The weekend flew, and I still need to catch up on zzz's.

Last Friday, I went to RCBC to meet up with Iam for dinner. She wanted to check out Triple V at the 3rd floor, and because I haven't been to that area in ages, I wanted to check it out as well. Ended up getting sushi, yum. We spent the time talking, which I hardly get to do much with either of my 2 best friends lately (so Rosa, it's your turn next, hahaha), but because of the limited time, we had to part ways at around 7:30 because Iam had to go back to her office, and I had to walk to the Kopihaus venue to help the boys set up.

I was supposed to help out then by double checking all the sequences that had been done to make a new sequence guide, but because I had the old list in Drei's laptop and they were using the same laptop to check the pictures for continuity, I guess I didn't get much done. I also left early, so I can wake up early for the next day's shoot.

The same drill, I had to go to Nicco's house because that was supposed to be the first pickup stop. My goodness, I was told to be there at 5:30 in the morning. Miko and Drei had spent the night there, so when I arrived, they were taking turns in the bathroom. Oh yeah, Drei was supposed to get his car from his house the night before, but as it turned out, their car was in use, so we ended up commuting to Taft, along with Carla. We had to stopover at the condo for a while before heading to the venue.

Per usual, I had to do the script continuity plus I also had to be the clapper girl. Plus I was on my feet almost all the time, and I still felt lost every time I try to check everything. Sorry, boys. I'm a space case in film production. I didn't even get to read that book Cris had brought (Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children by Angus Oblong). We had to reshoot some other scenes because we took out the extra "El Hombre" and Evelyn characters (plus they were taking up space, hahaha).

The funny thing about continuity is that everything has to be constant even though some time between shooting days had passed. So people like Miko ended up having their hair trimmed in the men's bathroom, hahaha.

My favorite sequence that was shot that day was during the late evening. It was with the messengers, played by Cris, Nicco and Russell, and their scene also included Eka as the secretary and Drew as the policeman. My goodness, just looking at them would make your sides ache with laughter. Someone had partly shaved Cris' head and put black eyeliner on his brows and eyes and also added fake facial hair. Ditto for Nicco and Russell with the eyeliner. Wahahaha. And their dialogue, holy kamote. These guys are complete walking comedy acts.

Because the guys had said that they were planning to spend the night at the venue so get an early start on Sunday morning, I decided on it as well so my mom won't have to complain about my coming home late. The catch was that I was the only girl who spent the night. Aside from me, there was Miko, Nicco, Drei, Arman, Cris, Drew, and Russell. We opened up Drei's sofa bed (which was used as part of the set) so it can accommodate more people, and Arman brought pillows and blankets from home. I brought my own pillow, hahaha (Rosa, I always bring the Incredibles pillow you gave me last year). Anyway, I ended up on the sofa bed with Nicco, Cris and Miko, with me staying at the head so I was curled up between the armrests. Bad move. Because I was curled up the whole time, I couldn't stretch my legs even if I wanted to so I didn't get a comfortable enough sleep. Plus the fact that Nicco still had his jacket, and the swishy material kept bothering me every time he moved.

I fell asleep at around 2 am (I was the first one down, I think), and when I woke up, it was only 6 am. Trouble with that was I couldn't fall back asleep! So I decided to just get up and head for the bathroom for a bath. Good choice, because that way, I don't have to wait in line to take a bath when the others wake up.

Everyone was still asleep when I was done, so I settled myself in front of Drei's laptop and typed away, making a blog entry that I uploaded to my phone...

(early morning thoughts...)

Well, we didn't really get an early start. We still had time for everyone else to have a turn in the bathroom, goof off, stuff like that. Miko, Nicco, Blonski, Cris and I even went with Drei on the other side of the building to the 11th floor to attend church. When we returned at noon, no one new had arrived. Rawr. After lunch at Jollibee (nyak, and to think that we already ate at the same place at midnight the night before) matched with crazy conversation, back to business.

But anyway, when we had checked what other interior scenes we were lacking, there were only a few left, so we wrapped up pretty early. Drei, Nicco and I even found time to catch a movie in Festival Mall. The flick? Chick flick Just Like Heaven, hahahaha.

News flash! The Rent movie will be out in Manila on the 22nd of March, 2006! Got the link from Chinky.

I have yet to blog about some other stuff, but I have to meet Rain for dinner in a few minutes. So I'm out for now.

120805
Exactly 12:00

Ever had that jealous feeling that you can't seem to figure out? I have that feeling right now?

It was the same as the time Mansour wanted my aunt as a wife.
Same as the time when I heard my org partner had found himself a girlfriend from the other org next to us.
When a close friend had fessed up that he likes this certain girl.
But it sure didn’t feel like the time when my ex had a new girlfriend of his own. (No offense, Ari, ahehehe.)

So I guess it's not what you think at all.
I guess it's because I've grown to love to people so much that I don't want to let go of them. I've started to care so much that I've sort of become possessive, to keep them from going though anything that might hurt them.

