TWINS WILL BE TWINS: Birthday 2010 (And the Afternoon Before)

- September 26, 2010, Sunday

- AFTERNOON: Went to RP to meet Tricia, buy my twin Karel's present, and food for my panelists. It was nice to sit down with Tricia and talk, while having hazelnut yogurt in the Coffee Bean. :) :) :) :)

- EVENING: Bless and I met up with Jess and Miguel outside Shakey's Masangkay, and took a sit at the second floor. We waited a while for the others to arrive, including my "twin," Karel. All of us were excited to see each other, especially Miguel and Karel, since we haven't seen those two in a long long long long time.

- After Nathalie, Karel, and Genevieve arrived, and ordered our food, Bless and the others planned to surprise Karel and I with a cake each. The surprise however backfired. Apparently the table across ours was also celebrating someone's birthday. The waiter brought them the wrong cake(s), and the lady even said "Baka sa kanila iyan." Knowing she shouldn't have said it out loud, she even acknoledged her mistake "OH. Hindi ko pala dapat nasabi." Haha. But it was still OK. Karel and I were still touched, and were very much surprised about the cakes. I just told Karel in a joking way that we should act surprised if the cakes would be brought out after dinner (as seen in the pictures below.)

- We took turns narrating current events in our lives, with Miguel lecturing us about theology while having dinner. Trust me, it was enlightening, although I found the setting to be a bit awkward for that "lecture." Still, it was nice to see Miguel being more active than usual. He doesn't hide from the camera anymore!!

- We took pictures the whole night, with Genevieve maximizing my camera's functions like I've never done before. She did take great shots. :) :) :) :)

- We left around 9:30 in the evening, and waited for Miguel's car to arrive. Miguel was nice enough to drop off most of them home. As for Bless and I, well, we had no excuse, and had to walk home (we live 30 seconds~1 minute away from Shakey's. HAHAHAHA.)

- I couldn't have imagined that we had a three-hour dinner that didn't seem to last a second. We had too much fun, too much laughter, too much food (so much so that my new shirt's buttons nearly burst,) too much stories, too much love, and too much memories to reminisce, narrate, and to be fulfilled in the future (they'd be memories after we fulfill them.)

- I hope to go out with these people again during our relatively short(er) sem break. I love these people. :) :) :) :) Go Cinqqqq~~ :D:D:D:D

Birthday 2010 with the Koreanophiles!!!! :D:D:D:D

- Sept. 25, 2010, my birthday :D:D:D:D

- I met Marga in McDonald's Taft around quarter to two. We drove off to Greenhills, and were stuck in heavy traffic, and pulled over by a police person. We arrived at Greenhills an hour and a half later. :|:|:|:|

- We met Venus and Mary Grace somewhere outside Timezone, played for a few minutes, and visited Fully Booked (where I met Berlina, a friend from college) while waiting for our 4:45 movie.

- We watched Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. CAN I PLEASE SAY THAT THIS MOVIE IS ONE OF THE MOST TOUCHING MOVIES I'VE SEEN EVERRR. The plot itself is a bit simple, though the lines, delivery, cinematography, not to mention the (almost realistic) effects really made the movie one of a kind. I nearly cried during these lines. I could so relate:

(non-verbatim) Soren: "Dad!! Dad!! They're real!! The stories are real!!"
Dad Owl: "Yes. You made them real."

- After the movie, we (actually I) shopped a bit before deciding where to eat dinner. I'm so glad I was able to find nice things in Greenhills. Hahahaha.

- We decided to eat at Little Asia, since it was one of the many nice places to have dinner in. I haven't eaten there in the longest time too. The four of us sat down and talked endlessly, as our dishes were served one by one. After I called for the bill, the waiter brought his batallion, with a tiny mango crepe-cake, and sang happy birthday to me (in Chinese!! Kinda miss singing "Happy Birthday" in Chinese though. Haha.) Obviously, it was the sly work of my three Koreanophile friends. Seriously, I was surprised, touched, and obviously, that made my night!! :D:D:D:D

- After dinner, and the grand surprise, Marga went to her car and drove off, as Grace drove Venus and me to the nearby SM Megamall, since Venus' family was there. I decided to go home with Venus since she lives nearby.

- I was surprised to see Jillian, Venus' cousin, who tagged alogn with Venus' mom, yaya, and driver. All of us rode of to Wack Wack to fetch Venus' little sister Dianne from a debut.

- Just when I thought we were already headed home, we stopped by in a Starbuck's branch in Roxas Boulevard, and had coffee and cookies. (Thank you Venus' mom for treating me. :) :) :) :) )

- I arrived home around 12:30, which means I had be away from home for almost half a day. HAHAHAHA!!!! Truly one of the best birthdays ever!! :D:D:D:D Once again, I really want to thank these three friends for conniving with the waiters in Little Asia for this litte-big surprise, and Venus' mom for treating me in Starbuck's and a popsicle we bought in Megamall. :D:D:D:D Right now, I still can't accept that I need to officially remove the "teen" in my age. :|:|:|:| Good luck to me!! :D:D:D:D

Double Celebration: TRIPLE HAPPINESS!!

- Sept. 24, 2010, Friday

- I asked Dor and Mon to meet up with me today because I wanted to have an hours-away-before-the-actual-day birthday celebration with these two great people.

