Nellie Woke Me Up To A Day Of Fun!!: Manila Trip With Nellie's Singaporean Friends

- December 28, 2009, Monday

- I woke up around 11am and immediately saw Nellie calling my cellphone. I answered the phone with my hoarse morning voice, and she told me that her Singaporean friends would be in Manila today, and that she needed me to guide the city (or at least Chinatown) with her.

- I immediately prepared myself and went straight ahead to the Binondo Church. She told me to meet her there.

- I met Nellie around a bit more than half an hour later, and stood inside the Binondo Church to wait for her around 20 Singaporean friends. Since they were still in Intramuros, from the last time we contacted them, we "loitered" around Chinatown, as Nellie would say, and went to Mr. Ube to talk to Royce, the son of Mr. Ube.

- We told Royce about Nellie's friends coming over to Chinatown (and Eng Bee Tin). Royce made us talk with his mom, and his mom immediately told us to look for Connie when we get to Eng Bee Tin in the afternoon. She was ready to give discounts to Nellie's Singaporean friends.

- While waiting, Royce and his nice family also treated us to a light brunch in Mr. Ube. It was really nice of them to do that. :D:D:D:D

- Nellie got a phone call around half an hour later from one of her Singaporean friends. They were already in Chinatown and looking for somewhere to eat. Another phone call came, and this time it was from a Filipino person. We found out that Nellie's big group of Singaporean friends had two Filipino companions already. The person, who later introduced him as RS, also told us that they were already at the second floor of Ying Ying.

- Nellie and I walked to Ying Ying, and promptly met all of her friends. To be honest, I only remember the names of a few of them. I can't memorize that much names in a short day. :) :) :) :) They were really nice, and they were all Chinese, except for Hara, a Korean.

- Nellie and I ordered for our table (2 + 5 Singaporeans), and had a bit of chat with them. I am really amazed that they were really open in meeting me, I think, and they had a really good sense of humor. Also, they were SO SHOCKED to hear me speak Chinese. They didn't expect me to know the language. HARHAR. :)) :)) :)) :)) By the way, the Singaporeans also treated my meal and Nellie's. It was really nice of them to do that. :) :) :) :)

- After eating a big banquet, we went to visit the Binondo Church, as well as Eng Bee Tin. During our stay at Eng Bee Tin, Nellie looked for Connie, and we were told that she was with someone on the phone. The Singaporeans however, were already lined up to pay for the hopia and other treats. Coincidentally, Connie went out from the back after the Singaporeans bought their stuff. Goodbye discount. :)) :)) :)) :))

- We walked to Cafe Mezzanine, since 4 of us needed to go potty. I saw Shirby in Cafe Mezzanine. :D:D:D:D

- Next, the big big group went to Santa Cruz and Quiapo. We were supposed to make them go to the "Ilalim ng Tulay" to buy souvenirs. Since they had a fun time shopping, it kinda ate away some of our time. It was ok though, things in Quiapo are still really cheap.

- We waited for one of the Singaporeans' Filipino friends. That also took away another bit of our time. They also needed to see the epic sunset at the Manila Bay, and time was running out. We weren't able to bring them to the "Ilalim ng Tulay".

- We rode the jeep to the Baywalk, and settled there to watch the sunset. It wasn't the best sunset I've seen since the sky was partially cloudy.

- After the sun set, we all walked to Robinson's Place Ermita. Nellie and I planned to go to Korean Village for dinner, so we separated from the group somewhere in Pedro Gil corner Adriatico. It was a quick goodbye, but a very sincere one as well. I had loads of fun meeting them.

- Nellie and I walked to Korean Village and saw that it was closed. The big fool that I am, I forgot that Korean Village was always closed on Mondays. Haha. We walked back to Robinson's and decided to eat dinner there instead.

