Tuesday, March 30, 2010

End of Another Era

I have always had separation anxiety. It’s harder for me to get over someone than other regular people. My graduations have always been hard for me because of the change that comes with it. That I won’t be seeing familiar faces, friends everyday is just hard for me.


This is why when I started working, I made a rule of not getting too close with my officemates. I knew that friends in the office are just friends for convenience. You hang out with someone in the office to have someone to eat with during lunch, you make small talk before meetings, you drink with them after work to rant about your job but you never share too much of your personal life. Because once they leave and transfer to a different company you will never see them again.


I’ve had several office friends through the years and true enough, when they resigned we lost contact.

I though I was doing fine but without knowing it, I was starting to break my rule. You see, there was someone from the office who made an impact in my life . When I got transferred to Beer Marketing, she was the person who I would ask if I didn’t know what to do. She was patient with me and she has always been there. After 2 years of being groupmates we got transferred to different groups but we still got each other’s back.

And before I realized what was happening, we were already going out as real friends even during the weekends, beach trips, out of the country trips. She was even a part of my wedding. I find myself looking forward to going to work just because there is something I wanted to tell her.


And we formed an unlikely barkada. There were 5 us, a solid team. Despite things being bad at work, we manage because we have each other to talk to and laugh it off. We have our moments of just making tambay to distress after a long day’s work. They were my first defenders whenever someone would say bad stuff about me. For me, it balanced my work life.


But in the back of my mind I always knew that we will eventually leave for better career opportunities. I just did not think about it too much because I know I wouldn’t be able to handle it yet. And although I know that my office barkada was actively searching for other work for the past month I did not take it too seriously. After all, they’ve been talking about moving for the longest time now but it still has not happened.


So last night when I got a text that my friend was positive about moving, I was fighting back tears. It was touching how her first text was “Elaine, positive na ko. Sama ka na?” If only it were that simple. I had commitments and expectations for me that still keeps me from leaving yet. And I really wanted to be happy for her, I was happy for her but sad at the same time. I fought back the tears because I did not want Mac to see how affected I was.

I told myself that I will not cry because we’ll still see each other. We already have trips planned after all. But I couldn’t help myself, driving to work earlier, alone in my car the tears just came. I will miss so much.


Who will I exchange text messages during meetings where other people are just being stupid?

Who will I bully to do stuff for me? =)

Who will share my mashed potatoes, French fries, instant noodles, chocolates?

Who will watch movies in the conference rooms with me after work hours?

Who will go with me for food trips?

Who will I skip work with to watch movies?

Who will I do petiks day with?


There are so many more things that I will miss doing with her.


It really is the end of an era!





Monday, March 29, 2010

Mac trying out kfc's chewy cheeze. I still prefer BK's cheese balls
over this.

Sunday Date



We've been hearing a lot of good reviews about How to Train your Dragon. We generally do not watch animated films in the cinema because we find it not worth it but for movies with really high ratings from Rotten tomatoes and Click the city, we make exceptions.

So off we went to SM North Edsa to see if they were showing the movie in IMAX. Unfortunately, they weren't but they still had it on 3d so we decided to watch it there instead. Besides, we also wanted to go around SM North Edsa because we haven't been there in a while.
We first went to the Block to look for a place to eat. We wanted to eat at Aristocrat but the people there weren't really paying any attention to us which is a no-no for me because restaurants should entertain their customers as soon as they enter the door and also their tables were dirty.

So we ended up eating in Burgoo. They had a tie up with a hotel in Singapore where they give out coupons to customers for discounts in the hotel. Too bad the coupon were only valid until June, we wouldn't be able to use it because our trip is on July.
The location of Gumbo was good, they had couches which offers a view of Edsa. Mac was so proud of his shirt which we bought from Bohol. It's a parody of the San Miguel Logo and tagline. He actually saw people looking and reading the text in his shirt.

Mac ordered the rootbeer float which was how a root beer float should taste like sans the ice cubes (unlike the ones they sell in Mcdo...)
Burgoo is also one of those restaurants were they use paper as table covers and you can draw to keep yourself busy while waiting for your food.
I was trying to copy the root beer float glass and Mac was drawing mountains and rice fields. Obviously, we really do not have a talent in drawing. =)

We ordered a large grilled porkchop and the regular Burgoo Kebab. The food was alright. Nothing to rave about. I think it was too expensive for the taste. I guess it was the service and ambiance that we were paying for. We didn't even finish the Kebab.
After lunch, we had some time to kill before the movie so we went around to shop. At the basement we saw a stall near the escalators were there were a lot of people on line. It was Scrambles. The store was selling the kind of scrambles that we would buy on the street when we were kids. We just couldn't pass it up.