But how come I didn't feel like this when my brother had introduced me to Ate Maui? Probably because she was such an open book right from the start that I knew that she'd be perfect.

So I guess for a pseudo brother or sister, I'm particular with the people they go with unless I know whom they're hooking up with. I just miss spending time and talking to them like before. To quote from Merrily We Roll Along, "Make it like it was."

Bwahahaha. Lotsa people come to mind in these situations, and I wonder who all these people are? That's for me to know and for all of you to find out.

====================

I usually come home right after work because it gets really lonely wandering around Greenbelt and Glorietta all by my lonesome. Just this Monday, I was holed up in my room with the television on, and a wave of loneliness washed over me. I've gotten so used to hanging out with friends almost every evening until the wee hours of morning that I kept wishing that I was still with them. Hahaha, I guess this is the perfect time to say Nicco and Mish's infamous "Ibalik ang kahapon."

Jealousy. Loneliness.
Two emotions that I totally loathe.
And it's been sporadically visiting me by the ton.

I'll just be in a random coffee shop after office hours with my trusty notepad for the nest few days. Drop me a line if you want. Who knows, I could be in your area.

====================

There really is such a thing as karma. I used to be so dense ever since high school, and still was in college. And now I found people who can be as dense as I am. Now I know how it feels like to be dismissed or not acknowledged even over the simplest of things. No wonder I've been having a lot of brooding moments. No wonder "nakakapagod magtampo," in the words of Nikki, hahaha.


Oh, the "thinks" you can think, like the Cat in the Hat had said.

I've been having too much time with myself to think.

Ignore me. I think I'm having an off-day, hahaha.

Oh yeah, because I turned my thinking mode on, I forgot to add other things.

I met up with Rain the other night after work. Hahaha, when we decided to meet up at Glorietta's Activity Center, I didn't realize that I passed right by him. I was so used to his usual attire of purple shirts and jeans that I didn't notice him in his blue polo and slacks.

Had dinner at Food Choices and laughed our asses off while we talked about his experiences at his new job in Northwest. Then we went window shopping plus had to search for this store he mentioned that makes bags.

Funny moments happened in Tower Records. First, I pored over all the CDs that I wanted. There was the collection of The Chronicles of Narnia VCDs (nope, not the Disney movie) that I first found in Video City, and the OBC recording of Spamalot. I kept squealing in joy at every find that I almost keep dropping CDs from their display. Whoops, hahaha.

See, people? My wish list isn't that hard to figure out, hahaha.

Then when we were in the middle of checking out these old 80s CDs, when I saw a fellow Dreamgirls "colleague" descend the stairs from the upper floor. Hahaha, caught him talking on his phone to his current significant other, and when I came over to say hi, I could hear him bashfully saying a quiet "I love you" to the person he was talking to. I made quiet snide comments jokingly which he unfortunately heard, but he rode along anyway. Small talk here and there after introducing him to Rain, and then when I glanced at his phone and saw his wallpaper, he gave in and confessed everything, hahahaha. Big surprise, dude, it's already out for ages.

I missed the old times when we could just do that.

I'm getting hungry again... Subway time.

Hahaha, I know this is outdated, but thanks to Eka, I found these old photos from last March's Beauty and The Beast...

(Check it out)

When I first got to see these pics, I had actually forgotten what we had all looked like then. I had way shorter hair that was almost as long as Nicco's grown out 'do, and Drei also had hair that was shorter compared to the long 'do he now sports.

Time really flies.

For the first time in ages, I got to chat with Jill.
Jillie! MaGANGda Christmas party tayo! Where is everyone else?

Now I'm out for real because I'm already starving.

Another long update coming up, hehehe. And I'm still too lazy to cut this post.

Saturday, December 10

The only plans I had for the day was to accompany my cousin Grace to the Podium because she had an interview at Banana Leaf.

Arrived at Megamall at around noon, and after a quick lunch at the food court, off we walked to the Podium. When we got there, I left Grace at Banana Leaf and went window shopping.

As it turned out, the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra along with the San Miguel Master Chorale would be performing at the Lounge that very afternoon.

After quite a while, I was surprised to see Grace still sitting outside Banana Leaf along with a bunch of other applicants. The manager wasn't there yet and wouldn't be arriving until 2:30, so I kept her company until the woman arrived and began the initial interview. When she was done, we had to wait half an hour for the 2nd interview so we roamed around the mall, and even managed to watched part of the Chorale's rehearsal, which was when Grace managed to spot Akafellas member Roger amidst the group

While we were still walking around, I was surprised to get a text from Nicco, asking where I was. I wasn't really counting that they'd be looking for me that day, because he had mentioned a group date with Drei. Apparently, it was only Carla and Drei who had dates, so Nicco and Miko were in the condo and wanted to see a movie. He also asked me to ask Mish to go with us. But after coordinating with them for over an hour using both my Globe and Sun phones, Mish wasn't allowed by her mom (who had actually sent me a message saying so while her daughter was in the bathroom) to go out, and we had to catch the 8:30 screening instead of the 6:20 one because waiting for Grace's 2nd interview took forever.

