First Coffee, Last Meet

Eileen and I managed to arrange a lunch date at Banana Leaf Greenbelt 3 w/ Carol (and Lorenzo) last Friday before they flew back to Spain the next day. Maple managed to join us after we ordered the appetizers. I took care of the bill, for w/c I was repaid by first taste of Gelato --courtesy of Eileen-- (hundred bucks a scoop for something ice...creamier) and Morrocan Mint Latte from Carol. I joined the newlyweds for Carol's meet w/ Zharina (my co-candle partner at her wedding) for cups of tea latte and espresso.

Part of me wishes I could just cough up the cash and fly to Barcelona to visit them (scratch that; i could, but won't, being a cheapskate), but I'm just intimidated enough planning local trips, like when I flew to Iloilo to visit the Rafael Brothers.

Aside from Spain, technically I also have friends I could visit in The US, Canada, Germany, Italy, London, China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Russia and France. That's a lotta frequent flier miles I gotta rack up. I also think there's some unspoken rule about trips to other continents having to last no less than 10-14 days para sulit, w/c I find odd. To justify spending all that cash for plane tickets and/or a visa you have to stay long, w/c would probably mean spending even more cash (be if for shopping/ sightseeing/ lodging) to enjoy yourself.

So until the day plane tickets are priced like bus tickets (or I develop the powers of flight and GPS), vacations will be few and far in between.

Dreamstuff

Two dreams to discuss, one I had the week earlier, the other just this morning.

• Ate bad taho, the kind I saw on the news as a kid, where unscrupulous taho-makers mixed plaster of paris in the vat, probably to keep it from breaking down faster. In my dream I noticed that in my cup the syrup settled on top instead of mixing in w/ the taho, like oil on top of water.
  

• Beat the holy heck out of a guy who bullied (ok, more like harassed) me in high school. In reality I just let him do what he wanted, for fear that if we ever did fight I would have seriously injured him. That came true in this dream. Granted my moves where purely in self-defense, where either I shoved him into a wall when he charged, or Kung Fu'd his ass after his own punches missed. I should've guessed it was a dream when instead of an adrenaline rush I felt calm while delivering the blows. Guess that's why they call it revenge fantasy.
  

WYIR (Wam's Year In Review)

Am doing this while waiting for Sis and her family to show up for lunch. Hope they hurry. Salmon's drying up.

(Does it count as peer pressure if your peers are doing it, but didn't pressure you to do it, but you do it anyway?)

Jan. - Seems I've only achieved one of my goals from the 12 Thoughts of Xmas, that being my purchase of the Futurama DVDs. (at half off, mind you.)

Feb. - Lost my digital pix due to PC crashing. Goodbye, Irene-in-lingerie.

Mar. - Movies, shopping and buffet.

Apr. - From my day as family driver to vacationing in Iloilo, definite worst-and-best day categorized.

May - Movie month, apparently. Then again I might've watched more flicks in December, but just didn't blog about it.

Jun. - More movies. Boit's wedding. Met up w/ friends new and old.

Jul. - Transformers. Dada's wedding in Cebu. Blogging by recap.

Aug. - Geneva came. And went just as quickly. Oh, and she's FINE.

Sept. - Book fair w/ Goldy. Avenue Q w/ Cheryl. Cemex cocktail party w/ Rona. Got new cordless earphones.

Oct. - Rodenticide. Cesca and CineEuropa. ChengDu and JiuZhaiGou (and XiaMen).

Nov. - Talked about ChengDu and JiuZhaiGou (and XiaMen).

Dec. - Phonecard scam. Blind date. Best friends from abroad come home to roost, if not to nest. (Yeah, I didn't know where that metaphor was going, either.

I just realized outlining my year like this makes my life seem more mundane (if not uneventful) as ever. More reviews needed, perhaps...? A love life? Dirty limericks?

I Now Pronounce You Enzo and Geraldine (UPDATED AGAIN)

Just got back from a whole afternoon-to-late-evening wedding affair. My dear hud-buddy (private joke) Carol (Geraldine) Chua got hitched at Mary The Queen w/ her hubby (they married civilly in Spain) Lorenzo Pons.

It was great seeing old faces and friends, like Abi, Kenneth, Wilma and Junius (Carol's 2nd cousin, apparently), while meeting new ones like my candle partner Zharina Arnaldo (journalist based in the UK) and Edgie Co (molecular biologist working w/ the US military). While Jen barely made to the ceremony Melody missed her turn at doing the second reading (or responsorial psalm), w/c caught Eileen (who was doing the commentary) off guard, so she ended up doing it. For my my part you'd think lighting a candle would be a breeze, but at the second lighting (this time for the "unity candle) it was a literal breeze that kept killing the fire from my matchsticks. In the end Zhar and I just used the candles she lit earlier.

