I know, I know.

I've disappeared again. I KNOW.

My mind and my life has been so kalat lately I'm so sorry. I have yet to even LOOK at the photos I took when Grace was here for four days. I haven't even seen them yet. I shall share recent events as soon as I've gotten my shit sorted out. So far, Grace was here from Rome so there was that Kari-Angel-Grace mega reunion. We haven't been together in 5 years so that was MEGA fun. Add Mica to that little trio and we were a mighty force hitting the streets of NYC.

It took me a long time trying to figure out what to do on my birthday. All I knew was that it had to be much MUCH better than last year. Last year I was in a personal and financial crisis and was depressed as hell. So I wanted to surround myself with as much company and laughter possible. Mica proposed game night over dinner of bbq ribs and rotisserie chicken before watching New York, I love you. I was hesitant at first but the more I played with the thought of game night, the more I liked it. So tomorrow (or rather, tonight) I shall have friends over for "game night." Which is more of playing with silly games than how Vegas freaks would consider game night to be.

Going back to the movie, New York, I love you. I believe it was the first time I've seen a movie in a theater that was shot in NYC since I moved to the city. It was fun seeing a lot of places in the movie that I walk around in everyday. My mind kept going "I KNOW WHERE THAT IS!" "I PASS THERE ALL THE TIME!" I was such a dork. What was even weirder was when I walked out of the theater and found myself in, well, New York City. It was, in all geekiness, WAY COOL.

Have I mentioned that I've upgraded my MAC? I still have the same hardware but I installed Snow Leopard and bought 2GB of RAM for it to run at the maximum speed the hardware will allow. I'm so happy and so grateful JA suggested doing this instead of buying an new mac which would have cost me over $1500. I also scored myself a 1tb hard drive which I connected to the wireless router so I can send files wirelessly anywhere in the house. CHEA!

I have to go to bed. Mica is taking me out for a birthday brunch tomorrow to a place she refuses to tell me because she wants it to be a surprise. I wonder where we're going? I still have to do last minute grocery shopping for tomorrow night's party and make sure the apartment is prepped fr entertaining.

I shall hopefully have photos ready for sharing after the night's events. I apologize in advance for my inevitable procrastination. Till then.

I've been getting a lot of days off now that there are about 6 servers to work with at the restaurant. I still don't get weekends off though, boo! I thought of going on another trip this week but I thought maybe I'm pushing the travel spending a little too much so I opted to take a vacation in the kitchen!!! I haven't been making anything as much as I would have liked so I'm taking this free time to flex my kitchen skills. I started off by cleaning the kitchen earlier today. Mica came home exclaiming, "OMG, the stove is gleaming!" Well, by the end of three days, it may not be quite so gleaming.

I busted out the good ol' pressure cooker and made Beef Caldereta since I've had a weird craving for it. I just finished marinating sirloin tips for my breakfast tomorrow, Beef Tapa, itlog na pula and sinangag! I just found two decent recipes for my afternoon project which are Banana Walnut Bread and Bibingka Galapong! I'm also thinking of making homemade chicken sopas (with alphabet pasta!!!) since a good hot creamy soup is very good in current NY weather. Our evenings have now dropped to the 40s and I've already brought out my thick comforter. It seems just recently that I was stashing it under the bed because it's gotten too hot for it. Now I can't even go downstairs to do laundry without putting socks on.

Hopefully tomorrow's projects turn out alright. I'm still trying to figure out what to make for Thursday. I'm planning to squeeze in an IKEA trip tomorrow afternoon so whatever isn't made tomorrow will be done the following day.

Sadly, I have no photos. I was famished by the time my meal was done that I went straight to devouring it. Maybe I'll have something to show tomorrow. We'll see. Wish me luck!