So I let Grace go home ahead (because it was also her aunt's birthday, and was invited to dinner) while I met up with Miko and Nicco at Glorietta. Killed time at Food Choices for over an hour and a half until we went up to get tickets to Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

That flick was hilarious. The dialogue matched the wit of Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer. It's been quite a while since I saw the latter actor in a comedy (get this, it was Top Secret, that darn spoof of something).

After the movie, we caught a cab to Taft, then Nicco and I got a ride home from there. Hahaha, it was one of those rare times that Nicco wasn't asleep during the ride because he's all excited over something. "Kamusta na..." Wahehehehe...

Sunday, December 11

It was back to shooting Kopihaus # 8. Arrived at Nicco's house at past 10:30 am, and Drei (who had picked up Carla first this time) arrived a few minutes after I did. After picking up Rianne, we were off to Makati.

It was our last day at the venue, and the ront door was being renovated. It was all right, anyway, because all we needed to do for the day were the pictorials and exterior scenes, including the final sequence with Lea (Rianne's character) getting run over by van while trying to rescue a young boy.

I spent most of the time hanging out with Cris and Ria (who will be helping out with the music). We first settled ourselves in the inner office in front of Drei's laptop and we got to play Miko's CD that was chock full of mp3s of "old school" songs. Stuff like old songs of the Backstreet Boys and other boy bands and pop groups from that time. Basically, what I used to listen to in high school, hahaha.

After shooting the remaining scenes of Miss Magda and Aldrin, I was back with Cris and Ria, just sitting outisde the venue. The rest were inside, doing the pictorial according to everyone's character.

The finale wasn't until the evening, so we all waited for the sky to get dark. The scene was to be shot along the dela Rosa side of the building, so that's where we readied the van (driven by Mervin) and this large cushion for Aldrin (Raymund) to fall on when Rianne pushes him away from the vehicle. The scene basically involved them and Miko (Jerry), plus a bunch of us who played extras.

I think Miko was conditioning himsel as Jerry the whole day for that very scene, so I didn't really want to bother him at all that much. While they were still blocking and shooting the first part of the scene with Rianne and Aldrin with the van, I was dying to talk to someone, but Miko was the only one sitting next to me.

The funny part of all this was that while we were all there in the street, all the people who passed by actually thought there was a real accident, heck with Rianne lying on the ground. There was even this one car that stopped right in front of us and got out because they thought so. And one taxi cab had bumped into somewhere because the passengers thought there was accident as well. Goes to show how chismosa people can be.

Anyway, when it was finally time to shoot the part where Jerry finds Lea sprawled on the street with all the extras around, I told myself not to look at Miko because when I see someone with tears in their eyes, I easily get affected. Sure enough, on the 2nd take, I saw Miko's eyes all red, and I felt tears in my eyes as well. Rawr.

The shoot is over! Woohoo!

Well, almost. Just a couple of other inserts and that's it, hahaha.

So to celebrate, we all went to Glorietta to have dinner at Food Choices, with Drei using their thesis' budget. I could've enjoyed it, but even though I hadn't eaten all day, I couldn't finish what I ordered. Grrr...

After a few games at Timezone and a bit of hanging out at Starbucks, the Southside crew had to leave. We dropped off Miko at the condo, and during the entire ride to the south, all of us in the back (Carla, Nicco and I) were in sentimental moods because of the music we were all listening to, hahaha.

Had quite an interesting talk with the boys that night, starting from after we had dropped off Carla, outside Nicco's house, and even outside my own. Hahaha. That's coming up in my next entry.

Oh yeah, funny exchange while we were hanging out at my house...

Drei: Sinarado mo yung van?
Erik: Hindi.
Drei: Sarado mo, baka may magnakaw ng gamit natin sa loob.
Erik: Sino naman magnanakaw ng ganitong oras?

Gee... Sino kaya? Hello, it was 1 in the morning, of course there could be anybody!

Monday, December 12

I was back in Glorietta after work because I met up with Mish. Spent most of the time walking around in search of dangly butterfly earings, because she lost the pair she had that I loved. When we got hungry (or either gave up looking for the evening), we went to Food Choices to eat. Plus talk, something we love doing and are good at it too, hahahaha!

Tuesday, December 13

I'm getting sick of seeing Glorietta by the day, hahaha. This time I met up with Rain after work. I wanted to play a few games at Timezone, but I guess he wasn't in the mood, so I just did one round at this Korean game that Drei, Nicco and I love to play.

For the 2nd time in a row, I walked around the mall so Rain can go look around. Hahaha, I was already wearing sneakers that day, but I felt my feet were already tired of walking around the mall for 4 straight days!

