I Am The Walrus

Feb 7, Saturday, 845am

We finally arrive at the chapel, Madamayan driving in her gown and white heels which she was trying to hide from the bride all day because she had strict instructions that we’re supposed to wear silver shoes.

I loved the wedding chapel. It seats only about 80 people, like a classroom, only bigger. When the choir started singing, I looked at the bride and groom and they were singing along, as enthusiastic as the rest of the choir. Oh yeah, that’s how they met. They have been singing for the same church choir for the last six or seven years.

It was the most uncomfortable mass of my life. My face packed with makeup, I can’t slouch in my gown, I had to carry a stupid bouquet of flowers, and I had a camera I can’t use because I can’t run around because of my stupid gown. So if anyone out there is getting married and you plan to give me a role, can you sign me up somewhere else? Like a Bible reading? Or a dance number?

So the groom, Joyousnoel, was ecstatic about the kiss at the end of the ceremony because Singerica is such a prude. We’ve been going out with them for years and years and I’ve never seen them kiss, not even a peck on the cheek. Joyousnoel is a perfect gentleman, but I know deep down he is (or wants to be) an exciting luvah. So when they got to the kiss in the end, and Joyousnoel kissed his new wife, he relished it and enjoyed it but was gentle about it. It was perfect.

I love Singerica, but she has her eccentricities. I have to admit, sometimes she’s hard to get along. But she’s funny as hell and she laughs at my craziness, so we hang out. And I love that Joyousnoel just accepted her eccentricities, her tantrums, her prudence! And the pride in Joyousnoel’s face when he hugged his wife for the first time — it was like all the trials they went through just fluttered away.

Me and Glutina start crying. Eye make-up! Eye make-up!, I joked. I’m crying because Singerica is crying and Joyousnoel is crying. Happy for them, sure. But I know you know what I’m thinking.

1030am

Can we just get to the buffet now? Stupid tradition, we have to catch the bouquet. Or pretend to catch the bouquet. Instead we all kept dodging it.

I conspired with Madamayan and pretended to be in deep conversation with her as the whole bouquet toss was happening. “Is that a bird?” I pointed to the sky. Madamayan laughed. Bride tosses the bouquet and it falls on a bush. Everybody laughs. She tosses it again and the event host catches it. Good for her.

The irony, though. I know each and everyone of those bridesmaids — all four of us. All four of us are dying to get married. Just itching for a wedding. Excited about falling in love and being in love and powering through a relationship just to walk down that aisle. But catching the bouquet kind of pressures all of us into a deadline which we will, most probably, not meet.

Bouquets shouldn’t be tossed anymore, just awarded. With a certificate signed by God saying “You will get married in x number of months”. Now that’s a bouquet I’d fight for.

1130am

Intimate chapel, intimate reception. We went back to the hotel for the grub, which was good. Two points for Legend Villas. The buffet was nice — salad, chicken croquettes, calamares, grilled fish with lemon sauce, roasted chicken (didn’t eat that), roast beef (hate beef) and for dessert, french pastries (eclairs! yum!).

There were only about 10 tables and by now everybody knew everybody else, having spent the last 3 hours together. Big weddings truly are for people who want to announce to everyone in their social circle that “Hey, somebody wants to spend the rest of their life with me. Check it out!”. Small weddings are really for celebrating with people you love.  

The event was hosted by my friend GenQ — we’ll call her that so it’s nice and funky, like Rihanna or Beyonce. GenQ came in a nice blue dress that was partially backless that the conservative bride had disapproved earlier. So that’s Madamayan’s white heels and GenQ’s backless dress — we love Singerica but we don’t do what she says hehehe.

Along with GenQ is her husband HaroldQ who is, in my book, a professional photographer because it’s only in his camera that I look prettier than I’m supposed to be. HaroldQ tells me he thinks I would look good on a photoshoot lying down in bed, my arm over my head or something like that. Right. Who would buy that magazine?

