Ruth and Jefrey came over for a vacation and we sure had a blast. The jam-packed nine-day holiday ended all too soon; I hope I get to see more of my friends as often as I want. Come to think of it, who else but really good friends would spend for a quick break and hop on a plane to Bangkok just to see me? I’m sure it wasn’t the elephant show, the magnificent temples, the Songkran festival, the really cheap clothes, the river cruise, the beach or the exotic cuisine that drove them here. Right, guys? Guys?
Saturday morning at 1AM I practically dashed to the airport to fetch Ruth and Jeff. I was very excited to see them again and wanted to make them feel very welcome so when the passengers started pouring out from the arrivals section, I hailed this over my head for them to see and find me:
Several people were looking in my direction and reading the poster with curious expressions on their faces, probably thinking whether we were members of a cult or something. The answer is yes.
In a nutshell, and because I’m too lazy to document everything in detail, here’s what we squeezed into our short holiday:
- toured a number of temples
- talked and joked and made fun of people - including ourselves
- cruised the Chao Phraya river and had dinner at the top deck of a floating resto
- devoured a lot of Thai food and prayed we won’t get hemorrhoids (or in Jeni’s words: cauliflower anus)
- got caked on the face and splashed with water in Khao San during the Songkran festival
- enjoyed world-class jazz and acoustic music at the cozy Brown Sugar
- fed the pigeons at the park and got “peck marks” all over our arms
- walked around Patpong, Bangkok’s red light district, and got hundreds of offers to watch the naughty “Pingpong shows” (the expression on Ruth’s face was priceless)
- tried Lebanese cuisine and decided the lamb made us very sleepy
- fed an elephant prancing about in Sukhumvit road
- braved the heat and shopped for bargains in the famous Chatuchak market. Twice.
- went to Jim Thompson’s house museum and listened to conspiracy theories about his disappearance (my favorite was that he stepped on a vortex and got teleported to the year 2433, where he was trampled by a giant troll by the name of Juno– my own theory)
- saw the entire Bangkok skyline from the tallest building in Thailand
- watched a boring crocodile show (no man-eating happened- we were shortchanged!)
- watched some elephants in Samphran do some amazing acrobatics, soccer and even role-playing
- watched a magic show where the magician’s assistant, a ladyboy, showed complete nonchalance and boredom it was too hilarious
- had coffee and found a freaking little roach inside my cup (I didn’t find out about it until I had my last sip, whereupon I choked and gagged… and died…)
- introduced Ruth and Jeff to my favorite ice cream flavor – Rum Raisin
- went to the beach in Pattaya and saw nice waters but no beautiful ladies
- had fresh Japanese food in an authentic Jap resto where we asked the waitresses to take our picture but got a quizzical look on their faces instead, like they’ve never heard of such a ridiculous idea before
Read Ruth’s blog about our escapade
here. Will post pictures soon!
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thailand
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Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to me.
Sherry is right. It's expensive to be lonely.
A moment of silence for my reliable Creative mp3 player. It has served its purpose well since that fateful day I entered a Walmart store in Houston and decided to buy it. Now it will be used solely as my flash drive.
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Gotta set my sights on something new, I guess. Or maybe I'll try again.
I asked her out to dinner and her answer was can't, next time.
I am still going to have my frigging dinner, though.
***
So anyway, I had a birthday. In the morning, my officemates surprised me with a cake and a birthday song right after our department meeting. I was beaming and didn't expect it, really. They turned off the lights for effects and when I blew the candles I wished for- well, Im not supposed to tell, am I? They also gave me a birthday card, and some people thought my name is spelled Jessy.
It was a usual busy day though and I had originally intended to invite some colleagues out for dinner after work. But then I had to stay late, and eventually, it was too late to invite anyone. Rats. I went home intending to shed my dress shirt for a casual tee and celebrate by myself in a bar somewhere. When I got to my place, I threw myself on my bed and closed my eyes, thinking of taking a five-minute nap.
When I opened my eyes, it was 11 am of January 12 already. Just great.
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emotion alert,
holiday
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From Wikipedia:
Loy Krathong (or Loi Kratong, Thai ลอยกระทง) is a
festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand. It is held on the
full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar,
in the western calendar this usually falls into November.
