A better birthday

It was a week long celebration. Accidentally started last Sunday and ended with a bang yesterday.

From a short vacation in Masbate, we headed to Manila for the awarding ceremony for the good deeds Dad has done in the province. We arrived on Sunday and dropped the things off in Camp Crame and immediately shopped for stuff in The Fort. Dad wanted a new pair of running shoes and I asked them if I could have one also. Fortunately, my wish was granted. They bought me a pair of Addidas. It was an expensively comfortable and beautiful pair. It cost them 7k. That's a lot for a pair of shoes. After which, they bought more stuff for them and we ate somewhere. (I forgot the name of the resto.)

I went back to Cebu later in the evening because I had review classes the next day. That day was also Apple Jean's birthday. It was her 21st. You can read what transpired on that day here.

Tuesday was the day where Dad got his award. Her Excellency, Gloria Arroyo herself, gave him the award. It would have been nice if I was there watching.

I was planning the things that I wanted to do for the rest of the week already. Until the day when Mom told that they will come home for my birthday. I didn't expect that since they had planned to come back home on July. I had to adjust some things.

Initially, I was thinking of a semi romantic date with Apple Jean on Friday before she goes to work. Then Saturday is the day where all my friends and me would go outing somewhere. And Sunday, a movie with Apple Jean. All but the outing with friends didn't come to fruition. The rest of the family arrived on Thursday morning and had to cancel all my dates with her. Of course, I didn't tell her what I would do. I would like to surprise her, you know. ^_^

Friday, we heard mass in St. Therese and ate at Pino resto. Later in the evening, after dinner, we had karaoke with my dad and brother. There was no mic yet so we had to sing our lungs out.

Saturday, right after the review classes, we headed to EMall and bought some stuff for the pool party. Tubod Flowing Waters was actually quite nice. We arrived at around 1 P.M., dropped Neil, Andrew, Joen, Elmer, Rey, and Christian off first as me, Hana, and Alphy went on to buy food.

We bought Lechon Baboy and Manok. We also went to Hana's house to get the camote and nilung-ag na saging that was sponsored by her mom. We also brought water from there.

It was a fun fun day. I was very grateful to Hana because she didn't tire driving for us. Her birthday is coming up, too! It'll be on the 24th.

We left around 6:30 P.M. smiling and stuffed! We kept on eating since there were still plenty left to eat. I told Hana that she would just drop us off where it'll be convenient for us to look for and ride the jeepney. To my surprise, she told us that she would just drop us off in Ayala. She's very kind. Glad that she's my best friend! :D

I met my family in The Terraces, Ayala and had dinner. We also bought 2 microphones.

This is the only birthday where I didn't have any celebration that involved lots of food and catering. It was purely good family and friends and lots of love. This is one for the books and I think the better birthday for me.

And btw, before we left for Masbate from Cebu, Mom bought me a Levi's jeans worth 2k++. What's not to love?

Things I couldn't say yet

Yesterday was her birthday. I didn't really have the intention of giving her anything because, if you read one of my previous posts, I'm broke. As of Sunday, I wasn't. But it didn't mean that I will buy her a gift 'coz I didn't have anything in mind for her. I was at a complete blank.

But if there was one thing I did, I was there for her. Actually, she is the first girl whom I went out with on her birthday. I was invited for many, but she's the first.

I would like to remember all these in detail because I really have poor memory. So this is what happened:

I gave her a text message that we were already dismissed from our review schooling. She told me initially that we would eat at Chowking. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't familiar with Colon St. So I told her that she'd come pick me up. She told me to wait up 15 mins. and I did.

Then when time was almost up, I went outside to see if she was already around. No sightings of her yet. After a while, my phone rang. It was her. I immediately looked around if she was there somewhere just looking at me. "Where are you?" She asked. "I'm still here just outside the review center," I replied. Well, she told me that Chowking was just in the next block. I told her my exact location and she gave me instructions on how to reach Chowking. Amazingly, it was just around the corner. Probably around 120m away from the review center.

I arrived first. I waited for her to arrive. When she went in, I stood up from my sit and wanted to assist her in ordering for food when she said,"Wait, my friends are here. I'll introduce them to you later." I was like, "Wha--??"

I was liked being crossed by Iverson. She took my game plan off. I was like the triangle offense being read like a book. Man!

But I just smiled. What was I going to say? I'm the type of guy who plans all his moves before making it. I looked at them and analyzed them. Like an eagle looking for its prey. I was going for the jugular. I smelled blood. Unfortunately, it was my blood. Boo!

She brought 4 friends with her; Jen, Jei, Eryll, and I-forgot-her-name. OMG! While in the table, I did my best to converse with Eryll and her ate. These two girls, btw, are the sister of Jei. I really did my best to talk with them. I asked questions, I got answers. I talked about something, the respond. Period. I mean, what is up with that? LOL

The orders were complete and we started eating. Jei, Jen, and here are call center agents, so the whole time we were eating, it was just them talking about what-have-yous in the call center industry. Eryll, her ate, and I were just there eating, listening, and casually smiling/smirking/laughing about what they were talking about. She constantly was asking if I was doing okay. Of course I was.

During the meal, I received a text message. It was from her. I really didn't get the message and I was wondering why she gave me an sms when were very near to each other. Hmm. I just let it pass.

After the meal, the four of them went to the restroom to probably clean up. We were left alone in the table. Then I asked her why she gave me the text message and what it was all about. She said that she just replied to the sms that I gave her. I was like, "I was sure that I didn't give her a text message when we both were in the building." She opened her inbox and let me read the message I gave her.

I wanted to die.

The message I sent to her wasn't meant for her but for my friend. The text message was I thought this was a date. The message was intended to inform my friend that what he thought was a date between me and her turned out to be something else, in this case, a barkada eat out or something.

