Headed out to Jersey last night for Christmas dinner at Miyuki and Rahul's apartment. I was the newbie in this crazy group of SGI folks. They were all hilarious and all apparently very much into videoke. Eisa, Tom and I were so hungry on our way to the party that we silently sat in our corners while we scarfed down appetizers of fruits, veggies and dip, salami, and cheese. We had a wonderful gourmet dinner of steak and salmon c/o chefs Rann and Ryan. There was enough wine to loosen everyone up by the time Rahul plugged in the videoke night. There was never just one person singing the whole night. We made so much noise I was surprised the neighbors didn't complain. I had a small purse with me so I borrowed tita Chon's cybershot instead of bringing my DSLR. I'm such a doofus with p&s cams so I took home horrible photos. I wanted to piece together small clips from videos I took of last night but something about the video files in the cybershot keeps me from cutting up certain pieces. Besides, I don't think most of you will understand and appreciate the hilarity of the videos unless you were actually there. So, I give you some pics from last night instead.

Tita M and her wild hair

Me and Ryan

Kitchen Folks

Girls of karaoke

Rann and Oli

Tita Ella and Tita Maria

Me and Eisa

Everyone dancing while Rann belts out Livin La Vida Loca
Everyone belting out New York, New York

The rest of us that were left standing by around 2am left together. It was a looong trip from Jersey to Queens. Despite my recent decision to not look for apartments until I've saved up more money, it is on nights like last night that I wished I had a place that's closer. I planned on cabbing home when I got to my stop but, seeing that it's 3:30am, there was no cab in sight. I had no other choice but to walk the 27 blocks in my not-for-cold-weather-long-distance-walking flats. By the time I got to our building, I was a bit woozy from the cold and had the most difficult time fitting the keys in the locks and getting up the small flight of stairs.

Fight lang ng fight! Go lang ng go!

Finally got the snowman pictures from Tita Chon's camera. The snow has since, melted and we're currently enjoying a warm(er) 47 degree weather. It's sunny out and the sky is a clear blue. From my bedroom window, I can see there's a slight breeze blowing through the branches of the naked trees.

Omar scolding Steve about smoking

I have no photo to share, nor a creative video as I might usually have done. There are perks to being employed but I can no longer be as creative as I used to be in this blog. A few of you have noticed how my posts lack the usual photo/video attachment. I apologize. I do write as often as I can despite my work hours. Enough excuses....I just wanted to wish everyone

I didn't go to the park and Rockefeller Center as I originally planned. It was drizzling this morning and I didn't want to bring my camera out in that kind of weather. The restaurant was quiet. Richard turned out to be another chinese guy that Ben and Paul worked with in a previous restaurant so I'm back to being the only non-chinese speaking person in the resto. I had a table with three hilarious people who got really drunk. They were so nice and funny and asked me if I wanted to join them after my shift so they could buy me a drink. I had to decline since I assumed Tita Chon and family were waiting for me at home. When they left, they said I was wonderful and the best waitress ever and gave me a hug. Hahaha!

Tomorrow, I will have the left over dinner feast they had earlier tonight. They were sleeping by the time I got home. Then I'll be heading to Jersey for dinner with Rann and his friends from SGI. Christmas this year is melowed down. Hopefully New Year will be a bit more amped up.

Hindi ko na siya maramdaman. Siguro mashado lang ako maraming ginagawa para ma-absorb ko na pasko na talaga.

I don't have work till 4pm tomorrow and I'm contemplating whether or not to go to Central Park and take photos and pass by Wollman Rink and Rockefeller Center for the ginormous Christmas tree. I'm sure uptown is more festive and I'll feel a lot more Christmassy if I were to see all the decors around.

Today was MAD BUSY. As in it was the opposite of Saturday's pathetic turnout. The good and bad thing about tonight though, was that Brian got fired! Yes! In the middle of dinner rush, Lily and Ben decide to let him go. He grabs his stuff and leaves me with a full house! The good thing about that was, I get all the tips! Buwahahaha! Ang sama ko pero nangangailangan ng pera eh, so hayaan mo na. I can't count how many times I got asked where I was from today. It's starting to feel like the customers are playing a silent game trying to see if they can determine my nationality from my accent and features. Only one got Filipino right.

I saw the schedule for the next two weeks and it saddened me. Ben cut my hours!!! I know I should be happier with more time to sleep and more time for myself, but I need the hours! And the money! I work a lot of 4-11:30pm shifts over the next few days. Based on the schedule, a guy named Richard will take my original schedule. According to Ben, he's the dude who used to work at the restaurant and is now coming back. Demmit!

I got the chance to taste a lot of the stuff we serve today. Lily's friend came by to take photos of the restaurant and the dishes today for the website. The chef prepared a LOT of our dishes to be photographed. I saw his photos on his laptop and, not to sound too arrogant, they were CRAP. Hahaha! I could have done a waaaay better job. After the food was photographed, they laid them out for us to devour. There was soooo much food! The best surprise was, the chicken tasted just like chicken and it was good! Did I mention that all the meats in our dishes are made of soy? Well the shrimp was not awesome, the salmon did not taste like salmon, the sushi was just okay. I didn't get the chance to try any of the beef dishes but most of the chicken ones were good.

Today was warmer, unlike yesterday when it was ridiculously cold na naluluha na ko pag humahampas ang hangin sa mukha ko. Mararamdaman mo sa buto mo yung sakit at lamig dahil tagos sa balat tsong. Kakaiba pero masaya pa din. Game lang!