Around the World

Besides seeing the world's wonders, I want to finish my SE Asia travels for one other reason: to acquire as many Starbucks City Mugs as possible.

Yes, as a recovering Sanrio/Hello Kitty/Little Twin Stars addict, I have now chosen to waste my hard-earned money on making Corporate America richer. Oh heavens!

So far, I have these:
- Manila (in Seattle)
- Cebu
- Hong Kong (in Seattle)
- Bangkok
- Kuala Lumpur
- Singapore
- Cyprus (hey, that's not SE Asia!)
- UAE (hey, that's not SE Asia either!)
- Beijing (it's not from the City Mug collection, but Lilian thought it would make me happy for Christmas)

I only acquired three of those personally; the rest are gifts from traveling co-workers here in Manila.

Mugs that I need because I've been to the places, but never got the chance to get the mugs: Guangzhou, Dalian, and Shanghai. If anyone is traveling to those places, please let me know. Pity the fool, please, pity the fool.

And for those people who live in countries with Starbucks, will you be my friend? HeHe.

Picture of a Desperate Woman

What does a girl do when her TV (which came with her furnished condo) suddenly craps out on her? Why, buy a pirated DVD, of course!

Yes, desperation leads to desperate measures. After dinner on Friday, I headed over to the piracy capital of Ortigas with Ate Jen and came home with an eight-in-one DVD of W1ll Sm1th movies for a total cost of P75 (that's about a dollar fifty for you international folks out there).

I finally got to watch "Hitch" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" (the latter made me shed a tear or two)! And sure enough, that DVD was only good for the weekend. I saw all the movies by Sunday evening.

Noticing a potential addiction, I'm now trying to figure out whether I should get the TV fixed or continue buying pirated DVDs to watch on my laptop. Mathematically, I can solve this and let you know which is cheaper to do. I just can't seem to put my morals anywhere in the equation. Tsk!

(By the way, if anyone knows how to fix a picture tube of a TV for free, please let me know. I can't live without a TV on the weekends and stealing is a crime...unless, they're Korean telenovelas in which case it's called "borrowing". Ha!)

The Lost Girl Finds a Lost Boy

Back in the late '90s (when I was dancing the most), I don't think I ever missed an episode of A.S.A.P, on TFC because of the Streetboys. They were awesome. I had a huge crush on Jhong, but the other seven members didn't look too shabby either (Meynard, Joey, Nicko, Michael, Vhong, Spencer, and Joseph...naaalala ko pa!). Come to think of it, they started my teenybopper days before The Mickey Mouse Club and 'NSync came into my life!

Well, twelve years later, who knew that I would see one of them in the flesh! Tonight, Alessa kindly invited me to watch Peter Pan at CCP and guess who was one of the Lost Boys? It was Meynard! Yeah, from the Streetboys to Lost Boys! HeHe. I quickly nudged Alessa and she asked, "Paano mo alam?" My reply? "E ayan o! Nasa harapan natin!" Baka may lukso ng dugo kaya nakita ko agad siya. HaHa!

Don't worry, I didn't pee my pants when I saw him. I've seen so many showbiz personalities in the span of one and a half years that I don't get starstruck anymore (The latest? SheryI Cruz at Shangri-La). But just like any reminiscing episode, it was cool to see something/someone that reminds you of your childhood and brings you back to all your kababawan-ness.

Saan ko naman kaya hahagilapin si Jhong para may closure na ang tennybopper days ko? HeHe!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

It used to be that people came to see me; people were excited to meet the girl behind this website. They were the ones who used to go out of their way to have lunch or dinner with me (and for the unfortunate ones, they had to drive me home to San Mateo, Rizal after having lunch or dinner!).

Fast forward to one and a half years later, I'm now one of those who has to re-arrange my schedule so that I can meet someone who is in town before he/she flies back to the U.S. or Canada.