Her reply was Sige lang, at least you get to meet my friends. That was really okay. What bothered me was I sent a message to the wrong person. THAT WAS A FIRST TIME!

Anyway, after the meal, we went to EMall and did some videoke. We sang 10 songs; I got 2, she got 2, and the rest belonged to Jei and Jen. While she was singing Jei and Jen told me that I was the only person who made her sing. Based on what they said, I thought that maybe during their outings that involved singing, she's the photographer or she was doing something else.

She sang Ocean Deep and 'Til My Heartache Ends. I picked both songs for her. The latter was some kinda mistake. The message was somehow.. hmm.. Google it. :D

After the videoke session, we went to McDonald's and had fries and coke float. She and Jei kept on blabbering about work is tiring and they need rest and they lack sleep. I encouraged them to just keep on going since they told me that it's gonna be their last two weeks and they'll get back to focusing on their academic life. Well, I guess I reached them.

I told them to sleep for an hour or so before they go to work. So just about past 3 in the afternoon, we went straight to their boarding house. I went with them in order to know the location of the place they're staying. I told her that I might surprise her or something.

Inside, we got to talk a little. Time was limited because she had to rest. After which, I greeted her a Happy birthday, hugged and kissed her, and went home.

During the course of the activities, there were two things that bothered me. One was I wanted to hold her hand and second, I wanted to tell her what I'm feeling when I'm with her. I just couldn't do both. I feel like I'd be cheating on her if I did that.

Let's face it, she just came from a break-up. I know that she doesn't want a relationship yet. And I'm quite satisfied with the things as they are now.

But here's where things get complicated. Just like the J Brazil's Girl I'm Trying, we say we're friends but friends don't call twenty times a day. It isn't really like calling twenty times a day but the equivalent. We text almost non stop and when the occasional talks on the phone happen, we do it with an average of 2 hours.

I also love to kiss her. I kiss her every time I get the chance! I could kiss her anywhere but the lips. I have this standing principle about that. I think I've already blogged about it.

We are really very close now. I think I've known her since forever even though we had been communicating only since February of this year. And I think she knows a lot about me now, too. But still, there are things that I just couldn't say yet. Things that might change the course of our lives forever.

But I told myself to be patient. I know we could get through this. I just have to believe in her and what we are having right now. I also have to keep my hopes up that she does the same.

My birthday's in 3 days and if I was the Elddie John way back when, my wish would be to have Apple Jean in my arms.

Nature Calls

[a repost]

I have seen the documentary of the famous AL GORE. I was struck by the fact that most, if not all, people in the world don’t care about the earth. There was this clip about a certain ice berg somewhere here on earth (i completely forgot the places) that was supposed to be intact in the next 10, 10 000 years (i also forgot the figures but its somewhere there). I was completely flabbergasted when the scientists, who said the things i mentioned above, reported that in a period of over thirty days, the ice beg melted (then again, i forgot the area (in sq. m) that melted).

There were so many unbelievable clips, videos, figures, and predictions in that documentation. Al Gore travelled the whole world to preach this sad fact. Today, many people are doing something to change this dismal series of events. Companies are helping to end this crisis by reducing the pollutants that they produce. The local people are now recycling and minimizing the burning of non-biodegradable trash.

We are slowly going back to the old earth we had. Slowly… Very slowly but surely.

A very intelligent teacher of mine talks of certain events that may affect my life, his life, and all people’s lives. He once criticized the media for talking about nonsense things such as politics.

Politics really has become nonsense. It has been this and that ever since the Marcos regime ended. The blame of who has done wrong has never ended. C’mon! Marcos died a million years ago. Shouldn’t everything be back on track again by now? Anyway, we can never change the fact that until a very good and loving man becomes the leader of the whole country this place will still be the same as ever.

That teacher said that for a change the media must talk about what’s happening on earth. The media is a very powerful influence. The can encourage the people to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The can be a very big help if they only had their priorities right.

Well, in my case, I’m doing my best. In this little article, I hope that you guys out there may be encouraged. And help me spread the word to the world that we must reduce, reuse, and recycle. Think about the future. Think about our future family. Think about our future kids. It still may be a fantasy but it’s just around the corner.

problematic probs: getting over

problematic probs: getting over

.....

I basically have planned to blog lots of things but I just got too lazy. I don't even have the luxury of giving this post a decent name. I'll just say some things bullet style.

• Apple Jean has given me lots of things to look forward to. We are very good friends. I sometimes call our relationship status as "more than friends, less than lovers." I thought of asking her if what she will say if she's asked who am I to her. I'm still in denial. I'd very much like to hear her answer. But I thought, she's a lady and I think ladies fall a little less harder than men. Her birthday's in three days and I'm broke and as of today, I am not in Cebu. I have no idea what to give her. Wait, I've had no plans of giving her anything 'coz I'm broke.
• We're in Masbate right now. The only fun thing we've done so far was to go to Buntod, a sandbar. Unfortunately, it was low tide. I wasn't able to go swim far, too, because I'm scared. Yes, I don't know how to swim. Hold on, I think I know how to swim; what I don't know is how to float. It may sound ironic but that's just the way it is. I keep on thinking that I know how to swim but when I attempt to go, I become scared. I just can't figure out why. Maybe, when emergencies come, I might be able to do something about this fear. Ugh! Wait, I think what I'm scared of is not the sea itself but for my safety. What if I won't make it, who will be there to save me? Or something like that. Okay. I don't fear the sea. I just don't know how to swim.. far distances.. or float.
• In three days, review school is going to start and we haven't yet finished our thesis. We are doing our best and God help us, we will finish this by the end of June.
• And have I mentioned that I'm broke? I was broke since summer started. Pfft! Lazy bum!