events - the last couple of days

new doctor

bestfriend last week received the results of the physician's board exams and she passed! YES! after all the hardwork and panic, she's finally made it. we are all so proud of her! :D

siomao

at a spur of the moment, strat and i decided to accompany our officemates to eat lunch out at chowking. in line, a lady was moving around to take the customers' orders. when she got to me:

chowking lady: what's your order, miss?
me: ummm... can i have the chao fan, with siomao...
chowking lady: ummm you mean, siomai, ma'am?
me: yes... huh?! what did i say, anyway?
chowking lady and strat: siomao!

argh! was i thinking of siomai or siopao? or couldn't my brain (or mouth) get it straight?! bloopers! :D

beggars in the subdivision

i passed by the bank today and since it's just walking distance from the apartment, i decided to walk home. you know, to get some "exercise." as i was walking, i saw a couple of ladies with kids on their arms walking around the street. it was getting dark and i was wondering they weren't at home and each one of them were "stationed" at one gate each. when i neared one of them, i heard them asking from the people of the house for some charity. that got me thinking of a time when i was still at home and there was this badjao lady who asked mama for rice because she just lost her home to a fire. mama was kind so she gave the lady a couple of kilos of rice (there wasn't any shortage of that yet at that time). a couple of months after, the lady came back and asked for food, so mama gave her sardines because she pitied the kids the lady was carrying with her. mama thought that would be the end of it but christmas came and the lady came back to ask for food. this went on for a couple of years. i just don't know if she still passes by but i remember mama giving her clothes too, for her and her kids. i also remember her telling the lady that she should stop this begging because she feels that the lady is becoming abusive of other people's kindness.

back to the present. looking at those ladies begging, i remember that old lady and how she was with my mama. today, i think to myself, the world is getting crazier and crazier each day. we could blame them for their lot in life, but can we really blame them? maybe they made the wrong choices in life and now had to suffer the consequences but isn't it so sad that the country's poverty gets bigger and bigger everyday? truly there is something wrong with our system that more people are underprivileged, with nothing to support them but by begging. maybe i blame more the system than the people. and then i think, maybe they should share the blame. i don't know.

all i know is that i am lucky that my parents made the right choices that led me to where i am now.

as i reached home, i saw a girl knocking on our gate. when i asked what she wants, she asked for some donation for some group or something. i didn't get what she said and i didn't want to ask. i feel strongly, at that time, that this wasn't the right place to ask for money. she didn't even have anything to show as proof of her need. so i said, sorry, i don't have money right now. not even coins, she said. i said none, i have nothing to give you, sorry. well, i'm really sorry but i won't give. i hope God forgives me for being selfish.

last thought is that i'm scared of these people. times aren't the same as it was back then that you could trust, even for a bit, strangers. today, i'm scared of people not from the village going around, pretending to beg or sell something when in fact, they could be "sight-seeing" the places they could "raid" from when the owners aren't around. in my stay at the apartment, i lost a phone when someone took it from my second floor room window. isn't that scary? people go to lengths just so they could take and "save" themselves, and yet not do it in the right possible way. they'd rather steal than work.

day to remember with friends

so another wedding again! this sunday, one of my high school friends got married to a beautiful and lovely girl...

seeing his mom cry made me want to cry, too. this is our friend, getting married! finally, tying the knot! i'm wishing them all the best. when he got emotional saying his vow, that made us teary-eyed, too... oh well... i love weddings!

but in all these happiness, we also join our friend in his grief on the death of his mom. i can only recall one long conversation with his mom but that one was really memorable. she was such a lovely lady and we mourn her passing...

friendship renewal

despite the pain i'm feeling right now, i'm still grateful for my friends who never cease to amaze me. i'm grateful to say -- I HAVE VERY GOOD FRIENDS!

this year has been like a renewal of friendship for me. (shiet, do I mean something to you?! do I, do I???) the start of the year saw me having started it with my college blockmates with a dinner. i don't see them often now but with just one careful planning, we were able to dine together and each other's company. same as with my dorm friends, who for years, had given me support when i was still in college. never did i realize that until now, they are still there, helping in their simple ways - like their kind words and presence - to help you carry the burden, even just by listening to your worries. I's visit had renewed that bond. i'm so glad to know such friends.

and now, almost everyone is getting married. i feel honored to be invited... but a little bit inside me is sad because i envy them their happiness. but still, happiness overweighs the envy so it doesn't really matter -- at all.

thank God, for renewing my friendships.

caffe molinari

loving their traditional hot choco -- i'd definitely go back there soon, and more often! fortunately, it's just one tricycle ride away from our apartment so i can go there whenever i want. actually, i can even walk it. might probably take me around 15 mins to do it... sounds a good idea! that will build my appetite for the pasta they serve there and later for the creamy traditional hot choco! wow... the place is also great: quiet and secluded with good clientele.

caffe molinari is located at matalino st., near eunilaine at kalayaan avenue in quezon city. it's beside treehouse.

what we said

i got into a fight (not cat fight, though) with a very old friend a year or so ago. she was my classmate since grade school but when she went to college and had this crazy boyfriend, everything changed. she's now an unoffical ex-friend. =D

(heck, how can i grin like that?!) :D

anyway, i would just like to tell you, invisible readers, that she's not worthy of a space in my blog but i would actually like to write here, what me and a friend had told her, when she started breaking her friends' hearts and eventually alienating all of us --

from me -- i'm not mad, but i'm terribly (or was that sorely) disappointed in you! (and now, she had the gall to use it on another friend of ours! my, my, no originality at all! now, i'm really mad!)

from G -- i'll be too scared to get too close to you again...

wow! pang telenovela na ba ang linya namin?! :D

where i've been to lately 2

my sister and i just arrived from seeing our brother who's attending a seminar on pneumonia at sofitel hotel. i started late today and wasn't able to pick him up at the hotel and so, i have nooo picture at all of that hi-end hotel. oh well, hopefully, i'll have another chance to see the place next time. anyway, my brother, sister and i ended up shopping for clothes for my brother's son and had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the old spaghetti house. it was fun, the first time i have time with my brother in a long while... sibling bonding, go! :D

so, to continue with my previous blog, the next few pictures were taken last february, starting on the eve of my birthday --

dinner with my sister, cousins and friend at one of the greatest pasta places, Aveneto's

yummy!

on my birthday at the 12th hotair balloon festival at clark with C and good friends --

at the up fair--

weekend at home with L --

dinner with friends on the people power anniversary :D

and just last weekend, a trip to baguio --