road(food)trip

Office went to Subic for GAD.Hehehe. Then we, E and M and I, went to Baguio for the weekend. Didn't have my camera and too lazy to whip out my phone to take pictures all the time. But I did manage to get some.

M picked E and I from our Subic hotel around 2. Then we had a rolling tour (hahaha) of Subic and ate a late lunch at Meatplus. (super diet fail!)

Drove to Baguio. (Good thing M super likes driving and didn't need relieving from me and E, ehehehe)

Dinner at 50's Diner where I had their cheeseburger and fries.  Cheeseburger was as big as a dinner plate. And which I totally enjoyed eating, nevermind the cheese and mayo and ketchup and mustard dripping down my chin. With real chunky potato wedges.  Didn't order a milkshake anymore and just stuck with water. Went to sleep at around 11pm, (kasi super akong napuyat the previous night, thanks to R and his antics).

Late kami lahat nagising the next day. So Saturday morning was spent touring around the city. But it was more of a searching for the following restaurants: (guys, use google na lang, I'm feeling too lazy to link na.)

Cafe by the Ruins - where we had breakfast. M and E had the mami, I had the kalabasa soup. SUPER YUMMY.

We walked around Burnham park awhile. then went to maharlika and block (black?) market for pasalubong shopping. We bought lots of walis!

O' Mai Khan for lunch.  M and E had mongolian eat all you can. I had Kublai's dream. butterfly pork topped with ham and eggs. Cholesterol!!!

Then we went to mines view park and the botanical gardens. Waiting for E to upload the photos talaga.

Then coffee at THE Manor. Window shopping at mile high (oh my star-spotting pa. E sino nga ulet yon kasama ni geoff eigenman?)

View from the Manor courtyard. Sitting at their loungers, hihihi.

Close-up of the sign there.  I'm like, "duh!" Madami siguro tumatalon.

Inside the Manor coffeeshop:

View from the courtyard, twilight na. I love the sky.

Then oh my gulay the next day. View from the resto.  Interior shots are in E's camera.

 Kasi nga, I love the sky.

Nag-Good Shepherd pa pala kami for more of pasalubong shopping.
Kumain din pala kami sa Isdaan on our way home. :))
I love SCTEX!. 

O, be careful tomorrow. It's April Fools!

Date me, I read.

I found this beautiful article on why you should date a girl who reads from http://melodygodfred.com/

 Anyway, I took the opportunity to copy the article below:

“Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.


Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.“

I don't always drive my car to the office

because if I did, I'd miss declarations like this in the office shuttle:

"Hindi ko naman sya minahal para mahalin nya ako!"
("I didn't love him for him to love me back!")

From a 40-something officemate talking about her "crush" at the office!

Oh, to be in love!

realization

with great power comes great responsibility*

 IF

knowledge is power**

THEN

with great knowledge comes great responsibility

Anyway, since I very rarely claim to have any great knowledge, this really doesn't bother me. :)) except when I'm feeling the weight of responsibility!

*Uncle Ben in Spiderman, but words to that effect are also attributed to FDR, and the Bible (to whom much is given, much will be expected)

** Sir Francis Bacon

TMI

My friend and I were general cleaning her kitchen.  As she was struggling to put on a pair of heavy duty cleaning rubber gloves over a pair of latex surgical gloves, she commented:

"This must be how my boyfriend feels like when I tell him to use two condoms."

LOL!

The first time I saw you was at a christmas party given by a mutual friend.  You were crossing the room and I remember just having my attention grabbed by the way you moved and the way you smiled at people you passed.  I instantly noticed the confidence with which you shook hands and smiled into people's eyes.  I was across the room and you stood out for me like a spotlight shone on you and you alone.  I think my jaw may have dropped in those moments.

I later learned that you were in the same line as me and that we would be working on a project together. What followed were four glorious months of seeing you everyday, working in close quarters, practically living each minute with each other.  The thrill of encountering a problem and the relief that comes with surmounting each and every obstacle that inevitably arose when implementing a project of that size.

Nothing developed in those four months, except the recognition that our intellect were somewhat synchronized.  We liked the same kind of books and the same type of food. We enjoyed the same type of movies. But we differed in the type of activities for stress-relief. Ours was a companionable relationship.  It worked because we were both supremely confident and extremely laid back.

I hope this is the last time

Hi! My first entry for March and I'm afraid it's going to be dramatic and whiny. Sorry but it needs to be said and it needs to be flushed out of my system.  I've said that I needed to start anew (for the nth time, I know) and I need a clean slate.  Yes, I know I always  always end up starting anew and sometimes I feel that I haven't been learning anything.  But other times, I pat myself on the back and say, "hey, that was really grown up" or "wow, you're getting better at this"  By "this", of course, is the art of letting go.

Anyway, if I'm going to move on, then I guess I'm going to have to say goodbye to certain activities and friends which haven't proven to be good for me. You won't know who you are.

I've always formed attachments quickly.  Be nice to me and share a semblance of a common interest and I consider you my friend.  But commitments, in a romantic sense, are a real problem for me.  It's always been either not my type, guy's moving to fast, or I'm just plain scared.  Unfortunately, when circumstances unite that I'm interested, and even willing to NOT be scared and try with the guy, the guy isn't interested.  It would be funny if it weren't such a tragedy. bleargh.  Which is why when relationships do work, I get so happy and lose myself.

Sometimes, I hold on to the relationship just for the sake of having one. Sorry, but it happens. But this time, WITH YOU, I'm not holding on, for the sake of having.  I genuinely feel that it would work between us.  I feel comfortable with you and I love you.  You have always been my confidante. I've always been able to make you laugh!  Unfortunately, you've stopped loving me, I think a couple of years ago.  Ok, so it was my fault and I messed up.  But I've been trying to make up for it.  But you don't want to work it out anymore.  I know you said you forgive me, but it has never been the same since. And you've found someone else.  Your choice, by the way, hurts in a hundred different ways. Small cuts big cuts, but you're smart enough not to totally devastate me, you're just drawing out the torture and you know I won't do anything about it.

It's sometimes funny, that I'm really smart about a lot of things, but relationships stump me. So, I'm a complete dork at it but I try to console myself that I've never deliberately hurt anyone.  I've always tried to be fair.  But, I can only give so many second chances.  My patience isn't infinite and my capacity for being hurt isn't all that high either.  Unfortunately, letting you go will probably hurt me more than it will hurt you. That sucks, but it just goes to show how uneven our relationships have been.

The past couple of weeks have been dedicated to you. It's my way of saying goodbye without actually saying goodbye. You and me started as a joke, but believe me, it has been REAL for me. So, because I'm such a coward I'd rather just fade away from your life instead of saying goodbye to you in person, I'll say it here:

Bye.