test drive, aka first date with moe

Of mini road trips, beetles, and buses of death

Earlier today, we took a mini-road trip to Cuenca, Batangas to check out the Volkswagen Beetle advertised at the VWCP website. After a couple of mishaps (I woke up late, and there was that walkathon at Sucat highway which was purely my fault), we managed to get to Cuenca via the scenic route - Sta. Rosa exit from SLEX, Tagaytay, Lemery, Lipa then Cuenca.

We met the owner, a guy who's quite literally smitten with the Volkswagen but doesn't have enough space in his garage for a VTEC, a Kombi Bus and a Beetle.

We decided to test drive the car, and since I don't want to wreak the car before it's even paid for and Rem doesn't like driving manuals, that left us at the mercy of Mabie's driving skills.

After the initial "Oooh, let's try the second gear," we were cruising down the winding provincial road of Cuenca to Lipa City. A few kilometers later, it occurs to us that we didn't know where the a. windshield wipers switch (it was raining), and b. the reverse gear (which we needed to go back where we came) were. We decided to just wing it.

Bad idea. First, we didn't see that the incline we were on didn't extend to the sidewalk, and the front wheel fell a good foot. We barely felt it and only realized how deep the drop was until we were off it. The planned 180 turn stopped abruptly at 90, about 2 inches from a pole, no reverse and traffic starting to pile up on both sides. The car smelled of burnt clutch, and passersby thought we had stalled in the middle of the road. Rem and I got off the car and pushed. Yes, pushed. Literally reversing the car with the help of a four helpful Batanguenos. Needless to say, we hightailed out of there as fast as we could.

Nope, the adventure didn't stop there. The cosmos is merciless, as she usually is on first dates. While driving back, still dying from embarrassment, a bus decided to overtake on a curve, following a trajectory that can best be described as "right at us." Rem stiffened in her seat, I stared in horror, while Mabie stomped on the brakes, leaned on the car horn and let out the most profane line of expletives I have ever heard her say.

Reactions afterwards:

Rio: AH, POTANGINA NUN AH.
Rem: Oh my God.
Mabie: My mom doesn't know where the heck I am.

Test drive ends with us overshooting the owner's house and parking at the nearest available space. We were too, oh, I don't know, shocked to try and figure out where the damned reverse was.

Anyway, the car itself has a few dinks and kinks here and there, though it's a steal for 50kiao (I haggled down to 45. I'm sure I'll whine about one thing or another in the coming months). So there. That was how we spent our first date with Moe the Beetle.

dahil baka akala nyo palaging sabaw si mabie

on the transience of human life
Rio: augh
Rio: all this election news is depressing
Mabie: iknowright
Mabie: pero mas nadepress ako sa death nila alexis
Rio: yeah
Rio: robbery amp
Mabie: takte noh
Mabie: sana hindi na lang sila umuwi agad
Rio: san ba sila galing?
Mabie: di ko alam e
Mabie: i see him in events. i think khavn introduced us one time pero quickie hi hello lang
Mabie: i was just thinking of contacting him to ask for help dun sa film mag na project ko. he's only 28
Rio: aw
Rio: and he has that site
Mabie: tapos yung gf nya, leap of faith pare. from slovenia, lumipat ng pinas para sa kanya
Rio: yung critique ng asian films thing
Mabie: mga 2 years pa lang sila
Mabie: criticine.com
Mabie: yeah
Rio: tangna talaga
Mabie: tsk. sayang talaga he's really good pa naman.
Rio: yeah
Rio: you never know how death's going to do you in
Mabie: kaya rin ayaw ni ma kumuha ng maids sa agency e
Mabie: korak
Mabie: hello existential dilemma part nth time for 09
Rio: hahaha
Mabie: grabe. kelangan talaga gawin mo na gusto mong gawin kase di mo alam kung kelan ka mawawala. or yung mga taong importante sayo.
Rio: ano ba yung ibang existential angst sources mo this year?
Mabie: si francis m. si cory. may isa pa e. international naman.
Mabie: ah! yung brod ni tof
Mabie: 25 namatay sa dengue
Mabie: T_T
Rio: :O
Mabie: korak di ba
Rio: chet
Mabie: tagapagmana ng pasay empire nila (kanila yung commercial compound sa tapat ng domestic airport)
Mabie: tapos they didnt know he had dengue till he was vomiting blood na -- too late by dengue standards. di na kaya ng transfusion
Mabie: ayon. recently lang to. mga last month
Rio: aray
Rio: the immortality of youth
Mabie: knock on wood. pag na-deads ako gusto kong closing song ko yung tulog na ng sugarfree ha. yung mso version nila
Mabie: (buti na lang masama akong damo)
Rio: we all feel immortal kasi pag bata pa (well, except people like victor and rica)
Rio: we don't think we can die, it just happens to somebody else
Mabie: i dont. i feel very mortal
Mabie: ive been so praning this year
Mabie: really
Rio: that means the years are setting on you
Mabie: as in, before i go to sleep, i pray like so: thanks kuya jess! bukas uli ha!
Mabie: just to make sure klaro kame na i dont wanna go yet
Mabie: T_T
Rio: i mean, you're realizing that you need to settle down, do what you want and shit
Mabie: not really settle down. just to get going
Rio: ayun nga


