Black, White, Happiness: MASCKS and Batch '07's Unofficial Mini-Batch Reunion

- November 27, 2010, Saturday

- OK, I know it's a bit irresponsible of me to ditch the batch pictorial in Ateneo today. Well, they announced it the last minute, and a lot of people wouldn't be able to make it to the pictorial for different reasons. I on the other hand was half sick; I have a slight cold that's been driving me nuts for several days. At least now, my throat doesn't "burn" each time I swallow.

- Since I decided not to go to Ateneo today, I called up Mrs. Villaver and some officers to tell them that I would be able to make it to the MASCKS meeting today. To my surprise, the majority of the members were not informed, and only around twenty people attended the meeting. Also, a big bulk of members were participants in the Student Council's giant-Christmas-card-making contest, and the mopit (Chinese calligraphy) contest. Others were participants, or "required audience people" in the Math contest in the auditorium. Given the circumstances, I still thought that the MASCKS meeting was still very fruitful, because we were able to conceptualize the movie-medley-Oscar-Awards theme of this year's presentation (but not one big play like they used to do.) This is just for this year though.

- Cleo, Anne, Kevin, Karl and I ate a rather early lunch at McDonald's after the meeting. We were very surprised to see an almost-empty McDonald's, because McDonald's was never empty, especially on a Saturday. We did realize, however, that maybe it's a bit too early for lunch. Still, it was nice to eat at McDonald's with PLENTY OF ELBOW SPACE. Heehee. Anne and I also dubbed this today as "Black and White Day" because a lot of us were wearing black and white, and that the lack of people in CKSC and in McDonald's made the day plain - just like black and white.

- I returned to CKSC after lunch, and waited for a bit more than an hour for Megan, since she told me that she was going to CKSC to grab her yearbook. I went to the Music Room for a short visit, played the piano in an empty room, and waited for Megan to call me.

- After Megan arrived, other batchmates came one by one to get their yearbooks too. Wilbur, the former batch president and yearbook committee member, was also there to facilitate the distribution of the yearbooks. I also helped around, since I had nothing better to do while waiting for other friends who I knew would be going to school also.

- The highlight of the afternoon was seeing Leanne, Tina, Tal, and Jane. I haven't seen these people in a long while, and the lack of communication, thanks to thesis, bothered me a bit. Of course, I was also glad to see other batchmates whom I haven't seen since prom.

- Another big and unexpected highlight of the afternoon was seeing my friend Vanna. I haven't seen her since prom, but I still talked to her regularly through YM., and always telling her that I wanted to see her. I also told her to cook for me because she took up HRIM in Benilde.

- I still feel part guilty about not going to the group photoshoot this morning in Ateneo, but I feel that today was one of the most memorable days of my college life. Despite being a "black and white day," I guess this is where this ever-so-famous statement comes into place: "Simplicity is beauty."

Centuries: Our High School Yearbook is FINALLY Here!!

- November 24, 2010, Wednesday

- FINALLY, our high school yearbook is in our hands. Everyone thought that the yearbook would probably be finished after our college graduations - although this happened to our friends from La Salle and Benilde who graduated within the latter half of this year. They also received their college yearbook too. Interesting, isn't it?

- I met Marnie and Joanna earlier today to get our yearbooks and have lunch at Tasty Dumplings. The yearbooks were really supposed to be released in the afternoon, when someone from out batch would be assisting the CKSC office in distributing the yearbooks, but Joanna had classes this afternoon. Funny enough, we were able to get our yearbooks almost instantly, because I was "malakas" in the office, quoting Siensi Wailyn. Haha.

- We went straight to Ongpin after our short visit to CKSC. Before walking to Tasty, we checked out the newly-opened Korean grocery in Ongpin. I forgot the name of the grocery, but it's somewhere across the big President's Tea House, just before the bridge to Salazar Bakery.

- The owner of the restaurant was a nice Korean lady. I can't guess her age, but she seemed young, but I think she's old enough to be "married." The Filipina salesladies were also accommodating. I talked to the Korean lady in Korean, and as always, she was amazed. I told her that I spoke a little, but she got a bit carried away that she talked to me in straight Korean, encouraging me to study more. To those that I didn't quite understand, I just said yes (or "ne" in Korean.) HAHA.

- We arrived at Tasty around 11:30 in the morning, and had a really really big lunch; we even need to rest in between so our tummies wouldn't burst. We even went through the whole yearbook and reminisce our whole high school experience.

- The yearbook was sepia for the most part. I think this was better than the original black-and-white format. It also fit in with the title of our yearbook, which was "Memoirs '07." According to the Sharwin, the yearbook committee head, they wanted to have the looking-back-and-reminiscing kind of effect, and therefore, sepia. Seemed reasonable.

- After Joanna left for school, Marnie and I went to Tutuban to roam around and find something that Marnie needed for school. I was also able to find a very specific "Buddhist" store that sold everything related to Buddhism (from statues, charms, etc.) Although there exist many Buddhist stores not only in Tutuvban, this one, hidden on the top floor of Tutuban, sold kung fu sandals (more "open" than kung fu shoes) similar to the ones my late uncle had.

