I don't believe I spoke a single word today, not even on the phone. Today, I was alone apart from the people I encountered over the course of the day's activities. I decided to do laundry even if my hamper was only half full. It was one load and I didn't even bother separating lights from darks. I'm off again tomorrow but I have a movie date with Omee and my next off will be on Sunday. I figured I'll get this week's laundry done anyway. I hate having to use the ratty underwear. Hahaha!

My netflix movies arrived. I have Empire Strikes Back and Chungking Express. Saw Penelope online earlier today too. It was a silly movie but I am IN LOVE with James McAvoy so I saw it just for him.

Almost a year has passed and I've finally had a massage again. Found this place in Chinatown on Yelp.com. It's a small little place on one of the side streets and it's a bit of a walk from the subway station but its the cheapest one I found. Got a 45-minute foot massage and a 30 minute back massage. I've only ever had swedish massages in Manila so the chinese accupressure I received today was different for me. For one, it was stronger. The massages were given by an old chinese man, probably in his 40s. I don't know how they do it but I came out of that place feeling like a million bucks.

This was my first time roaming around Chinatown. I swear that neighborhood has a character of it's own and is compeltely detached from the rest of Manhattan. I came out of the subway and the first thing I smell is fish. There was a wet seafood market right beside Grand St Station. It was a hot day and people were everywhere. The stench was oddly comforting though as it reminded me of home. Walking around Chinatown is as close as walking around Manila as I can get. There were stalls selling undergarments, pirated dvd's, fruits, jewelry on the street corners. I've never been to Binondo but Joyce, who has, said that's what the place reminded her of. I passed by an asian supermarket on the way back home and bought a can of water chestnuts, black gulaman and soymilk.

The black gulaman came in a can and I cut them into cubes and dropped them in soymilk and enjoyed them over ice with a bit of splenda. Paul and Richard makes them in the restaurant as an afternoon snack and I've grown to enjoy it.

The waterchestnuts served as a dinner appetizer after I wrapped them in turkey bacon. They didn't quite turn out as I had planned mainly due to my own laziness. They were meant to be baked but I didn't want to have to turn the oven on for such a small portion so I stuck them in the toaster oven intstead. The bacon didn't cook the way I would have liked but they were alright. I had a salad of spring mix, bell peppers, grape tomatoes, walnuts and herbed feta for dinner since the pitcher of soy gulaman was enough to fill me up.


Since I have the apartment to myself, I've kind of made the kitchen my sort of command center. I've re-familiarized myself with Pandora so I have good music to break the silence of the house.

omgomgomgomgomgomgomg!!!!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is coming out on Wednesday!!! Date or no date I am watching this!! Screw chores and everything else I haven't done! I'm going to see Optimus Priiiiiiiiimmmeee!!!!

Yeeeeebbbbaaaahhh!

Re-posted from P7D's weekly:

I'm not much of a writer but with the lack of creative juices and the crummy weather in New York, I had no other options. I reviewed the last three posts trying to figure out how to tie them all together. I was tasked to present a dilemma for this cycle's story and I hope what I came up with was enough and in tune with what the previous artists have posted.

I normally don't like writing since I tend to draw a lot of my own experiences and include them in most of my writing. I find it quite difficult to narrate and describe anything I haven't seen or felt firsthand.

If you haven't started this cycle, I recommend you start with Louiie's post followed by Grace's then Ging's before you read mine so you get a better understanding of the flow.

*****

It was a quiet day off today. It was raining hard but it didn't stop me from doing my weekly chores. I was home alone so I cleaned house and vacuumed every corner and surface of the apartment. I made myself lunch. Marinated chicken cutlets in milk with a dash of white vinegar, rosemary and thyme, sizzled them up and had them with a side of greens. I saved half the chicken, breaded them and ate it with pasta for dinner. I watched Running Out of Time, which was hilarious. I spent the rest of the day watching movies on Netflix (Three to Tango and currently, Risky Business), every so often pausing trying to figure out how to compose this week's P7D post. I will continue my movies before bed. I finished half a pack of cigarettes while writing my post trying to induce my artistic creativity. I shall now enjoy a nice long shower to wash the day's work off me.

I walked to CVS on my break yesterday. I was walking up 7th avenue and I see about 4-5 guys with cameras following these girls crossing the street. I stop and wait for the walk signal while staring at the two girls trying to figure out who they were and why these guys were filming them. "It must be a reality show," I think. I pay them no mind and continue walking to CVS. I buy my stuff and decide to get a drink from Starbucks across the street. I walk in and fall in line only to find the same girls in line infront of me. They have those wireless mics attached to them so I figured it must be a reality show of some kind. They were dressed fancily enough for it anyway. I ignore them since I really had no idea who they were. We all wait for our drinks and get them at the same time. I was walking behind them on my way out the door when I looked out and see across the street about 10 papparazzis on bikes armed and ready to shoot as soon as they walked out the door. I stop and stare, shocked. "Who ARE these girls?!?" I wait by the door and made sure they were all gone before I walked out. I have no plans or desires of being tabloid roadkill. I googled "reality stars starbucks west village" and went through a couple of sites before I finally found out who they were. One of them is someone named Whitney Port and the rest were her galpals from this show called The City, which is (probably) a stupid spinoff from the original (obviously) stupid show The Hills.

