The Last-Minute Afternoon

- October 27, 2012, Saturday.

- I was desperate to find someone to go out with this afternoon, since I already went out this morning to attend the cultural performance of my alma mater, and the "going out" momentum just stuck with me.

- I was already at home since noon, and thought of inviting my friend Melissa for a short mall trip in Lucky Chinatown Mall. Fortunately, she was available, and we both met in the mall around an hour later.

- We went to visit our friend Pei Mei's store first, and her little daughter was there. She still cries when she sees me. Melissa and I also took interest in the small axolotl (a kind of salamander) Pei Mei was selling. (It was worth around 2000php.)

- Melissa and I soon went back to Lucky Chinatown to try the newly-opened California Pizza Kitchen. I found this CPK branch sophisticated, and had great food, although I was a bit concerned with some of the chairs that could have broken-easily.

- Melissa and I had gelato after, and I had my first beer gelato. I found the taste interesting, despite not being a beer-drinker.

- Melissa and I went home after meeting and talking to some old friends we met along the way. I'm glad I had Melissa to hang out with during this what-could've-been-a-boring afternoon.

The Kor-Indian Day

- October 20, 2012, Saturday.

- My friend Melissa informed be a week earlier that I finally would have the chance to personally meet her Indian friend, Roshni. Roshni was introduced to me online months ago, because Melissa knew of my interest in all things Indian. According to Melissa, Roshni was also  quite fascinated with my interest in her mother culture.

- I met Melissa today to first do some errands, then went to hang out at a Korean coffee shop near La Salle/Benilde, named "Noriter." I found the place very conducive to sleeping, although the prices of the dishes may keep people awake. I think that the prices of the food were quite expensive, although/despite the food tasting not-special. The prices in general were comparable to Starbucks, but I think Starbucks provides bigger servings.

- After around an hour of waiting, Roshni, accompanied by Ema and Roshni's other friend Jagz, fetched us somewhere in the vicinity, and proceeded to The Fort.

- We reserved seats at the quite talked-about Italian restaurant named "Aria," then went around, window-shopped, and talked for a while. (I also got to try a bit of shisha, and I don't really like it, and might never do it again, but it was worth the experience. At least it satisfied my long-time curiosity on the shisha culture. Haha.)

- We later went to Aria, and loaded outselves with carbs: pizza, two pasta dishes, and a plate of Italian potato dumplings called gnocchi. The prices were a bit high, although quite expected, but the food tasted excellent. I especially commend the al dente pasta, and the freshly-made pesto.

- We all went home after, with Roshni interviewing me more, and blasting Bollywood songs from her car's audio system. We went home surprisingly earlier than expected, which I think is better though. Still, I had an awesome day meeting new friends.

Dimsum Party with the Engineer and the Food Blogger

- October 12, 2012, Friday.

- My good friend Margarette wanted to meet up with me and Clarisse, despite having met 2 weeks ago, because Margarette finally passed the engineering board exams. (Congrats!!) Also, my friend Clarisse was recently invited by Yabu to try their food, and blog about them. As for me, I am still struggling with studying for my last final exam next week. (Sigh.)

- We met at our very favorite dimsum place, Golden Fortune Soler, at around 3pm. For some reason, we were a bit too hungry, and had twice or thrice the usual number of dimsum baskets. We were a few dishes close before we could say that we ordered "one of everything" on the dimsum list.

- I also handed Marga her congratulatory present, a framed origami hanbok. I hope she'll display the framed hanbok where she can easily see it, and fantasize about her Korean celebrity idols.

- We walked home around 5:30, with high hopes that life will treat us better from now on. On a random note, my attire's concept was based on the "yin yang" symbol. Haha.

Asian Banquet with the Freshmen: I Was A Daddy For a Night

- October 6, 2012, Saturday.

- After a three- week postponing of what was supposed to be an impromptu gathering, I was able to push through with my plan of meeting with a certain group of people 5 years my junior, who used to study in the same alma mater as I did, and are now freshmen in their own fields in college.

- I met them today at Little Asia Lucky Chinatown at 6pm. The traffic around the area (even reaching my house,) so much so that many of us who lived quite close had to walk all the way to Lucky Chinatown, and those who came by car had the toughest time braving the traffic.

- It's been a while since I last saw these people, and an Asian banquet seemed to be the perfect way to celebrate this soiree, but also my post-birthday.

- My friend Robina offered to share the bill with me for her post-birthday, but I told her to pay just a small fraction of the bill, especially since she suggested that she'd treat us to dessert/milk tea. We all agreed to go to Happy Lemon....to make the night happier. Haha.

- We all proceeded to Happy Lemon, and stood around due to a lack of seats. Interestingly, we were able to move around more easily, and got to talk to each other more than we were able to during our dinner at Little Asia.

- I had a tremendous night with these people, and I look forward to having a get-together with them again, and hopefully, we'd be a bigger group (and with more food to share.)