“Loi” means “to float”. “Krathong” is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although
modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam),
decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense
sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small
raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other
organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are
often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty
contests take place during the festival.
Loy Krathong Festival of Light was over two weeks ago. I went to Benjasiri Park and experienced the fesitivities. Quite cool. They release some small rafts into the pond (or any body of water) in the hopes of letting go of their grudges, anger and bad luck and starting anew. They will also release some hot-air lanterns at night and bid their problems bye bye.
I'm concerned about who cleans up afterwards.
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thailand
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This is just too funny.
I cannot post the name of course, but I know someone who look exactly like Dr. Seuss' the Cat. No kidding. Even the smile is the same. And I just realized another person I know looks like Stewie.
Coolness.
***
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and my friends in the Philippines went on a three day vacation to Camiguin Island. I am jealous because I cooked up this out of town trip myself and even have my own plane ticket. We booked our flight months earlier, and this was before I learned I was going to Thailand. Sigh.
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Did you watch the Oscars? Did you see me on TV?
Kidding. That's Ruth, me and Heidee. I logged on to Itzamatch today when, wham! these pictures were slammed to my face. Now we can never deny we went to
that event.
***
Ruth: "Okay now I'll do my Angelina Jolie impression."
Where the bloody hell is Marsha?
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So I tried speed dating for the first time last week.
The biggest factor why I was present in that activity was the fact that it's sponsored by ETC (Entertainment Central) channel, meaning:
1. There's going to be free chow.
2. I could meet Sam Oh, this beautiful and smart chinky-eyed host from the channel.
Of course, I also looked forward to having a good time with any possible matches so I signed up and got myself a haircut.
That night there was a magician and a (lame) ventriloquist in the house but the fun started when it was time to do the speed dates. The first girl I sat down with was okay so I "checked" her. (You're supposed to check someone's name on a match card and give corresponding scores, 10 as your highest match. If the girl checked me as well, the host would be giving us each other's phone numbers/ email-add's.) Anyway, the girl works in a call center and says she doesn't have her "weekends" on Saturdays and Sundays because apparently in call centers, you have no say when you get your two days off. That's tough.
The second girl was into art and graphics design. Her questions were all restricted to those on the reference cards that they had distributed earlier, questions like "Do you have a pet?" and "What was the last movie you watched?" Then graphics girl asked me what I wanted written on my tombstone when I die. I said, "He lived his life to the fullest and enjoyed every minute of it." (You gotta make a good impression on first dates.) Then without warning the girl ranted off things about death, how she'd like to be cremated and all. She was scary. The girl clearly had issues and had better sit down with a psychologist.
Then there was a cute girl that I saw sitting by herself earlier before the rounds. She said she was into games and gadgets. A techie. I checked her. I think.
There were a lot of girls that I met, but I wasn't prepared for... this one girl. Let's call her Marsha. She tells me she's from Baguio but her work requires that she spend some days in Manila every week. I forgot what it was that she did exactly. She disclosed that the person sitting beside her was her PA. "PA?" I asked. "Personal assistant. You know," she clarifies. She was into some weird fashion too, so I joked around and told her "So, uh, I assume you're into fashion and stuff?"
"Oh may gaaad, how did you know?" came her reply, and she gave a Kris Aquino performance discussing her life non-stop... things I didn't really listen to, until she ended her paragraph with, "well, you know, it's dyahe to be always working... tapos lagi pa kaming nag-aaway ng boyfriend ko..."
Wait a minute. Two things: 1. You have a boyfriend? 2. What the hell are you doing here if you had a boyfriend?
She clarified that her boyfriend was abroad so she's allowed to play. I didn't really know how to respond to that so I took my time to absorb what she said and just kept smiling at her.
"Oh may gaaad, don't look at me like thaaaat..." she went all of a sudden.
"I'm sorry! What do you mean?" I thought that I had offended her with my stare. I was about to apologize when she added, "Na-me-melt ako sa smile mo kasi."
Hehehe, Marsha was flirting with me.
I shrugged it off and simply let her continue with her soliloquy. But she stopped in the middle of her stories and said, "Ang cute ng lips mo." Then she batted her eyelashes.
