November Notes

Nov. 5: This was at the Penguin Gallery and Cafe in Malate.  It has three things going against it: 1)P150 Door charge, 2)No conspicuous signage, and 3) Barely enough art pieces to count as a gallery.  On the other hand it was the first time I've seen a didgeridoo being played live, and to a dance beat, as the man blowing on it was also doing musical mixes on his laptop.

No real occasion, by the way.  When I arrived Kes and Sue were there and we all waited for the literally fashionably late Dee (this pic doesn't do her top justice) to show.  Later on we joined Dee's friend Dirk upstairs for beers.  Place seems to be the preferred hangout of foreigners and pseudo-Bohemians.

Nov. 10: The Fil-Chi Shi Shi Townmate Association dinners are one of my least favorite  family obligations to attend.  I don't know anyone there outside of relatives, it's boring as all heck, and if you're not tired of eating the same 8 or 10-course meals at Century Seafood Restaurant from the countless wedding banquets held there that you attended, these events should do it.  This time the association wanted to award their members' top performing children from whatever school they're studying in.  Cue my nephew and nieces Jian, Jade and Jasmine --all doing well academically in St. Jude Catholic School-- being called onstage to receive their cash prizes, and thus slowly paying back the hard-spent tuition to their parents.

Nov. 6 and 12: Lola is my semi-official movie and shopping partner and my official-official Bubble Tea partner.  Bubble Tea may have officially replaced the Starbucks in Ashcreek (or by the Chilis on Connecticut Street in Greenhills) as our official hangout for either late dinners and nightcaps.  Their chicken doria (baked rice casserole) and sushi platters ain't half bad, either.  I'd compare it w/ the food menus of UCC or Tokyo Cafe, except I don't like the food in the former and had only eaten once in the latter.  Every time we come here the place is filled with mid-to-upper-class Chinoy families and/or couples out on late night dates, plus the occasional not-so-famous celebrities.

Clockwise from top: Rachel, Izzy,
Me, Meena and Patricia

Nov. 11: Trying to look for things to do outside the house on weeknights w/ friends is not easy for me.  I do not have gimmikero blood in me, but I tell myself I need to get out and mingle more, even if ultimately I stick close to the same old people and barely remember the names of the new ones introduced to me.

So it was nice of Meena to invite me to her friend Rachel Garrick's birthday party at M Cafe and to her own apartment for a "preparty" before that.  I was second to arrive as Pat was already there, then Ana G rounded up the ensemble.  After the drinks and chips we carpooled to M (but not before dropping Ana G off at a different venue), w/c was packed w/ faculty members of the British International School.  Either they love to party or the stress of teaching only leaves them with this venue to de-stress.  Either way I don't think my teachers unwound like this.

Nov. 13: Four months after my family attended 5-Kim's birthday party at her newly purchased-and-renovated house in Valle Verde 3 we returned to attend the house blessing-and-brunch.  Really wish I had more of the crepes.

Nov. 19: Dave "Dirty 30" birthday party theme was to come in your "best pambahay," so it was fortunate that I work from home and wear a t-shirt w/ pants all day instead of staying in pajamas. (Needless to say some of the people in the party thought I was cheating.)  I gave him the Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 3 hardcover (first appearance of The Marvel Zombies) for his present.

One heavy buffet meal and a bottle of Tanduay Ice later I  drove to Penguin Cafe (w/ time-saving directions I got from Google Maps, because the logistics of finding the shortest path from Mandaluyong to Malate hurt my head) to attend Dirk's despidida.  And what a nice surprise for guests: no door charge but 1 complimentary drink! It was also my first time to meet people from YogaMalate, of w/c Dirk and Dee are members.  Paulo and I partook of the DJ's pizza when he wasn't looking, but later on we 'fessed up as it wasn't that good.

Nov. 23: Another oft-repeated tradition in the house is to have the kids blow the birthday candle no matter whose birthday it is.  This time it was Ma's, and Jian took the initiative to lead (almost) everyone to 3 different renditions of Happy Birthday (English, Tagalog and Chinese).

Nov. 26-27: Speaking of birthdays, Dee decided to have a Hat-themed party this year, w/c sincerely lasted all of 20 minutes (or for photo-ops).  In order to circumvent the 'rents' staying-out-too-late rule I opted to stay over instead of having to possibly drive home at 3 in the morning.  Poor Pam Pasia kept losing to me at the old-and-improvised version of the Chinese drinking game shi-shi-shwa-shwa (as no-one calls it) and had to stay over, soused to the gills.  And as (un)expected the rest of the guests who stuck around stayed up 'til sunrise and I only made it w/ 2½ hours of sleep before having to drive back home for Sunday morning palengke driving duties.

But lo, Dee wasn't finished celebrating, as someone dropped off a whole bunch of seafood for their family to eat, so she texted last night's guests to help finish it off.  Strangely enough I was the only one that wasn't a relative to answer the call, so it almost felt like I was intruding a late-night family dinner  Even stranger the kids and their Mom went out and bought even more food.  I also found that my family wasn't also in practicing the kids-blow-the-candles tradition.