Singerica and Joyousnoel sang Bakit Ba Ganyan. Galing ng blending! harharhar. I’m surrounded by couples like this everyday, seemingly different people, whose differences often turn to arguments, but there’s always one thing that brings them together. Glutina and her boyfriend Grumpaul (he’s been grumpy lately, but I love him) love videoke like no one else I know. They dance and sing with arms flailing, even if they’re out of tune. When I see them singing videoke, I understand what brought them together.

Joyousnoel and Singerica are more serious type of singers — kind of like Isay Alvarez and Robert Sena. And as they sing, you know these two people are entering into this wedding not just voluntarily but enthusiastically. They really want to spend their lives together.

When the parents are called in to make their speech, I reach for my hanky again. I am crying way too much on this wedding. But this one, I can explain. I remember my mom saying she dreams of putting on a nice barong gown and walking me down the aisle with my dad, offering me to the man I’m going to marry. Once in a while, she tells me she still believes in that dream. Ah, screw it. I don’t know anymore.

1pm

Yes! Take me to my hotel room! Get me out of this gown! When the ceremony was over, we kissed the bride and groom goodbye and hurried our way back to our rooms. Give me tsinelas or give me death!

I used up a small pack of cotton to take out the thick makeup on my face and when I looked in the mirror, I recognized myself again. Hey there, dark circles. I missed ya.

HaroldQ brought out his laptop and showed us the pictures he got from the wedding and we all laughed our asses off. The doorbell rang and it’s the bride and groom, back in their house clothes, like nothing happened. As the slideshow of photos started, we watched a series of solos of the bride, to which Joyousnoel quietly remarked “Ang ganda ni Rica, ano?”.

We checked out at around 3pm. Glutina’s meeting up with Grumpaul (grumpy but still has time for his girlfriend), Chestelle went off to buy bread for her mom, and I got a text from my own mom, saying my son misses me and wants a Pokemon happy meal.

Everybody went home happy.

Feb 6, Friday 11:26 pm

I’m at The Legend hotel with my friends Glutina and Chestelle. They’re soundly sleeping since we have to wake up at an ungodly hour so we can get ready for our friend, Singerica’s wedding tomorrow.

It’s only a matter of hours before she will be officially changing her last name from Tiu to Rafael. I don’t know about the rest of married life, but having to change the way you write your name, as it is, is a big deal for me.

I am a bridesmaid. At 32. Like being a flowergirl at seventeen. I have no idea what a bridesmaid does. At around 1030pm, Singerica, the bride, came in our room to tell us what to do — misalettes, souvenirs, guestbook. To which I quipped “Ay, akala ko maglalakad lang hahaha“.

I’m supposed to walk down the aisle alongside the vet host of Born To Be Wild but apparently he had to go shoot an episode and won’t be able to make it. Dang. Now I have to take the arm of some guy named Joema.

January was kind of a sucky month but February is looking a lot peachier. And not just for me, for a lot of people in my circle.The boyfriend of one of my friends will be coming home this month, just days before Valentine’s day, after having spent months in Congo. My cousin might might might get a good paying job in Indonesia. And now one of my closest friends is getting married to a good man who has also become our friend over the last five years.

Things are looking up for me too, but I still can’t tell you.

Blog again in a few hours.

Feb 7, Saturday, 4:48 AM

Didn’t sleep. Couldn’t sleep. Too worried about catching the bouquet and having one of the groomsmen put a garter up my thigh. Not because I’m a prude, which I most certainly am not hahaha, but because the groom said they were “mostly unattractive”.

Must have coffee. Not used to being awake this early on a Saturday without some sort of 2-hour trip involved.

Gay make-up artist to arrive in an hour. Will update later.

6am

Breakfast. Thank God for buffets. I had cold cuts and cheeses and whole wheat bread and butter and two cups of coffee. Glutina, whose feeding habits I can never understand, ate pansit and some cold cuts and bread and puto pao and finished with some papaya and watermelon. She was going to go back for oatmeal but I expressed my disgust. Eating should have a process of some kind.

