Hello, Lovine.com

I know for a fact you will forever stay cute and cuddly. Happy Birthday! :D

Yesterday’s marathon started 2pm at best friend Cyrus’s house, where I met baby Via for the first time and proceeded to polish off their baby Heiny keg and a case and a half of San Mig light with his brother in law and friends. After replacing my blood with alcohol after 8 full hours of drinking, I took a quick shower and headed out to Establishment with the conyo crowd for TFlo’s birthday bash, and joked about my life long dream to appear in the society pages with Maurice Arcache. True enough, he was there! Other highlights were catching up with Ramon and Karlo Miguel, and capped it out when TFlo and ate Mia introduce me to the concert queen Pops Fernandez. Party till 4am, just like how Manila does it.

Today’s sunset will be my last in Manila for this month, as I’m scheduled to fly out in a few hours back to soggy San Francisco. It was a good run. Despite all the chaos in the grit of the third world, there will always be something beautiful out there to pick out, and take home with you.

And then you quietly realise that there really is no such thing as home – because you take it with you wherever you may come, and you find it wherever you may go.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Aquino!! :D

The bigger versions on Flickr are nicer. But never as nice as the real thing.

I must tell the tale, when a few weeks ago my brother took me to this shop to look for a new suit. The one I have is actually from 10 years ago, the same one I wore to my HS Senior Ball.

I ask for the smallest size available, and try it on to much fan-fare and amusement. It comes as no surprise that I found myself swimming in it.

Then the saleslady goes “Sir.. pang-prom?”

Click for the larger version. I really need to re-do this layout, and do 1024px or 900px pictures.

Hope yours is lovely as well, wherever and whenever you may find it. Eventually.

Just got home after a 15 hour leg from SFO to Manila. One of the things I noticed compared to the normal LAX route is the cleanliness of SFO, and general lack crazy bus drivers plying the roundabout and chaos inside the terminals. My only complaint, though not warranted, was the lack of arroz caldo in the Mabuhay lounge.

Just finished a plate of Dinuguan from Pampanga. Nothing to start the day off right, than filling up on coagulated pig blood. Nom nom.

Nourishing true Filipino friendship. :)

Congratulations, Paolo and Geline Bugayong :)

Beautiful wedding! :)

I got a haircut yesterday at J-Hair in Salcedo Village, where the guy who cuts my hair speaks barely any English. I was debating to crop it again, but I guess a few snips and a lot of wax makes a big difference. For me at least, because nobody else noticed I had a cut.

Afterwards, I headed out to LPL Towers to pay KT a visit. A few hours and a lot of juicy stories later, I went outside to find that my car had disappeared. Apparently, I missed the big red sign that said TOW AWAY NO PARKING 5pm-7pm. Perfect, since I was inside from 5-7! How awesome is that! So I took a cab to the impounding lot where the car was towed, payed the 1000PHP fine, and got away from an additional 500PHP license ticket fee because I had no Philippine license and because I was dashing and handsome and reminded the goons of an actor on GMA 7.

So I thank the officers for making it a painless transaction, and proceed to start the car. Then the idiot lights come on and the console reads “Coolant Level Low, Stop Engine”. Crap. I head out to a gas station around the corner to pop the hood and place a call to King Benny, and find out there is still a partial can of engine coolant in the spare wheel well. Instructions are to mix it 50-50 with water, but the can only has 1/8th remaining, and the container that’s supposed to be topped up is bone-dry empty. Pretty useless, and the console still has the warning. I figure I can baby the car back to Magallanes since it’s only a 10-15 minute drive, but I keep an eagle eye out on the thermostat. So far so good, until I reach the last 200 meters to my house when the temperature starts climbing up. I inch my way into the parking, and barely make it! There is a hissing sound coming from the radiator and liquid is dripping underneath the hood. My brother jokes that I’ve reached my car-disaster quota for this year. In my last Manila trip last July, a taxi swerved into my lane and hit my car the night before I leave back for the US.

And as if things couldn’t get any worse, I had an awesome allergy attack because of what I ate for dinner at home while I pondered my bad luck. Thank God for antihistamines. I ended up missing the screenings of indie shorts at Fully Booked with the amazing Alexis Tioseco. Yay. :(

A little friend that liked to scamper around at night. Trapped inside the bathroom, he tried to gnaw his way through the door. But alas his time was up, within 10 minutes when fly paper was set up. Goodbye, Kumare.