Someone has to turn eighty for everyone to come to the party.
-Tita Ken

boys' lives are pretty simple. all they worry about is whatever's hot in the world of video games, tv, and sports. in my cousins' case: nba games, naruto, x-box. i sat the lunch table in greenmeadows listening to them going on about that stuff, along with a bit about school and teasing paco about his bad haircut.

took a trip to the fort to look at condos. mom and chad were interested in prospects.
mom: i wanna check out the one beside the memorial... least we're sure nothing gonna come up beside it and it'll be quieter.
chad: the robinson's building?
me: right... living beside a cemetery.

got a bit of rest before dad dragged me off to church. wasnt happy about it, and neither was my health, i think. after that we picked up the family to go to mama pearl's 80th birthday. best part about that was the food, and listening to chatter about teaching in ateneo (miggy's former and gizmo's current job).

worn out.

We're not lost. We know where to go, we just dont know how to get there.
-Me

i was enjoying the book. the show started, so i put it away, and let myself take in the performance. pretty entertaining. of course, when you have a friend on stage, you're biased. maybe it wasnt the very best, but i still cant dance half as well anyway.

the rain poured. i think i'm the one who got the least wet, though i dont think i wouldve minded trading places. we were packed into tita's "epidition", namely an aqua health delivery truck.

they insisted on bringing me to dinner, so i relented. i was glad i wouldnt have to eat a late cold dinner alone at home.

I make perfect balls.
-Les

threw in the last of my stuff in my bag - correction tape, chocolates, and a peice of paper with text on it. i smirked.

i was travelling light. i didnt want to have to haul a heavy load onto a jeepney, which my dont parents dont know i take, haha. i made a stop at national first, but they didnt have the book i wanted. so i went to UP to pick her up and we visited lalaine like we said we would coz she'd been nagging a lot.

after some crazyness, we had to go coz we still had to buy the ingridients for lunch. dropped by sta lu to buy ground pork, cheese, junkfood, diskette, and the book. yey. it rained along the way to her house.

we had lunch at 3:30 - fruit of our own labor: meatballs! i'd say we did a really good job, despite me spilling way too much pepper in the eggs. played nintendo, talked to lalaine over the phone, went to an internet cafe, slept, fooled around, slept again, back to UP, back to lalaine, had an adventure commmuting...

when i walked through my door after being gone for two days and a night, i realized only half of me was home.
the other half was still with her.

You have to eat manila first. And spit it back out before you go.
-Kyra

i was late.

i asked the waiter to show me to table 42. sitting there was frankie, therese, cami, crystal, two other cousins whose names i can remember, and the birthday girl. i got a hearty welcome. handed jo her gift.

the only seat left was facing away from the band which kinda sucked but i made do. fed on the peanuts, frankie's tenderloin, and jo's fries. i wanted to order a drink, except they were so expensive and i didnt want to have jo's dad pay for it, so i settled for water and a sip from frankie's beverage.

nostalgia started creeping upon us as we watched the band - spirit of '67 - the guys that played at our legacy. they greeted jo too, and even mentioned playing at assumption to the crowd. so we got dubbed as the assumption group. probably the only youngsters in the joint. more nostalgia when the band took a break and we started talking about school, old and new. and when the band came back, we went out to dance floor. never gets old.

Mayabang na kung mayabang... at least hindi puro hangin lang!
-Lalaine

i've been sick the past week.

had lunch with sop and cel. too many people at kfc (where we bought our food) so we decided to walk to seattle's best. probably wasnt the best of decisions, but once i had recovered from my fainting spells it was ok. too bad i didnt feel like i could stomach a javanilla.

had a date with mom and sop. star wars, episode three. mom discovered she had money in the bank, so she decided to spoil me. hee hee. finised most of the two buckets of popcorn before the movie even started. yoda and r2-d2 rock.