- We chose to eat at the Banana Leaf for some Asian food. We had roti canai with curry dip, pad thai (don't order this please....it doesn't taste anything like the real pad thai), chicken satay, nasi goreng (that tasted like beef hofan....which is a good thing for us, since Nellie and I were craving for beef hofan, and they didn't have beef hofan), and Thai grapefruit salad (don't order as well....small serving size, and it had sour pomelo instead of the sweet one)

- It was also a good thing that the Banana Leaf had credit card promos. Due to my Citibank card, I was able to get a 15% discount. HAHAHAHA. YEY THE POWER OF CREDIT CARDS. :)) :)) :)) :))

- Nellie's mom talked to Nellie, and told us that we were going to be picked up instead, so we don't have to commute home. That gave Nellie and I so much extra time to go around Robinson's and window shop. I also grabbed a gelato from Volare, an Italian restaurant in the Padre Faura Wing. :D:D:D:D

- We were picked up around 8:30 by Nellie's parents, and rode home. Now that I'm writing this, I still can't believe that all of these happened today. It all began with a phone call from Nellie. :) :) :) :)

The Ocean Adventure Of The Not-Annoying Customers!!: Manila Ocean Park Adventureeeee.

- December 27, 2009, Sunday

- Tina and I talked through YM this morning, and randomly decided to go out, since we were both stuck at our own homes without anything to do.

- We headed towards the Ocean Park around 1:15pm. We rode the LRT to UN Ave., and rode a cab to the nearby Ocean Park.

- We arrived around 2:10pm, and had to get a number from a guy by the door. A sign by the cashier for the entrance tickets showed which number was being served. Figuring that we had to wait for a long time before paying for our entrance fee, we took a short trip to the minimall (yes, the Ocean Park has a minimall). We also took a peek at Makansutra, the international Singaporean-hawker-type restaurant. I was pretty cool, and the prices were playing around the 100 something pesos area. We had our eyes on that restaurant, and decided to eat there after going around the oceanarium.

- After a long long stroll, we went back to the cashier area which by the way was surrounded by an "ocean" of people. The number being served that time was "154", and our number was "184". The marshall taking care of getting the stubs decided to let us in. WE DON'T KNOW WHY. We even insisted that we were 30 numbers away from the number being served. He still insisted that we go in. (Thank goodness though, at least we wouldn't have to wait any longer. Or else, we might have had gone in during sun down!!)

- We took one of the packaged deals; it was the ocean park's holiday promo. 500php for the entrance + 2 other attractions (if the packaged deals didn't exist, the entrance and 2 other attractions could cost around 600+php). We chose to go with the second packaged deal, which consisted of our entrance fees, plus tickets to see the neon colored jellyfish, as well as the Zoocology area, a place with stuffed dead animals.

- We went inside and marveled at all the fishes, big, small, dangerous or not. We were greatly annoyed by people who tapped at the aquariums and scared the fish. Even more annoying if those people were ADULTS. (Hello people, CAN'T YOU READ THE SIGNS?? And besides, YOU SHOULD KNOW IT'S NOT PROPER TO DO THAT. *bitter animal-lover mode*)

- Both of us had the opportunity to touch a starfish or two at the "petting area". We also had to tolerate people pushing around, especially little children. (Yes, Sunday + Holiday, not a good thing when going to places like this one.)

- When we got into the tunnel, we were able to see the latter half of the mermaid show. Yes, mermaids exist. YEY!! :D:D:D:D

- We were done with the main attraction around 3:30pm. Since the stairs led to the glass-bottom boat ride, we decided to pay an extra 150 each for that attraction. We grabbed a number from the stressed out dude in the counter, and paid at the cashier. The number being called was "103", and out number was a whopping "190". We waited like the good customers we are. Each of the boats could only carry 10-11 passengers + 1 personnel.

- Tina and I were astounded (in a bad way), when we saw all the people pushing each other, and insisting that they be let inside. The system was simple. Grab a number, pay, then wait for your turn. Period. It's that simple. The waiting period was long, true, but that's the system. Live with it. You'll get your turn. *bitter good-customer mode*

- Tina and I even felt really sorry for the stressed out dude, since some people were angry at him, even though it wasn't his fault that the waiting time was so darn long. "Please talk to me in a nice manner." He even said calmly to one flustered lady. We could see that he wanted to shout back at the lady though. We understood clearly why he felt that way.

