Perfectly Pleasant Picnic Day

So, my friends and I planned to have a picnic today. Lily and I bought chicken wings and 24 hamburger patties. 24...we were so ready for a party. Woohoo!!! Then we got to the park, and found out that it will be a party indeed. A party for three!!! For a second there, we considered firing up the grill, but then we thought better and settled with just the wings. We were stuffed anyway! It was so nice just hanging out with Lily and Charlotte, sitting on a straw mat underneath a deciduous tree. It was such a great day indeed (except for some weird folks working out under the hot humid sun) and it was just perfect timing because by the time we left the park and got home, a crazy thunderstorm erupted out of nowhere!!! The storm lasted for about 15 mins tops and it was nice and sunny again. So bizarre. But what makes this day even better than any other day is that I finally found shoes for the wedding. Yay!!! And it was on sale to boot! Man, if only everyday works perfectly imperfectly like this one =)

A Day of Leisure

So I was supposed to get the basement cleaned today...well, I did manage to get rid of some stuff but the place still ressembles a storage room -- my room looks even worse. However, I did manage to finish my first novel (complements of Shani) of the summer. I also watched "Got 2 Believe" a Filipino Romance-Comedy flick. It was actually pretty good and had funny parts. Sigh, all this romantic stuff I've been reading, watching or listening to has gotten me all in the mood for love...(hearing beats from Grease) summer lovin' tralalalalala...

Anyway, while I was watchin the movie I realized how nice it is when people say "I love you" in their own native tongue. When the guy in the movie said "Mahal Kita" versus "I love you" it sounded so much better and seemed more sincere than the latter. Yeah, so now I definitely agree that saying "I love you" is overdone by people whose first language isn't English. So, for all you multicultural lovers out there, don't be afraid to say how you feel in the language/dialect that you are most comfortable with. The chances are, even if your partner cannot understand the words you're saying, they will understand EXACTLY what you're feeling.

As an aside, my cousin's wife Ate Rose just gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Congratulations to Kuya Jeremy and his family!!! I wish I could be there to see the beautiful mother and daughter. O sige...panghuli na yan ha! hehehehee. **MWAH**

Shop and Talk and Talk and Talk and Talk

So I went shopping again. I was supposed to buy myself a pair of shoes for my friend's wedding and instead I am now a proud owner of 3 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of slippers and a tshirt. Sigh. I knew I banned myself from the mall for a reason!I also saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith today...luved it! Brad Pitt is ofcourse, as hot as ever.

But, the past 2 days haven't been just about shopping...it's been about hanging out w/ my girl Vanessa and my cousin Shani. Catching up about books and boys with those two are always fun and well...time consuming. hehehe. Indeed it's times like these when I get to hang out with friends and family that I don't mind being back home again. Unfortunately, because I've been out and about, my room and the basement remains a mess. Which gives me a total of 3 days to get it cleared before my dad chucks my stuff into the garbage can. I guess...it's spring cleaning for me tomorrow!

Convocation

So, I am now an official Bachelors of Science degree holder. It doesn't feel any different. I know I've told many people that I didn't want to go to convocation (mostly because I wanted to extend my trip in the Philippines) but I'm glad that I came. It was so nice seeing everyone again as a group one last time. It was cool hearing about what people have done for the past 2 months and what they're planning to do in the future. So many are going off to further education, may it be for grad school, college or professional school. Enough people are engaged to be married. Still, many of us don't really have any concrete plans for the future, looking for possible employment, or just bumming around. Looking around me, I couldn't help but feel a little sad to know that I probably would not see many of the people that were there. After convocation, I came over Lisa's place and chatted with her landlady, Marybeth, maybe for the last time in a long time. I shall miss her, she was very nice. Then I had dinner with Lisa, Sorin and Steve. They're all heading to the west coast after this and I will not see them in a long time. I shall miss them a lot. For old time sake, we bought some wine and brought it over at Charlotte's bro's place where I was to stay for the night. There we played "who can get the cork in the can" game. Steve won, and I told him he has to keep the "convocation can" until we meet again and can compete for it once more. Later on, many of us went to Starlight Friday Funk night. The music was alright, but it was the people that made it fun. It was so awesome to hang out w/ the Charlie's Angels, Neena and Charlotte again. Despite all the antics that have happened, it was nice to see everyone together just like old times. It was funny how today I actually got to see some of my old time crushes...like Jason, my frosh leader, the only reason why I even attended the frosh week events. I can't believe he's now an optometrist. Wow! The cute boy have brains! It was also amazing that I saw Trevor and Matt. The funny thing is...none of them are as cute as they used to be. It is definitely time to move on. Hahahaha!

As much as I'd hate to admit this, I will miss Waterloo very much. I will miss the laidback days, late nights, and just having my friends a short distance away. I wonder where everyone will be 5 years from now...I guess that's what email is for.

Oh, we also had dinner at Mandarin with the family and friends to celebrate my Graduation. Yummy food as usual!

