tekken nights and ice cream fixes

I have to admit I sorely miss the "grand" life. Not that I literally lived a grand life but I know you get it.. travel and adventures, shopping, daily dose of expensive coffee and well, everything else in between my then corporate duties. For the record, I've been a bum for fifteen freakin' months already. Soon enough, I'll have the audacity to let everyone know exactly what I'm going through but for the meantime, let me tell you one among probably a hundred of life lessons this drama taught me. People, LITTLE THINGS MATTER.

Here's another truth: I've always been so difficult to please. I laugh at funny quips easily; I laugh way too often but ironically, hindi talaga mababaw ang kaligayahan ko. In fact, I've always had high standards for each and every single thing. Those who know me personally can attest to that. Then, this whole life drama happened. A lot of things were stripped from me -- good health, fast-tracked career, the luxurious living. I couldn't really say that I reached rock-bottom because my family and friends kind of saved me but for someone who's never went through trials growing up, susss, ang hirap nito! Anywayyy, my point is that after I've lost so much, I learned to be more appreciative. It feels good din pala to get giddy over the simplest things. Nowadays, a good playlist, a nice quote I can relate to, a twitter mention, an instagram like, or a blog comment can make my day. Also, I now look forward to simple days out with the fam bam or friends. Hindi na kailangan ng 3 days, 2 nights out of town trips to get me excited for the next day. Haha! And although I'm praying to get back the life I used to live, I ought to keep the wisdom I got & will still get from this tough phase. :)

Andddd, speaking of little things.. Here are two nights of Tekken and ice cream fix that I happen to appreciate a lot! See what I did there? Aminin nyooo! Ang galing ko sumegueee!! Hehehe! So first night, it was just us four -- the kids, I mean. We started with my all-time favorite basketball shooting. I'm just sooo glad I have my not-so-bebe brother to share this addiction with. The sisters joined in the fun too but of course, with a different level of enthusiasm, if you get what I mean.

my score right thurrr

my brother's :)

Then Anit and Gigi, my sister and brother respectively, introduced Tekken to me and Dana. I know I know, we're losers like that. Personally, I was never a gamer! I remember being taught Counter Strike way back God knows when and all I did was to shriek like crazy. Hahaha! I'm a self-confessed reyna ng hysteria so what can you expect? And with Tekken, it's no different. I was in total panic the first time I tried. Bummer! I was screaming; I was shaking. Even Dana was in sweat out of nervousness. Talk about being first-timers. Pero eto ang twist! I actually won once and guess against who?!! Bwahaha! Against my brothaaa!!! There's hope, after all.

gotcha, bebeee! ✌

Next stop: another videoke sesh! None of the songs we sang survived my poor memory but I do remember that we danced our way towards the end of our one hour session. And oh, we took groufies too. Yep, if there's such a thing as selfie, these days, meron na ring groufie. Self-explanatory, right? But if you don't quite get it, come onnn, it's about time you wake up those braincells! Hehehe! Kiddingggg! :)

We capped off the night with an ice cream fix. You see, a FamilyMart branch just opened in Fairview Terraces. They're known for their twirl-all-you-can pakulo and we obviously weren't able to help it, we just had to jump on the bandwagon. It's worth a try if you ask me! For 25 pesos, you get a sweet belgian cone and the chance to fill it up with ice cream as high as you can. Twirling was fun actually! In the end, Dana and Gigi did a good job while Anit and I sucked at it. Tawang-tawa kami especially with Anit's work! It would have been a genetic freak ice cream serving if it was living. That bad!

Second night of our Tekken + ice cream night, we were able to drag our dear mommaa with us. We made her twirl her own ice cream with the help of Dana. Funny how she kept on whining while we were waiting in line. Yes folks, may pila! Mom said something like, "first and last, first and last". Hehehe! Meaning she has no plans of ever lining up again for the sake of a single ice cream serving. Her work turned out fine though. Wheww!