The rest of the day was spent at EDSA Shangri La hotel, where we hung around the newlywed's room, eating cheeseburgers and KFC sandwiches (courtesy of Carol's dad). I also couldn't stop looking at their makeup artist, as her resemblance to a friend of mine was uncannily eerie, right down to stylish color-coordinated glasses. And w/ her looks I'm surprised she isn't doing some modeling herself, instead of making them up. But I digress.

This is why I prefer going to friend's weddings, as opposed to any of my relatives. * Lots more people to see and talk to, and enjoying myself while doing so. When I wasn't comparing dental work w/ Kenneth I was talking comics w/ Junius. And I got a nice bunch of "conjoined headshots." It also wasn't just a random selection of single guys blowing a balloon or single girls going wild over tossed roses (w/ Junius and Melody the respective "winners" of those games). This was fun stuff. Hell, some of us even managed to score an extra bottle of wine Lorenzo brought from Spain! Makes up for the 180 bucks(!) the hotel charged me for parking, despite the 6 hour validation stub.

Click here to see the rest of the wedding pictures, or if you'd prefer the video version:


*ON THE OTHER HAND... The next day I went to EDSA Shang again for another wedding , this time for my friend Hentjie, former DLSU class and thesis-mate. The wedding and reception were staged at the Isla ballrooms 2 and 3, side by side. Turns out it's in Protestant weddings where the priest asks the "if anyone objects to this marriage speak now blah blah" bit. It was also odd seeing the couple walk down the aisle, be greeted by photographers, and not leave in the wedding car. I waited for one of the TV production people documenting the affair to yell "CUT!" (One of the perks of working in a post-production house), but instead the newlyweds chatted w/ guests while they signed in at the registry table.

At the "Jie's Close Friends 3" table I was the only one in attendance, so they filled it up w/ Hentjie's former co-workers, instead. Most of them were language teachers, who cringed every time emcee Kimberly Tan improvised and subsequently butchered her English ("Stand at the back of your wife!") And they weren't big fans at the somewhat "R-Rated" themes of the palour games. The menu was 90% what I had last night, sans mango sago and Spanish wine. Yep, I bored.

So let me amend my earlier statement: it's not whether I prefer to attend a friend or relatives' wedding, just that I'd better have someone I to enjoy talking to at my table.

Half-Blind Date

(For a partial account of this evening's events, check out Chinachix. Unlike hers, names have not been concealed nor charged, coz' in da grand scheme of things ain't none of us innocent.)

I picked up Harriet at her sister's place in New Manila before we headed for San Juan to pick up her cousin Michelle. I recently gave the former the go-ahead to set me up w/ the latter on a date. Traffic was worse than usual, but luckily Michelle's knowledge of the inner roads around Greenhills got us out of the worst of it. We had dinner at Arya and a nightcap at CB&TL, where I ran into Darwin and his friends.

The date itself went along smoothly enough. As a sporty CSB culinary arts student (and former barista in Canada), Michelle shares my interest in cooking and keeping fit (and perhaps frappuccinos). Her love of team sports is comparable to my love of comics, but that's where the similarity ends (not counting this). We're not gonna be picking out china patterns any time soon, but I'm open for a 2nd meet if she is.

The nightcap probably went on a bit long, as Michelle and I inadvertently tested the limits of talking about "anything and everything," while Harriet 'N' Friends had a roundtable discussion about Tsinoys in Toronto. (Kidding, dear.) I interpreted (too late) Michelle's constant checking of her cellphone as a sign that I should've mentioned that it was time to wrap it up, because next thing I knew it was past 1 in the morning.

Should probably quit while I'm ahead, as Harriet would correctly surmise that I'm over-analyzing the whole thing.

Saturday Nights Lived

For the past 2 Saturdays I met up w/ 2 people who share a lot in common, albeit coincidentally. Both I met in school, but not as classmates. Both introduced themselves to me before I did to them. Both are intellectuals, but thankfully not the boring kind. Both now live abroad and are married. Both I consider a couple of my oldest and dearest friends these past 2 decades, and then some.

Carol came in from Spain accompanied by her new husband, Lorenzo. Jenny and Maple organized a party for them at the (now closed) Chateau 1771, w/c was literally next door to the restaurant we surprise-partied Carol with the last time she was in town. I arrived early to help decorate (read: climb ladder and hang stuff). The party was more low-key (having guests cancel on you will do that) than last time, but the games more imaginative, as incriminating photos of me in a makeshift wedding dress will attest. Commerial lambanog was passed around (grape flavor was awful, pizza and pasta was had, and Lorenzo even showed me pix of their civil wedding (well, the reception, at least).