- For some reason, the stressed out dude asked for our number, and felt sorry that we had to wait for 12344952347979078 more people. He even asked us if there were no more chairs for us to sit on. We said there were none. Being the good guy that he was, he let both of us in, and let us sit on two chairs on the waiting area. The waiting area inside was for people who were about to ride the glass-bottom boats. He told us that he only let us sit there, but we still needed to wait for our turn. We agreed, since it was only proper. I told Tina, "this is what we get for being not-annoying customers. He even let us sit, and he even let you in even though you're still chomping on your nachos. (Food wasn't allowed in the waiting area)." I even teased Tina that the stressed out dude might have a crush on her, that's why he treated us super nicely. Tina denied, but I said it was possible. HAHAHAHA.

- Around the number "150", we were still sitting on our seats in the waiting area. They said that the people inside were the last batch to go in before the mermaid show. During the mermaid show, the boats halted their operations because the same area would be used by the "mermaids" like the ones we saw earlier.

- Tina and I went out of the waiting area, and decided to go with the neon colored jellyfish and the Zoocology area first, before returning to the glass-bottom boat area.

- We started off with the "dancing sea fairies". This was similar to Hong Kong's Ocean Park, when people would be led into a dark room, and clear or lightly-colored jellyfishes were in different aquariums with changing neon-colored lights. The colors would be "absorbed" by the jellyfishes, making the jellyfishes look like they have changed colors.

- After seeing the "dancing fairies", we went ahead to the Zoocology area, located beside the jellyfish area. The Zoocology area was simply a zoo....but with a catch. All animals are dead and stuffed. HAHA. It was kinda traumatic, since I felt like walking through a big animal cemetery. Haha. It' not as scary though, and it's a nice way to appreciate the worlds' animals too. Pictures weren't allowed inside (ergo, we had no pictures), because there was an official photographer inside. It's the type when they would take people's pictures, and people had to pay for their pictures at the cashier if they decide to have a hard copy of their pictures. Hahahaha.

- After the short trip, Tina and I went upstairs again to get the boat thing over with. We still had to wait though, but at least we needed to wait for fewer people. We saw stressed out dude again, and it seemed like the 15-minute break he had due to the mermaid show really gave him a nice head-cooling from all the annoying customers.

- He saw us again, and wished that we could already ride the boat, since he saw our faces the whole afternoon, not making a sound, and not annoying his butt off. He sometimes even joked around with us. He seemed like a really really nice guy.

- FINALLY, after eternity nearly ended, he shouted "190" through his megaphone, and looked at us. He smiled, and even joke with us for a last time. "Ops, closed na yung boat ride." We laughed, since we knew he was playing around, but I told Tina that if ever they really closed the glass-bottom boats, I would really knock his head off. (Hey, if that happened, then the whole afternoon of waiting-for-out-turn-till-sundown ended up in nothing, right??)

- Tina and I put our orange life jackets on. As Dora would say, "Life jackets, so we could be safe." :D:D:D:D To our surprise, stressed out dude was the one who drove our boat (our = Tina, I, and 8 other people + stressed out dude). We went around the large pool and saw all the fishies underneath. It was terribly awesome when one giant sting ray flew right below our boat. Stressed out dude was also able to explain what the fishies were, how the water was purified, etc etc etc etc. He was also very dynamic and open to questions. The best fishies we saw were human-fishies. They were fish that looked really like humans. They even had cellphones. (The human fishies are actually the people in the glass-top tunnel below. It was the tunnel where Tina and I saw the mermaid show earlier. And if it's still now clear, they are not fish at all. They're real live humans. :) :) :) :) )

- After we got out of the boat, the sky was already dark. Both of us decided to have a meal in Makansutra before heading home.

- The Makansutra, like I said earlier, is a full-airconditioned restaurant that has a Singaporean-hawker theme. It was sort of like a food court, with each stall serving a specific type of Southeast Asian food (example, Singaporean, Indian, Thai, Malay, Chinese). It was pretty much what hawker stands in Singapore sold. Again, the prices were playing somewhere in the 100+ pesos area, and the serving were quite big, good enough for 1 to 2 people. Aside from that, MY GOODNESS. The dishes were not only reasonably prices, but the food themselves were very authentic. Definitely a must-try-again-with-more-friends.

- Tina and I even stumbled upon Sharmaine and Jade, two good friends of mine. :D:D:D:D

- The two of us had curry laxa (a Singaporean noodle-soup dish with curry and coconut milk as the primary ingredients for the broth), onion-chicken something (that's what Tina told me. She forgot the name of the dish. It's basically a dish with rice, chicken fillet, and an onion-ginger sauce.) We also had roti prata with curry dip (South Indian flat bread with dark curry dip), and pad thai (the most "basic" Thai noodle dish with peanuts, shimp and beansroupts.)