This was them after they walked out of Starbucks.

In response to Grace's post.

Upon finding out that I was home alone when I got back from work, I cleaned the tub and drew myself a bath. I propped up my mac on the toilet seat and soaked in bubbly water while I watched Star Wars: A New Hope.

Late na to pero eto pa rin.

I re-watched Confessional the other day with Angel. Tickets were a whopping $15 each but for the sake of supporting friends, I was willing to shell out money to take Angel to see it. I wish I had a copy of the film so I can show more people how talented direk Jerrold is. The people I have talked to who've been to the IndioBravo festival seem to agree that Confessional was one of the, if not THE, best film showcased this year.

I had nothing but a bowl of cereal the whole day that day so I was more than glad to enjoy a huge meal at Cafeteria. I've been wanting to try this place out to see if it is worth all the hype. Cafeteria was made famous by the girls of Sex and the City, this is where they meet for brunch. Unlike Serendipity, which was a bit of a disappointment, I have nothing but raves for Cafeteria. We ordered the fried chicken salad to share, I had the atlantic salmon on a bed of asparagus and sweet plantains while Gel had a grilled steak sandwich with fries. I will definitely be back.

If you haven't seen them yet, the photos are here.

I finally finished the Twilight series and I have to say...
I EFFING HATED IT.

I continued reading the books despite having disliked the first, because I wanted to give it a chance...plus I have a thing about finishing what I started. The presence of Jacob made the book slightly bearable but after reading through the entire series and having to suffer Bella's vomit-inducing devotion to Edward and finding out about the pathetic anti-climactic ending, I have to say that it pissed me off. UGH. I'm re-reading American Gods to wash Breaking Dawn's taste in my mouth. Pwe...

Met up with Baby and Angel for lunch at Serendipity. Baby thought to take the tourist to an infamous tourist place to eat. Angel loved the movie so I knew she'd love the place. There was a long line outside. Luckily Baby came early and had us down for a table for 3. The food, in my opinion, is overrated. I would have had tastier dishes if I had them at a nearby diner but we came for the experience after all. The place was small and I kept looking around trying to remember the film. I saw it in my birthday in 2001 with who else but Angel.

The place was cute and was intricately designed. It was packed with tourists. Baby was quick to point out that New Yorkers don't really go there to eat. I looked around and saw each table with a camera snapping around and at each other. It was hard to doubt her.

We had the INSANITY SUNDAE for dessert.

It was a monstrosity of pecan pie topped with hot fudge, butter pecan ice cream, more nuts topped with whipped cream and sliced almonds.

Eh ang saya saya ko na dito.

Par example...

Angel and I woke up and headed out to The Museum of Natural History where I became like Ross Geller and went gaga over dinosaur fossils. It was my first time ever to see for myself how big these things were and they were GINORMOUS. I LOVED IT!

Her camera seemed to love my pretty face since no matter how much she tried taking our photo, the frame kept cutting her off.

We surprised Rann at work and had a very late lunch nearby. We were walking to Union Square to go to the center when I remembered that Addiction NYC was near Rann's place of work and I asked if we could pass by so I could inquire. The tattoo place was recommended by Baby's boyfriend JP. I walked in and was directed to a guy named Adal who was patient with me in discussing what I wanted. I knew I wanted stars behind my ear and he took the time to discuss size, design and color with me. I was so excited that I decided to have it done right then. The inking process took about 10 minutes. Planning the tattoo took a much longer time.

Angel and I went to DSW, Forever 21 and Shoemania before dinner in Saigon Grill. When we got home, I was greeted by my package from Amazon.com...

YEAH BABY!!!
Who needs Bona when I can have Bona right here!!!

I've been wanting to buy the packets for a while but I didn't know how to make the drinks even with the ingredients. Luckily, Bona's best ex-barista ever (naks, sino kaya yon?) taught me exactly how to make it and I made one of each flavor tonight and Angel loved it! I wanted to cry with joy and was chugging down the remaining slush right out of the blender.

I'm trying to convince Angel to relocate to NYC. She's heading back to Virginia next week. If she stays then GREAT! We ended the day with a couple of bottles of Smirnoff Ice. Just enough to knock me out for the night. Yahew! I love my new tattoo!!!

