A MILLION THOUGHTS IN ONE BLOG
Though I have been regularly posting, I have really not put into words the things I really wanted to post about… Blame it on last week from hell. It was performance evaluation time, and I’ve been up to my neck with lonnggggggggggg meetings discussing (no, fighting) with fellow managers about the merits and demerits of our employees’ performance last year. Damn, not only was the whole exercise very time-consuming, it was emotionally taxing as well. Glad we’re done with the worst ordeal. Next week, we’ll do the salary planning. Shoot.

Skeptic
Bestfriend gave me a long monologue about my general skepticism about the goodness of men. He was so damn right I could not even put my defenses up. I was totally speechless. What he said that hit me most was something about me trying to drag down some good things in order to make sense out of it, to bring it down to the standards of what is real for me. I have always believed that anyone who is too good to be true is unreal. There has to be a catch somewhere. I dunno, I guess if you’ve been burned more than once, your power to discern what is real or not diminishes over time, and the only way to keep surviving in this harsh, harsh world, is to become a skeptic. But of course, the downside is, you not only go about living a paranoid life, there is not much left to be happy about. You may even end up driving away people with honest intentions. For him pa nga daw, it’s better to pretend that what you are experiencing is reality, because even if it all turns out to be a lie, then at least you were happy for a while…

American Adobo
Oh well, this is a really late blog about the movie. Hah, I’ve almost forgotten how it was like… Hehe. One thing though I remember about the night I watched the movie, I dropped and left my sunglasses in the cinema. I was almost in the parking lot na when I remembered and I ran back upstairs to check. And guess what, the cleaning person found it and endorsed it to the mall’s security folks. And when I went to claim it, I learned that the mall personnel are really encouraged to do this type of deed and there were lots of found items in the office, including a very expensive two-way radio (and P100 bucks)! Way to go, Powerplant people!

So, back to the movie. I have a few good things to say about it. It was nicely directed, the shots were great, and the movie was funny. However, the movie could have been shot anywhere, and the characters could have been any race or culture. Except for the rare discussions/scenes about Marcos, Edsa 2, American Adobo didn’t turn out to be as Filipino as I thought it would be. The movie was generally about relationships. Multi-cultural, homosexual, abusive, failed relationships or the absence of one. Sieggy (who already has a blog, btw) and I both agree that we had more interesting, very “Pinoy-in-the-US” stories when we were in Chandler, AZ. All in all, though, I still give my thumbs up! It’s still showing, so do go and check it out.

A-day
I can never listen to “Iris” (one of my fave songs by Goo-goo Dolls, theme from City of Angels) in the same way ever again.

We came up with our gimik after watching an I-witness program last week. A couple of girls and I had our first trip to a male strip club last Friday :P We were really nervous about the whole thing, and a couple of times along the way, we almost chickened out. First of all, we had no idea where we were going. We stopped to ask a sidewalk vendor but the words never came out. We were circling around Timog and still couldn’t find the place, so we finally stopped at a gas station to ask for directions. The attendant didn’t know either so he shouted to his other co-workers to ask. That must have been the most embarrassing moment of my life. Shoot. When we finally got there, we just parked in front, still discussing whether to go in or not until one of the folks outside approached us and asked where we were going. We almost didn’t want to tell him the truth, but we gathered our guts and asked him where to park and where to go. Holding each other’s hands, we entered the place. Thankfully, there were lots of girls there, too, roughly 40% and the rest were gays. We were immediately infatuated with the man on the stage, who was dancing to “Iris” . He didn’t strip all the way and we were relieved. We just weren’t prepared for that. There was a fast dance number, and a ramp modeling stint. But after that, the next set of dancers started wearing sarong-type thingies and we knew that was it. We had to go to the restroom to compose ourselves. I’m not a prude, but what I saw was way too much for my sensibilities. Our Iris guy, whose name is Denmark, also did it, to the same damn song, and we were disappointed. We wanted to leave some things to imagination, but he bared all. :(

All in all, the experience wasn’t so bad. We went home unharmed. Or maybe, emotionally we were. During our very early morning snack at Zuppa in Pearl Drive, we came into the conclusion that it is indeed a very sad world. The expressionless look of those boys will haunt us for some time. Maybe forever.

Food
I know I blogged about this a while back, and I just wanted to reiterate it. If you want to try some decent meals, at decent prices, go check out those food places at Peal Drive. Zuppa serves a lot of rice dishes, and my fave are Thai Bagoong rice and Pesto rice, 65 bucks per hearty serving. :)

Area Café at Powerplant also serve some decently-priced yummy meals. They have an Italian menu, but you can also ask for the Oriental menu from O Cafe nearby. Their small plates are more than enough, and they serve salads and soups, too.

For cheesecake lovers like me, check out Cheesecake, etc. There’s one located in G4. The servings are just enough to share with a friend. My personal fave is the white chocolate pistachio cheesecake. Yum-yum :P

Playing Cupid
I played Cupid for two of my friends. Elisa is a friend from high school and the guy is an MBA classmate. They’ve already met, and from their stories (separately told), it sounds promising. :)

On the other hand, I have stopped dating (at least, nowadays). I just don’t want to go out for the sake of. I guess, no matter how good-looking or intelligent a person is, without the so-called spark, there’s just no point in the whole exercise. I’m very happy hanging out with my newfound friends. Besides, my heart is not yet completely healed and I’m not raring to go out and meet BF #x just yet. :)

EB's, etc
Mark organized an EB in Press Cafe for bloggers based in Manila and Petite called if I wanted to go. I didn't, mostly because I was still puyat from the all-night g, and also because I felt a little unworthy. I said I had been brain dead for so long, and most of the things that comes out from my head (to my keyboard) are all about work, school, gimik and relationships. V. juvenile. I can no longer squeeze in all the geeky things I used to do, or even the very normal things like catch up on my reading. Lined up are "Yesterday, I Cried" and LOTR "The Hobbit" (I know, Mark, I'll watch the movie. Really.) But of course, they all turned out to be non-cliquish "geeks", and I hope there'll be a second EB so I can finally meet these folks I read about online :)

FN also had a meeting-cum-EB at Hot Cafe. I was more than fashionably late. Ed who came from Novaliches even beat me to it. Sorry. No excuses. I met the bf of a Girltalker who was into war games. Sounds very interesting. But it's quite expensive to get started. I'm thinking about it, though. Beats all stress-relievers I know so far. :)

Lighthouse Family (another fave music group) was in Dish last night. And I missed the show :( Elisa said the place was packed and they did only like five songs.

Will and Grace
More than once, I tease bestfriend that he must be gay. I guess it’s mostly because I’ve never met a guy who's not only nice but who can read and understand a girl pretty well. There are times when he even voices out thoughts that I have a hard time expressing. Scary. But I did tell him that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate his friendship. I do. So much.

Anyway, we were watching TV the other night, and I pointed out to him that “Will and Grace” was one of my favorite sitcoms. And he was right on the money when he answered that reason why I was always teasing him he was gay was because I wanted him to be like Will. And yes, I was secretly wishing he were gay. I want a guy friend who’d stick with me no matter how many relationships he’ll have, who’ll be there for me and help me with the guy chores (hehe) and who’ll be my back-up companion, in case Mr. Right never comes along. Gay men are always nice, more thoughtful, can think like women most of the time and act like real men when needed. I guess I just don’t believe in long-term friendships with “real” men, the type that goes beyond time and space. The kind I have with my best friends Petite, Risa and Arlene. We don’t talk or see each other often, but we can most often finish each other’s sentences and we can easily understand each other even without trying. Besides, real men eventually get married.