- I was really impressed by the amount and taste of the food. I'm sorry I really have to say this over and over again. I am encouraging everyone with a taste for (Southeast) Asian food to try Makansutra. I highly praise this restaurant for giving the dishes the authenticity they deserve. It's really hard to find authentic foreign food in a commercial environment.

- With food all gone and bellies full, we rolled, I mean walked towards the exit. Good thing a cab was already at the cab stand. How convenient. We told the driver to drive us to the UN Ave. LRT Station. He even told us it was near. Hahahaha. (Yes it's near, but not as near when traveled by foot. Besides, it was dark, and the way to the LRT station is not a good place to walk to at night.)

- We arrived at the Doroteo Jose Station around 7:30. Since the Ocean Park until the Doroteo Jose Station, I couldn't text to my mom that I wasn't going to eat dinner at home. Well, I figured out soon enough that Globe was acting crazy again. Tsk tsk.

- I arrived home around quarter to eight after a long, tiresome, fun, happy, amusing and most of all RANDOM trip. The Ocean Park did change a whole lot since the first time I went there last 2008, when it newly opened, and when there was absolutely nothing inside.

- I want to go here again, obviously. I just hope that the next time I go here, it would be a weekday, and it shouldn't be a holiday. That would immediately cut the number of people down....especially the annoying and pushy ones. :D:D:D:D

My Neighbor Has Returned!! (Hong Kong Edition)

- December 23, 2009, Wednesday

- My neighbor has recently returned from her 4-month JTA (Junior Term Abroad) trip in Hong Kong.

- Today, we decided to go out for two reasons:
1. She needs to return her locker keys to Hong Kong Baptist University. She forgot to give her keys back when she was still in Hong Kong. Luckily, her roommate Inna would be going back to Hong Kong with her family soon.

2. We need to bond as neighbors!! :)) :)) :)) :))

- I went to Charmaine's house, a floor above ours, around 9am. She gave me a Tajik doll won by her little sister, because her little sister, as well as her whole family, were freaked out by the doll. I adopted the doll because it was nice and, um, cultural.

- We went ahead to Megamall via MRT, and hailed a cab to Inna's house nearby. We arrived shortly and I met Inna. I think she was freaked out by my hyperness. I introduced myself as the person with the big fat caterpillar (Heimlich from "The Bugs' Life"), because that was how Inna knew me when they were both in Hong Kong with my neighbor.

- I also met Andy, their American friend from Hong Kong, because he went to the Philippines to tour around. Inna was his host. He seemed like a nice guy.

- After our less-than-10-minute stay in Inna's house, we hailed another cab to Megamall. It was harder to hail a cab back, since a few cabs passed by that area, and those that did were usually occupied. I sang the "Happy Working Song" nonstop until we were able to get a cab.

- Now, back at Megamall, we ate a semi-early lunch at El Pollo Loco. I missed that place. Their chicken always brings back childhood memories.

- After lunch, we had an odyssey around the mall in search for a new hair dryer. Their old one broke down.

- We got hungry (again), after luckily finding a reasonably-priced hair dryer at the department store, and decided to have some frozen yogurt somewhere at the basement.

- We walked again and again after realizing we had nothing else to do. I told Charmaine that since we were about to head home, we might as well head home in an unusual way. Yes, I proposed to go home via the Pasig River Ferry.

- We went out of the mall and rode the MRT to Guadalupe. We simply walked to the nearby Pasig River's Guadalupe Station and waited for around half an hour for the next boat to Escolta. Charmaine pulled her cellphone out and listened to some Korean songs. We were both bored, so I semi-danced SNSD's Genie and Gee. (I simply moved my hands a little, while sitting down. I couldn't dance fully at the station. It was full of people.)

- The boat came around 3:35pm. Luckily, we got on a nice boat (complete with aircon, flat screen tv, and nice movies.) We went out the deck after two stations and looked around. She got bored, so we went in after two stations more.

- We arrived at Escolta around an hour later, and walked towards Golden Fortune Soler for discounted dimsum. Who doesn't like discounted dimsum??

