Myke's (Recent) Mis-Adventures Part 2

     Ready to be bored even more?  Show Me Your Look Today is back for the conclusion of my own mis-adventures.  Let's get it on!  ☺

Me at Dads.  Read on to find out the whole story...

     Two weeks after I got back here in Manila, one of my really nice friends, Elle, texted to see what's up.  Do you know when she last checked on me? More than a year ago!  Haha!  Good thing I did not change my mobile number.  I've been using the same Smart number since my Globe was snatched back in 2005.  Was able to revive my Globe number twice, but eventually lost it -- twice too.  My mobile number now is actually my mom's which I borrowed and it got stucked since it's the number which I seem not to lose.  Going back, we arranged to meet on her rest day which was a Sunday.

I took this picture of Elle last 2008 at MOA when we decided to hang out after work with our friends.  Ellie, Liam, Lee and a friend whom I featured last year, James, were with us that time.

     Elle is from Zamboanga and it was year 2008 when she moved here in Manila to work.  Elle is now a team leader in one of the BPO accounts in Accenture.  She's unbelievably kind, loyal, and seems to exhibit a meek personality but you know deep down that she's made of strong stuff.  She's someone who knows what her strengths are and has learned to accept (as well as work on) her weaknesses.  She appreciates you for who you are and definitely a true friend through the good times and the bad times.  She's one of my few friends who will stay being my friend even if we tread on separate lives and we rarely communicate.

     Way back when we hang out almost every week, we usually just eat some place and then devour half a gallon of our favorite ice cream at the mall's food court.  That Sunday, we visited one of our usual hang outs -- Dads. 

     Since I got back to the city, I've been to Dads at least three times. I might as well talk about it here in this post. LOL!

     The Dads that I usually frequent to is at 4th Floor in Mega Mall.  They have merienda buffet from 3-5 pm everyday for only P169.00 and their food has definitely improved since Elle and I have last visited the place 2 years ago.

This is how our table looked like.  The buko-pandan shake,
our favorite thirst quencher, has not yet arrived.

     Dads Ultimate Merienda Buffet includes:  Pasta (spaghetti and carbonara), pansit (palabok and bijon), fresh lumpia and fried lumpia, lugaw, tokwa't baboy, biko (sweetened rice cake), toron (banana fritter), camote-cue, palitaw (rice dumplings), puto (rice muffin), dinuguan, ginataang halo-halo and chocolate cake.  They have recently added tacos, shawarma, corn dog, burgers, and french fries (which come in three flavors: cheese, sour cream and plain).  They also have mami, siopao and my personal favorites -- siomai (with lots of chilli oil) and fried siomai.  You gotta try their cream puffs too, they're awesome!

     By the way, I've learned from my parents to give 10% of the total bill as a tip.  But if the one assigned to our table is alert and really accommodating, I give more.

     After we left Dads at 5pm, I accompanied Elle to buy some stuff at the mall.  Then we spent the rest of the evening catching up on each other's whereabouts at Starbucks.  The next day, I was truly touched when Elle posted this picture on her Facebook wall...

  And with the picture, Elle said (July 31, 2011):

  

A long, lost friend is one of life's best finds.  I spent all of yesterday's afternoon with that one person who inspired me and showed me that beauty can be more than just skin-deep.  Michael Lotino Montalban convinced me that it is possible to be both beautiful and kind.☺

     Thank you Elle!  Thank you for the nice words -- I will take that both as a compliment and as a reminder to be nice and to strive to be nicer.  You know how I look up to you as one of life's realistic examples of humility and kindness.  I only mirror HOW my friends are to me.

     The next Sunday (August 7, 2011), after I attended mass at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord (at the Atrium in Mega Mall), I went on to meet TL Nielsen (I mentioned him on Part 1 of this post) and Rye.  Rye became friends with TL nielsen when Rye was an operations manager at Sykes.  Rye is now studying to become a chef and has transferred to a new company.  Anyway, they waited for me at Shangri-la and then we decided to watch 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' in Eastwood.

At the escalator with TL and Rye -- on our way down after buying the tickets...

     After we bought our tickets, we went to have some pasta at Fazoli's.  Their unlimited garlic bread is addicting and I regretted ordering their pasta sampler because it made me so full.  After Fazoli's, we went out the building to while away the time before the 8pm movie screening.  To my surprise there were people scurrying and curious about something.  I thought they were fans waiting for me!  LOL!  As it turned out, Nora Aunor -- the country's movie superstar -- was there that night to visit her star in the Walk of Fame.  I think I saw a bit of her.  If it was really her, I'm not so sure. ☺

     The movie?  'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is a fusion of action and drama. There's (the expected) cool action sequences (thanks for the effective special fx) -- and a few tender moments to touch the heart.  Btw Caesar (the ape) was so effective in his role that when we decided to have a drink after the movie, we made the Starbucks barista call out: 'Black Sesame Green Tea Frap for Caesar!'  Haha!

     Oh, I forgot to tell you -- on my way out after hearing mass, someone twitted me that he saw me on the escalators of Mega Mall.  Then 3 days after, someone sent me a DM on Twitter that he saw me in Eastwood, and he said: 'You're just an ordinary person with extraordinary skills.' And I replied - 'why, were you expecting wings or tails?'  Of course I am an ordinary person.  What are you guys expecting?  Pfftt!

     The next Sunday (August 14, 2011) -- I introduced TL to Dads Ultimate merienda buffet.  Just check out how much food he brought to our table!

After 30 minutes of eating, TL was already complaining.  Haha

Do you ever wonder how I stay lean and still can finish all that food? LOL!

Do you think the girl behind is kinda mad at us?  Too bad Glenn wasn't
able to join us that day.

