cebu, cebu! lalalalalala-lalalalah!!

officially the best weekend ever. the theme? sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. minus the drugs. we weren't very aggressive in trying to score some, though it would've probably been an easy feat. more accurately, it was a valentine trip masquerading (or doubling) as a writer/photographer venture.

flying is now kind of problematic. the air pressure when descending (or anytime it fluctuates) affects my ears badly. like headsplittingly badly. like i had metal parts in my head and the plane was taking over my system. one nut lodged in the ear, one near my eye and sinus, and another in my upper set of teeth. i cried while entering cebu. crrrazy. karl had me drink paracetamol, a lot of water, breathe and yawn a whole lot just to get it under control on the way home.

thursday evening, february the third. alex, mark and gavin of lighter press/records pick us up from the airport and takes us to dinner at kahayag cafe. very good pizza and spicy chicken wings c/o vlad. and our hotel (golden peak) had a tub!

on friday, we have brunch at a nearby cafe, and walk to ayala center to buy some supplies for staying in. early evening saw us eating at flame it!, a flame-grilled burger joint, too stuffed to eat dessert in the next-door bakery. after very impressive talks with mik-mik and mang junks of backyard project studios plus the rest of "stupid jazz"-band smooth friction, inferiority complex to cio the business day photographer, and belly-rubbing a little dachsund called jamaica, we headed over to kahayag to watch, interview and photograph the christian rock band still. there i was pleased to find my wards from dub/reggae band junior kilat one song before the end of their rehearsal. tip-top shape. once again, very good tea and spicy calamares from kahayag. it was too late (and we were too full) to have our treats at postrio (that very enticing dessert place).

a courtesy call was in order on saturday, which meant lunch with bliss - karl's friend's girlfriend - at their family restaurant cafe verde. we each had a hefty serving of baby back ribs and dessert, which sadly made us ineligible to visit postrio (again!). we walked over to mango square where pre-concert interviews were to take place, only to find out we were too early. to the hotel and back, where we had dinner at a confusing dimsum restaurant called dimsum break. we watched, talked to and photographed pointblack, faspitch, the ambassadors, kadangyan and urbandub. and junior kilat too, of course. happy to say that karl liked them. P.S. cebuanos don't mosh. and yet again, too late to catch postrio open.

sunday was THE day for postrio, and that quaint cafe for brunch, except that both were closed, so we ended up at flame it! again. that was alright, since the place has hotshots-quality burgers, hotdogs and fries. whoohoo! at mid-afternoon, we checked out to join alex, mark and khalil to eat at the AA grill. very large iced tea, very good liempo and the sawsawan (yay! taglish. nyuk!) with sliced cherry tomatoes and chilis in them. we met up with cio again before heading to the lighter press/records office for their formal interview. lalay of urbandub and kadangyan joined us, and we received old lighter press issues and pendants from kadangyan.

and so we head back to manila, the where the harsh environmental and cultural/attitudinal pollution await. we should've sent back clones!

P.P.S. watch out for karl's articles and possibly my photos on the manila bulletin, the manila times, fudge, press and business day.