Fat Fish and Funny Futures: Lalaine Lim's 20th!!

- August 30, 2010, Monday

- As we all know, today was a holiday, and therefore, no classes, no work (in general,) and surprisingly, no big crowd in the MRT....which is weird since the MRT is infamous for its unbreathable crowdedness - holiday or not.

- Random thing: I accidentally inserted my LRT2 card upon exiting the MRT to Trinoma, and it surprisingly worked. Normally, the ticket machine wouldn't accept an LRT card since the LRT and MRT are not related to each other. Well, the MRT card wouldn't work when I tried it upon going home.

- ANYWAY. I arrived at Trinoma earlier than everyone else. I really find it funny that I still end up being early despite things that would supposedly make one late. Today, I left a few minutes later than scheduled, ate breakfast at McDonald's which took up a good 15 minutes or so, walked to the LRT station, bought Lala's gift somewhere in Gateway, waited an eternity for the MRT, and yet I still arrived 10 minutes earlier than the meeting time. Knowing everyone, and one of the not-so-nice part of the Philippine culture, the meeting time is never followed.

- As everyone started to come one by one, we reserved a table in Fish & Co.. While ordering and eating, we all talked about what things we could do in the future, particularly ambitious travel trips (ambitious why?? Kaching-kaching, no money. :|:|:|:|) Still, it was nice to imagine what things we could do if we would be fortunate enough to go elsewhere after graduation next March.

- While exchanging thoughts and stories, sneaky Joyce asked a waiter to gather his "minions" and sing whatever "Happy Birthday" song they do in Fish & Co. for Lala. When the waiter and his group arrived, they even gave Lala a plate with one hot candle-lit brownie (um, the brownie wasn't hot because of the candle) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the side. We were fortunate enough that Lala shared her hot brownie and the ice cream at the side. They were awesome. :) :) :) :)

- We soon left Fish & Co., and roamed around the mall; we couldn't afford to stay longer since we all had things to do at home. Well Mary Grace managed to find a bag for herself. Hahahaha.

- The short afternoon whoozed by shortly, which was a bit saddening since I still wouldn't want to accept the fact that there is school tomorrow. I am currently worrying about a deadly history midterm exam, and a far more deadlier theology quiz (yes, theology is deadlier than history in all ways.) Good luck to us, and hopefully our ambitious plans would be realized soon. HEEHEE.

Hotel Hopping and History Hyping: My First Adventure with Jane Sy!!

- August 27, 2010, Friday

- Jane asked me a few days ago if I would be able to accompany her today to help her out with a project. Her project was a scrapbook with information about her ideal wedding. Now I'm not really which subject this scrapbook was for, but still, I smelled the word ADVENTURE. It's not too obvious that I said "I do." Oh wait, wrong response. I meant "yes."

-Our itinerary today was made up of hotels and (historical) churches. Obviously, the churches that we visited were possible venues for the wedding itself, and the three hotels were for the reception. We really needed to go to the churches and hotels themselves since we, or Jane, needed personal documentation of these places.

- I met Jane today around 2:10pm, and went to Heritage Hotel, the farthest place in our itenerary. We rode the LRT to EDSA, and rode a cab to the hotel. Upon entering the hotel, we immediately inquired for the rates of the function rooms, and if there was someone available to tour us around.

- Fortunately, we were asked to go to the office in the second floor to meet up with someone from the hotel. The kind, young, and tall lady kindly gave us a lot of information about their packages. She even gave us a "grand tour" of two possible function rooms for a wedding. It was also funny because she initially thought that Jane and I were getting married. Hahahaha. (Yes, we told her that we weren't getting married.)

- After we left the hotel, we rode a cab to go to another hotel - The Century Park Hotel. After once again being led to an office in the hotel, we were entertained well by a Chinese lady who we found out was only a batch higher than us, and studied in a neighboring (and purple-loving) Chinese high school during her high school days. It was also a bit easier to talk to her about what we wanted, since she also had the same Chinese background as the both of us. However, we weren't able to tour the main ballroom since there was an event there.

