Encore Delusion

I always say I hated Ascend, and I think I still will 3-5 years from now. That's how I love Encore that I couldn't possibly have a good time anywhere else. Encore has been a Friday hotspot that my week would seem incomplete without going. And sure enough, it's been a couple weeks since I last saw the dance floor---all because of the Thirstday group we are doing on Thursdays at Central.

I don't know, but for some reasons, I woke up today from a dream about the two clubs. It felt so real it was so hard to tell whether or not it was a dream. In my dream, I was with a lot of people from couchsurfing and we were just all headed to Encore. I was telling them how they'd love the crowd, and the music and the djs. To my dismay, we reached Encore only to find an empty floor. No one was dancing. Everyone was casually seated at tables of eight, waiting for their entrees to be served. Like all of a sudden, my superclub have morphed into a fine dining restaurant. After all that shenanigans, everyone decided to change venues and go to Ascend instead, thinking that since Encore is empty, everyone might have headed to the other club. We were all on the way to Ascend, and I was actually hoping to see a really packed Ascend, but that's when I woke up.

Even my dream did not allow me to see a crowded Ascend.

I'm skipping Encore again this week because of St. Patty's tomorrow, but oh well, there'll be a gazillion Friday's ahead.

St. Patty's Day

I miss the times when I celebrate St. Patrick's day with my friends back in the Michigan. We already know that this day is just an excuse to go crazy and get wasted, but for my friends and I, it's all about having a good time. For the last few years, it has been a green tradition to have chinese to go, then some karaoke before bar crawling. I miss it all---the green shirts, the crazy-drunk people you meet on the streets, the booze, and the smell of beer in the air, most especially, I miss my friends.

It kinda makes me feel sad that those happy days are gone. I had a couple St. Patrick less years since I got back to the Philippines, but I'm now back on track.

Can't wait to bring St. Patty's day to the Philippines tomorrow. I hope it will be a day of good fun and green shirts, and the best people. I'm sure it will be different compared to our tradition back in MI, but I'm sure it'll be a helluva day just cause I'm spending the day with my favorite people.

Now time to run through my wardrobe for that perfect green tee.

Happy St. Patrick's! Cheers!

Ants

Sometimes, I wonder--do ants know their hours are numbered when they bite? When I feel something crawling on my skin, often than not, it's an ant zigzagging its way up or down my legs or arms, and I will look at it and it will look back as though it understands what will happen next. Then, just a split second later, I will feel this zing--the prickly feeling of a bite, and I'm left with no choice but to blow it away or squish it to bits. I wonder, do they realize they'd die if they bite me, or they know they'll die anyway so they bite?

No goodbyes

I have proven that 117 days is enough to get to know one person--to be part of his life, and to allow him to be part of yours. 117 days is indeed enough to change a life, to make a difference, to start a friendship that can cross boundaries.

Four months ago, I met Bjorn. He is a guy from Belgium and the first person I hosted on couchsurfing. Ever since that night I picked him up at Starbucks, he became not just a friend, but the big brother I never had. I run to him for comfort. He is the first person I tell my plans and ideas to. I think the important word here is family. He is that family to me.

I would have wanted him to stay longer in the country, but like all travels, it has to come to an end in order to start a new journey. I realize it's quite tricky that you meet some really good people in your life only to have them leave you at one point (although they didn't have a choice.)

Now I am all too sad that Bjorn is on his flight back to Belgium, but at the same time, I am all too happy to have known one sincere guy. A friend told me that we shouldn't be sad it ended, instead, be happy it happened.

And I am going to live to that. I can only be thankful to have met someone like Bjorn who have touched my life in all positive way imagined. I am so lucky to have found a true friend who I know won't let the distance make him forget of the good fun times.

I hope one day I can also be a Bjorn to someone and bring life, and color, and rainbow to a day, the way he colored mine.

