Sunday, October 9, 2011

October 8th

I really love it whenever the 8th of the month comes around. This October, Bennard and I had our 44th monthsary! Yayyyy! I know there's really not much sense in counting the months if you have already been together for so long. But for us, it's a good thing to have a little celebration every now and then. Besides, the thought of dolling up a bit more than the usual days excites me. So, after my ES 12 exam, I hurried back to the boarding house to change. By 8:00 PM, he's already come to pick me up.

We do not have an itinerary to follow. Most of the time, we just wing it. Necessity: dinner. This usually is based on our palate for the evening (or maybe just mine). On this occasion, I craved for kare-kareng bagnet (too specific for a craving, don't you think? HAHA) and so I convinced Bennard to eat at Pino Resto Bar. Pino is somewhere in UP Village, Quezon City (not sure though whether it's along Maginhawa Street, a hub for foodies) and it will be just our second time there. As expected, there were a lot of customers so we waited for quite a time before we were entertained. It's okay, it was worth it. I definitely had a fill that evening.

Red Wine Adobong Tadyang
Kare-Kareng Bagnet
Next stop: TriNoma mall for a movie. What's Your Number vs. Dolphin Tale? What's Your Number wins. The next showing (last full show), however, was still in two hours. So we went to Gelatissimo first for dessert.

Mint Choc Chip and Macadamia Caramel

And then to Powerbooks which is really a haven. Bennard bought the fourth volume of the Trese comics, I went looking for Amanda Grange's Mr. Darcy's Diary. Unfortunately, the bookstore still has to preorder it which will take 3-5 more weeks. We just went on looking at books, and of course, Jane Austen novels kept on screaming at me, asking me to buy them. (I particularly loved Emma's book cover.) And I want the Wide Sargasso Sea too. And, and.. The Alice in Wonderland book with golden pages was so very tempting as well. And there were also a lot of other collection-worthy items and gift ideas. Gift prospects for Bennard--a note to self: (1) the big DC Comics book. Price = 2 grand. (2) director collection--David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, etc. Price = probably 3 grand all in all. Those were the only things I remembered so far, even after all the "hint-droppings" he's thrown at me. What a girlfriend.

After Powerbooks, we still had an hour to spare, so we just went checking out from shops to shops. Yes, bored much. We almost hit Netopia out of nothing else amusing to do. Just to buy us some more time, we went queuing for NYFD. It's really funny because we were still full, but we did it just for the sake of looking forward to something. And at looooooooooong last, the guard finally allowed movie-goers to enter the cinema.

That movie we watched starring Chris Evans and Anna Faris was fun and sexy. 


What's Your Number?
Favorite scene: Ally (Anna Faris) faking a British accent. It's hilarious. Plus, the guy she's with is Martin Freeman.

So there, that's a tummy-filling, dress-bursting, book-lusting, movie-going Saturday night for me. Thank you Bennard! :-*

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My Weekend Before Classes End

I have been so very much looking forward to this weekend because I knew that I will be too busy during the next weekends to come. I earlier planned to spend the Saturday having lunch with Bennard after my ChE 198 class, a bonding date with my cousin, Kuya JR, and my sister, Ate Elvy, in the afternoon, and stay overnight at my Ate's apartment in Shaw. Unfortunately, it hadn't started out well and I had to stay at my boarding house up until 3pm. I tried calling Kuya JR but since he wasn't picking up his phone, I assumed we won't push through with our earlier plans. And so I decided to go directly to my sister's apartment.

I rode the bus on my way there for the first time and I did not expect that there will be so many passengers loading the bus at the Araneta Center area. There were people standing along the aisle and I somewhat panicked on how I will be able to get to my way out, considering that I'm seated quite far from the door. I knew my stop was in Starmall, but my sister told me the distance will be shorter from her place if I go down at the Mercury Drug store past the mall. And so I waited for that landmark. Seeing that the bus ran so fast with no one else stopping in that point, and fearing that it's not a designated bus stop, I did not tell the driver to stop. I told him instead to unload me at the nearest possible stop and lied that I did not notice we already passed by my stop. And the stupid thing I have done: I said sorry for the inconvenience! Oh well, I got down at Boni Ave. To be honest, I planned of walking through that long distance back but then I was wearing my heels and it's drizzling. Good thing I was already near the MRT station and so I rode back to Shaw Blvd. with few coins left to take me to my destination. I was already teary-eyed because things are not turning out how I expected them to be and I started to become very disappointed. I only hope the other passengers did not notice. After walking a few blocks more, I arrived at my sister's place and told her what happened. I have to admit I did cry a little. I'm quite the crybaby, you know. Aside from that, I realized how I need to grow up more for me to survive the streets of the metro. And the terrible things that might happen to me if I didn't. I grew up pampered and I hardly went out alone when I stepped into college. UP is also like an isolated place which is nothing like the harsh streets experienced daily by the working class. I may be "in" the metro, but I still do not truly know the realities it poses since, God forbid, I barely had first-hand experiences of them.

After long talks and lectures to be more street-smart and alert, Ate and I decided to watch a movie and have dinner outside so to lighten up the mood. We watched "No Other Woman" starring Cristine Reyes, Derek Ramsay, and Anne Curtis. 



