Groge! (beer, thai food, movies and basketball)

and that's my weekend, a merry mixture of almost everything.

friday: the end-of-term party for the school.

we trooped to Pier One in Pasong Tamo extension (there is one in Fort Bonifacio, why we're in this branch is beyond me, so don't ask hehe). as usual, beer was served before anything else (the barrel of draft beer reminds me of my drinking sessions with friends a couple of years back wherein we can go one-barrel-per-person-drink-till-you-drop spree, but now, i can no longer do that, mahina na ko sa inom). it was a fun night of booze (more beer!) and games (give it to the Japanese teachers for the clever games of guess-if-it-is-ten-seconds-already or move peanuts from one plate to another using a CHOPSTICK or draw Frankenstein in five seconds or arm wrestling) and foods.

the food combination i thought was weird, imagine eating fried garlic rice with sisig, blue marlin and sinigang na hipon WITH PIZZA on the side, or drinking beer alongside buko juice??? hahaha, or while we are eating our dessert (leche flan that i think needs more milk and less of the syrup), we were served with steamed kangkong??? how's that for an experience? we just laugh at it, maybe the person in-charge with the party wanted to try everything on the menu or maybe, just maybe, do not know what food goes with.

groge with too much booze, i arrived at the house 12 midnight and ten minutes later, off to dreamland.

saturday: hataw na!

i woke up at 8 am (for a hectic saturday, this is late), prepared and eat a hotsilog breakfast and remember the leche flan with kangkong combo hehehe. at 8:30 am, neighbors can hear me shouting, er, singing with Sandwich 4-track Mind cd while doing the laundry.

one hour later, i went to my little garden and the growing grass stared at me, i stared back, nakipagtitigan sila, tingininginiiiiiiing, i surrendered and went inside the house and forget about them (i'll cut the grass next week, promise). i took a shower instead, got dressed and by 10:15 as i was about to lock the door, lyn texted "paalis ka na ba? :)"

more than an hour later, as the contestant in Game KNB just won P100,000 and was given the chance to defend his title and another shot at P1M on monday (today), i arrived at lyn's apartment with them busy either with tv, harry potter or the laundry. we didn't stay long as she'll be going to the province and i'll accompany her to the terminal. we went out for lunch and since both of us are craving for something thai (di kami obvious na mahilig sa thai food no? hehe), our hungry stomach lead us back to Som's Diner.

we agreed that, except for tom yum soup, we'll try something else (so wala munang chicken pandan at pad thai). and these are what we had for lunch:

chicken ginger (this is good, not really spicy, and i thought they should lessen the sabaw)

a chopsuey look-a-like that goes by the name phad pad raw meat (but no meat, and swear, chopsuey sya pero sabi ng server di daw hehehe, at medyo mapait)

the ever delicious and fave, tom yum soup.

we just settled for garlic rice and 12 oz coke each, and the damage? P487.00 with take out that is good for another meal. sulit ito!

(Som's Authentic Thai Cuisine is along Reposo St, near St. Andrew's church in Kalayaan Ave, Makati).

at exactly 1:30 pm, we flagged down a taxi and off we go to the bus terminal, and we're thankful di kami na-traffic going to Avenida. at wala ring masyadong tao sa terminal kaya madaling nakasakay si lyn. i stayed with lyn until the bus driver shouted that they're leaving (bumaba na raw kasi ako ng bus hehe). i went down the bus and rush to the lrt for the part two of my hataw sabado.

hataw na part two

in 20 minutes, i am already inside the CCP compound, and it was crowded with Cinemalaya loyalists, andaming tao! i went directly to the Box office to get a ticket for three movies which will be shown at least 30 minutes after the other.

me: miss, isang Pisay, yung 3 pm
tiketera: sir, sold out na po!
me: ha?! uh, Kadin na lang, yung 6:15
tiketera: sir, sold out na rin po!
me: ay patay, ano ba yan!
tiketera: sir, baka gusto nyo me available pa pong screening ng Pisay mamyang 6:15
me: sige, yun na lang, saka yung 9 pm screening ng Tukso.
tiketera: okey sir. (then she smiles)

as i secured my tickets and walked around the CCP lobby wondering what to do with the next four hours, someone tap my shoulder, it's manny! he's with the line producer of Kadin and he asked me what i'll be watching and i told him what had just happened. the very generous guy that he is, he offered me the use of his festival pass (unlimited access to ALL the films, both short and full length), and exchange my 6:15 ticket for another movie he'll watch for 3 pm so that i can also catch the 3 pm Pisay and maxie, the line producer, gave me a complimentary ticket for 6:15 Kadin! coolness!!

