Bye Bye Vacay

It's only yesterday when I found out that the names assigned to tropical cyclones always start with A each year, regardless if the last typhoon's name began with a 'P' or a 'W'. Of course I knew that they are named alphabetically according to the chronological order when they entered the country's area of responsibility--what's the sense of growing up in the province dubbed as Land of the Howling Winds if I didn't? But first typhoon of the year will always get names beginning with the letter A? I was clueless until now. Oh well, hurrah for the new trivia!

I mentioned this because, first, you may not know about it yet and you might, for some odd reason, find this information useful and, second, because Ambo is currently passing through the country, thus the heavy rains and delay of flights. There's nothing that says "your summer is over!" better than 2012's first typhoon on the first day of June. A reminder that, in a few day's time, I will soon be in the city again--back to my study-habit experimentation and in my professors' mercy. But the vacation has done a mighty fine job because I'll be facing the city again with high hopes and motivation, hopefully enough to sustain me until it is time to go back home again.

As usual, this post will be a--surprise, surprise--overview of my vacation! Get used to it, there is no activity I do better than looking back (and writing lists!).

First weeks of April were happily spent with most members of my family. Papa and Mama were home. Ate Glad, Kuya Nel, Lianne and JJ were home. Joy was home. Gwen and Maine spent weeks in Virac since Andrei's birthday until they went back to Manila for Raph's 1st birthday. Ate Yeth and Zye came over for some weeks' visit too. It was really fun! We spontaneously hit the beach almost thrice a week, spent Easter over the farm by holding a picnic, and watched Pasyon with the kids. On Maundy Thursday night, I even experienced the longest bike ride of my life so far: Virac to Batong Paloay Church in San Andres. I was with Kuya Nel, Ate Glad and Joy then. Another milestone, hurrah!

One of our planned beach outings: in Kinaw

With my girlies: Easter picnic at ze farm

Down to Luyang Cave: one stop during my longest bike ride ever

On regular days, Gwen and Maine oftentimes visit us at home and we did some cooking or baking. They will also play with Lianne and JJ (Zye and Ate Yeth already went back to Naga that time) and together, they watch movies. Sometimes, they will even sleep over! *happy tita*

Friday is Self-declared Holiday!

Because I want to take a break from studying first, and because I still have something to say, another blog post it is!

Last Friday was my self-declared holiday! Despite my scheduled exams on ChE 123 and ES 12 today, ChE 131 tomorrow, Kas 2 on Saturday, plus papers and exams, I pushed through with my declaration anyway! Mama stopped over in Manila (she went to Tagaytay) before heading home and so Ate Elvy and I arranged a lunch date. By 11:30, I fetched Mama from the bus terminal in Cubao and then we went straight to Ate's office somewhere in Buendia. We dined at Teriyaki Boy, and it was Ate's treat so I was giddy. I told Mama to order the most expensive meal. HAHA. >:D

And so my mom ordered this.

Seafood Teppanyaki

 I went for this because of the egg!

Gyu-Yakiniku Don

 My sister had this.

Curry Nasu Raisu

The service in that Teriyaki Boy branch was poor. But Mama liked their food so we will let this one pass. HAHA. Our lunch date was just so short, but quality time nonetheless.

Ate Elvy and Ma

Ma and Mae

Ma and her mango shake :D

By 5PM, Mama was already homebound.

Meanwhile, I went back to the dorm first to rest and then prepare again for another appointment: dinner bonding with Kalay roommate, Hazel, and neighboring friend, Twinkle. This had been our second meet-up for this sem!

We originally planned on having dinner at the Van Gogh Is Bipolar restaurant in Maginhawa but unfortunately, it was closed that day. :( The caretaker told us that the restaurant is not allowing walk-ins anymore; clients must inform the management beforehand. And so, we just walked and walked along Sikatuna Village to find a new place to eat. Ahhh, walking with friends is simply one of the joys of life!

Now, can you guess where we ended up? Gayuma ni Maria. Another concept restaurant in the best food hub in the metro. I have already been here twice, but it was Haze and Twinx's first time so I indulged them. Anyway, I don't know if we will still find a place to eat if we walked further.

The concept of the restaurant is, well obviously, love and potions. The place is dimly lit, which gives its intimate feel. Also, there are many cute and creative details all over the place which never fail to catch the diners' attention.

Details on Gayuma ni Maria's walls

Nice ambience

For the romantic touch

My roommate Hazel pointing at her favorite potion

Go on. Read it. I know you want to!

Enough with the place. Let's go to the food. For the past instances I went here, I haven't yet tasted something I can call unique to the place. Sure, the names in their menu are catchy--Rock Me Baby, Hinugot sa Tadyang ni Adan, Chinoy to the 7th Heaven, etc.--but as for the appeal to the palate, nothing special. Although I have to commend their desserts. If there's anything that will make me go back, it's their Beats Sex Anyday cake (which I ordered again this time). So yummy!

