My heart goes out to Peeta. Need I say more?
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Monthly Archives: March 2012
Last Tuesday Night
[27 March 2012]
If you remember in my post last week, I mentioned that one of my closest friends, Rivka (Pardz), will be in town. Pardz and her hubby-to-be, Laviel, is here for a couple of days to meet with most of the suppliers for their upcoming wedding in September. With roughly six months until their Big Day, I can only imagine how excited [and not to mention, stressful] this can get for them! Regardless, I am glad they were able to squeeze us in their very tight schedule.
Yesterday was by far the most stressful (read: worst) month-end at work. Lucky I had Enya in the background who somehow helped calm my nerves. I intentionally clocked in a little more late than usual since my friends and I won’t meet until dinner. A terrible mix of impatience and excitement got the better of me, so as soon as my shift ended, I took off to SM Mall of Asia. I got there at half past five—way too early for my appointment—but I was fine because I had an eBook to read. When I thought I have read enough, I thought of strolling around to pass time. Guess what? My feet led me [yet again] to the Nike Outlet Store, to either indulge or punish myself by looking at a sea of running and training shoes. I do have a way on inflicting pain to myself, don’t I? After an hour of waiting, I gave in to the pangs of my legs, and looked for a bench to sit on.
I was already feeling cozy from sitting at a nearby bench while looking at people passing by when Angge called. She was supposed to wait for Kach, who’s expected to get off work at 1900H, but she couldn’t wait any longer and she thought I could use some company since I’ve been waiting for almost two hours already. To my relief, Sweet BBM’d me, letting me know that they’ll meet me in a few. Soon enough, we found ourselves hugging and kissing each other, totally putting Laviel out of place. Hahaha!
Before we even began asking where to dine, I have made it explicit to scratch Shakey’s off our choice of restaurants since Sweet and I have been feeding on the same salad and soup as our meal every single time we hang out. No exaggeration! Being the thorn among the roses, we made Laviel decide instead—to Gerry’s Grill, we went! It wasn’t a really a long walk to the bay area, but when we got there, the restaurant was packed! Although we were listed fifth from the reservation, we managed to take pictures while we wait. It’s a good thing Pardz brought her iPad with her; I was able to finally see their prenup pictures from last November at La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. Actually, this was first of their two prenup photoshoots since Pardz availed this discount voucher from Ensogo a few months back. In all fairness to NicePrint Photo, the photos were not edited, but they were great on their own!
Look at creepy guy behind us smiling at the camera, too!
About fifteen to twenty minutes later, we were called in. Pardz and Laviel took the liberty to choose our food—oh snap! I totally forgot to take pictures of what we had! This is just a clear indication that we talked nonstop, even in-between bites. Hahaha! We were half-way our meal when Kach and her fiancé, Sonny, arrived. Yet another episode of endless hugging and kissing! At least this time around, Laviel’s not alone. He has Sonny to exchange weird looks with. Hahaha!
Last night was beyond epic, I must say. We went from serious stuff to hilarious ones, then back again. I realized that I’m lucky to have two girl friends who are both getting married this year—I will learn a lot about what’s a good deal from not with regard to wedding suppliers. Since both of them are hands-on with the preparations for their respective Big Day, they may recommend really good suppliers by the time I begin organizing with mine.
Of course the night will not be complete without some hilarious antics: courtesy of Sweet’s infamous pick-up lines, Angge’s fail love interest, and Kach’s naïvete. Looked like the boys had fun with all the craziness, too! It was a quick encounter with the soon-to-be’s, but definitely worth the effort to meet up on a weekday night. Ah, we’re so excited for the Perez–Dela Cruz nuptials!
P.S.
Too bad Mafi and Onat didn’t make it tonight; only to find out it’s Pardz’ fault they were missing in action. Apparently, she told Mafi we’d meet up on Thursday! What is a fail? Hahaha!
The Hunger Games Craving: Satisfied
I have just finished reading the second book from The Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire, and all the more I was determined to see The Hunger Games on the big screen. Did I mention I literally spent most of my time burying myself, flipping through pages of these books? I cannot even remember the last time I finished two novels in four days.