- We left the hotel around 30 minutes later, and rode another cab to the Hyatt Hotel in Malate. We entered the hotel, talked to the concierge, and were told that no one was available to accommodate us; we had to set an appointment if ever we wanted to be accommodated.

- Not wanting to waste our trip (and travel fee) to Hyatt, I asked the concierge about the available function rooms that could accommodate wedding receptions. The concierge promptly gave us a list, and Jane and I sneaked to the ballroom at the sixth floor. Luckily, one of the ballrooms was vacant, well-lit, and person-less. I took a quick snap of the ballroom, and slipped away unnoticed. Haha. Sneaky me/us.

- The last of the hotels was finally covered, and yet we needed to visit two historical churches and inquire about rates, fees, not to mention to take snaps. Luckily, the two churches were both in old Manila, the walled city - Intramuros!! (Just in case you don't know, the two churches I'm referring to are the Manila Cathedral, and the San Agustin Chuch.)

- For the fourth time, Jane and I rode a cab to the Manila Cathedral, and toured around the marvelous church. I was happy to see that tourists were still roaming around happily inside old Manila. (LEZZGO PHILIPPINE TOURISM!!!!) While walking around, Jane and I marveled the big preserved bamboo organ at the second floor, and the astounding stained glass windows. (One was even a stained glass window of the Philippine seal.)

- After the Manila Cathedral, we dashed off to the flesh-colored (yuck, but according to a friend named Patty that it was supposedly the original color) San Agustin Church. Honestly, I prefer the colorless San Agustin Church way back when. I think that by coloring the exterior, the "historical-ness" of the church wasn't too apparent.

- For some reason, a group of Filipinos flocked outside the church and held white balloons. After having their picture taken while holding the balloons, they released all the white balloons. Needless to say, I didn't stop myself from taking a snap of the balloons and the church itself. Heehee. Sadly, we weren't able to go inside since a mass was going on.

- Now that our agenda was formally over, and we still had time, I asked Jane if she wanted to walk around Intramuros (since we were already there.) I was glad to know that Jane was as enthusiastic as me. Of course, when one speaks of Intramuros, the first thing that comes to mind is Fort Santiago.

- Jane and I had a long walk to the tip of the pizza-shaped walled city. After paying 50php each, we were able to explore the historic site. We took pictures of dungeons (and ran away after because of the spookiness,) visited the Rizal Shrine (which was absolutely cool,) and arrived at the banks of the once clean and great Pasig river (wait, the Pasig River is still great....especially the cool ferry ride.) Also, the cute guards in their traditional guardia-civil costume added to the historical-ness of the old city.

- As the sun was about the set, Jane and I stopped over at Greenwich to have our really late merienda. When the sky grew darker, we knew that the old city could not keep us in, despite having a lot more to explore. Jane and I rode a jeep to the underpass near SM Manila, went through the underpass, and rode another jeep to Ongpin. Jane and I parted ways after several meters of walking, but I still felt happy afterwards. Why?

1. It was my first adventure with Jane. This was something we both wanted to happen since 2 to 3 years ago.

2. This is my first real adventure after many many months. (Hurray academics for forcing me to tie myself home. :|:|:|:|)

3. It was a really nice experience to visit a historical site (again.)

4. I was able to wear a casual Filipiniana outfit (something I couldn't pull off nicely before,) in celebration of the Buwan ng Wika ([Filipino] Language Month.)

The Eggzuytid Trio - Life Apart from Thesis and Stuff

- August 24, 2010, Tuesday

- I never really liked Tuesdays (and Thursdays) since the beginning of time. I don't really know why, but I feel like my TTHs seem to have some negative aura. It's hard to explain, but I'm weird just like that.