- We ordered a lot of dimsum, though not as much as the time Marga and I ate dimsum, and managed to finish them all. I just treated her since I wasn't able to treat her during my birthday a few months ago.

- We went home around 6, as the sun was about to set.


**Dear neihgbor, thank you for letting me adopt the Tajik doll. I don't know what name to give her, but for now, I'll just call her "Tajik Doll". By the way, your family isn't the only one that was freaked out by the doll. My mom was freaked out by the doll as well. Haha. I still want to keep the culture-ish doll anyway. Haha.

(January 1, 2011: Hello old blog post!! Just to update you, I have named the Tajik doll "Arafan" several days ago!! That's all!!)

Emptying Our Pockets: Sofitel's Spiral With Random CKSC People

- December 21, 2009, Monday, 6:30pm.

- I went to Lalaine's house around 5:40 via LRT, and hung out with Lalaine and Jack for a while before Joanna told us that she had arrived. Joanna, together with her mom and little sister Kim, had a hard time looking for Lalaine's house, to Lalaine's surprise, since Joanna had been to Lalaine's house before.

- Due to traffic, we arrived around 30 minutes later than our 6:30 reservation. Gladly, Marie went ahead of us and was able to sit on our table. We would've lost our table had Marie not been there, due to the 15 minute grace period.

- Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a choir performing on the grand stairs of the restaurant. They were really good singers. A lot of people stopped eating, and took pictures or videos of the choir.

- As expected, the buffet was filled with international dishes. My goal was to conquer every continent of the long buffet table.

- We ate, ate, ate, ate, ate, and ate some more. We took short breaks in between to let our digestive juices work with the food in our tummy. We became hyper and weird. Maybe that was just me. Marie also arrived a bit late. She was in a very elegant summer dress. Kim on the other hand went to and fro from her table with her mom and ours. Her mom, together with another friend, were talking about grown up stuff, as Kim said, so she'd rather be in our table instead. It was fun. She divulged some of Joanna's deepest darkest random and embarrassing moments. Ah, sisterly love.

- I also discovered that Marie took up French 1 to 4 in the University of Asia and the Pacific. I was extremely happy because it was my chance to practice and improve (even just a bit) my not-so-good French. The others just stared at us. Haha.

- After eating, we went for a short walk in the pool area, and took interest in the large Christmas tree. Since Kim and her mom were on the other side of the big pool, no one was available to take a group picture of us with the Christmas tree. Another group of people had the same problem. One of the people approached us and made a deal. One of us would take a picture of them, and one of them would take a picture of us. We accepted at once.

- After a few more vain shots with the Christmas tree and its gold and red ornaments, we went to the playground side at the other side of the big pool. We took more shots there, before Joanna's mom told us that it was time to go home. I was around 11:30pm.

- We all rode Joanna's car home, and shared more random stories. We went home with murdered wallets, because the restaurant was obviously expensive. And yes, until now, we still blame Joanna. It was her idea. Haha. Good thing she had discount cards, so at least we only paid around a teeny tiny bit more than half the original price per person. :)) :)) :)) :))

- I wasn't able to use my camera much, and mostly relied on Joanna and Lalaine's cameras. :D:D:D:D

- I hope that random dinners/trips/adventures would happen in the future. These are just the things that I need to unwind....or my intestine to untangle....Well, I guess Christmas is one of the best reasons to get together, sit down, bond, maybe spend a little more than usual (HIGHLY OPTIONAL), and eat!! :D:D:D:D

The Orange And White Christmas: Cinq's Christmas Reunion - The Dream Come True

- December 19, 2009, Saturday, Darren's Birthday, Dwight's and Mark's Belated, Crisselle's Advanced Birthday, 6pm, Dwight's House

- I arrived at CKSC around quarter to 5 to meet up with people. I met Nellie and all the other scouts that were preparing for their event. If I weren't going to our reunion tonight, I would be the emcee and the judge for the scout event thing in CKSC.

- Nellie and I walked around a bit in CKSC while waiting for Erlyn and Nathalie.

- Nathalie texted us a few minutes later that she was in the waiting room, so we waited for Erlyn with Nathalie. Erlyn came shortly afterwards.