I was too tired from last night's shift to wake up early to see Ella and Andy off and say bye before they head back to Illinois. I woke up with them gone, their used towels and bed linen neatly folded on one side of the couch. It's been a fun last few days having them around. Who knows when I'll see them next. They stayed with me two days more than originally planned which was a pleasant turn of events. Andy's birthday was last Thursday and we started the celebrations as early as 12 midnight. I took them to Pinto for dinner Wednesday night then bought Magnolia bakery cupcakes to serve as his birthday cake. We were toasting the last few minutes of my own personal holiday (Wednesday marked my one year in New York) then proceeded to light up the candle and wish Andy a happy 30th year.

We were up early the day after and I made breakfast for all of us, Mica included before heading out for a long walk in the city. We scored them subway day passes and we traveled the stretch of Manhattan from the bottom tip in Battery Park City all the way up to 90th st where we had dinner in Saigon Grill. Photos can be seen in this album so you get a good idea of the places we visited. I myself don't do a lot of walking around the city. I only do get to see these tourist areas when I am with someone who wants to see them.

Whenever we have guests over, Mica and I always find a reason to bust out the Cranium game which we did play over bottles of beer and smirnoff. Andy and Mica proved to be a strong match and won the game.

Yesterday they did something I have never done in my year here, walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Even better actually, they left their car in Brooklyn Heights, walked to the bridge, crossed the river, walked across town, up to the village and ended up at my workplace. I kept telling them about the awesome pizza place near my place of work and they were so excited that they ordered ONE WHOLE PIE. We're talking New York size pizzas here and they sat down and scarfed it down. After their meal, they continued towards hudson river park, walked back down, back across the bridge to their car. OMG, no wonder they were sleeping by the time me and Mica got home from work.

I'm so happy I've been having quite a few guests lately. I hope my friends never stop visiting me. In two weeks, Grace is visiting from Rome and Angel is coming one last time before heading back to Manila. After that, I don't know anymore. I hope someone visits again soon. *ahem californians, where are you?*

I originally planned on waiting out my bus on Copley Square infront of Trinity Church since it's the closest park to the bus station. I ended up asking Andy to drop me off in Boston Commons instead because I knew there to be a public restroom in the Visitor Center just in case. Since it was too cold, I walked back to Newbury Street and eventually ended up in Starbucks.

What I SHOULD have done was STAY IN COPLEY SQUARE.

Why? WHY?!?!

Because on my way to the bus station, rushing because I left Starbucks at the last minute, I saw a crowd of people around a yellow tape surrounding an area of Copley Square. There were cranes and a film crew so I knew they were shooting something. I approach the crowd and asked the girl beside me, "Who's out there?" She replies, "Ben Affleck."

BEN AFFLECK WAS IN COPLEY SQUARE THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS WAITING FOR THE BUS! I COULD HAVE SAT THERE WATCHING THE SHOOT BUT I DECIDED TO SIT IN STAR-FUCKING-BUCKS!!!

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!

I managed to catch a glimpse of him sitting on his chair as they prepped whatever it was they were prepping. I couldn't stay and drool since I had a bus to catch and I barely made it.

I misread my bus ticket to NYC and thought it was leaving at 2:30pm. Ella and Andy took me out to the city to wait for my bus at 11:30am. When I re-checked the schedule, it said 4:30pm. So here I am, at Starbucks, god forbid, because 1.) it's too cold to be walking around and I'm not dressed enough for this weather 2.) I have a very big heavy back pack and a small rolling luggage that I can't leave anywhere. Normally the baggage won't be a problem and I would still be walking around but because of my fall, I have a weak arm that can't carry much of anything for too long. Simply putting my jacket or backpack on is a chore.

Boston looks to me like a city comprised mainly of students from around the world. Everywhere you go you see people with their noses buried in books, highlighting, typing, scribbling furiously on notebooks. I like how it's small enough to walk around in and people are friendly and accommodating. I can tell this won't be my last impromptu trip to this city. I will be back again in one of my future (hopefully) short breaks.

I think my trip to Martha's Vineyard has triggered a travel bug plus having discovered cheap bus tickets even makes trips outside NYC affordable and easy. I've bought a hosteling membership at Hosteling International too so at least lodging won't be a problem in the future. I'm already trying to think where to go next. Vermont? Cape Cod? Washington DC? Oh the possibilities!