Suddenly our five minutes was up. I got up and thanked her. There's a girl you don't meet everyday! :)
The next girl on the table was her alleged PA. She kept hiding behind her match card and was too shy to ask me any question. I tried to lighten her up and joked around so she could be more comfortable, but to no avail. So we spent our remaining minutes in silence looking at the people around us. Sam is really cute.
So basically what happened was I had fun! Honestly! Especially because of the surreal Marsha, who provided me nice entertainment that night.
Marsha, if you're reading this, please know that the world needs more people like you, but you must probably stop sniffing all that glue too. It's bad for your health.
Mustered enough courage to ask Sam to pose with me :)
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night out
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Jessica Zafra posted this on her blog:
Love = evoL
Failed to make dinner reservations? “Forgot” to ask someone out? Dateless? Having a spat with your significant other? Stressed from work? Bored out of your wits? Well screw that. Join Geek Chorus and Lomomanila at Mag:net Katipunan on Feb the 14th, 8ish. Bob Guerrero and Gabe Mercado of DaPulis will perform an acoustic set featuring songs from their albums and sad bastard covers of other people’s songs. The Silly Peoples Improv Theater (SPIT) will read a selection of bad breakup letters. They need more bad breakup letters! Everyone’s been a dumper or a dumpee: now you can profit (well, not in cash) from your misery! Email your bad breakup letters (real or imaginary) to yarr@geekchorus.org or gabe@geekchorus.org. Letters stay anonymous and you may opt to replace names of real people with fake names like Marcelline, Sondra or Randy.
So guess where I was headed on Valentine's Day.
Ruth, my new partner in crime, went with me to this
weird normal gathering of
weird normal people on VD. When we arrived, they had us register our names and wear stickers color-coded as follows: blue for
single, red for
in a relationship, and white for
it's complicated. They were big on the Friendster thing, apparently.
The place was small, hence crowded. There were a couple of mad art pieces everywhere, I didn't really understand the concept, I think sometimes people just pour paint over some darn canvas and call it art. And there were a lot of people that I can only assume to be
coños ... not really my kind of people. But the event itself was actually unique and interesting. The funny part was when Gabe Mercado and his band sang a couple of songs like "Ipagpatawad mo" and other funny renditions of other people's songs. A hoot! I was expecting Gabe, however, to stop in the middle of a song and let his tummy out, and then ask the audience,
Okay ka ba tyan?
The part when they started reading break up letters was also fun. I especially loved that one letter ridden with bad ass grammar. If you were on the receiving end of that
madapaka letter, you would have a blast reading it. Tears of joy, man, tears of joy.
They also announced an events group called Geek Chorus that night. It's a unique group in that it caters to us people who shudder at the mention of clubs like "Embassy" (Yaaaak, Gabe says). They have interesting activities lined up for 2007, like a Paper Airplane Flying Contest, Take Your Grad Photo Again, and etc. Should be fun.
All in all it was an interesting experience on a Valentine's Day.
*Pictures not taken by me.
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Whoa, look what I found.
It's an old photograph of my aunt Becky (far left) chaperoning for my Mom and Dad on a date. This was in 1977. Typical date in the seventies, huh? My mom is so beautiful in the picture. Wait, is that a medicine bag Aunt Becky is carrying? Or is there just a butcher's knife inside the bag for when the lovebirds start getting ideas?
Becky: Quosa se ta mira yo? Agarahan mano?? Aieee, larga con el mano di Anita! Satanas! Satanaaas! (What's this I'm seeing? Holding hands?? Aieee, let go of Anita's hands! Satan! Sataaan!!)
This photograph is actually thirty years old; years before I was even conceived. I'm going to have this photograph restored and wood framed and I'll give it to my parents as a gift when I get back to Zamboanga City. I know, I know, I'm such the best son in the world. Pity though this photograph has seen better days, hope the people at the photo studio can work wonders on it.
***
Speaking of dates, I was checking out what's showing in the cinemas through Clickthecity.com and there was an ad about a speed dating event that's going to be held this Friday, you only had to create a profile at Itzamatch.com to join the event. Yesterday I created one, just for the heck of it, anyway. I mean I'm single, so who knows? Hmmm :)
Monggolink:
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