Right after hearing Sunday mass, we went straight to Alabang Town Center. My Dad had to go to Globe Business Center to inquire something about his mobile business plan. There’s a nearby church at the mall, and mass was still on-going when we arrived, thus the parking lot was packed as usual. While they find for a spot to park on, I decided to alight the car to check on the movie schedule. I must admit—all this time, that was really my intention. My youngest brother tagged along, and while we were on queue in buying the movie tickets, I realized that I did not have enough cash. Panic got to me, knowing that most of the people behind me were also going to watch The Hunger Games. I only breathed a sigh of relief when my brother offered to lend me a few bucks to acquire the tickets! Fifteen minutes later, I got five tickets to the last movie feature at 2145H.
As soon as Dad settled his agenda at Globe Business Center, we headed down to the new wing to figure out where to have dinner. It was almost 1900H, thus most restaurants were full. Mom did not want to wait longer as she was already feeling famished, so we decided to go further to the Madrigal Ave. side of the mall. To my surprise there were a whole stretch of new restaurants to check out! We ended up at Xôi Vietnamese Kitchen. Aside from Phó’ Hōa, this was the second Vietnamese restaurant we have dined in.
Well, in my opinion, it’s not as good as Phó’ Hōa, but it’s okay. I ordered something that’s similar to Phó’ Hōa’s vermicelli bowl, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. Aww.
To make up for a not-so-happy dish at dinner, I craved for some Serenitea fix! I ordered Wintermelon Milk Tea with pearls at 50% sugar level, while my brothers requested for Choco Milk Tea and Okinawa Milk Tea with pearls at 100% sugar level, respectively. Lastly, I got Mom and Dad a large Hokkaido Milk Tea with pearls at 50% sugar level, which they shared together. I can’t say I jumped into this whole milk tea craze, but I find it more healthy than frappe topped with whipped cream.
With more than hour to spare, my brothers and I decided to check on new stuff on Olympic World, just across Serenitea. Feeling tired from strolling around to kill time, I found myself seated facing a pool of inviting pairs of running/training shoes. Sadism and masochism at its finest. In fact, there were two pairs that particularly called my attention, and they were ON SALE!!! Well the discount wasn’t that much, but hey, it’s cheaper by 10%! To make it worse, I was told that the discount promo applies only for that day, and it will return to its original price the next day. VERY NICE. I told hubby-to-be about it, and he was prodding me to try them on, but I know that I don’t need a new pair. Well, not yet. I only got saved by the bell, when Dad ordered us to move since it’s almost screening time.
We were seated at the upper far left side of Cinema 5 (which is one of the smallest theater in ATC), and it looked okay until the lights were dimmed, and advertisements were shown. I thought it was only me, but Mom and Dad noticed that the view from where we were seated was not so appealing. The first few parts of the movie made it a little worse because we thought that the camera/video shots were shaky. Needless to say, I literally got goosebumps as soon as the film began. I was really focused on each and every frame, not wanting to miss the slightest bit of act there was.
Funny that somewhere in the middle of the movie, my Dad who was seated on my left and my brother on my right, would nudge me every now and then for the parts that they didn’t quite get. I didn’t get irritated at all, but I happily answered their questions in a way the neighboring viewers won’t get annoyed. Hahaha!
The movie adaptation was not as faithful to the novel, but it did meet my expectations for the most part. I think Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss Everdeen, did justice to the role. Josh Hutcherson, however, did a great job playing as Peeta Mellark if only for his lack of height. Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne? Hmm, need I say more? ;)
P.S.:
Look who’s gotten totally consumed by this series! Hahaha!
Hungry for The Hunger Games
Okay, I know that’s a lame title for this post, but since I noticed that my Fridays had always turned out to be eventful, I kind of felt compelled to write a quick entry about today.
It was fun [as always] at work; time seems to pass more quickly on Fridays, doesn’t it? You know it always end up with a good laugh with good girl friends. ;)
Without further ado, I just want to say that I’m…
YES! After two days of putting off training (well, I had my period, leaving me with no other choice), I finally finished the book just when the movie adaptation premiered in local theaters! I seriously can’t wait to watch it on the big screen! And yes, that’s one perfect motivation right there. *slow clap*
In my opinion, story got better towards the end; however, I didn’t like how the first book ended, thus I’m starting with Catching Fire right away!
