animal collective

Whole-grain breads get snapped up quick at the weekend market. I'd been meaning to try Mr. French-guy-with-big-mustache's whole grain bread but he was all out, so I bought a few other things instead. I asked two of his shiny pain au chocolat, and he gave me three. The pain au chocolat cost 50 pesos each -- this isn't too cheap, but its the closet thing I've had here that tasted Genevois. 

I went next to my usual place for whole-grain bread, a little stall next to Tita Moning's and Vargas Kitchen. I should pay attention to the name of the stall. They were also out of whole-grain bread. They said: try the kraft(?) korn bread, it actually has more types of grain in it and is filling as well. I had it this morning and they were right. It is filling. Hopefully they will last me longer than the whole wheat pitas I had also bought in this stall. I scarfed 12 pieces down in 2 days.

I bought a few other things for lunch and then went home. Time for the weekly trek back to QC. 

* * *

T decided to have a dessert party to gather all her friends the short time she was in town. I most enjoyed the achingly sweet Young BTS cake. The strawberry short cake was also good. But the most winner thing was: the sparkling chardonnay. Good shit. I wonder if it costs more than champagne. (Mental snob note flashback commercial: sir, Asti is not. . .wait never mind). I enjoyed being social. There were a lot of cute chicks in this party. That will really do me a lot of good right. . .

Everyone was talking about the E-heads concert to take place later that night. 

* * *

Next evening's stop was Cantinetta, it was just Jill's birthday. She looked gorgeous. I decided to steer clear of risotto and raviole since I was stuffed with dessert. Please eat their seafood tomato soup. It was very good. 

* * *

Night ended in a club. There was a Madonna-thon. I did not spend any money. Snuck in for free (bad bad bad), drank other people's drinks in a pitcher. Lambanog, cranberry and other things I don't want to know. The crowd was good. Why? Coz it was OLDER. Yes. How often do you hear that.

* * *

We're watching the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre later. Why do I trust the artistic tastes of the Taiwanese? I do.

 

I got massacred today playing a tennis game. The score read 6-0 6-1 6-0. Maybe I should take consolation that it wasn't a triple bagel. My timing was all-off, and my opponent new exactly what to do with feeble returns and groundstrokes -- send it flying off at an angle to the opposite side. My opponent was gracious enough to thank me for making him look good. He wanted to assuage the matter. We're supposed to play again; though I don't know if that would be a good thing for him, if my level of play stays this way.

* * *

But my weekend was good! I played tennis on Saturday and Sunday, the latter with a trainer who was young yet I thought pretty good at this motivational skills. I'm looking forward to the weekend already so that I can work on more things. One good trait that he has is that he listens also to the point of views of his coachee/student. Good coaches have to understand that each person is different, and that listening is what will help them diagnose what is the best approach to learning. Just before the weekend I exchanged some slightly feisty text messages with a gym trainer, coz I felt he didn't have that important listening attitude at all. Thankfully, he eventually came around

* * *

In exchange for my sister and dad having lunch while I was playing tennis (yes, this counts as accompanying me to the country club), I found myself watching The Dark Knight for the 2nd time. Now I understand why Dent was so pissed off at Gordon, and also it hit me that the Joker wasn't on the screen all that much. This movie gave more time to Dent and Gordon than the Joker I thought. Watching this movie the 2nd time wasn't too bad.

* * *

The weekend highlight though was a last minute invitation by a friend to watch the Ateneo-UST UAAP game at Araneta. We were seated really close to the players, at the Patron section. I'm so glad Ateneo won. I do feel that when I watch games live, 2/3 of the time, we lose. So this was a nice surprise. 

* * *

I have too much adrenaline in my system, so its going to be a bit of a chore getting to sleep. Maybe it's time to organize a few things then. 

* * *

After 2 failed meetings, 3rd one took place and I thought it was successful and worked out quite well. Both parties are moving, and things look good. :)

* * *

Do I still remember how to do this?

There is such a thing as being too accessible. It's called living in the part of the city where people will insist on picking you up for a gimmick even though what you'd rather do is stay at home and sort your laundry. Of course, this would be a non-issue IF you were the sort of person who would tell people that you will not go out with them and they can stuff it. 

I am not that person.

* * *

I've been living in Salcedo for more than six months now, and it has truly worked out. I lucked out finding a friend with a small room to let in a condominium along de la Costa. My daily weekday routine is to wake up at the latest possible time so that I can take a shower, get ready and still have the eight minutes walking time I need to get in my office by 9am. The route to work is okay. I go through Velasquez Park and normally there is only a little doggie poo to worry about. There are many cute dogs. I know the dogs, and not their helper-walkers. Scarcely anyone walks their own dogs in this park. But this is not surprising. They will not walk their children either. In the evenings, on the way home, I normally will not pass through the park grounds.  

We are in Makati CBD so there is a choice of 18 Starbucks to go to within a 250 meter radius. It is frustrating because the cute baristas never seem to stay in one location long enough.

 

* * *

I have not explored much of Legaspi Village, but already judge that it is the village on the wrong side of Ayala Avenue. 

 

Next time: favorite neighborhood spots.