- Before passing away, he was supposed to let me have his pair of kung fu sandals, since they were still unused and that he wouldn't be able to use them anyway. Sadly, the sandals were too small for me, since my uncle had smaller feet. My mother asked where he bought those sandals, and my uncle said "a store selling Buddhist items somewhere on the upper floors of older Tutuban. (not the side with the National Bookstore)" It seemed easy to follow at first, but when my mom and I went to Tutuban before, we encountered several stores that sold Buddhist things, none of them selling the same kind of sandals my uncle had. My mom and I never checked the uppermost floor since we saw that there were no stalls there. Little did we know that one Buddhist store (that seemed to be a mini-temple inside a mall) was placed there. Today, I have found the store by accident, and I was able to buy the same kung fu sandals my uncle had. (By the way, my uncle's kung fu sandals, since no one would be able to use them, were cremated along with my uncle. Ahh, Chinese burial culture.)

- Marnie and I got tired moments later, and decided to go home - at least in her case. I on the other hand went back to CKSC and helped out in distributing the yearbooks. Sharwin and Thea were there, and we also waited for Bino to arrive after around an hour. Several batchmates also arrived to get their yearbooks, and I didn't miss the chance to take pictures of some of them. Haha. Since I was in CKSC already, I was also able to visit some friends from the (way way way way) lower batches. Yes, I do have that much "connections." Hahahaha,

- Today went pretty well, I suppose. Well I was thinking of spending the whole afternoon studying, but my social life took time away from study time. HAHA. Well, I still have tonight though, and it's not called cramming because I have laid out my schedule perfectly. I am also not in a rush. Still, I think this is just one of those little things that has the mark of "making most out of senior year." Heehee.

The Magical Free Tickets To Harry Potter 7 And The Mystical Flavors Of Gelato

- November 19, 2010, Friday

- My neighbor was able to win three tickets to Harry Potter 7 from her org in school. Sure, I did tell her that "I was available" if she wanted to give me one of the three tickets, but I never knew that she'd really give me one of the tickets. Charmaine invited me last night if I wanted to go to Trinoma with her and her sister today to watch HP7. Although I'm not really a big HP fan (I'm only a neutral consumer of HP movies,) I still said yes.

- Today, while riding the train, Charmaine suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to bring the tickets with her. She dashed back to Recto while Cheryl and I went ahead to Trinoma to meet Charmain's sticker supplier for her thesis equivalent's product.

- Charmaine was able to catch up pretty quickly, and we still made it to the 12:10 showing of the movie without sweat. We didn't bother to buy popcorn since we were going to have a notoriously late lunch after the movie.

- Harry Potter 7, for me, was a big cliffhanger, for obvious reasons (the other 50% of the movie will be showing next year.) I somehow appreciated the build up of the cumulation of the Harry Potter series, aside from the "coupling" phenomena of the certain characters. There weren't too many battle scenes too, to my relief. (I hate battle scenes, especially those that are not well-shot.)

- After watching Harry Potter, we had a small feast at Cyma. I'm not sure if it was Cheryl's first encounter with Greek food, or Cyma, but we did "surprise" her with Cyma's well-known "Oppa!!" ritual for dishes that are flambed in front of the customers. Cheryl was also surprised at the large serving of Cyma. (Again, Cyma's "single" salad can serve two to three, or even four people.)

- The three of us checked out Gelatissimo after lunch since the free tickets came with a buy-one-take-one promo in Gelatissimo. We just checked out the flavors because we were still full. The person behind the counter offered to let us taste all the gelato. Of course, I chose to taste the more unusual/not common flavors first (eg. Guava, Green Apple, etc.) I found out that Gelatissimo's each gelato do not make its flavor (too) artificial.

- Having an idea of which flavors to pick when we return there, we chose to walk around for a bit. We were able to taste Royce's chocolates, and I was able to buy a nice white jacket with musical notes and symbols printed all over it (cool right??) And as they say, or if no one else says, then it would just be me, Ateneans are never safe in Trinoma - aside from Gateway. We all saw random Ateneans scattered across the mall, and it felt like we weren in school instead of the mall.

- We returned to Gelatissimo after a short stroll, and finally ordered our own (buy-one-take-one) gelatto. I had rum-and-raisin, raspberry, and passionfruit. Interestingly, after the three flavors "married" inside my cup, the mixture had an "Indian sweet" aftertaste. I still can't decipher which Indian sweet it is though. I'm guessing it has something to do with anything containing rose syrup.

- We all went home after the really nice gelato dessert/merienda. I am very glad that I can now FINALLY rest my legs. They're still a bit sore from the David Archuleta concert the other day. Well, a fan's got to do what a fan's got to do.

