with ex officemates and my new hair

Nagkita-kita kaming mga Singapore-based ex-factory workers sa Jumbo sa East Coast Park last Saturday kasama si Selena at ang Obina-Cabel family. Nice to see you again Tita S!

Sabi ni Deniceous, mas masarap daw ang chilli crab sa Changi Village. Dapat namin masubukan namin ni B yun!

Ang cute-cute ni Gav! Sana nakunan ko siya ng madaming pityur pero napasarap ang kwentuhan at kainan! Hehehe. 

Ito si Gav nung birthday party niya. Pinagtitripan si Reden:

At ito pala ako at ang bagong buhok ko:

Hallo! 

Gusto ko nang umuwi!

tired and lonely

It has been tough at work these past few days. Tough and frustrating. The third-party vendor who's supposed to help us get things done messed up and now our work has doubled! Nakakainis.

And it doesn't help that our boss is ignoring our cries for help.

*****

Marge sent this to me a few minutes ago. It was taken December 2006. My last GS Christmas party. Tracy took the photo. Haha. Crazy.

Hay. I miss my girlfriends. 

the i-miss-pianorabjornchitoduckiedreatatanbidyokeandalak post

Everytime we have our videoke parties, there are three things I look forward to other than the booze.

1 -

2 -

and 3 -

And I have a pathetic joke in honor of that boy in Obamaland:

Use Bjo in a sentence.

Answer: Kelan kaya tayo magb-Bjo-ke ulet???

Mwehehehe!

Oks start for the year of the Ox

B and I hosted a dinner party last night to celebrate the first day of the Year of the Ox. We invited long-time friends as well as our housemates and had a blast eating and watching Mr. Woodcock! Haha.

Here is the feast we prepared for everyone:

Clockwise from left: Pancit bihon, steamed rice, kinulob na manok, crispy pata, roasted pork belly and chilli shrimps

I cooked the pancit and chicken while B cooked the shrimps. We bought the crispy pata and roasted pork from Cold Storage and just reheated it. We had more than enough food and ate leftovers today for brunch.

We enjoyed the food with iced tea and red wine. (Thanks Raymond for bringing the Bordeaux wine!). Since we didn't have enough plates, utensils and glasses, we bought disposable ones from the grocery. 

A lazy host's best friends :)

I  the disposable wine glass! It's so cute!

What's a party without decoration and favors? 

We bought this from Giant two days ago. It had cute oxen and the Chinese characters for Gong Xi Fa Cai and Luck. (Thanks Tin for translating!)

I'm a sucker for favors so I prepared ang paos for our friends and housemates:

Free ang paos from Parkway Parade! I put gold choco coins inside and wrote these at the front:

Everyone appreciated our simple souvenir! The chocolates tasted okay naman.

Of course, for a party to be a party, there should be lovely guests!

From left: Tin & Christian (former GS officemates and now housemates), Marjon & Christine  (Reden's friends from college), Frank & Map (Reden's friends from college), Us, Daff & Jops (housemates)

My friends from highschool, Raymond and Giftos

We have good-looking friends and housemates, noh? 

It was a fun night and we really enjoyed catching up with everyone. At the end of it, B and I were immensely satisfied with the get-together we organized. Indeed, food, very much like life, is much more wonderful when shared.

And to our families back home and you, our virtual friend, we wish you a prosperous, healthy and blessed Year of the Ox! 

PS

Thanks to our housemates, Tin, Christian, Daff and Jops, for contributing drinks and dessert, and for helping in the work! We really appreciate it!

BFFs

When I first met Marge I thought we wouldn't become friends. She had this city-girl vibe going on and to a probinsiyana like me, that was kinda intimidating. She grew up in Makati, while I grew up in San Pablo, which although a city, is still very provincial. Marge exuded confidence and seemed so sure about herself, while I was struggling, at that time, to fit in University and the big city.

Marge and I were blockmates so I sort of had to always be around her. I couldn't remember the exact circumstance when we became friends but I know it was a gradual process. We got to know each other very well that in our senior year, we decided to do our thesis together. As other groups tried to get over their differences and get the job done, we were breezing through the project.

One time, after an interview with then COMELEC chairman Alfredo Benipayo and commissioner Rex Bora, I cut class to watch The Planet of the Apes with Marge. During nights when I stayed over at their home in Fort Bonifacio, I would play (as in role-play) DJ at their library, amazed at the Windows Media Player on her dad's laptop. Visualizations were quite new at that time.

We had awesome teamwork, too. When we had to catch Benito Lim at the Asian Centre, Marge did the calling while I did the stalking. We got him and it was one of the happiest days of our college lives. Haha. We wouldn't have been able to submit our thesis on time without that crucial interview. We got 1.25 for all our efforts--or lack thereof. Hahaha, yabang.

I guess that was the turning point of our friendship. It was then that we knew we could rely on each other in good times and in bad. Now, we're just a few months shy of our 11th anniversary. I'm still at awe at how quickly a decade passed by.

Today, Marge turns a year older.  So much has changed in that girl who I thought was too scary to be my friend. At the same time though, so much in her has remained the same. She's still a most-trusted friend.

Happy birthday Marge. Thank you for being a constant in my life and for letting me be a constant in yours.