Day 38 - at 4:30 on 4/30

We "closed" another bar today, me and my musician friends. Their gig really started on April 29, but didn't end until the early morning of April 30. Lucky this bar closes at 4 a.m., though we still hung around outside until past that. I took this photo at 4:30. 4:30 on 4/30.

The name of this place is Today X Future, but my friends who are there all the time just call it "Future." Now I call it "Future," too and feel like such an insider. :P

Anyway, music stuff on the floor is property of my friends. And isn't that doorway so artsy.

Day 21 - Rainbow Cake

I didn't have to go to work today and it was the last day that my mom's voucher for Ace Water Spa was valid so I asked my friend J (who also didn't have work today) to come with me to the North*. As the activities in Ace Water Spa are guaranteed to make you hungry, I think it's lucky that it's in Kapitoylo, this area in Pasig where many interesting restaurants are located.

In this photo, J is smiling as bright as the rainbow cake in front of her, because we love cake and rainbows. :) We are in Epic Cafe where they have interesting cakes, yummy coffee, and cycling equipment for some reason. Anyway, it was my first time here and it's one of those places that makes me wish I didn't live so far away from it. I only felt that for a moment, though, because of course, as soon as I got home, I remembered how much #ILoveTheSouth. LOL. 'Eh 'di ako na loyal. :P

*Note: Anywhere I need to pass through the Skyway to get to, I already consider as "The North." Yes, that includes Makati and Taguig. (Pasig, in this case.)

Day 362 - Disney On Ice

Hooray for discounted tickets! E and I were able to watch Disney On Ice at the Araneta Coliseum this year. Incidentally, it's my first time to go to Araneta Coliseum ever. IKR?!

We enjoyed the show, but I think that it's really for kids, being semi-interactive and all. But I do think that after this, Pluto is now my favorite Disney character. Not that I had one before.

Anyway, it was a nice, happy time, which I was glad to spend with E. :)

Day 356 - At the Walk of Fame

Yet another requirement for our office Scavenger Hunt, is a photo of 3 members on our team with the star of Francis Magalona at the Walk of Fame in Eastwood. So yes, we South people went all the way to Eastwood to take this photo. And it was raining. And the floor was slippery. But in the end, we won the game, and we had a nice time together so it was all good! :)

Day 354 - 1110111211

No, the title of this post isn't binary. (Hence the #2 in it.) It's just that way because the last 3 days seemed to have meshed into just one very long day for me.

It really started on Thursday night when E asked me to join their paintball game on Friday morning. I said yes and because my shift in my new office ends at 5am, as soon as I got home, I just took a shower, threw some extra clothes in a bag and headed for Quezon City, where the paintball venue, La Mesa Eco Park, was. I know, it's so far, but I've never tried paintball before and I did have nothing planned for 11-11-11. And okay, going to the north is not that bad, as long as you have a good reason to go there.

Anyway, after the paintball game (which our team won!), we had lunch at SM Fairview. And it was my first time to step into SM Fairview ever. I never thought I'd ever see that mall, but you never really know where life's going to take you. And I know, going to a different SM branch is hardly a significant event in someone's life but, ano ba, mababaw lang ako.

After lunch, E and his officemates still had to work so after a quick shower at C's house, which is only a 5-minute drive from their office (Thanks so much C!), we went to their office, where I took this photo of them working. They looked like this for the next many hours, only slightly changing when they had a meeting and when we all ate dinner. So this was more or less how they looked from 2PM til midnight.

And after midnight, we decided to just sleepover at C's (Thanks so much! Again!) because it was too late to head 40km to the south.

We left C's house at around 7am on 11-12-11 and I got back home around 9am and only really slept properly at 12nn. So, yeah. November 10, 11 and 12, was one long day for me. Enjoyable of course, but still really long.

Day 249 - Garlic Potatoes

I was planning on going to SSS Diliman in Quezon City today because I finally had the approval of my application form from SSS Las Pinas, but I changed my mind because of the transport strike. Instead, I went to Quezon City to see The Lincoln Lawyer, play DotA, and foodtrip with my best friend E, who was only too happy to see me completely clueless in his turf. It was sort of his revenge for all the times I made him go to Alabang, which is kind of my turf.

Anyway, The Lincoln Lawyer was so-so. The twist at the end (or more like halfway) was okay, but I think it had too many characters and too much dialogue. Plus, what the heck happened to Josh Lucas? He was such a cutie in Sweet Home Alabama. In this movie, his face and role were more or less forgettable.

I played DotA for the first time and E told me about the basics. It made me realize how much of a non-gamer I am because despite the cool graphics and pretty entertaining (and easy) gameplay, I totally sucked and I just didn't get why it's as addictive as most gamers say it is.

On the way home, we passed by some food establishments and I'm going to go ahead and say that E and I really have different tastes. We both wanted a snack, but I bought a cupcake, and he bought a bowl of garlic potatoes, which is the food that's in the picture. They were both delicious, but in a completely different way. I'm actually not even sure if this qualifies as "foodtripping" because I think the cupcake shop and the garlic potato shop have been there for quite some time, but forgive me, SM North is about 50 kilometres from my house.

Day 233 - Sa Mga SS ID Applicants

In other words:

Utang na loob, 'wag na 'wag kayong magpupunta sa SSS Diliman nang wala pang approval ng SSS ID Application mula sa SSS Servicing Branch na malapit sa inyong tirahan. Lalung-lalo na, kapag ang inyong tirahan ay sa Las Piñas.

I guess you can pretty much guess what happened to me today.

And if you have ideas that you think could've improved my situation, keep it to yourself. I pretty much already made a fool of myself trying to convince the people in Diliman to allow me to freakin' file my application there instead of go all the way back to Las Piñas just to get an appointment to Diliman. But alas, it was to no avail.

I'd be more upset, except, on my way home I heard about the earthquake in Japan and suddenly this whole SSS thing became way irrelevant.

Day 91 - Eternal Gardens

Today is my grandmother's death anniversary so I went to the cemetery with my parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, and 2 of my nephews. That particular tombstone is the one beside that of my grandparents'. We come here at least once a year, but not during the usual time (in the Philippines, it's November 1-2) to avoid crowds. It's a long way from our house but I actually sometimes like coming here. Does it sound morbid if I say that I like it when we have a picnic around my grandparents' grave?

P.S. Eternal Gardens, the title of this post, is the name of the cemetery.

Day 54 - North Bound

We scored some free tickets to see the movie The Last Airbender. The catch? The cinema is at SM North, a place that's literally about 50 kilometers away from where I live. I had half a mind not to go because of the distance, but who says "No" to a free movie? :P Besides, my friend and almost-neighbor L was going, too. So I was sure that I wouldn't have to be alone on the long commute.

I took this picture while we were on the MRT, the fastest way to get to the north of Manila for south people like us. L is the one holding the hand rail and making a funny face. >:P

And, I just want to say that because the malls there (SM North and Trinoma) are so crowded (like really really crowded), nearly the entire time that we were walking to the cinemas, we talked about how much better it is to live in the south. ;) Hahaha! Call us the most biased of all southern people. >:)