Last night was Ayeza's last night in Manila. After a last-minute text from Tet, I hailed a cab to go to Greenbelt, hoping that I would get there in time before all the plates were put away. Thank God it was not Friday and traffic did not hinder my chances of participating in some quality girl talk.

Usually, when I meet up with my fellow bloggers, it's a one-on-one event (Hey, we're supposed to be introverts afterall! Oo, introvert ako! Maniwala na kayo, please! HaHa!). Group EBs are a rare thing for me. I think dalawang group EBs palang ata ang napupuntahan ko in the span of *ahem nine years of blogging (Crap, ang tagal na pala!). Last night, there were five of us. Being all girls, we didn't have to be mindful of the topics that we talked about. Siyempre, lovelife ang topic na mas matagal na pinagusapan! And they even have a code name for the neverending search for my Mr. Right: Mission Possible. O, di ba?

Indeed, good company + good food = good time. Hooray for pasta and dulce de leche cheesecakes!

This night made me want to go back to reading websites of new people. I've been quite content with reading only my usual circle's for years now, but I think it's now time to expand my horizons. Please let me know if you have a website to share. :)

I'm Good, I'm Good Without You

Someone who tried to set me up before told me today,

"Mina, halika, may sasabihin ako sa 'yo. Si M may girlfriend na." She had a sad tone in her voice, as well as a sad look in her eyes. I've seen that same look from someone else before and it made me realize na ang dami na ngang nagdaan:

Zara has tried to set me up.
Tet has tried to set me up.
Raissa has tried to set me up.
Kuya Heinz has tried to set me up.
St. Scho girls have tried to set me up.
Salve has tried to set me up.
Jimbo has tried to set me up.
Lilian has tried to set me up.

Yup, that's in chronological order. HaHa! Out of those eight boys, five of them are now with a girlfriend whom they can call their own while I'm still single as a slice of cheese. Am I sad, bitter, jealous? Hardly. As long as other people are happy, I'm happy for them. Promise.

Actually, for the first time in a long while, my heart is actually intact. It's not aching; it's not broken. I have peace in my heart and I'm loving the feeling! As in!

Maybe that comes from praying to God about my lovelife. For 2007, I am asking Him to give me one more chance in this area of my life. They say the third time is the charm, so maybe thiz iz it. Can you hear the optimism, can you? HeHe.

So to all the pogi, straight, funny, tall, smart, responsible, and caring men out there: watch out; God is looking for you this year. HaHa!

It's 2007, Baby!

Happy 2007!

For the first time in history, I was out and about on New Year's Eve! I know, I'm really growing up! HaHa!

Having promised eachother that we were not going to be stuck in our respective condos by ourselves again, my co-Little-Orphan-Annie, Irene, and I went to Greenbelt to have dinner and partaaaaaaaaay like it's 2007.

Now, I don't know about all of you, but I have always thought that people are out and about partying on New Year's Eve. After all these years, I found out first hand that it was all a big myth.

After eating at Italianni's (the only packed place in Gbelt), we walked around to find our spot to welcome the new year (saw Micha3l d3 M3sa in the process). We ended up sitting with the crowds in front of Cafe Breton were there was a live band playing reggae music...a very antukin version of reggae music if I may say so myself. At the stroke of midnight, fireworks lit up the sky from a distance. We oohed and aahed, but for the most part, the band played the wrong music to put us in the mood of good cheer.

Once the fireworks was gone, Irene and I wanted to make sure that people do indeed party on New Year's Eve so we headed over to The Fort to check out what was happening there. Lo and behold, it was quite dead over there, too. One could easily mistake that it was Holy Week around here! Where's everyone at?!

We eventually headed back to Irene's condo to put the party dresses away...and blog about this uneventful night. Well, at least I was out and about, and not at home crying my eyes out like what happened on Christmas.

Anyway, I'm very excited about 2007. I have goals to accomplish and I can't wait to make them all happen. For everyone, I wish you all the very best this year!