A Filipino Mom’s New Year’s Eve: Featuring FaceBook

I started feeling the hype at around 3:00 PM, the buzz of excited people woke me up, and I saw that my husband is done with his seafood marketing. It took me a good 10 minutes, to gear up for the traditional cooking of linguine in marinara sauce and olive oil, our New Year’s featured dish. I grew up in a house where we celebrate Christmas Eve as the biggest event of the year, and New Year’s Eve, just an aftermath. So, there’s not much to prepare, just the pasta and the seafood sauce. The pasta was overdone, by my Kuya (older brother), and the seafood, not so fresh. Hence, a paranoid’s foretold disaster! I am an occasional Paranoid Schizophrenic; by the way, I diagnosed myself some years ago. I say occasional because it isn’t always the case. There are situations where I react and get scared extremely, and there are situations where I just lay back and enjoy the show. Anyhow, so yesterday, since it is New Year’s Eve, I worried about my linguine and how I can make it delicious still, for my 3 girls and the rest of my family. When I say worry, I mean I panicked and bitched about the disaster. The verdict? They said it’s good, probably because of the cheese, heaps of it.

Outside, the neighbors do all sorts of traditional Filipino merriment, which is mostly getting drunk early, and lighting up firecrackers. Some, especially homes with more women, hired Videoke machines and boasted their singing prowess, which is, to my standard, the usual mediocre shit; loud, crappy, annoying, but really fun, though. Our neighborhood is a mix of working class residents, and forever non-working men. I say this with full respect for stay home dads and sons, as I am surrounded by them. Needless to say, it was a common, poor community in Manila, where women mostly work for their families. It seemed fun to be out.

I needed to take care of my 3 girls, though, while the husband played basketball in the neighborhood court, because the Barangay Chairman organized a one day New Year’s Eve Basketball competition. So, I did as any mom would do, I cooked, bitched and complained, played a little with my two younger ones, then I sat down and smoked, after the cooking. I bathed the 2 babies, my four year old and my two year old. Then, I took a bath and went out to buy cheese, since the husband forgot to. It was around 5:30 PM, and already the streets were packed with kids and young men having a blast with their firecrackers, drinking outside. I passed a street where there is a mobile disco set up, the works – large amps and speakers, lights and even a platform. There were people dancing in the street, and strangely, it’s quite common and normal in this part of town, and probably in any suburban area in the Philippines. I steered clear of the firecrackers, carelessly lighted and thrown in the streets, while the kids who throw them covered their ears and waited for the bang and the boom, depends on the firecrackers they have. I got back in one piece, thank heavens. I heard that there is a new one, apart from the popular piccolo and bawang variety, I heard my Kuya said that his friend was trying to give him a “Polvoron”, and when he saw it, it looked like a mini dynamite, with a promise to shake the neighborhood, and jerk out the eardrums of everyone around, it was a big whistle bomb I guess. As usual, the paranoid me told him he can go to hell if he tries to light it up anywhere near me and my girls, and threatened not to take him to the hospital in case his fingers or limbs drop off, as I hate hospitals, and I’ve definitely no plans visiting one, on New Year’s Eve. He just laughed.

Come 7:30 in the evening, my rockstar, guitarist, oldschool bestfriend, Heli, as usual, came over and asked if we should buy beer, apparently he’s been drinking alone in his room, and got lonely. That’s only when the fun for me, began. I didn’t drink like I would normally do during occasions and parties, instead, we sat down and got stuck with my laptop, did hours of facebooking, posting and greeting and chatting, and shit. You would think that a 29 year old mom won’t get her kicks out of FB, but as corny as it sound, I do. I only have 120 something friends, and I intend to keep it that way. Heli, on the other hand has 500 plus, and getting bigger everyday, though he knows shit about the web. Credit should go to me of course, for getting him online, and of course, his fame as a guitar legend in the country.

It was getting in touch, and the fantasy of being relevant that hooked me into FB. I’ve always been a late bloomer, and would only try things others have, I value feedback and experiences of trusted few. My latest business endeavor got me to signing up and spending time with FB, but, unexpectedly, it became personal, and I really got the hang of checking out what my family, friends, and crushes are doing on the web. How is life for people I don’t see anymore? Are they having fun? Am I alone with my thoughts? I needed to confirm that I am somehow still relevant and remembered. I also need to know if I’m insane or normal. Am I doing what normal people are doing? At times when my husband makes me feel like I’m strange, eccentric and insane, especially during fights, and my frequent burst of excitement and inspiration, that usually takes place in the wee hours, while he’s fast asleep, I would wake him up, and talk for hours. I would talk, he would stare. That was before FB came to my life. That was before I rediscovered friends who can relate.

I’m not a fan of texting, I only use it for communication and being polite to my texters. Thank heavens for FB, I am spared of replying to senseless text messaging, and just click “like” on a friend’s status to acknowledge them. I also, now have a venue where only close friends and family can see and read about my bitching, since no one ever is interested listening to me nag and blabber.

In conclusion, I didn’t light up a firecracker, I didn’t get drunk, and I didn’t sing. Instead, I kissed the whole family and went on and on greeting my kids a happy new year. I ate the linguine I cooked, did a little traditional hosting, but mostly, me and my friend hung around and played with FB, and unbelievably, we had fun. That was my New Year’s Eve, hopefully, a normal person’s New Year’s Eve.