Feb 23, 2009

The one with my sister's 28th birthday

We went home to celebrate her birthday and her boyfriend tagged along together with her 2 closest friends. It's like Meet The Parents (without Robert De Niro since my Dad's not around) including the rest of the relatives at home who did not bother to hide their curiosity on who's who. The grandmother I've known, who is my mother's aunt, was not able to control herself and asked him if he came with my sister there. If I've been there at that moment, I would've laughed at that. Thank goodness I was busy outside with gossip updates from my dear mother.

To make the long story short, we were able to escape everyone before 6 PM and went back to Manila. We had dinner at this fancy restaurant called Ristorante Pia y Damaso.

They had cool names for the dishes especially the desserts:
~Ibarra's Kiss
~Maria Clara's Velvety White Cheesecake
~Sisa's Dementia
~Brazo ni Dona Vicki

The ambiance and the service are excellent but the food is not something I'd truly recommend to anyone. This experience just proved that dishes with interesting names do not guarantee a delicious meal. Most of the main courses seem unusual which affected our food choices at the time.

For our drinks, we ordered Tubig ni Maria Clara (By the Pitcher), which has cucumber juice, ginger syrup and citrus water, that was well-recommended by the overfriendly waiter. I'm always thirsty so I'm not sure if it tasted good because of that or it really was refreshing as they say.
After the heavenly desserts, we watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. We were laughing from start to end. If anyone badly needs an hour of laughter, I'd definitely advise him or her to watch it.

I loved the part when Rebecca Bloomwood was talking to Luke Brandon in his office for an interview and then she screamed while pointing to the poster of a guy outside when he was about to ask her to speak Finnish.

Unfortunately, the downside of the movie is that the setting was in New York instead of London based from the book. I've read 3 of the Shopaholic books from a good friend of mine. If I hadn't, maybe I would've appreciated it more because I didn't know the original plot of the story.

Contrary to the bad reviews by most newspapers, I enjoyed watching this film. It's rare for me to laugh like a lunatic while watching a movie in a theater so I'm giving it a rating of 8/10. Sometimes people need to crack once in a while. We want to watch without analyzing what the characters are doing or scrutinizing their outfits (although we do that involuntarily)-- what matters is that it had found an emotion within us that was stirred by the story.

Prada and Gucci aside (fake or not), Rebecca's clumsiness reminded us that there's still hope amidst all the economic crises-- even for the silly ones. ☺

Jan 27, 2009

The one with the pictures



Memory is the worst enemy. A simple peace sign on a picture, a favorite hobby, the most intricate design printed on a bag or even 2 friends walking on the street can take you to a walk down memory lane in an instant. Funny, it had to happen today when I'm in the middle of making a huge decision for my non-existent career.

After a looong conversation with my former office mates over the phone, I sat on the computer while waiting for another page to load. Right before I was able to reach my destination, I saw her again. How could I possibly miss it when she had flooded almost the entire page with comments to everyone except me? Well, she sent me something else. A bear with a puppy love caption. Is this the only message she can give me after not getting in touch for almost 6 years?

I waited for 5 seconds, 10 then a minute. Do I click on Accept or Ignore? ACCEPT or IGNORE? I think I mentioned it in my head for 5 minutes because I lost track of time staring into space. Finally, I clicked on accept before I change my mind. In my head, I keep hearing "Delete account" and "Delete her on friend's list" but my conscience got the best of me and I simply went ahead and finished what I started. My guts are telling me to logout yet I saw myself clicking on each one of her photos to satisfy my curiosity.

After several albums, I wanted to stop and close the whole IE window. Something told me to keep viewing all of them until I browsed the last picture. I saw her with her family. She was smiling like her usual bubbly mode but she can't fool me.

She had a lot of dreams. She's the type of person who has plans and executes them as she sees fit to ensure that everything goes smoothly or perfectly. I am happy knowing that she grabbed opportunities and succeeded in them. I can see that she seemed content with her life. It's just that there are some dreams that you never dared to broadcast out loud and I can sense that she had one which had not happened the way she planned them.

As much as I'd want to pick the pieces and get back where we left off, it's almost the same as finding separated shredded papers from a garbage bag full of them.

Her pictures said a thousand words but one of them is for sure...I'm no longer part of her life.

The question that I'm asking myself is, do I delete her or do I delete myself in cyberspace again to move on with my life?

Dec 15, 2008

The one with the fun times

For someone who's been unemployed for almost a month now, I've been busy.

TOP 10 FUN TIMES from the last few weeks (delayed updates to my so-called life):

1) seeing the plush forestry in Loboc River, Bohol, while my century-old buddy and I were on top of a floating raft/restaurant
2) smelling the fresh air with "some" photo shoots and videos on Tops and Mountain View, Cebu with COB
3) staring at the Tarsier's eyes and realizing it's not the same eyes on the souvenir wallet; simply breathtaking although I was scared at first
4) staying in a cheap hotel then switching rooms due to numerous problems; never thought it would be fun at that time but the aircon was so "futuristic" that my friend and I had to move the bed right in front of it!
5) people-watching while sipping some coffee with our knees bent sitting from the stairs in Ayala Center, Cebu
6) played bowling w/ Dad and some close friends from work
7) driving lesson w/ Dad in a strip near Mall of Asia
8) neverending talk about food/service of restos and latest gossips during dinner w/ dear cousin and the rest of the family
9) watching my cousin M sing at the top of her lungs on a choir contest in Lipa - won 2nd place!=)
10) walking the streets of Batangas with the cold wind caressing my face and then stopping by to buy the famous puto bungbong and bibingka-missed it!

Now I can go back to hating the One Tree Hill DVD that can't be played from the laptop...that's why I don't expect a lot-it prevents disappointments like this one. Okay, it's a sign for me to sleep.

Nighty night!

Nov 20, 2008

The one with the first day of freedom

I'm finally free from being a slave of my company! Hooray!

To celebrate it, my bestfriend and I are going to Cebu.....our first trip together outside our safe worlds.

To be honest, I'm really excited about it...on all of my trips (usually w/ a family member/relatives), this is the first time that I packed the day prior to my flight with a checklist in hand to make sure I don't forget anything. 10% of me is a bit nervous-- well, because both of us are not big fans of "directions".

I'm sure we'll get past it though, because we're blessed with luck and a great deal of patience. And of course, a lot of excitement is running through our veins so whatever happens, I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Wish us luck! ☺