Anyway, check out my next entry to follow.

Musings by a friend...

Cute guy... he's someone you can be fond of. He's funny, he's sweet, and such a gentleman. He's also considered as someone safe.

The thing is, girls hardly ever go for the cute guy. They will always go for the dream guy.

Interesting topic.

It really does happen, doesn't it? There will always be this cute guy or girl next door type who's that typical "cute" guy or girl (as described by this one particular cute guy), but they always get dismissed because of some dream guy or girl.

While we were talking about it, I suddenly remembered this movie, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton. The safe guy stays in the sidelines while the girl goes after her dream guy.

But remember what that bartender in the flick had said? The cute/safe guy can still be a dream guy to someone else.

I guess my dear friend got a little shook up last Sunday night, if not the whole day, ahehehe. Apparently, he's been referred to as "cute", which led us to this entire topic. And the funny part of the conversation was the way he disses "cute" as a compliment. It sounded as if cute was a bad thing.

Don't kill me for this, but I also do see you as that cute guy you perceive yourself to be. But here's a good question... who's the dreamgirl and who's the girl next door? Hahaha! Peace, baby bro!

First of all...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSA!!!

On cool thing about one 1/3 is that Rosa and my birthdays are only 2 days apart, hehehe.

I'd like to thank all those who had greeted me on my birthday, through text, emails, here in my blog and even in Friendster. I love y'all, guys.

Like what I usually do on my birthday, the first thing was to attend the first day of Misa de Gallo with my Dad. Hahaha, I had put my phone on silent mode before I went to bed so I can have at least a couple of hours of sleep before the mass, so I found a whole of bunch of messages waiting for me.

I was the first one who arrived at the office because, as luck would have it, there wasn't a line at the shuttle terminal but a van that was ready to leave, yay. Once Ate Sally had unlocked the office, we went to Amy's for breakfast then to Landmark to purchase those rubber pads Mrs. Garcia had asked us to buy. For lunch, I had ordered food for everyone and even got Ate Alona to bring half to Ate Jackie and Nene back in the other building. So sweet, Ate Sal and Rich even bought dessert, which was ice cream and a mango cake (which I brought with me instead). And wonder of wonders, Ate Sally let me take the afternoon off because it was my birthday. Thank you!

Anyway, so I headed to Taft and met up first with Peachy at Starbucks. Mish met with us there and we hung around until after Peach had left for Megamall. The two of us talked for a while longer then we went to the condo. Blonzki was shooting something for class then, so Mish and I went straight to Drei's bed and hung out there.

Spent most of the time just sitting around, sometimes peering in on what Blonz was shooting, or looking at Kopihus photos in Drei's laptop.

I didn't really want my birthday to be a big deal this year, so I got pizza for the 1401 residents. Pizza was supposed to be for take-out from Pizza Hut, but as Drei, Mish and I were about to leave the place, Miko and Nicco came in and decided we just eat there. We had to order a few extras then because we got take-out, and spent quite a while sitting around and talking in the booth and also watching TV. We just left when Starstruck had ended, hahaha.

Retired at the condo, with Mish and I watching Drei make his Christmas presents from his laptop, while Nicco fell asleep on Miko's bed (Miko had left Pizza Hut earlier to go to some party thing). Then I remembered that Mimay had mentioned a Christmas party she was attending at CCP, so I sent her a text message asking where she was. Arni was the one who replied that they'd be dropping by.

Once Mimay and Arni had arrived, my mood was sort of dropping already. Sorry, Mims, I was already getting sleepy. I guess I didn't feel like talking much anymore, but I found myself talking with Drei on his bed. Well, the usual talk, hahaha, plus something that ticked me off earlier that night. The rest of the wee morning hours were spent like that, until Nicco was more than ready to go home.

Quoting...
"What's Hogi like as a girlfriend?"
"Wala lang, nakikita ko lang kayo... Mga a few months from now..."

Can anyone react for me, please??


Yesterday was Rosa's day. Well, her birthday's really today, but decided to celebrate it on a Saturday night.

Ate Maui went to our house to visit, plus to give our Christmas presents and celebrate my birthday on our own. Hahaha, she pored over our old pictures that my mom had transferred to the new photo albums that I bought for her.

Went to Iam's house because that's where we had to decided to meet up so Aris can pick us up from there. Prior to that, she told me that we could bring Johnny/Terie with us to Rosa's house so he can visit his brothers Makie and Sushie. So when Aris had pulled up in front of Iam's house, that's when I first met Johnny (to be called Terie from this point), plus his sisters Rosie and Patti. He sat in the car next to me, but didn't bother sitting on the newspapers we had laid out for him. He insisted on sitting on my lap. Aw... his eyes are so adorable.