Breakfast buffet at Legend is excellent. Can’t say much about everything else, but the buffet is wonderful.

Our friend Madamayan who was supposed to spend the night with us came for breakfast already glammed up. She had puto and papaya. What is wrong with these people.

630am

Hairdresser Nixon arrives with his flamingly gay posse toting makeup kits and I’m immediately intrigued. The last few weeks, certain individuals — important individuals — have encouraged (yes, not forced) me to explore the possibilities of enhancing my features via makeup. I am seriously considering it, I promise. I’m thoroughly researching it the way I studied weight loss properly before I executed it.

As expected, makeup artist covered the dark circles under my eyes which I’ve had since I was seven, I think hehehe. Concealer galore!

Then. Blue eyeshadow. Ohhhkkkeiii…

Then. Pink lipstick. I rolled my eyes.

Two blowdryers were at full blast as the haridressers started their work on our friend who had also arrived. At which, the power went out. Yes. We short-circuited the place. Twice. Minus points for Legend.

Glutina with her glutathione-enriched-like complexion was a breeze to put make up on. Chestelle’s kinky hair was ironed straight. I had pink lipstick. Life’s not fair.

(Wedding ceremony when I wake up)

I don’t usually blog in the middle of the week but I just had to. When I logged on to Friendster, I saw my friend Sheryll’s shoutout read “Happiness is worth fighting for”.

This girl flew to the US to meet her online boyfriend, a white guy from Arizona about ten years her senior, and now she’s been with him since November and is probably getting married (if not had gotten married).

I both admire her and am scared for her but she seems genuinely happy.

I’m too much of a coward, I guess.

Ironic that a teeny tiny third world country like ours seems (so far) unfazed by the US recession. So far, everyone I know still has their jobs, still can afford their daily dose of Starbucks and still can drink their body weight every Friday.

Someone very close to me works for the hotel industry in the US and, as you know, during these hard times, recreation is the first one to go in anyone’s budget — be it corporate or individual clients. He’s one of the many Americans who are looking at their future with doubt and its causing so much anxiety, which is all too understandable.

I’ve advised him that there really is nothing else to do but stay positive and be thankful for the things he has now. And I’m reminded of my friend’s blog a while back when she practically confessed that she finds my positivism annoying hahahaha.

But really, there’s just a point when there’s nothing else to do but sit back and let the universe do its work for you. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, there’s just a time when you’ve done all you can and you just have to leave it to God.

My friends have come to me with a variety of issues:

1. “Wala akong boyfriend. Di naman ako pangit”

2. “My boyfriend doesn’t want to get married yet”.

3. “I’m the only sane person in my family, to think I’m the youngest”

4. “My job sucks, my salary sucks and my boss don’t understand.”

5. “I have the most difficult client in the roster.”

6. “My boyfriend is wonderful but my parents don’t like him because he has children.”

And my advice is the same, all the time. STAY POSITIVE. There’s always a silver lining, there’s always something to be thankful for.

Just having your whole family safe and in good health all day every day is something to be thankful for.

Having food to eat on the table everyday. A roof over your head. Clothes to wear.

Money for massage and a pedicure. Or, for the guys, a Lacoste t-shirt.

And people who love you. Oh, my dears, it’s always worth celebrating when you think about all your friends and your family who pause from their busy lives just to say “Hoy, pare, buhay ka pa ba?”.

During crises like these, whatever their form — financial, emotional, spiritual— it’s convenient, hell it’s even fun to turn to self-loathing and wallowing and trapping yourself in a bubble. I understand that, I love to wallow. But like Obama said in his speech, it’s time to dust off oneself and … make this country great again. Huh? What? Yeah, you know what I mean….

I always share to people my daily ritual of going out of the house first thing in the morning and looking up the skies. Whether it’s all blue, kind of cloudy, or raining like hell, I say thank you. Thank you if it’s blue because I love blue skies. Thank you if it’s cloudy then it means it’s not too warm to walk. Thank you if it’s raining because I have an excuse to wear tsinelas to work.

