So I've been pretty lonely the past two weeks having Mica and Eisa gone. I've been spending my days at home not doing much and not really talking to anyone. So when Mica finally came home yesterday and Benny deciding to host a dinner party at the apartment to celebrate his Gohonzon Enshrinement, I guess I was in a bit it a social shock at first. I found it quite difficult to socialize with people at the beginning but once the alcohol kicked in, the fun started and didn't stop till very late.

I attended a study meeting at Rann's yesterday afternoon. There were only five of us who were there, Rann, Oli, Erica, Ayi and moi. I skipped over to Target after that to pick up some toiletries then headed home. Oli mentioned during the study meeting that Marianne Pearl is an SGI member so I dug up my copy of A Mighty Heart and finally decided to watch it. That woman is living proof that with this practice, one can never be defeated.

I didn't have the energy to make myself lunch or dinner so I ended up munching on a cheese, fruit and vegetable platter and sipping on club soda as I enjoyed my movie. Benny made dinner of salad and pasta so I had a bit more food after.

Okay, so the dinner party. All I can say is WOW. Good thing I managed to Flip the hilarious night because we will all want to see what happened again and again and again. I still laugh uncontrollably just remembering it. So I know some hilarious jokes aren't as funny unless you were there and I know these are a lot of videos but you have to see all of them. A bit of a background, Benny decided to let us listen to his original composition which he plans on using for his show and I had the brilliant idea of making him dance to the tune of his own song. We all relocated to his room where he could blast the song through his speakers and he and whoever else (you'll see who) could dance their hearts out. Leo and Benny are both professional dancers btw (so is Mica).

It was Andy's birthday and since he wasn't around we decided to make a birthday greeting video for him. We also made one for Eisa since we all missed her.

This is what happens when Buddhists are high on life.

Got the day off again today because Richard and Paul requested different days off this week. Spent it doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. I was scarfing down my indian food delivery when Andy texted me that he was celebrating his birthday dinner at a thai place on the the upper east side. I got dressed, met up with Mica and headed to the shi-shi part of town. The food was nothing like Sri Pra Phai's but I was already full from the indian food so I only had chicken satay and tom yum. We finished our dinner and headed back to Brooklyn.

I love having Mica back yehey!

I haven't had a haircut in a year. I was a bit apprehensive about getting a cut here for the first time since Vicky from South Salon has been cutting my hair since 2001. After seeing Rann and Oli's new 'do, I decided to get an appointment at Hair Kuwayama on the East Village. It's run and operated by a bunch of cute japanese girls. Usually the first thing I look at when I enter a salon to get a cut is look at the stylists' hair. If they all have good hair then I can trust them. I got my cut from Aya who seemed more nervous about cutting my hair than I was. She kept asking me if she was doing okay and would snip off little bits at a time and watching how I would react. I left her alone to do her thing while I sat and read a magazine. Later on she asked me if my bangs were too short, I then asked her back what she thought. She stared and scrunched her face up in concentration and kept looking at my hair in all angles before she finally said, "it's okay." I then told her, "Then its okay then. Hey, you know more about hair then I do so if you think it's okay, then it's okay, I trust you." She laughed so hard after that and kept saying "Thank you, thank you" in her cute japanese accent. I didn't really ask for a drastic cut. I just wanted lots of layers to thin out my unruly hair and I got exactly what I wanted. At least now I know she can handle my hair and will definitely come back if I want something more bold.

This is me in the subway making a pa-cute face on my way to Hair Kuwayama. I don't know why my bright orange jacket (Eisa's hand me down) looks red here.

This is me at the New York Culture Center (SGI center) with Rann before the study meeting. The left photo was meant to be a silly face but with Rann's angle made it look sultry.

Since I was off today, Rann invited me to the study meeting for the Empire State district since he was handling the study presentation. I grabbed lunch in one of those falafel corner stands (chicken and lamb over yellow rice with white ad hot sauce YUM) and finished my very late lunch at Rann's restaurant while waiting for him to finish his shift. We headed to the center and chatted until it was time for evening gongyo before the meeting. We had dinner at a nearby pizza place and I headed home in the rain.

I got home to a quiet apartment and proceeded to clean my make-up brushes which I haven't done in a while. I'd rather not say how long, you'd think I'm disgusting. Benny was home but we both realized that the usual noise that we've grown accustomed to was mostly caused by Mica and we both miss her.

Okay, I'm going to finish watching Fa yeung nin wa (In the mood for love) which I started re-watching the other night. It's such a beautiful movie you all need to see it! Since I'm trying to learn the language, I've been trying to watch a bunch of asian movies lately (also saw Kung Fu Hustle and Mou gaan dou - Infernal Affairs FYI: Andy Lau is HOT in that movie, not so much in House of Flying Daggers though) Ok, off to my movie.

