Unshackling

It took me a year, countless sarcastic exchanges/comments, buckets of starbucks coffee (and some california red and light beer sometimes), sleepless/late nights, needless trips to the city, and a ton more blunders to finally rouse from a very long bout of foolishness.

I've been living in a make-believe world that I have woven. It was a fantasy alright but something right out of Tim Burton's imagination. I know, it's scary.

Well, foolishness is something that you cannot just brush off as you would a mote in your eye. It can be likened to an exciting adventure which you just have to experience in order to truly make sense as to why some people act silly.

cheesy day

I decided to be a cliche and wore a red shirt with a big white heart on it ( It said I <3 nbsp="" p="" school.="" sg="" to="">
The moment I shared the thought, it started an interesting exchange where one has to concede. I won that round which made me feel like I lost. It has something to do with SG. It's so funny!

CNY 2013

To celebrate, I went out when it was almost dark with the pretext of claiming sis' remodeled jacket from the tailor and ended up having dinner of grilled chicken and pork at Piazza.

As it has always been, I had to wait. Fortunately it was made bearable by spending the same time waiting for dinner to cook and nursing a bottle of light beer.

Dinner was a short affair

This was last Sunday.

I came across a post yesterday I was so happy about, nothing else matters.

The Accidental Tourists

With only paying bills and loans at SM in mind, I left home at 2 p.m.

Just for kicks, I wore sis' mini skirt (successfully hid from her sight all week) which was a perfect match with the old army-green kipling bag  and the red year-of-the-dragon shirt she gave me eons ago.


Bummer! Social security has set a deadline for loan payments. SM denied my payments for November and December. With Chores done, I shopped a little bit to pass the time. By little that meant, getting a bottle of Smuckers blueberry preserves, a bar of Snickers and Mentos from the Grocery; a 10-m dental floss and mediplasts from Watson's; and some socks for mom from the Department store.

While waiting ages for Glen to arrive, tried on some shoes where I ran into tan2.


It was the eve of the Chinese New Year. The taxi driver gave a disclaimer that he can only drive us through Gonzaga (?) without getting trapped in the traffic. Lacson (from a block away to the regional hospital to the 20th) was closed for the celebration of the annual Bacolaodiat (a CNY special).

Where we got off, the walk to Lacson brought us to Capitol Office. I wasn't sure which way to go so we walked towards L'Fisher and had to back to get to Kristin's which is just a block away from Starbucks.



Kristin's was a surprise. The place was a far cry from once it was (22 years ago with its crowded, alcoves for four) with it's well lighted high ceiling, space enough to talk animatedly without being heard by diners on the next table (except for some homo remark that merited a glance from one), and earth colors of beige, green orange and brown for the furniture and rafters. On the dining experience, we both had the Kristin's special which to my great dismay was only "karne prita". Hahaha! So much for fancy name for common food. The thing is, it was so tasty and filling, I only had very little rice. Well, that or the fact that we had a plateful of potato fries while waiting for dinner to be served. I would have love to pair it with some beer but as it was late and we have yet to travel, I made do with a soda.

For dessert, we walked to Starbucks. He had espresso (a cafe mocha) while I had a frap (java chip venti as usual). It was only eight so we decided to sit in for a bit and decided which way to take. He was not sold with walking up north and so we went South and took in the sight. Just across the coffee shop were rows of cars fitted with audio system playing the same number simultaneously with their proud owners standing nearby holding a bottle and bevy and trying to talk above the noise. There's Merci photobooth, al fresco dining at l'fishers, and grills everywhere. We had to stop a couple of times for him to speak with his friends.

The catch was the dragon dance contest which was ongoing in front of the PNB Building where the crowd was so thick, movement was nil. We got trapped there for a good thirty minutes and came out all sweaty (Ugh!). Then it rained before we got into a taxi that shuttled us to the bus station. That was pure accidental fun :)

hoping for the best

It was still light at minutes past the hour of six after work which inspired me to walk home for a change. The last time I did something like this was last summer when I get off at five and walk with my trainees until we part ways at the first intersection.

The walk home took ten minutes at a leisurely pace. Nothing new greeted me along the way. At home, however, a very sad news lie in wait.

Limbo's anus is swollen looking very much like hemorrhoids. Mother reported that he was dragging his rear during their short walk after lunch.

Then I came across this literature which symptoms clearly points to hemorrhoids. Sis is bringing him to the vet today for confirmation.

With much love comes great heartbreak. We are all hoping it will not be this soon.

Golden Day!!!

In between money-making gigs, the morning and the early part of the afternoon was spent exchanging inanities with my messenger contact. It won the category for "most number of sarcastic lines coded in an electronic conversation".

The catch is we still ended up in the company of the other in the six hours that followed (head shaking).


Sunday was when Joanne turned 50. I invited myself over for dinner (and ended up saying grace for the feast). We arrived so early, there was more than ample time to look for "tikoy" and read a dog magazine while finishing a venti chocolatey bevy at a favorite joint.

We just sat in silence on the way home.

Change

The new month has just started and I felt a much needed change even for just a few hours. So after a full day at school ( a laboratory class from 8am to 1pm, parents' meeting for graduating students from 2-330 pm), I went home for a quick change while Brandon talked with mom over coffee and got on the first bus out of the city right after the clock struck 5.

Overhead, the skies were grey from impending rain. Instead of worrying though, or reading the book that I brought with me, I rested my head on the window pillar, relishing the cold wind that seem to blow all my worries away. It was a slow trip. In fact it took me over one and I half hour to get to SM where Diana and myself agreed to meet. ( I was put out that my other invitation was met with only scarce could-care-less responses).

Despite my rather melodramatic start, I actually appreciated the time I spent with Diana and her boys. For a change, instead of going to an expensive restaurant, they brought me to Nena's Beth at Burgos. It's another chicken inasal eatery but it made me change my outlook on pecho pack. I've always been a thigh fan. Theirs was grilled well done with the chicken skin crisp (burnt on some parts) but still the meat retained its juiciness. The meat doesn't have the usual soy, kalamansi marinade taste. But that's what the sawsawan is for.