Then it was Tekken time once again. It was mama's turn to try the game for the first time. As expected, she's even more hilarious than we were. I actually got the tarantahin genes from her so just imagine. She was sooo confused with the keys and she was laughing non-stop to the point she momentarily stops playing from time to time. I even took a video of her and it kind of went viral over Facebook 'cause get this -- she's a teacher! Hahaha! Sorry, mom! :P

Now, here's what I've been waiting for! The chance to brag that I was the most improved player of the night. Hahaha! I was on a winning streak just before we left. I beat them allllll! Mwahahaha! And mind you, I really didn't know what I was doing. The pindot-bahala technique plus the random choosing of characters did the trick. The pros weren't able to use their fave characters and so the lucky one {eheeeem} prevailed! It wasn't a walk in the park though, dugo't pawis, at maraming nerbyos ang puhunan. Hehehe!

ito ang sinasabi kooo
nerbyoooos! :P

These nights were fun, yes, but I'm definitely looking forward to having papi with us the next time around. That would be twice as hilarious, I bet! Help us convince him to tag along next time, mmkaay? :)

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late night whatevers

Finally got to be with my college friends again. Yaayy! Guys, we got to give the credits to Jhov for bugging Jun to treat us. She started a few weeks ago with a simple puntahan-ka-namin-libre-mo-kami-SB threat {yes, I prefer to call it threat} but it got postponed several times so we ended up with a nightlong catching up. We last saw each other July of last year by the way, so it's understandable. Too bad Nok wasn't able to make it this time. We missed you loads, baks! :*

Anyway, I was the first one to arrive but Jhov showed up shortly after. She dragged me to places 'cause I had no business in the mall whatsoever. It was okay with me until she availed free trials in Watsons. Naloka akoo! First, she got her hair curled and then next.. free eyebrow shaping and eyebrow makeup tutorials. Hahaha! Muntik ko na syang iwan sa inip. :P

We then looked for a place to dine. It was almost 9pm and if we won't be able to look for a place, we had no choice but to leave the mall. We found out that Starbucks is open until 11 and Jay J's until 12. So, we were good! Jhov and I settled at Bake and Churn while waiting for the others.

this is why it's bad to make me wait :')

Next to arrive was Mhoi. To speed things up, we proceeded to Jay J's and placed our orders while waiting for Jun and Den. Fortunately, it didn't take long before the two arrived. It's funny how we were teasing Jun that we ordered a lot and that he'll be the one to pay for everything when prior to that night, he already said that only our coffees will be on him.

Contrary to what we were making him believe, we only got a group meal good for five persons. That's a platter of rice, crispy pata, kare kare, sinigang na bangus, pancit canton and a pitcher of iced tea. We got a bucket of beer and squid head for pulutan too.

Our food arrived on time, thank heavens. I initially wanted to take photos of everything, yah knoow, for documentary purposes.. but they were attacked by hungry dinosaurs. Hehehe. And speaking of the food, think Gerry's Grill and you'll have an idea of what to expect. I loved their kare kare the most. On nom noom.

And guess who paid for the bill? Jun, of course! Jhov shared too but it was mostly him. Thanks Kada!! Thanks a bunch to Den also for allowing Jun to feed our starving tummies. May the good Lord bless your bank account more.. para alam mo na! Hehehe.

Mhoi

Jun and Den ❤

We transferred to Starbucks to grab our coffees - courtesy of Mhoi this time. Jhov and I accompanied him in placing our orders and when we came back, Jun was playing Flappy Bird on his tablet. I've been reading tweets about it but I was never the type to jump right to the bandwagon. But this time, I got curious. I tried to play the game using Mhog's phone and I got so pissed. Nadagdagan na naman yung listahan ng frustrations ko sa buhay. My highest score while we were in the coffee shop was seven, Jun said I should at least make ten. Shusshh. 

Since the guys went all the way to SM Fairview from their far-flung places,  they didn't want to end the night as early as 12am.  Just how weird that phrase is? Night? Early? 12am?? Hehe. Anyway, Jun called my sister {yes, they are friends too!} to ask for another place that's open until past midnight. My sister suggested the commercial center Pearl Drive, so off we go!

We found the KTV Studio Five. They offered expensive packages at first but after we declined, a staff approached us to let us know of their hourly rate. If I'm not mistaken, that's P85 per person per hour, minimum of 2 hours and on top of that, you have to grab food/drinks worth P300. No problemooo, said my rich friends so we went on.

For the first thirty minutes or so, I was preoccupied by Flappy Bird. Pero ipinagpalit ko na't lahat yung mga kaibigan ko sa ibon na yun, di pa rin ako nakasampu. Bwisit! I made 9 though, 1 point short of my goal but I had to let it go.

