A Beautiful Day With the Beshies

I started writing this in the office last Friday, a few minutes before I hit log-out. But I had to go to the bank – I must, or else my mom would kill me (well, not really, but she wouldn’t be pleased) – so I couldn’t finish this last week. Then, of course, weekend is a time for sleeping and much mooching *snickers*. But I’m determined to finish this today. And look, when I started this I used ‘vacuous’ as my springboard, hehe.

Vacuous . . . my mind, that is. Should I be worried? There’s something I want to write about, but my inspiration is nil. Aaargh!

So anyway, here I go. *breathes deeply*

We celebrated Hanna’s and Ces’ birthday in one shot, last 28th of Feb. Rachel planned it way back. The itinerary was a jaunt at Manila Zoo and dinner at a Korean restaurant at Vito Cruz. But then, she emailed me about 2 or 3 days before the trip, inviting me to a recital held the morning of the 28th. We would just meet up with the others in the afternoon, she said in her mail. I was a bit hesitant. Though, honestly, the fact that I had never attended a recital before was enough to pique my interest. I was just not too happy that I would need to get up early on a Saturday. Just the thought of it makes me cringe. I love Saturdays because I could get up at lunch, eat some, and then go back to bed. And, not only would the recital ruin my sleep regimen on a weekend, I also had to dress up for it. Rachel said “Sunday’s best” was okay. But still! To put it bluntly, I was very averse to go. If Rachel did not say she really really must attend and needs someone to accompany her, I would not have come. So, in the end, I yielded.

February 28, 2009. Mom woke me up *she always does*. The morning light was warm. It’s a good day to get up early, though part of me still wanted to curl up beneath my blanket and go back to slumberland. Rachel and Queenie picked me up at the house. They just had to make sure I’m coming *Rach always does*. Traffic was okay, but we were a few minutes late nevertheless. I think we missed the first 6 numbers. That’s perfectly fine since our sole reason -Rach’s sole reason- for coming was to see her friend perform, who was on the 1st half of the recital (which was scheduled to end, thankfully, right before lunch). I liked the number ‘Sakura’ (of Y. Yoco) . . . the only drawback was that the musician could be heard –clearly- sniffling whenever he pauses, which ruined the solo’s appeal to me. Anyhow, I did like the piece –some parts of it. In fact, I will be looking for a good record of Sakura (though one that does not include a runny nosed guitarist! :P). Next to Sakura, I enjoyed Concerto No. 5, 3rd Movement (of Seitz). I think that’s the number with the best violinist, imo. Well, I’m a music nOOb. But I sure can differentiate the awkward pauses from the real pauses in a piece. The short drum duet was good too (of R.M. Buggert). And the best one was the Jazz piece, 'Bluemoon' (arranged by Del Rosario --that’s what it said in the program). Rach’s friend was on the percussion of Bluemoon, which was also the finale for the recital’s 1st half. So that was that, and we’re off to Manila Zoo. . . But before that, I know Rach would be reading this so I want to be clear that I enjoyed the recital. Truly. And I appreciate her efforts to drag me out of the house as much as possible on Saturdays. ^^ *Rach, honto ni domo arigatou <3*

We went to PLM to get my sister. Then we met up the rest of our friends at SM Manila. We briefly had lunch and finally got to Manila Zoo around 3 PM, I think. I was not very keen in seeing Manila zoo again. I had been there twice during my fourth year in college --we had to shoot a children’s program for a project. And suffice to say that my memories of it were not so good. But then my mood changed after a while. It felt different going there for fun with friends, and not because of a schoolwork that had an impossible deadline. My sister, Botan, Ez, and I tried boating. We rented 2 boats; I was on the same one with my sister. Rowing was strenuous but we managed, I guess. Botan and Ez did not fare too well though. They kind of stopped when they got to the center of the pond and resorted to just chitchatting. Rach and the others went somewhere while the four of us were busy boating.

I had the most fun at the kiddie zoo where we could pet the animals, most of them. I had not the opportunity –thankfully – to visit this part of the zoo before, albeit it only took a small portion of the zoo. It would take probably a ten-fifteen minute stroll to round its whole area. But we had a splendid time. A black hog and a dwarf crocodile flanked the entrance; both of them lay on a wooden table on each side of the gate. We took lots of pictures with the hog, named - though I could be wrong - ‘Boojie’ (that’s what I heard the zookeeper call it). He’s just too adorable to ignore. And we took pictures with the croc too. At first, I was a bit scared even to do a timid pat on the croc, but then I noticed that its mouth was taped. It’s pitiful that way but what could I possibly do? He looked fine (yeah, it’s my apathetic self talking). Then, about twenty paces from Boojie and the croc were the tortoises. We each attempted to ride on one of them. But I could sense the tortoise’s annoyance as he kept inching forward whenever someone sat on him to pose for a picture. Next stop was the ostrich. Her feathers were light and fluffy. And she was very tame. She posed and even smiled (or at least it looked like she was). Hanna and a couple of others took turns on riding the ostrich (it was actually more like just sitting on it’s back for a few seconds). I wished I could too, but because I was feeling a little sick that day, I did not. Last stop were the birds and the snakes. Then we crossed the hanging bridge, which lead us back to the ostrich. The exit was the entrance as well, by the way. And before we finally made our way out, we took a couple of more pictures with Boojie and the croc.

*There's the adorable hog! He's a chubby little star :D*

*And there's the fluffy and friendliest ostrich*

Final stop in the itinerary was at the Korean Restaurant. We got there just in time for dinner. We had beef stew, kimchi soup, Sam Gyup Sal (grilled pork strips with lettuce), kimbab (Korean sushi), complete with the Korean meal side dishes. Oh, and we ordered a bottle of Soju too. You know, we were too exhausted that we did not even bother to take pictures and just started guzzling the food once they were served.

I can’t remember what I did when I got home. I might have attempted to watch an Arashi video before crashing to bed. Most probably, I fell asleep before the video ended...

And that concludes Hanna&Ces’ birthdays celebration report. *laughs*