Muffled Noise

I’ve been to Charlie Brown Café here in Hong Kong before, but that was a year and a half ago and we didn’t stay to eat. So this is practically my first time really experiencing it, and although the taste wasn’t anything extraordinary, the sights and the feel of the place is enough to make a trip for. Some pictures!

Charlie Brown chocolate mousse and a Woodstock plushie I bought

The Charlie Brown Sampler

Snoopy!

Poor Charlie…

In that last picture, the cup reads “Charlie Brown wins your heart with his losing ways. It always rains on his parade, is baseball game, and his life.” While we were there, we were joking about how depressing that sounded, but I used to read the comics as a kid and I knew it was true. Sad, but that really was his appeal. Poor Charlie.

More pictures on my Facebook. I loved it, so I might go back sometime to try some of the other stuff. :]

So I have no April Fool’s blog/website thing like Ade and Baddie, but in celebration of this holiday for pranksters, my short (and sweet) tribute to the wise guys at the office, for these lovely (and relatively harmless) pranks:

March 31: Appetizer

Victim: One of the senior designers. Keyboard, mouse, watch and monitor in a nice little package. Hid all sharp objects. The rest of them after the jump. Continue reading

So, it’s the last day of Two Thousand and Eight, and I’ve decided to take on this whole recap thing in a different way. Being the trigger-happy photographer that I am (if you know me, you’ll know that I take my camera everywhere) I thought that a good way to take you through my past year is to show you some of it.

Along with tiny pics from the month, I’ve added some lines dug up from an old blog posts. Of course, these won’t give you a clear idea of what happened in these months, but I don’t wanna bore you haha. Oh and please be kind, I didn’t say my pics were any good! Here it is, without further ado.

“But two things that I’ve learned about the floating concept of new years — new beginnings come every day, every hour, every moment. Also I believe that the year is what we make it. No amount of greetings will change your year if your heart and mind are not in the right place, but if they are, no amount of bad circumstances can ruin a year for you.”
— Let’s make a toast and kiss them goodbye [01.01.2008]

“There are times when deep words work, but sometimes, or most of the time, it only matters that you’re sincere.”
— ‘Yun talaga. [02.16.2008]

“But at the same time, there have been a lot of realizations, stuff for me to think about, that I don’t think I would’ve come to if not for this trip.”
— Day Seven [03.16.2008]

“So I’ll tell you what I’ll do — I have in my hand this Big Reset Button, and I’m using it. It won’t change how things were in the past, it won’t undo mistakes and won’t rephrase words already said. It won’t undo anything. But I’ll press it, and I’ll start over. I’ll take things as they are from now on, and I won’t look back.”
— Welcome to the rest of your life. [04.05.2008]

“It was authentic Chinese food all the way, some were really good, some were interesting, and some were just hard to adjust to! I’m sorry but the ancient chicken thing was too much for me haha. Anyways, it was a great dinner because we had people from the 4 teams working on the project together for dinner for the first time. It was fun seeing them all out of the office for something like that.”
— The good times. [05.10.2008]

“After that we pulled out the grill, and because I totally forgot we had an igniter, we had to do it the old-fashioned way. Thankfully we all had experience with it, so it went well haha. Well-done Liempo mhmm.”
— We burn it up. [06.15.2008]

“People react different ways. Some spend half an hour figuring out what happened, some start walking to wherever, some stop to analyze, and some (like madmen) decide that they’re just taking the scenic route.”
— Not everything is as it seems to be. [07.07.2008]

“Week one was awesome, the presentation was awesome, and the clients signed, which is also equally if not even more awesome… I can’t wait to see how things turn out.”
— Another messy update: HK Week One [08.11.2008]

“On a very ironic sidenote, I miss hanging out, and seeing all those people out last night made me miss it (and the people I did it with) even more. October means something else to me, so I’m thinking of planning something.” — Oktoberfest 120 [09.06.2008]

“P.S. My birthday was a blast. Thanks, I missed you guys. P.P.S. It’s true (for me) that it’s easier to write when you’re down.”
— I’m lost again. [10.11.2008]

“The interview turned out more fun than I thought it would! And it felt good to see a lot of international players on the chat with us, asking questions and showing a lotta love. Heartwarming, considering that for some of them it was around 3am. So anyway no details on that, but I’m glad I went.”
— Interview at Level Up [11.15.2008]

“Nine. Happiness for all the people around me. Because quite frankly, they all seem like they need it”
— 12th Day of Christmas: My Wishlist [12.14.2008]

While I was looking through these pictures and my archives, I realized why recap posts are so important. They help you realize the things that matter, remember the things you’ve forgotten, and learn from events that would otherwise just be random memories. Despite the ups and downs, the year started and ended great for me. I couldn’t ask for a better, more meaningful year. It’s something nice to take with me as we all step into 2009.

