Turning 36...

I can’t remember the last birthday that fell on a work/week day. For the past several years, I was not working as a full time employee. Based on previous experience, whenever my birthday fell on a work/weekday, it was always filled with too much work, stress and that “ME” time was impossible.

Last 2010, it fell on a Friday. I was overseas attending a convention that week but on the day itself, I was able to visit and relax at Hong Kong Disneyland. Last 2011, I spent most of day with my pillows while Mom prepared my fave dishes. I even had dinner with the family and was showered with lots of Hello Kitty presents. Not to mention, my birthday cake was divine.

This year, on my thirty-sixth birthday (I call it my 18^th!), I was supposed to be attending again a convention overseas but I opted not to join from the line-up. A week ahead before the 4^th, I already planned to have a catered lunch for my work colleagues, a visit at St. Andrew’s Church in the morning and possibly dinner with the family after work.

Whew! What a day to start! I was already up as early as 3am, waiting for all of my office-mates to arrive at NAIA T1, after a final SMS from my fellow Yehey Productions member that all of them are already present and waiting in line, I turned BBB into silent mode and slept for another hour before I prepare for the day. Lo and behold, as I unlocked BBB, 12 missed calls and 10 messages!

I was excited, hoping they were birthday greetings and callers as early as 530am. Hindi pala! So, my 18^th birthday started not so good. A case of “katangahan”, of course, not by me, led to the not so good mood of almost everyone at work. Whew!

Knowing that I will not dampen my day with bad vibes, go, go, go! Breakfast of champions with my Cheeblings and visited the nearest church that we pass before going to work. Paid my respects at St. Andrew’s Church and was happy for the blessings given and wished for more in the coming years.

At work after Church, it was a madhouse! I was surprised with the gifts, I got two at work. (Haven’t opened them yet!). I have a full load for the day since I was kept late still last Friday. Good thing; I know how to work fast, accurate yet fast. 

Before lunch break, Chloe arrived with Mom and Yaya Helen. I invited them to join the office lunch treat and took some good pictures. Since Yaya Helen was the one taking pictures, we completely forgot to take our picture.

Sir Bobby gave a wonderful prayer and wishes and blessed our food. Corrhin’s Catering never fails with their good food. Everyone was satisfied with the lunch buffet: Molo Soup, Japchae (Korean Pancit), Chicken Cordon Blue, Pork Pastel De Lengua, Fish Fillet and Black Gulaman with Lychee. Burp!

After lunch and clean up, it was back to work. Stressful work day for me, and yet I was still positive that I’ll be able to leave work at 5:01pm. My bad. It did not happen. I left the office at 7:10pm. Hungry and tired and wishing to just cuddle up with my pillows and sleep.

Then I remembered what Haydelin mentioned earlier during our Chikahan while working…

H: Ma’am, birthday na birthday mo, pinagtratrabaho kita.
R: Oo nga, 3am pa lang tapos bad news pa ang sumalubong sa umaga ko, tapos hindi man lang ako nabati ng HBD.
H: Pasencya na po, pero mabilis ka naman magtrabaho, matatapos mo din naman agad.
R: Okay lang. (Sabay biglang tumawa ng malakas na malakas parang Donya Buding).
H: Bakit po?
R: Naalala ko lang, weekday ang birthday ko at workday. Basta ang birthday ko, work/weekday, palaging loaded sa trabaho. Minsan, may party sa bahay, nanduon na lahat ng bisita, ako na lang ang wala.

I missed my birthday dinner. Even BFF Ruth was waiting for the venue. I asked for a rain check and we will have our usual birthday celebration on Friday. I have another birthday celebration on Wednesday dinner. I even have a movie date/lunch/dinner with the only Sistahud in Manila and hopefully a date with some of the beautiful and gal pals (Sem, Sheena, et.al.) before the end of the week.

Even though it was a very hectic day for me, I am still happy that a lot of friends remembered and greeted me by SMS, email and through FB. I even got a birthday card thru post. Thank you for the greetings and the gifts... receiving such made my stressful birthday/work day still a good one!

