weekend update

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things."
--Author Unknown

early yesterday, one of the p6peeps informed me of another get-together in makati. since i'm not the type who would let my friends down and i'm on to my last few days here in metro manila, i was obliged to join. at about 8pm, i made my way to philcoa to meet up with my friend, randz. together, we made our way to guadalupe to meet up with jerk, tiff, and edson.

last night, the p6peeps had a sleepover at edson's place. edson bought food, softdrinks, cans and cans of beer, and bottles of iced tea. i passed up on the beer (hehe...) and settled for iced tea. i think only edson and randz drank the beer. it was another fun night with great friends... this time, minus the alcohol for me.


miss na mi nimo, mic?
our time last night was well spent on updates and stories (chismis!), two laptops, a cable TV, and a playstation. the two laptops and the playstation were around for the guys' gaming, and the cable TV was for me and tiff (because i said so! hehe). over the noise of the computers and the TV, all five of us kept fun conversations going on. talk about being noisy!

despite our respective busy schedules and the time we have to spend apart, we p6peeps have still remained in close contact with each other, and it never ceases to amaze me how we pull things off for a get-together even when done within very short notice. last night was no exception... and what fun! 'twas great!!!

today, randz and i begged off from the group's supposed to be imax activity in the mall of asia. randz cited valid academic reasons. i invoked my right against self-incrimination (hehe, just kidding!). i told my friends that i have a business to attend to -- a little adventure, actually.

a little adventure, i had, indeed. from makati, i went to shaw boulevard. from shaw boulevard, i went to edsa-taft. from edsa-taft, i went to vito cruz. from vito cruz, i went to the CCP bay area. now, some details of this story...

my makati-shaw-edsa-taft trip did not pose a challenge for me -- i only had to ride the mrt. my edsa-taft-vito cruz trip also did not pose a challenge -- i only had to ride the lrt. after 3.5 years spent here in metro manila, i've gotten used to riding the mrt and the lrt. squeezing myself in between bodies and/or keeping my balance while inside the transit is not anymore a challenge. heck, i've developed (and perfected?) a special talent of surviving mrt/lrt rides -- standing all throughout the journey without holding on to safety rails. the trick? that combo of wearing comfy footwear and some appreciation for the subtleties of physics.

it was my vito cruz-CCP trip that posed a challenge for me. while i knew my business in the bay area, i did not know where i was exactly supposed to go... and, well, i'm not that familiar with the CCP complex eventhough i've been there more than once.

in vito cruz, i looked for the orange shuttles (which were not difficult to look for because they were orange, after all) and rode in one. i was aware when the shuttle crossed roxas boulevard. i saw the cultural center of the philippines (CCP). i saw the harbor square. i saw the CCP bay terminal. i saw the bike rental stations. i saw tanghalang balagtas (folk arts theater). i saw the coconut palace. i saw the hotel philippine plaza (known to you and me as the westin philippine plaza). eeeeeeeeeeeeek! my folly, too late for me to realize!! boy, i was supposed to step down the shuttle in front of the CCP bay terminal!!!

so, fine! i told the driver to stop right after we passed by the hotel philippine plaza (i still would like to call it westin, by the way). from there, instead of opting for another shuttle ride, i decided to walk the entire distance back to the CCP bay terminal. i crossed 5 pedestrian lanes, walked past the coconut palace then the folk arts theater, heard dogs barking and got scared as i passed by the bike rental stations, and, finally, went inside the CCP bay terminal -- to check on my newly acquired yachts. haha, i'm just kidding about the yachts.

i went inside the CCP bay terminal to finalize the reservations which yoni and i made for our corregidor trip. tomorrow, we will be in corregidor. yeah, it's another biyahe tayo adventure for us travel buddies. we will be back on monday.

hopefully, by then, i'll be able to write better.

oh, wait. actually, i started this article with the thought of sharing my "kicking tendencies" today. i almost kicked two men. i was really tempted!!

on my way to where the orange shuttles were, i experienced the misfortune of having to follow this @#$% slow-walking 30-ish man on the sidewalk. i tried to overtake him to no avail -- there just wasn't enough space. his walking speed would have not been too much of a problem for me had he not been puffing out smoke and had the wind's direction been only different. i was tempted to kick his butt good, if only to propel him far, far from me and get him out of my way faster than his boring walking speed. bad, bad me. good thing, i did not carry out my short-lived evil plot.

on my way back to vito cruz from CCP bay terminal, i decided to walk some more. two guys on bike pretended to attempt to run me over with their sorry-looking bike. mga papansin, hmf! swangit! i gave them dagger looks which effectively erased the grins on their faces. had they been walking and not on bike, i would have kicked one of them where i know it would really hurt. again, good thing, i thought better and did not carry out my evil plot. i doubt if i could have gotten away with it, anyway.

today, i'm feeling maldita. tomorrow, i will be good. promise.

uh, i'm not sure about that promise. so here goes the edited version: i will try to be good.