day tripper
Last Wednesday I skipped work so the entire family can go to Cavite for my grandma’s birthday. As I sat inside the car, I realized that the same thing happens every family trip to Cavite. To illustrate:
1. Dad would drive. Horrendous music from some new Pinoy band plays on the radio, and I would complain. Dad concurs, and switches the station to good old RJ, which plays The Beatles, like, every two songs.
2. We listen in peace, with me asking every now and then what song is playing. I become somewhat convinced that I’m either a Californian hippie or a British groupie from the 70s trapped in the body of a 21-year-old living in the 21st century.
3. While all this is going on my mother would go into full backseat driving mode. You know what backseat driving is? It’s when you’re not driving but you keep on yakking about how the one behind the wheel should drive: “go slow,” “wait there’s the red light,” “don’t go too near that bus.” I love my mother, but this drives me crazy. If there’s something I want more than anything else in the world, it’s not world peace, but an end to backseat driving.
4. I gaze out the window and “ponder on life” to shut out the backseat driving comments.
5. I sleep.
6. My sisters wake me up to announce that we have arrived. I groggily get out of the car, then throw myself on my grandma’s couch to sleep some more.
***
My boyfriend isn’t too crazy about The Beatles–he’s more into The Doors, he says–but we find The Beatles’ “Something” special.
Here’s the actual video, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono look like they came from Transylvania:
And the “Across the Universe” version, which I adore for its simplicity and Jim Sturgess’ smooth, dreamy voice.
