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image from: http://fbeupjr.blogspot.com/

It’s been a while since I updated my blog. I just so miss writing but the moment I started typing, I was lost in words. Ganun cguro talaga pag hindi inspired! :)

Not until today that I finally (finally!) received my e-passport! Weeehh! I’m so excited! Yesterday was supposed to be the delivery date (together with Sir Jun’s- an officemate) but upon checking at LBC, wala pa raw sa kanila. Odd kz I have another officemate who renewed for passport that same day I applied (hapon sched nya and finished 9 in the evening) but his passport was delivered Aug.3, two days earlier than mine! The only difference was that he was assigned at 2GO while we had LBC. (I had my e-passport delivered Thursday, August 05).

Bottom line: Ask for 2GO or any other courier other than LBC if you have a timetable to meet.

I applied for an appointment at DFA website. First visit sometime in May, earliest available date was September. When I visited again last June, I was surprised to see July 22 as the earliest and so I, together with two girl colleagues, picked July30- in time for payroll. Few days after, I checked again and earliest date was moved to July20 and so I re-sched. That was morning so I was surprised to hear from Sir Jun and Jeff that they got an appointment on July 06 that afternoon. Needless to say, I had my final appointment on July 06 at 10am.

Bottom line: Be persistent. DFA available dates change from time to time.

Caramel Macchiato (mah-kee-AH-toe)

barista: (greeted) Can I have your order ma’am?
me: 1 café latte please…
barista: (interrupting) is café latte hot or iced?
me: Hot please. Medium sized. (Blenz coffee sizes are Small, Medium or Large)
barista: 1 medium hot café latte (speaking in full accent)
me: And ahm…(hesitant) 1 medium Iced Caramel Macchiato (messed up pronouncing it as Mah-Shi-AH-toh!)
barista: Ok, additional medium Iced Caramel mah-kee-AH-toe (in fuller accent)
me: (napahiya pero dedma) yes, Iced Caramel mah-kee-AH-toe (repeated what he’d said) and additional blueberry cheesecake and Apple Cinnamon Muffin please… (Speaking with konteng taray!)
Gil was beside me, laughing.
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It still makes me smile pag naaalala ko macchiato thing na yun. I really don’t know how to pronounce the word, first time. Buti ba kung Cappuccino lang yun, lol! Anyway, it was our last coffee session together so after Tita Lally, Joy and us been to Chow for Gil’s Lauriat treat, I invited Gil out for a coffee chillax. And for a change, we tried Blenz-A Canadian Coffee Company located at Solaris One, Makati.

We gave in to THAI

Few days before Gil’s departure, we met up one of his best friends Engr. Romeo Camaya at SM Megamall for some casual despedida bonding. Unfortunately, Meo’s wife She was still at work then so she wasn’t able to join us. They were actually tres-inhinyeros-BES-friends-since-college together with Delio who’s now residing in Singapore with his family (I mean wife and kids—yah, si Gil nlng single).

As we’re craving for some Korean fix again, we also wanted to try new dish as Thai. We let Meo choose between the two and so we ended up at Jatujak Thai Restaurant located at UG/F of Mega A.

It’s our first serious Thai experience since I remember sampling an express bowl of Thai soup before. I relied mostly on my readings re Thai’s specialty thus I suggested Pad Thai, Crispy Catfish with Mango Salad, Tom Yum and Thai Iced Tea. Gil was impressed with the Fried Shrimp Cakes pics thus we had one plus Green Mango Shake. Meo wanted fish so he ordered Pla Pla with Chili Sauce and Thai Iced tea too for drinks. I suggested Bagoong rice din pala but since ayaw ni Gil ng bagoong, we had Fried Rice with Crab Meat instead.

So let the Thai feast begin!

Bookworming

image source here

Been hooked with Twilight Saga the first time we saw it on DVD. I still remember how Sheng (Gil’s sister) and I giggled on most part of Edward and Bella’s scenes while Gil was in deep slumber, his head in my lap. The soothing conversations, the thrill of Bella mingling around vampire clan, the protective yet sweet attitude of Edward, the vulnerability of Bella, everything on that fiction story brought up the teenage years in me. I still remember how Sheng and I exclaimed “Haayyy…” after every kilig phrases from Edward himself. Lol!

So what a bitin fanatic me should do? I bought the first three books (though I already have e-books in pdf files sa office) so I could digest the story inch by inch. Due to curiosity na rin cguro, Gil borrowed the books then and read some parts khit sabi nya corny daw! Anyway, Twilight Saga: New Moon was our first movie when he arrived from Japan last Dec. Super pila pa kami sa Market! Market! eh weeks ago na nakalipas nung magshowing sya. Great movie nmn tlga, but still…bitin!