NORTH (EDSA) is the "Other Side of Down": David Archuleta's (REAL) Meet-and-Greet

- Novemer 17, 2010, Wednesday

- NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A MEET-AND-GREET - when the fan actually meets and greets the object of fandom, unlike the previous less-than-10-minute veni-vidi-vici "meet-and-greet" episode. This time, Archuleta gave his fans a chance to meet and greet him, after the mini-concert.

- Here was how it went. I read the other day about Archuleta's second visit to the Philippines. The first 400 people that would buy his CD at the venue, SM City North EDSA's Sky Dome, would be privileged enough to sit (ehem, STAND) at the floor-sitting grounds (the closest possible "seats" to David,) and they would be able to let David himself sign the CD.

- Since I had no Wednesday classes, I went to SM North as early as possible. I was supposed to go with my former neighbor Riezeryl, but she backed out this morning. My other two companions, Dianne Sy and Dianne Krupasa, needed to go elsewhere before going to SM North. My friend Eric, however, wasn't sure if he would go or not. (He ended up going anyway.)

- Going to SM North itself was one hell of an adventure. After taking the LRT2 to Cubao, I was supposed to take the MRT to North Ave. However, the line at the ticket booth was longer than the mythical Chinese dragon. I decided later on to take a cab, which was another hassling chore. After finding a cab, which I dubbed as a heaven-sent cab, I gave the cab-driver a generous tip after getting off at SM North. It was early in the morning anyway, and maybe the driver hadn't had breakfast yet.

- I had to ask several guards how to get to the Sky Dome, since I never really went to the new-and-LARGELY-improved (pun intended) SM North. I ran towards the long line, which obviously was the people hoping to be included in the first 400 head count. After lining up, a person from the Archie fan club wrote numbers on our arms with an easily washable marker, just to organize the head counts. I was nervous since the line was equally notorious as the one I saw at the MRT station. Luckily, the person wrote "332" on my hand, which meant that I would be able to meet-and-greet the great and talented David Archuleta (who happens to be three months and three days younger than I am. Heehee.)

- When the "ticket" booth (no actual "tickets" were given, as the CDs or the SM ecobags bought at the venue were counted as "tickets") opened at 10am, the line slowly moved. I stood in the line for around 2.5 hours until I got my CD. Within that 2.5 hours, the girl in front of me fainted because of the sun's intense heat. Gladly, her mother was there to assist her, and I, as well as the person in front of them, assisted the mom by holding some of the things. I was in charge of holding her water bottle. Haha. The girl regained consciousness almost instantly, but it was also a traumatic experience to see someone faint in front of me. I can tell that she wasn't "lying," just in case people would say that she was putting up an act, since the girl became very pale.

- After buying my CD, I waited for the two Diannes and Eric to finish their classes. I also had a quick lunch in Jollibee, and bought 4 Burger Yums to go just in case I/we got hungry while waiting in line for the entrance. It was also a given that my three companions were not going to be part of the first 400 people.

- I walked around the mall, trying to comfort myself, but I just kept on worrying since my companions hadn't arrived, and feared that the wouldn't be able to buy CDs or ecobags, and not be able to attend the mini-concert all together. I also had a Bailey's gelato treat at Art's Cream Gallery. (Yum.)

- I went back in line, this time for the entrance, and was privileged to be one of the first few people to line up. (The line for the entrance didn't follow the number that was written on our arms; it was back to the first-come-first-served basis.) The next few hours were uneventful, and stood-and-sat alternately. I really wished I had brought my PolSci readings to brush up on what I have read the other day; we will be having a short quiz tomorrow. At least I worried less when I saw my neighbor Dianne arrive, and that she was able to buy CDs and ecobags for herself and the other Dianne.

- When the gates opened at around 4pm, we enterd excitedly, of course. We realized, however, that we "VIPs" were not really treated as VIPs. We VIPs were asked to stand (and squish each other) while waiting for eternity, or rather, until David comes out. The ones in the bleacher (the ones who didn't make it to the 400-people cut off, but were able to buy ecobags and CDs, and can't let Archie sign their CDs,) were seated COMFORTABLY at the back seats. At least waiting for Archuleta for a good 3-hour additional waiting time was more bearable.

- Dianne Sy notified me that they, the two Diannes, were seated. Eric also told me that was in the house. I just gave them their numbers to each other so they could find each other, and because my phone was about to run out of juice. Interestingly, I also saw my friend Bernadette from afar with her UST uniform. I called her up to verify, and we saw each other too.

- VJ Julz of Myx came out around 7pm, and welcomed the crowd to the event. I honestly think that VJ Julz was prettier in person; I wasn't fond of her each time I saw her on Myx - but I had to before because of thesis. Aside from the usual greetings, we were surprised to know that there would be an opening act - a sing-and-dance trio that consisted of Rodjun Cruz, Edgar Allan Guzman, and Lucky Mercado (the "Akin Ka Na Lang" Close-up Toothpaste commercial endorser.) Obviously everyone wanted them to end their performance so the people can see David himself. Still, I thought that the three of them performed really well. They also gave their all, even if they were "just the opening act." They were quite funny too.