- Today way different. It was a Tuesday that I looked forward to the past 2 to 3 days. It all started when Megan asked me to watch her little bro's intersection basketball game in CKSC. Then, Jack tagged along too. Our tiny plan was to watch the game, then eat afterwards. Simple.I know it sounds crazy, but I went really crazy over this tiny thing. I really think that I need to thank my crazy academic life for my severe lack of social life for the past few months, except for some instances. (Refer to past albums.)

- I met Megan around 3:50 in the CKSC lobby, and stayed for a while in the music room. The bell rang a few minutes later, and Megan went ahead to the gym with her younger brother (the older of the two brothers,) while I went downstairs to pick up something from a friend.

- I went up soon after and watched the game with Megan while I chomped on my noodles. I like noodles. They promote long life. Haha. :) :) :) :) Anyway, Megan and I were waiting for Jack, he was VERY late, but we managed to fool around despite my slight cough and cold.

- Time went swiftly while we were watching the game. As I happily ate my noodles, and annoyed the hell out of Megan (peaceeee,) Jack and Megan got to know each other more; from what I know, they never really talked way back in high school until recently.

- Megan's bro's side lost the game, but undoubtedly, their team played well. (Or so I think they did. I don't play ball. Maybe Jack can tell. Haha.) The three of us walked towards Shakey's Masangkay, since it was the nearest and nicest thing among the foodie places around. Plus, it was the least crowded restaurant.

- I'm not really sure why Jack treated Megan and me, but he did. By the way, we had pizza, pasta, and a medium-sized ice cream platter. Yes, I know, I'm not really allowed to consume something cold because of my cough and cold, but I did. Haha.

- Aside from trying our best to finish what we ordered, Megan and Jack had a common interest in making me shut up. If I know better, they almost wanted to shove their spoons in my mouth. Yey, bonding over attempting me tone down, less hyper, and more tame. I don't really know what happened to me today (and a whole lot of times before,) but today was one of those super-hyper-days without really knowing the cause. Mr. Villaverde also didn't help shut me up; he was a part of the crowd from the nearby table, and occasionally came to our table to chat with us.

- I was, and still am, happy that Jack and Megan seemed to be comfortable with each other, since it was the first time they formally talked to each other in person. (Again, I think this is the case.) I am also thankful for these two, for they have revived my life-outside-school, since I am currently drowning in the flood of requirements from all my classes - not to mention my individual undergraduate thesis. I am hoping that I would get to hang out with these two again in the near future. Come to think of it, it was around 8 months since the last time I saw Jack (refer to Christmas/Sofitel photo album.) I saw Megan a few weeks ago, but still, it wasn't something like this. :D:D:D:D

- Now, I am back home, and faced with the flooding requirements that I can't not do. Well, graduation is just around the corner, and I am trying my very best to not get delayed. :|:|:|:| I can also feel my age. I'm old. :|:|:|:|




** Last thing: THANK YOU JACK :D:D:D:D Until next time :D:D:D:D

Debbie Day 2010!! (With Jas)

- August 13, 2010, Friday

- It's nice to finally upload something again here, after toiling and bombarding myself with anything academically-related. Even better, I was able to meet up again with Debbie (and her sister Jasmine) after a year.

- Debbie's car picked me up at my house around 10:45 in the morning. The car was driven by her brother Neil. Before going to Trinoma, we first had lunch at Chef Robert.

- Chef Robert is a restaurant in Banawe, Quezon City, that serves international cuisine at very very reasonable prices. The interior is primarily made of wood, and has the ambiance of a small cafe. The dishes were cooked to perfection, and more or less had authentic tastes, depending on the nationality of the food.

- After eating lunch, c/o Debbie's brother, he drove us to Trinoma and left us there. I bought tickets for the three of us to Step Up 3. Since we had around an hour to kill before the movie, we decided to stop by at Timezone, since it was the nearest thing to the cinema. We managed to do go around and goof around until it was time to watch the movie.

