tales of a winged horse

yesterday.

it was a trip that was long in the offing, and wierdly both inclusive and exclusive. initially, the invitation was given to few, but in the week or so before, the "net" grew -- though there were still omissions.

the "people's choice lancer of the year" of an officemate was effectively out due to coding issues, and another with a car who was also invited was somehow afflicted with a fear of the notion of going to the place of the winged horse.

so then we were left with one car, with a maximum capacity of five (driver inclusive). naturally, this put a cap on the "fellowship" for this particular adventure.

i plotted a course with google earth, the plan being to avoid edsa at all costs -- final route being: south superhighway, c5, julia vargas, ortigas, e. rodriguez, araneta avenue, and ultimately quezon avenue.

being the pessimist that i am, i proposed a 4pm departure so that we could catch the 6-9pm buffet that this anniversary celebration afforded.

perhaps unfortunately, i fell asleep just before 4; then one of the fellowship was taken with a bowel disorder, so we were down to four -- and we left at 5:30.

30 minutes later saw us past la salle greenhills, crawling to n. domingo. one thing about google earth is that it's definitely not a real-time constantly updated earth photo database. some of those pictures can be years out of date...

there was a portion of ortigas westbound that was completely blocked off due to some road repairs, so the traffic had to shift to the oncoming lane for a two lane counterflow -- three lanes into two, magnifying the congestion.

30 minutes to get past that, and another 30 minutes saw us to the winged horse establishment.

...things began to get a little screwy at this point. our sponsor, an officemate with the insider contact; had left a few details out of consideration -- one of which was parking. the establishment's parking was full, so we had to park the car a few buildings away, making a deal with the guards therefrom (for a little fee) to allow the parking. now, at this point, none of us had taken our midafternoon (so to speak) snack, so we were all hungry. it transpired that though indeed there was food, it was limited to one plate per person (but in our case we got a little short-changed; two plates to be shared between four of us), and each of us was given a complimentary shot of johnnie walker black. a glance at the food menu delivered another shock: everything was jacked up price-wise. case in point, a whole fried (spring) chicken was all of 1.3K. and the drink i ordered, a shot of bailey's, went for 400.

...good thing that there was this 6-9pm half price deal on food and drinks, but still.

so, scarf down my half of the roast calf plate, and try to make the bailey's last... unfortunately, alcohol on a nearly empty stomach and the hit was instantaneous. the surroundings receded into a dull haze of light and sound, and i was almost, though not completely, alone with my heartbeat thudding in my skull.

while the shows were going on (to the delight of my companions), i was therefore in a somewhat sedated state. oh, i could appreciate what i was seeing, but my mind was elsewhere, thinking about the life stories behind the "talents" and their circumstances being in such a place ("first class" establishment notwithstanding).

inbetween shows, there were numbers by a three-person (two women, one man) group called "the musical " something or other. the keyboardist was fairly decent, as was the female singer, but the guy was semi-disastrous: had a voice, but the poor diction even while singing was a blow to the ears.

then there was the special guest band, arriba. they were good, i thought. naturally, the perfectionist in me was wishing that a competent operator was at the audio controls as the singers could barely be made out over the instruments. they're a latin salsa inspired band (as the lead singer noted, i think), but one of the most interesting parts of their first set was that they sang a request -- and it was what sounded so much like a middle eastern song (i'm no expert on this), but it must have been close, so much so that the patrons who hailed from dubai and saudi got up and began to dance to it, a dance i've never seen before, involving mostly a rapid shaking of the shoulders coupled to (the only way to describe it) a sinous body motion.

after this set, it was close on midnight, so two of the heavy hitters began their routines on stage: chona, then kate. the former has her own poster on the wall of the corridor leading to the viewing room (where one could choose a "peggy sue" to table for an hour or so), so i figure she'd cost quite a bit for the companionship... between the two, though, i found myself a bit more inclined to kate.

our sponsor officemate had, in the interim, chosen a companion for the hour -- and so was lost to general (and difficult) conversation, given the volume levels that seem to be natural to such a place.

incidentally, the speakers are jbl eons, and they pack a mean (and clear) punch. they had four per installation, one group per side of the main theater. never quite heard yanni's "aria" pumped up at those bass levels before.

by about 12:30, some exhaustion was setting in, and with the arriba coming back onstage, it was decided to call it a night. also, the other driver, having had three beers, was likely feeling drowsy, so i elected to drive back (good that the alcohol haze had cleared by this time).

all said and done, was back in pilar by 2am.

so. what to make of all this? as i mentioned to another officemate, the upshot could be summarized in two words: illuminating and depressing.

oh. add to that: expensive.