Day 30 - Food > Eclipse

At the Cash&Carry Food Court

Tickets to the movie Eclipse were sold out in Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 1 and 3, and even in Cash & Carry, a mostly low-key mall in Makati. So my best friend E and I consoled ourselves with eating at the food court.

Amazingly, later that afternoon, another friend (whose name coincidentally also starts with E) texted me and said that she had extra tickets to Eclipse at the Mall of Asia. So off I went and got to watch the movie for free! :D It was pretty good. The best one out of all the Twilight movies, not to mention that it's also the funniest. Seriously, I cannot get enough of Jacob telling Edward, "Let's face it. I am hotter than you!"

P.S. BTW, this is the day of the inauguration of our country's new president, hence, it was declared a holiday, and gave us all time to watch a movie on a weekday.

Day 29 - Cure for Depression

BROWNIE A'LA MODE - from nearby Pancake House AKA a home away from home comfort zone

I cannot thank the universe enough for giving one of my best friends J a job at an office near mine. Whenever one of us feels sad, we meet and talk about things (or even just gossip haha) over delicious dessert at a nearby eating place.

It occurs to me only now that chocolate/ice cream to girls is what alcohol is to guys?

Day 28 - CR

Watched Knight & Day at Glorietta 4 with officemate L. Movie finished past 10PM and this restroom was closed. :( We had to go up another floor just to use a CR.

Day 27 - Grandfather's Clock

My grandfather has been staying with us for the past few days. He's sleeping in my brother's room, so my brother is sleeping in my room. And I'm sleeping on the couch in our living room. This is my view when I wake up.

BTW, that clock hasn't been working for the last couple of years. We tried to get it repaired but it stopped working again after only 2 weeks. We've stopped trying so now it's just for decoration. Its ticking sound was kind of creepy anyway.

Day 26 - Apples and Oranges

LUNCH - Because I'm overweight and desperate, I decided to eat only fruits for lunch.

Thought I'd try a fruit and liquid diet today, so I only ate apples and oranges for lunch. The diet lasted for about... 4 hours. I couldn't resist the steamed corn that was prepared for merienda and turbo chicken for dinner. Although, after this experience, I'm now inclined to think that a fruit and liquid diet isn't so bad. Admittedly, this plate looks pretty good. :)

Day 25 - Creepy Neighbors

Nah, we don't actually have creepy neighbors. I just thought that their house was creepy when I passed by it on my way home from work today. I passed by a little past midnight (So yes, this technically counts as my photo for June 25) and noticed that only a faint light from the lamp post reached it. Even creepier is the fact that they have sampaguita* in their front yard so when I took this photo, I could smell the sweet scent of flowers.

*sampaguita - Philippine National Flower

Day 24 - Chocolate Fire Strawberries

STRAWBERRIES DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE - From Chocolate Fire, a restaurant/chocolate bar in Makati

Met up with a friend M today. Had lunch @ Chocolate Fire. Totally unplanned. Basically, I met her at her office building lobby, and we walked to the nearest nice-looking restaurant we could find. Had no idea what to order and ended up choosing a random pasta (which did not taste so good) and a ham and cheese sandwich (which tasted very good, but I think is too expensive). Fortunately, these chocolate-dipped strawberries we had for dessert were extremely yummy so it stayed a happy experience. :) Definitely want to go back again and try more of their chocolate stuff.

BTW, we saw a "celebrity" while we were here. Won't name names, but she's one of the twins who used to go to my school and got semi-famous when they were in college.

Day 23 - The Neighbor's Kid

KID AND YAKULT - M, the neighbor's kid, offering me a Yakult in our kitchen

I got home early today. So I got to hang out with the neighbor's kid who sometimes visits us during the afternoon. He's only 2 and 1/2 years old so he doesn't go to school yet. That means he doesn't have anything better to do. :P He's also afraid of our dog.