- The four of us rode Erlyn's car to Dwight's house. For some reason, my hyperness and chatterbox gland started to tingle, and I kept talking about random stuff in Erlyn's car. I think if we were to have a longer car ride, Erlyn's dad could have thrown me out of the car. Hahahaha.

- We arrived at Dwight's house around 6pm; we were the most "punctual" people. I was also happy to see Dwight's dad and his "future brother-in-law" helping out with the dishes and stuff.

- While waiting for the people of the world to arrive, The four of us noticed the big PLDT tower beside Dwight's house. I sorta looked like the Eiffel Tower, so we took pictures with the giant tower.

- As the night grew dimmer, the people came one by one. We ate as soon as there were more or less 12 people. At the end of the night, we were 18. It's not a bad number for a class of 41 students, since this was the LARGEST Cinq gathering since prom. Haha. Some were not able to attend because of "parental concerns", and "out-of-town concerns".

- I gotta say, Dwight really did go a few extra miles to make this reunion a success. Not only did he volunteer his place for the venue, but he also prepared the food for us. (Take note: Dwight graduated from a prestigious culinary school in the country)

- Like most reunions, catching up with one another is a must, especially for our class. If it's not too obvious, our class color is orange, secondary color white, minor colors are black and blue. Therefore, my combination of my orange + white shirt, white pants, and blue Chuck's was not a coincidence, aside from the orange and white streamers Dwight made as a simple decoration.

- After eating and resting our bellies, Kim and Adrian came up with games for us to play. YEY. Haha. We played 7-Up which is a sort of a game of "speed and confusion". It's a bit hard to explain the rules here. To experience it is a must. Haha. Oh "jouissance", as our philo class would say. The 5 who were eliminated from the game had to dance "Nobody" by the Wondergirls. The five were "a bit shy" to dance, aside from Chabert.

- The next game we played was "Trip to Jerusalem", with a twist. The first round had the guys sit on the chairs, and the girls would go around the guys. When the music stops, the girls would have to sit on the guys' laps. I warned the girls to sit carefully; they could "sit on something, break it, and the guys' futures would be shattered".

- The second round was similar, but the guys had to sit on the girls this time. Haha.

- After the two rounds of Trip to Jerusalem, we had an awkward pause before the next game. Suddenly, Jean and Kimberly came back with the props and all for out next game. It was called "Werewolves".

- To explain it briefly, Werewolves is a role-playing game that required a lot of persuasion. Each person had a chance to be the God/Omnipotent Being, Little Girl who peeps during the night, the Hunters who would kill the werewolves, the Sorcerer who had the right to look at another person's card (where the role was written), the Healer who was able to heal one person per night, Villagers who had no abilities at all, and of course, the Werewolves who had the luxury to kill anyone they wanted.

- It was quite a mysterious and "scary" game, since I was able to image the scenes in my head (deep dark woods, werewolves eating people, etc etc.). It was, however, extremely fun. If only we had started the game earlier, then a few more rounds could have made the night more exciting.

- Some time during the event, something happened to Ryan's fingernail. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but he was rushed to the hospital along with Adrian, and I think Dwight's sister and dad. They came back around 11 something with Ryan. He was fine, gladly.

- We continued playing Werewolves until Erlyn's dad came to pick us up around 1am. The others who were left still continued with their game. Right now, as I am writing this blog at 2:36am, for all I know, the other "strong ones" are still on Dwight's roof deck persuading each other which character to kill, which ones not to kill, and which one is the "Little Girl". Haha. (I talked to Dwight just now, he said they left around 3am. HARHAR)



****
- As I have written in the yearbook years ago (AND YES OUR YEARBOOK IS NOT YET FINISHED....WHY OH WHY), I stated that although our class isn't as united as many people wanted or expected us to be, I firmly believe that all our paths will cross in the future. I think this is one of those times, wherein the Omnipotent Being allowed our paths to cross. We might not have been the complete set of 41 tonight, but it's already a milestone to usher in this much people, especially knowing our "diverse" class.

- Today (or yesterday??), we celebrated birthdays, Christmas, welcome-backs (Nellie and Darren from Singapore), and temporary goodbye's (Eric's going to Singapore this January for an exchange student program). For me, I think that the most important thing we celebrated today (or yesterday....) was the gift of unity despite all that we've been through, despite all forms of separation. Now that this has happened, foreshadowed by the epic reunion last sem break organized by dear Elaine, my faith has become stronger that we can still make things like this happen in the future.