Harriet arrived from Toronto w/ her kids in tow (Husband arrives next month.) As she had a lot of people and places to meet-and-greet, setting up a coffee/lunch/dinner/whatever date was a challenge. Hmm, I just realized that in all the time we've known each other this would be the first time I'd be seeing her outside of Saint Jude.

I picked her up at her friend's place, and what was supposed to be coffee at Starbucks turned into hanging out at my house. She met Ma, talking about their Bicol roots (we all have cousins there), and while looking through my photo albums and scrapbook she had me photocopy her Judenites clippings (forgot I had those). Later when I drove her home to Oroquieta she reciprocated w/ dinner and a can of Tim Horton's hot chocolate mix. Also I finally got meet her daughter Renee, one of the smallest 2-year-olds I've ever seen. Well, either she's small or my nephews and nieces were just fatties when they were her age. (Kidding!)

"can u buy meglobe cardsnow?" UPDATED

Surreal internet chat moment coupla days ago.

Indonesian friend I met during my stay in Beijing YM-ed me out of the blue, seemingly just to say "wassu" (sic). Couple of lines of small talk, then she asked for a favor: buy some prepaid cellphone cards for her, for w/c she'll repay me through my bank account.

Her: formy(sic) tita's roaming number

Sounds simple enough, I thought, 'til I found out how many she needed.

Her: 10pcs globe 300. then ill pay it 100 dollars.

Spidey-sense tingling.

Me: As in US dollars?
Her: Yup.
Her:Why.
Me: Seems a lot.
Her: Thats ok.

Ok for her, sure. Me? Flabbergasted. Sure, there was the 7-11 around the corner I could go to, or perhaps ask a former assistant (who now works for my brother) to bring a couple of cards w/ her later when she comes here.

Still, out of nowhere here's my Indo friend asking me to spend almost 3K for her. As a favor. I knew she was well-to-do enough to freely toss money around. I also knew she was closer to other "Beijinoys" like Dennis, so why not ask him first?

Yes, I was apprehensive, but at the same time thinking of the possibility of making almost 1500 pesos in profit (working w/ current exchange rate of P42-$1) from this transaction. Suspicious, but not too suspicious, heheheh...

Around this time another Beijinoy YM-ed me, telling me our mutual Indo friend YM-ed him and another friend, asking the same favor. This rang a few bells.

This could be her, as her email address and YM ID matched, and she knew the other Beijinoys. This could an impostor, because she contacted Beijinoys that, to my knowledge, she also wasn't that close to. It was almost as if she just looked at our Beijinoy message board and checked to see who else was online. I didn't know her that well, so I didn't know what polite questions to ask to verify her identity. (Kudos to the hacker for this modus operandi, it that was his/her intention.) Not to say I didn't try:

Me: where r u staying now?
Her: on my tita's hoiuse (sic)
Me: i didn't know u had relatives in china
Me: r u studying again?
Her: nope
Her: why
Her: sorry but i have o go

In terms of hard evidence pointing to this being an impostor, I nothing other than a gut feeling. Lessee: She YM-ed the 3 of us while we were all online. (Duh, how else would she find us?) Numerous misspellings during our chat? (Evrybdy does tht.) She said she was in Beijing staying w/ her "tita," but I thought she was in back in Indonesia and had no relatives in China. (She could've gone back and stayed w/ a "tita" who wasn't related to her per se.) Why would she use the Tagalog term "Tita?" Did the hacker think he/she was impersonating a Filipino? (Could have the same meaning in Indonesia, as with other words like lima, pinto and kambing.)

Finally I said I'd get her the cards, but so far I only asked the former assistant to buy one, w/c I planned to email her the PIN number. Then I talked to Dennis, the one I knew our Indo friend was definitely close friends with. He said he hasn't spoken to her for a while. I sent him a copy of our chat, but he couldn't tell if it was her or not, either. But to err in the side of caution he told me not to buy the prepaid cards, at least not until he's spoken to her himself.

Today I left a message on Indo friend's Friendster page, one that, is it was her I was chatting with all along, wouldn't net me a confused reply. Interestingly, her profile listed her location in Indonesia.

Yeah, yeah, Friendster info isn't exactly under oath material, but you take what ya can.

UPDATE: It was an impostor. Damn! Now I'm out 295 pesos.

Happy Birthday, Ma

You've given me life, happiness and hope.
I, in turn, make sure you do as much Tae Bo as possible.
Good exchange all around.

11 Senior Citizens and 2 Adults (My China Vacation), Part 3 of 3

Friday, Oct. 12
Arrived in ChengDu last night. Our new guide, Xiao Chou, took us to a temple, a silk merchandise building, a public park inhabited by old people sipping tea or playing cards and mahjong, downtown, then finally to see some opera. Dinner was at Golden Dragon, the restaurant we ate in when we first arrived.

