Hanging out with a few of the people who make life heaven...

The latter part of the week and the weekend was spent with friends old and new. And it turned out to be a fun four days of hanging out with people.

Thursday night I hung out with Tey, Tauffer, Allyn and their friend Kenny. We met up at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Convergys because there was some kind of relationship emergency with one of the people present. It was my first time to hang out at CBTL Convergys and it's an interesting place, I must say. Must hang out there more often. Hahaha! Anyway, from CBTL, Kenny and Tauffer brought us to a restaurant/bar in Pasong Tamo called Chunky Boy's at the Orient Garden. Don't be fooled by the name. It's a bit teasing but I tell you it is quite the opposite. Now that the OT bar in Valero closed (Waaah!!!), Chunky Boy's seems like a good substitute for cheap beer and food. Hehehe! (Check out their Multiply site -- http://chunkyboysresto.multiply.com -- and you be the judge.)

Friday afternoon, I met up with Jimmy who was flying back to LA the following day. Jimmy and I have already "met" but that was our first time that we met in person. I wrote about Jimmy's co-worker, FilAm writer Noel Alumit, and that was how he and I sort of met. Fast forward to 2008, I found Jimmy on Facebook and added him as a friend. Late last year, he mentioned that he was flying home to the Philippines and I happily volunteered to help him with stuff that he needed (hotel accommodation, or itinerary). Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet when he arrived because the flight that he took had an immediate connecting flight to Manila. Ergo, he didn't have the time to stay in Manila.

But I'm really glad because we got to meet last Friday. I took a half-day leave from work, and met with Jimmy at the Mall of Asia. We just hung out at Cafe Breton for a couple of hours talking about Manila and LA and life. I had a really good time. I haven't been seeing much of the barkadings lately so gettinng together with Jimmy somehow sort of connected me again to that life I have not been having.

After hanging out with Jimmy, I met up with the office gang and we headed to Zong at the Fort to meet with former colleague Rej. She was flying back to Singapore the following day as well and that was the only time to meet up with her. It's always such a joy meeting Rej because she's fun and smart and a really happy person. I didn't get to work with her, but when we met, I knew that she was going to be a good friend. And that's exactly what happened. During my visit to SG late last year, we got to hang out and chat as if we've known each other for awhile.

Saturday, I needed to get out of the city and I'm glad that two friends from Magsaysay, May and Shy, were kind enough to go with me even though it was a super last minute invite. I woke up at 8AM and I messaged them asking if they wanted to go to the Nike/Adidas/etc outlet store in Sta. Rosa. Thankfully, I managed to get them both to say yes. I really needed that. We drove to Sta. Rosa and had lunch at Poquito Mas and just walked around Paseo de Sta. Rosa for awhile, before heading back to Manila. What I thought was going to be just a short trip turned out to be quite a long one and boy, I'm really happy!

I was supposed to join Edsel and the others at the Bed gimik, but I missed that. Augh!!! Next time. Seriously, I think it's about time that I put myself out there. I've been complaining about being disconnected and I guess this is one way of getting to know the scene again. Good luck!

Yesterday evening I met up with two girls I haven't seen for the longest time and who are also about to leave. Oh my gosh, what is happening?! Everyone's leaving. It's so sad. Is it time? Hehehe! Charmy and Kendi are two of my oldest friends. We go way back to our UP Manila days and though I hardly see these girls, I know they're trusted friends and I love them so much. We all met up in Makati, and had dinner and yosi and just caught up with each other. Charmy is leaving this Friday for the US, and who knows when she'll be back?! Kendi, on the other hand, will also leave (also for the US) sometime in April or maybe earlier and again, who knows when she'll be back?! I'm really going to miss both of them. Our other two friends have also been "absent." Eden, who is in Dubai, is MIA for the longest time and Leah, who is in Manila, is somewhere. I have a feeling though that I'll be seeing Leah very soon. So that's good.

Reading about this now, it was a good weekend, huh?! Thank heavens for friends.