** Merry Christmas Cinq. :) :) :) :) **

Performance and Presentation Christmas Performances

- December 14, 2009, Monday, 7:30-10:30 (Com143.16 - Performance and Presentation, under Mrs. Boots Anson-Roa)

- The day started out with a short sensitivity exercise, a short review, and a short quiz. Everything seemed short, but they took up a lot of time, which I think is not the best thing that could happen when there are presentations in store, as well as a supposed Christmas "party".

- After the short short 15 minute break, we had our chance to shine. The sequence of presentations were based on the alphabetical order of our surnames.

- Gino sang an original Christmas song, fused with "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". Innovative.

- Chrissy Ang had a slideshow of pictures of Christmas around the world, as well as some personal Christmas pictures, specifically of her nephew as well. It was a really heart warming presentation.

- Joe and Nica had a tandem. They mixed the songs "Sa Ihip Ng Hangin" (I hope I got the title right), and "Pasko Na, Sinta Ko." Their performance really hit the spot. Nice arrangements and everything else.

- Krissie Drilon sang an a capella version of Silent Night, and Gab sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" with a really "heartfelt" strumming of the guitar.

- Nikki had a really nice game using a "Christmas hat" and " Christmas scarf." We were asked to form a circle and pass the hat and scarf around. Whoever gets both items at the same time will be out of the game. After rounds and rounds of craziness, Joe won.

- Paoie and Leana sang Christmas songs. They really have nice voices. Come to think of it, most of my classmates in my performance class were really good singers (excluding me of course). While realizing that we didn't have much time, some of the food were served, including the chocolate cake I brought.

- Charisse sang the Cebuano and Tagalog version of "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit." It was fun to listen to a familiar song into a language unknown to me. :D:D:D:D

- Then came my turn. EPIC. Haha. I attempted to do a Bharatanatyam performance. It is a dance from Tamil Nadu, South India. The music I used was Bethlahemi, from the Shree Yeshurajan (O Jesus the King) album. It was sang in Malayalam. I gave a short short introduction in Hindi, then later in English.

- I got a bit more conscious since the class at the room across ours was about to start. Some people from the class next to ours were also waiting outside. With the big crowd outside, a lot of them watched my really crazy performance. I was a bit surprised, or not, to see my friend Danica watching as well. The class she sat in was the class across our room.

- After my epic crazy performance, Teresa, our German classmate, told us a Christmas story. She's really proficient in the English language.

- Mrs. Roa also had a little Christmas surprise of her own. She told Paoie to write our names and fold them into little pieces for a raffle. The winner would get a "gift" from her.

- Coincidentally, Paoie was the one chosen. (We might have teased her that she "did something illegal" so she'd be chosen, but all was fair.)

- It was revealed that Paoie got a nice bag with an embroidered "Best Wishes from Boots Anson-Roa" on the lower right corner of the bag. Nice. :) :) :) :)

- We planned to continue our small Christmas gathering at the SocSci foyer, since most of us didn't have classes after the performance class. Since we were dismissed late, and I still wanted to eat more food, I decided to cut my Portuguese class, though it was really against my will. I just sat in that class anyway; I'm not a "formal" student in Sir Capili's class. Haha.

- I forced everyone to finish the chocolate cake at least. Haha. I can still take the unopened box Dulce de Leche cake home.

- Since I realized that I didn't have decent pictures of me in my improvised Bharatanatyam costume, I took the effort to dress up again and hostaged Paoie to take vain pictures of me. Haha. Reminded of the time I hostage Kaz to take pictures of me in my Thai outfit. :D:D:D:D

- Half of the day ends here. The other half, my Feature Writing class, is another story. Haha.

How Ervina Saved Me From Boredom: Shooting of Mano Po 6 and Ervina's Belated 19th

- December 5, Saturday, 7am (DAW....but 10:30 in reality) to around 11pm.

- I was lucky to be given permission to watch/attend today's shoot of Mano Po 6 in my beloved alma mater. :D:D:D:D Since I don't have my school uniform anymore, I dressed to be one of the parents (odiba parent na daw ako)....or should I say, one of the "young and casual" people in the audience. Haha.

