Pizzas and Houses: Twice the Fun, Twice the Funk!!

- August 29, 2011, Monday.

- Thank God for the long weekend, and everyone who seemed to be busy with school or work were able to come out from their stress shells and unwind. I don't really have school on Monday (and Tuesday,) but I was able to finish some major requirements last Saturday, making the long-weekend celebration applicable to me as well.

- My high school friends and I wanted to meet up and unwind, and planned either to go out or just hang out for today. Since I knew beforehand that no one would be around at home today aside from me and the helper, I generously offered my home as a place to just chill and goof around like our ancient and care-free high school days.

- Come today, I woke up around 9:30am, with everyone else out of the house, and excitedly prepared for our small gathering. Well, there wasn't anything to prepare, aside from placing the small mattress on the living room floor, so people can sit on it. I also figured our how the living room television and the DVD player worked (just in case someone brought a DVD for us to watch or something;) I usually use my room's television and DVD player. I was never able to touch or use the living room television and DVD player; they had been in our house for a year I think. HAHA.

- My neighbor Bless and our friend Jessica arrived around 10:15, and Genevieve arrived around half an hour later. Bless was able to bring a detective/crime-scene role-playing board game called "Clue," and the four of us played it while we were waiting for the others to arrive. Too bad Oliver, Miguel and Marvinson weren't able to come; I was the only guy left in our group. Haha.

- We ordered a big yellow cab pizza for lunch, as well as 5 large fries from McDonald's. Bless also brought chips, which she dumped together with the fries I placed in a big bowl. We also bought two large bottles of Coke. Talk about calories and sugar. Haha.

- Bernadette and Nathalie came after lunch, and shortly left them when I had to go to the doctor at the nearby hospital to have my ears checked. (I had an ear infection last week, and thankfully it's gone now.) I soon came back, played Berna's Monopoly cards with the others, and played more of Bless' board game. We all attempted to finish the pizza slices, as well as the fries-and-chips mix, and emerged victorious.

- Just when we thought that the sky was just cloudy, we noticed the time and realized that the afternoon was about to give way to the evening. We wrapped up our final game of Bless' board game around 6:30. The others decided to have dinner at the nearby Wai Ying restaurant, but I had no choice but to stay at home to prepare for my next agenda: our college carpool reunion.

- Danica texted me yesterday if I, together with the rest, were interested in having a small gathering in Danica's house this evening. I haven't seen Danica, or the rest of the carpool people lately, so I decided to go. My other neighbor Charmaine was going too. (I'm glad that I was able to squeeze this in today.)

- It didn't take me much time to prepare for the small reunion. I just did away what I had on the whole day, and quickly put on my white sleeveless hoodie vest, a necklace, and sandals, and waited for 7pm so I could meet my neighbor and go to Danica's house.

- My neighbor and I soon met up and bought at cake at King's Bakery, since Goldilock's closed earlier due to the holiday. We looked for a pedicab near Charmaine's high school alma mater, and rode off to Danica's house.

- Upon arriving at Danica's house, I was greeted again by Rocko, Danica's dog, who stripped my humanity away 2 years ago. (Refer to the photo album "Charmaine's Miniventure 2: How Random Can You Be??") We later went inside the room, and was greeted by Danica, Michelle, and two boxes of....you guessed it (or not)....YELLOW CAB PIZZAS. Well I wasn't surprised, since Danica told us beforehand that she'd have Yellow Cab pizzas delivered. Haha.

- Anne soon came, and again I was the only boy present for the rest of the night; the other guys weren't able to come. The other four did some chitchat about the corporate world, while I chatted with some people using Danica's Facebook account. HEEHEE. (Of course the people knew who they were really talking to. My trademark 4-emoticons gave me away quickly anyway. Haha.)

