I am trying to help out a friend in fixing her pc.  I thought it was already fixed after I transferred the RAM card to another slot on her Toshiba Satellite 4320.  It worked but it didn’t last long.  Sheesh…  Now I have to research on how to get it working again.  I was just disappointed though cause it went back to it’s original state.  But anyhow, I am not giving up yet.  I haven’t really drilled down on the problem yet so I am pretty confident that I will be able to resolve it…  I just hope I will be able to do it soon.

I watched a soccer game last Sunday, the first soccer game that I watched ever, to support a friend who seemed to have a great liking for the game.  He plays soccer and seeing him in that field made me know him a bit more.  When he said that he loves the game, he really meant it.  Although I did not meet new friends for like before, I sat in one corner and kept to myself and did not understand the rules of the game, I enjoyed watching it.  It was a one day tournament so I got to watch a lot of matches.  The participants were teams from different industries but most of them were from the call centers here in Cebu.  But the winner was the Gustavians who were foriegners, most of which are from Europe who breath, eat and sleep soccer.  The team members from my company even said that it’s like they hit the wall every time they bump on these guys.  But they were the only ones who were able to score a goal against the giants out of the 20 teams who played against the Gustavians so their game wasn’t that bad after all.  It’s just sad though that our team was not able to reach the finals due a draw on one of their matches.

I am really thankful that my friend invited me to watch the game.  It was a nice experience seeing the players determination to win, the expressions on their face when they win or lost a match.  Hear their shouts of joy when the team scores.  And most of all their love on playing the game.  The experience really helped lift the dark clouds over my head a notch higher and helped bring back my inspiration to do the things I want to do once again. 

I went through Wena’s blog today and saw her pictures with MJ.  Looking at the pictures it seems that MJ is a good travel mate.  And so I ended asking myself if I will be as good as a travel mate as MJ.  I once saw this add on a travel network that said “It will be better to travel alone than travel with a bad company”.  Well, from what Wena placed on her blog on her last travel abroad, I’d say MJ is a great company for they were able to meet new friends.  Imagine if that was me.  Like Weng, I am hesitant in talking to strangers even at work, I seldom talk to new acquaintances.  My friends are mostly friends of my friends.  I seldom make friends that are complete strangers to me.  Unlike MJ who is very out going.  Imagine how it would be like in a foriegn land.  I guess people will just see me come and go without knowing who I am or who I was.

Due to the unexpected circumstances of visiting the museums yesterday, Ponsing and I decided to go to Asiatown and have lunch at The Walk.  We decided to eat at Mooon Cafe and I called up Weng if she wants to join us.  She then brought Bena with her.  Ponsing had their Mexican Pork Ribs, I had the Barbeque (which cost 120 pesos which I consider expensive for the size of their barbeque was really small considering the price), Weng had Spaghetti with Carbonara sauce and Bena had Fried Chicken Breast with Melted Mozerella.  After lunch I decided to go to the office to listen to some calls while waiting for 3PM for our trip to MV Doulos, the floating bookshop.  We then left for the bookshop at 4PM and arrived at the pier at around 4:30 PM (?) due to traffic.  So after the struggle to board the ship due to the weirdest stairs that I have ever seen in my entire life we finally saw the books that they have on sale.  Most of the books are available here in the Philippines but I got to say that it was indeed cheaper compare to the books that you will find in the books stores here.  Although the difference isn’t as big as I expected it to be, a few peso difference is still money saved.  My friends and I decided to go back there before it leaves for Manila in February to get more books.

So to sum the day up, it was a well spent day for I had the opportunity to spend time with my friends, get to board MV Doulos and do some work in the office.  Oh and by the way, try the cookies that they have on sale.  It’s delicious and big. hehehe…

I will be going out for dinner later with Weng, Aisah and hopefully with Kriste.  Like Weng, I love spending time with them for it’s like everything goes when we’re together.  No pretentions, no holds bar.  I guess that goes to the friendship that was developed while working together.  A year past and there had been a lot of progress for all of us.  I just hope that Kriste will be able to join us tonight.  His mom’s sick and he’s really worried for her.  I asked him how his mom is doing and what was the diagnosis but sadly the doctor at Chong Hua Hospital can’t find the reason why she fainted.  Hay… I feel bad for Kriste.  I just pray that their family will be able to go through this ordeal soon and spend Christmas together at their home not the hospital.

I watched this movie a few minutes ago and I wasn’t really expecting much from the it for so far  most sequels these days come up as a disappointment.  But when I saw this movie, wow, it was far from that.  It was as good as the first one.  And it did make the characters see what they already have and learn to appreciate them.  I guess that’s what made this movie a great movie.  Everybody can truly relate to it.  You know at times we are so driven to achieve things that we at times lose sight of the things that really matters.  We get so busy with out lives that sometimes we fail to see that we are starting to drift away from the people who cares about us and the people that we truly care about.  It’s just ashame that at times, we don’t notice it until it was too late.  See we maybe or we have a Tibby, a Lena, a Bridget or a Carmen in our lives and like them we just tend to not listen to one another sometimes.