- I met some friends there who became my sons and daughters for the day (since I took care of their stuff; they weren't allowed to have bags and stuff in front).

- Overall, I really can't say much, since the shoot was honestly a bit boring. For some reason, I liked the shoot of Mano Po 3 better. *To think that was already 5 years ago."

- Heart was difficult to find because she was petite, but really really pretty. Unlike Angel Locsin or Dennis Trillo in the CKSC uniform in Mano Po 3, Heart didn't look awkward, or "too old", for the uniform. Zsa Zsa Padilla was stunning as always, and Mega, well, it was REALLY DIFFICULT to take pictures of her because she moves around A LOT.

- We had a really tiny amount of food for lunch provided by the set. Seriously. I shall not describe it anymore. I liked the hard boiled egg though. Haha. White and round like Onew hyung from SHINee. :D:D:D:D

- After the auditorium scene, many selected students were asked to stay to do another scene in the ground floor. The director told them to have bags or books with them so they'd look more like students. Kenny didn't have a bag, so he borrowed mine. Haha. I had to wait for around an hour for him. Haha.

- I guess waiting for Kenny was a BIG BLESSING IN DISGUISE. I met scout friends who finished their scouting in the Narra campus of CKSC, and came to the main campus for meetings. Some batchmate scouts were there as well.

- Ervina soon invited me to dinner with a few other former classmates for her belated birthday. I was really really relieved.

- Ervina attended her scout meeting, tagging me along. I had a nice time semi-bonding with batchmate scout friends.

- Ervina and I started to head towards Don Henrico's Ermita around 7pm. We rode the train to Pedro Gil.

- When we arrived, Erlyn, Mark, Eric and Chabert were there, as well as a few of Ervina's La Sallian friends (Deanne, VK, and Rachel Quema). We had a really really nice time talking about random stuff. *Definition of random: let's just say I discovered how repressed my friends are. HAHA.*

- I hitched a ride home with Erlyn's car. Talked nonstop in Erlyn's car. Haha. Hope her dad didn't find me annoying. Hahahaha. Her dad sorta knows me though. Haha.

Is It A Chinese Or A Korean Night??: Margarette Lim's Cozy 19th

- December 4, 2009, Friday, Golden Fortune Soler

- I arrived around 8 something in the evening, and immediately sad at the reserved table for Marga. Since I was bored while waiting for Marga and Grace to arrive, I just played games from my cellphone.

Random conversation:

Waiter: "Sir ilan po sila??"
Gilbert: "Ay sorry wala pa po yung nagpareserve ng table eh."
Waiter (while pouring my tea): "Oh. I guess you'll just have to wait."
Gilbert (to myself): "Wow....never expected that reply."

- A few moments later, Marga and MG arrived from DLSU, and ordered some siomai and hakaw before the others arrive.

- Venus and her sister Diane arrived shortly. To our surprise, Venus took a long time to order our entrees. As expected, the amount of food ordered was fit for I think 20 people....to think there was going to be 7 of us.

- Marga's sister and er boyfriend arrived while we were in the middle of our main course.

- While eating, we had a fun time discussing about everything Korean. As always. Haha. We feasted on more hakaws later since we always associate SHINee's Onew with hakaw. :D:D:D:D I even made a face on the last hakaw with the black sesame seeds from my butchi.

- After eating, and yes, we were sort of able to eat the for-20-people-amount-of-food, we headed to Starbucks Binondo, while Marga's sister went ahead and drove her boyfriend home.

- Venus and Diane were the only ones who had tummy spaces for coffee, so they were the only ones who bought coffee. Marga, MG and I rested our tummies. We also enjoyed our brief Starbucks stay by watching random youtube clips (thanks to Grace's laptop) of SHINee and 2AM's Jokwon (and his ssanti (cheap) dance of everything and anything.)

- We headed home afterwards. Marga drove us home. Since my tummy was a bit ok, my hyper-drunk mode switched on. Take note: I DID NOT drink, and I DON NOT drink at all, but there are just moments wherein I act drunk for some reason. Wow, a "drunk" guy in his sorta right hyper mind. Hahahaha.

- Time flies when people have fun....but for some reason, this "brief" night wasn't so brief as I expected. Wow, if only fun moments can extend itself like this one. :D:D:D:D