nagpunta ako sa los angeles kaninang umaga para kumuha ng visa sa japanese embassy. hindi ako sasali sa US navy ng japan. may business trip lang kasi ako sa toyko itong darating na december kaya kailangan ko ng visa. yan ang isang hirap ng may pinoy passport: kailangan mo ng sangkatutak na visa sa iba’t ibang mga bansa. minsan hassle lalo na pag marami kang pupuntahan. itong coming trip ko, pupunta ako sa japan, korea, taiwan, china at singapore. halos lahat ay kailangan ng visa. buti na lang pwedeng through travel agent ang processing kaya hindi masyadong mahirap.
sa japan lang medyo maarte dahil kailangan pa ng personal appearance. nung nasa singapore naman kami ay hindi ko kailangan magpakita. di ko alam kung bakit dito pa sa amerika nag-iba. ang hirap pa namang mag byahe from orange county. grabe kasi ang traffic papasok ng los angeles. kailangan hindi ka maglinis ng ilong ng ilang araw before driving to LA para hindi ka masyadong mainip. libangan mo na lang kasi ay mangulangot habang nakahinto ang sasakyan mo sa freeway. bigla ko tuloy na miss ang maynila. halos pareho kasi ang bigat ng traffic. pero ok lang – nabigyan naman ako ng visa kaya tuloy ako ng tokyo in 2 months time.
nagpapraktis na nga ako ng japanese na salitang bastos – eg, “Mocca-mocca su su Ama” (Fuck you, bitch), “Boku no shiri ni kisu siro” (Kiss my ass), “Watashi no chinko kata” (My dick is hard), etc. etc. parang ang haba ata ng japanese translation ano?
Batang Kaning Lamig 
bosing, hindi ka ba dadaan dito sa pinas? Apat na oras na lang to mula Japan. Daan ka muna at nang mapirmahan mo naman yung libro ko. 🙂
wow naman asian tour ang swerte nyo naman mr. batjay! kasama po ba ninyo ang iyong beloved wife? pihadong mas marami kayong maisusulat sa blog nyo habang andun kayo at pag-uwi,sabi kasi ng kapatid kong naandun nakakawindang daw ng sistema ang kultura doon lalo na pag medyo conservative ka. enjoy your trip and may Harold guide you always
our father, who art in heaven, harold be thy name. oo nga. ok naman ako sa japan. i love it pag naroon ako dahil gusto ko yung kultura at pagkain.
bossing – pipilitan ko nga na mag side trip sa maynila para mag kita-kita tayo, kung pwede. kaya lang medyo hectic kasi ang sched.
Hey Jay.
Nanika ata?
Gomen kudasai.
I was just passing by and three things caught my eyes (among a thousand others). First, the name on your book cover (Nicanor David, Jr.). Then, your post name BatJay. Finally, your confession that you used to be a DJ in DZRJ.
I think I know you.
1.You’re the DJ on graveyard shift on DZRJ during the late 80s.
2.You used to work with Mariwasa in Binondo at about the same time.
3.You finished a computer engineering degree in Mapua.
4.You’re the younger brother of Howlin’ Dave.
5.Your Dad is veteran radio announcer Uncle Nick.
6.You’re Mom is veteran comedian Metring David.
If you answered NO to the last question, then you must be Jay David!
You used to be BlueJay. So, you’re now BatJay, Ang Dating Supot! Now I know the face behind the voice.
I had fun reading your posts. I salute you for sharing your unique brand of humor and exposing yourself to the world, warts and all, without reservations or shame. (Applause, with matching shaking of head!)
Congratulations also on the release of your book. Where can I get a copy? I searched all the bookstores in Manhattan. From Barnes and Noble to the sidewalk booksellers. But I can’t find a copy. Have they all been sold out? (One more thing. I just noticed that for someone as imaginative and as creative as you, your book’s cover looks too plain and subdued. And why do you have to print an excerpt of The Explainer’s introduction on the cover? Just my two-cents worth. Amy Vandelbilt or Emily Post may have something better to say on that. Just kidding!)