and my luck continues, as i was able to sell my ticket to a student in no time! yahoo! and i got manny's ticket and the festival pass and before i can say swerte mo zherwin, the usher is leading me to a seat inside the cinema for pisay! ayos mga erp! the movie is good, makes you miss high school, and it was an intelligent one, kasing talino ng mga estudyante ng phil science high school.

after two hours (lyn's home already), manny and i meet again and i returned to him the pass, chat a little and we parted again for another set of screenings, i'll go for Kadin while him for short films. Kadin was shot in BAtanes, and the cinematography was amazing! ang ganda-ganda ng framings ng mga shot, mas lalo kong gustong-gustong pumunta ng batanes, and all the actors are natives of Batanes, galing! i congratulated maxie for good choice of actors and i also met the director. ang galing nila.

the third movie was Tukso, a mystery-who-dunnit-kind of movie, i go for this instead of Tribu (the winner for best film) and Endo (best editing) because of Irma Adlawan (the Queen of indies), though i thought it would be better had they made its pacing faster, the movie is also okey, but i enjoyed more pisay and kadin.

maybe i'll do a separate review the above films, or maybe not, hehehe, but for now, i think it's enough to say that my movie marathon was a good experience, addict pa rin pala ako hehe.

groge with visuals still etched in my mind, i arrived at past midnight again, and ten minutes later, off to dreamland.

sunday: fiba asia

i woke up at 9 am, got a pandesal for breakfast, look at my little garden again, astig na'ng mga damong to ah but then again, i turned around and forget about them, again (next week na nga di ba? hehe). i catched the replay of RP vs Iran game, and i was saddened that even with the heroics of kirby raymundo and jimmy alapag, we lost, because of our players' dismal shooting (click here for more details) and the unnecessary technical foul on coach chot reyes when Iran was just ahead by 1. arrrggh!

nanlalambot because of the sad news (we need at least two wins to get into the quarterfinals, and our next opponent is china, the defending champion, and jordan, so parang medyo goodbye Olympic dreams), i prepared my lunch and set my alarm clock at 5 pm, the sked of RP vs China game.

the rest of the afternoon, tulog si zherwin.

and the game came. all the time, kinakabahan ako, lalo na nung lumamang ng 13 points ang china, to ease the pounding on my chest, nanuod muna ako ng the Buzz at Showbiz Central hehehe, at naku, si angel locsin pa rin pala ang pinag-uusapan (grabe, she earned P62 million from GMA 7 tapos iniwan pa rin nya? me tsismis kasi triple daw offer ng ABSCBN? hehe)

balik sa game, nakahabol tayo! jimmy alapag is working like a horse, he is penetrating the paint even if 6'8 ang nakaabang sa kanya. antindi ng puso ng batang ito! the last two minutes of the game was like the longest two minutes, gusto ko nang matapos kasi lamang na tayo!!! at any moment pwedeng bumalik ang china! diyos ko, diyos ko!

and for the first time in 22 years, RP won over China, 79-74! yipppeee! (trivia: the last time RP won over China was in 1985 on our way to win the ABC Tournament title, hmm, maybe the same thing will happen this year? i am hoping).

later tonight, it's RP vs. Jordan, kaya dapat by 7 pm nasa bahay nako.

GO PHILIPPINES!

and i hope di tayo ma-groge tonight!

GO PINOYS!

how was your weekend?

UPDATE: RP lost to Jordan, 76-84. it was sad but the players tried their best, kahit injured na sila, they still played with their hearts. ganyan talaga ang basketball, bilog ang bola but despite the loss, and another olympic dream shattered, i believe we are in the right direction, konti pa, babalik tayo. we have the best point guards in asia but we need big men, asi is already 34, menk is on his 30's, too. and to be more familiar with Fiba rules, maybe the PBA Board can change some rules to adopt some from FIBA? like goaltending o di kaya yung shades ng paint, andaming pwedeng i-adopt and im sure alam yun ng board.

expect a lot of fingerpointing from all over, pero sana maisip din ng mga maninisi: ano ba nagawa nila sa philippine basketball?

eto not fingerpointing ha, pero konting tanong lang: why does coach chot choose renren ritualo over last year's MVP James Yap?