Sigh

Netnet Camomot

“Close your eyes/Dry your tears/’Coz when nothing seems clear/You’ll be safe here.”

SIGH. There was Rico Blanco again, singing his Rivermaya songs, bringing me back to the good old days when my background Muzak while writing was, “May panahon para maging hari/May panahon para madapa/Dahil ang buhay natin ay sadyang ganyan.”

Sigh. I was and still am a Rivermaya fan. But don’t ask me about the titles and lyrics of their songs because it was my younger bros who introduced me to their music many years ago, I got hooked, and the rest, as they say, is history. Which I’m never good at–history, I mean.

We went to the Santo Nino de Cebu last Sunday which is one thing we don’t regularly do since we have become ever so reliant on dad’s elder bro Tito Lolong for our wish-ko-lang prayers.

But our cousin’s car and driver were both available last Sunday and the first thing that came to mind were the wake of a Camomot cousin, and the Santo Nino.

After the Santo Nino, we happened to pass by Fort San Pedro, prompting us to ask the driver, What’s that? He said, You wanna go there? And, so, we became instant tourists in a city I’ve been visiting since I was a few months old.

Being the eldest in the family, I’ve had the most number of vacations in Cebu since dad always brought me to his hometown’s fiestas, for which there are at least two–one for the town, and the other for the street where his ancestral house is located. But since we call Cebu as our second home, we never went there as tourists. Thus, if someone would ask me about this Fort whose history dates back to Magellan and Lapu-Lapu, I would be like, Huh?

And the Fort San Pedro tourist guide told us that Magellan was killed not by Lapu-Lapu himself but one of the latter’s warriors, and we went, Huh? I don’t know anything about Philippine and world histories–merely memorized everything to pass the subjects, only to forget them right after, thus, any historical tidbit makes me feel like Dory, as in the amnesiac Dory of “Finding Nemo.”

The Battle of Mactan won’t be the last conflict in the name of religion or dominance or whatever it was they fought for in 1521. We can never be sure of their reasons then, since historians tend to favor the person or party they represent. Some people do ram their ideologies down other people’s throats, resulting to wars, suicide bombers, and innocent victims who are simply trying to survive daily in this oh so cruel world.

But at SM Seaside last Saturday night, there was the battle for a taxi. Rico Blanco was there for a free mini-concert. We were planning to leave the mall early, since the SM malls in Cebu are notorious–well, that’s what we have observed, anyway–for not caring about how their customers are going home after shopping or window-shopping there till the doors close at 9 or 10 pm, so it has become SOP for us to leave a Cebu SM mall before or at 6 pm when there are still taxis waiting outside.

Beyond that and especially when it’s raining, expect the worst–no taxis, and if there’s one, it has already been grabbed care of GrabTaxi, giving a whole new meaning to Rivermaya’s “Ang buhay ay sadyang ganyan/Umaaraw, umuulan/Wag kang maawa sa iyong sarili/Isipin na wala ka nang silbi/San’ dambuhalang kalokohan/Bukas sisikat ding muli ang araw/Ngunit para lang sa may tiyagang/Maghintay.”

And maghintay we went from 7:45 pm up to, what, 9 pm when I finally had a eureka moment, remembering that my sis-in-law has a suki rental car in Cebu. Dios ko day! How could I forget? Duh! Must be the post-Rico Blanco euphoria, all that positivity convincing me there would be a taxi for this very long and winding line of mall visitors, all waiting for a ride home. But, thanks to my sis for asking Tito Lolong to help us get outta there, I had that eureka moment. Talk of “Himala.”

SM Seaside does have shuttle buses but not to our destination.

We learned about Blanco’s SM show when we went outside for some photo ops, you know, acting like the probinsiyana that we are. There was a huge tarp there, announcing his show that  would start at 5:30 pm. So, my first thought on our SOP of leaving a Cebu SM mall early was, Good luck na lang!

This was the third time I watched Blanco perform, and all of them for free. The first was his concert with Rivermaya years ago at Cagayan de Oro’s Pelaez Sports Complex, which was sponsored by Chowking. We didn’t know then that it would be the band’s last concert as a group. They disbanded after that.

The second happened a few years later at Ayala Center Cebu when he already went solo.

Now, here’s one thing about Blanco. You could tell who among his fans are old or new by the songs they’re familiar with. Those who could sing along with his Rivermaya songs are of course the old ones like us. There was this guy right in front of us who laughed each time Blanco had choreography for his new songs. Yeah, it was an awkward moment each time he danced together with his two drummers who had feathers in their costumes. These are all part of Blanco’s metamorphosis as a solo artist, so who are we to judge?

The new fans, on the other hand, are those who also know his songs as a solo artist.

There were times in his show when he asked if we had requests, and all we could hear were shouts for his Rivermaya songs. I wonder how he feels when people would still ask for that. I guess Bamboo, who’s also a former Rivermaya lead vocalist, experiences the same thing. Well, how many times can they sing “Himala” without cringing? That must be one himala, too: “Himala, kasalanan bang humingi ako sa langit ng isang himala.”

SM Seaside’s Wings could stretch from one entrance to the other, thus, when the car rental driver said he was already outside the Mountain Wing, I went, Huh? Because all I could see were the shuttle buses and private cars that were parked there since forever. Then I remembered saying yes to the question if the Mountain Wing was the one facing the Pedro Calungsod chapel, only to correct it later that we were on the side facing the sea. Hmmm, SM Seaside gani. Hehe. But the driver somehow forgot that and got stuck with the chapel directions. It would take another round of detours for him to reach us, so we decided to enter the mall and walk to the exit on the chapel-side of the Mountain Wing. Hay naku. Walk pa more.

It was the driver’s first time to be there. After all, this is the newest mall in Cebu that opened only the day before, and most people were avoiding it to escape from the traffic that didn’t seem to move on its opening day. There was much confusion even among the mall tenants’ employees when it came to directions. We would have opted to avoid it, too, if we could stay in Cebu forever. But since probinsyana man lagi with limited financial resources to stay longer than scheduled, we had to be there last Saturday since Sunday would even mean more mall-goers.

We were supposed to be there on Thursday for its opening ceremonies, one day before it was opened to the public, thanks to a special gate pass from Forever 21, but we were then still in post-fiesta mode at dad’s hometown.

As for the mall itself, no big deal, although it’s the biggest mall in Cebu for now. If you’ve seen one mall, you’ve seen them all, most probably because it’s not finished yet and only a few shops, restos and fast food outlets have opened. And Cebu Ocean Park is to be built there, that is, if its construction hasn’t started yet.

Of course the SM stores are already there, ready to serve their suki customers: SM Hypermarket, SM Store, Our Home, Kultura, Toy Kingdom, Watsons, Forever 21, Uniqlo. Do prepare for a lot of walking around in huge circles, since the mall is round, which is OK actually since you’re assured you’ve toured one level after reaching the store or area from where you started walking.

But what makes SM Seaside unique is its seaside view which you could stare at from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the lucky ones like Hukad, Forever 21 and Uniqlo. Uniqlo’s fitting room faces the seaside and I asked its sales staff if I could sit there, simply stare till sunset, and make muni-muni while listening to Blanco singing, “From the sheer weight/Of your doubts and fears/Weary heart/You’ll be safe here.” Sigh.

And in case you’re not convinced of the seaside theme, the mall itself looks like a humongous ship. Sail and sale pa more!