Sorry, vacation burnout. Now for more details:

WuHou Temple didn't really have much to distinguish it from any other temple I've visited. Big-@$ statue here, a open garden there... it was all mundane at this point. It didn't help that Xiao Chou seemed disinterested about taking us around, mostly just walking along, occasionally giving encyclopedic information and factoids. I was more peeved he brought us to the silk factory, which had a mini-museum dedicated to the material, for crying out loud. Nonetheless the seniors bought them by the pound. And despite being marketed as light and feathery, silk is tough, and heavy.

We hung around downtown Chengdu (hey, they have Isetan, Bread Talk and Dairy Queen) for a bit before catching some SiChuan opera at the Shu Feng Ya Yun Teahouse. It wasn't as loud and flashy as the JZG show, but damn if they didn't have creative acts, like Long Stick Doll Guy, The Limber Henpecked Husband skit and Extra-creative Shadow Puppet Dude. The main act/ finale was the Face-Changing, or Bian Lian. And, as if coming full circle, turns out those masks are made of silk.

Saturday, Oct. 13
Really early breakfast before we caught our morning flight to Xiamen. Funny how Xiao Chou asked us to be up this early, then ends up a no-show up. As insomniac replacement took his place.

On the plane they assigned Jen and I the seats next to the emergency exit, after kicking aside the senior citizens who previously occupied them. God forbid if something goes wrong we don't one someone w/ arthritis having trouble with the lever.

* * *

Am now at 夏门, with temperatures resembling Manila weather. And the minute our original guide Dennis (who booked our first flight to ChengDu) got off the bus the New Guy thinks of his commission and brings us to a knife factory. Nooo, sales demo! You sure you want to bring annoyed tourists to a place full of sharp, stabby objects?

We dropped off our stuff at the hotel, then strolled along 中山路, w/c was 夏门's version of WangFuJing. Spotted their local Bench Body Store (no Pinoy staff) and food stands that still sold bubble tea. The seniors had some candied fruit.

At the Hun Qiao Hotel, for once (i.e. only for tonight) I had a room to myself. Took advantage of it by getting some exercise unfettered. The TV channels are experiencing signal delays, w/ the sound coming before the picture. Not that it mattered, since Hun Qiao is apparently not a CNN partner hotel. All I have is CCTV-9 and Channel V, the latter having done away w/ VJs altogether.

Sunday, Oct. 14
Ma wasn't feeling well (bad oysters from last night, probably), so she stayed in the hotel room all morning to rest, puke and poop. The rest of us went to South PuTuo Temple, w/c was like a mall for temples, at we hopped from one altar to another.

After that we went to the local baywalk, w/c reminded me of all those images I've seen of Coney Island: coarse beach sand to your left, local amusement park to your right. This was followed by a car tour of what looked like their version of Roxas Blvd. and Pasay Road, only cleaner and w/ wider roads. We were supposed to have lunch a hotel restaurant, but it was full, so we settled for the ChuangYi Seafood Restaurant. (Didn't memorize it. Just got the name from the business card.)

We got back early to find Ma sleeping. I walked around 中山路 some more (w/c was my only hangout here) before meeting up w/ everybody again so we could catch the ferry ride to the other side of the coastline. Turns out the ride was free and you only pay for the return trip, plus an extra buck if you take a seat, w/c is a small price to pay to separate the cheapskates from the tired. When we docked I finally found out whey they put tires on the sides of the boat and the ports (buffer bumpers).

Nothing much on the island to rave about. Shops, shops, McDonald's, swimsuit designs from the early 80s, shops. When we got back we finally had that fancy restaurant dinner. Later on I apparently walked back to the hotel too fast and lost everybody, so I killed time in the lobby, listening to Tony Bennet duets on my MP3 player while watching a wedding reception on its last throes.

Speaking of last throes, I seem to be suffering from a cold. Rrgh, stupid locals and their open-mouthed coughing. Ah, well... 'least it isn't SARS.

Wrapped up the evening w/ a propaganda film featuring the Chairman Mao himself about his victory over Chiang Kai Shek and his forces. They mixed archival footage w/ grandiose reenactments, so this must be what inspired Oliver Stone when he made JFK.

Odd. I think I just saw Rachel Weisz playing a mermaid in a Lux Shampoo commercial. Guess Japan isn't only country catering to Hollywood celebs out to make easy money.

Monday, Oct. 15
Really winding down on this vacation. Breakfast. Walk around 中山路. Saw those same old ladies from yesterday. Lunch. Walk around again. (Great, now I'm Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.) Bought DVDs (entire run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, High School Musical 2 for Mia, and Jules Verne's War of the Worlds: The Opera). Airport. Fly. Home again, jigeddy jig.

11 Senior Citizens and 2 Adults (My China Vacation), INTERMISSION

Wide-screen shots of my China trip HERE. Some preview pics below: