It started when A called me to wake me up at 3:30pm. Now don't go on thinking that I am the epitome of one of the 7 Deadly Sins: Sloth. Au contraire! I was up till 8am on Saturday working on a report which I emailed to my uncle (which I found out upon checking my email after waking up that it didn't go through!) I knew what was in store for me today and I didn't want to think of work. Hence, staying up late just to finish it.
Anyway, I left the house at 5pm and met up with A at The Fort Parking Lot (with a flat rate of P20, we don't mind leaving our cars there the whole day!). We, then, proceeded to Neo Day Spa at Net One Center for our 6pm appointment. I had a Deep Tissue Massage while he had a Lymphatic Message, which supposedly removes/ releases toxins. We were both famished after the massage and excited to try out this new Japanese restaurant we discovered.
Behind McDonalds in The Fort is a unique Japanese restaurant called Saeke Sushi. Except for the tables outside, all tables are in booths right beside a conveyor belt that snaked around the restaurant. A what?!?! Yes, a conveyor belt. On the conveyor belt are plates of different sushis. All you have to do is take whatever you like and they'll base your bill on the number of plates you get. All multi-colored plates (pink, yellow, green, black) are P89 while all red plates are P189. And if you like something that's not on a conveyor belt, you order it from the computer. From where?!?! Yes, the computer perched on the conveyor belt right beside your table. It was exciting seeing all those dishes go past you and you would have to fight the urge to grab everything. As a result, A spent P1,600 just on our dinner... by far, the most expensive we paid for a Japanese dinner. Must fight the urge next time! Oh yes, there is a next time. We're recommending the place to our friends! Here's a picture of me in the resto, fresh from the spa and looking very excited to eat.
After dinner, we went to Greenbelt3 to browse around Powerbooks (I was tempted to buy books but kept reminding myself P600 isn't worth it and that I should wait for the paperback versions. I, however, bought a copy of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov for only P225 which A will read first), buy tickets for the 12mn showing of Brokeback Mountain and buy a kiddie sized double chocolate and aussie vanilla with Nutella from Cold Rock. With still an hour to kill and feeling lazy from all the food we ate, we headed back to the car where A read and I watched Veronica Mars on Kylie.
Now what can I say about Brokeback Mountain? It made me realize that although I am open to homosexual relationships (uhm, note: other homosexual relationships that don't involve me. I don't swing that way!), it makes me uncomfortable seeing it out there. I guess it's much easier to accept if the one half of the couple in the relationship is flamboyantly gay, rather than seeing two manly men kissing. Now, I know I mentioned in this blog many times over that I rather watch films, especially films with homosexuality as a theme, in Greenbelt 3 because the crowd is educated enough not to hoot or shout when a controversial scene comes on but tonight, you could hear people squirming in their seats. You could hear muffled "oh nos!" or "yikes!" or the discomfort of some men whenever Jake Gylenhaal and Heath Ledger would kiss but I'm grateful that nobody hooted or shouted, "Yuck!"
After the movie, I dropped of A to get his car and we convoyed to my house where we watched the latest episode of Lost. He left after an hour, at 4am, and now, here I am!
Ahh, yes! It was the perfect day. The spa, the dinner, the movie... and hardly any money spent by me (except for the movie which I treated A out to)! How I wish we had more days like these.
Thank you, A, for a wonderful Saturday! I love days that go smoothly where work never enters my, and hopefully, your mind. Now if only I was able to get a foot spa and pedicure, it would have been more than perfect.. but you can't have everything!
When I got her, I didn't open her box right away. I was too busy and loaded with work that I had to wait for the weekend to upload songs and videos. For two days, she lived inside a brown envelope because I didn't dare place her inside my bag and get scratched with all my keys and my cellphone inside. When I got the chance, I went to Podium to buy her very kikay casing. I love it!
This Ipod is perfect for me because I love downloading tv shows from the US, and honestly, my laptop is running out of disc space and I love pictures. I have already uploaded 706 photos, 556 songs (Hed Kandi albums, Soundtracks of The OC Season 1 and 2 which were painstakingly downloaded one by one, 2 podcasts from One Tree Hill and Lost, 4 episodes of My So Called Life, 1 episode of Veronica Mars Season 2 and the music video of StickWidU by Pussycat Dolls. Mind you, I'm not done yet uploading stuff.
So why the name, Kylie? Well, obviously, it's after Kylie Minogue. But I don't know. It just dawned on me while I was in Church one day and was thinking what to name her as mass was about to start. I remember thinking, "Dezphaire has Elliot. So what should mine be?" And like, a bolt of lightning, the name 'Kylie' entered my mind and I knew it was perfect.
