Tagay: before and after

Tagay means “HOY, pour me some of that Red Horse beer or i’ll akdjf lsdkhjg” in Tagalog. It’s also a magic word that, when said, makes depressed people smile and drunk people sober, ready for another swig of Red Horse or San Miguel beer.

In the Philippines, I connect myself to an IV full of beer. I’d wake up at 11:30am and have a glass of Tanduay rum and coke for breakfast. My next drink would be in the afternoon when my uncles and their friends gathered for a noontime karaoke/tuba (coconut wine) session, followed by a brief siesta (nap time). And then came sundown when all hell broke loose.

I guess by the time 6pm came the alcohol in my body merged with my red blood cells to create “red horse cells.” These cells in turn would ride through my blood stream pouring more beer into the glasses of other cells, getting my white blood cells so drunk that they’d think they were sperm.