early morning Sartre
Rio: if nothing matters and nothing i will ever do means anything, what does another person mean?
Rio: ha?
Mabie: okay, digesting your note.
Rio: hahaha
Rio: tipong if i think the other person brings meaning to my life
Rio: or sarado lang talaga yung utak ko sa mga ganyang bagay
Mabie: that's conflicted.
Mabie: i mean, if you feel that way.
Mabie: therefore, you're conflicted
Mabie: depends rin siguro if sincere ba yung meaning nung other person to you
Rio: hahaha
Rio: oo nga naman
Mabie: here. read sartre. the I is affirmed by the Other
Mabie: Self consciousness needs "the Other"
to prove (display) its own existence. It has a "masochistic desire" to
be limited, i.e. limited by the reflective consciousness of another
subject. This is expressed metaphorically in the famous line of
dialogue from No Exit, "Hell is other people."
Sartre stated that "In order to make myself recognized by the Other,
I must risk my own life. To risk one's life, in fact, is to reveal
oneself as not-bound to the objective form or to any determined
existence--as not-bound to life", meaning the value of the Other's
recognition of me depends on the value of my recognition of the Other
In this sense to the extent that the Other apprehends me as bound to a
body and immersed in life, I am myself only an O
Mabie: *the last line didn't fit:  I am myself only an Other as Ego.
Rio: hmm
Rio: from what i understand, everybody needs a sound board
Rio: or an echo chamber
Mabie: affirmation in otherwords
Mabie: nice no?
Rio: yuh
Mabie: affirmation not in the sense na, like me! like me!
Rio: it's like that "if a tree falls"
Mabie: but more of, just recognition that you're there
Mabie: yes
Rio: ooh, i learned something today


on kids
Rio: i want my kid to have an imagination
Mabie: we should all have imagination!
Rio: yuh
Rio: an imagination is imperative
Mabie: it's intrinsic naman in kids. what we should be worry about is them shedding this inherent trait
Rio: yap
Rio: some people outgrow it kasi
Mabie: korak. like swimming
Mabie: ayun! id throw my kid in the pool.
Mabie: hayaan ko lang sya lumangoy
Rio: hahaha
Rio: yeah
Rio: sakin siguro, i'd just leave the kid with my mom
Rio: she's had a lot of practice
Mabie: ..so why have a kid at all?
Rio: sayang genes
Mabie: pero oo nga. feeling ko aakuin din ng nanay ko yun
Mabie: it's the lola syndrome
Mabie: they're always nicer to the apos than to their kids
Rio: yeah, i noticed that
Rio: galitin mo na si mama bear, wag lang si lola bear
Mabie: korak!
Rio: hahaha
Rio: pero disciplinarian kasi nanay ko
Rio: she has that evil eye
Mabie: hahahah! mine too
Rio: merong "shut up look"
Rio: "stay still look"
Rio: and the "we're in church dammit look"
Mabie: saken hindi e: "sige, subukan mo, tatamaan ka saken"
Mabie: tiklop
Rio: hahha
Mabie: applicable to all na yun
Rio: may mom school kaya somewhere
Rio: hahaha
Mabie:  feeling ko


on God
Rio: does being happy mean that you can't be affected by death?
Mabie: not at all. i think being happy is being at peace where fate will lead you despite knowing the end waiting for you, which is death
Mabie: philo kase kamo, kaya klaro
Mabie: am going back to it by the way. after my MA
Rio: going back to philo?
Mabie: yeah
Mabie: getting my doctorate
Rio: gawd, i remember that stupid debate
Mabie: i need to go back to my roots
Rio: i had a debate with the louie person about god
Rio: hahaha
Mabie: the non-believer louie?
Mabie: haha
Rio: he started with "if god exists, then why do bad things happen to good people"
Rio: dear god
Rio: yay! you'd be doctor mabie then
Mabie: hiyay!
Mabie: haha
Mabie: that's the weirdest logic i've ever heard
Rio: ahaha
Mabie: if everything's good, e di sana asa heaven na lang tayo lahat
Rio: and it's the most used atheist argument ever
Rio: my argument was, then what's the point of creating an earth if you're just going to emulate heaven?
Mabie: to argue on a pragmatic level (as in, mababaw lang). i'd rather believe in god then find out there was none rather than not believe and then find out there is.
Rio: hahaha
Rio: agreed
Mabie: deads tayo dun noh
Rio: hahaha
Rio: yeah
Rio: pero, yeah. i'd rather believe than not
Rio: saka it's the classic human excuse naman eh, it's something to hold on to at least
Mabie: korak
Rio: hahaha