Month: August 2011

cafe med + cheesecake etc

These food photos were from last week. Delayed post is delayed.

Anyway! The Podium on a Saturday. I loved this lamp inside Cafe Mediterranean:

GPOY (aka what kids call “photo of my face” these days):

I had Portobello Burger:

J had moussaka with Moroccan rice pilaf. Then we tried Cheesecake Etc. for the first time.

I want to go right back.

Love their Choco Dome Cake.

J had Belgian Double Cream.

*

Company anniversary party on Friday. My first, after only two weeks at the job.

(Photo credit: Reg. Thanks!)

(photo credit: Milton. Thanks!)

I still (somehow) feel like an outsider. Hope that changes soon.

second time

That first win was so awesome and so satisfying that I thought there wouldn’t be a second one.

I just feel so happy right now.

“Maps”. First Prize for Poetry, Palanca Awards.

I posted the news elsewhere first (Twitter and Facebook) and immediately got a ton of love. Thank you so much for all the kind words. The show of support was just overwhelming. I can be quite unkind to myself and to my words, so I appreciate it when people take the time to message me to say that they like what I write, and that I should write more.

“Maps” should be uploaded on the Palanca website soon, and I hope you can read it and give me your comments. :)

oh! i forgot to tell you something

Remember the Pretty Little Liars-inspired video that my Inquirer office mates shot as my despedida gift? There’s a recap! TOTALLY.

Love. It. Head on to the link!

various updates

  • Jaykie passed Exam P (the first in a series of actuarial exams) after days of studying and worrying. I knew this the moment he stepped out of the Ateneo Professional School – Salcedo building on July 28. I looked across the street and saw him trying to hide a smile. Of course we celebrated with food and drinks.

Congrats Jaykie, you deserve it!

  • We went to Eastwood on Sunday to watch Captain America. My first time in Eastwood! My Eastwood cherry’s been popped! I know nothing about Captain America, except that he has a shield and a possible hatred of the Soviets. And the Japs. And the Nazis. I think he’s boring, corny, one-dimensional, and a tad bit offensive. Oh look, the personification of America’s Messiah Complex. Certainly not the superhero I’d share an elevator with. But the film gives him  a plausible origin story. (Even the origin of the shield is explained.) He hates bullies. I empathize with him. I enjoyed the movie.

  • Stay after the credits for The Avengers trailer. To quote one enthusiastic YouTube commenter: “I nerded on the floor.”
  • Phil mentioned that adamantium (which makes up Wolverine’s claws and the rest of his bones) is the synthetic version of vibranium (which is used to construct Capt. America’s shield). So the interesting question of the night was, “Who would win, Wolverine, or Captain America?”
  • There was a bazaar, and I ended up buying two bags and a ring. (This was Jaykie’s fault! He’s an enabler!) I almost bought a new pair of shoes but I managed to stop myself. (And also managed to stop Jaykie from not stopping me.)
  • I’m in love with this ring, though.

  • Watched Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank with a large group of friends. (There were 13 of us! Lucky and very noisy 13!) Photo from Almi:

  • The film concerns three young, hopeful, awards-hungry filmmakers out to make Walang-Wala, an indie film about a mother living in the slums who is so poor she is forced to sell her child to a pedophile. How can you gauge sincerity in this kind of creative expression? Can we simply judge the final product and forget about the authors’ intentions? Are the filmmakers producing this film because they sincerely want to tell the mother’s story and inform the world at large of the level of poverty that exists in this country? Or are they doing this for the shock value, the chance to dig an award and travel opportunities from the grit? The filmmakers carry expensive gadgets and talk about poverty  in an expensive coffee place. Does this invalidate their art?  Does the fact that they are well-off reduce the value of the story they are going to tell?  I still don’t know the answers to the questions. But I’m glad an indie film managed to step away and ask them, and make me laugh in the process.

  • New job. I’m enjoying myself, so far. (Stress on the “so far”, as, directly or indirectly, my immediate boss is wont to remind me haha.)