- Soon, the energy was turned up a notch higher when Danica asked us to play Tekken with her PS3. Since only two players were allowed per match, the other bored people would be busy hacking each other's Facebook accounts and post random silly things for everyone to see. HAHAHAHA. Sugar levels heightened when we decided to have the cake Charmaine and I brought. Haha. This kept on going for a good four hours.

- We all left at quarter to 12, and Mich and her dad were more than kind enough to bring Charmaine and me home. (Mich's house was closer to Danica's house.) Right now, I still can't imagine how a mere "hanging out" would tire me this much. Despite today's Yellow Cab diet, and soda-and-cake sugar rush, I'm as tired as I am when I have one of my usual "walkathon" adventures around Manila/NCR. I think however, that today's house hopping "adventure" was an extremely nice, private, personal, and heart-felt alternative to the usual adventures outdoors. Even if I just sat down most of the time, ate here and there, and talked once in a while, there was no such moment that I would call "boring" or "dull." I suppose it was because I was spending time with the right people. (By the way, the storm also cooperated by not showeing on me/us while I/we were outdoors. HEEHEE)

The "Where Is Everyone" Neighborly Bonding: Karaoke The Afternoon Away

- August 10, 2011, Wednesday.

- As my almost-two-week off vacation is about to come to an end, I decided to chill, rest, and hang out with friends. I initially planned to hang out with Riezeryl the whole day, together with my current neighbor Dianne. I initially thought of inviting Riezeryl to eat at a Thai restaurant for lunch, and meet up with Dianne in the afternoon after Dianne's classes. However, Dianne and I later decided to be more laid back, and just planned on having a karaoke session at Dianne's house. Riezeryl told us that she'd be arriving a bit late (around 3pm), because she suddenly needed to go to school to have a meeting with her thesis groupmates.

- I arrived at Dianne's house around 2:30, and waited a bit for Riezeryl. Dianne told me that the other Dianne, Dianne Krupasa, was also supposed to come. Dianne and I killed time by watching an episode of Glee on Jack TV, and watched David Archuleta's music video + karaoke DVD, the one included in the Asian repackaged "Other Side of Down" album we bought during the meet and greet at SM San Lazaro. Dianne Krupasa later texted that she wouldn't be able to come after all, since she needed to wait for something important at her house.

- It was already around 3 something, and Riezeryl had not arrived yet. Dianne and I decided to start singing like crazy, since we couldn't do anything else. We each took turns rocking the Magic Sing, while texting Riezeryl in between songs. We realized that Riezeryl might not be able to come after all, since her meeting in school was prolonged. If ever, she'd be able to arrive around 8pm.

- Knowing that singing was the only way to go, even if it were just the two of us, we rocked the whole den with mostly "retro" songs from the 80s and 90s (or early 00s). We sang until almost sundown, when I decided to come home and rest for the rest of the night.

- I really do hope that we'd get to hang out like this in the future. No money was spent (aside from the food I bought for myself,) everyone was chilling in the air-conditioned room, bringing the house down, and laughing our guts off. :) :) :) :)

Zen Afternoon: Cafe Mezzanine With None Other Than............Myself.

- August 6, 2011, Saturday.

- The only free Saturday that I have, and it ended up being a sort-of-adventure-fail day. Well, I was a bit tired from yesterday's movie + Vikings at MOA, so I decided to chill today. After all, I stress the hell out of my wits every Saturday, when I have three three-hour classes (9 hour classes in total.) I decided to continue doing my paper for school, and meet up with my friend Riezeryl at her house in the afternoon.

- While I still hoped and searched for people to go out with, my mom came knocking on my door with a bunch of errands for me to do. I guess I wasn't really meant to go out today with friends. My mom asked me to but some groceries, and go somewhere in Chinatown to pay her credit card bill.

- While I was on my way home from Chinatown, I decided to stop by at Cafe Mezzanine, one of my favorite "zen" hangout places, and have a small meal of my own. I had some of the usual: a typical kiampong bowl, an order of tofu, and a small order of adobo egg. It was quite heavy though.