Day 22 - Cupcake

Brought a cupcake to the office today. My mom bought a box of these from the Food Expo in World Trade Center (Manila) that she and my aunt went to last Sunday. Masarap! :)

Day 21 - Today on Facebook

C, browsing her profile page on Facebook

Confession: I didn't actually take this picture. But my camera was used, so that should count, right? Anyway, picture was taken by my officemate R, earlier tonight just before we all went home. We had so much fun teasing C because her "crush" (Are we childish or what?!) added her in Facebook.

Oh Facebook. You just make so many things happen.

P.S. I'm finally posting on time! Haha! But after this, I probably won't update until the next weekend. Oh well.

Day 20 - Construction On Going

Sign on the fence that prevents people from entering the football field, or former football field where I used to go to school

After attending mass at the chapel of my former school, we were on the way to where my dad parked our car when I saw this sign. The football field is undergoing some kind of maintenance. I have no idea what's going to happen to it, and I'm also curious about where the kids are having their track and field activities. Hasn't school started yet?

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Part of the High School Building can be seen in the background. And something else unrelated: Why don't signs have punctuation marks?

Day 19 - After the Toss

June 19, 2010 newspaper on the floor of the front of our house, after the paperboy tossed it over the gate

I left the house early Saturday morning to watch a basketball game. This was the first thing I saw as soon as I stepped out of the house. It was one of those rare times that I actually woke up early enough that no one else had seen the paper yet to pick it up.

Day 18 - Paradise v.1

New notebooks in the bookstore

You know how some people say that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth? Well, National Bookstore* is my Disneyland. Notebooks are my favorite, but I love other school/office supplies, too such as pens, coloring materials, post-its and well, basically everything that can be found in a bookstore. I took this picture while waiting for my friends at lunch time.

*National Bookstore - one of the more famous bookstores in the Philippines

Day 17 - Secret Meal

Black-peppered chicken from Secret Recipe, Bonifacio Global City

I actually forgot to take a picture again for this day, and took this one before eating my dinner.

Day 16 - Coffee and Donuts

Close-up of the paper cup of my Dunkin' Donuts coffee

Playing around with the macro fnction of the camera, plus the font for "Coffee" is pretty cool. If the cliche of cops eating donuts and drinking with coffee is true, then I must've been a cop in my past life since it's one of my favorite breakfast combinations. :)

Day 15 - Wall Advertisement

Painting on the side of the wall of Sujivana Salon, Westgate, Alabang

Tuesday night my parents and I went to dinner with a friend from New Zealand at Kanin Club in Westgate, Alabang. I took this picture just before we went inside the restaurant because I thought the painting was cool.

Day 14 - Caution

Caution tape along the sidewalk near our office building to prevent people from falling as it is currently being "improved".

I took this picture out of boredom while waiting for the bus. Since today was a non-working holiday for most people, buses didn't come by as often as they usually did. Actually, despite the long wait, I still ended up taking a taxi. But that's another story.

Day 13 - Dirty Socks

SOCKS IN A BASKET - My brothers' socks, completely forgotten

I'd completely forgotten to take a picture for today, hence this random photo of my brothers' socks, in our newspaper basket. He took them off when we got home and placed them there "temporarily", but got distracted when he started playing with our dog. I thought it was a funny sight, and I needed a picture before the day was over, so dirty socks it is for 13th Photo of the Day.

Day 12 - Happy Independence Day

RIGHT: One of my officemates, J holding 2 Philippine flags. They were given to him for free

after buying some medicine from

a clerk in Mercury Drug whom at the spur of the moment, he greeted "Happy Independence Day!"

LEFT: We put the flag outside the car window for a while. We had to take it down because of the noise, and also, we were afraid for it to get blown by the wind and be gone forever.

The picture on the right was taken at Shangri-la Plaza, where I had lunch with my officemates.

The picture on the left, I took when we were driving along EDSA, on our way home.

