My former boss who has curves for days turns 30 22 today. Happy Birthday Ren!
My final UAAP weekend
And it was a UAAP saturated weekend. After a few days of trying to find tickets online and whatnot, got tickets the old fashioned way, Joannaman got in line on the day of the last game of UP and UST, which was also an ADMU vs DLSU game day so it was hell trying to get tickets the days before. I really didn’t know we were gonna get tickets for that day’s game. If i did I would’ve worn a different shirt (I was in navy. I am not an ADMU poser i just didn’t think when i got up to dress that day. Joannaman is the fan not me. She regularly goes to games. She keeps track of scores. She actually knows more players on my alma mater’s team than me.
So when she told me at 11:30 am that I had a ticket for that day’s game and that she went in line twice so I could get one, I hurriedly told my boss I had to go. Got into a cab, headed straight to Araneta. Watched UST and UP’s last non-bearing game. When i got into the coliseum, all i saw was a blur of green and blue, but no matter. A good fight for both sides, with UP leading at the start of the game. In the end UST won, but left the coliseum in tears. I actually felt bad for Jervy Cruz, who, being a huge guy and a monster on the court, was doubled over weeping. It being his last game as a UAAP player and all. So someone hug Mr. Cruz man-mountain for me when you see him, he looked like he needed it that day.
As the yellow and maroon left the court and the green and blue went in, you could almost feel the crowd waking up from a collective sleep. The tension crackled in the air. If you haven’t watched a UAAP game before, this is the game to watch. People bedecked in green or blue, no one daring to be in the wrong color at the wrong place unless he had a death wish. I definitely didn’t. I stayed quiet amidst the sea of blue around me. Although I have to admit I was leaning more toward the green than the blue (except for one dlsu player that i want to deck, he just gives me the jeebies). I usually watch these games on the tube, and there usually is a good fight between the rivals, but this game was way different. ADMU in the lead from the start, with DLSU almost handing them the victory, never even tying the game. I wonder what happened. The crowd in green was almost silent, slackjawed in surprise at the lackluster showing of their players. And they left quiet still. With the crowd in blue chanting ONE BIG FIGHT. And I’m sure in the heads of the gang in green, they promise a better fight next time.
Cheerdance was quite different. UP and UST were there en masse. A sea of yellow, although a lot less yellow than i’ve seen in previous years, greeted me as I went in. UP was there in force, almost doubling the UST crowd, definitely the biggest representation of a single school there. Joannaman and I were the wishy-washiest people there. Cheering the Go Uste! cheer and the Unibersidad ng Pilipinas cheers, cheering Go Lasalle, clapping at the ADMU routine. I chose to play safe and wore a yellow jacket, Joannaman went the maroon shorts route. And while the Patron section was mostly quiet, we were noisy enough for the rest of the people there.
Things to note:
- I was a bit disappointed at the UST routine. No wow! part. And while I cannot for the life of me do any of those moves, I thought they could have gone a bit more exciting. (maybe next year?)
- Loved the DLSU crowd for cheering along UST. a lot.
- UP was basically amazing. even taking pictures and a bit distracted, I was awed.
- ADMU had a fun routine, with a sprinkle of fabulous. (just the way I like it)
- UE sure likes umbrellas. It’s like the second time I’ve seen them use those in the span of a few years.
- I think people were looking for the fun factor in the FEU routine and were disappointed that there wasn’t one.
- I think UST changed the tiger mascot uniform?
- There was an NU fan who reminded us of esther, we watched him bounce around the bleachers all throughout the NU routine.
- UP deserved to win.
And i, feeling a bit colehiyala for a moment, got a little jolt of kilig when I turned around, saw a college crush and smiled at him then proceeded to RUN AWAY. I am a dork. Hahaha.
And how was your weekend?
What a weekend
Saturday was a blur. A blur, but a blast.
I was happy that the cupcake surprise for Sarah (Happy Birthday Sarah!) went well. The birthday candle went off ok, but it took a bit of coaxing for it to go the whole fireworks-y.
I, like a lot of people from my generation, headed to the Eraserheads reunion concert last Saturday night. I had no connections so I was at the Patron section. After a whirlwind day at work, headed off to Fort to the concert. We knew we weren’t gonna be standing in front since we were late. The gates opened at 3, we got there past 6pm, so we settled for getting a decent place to view the stage. I have to admit i counted down with the rest of the crowd with the 10 minute clock before their entrance. They picked the perfect song to open the concert, Alapaap. A crowd favorite and just enough noise to start things off right. The 16 odd songs they got to sing were bliss. I was, like a doof, singing along to every song. You could almost feel the electricity in the air, as everyone was feeling the sense of magic this band had to capture the soul of a generation. See I was too young to go to their concerts when they were together, so this may be my only Eraserheads concert. And when they announced that the concert had to be cut short coz Ely (Buendia, the vocalist) had to be rushed to the hospital, I was disappointed for sure, but also quite worried for Ely’s health. So i said my prayer like everyone else and headed off into the night, not quite believing where I’ve been.
