June weekends in 2007 1/2

Aside from weird working hours (trying to catch people not only in Asia, and Europe but also NA and goodness knows where else), I actually had a much better June 2007 than I expected. There were some difficult times (not related to work) but all in all, not a bad month I should say, especially since some rains did fall and helped cool a little bit the baked earth or asphalt of Makati.

The beer party at AIM for the new batch of hopeful MM students (batch 2008) is one affair that I try to never miss. Not only is it a good way to see a couple of my batch mates, it is also an easy way to keep in touch with the MM network and AIM professors. In fact, come to think of it, it seems to be always three people of the MM05 who pops out without fail, one of which is constant...yep...me!

This year it was Jobet (lawyer) and Shan (marketing) who were the familiar faces. Sir B didn't show up (he probably was swamped with work and since his birthday was coming up - he could be excused), and neither did Cathy and her husband Navneet. In the picture somewhere on this page, Professor Gavino is sitting beside me...and on the other bench are Shan (red shirt) and Jobet.

I still got to meet with the assistants Queenie (in light blue) and Weiss who were always very nice and helpful to me, even now when I am out of the august halls of the AIM dorm and campus.Queenie was tipsy with a couple of tequila shots..and I left the party shortly after the picture was taken but had to come back afterwards after checking the email at the library and finding out that Jasper (my MM classmate who is in Singapore) wanted me to meet up with his best friend (a guy I saw at his wedding but whose face I could not remember anymore). Apparently, Jasper was sorry that he had to miss the party since he longed for the occasional beer and talk during these activities. Nakaka-miss ang Pilipinas daw...

On June 11 (Monday), which was swapped for the official June 12 Independence day by GMA, I met up with people I formerly worked with in Ortigas. Dante, our QA guy who now works in Makati treated me to lunch at Sugi. Thanks to him I had my first taste of parsley tempura - a dish I was really curious about since Ms. G had looked for it in vain the night she and Sir B treated me to dinner. It was the first time I ate tempura without thinking about the calories and fats...thanks to the parsley!

Dante and I talked and talked (hey, he is a Gemini if I am not mistaken) and after patting our stomachs, I treated him to a different kind of iced tea and my fave macaroons at Bizu's while we continued talking on a variety of subjects: money, realty, Ayalaland, condos, love-life, career, food, his company, cellphones, computers etc. The last time I had a taste of the heavenly macaroons at  Bizu when my MRR (thesis) adviser Prof Coloma gave a boxful to me as a gift. It is still as yummy as ever!! Unfortunately I completely forgot I had my smaller camera in my bag due to the sight of so much beauty..I mean food..in front of me during the whole shebang that I was not able to take a picture of us after gorging ourselves, which was still going on 4 hours after we started talking.

Daryl (I sometimes call him fondly as Daddy Daryl), who was my team lead for a couple of assigned software projects, and who is working for another company in Ortigas met up with me later that night in Shakey's Ortigas. Oh, my goodness...another Gemini! How amusing.

We talked and ate and talked and ate since he was famished, after playing Dota no less...tsk..tsk...and at his age too! 

It was his birthday and he had so many debts to pay to me, I wonder if he could ever get himself out of the hole he had dug! See, I used to tell him that for every bug I saw in his programs he had to treat me to merienda and since he was "game" well...too bad I was a good bug catcher *ehem*. Subjects we touched on included the food (it seems to be always a common topic in my conversations with people), his kids and his wife (who was due to return from the US..and he was excited about her and of course the pasalubongs), his work at the company where another developer of mine also had moved earlier to.

After a while, another ex-officemate of ours and also one of my lead developers dropped by at Shakey's and munched off the remaining pizza. The two of us listened to Gio expound on how it was progressing in the company Daryl and I had left..but after a while, we really had to be shooed off by the waiter *grin*.

Luckily, Starbucks at Emerald Ave was still open and so we walked over there. They had drinks, I did not..since I was stuffed to the brim at that point. Lately, I have been able to control my appetite during night times, so my stomach has adjusted its growlings.

To their credit, they did offer to buy me something to drink (aaah! its so nice not to be the boss anymore..that way you can always sit back and wait for them to offer, unlike before, when you were expected to fork over the money hahaha!). More talking till around 2 plus in the morning, where this time, it was the Starbucks' guard who marched us off the premises. Oh the shame of it *grin* but time really flies when you are with friends...

Middle of one week, if you will recall, I attended the Japanese film festival Eiga Sai at Shangri-la Mall, Although the picture we took of the initial party was blurry and incomplete with the members of the J-club (Japanese club), I will include it here since I had really enjoyed Kamikaze Girls. 

Two Fridays ago, after attending my first origami session with some officemates, I got a totally unexpected call, saying to come over, again to Ortigas and this time it was Congo Grill at El Pueblo (?), where apparently somebody had the outrageous idea of treating people out to dinner/drinks and good ole chikahan. I don't know what Gio had for lunch or breakfas that day, but it certainly turned out lucky for us....*prays to the good Lord to have him do the same thing again hehehe*

There was another invitation at an earlier hour - a despedida for an officemate of ours who was going to be working in Singapore, but since I had a phone conference on Friday (as usual!), I made the choice of going to Ortigas - if the guys would not mind my being late.  Since they could start on Congo Grill's famous dish - the sizzling sisig - without me...it was all I could do to not drool in the taxi while thinking wistfully of the dinner plans.

Since I was in a rush and Friday is such a bad time for Makati in getting taxis etc. I totally forgot my camera (hence no pictures inserted in this blog of that particular occasion), and a good thing too, as some guys (whose name I will kindly not mention anymore but they know who they are!) got a little bit tipsy and provided some hilarious moments.

Gio, Sam, Dean and Redgie were drinking merrily and again there were topics which were funny, topics which were touchy, topics which were inane, and topics which..well, are fodder for spirited discussion especially if mixed with beer and pulutan.

I really should not get into a discussion with guys who have been drinking beer for quite a while..but then, its so nice needling them, I just can't help it!

TBC...