- The man himself appeared after several stallings by the opening act and VJ Julz herself. He sang three songs, Escalator, Crush, and Something 'Bout Love. I really like how the songs were sung in semi-acoustic; I'm not fond of drums and such. As opposed to the large backup crew David had last year in the Cookchuleta concert, he only had an awesome Mexican guitarist to back him up, or to accompany him when David played the piano while singing Crush.

- David said "mahal ko kayo" and "salamat po." It was the cutest thing ever. HAHA.

- Just as the autograph signing session was being finalized, such as positioning the table numerous times as if the staff was following some sort of Feng Shui ritual, I finally saw the two Diannes and Eric talking to each other. I waved and waved, until Eric saw me. Gladly, they were able to come closer (but not inside the VIP area of course,) and I asked them to take a photo of me as I was getting my CD autographed; taking pictures with David while we were letting him sign our CD was prohibited. (Boohoo.)

- I know I froze a bit, and maybe "stupid" not to have shook David's hand, as I was still in disbelief that he was in front of me, signing my CD. At least I talked to him -

David: Hi!!
Gilbert: Hi David!!
*David signs quickly*
Gilbert: Thank you very much David!!
David: Ok!!
**the best conversation of the day**

- I met up with my companions and took more pictures at the "photo booth." We also decided to have a quick dinner at the nearby Trinoma, since the MRT was connected to Trinoma. We ate at the Food Court, as we all got to know each other. I got to know Dianne Krupasa, and Eric got to know the two Stephenians and vice versa.

- Right now, I still don't want to listen to my David Archuleta CD, since I've been hearing the album being played in the mall the moment I lined up this morning, until the time I set foot in the Sky Dome. I think the fans were a bit tired of listening to the CD over and over again too, even if they still find themselves singing to the songs, especially when "Something 'Bout Love" was played. Still, it was different experiencing David Archuleta himself perform, even if it was just a short short concert. Again, at least it wasn't like the joke-time "meet and greet" last year.

- I also realized that if I combine the minutes that I "sat down" the whole day (before I arrived home that is,) I think the total "sitting-time" wouldn't have lasted an hour. My legs are still very sore from standing, and I now appreciate chairs more (yes, I do realize that it's possible to sit anywhere, even without a chair.) Well, a fan's got to do what a fan's got to do. :|:|:|:|

- THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR LITTLE (BUT PROUD) COUNTRY AGAIN. PLEASE COME AGAIN. MABUHAY AND GOD BLESS~~~~

On Your Toes: Divisoria Surprise!!

- November 16, 2010, Tuesday, Eid al'Adha

- My friend Mac woke me up from my deep slumber early this morning through a text message saying that he and his groupmates were in the Divisoria-168 vicinity to buy certain items for their Leadership and Strategy class (thesis counterpart for business courses in school.) He asked if I wanted to tag along (and be an interpreter,) unless I didn't want to.

- I haven't seen Mac in a long while, so I obviously agreed. I took a bath, changed, and dashed to the trikes parked in front of our building, still half-asleep. Upon arrival at 168, still half-asleep, and realized that I couldn't find the escalators for some odd reason. I approached the concierge, and asked where the "LRT" was to the upper floors. Good thing I corrected myself when the lady gave me a weird daze.

- I was able to meed Mac and Janelle in the 168 Foodcourt after walking several rounds at the Foodcourt, trying to look for those two. Moments later, I met Mac and Janelle's two other groupmates, AJ and Madel. Later on, their groupmate Cy tagged along too.

- The six of us went around 168 to scout for the items needed for their small business. We even needed to go to Divisoria because some things can only be found there, and prices in Divi were also cheaper. However, going to Divisoria (even from nearby 168) was the biggest pain in anyone's behind. There was a literal ocean of people, and from my experiences, I think this crowd was worse than the ones I encountered in Quiapo. I guess today being a holiday was also a factor.

- After going around Divi for several minutes, with me trying to bargain with the Chinese salespeople occasionally, we sat down for lunch at the food court. Waiting for vacant chairs was also a bit tiring, although the ones who got to dine first were sensitive of the amount of people waiting for them to finish their food (so they can sit and eat.)

- After eating a fast lunch, we searched for the remaining things that hadn't been crossed of the list, and had to go through the same old jam-packed crowd. It was also amusing that we were able to see some people we knew in 168; apparently they were also hunting for things for their own LS business thingies. I also saw my old friend Pei Mei. :D:D:D:D

- Before walking home (trikes can't even pass through the crowd,) I was privileged enough to try Mac's group's produce (flavored green tea, but not as sweet as C2 products.) At least I am hydrated enough to walk home, rest, and pray for being lucky for tomorrow's event. :D:D:D:D

A Starter to Sem Break Part 2?? - Maybe, Maybe Not.