After which we went to Embassy for a work thing. Haha. It was really a work thing. Our big boss from the US invited the whole department to a night of general craziness, and since I was jonesing for a night out after my jilted Friday night, I went. Even if i was already tired from the workday and the concert. A lot of people from the office were there, enjoying the free flowing Jack and Coke and Vodka Sprites that never seemed to end. We danced our hearts out. We laughed off the stress of the day. We forgot our worries. With all that alcohol surging through our respective bloodstreams, who could blame us? It was a fun fun night.
And to think I almost missed it. 😛
Giving up the ghost
We all have our own special hauntings. An ex, a mistake we once made, and if we’re that unlucky, we get to see those mistakes on a fairly regular basis. We’re all haunted by the past, from simple memories throbbing in our own heads to actual physical embodiments of the decisions we made in the past.
I don’t know why I keep turning to the past when I’m confused in the present. I guess it’s just a reflex, the “What the f__k did I do to get to this point in my life” question just keeps popping up in my subconscious every time I have time to think. Usually this happens on the way to, or way home from, work. The solitary commute gets me thinking, if i did this, or didn’t do this, would I not be on this mrt home alone?
Saying “I’m only human.” would not only be a cliche, it would also be a huge cop out. I am a thinking being (well, sometimes) and I have made most of my decisions without the urging of others. Sometimes I make them at the direct opposition of others smarter than me, or sometimes they just have a better perspective I guess. But when it comes to things concerned with feelings or even the four letter word I won’t even mention right now, I am an idiot. That I admit. I think. I reason. I know what will happen in the end. And even if I know I’ll be bruised and battered in the end, I soldier on. Coz I’m all about the short game. What will make me happy in the present, who gives a flying fig what will happen after that.
But I digress.
I am giving up the ghost. All the ghosts. Moving on, letting go of the past. Coz that’s just what it is. The past.
Bring on the future. 😛
A triumphant return to The Chocolate Kiss Cafe and a round of blissful durian from Tito Monching
So after mass on Sunday, we just had to head to Chocolate Kiss to try out the new menu and to really check if that Sunday was a fluke. Of course we had to go, I love the place too much to write it off. So with excitement and a bit of trepidation we ordered. I had the ribs (again), Joannaman had the new Shrimp Aligue Pasta, Mom had the Margerita, Esther had the salisbury steak.
We were all pretty happy with our orders, the ribs i got were back to the nice flavorful easy to eat ribs I remember, Joannaman liked the new aligue pasta, albeit she felt the effect of the rich aligue afterwards. Esther could eat anything, and even ate everything since we couldn’t finish our orders. Mom raved about her pasta, it was simple and tangy and she loved that. I’m happy to report that THAT Sunday was a fluke and i am back to being a Chockiss regular. I wanna try all the new things on the menu.
Last night I was in bliss. Dad came home from Batangas bearing stinky gifts from Davao. Apparently Tito Monching, one of his best friends brought home durian from Davao. I know how people react to durian, it’s either they hate it with a passion or they love it. I happen to be one of the latter. The stinkier the better I say. And since the package stank to high heaven I was excited at the promise of the rich goodness of the fruit I hardly get to eat. One, it’s quite pricey. Two, you can’t exactly find it just anywhere, and three, if you do find it, all the people on the public transportation you’re gonna ride home in will resent the fact that you did. So the only time I get to eat it is at home, when one of the parental units bring home some.
The first bite brought almost a choir of hallelujah to my ears, I missed it so. Its rich, sweet, sinful and oh so smelly flesh is an experience to say the least. The fact that only Mom and I could stand it was sweet sweet victory (More for me yay!) and i savored every bite.
So if you haven’t tried the stinky prickle covered fruit from down under, i suggest you do. You might find you like it. And if you don’t I’ll give you my address. Send me the rest. 🙂
Food trips with the girls…ehem.. boys.
So last week was a slow task week at User Experience. Me being the masochist I am, I browsed my favorite local food blog all those days, which is my own special brand of self-torture. And even if it was Dessert Comes First I found myself craving for a slice of steak. Although I could not afford the place that she went to, (Elbert’s, looks blissful but way above my price range) I went searching for a different place to indulge my craving for a slice of red meat.