In other news, my parents are still at my brother’s Baccalaureate Mass in UST as I write this. I’m hungry—no, starving. What? I thought that was relevant. HeeHee.
Couldn't have said any better.
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Mollycoddle
A few weeks back, I tweeted that all my March weekends are already blocked. It is true that I have never been this busy on weekends since October 2011 when hubby-to-be was in town. Yesterday was yet another date with my girl friend, Sweet.
At Sweet and Edong’s house warming in January, Sweet asked me what my hair color then was. When I have my hair colored, I don’t usually go by the color’s name nor number code. I literally just point at a certain shade [on the chart] that I want to achieve, and leave it all up to the stylist to create the look. In most cases, I always end up getting the color three to four shades lighter than my current for the reason that my hair is kind of color-resistant.
Since then, Sweet had been prodding me to schedule a salon date with her. February was a little short-noticed, so I had it scheduled in March. If there’s one person who’s more excited than the most excited creature in the world, I say that would be Sweet. Aside from our most-awaited salon date, she was so giddy about the new skin care product she recently acquired from Mom. Hahaha!
We were supposed to meet before lunch time, but since she got up late, we met at half past 12. We first went to LayBare for a thread and a wax, then headed to Bench Fix. It was only high noon, but the salon was already packed! We had to wait for a good 20 to 30 minutes before we were accommodated. Since I have the longer and thicker hair, I was seated first. I already had a color in mind, so it didn’t take that long for me to decide. I just had to reiterate to my stylist, Miss Coke (pretty cute name, isn’t it?), that my hair strands are so thick that they may need to extend the treatment time for the color to actually take effect. Half-way in my first application, Sweet had been assisted. She has been wearing red-toned hair color for years, so she wanted something that’s a little closer to brown/blonde shade.
Photo credit: Sweet
We were half-way our treatment when a familiar face walked by. It was Paolo! Paolo was our (Sweet’s, technically) batchmate in UST. Didn’t know he gets his haircut in the same salon we were in. Although Sweet’s hair is also long, hers is way thinner than mine, so she finished sooner than I did. Paolo and I wrapped up almost at the same time, then we all decided to catch up further at dinner.
Sweet and I haven’t been to the new wing at Alabang Town Center, so Paolo kind of toured us around to have a look. Boy, I say there’s a lot more restaurants to try, and even more boutiques to check out! I might do that next time I go there, though. We then headed down to Amici, an Italian restaurant nearby. As you well know, Sweet and I have been eating greens every time we dine at Shakey’s, and this time was no exception. We both ordered salad and soup, and since we’ve been teasing Paolo about his obvious weight-gain, he ordered salad, too. Hahaha!
Pouting Paolo. Hahaha!
Amici | Crema di Zucca
Amici | Insalata di Cesare
Amici | I-forgot-what-its-called
Amici | I-forgot-what-its-called-too
We talked about a lot of things, mostly about college, common friends, work, and a whole lot more. It was really nice catching up with each other. It was like a breath of fresh air. Much to our bullying, Paolo defeatedly took the tab. This pretty much capped the fun night off with friends!
Oh, I can’t wait to see my girls! Rivka’s arriving in a couple of days!
Three's a Crowd
As you well know, Nica and I have been taking brunchbreaks almost every day for a couple of months now. Nica is four years younger than I am, the same age as my brother. She graduated with a degree of International Relations from Lyceum of the Philippines University. She may seem all too bubbly, but don’t underestimate this kid because she was a consistent honor student since grade school. What I like most about her is that she has a life beyond her books. I seldom meet people with above average IQ who actually have friends, if you know what I mean. Everyday she would recount how her dinner with Korean friends went the other day or how she’s too engrossed with the current eBook she’s reading. She may be young, but I know I can rely on this kid in many ways—not to the extent of abusing her genuine kindness, though. ;)
Last year, towards the end of fourth quarter, we were informed by our team leader that there’s another addition to our SSH Family. Her name is Micah [or Maix]. She used to be a production editor of Springer publication. Sometime in December, she started her Wiley training with Sir Ron, our team leader. My first impression of her: Boy, this chick got style! She comes to work sophisticatedly dressed up without even going overboard or looking trying hard. She’s a fashionista in her own right. On top of that, she’s got this I-don’t-give-a-damn kind of personality that even made her more intimidating!
