five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred

last saturday was the usual nightout for us, except that the place we frequent was extra packed and hot. it was the anniversary or something.  they had guest djs for the night.  someone from embassy superclub and someone from the dumaguete drumbeats. i forgot.  we had our usual rounds of rhum coke but the place was so happening we kinda lost count.  we were actually drunk and we were starting to get touchy with people we don't know.  we even had one snapshot with some couple who we never got the names.

we were so drunk and crashed out that it was one of the best nights we ever had, and wouldn't probably want to remember.  the next night, we went out to get something to eat at a thai resto called lemon grass. and, yes, we still had rhum coke on our guts.

better late than never, here's some snapshots from our office-sponsored summer outing. we had fun...

Summer5

thank god for red horse, it was fun.

sometime in early may, earlier than the sm cebu parking lot shoot, carlo bid cebu farewell and decided to return to manila for the meantime.  kimee wanted a last lunch followed by a karaoke for the remaining pioneers.  carlo was part of the 20 guys who volunteered to transfer here in cebu with me and win.  we'll miss you carlo... well, not really. hehehehe.

l-r: win - the original pinay poptart, me feeling new york

l-r: can you spell diva?, and me turning the camera, um, manual to asfer

Probinsyana

our version of the GRO scene wherein win was spot-on being a naive probinsyana who has ventured the city life in hopes of self-supporting career.  we were just happy to be in the picture.

what's left of the pioneers: from 22 down to 10

Byers

it was see yah later more than goodbye carlo for me.

one mid morning in may, we went to sm cebu to run some work-related errands.  we decided to leave the office at around 8:30 AM since we got word the the grocery opens at 9AM.  we got there and saw the sign that says the grocery opens at 9AM on weekends.  it was a weekday.  so we were 30 minutes early and was left with nothing to do but wait at the steaming parking lot.  eveready asfer bought along her camera with the purpose of documenting the whole shopping experience but later on figured out that she might not be allowed to take pictures inside the department store.  with that in mind and with almost 25 minutes more to wait, we turned the whole situation into a photoshoot.  we have this inate ability to turn any event, cam whoring aside, into an instant photoshoot. we didn't brought proper lighting or props but we had bags...

l-r: me try to take off, me finally taking off, me giving roan an uppercut for trying to steal my pose

roan, me and kimee trying to out-"vogue" each other

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the makers of these bags may as well sue as for misrepresentation. hahahaha...

... and about 10 more spins till sm opened

l-r: kimee showing off some fake envious laugh, me ignoring them, roan trying to be pensive

and then sm cebu opened it's doors to us.  just like that.

Dash

finally, the snapshots that we took from our trip to bantayan island have been uploaded by asfer.  6 of us went there last april and we stayed there for just 1 night.  it was just a quickie and we had a fun time.  here are some of our snapshots from the beautiful island of bantayan (the beach somehow made up for the long and grueling travel):

the white sands and crystal clear waters that seem to stretch endlessly

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the sunrise was equally breathtaking and serene

a little cartwheel attempt...

fun under the sun

a whole lot of jumping and goofing by the shore

we had fun like little kids on one hot summer day. :)

a couple of weeks ago, i decided to introduce win to babylon and the rest of liberty avenue by doing a marathon rerun of qaf.  the first time i saw this show was about 3 or 4 years ago and i didn't like it as much as i do now.  funny how you can now relate to characters and situations that you never thought of before.  and i have always loved watching emmett honeycutt steal almost every scene and stop every traffic while fabulously witty remarks.  here are some of my favorite dialouges from emmett:

Emmett: Pink champagne.... yeah, uh, that's too nelly, even for me.

Emmett: I was talking to Dungeon Master Don, who wants to mumify me. Have you noticed that the world's getting weirder? 

Emmett: I'm very flattered you should ask, so don't take this the wrong way, but . . . fuck off! 

Emmett: Teddy, how many of those power bars have you had?
Ted: Who's counting?
Emmett: I am. That's your fourth. Do you know the number of carbs in those things, not to mention the calories?
Ted: So I'll burn 'em off.
Emmett: Honey, you'd have to go up in flames.

Emmett: I may be a slut, but at least I'm an honest slut.

Emmett: I once knew a guy who could tie a cherry stem into a knot with his tongue. I was afraid to let him blow me. 

Emmett: Hollow eyes, 22-inch waist, inability to hold a conversation? He's either a total crystal queen, or a supermodel.

Emmett: Hello? Helloooooo? I know you’re there! I can hear your sinus condition! 