Sana matuloy yung back-up plan.
-Josh

since going to india isnt entirely 100% sure yet - mom still has to pass her medical exam, and i still have to get accepted to the university of dehli - we decided to keep our options open. i enrolled in the university of the philippines as a precaution.

long lines + heat + that time of month = not good.

but anyway, i endured it all. medical exam, briefing, advising, continuation of med exam, registration, orientation. i actually impressed mom.

there were a few perks.

during orientation:
host 1: pag may nakita kayong naka-high school uniform, ibig sabihin nagaapply yun for an org.
host 2: *sob* gano katagal bago ko to pwedeng tanggalin??
host 1: ok lang yan. *pats shoulder* meron talagang mga org na umaabot sa isang taon yung tryout period. meron namang ibang org na madali lang salihan.
host 2: sign your name here. alright! welcome to Bakla!
host 1: ay tenkyu! *waves*
needless to say our hosts were a bunch of upperclassmen clowns. cool.

saw some familiar faces - emily, frankie, gem, jo.
and one more, the most important.

skipped the recollection too and watched the incredibles at my place instead.
masarap maging pasaway!

Be suspicious of any doctor who tries to take your temperature with his finger. 
-Maecy

splash island.

i'd never been there. most of the people i invited couldnt come, so i was kinda disappointed. was actually kinda anxious too... i wasnt quite sure i'd... fit in with the two who could come.

before meeting cami and jo in katipunan, i pulled a stop in UP to spend some time with sop. bought her ice cream.

found the two in red ribbon. downed what was left of jo's coke then we were on the road. stopped at petron to grab some lunch for me and susan (coz the two had eaten already due to their lack of patience). later, susan said people kept looking at coz were so noisy.

arrived at our destination. walked around a bit first before changing. then went into the wave pool! when we got tired of being tossed about, we decided to check out the slides. first we tried the two low-speed "salbabida" slides, which werent very different from the other, cept that we rode one backwards. and then we tried the two high-speed ones. one was a simple steep drop. the other was like the low-speed ones, just faster, and much more interesting to ride backwards.
cami: *long loud echoing scream*
after that, we went on the family raft ride, where all four of us got on. then we rode again, by twos this time...
jo&cami: *gets in the raft*
lifeguard: *jumps in with them, pushes off hard*
jo&cami: waaaah!
me&susan: O_o *laughs*
then we did the body slides.
me: *looks at the two slides* kuya... alin yung masmasaya?
lifeguard: *points to the slide on the left*
me: *jumps in* yee-aah!! *splash*
jo: *splash*
susan: *splash*
me: san si cami??
susan: naka-maong siya na shorts... bawal daw.
me: ...ngek.
last slide... magellan's drop... where its head first. there were four lanes. we raced to the bottom, and i won, yey! by the end of that, our legs were buckling from climbing up all the stairs to get to slides, and our voices were hoarse from screaming.
back to the wave pool for some last minute fun, then we beat it.

See those two guys on the left? They're the best bassist and drummer in the country.
-Mom

i was in for a late night again.

spent the afternoon wandering around ayala center. it was punishment for my body actually. not quite used to that kind of thing anymore. didnt really end up doing anything, which is the usual case. and thats ok.

dinner at mandarin. couldnt finish it, too much food haha. after that met up with my parents' friends (which included my ninongs and ninangs). i said the show was like watching mtv. but i guess it deserves more credit than that, haha. and heels kill my feet.

I know I'm spoiled.
-me

my week:

hung out with sop and lalaine in katipunan and UP. one thing i'll thank mike for is "completing" the family... even though at first he kinda hogged lalaine (haha), he was cool. and he did bring us closer together in the end... but hopefully it wont really be an end.

another short encounter with sop at the house. bonding with susan on the way coz she came along. salvation from the heat in the form of mcdo coke floats.

went on a date. with mom. i'm proud to say i really enjoy spending time with her. side note: i want to learn to drive!

chad's the best looking member in his band. wala lang.

Oh my god, a bribe?!
-Dad

i agreed to go with dad to his voice lesson. when we got there, the coach was handling this girl, who looked about my age. he was telling her off, saying she wasnt taking the lessons seriously, and that he was getting insulted. i turn to dad with a look that said: "waaaaah!"

turns out the guy was actually really cool. he earned high respect from me in a matter of minutes, after he started with dad. and dad, apparently, does really well. they used row row row your boat to warm up. anyway, when they finished, the coach turned to me and made me do a couple of songs with him too.

ate lunch at mcdo. 3 cheeseburgers for 3 of us.

dad took me to sop's afterwards, heh. spent the next few hours talking to lalaine and kyle, walking the dogs, buying ice cream, complaining about the heat.

note to self: let her steer more often!