.:Saturday, 26 July, 2003:.

Saturday was pretty fun. As soon as I managed to get to SM Megamall and meet up with Grace, we just waited for Isis and Maia to show up. Well, they went there because they wanted to hear a certain tape that I had in my possession. Apparently, they didn’t have very nice things to say in reaction to what they heard, so I tried to lighten the mood up a bit by asking them to go and try some Dance Maniax. Isis, who I have a hunch is actually a good dancer, declined. Maia was a little more willing to try it out, and that’s when the fun started. Anyways, I think Maia, while she had a hard time, seeing how this was her first attempt at it, actually had a lot of fun, nonetheless. It’s good to take her mind off of impertinent things that she really shouldn’t worry about for the time being. She has better things to concern herself with, in all honesty.

We then grabbed a bite at Sbarro’s, where Grace did not even know that her withdrawal from the bank cost her a hundred and ninety-eight pesos. Bah Gawd, to think she withdrew only a hundred pesos… what a waste of money. Still, Sbarro’s was great. I was craving for an Italian food fix for the longest time, and I finally got it. Isis and Maia were practicing their seduction skills again, and it was hilarious…

After that short time we were all there in SM, it was time for us to part ways, as I had a tourney to run, and everyone else needed to get home. It was quite apparent that Isis and Maia, in spite of what was bogging down on their minds, felt considerably better after the short meeting we had. They managed to purge a bit of their ill will, which is certainly good, and, in Maia’s case, she even managed to lash out a good deal on the Dance Maniax machine.

What happened in the tournament? Oh, nothing important, really. Ralph Tan won again, as expected.

.:Sunday, 27 July, 2003:.

Sunday was fairly more interesting. In what has become a rather expected but still surprising turn of events, a group of young officers decided to attempt a coup, which led to a lot of tension all over. The officers, according to some sources, decided to wire a good deal of Ayala center with bombs, which essentially put a prominent chunk of Makati in quite grave peril. What really got to me is that for a bunch of idealistic young soldiers who had their hearts in the right place, they ironically caused more harm than good by insisting on using such extreme tactics that are extremely terroristic in nature. Nobody’s denying that their grievances have just cause, but unless if you’re completely Machiavellian about this, the end, clearly, did not justify the means. The end did not justify the means all the more because the means managed to cause more harm and keep the objective from ever realizing fruition.

Anyways, needless to say, my mom was worried sick about me. I met up with Grace as soon as I left the house, and we managed to work a lot of things out. Unfortunately, something rather expensive and regrettable happened, although I must admit, it wasn’t such a bad thing, really. Still, I couldn’t help but not feel all too great about all of what took place, but I’m pretty glad Grace and I managed to pull through and get a lot of debris out of the way. Grace and I wanted to watch Bangkok Haunted, but unfortunately, we didn’t really have time for that. Ah, well.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before I had to go ahead and go back to my aunt’s house, even if there weren’t any classes on Monday. I was in the dark of what was happening at the time, and I didn’t really manage to think of the repercussions the coup attempt potentially had until I spoke to my mom on the phone. I can almost imagine DOT secretary Dick Gordon on the verge of tears this very moment, and the Ayalas likewise wringing their hands in despair over this huge blow to their collective reputations. When the chaos was confined to Mindanao, all this was still fairly tolerable. Now, when one of the most high-class sectors in the country proves to still be lax in its security, the panic becomes more clearly manifest.

What does this day hold in significance to me? Well, a significant breakthrough between me and Grace that still has me completely in disbelief, yet at the same time happy that we are indeed very much great in spite of the lack of “romanticity” from my side. At the same time, it’s high time I thought more about what was going on in this country of ours. I sincerely hope that there are no conspiracies in today’s coup attempt, or else, we haven’t heard the last of this.