Up In The Air

Ze plen! Ze plen!

I don't think I've traveled as frequently and in such short intervals as I have for the past three months.

Flying away on a wing and a prayer.

Unlike George Clooney's character, though, I've a long way to go before I score ten million miles. But I do get to fly Business Class often enough, thus sparing me the excitement of sharing close quarters with the rest of the flying, farting, and fidgeting cattle.

Business is business.

I don't mind hotels, especially ones where we've checked in so often the doormen know us by name. Feels a little like home - which is a good thing, I guess, when one is away from home so often.

Another suitcase down another hall...

My bed is a cold and empty stranger and my frequent absences are a boon for my maid, whose duties have largely been reduced to looking after my kennel. Never mind that I'm famished; she only remembers to ask me for money when the dog food runs out.

It's a dog's life, innit?

Well. At least her devotion to my mutts (and yes, let's not forget the cat) is beyond question.

No music, no life.

In addition to my cars, now my iPod has joined the "Let's-get-on-the-fritz-and-drive-rudeboy-nutz" club. Goddamned contraptions must know I do not have the time to supervise repairs until at least September, from the looks of things. It's just as well about the cars, though; production affords me the courtesy of a service vehicle and driver, and I haven't been anywhere except shoots, editing, and client's office of late, anyway.

But the iPod bailing on me is a real bummer. Music soothes the savage beast, and I don't have the time nor the inclination to turn to drugs at this point. I suppose - with all my gadgets going haywire one after the other - I can consider it a blessing that I lost my Canon Ixus 960 IS last Mother's Day when I played the good son and bought three cakes for my mom. Someone out there in Alabang is now the happy owner of a slightly-used, titanium-casing 12.1 megapixel camera. My only consolation is that the lucky bugger has to do without the charger and the manual. It's also a good thing I didn't have any nudies in that camera - I think.

Bye-bye, baby, bye-bye.

One of my hard drives also thought it might be fun to goad me into a grand mal seizure by wiping out all my work data last week - all 1 terabyte of it. Good thing I have a techie slave who waits on me hand and foot, who gleefully charges me an arm and a leg for the privilege.

I can't wait for the surprises that incoming iPad has in store for my wonderful life.

On a personal level, traveling has made me miss the funeral of the last of my grandmothers, a scant two weeks ago. Truth be told, I'm such a thoughtful grandson I thought she had died years ago. It's a poetic companion piece to the time two months prior when, desperate for a suitable talent, I rang up my mom to ask gingerly whether Tio Julio was still alive and thus, available for a shoot. Her deadpan answer "Your last grandfather died a year ago, anak. It's his first death anniversary this month, as a matter of fact." spoke volumes about how much time I spend with my kinsmen.

Ded Na Pala Si Lolo.

Sue me for expecting everyone to live forever.

And I just planed in from a thankfully-normal-looking Bangkok a few hours ago, thus conveniently missing my parents' wedding anniversary. My mom, having spent many years in the corporate world, was understanding. My father's silence, on the other hand, means I'm going to have my bribe my way into his good graces yet again. He and my brother have made at least three Sunday sorties to my house on the pretext of tinkering with my stubborn cars, each time missing me because I was either abroad, on a shoot, or abroad yet again.

I wonder how big a dent this will make in my finances.

The bribe, I mean. Getting the cars fixed, well, that's just like getting raped, and I'm used to it.

Bitch.

It is now a full day after I started writing this entry. Just got home at 6 a.m. from a final casting workshop, an interlock, overseeing some laborious CG renderings, and a release tape dubbing. And I'm off again in a couple of hours for a rush recording, sitting down to beat a stubborn jingle into submission, and two online editings for two stress-filled projects that will undoubtedly carry over into the next day, after which I have two shoots back-to-back, which will bring us back to packing and fly, fly, flying again.

My head in the clouds, my feet on the ground.

The fun never stops at rudeboy's.