When Lily sent me out for my one hour break, she told me to go check out Hudson River Park. I usually sit along the benches of Father Demo Square on 6th ave but I decided to check out the riverside park. It was a wonderfully sunny day in NYC today. There were a lot of people on the boardwalk and people there are bolder with their outfits. Girls in bikinis were sprawled on the lawns facing the Hudson River. I've been in NY for a few months now and I've always been wondering about all the cute men that are supposed to be here. It's rare that I get to see any guy that I actually like around here, not that I'm looking though. But after this afternoon, I now know where all the hot men are. Lahat sila nasa Hudson River Park nagbibilad ng kanilang napakagandang mga katawan. Nakakasilaw ang sinag ng araw na bumabagsak sa kanilang mga dibdib, braso at drool-worthy abs, beybeh. I could hardly concentrate on the book I was supposed to be reading.

Being a HUGE Friend's fan, I finally decided to walk past the apartment building that Monica, Rachel, Chandler and Joey supposedly lived. Of course, none of the episodes were ever shot in NY. I imdb-ed the address and the exterior shots of their apartment were taken a few blocks from work. Phoebe Buffay's fake address happens to be right beside my place of work. How fun would it be if the character's were real and they were my friends? Gawd I'm so pathetic and lonely to be daydreaming about this crap.

Mica's leaving for Manila tomorrow and will be gone for 5 weeks. Andy will be going to Chicago for two weeks this month and Benny will be in Italy for about 3 weeks. I will be in complete isolation once again. Maybe I should buy a couple cases of beer?

I saw UP today and I LOVED IT!!! There was a part of the movie that I was laughing so hard that I had to take off my 3D glasses to wipe the tears streaming down my face. I want to watch it again!!! I cancelled my Dirt Devil order on Amazon earlier and skipped back down to Target where I bought it on sale for $10 less. Dust begone!

There's something about coming out of a theater that resets me. Every time I come out of the darkness and walk out I feel like I'm seeing things again for the first time. I was walking down to the subway station and I caught myself looking around and marveling at my surroundings. Like the feeling I got when I first got to NY. I looked back and its the same feeling I used to get every time I walked out of a cinema, regardless if it were somewhere in California, Las Vegas or Manila. I might be too engrossed in whatever film I see that I tend to feel disoriented when it's time to come back to the real world. Realizing this, I immediately remember this post written over 3 years ago which serves as an example.

I finally got around to handling the pile of laundry that's been collecting the past two weeks. My days off last week which would normally have been dedicated to cleaning and laundry, were spent in Queens or out with my parents. I cleaned the bathroom and headed out to the Waldorf-Astoria to meet Tito Mo to pick up the blow dryer that mama left in Queens. I'll have to go back on Friday since Tito Mo forgot to bring it. I walked around midtown trying to look for a place to eat. It was already close to 5pm at this time and all I had to eat for the day was a tub of Dibs and a can of club soda. After a while I realized I did't really know my way around this part of town and decided to hop on a train to 32nd street and had korean fast food at Woorijip. $5.50 for a hefty serving of beef bulgogi over rice and kimchi.

I was almost done with my current read (Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart) which meant I was due to another trip to Barnes and Noble. I skipped down to Union Square and picked up Breaking Dawn, Fragile Things and American Gods. I'm becoming a prolific reader now and can flip through 3-4 books in a week. I've decided to give the Twilight series another chance since I've already read one and will start reading Breaking Dawn (the last in the 4 part series) as soon as I'm done with my current one. Fragile Things was recommended by Jammi and I've also decided to give American Gods another go. I tried reading it in 2006 but found the book too long and the plot too complicated that I eventually stopped reading it. The bookcases in the living room are starting to look real cramped with all the books I've acquired on top of the ones Mama brought with her from Manila. My copy of Absolute Sandman Volume 1 arrived about a week ago and its so pretty I don't even want to take it out of its box. I have so much to read it's so exciting!

I bought myself a fan today since it's gotten real humid now and I didn't want to keep hogging Andy's fan. I got home and ate leftover corned beef and sorted out the laundry. I had a bit of time to kill so I decided to break in the CHI ceramic flat iron mama bought me. I've always wanted to get myself one but found it too expensive ($130!!! mama got me the mini version for $90). Mama also gave me a stuffed dog that, just a few minutes ago, I've decided to call Oscar. This is Oscar and me with my straight hair.

I'm getting into plants too. I got another small plant from Ikea and will try to see what's the easiest way to grow herbs by my kitchen window. They were selling potted herbs in Union Square earlier and I thought it might be a great idea to grow a few of them at home. I keep wasting the parsley, cilantro and basil I buy in the grocery. They only sell them in bunches and I only use a little in my cooking. The rest end up rotting in the fridge. If I'm really up to it, I might set up a little garden on the roof. My only fear is squirrels might come and mess them up.