Day 11 - Past Midnight

2:09AM. Extreme close-up of our office timekeeper.

I was in the office from Thursday afternoon until Friday early morning because my brother, who was supposed to pick me up at midnight, got held up for some reason. He didn't get to my office until a little after 2AM, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but is still pretty strange when you think about it.

I took this picture right after I signed out and just before I left.

Day 10 - Pre-Fathers' Day Bonding

Dad, looking at the exhibit in Market! Market!* about the significant Pinays in history

Thursday morning I went to the dentist at 10AM and my dad waited until my appointment finished because his meeting with a friend wasn't until 1:30PM. We went to the mall afterwards to have lunch and coffee.

This picture was taken just before we took our lunch. We passed by the display and figured we might as well check out the entire exhibit. It's for free anyway, and it was literally just there in the middle of the mall. I found out that my dad believes that the Philippines is mostly a matriarchal society, and were it not for the Westerners who came here, we probably would've remained that way.

*Market! Market! is a mall in Taguig City

Day 9 - Frozen Brazo de Mercedes

My brother J, his girlfriend M, and what's left of the cake they brought.

There is a house in San Lorenzo Village in Makati, which makes the most delicious Brazo de Mercedes cake I've ever tasted. I think the secret is in the vanilla ice cream and graham cracker crust, which isn't present in usual Brazo de Mercedes cakes. Yummy.

Picture was taken in the dining room at home, at nearly midnight, after they'd fetched me from my work, which ends at 10:30PM. We also passed by Jollibee drive thru before this midnight snack.

BTW, they asked me what this picture was for and when I said it was for my 365 Project, J said, "Yuck! Mainstream ka na ngayon?!"

I didn't know this project was so mainstream until he said it. But actually, I think the mainstream-ness of this has passed, and since I've already said my reasons as to why I'm doing this, I don't think people will believe that this is just because I want to keep up with what everyone's doing. Most everyone I know knows that I was never that kind of person anyway.

Day 8 - Core Group Bonding

TREATS FROM THE NEWBIE - (L-R) My core groupmates P, L & T @ Red Ribbon, Stopover, Bonifacio Global City

We were able to convince our newest member P to treat us to merienda as a celebration of receiving her first salary from our company. We were able to bond with her a little, too on this occasion we call "core group bonding", which is basically an excuse to eat merienda, but actually a fun bonding moment as well. I do believe that you need to get to know your officemates on a personal level, even just a little bit, for you to be able to work well together.

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This is also the first picture I took for this project where I used an actual camera (my Olympus mjuTough 6020) and not just my cellphone camera. Hence, the better quality of the picture. Hopefully my next ones will be just as clear.

Day 7 - KC's Official Last Day

PIZZA PARTY! - (L-R) RC, KC, M and Shakey's Pizza

We had a farewell dinner the Friday before but the team wasn't complete and it was just a dinner. Today was the real farewell party, where we gave KC gifts (scrapbook and a pillow) and reminisced about our fondest memories with her.

I nearly cried when she said what she did about me---that we were the soulmates in the team because we were the only 2 people who liked the same stuff (e.g. anime, non-mainstream books, talking to ourselves, etc.) I'm really going to miss her. :( She was one of the few people in the office who didn't give me strange looks whenever I would use a quote from Star Trek to describe a certain situation.

Day 6 - Sunday

The Crucifix @ St. Benedict Chapel, Alabang

For the first Sunday of my 365 Project, I'd like to share a picture of the crucifix of the chapel that my family usually hears mass in. It's in the school where I attended elementary and high school.

I'm biased of course, but I really think it's the most beautiful crucifix I've seen. It's quite unique, albeit the proportion isn't realistc. The limbs are too long, but what I love about it is that the cross is made of colored glass, which is common for a church/chapel, but it's only in that one where I've seen it used in that way.

