Dear Liza,
Thanks for the humongous Valentine's card. Sorry the late reply. Actually, I'm sorry for some other stuff, too.
I'm sorry for being an insensitive jerk sometimes suffering from foot-in-mouth disease.
I'm sorry for pushing you hard to exercise when I should be pushing you "up" (i.e. positive reinforcement). When you asked me to help you work out and lose weight, please know that my teasing you about your figure was the closest to tough love I could do w/o watching you get down and giving me twenty.
I'm sorry I find your Cartoon Voice cute but not sexy.
I'm sorry for sometimes thinking you deserve better than yours truly.
I'm not sorry, however, for having met you. I'm not sorry to having my current crop of blog entries be about you. I'm not sorry for trying to help you stick to your decisions. I'm not sorry to have you as a part of my life. I'm not sorry we talk things out when it feels uncomfortable --but necessary-- to avoid misunderstandings.
Most of all, I'm not sorry for loving you.
Happy Valentine's Day.
-Wilben
Feb 16, 2009
Feb 10, 2009
Catchup puhctaC (Revised desiveR)
I may have to go at this backwards, freshest memory first:
TUESDAY: Since her Αh mah's b-day is on Valentine's Day, Liza and I got together tonight instead. Cuddled up while watching Blades of Glory and scarfing down a Whopper. Last week she got me an imitation LaCoste shoulder bag, while tonight I gave her the free pink Timex watch I got from HSBC for applying to their credit card.
(Love means never having to say, "You're cheap.")
She also got half a loaf of wholewheat bread and the HDMI cable I asked her to buy. Tested the latter on the WDTV and after few false starts I got my crisp, HD-quality picture. Still no 5.1 Dolby sound, though.
MONDAY: Shoulders and upper back sore from Yoga yesterday. Why are the "healthy" options always the most painful?
Attended another Sy Association dinner at Century Seafood Restaurant. It started at 7pm and ended past 11:30, by w/c time I managed to read the first 11 chapters of Bob Woodward's book State of Denial. Food seemed to come out in 15-minute intervals, and all invited guests managed to fill up all the tables, including those in back room where they viewed the events onstage via screen projector.
SUNDAY: Des' own Beijinoy friends dropped her off my house (she had a steak brunch in Tomas Morato), and after a quick tour of mi casa we headed for Tutuban to pick up Liza. The three of us went to Metrowalk for some personal gadget shopping (man, lotsa bootleg Blue-Rays), then Liza and I had dinner at Yoo-Hoo BBQ (formerly Yahoo BBQ, though I don't see how changing the business name from an Internet company to that of a chocolate drink would save them from future copyright lawsuits).
We decided to catch a flick at Promenade. Des was nice enough to treat us to a screening of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. (How does Michael Sheen go from Frost/Nixon to this editorially dizzying piece of cliched violence?) We originally planned to see Inkheart but Greenhills Theater only screened that one during the first half of the day. After the movie we hung around Fully Booked, browsing titles and waiting for Amerasian friend Andy's reply on whether or not he'd hang out w/ us. The hour was getting late and we were conflicted between waiting for him or yours truly getting the girls home at a decent hour.
In the end Des decided to wait for him in case he showed up. Behind all our reassurances that it was fine and she can take care of herself, I felt guilty about having to leave Des behind. As a precaution Liza suggested we park nearby in case Andy doesn't make it and we'd have to drive Des home. We parked across Virramall for another 20 minutes, passing the time watching Scrubs on Liza's laptop. Later Des texted me not to worry and that Andy came. Whew.
TUESDAY: Since her Αh mah's b-day is on Valentine's Day, Liza and I got together tonight instead. Cuddled up while watching Blades of Glory and scarfing down a Whopper. Last week she got me an imitation LaCoste shoulder bag, while tonight I gave her the free pink Timex watch I got from HSBC for applying to their credit card.
(Love means never having to say, "You're cheap.")
She also got half a loaf of wholewheat bread and the HDMI cable I asked her to buy. Tested the latter on the WDTV and after few false starts I got my crisp, HD-quality picture. Still no 5.1 Dolby sound, though.
MONDAY: Shoulders and upper back sore from Yoga yesterday. Why are the "healthy" options always the most painful?
Attended another Sy Association dinner at Century Seafood Restaurant. It started at 7pm and ended past 11:30, by w/c time I managed to read the first 11 chapters of Bob Woodward's book State of Denial. Food seemed to come out in 15-minute intervals, and all invited guests managed to fill up all the tables, including those in back room where they viewed the events onstage via screen projector.
SUNDAY: Des' own Beijinoy friends dropped her off my house (she had a steak brunch in Tomas Morato), and after a quick tour of mi casa we headed for Tutuban to pick up Liza. The three of us went to Metrowalk for some personal gadget shopping (man, lotsa bootleg Blue-Rays), then Liza and I had dinner at Yoo-Hoo BBQ (formerly Yahoo BBQ, though I don't see how changing the business name from an Internet company to that of a chocolate drink would save them from future copyright lawsuits).We decided to catch a flick at Promenade. Des was nice enough to treat us to a screening of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. (How does Michael Sheen go from Frost/Nixon to this editorially dizzying piece of cliched violence?) We originally planned to see Inkheart but Greenhills Theater only screened that one during the first half of the day. After the movie we hung around Fully Booked, browsing titles and waiting for Amerasian friend Andy's reply on whether or not he'd hang out w/ us. The hour was getting late and we were conflicted between waiting for him or yours truly getting the girls home at a decent hour.
In the end Des decided to wait for him in case he showed up. Behind all our reassurances that it was fine and she can take care of herself, I felt guilty about having to leave Des behind. As a precaution Liza suggested we park nearby in case Andy doesn't make it and we'd have to drive Des home. We parked across Virramall for another 20 minutes, passing the time watching Scrubs on Liza's laptop. Later Des texted me not to worry and that Andy came. Whew.
Feb 2, 2009
Weekendies
SATURDAY: Ordered --and got-- a Western Digital Network Media Tank for the Bravia. After a software upgrade I can now watch d-loaded HDTV and .mkv-format vids with more ease. Before that I plugged the flash-drive into the USB port of the Philips DVD player, w/c could read the data, but slow w/ rewinds and fast-forwardsand I've lost my readers now. Hello? Anyone? "Boobies?"Saturday night out became an unwanted (and avoidable had I been a better road-vs-map reader) road trip that brought us to the Balintawak N-Lex tollbooth. Not the priciest mistake in the world, but 72 bucks in still 72 bucks, and for going through a gate we weren't supposed to go through to begin with.
Once we got our street bearings (and Liza's superior sense of direction) we found her friend Paige's place and partook of a humble home-fried meal of chicken, mushroom, flat fried fishballs and cake. We also had a partial screening of A Tale of Two Sisters (US version entitled The Uninvited) before she got tipsy from the punch. Getting home was faster as the street directions were more straightfoward.
SUNDAY: After some Us Time dinner(wherever)-and-a-movie(Australia)-out became delivery(Shakey's)-and-a-TV-show(Lie to Me)-in. We had the house to ourselves as the 'Rents to watch a Chinese circus performance.