Every time there is an
event in UST I tend to go look around at the various things for sale because of
my sheer curiosity and, to be frank, I want to try the new food because I am a
fat fuck and my motto is not “health is wealth”. But the thing is, I only
really focus on the food and drinks and not much else, to my surprise and
dismay, the food options in the Pistang Tomasino are far and few between but it
gladly open some new horizons for me as I explore the feast and the things it
had to offer.
On the first day of my
visit, all I really wanted to do was buy something to drink or something to eat
but my problem was that while I was looking around for the items I want to purchase,
the normal things that have been sold in other events are nowhere to be found. No
hotdogs, shawarmas, pizzas, shakes and fries. No sodas, waffles, siomai, iced
tea, and even more selection of hotdogs compared to the previous events. Don’t get
me wrong, there were some drinks and food here and there but they were but
alien to me and as a consumer, I was unsure what I should purchase and if it
was good or not. This was an opportunity I told myself, to try new things and
create new experiences. With my new found resolve, I set out and picked my
first item in the event.
Deli Cane
I saw the videos of how
these were made, I’ve even seen this being made in person in my trip in Malaysia
but I often just ignored it every time I saw it there. My thirst and curiosity
got the better of me and so I bought a bottle of this sugar cane juice thing. I
think it was priced 60, if you go 80 you’d get the bigger bottle and I don’t really
know what to expect before drinking it, like I mean I was thinking of like the
flavor of grass or something. Basically I expected it to be unpleasant but to
my surprise I actually liked it. It’s hard to describe the taste without
calling it sweet. “delicane” as it is called, I cant say it wasn’t delicious,
but part of its ad is that it is supposed to be a “natural energy drink” and while
I don’t doubt that it’s healthy for you, I don’t think it gave me more energy? I
am not really sure because I couldn’t really tell and if I could, I wouldn’t be
sure regardless if I felt energetic because of the drink or because of the
placebo effect. Regardless, I quite enjoyed this drink and I would definitely
recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to buy a bottle.
I think what makes this
bottle of sugar cane interesting and trendy is because it appeals to those
types of people who are really health conscious like what is more healthy than
grounded up plant? Nothing duh. All jokes aside, a lot of people for sure would
love something that is both enjoyable and healthy for you. I also think one of
the factors that affect the drink’s trendiness is the fact that it is something
that’s kind of weird, kind of unusual. It’s not every day that you can tell
your friends that you’re drinking some processed plant that’s healthy for you. Is
it cool, not really but should you be proud of yourself for purchasing this
product, absolutely.
Golden Ring
There are no words to describe the level of manliness my circle of friends have, they are more manly than the lumberjacks in Canada, more manly than those
gym buffs, even manlier than Emperor Huge Jackedman The Eternal (Hugh Jackman) himself so what
did we do in the fiesta? We all bought matching gold rings. I guess you could
say that we liked each other so much we put a ring on it. So what happened was they decided to buy rings before I got there on the second day. They just
approached me and said “bili ka sing-sing matchy tayo”. The manliness just
oozed from the looks I got from them so I did even if I had literally no
intention of buying this cheap, sloppily made ring. Although I do criticize
this thing for its overall unpleasant aesthetic and some unrefined edges and
such, to be fair, we paid for this for 50 bucks so I guess you get what you pay
for but do I think this was a waste of money? My answer is no because sure its low
quality but I guess the value lies in the value the four of us gave it, I affectionately
called it the ring of depression because if a person with depression wears the
ring of depression, the depression will be cancelled out just like how negative times negative equals positive. It has
charm, we even joked around saying this was treasures from the old “Maharlikan
Empire”. I don’t know why this ring really stroked our imaginations and
actually made us laugh which really just cements its sentimental value.
So, how can this be
trendy? I honestly have no idea because the reason I gave up above is not
enough to justify buying it. I mean to be fair the reason it was so unrefined
is because it was made manually but still. The only reason it’s actually pretty
cool for us is because of our imaginations. Maybe we can also stroke the
imaginations of the masses, make them believe that this is like maharlikan
jewelry or something. That is probably the only reason why I think it could be
trendy if it even can because I don’t think it was trendy back then, nobody
bought them. Maybe they can buy it because of the small price tag? Even through
that I can’t see it justified.
Basket of Smolness
On the third and my
last day in the Pistang Tomasino, since cash was running low and I was
surprised about the amount of enjoyment I got from the cheap ring, I thought to
myself “how low can they go?”, so the thought came to me that maybe I should go
try and find the cheapest thing the event has to offer? lo and behold, I found
this knick knack, this cute little basket. I think I bought this thing for like
5 bucks and well, its cute and its cheap? To be honest I don’t really know why I
settled for this, I cant really find a use other than pure novelty.
How is this trendy? It
has charm I mean say what you will about the absurdity of this tiny basket but I
must say that this is quite well built seeing as it was made by hand and its
cute so I could definitely see some people who are into collecting tiny
figurines to be into this as well.
So that was my
experience in the Pistang Tomasino, it was quite an interesting one and
actually I regret not going through more things because I think there were a lot
of things that deserved more attention but I failed to do so because of the
hectic schedule that week. My aim was to interview the people who sold me the
items as well but I never got the chance to do so due to conflicts in schedule
and whenever I am there, the vendors are usually busy selling or not there at
all. Nevertheless It was truly an experience that I found pleasant and I hope more
people can appreciate the products that were made in this event I believe most
of them were made with passion and I give kudos to them for the dedication. Support
local and that was just my bowl of thoughts.