You just need to take a step back, take a deep breath, look at what you’ve accomplished, and as for all the other worries, just say “Hey, Man (God), it’s all you. It’s up to you. I trust you. You haven’t failed me yet. You did that separating-the-ocean thing for Moses, I’m sure you can help me out of this rut.”

And, as I’ve told you (you, Hotel guy, and you, all my friends) I’m just here.

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Addendum: Thought about this while at the supermarket. I realize that the reason people find my positivizing philisophy annoying is because I also “tend to” (hehehe) provide — nay FORCE! — a solution to other people’s problems because I like to fix things (or think that I fixed something hehehe). And I apologize for that. Truly, my words can only go so far. Hell, my life’s not perfect either (if you only knew hahaha). But let me assure that it comes from a good place and if I had a magic wand that could solve our collective dilemmas, I will.

You just have to keep on keepin’ on. Yes, I quoted Joe Dirt.

Breakfast

You can basically do whatever you want during breakfast — eat a whole ham, for all I care. You’ll burn it (or half of it at least) with your normal daily activities. My personal prefernce is half a cup of rice, fried egg, and hotdog or ham or meatloaf — just like the good ol’ days in Rodic’s at the UP Shopping Center.

Oatmeal and cereal are good too because they have the fiber that you’re going to need for the daily morning pre-bath poop. My favorite oatmeal flavor is Fish and Onion which I rarely see in supermarkets now (sad) and my favorite cereal is Honey Bunches of Oats which i DON’T see in supermarkets now (tragic).

But if you could, don’t do the sugar rush breakfast. For a couple of years, I worked for an office that had a Mister Donut kiosk in the building and I ate donuts everyday for breakfast. It’s all carbs with no real value and it’ll cause cavities. Donuts, as wisely marketed by its brand managers, are meant for kids because they are active enough to burn it. We old people can’t even inhale it without gaining weight.

Morning Snack

I usually keep a pack of fig newtons or 100-calorie-oreo packs in my drawer for my morning snack which usually occurs around 1030-11am (around the time I get to work ngyahahaha). Hunger pangs must not be ignored but at the same time, not overly indulged. A small pack of peanuts can also work for these in-between meals.

Lunch

Well, there is a myriad of lunch opportunities. At this point, you can still eat whatever you want. However I choose not to overstuff myself as I tend to get sleepy. So here are my usual lunch preferences (at work. At home I usually have no choice but to eat the fried dalagang bukid and ginisang ampalaya my mom has prepared hehehe).

1. Japanese - bento boxes are cool but I like my share of sushi, sashimi and maki. My usual Teriyaki Boy order consists of California Temaki (what I’d like to call Japanese shawarma), unagi sushi and miso soup. Or teriyaki chicken udon and unagi sushi. Japanese soups are good for you. They taste great, rich in protein because of the tofu, and not as rich as, say, clam chowder.

2. Chicken - I can never get enough of Kenny Roger’s Healthy Plate. It’s 1/4 roasted chicken, some salad, some fresh fruit (pineapples, apples, peaches), a corn muffin and a lite iced tea. It’s priced the same as a KFC fully loaded meal but not as fully loaded in carbs and calories (rice and a side of mashed potato plus a brownie? Might as well munch on a sack of rice). Plus! Kenny’s is probably the only fastfood in this country that has fresh fruit and vegetables. So frequent it.

3. Italian - Pizza and pasta are really for days when you intend to run a marathon hahaha. Almost always I gain an extra pound after a pizza or pasta meal. No wonder Marlon Brando and James Gandolfini are pudgy (but not De Niro and Pacino? Because they run after bad guys?). But I do have a favorite pizza (I’m not sure they still serve it) — Shakey’s Friday Special. Anchovies, shrimps, cheese and garlic — my oh my. Perfect with a coke.