We had to meet up with PJ, Gonx and Josh at McDo ATC before we had to go to Rosa's house, and Aris had to buy something at National Bookstore for Rosa's mom. So Iam and I hung around outside McDo with Terie while we waited. Hahaha, my goodness, he got so startled when the fireworks in ATC went off.

When we arrived at Rosa's house, Snowie was waiting by the open gate, and this time I was the one who got startled because he instantly saw Terie in my arms. Before I knew it, Terie was off and running with Snowie at his heels. Waaa... Someone finally grabbed Terie and Rosa let us take him to the puppies' playroom to eat, while he and Snowie got a little reacquainted. Then when he had his fill, he was put in the puppies' cage to bond with his brothers, which was quite the entertainment for everyone that night, hahaha.

The Hogi Hall gang who were there that night were me, Iam, Aris, Seph, PJ, Josh, Gonx and Mike (who managed to catch up in the middle of the videoke session). Hahaha, one of the best quips I heard all night was "The old Josh is back!"

Anyway, so Terie went home with me that night. My dad let him sleep in my room for the night so he won't cry about being alone. Hahaha, the whole time, he was facing me as if making sure that he wasn't alone in the room.

This morning, after Terie had eaten, my mom let me sleep in until lunch. And she spent the entire time bonding with him (and she insisted calling him Koji... Huwaaat??). Poor baby's gonna be one confused pup. By the time I woke up, I was so amused that he and Mom were getting along pretty well. Take note that my mom is not a dog lover.

Dinner time... It's been a busy day today, and it's back to work tomorrow.

We're making it public.

3wayjabber.

I haven't seen Nikki in ages, and while I was on my way to meet with Mish at Starbucks yesterday evening, I managed to persuade her to come join us.

Hahaha, per usual, Mish and I talked over coffee jelly and her cinnamon swirl, and laughed off one annoying topic and one disturbing thing that I shared with her. Hahaha, when I was about to start on one more disturbing thought, I finally saw Nikki walk into the coffee shop. Yay, tres lokas complete again.

More catching up with Nikki, because she and Mish hadn't seen each other longer than I have with either. Oh yeah, Nix brought us these yummy Mrs. Fields cookies, but they were so sinful that I could only eat one. Then she mentioned this annual art exhibit at GSIS that Prof was in, and we wanted to check it out. So we instantly left Starbucks and hopped on one of those orange jeeps that go around CCP.

It only dawned on me then that it was a Monday. Most places in CCP would be closed then, and when I mentioned it to the two, we weren't sure whether the museum at GSIS would be open. When we arrived at the building, the place was closed, hahaha. What a trip. So we walked as far as halfway to the film center until we caught another orange jeep. When we got on...

Me: Saan tayo bababa?
Nikki: Saan tayo bababa?
Mish: Saan nyo gusto bumaba?

Ay, the 3 undecideds' lousy slapstick humor. *slap* *slap* *slap*

We ended up getting off before Star City, because Nikki wanted to check out some tiangge places. We ended up just walking... all the way back to Taft, and went on to Providence tower for videoke. And per usual, I left the singing up to them, hehehe. But hey, there were lotsa new songs in the machines. Nicco, check out Nikki and Mish singing "Mata", hehehe.

Just wanna share, there was this one disturbing dream that both Mish and I dreamed about. Same incident, same person. Santa banana... I felt indifferent when I first woke up from the dream, but when I remembered it and tried to retell the story first to Mish and then to Nikki, I shuddered. I still shudder at the thought. To one who made one quip last Friday night, this is all your fault, hahaha. Peace!

Little Terie is still sleeping in my room, by the by. It seems that he doesn't want to be left all alone because he's used to company before I adopted him. For two nights in a row, he laid down next to me while I was watching TV so he can sleep comfortably with the feeling of someone next to him (doesn't this remind me of someone? Hehehe), and instantly wakes up when I move. And last night, he found this little corner in my room, and suddenly started to cry when he woke up not knowing I was already on my bed.

I don't feel like Christmas is coming up in less than a week. True, malls are getting crowded, lotsa people shopping and going out. But I really don't feel at all that "Christmas-y". It gets worse every year. Oh well. The things I'm looking forward to these next few days will be seeing and hanging out with friends and seeing my brother again this weekend.

I want a change of routine. Again.

Darn it, I just made this long entry and then I accidentally erased it!

"Damenait!"

Now I'm too lazy to rewrite what I had written.

Basically what had happened these past couple of days were deliveries of bread puddings Bobby had ordered for some friends.

Yesterday, we had to deliver a couple of them to the Meralco Theater first. Thanks for the umbrellas, Sir Ed! Then one to Cherie's house, which took a while because we didn't know how to get there, and when we got to her street, we had asked at least 5 people where the exact address was, and they all had totally different answers. Rawr. The last was for Boy Abunda, and even with my lousy sense of direction and bad memory, I still recalled a bit of the way to his place, having gone there once before.

