Whether you know the difference between videoke and karaoke is only important when used in the context of a discussion. "Videoke" actually means video karaoke and is a contrived combination word, used primarily in the Philippines.
I know I shouldn't be writing this. I know I shouldn't be writing at all. The truth is; I'm drunk as a skunk. It's been 2008 for 3 hours now in the Philippines. We ate, we partied, we sang with the videoke and we set off fireworks like you wouldn't believe. Some people were afraid to come out of their houses.
Do you want know something peculiar? I outlasted every single relative I know about. Yes, every single one. When I realized I was the only one left at the party, I knew it was time to pack it in. The peculiar part is that I don't drink very often and they do — yet, I still managed to outlast them. I credit many years of self-discipline.
Speaking of many years… I have 16 days until the US government no longer owns me. January 16, 2008, is the end of 30 years of military service — 20 years active duty and 10 years inactive. Freedom day is a little over 2 weeks away. Yippee kay yay, *** !
I hope you enjoy your New Year's Day celebration as much as I have. I'm looking forward to writing about it again NEXT YEAR!!
[Thank you, Sandee, for beating me to the punch.]
I was a bit incommunicado yesterday, being tied up with one of my brothers-in-law's birthday. Joshua Jr. and I both celebrated our birthdays. His was yesterday and mine is in 3 days (he's 37 and I'll be 47). We started off by playing chess and drinking Red Horse Beer. We quit playing chess after a while and started doing some karaoke singing while elevating our drinking to include Tanduay Dark Rhum.
My son, Jonathan, joined in to drink with us as did my nephew (his cousin), Michael. They're about the same age and both of them are mestizos. Even though there were 4 of us, it didn't turn into a party of any kind.
I have a major hangover. I must not have been drinking enough water while I was drinking all of the alcoholic beverages. I really hate these alcohol withdrawal symptoms. I'm now nursing it with a lot of water and a few doses of coffee.
I hope this explains why I'll be a little slow in catching up with everything I intended to accomplish today, including answering email messages and blog comments. It looks like some of it might end up happening tomorrow.
(Image source: Hangover Remedy Blog)
The fiancé of my sister-in-law, Darlene, is on his way back to Qatar (he's an overseas Filipino worker or OFW for short) this morning. Last night, we had a party in the area that separates the in-law houses to the right of us and our own house. There's a layer of cement from the road all the way down that makes a kind of patio area.
There was general screwing around taking place, what with more that 30 people there. We were talking, laughing, drinking, and doing the videoke thing. Somewhere along the line I decided to drink straight tequila shots. This is how it went:
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, four.
Five tequila, six tequila, seven tequila, floor!
I and Mr. Jose Cuervo did not get along so well. No, I didn't get sick (and I'm not hung over now), but I did get incredibly drunk and sleepy. I turned in 2-3 hours earlier than I normally would have.
***
Blog Appreciation:
It amazes me that I didn't stumble upon Second Effort much earlier than I did. The "Curmudgeon" always writes things that interest me. His sense of humor is probably more in tune with today's society than mine will ever be.
It doesn't happen very often. Not often at all. But yesterday and into the wee hours of the morning, I got tore up from the floor up. My mother-in-law's 72nd birthday party (her first) started at about 5 pm and ended when everyone gave up the ghost. I forget what all was being consumed and by whom, except for myself, I finished off a bottle of Tanduay rum. Surprisingly, I didn't get falling down drunk. Perhaps it's because of all the activities that were taking place, including videoke. One of my brothers-in-law had rented one of those huge self-contained videoke units.
I'm not even hungover, which is really amazing. It must be because I kept drinking water throughout the evening. I learned a long time ago that hangovers are caused primarily by dehydration.
I'll be out of the house and away from the PC for the next few hours while attending to one of my nieces' first birthday party. Perhaps I'll post pictures later, but don't count on it. If I drink, I definitely won't.
Update: Pictures were taken but it will take a couple of days to go through them… most of them are a blur (I didn't take the pictures).
It's now 2007 in the countries on this side of the world, and will be 2007 in the US in about 45 minutes.
We (the collective we) stayed up until about 3:30 am. We did videoke, we drank and we did much carrying on. At midnight, my wife went up on the terrace and dumped small denominations of cash for all the children. Like 10 and 20 pesos (equivalent to 20 cents and 40 cents in US dollars respectively).
The noise-making device I mentioned in my Christmas eve post is called a "boga". It's a tubular plastic device, sprayed with denatured alcohol on the inside and then ignited from a small hole in the end (or an installed sparking trigger). They produce a large "boom" when ignited. Firecrackers and bogas, as well as other noise-making devices, were in wide use this year despited being banned to reduce injuries. Superstitious Filipinos believe that noisy New Year's celebrations, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, drive away evil and misfortune.
I haven't posted in a few days because of other commitments and because I've been teaching myself some new scripting techniques. Time really flies when you're busy.
To my American friends and family, Happy New Year! To my Filipino friends and family, Manigong Bagong Taon!