Australian Aby in Abe

Aubrey “Aby” Sacramed-Bader was in the country for just ten days. For the ninth day, she was able to squeeze us in for dinner. Yippee! Six members of the EconBlock3A-92 were able to meet with Aby at Abe Restaurant in Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

We had Gambas Al Ajillo, Sinute Baby Squid and Chicharon Bulaklak for appetizers while waiting for everyone to arrive. For the first time, we had the pleasure of having Orlando “Pasky” Pascual graced our get-togethers. Naks! Nakakapanibago seeing him but he is still the same Pasky from way back 1992 during our freshmen year. Galing talaga!

When Aby arrived, we ordered our dinner already. We had Mutton Adobo with Popped Garlic, Pinakbet Wen Manong, Sinigang na Bangus Belly with Ripe Guava, Binukadkad na Pla-Pla and Sugpo sa Aligue ng Talangka. Sarap!

Aby hasn’t changed at all! She is still pretty as ever and still sporting the long hair. She is with Australia Migration and frequents the Philippines on business trips that usually last for a day or two only. This was the one trip that she was able to visit again for a longer period of time. Buti na lang!

As I type this entry, Aby’s already on her way back to Melbourne and hopefully will see her again soon and maybe if our plans push through, we will see her on the 2012 Australian Open. Yes, Aby and I share the love for RF!

Twelve Thousand Nine-Hundred Fourteen and a Half Days Old

35 is just 20, with 15 years of experience!

I just celebrated a milestone birthday, 04 June 2011. I would like to give big birthday thank you to my Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother. Thank you for making my birthday a very special day filled with the wonderful treasures I'm keeping - yes, the special gifts and pictures.

Thank you for always taking the time and making the effort to make me feel special. I would like to thank the Lord for giving me another year to be productive and thank You for the blessings that You continue to shower me and my family. Thank you to everyone who remembered my birthday! Each greeting really meant a lot to me and absolutely made my day. I just wanted to thank you all for the birthday wishes!!!! It means the world to me that you all are thinking of me on my special day :)

I spent my 35th birthday relaxing and spending tons of time with my pillows. I went to Church and thanked God for all the blessings and even watched the church people prepare for a mid-day wedding. I had breakfast prepared by Yaya Helen, had another breakfast with Mom and Reyboy that they bought at the Salcedo Saturday market, then took a short morning siesta.

Mom with Helen, Clara and Mario prepared lunch of Pancit Bihon, Pako Salad, Beef with Water Cress, Inihaw na Hito and Pork BBQ, Squid and Fish Balls with Leche Flan and Sherbet for desserts. Dad arrived from Taiwan just in time for the scrumptious feast.

After the hearty lunch, I took my afternoon birthday siesta while waiting for Chloe to arrive from Cedric’s Baptism. I was sleeping my heart out since I was awake in the break of dawn just to watch Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic in the French Open 2011 Semi-Finals. Hoot, Hoot, Roger!

After tons of sleep, we left for dinner. We decided to try the Makati version of the legendary Malate restaurant, Lolo Dad’s. This branch is more accessible to us compared to the Malate restaurant. The concept of these two restaurants is quite different. The food and the prices offered are not the same. Nevertheless, it’s an adventure just to eat in any one of these branches.

We started off with the Charcuterie Sampler, Pop – over bread and Parmesan and Pimenton Pastry Twist. Chloe even ordered more Jamon Serrano since it’s our ultimate favourite. The Warm Spinach and Sauteed Mushroom Salad was even good.

For the main course, I had the Steak Sampler of U.S Rib Eye steak, Tenderloin, Striploin, Tajima Wagyu Topside with Mushroom Risoto. I heart the Risoto! Yum-o! As we are almost finished with dinner, we had a sighting of Gretchen Barretto. She came in the restaurant chaperoned by a nanny and with such funfare. He, he, he. Overall, we were happy with our experience in this place. Good food and impressive customer service. Kudos to our server, Nińo!

After the dinner, we went home for dessert and gift opening. I opened twenty-seven birthday presents and enjoyed my majestic birthday cake. Based on the pictures, you’ll be able to guess, that the theme for the night is Hello Kitty! Ha, ha, ha! It is a long time childhood addiction that only a few people know about.

It was definitely a great milestone birthday! For the following days, there will be birthday blowouts with my precious friends! One by one and hopefully will be able to see them all!

Thirty-Five!

Ribs and Laughters

Since it’s the season for giving gifts and endless parties, for us, it is also a season of reunions and re-acquaintance with people we have not seen for a while. It has been years, I cannot even recall if it is five or six, but it’s been a while since we last bonded face to face. Good thing we have email, SMS and FB, the friendship is still intact.