As soon as I ditched the game, I started selecting fun songs for everyone to sing. The funniest was when we sang Uncle Kracker's Follow Me. At first aliw na aliw kami, then we realized sobrang paulit ulit na sya. Haha! The next song on queue was Waterfalls then Mhog and I sang in unison.. "Waterfalls and everything is alright." ♫♪♪ Hahahaha!! Tawang tawa kami sa mga sarili namin. Mhoi and I also kept dancing. We only had more or less three moves and we would adjust the tempo of our movements depending on the song that's playing. I can only imagine the riot if Nok was there.

Den.Mhoi.Apple

Den.Jhov.Jun.Mhoi

If there's one thing I didn't like about Studio Five, that would be the owner's rudeness. We were already told by a staff that our time was over when she passed by and knocked our open door several times. As in dumaan lang tas nangalampag. She didn't say anything, she didn't even check the room. By that time we were already preparing and Mhoi was just finishing his song. Dbaa??! It was made worse by the fact that I easily get annoyed with rude people. I mean, I'm never a goody two-shoes but rude.. never! Another staff pacified our my annoyance, apologized and explained that she's the owner and she has always been strict with time. Well, one can be strict without being rude. Anyway.. I just asked the staff to take our group picture so we can finally drag our butts away from Pearl Drive.

thanks a bunch, guys!

Got home past 2am and messed up my body clock for three freakin' days. Just today I'm back to normal so here yah gooo.. a blog post! :)

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almost a throwback: videoke-ing adventures plus my chubby cheeks

IT'S BEEN A WHILE. It holds true for a lot of things related to myself - blogging being one of the obvious. Aside from the fact that nothing big has happened lately, I've been uninspired too. Ughh! The latter half of June has been ugly in all sorts of ways. In fact, I'm still nursing a wound on my chin worthy of two stitches. I chose not to have it stitched for two reasons: first, all my strength gets drained at the sight of blood and needles then second, I'm scared it will turn into an ugly scar of stitches. I'm keeping my faith that this will heal beautifully. *fingers crossed*

I digress. Below are photos from one documented videoke session with the fam bam. With documented, I meant we took a lot of  photos. Hahaha! This happened back in February but at that time I didn't find it blog-worthy. Then one day, I was browsing through 2013 photos and I got amused at how healthy I look few months back. I'm so thin again 'cause I got sick twice already. So anyway, that made me put this videoke sesh in the queue.

my fattest cheeks ever

Here's a little trivia. Did you know that I first sang in the videoke only last 2011? Yep, just two years back. Hahaha! I've been really quite reserved in the singing department to the point that I even had to put "sing in the videoke" in my 25 before 25 bucket list. Funny how it's such a big deal for me until now. {I'm blushing in shame already.} I only sing with a microphone when I'm with my family, birit kung birit baliw-baliwan talaga. :P But when it comes to friends, I still can't take humiliating myself. Haha!

with my videoke seatmate

fam bam ♥

I still have a long way to go with my singing career but for the meantime, you may check out this link {click it, click it} to read my videoke turning point with my family and of course, to watch our super crazy sing & dance video. Don't judge.

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random rants and a birthday celebration

I realized how this blog became sorta kinda my journal and scrapbook at the same time. Just so you know, I used to maintain a scrapbook until I stopped after I graduated from college. It pains me that I have to abandon that but at least I have my blog now. My point is that.. no matter how I get excited to post recent happenings {or feelings if you'd believe I have that}.. I cant.. until I have accomplished everything that's on my draft. And add to that chronologically as they took place in my life. My OCD is not helping with this, really. :P

All I want to say is that, I have lots on my mind right now like 2013 goals - career wise and personal, thoughts about life and so on.. BUT my draft says I should blog about my niece's birthday celebration at TongYang so here I go. But please don't get me wrong, I want to blog about this too. It's just that my mind, and probably my heart and soul too {hehe}, wants to explode already with all sorts of things. Alam mo ba yun?!! If you've gone through quarter life crisis, you'd understand. But if you're yet to experience that, I say you prepare yourself big time. Soon you'll thank me for warning you. And oh, baby sister, hope you're reading this. 

