My Quiet Weekend

Wonder why I was quiet for the past four days? Well, last weekend was one of the most relaxing ones I’ve had ever.

It started with me taking a leave of absence on Friday to pick up my mom at the airport. Even though her flight was in the late afternoon, I took the whole day off. Went to the gym first then met up with Matt for lunch in Makati. He was scheduled to go back to Singapore at 5pm that day and wanted to see me one last time. It was so relaxing to have lunch without worrying about going back to work afterwards. Then I visited my former officemates at Publicis Manila. Tot, my former art director, forced me to accompany him to pick up a check at the recording studio Adfarm. There I bumped into another blast-from-the-past person, Lindy Magnaye. She’s one of those rare ones—a genuinely nice person. We had a hilarious time catching up and joking about then and now. Then it was back to Publicis to finalize with Marlon plans for staying at his farm for the weekend.

Saturday and Sunday I spent with Marlon, Leigh and Leigh’s mom at Marlon’s farm at the slopes of Mt. Arayat. The farm he fondly calls Villa Pretenciosa has undergone further construction—Marlon added several rooms and a quaint tower to his original four-alcove house. Leigh and her mom wanted to see the house because they’re planning to build a new house on their lot in Cavite; I wanted to see the new extension. So off we went Saturday morning to the farm.

Because of the heavy rains, the already rough road leading to the farm was further washed away, leaving huge rocks and boulders. I though Orlando could pick his way through those rocks—sadly, with 3 other people plus luggage on board, my 4x4 was too heavy and the boulders scraped his underbelly. We had to leave Orlando and walk the rest of the way to the farmhouse.

When we arrived there, Villa Pretenciosa was a sight to behold. There was still a lot of finishing to be done outside, but inside the new extension was tastefully furnished. I wasted no time in exploring the new sections of the house. I fell in love with the small room atop the “tower”—you had a magnificent view of the mountain and the windows allowed the breeze to waft in and out.

The mountain breeze was so fresh and relaxing it made me sleepy immediately; while seated at a garden chair, I actually dozed off. So after a sumptuous lunch, Leigh and I immediately headed for a nap. When I woke up, it was already tea time. After that, more lounging around—I decided to start reading The Fire In The Equations. Pretty soon it was dinner time. We had dinner via candlelight because the electrical wires leading to the house were knocked down during the recent typhoon. Luckily the weather had cleared up and we were treated to a magnificent sight—an almost-full moon bathing the mountainside with its otherworldly glow. In the dark it was also easy to spot fireflies. But then the electrician dropped by after dinner and fixed the problem. We had lights before 8pm. But for me it didn’t matter—we had no TV or radio there. We actually went to bed at an unnatural hour of 9pm.


The next morning I woke up early, took a cold but refreshing shower (pure mountain spring water, no less!) and headed up the tower so I can read in peace and solitude. There I found out that the workers staying at the farm had their own radio/CD player. Amidst the sound of tweeting birds, rustling leaves and the gentle whistling of the wind, I could hear Bayani Agbayani’s garalgal voice going, “Tayo’y mag-otso-osto! Otso-osto! Otso-otso! Otso-otso na!” He was followed by Pamela by Vhong Navarro, then the Otso-Otso/Pamela medley. I also heard Bulaklak by Viva Hot Babes, Jumbo Hotdog by Masculados, Babae Po Ako by Tuesday Vargas, and other novelty-pop hits that currently poison our airwaves these days. But the breeze was just too relaxing—and the book too involving—that no amount of vocally-challenged exertions and dumb-and-dumber lyrics could spoil my morning. And all that before breakfast!

For the three meals we had there, I decided to drop my careful diet and just loaded myself with carbo (rice) and sweets (macapuno candies and marshmallows). I ate buttered bread. I drank regular cola. It was great!

Just before lunch we went down. I brought everyone home, including Leigh’s mom who lives all the way in Cavite. Orlando certainly had a good workout last weekend.

The past three days were some of the most relaxing days I’ve ever had in 2004. I hope there’ll be more to come. So the next time The McVie Show suddenly goes quiet, most probably yours truly is somewhere up in a mountain or near the ocean, just chilling out.

(P.S. Above pic courtesy of Marlon. Wanna see more? Click on the link to Marlon's Hotel.)