Home Sweet Home

So I got back home Sunday night. VP and I lined up at the slowest custom line ever. Grrr. It was kinda cool how Bern's mom was in the same flight as us so we chatted it up a bit. The plane ride itself was alright. However, I am quite jet lagged now. Been living like a vampire. I miss philippines soo much. Chaos at home as usual. At least it's nice and hot outside. My bro finally shaved his face after letting the beard grow for a week or so. Naninibago talaga ako. It's weird speaking in english again. Got used to Taglish. hehehe. Wish I was back in the islands...oh well, can't have all we want now can w =(

Last Night in the Philippines

I don't want to leave yet. Last night, the family went to Baywalk where I met up with Jen, Myra and Mitzi Rose. It was hilarious. Out of boredom, we tried to pick up the keyboardist of the band we were listening to. He ended text messaging me thinking that I was Jen...it was a hoot. Too bad Mitzi had to work the next day, and well, I'm leaving soon. Our time together was too short indeed. The family had a good time as well. Tito Rod and Tito Roland were caught drinking beer outside the bars and almost got ticketed by a cop. Good thing they were able to talk him out of it. Before heading home, we passed by a GOTO place and I had a yummy siopao. Then they went to go buy fresh fish...I couldn't believe that people did this so early in the morning! Because of the early morning shopping spree, the food at tonight's party was so good. Everybody came and had a good time. It was nice seeing the family get together without drama. Unfortunately, Kuya Jeremy couldn't make it coz Ate Rose was not feeling well and he didn't want to risk going out especially since she is due to give birth any day now. My cousins Kuya Chris and gang and Kuya Gandy couldn't make it either. Which is okay coz at least I got to hang out with them at least once during this trip.

Man...I am so not ready to go home. There are so many things I wanted to do and so many places that I wanted to visit that I haven't yet. Then again, it's probably a good time to go since VP and I have completely ran out of cash. I am so going to miss everyone so much. Going to miss hanging out with Alyssa and Eya, talking to Ate Jane, seeing my friends, chilling with Dette, Jason and Kenneth, playing with Millicent and the kids, eating the good food, shopping like crazy and even sweating buckets!!! Everyone's been asking me when I'll be able to come back again...who knows? I guess it will have to be after I already know what I'll be doing for the rest of my life -- and that could be a while.

Paalam Pilipinas. I shall miss you too much until we meet again!

Stolen Moments

What can I say about the past few days? Amazing? Unbelievable? Surreal? Definitely not what I would have expected.

On tuesday, I went met up with Jen and Myra at SM Harisson Plaza in Malate. I was surprised to see that while Myra who used to be tiny has grown, Jen didn't. It was totally cool how despite the years of not seeing each other and the occasional emails, we still get along so well. After lunch, we rode the MRT and LRT (fun trains) to Cubao where we hung out at GateWay Mall, a new and really nice shopping mall. Afterwards, they were so nice as to help me get to Golden Meadows where I was to stay for the night.

There is only one word that would describe the next couple of days -- crazy. It is way too personal and complicated to even regurgitate the events online but all I'm going to say is that I haven't felt this good in a long time. I shall miss Queenie and her getting picked up by random weird guys in the bar. Hahaha. I will miss Tita Ninay, she is too sweet and funny. My cousin Jaymie -- I am so glad I was able to hang out with her even for just a short time. Most of all, I shall miss Tristan -- our long talks, crazy antics and comfortable companionship that is hard to come by.

Baguio City

It's a trend. Whenever the family gets together, there's bound to be chaos. The trip started out being pleasant, we were all ready to have a good time. Then drama happened Friday night after people got drunk and said things that they shouldn't have said. Ate Jane and family ended up leaving. However, despite their absence and the constant rain, the rest of the trip was awesome. I went shopping galore! We also went to horseback riding which was fun even though mine and Millicent's horse refused to run. On our last day in the city, we went on a rowboat ride at Burnham Park. It was pouring out which made it extra fun because they didn't care whether we had the boats out longer than we should. VP and Gilbert rowed most of the time and we tried to keep on hitting other boats. It was a hoot! Late that night, or I should say early morning, Kenneth's van broke down. We were already so far away from them and had to go back to help. Good thing Tito Rod knew his vehicles.

This trip has been eventful indeed. It would have been more fun if I got a hold of my friends Sherwin and Arjay who lives in Baguio. Oh well. Maybe next time. Tomorrow I'm meeting it up with Jen and Myra, a couple of my classmates from elementary school. I can't wait to see them. It's been a long time = 12 years to be exact!

Bye Bye Ate!!!

My sister left for Canada today. Going to Quezon on monday was fun even though we only stayed for a few hours. Sheena and Rankin are all grown up and Tita Delia is a sweet as ever. On tuesday, Ate Jane, Ate, Tito Rod, VP, Gilbert and I went shopping at Divisoria. I got so pissed at my sister coz we spent the whole time waiting for her but when it was my turn to shop, she kept on rushing me. Grrr. That night we went to Tito Roland's place to have dinner coz according to Ate, they talked about it. However, when we got there Tito Roland wasn't prepared at all because she didn't confirm the plans with her. So we just ordered some lechon manok. It was still real good anyway. Last night, everyone came over to party it up one last time. I tried singing videoke, but the mics weren't working properly. I swear it was the mic and not my voice! hahahha. It was also cool that Kuya Chris and the gang were able to make it even though they came after everybody else has already left. I am so not looking forward to the time when VP and I will have our Despedida party. I don't want to think about leaving yet because I know I shall miss everyone so much.


Tonight the whole family is packing up and driving up to Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines. It's going to be loads of fun!!!