- Step Up 3 was an amazing movie. Seriously. Sure, the plot itself is really simple, but the choreography of all the dances in the movie was a therapeutic eye-candy. The dances inspire not only dancers, dancers-to-be, or frustrated dancers; the dances inspire the creative switch in the mind. Sure were a lot of "aww" moments, but that's just that. Maybe I'm a bit biased and touched about the "go and follow your dream" theme, since I'm kinda going through the same situation as well. The movie might have been greater if the rowdy group of friends/students at the back didn't make too much noise, especially in parts where their noise wasn't appropriate. (I was able to tolerate their cheering and clapping during the dance battle scenes, but not in the other mushy scenes.)

- By the way, Debbie and Jasmine's dance teacher in Canada appeared in Step Up 3 as a member of one of the opponents (not the main opponent-group) of the protagonist's dance group.

- After the movie, the three of us went around and shopped (actually they were the only ones who shopped.) As the sun set, we all searched for a place to eat dinner. Debbie proposed Italianni's, because she missed the pasta and pizza we ate last year in Italianni's MOA.

- The three of us not only shared excellent food during dinner, but we shared more stories and laughter as well. I had found out more things about Debbie and her sister through that hour-and-a-half long dinner. With tummies full soon after, we went to the "waiting place" and waited for Debbie's brother to pick us up.

- Today was a really good day to cap off a rather rough week for me in school. Not only was I able to unwind, but I was also fortunate enough to meet up with friends who live in the other side of the world. Hopefully, we'd be able to meet up again after some time. Next year, perhaps. :D:D:D:D

Longer Nights: Mary Grace's 20th!! :D:D:D:D

- June 26, 2010, Saturday, 2 days after Grace's real birthday

- Grace picked me up, as well as Marga, at the 5th Avenue LRT Station around 6:30 in the evening. We first went to Grace's house to pick up the rest of her family members as well as Venus and her younger sister, Dianne.

- After resting for a while, we all went ahead to a Chinese restaurant called New Dynasty, located right across the Manila Pavillon. We CKSC people got to sit with some of Grace's younger relatives. For some reason, we got to talk to each other in the middle of the evening, while feasting on not-the-usual Chinese dishes, which I found nice.

- After having dinner an interesting conversations about school and my unusualness, we headed to Grace's house to drop off her mom. Instead of going home, we all went to one of the nearby Starbucks branches and had an after-dinner chill. Since I had an enormous amount of chocolate intake (chocolate waffle, chocolate cake, dark mocha java with chocolate bits,) I was extremely hyper. For those who know me and my usual hyperness, being "hyper" after an extra intake of sugar meant an unworldy more-than-drunk-ish child-like fantasy-crazed being. I couldn't stop talking, as if that wasn't normal, and tried to be the craziest person on earth while breaking the "Starbucks ambiance" everyone was crazy about.

- We went home a few minutes past midnight. Venus, her sister, and I hitched a ride with a friend of Venus. I still couldn't stop talking in the car, especially to Dianne, simply because she was sitting beside me. Well, I know that I couldn't be this crazy when I'll be doing thesis-matters tomorrow (or later rather.) Oh well, this will end in a pinch, hopefully. :) :) :) :)

Tale As Old As Time: Erica Ong's 18th!!

- June 19, 2010, Saturday

- After the El Dia Espanol episode, I hurriedly prepared myself to Erica's debut as I got home from the Instituto. I walked to CKSC to meet my friend Kelly, where we will be picked up by another friend, Elyssa.

- Elyssa arrived around 5:30-ish, and rode off to Lights of Love, a place full of function "tents" in Santol Street, around Sta. Mesa. We were worried that we might not be able to make it, since the rain poured wildly, and the streets gradually started to flood. Gladly, the rain sort of stopped when we were near Lights of Love.

- The whole thing started around 8 in the evening. I was a bit surprised by the sequence of events for the night. The 18 Lumieres (Candles) had their turn first, and the 18 Chips (Treasures) next after the buffet was open to the guests. I was part of the 18 Chips.

- A wide variety of intermission numbers also brightened up Erica's Beauty-and-the-Beast-themed debut. Some sang, like her college friends, her sister and some others. Some danced, like Erica's cousin and younger brother - and another dance number towards the end with Erica and her friends.

