Saturday, May 22, 2010
1:01 AM | 
Posted by
Raymond Sandoval
I never thought six heaping cups of brewed Sagada coffee could be as punishing as a six-pack. The consequence was austere – more like out-of-this-world (I mean, my head was spinning!) and the trying-to-get-some-sleep part was as equally tormenting. I had to go to bed at 3:30 a.m. after an hour in front of the TV, then listening to “Maiden with the Flaxen Hair” on my radio to get a shut eye. It’s at the moment I started feeling the weight of my eye lids and began noticing my body stop to tremble from all that caffeine that I knew I was closer to a deep, soothing, slumber. In my case, sleep got to me past 4.
Then the alarm clock rang!
I almost jumped right out of my bed. “7:15,” my glowing-in-the-dark Spongebob clock read. I forgot to turn it off. Stupid. Then the sleeping went on.
I remember vividly why my friend, Dexter, and I tried to go all-out on a coffee drinking spree. I sent Dex an SMS early morning (before the coffee brouhaha) asking him if he wants to apply in a job fair in Baguio City, something about Holland-America Cruise Lines. Ate Evee, my former Editor-in-chief in college, told me the other night that the shipping line was to stage a job fair in Hotel Veniz, a 9-kilometer stretch away from my house. I told her, “I’ll think ‘bout it”. So there, we’re back to the scene where I texted Dex the morning after (got you confused there, right?). Dex, in a few ways, is just like me – unemployed and always looking for something to do. Several minutes after I sent him the message, he replied, “What time?”
Dex and I met in the lobby of Hotel Veniz. I found him standing there right by the doorway, browsing through the decors of the hotel (something I thought was strange since he could have seated himself and read a magazine instead while waiting for me). And you know the first thing he told me? “Look at that guy, he’s small.” For a Filipino dude, Dex is pretty tall standing near 5’9”. Still, that (or he) was strange. We approached the first guy we saw on the fourth floor of Hotel Veniz. What the heck, he had an ID of some sort so we asked him where to submit our resumes. The disappointment began there. The guy looked at us sternly, took out a flyer, raised his ring finger, and then pointed to a huge tarpaulin. It read: “Applicants must be at least 22 years old”. BUMMER. Ate Evee never told me that one.
Our knees felt numb, so Dex and I seated ourselves on a wooden bench near the registration table, looking at “THE LUCKY ONES”. All that dressing up with a full business get-up, all that hassle, and all that money spent for the long jeepney ride, wasted. Oh, and did I mention, I shaved my kiddy beard (which I let grow for 5 months! 5 LONG MONTHS!). Still, we had to drag ourselves up and go somewhere. I thought of Café Veniz, drew a 50-peso bill from my wallet then told Dex, “Hei, wanna grab some coffee – bottomless?” And there started our 4-hour coffee session.
The first step off that coffee shop was crazy! Everything was twirling in circles. To top it all off, I realized I had no more cash so I had to walk uptown to SM City Baguio for my granny’s diapers.
Until now, early Saturday morning, I can still feel the coffee hangover. Wait… got to do something.
*flush*
Then the alarm clock rang!
I almost jumped right out of my bed. “7:15,” my glowing-in-the-dark Spongebob clock read. I forgot to turn it off. Stupid. Then the sleeping went on.
I remember vividly why my friend, Dexter, and I tried to go all-out on a coffee drinking spree. I sent Dex an SMS early morning (before the coffee brouhaha) asking him if he wants to apply in a job fair in Baguio City, something about Holland-America Cruise Lines. Ate Evee, my former Editor-in-chief in college, told me the other night that the shipping line was to stage a job fair in Hotel Veniz, a 9-kilometer stretch away from my house. I told her, “I’ll think ‘bout it”. So there, we’re back to the scene where I texted Dex the morning after (got you confused there, right?). Dex, in a few ways, is just like me – unemployed and always looking for something to do. Several minutes after I sent him the message, he replied, “What time?”
Dex and I met in the lobby of Hotel Veniz. I found him standing there right by the doorway, browsing through the decors of the hotel (something I thought was strange since he could have seated himself and read a magazine instead while waiting for me). And you know the first thing he told me? “Look at that guy, he’s small.” For a Filipino dude, Dex is pretty tall standing near 5’9”. Still, that (or he) was strange. We approached the first guy we saw on the fourth floor of Hotel Veniz. What the heck, he had an ID of some sort so we asked him where to submit our resumes. The disappointment began there. The guy looked at us sternly, took out a flyer, raised his ring finger, and then pointed to a huge tarpaulin. It read: “Applicants must be at least 22 years old”. BUMMER. Ate Evee never told me that one.
Our knees felt numb, so Dex and I seated ourselves on a wooden bench near the registration table, looking at “THE LUCKY ONES”. All that dressing up with a full business get-up, all that hassle, and all that money spent for the long jeepney ride, wasted. Oh, and did I mention, I shaved my kiddy beard (which I let grow for 5 months! 5 LONG MONTHS!). Still, we had to drag ourselves up and go somewhere. I thought of Café Veniz, drew a 50-peso bill from my wallet then told Dex, “Hei, wanna grab some coffee – bottomless?” And there started our 4-hour coffee session.
The first step off that coffee shop was crazy! Everything was twirling in circles. To top it all off, I realized I had no more cash so I had to walk uptown to SM City Baguio for my granny’s diapers.
Until now, early Saturday morning, I can still feel the coffee hangover. Wait… got to do something.
*flush*
Labels:
coffee
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