- While I was sitting on my table, sipping on the free soup and eating my food, I had the chance to slow down, and just observe the people walking at the street below, glance once in a while at the guy at the next table as he closed his eyes while sipping his soup, or just look at how the ice cubes in my glass float like small icebergs in Antarctica. Small things, just small things.

- I still feel that I didn't maximize my Saturday, but I suppose that a laid back Saturday would do me so much good. I even took the long way to Chinatown, and back home - by walking. Walking usually helps me think....and most of the time, I end up realizing how the simple things in life matter more than superficial things that will not even matter, or even forgotten, after death. I don't know.

- After I arrived home to drop some stuff off, I went to my former neighbor Riezeryl's house to show her some brochures of the countries I went to last summer. I waited three hours for her. Good thing her sister, who also happened to be a close friend, was home. At least I got to talk to someone before Riezeryl arrived home. Yay.

- Right now, I still want to maximize the rest of my long break, but with school around the corner again, I can't help having the urge to do more schoolwork in the next days. Oh the woes of the academic life. Teehee.

Apes and Anchors: MOA With Nicollette

- August 5, 2011, Friday.

- I am currently in the middle of my long long weekend, and still I feel that the stars and the heavenly bodies are conspiring against me. While I feel extremely blessed to have (a lot of) time to detoxify myself from school, all the people around me seemed busier than they were during the past few weeks. I couldn't blame them, since it really is the season of exams, theses and what not. Other people had work, or have started work, so they're out of the question.

- Recently, I had been trying very hard to find companions to go out with today and for tomorrow. I almost gave up hope for today, and was about to go for a walk in Chinatown on my own, when Nicollette IMed me via Facebook, asking if I wanted to watch a movie. I agreed immediately, of course. Since we both agreed to watch a movie at MOA, I asked Nicollette if she wanted to have dinner at Vikings with me. I badly wanted to try Vikings, since I heard that the food tasted great and looked unique. Although I was still a bit "traumatized" from my buffet experience from Spiral, I mustered up the courage and curiosity to try out Vikings.

- Nicollette and I met up around 3pm, and rode the train to MOA. We first went to Vikings to reserve a table, and proceeded to watch the 3:45 showing of Rise of the Planet of the Apes; it was the only movie that would end around 5:30, around the time when Vikings will open its doors for its dinner buffet.

- Rise of the Planet of the Apes may not be Harry Potter 7.2 or Captain America (haven't seen both, and wish to see both, if ever,) but I really appreciate the idea of the movie. It may seem that the movie is only sci-fi, and may not happen in real life, but I was more amused at how the human race's evolution was portrayed by apes against human beings. Nicollette and I felt that the movie could have had done a better ending, but I figured that the epilogue of the movie provided a "real" ending for the movie.

- After watching the movie, I accompanied Nicollette to Gong Cha to buy her milk teas to-go, and off we went to Vikings. We arrived at Vikings around 5:50, and the receptionist told me that we weren't around when my name was called, so out table was given to someone else. However, since we reserved earlier, we'll be in the priority waiting list instead of the "walk-in" waiting list. Great!!

- Nicollete and I got to have our seats around 6:15, and started to eat. Vikings, according to Nicollette, seemed to be a smaller version of Spiral. The restaurant had an appetizer counter, Japanese, Chinese, seafood, salad, Italian, grill, dessert, and beverage counters. Yes, self-service bottomless beverages (juices, sodas, beer, water) are part of the buffet, unlike most buffets where the (overpriced) drinks are to be paid separately.

- I can't help but compare my Vikings experience to my Spiral experience, right after Nicollette kept on telling me that Vikings was a mini-Spiral. Again, although I generally wasn't satisfied with Spiral, I really liked Spiral's French counter (cheeses galore,) Japanese counter, seafood counter (hands down forever,) and the awesome dessert counter (can eat their desserts all day.) Vikings on the other hand, didn't have cheese varieties, much fresh seafood choices, and desserts as awesome as the ones in Spiral, but I think my Vikings experience was way better than my Spiral experience.