- November 15, 2010, Monday

- Because of my no-class Mondays, Grace being a graduate, and Marga not having classes in the afternoon, we all decided to watch Easy A today. As always, the plan was for me to go to DLSU, wait for Marga to finish her stuff, and wait for Mary Grace to fetch us with her car. However, the simple "plan" turned out to be a wild goose chase from McDonald's, to Kenny Rogers, to the many odd ends of the La Sallian territory, and meeting several people I know along the way (with matching La Sallian wonder and fake-rage of stepping on La Sallian soil.)

- We arrived at MOA around two in the afternoon, and immediately headed towards the cinema to buy our Easy A tickets. While we were walking the long walkway, a stall in the middle caught our eye. The stall that may be selling beauty products was manned by several foreigners, to our surprise. One specific salesman engaged us too much by telling us in a really "creepy" that he wanted to "show something." He was holding a box, and we didn't know what was in the box. Since we didn't want to be bothered by him, we were a bit in a hurry to get an earlier screening of the film, we just told him properly that we were not interested. The foreigner kept on insisting, and attempted to engage in small talk by asking what movie we were going to watch. He even followed us for several meters, which added to the creepiness; I do think he was being friendly though, but maybe he still wasn't too keen on the concept of "personal space." Since I was interested to know which country he came from (just in case I had the chance to practice one of the languages that I knew,) I simply asked where he came from. He said he came from Israel. (Drat. I don't speak Hebrew. Wanna learn Hebrew some day. Seriously. :|:|:|:| ) To sound a teeny weeny bit like an Israelite, I just said "shalom!" He greeted me back. Hahahaha. By the way, the stall's name is "Jericho." :D:D:D:D (Again, disclaimer: I am not being "racist" about all this, just in case someone reacts. I'm just saying that the salesperson was a bit too engaging, although the effort of being friendly and warm to his customers was seen and appreciated. He might just have shocked/ surprised us in the middle of walking towards the cinema and continued to talk nonstop. Israel is a beautiful and holy country home to one of the most beautiful people on Earth.)

- After buying tickets, we realized that we had around ten minutes before the theater would let people in. Great, just enough time for popcorn. Marga and Grace chose to buy a small bucket of plain popcorn. Since the plain popcorn didn't really taste like anything, Marga almost emptied the salt bottle halfway in order to "season" the popcorn. I told her that she and Grace might end up having kidney stones. Haha.

- I really wonder why there were a bit too many people in the mall for a weekday. Normally, the mall is "empty" during non-holiday weekdays. The cinema was also filled by a good number of people. Trust me, I really find this strange. Still, we all enjoyed Easy A. "Easy A" is a rom-com movie had a really light plot with highly amusing dialogue. I am also interested and "baffled" at the use of a highly-Catholic theme in the story, which is not really expected from the usual American film. A few plot twists also spiced up the rather "easy" movie.

- After the movie ended, we decided to roam around the mall and shop - well, at least they shopped. I did see a few interesting pieces while going around the mall. I saw an orange tee that I semi-liked with a pumpkin design at Topman, and a few "adventure" coats from the Surplus Shop. I even saw a yellow-and-black blet at oh-I-forgot-the-name-of-the-store, which really matched my bumblebee getup. Well, I didn't buy any of these since my mom doesn't like my spending a lot, and that I don't need new clothes anyway - I bought a few new clothes (with good bargains) during my birthday, so that settles that I guess.

- Walking in a big (**cough** ENORMOUS **cough**) is such a chore after several rounds, even if you're with people you like to hang out with. Of course, for those who know me, I was the first to suggest "eating" after every store that we went into.

- I don't know why Marga suggested eating at Sbarro, but she did, and we all wound up in Sbarro. I like Sbarro because of their variety of pan and deep-dish pizzas, not to mention the variety of pasta dishes and side-orders that can be matched with the pasta dishes. Maybe the dishes can be a bit pricey, but the serving is definitely American-sized.

- As always and forever, we rode home after a long mall trip while listening to K-Pop via Marga's or Grace's iPod. Grace and I squealed upon hearing SHINee sing, and Marga and Grace squealed upon hearing a Super Junior song. For some unknown reason, Grace's driving was a bit off today, and we all acknowledged that. We had a bumps, and might have hit a few humps, but it added a little thrill to the car ride (and at least those were small bumps and humps....I also run out of "-ump" words that would fit well here. Sorry. HAHA.)

- By the way, I named this entry as a "second part" of my "sem break," since I would be having a roughly 10-day vacation this week, just after classes had started last week. had two weekdays off, and all the other days were hit by school and national holidays. I only need to go to class on Thursday, where almost half of my classes on that day are either affected by the academic event, or the nice prof gave a free cut. (The classes left are fun and nice classes too. Yay!!)

- Another thing, thank you Multiply for fixing yourself after almost 24 hours. I feared you wouldn't resurrect. :|:|:|:|



Small talk of the day:

(Marga trying on flip-flops in the department store.)

Marga: Mukha bang mataba paa ko?? (Do these sandals make my feet look fat??)