One morning, Maix arrived before Nica and I did. Since we usually take our breaks before noon, we invited her for brunch to which she gladly accepted. In my mind, I thought it would be a little awkward; after all, we don’t really know much about each other. Much to my surprise, all three of us hit it up the first time! It’s as if we’ve known each other for years! Guess what? She’s a fellow Thomasian, too! She has a degree in AB Communication Arts, thus she’s naturally articulate.
From then on, all three of us would wait for each other just so we’d have brunch together (except on Mondays, I think?). And as mentioned in my other post, friends from other business unit would join us, making our morning even more pleasant. We even referred to ourselves as the Friday Brunch Club. Hahaha! We would talk about anything under the sun—mostly stuff that will eventually lead us to laughing our lungs out.
Last night was not like any other Thursdays I have had in months. Maix, Nica, and I had a little dinner date at a nearby mall. We had enough time to spare, so we decided to stroll around. We went from the department store to a thrift bookstore. After taking some time inside browsing through interesting books and magazines, we finally agreed to have dinner.
It took us a while to make up our minds on what to order,
Undecided.
so we ended up with these two:
Classic Savory | Chicken Combo #2
Classic Savory | Kangkong with Crispy Pork Belly
In between bites, we took turn in talking more about our lives, mostly non-work-related. Every now and then, we would burst into laughter about something—almost bringing me to tears!
Maix and Nica
Nica and Jae
Three's a Crowd
It wasn’t fancy, but hey, we sure had fun! Shall we do this again? OF COURSE! :)
Early Morning Fail
For the first time in so many weeks, I managed to open my eyes at 0530H. No snoozing, no “last five minutes”—I tumbled out of bed as soon as my alarm went off. As usual, I checked my phone for missed BBMs, texts, and emails. Ten minutes later, I went downstairs to prepare myself breakfast. Good thing there’s leftover beef steak and rice from last night, so I will be having a decent meal before heading out. At 0600H, I went upstairs to check on my aunt who should be getting ready at that time. To my surprise, she was still snoring in my bed! *face palms* When I told her what time it is, she immediately rolled out of bed. So while she’s taking a shower, I took time in having my sumptuous breakfast.
We were supposed to leave at 0700H because Tita Marie should be at the airport by 0800H (three hours prior to her actual departure time). When it was my time to take a shower and get ready, she had breakfast with Mom. I was in a rush for two things: (1) We have to gas up and have our tires checked before we head to the airport; (2) I didn’t want to be the cause of delay in case she doesn’t make it on time. As I come down, I could hear my aunt talking to somebody over the phone. She seemed frustratingly disappointed, judging by the sound of her voice. Across her was my Mom who kind of signalled me to wait. So, I did. As soon as Tita Marie hung up the phone, she nodded at Mom, and they both laughed. Perplexed, I asked why. Apparently, my aunt’s flight details have been altered the last minute. Instead of leaving at 1100H, her departure time had been moved to 2230H tonight. To her defeat, she requested for her luggages to be taken out of the car since it looks like Mom and Dad will instead take her to the airport later this evening. Now that I no longer had to take Tita Marie to the airport before going to work, I decided I might as well leave.
I suddenly recalled how Miggy missed his flight back to Iraq the first time he spent his R&R here in Manila last January 2009. He was so sure his departure date then was January 22, but when he got to the airport that day, he was told that he had already missed his flight. He was supposed to take a flight back on January 21st. To this day, I keep teasing him about how excited he was to return to the warzone. Hahaha!
So I got to work considerably earlier than usual, only to realize that I don’t have that much emails to attend to nor pending tasks to last me until mid-day, thus I was able to quickly write this post. My girls arrived 30 to 45 minutes later, looking glamouroso! I can’t wait for our little dinner date tonight.
Ah, fast-forward to 1700H, please! ;)
Banquet
[22 January 2012]
I could not think of any better title for this post than Banquet. Today literally revolved around a smörgåsbord of food and drinks. Earlier, we were invited to Sweet and Edong’s house warming in Laguna. Can I just say that I could not be more proud of these two? They have been together since college, and now they have invested on a house.
