The Agave Bunch.

Monday night was the bomb! Huge dinner at Agave High Street with Nuffies; it was really crazy, food never stopping coming in and I stuffed myself accordingly. Ang mag-diet, panget! And I… I felt like a pig.

Ze Ferst Appetizor.

Me and my wengers.

Ze Plattor.

We then brought Tim and Ming to Mag:net Cafe High Street for the Rockeoke Night with Oven Toaster. It had all the elements of fun, and Mag:net Cafe certainly didn’t disappoint! Great place, great music, and great people to be with that night. It was damned awesome!

Video blog call: Marcelle, Tim, Ming, Hannah, Vince, Patty, Rendhl, Maki, Carlos, Jenny, and Mica. With performances from almost everyone! Alcohol is king!

What’s even better is that I forgot a lot of things that happened that night come morning, and it was a good thing I drunk-blogged (on the wrong blog, by the way). It helped me remember all the fun we had the night before!

The Mag:net Bunch.

Thanks to everyone who joined us and see you again (hopefully) next week!

Friday night, I worked at the office until around 10PM, and just about when I was ready to pack up and go home, Cyprus texted and told me that they were on their way to Mag:net Cafe (just across the office). He was just asking for booze tips, but you guys know me; I didn’t just answer his question, I also kind of crashed their party and joined them for a round of drinks. Mag:net was still buzzing because of the Comelec event (which I failed to attend on time, but yeah, I was there, late and unregistered).

Then I bumped into Patty and her friend Chiara downstairs Mag:net; I got the impression that they were desperately in need of alcohol so I thought I might as well take them upstairs for booze. So I did. When I got back, Cyprus and his troupe decided they wanted to change bars; I opted to stay behind. After another round, we traded Mag:net Cafe for Saguijo (damn it, I missed that place).

This is where you get your booze, stupid.

I didn’t know who were playing, save for Pinikpikan (which I found out that Patty and Chiara were big fans of, so much that they were willing to dance right in the middle of a Brazilian model crowd just to groove to the band’s music). I like the band, but I wasn’t really in the mood for the music. I was, though, in the mood to play around a bit with camera. Damn right.

Pinikpikan in action; Patty and Chiara were in action, too, somewhere in front of everyone.

Saturday morning was spent catching up on sleep. I had to leave by early afternoon to check out the PLDT MyDSL Ultra Broadband Blowout (at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay), which I found was a really cool event with all the laptop and desktop sales; again, I was in the mood to shoot photos and so I did, thanks to the timely fashion show by Mossimo (nope, am not interested in whatever outrageous fashion they had to show, but I am interested in taking photos of pretty models, yeah).

DJ Nathan J of Wave 891 and Iwa Moto were at the PLDT MyDSL event.

I almost bought a damned Lenovo, but I was able to hold on to my cash, at least for one more day. Why?

Because Sunday was spent back in Pasay City, this time at the World Trade Center for CEL Manila 2009. I think I saw a familiar face there (flashback to last year’s CEL Manila and our Hewlett-Packard booth), but then again, it might just be my imagination. Anyway, I was there primarily to attend the iBlog Mini Event; damned schedule screwed with my Pacquiao-Cotto plans and for the first time ever, I was forced to tune in to a boxing match via Super Radyo DZBB (at least it was live and uninterrupted, so it was cool).

iBlog Mini was a pocket event based on the popular iBlog event mounted yearly at the UP Diliman College of Law. Yes, I attended the most recent iBlog conference and the program yesterday afternoon was a simplified version of the most important (and basic) topics covered by its bigger, more detailed sister event. Still, it was a nice little gathering and I think the event managed to entice would-be and help out newbie bloggers who were there and were all ears for the speakers.

The iBlog Mini @ CEL Manila 2009 crowd.

After the event, I decided to walk around and see what else was there to see at the trade show, and I kind of splurged again because I really wanted a high-capacity MP3 player and I thought I really wanted that 160GB iPod Classic. The price really dropped just for the exhibit and I realized that I’ll be getting one for myself anyway this Christmas so I might as well buy one now. So I did. (Sorry, Blackberry. I was just flirting with you.)

I also got to see nice cars on display (just cars, no booties). Nice pimping, but I think I still want that Suzuki Hayabusa (even bare) over any of the cars exhibited. Which reminds me, my mom told me something yesterday morning when I said I was planning to buy a motorcycle this week: “Hindi puwede, mamamatay ka. (You can’t, you’ll die.)”

