Vrooom!



The week-long celebration of our company's ninth anniversary started with the launch party of Formula Soluziona at Jack's Loft in Eastwood.



O diba? Samin lang ang Jack's Loft?!? Sosi noh?!?


The Game of the Blind Item




So they started with all these people, wherein they were asked to find for certain things (like a Soluziona cap, a Honda or Mitsubishi car key chain, etc), and only five people will go on to the next round.

In the next round, the five remaining people were asked questions about the preceding Formula Soluzion presentation.

And, as fate would have it, after a couple of questions, only these two people were left...



The crowd went wild! Everybody was shouting "Kiss!", especially the male higher-ups who've had a couple of beers already. The MMS team were laughing their heads off (Toto, the guy in the picture, is our team mate). I couldn't believe that the batch's blind item, which was just a private joke among us, revealed itself to all of Soluziona.

Haha. Now we can tease Toto out loud, ha! (Nahihiya akong lokohin si Gay eh, so si Toto ang laging target ko)


The MMS Higher-Ups




Ahhh.. the MMS team leaders and project manager. Even though the team is working its ass off with all our enhancements, coupled with the daily routine of extracts, batch runs and remedies, they still know how to party!


The Batch





Lining up for the food... took us a couple of minutes to pile our plates with pasta, chicken fingers, garlic mushrooms, ceasar salad and cheese poles. With Ken, Van, Sherbee and Gay (nakasilip lang hehehe)




With Reena, Trisha and Van, and an "oldie", Jerwin (? not sure about the spelling ?)



With Sherbee, Reena and Van... while I was munching on the chocolate cake ^_^

Had around three beers that night, kasabayan ko si Van and Juphel. Had a lot of smokes din, and kasabayan ko rin si Van and Juphel. No choice eh, had to wait for Reena to finish printing invites for the Amazing Race event that weekend. The party ended around 9pm, but I went home around 10:30 pa kasi I had to wait for Reena nga. Juphel, Van and I stayed outside while we talked about speech recognition (earth calling Juphel and Shelley!), kasentihan (earth calling Van!), and our favorite drunken moments. Our HR Mia called me up to invite us inside Jack's Loft again, but the boys declined (Awat na, ayoko ng mag-beer, low-batt na ko).

Ahhh... had a good party. Lots of beer, smokes, free food, and the most important thing, lots of good fun.

Toodles ^_^

An Update

So... it's been like days since I wrote anything here.

It's because our company had a week-long celebration of our 9th anniversary last week. Ka-haggard-an. Maaasar ka na di ka makatrabaho, ganon ka-haggard. The celebration ended in Ponte Fino, Batangas where we had an Amazing Race, a singing contest ala American Idol, and a cocktail party that rawked!!! I'll be posting pictures and making kuwento next time, kasi pipili pa ako ng mga pics na ipo-post ko ^_^

Spanish lessons starts later today at the Meralco Compound. *excited* In a few weeks, I hope I can post a blog entry in Spanish hehehe... Or maybe I could make a Spanish-word-for-the-day portion here in my blog. ^_^

Had a big blooper last night. Dar bought me a Nike baller band, you know that plastic bracelet that you see on people everywhere? Anyways, I remarked, "Alam mo baby, bibilhan nga kita dapat ng totoo na ganito eh..." [meaning: I thought the band he bought me was fake] And then he reacted, "Ha?!? Bakit, fake ba yang binili ko? Ang mahal mahal nga nyan eh" with a fake hurt expression. Tumiklop ako, nagsorry ako kaagad, kakahiya! Binili pala talaga nya sa Nike! Pakshet talaga. Eh kasi naman andaming binebenta na ganito sa mga tiangge for 80 bucks lang. So akala ko talaga dun lang sya bumili. Pero hindi, nakita ko pa talaga yung pinanggalingang pack... and andun pa yung price... na definitely higher than 80 bucks ang binayad nya ^_^

Oh well... 5:45 am na. Have to wake up Darice, take a bath and go to work.

Toodles ^_^

Beer Birthday Blowout

This was the first time our batch in the office had a get-together that didn't involve a birthday surprise or a welcome lunch-out. We were out for a night of booze, thanks to three birthday celebrants. And of course, I wouldn't miss a night of free food and drinks ^_^



Ang Gabi ng Limang Beer at Sangkatutak na Yosi



An hour before this picture was taken, I was in the office, haggardly trying to modify a program which was going to be "closed" or submitted the next day. Kaya ganon na lang ako ka-hayok sa beer at yosi ahahahahaha... Hihihih... nakasilip yung mata ni spongebob sa suot kong shirt!



We ended up at Pioneer Grill at Pioneer Centre on Pioneer Street [oo na, fine, nasa Pioneer na!] Not all present were batchmates, as two of the guys were already team leaders (they're team leaders of the two birthday celebrants). And not all batchmates were present, sadness.

The night had many surprises. First, they were surprised by me, and my affinity for beer and yosi. [What can I say, I look like your typical good girl ^_^] Second, two batchmates showed their affinity for yosi for the first time. [Although I wasn't that surprised... mejo expected ko na... lam mo na.. it takes one to know one] Last, we found out that a certain birthday celebrant tends to be "noisy" when he's had a little too much beer hahahah... =D

Anyways, you'd think we spent all night drinking... Nah...