The original date was weeks before but we had to reschedule because of the flu. We’re supposed to attend our HS reunion but conflicts on dates forbid us to attend. After a week of delay, we had our date set and ready for a night of chitchat and laughter.


For our date, we find La Maison Brasserie, a French Casual Dining Restaurant, in Greenbelt 5 an interesting place to eat and share good food. It was advertised as having the “best steaks” or at least something along that line.

First to arrive was the super trendy, Ms. Charito “Chato/Iking/Chamy” Gabriel, clad with her powerful Prada bag, Mikimoto pearls and of course, the Philip Stein watch. As always, Chato depicts the corporate banker type with elegance and character. I love her salt and pepper hair, suit her more compared to the highlighted do from before. She’s on the thin side nowadays but as I told her, adding a few pounds will do her good as well. As we were getting settled at our table, Chato bombarded me with tons of questions, I cannot help but look at her and go back to years back when we were still classmates in HS. I did miss her laughter, her antics and sarcasm and most special of all, her with and humor! Nothing beats Iking!

As we were waiting for our other date to arrive, we had to update ourselves and it was tiring yet fun. As the clock ticks later in the night, we wondered how come she’s still a no-show. I suddenly remembered she gets lost in the area. Tadah! She did!

The other Maria for the night is the very petite and cute, Ms. Rubyanne “Deng” Canasa, sporting a new hair color and laughing out loud that she got lost again within the Greenbelt 5 premises and having a hard time finding a parking slot. The ever conscious Deng is still the same, prettier in fact, as others say, the added years suit her best. She lamented on how hard it was for her to find a parking space for hours and it was a real laugh for us to hear her rant! Between the two, I have more contact with Deng through the years, but hearing her voice again, brings back memories.

We feasted ourselves with the house specialties and the baby back ribs were indeed tender and juicy as mentioned by some friends who already dined at La Maison. The service was good; very polite and helpful staff. The ambiance was quiet and comfy, stylish but relaxed. It is absolutely perfect for a date place. Overall, we really had a great dining experience.


Even though we missed my dearest twin, Mrs. Evangeline "Vangie" De Jesus-Cruz, the laughter and the voices were really ear-splitting with our own stories to tell and the tons of chismis with regards to our other class/batchmates. Just like in any occasion, we talked about almost everything under the sun. Next time around, we do hope to have Vangie with us - physically.


Much as we want to stay longer and chat, the night was almost over and everybody have her own schedules for the next day - getting ready for the last working day for the year and for flights to catch. After exchanging presents, kisses and hugs and tons of pictures, we said our goodbyes.

See you again soon, Deng and Chato! Hopefully with the rest of our intriguing classmates and friends! Oops, might be sooner, maybe along Harbour City Shopping Centre perhaps?!

Thirty-third

Freska-tastic!

Last Saturday was an 11-hour brain drain event for my class. Aside from the pressures entailed to finish the Business Game, it was our second round as host teams.


All eight teams were very competitive and gave their all. For my group, we got two valuable stars. Yet we didn’t win the grand pot prize. Still, we enjoyed and learned a lot from the experience.


To refresh ourselves from the grueling exercises, a few classmates went out and had dinner/videoke at Freska, an Ilonggo inspired Seafood restaurant along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.

The buffet was appetizing but what we feasted primarily was the ample oysters. It was so good and the price of the buffet is way too cool. All of us enjoyed the servings from the buffet line that we pretty much stuffed ourselves.


One thing that was totally new to me that night was seeing the Beer Balloon. It was a new innovation and the beer maintained its taste and stayed cold up to the last drop.


As we eat our hearts out, the round of singing started. Everyone had their chance and belted their favorite songs. I cheered with the rest of the group whenever we know the song and joined in the chorus.


It would have been funnier if everybody came but since class ended so late, not all was able to make it. Still it was a good number. I enjoyed the company of 11 of the precious MC-B.


Singing and dancing ended before the stroke of midnight but we stayed a bit more and had some serious discussions before finally calling it a night. Before parting our separate ways, one MC-B mentioned that will have another round of singing, dancing and beer drinking before the end of the month and another suggested to make it a regular affair.

Whew! A regular gig of booze and funfare, I definitely need to catch up and practice. Until the next round!