After a day of research and finding out our salary just came in, we (RC, Kiko, Ren and me) went straight to Alfredo’s in Tomas Morato after work. I was thinking, simple, in my price range, and mom recommended ever since I can remember. True I may not agree with my mom on some food recommendations (turns out I am not a fan of churros), this we agreed on. Got the Mediterranean spiced one, Ren got the same, Kiko got the Chateaubriand and RC went meateater on us and got the 300 gram tenderloin. Loved that each order of the steak came with bread, soup and a salad. I also had to get an iced tea to wash all the meat down, and funnily enough, their iced tea blend tasted like Cyma’s iced tea, which I love. We were all pretty happy with our orders. On the waiter’s suggestion we all had it medium rare so it was still a little pink in the middle, and true enough it was the perfect texture, just done enough so I don’t feel like a lion gnawing on raw meat, but tender so i don’t need to chew for a couple of minutes just to gulp it down.
So after that I realize I am a major meat eater. And I’m craving steak all the time now. More than sweets now really. With the voice inside my head telling me to cut down on the sugar, how can you crave it 24/7 still?
But since Kozui, the green tea place people were telling me to try, was like a brief walk from Alfredo’s and Kiko was saying it was good, we still went for dessert. Ordered the Anmitsu at the recommendation of the waiter, we sat down and enjoyed our Japanese version of halo halo. It was good good good. Not too sweet. And did i say yet that I love green tea ice cream? (Green tea frap too, but that’s besides the point) It was so good I was telling the guys that we should go back the next day.
That was the 14th.
On the 16th, we didn’t feel like going home yet, so Kiko RC and I went to Tomas Morato again. This time we went to Jozu, this Japanese place in front of Guilly’s island. The sushi menu looked good so we (Kiko and me) tried that. RC tried their yakisoba. Kiko and I were happy. RC wasn’t. Haha. So we went to Wheatberry, this bakery cafe he was telling me about for ages to soothe his annoyed highness. RC got the silvannas, Kiko got apple pudding, I got cheesecake. Can i just say I wasn’t surprised that my order was the sweetest of the bunch? But i was really surprised I couldn’t finish it. It took a long time, and a lot of bites from RC before the slice was gone.
Then went over to Ren’s to annoy the heck out of him. He was out of the office for two days coz he got sick coz of something he ate. After that, went back to Kozui. Split an ice cream.
Now this is the kind of hangout I missed. And also the reason why I need to go back to the gym.
The Borrowed Time theory
Maybe I’ve been single too long, maybe I’ve just been looking at the negative side of relationships too often, or maybe I’m just a freak who takes her friendships too seriously, but the other day I came up with the borrowed time theory while on the way home from work.
What is the Borrowed Time Theory? Well it’s this idea of mine that the time our friends spend with us is only borrowed time from their significant others. Like for instance, they can only hang out with friends coz they have no plans with their SO. Or the fact that some people have to “ask permission” from their SO to go out with their friends.
Is it that ridiculous to think this?
Maybe yes, but I’ve heard the “I can’t go, we have a date.” reason quite a lot, for several years now. Maybe this is why I sometimes get jealous of my friends’ time with other people when they’re too busy for me. You have to admit I have a bit of a point. Coz a person with an SO always considers that person as their first priority, with friends coming a distant second, or third if you count family).
What is the upside to this theory? For those people who believe it, their SO can rest assured that they are the first priority in that person’s life (plus, no need for jealous fits or fights coz they know the aforementioned fact).
Perhaps this is why I’ve never been the jealous type when it comes to a SO, but when it comes to my friends I’m this paranoid eejit.
And to all those I call my friends, sorry. Hahaha.
Happy birthday esther!
Jason, our family pet (he keeps insisting he’s my brother, whatever hahahaha.) Turns 20 today. That’s 20 years of my life i’ll never get back. And why esther? Long story. Just greet the person in the picture if you run into him in the street).
Overkill
There I stood. Agape at the audacity of what was happening in front of me. I thought, “So this is what pure unalduterated pain feels like”. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. I didn’t know how to react. So I ran. I ran to escape the humiliation of breaking down in public. I hid, as girls often do, in the safe haven of the ladies room as I tried to compose myself. And like a scene from a bad soap opera or a b-movie, I stared at myself in front of the mirror and let the tears flow, cursing my fate.
When i could finally breathe without wheezing, I stopped. I realized I was the victim of a hell of my own making. I wanted to be there. Nobody held a gun to my face to go. Told myself to suck it up, be an adult and face the consequences of my decisions. So I splashed water on my face, redid my makeup and walked out smiling, hoping no one could see the traces of a momentary loss of composure.
Then he reached out and hugged me. Suddenly everything was worth it.
Fiction. 🙂
Happy birthday bo!
The princess of Team Gastos who’s half gangsta half diva turns 23 today. Happy birthday!
So are we having blueberry cheesecake? hahaha.