My favorite pasta is puttanesca which I try to sample every time I see it on any restaurant’s menu. So far the best puttanesca places have been Mario’s in Tomas Morato and Chocolate Kiss in Roces. I think I finished a pound of pasta puttanesca in Chocolate Kiss, to the surprise (and delight) of fellow foodie Fafi. (FFF!)

4. Chinese - Chinese food would be the Asian equivalent of Italian eating — no good can ever come out of it hahaha. The rice is fried in oil, the dumplings too, thick spare ribs, not to mention cancerous MSG. But you can’t go wrong with noodles, you’re better off with it than rice. I like mine with chunks of beef or a few pieces of wanton.

5. American - Burgers. Blech. Since I had Cojie, I’ve had an aversion to beef. So in places like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, I usually opt for a fish fillet or chicken fillet sandwich, which is healthier anyway. Wendy’s Shrimp Sandwich is good every year even if they only have it during Lent.

We’re in the subject of sandwiches anyway, might as well go for a sub. Ah, Subway. It’s my pat-on-the-back for a job well done, or a chocolate-equivalent when I’m depressed. There is a single Subway outlet in Quezon City (that I know of) and that is in Crossings in Scout Borromeo. Turkey Sub with everything on it, plus extra olives and jalapeno. Plus it’s right next to National Bookstore?? How can you go wrong?

6. Filipino - Wala kang magagawa. Wala ka nang pera. Wala man lang pang-2-piece chicken sa Jollibee wahaha. Diyan ka na lang sa cafeteria sa baba. Pasensya ka dahil hindi Sbarro ang nagke-cater ng cafeteria niyo (at pasalamat ka din kasi pag nagkataon wala ka namang mabibili wahahaha). So ano pipiliin mo? Eh di buhay bahay ka — pritong isda, isang gulay. Kung may canteen na malapit sa inyo na pwedeng magbenta ng kalahating order ng adobong kangkong o ginising sitaw, umorder ka. Ano ba naman ang P20 para sa kalusugan mo?

Afternoon Snack

See Morning Snack. But I usually have coffee in the afternoon which is perfect with a cookie. Choose oatmeal over chocolate chip. Or a carrot bar over a brownie.

Carrot bars/cakes are awesome if you give it a chance. My discovery of the day — Carrot bar in Bo’s Coffee (with free wifi!). Walnuts and cream cheese on top. It’s a Saturday and I just worked 5 hours, this carrot bar is God’s gift from heaven.

Dinner

Dinner is the most challenging meal of the day for me. Especially if I’ve been particularly disobedient earlier in the day (Why? Why did I eat that ice cream stick?!). Today I realized the perfect dinner place.

Kaya. Go Koreans.

Where else do you get vegetables for appetizers? (remember, in Dencio’s or Gerry’s, their idea of an appetizer is chicharong bulaklak). You get the kimchi, the bean sprouts, the spinach, the tiny shrimps — lovely. You can have the japche, the chewy glass noodles or you can have the bulgogi or the korean beef stew. You don’t need rice and you won’t notice anyway. You’re stuffed from the veggies.

Salads are best for dinner too. I would recommend Figaro’s chef salad because it’s wonderful. Ham and cheese slices, hard boiled egg, red and green bell peppers, olives, salad greens, vinaigrette. Lovely. Figaro Gateway has free Wifi by the way hahaha.

I am not one to recommend protein shakes or meal replacements because they give you cravings later on. But if I should, I would reco that concoction I’ve written before, Fruit Magic’s Nutty Oaty. Banana and peanut butter and oateal and a scoop of protein powder. Four hours later, you’re running to the bathroom. So it’s a meal and a laxative at the same time! Who needs xenical? Wehehehe….

I remember the late Doreen Fernandez. She had the world’s most awesome job. Eat food and write about it. How great is that. While I have to encode a thousand ad placements over the weekend for a Monday meeting.

So I threw that aside for a bit and wrote this down.

And now you just read it.