Okay, I'm trying to blog even if there's nothing real big to share. I used to be able to write about the most mundane things anyway. Today I've begun making cocktails for work! Yehey! I used to have to rely on Richard and Paul to make them for me everytime I had a drink order and Lily usually cuts me off the sched if there's too much people at work because the boys are needed on the floor more because they can bartend. I've been expressing my desire to learn so I'm less of a burden to the two boys during busy nights. Today, Richard was patient enough to teach me and let me handle drinks everytime an order comes. I can make cocktails yehey! Ang babaw ko shet pero big deal sakin yun. Hindi na ako sobrang walang kwenta.

Was supposed to be off by 11pm but Richard and I got out by midnight because of a group of girls who wouldn't stop drinking. Oh well...Good thing the trains didn't give me too much of a hard time and I got home not too long after that.

Yun lang naman. Wala naman ako talagang kwento. Miss ko na si Mica, isang linggo pa bago siya makauwi. Wala akong makulit sa bahay shet.

I just spent the past hour watching through some of the flip videos I've accumulated ever since I bought the camera. I've been laughing and clapping like an idiot reminiscing on the good ol' times I spent with my friends. Man, there was a lot of drinking and eating...man oh man, the eating! A lot of the videos I have on file are unpublished ones that didn't make it to this blog and the previous one. They make me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Speaking of reminiscing, I meant to publish these a few days ago after me and Louiie chatted during one of my drunken nights. It was meant to have a blog on it's own entitled "Letters from a Ghost" but I didn't want to sift through the rest of them so I will publish the following two excerpts:

"I am having a blast in New York. This place is dirty as hell,
but it has a weird energy to it (or maybe it's because they stop serving
alcohol at 4am instead of 2am) and I am seriously considering living
here before I turn 30. As they say, if you can make it in New York...."

"I think I just left my heart in New York. The day I was leaving I felt
this 'bittersweet elation' coming over me which was weird since I feel
I'm more a rational person than an emotional one, but sometimes I
have a penchant for contradicting myself. NY really is the modern
Babylon, and when you're there you can just see and feel so many
disparate elements converging in this one place, as if to say
'everything that matters happens here, and only here.' "

July 2005

I was reminded of these letters a few weeks ago when I was in the train on my way to work. When I take the subway to work, I try to make it a point to sit on the left side by the window, so I always have a good view of the Brooklyn Bridge and downtown Manhattan as it crosses the Manhattan Bridge. No matter how exhausted or sleepy I am, that scene always makes me thankful for everything's that's happened so far.

At the end of the day, I just remind myself that I AM IN NEW YORK.

Remember Omee's Mohawk? Well someone else got a hawk...sort of.

Although from here, it looks more like a cowlick.
She's cute anyway so it works for me.
Gawd I miss her so much.

Yes, sorry. It's been so long since I've written a proper post. It's either I have no time, no energy or there just hasn't been an abundance of exciting events for me to share. It's my day off and I had originally planned on going to a museum. Which museum? Any! I just wanted to do have a date with myself for once since I haven't done that in a long time. But I slept really late last night watching Slumdog Millionaire (finally) and I woke up at noon which caused me to pretty much lose half the day. I did laundry and shopped for groceries. I cooked thai green curry for a very late lunch. It was already around 4pm when I managed to get some food in me.


So what have I been up to? Well, aside from work, nothing much really. Eisa is now back in Manila. She had a send-off a few days ago. I can't believe she's gone. I've only known her a few months. That just didn't seem like enough time. Mica left last Thursday for Poland and will be back in 10 days. Benny is in LA for a show and Andy is...well...I don't know where Andy is but he hasn't been home a lot lately. So here I am, home alone once again. I've been spending my days off in the past two weeks trying to visit tita chon and family and I think it's only now that I've managed to take a personal day.

Been trying to learn cantonese, the operative word being trying. I've learned a few bits and pieces and can say a few phrases but I doubt I'll ever be able to speak it fluently. The people in the restaurant (well, some of them) have been helpful in teaching me. The people in the kitchen are astounded at how well I can pronounce the words. Mimicing people is a gift that I seem to have. I try to learn one new word or phrase a day and use it in the restaurant. My personal joke to myself is my current facebook status which reads, "Ngo m ji dou ngo gong mat ye" which translates to "I don't know what I'm talking about."

I've been delinquent in my daily chanting, which I'm not particularly proud of. Will need to work on that. I attended a Youth Division meeting at the center last Monday. It was a pretty big event. Around 500 of SGI's youth came together. An entire building of people chanting at the same time. It was pretty major. I missed the filipino meeting the day before that because of work but I followed Rann, Mica, Eisa and Tita M to a Spanish Tapas place in Chelsea where we all proceeded to gulp down 6 pitchers of sangria. Mica and I were so drunk that we couldn't even take the subway home and took a cab all the way to Brooklyn. I slept at 8:30pm that night.

