Do you know how I feel in the night?

Today was rather interesting. This afternoon, my family and I went to Quezon City (QC) to visit my bedridden grandpa who also happens to live with my cousins. While we were on the road, Shakira’s song Wherever, Whenever played on the radio and I remarked that I wished there were belly dancing lessons in this country. I’ve always wanted to take belly dancing lessons, I think it looks increadibly cool. To my surprise, Dad said that he read in the paper that there are belly dancing lessons at the Alumnae House at the University of the Philippines. Wow. Since UP is around ten minutes away from my cousin’s place we decided to check it out after we visit our grandpa.

My cousins’ family were all at Tagaytay and would be back later this afternoon but for some reason Anthony stayed behind. My aunt left some souvenirs that she bought for us during their trip to Iloilo a couple of weeks ago–edibles mainly. But I got this really pretty candle holder made out of capiz; it’s painted blue and purple and has gold stars, moon and a sun. We stayed awhile before heading off to UP. The moment we got in the car, my sister complained of a stomachache and wanted to go home. I shot her an irritated look; she can be such a party pooper sometimes. Fortunately my dad said we won’t stay at UP for long and I was relieved because I don’t know when we would be going back to the Quezon City area again.

When we got to the Alumnae House, I saw that Odd Manila (an antique store I like going to) was replaced by this store called Art Circle which sold paintings made by local artists. Damn, I always liked looking at all the odds and ends they had there. When we got down though, I found out that Odd Manila isn’t really gone but shares space with this cafe at the back of the Alumnae House. If I make it to UP I would probably chill at that cafe. We asked the security guards and the lady in charge of Art Circle where we could inquire about the belly dancing lessons but they were clueless. And I knew it was a long shot, but we asked the cashier at the cafe if she knew where the belly dancing lessons were held. I expected her to give us a shrug or something, but then she gestured to two thirty-something ladies who were sitting near us. One of them, Kitten, told us that she’d been taking belly dancing lessons except that the instructress had surgery and needs to recuperate for about a month. Damn. Her other friend, Leila, was really nice and said she wanted to take lessons too. It’s every Sunday and I don’t care if I have to go all the way to QC but I will take belly dancing lessons. I thought that my aunt might want to join me because she likes doing these exotic things too, but then I remembered that she’s pregnant and I don’t think you can go shaking your belly with a baby inside you and all.

Kitten and Leila were telling my dad that he should take belly dancing lessons too. My mom told me later on that she observed that my dad was like distancing himself from them. He’s more wary around women these days because a lot of them get these really bad crushes on him. And I mean really bad. Once there was this girl who was calling for him at four in the goddamn morning! The phone was in my bedroom and I was just lying there hoping the caller would finally give up but it kept ringing and ringing and ringing. Just when I was about to give whoever it is a piece of my mind, my mom answered the phone and found out that it was some girl looking for my dad. When asked what she wanted with him, the bitch was like, “It’s personal.” I was so pissed. Because of her I was tossing and turning for another hour. Maybe in the planet where she comes from, 4 a.m. is like the peak time for calling up people. But here on earth, everyone is sleeping or coming home too tired from parties to dish out legal advice. If legal advice was really what she was going to ask my dad about. A few days later, my dad had our landline number changed.

And then yesterday, my dad had a Tarot card reading done by his friend who is a Spirit Questors and his friend said that a girl placed a curse on him. I’m guessing it’s the same girl who called at 4 a.m. My dad’s friend is doing the spell that will counter the curse, and it looks like Dad won’t be doing any socialization with girls for awhile.