No Fail mode

I wish I can go on No Fail mode.

***

Rockbanding with JC and Ate Grace. I can't hear Dan on the phone, I just kept on saying "We're okay, we're okay," then the angry midweek midmorning rain cut us out. Funeralesque umbrella to the rescue. You-huh, you-huh, you-huh oughta know. The college kids are still in their classes, we have the place (it's called Frii Spirit) just to ourselves. Three cousins with a mission - to turn P500 into sore throat within an hour.

I can't play the Rockband guitar to save my life. I can only sing and-everytime-I scratch-my-nails-down-someone-else's-back-I-hope-you-feel-it. Not even trying the drums, I have an imaginary hand-eye coordination. If it weren't for the No Fail mode, we'd never get to finish a song as Ate Grace and myself, we can't wield Rockband strings. We sing well, but holy potato, I do not want to be caught dead singing a Paramore song.

So we talk about getting a Wii set for the cousins. We debate about where to put it. We can't put it in Alabang, not at the risk of the drum pads collecting cat hair (which is increased exponentially as we now have nine cats.) We can't put it in Taguig, Tita Vi(tch)...well...she'll be her usually fire extinguisher self. Tita Lit's place - it might weed Rigel off DOTA. Ate Grace's place was it.

Magic Sing. R.I.P. (2007-2009)

***

No Fail mode. What if I can get a cheat code for this for real life? Would I be braver? Would I have the courage to miss my notes, be out of the beat? Would I sing my song some other way? But what if, what if the peril of failing makes me try better? What if knowing that someone can be deployed to go into overdrive to save me, the thought - can make me not be afraid to hit the chords?

***

Eleven in the evening. Four in the a.m. Three bottles of Red Horse, three bottles of Vodka Cruiser. Eight to nine lonely pieces of vegetarian chicharon (An obese friend told me that this phrase makes no sense. At all.) How many ways can text messages (even those that have never been sent) be interpreted?

He can't find his keys. I didn't hear from him most of the day. His hand hurts. There's a brawl in the bar that he's in. I needed the distraction. Someone else's woes are the best.

***

"I get it. She's being you."

"I can feel the love here."

"Of course, you're my cousin."

"She's being me, huh."

"I mean it in the best way."