How about you? Do you name your stuff too? How do you come up with the name? When I bought my new laptop after my old one crashed, I named my laptop, Kimberly (and I think it had something to do with my bestfriend in high school who wasn't quite my bestfriend... long story! I felt the same way with my old and new laptop.) A named his car Abigail. I asked him why and he said the name just popped in his head at that point of the conversation. Oftentimes, I share the term of endearment 'baby' with Abigail, especially when the engine won't start. He croones, "C'mon, baby! C'mon!" I don't know if I should be affected that his affection for his car is the same as his affection for me.
Special Thanks to my Uncle Fritz who voluntarily bought my Ipod while on a business trip to the US. I owe you!!!
2) If I'm splurging on food, I'd go for steak. My favorite is Le Souffle's Rib eye steak with mushroom gravy and mashed potato.
3) Nowadays, I normally eat one meal and a bag of chips a day. It's not because I'm on a diet. My body clock only allows me to eat dinner because I wake up at 1pm and that's past breakfast and lunch. I eat at around 7pm, if my uncle goes to work (he buys everybody dinner) and when he's not in the office, I grab something to eat on the way home at around 10pm.
4) My favorite fruit is Manggang Hilaw (Green mangoes), followed by santol. My favorite sauce for Green Mangoes, aside from bagoong, is soy sauce with spicy vinegar and lots of rock salt (to make the green mangoes crunchier). I once loved dipping my green mangoes in patis with rock salt. By the way, I only eat Indian Mangoes if I have a craving for green mangoes and there are no other mangoes around. As for santol, I dip them in soy sauce with lots of rock salt.
5) I started eating vegetables when I was 14 on a trip to the US. We went on a tour and the food choices were either fish, pork or beef and each meal was accompanied either by soup or salad. After that, I sloooowly developed an acquired taste for vegetables.
6) I learned how to eat Kare-Kare while working in our bar. We would have it for employees' meals. Yes, our employees meals are free. Kare- kare is an acquired taste as well. Soups are also something I learned to enjoy at the bar. I do eat soup. It's just that I choose not to eat soup at home because it's already hot and eating something hot would just make me feel hotter.
7) Most of the contents of my grocery cart are chocolates and junkfood. My grocery schedule depends on my junkfood stash and toiletry needs.
8) When I have my period, I have weird cravings for something salty, followed by something sweet. Last month, it was Happy Peanuts washed down with Chocolait. Other times, it was chips followed by chocolates.
9) The restaurant I visited the most in 2005 was Teriyaki Boy. Hands down, it's A's and my favorite restaurant. My favorite recent discovery is Blue Ginger in Greenbelt 3.
10) As a teenager, we had this rule that we had to take turns cooking every Saturday because my dad thinks that no guy would marry us because we don't know how to cook. I hated that rule. I'd always cook pasta. Thank God, he finally gave up on that rule. It didn't go to waste because I'd cook if I felt like it or if there's an occasion. On average, I'd say I cook once a year.
11) One time, we were in between cooks and for a couple of days, we'd have takeout. I decided to cook Beef Yakiniku, a very easy recipe. My dad was appreciative. He missed eating a home cooked meal.
12) My favorite junkfood is Piknik Ketchup Fries. Whenever I go to Subic, I'd hoard huge cans of them from Royal Subic or any of the duty free shops there. They don't sell the big cans in the groceries in Manila.
13) I'm scared of peeling vegetables and fruits. If I could ask someone to do it for me, I would.
14) I'm addicted to Milo bars. Even my sister is addicted to Milo bars. Oftentimes, I'd bribe her with Milo bars. But my top 3 favorite chocolates are: Guylians Belgian Pralines (those seashell- shaped chocolates), Nestle Crunch and Hershey's Extra Creamy.
15) Even if I'm thin and eat once a day, I eat a lot!
16) My favorite experiment/ discovery is tuna spread on skyflakes topped with ripe mango slices. I know it sounds weird but it's delicious! My sister loves it too! The mango neutralizes the fishy taste and even gives it a little sweetness. Tuna spread has always been a staple in our refrigerator ever since I was child. It's there just in case someone wants a midnight snack.
17) My favorite ice cream flavor is Mocca. I once avoided eating Vanilla ice cream because growing up at my grandparent's house, that was the only ice cream flavor they always bought and I got sick of it.
18) Since I didn't like eating vegetables as a kid, my mom would replace vegetables with either mangoes or bananas. I'd eat ripe mangoes with my beef steak (one of my favorite simple meals), bananas with my mechado or afritada.
19) I remembered just now that when I was a child, below 4 years old, my mom would arrange the food on my plate to make it look like a face. The cup of rice would be the nose, the meat would form eyes, lips and ears.
20) Cold Rock ice cream may be expensive but I buy anyway. One time, I was craving for Cold Rock but I couldn't pass by so on the way home, I bought mocca ice cream, milo bars and choco mallows. How I wish I could have added Nutella chocolate spread but it was just too expensive. The concoction was no Cold Rock but it would do.
(This post was suppose to be only 10 items long... but obviously, I couldn't stop talking about food!)