Today was the second day of bread pudding deliveries. First was at Liza's, and when I got there, I instantly fell in love with her house. Just looking through the front doors was quite a sight. Thanks to Lawyn for the directions, by the way. The last two were for the Salongas. I had asked Lea a couple of weeks ago about where to deliver hers, and she said to send it to her mom's house as well because they visit her often.

My goodness, we got stuck in traffic on the way back both today and yesterday that I was starving by the time I got to the office.

I heard a couple of days ago that Miko had moved out of 1401 yesterday. So when I dropped by last night, it felt weird that his computer wasn't there, his stuff wasn't cluttered on the floor, and his bed not as rumpled as usual. Sometimes I anticipated that any minute I'd hear the door unlock and hear him come in, and then see that Miko-shaped shadow walk in. And to think that the first memory I had in that condo was of him happily re-installing MS Word in his computer.

Check it out, Oliver emailed me an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer that featured the best of Philippine Theater in 2005. And Cris was there!

Best Featured Actor-Play

Cris Pasturan ("R'meo Luvs Dew-lhiett"). Young, nervy, exuberant, Pasturan exploded on the stage like a runaway firecracker as the rapping, wisecracking Mercutio in TP's jologs version of Shakespeare's play on young love. He stole every scene he was in, that when he exited midway through he was sorely missed.

No wonder he was so in demand for thesis productions, hahaha. And to think I already see the same people in those shows ever since last year.

Hahaha, Sir Tony dropped by the office this afternoon and gave Ate Sally and me one of those huge Hershey's Kisses each. Huwaw, chocolate overdose tonight.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

In honor of next month's screening of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, here's a song from Trumpets' own production...

Sing for Joy! You won't believe it's
Once again that time of year!
Spread the word, the joyous news
At long last, Christmas is here!

Sing for joy and welcome home
The Christmas season once again
Gather round
The Christmas tree
Rejoice all beasts and men!

Down with the witch with her spells
And her curses
She can no longer pretend
No longer queen
As her curses reverse, as
Her reign comes to an end

Sing for joy, the coming glory
Let your voices now take wing
Rejoice, recall the Christmas story
Praise the one true King!

Hehehe, I want to watch the screening that comes with the free Trumpets CD.

My brother's home from California! Yay! More on that later.

Last Friday, we spent the morning delivering mango tort cakes to other friends of Bobby's. There was one for his sister Dee Dee, then Bettina, Chari, and Raymund, plus another that goes to BPI. I want to order my own mango tort, hehehe. Just looking at them made my mouth water.

We decided to postpone our party until after Christmas because our delivery schedule that day was sort of tentative. Plus Rich had to go to the office of her other client, so we were less one person.

So where did I end up that evening? First there was a little disagreement with my guy best friend in ATC, and then I went with Drei to help him shop for Christmas gifts for his family. Wahahaha, when we were done, we found ourselves at Timezone looking for games to play. We got hooked on Percussion Master, and played until our arms got tired, hahahaha. Nicco, you have to come with us next time!

Rawr, I can't wait to watch The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I want to see if it gives justice to the book. I fell in love with the books ever since I heard of the first auditions for its first run.

And of course, there's Rent. I can't believe I have to wait until March to see it on the big screen. Karl, you saw it already?

Anyway, back to yesterday. Ate Maui was the one who picked up my brother from the airport because she was gonna have lunch with us. Hahaha, when they were near, Kuya called to say that they're a few minutes away and they're really hungry. It took a while for them to arrive because of the crazy traffic.

Hehehe, of course, I had to introduce them to Terie. Ate Maui, because so used to female pets like li'l Koji, called him a girl, hahaha. And when Terie saw Kuya, he suddenly started barking! And to think he's been so friendly to everyone lately. Maybe he already had a feeling that he's gonna be tormented by my brother, hahaha.

Spent a while in my brother's room with him and Ate Maui while he unpacked Christmas presents for everyone. We even got to view the DVD of the Chicago Marathon he was in last October. Santa banana, he ran all 26 miles?!? When we viewed the course video, Ate Maui and I got tired just watching it.

By mid afternoon, Terie had finally warmed up to Ate Maui and Kuya when we were all hanging out in the backyard. He particularly liked Ate Maui's boho skirt, hahaha.

Anyway, I'm out for now. I've been up for hours, and I can't believe it's only noon. Once again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

Once again, like I do every year, I look back on what had happened this past year. Oooh, reminiscing on Christmas. Interesting.

(2005 in review)

I can't believe the year flew by so fast. Despite the emotional roller coaster moments I've encountered all throughout the year, once again, once again, I have no regrets. I'm truly grateful for everything that had happened, and more so for all the people I've met and have been with.

You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

And I can't wait for what 2006 has in store for me.

Ay, que drama.

It's gonna be a happy new year...

Tuesday was Jessica's birthday, so a bunch of us decided to meet up in Makati to go to her place together.