- The food in Vikings were more moist, especially the dimsum, and the maki variants really seemed to have come out from an artist's pain palette. The grill area, everyone's favorite I think, served moist, subtly-spiced, grilled everything (want something grilled?? Name it, they have it.) Of course, the beverage counter was my favorite. (I drink -non-alcoholic beverages- more than I eat.) Hahahaha.

- I also saw Richard Milante, one of the MASCKS members who I've mentored before. It's his sister's birthday. Yay!!

- Nicollette and I left Vikings around 9, after paying the bill. Each of us paid 900+ (888php + 5% service charge,) and is the rate for weekday dinners, and weekend lunches/dinners. Weekday lunches would cost 688php + 5% service charge. Small children eat for free (please ask Vikings for their definition of small children) and senior citizens eat a certain percent off.

( Please visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vikings-Luxury-Buffet-Restaurant/113225315413751?sk=info OR http://www.vikings.ph/ )

- Nicollete and I rode a cab home. Nicollette paid for the cab. (Thanks Nicollette!!) I am tired as hell now, but I guess my tummy was more overworked than I was today. I am very glad to have gone to MOA with Nicollette, and I am more than glad that she agreed on eating at Vikings with me, even if she was able to try it out before. At least she knew which dishes were better or not. Haha.

- I hope that I'll be able to enjoy the ONLY Saturday off that I have so far. (I had a Saturday off before, but that's because of the storm Falcon. I didn't count that. Haha.)

2 Hours, 2 Friends, 2 Missions: Miniventure Extreme

- August 3, 2011, Wednesday.

- I was bored today, just like all the other previous days. Obviously, I've been trying to rest a lot, and trying to detoxify myself while I can. This afternoon, I tried ever so hard to find someone I can hang out with, to no avail. My former neighbor Riezeryl was the first person in mind, since I knew she didn't have Wednesday classes, unless she needed to visit plants or companies for one of her classes. Unfortunately, she visited a plant today with her class.

- Riezeryl texted me that she wanted to find a pair of rain boots, just like mine, of if ever, something more girly. I understand her pain of needing to walk in places where flood is inevitable - especially during this rainy season. She told me that she would be coming home around 4pm, and we could have a late afternoon trip to Tutuban to look for boots.

- I went to her house at around 5:15, after she told me that she boarded the train back to Manila. I had a short meal in Country Chicken, and walked around my old roof deck, and finally, Riezeryl arrived at around 10 to 6pm. We walked to Tutuban, and there we started to storm Tutuban in search of rain boots.

- Riezeryl was begging me to slow down, but I told her that malls like Tutuban close earlier than regular malls, most especially the "tiangge" portions of the mall; those stalls/stores close around 6 to 6:30pm. The same situation goes for malls like 168, Divisoria, or Greenhills (excluding the non-tiangge parts of Greenhills.)

- Since we weren't able to successfully find rain boots inside Tutuban, we searched for rain boots at the lined-up "early night" market outside Tutuban. We were able to find some rain boots, but either they didn't fit Riezeryl's feet, or the style didn't appeal to Riezeryl.

- I couldn't believe that we were able to search every corner of Tutuban (even outside) in just on hour. Although we weren't successful in looking for rain boots, at least we got to bond together.

- I asked Riezeryl to accompany me to the McDonald's branch nearest to our house, since I wanted to chill and rest my/our legs after that hour-long walk. This was my/our second mission. Gladly, Riezeryl agreed.

- At McDonald's, I ordered a few things so we could eat something while we talked about life and stuff. By the way, I met my Erwin at McDonald's. Haha. Too bad I wasn't able to take a photo with him. Hehe.

- Riezeryl and I ended our short evening around 8pm, almost an hour after we arrived at McDonald's. I really wished we could have hung out longer, but just like my dinner with Audrey last night, short is better than none. :D:D:D:D