And it did not disappoint. It really brings you back to when you were a kid. It tastes like the real thing. And it's so affordable at only P7.00 for an 6oz. cup, 10 for a 8oz. and 17 for a 12oz.

There's also the option to add extra milk, mallows and rice crispies for P4.00 each. I would go back to SM North just for this. I hope they put one in Megamall or somewhere nearer to us.

I wonder if they offer this up for franchise. I'm interested.
After the Food Trip, it was time to watch the movie. And the critics were right, we enjoyed it. The movie was a treat for kids and adults alike. Kids will love the flying scenes and how cute the dragon is and adults will really appreciate the nice story that revolves around real friendships. I think it's one of the best movies shown in 2010 so far.
After the movie, I saw the Peanut Butter Co. store. I have read about it in other blogs and was interested to try it. I decided to try the Elvis sandwich and it was good. Specially for peanut butter lovers like me, this store is heaven.

My sandwich is just peanut butter, bacon and bananas. It was surprisingly good. The combination was ingenious.

Can't wait to try out the other items in their menu.

SM North Edsa is really one of the malls where there is everything for everyone. We really have fun trying out new things whenever we're here. Till the next visit. =)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Mesa

Since I love eating out, I decided to also write about the places that I eat in.

A new restaurant that opened in Megamall was Mesa. Their menu is composed of Filipino food with a twist. I've eaten here twice already and I must say that their food is good.

However, it's quite pricey. A dish costs P200.00 and up. What I love is that they serve Pritchon. 1/4 of it costs 800.00

They are now offering packages for groups of 10. We had our lunch there and we ordered package 2 which costs 4,999. The serving amount is just enough for 10 and the mix of dishes that they served were just right.

Boneless Hito with ensaladang mangga and bagoong

Scallops


Patotim

Pritchon served in 2 way. This is really good.



Work Out Routine

Our doctor said it's easier to get pregnant when both you and your partner are healthy. So for three weeks now, Mac and I have been trying to live a little bit healthier. =)

We run together twice a week. I found that my stamina has improved. I can run longer although not any faster. It has also been good for us because it makes for a good bonding time. We get to catch up on each other's lives as we run together.

Yesterday's run though was not as succesful as we ate at Aysee's afterwards. hehe, cheating.








Thursday, March 25, 2010

Another Toy

Last year I pressured Miles to buy the Beach hut package which includes an old school underwater camera.

We were able to use it in several of our beach trips but it always poses a problem as there is no review option to see if we were able to succesfully take the pictures that we wanted.

The color was also not as clear underwater and it is such a hassle to have the film developed and scanned.



This took a lot of tries. And there is just too much noise that you cannot even recognize us.

I think this is the best picture I have from that camera.

So now I've finally decided to buy a real underwater camera. I didn't want to buy the more expensive Olympus cameras because MAc and I are planning to buy an SLR. I found a nice FujiFilm underwater camera that only costs 7,000. For me, it's worth the price.


Here's a sample of an underwater shot I took. This is just from our sink and I was taking a picture of our soap dispenser bottle

It also takes nice indoor pictures.


The camera comes in different fun colors. I bought the blue one. It's also really small and handy.

Now I can't wait to really test it out on the beach! Let's go!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Day Shift

Mac has a new schedule. Starting this week, he now goes to work during the day with a 4am-1pm shift.

I love his new schedule because we get to see each other when I go home at night. We get to eat dinner together. And we actually get to have a face to face conversation (not through IM).

The best part of it is that I have someone to hug at night!

Wipee!!!!!

Friday, March 05, 2010

Another Impulse Buy

I blame Mac for this. Haha.

I don't regret having bought it because I'm having loads of fun with it.
These are my favorite games so far:


Can't wait for the release of God of War next week.

My February in Pictures

Went to lunch in Metrowalk so that we can use the car. =)
7 people rode a 5-seater car!

We had lunch in Jay-J's Metrowalk to celebrate Jules' Birthday
We all wore red for Jules
We also went to Binondo.
We were bored...
Welcome to Manila Chinatown!

Monday, March 01, 2010

Facebook addiction

How Addicted to Facebook Are You?

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