Earlier that day, I got a text message from Ferson saying that he was in the Greenbelt area, and asked where I was. So I told him what time I could get out of the office, in hopes that he'd stay until I got out so we can meet.

Sure enough, Son was still in the area when I got out, so we decided to meet at Glorietta. When I had just stepped on the escalator leading to the 3rd floor of Glorietta 4, I noticed this one girl on the other escalator (going down) that looked like Nikki. Risking embarassment, I shouted Nikki's name and the girl looked up. Hahaha, sure enough, it was Nikki, so I went on shouting to tell her to go up the escalator again. Coolness, I managed to find her just when I was about to meet Son. So the 3 of us sat around in Starbucks just for a few moments for a breather, then we went to KFC so Son can have a bite to eat.

Cris had joined us after a while, and then we went to Goldcrest so Son can find a new housing for his cell phone. Nicco had already texted me while we were in KFC that he was already in Glorietta so we met up with him outside Goldcrest. Actually, while we were waiting for him there, he had suddenly crept up behind us, nyak.

After a quick trip to Timezone (for Bishi Bashi and Percussion Master) and after standing around in front of the cinemas ticketing area, Nikki had to leave. The rest of us then moved to Gloria Jeans so we can wait for Drei to pick us up. As it turned out, Wetzels' Pretzels was gone and in its place was an extension of GJ. So whee, we managed to nab this whole area of couches just for the four of us.

When Drei had called to say that he was already in his car outside GJ, we had to say goodbye to Son. Then Nicco, Cris and I hopped in the car and we were off to Bel-Air. Hahaha, when we reached Jessica's house, we were kinda shy to get out of the car and walk in, so we parked across the street from her house and waited for a while. Nicco even texted Bryce and pretended we were lost, asking him to come out into the street so we'll know where the place was. When he was outside, we started fooling around with him, shaking the entire car while we were still inside. Hahaha, we did that at least 3 times before we got out, with him spotting the car we were in with a funny look on his face, as if he was trying to figure out if it was us.

After saying hello and greeting the birthday girl, we went inside the house to find that Alvin and Mervin were already there. Nabbed the dinner table so we can eat, but I was already kind of full by that time, because I already had a white chocolate oreo chiller and a mushroom quiche at Gloria Jeans.

We hardly knew the other guests, because they were all from different crowds, so it was pretty awkward to mingle. Then when Cris had mentioned that there was this playground in the village, so we set off to find it. There was Cris, Drei, Nicco, Mervin, Alvin and me, walking up and down the streets in search of the playground, but we found nothing, so we went back to Jess' house. Quick bathroom break, and some took more cigarette breaks, and then we asked Jess where the playground was. Hahaha, we had actually walked farther than where the actual place is.

So Drei, Nicco, Cris and I set off again for the playground, hahaha. Naomi (who has been calling since we were at GJ) then called Nicco, asking where he was and how to get to Jessica's place, and he mentioned that we were already there and were actually walking to the playground. She decided to go join us as well, so she got the cab she was riding in to drop her off (along with friend Gracie) at the playground. Hahaha, we ended up playing with the see-saws, even though the seats were sort of wet (because it had rained earlier). We still managed to sit on them by wiping the wet parts with our jackets.

Then we found out that Miko was almost there, so we went back to the party to wait for him. After a while, the very same group, this time with Miko, returned to the playground, hahaha.

That's the thing I don't like about holding parties. I don't want those parties because knowing that you have friends in different circles, it sometimes gets pretty awkward for some groups to mingle and it gets pretty hard to keep track of each group of friends.

Anyway, so there we were at the playground. Back to the see-saws, hahaha, just talking about anything under the sun. There were only two see-saws that were next to each other, so Nicco and I occupied one, and Drei and Miko had the other. Cris had found a couple of her office mates that had passed by so she went off with them for a while, and Naomi and Gracie were pretty content just standing next to the see-saws, sort of checking Nicco out, nyahahahaha.

When we realized that we had spent quite a lot of time at the playground already, we then decided to go back to Jessica's house, and settled ourselves back at the dining room table with Merv and Alvin (on their nth plates) for some card games.

Lola na ko, hahaha. I keep hearing that from people, and I use it on myself as well. I was getting sleepy by the time we were in the middle of the card games, and just perked up a bit when Pio had arrived because he had quite a story to tell, ahehehehe. Rawr, I really wanted to go home and sleep right then and there, but I was too polite to say anything to be the limiting factor, so I waited until someone had decided to go home, and that was Miko and Merv, at around 1:30 in the morning.

Said goodbye to the birthday girl, and then after dropping Cris off at Starbucks 6750, Drei, Nicco and I went back to the south. At some points during the quick ride (because we were going pretty fast along the highway), I was kinda sleepy, and sometimes, I would get wide awake, depending on what topic Drei and I were talking about (Nicco had conked out in the backseat, as usual). When we were already in BF, we had this sudden urge to eat at Sinangag Express, so we decided to wake Nicco up and ask him if he was feeling up to it.