I miss my friends. I miss having someone to call. I look at my phone's address book and I have a very limited call circle. Someone call me!

My back pains have gotten worse. I really have to buy a new mattress. Who can donate $140? Hahaha!

Spring has officially arrived and we are currently enjoying the beginning of 50+ degree weathers, hopefully higher. It should get warmer in the coming months. I can wear lighter coats and no longer need to double up shirts. My laundry bag has gotten significantly lighter compared to previous loads.

I wish I had better stories to tell but since the housewarming, my days have pretty much been uneventful. I've been meaning to get a haircut but I keep forgetting to set an appointment.

Now excuse me while I give myself a manicure/pedicure.

Had the day off and Kelly was in NY so she dropped by for lunch. She got lost and got a traffic violation but she managed to find her way over here. We enjoyed Mica's adobo for lunch and chatted. She dropped me off at Ana's to pick up the pasalubong nana brought for me from Manila then I decided to head over to Queens to pay the Elabdouni's a visit. Tita Chon and Nana were at a salon and Roosevelt and Tita Chon treated me to a shampoo + head and shoulder massage. It was so good I wish we had something like that around here. I will have to scout for cheap salons near my place as I will want to have that regularly. We picked up Omee from school and since I had my hair blown straight, he didn't recognize me at first which was funny. He stared at me for a couple of seconds before he realized it was me and ran for a hug. We headed back to the salon so he can finally get a haircut.

BEFORE

he messed it up for the purpose of this "before" photo

Omee's killer line:
(while waiting to get called for his cut, he touched his hair)
"My hair is a challenge for these people."

AFTER

ang guwapo ng bebe ko

He wanted to style his hair like a mohawk so he asked the lady to gel it up. It didn't quite look like a hawk because of his curly hair. His mom said he looked more like a rooster.

OMG. I look like my mom.

I had chicken and beans dinner c/o nana and watched Omee play Halo a bit before I hopped on a train back to Brooklyn. I fell asleep on the train as usual and woke up just in time for my transfer. I will have to wake up early tomorrow to do laundry since I'm running out of socks. Nyt now...

Mica's brother uploaded photos from his camera...

One ugly korean lady and the bitch who kept handing (him) alcohol.

mezzzzz!Rann trying to put his shoes on at 4am. It took him about 5 minutes just to put them on. Tom had to stand by the stairs to make sure he didn't fall down.
Rann: "This didn't used to be so complicated..."

**updated**

The party had a huge turnout! The apartment was filled with people I didn't know! Haha! I don't have time to uplaod photos now but will do when I get back from work. I didn't start drinking until Ana and Poy left since I didn't want to be buzzed while entertaining them. By the time they left, we were left with one bottle of Shiraz, which I don't like but mixed with some ginger ale and ice, I was able to chug down along with the bottles of Heineken and Coron the late comers brought. I had to catch up! Everybody else was good and drunk already! I didn't even realize I passed out on my bed a few hours later, only to be woken up by a drunk Rann who was calling for car service to take him home. Everyone else who was still here, left with him around 4am. I just finished cleaning up the house. Took out trash, swept, washed dishes, mopped floors, and sorted recycling. Good thing Mica, Benny and Eisa did preliminaries last night so I was not left with an overwhelming amount of work. Andy will handle all recycling including the ones we hid on the building roof, haha.

Ok, need to get ready for work. I'm so happy I don't get hang overs.

Photos uploaded! No time to edit or even sort through the embarrassing ones but here they are!

OBAMA attended our party!
Haha, this is David, the dude who sold us the apartment.

I've been posting a lot of Omee these past few months, but can you guys remember the constant cutie pie that used to grace this blog?

Hi Guys! Remember me?
I'm all big now! With teeth and everything!

I miss this bb.

Ang sarap kurutin shet.

Big snow storm today. A lot of people were given the day off including me. Only I managed to read Lily's text telling me to stay home when I was already on the train to the city. I jumped off just before the doors closed and walked back home. I took the opportunity to go to Queens to visit Omee. We went sledding in Astoria Park! FUN FUN! I would have gone for more rounds if my toes weren't suffering from frost bite.

We had Vietnamese dinner and I did a quick round of shopping at the asian grocery next door to the restaurant. I hauled my goodies back to Brooklyn...an hour and a half trip by train! I took a quick nap in the train and was pleased to see a lot of people didn't have work so the train was not cramped as it always is.

We've finally set the date for the housewarming party and I even made a facebook event page for it. Cinareer ba naman ang invite?!?

How I wish you all could come!