Twinx ordered this chicken with cheese on top. I like!

I Love You, Cross My Heart

Haze ate braised beef with mashed potatoes. I like again!

Secret Lovers

Mine's not too impressive again. WHYYY do I always pick the wrong things? Mine is cream dory which is supposed to be chocolate-crusted. But then, there's only so little choco, mustard taste dominated more. I did not expect that so yeah, I was disappointed again.

Once You Go Black, You'll Never Go Back

BUT! Let us not forget how heavenly their dessert is, compensating for the low points in our (or maybe just mine?) gastric experience. There's Beats Sex Anyday again. And now they already got mango cheesecake which they called Pacute. My tummy is now happy. :)

Pacute

Beats Sex Anyday

And here are our pictuuuuuuures!

And that's just the main course!!! Next blog post will be about another gastric experience at another fun, fun, concept place in Maginhawa. :) For now, I have to go study transport phenomena first so I could pass the course and become rich someday as chemical engineer and so to afford more galas in the future! Toodles!

My December in a Nutshell

How's your Christmas vacation so far? It's barely three days before the 25th and ten days before the New Year! Yeah, sure I know Math. Haha. I just want to emphasize how near it is already!!! It also means heading back to school again soon. Tsk. Oh well, before I get started in my drama of leaving home again, I will go back to my festive mood first and live each day as it comes. I am spending the holidays with my family. But this year, instead of our having it in our home in Virac, we are celebrating it here in Naga City! And also new this year, Kuya Win is here for Christmas! Nothing beats spending the holidays with your family complete. :)

Okay, now I am getting too excited.

Actually, for me, the holidays already started long before this day. It began after I have submitted my first long exam papers for ChE 123, my last exam for the year. I am doubtful it went well, but past is past so let's just move on from there. Hopefully, I will have better exam results next year to make up for that one. I must have better exam results! Obviously because I don't have Eng'g Week as a reason now.

Engineering Week a.k.a. Eng'g Week, is the most anticipated (I think) ESC event every year by every affiliated engineering student in UP Diliman. The different eng'g orgs battle it out for the Engineering Week Overall Champion or EWOC title. Being a resident member of UP KEM, the consistent runner-up for the title in the past years, I sure find Eng'g Week a big deal, although I admit I haven't really been an active player. I prefer to be more of the cheerer. This year, I have watched Smokers Night, Dulaang Eng'g, and Indakan. I have also helped out in Awitan 2011 as a logistics team member. I am less busier this year since there is no more cheering competition (which I was part of last year) but I watched and cheered for more games like Debateng'g, Dresseng'g, Casteng'g Call and Pipol Pusoy. More than any of the points earned or the titles won, the most rewarding thing to have is that org spirit I saw from everyone.

My tickets for three of the night events

My somehow-active presence during the Eng'g Week is not the only thing new about me. After Bennard's insistent request, I am donning a new hair too!

So.. how does it fit me?

I got my hair cut just in time for the Spartans' Christmas party! Like the last years, it was again held at Anton's place. Thank you Lucille, Anton and family for having us. Had so much fun! :) Here are win photos during the games. Halata bang nag-eenjoy kami masyado?

And because I am vain like that, I'll show you what I wore during our Christmas party. :P

Thanks JK for the gift! I can really make use of this. Thank you, thank you! And Raisa, I hope you like what you received. ;) 

Another thing which made my December a blast was my parents and youngest sister's visit in Manila. Papa and Mama went for their medical check-ups and so Joy tagged along. They stayed for a week and so we were able to spend lots of time together in the city. We also scoured the malls for the chikitings' gifts. Joy and I found these on Booksale.

Books for the kids

Book for me (at 45 freaking pesos)

I even toured my sis in UP during the timely Lantern Parade and we waited for the fireworks too!

Joy and some mascots

White Lady from the Balete Drive and I

Here are photos of some of the floats.

And here are the people I was with during the parade!

Jilly and I (with my Ate singit at the back)

Bennard and I posing at R-12

Me as photographer lol

After staying for a while in UP, we headed to Mercato. Para naman may foodtrip experience si Joy before going home. :) Bennard, Joy, and I had burgers, cheese sticks, garlic and parmesan buffalo wings, macaroon and melon juice. Ate Elvy and Kuya Amar had takoyaki and other Japanese food. The Off Beat burger aka Krispy Kreme Burger which I bought for us turned out to be only good when it's for sharing (the case when I first tasted it). Now that I had it all for myself, I found it less impressive. Joy liked Bennard's burger better which he bought from Ranch something. Oops, sorry Joy. Haha.

So there. This is basically how the first few days of my Christmas vacation went. Many things happened, and I can still make more things happen in the few days left I have before 2011 finally closes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

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