kicking off the ber months

It’s been a while since I last posted something on my site. For some reason I could not summon the drive to write “creatively”. Perhaps all those work-related reports that I had to write in the past months took all my writing energy away . Anyways, sitting here behind my computer, partly watching the fierce rain outside the window, partly hearing the thunder that bellows every now and then and partly listening to my officemate’s mp3 player…I knew I had to find an inspiration if I were to keep my job. Writing on my blog seems like a good start. As my lazy brain could only dig as deep as recent memories, as recent as last week, how about I write about last week.

I did not realize how close we are to year-end until it occurred to me that September actually began last week. The “ber” months are typically happy months for me (on second thought, so are the summer months). Perhaps because it has the Holidays, which generally spell good times and good cheer. Looking back at how I breezed through last week, it came to me that I actually kicked off the Ber months with a little bang .

Sept. 1 (Mon). Hmm nothing here. Just did my grocery and watched TV after work.

Sept 2 (Tue). I met up with Varbs, whom I had not seen for a really long time, for dinner at Café Metro in Greenbelt 3. Before leaving the office, I believe I spent 15-20 mins looking for a nearby resto that serves Jamaican Jerked Chicken but could not find any. We ended up ordering General’s Chicken, Bangus Belly with Mango Relish (if I’m not mistaken), and lemonade shake. I like the General’s Chicken, including the eggplant that came with it, even though I’m no eggplant fan. Loved the lemonade shake! After the long dinner, I met up with Oms, and Magne for some chit chat. I had not seen Oms since early August, and Magne since..hmm..UP Fair 2007??

At the end of the evening, my throat was hurting a bit from all these conversation marathons and laughing. But it was really great catching up with them. Good times. Good friends. J

Sept. 3 (Wednesday). Oms took me and Lei at a Thai resto called Som’s in Rockwell “Gilid”. For me, it’s one of my best “hole-in-the-wall” finds in recent memory. The food was great and affordable. Since Oms had been there several times, we let him order for us. We had catfish salad, tom yum, red beef curry and another dish, the name of which escapes me now. My favorites are the last two, and their Thai milk tea (served as a warm milk tea in mineral water bottle that you pour in a glass with ice)! I’ve tried several Thai restos in Manila but Som’s dishes are definitely one of the bests, if not the best ( I also liked the one in UP Diliman back in college). Ambience was also awesome, well at least for me since I love dining al fresco. Think tables and lawn umbrellas along a quiet side street. They also have an air-conditioned canteen but I thought opting for that would be corny. Surprisingly, more than half of customers when we went there were foreigners and artsy fartsy type of people. It’s a piece of Amsterdam in New York. Hahaha. After the superbly gastronomic experience at Som’s we went for some desserts/hot tea at a nearby Coffee Bean.

Sept. 4 (Thurs). I went to the movies with my cousin who was staying us for the week and Haze, my jolly and profound dive buddy . What movie we picked? For the First Time! And yes, I’m a feel-good Tagalog movie enthusiast haha. Especially the ones from Star Cinema. It’s not as good as A Very Special Love. It’s not a good movie at all, save for maybe the first half of the movie because Candy Pangilinan and her penpal in the movie were so funny and because the Santorini scenes were just lovely. The Aegean sea is just so blue and tranquil-looking! I wonder how it’s like diving there. And the houses so..err..white. Haze and I made a pact to visit Santorini someday, doesn’t matter if together or separately, or if we’re already in our 50s when that day comes. We just have to visit Greece! If only to dive and pig out on olive oil!

Sept. 5 (Fri). Plan A was to have a reunion dinner with former officemates from way way back, after which I’d chill with office friends, sort of send away chill for Cath who’s going on a long leave, and after which I’d meet up with some friends at the Octoberfest kick-off. Sadly, the reunion dinner was scrapped due to unfortunate circumstances. I also had to forego the Octoberfest as one of my friends who got there first advised us not to follow anymore as it had become chaotic at the gates due to the volume of people all planning to be merry and drunk. Fortunately, the chill with office friends pushed through after a few months of not having our usual Friday chill. After that I joined my dive friends at Good Earth Rockwell for some booze and good old conversations.

This week, I’m offsetting my busy first September evenings by going home straight from work, which is the wise thing to do given the heavy downpour every evening. J