( Clockwise staring from top left: Me, Glady, Jeane and Nyx)
We were the foursome in highschool. We were in different sections but we'd always hang out during recess, lunch and dismissal. We were one group in a larger group of friends. My highschool barkada had barkadas within the barkada as we were composed of girls from the Junior Year, guys from the Senior Year and younger girls from the Sophomore Year. In my high school, we were the only barkada with members from different levels. But these girls, these girls were the ones I hung out with. They are my bestfriends.
We all had partners. Glady and I loved to read books. Jeane and Nyx were seriously in love with pre- weirdo Michael Jackson. Nyx and I were the fashionistas of the group. Glady and Jeane were the brains. Nyx and I were the ones who walked fast while the other two were slow. That's why Nyx and I always walked together. We'd always walk infront of Jeane and Glady and when we'd look back to see where they are, we'd stop and wait for them to catch up. Then, we'd continue walking. The whole routine repeats until we get to our destination. Nyx and Jeane were the sociable ones with all their after school/ organization activities while Glady and I prefer to just hang out. Glady lived in Australia and Nyx is Australian (though, I think, born in the Philippines to a Filipina mother and Australian father). Glady and Jeane are more soft spoken while Nyx and I were the ones who would stand up for ourselves, and sometimes for Glady and Jeane. There were many things where each one of us were partners and had things in common.
In Senior year, Nyx decided not to finish high school and migrate to Australia with her father. She'd come during Christmas but we only get to see her once or twice during her two week stay. Before coming home this year, we haven't spoken to her in months!
We managed to meet up with her the night before leaving for Australia. It was amazing because it was as if she never left. We just picked up from where we left off two years ago when we last saw her. We had dinner at Blue Ginger, A and my new favorite restaurant, had dessert at Cheesecake Etc and drinks in Absinth where we bonded over the "I Never" game. We started at 9pm and ended at 3am. Fun is an understatement to describe the night.
PS. Nyx is currently taking law school. Aside from law school, she's got 4 jobs. Her regular job at the court, waitressing on weekends and I forgot the other two. She would have had 5 jobs but the 5th job laid her off because the company was closing down. Can you imagine being in law school and handling 5 jobs?! It's insane! We could barely manage 1 job. It's not because she works to let ends meet. She just wants to be productive. It really amazes me how people can manage their time like that.
It was one crazy, late January day. A day where A and I had a free Saturday in our schedule. I didn't get my little brothers any Christmas presents-- and birthday presents-- last year so I surprised them with a shopping trip. Originally, A and I were going to let them loose in Toy Kingdom, the biggest toy store I know that's geographically acceptable but my mom tipped me that their favorite toy store is Toytown in Eastwood City. Perfect! Cuz we were planning to take them to watch Cheaper by The Dozen 2.
I gave them a four digit budget each and explained that they could get as much toys as they want provided that it fit the budget. It's amazing how their spending abilites can also define their personalities. Dominic, the middle child, had lots of toys but only because the ones he got were inexpensive. Julian, the eldest, had 3 toys only because his toys were expensive. Xavier, the youngest, who, of course, had no concept yet of money or any amount for that matter, always chose the biggest toy, which sadly, didn't fit the budget.
After an hour in the toy store, we went to McDonalds. I only ordered McNuggets even though I was famished. I knew it was the right thing to do because after living with kids for the entirety of my life, I knew that there would be lots of leftovers and I would end up finishing them.
From there, we went to the cinemas where I bought popcorn and drinks for everybody. While buying, I instructed them to go to the restrooms already so they don't have to go during the movie. We were still early for the movie so we waited outside the cinemas and no amount of "stop running!", "don't be magulo!" and "will you please sit down?!" made them listen to me. Only "we'll give you to the guard! The guard is Yaya Letty's brother!" did the trick for Xavier, who is scared of our other nanny.
When we finally got to our seats, I thought I could finally relax. The trailers ran too long that Xavier was starting to get bored and restless and even wanted to leave. When the movie started, my brothers kept sinking in their seats and to balance themselves, they'd end up kicking the chair in front of them while trying to prop themselves up. Xavier, one too many times, wanted to leave because he was getting sleepy and he even looked for his milk bottle which we left in the car. Dominic had to go to the bathroom. Xavier wanted to take off his shoes because he felt something was in his socks. Ahhh! It was crazy. I was more stressed when I got out. Thankfully, that was the last of our plans and we headed home.
When I entered the house, my dad greeted me with a "So did you survive?" and they asked who was the most behaved and the most magulo. To which I answered, "Don" and "Judo and Xavier" respectively. My stepmom replied with a "Typical. What else is new?"
A and I always end up getting so tired after a day out with the boys but we do it anyway... as long as the day outs are months apart! A monthly day out with them would definitely decrease my life span by a few years. Hmmm, I guess that means no kids for me yet!