I was home by 10 pm! ^_^

The Sixth Nine

Six years ago... I fell for a guy because he looked so *yummy* while he was driving. I had a thing for guys and cars then. Specially for guys who looked maangas while driving *drool*

But this guy... he was different. He wasn't just about angas. He was makulit... as in super duper makulit. He's smart. He's funny. And the best thing about him, he was the cutest guy I've ever laid my eyes on.

Wait... That's I'll ever lay my eyes on.

Because six years after, he's still different. He's still maangas, but he's not just about angas. He's still makulit... and getting more makulit by the second. He's still smart, and he's still funny as hell.

And he's still mine ^_^

Shooting Stars

Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.

- Noah Calhoun, from the movie The Notebook


The Notebook made me cry for all the obvious reasons. It was a movie made to dry your eyes out. I'd think you'd have a heart of rock if you wouldn't even get teary-eyed watching the last scene where the two main characters were holding each other as they lied down together.

But the movie made me cry for another reason.

Memories of summer romances that changed my life.

---

I fell in love for the first time in the summer of 1991.

He just moved in a few months ago, and lived across from our house. I don't remember exact details on how we got introduced to each other. But I do remember I spent the whole of summer playing patintero and syato with him and the other neighborhood kids.

As we were the oldest kids in the group, we became the mommy and the daddy who would always be the batotot and the lead defense in our patintero games. As our games were mostly boys-vs-girls tournaments, we would always be pitted against each other, which gave me an opportunity to be physically close to him *kilig* Losing wasn't so bad when our team lost to them.

Our house became the drinking station that summer, as we would play directly in front of our house. We also had a swing set and a spacious garage, wherein we would hang out if the sun got too hot. There were (lucky!) times we were left alone to talk. These were time that the other neighborhood kids would ask him if he was Chinese, as he came a-courting at noon. He just laughed it off. I was seriously melting inside.

And then summer ended.

I learned that he had a crush on another girl, and that he was really intent on pursuing her. The news broke my heart. I saw the girl (as she was a school mate of mine) and I knew I didn't stand a chance; she looked like a mestiza princess, while I looked like a indio kanto girl. But he still had a special place in my heart.

The school year was about to end. I looked forward to another summer with him, of patintero, agawan base and syato, of nights sitting on the swing talking about anything under the sun. One balmy March night I found myself on the swing set, talking to him about his upcoming (grade school) graduation rites.

"Meron nga kaming graduation party eh..."

"Ah talaga? Saan?"

"Puede ka bang sumama?"

"Ha?!?! Ahhm sige. Pero magpapaalam muna ako ha"

I didn't get to go to his graduation party since my mom said that would be "gate-crashing". Later on did I realize that he was asking me out to be his date. HE ASKED ME OUT TO BE HIS DATE!

But then it hit me... that I was not his first choice. He asked the other girl first, and maybe... maybe she refused... maybe she wasn't allowed by her parents. And so he asked me, his second choice. I was only good enough to be second best.

I learned I could only be second best.

---

I played around in the summer of 1998.

My significant other introduced his cousin to me, a drummer rockstar wannabe, who was reputed to be a ladies' man. He had a bad-ass attitude; I was immediately smitten.

I broke it off with my SO to try out this personification of a Scorpio guy. He was a smooth talker, with all the right lines and all the romantic scenarios he was dreaming up for me. We talked for hours on the phone; we would take a break to eat lunch or take a bath or whatever. I knew he was into me. I felt good that he was into me.

One thing that bothered me was that he had a whole "I want to devirginize you" theme going on during the time we spent together. Nope, he's not *that* lucky. But he was lucky enough to be kissed by me.

All these happened in a span of 11 days. (Or was it 9 days? I knew it was more than a week but less than 2 weeks ^_^)

I broke it off with him. He was too unreal for me. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle him. He was too persuasive, and I can be really generous. I was scared I might have to give up myself to him. But I didn't want my name to be added to his list of conquests*. I didn't want him to be my first.

I learned then that men are genius jerks; they can be the most romantic people in the world, but they only want to have sex with you.

* On his list of girls, I learned from my ex-SO (who's his cousin), that there are only three girls who has a "heart" written next to their name (meaning he really loved that girl). Guess who's one of those girls?!?!

---

I fell apart in the summer of 2001.

No need for more stories. Because the whole of this blog is about him and that bitch and their summer romance.

I learned then (and am still realizing right now) that he can only love me as much. And that he can never love me as much as he loves me.

---

I used to love summer. Because back then, I only had memories of patintero and syato and the neighborhood kid who stole my heart. I had *kilig* puppy-love memories of lazy summer afternoons.

But then I grew up.

And summer became the time to break hearts, and get your heart broken.

Noah Calhoun was right: they are shooting stars. Those summers were a spectacular moment of light in the heavens.

And then, they are gone.

*giddy*

Look who's coming to town!



When: October 9
Where: Araneta Coliseum
Ticket Prices:
Cash 2954 2638 2638 1583 844
Charge 3102 2770 2770 1663 887

Okay nako sa 844 bux na seats! Marinig ko lang si Alicia Keys ng live! *faints*