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Last week was Mike’s turn to visit back here in the Philippines (last January was Aldrin). Even if our barkada is seldom complete, we still manage to hang around and have a get-together gimmick. It’s hard for us to have a complete reunion because most of us are countries apart.

Anyway, our first stop (2008.03.09) since Mike arrived was at Gerry’s Grill (Trinoma). A heavy dinner with lots of meat and iced tea. The weather is good, the air is cool but not too cold.

Left to right. Suzette (Mike’s wife), Mike (our sponsor for the night), Me (just tagged along to enjoy the free food and drinks), Jerrue (same reason as me), and Marvin (our pilot for the day).

Last Thursday (2008.03.13), is guys night.

Increased food intake was one of the highlights of the day. Around 4pm, late lunch at KFC and immediately after that, dessert at Iceberg. By 8pm, dinner at SM North (forgot the name of the resto) foodcourt. Then the four of us (photo above) went to Grillas at Commonwealth. It’s unfortunate that Oli (another of our barkada) couldn’t join us because he has some “responsibilities” to attend to. It was another night for a round of beer and pulutan. It was a whole night (till 4am) of food and drinks.

It could have been longer, but I have a scheduled meeting in Ortigas at 6am. So after I got home around 4:30am. I immediately took a shower, changed my clothes, and got out. Yup, that was a whole day of no sleep. Hehe.

My apologies for the poor photo quality. None of us brought a digital camera, all we got is our mobile phones. It was a very long and eventful night. Although as much as I like to tell the detailed story, I can’t. Because like what they always say, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Another thing…

I saw the legendary car from the anime Initial D, parked at Trinoma. Good thing we have a digital camera at that time. I couldn’t get more shots because we’re already in the van and we were leaving the parking lot.

I’m not entirely sure if it is an exact replica of the Toyota Trueno AE86, the car that the protagonist of the series used.

Category: Mundane Life, Real World by Ryman
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My birthday celebration came a week late, mainly due to conflicting schedules of my barkada. Last Oct. 27, I invited my few remaining ka-barkadas who were still living here in the Philippines for a night out. A friend of mine, Jerrue, suggested that we go to Red Box at Trinoma. He was always there because his girlfriend works there so he knew the place. Good thing that I’ve decided to go there a little bit early to get our room reserved, as much to my surprise (well not really), after a few minutes the list of reservations was almost full.

The reserved slot I took was from 7pm-12mn which costs 299 per head. I didn’t have a head count since I don’t know who will come and who will not, so I just told the lady at the counter that it was for 6 or 8 person. Marvin texted me a couple of hours later that he (and also his girlfriend, Jen) couldn’t come, so that makes the list to 6. So there were only six of us; Jerrue, Wella, Oliver, Gladys, Joanne, and me.

Our photos came up short because I forgot to take pictures. I did bring a digital camera but I seldom used it during the night. My phone’s (which was constantly being used by my girlfriend because she was addicted to some game) battery emptied even before the night was over. For those few shots I took, head over to the media gallery page and follow this path on the navigation: Barkada -> Red Box night out -> Photos

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Red Box (Ayala Trinoma) is a good place to spend you night with friends. The price is cheap; 99 pesos per head for the 3-7pm time slot and 299 pesos per head for the 7-12mn slot. If you go there on Tuesday (or was that Thursday???), your female companions can enter for free. Reservation is free, and if it is your first time to visit there, they will also let you register for the free membership card. But I think the food is expensive; actually to be precise, the prices are relatively cheap but the amount of food is quite less than expected. All in all it’s a good place to come back again, just be prepared to shell out some cash coz the additional charges is ridiculously high; 10% for the service charge plus VAT 12% plus local tax 1% my total bill was 3,494.00 plus all that extra charges amounts to 4,297.65 php. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, you and your pals gets a free iced tea. Hehehe.

We were lucky to get room 36 because it is slightly in-front of the crew’s station. That’s why the service is fast and we can call a crew even without using the phone on the wall.

Category: Real World by Ryman
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What really bothers me is that I always don’t have the answer to a lot of questions. Goals are one thing I can’t envision in my lifetime. It’s hard to admit, but I really have no ’specific’ goals in my life. Others can easily say, I want to be rich, or build my dream house, or travel abroad. I don’t have that kind of dream, nor vision. I just want to live a simple life with no problems, then die. That’s it, really simple.

My girlfriend, Joanne, sometimes asks me what are my plans with her. I always answered, we will get married, live together and stuff like that. Lately, she has been ‘pressuring’ me that we should live together now. Since we are both adults and working (currently I’m not), she suggested that we get a house or a condo. I know we are not getting any younger, and our peers are adding to that pressure. My barkada, Aldrin, got married a couple of years ago and has already a daughter. He is living in the U.S. while his family are still here in the Philippines. It wont’ be long before they are also in the U.S. Mike, another one of my barkada also got married last year. Now Mike is back at Canada, soon after his family will also join him there along with his few months old son. Another one of my barkada (whose name I won’t mention due to certain conflict that may arise) is living with his current girlfriend. I hear that his girlfriend is already pregnant. As you’ve probably guessed, soon they will also get married. And another one of my barkada (which again I won’t mention because it is supposed to be a secret) is also planning to get married. But not in the church, he and his girlfriend are planning to have a SM (secret marriage). Actually it’s not really a secret since they need a witness, he is inviting me to be one. Ok so to make this short, a few more of my friends and barkadas are either married, getting married, or already has a daughter or son, which BTW I’m also a ninong (godfather).

And to add to that ‘peer pressure’ my girlfriend’s younger brother also recently got married. She’s not really angry to the fact that her younger brother got married before her, but she’s wondering ‘when’ (with emphasis) we will get married. Although for reasons said by her parents, they don’t want her to get married ‘yet’ because her dad is going to petition her to the U.S. so her surname must remain intact.

Now if I’m to decide, I’d better plan for ‘our’ future. Since we are together on this one, I really have to decide on some things. Mostly I don’t like making decisions because, like I always say, what ever happens, happens. We’ve been together for more than six years (since 2001), we’ve already known known each other that much. We’ve already done many things together, gone to far away places. Maybe it is time to make that ‘near’ final step, where in you have to share your life with another person.

To choose between being single (my freedom, which I really like in my life coz I can always do anything I want without anyone objecting) or being in a couple (where I can enjoy the moments in my life with another person, to be loved and to feel love) is a really hard decision for me.

Well, it’s time to make that next step. What comes next, I hope it will be good.

Category: Random Rants by Ryman
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