*sniff sniff*

Cheers everyone, and try to find your faces in those pics! have a blessed New Year! :]

So as planned, we went to Tagaytay today for lunch. Yes, to us, driving out of town for 2 hours for the sake of the company and a single great meal is very much worth it! So anywho, here are 5 pictures (out of the hundreds) from our trip. :]

Clockwise from me, that’s Jan, Ayla, Jayme and Karen. Mikka taking the picture and Coco driving. We were all still pretty much awake at this point.

But we didn’t go to Sonya’s Garden like I thought we would. Instead we went to a place Coco recommended — Gourmet’s Farm. It was a simple-looking place, but I really liked the food. It had a salad bar that charges by weight, and I paid Php197 for mine. Was really good though, I genuinely enjoyed all the food we had ordered. Even the potatoes were perfect.

I just needed to show you the pizza, I loved it! The place was simple but cozy, it really gave me the feeling that I was away from the city, in a good way of course. The Christmas songs being played on the grand piano didn’t hurt either. Afterwards, we were all stuffed, and that’s saying a lot for our group haha!

Here’s a pic of the whole group by the entrance of the resuaurant. :]

After that we took a long walk along their farm / garden area, with a guide and all. The place was really nice, and the place we ended up staying the most was really peaceful and relaxing. Sorry no decent pictures that I want to post here haha, but anyway it had some wooden benches under a few trees, some flowers around, overlooking a wide farm area. We stayed there a bit and just relaxed. :]

So after that it was time to head back to Manila, but we had an equally great trip back over 90s Pinoy rock, oldschool R&B and interesting convos about shrimp and the genders of certain cartoon characters. Haha!

Because we want more, sometime before February, we’re going to the beach!

Yes, I did skip the 7th day, I didn’t have time! That’s reasonable right? I mean, I’ve never blogged once a day for even a week before. Anyway, before moving on to my series list, lemme tell you bout the reason I didn’t have time yesterday.

It was our company Christmas party yesterday, and I like to think it was a success! I’m relieved too, because I was afraid I’d forgotten to plan for something since it coincided with a project launch, so it was a very busy time for our team. Thanks to all the people who helped out, and for everyone who went with the Hollywood costumes theme! I really didn’t think that a lot of people would go to such lengths for their costumes, considering we only gave them a week’s notice (sorry, very busy). I mean look at Ernest!

Uncle Fester and Neo in the background. In case you’re curious, I went as Velma from Hairspray. I haven’t even seen the movie, but our team decided it was practical and fun enough for the party. Here’s me, with Zac Efron (JC, he says he had no choice but to play Link, haha!) —

Well, the dress was rushed and modified from an old dress we had lying around (didn’t really fit anyone) so the fit wasn’t perfect. Still, I liked it as a costume. :] And that’s colored gel on my hair, my hair was stiff as twigs after! Not exactly the perfect blonde look, but I didn’t want to wear a wig — because blah blah blah. Our team also won in the group game, woohoo! I’m disqualified though, I kinda wanted the prize!

I also won an award, for some strange reason (thanks guys!). Gasp. Really wanted those SM gift certificates inthe raffle though, could’ve got me some shoes with those!

Afterwards, we went of to Ernest’s place for some drinks, the infamous afterparty.

Btw, Raymond was there but I didn’t realize he wasn’t in the pic. Oops! Viewfinder was almost pure black, that lighting is almost purely from the camera flash. I had to leave at midnight (I wish I had my own ride, really) but I heard there was karaoke after. Too bad, would’ve wanted to join and take pics. :[ Anyway, thanks E! It was fun. Weird topics in the convo, but fun still haha!

Let me know when and where you upload pics, guys. :]

—

So now, onward we go, and we’re now on the 6th Day of Christmas — at least in my blog. I decided to post my agenda for these 6 days.

Day one.
Today, I rest. I’ll be working on a new (and hopefully more permanent) template for my blog. Taking Bruce out for a long walk in a bit, and gonna watch me some movies! Tack just finished downloading Whose Line is it Anyway S3, so might watch that too. Oh and finally gonna wrap my gifts. :]

Day two.
Going to church really early, and then heading off to Tagaytay with friends. Roadtrip! We’ll be back before dinner, thankfully Coco has a car big enough for all of us so no hassle at all! Been looking forward to this, I’ll take pics!