Day 5 - The Artsy Friend

DRINKS & MOVIES - E with a sake cocktail mix @ Sumo Sam, Shangri-la Mall

Sometimes, an artsy friend will invite me (or I will invite him/her) to a free screening of a movie with subtitles. This time, it's E and the French Film Fest, which from its poster had me thinking that the theme was romantic movies, but turned out to include some real confusing films with undiscernable plots. Still, I had a fun time exchanging stories and trying out strange food and drinks from Sumo Sam's menu with a friend who shares an interest for non-Hollywood/mainstream movies. I particularly enjoyed her anecdote about watching Sex and the City 2, how she and her friend passed the time before the last full show by drinking alcohol and feeling all groggy by the time the movie started.

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On an unrelated note, I really should start bringing my real camera to take better photos.

Day 4 - Hello/Goodbye

Kampai w/ water glasses @ UCC, Burgos Circle, Bonifacio Global City

A recently resigned officemate KC, returned to the office to collect her things. Her resignation wasn't related to any office issues at all, but was because of a family emergency, which made it even sadder, because we know it's not because of us that she's leaving. I know we look like we're happy here, but we're really going to miss her. :(

Farewell dinner at UCC because it was the only place that could accommodate all 12 of us w/o reservations on a Friday evening. Glass on foreground is mine.

Day 3 - Sick Day

Our dog Brigham and his lunch

I felt ill yesterday night on the way home because of a splitting headache. So today I spent the day at home. I got to play with our dog, who we finally decided will be called Brigham (my brother's idea). He looks like a real dog now, as opposed to the chubby puppy he was just a few weeks ago. He's only 4 months old.

Picture was taken at the back of our house, right after our lunch, and just before his.

Day 2 - SATC Day

One of my bffs, J.

June 2, 2010 - Just another day for guys, but for us girls, it's the day for Sex and the City 2. J and I coordinated our "busy" schedules so we could watch it. We were supposed to see it in Alabang Town Center, and I was supposed to title this entry SATC @ ATC, but practicality made us see it in Market! Market! (this is the name of a mall) instead, which is alright. The cinemas there aren't bad, except for the seats which are a bit too low.

The movie wasn't bad. But it wasn't great either. It didn't really have a story. Critics have called it several bad names, but I think fans like us will still enjoy it, if only for the larger than life costumes and funny quips. :)

Anyway, I took this picture outside Market! Market! while we were waiting for my parents to pick us up. Gosh, that sounds horribly childish, doesn't it? Let me explain: My parents have a badminton game every MWF and they finish quite late, so when it's MWF and I'm out late, it just makes more sense to catch a ride with them rather than to commute home, even if I can. And J's house is near ours so she went with us, too.

Day 1 - Calendar Gift

June

Since this project was conceived in the middle of the working day in the middle of the work week (well, semi-middle, it's Tuesday), I'll be starting with a hastily taken photograph of my desk calendar at work.
It does come with a somewhat interesting story. This calendar is one of many that was given to me by my best friend E. The company who printed it is a client of the company he works for, and they were given several copies, I suppose as a Christmas giveaway. He gave me one of the packages (I didn't count how many calendars there were in one package) and after taking one, I gave the rest away to the people in the office. The result is that all of my friends at work have this calendar on their desks, and I'm reminded of E everyday.
I even came up with a quote: Kung ayaw mong maalala kita araw-araw, 'wag kang magregalo ng kalendaryo.
I'm thinking of making it my Facebook status one day.
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Ironically, I am starting this 365 Project because I'm on a quest to forget all about E. And I say it's ironic because I'm starting with a photo that reminds me of him. But I am starting it this June 1, the first day we said we won't see each other anymore. Well, I've never been much for plans, and I really just want to see how this goes, what will come out of it, if I'm able to actually stick to it.
One photo a day. It doesn't seem that hard, does it? And two of my friends are also doing their 365 Projects this year. One friend, is already on Day 151. So here's hoping. Wish me luck. :)