Mary Grace: Marga, mataba na talaga paa mo. (Marga, you had fat feet to begin with.)

(HAHAHAHA.)

"Going to MOA was Megamind's Idea." - Bless and Gil

- November 6, 2010, Saturday

- Bless and I were obviously discontented with last night's short adventure with the gang. Since most of the gang were not available today, Bless and I decided to go to MOA to watch a movie after my orientation in Ahead Reveiw Center.

- We arrived at MOA around noon, and bought tickets to the 3:45 screening of Megamind 3D before eating lunch at Sakae Sushi. Sure enough, we availed the sushi buffet, since we wanted to eat out hearts out in celebration of a very-well spent semestral break.

- While almost giving up on eating and paying the bill, we went around MOA to settle our tummies before going to the cinema and availing our free popcorn. As we almost rolled around the mall, we came across really neat winter clothing that obviously didn't suit the country's climate. I also got a chance to try on a pair of Uggs that actually fit my large fat feet. Of course I didn't buy the pair of Uggs since my parents will kill me if I did, and I wouldn't really use them anyway in this tropical country of smiles.

- We arrived at the cinema around 3-ish, got our popcorn buckets, and proceeded to the theater. As we were expecting the usual credits to roll, we were surprised by two cinema staff who held their microphones, and welcomed us guests to the cinema. Instead of playing trailers of upcoming movies, we played two rounds of Winema (Wii + cinema.) All of us were tasked to raise our arms, and move them side to side, depending on the game. The first game we played was to move a lever from side to side to prevent "Chuckie" (yes, the cow on Nestle's Chuckie) from falling. The second game was to move Chuckie walk from left to right so he could catch the falling Nestle Chocolait tetra packs from the sky. Hahahaha. Funny.

- After the epic winema thing, the screen immediately played the movie. Megamind, for me, was a movie of cliches, although the witty nuances in the movie, from the animation to some punchlines, amused me. I was able to predict a lot of the lines and maybe the ending, but the movie did touch my heart in a way. It allowed the viewers to realize that "sticking to the status quo" will not always be the best thing to do (take that High School Musical!!) Hahahaha.

- We went home immediately after watching the movie, as the sun has just set. Although there were only two of us today, we did a lot of reminiscing from high school until now, and felt very thankful that things happened the way the did - at least most things. Again, I am hoping for having more exciting years to come, and that careers and big titles attached to surnames will not hinder us from hanging out, chilling, and having fun. :D:D:D:D

Oh-I-Haven't-Seen-You-People-A-Few-Days-Ago Adventure!!: Rockband With Dear HS Classmates. :D:D:D:D

- November 5, 2010, Friday, Diwali

- After Abi accompanied me to UST, I waited at Starbucks Dapitan to meet my HS classmates - the usual gang. After seeing them, we went to U-Steak, a nearby eatery, and waited for Bernadette and Oliver to arrive. Since Oliver told us to go ahead, we immediately headed towards Usturias, a computer shop found in Asturias Street, and waiting for a Rockband-room to be vacated. Oliver arrived shortly too.

- After having a room for all eight of us, we book the room for two hours of craziness. I strained my vocal chords every time I had the mic, since I sang most of the time. Again, it's never a good idea to give me the mic, especially during Rockband sessions. Hahahaha.

- The two hours that we had was a long-but-fun experience. I guess the bigger fun that we had was looking for a restaurant for dinner. While ranting about not wearing my shiny yellow rainboots, I think the conversations during the big search were quite random and quirky.

- Soon, we decided to eat at Pong's, an eatery-type "restaurant" found somewhere near Espana (someone correct me if I'm wrong,) and they serve typical Filipino food. The price range is quite student-friendly, and the place is (surprisingly) owned by a Chinese couple.

- After the meal, that Oliver generously paid for (advanceeeee happy birthday!!,) we started to head home; it was already around 9 in the evening. Bless, Marvinson, and I went to the nearby Wendy's to meet up with Bless' sister who was studying there. Marvinson and Bless' sister had a short talk about medical school, which alienated Bless and me. Bless and I just talked about the French language. Hahahaha.

- I arrived home after a short trike, together with Bless and her sister, who were also my neighbors. I arrived home really happy because I got to have two separate adventures today (the other one in the previous entry.) What made me happier was that our gang really made the most out of our sem break by going out as much as possible. Hey, we won't have "sem breaks" for the rest of our lives. Still, I do wish that I'd get to hang out with these people even after decades. :D:D:D:D

Diwali Mubarak!!: A Visit to Manila's Little India during Diwali!!

- November 5, 2010, Friday, Diwali

- Like most of my recent adventures, this was also a random, last-minute-planned trip that I brought together last night. Just before going to sleep, my friend Shiveena greeted everyone a "Happy Diwali" through her facebook, which made me panic; maybe the stores would be closed for the day, and the temple might not allow non-Hindus to enter due to the ceremonies and such. It was a good thing that I thought of calling all the places we wanted to go to before leaving the house. Gladly, all the stores, and even the temple, were open today. Diwali by the way is an Indian holiday of lights; almost all (if not all) Indic religions have their own reason for celebrating diwali, but the word "light" will never be missing.

