The Ego Episodes

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005

Linking 2004 and 2005 with an Entry of Book-ish Length

GONG XI FA CAI!

Happy year of the Rooster, everyone! Or, as Donny would put it, Happy Chicky New Year!

What better way to start this year than with an update, huh? Sure, I'm two months lagging but well, it's still New Year, according to the Chinese around the world. And while I'm not Chinese, it's good to have this excuse to update only now.

Whew. Where to begin... I cannot remember a longer unannounced hiatus than this. Well, not that I have a lot of readers whose eyes would well up in tears if I don't write something here for more than a month. Right? Right? Anyhoo, I'll just dissect the past two months by significant events.

Christmas and New Year

Our church choir did a mini-musical (so mini you won't even know it's a musical until you ask us). I can't remember the details (who am I kidding...I remember the details, I just don't have the time or stamina to write about it), but those were busy times. I was juggling my project, sleep, rehearsals and actually having a life, while struggling to fend off depression (read below). In the end, all that hard work paid off. We were, as usual, doing last minute stuff, so putting up a show that people appreciated, though you sorta kinda didn't expect it, was a glorious moment.

I didn't come home for Christmas so I was depressed in the days leading to Christmas. It's my way of ushering in Christmas. Every year. Fountain works. But this time, I've got someone to comfort me and he did so by taking me to Father Flannigan's, an Irish pub and restaurant at CHIJMES, for a Christmas eve dinner. We had a table outside, surrounded by other people celebrating Christmas with their loved ones.

The place was decorated with festive lights and even the waitresses wore Santa hats with their red skirts to make the mood Christmas-y. From where we were sitting, we could see a tall Christmas tree, dressed in bright lights, and of course people made it a photograph spot, how could they not. Which meant, we had our picture taken there, too. In capturing the whole Christmas tree, we looked very surreal, as in small and blurry, because hello, the tree is more than twice our heights -- combined. Okay, I'm exaggerating but you get the picture. I keep on forgetting to ask Donny to send me the pictures so, sorry, you won't get the picture today.

Although we finished dinner with two desserts, Christmas pudding with brandy and a plate of crackers with a family of cheese (Side note: I have no idea that cheese, our beloved cheese, could have a variety of flavors, most of which are not pleasant. I tell you, I have never appreciated our familiar cheddar cheese more.), we had reservations for another place specifically for the purpose of fulfilling our dessert requirement on special occasions such as Christmas.

We rushed to the V Tea Room at Esplanade mall for our cakes. When I said "rushed", I meant, "took a cab". We're supposed to meet Donny's friends for a late movie after our dinner but we didn't foresee the delay in getting our orders at dinner, so we ended up rushing everything after dinner. Now I know it's a crime to speed-eat dessert, but we had no choice. Both of us were sad that we had to do it. We went inside and whoah. I didn't expect it to be so ... daintily decorated, I'm suddenly in "Sarah: Ang Munting Prinsesa" ("Sarah: The Little Princess"). The European-styled chairs are are so comfy and basically, Gilmore Girls-y. It's like Emily Gilmore is running the place. We had chocolate cake with Scotch and Bailey's cake. Donny ordered Earl Grey tea while I opted for a capuccino. But then:

"Do you want to try our Bailey's capuccino?" asked Friendly Staff. My eyes lit up and I said, "I want to try it 'cos I know it's good but..." I looked at Donny, sorta pleading to let me have it (He knows I can't have too much alcohol or else I'd get extra-chatty) and he's like, "Okay, go!" giving a sigh to acknowledge defeat. He knows better than to go between me and my coffee.

We had our drinks in disposable cups because we had no time to linger. The cakes arrived soon after and they're huge. I mean, if we knew the portion would be this big, we would've just ordered one. And that's only because we're rushing, because if we're not, we would've ordered two still. The chocolate cake was unbelievably, SO chocolate-y. Seriously, you have not tasted chocolate cake until you've tried it. Yum-mmm-mmm. So good, I tell you. And the thing that makes it unique is that it is served warm. It's like you're in a friend's house and said friend wants you to try the cake his grandma just baked. And the Bailey's cake? Oh, heaven. The cake, also served warm, is swimming in a pool of Bailey's sauce with nuts (I believe they were walnuts). And, if you're the "saucy" type (hee), they'll give you an extra mini-pot of sauce to pour on top of your Bailey's cake topped with whipped cream. Ah, liquored cake with whipped cream. What could be more sinful? Sadly, except for the first spoonful, we had to "ingest-then-swallow" the rest of our cakes. There was simply no time for savoring and mmm-mmm-ing.

In record time, we finished our desserts and again, took a cab to Cathay Cineleisure. We enjoyed our drinks in the cab, where I had to gush about my drink one more time. It was bitter, because of the alcohol, but it's just the way I like it. Nothing beats bitter coffee after a sweet cake. Anyway, there was traffic jam, of course, so we had to sprint the last 200 meters or so and also, jaywalk. We were only two minutes late, and didn't miss anything significant, apparently so, relief. We were watching Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. I didn't know Stephen Chow. But after sitting to two hours of his movie, he ain't bad. He's actually good-looking, like a Lito Lapid look-alike. (Side note: Lito Lapid is a popular Filipino actor and like most famous actors, he became governor.) The movie has a lot of special-effects, ala Matrix, but well, who cares? It's fun.

Wow, you'd think the day would end here. But no, it didn't. I went karaoke-ing with Donny and his friends until 3 am. We had to walk through people armed with spray cans and endure attack after attack of stringy things and foam. Darn you, people! I didn't say it out loud because it's Christmas after all. And I think it will only earn you more stringy things and an Afro made of white foam.

Okay, the karaoke. We just had to sing our duet song, Donny and I. For Donny's elective, he had a graded performance in front of the whole class. His teacher said it's ok to bring an instrument, someone to play the accompaniment or SOMEONE TO SING ALONG WITH YOU. Of course, he had to bring me along. Long story short, we sang "In Love With You" by Jackie Cheung with Regine Velasquez. It went ok, I think. There were no tomatoes or anything like that. One of his friends requested another duet song but we only practiced that song. Next time, we will be more prepared, haha!

We finally reached hall around 4 am. Slept for about 3 hours before I had to wake up for Christmas day mass. And sing. Then in the afternoon, we visited a Filipino couple's house to sing carols with the Filipino choir. I brought Donny along and he told me he's nervous. It's like a preview of meeting my parents. I smiled at this, and told him, "No, it's not. I just want to show you the Filipino way of celebrating Christmas." He calmed down after that. Well, that's how I'd like to think my comforting words affected him. It turned out that the couple's grandchild was with them. She's about two and she's just learning how to talk and she liked Donny. It's funny because she even gave him her purse that she won't let anybody touch. When we had to leave, she tried to block the door with her minute body. Haha, she's so cute.

The sun was just setting when we left. It was windy and not too hot, just perfect for a walk around campus. We went by the fountain surrounded by benches because I just love that place and he knows that, too. We were passing by some flower garden, and letting go of my hand, he plucked a white flower and tucked it behind my ear. He smiled at me and it's just one of those moments when you're so happy, you want the time to stop to immortalize it. Walking towards the new school building, I remember the sky turning orange as we reached a circular monument, with plants all around it. It was a pretty sight. We sat by the edge of a bridge-like structure and gazed at the road. It made us remember how we fell in love. It started with a walk, the effortless sharing of thoughts, and the eventual connection, the formation of a bond. Now I'm still walking with him, hands and hearts interlocked. We were there for I don't know how long, but it was just before the sky darkened when we left.

(More later ... taking a break to do essential stuff.)

{ joycie at 10:37 a.m.}