Now, on a more serious note. When I listened to your songs, I noticed that there is that tinge of loneliness in your voice. It’s the same melancholic quality that is evident in the voice of Roger Waters. (Have you heard Roger Waters’ “Lost Boys Calling” which was the theme song of Giuseppe Tornatore’s “The Legend of 1900”? If not, please listen to it. Or better still, watch the clip on YouTube. It’s a very sad rendition (especially if you saw the film).I’m not saying that you have the same voice. Definitely not! You just seem to share that same melancholic voice quality. Or maybe I’m wrong. On second thought, you probably sound just like a drunk blogger after all!)
Oops, I got carried away. I thought I was writing on my blog. Whew! It started as a two-word Japanese greeting. Until it got out of hand. Sorry for taking so much space here.
Well, it’s good to hear (or should I say, read) from you again. Don’t pull your few remaining hair or bite your dead nail or sweep your nose clean of green boogers (and make bogey ball to rival James R. Ford’s infamous artwork)in an attempt to figure out who I am. (You don’t know me. Hehehe)
Send my regards to Jet (though she doesn’t know me either. Hehehe again.)
Also my regards to your howlin’ bro, Dante. What’s he up to these days? I remember the Sundays when our lunch wouldn’t be complete without him. (But he doesn’t know me either. Hehehe again.)
You may want to check out my blog. It’s quite sedate though (an understatement!) for your taste and not as fun as yours. But do take a look and let me know what you think. Here it is:
http://totos-paradise.blogspot.com
I know it sounds like a porn site. But it’s not. Trust me. Find out for yourself.
May you have a safe, pleasant and fruitful trip in the land which produced the best film directors in the world, Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.
Ojama shimasu.
parang bio mo yung nalista sa taas ni Toto. (may anak na kaya siya, so we can call them…Toto and his Children)
ey, is this part of the grand launching of the book. Meron pang Asian Tour….hehehe.
Im writing too about going to downtown…pero ako commuting lang…ingat sa pag da dial ng ilong…baka makuha mo yung parte ng utak mo gaya ng cartoons na pinakita mo dati
oo nga ka junnie, parang bio ko yung nasa itaas. bigla tuloy akong ninerbyos. kilalang kilala ako ni toto, pero di ko siya kilala.
ang hirap ng trip talaga sa downtown LA from OC. major major pain. hindi pa nga masyadong ma traffic kahapon pero inabot pa rin ako ng 2 hours.
hi toto.
your comment deserves a personal reply.
hmmm…. right on everything except #6. pero teka, did i work for mariwasa in binondo? i’m not sure i did. perhaps some on the job training that i can’t recall.
from bluejay to batjay. that’s 19 years of my life right there.
i’m glad you love reading the posts. i sometimes am uncomfortable because i share so much of my life and i have no idea if the people who read the blog can connect. but i guess people do – i hear the book is selling well in manila. some of the bookstores are out of stock. it’s hard to believe people want to buy stories of my sometimes shitty life.
you can’t find the book in any bookstore outside of the philippines though. perhaps online, but i am not sure where (or when) it’s available. your best option is to have someone from the PI buy you one. it’s available now in almost all the bookstores – national, powerbooks, fullybooked, mag:net, booksale and filbars.
the cover’s my idea by the way. i wanted to simplify and make it look like a technical paper – i am an engineer by profession and the design appeals to my sense of simplicity and orderliness. i adhere to the KISS philosophy (i,e KISS as in – “keep it simple stupid”).
i love roger waters. he is in town and will do a series of shows in LA-LA-Land tonight and on sunday. i don’t have his CDs (yet) and it might be time to get copies of his songs.
i admire his song writing talent – i’m sure syd the crazy diamond, would be happy that roger has continued in his tradition of creating great songs with poetic and haunting lyrics. perhaps he created those lines to match his haunting voice.
dante’s back in radio, playing the music he loves. in fact, you can listen to him online – tune into the live feed of ROCK 990 (http://www.rock990.com/). he is on 1-4 pm in manila, that’s early morning, your time. tune in today (saturday in the philippines) – he does a pinoy rock show saturday afternoons and i might call in, who knows.
take care,
May Japanese phrases ka na palang nalalaman… di ka na malo- lost in translation nyan. 😀
oo, pero puro mga bastos na salita lang ang alam ko.