Enough of the drama. Because really, I hate drama. My friends can attest to that. But sometimes, life has its special way of forcing you into things.. hence my drama. But as I've said, ENOUGH. So tama na. Pwede ba? Jusme, loka loka!

*shifts to normal self to continue* So mid last month, we celebrated my niece's birthday at TongYang. The day before that, they had a kiddie party back at home that I wasn't able to attend. The second time around though, I made sure to fly from Eastwood to Fairview. I made it, albeit a little late. What's new with that anyway?

yet another pig out session

happy birthday, dearie :*

Like the usual, we headed to Tom's world for some amusement and singing. xD Perfectly for the occasion, my niece was the star of that videoke session. She sang and danced to the tune of Reflection - her current favorite song. Oh how I miss that darling. It's more than a month already since I last went home. I miss everyone of course, but I always, always, miss her the most.

when will my reflection show? ♫♬

And sorry if this blog post doesn't have coherent thoughts. I promise in 2013 - NO MORE MESS! Who thinks I should change my twitter username and tumblr URL, like right NOW!?

Update 07.28.2013

I've recently changed my tumblr URL. Let's keep it a secret for now. I need you to understand, please. Hahaha! Nagdrama na?

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crazy is as crazy as it can get

Allow me to take a break from my summer stories as something not so summer-ish but of great importance made it between my beach trips. Obviously, I am such an OC that I want to post things in chronological order. Just bear with me, will you? :D

Anyhoo, my mom had her 5oth birthday last April. Over IM, me and my sister were thinking of how we're going to spend it. I suggested that we celebrate it in a KTV. I felt like it was a light bulb moment. Haha! Yet again, because of my bucket list.

22. SING IN THE VIDEOKE

..AND RECORD IT! hahaha! I find this funny, and well, kind of shallow slash disturbing slash challenging. Because you know what? I have NEVER sang in the videoke in my entire life {in my 24 years of existence, major major, hahaha}. Not that I don't sing completely, but I have never sang with a microphone. I know how my voice can get so high-pitched, that's why! But because I can no longer think of anything else {realistic enough} to include in this I-wanna-try-everything project, I thought of simple things I have never done. Frankly, I also remember I haven't drunk beer in my entire life but that one, I need to think about gazillion times {until I get tired of thinking and decide not to try it at all} *wink*. Anyway, I'll be needing a lotta help here. I'll set a schedule with the sisters, we'll have fun and we'll look STUPID. Don't you just love the idea?

ang tweenhearts

their kiddos

So there, we celebrated my mom's birthday at Elyong's, a KTV and resto bar at Regalado. It's the most affordable KTV I've been to. They only charge 100 per hour for the room, most KTVs would charge per person per hour. Minimum food order is as low as 600. We really didn't mind as we know we'd consume more than that.

We had the group meal good for 10 persons, reasonably priced at around 2 thousand. The group meal includes Sinigang na Maya-Maya, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Chicken Barbecue, served with rice, drinks and Leche Flan. Good enough for a KTV.

 

dinner time

After we had dinner, the party started. I had a hard time selecting my piece. Kay gulo-gulo naman kasi ng songbook. After a while, I got accustomed to it that I became the official song picker. I suggest songs for everyone and key them in when they agree. For Papi though, Anit would always joke "mas luma pa dyan". Haha!

Mama sang her national anthem, "Top of the World". Ate Tin was Kim Chiu in her own rights. Papi was Barry Manilow. Kuya Ga and Gigi shared "Multong Bakla", "Martyr Nyebera" among others. Dana and I shouted at each other with "Complicated". And Anit being the singer that she is, sang countless songs.

wag ka daw mag-sing daddy, nakakainiiisss!

But the highlight of the night was the girls' "Waka-Waka" song and dance number. We even sang it twice because we weren't able to take a video of our first performance {or maybe because we enjoyed it so much we had to do it again. XD}

Now I demand, you watch the video and see for yourself how crazy we can get. Goal #22. Sing in the videoke. - CHECK!! It was more than just singing actually. Go waaaatccheeett!

apologies for the low quality and for looking all haggard :P

Before the night was over, I FB statused how much I feel blessed for having such an awesome family. I can never thank the good Lord enough. One may have countless friends, the sweetest partner, or the perfect career, but having a tight-bonded family is the best gift one could ever have. How I wish everyone is as blessed.

indeed blessed ♥

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