- In this late-morning-'til-early-afternoon adventure, I was accompanied by my neighbor and Abi. Abi is Charmaine's former schoolmate, and my friend as well via our MTG days during elementary to high school. Abi told me about that she wanted to have an adventure with me, especially to Little India, ages ago. Today, it was all our lucky day: out first adventure to Little India - DURING DIWALI.

- My neighbor and I waited for Abi at Times Plaza, the minimall beside the UN LRT station. Since Abi thought that the trip wouldn't push through, she overslept. Charmaine called her up and clarified that the trip would indeed push through, and that we were waiting for her at the minimall. Abi promptly prepared herself, and arrived at the minimall around half an hour later.

- As always, we first visited the Sikh temple (only from the outside,) and shopped for groceries in Assad Minimart. Just as my friend Shiveena warned me the night before after telling her about my plan to go to Little India, the people there were panic-buying food items and other religious items. I was lucky to have bought the usual ladoos, black jamuns, and samosas.

- After arriving at the next-door Talwar's Indian Grocery, Abi was fascinated by all the DVD's, and claimed all the women there as Aishwarya Rai. Coincidentally, the Indian owner of the store was watching a movie with Aishwarya in it. Haha. I pointed out to Abi that the women in the television was the Aishwarya she was looking for. I also bought two money envelopes as souvenirs for my two companions. Of course, they did't know I bought them yet.

- I visited Simron's next, where my companions bought Indian Maggi. The lady in the shop always forgot that I spoke Hindi, and that she was, again, surprised that I did. She thought I was Nepalese, maybe because of my appearance, or my actual Nepalese clothing - I wore my shirt especially for diwali. Speaking of me speaking in Hindi, I unintentionally mix Korean with Hindi, usually replying "ne" or "de" instead of "(ji) han" to people. The former is Korean and the latter Hindi, both of which meant "yes." This is because of my recent immersion in everything-Korean. Hahahaha. At least I was still able to understand what they were telling me, and I was able to respond properly after conditioning myself to speak in Hindi, not Korean.

- Next on the agenda was our epic lunch in Assad Cafe. Since it was directly 12 noon, the place was jam-packed with people, Indians, and non-Indians alike. The non-Indians usually come from nearby companies like Nissan and Unilever.

- The three of us were able to find seats near the door almost instantly, but it took forever for the waiter to come and clean our table, and take our orders. I couldn't blame them though, it was a peak time of the day, and the other customers were far more demanding. Haha. While waiting for our table to be cleaned, I revealed my small surprise for them: the very colorful money envelopes.

- The three of us has mutton quorma (or spelled "korma" in other restaurants,) mutton miryani, and Kashmiri fish curry. The quorma was supposed to be chicken, but the restaurant ran out of beef, chicken, and flat breads. :|:|:|:| It's a shame that Abi wasn't able to experience the "Indian way" to eat: HAND(S) AND BREAD. :D:D:D:D Still, I think Abi had a good meal, along with her mango lassi.

- As the rain started to pour outside, we were trying to figure out if we would go to the temple via trike, or via foot. Gah. They day I decided not to wear my boots, it rains - HARD. :|:|:|:| We decided to ride a trike since one was already conveniently parked outside the restaurant. Still, my Sanuk weren't safe. Again, the day I decided not to wear my shiny yellow rainboots. :|:|:|:|

- We arrived at the temple moments later, and was greeted by the guard and the suddenly-there flower vendors (they sold sampaguita garlands that people would use to offer the gods) with "Happy Diwali."

- The three of us proceeded to the second floor to visit the gods, meeting several friendly Indians, whom I greeted with a humble "namaste," followed by "Diwali mubarak" or "Happy Diwali." Upon arriving at the second floor, I met Mr. Dumri again, one of the high priests of the temple, and was again playing his harmonium. I greeted him, and had some Hindi small talk with me. He asked me where I got my shirt. Haha. Now that I'm writing this blog, I realized that he might have recognized my shirt as Nepalese because Mr. Dumri IS a Nepalese. Hahahaha.

- I proceeded to introducing Abi to all the gods, telling their stories and why they appeared to be such. We all took pictures with the gods since they were all "dressed up" specially for Diwali.

- Before leaving the temple, Ashok Maharaj, the other high priest, entered the prayer hall. I also greeted him, had some Hind small talk, before leaving the temple.

- We all rode the rike to the LRT station, and rode the train home. Well, to be exact, Charmaine was the only one who needed to go home. Abi accompanied me to UST since I needed to meet another set of friends (to be blogged after this,) and Abi needed to do something in UST.

- Even if I didn't wear my boots today, I think this was one of the most special Little India trips I've had mainly because of Diwali. Of course I'm not saying that all my other trips were insignificant; all of my trips, even those not in Little India, are very dear to me. It's just that I was able to celebrate my first-ever Indian holiday today, wearing an Indian shirt, in Little India, as a way to have a break from watching the Vishnupuran series (an Indian series about Vishnu and his avataras) I'm watching this sem break.