- The whole night brightened up my so-far-already-stressful first week. I was able to meet up with some friends (Erica's high school classmates to be exact) who I haven't seen or talked to in person for a long time. I had the chance to talk to some of former teachers there, like one of my beloved Math teachers in high school, Mrs. Mogro.

- Elyssa's car arrived around 11pm, just as the party ended. Kelly and I hitched a ride with Ely's car. As I was having my quiet moment in Ely's car, I realized that these kids grow up too fast....which means I have to grow up as fast too. I kept looking back at the events that happened in the last 4-ish years, and realized how many debuts I have attended, the wildest, the wackiest, the most unique, the first one, everything. These are the times when we all ask ourselves - can we just stand still, and stop for a while?

Quieres El Idioma Espanol?? Pues, VENGA!!!!: El Dia Espanol 2010

- June 19, 2010, Saturday

- I wasn't supposed to attend this event mainly because of another event in the evening. I wanted to rest myself, so I wouldn't be tired and sweaty before changing to my evening attire. However, Karla, one of my co-interns and now classmate in two subjects, texted me last night that she would be going, and that she was looking for someone to accompany her to El Dia Espanol (El Dia E.) I agreed to accompany her, given that I would be at home around 4pm, so I can ready myself for the evening event.

- I arrived at Insituto around 1 in the afternoon, and saw old co-workers, as well as the other Atenean interns. As the name of the event suggests, the whole day was dedicated to celebrate the Spanish language. Word games were scattered everywhere, including the Juego del Espanol, which was like scrabble, but people would have cubes of letters (one letter on each face of the cube) instead of flat squares with letters like in the normal scrabble.

- I bought two t-shirts and roamed around with Karla, occasionally hanging out in the office because of the aircon. Haha. She bought a shirt too (only to find out hours later that she left the shirt she bought in Instituto. Haha. Hope she gets it soon.) We were able to write stuff on the walls as well. The walls of the Instituto had certain portions where people could write on them (I'm guessing it was wall paper.) Characters were drawn on those areas with speech bubbles, and we were supposed to write something in Spanish. In return, we get to grab 2 magnets with Spanish words each time we write on the walls. Cool huh. I was able to collect all 8 kinds of magnets. Hahahaha.

- The food sold there was great too. One stall sold pasta, rice toppings, and cakes that could be bought per slice or the whole thing. As time went on, the prices became lower and lower. Imagine, a slice of cake worth 150php in the morning was priced at 80php around 1pm, then 40php around 2pm, and finally. 20php per slice (and 200 for a whole cake) around 2:30pm. Haha.

- The finale of the event was the last round of the Juego del Espanol. The elimination rounds used small game boards and took place inside the classrooms since morning. The final round however, took place on the vacant area in the ground floor. This time, the board was now a big mat laid on the floor, and instead of cubes that had sides around a centimeter long during the elimination, the cubes for the final round had sides that were around 3/4 of a foot long. The winner of the contest would win an all expense paid trip to Andalucia, Spain around late September to early October.

- Although the people were packing up, such as the hired performers who performed in the morning (as most events took place in the morning) the area where the Juego del Espanol took place was jam packed with people. Some, like us, even watched from the second floor.

- After a long and hard-fought battle, the winner of the Juego del Espanol was surprisingly a girl who was in level 1. "Entonces, no importa la nivel!!" the host said after awarding the girl. It means "So, the level is not important." People can actually know that she has a light background in Spanish after not understanding/answering the Director's questions properly in Spanish. Still, she did beat someone who was already in level 11. Haha. We later found out that the girl who won had studied Spanish for only three weeks. Impressive, no??

- Although I was hurrying back home after the giant scrabble finals, I must say that I did not regret going to El Dia Espanol. A big part of the whole event might have happened in the morning, while I was still happily having an adventure in Dreamland, I didn't miss out on some things as well, like meeting my former co-interns and co-workers.