ah, teka – OISHI!
ay naku! yes, there’s so much hoopla involved when you travel to other countries w/ a philippine passport! all these documents, etc.
have fun in japan! kyo no shinbun wa, dore des ka? (is that today’s newspaper?)
but did you at least hang out in L.A.?!
p.s. i got your book! (well, my cousin in the phil. did and he’ll send it to me =)
hi mama kat.
thank you – with the book, now you can practice tagalog with your husband and rocker baby. i hope it’ll make you laugh.
you said it – getting Visas for a multi country business trip requires a lot of planning in advance. it’s difficult if you suddenly get assigned to do trip abroad and it’s a good thing that our travel agent takes care of most of our needs. but it still is a pain.
i wasn’t able to hang out in LA. it was a working day and i really had no business being there except visit the japanese embassy. it would have been nice though to explore the city on a working day, less people and all.
ooh I would love to go to Japan one day. magastos ba ang pasyal dun?
it depends where you go. if you can afford a trip to europe then you can probably afford a trip to japan. but i am not sure, everytime i’m there i’m on business so i only see the country through my hosts.
but if you love japanese food – make sure you visit japan. the food there taste a lot better.
Batjay, ang hirap maghanap ng book mo. Aba, kahapon sa Megamall ako pero nilibot ko na lahat iyang sinabi mo puro out of stock. Sabi nga sa akin ng sales clerk sa Filbar’s, ang dami raw naghahanap ng book mo kaya lagi silang nauubusan. Ask pa niya sa akin, talaga raw bang maganda. Sabi ko naman siguradong ok iyon kaya lang nga di ko pa nababasa 🙂
O ito i-add mo sa japanese chuva mo, arigato at moshi-moshi. Wala lang natuwa lang ako sa mga alam mo sa lengguahe nila, tatak Batjay talaga.
Ingat… and send my regards to ms. Jet.
yup..out of stock nga raw sa megamall ang KT book accdg to my brother. he asked the sales clerk of filbars kung saan nearby outlet available. sabi daw..sa filbars pioneer, pasig. so they went there at nakabili naman dun! and i’m going to meet this weekend the person who brought the book, all the way from pasig to toronto! 🙂
hayy ang tagal at ang layo ng byahe ng KT book c”,)
congrats..the book is selling well. pa-autograph ha?! hehe
hi, blog hopping here..ganda naman ng blog mo.
malapit ko nang mapapirmahan itong dala kong libro… dito na ko ngayon sa las vegas…just arrived yesterday.
PACKING SHEET – welcome to the US ka roland. email mo sa kin ang phone number mo at gagawa kami ni jet ng schedule para makadalaw. OR, if ever gusto mong magpasyal sa disney land – 30 minutes away lang kami sa bahay ni mickey rat.
Hi KB – You might want to try using one of those shuttle services to LAX instead. No hassle, puwede kang matulog sa van, and you won’t have to pay for parking the whole time you’re away. Better yet, catch a ride to John Wayne and then grab a shuttle from there — much less expensive than door-to-door service (though if your company is picking up the tab anyway, pasundo ka nalang sa bahay!).
Sarap naman ng biyahe mo! Send my warmest regards to Sachiko when you get to Tokyo. Let’s get together before you leave, ha?
hey gigi.
i’ll probably get a shuttle from home to the airport. i don’t want to drive from here to LAX again. besides, the parking fee for the over 2 weeks that i’ll be gone is probably more expensive than the shuttle cost. and you’re right – the company will pay for it so, i don’t really mind.
sige, kitakita tayo before i leave.
ingat.
hi aleth and lani. baka kaya parating out of stock kasi kaunti lang silang mag stock. ngyehehe.
maraming salamat sa feedback ninyo.
Hey Mr. David! Kailan kayo gagawi sa Pinas?
T_T Is Rock 990 still on air? I tuned in to my radio and it’s all static! I dunno if that’s a signal problem in our place (Caloocan) or somethin’ else. Nobody even answers the phone.
im not sure if 990 is back in the air. i’ll ask my brother when i see him next week.