I was supposed to spend some time with some folks from work tonight.  We were supposed to go out and spend time together in a different environment and have fun.  Unfortunately, I fell asleep and woke up at 1AM.  They called me up at 8 PM and I missed it.  Sheesh! this is one of the great opportunities to know them better and yet, I missed it.  Too bad!

They said a friend is someone whom you can sit with without saying a word for hours and even if you leave without saying a word to each other, you know that everything is okay.  They also said that a friendship is strong when you meet up after a couple of years of not seeing one another you just pick up where you left off.  No awkward feeling as if you’re back to that day when you first met and became friends.  And a lot of other things like doing crazy things together, talk about anything under the sun and so on.  So I was thinking, if this is what a real friendship is, then do I have a real friend in my life?  Or does it mean to say that the friends I have right now are not real?  Or is it just that the relationship I have with them has not reached that level of friendship yet?  I was just thinking because there are days when I don’t get to talk or see my friends it makes me feel that we are drifting apart.  You know like things aren’t the same as it was when we last saw each other (even if it was just a couple of days).  Or is it just me? 

That’s why when I watch movies like my Bestfriend’s Wedding of Julia Roberts or 13 Going on 30 of Jennifer Gardner I ask myself if I have anybody in my life who remained a friend even if I haven’t seen or talked to for quite a while.  Over the years I was a bit sad when I come to think about what is being said about what a true friendship is for I couldn’t think of a name that will fit the description.  I don’t know if I am to blame on that for I am what other people call a ”reserved” person.  I tend to shut the door to people.  Well not until I saw my dear friend Henry again.  We used to work for an organization back home.  He was not from our place so he said he felt out of place first time he was there but felt at ease when time past by.  But he left a year before me to pursue a career as a microbiologist for one of the projects in Makati Med which was about four years ago.  I never saw him since although we got to talk once when I first tried applying for this company that I am working with and exchanged text messages every now and then over the years.  I realized when he walked me to the place where I was staying during my training in Makati early on this year (after four hours of talking in Starbucks, Greenbelt) that he remained my friend and confidante through those years when I was starting my life in Cebu.  He texted me to ask how I was doing even if two years had gone by that I haven’t seen him.  He replied to my chuk-chak chenes ( frustrations) text messages and consoled me when things got rough in the office and reminded me that if people from the work place, my friends or the people around me had let me down, there will always be a person who will be there to help (even if they’re not physically there).  He greets me on Christmas even if he doesn’t believe in it for his religion doesn’t believe in it.  So I am thankful for the friendship that we have.  It made me feel that I have a “George” in my life who is just a text away when I need somebody to talk to when things get rough again.  Although I haven’t really told him that yet but I planned to when the time comes (maybe when he buys me Starbucks coffe again).

January of this year when me and two of girlfriends who were single since birth decided to go out for dinner on February 14th.  Well, we know nobody’s going to ask us out so we decided to have dinner together.  And we also decided to play critic when we go out to eat.  So we filed for a leave in preparation for that day.

I suggested that we go to Orchidia near the Marco Polo hotel in Cebu since I’ve heard that they do have chefs there who prepare their dishes.  But since it wasn’t payday yet, we were worried that our money may not be enough so we decided to go to George Cafe in Banilad Cebu.  We had one of our male friend Ed go with us since he’s also single and he does not have a date.

We got there at around 10 PM so it was almost empty.  By 10:30 PM we had the place to ourselves.  The place is as beautiful as it was the year before when I first went there.  The lights were low and since it was Valentine’s Day, the waitress lighted some candles and placed it on our tables.  The food is really good and the serving size is big that made the price very reasonable.  But what really made an impression is their Persian Treasure.   It is a chocolate cake which is layered with a rose scented mouse cake and topped with pistachio nuts.  My friends didn’t like it but I did.  They said it tasted like perfume which is true so they stopped eating it after 2 bites.  But true to its name it really is a treasure for the taste changed after the fourth bite.  When you eat it, you have to make sure that you have the mouse, the chocolate cake and some pistachio nuts in a single bite for the flavor blends together when you chew it.  I really can’t say it words but it was delicious.  I guess my friends didn’t appreciate it because they only tried the pink part of the cake then they tried the chocolate cake which was a bit bitter to the taste.  But after watching a lot of culinary shows I have learned that to taste a dish you must have all the components in your spoon for you to fully appreciate it.  So I cut the cake from the top to the bottom and that’s when I discovered the true taste of the cake. Until now, when we get together and talk about George cafe, my friends and I still talk about the Persian Treasure.  So if you ever come to Cebu, try out Café George and their Persian Treasure.  It’s something that you’ll remember for a while.  Either because you really liked it or you really hated it.