Addendum to entry http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2008/08/21st-century-upcat/ 

My nephew passed the UPCAT. Hurray! He however didn’t get the course he wanted, but he’s going to UP Diliman definitely. I told him he should get Math or Physics because if he wants to go to engineering, the subjects would be similar. Plus Math and Physics majors are cool. Hahaha.

Addendum to entry http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2008/11/packed-up-saturday/

Cojie’s grades still bother me. His lowest is 90%, highest is 93%. I worry that he will be ruled by these numbers the way I was. After an exam, he would be very conscious of the number of mistakes he made instead of the number correct answers he had. That could be a very frustrating habit in the long run.

Addendum to entry: http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2008/02/joy-in-pain/

Uh. Well. Nothing to add. This is just for Joy a.k.a. Extra Rice to read so she could laugh about it.

Addendum to entry: http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2008/03/viruses/

This one should be hilarious for Fafi. Laugh it up, girls. That’s what those morons are there for.

Addendum to entry: http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2008/12/im-afraid-to-fly/

I didn’t fly. Maybe I’m not that kind of a bird. Maybe I’m an ostrich or a penguin. Hahaha.

Addendum to entry: http://anagrrrl.blog.friendster.com/2009/01/wait/

Still waiting for my life to change. Still waiting for THEM to rock my world.

So I’ve been told. And I shouldn’t complain, you know. My life right now is crazy exciting. So exciting I still can’t tell people about it! Or them. How do you pluralize “it”? Because there are two “it’s” and both are situations where I have to wait.

One, I have to wait for a couple of weeks, according to reliable sources. The other, I have to wait for a couple of months, according to a reliable source. Both occurrences are about to change my life drastically. And something new happens everyday, every week, that I feel like I’m on a different roller coaster — each one more heart-stopping that the next.

I sometimes think, “Hey, my life wasn’t so bad without all this. I had my kid. My family. My job. My friends.” Sometimes it scares me when change happens even if it’s a good thing, because even good things bring with it complications.

I watched “The Other Boleyn Girl” today and the epilogue talked about Henry VIII failing to produce a male heir to replace him but was eventually replaced by his daughter by Anne Boleyn (who he had beheaded) who was the red-haired (future Queen) Elizabeth. And I wonder about Anne Boleyn. If she had known that her daughter would be one of the greatest monarchs that England has ever known, in return for her beheading, would she have felt better about it? If God himself told her “Hey, we have to chop your head off, you’ll desert your only child, you’ll be humiliated in front of thousands. But your little girl’s going to be Queen and she’s going to kick the ass of her father, the King — the one that practically swung that sword? you remember —- as ruler of Englad. You still good?”. Would she have said, “Eh, what the hell. Bring it.”

That’s what I feel like right now — my head’s going to be chopped off. A lot of people are going to hate me in the next few weeks and the next few months. I’m going to cry a lot. I’m going to raise my voice in arguments. And yet I look forward to it. If only to produce Queen Elizabeths.

My horoscope last year (for year of the snake) read that 2008 would be a so-so year and it definitely was not. It was a so, so, so much (fill in noun) kind of year. So much pain, so much excitement, so much travel, so much stress. Not a day was so-so. 2008 was a rockin’ year, and I tookit all — triumphs and failures, happiness and sadness.

It’s only January and I know for a fact that 2009 is going to majorly trump the craziness that 2008 was. In terms of my career, my family life, my friendships, my personal life — I am going to be laughing and crying this year, hopefully more of the former.

And you know what? I’m scared out of my mind. I’m scared to go back to work on Monday, even. Given the consequences I have really yet to share.

Things are going to change. People are going to change. A lot of people will love me.  A lot of people will hate me. It’s just one of those things when you have to think of what’s good for everybody, no matter who gets hurt.

Like that Rotary Club motto.

But I’m powering through. I’m letting things happen to me. I’m going to laugh and cry my way towards the end of 2009 as I always do year after year.

Gifts I Gave

Cojie, of course, was my first purchase — a mini-parking lot he is now so obsessed about. Didn’t eat Christmas dinner at all, pestered his kuyas to build the thing in my mom’s room while we finished up with opening presents.