Brian: Why aren't you home packing your lunch box for school tomorrow?
Justin: I don't need to. I'm not going.
Emmett: Let me guess, you heard they're going to make you draw vaginas.

Queer As Folk

and if anyone out there wants to give me a present, just because, i'll take one box set with utmost joy. :)

we needed a perfect excuse to put a little insanity at work, so we decided to do theme days last march.  theme days is basically when everyone at work is supposed to dress up according to the theme for the week.  normally, it would last for 4 weeks and people put a lot of work to it. so for the first time here in cebu, we had them experience our own version of theme days. here were some of my snapshots taken from each theme day:

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team spirit - everyone was to wear sporty/athletic costumes and no, i haven't played soccer since highschool

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forever 80's - we totally looked like an album cover for a mix tape

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labor day - me and win we're supposed to be the "men in uniform"  but as always,

she becomes the damsel in distress

4

parade of nations - bringing back the gay in geisha

*reijiro and charlie, these were in your honor. hahahahahaha!

geez. i must have been very busy or drank a couple of Xanax because my last post here is dated last january. so what have i been up to...  work's getting pretty tiring.  i don't get the same excitement as i did before.  most of the times, i feel like i'm on autopilot.  i have to think this over.  i lost my phone for the 9th or 10th time. i kinda lost count.  i left it (again) somewhere.  i haven't got a replacement and i'm not to anxious to get one, considering the perks or the excuse i can always use for not being informed of a meeting and so and so.  a couple of feats - just had my 10th month here in cebu and my 4th year with my current job.  aside from a couple of haircuts and a trip to the fantastic Bantayan Island, everything's same old crapola.  it feels good to be back here.

what was originally planned as karaoke night on saturday became a 4+1 rounds of redhorse at this new bar in one mango square.  we sat outside and the bar's all white furnitures reminded us of breakfast, instead of alcohol.  rui in a bit later, fresh from his severe mix up with his german prospect and the doctor he was supposedly dating.  tsok came in last.  he was actually bringing us to this bar called numero doce.  apparently, it was the closest that we could get to malate.  and tsok was right. it was alfresco, house/dance music playing, cheap drinks on the bar and a horde of gay people dancing. win and i as usual stayed at the bar and decided to just have fun by dancing with the straight guys. i swear i could not stop laughing because the other guy that trying to be cool and all, keep on telling to "shake what your momma gave yah".  like three times. a couple of drinks, remixes and exchanging of names later, i was starting to feel dizzy and dehydrated.  i went out to get a smoke and ended up inside a cab.  we woke up this afternoon with a huge headache. we were still trying to figure out which drink was responsible for this. i wasn't able to take pictures from numero doce since it was packed inside but we had plenty from first bar - yo.u - where we had redhorse for starters.

silly little girls clowning around.

oh yeah. we survived Sinulog.  the long walks, the massive crowd, the heat, the rain, the heat again -- we survived all the madness that was Sinulog 2008.  it was the most fun Sinulog i ever had.  me, Win and Roan headed to Mango Ave. at around 10 AM.  the cab couldn't take us to the exact location of the parade since certain streets and roads were closed for the event.  we had to walk and little miss sunshine was not exactly cooperating.  Win had his eyes on the buri hats and really wanted to buy one.  he did bought one the fit his head but was not that excited to shell out 15 pesos for it.  we were to convince him but along the way, he saw several colored hats that he also wanted. she ended up with the hat that looks like the staple getup for senior Japanese tourists. we met Honey, Naina, Pat and Bossing an hour or so later in front of Yellow Cab.  we walked to and fro around the area for the next 5 hours with a snack break at Yellow Cab of course.  we decided to go to Ayala at around 4 PM because we were too tired and we wanted to wait for the fireworks display.  and there they where, mass and mass of people were walking towards the same direction - the Ayala Mall. we ended resting in Starbucks, Ayala since the mall may just as well collapse any minute. and the airconditioner was not probably briefed with the tons of visitors they were expecting.  we went home at around 7 PM and never saw the fireworks display.  we were just too tired and too lazy. the caffiene never kicked in.

*the parade that never wanted to end

*the survivors

RECO1166

*the Japanese retired tourists delegation

side note: roan was so starstrucked with Jake Cuenca, who she was not aware of prior to the time that the float of ABS-CBN passed by.  she did manage to collect herself and attempted to take a snapshot of Jake.  she ended up taking a picture of Dennis Padilla.