Sugar Overload

The minute I woke up that noon I knew I wanted to eat something sweet. However, true to my intentions of making my budget last till I get my first pay check, I decided I'd let go of my desires and just get on with the very spartanistic essentials.

So, Rei and I decided to head out to our "favorite" tapsilogan and just pig out on a medium sized fried pork, sunny side up egg and 2 cups of garlic rice - this has been our staple food since I started living here in Manila. After eating with much gusto (or just too fast cause I did not have any breakfast before going to bed), there is was again. I knew instantly that I wanted to eat some chocolate cookies, or pretzels. Deciding that it was just give a small hole on my pocket, we immediately headed to the nearest Mini-Stop.

There it was. A pint of heavenly ice cream, and much to Rei's delight, it was his favorite brand and flavor - Coffee Crumble. It was like a myth coming true, like Ibong Adarna na was rarely seen. Or the Himalayan Yeti, whose existence is still doubted and considered to be a myth, because of the rarity of it being seen.

Like a child, Rei pulled out the pint of ice cream from the freezer, and, just like a child, looked at it with awe. I knew instantly he'd buy it. And although he was also on a budget, like me, he wanted to splurge. It was a day after his birthday after all - sort of a post-birthday celebration, he said.

Once we got back to the apartment, we started digging in. It was, with no other words to describe it - heaven. I have not had any ice cream for as long as I could remember, and sitting at the living room, just talking about everything, puffing white smoke and eating cold, cold, ice cream, we were in nirvana.

After eating the pint of ice cream in a frenzy, we decided to sleep it out, we had work that night anyway, and we have to get a good "night's" rest.

Needless to say, the sugar laden ice cream gave us so much energy that we were not able to sleep that well for the rest of day. I woke up groggy, and my entire body aches.

I don't think I regret eating ice cream though. It was one of the few things that made me happy during my stay here in Manila. I remember, in college, I used to eat a whole pint of ice cream all by myself. This was during the time when I felt most alone in my life. This was also the period where I started developing my habit of stress eating. Now that I am more grown up, I could say that a few minutes with the company of one of my good friends - with his stories, cigarettes, good heart, and a pint of Coffee Crumble - makes life bearable.

I'd love to have another Sugar Overload moments like this. It makes me forget I miss home, even for just a little while.