goodbye & paalam, sa muling pagkita!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_9fQEqZCWs] [Note  : No disrespect or sarcasm intended.  Thank you everyone I met or spoke with while I was home unexpectedly, and humblest / sincerest apologies to everyone I missed meeting! ] Goodbye to Jollibee on every corner, Greenwich in multiple mall locations, and uplifting Chow King breakfasts; Goodbye urine aromas redolent in many many public corners; Goodbye to the 7000 daily NBI clearance applicants in Taft Ave Manila, confirmed because queueing numbers only go so high (and God help you if your family name is less than unique), your resilience is admired; Goodbye to the 1500 daily OEC certificate applicants at the POEA office in EDSA Ortigas, admittedly more comfortable and accommodating to returning OFWs (than NBI applicants); Goodbye to Beatles tribute band DynaSouls at Mizmo bar and grill in Kamias Rd., certainly one of the best kept secrets in Quezon City (but not anymore, thanks Kuya Oca Gomez Jr!); Goodbye to friendly and reasonable street children and watch-car boys, who actually have Wi-Fi and Facebook while begging and car-watching; Goodbye to affordable facials, manicures, pedicures, dental prophylaxis, wart-removal and all other sorts of personal grooming treats and appearance enhancements, that at a fifth of the cost overseas give you oodles and oodles of confidence and stares (or so Mahal sez); Goodbye to magic expressways that’ve made Northern Luzon so much closer to the Metropolis now, reducing by as much as 20% less travel time; Goodbye to generously staffed Pangasinan funeral homes, that produce the full complement of pallbearers, hearse drivers, mini-bands that provide live music during funeral marches and render each aspect of the memorial service with thoughtfulness, dignity and professionalism (o sige na nga, Caguioa Funeral which by the way went over and beyond the call of duty or whatever they earned, mabuhay kayo!); Goodbye to high school friends who assemble at a moment’s notice as soon as they know you’re in town; Goodbye to the front car of the EDSA MRT that allows inside only senior citizens, children, handicapped and women, as well as pregnant ladies and their husbands, which certainly took a huge load off during rush hour (well, Mahal did look pregnant after a heavy meal that night 🙂 ); So many other goodbyes that need be said, but for now, goodbye and till we meet again!