     After the merienda eat-all-you-can, I invited TL to join me hear the Sunday mass.  He fell asleep at one point during the service. Gosh!

We stood in line along with these throngs of people while we wait for the 6:30 pm mass.

Then we went to Shangri-la to get our usual dosage of caffeine at Starbucks.

     I went to my dentist August 17 for my monthly treatment.  After the usual stuff, I went to the nearby mall to wait for my good friend Yvette Yzon.  I was not able to attend her post-birthday party when she got back to the country so I insisted that we have a party just the two of us.  Yeheyyy!

     We had dinner at Super Bowl of China at the Atrium in Mega Mall.  Here are some of our photos while we catch up on things...

We make it a point to take pictures whenever we hang out together.

Making faces at the mirror while waiting for our order...

I kinda miss hanging out with her.  Too bad she's busy lately...

     August 21, 2011 -- on my way to the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord, I realized that the escalators at the Atrium were blocked by security officers and then I heard President Ninoy giving out a speech of some kind. (I Googled it while writing this entry and found out that he was there because he opened a photo exhibit honoring the heroism of his father, Senator Ninoy Aquino Jr.) I saw his face too at the big LCD screen when I peeked thru the multitude of people. No choice, so I took the stairs which was on the other side. I was already late for the 5pm mass and tho too early for the next one, my good friend Yvette was already sending me nasty BBM messages asking where the hell I am. OK, not nasty. She was just asking where I am.

     After the mass, I thought it was a good idea to watch a movie so we went to the 3rd floor of SM Mega A to check out what films we haven't seen yet. Yvette and myself have seen many movies recently since we both got here in Manila. Yvette just came from Italy from her work as the official photographer of Dracula 3D (soon to be released worldwide) and I just came back from the longgg vacation I had in my hometown. Unfortunately, of all the movies being shown from Cinema 1 to 12 at Mega Mall, the only movie she has not seen yet is Crazy Stupid Love.  We took the 9:45pm time for Crazy Stupid Love at Cinema 6. We still have an hour to burn so Yvette decided that we grab a bite at Mexicali.

     While eating, we just talked about stuff like twitter and her charity dinner on October with Twitter friends for her two charity programs scheduled in December.  We also talked about posers on Twitter. What in the name of Hercules are posers anyway? Are they the ones who do -- poses? o_O

     By the way, I ordered Chilli beef burger with cheese but they forgot to put on the cheese. So I took some cheese from Yvette's burritos. We complained about it afterwards so they can correct the bill.  We were the last customers to leave the restaurant.

     At 9:30pm, we were on our way back to the cinema. Here we go!

This movie was lots of fun.  It borders to formula but it's a well-made guilty pleasure.
The cast (Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon and Julian Moore)
were all fantastic!

     Hey, do you know that some SM cinemas are already sporting those comfy deluxe lazy boy seats?  Check 'em out!  They are situated in front near the screen.  It was surprisingly comfortable watching the movie at such a distance.  You have a panoramic view of the screen and seated comfortably too.

Check out the comfy lazy boy couches at some SM Cinemas...

     Then on my brother's off from work, August 26, 2011, we decided to pig out at Dads (again).  Hannah was not able to join us.  The three of us (myself, Hannah and Jeb) seldom hang out lately coz our schedules do not often meet.  Jeb has not been to Dads recently and when he saw my pictures, he got jealous.  Here's Jeb's photo that day.  Mine was the opening photo.

We weren't so hungry, LOL!  Our favorite when visiting Dads merienda buffet are
siomai, and the cream puffs. 

     We finished early so Jeb and I walked around a bit at the mall.  We were able to see the photo exhibit honoring our hero Ninoy Aquino Jr. at the the Atrium.  This is the same photo exhibit which I mentioned I saw the Sunday before when I was on my way to the chapel.

Ninoy: 'The Filipino is worth dying for.'

We went around to read some cool stuff about Ninoy and the life that he had. 

We also saw some cool Ninoy paintings that are for sale.  I specially liked this one.

I guess that's all for now folks!  Yeah I know, so what, right?  Haha!

Well, THREE THINGS:

1)  Dads Ultimate Merienda Buffet is good food.  It's affordable and home for some truly awesome Pinoy snacks.  Whether you're on a budget or not, this is one place you surely need to check out.

2)  Ninoy is a hero.  We should honor his memory but trying our best to always do the right thing.  As I've said on my twit before, 
 

People who are honest and with true strength of character are rare these days.  To become one, it does not really call for a nice family background, excellent education, or awesome neighborhood.  All it takes is heart that's true -- a heart which chooses to do right thing no matter how hard it is to do so.

And finally:

3)  In this lifetime, seldom will me meet friends who will stay as our friends even with the passage of time.  Indeed, TIME is the only testament how strong a friendship can become.  Yeah, time does not matter -- I've said this once before:

What matters are the lessons we will learn from the friendship and, most definitely, the new adventures we will share with them.

     I just need to add somehow that:

It is with TIME that friendship
evolves and matures.

     And that kind of maturity is essential for our growth as individuals and it is with how we deal with our friends (and other people who matters) that we shape our character.

     Friends help us realize many things that we may not be able to figure out on our own.  And just like any other relationship, friendship is a mutual thing.  Takes two to tango. Give and take without really minding the give and take rule.  Meaning -- it's supposed to be 'give and take' but we shouldn't count on how many gives or takes we've had.  I'm sure you know what I mean.

     That's all folks!  See you on my next post!

     Leave a comment, it surely is appreciated!

*Photos of Elle Reyes, Nelson Danes Panganiban and Yvette Yzon are used with permission.