truly. Ramon is the one right in front wearing the very Miami Vice white jacket.

No need to point out where I am in the darned photo, naturalmente.

My dress was made from the softest blood-red velvet my seamstress could find in Iloilo City at that time. I designed this gown myself and it remains as one of the finest, well, finery I have ever worn.

At one time or another, I was a member in one of the gyms or fitness centers in my hometown, Iloilo City.

These pictures were taken in July 2007 at Winners Gym Super Studio, the last gym I was a member of before I traveled to seek my fortune in the Sultanate of Oman.

Super Studio was located at the Robinson’s Place Iloilo City building, right down the street from the Super wet market. This is where a lot of bodybuilding champions to train and work out. A couple of their instructors were also acclaimed Philippine bodybuilders. What can I say, this place was hard-core.

All photos were taken (again) with my Nokia 6600. Sorry about the resolution! XD

Shi at the Super Studio gym floor. Lots of mirrors, a la Enter the Dragon! XD

Shi at the Super Studio Weights Area. This is where I pumped iron like mad, especially for my triceps.

Shi at the Super Studio Cardio Area. I am on the manual cross-trainer. Feel the burn, baby!

Sadly, news has reached us that this gym was closed last year due to the dissolution of the partnership that owned and ran it.

Another fitness center opened earlier this year at the same place, but the owners, the trainers and the crowd are vastly different from those with whom I was familiar.

Yesterday’s rather sentimental post prompted yours truly to go through some more folders of images downloaded off my first-ever camera phone, ye olde Nokia 6600.

I found some very interesting impromptu photos taken sometime in June 2007, featuring a stuffed animal I christened Bogart.

Bogart lives on the desk of my Mommy Lerma, a former colleague, a longtime neighbor, and a very cool mother figure who makes the best pork estapado in the world.

Bogart, full body shot

I am not exactly sure what kind of animal Bogart is supposed to be, but he seems to be a hybrid dog, cat and mouse. Now, that is enough to give any living thing an identity crisis.

Anyhow, he is proudly hand-made, as it is common in the Philippines for people to make stuffed toys at home as some kind of “sideline” business.

As I love all things cute and cuddly, I wholeheartedly support this up-and-coming cottage industry. Of course, I also have my very own collection of these homemade goodies, most of them lovingly created by my Nanay Pagit.

Over morning break one day, I found Bogart on my desk, smack dab at the center, sitting there like he owns not only the whole darned table, but the entire building and the ground it stands upon.

Bogart and Shi face off
“Grrrr…”

Bogart drinks coffee, right out of Shi’s cup. The nerve!

Bogart eats otap, a local delicacy biscuit made in the fair province of Cebu

Bogart chows on durian – the fruit that “smells like hell but tastes like heaven”

Bogart and Shi’s lavender Nokia 3530. Is he planning to send an SMS to someone? Or is he reading my sappy love texts? Ewww.

Really, who can resist Bogart’s hybrid charm?

Not a soul!

Shi and Bogart lurrrvvvvve each other

I last saw Bogart in September 2007 when I went to our office for the last time before my trip to Oman. He was still on my desk then, and I feel that he remains there until now, waiting for me to come back.

For a second face-off.

There are some things that have become a significant witness to one’s life. If these inanimate objects were alive, they could very well be able to tell great anecdotes about you.

Needless to say, there are very few things that have played witness to so many events in my life, none more so than my paternal grandfather’s circa 1970s Toyota Toyopet.

Toyopet, my paternal grandfather’s car, parked in their Iloilo City home

Here are the top dozen milestones that Toyopet has witnessed in our family’s history, in no particular order, though perhaps chronologically:
1. My parents’ wedding
2. My birth at Mission hospital
3. My baptism
4. All my birthdays while I was in the Philippines
5. My First Communion
6. My first day I officially reported to school as a kindergarten kid
7. My elementary and high school graduation ceremonies
8. My high school junior and senior proms
9. The time I served as Iloilo City Girl Mayor
10. My various literary and sports championship events
11. My college theatrical forays
12. The time I had a 40-degree Celsius fever and had to take the Civil Service Professional Exam – in which I got a rocking 95.95% score

Toyopet, front view

All these photos were taken in 2007, several months before I left the Philippines for Oman. Apologies for the not-so-very-high quality of the images – you can only do so much with a Nokia 6600 camera phone.

Toyopet, back view

Toyopet was originally orange, but when my grandpa retired in the early 1990s, he invested a bit of his pension in an engine overhaul and a slick silver-grey paint job.

I also learned to drive in this car – it is manual and very straightforward. I knew how to steer, shift gear, brake and everything else on this vehicle, with the Iloilo City Fishing Port as my practice track.

Toyopet, right side view

The last time I rode Toyopet was in January 2007.

My grandpa, now in his late 70s, no longer drives as much. At one time or another, he mentioned that he wanted to sell this car, mainly because of its value as a “well-maintained vintage.”

I was adamant that he not part with Toyopet. I would buy it from him, if it came to that. I want this car to stay in our family, not for its practical use, but for its sentimental value. I care for this car like a member of our family – we have been through so much together.

Toyopet, left side view

To make the long story short:

I love you, Toyopet. I am never gonna let you go.

And, yes, I miss you.