Because red's supposed to be really sexy.

I got out of CEL Manila 2009 around 5PM, and I thought that since I was already in Manila, I might as well go to Roxas Boulevard to view the sunset (and take a shitload of photos in the process) by Manila Bay. It was my first time trying to take photos there and there was a group of Canon-armed photographers (I think they’re students) who settled right next to where I was shooting and started snapping photos of the sunset. Damn the distractions, but at least I know I picked a good spot to take photos from.

Manila Bay.

My final weekend stop was Pizza Hut Bistro (after debating on whether or not I’d be splurging at Il Pirata for dinner) for my first Spaghetti Journal entry this week. It’s my second to the last stop before I finish covering all the cheaper spaghetti joints at Fort Bonifacio and Eastwood. Next week’s going to be such a pain in the wallet, I just know it.

Pizza Hut Bistro's Spaghetti Bolognese with Meatballs: Nom.

I guess my weekend was eventful, but hey, I slept a lot when I should be catching up on fun, so maybe I’ll try to do better next week?

Side note: I tricked my mom into believing I’m actually dating Iwa. “Pero maraming boypren ‘yun! (But she has a lot of boyfriends!)” she exclaimed. Oh, come on. She’s so gullible.

Narda's back (at least for one night)!

Other acts that played last night were Taken by Cars, Kate Torralba, and U-2 Evil-0 (fronted by Quark Henares and Saab Magalona).

Taken by Cars.

U-2 Evil-0 with Quark Henares and Saab Magalona on vocals.

I only needed to hear one song from Narda. And they played it. “Suwerte.” The song brought a wave of memories from my college years: the in-campus gigs, the Cheesecake of the Day segment on my old blog, small-talking about how Katwo and Sacha Chua looked a bit like each other, among other things. Narda, along with the Happy Meals and the Itchyworms, was one of my favorite bands from school. It was a real joy to hear them play again.

Katwo: cute, as always.

And for a cause, too. By the end of the night, I was surprised to see a lot of bags lined up right by the registration booth. Bags of donations for the victims of the recent flood.

Heart-warming, and off-the-hook nostalgia. What more can I ask for? It was the perfect month-ender.

(Photos from last night all posted here.)

What we didn’t expect were:

1. Barbie Almalbis. There is a regular church event at Mag:net Cafe High Street, and we chanced upon it because we got there about an hour too early. Barbie Almalbis performed there, and I considered it a bonus for being there early that we got to watch her.

Barbie.

2. Gary Valenciano. We didn’t expect him to be there, because we didn’t know the night was also in celebration of his birthday. For Php 150, it was well worth the admission; getting photos taken with Mr. Pure Energy and being able to chat with him even for a bit are not things you get when you pay hundreds just to watch him in a real concert.

Sarah, Gary, Marcelle.

3. Celebrities. Then there’s the celebrity presence of Jericho Rosales, Monica Yncierto, and other ones I probably didn’t even notice because my eyes were glued to the stage. That’s nice to have, but the evening was so packed with happenings left and right that you wouldn’t even have time to look around for recognizable faces.

Marcelle, Sarah, Jericho.

Then there were the bands:

Kat (finally).

Jugs and Jazz.

Gosh and Yael.

Overall, a great night. Well worth the effort, well worth staying up late for. From start to finish, the energy was high, and that’s just what’s expected: after all, we’re talking about Gary V’s night here.

With that, I leave you with this video from last night, Gary performing Ayt! with Sponge Cola:

Complete photo set posted here.

This is what I love about working from home.

Beer.

So I don’t mind, either way’s fine with me. It’s just that should you discover that I’m drinking while working at home, it probably means that I’m low on funds and I’m relying on my stock of drinks for nourishment.

Empty.

First time watching improvisational comedy last night at Mag:net Cafe High Street, where S.P.I.T. (short for: Silly People’s Improv Theater) had a free show (not so “free,” as we ordered drinks and Bagnet Mag:net). Pretty much everything I’m aware of in the local comedy scene is thanks to my colleague, Marcelle, including this one.

Si Lolo.

Maliksi, Gabe.

Simply put, last night was like watching Whose Line is It Anyway? The group ran several segments and games with a predesigned flow, but the theme and the jokes depend on spontaneous audience input. I think you really have to watch them to see how it works.

Hindi ama ni Bogart: "Ok lang pala nung minsan ko siyang kinalabit: hindi ko pala siya anak."

The Oracle.

It was a fun night, having watched something else for a change. I’ve posted more pictures here.