Drei: Nicco... [Nicco stirs.] SEx tayo.

WAHAHAHAHAHA! If someone else was listening in, what he had said would've sounded so weird.

Whee, another holiday on Friday.

I once posted an entry publicizing a shared blog, called 3wayjabber.

It's been kept in the dark for quite some time, but now we decided to share it with you guys.

Here's a little background on the blog. A year ago, a shared blog was first created by two people just so we can document our musings, random thoughts ala Bob Ong, and shared insights that were mostly discussed over the phone, during rides back home or at late nights at someone's place.

Having acquired a new member, we decided to create a brand new blog as a spin-off. The first one was a brainchild shared by two people, and because the new one had another member, we had decided to call it "3wayjabber."

3 way jabber?

The initial blog's name was derived from a phone call between two people, so "3 way jabber" became sort of a derivative of "3 way calling."

Aside from late night phone calls and talks, we now open our notepads and share our musings with you.

3 WAY JABBER

I go to read the script of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt this week, and I actually liked the sermon in the first scene of Act 2...

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew--I know none of you have ever done this--and that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she was to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O'Rouke, and she told him the whole thing. "Is gossiping a sin?" she asked the old man. "Was that the Hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?" (Irish brogue) "Yes!" Father O'Rouke answered her. "Yes, you ignorant badly brought up up female! You have borne fasle witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!" So the woman said she was sorry and asked forgiveness. "Not so fast!" says O'Rouke. "I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!" So she went home, took the pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old priest as instructed. "Did you gut the pillow with the knife?" he says. "Yes, Father." "And what was the result?" "Feathers," she said. "Feathers?" he repeated. "Feathers everywhere, Father!" "Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!" "Well," she says. "It can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over." "And that," said Father O'Rouke, "is GOSSIP!" In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Yeah, some people think that gossip seems pretty harmless.

But that's what they just think.

Because this year, both my brother Kuya Toto and my cousin Kuya Ritchie had come home from abroad (California and Qatar, respectively), we decided to all hang out together at Kuya Ritchie's house in Cavite City along with Kuya Butch and Ate Shang.

Hehehe, ever since we were born, the three guys have been inseperable, and the same goes for me with Ate Shang.

Anyway, per usual, the guys wanted a drinking session, and then I realized that I was the one that has always been clean and sober (heck, not even carbonated drinks, hello?). Ate Shang was a social drinker, so of course she'd join in. Hahaha, I've been using this worn out excuse that I was allergic to alcohol due to skin asthma, and heck, even I don't buy it.

Tito Edel and Nanay Beth had prepared a huge spread just for us, along with the help of Tito Erning. I then thought, well, why not just sit with everyone while they drink, and just pig out on the food?

So after lunch, the guys took their places on the front yard, at the sunshaded table under the tree. Ate Shang and I joined in because we wanted to watch the tequila drinking. The last time the 3 guys got together for a drinking session, Kuya Ritchie had noticed that Kuya Toto was the only one left who could still stand up. Hehehe, yeah, go bro! So this time, Kuya Ritchie decided on revenge. He wanted my brother really drunk. He can't force Kuya Butch because he's our designated driver. We watched them go shot after shot of tequila, while I munched on pistacchio nuts and fishballs and kikiam.

Then Tito Erning went over to us bringing a couple of bottle of Smirnoff. Ate Shang immediately got one of the bottles for herself, while I completely ignored it. Heck, there was water and Sprite anyway, hahaha.

But when I finally got thirsty, the Sprite only had a quarter left, and it was out of reach. So I asked Ate Shang if I could take a little sip from her glass of Smirnoff. Oh well, it tasted OK, so we shared the 2nd bottle. Kuya Ritchie then returned with more, along with some other vodka mix. The blueberry flavored one tasted like cough syrup, but I liked it, and the orange and passion fruit flavored one tasted a bit like Ponkana, hahaha.

I didn't realize how many I was drinking until Nanay Beth's nephew tried to clear the table of empty bottles. 5? 7?

"Ano, isa pa?"
"Sige lang, parang wala lang rin naman eh."

The last bottle of orange and passion fruit vodka mix tasted totally different from the last one. Ew, so that's the only time I stopped and went for the food again. Gak, I ate too much.

Hahaha, success, Kuya Ritchie got Kuya Toto drunk, and himself as well. Kuya Butch spent quite a while taking a nap or talking on his cell phone. They had actually finished the entire bottle of tequila and half a bottle of Fundador. My golly, if we went out to a bar, imagine how much they had spent by now. And Kuya Ritchie was hilarious. He kept singing "Enteng Kabisote" over and over, and whenever they talked, his words wouldn't register with Kuya Toto. The best part was when they popped in the Spandau Ballet CD. WOOOHOOO!

5... 4... 3... Open sesame! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's gonna be a happy new year...

Here's to 2006, y'all!