Bjorn's send off / Carry me home night

What I love about Friday nights is that it means I get to spend it with my favorite people--these are the people who, through time, have been part of the really fun times.

Last Friday was the longest couchsurfing party night out I could ever remember. It started off with a simple dinner at Chariya--this very cozy thai restaurant. The food was great, it was better than some upscale thai restaurants I've dined in. They have green, red, and yellow curries. The red one was too sweet for my pallet, and the green one a little too spicy, but a combination of both is perfect. Their thai milk tea is really good as well.

Usually, Friday night means clubbing and dancing the night away, but what's good about dinners is that people get to talk and bond a little, get to know the couchsurfers and share some amazing stories with each other. It's usually through these little dinners that friendship grows and bonds become stronger.

What's also interesting about last Friday's dinner was the French family we met. I have probably met the youngest couch surfer--Mayumi who is the 2-year old pretty doll daughter of Jimmy and Hilda.

After a bazillion photo ops after, we then decided to go to Ascend super club in the Fort which kinda sucked because there wasn't any crowd at all. There was a little confusion between the club's promoter, but the night was saved and it continued to blossom when we decided to change venues and go to Encore instead. (By this time Mayumi and her parents are already home, and as promised, Jimmy and Hilda will go clubbing with us in the coming Fridays when they get to find a nanny to look after Mayumi.)

I never wrote anything about the clubbing and partying I've done in the past, but now that I have the itch to write it, I might as well. Encore has been the Friday hot spot for my friends and I. We go there because we feel at home, because we like, oops, I mean love the music they play, because we are treated well, and because it is so much better to dance in a super crowded floor than in an empty room where people will just stare at you and bug you to order beer in the middle of your dancing. I like it when it is skin on skin as we shout New York or even shot shot shot shot shot. There is no need to worry even if the sky is falling down.

After a pound for pound dancing, Encore closed at three in the morning and we were much obliged to move to our next favorite bar which is Distillery. We love the place because it is intimate, very chill and a good venue to get into some more talks, or drown into some more beers. You can smoke, concoct your own drink, talk, dance, almost anything and everything that will keep your mind off of boredom. Jason made some delish sake bombs which are shots of sake dropped in a pint of beer.

Three san mig lights, one heineken bottle, two sake shots, and three sake bombs after, I died.

The next thing I know, I woke up on my bed with a terrible terrible headache. Later, I found out that Karla and Bjorn took me home and made sure I make it to my bed safe and asleep. Few hours after I woke up, and while still nursing my cracking head, I saw all the embarrassing pictures up on facebook. It was a good mix of embarrassment and fun--there were pictures taken of me and some cigarette vendors which I don't even remember taking--ah, the good times are also the most embarrassing.

That's the thing I love about hanging out with my favorite people---it's fun, it's heartfelt, and it's friendship beyond any definition.

I can't wait for the next Friday!

Poker face

My dad just made my Saturday!

He was stupendously sweet this morning. He was sitting on his favorite chair and I was standing beside him when he started to lean on me as though he's been missing me. He also made some pancakes and those pancakes never tasted so good.

I don't know what's up with my dad, really. I mean I love him in all honesty but even I often tell him he's not sweet whenever he refuses to take pictures with me. He's always stern, and strict, the way I imagine all lawyer dads are. But today, he's all I ever wanted in a dad and that makes me one bazillion times happy.

PS. He just actually passed me by and I'm pretty sure I heard him singing poker face!!

Another round of depression

Another week has passed, and I'm still feeling sad. I don't have a life to do anything, I don't want to put effort into doing anything, and I just feel so bad. I've been bingeing a lot, and I know I have to stop and get back to shape but I can't find reason to do so. This is supposed to be my year, but somehow it feels like it's slipping right before me and there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe I need to be with my friends, maybe I need to go to another beach get away, maybe I need to start over again. I don't know. All I know is that I want everything to go back to daffodils and pixie dusts and rainbows and pinks. I just don't know how I can make things go back to fairy tale.