Unfortunately, due to some katamaran and all, I’m on my 3rd book pa lang. I still hope to finish reading it before June 30, in time for the movie itself. It will be our last date narin, literal last day na mkakasama ko sya so we wanted to make the most of it! Ayan na naman ang goodbyes…. hate it really! :(

…and so I’m back to my old bookworm form again.

oooOooo

Update as of 7/03/10

We went off Wednesday morning, June 30, around 10am to Trinoma to watch Twilight Saga: Eclipse but to our dismay, soooper daming tao sa Cinema, as in supposedly aircon sya pero super init tlga! Buti libre ride sa LRT/MRT, we went back to crossing and ended up sa Edsa Shangrila (for sure kz marami na rin tao sa Megamall). Haba narin ng pila sa Shang pero tolerable nmn so umabot pa kami sa ticket counter only to find out pang 7pm nlng ang available, few seats for disabled sa pinakaunahan, the fact na around 11am pa lng that time. We decided not to since early morning the following day na flight ni Gil eh di pa sya nkagayak. Plan A failed (of watching Eclipse) but the rest of that day turned out just right. Had great lunch over at Pepper Lunch which I'll surely share with you in my future posts. Stay tuned! :)

Missing Baguio

Our scheduled Baguio visit this year will not push through anymore for Gil’s not comfortable commuting. Been planning already of it since I learned of Camp John Hay’s Camp Manor’s Irresistible Baguio promo of almost half the price OFF. Can’t blame Gil though for we’ve been obviously experiencing catastrophes from different sides of the world, and commuting all the way to Baguio wasn’t a great idea (Sour graping). Lol!

I just remember exactly how it feels traveling with Gil alone for the first time, 3D2N. How we struggled to get the ‘chance passengers’ tickets at Victory Liner station in Cubao at 1am and reached Baguio city proper just after the sun showed up. Gil was so excited visiting Baguio for the first time so as soon as we get off the bus, we asked for a cab to take us to Philippine Military Academy.

Savoring Classic Savory

Had tasted another blogworthy Pinoy deli at Classic Savory last Friday courtesy of Sheng (Gil's sisterette) after we accompanied her to buy WOW Premium Magic Sing (original price less 2k worth of discount provided sa SM daw binili) which we enjoyed till the wee hours as we sing our hearts out. :)

Classic Savory is another reason to visit SM Megamall located at the lower ground floor, near the previously Bowling area (CS is side-by-side with another NEW resto in the mall, the A Veneto--which we sampled ages ago.lol! See link here).

We were there around 8pm and surprised to see the the resto jampacked, as in muntik nang sa table sa labas kmi pumwesto. The moment we were seated, they set our table and gave us the menu (baka magbago pa isip nmin? lol)

taken after roughly two hours of stay...wala na masyadong tao.

Status: ENGAGED

Gil and I were using ‘Engage’ status on FB ever since we joined the social network group and just recently (Friday night), I changed my profile and included his name (automatically linking it to his FB acct) saying “Engaged to Gilbert (Surname).”

The following night, I was surprised to see long piles of notifications referring to that “changed status.” Comments flooded my previously unnoticed account since I mostly just play Tiki Resort and Restaurant City than chat around friends. For the record, we’re not really active members and hardly update the accounts, posting only few pics to share. It’s just so surprising to read comments as “Congrats”, “Congratulations” “I’m happy for you” among sooo many greetings wishing us well as ‘newly’ engaged couple from close friends, not-so-close friends and from mga simpleng kabatian lang. Those who LIKED the issue were another story. Saya saya! :)

To quote my reply:

“Hala! Anong nangyayari d2? Haha! It’s still unofficial though…wala pang singsing (parinig!) Hehe! But this is for good na. And as I found my ‘the one’, I wish the same thing to everyone. Just believe in God’s plan and God’s perfect timing. Cheers to us! :)”

Why am I writing this anyway? Because Gil just learned that we’re ‘officially’ engaged the following night when he saw the comments from his friends on his own FB account. Haha! We burst out in laughter as I kept on saying, “What have I done?” Haha! :)

But seriously speaking, we couldn’t find the right term between ‘In-a-relationship’ and ‘Married’ other than ‘Engaged’. ‘In a relationship’ is an understatement since we’re not anymore on the pa-tweetums stage of the relationship. We could read each other’s mood in a single glimpse, we compliment each other for so many reasons and for 2.5 years of being together (we go to the same office, we live in the same village as in 5mins walk lng cguro), we knew each other too well and accepted not just the good side but each flaws as well. More importantly, we knew we’re heading to a more serious stage in the next months to come. :)

Now my problem is that, how can I broadcast to all that I’m “officially” engaged comes the engagement ring? Or even without the ring (I don’t even consider e-ring important), how could I shout out to the world that he finally (and officially) asked me to marry him and be with him for the rest of his life?

I was just so naïve to know (and remember) that every single action you made on your fb account will be visible to all your friends (and everyone in fb in particular if you didn’t apply some privacy settings). See? I’m yet to discover more bout it. Haha! :)

Good day everyone! :)

*image source here.

Sam Gyupsal dinner at Min Sok

It was a lazy Friday afternoon just after office when I thought of inviting Gil out to a different dining experience, Korean setting this time. I learned of this place from our previous GM, Murase San and wife Yoko (Japanese) who constantly tag us (Che, Joy and I- who he called his angels) in their dinner dates and been yearning to let Gil experience the same since then. The place is called Min Sok Restaurant, a known Korean restaurant within Korean town in Poblacion, Makati.

Min Sok is a house turned restaurant owned and operated by couple OG IN, HAM (I assumed though as written sa calling card). It doesn’t have the ‘homey’ vibe I’m looking for in every resto we visit but has that ‘mind your own business’ feel, as we never felt awkward mingling around mostly Korean customers. Both the owners and staffs were accommodating. At one point, we saw the Korean owner assisting the customers to slather lard unto the pre-hot grilling plate.