BUSY Busy Days (UPDATED)

THURSDAY (June 7): Went with Die! to Fernand's apartment in Makati for dinner, but not before getting caught by (and "settling" out of court" with) cops who pulled me over for driving the wrong way on a One Way street. My naiveté on Makati cops being the least corruptible in the NCR (though as Die! pointed out the opposite was true) was quickly slapped upside the head w/ a 'C' note to the pigs. ANYhoo, the 3 of us had pasta, salad and cake. Since her dad couldn't pick her up I had to drive Die! back to her place, w/c was slightly daunting for me as it was past midnight and we were going though EDSA. Thank God I didn't get lost.
Finally, as you can see from the pic it was a matter of having 4 unrelated items coming together telling one weird story. 1: Napkins. 2: Stuffed animal. 3: Female figurine w/big-boobed salt & pepper shakers. 4: Hand lotion.

(I didn't say it was a nice story...)

FRIDAY: Today taught me that if you're having a good day, don't jinx it by telling someone the rest of your plan for the day, or else the universe balances it out w/ a bad evening. Good: getting new comix and meeting up w/ Wella (since she got back from New York) for a last full screening at RGalleria. Bad: Pirates 3 sucked and I inadvertently busted my digicam by bumping into the chairs at the cinema.

SATURDAY: Boit and Dionne's wedding day. Preparations were done at 5-Kim's, and while waiting it out I scarfed on the pricey Royce chocolates (later paid for in acne). After lunch (can't even remember what I had) we headed for Mary the Queen church, w/c was strangely empty. Less than half an hour before the wedding was scheduled to begin but nary a flower was put up by the aisle.

Long story short we started late. It also didn't help that none of us rehearsed beforehand. For one thing I was under the impression that the Best Man waits by the altar for everybody else to walk down the aisle, but instead I had to strut down there solo. (Should've put one hand in my pocket for the complete ramp model effect. Bad: sound system in the church. Good: BoiT taking his own pix w Dionne in front of the altar.

We killed the next few hours back at Marianas w/ more photoshoots, and I was in dire need of a nap. At the dinner reception in Gloria Maris I was surprised to see Aimee Uy (Chong), who attending her brother-in-law's wedding reception downstairs (we were on the 2nd floor). I stayed downstairs for crowd control (and was mistaken for the groom 4 times).
Food was mundane. Wilson's song number was fine. Video presentation was good. My speech/toast went off great. No lace and bouquet toss (the latter already done at the church) and luckily I was able to stave off cognac serving duties for the evening. Immediate family members of the newlyweds were one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. We were also given the "honor" of giving away to guests (who haven't left) unopened bottle of cognac (easy), bags of noodles (hard) and chunks of wedding cake (really hard). You'd think w/ about 85% of that cake being made of styrofoam what little edible sections left would be easy to give away. Not the case, probably because that 15% tasted like the 85%.

(Always end w/ a wedding cake joke, that's what I always say.)

SUNDAY: Pooped from last night's events. Completely missed Joanne's wedding today. (Granted, the thing's gonna happen today in Legazpi, but that's neither here nor there.) The 'Rents went out to lunch w/ uncle and aunt who came in from HK last week, while I left later in the afternoon to catch Ocean's 13 w/ Rons. Luckily I found a detour in Commonwealth that headed for Araneta Center, so we caught the 2:30 screening at Gateway Mall on time.

Afterwards we had to leave early because I still had a family dinner in Makati to attend. Asked directions from a cop and thankfully we were going back on the same route we came in. (Ah, a rare moment where my encounter w/ law enforcers while behind the wheel of a car didn't cost me a thing.) All immediate relatives met up at the People's Palace in Greenbelt. Wilson ordered 3 rounds of the 10-course Thai meal, w/c had definite hits (chicken pandan) and misses (spicy shrimp soup) for me. And how's this for another surprise from HK: Cathy Sy was in town, and thankfully she's sticking around longer than Aimee, so hopefully we could meet up at Chili's again for Sunday lunch.