Got my parents wallets (Girbaud. Wag isnabin.) I told them this is where they should keep the millions I give them. Haha.

Got the Beowulf 2-Disc edition DVD for Bojie, clothes for my Tita and my Ate, bags for my Ate’s husband and her younger son Jerry, and a 4GB USB Memory Stick for the older son, Garrett. (The UPCAT taker) He was ecstatic, wore it around his neck the moment he opened it.

Got David Cook and Regine Velasquez CDs for the GMA girlfriends, shoes — MATCHING SHOES — for my Math Club girlfriends (matching as in we bought the same pair of shoes in different colors). A coffee treat and chocolates for my officemates.

Also gifted someone with a Timezone card and the hope that he gets to use it someday.

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Gifts I Got

Sleepwear from Mom. Bedsheet from Mom & Dad. A really cool beige bag from Ate. The 3rd season of The Office on DVD from Bojie. Sleepwear from my Tita. I get sleepwear every year. I don’t know why.

For my birthday, I said I wanted lotion — “Basta mabangong lotion“, I told my friends. So I got two now, both Victoria’s Secret. I’ll be smelling differently by the end of the first quarter. I also got a Bath & Body works spray from one of the bosses so I’ll be smelling differently again by the end of the third quarter.

I also asked for a sports bottle, and I got that too. I also got a dress for what was supposedly a “first-day-at-work” thing but looks like it’s going to be a “first-day-BACK-at work” thing.

Two pashminas, two bag organizers (love these!), a Fully Booked gift card (awesome!), cookies, chocolates, leche flan, other sweet stuff, pencils, pencil holders, card holders, stationaries, bookmark from NAPA valley (whose background story I have yet to hear from secret girlfriend), coffee plunger, blouse, and a TBD wallet (to be delivered hehehe).

Somewhere in the world, there are four watches waiting for me, I have no idea how I’m going to get them.

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What We Had

Looking at our Christmas dinner table last night, I couldn’t help but sigh. We are so blessed. The year was turbulent, tearful, and another “T” word I will supply later. But still, here we are, with a table full of food, you wouldn’t know where to start:

1. Grilled Stuffed Squid, the hit of the night. Didn’t make it to morning.

2. Grilled Chicken Breasts. Not so much a hit. WIll be made into sandwich spread later.

3. Binusang Hipon. Favorite of the little boys.

4. Colorful Vegetable Salad which I’m mighty proud of. Got romaine lettuce and another type of green I now forget, some red cabbage, sliced oranges, julienned red bell peppers, tomatoes, some onions. I made a vinaigrette with olive oil and cane vinegar and a dash of basil and rosemary and oregano. It’s practically replacement for rice or bread. It’s all I ate with the chicken and the squid.

5. Fiesta Ham courtesy of GMA Marketing & Productions.

6. Garlic Mushrooms, my favorite.

7. Buko salad (that I didn’t touch. It’s 12mn. No sweets).

8. A Penne experiment. It wasn’t puttanesca. I just sauteed olives and capers and garlic in olive oil, added some spicy tuna, then added the boiled penne. It was like puttanesca without the tomatoes. I thought it was wonderful. I had it for lunch just now haha. I also told everyone else in the house that they can’t have any hahaha.

This is how I discovered that the best thing about puttanesca is the olives.

9. This morning, anticipating the many inaanaks of my mom, we cooked traditional spaghetti with hotdogs and sliced mushrooms and ground beef. It’s also the only thing Cojie would eat.

10. Boring lumpiang shanghai that I had no part of.

How I Am

Confused. Bewildered. Flattered. Worried. Excited. Relaxed. Anxious. (Nawala wallet ko. Wala ako ngayong ATM.) Enamoured. And needing to shed off 6 lbs. as quickly as possible.

Have a Merry Crazy Christmas.

That’s essentially the quote of the season.

It sucks that I have so much to tell but can’t tell the world just yet. Damn it. Eh, well. All in due time. Keep reading.