At Sweet & Edongs House Warming
According to Sweet, they bought the house at a very reasonable price because they no longer had to invest on the furniture—all have been included in the package. In fact, Mom thought it was a very good deal. The previous owner had to dispose this property immediately for the reason that they were moving abroad. The house may not be brand new, but hey, it’s theirs now. It makes me really happy of what my friends have accomplished in the few years since we all graduated. I firmly believe that this is just the beginning of a brighter future for each and everyone of us.
With Sweet, her little goddaughter, and Kye
Later that day, we headed down to Buffet 101 by the Bay Area (near SM Mall of Asia). Believe it or not, I kind of dreaded this day since I no longer consume as much food as before. A few months back I have religiously trained and cut down on food (the hardest was to give up as much rice I could!). It was a struggling effort to maintain this routine every day since I have always believed that getting fit = workout + proper diet. Fad diets are overrated. Okay, so much for my fitness ardor.
Although we have already confirmed our reservation a few days beforehand, we still arrived at the place a bit earlier. The restaurant usually opens at 1800H, thus the sight in the following photo:
Camping out at Buffet 101
Mom and I
This gesture allows everyone to be seated in the order of their reservation confirmation. Luckily, we were one of the first people who got in because those who were called in before us have not arrived. As soon as we settled in our assigned table, we quickly moved around the buffet area to check on their menu that night.
Buffet 101
Buffet 101 | Dessert Section
Actually, Mom and Dad had seen the setup at Vikings which is at the other end of the Bay Area, but they were more impressed with the setup at Buffet 101, so they preferred the latter. Buffet 101 was comparably cheaper by only P50 than Vikings rate (note that rates differ during weekdays and weekends/holidays).
As mentioned in my earlier post, I’m drawn to Japanese food more than any other cuisine, so this is me [all smiles] checking out the sushi bar, of course!
Buffet 101 | Sushi Bar
Through the years, we had been trained on the strategies at buffet restaurants, so it didn’t take us a hard time on getting what suits our taste.
Buffet 101 | Sushi Overload
Buffet 101 | Sushi Overload v. 2.0
Buffet 101 | Japanese
Buffet 101 | Dessert
Buffet 101 | Desserts Overload
I wanted to play a joke on my family, so I compiled a list of Tips on Eating at a Buffet (from the internet, of course!), and sent it via email to each and every one. Who would have thought that my own prank backfired on me? After two platefuls of greens, I gave up. Hahaha! I could no longer finish all the sushi on my other plate, so someone else had to do it for me. The obvious [unfortunate] ones who were compelled to do so were Dad and my two brothers.
Aside from the fact that the following day was Chinese New Year, this day was a celebration of celebrations. It was a post-celebration of Dad’s re-employment and pre-celebration of my youngest brother’s 19th birthday.
Ohana
I am grateful. :)
(All Buffet 101 photos taken by Kevin.)
False Awakening
Have you ever woken up from a dream within a dream? Very much like the movie, Inception, right? Well, this morning, I did. This is yet another addition to my collection of weird dreams. Please bear with me as I try to recapitulate this memory from my perplexed head. My dream within a dream went like this:
I was dreaming in my sleep about me cutting classes from school; I faithfully ditched my Religion class every Monday. How ironic, isn’t it? I have always dreaded Mondays for the reason that I just don’t want to attend that specific subject. Come examination day, I stared at my paper blankly since I could not answer the questions given even though I “self-studied” the topics from our textbook. Lacking other resources such as personal notes taken during classroom discussion, I submitted to the fact that I am going to fail. Then I woke up.
It was a shorter version of my usual bizarre dream, but what caught me in a daze was upon gaining consciousness [in reality], I kind of asked myself if I have class today! For a moment I had completely forgotten that I graduated three years ago and that I am already working. I don’t usually look about the meaning of my dreams up from the internet, but I saw something from Wikipedia that I found interesting:
Here’s another one:
Although I don’t know what might have triggered this false awakening, it’s worth noting that there’s a clinical explanation to this kind of occurrence. Whatever the meaning of this is, I’m just glad it’s nothing, but a dream.