Day three.
Last day of the project launch, so we can all relax! I’m gonna wake up early and bake something to give to my officemates for Christmas. :]

Day four.
I’ll most likely take this day off and start my long vacation early. Plan to go see the Greenhills Christmas on Display, and maybe even buy a few things. Fun! :D

Day five.
Christmas eve, so I’m gonna help prepare the food. I can’t wait for the gift-giving part either! :D

Day six.
What do people even do on Christmas day? I mean, as far as I can remember, I’ve always only stayed in and slept! I wonder if that’s gonna change this year. Anyway, if I ever go out, it’s gonna be with family. Maybe we can take Bruce out to Baywalk? Err, is that place still even a good place to go to nowadays? Since they put up those food shacks… meh. We’ll see. :]

Okay, it’s really a big deal for me that I enjoyed this one, because I’ve hated kiddie parties even since I was a kid myself! I don’t know, something about the loud low-quality sound of the emcee trying to sound happy about what she’s doing. Well, this is really the first time that I actually like (or really know, for that matter) the people other than family who were in the same table. :D

Melanie, me, Jaz, Columbia and daddy EJ (father of the celebrant and gracious host haha) at the top. Random spooky shadow behind us. Ernest, Ali, JJ and a lot of others were also there but I don’t have the pics of them. What I have are videos, woot! I love videos. :D Adding to the fun is that it was at Shakey’s, and I absolutely love their chicken, mojos and…

Dessert! I was planning on buying the Oatmeal Cookie a la Mode because it’s been a long-time favorite of mine (long story), but since Melanie and Jaz also wanted dessert, we decided to buy this big momma. Yum! And just when I was thinking of that bowl of insanely awesome dessert Mikko shared.

Didn’t get the mini DV to work though, so I had to use the SD memcard. I need to get that fixed before the Christmas party! :( Anyways, happy birthday again baby Jay Jay! :)

I’ve been staring at the “Write Post” page for days now, I can never find it in myself to write, even if I’ve got so much to tell. I’ve been in one of my famous slumps, where words don’t come too easy. In fact, I’m rambling now to fool myself into thinking I’ve written something substantial already. And now, I’m thinking “Might as well go on…” Wow, I know myself pretty well!

No birthday post from me! That’s how much I suck as a blogger right now. So anyway let me see what I can come up with now.

Must have been five or six in this picture, I really don’t want to compute given my confusing school-year history (some of you know what I mean). How time flies.

October 4 was actually a great day for me, I got a lot more greetings than I expected to get. Really. People I didn’t think would bother to greet actually did, even a friend I haven’t seen in at least 6 years! I loved it because I wouldn’t have thought any differently of them if they didn’t, but since they did I’m deeply thankful. If you’re one of those people who greeted me, and for those who gave gifts, thank you so much. You’re all part of the reasons I love my life. :]

As mentioned in my predictably vague October 11 post, had a select few friends over, and it was a blast. They say that when you’re with close friends, you tend to revert to the person you were when you first met them. Well, I might not really like who I was in general back then, but I absolutely love who I am when I’m with them. Thanks for being there guys, and thanks to Ali for bringing the Wii again haha!

View from the office building in HK, back when I was there mostly for fun.

Work-wise, things have been different. Interesting, challenging, and exciting — but different. Stress and anxiety levels are at record levels with the current status of our project, and I was telling someone over chat that we must have been a little masochistic! Haha. Well, even if by definition work’s been tough, I wouldn’t have it any other way (Er, sans the incompetence of certain *cough* devs). Because at the end of the day, after giving ourselves a pat on the back for delivering despite seemingly unreasonable deadlines, I feel good. I feel like it’s not just a job to me. And it has its perks.

In the past week, we’ve been pulling overtimes like we actually lived in the office, but man did things end up going great. Like our project manager said, no matter happens from this point on, it’s already a success. The fact that we even pulled it off given the unbelievable circumstances, that makes it a success for the team.

And things are looking so much better for the future. I’m so happy to be in this project. Which brings me to my next point, as I do my (late) obligatory birthday pondering.

This is something I often forget. Something that I lose sight of often enough to make me more worried than I should be, make me let my ego get in the way, turn me into a very angry person. When I look back every year, I come to the same undeniable conclusion, one that I pray I forget less and less — God has blessed me with so much, and words cannot contain my joy and gratitude. I’m sure my long-time friends, if they tried to, will remember me as a lonely girl who didn’t really care about anything enough for her life to mean anything to her. Call it a phase, call it temporary confusion, but I know how bad it was for me then despite appearances. When I think about how far I’ve gone, and how rich I am in good friends, a loving family, a job I love, and a future full of God’s promises for me…

I am overwhelmed. And in every single thing I do, in every success and failure now and forever, I will praise and thank my God — who has sustained and blessed me for 22 years. Here’s to the year ahead! :]