- I waited for Dor at CKSC until she came home from UST. She arrived around 6:30-ish, retouched for a few minutes, and both of us rode off to Binondo. Since Mon was only going to walk to the Binondo plaza, we thought of fetching Mon along the way.

- We arrived at Pancake House minutes later, and ordered lots and lots of food, since the three of us, coincidentally, ate less then usual earlier today. Still, we were surprised that we managed to eat a "tableful" of plates.

- After paying, we headed towards Starbucks Coffee next door. I wanted to tell Mon that I would be treating them there too, but Mon told us that she'd be treating us because she passed the board exam (congrats!!) So yey, Mon!! Flower Power!!!!

- While having cakes and coffee, I saw a friend from Ateneo lining up at the cashier: Lyndsay (don't have a picture though.) It was a bit awkward to see someone whom I always see in school or somewhere nearby my school only. I then figured out that she still lived somewhere in Binondo, which made a lot of sense. Before leaving, Lyndsay gave me a short friendly hug, and her elbow hit my Adam's apple spot on. I nearly choked. It was also an awkward experience. Still, I found it more funny than awkward though. Hahahaha.

- Dor, Mon, and I left Starbucks around 10-ish in the evening, though we hoped that the night could go on forever. It could, sort of, but we all had things to do. As for me, good luck to my thesis. :|:|:|:| Gotta prepare my defense presentation for next Wednesday. Oh life. :|:|:|:|

Graduation Photos: CREATIVE SHOTS :D:D:D:D

- Sept. 24, 2010, Friday

- I had my creative photoshoot for today!! I dressed up as a Tibetan, something I don't usually dress up often as. I think it was a good mixture of Hindu-Buddhist influences and Sinitic influences. Haha. Spot the blooper picture!!

Gibby's Week-advanced Birthday with Nibby and Bibby. :D:D:D:D

- Sept. 18, 2010, Saturday

- I texted Nellie, the Oi Twins, and Josephine Bino his morning during MASCKS, if they wanted to join me for dinner tonight for my week-advanced birthday celebration. Sadly, the Oi Twins told me beforehand that they couldn't make it.

- The three of us met around a bit more than quarter to seven at Yellow cab Binondo, and almost owned the whole place. I never thought a place like Yellow Cab would be empty on a Saturday night. Needless to say, the three of us were competing chatterboxes, either reminiscing, catching up, or being ambitious.

- After settling our tummies, we all rolled to Starbucks - which is only 3 doors away from Yellow Cab. We continued out long conversation while drinking non-caffeinated drinks. Bino and I even had a chocolate-espresso-mousse thing each, which were really divine. Not too sweet, not too coarse, just right. Since Nellie was discouraged by her doctor to consume caffeinated items, she had an oatmeal-raisin cookie instead. :D:D:D:D

- What was to be a short short gathering turned out to be a really really long and meaningful one. We ate, conversed, and had fun for a good 3.5 hours. It was a blessing that Nellie and her dad were kind enough to drive Bino and me home, to think that they would be going farther away, since Nellie was the one who lived closest to Yellow Cab/Starbucks.

- I really hope that next Saturday would be a blast. :) :) :) :)

- Thanks, Bino and Nellie, for tonight. :D:D:D:D

Early Birthday Tea Party :D:D:D:D

- Sept. 11, 2010, Saturday, 9/11 9th Anniversary, exactly 2 weeks before my birthday

- Today was a special day. Well, at least this afternoon. Since DLSU is currently savoring its last days of their term break, Marga and Clarisse were free. We decided to meet together, so Marga can give us the pasalubong she bought from her trip to Singapore (she had a conference there,) Clarisse can give her pasalubong from her trip to the Shanghai Expo, I can give Clarisse here pasalubong from Baguio (gave Marga hers already,) and so I can also celebrate an early birthday "(Chinese) tea party," as well as a day-late Eid-ul-Fitr celebration (I'm not Muslim....I just like to acknowledge the Muslim holiday.) I even wore my African dashiki today to "celebrate" Eid.

- The three of us met around 2:45 in the afternoon, and had a lot of dimsum. The three of us talked like we haven't seen each other for a long time. Well, the last time I met up Marga was around 3 months ago - but Clarisse?? I can't imagine that the last time I saw her was the day Ondoy came (the day after my birthday.)

- Not much has happened the whole afternoon, aside from filling our tummies with food, and filling our heads and hearts with stories. Of course, future (ambitious) travel plans were never out of the topic, and we just hoped that we'd have enough money for all our "travel plans."

- They say that time flies when you're having fun -but this afternoon was different. Time allowed itself to stop for us, so we could catch up with one another as much as we could for what was supposed to be a mere 2 hours. Clarisse' car arrived around 5, and handed me the stuff she bought from her China-Japan-Korea trip during her Shanghai Expo Cruise. The special item in her set of pasalubongs?? A DVD of India's history. ♥♥♥♥

- Thanks guys. :D:D:D:D

College Grad Photos!!

- Sept, 6, 2010, Monday

- FINALLY!! Here are my grad photos. The first three photos are the ones that will appear in the yearbook, while all the other photos are the extra ones. :D:D:D:D