Konnichiwa!! Watashi Ga Origami No Sekai De Arimasuuuuuu!!!! Kawaiii Desu-yo!!

- November 4, 2010, Thursday

- I was never really a fan of random/unplanned adventures and stuff, but seriously, I have been bored the past few days. I haven't really done anything productive lately, aside from trying to learn Japanese, and trying to finish the epic-long Vishnupuran series (it's a Hindi series about Vishnu's life, from his birth until his Krishna avatar.)

- After being interviewed online for Clarisse' thesis, I decided to go to Clarisse' house since she told me that she and her siblings were going to make origami stuff while she was taking a break from her thesis. Since I haven't folded a decent paper model in, oh say, the last century, and my boredom wasn't doing me any good, why not?

- I arrived at Clarisse' house minutes later, and folded paper cranes while munching on a moist chocolate cake from Max. Clarisse was also finishing her interview with our friend (who also happens to be my indirect nephew,) and I decided to butt in the online interview once in a while. Hahahaha.

- After talking nonstop and folding nonstop, we heard Clarisse' mom call us for dinner. Of course, I tagged along too, although I was really about to go home around that time. It was nice to see Clarisse' parents and grandmom again, since I saw them last the previous forever ago. Clarisse' mom also gave me a small block of vanilla-flavored Korean ice cream, and three small bars of chocolates from their trip to Korea a few months ago.

- Clarisse' dad needed to go some place else after dinner, and offered to give me a ride home; he was going to pass by somewhere around my area anyway. I was pretty thankful that her dad offered the ride, since it was dark outside already, even if I do think I can make it home on my own. Hahahaha.

- While I was being driven home, I realized that I should've gone to Clarisse' house earlier in the afternoon. Well, I was about to go to Little India anyway with a friend, although my friend backed out because of the sudden invitation. Haha. Still, the really short latter half of the afternoon was one of the exciting things that happened this week, let alone the extremely-fat dimsum afternoon I had yesterday. :D:D:D:D

Fat Afternoon: Who Can Resist Unlimited Dimsum??

- November 3, 2010, Wednesday

- My friend Genevieve, aka Bebang, and I planned a dimsum afternoon yesterday. Since she wasn't available yesterday, we hoped that we'd be able to have one today. Bebang told me about Golden Fortune's unlimited dimsum + shabu-shabu, which I didn't believe at first, since I've never heard of such promo from Golden Fortune. I called all branches to verify, and they told me that they only had the discounted dimsum and shabu-shabu that some of my friends and I have feasted on before.

- Bebang told me that the she saw the poster about the promo at the new Golden Fortune branch in Pacific Centre, the newly-opened mini-mini-mall in Quintin Paredes. Since I was curious about Bebang's claim, I decided to check it out myself. We'd still avail the discounted dimsum + shabu-shabu anyway if the unlimited dimsum + shabu-shabu promo was anything but real.

- We met in front of Jollibee Masangkay around 2:40 in the afternoon after the short heavy rain. (I even wore my bright yellow boots just in case the rain wouldn't stop.) We walked all the way to Binondo, where I even met Bebang's sister's classmates; they were on the way to McDonald's Binondo. Haha.

- We reached Pacific Centre after a long walk, and indeed, the promo was real. For 338php per head, a person can order as much dimsum, soup, soup-noodle bowls, dry-noodle dishes, and shabu-shabu items, and one round of either iced tea or milk tea. The waitress gave us a long list of the chosen items that were inclusive of the promo. This is enough to say that Bebang and I ordered as much dimsum and shabu-shabu items as we wanted, and thought of finishing. By the way, if all the food weren't consumed, the person would have to pay 888php instead of 338php.

- Bebang and I spent around 3 hours finishing everything we ordered. We went to the restaurant with the sun semi-shining, and left the restaurant with the sun preparing to depart the Philippines. Still, we had a terrific time in the restaurant, talking endlessly as if we don't talk a lot online - then again it's always different to talk to people face-to-face.

- As of now, the waitress told us that they had no word from the management about the promo's termination. No dates were also present in the poster. Still, I think the 338php-per-head promo is worth it, especially for big eaters like me, and a lot of my friends. I guess this branch had this promo since it's a bit hidden or far from the "mainland" Chinatown. Still, I'm still a bit "disappointed" since the shrimp hakaw that I love so much wasn't part of the promo. That's just me anyway. :D:D:D:D

My Hardbound Thesis and the Ringbound Defense-Ready Draft

- November 2, 2010, Monday

- Here are the two copies of my thesis about the Hallyu phenomenon (a.k.a. Korean Wave) in the Philippines. The hardbound one is the final (edited) copy that will be submitted to the department, and the ringbound one was the draft I used during my defense last Sept. 29, 2010.

*happy sob*