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IT’S
four days from today, Friday, to Christmas, Tuesday.
So, what have we got here?
Me, I
got myself a list of persons that I need to be good to,
else I might go astray. It’s panic time.
Sorry,
but gift-giving deadlines and all, I won’t name them
here. It might create some misimpression, misconception
or even misfortune on my part. Prudence has always been
the better part of valor, right?
But I’ll
give you a hint. Some will be nameless, faceless,
persons—both kids and adults.
For who
said Christmas is just for kids?
If you
ask me, Christmas is more for adults than kids. That
Christmas is chiefly for kids is a myth, a
misconception, a folly, even.
Don’t
adults mostly buy the gifts, and not the kids?
During
Christmas, it’s a tradition that we make kids happy by
showering them with gifts.
Kids
never give us gifts. Rarely do they do that. For one,
they don’t have the money to buy gifts; they don’t even
know what gift we want. For another, their idea of
Christmas is solely for us to make them happy by giving
them gifts of whatever kind.
The only
happiness it seems that kids give us during Christmas is
a buzz in the cheek after telling us, “Thank you, Ninong/Ninang;
or, Thank you, Tito/Tita.”
You get
a hug, a warm embrace, and that’d be a bonus.
So, as
far as I am concerned, as an adult, I can only make a
wish list this Christmas. I have 47, but space here only
permit me to list down 10 of them. Here they are:
1) A
gift of a test drive for one year of the Lamborghini,
courtesy of Willy Soong.
There’d
be nothing like it. Who knows, after one year, I’d have
finally fallen in love with this Italian automotive
marvel? With Willy backing me up, how could I lose?
2) A
round of golf each with the presidents of Toyota, Honda,
Mitsubishi and Isuzu.
On one
condition: every victory I’d score against anyone of
them would mean a 75-percent purchase discount on any of
their models.
3) I
will navigate for Lewis Hamilton as he drives from Lipa
City to the City of Vigan via the Star Tollway, Slex and
Nlex.
I want
him behind the wheel of the Ford Focus. Now, if he opts
for the CR-V, Richard Merk will be the second man in the
car.
4) I
want to see Vernon B. Sarne form an eight-person
ensemble for the Hyundai Media-noche Christmas Carol
Singing Contest in 2008.
Not
known to many, the multitalented
Vernon
has also the talent for conducting the baton. He’s had
smash-hit renditions of “Because” by The Beatles a
cappella in the company of his childhood buddies. I,
sure, want to be part of
Vernon’s
choir in the company of, among others, Ray Butch “Elvis”
Gamboa, Spadner de los Reyes and Tito Hermoso.
5) How
about Pocholo Ramirez and I piloting an Isuzu D-MAX from
Mangatarem, Pangasinan, to Malilipot, Albay?
It has
always been my dream to be paired with a living legend
in racing, and who could that person be but Ramirez
himself? Please give it a thought, Mr. Art Balmadrid?
6) I
wish to see Subaru crash into the Top Three car
companies in the Philippines.
With the
Impreza WRX scoring high in the valley of distinction,
Subaru should be ready for the big time. Nikki Mariano
and Ariel de Jesus have done enough that it should soon
be payback time for this one-two punch of Motor Image.
7) Go to
Italy to watch the day-to-day work of a work-in-progress
Ferrari.
Amid all
the technology sweeping the world automotive industry,
it would sure be a thrill for me to see a Ferrari being
built piece by piece by man, not by machine. You see,
the Ferrari is the last car in the world still being
constructed solely by human hands.
8) Race
my Lancer against a Jaguar in the hills and valleys of
Pidigan, Abra.
There’s
no place to savor the beauty of nature using my vintage
Lancer in a head-on clash with a thoroughbred like a
Jaguar. I might not win, but victory is all in the mind.
9)
Dinner with GMA.
It
should be a working, one-on-one dinner, not necessarily
candle-lit, with the President as I wish to discuss with
her the rampant backdoor smuggling of secondhand and
nonluxury vehicles that is now commonly known as the
Subic Sabotage.
10) And
finally, how about me waking up on Christmas Day to see
a Lexus SUV parked in my garage?
Since I
drove Luth Magturo’s Lexus SUV in November, it has
become a dream vehicle of mine. That’s why I haven’t
stopped buying lotto tickets.
Pee stop
Top Gear
parties it out tonight, and Sean, the main man of the
night, is rarin’ to grip it and rip it. |