It's a local film--mature film, my sister would call it--on marriage and adultery. I did enjoy viewing it especially because the audience we were with is a very lively one, reacting to Carmi Martin's lines or Anne and Cristine's catfight. Besides, Derek was definitely hot (my sister commenting nonstop on how manly Derek's hands are while holding Anne's or Cristine's face)! And the lines were good (exchanges of bitchy dialogues were my favourites!) Surprisingly, Anne Curtis' acting improved in this movie. But come to think of it, this is the first movie of Anne's I have ever watched. Haha.

We reached home at 10 and we were not yet sleepy so we watched Episode 2 of ANTM All-Star. 

Allison always take good photos!

After that, we watched the latest movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. I can say Hayley Atwell as Mary Crawford is very lovely. And the actor playing Edmund (who is also Mr Elton in the BBC mini-series Emma) is just the best actor when it comes to staring. If I were the lady, I will really get awkward with his stares.



The next day after lunch, we went to Let's Face It Salon, SM Megamall branch, to experience our first eyelash perming. My sister had been wanting to try it since August and she promised to treat me to one after her payday, so there we were. Surprisingly, there were a lot of other clients in there too (there were even waiting lines), perhaps having their regular facial or a planned wart removal session. I did not expect so many people actually spend money for these services. The derma business is booming in the Philippines, after all. So, about the eyelash perming, I have to keep my eyes shut for an hour and a half. Good for my sister, she brought some music to amuse her while she lies there, while I was bored to death. But it was all worth it because the eyelash perm turned out well. It looked like we just applied mascara on. The attendant said it's gonna last for two months. By the way, if ever you plan on going to that branch of Let's Face It for an eyelash perm, I recommend my attendant, Au. She is really good at it. (I know you might not see much of the curled lashes in photo. And yes, I know too I must have my brows done at once!)




Our next stop was window-shopping at Forever 21 (yes, we were broke that time) and it's just a Tumblr-turned-reality world. It's simply a wonderland of clothes, accessories and shoes. There are lot of super cute clothes for our nieces Gwen, Maine, Zye and Lianne we plan to buy for them on Christmas (I just hope we can save up a good amount before Christmas shopping comes by)! We also went to Payless, another Tumblr wonderland of shoes. FYI, I so fancy shoes, just as most girls do.

Before heading home, we had dinner at Kenny's first. I slept at 11:30 on that Sunday night, my earliest so far since the start of September.

Ate Elvy (right) and I (left) after one fun weekend date

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Milestone 001

Before September ended, I conquered yet another "firsts" in my life. One is becoming a mommy in Little Miss KEMer (LMK) 2011 for Ms. Socio. LMK is an inter-committee beauty pageant where guys dress up in lady outfits. And what is the job of a mommy? Basically, it is conceptualizing what the candidate is going to wear, and what he will perform during the Talent portion, accompanying him in photoshoots and rehearsals, brainstorming with the candidate for possible questions in the Q&A part, training him to walk and project like a girl, coming up with all the things he will be needing from accessories to long gown, having the make-up done. I was definitely hesitant when asked to be one. Primarily because I have never tried putting make-up on, not even to myself! Secondly because I don't have any of the girly stuffs usually needed in pageants, and I was certain that finding those stuffs is going to be hard. And lastly, because I don't think I can be trusted on matters like this one. Despite all my reservations, I was appointed one of the four mommies anyway. And it's a good thing I accepted the responsibility! Because our LMK bet brought home the crown. :)


Another milestone happening on that same day was winning a special award of recognition during the Genmeet: Socio's Most Valuable Player. Being the not-so-active KEM member (I decided to only go to the tambayan during genmeets, org work meetings and other responsibilities), this award will mean a lot to me. Socio may not be in the top 3 ECEC posts but I surely enjoyed joining the games Pictionary and Enter-U for the first time.


Reasons Why I'll Start Blogging

1. The need to cross something out from my bucket list.
Did I already tell you I am quite the dreamer? Because of this, stuff listed on my bucket list can get too difficult to accomplish. Things like learning a new language, playing a musical instrument, or going bungee jumping. And since this time I am itching to cross out even at least one, I am declaring that I am ready to commit on maintaining this blog.

2. Just to have something to look back to in my later years.
Being the sentimental person that I am, I love keeping memories. I collect all sorts of objects--from post-it notes and letters from friends, to photos and souvenirs from memorable events, and even the most random things like a tissue paper which may represent a certain day in my life. This time, I won't be needing boxes and spaces for these stuffs anymore. Blogging is my new clutter-free alternative to keeping all the special moments intact.

3. An outlet.
And when I say outlet, I don't necessarily mean rants. It can be some ecstatic feeling which I can't keep to myself any longer. It can be an expression of opinions or a personal view on things. Maybe even thoughts I just feel like sharing to probable visitors of this site.

4. New avenue for writing.
I used to keep diaries before. I reached a total of eight before I finally stopped. I tried OneNote too, but it only went on for about a year. Now, I'm trying this out. Who knows if it'll work out? Besides, I do miss writing. A lot! I may already be rusty, but, what the heck.

5. Something to call my own.
I have a Tumblr site (Follow me: rhenaissance.tumblr.com. Yes, I am that too lazy to think of another name for this Blogger account! HAHA.) and I am proud of it. But since my posts are mostly reblogs, there is no complete sense of truly claiming everything that it is. And so now, this will be my own little spot on the vast online world.

PS. Someone awesome in the name of Barney Stinson blogs as well, and he kind of inspired me! :D