So Sofitel

Last December 29, a day after my 18th birthday, we were invited to go to the party of one of my father’s relatives. But there was a conflict with my schedule. I was supposed to meet some random people and I had to create an alibi just so I won’t attend the effing meeting. I didn’t want to see these people and I didn’t like to spoil the fun of my holiday vacation which has officially ended with going back to school today so I didn’t meet them. And hey, I cannot afford to miss the opportunity to go and eat in a very extravagant and luxurious hotel: Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.

Even though I hate socializing, and I’m not even close to the person who celebrated her birthday1 All I know is that I’m blood-related to the person who turned 72 last year. Yes, she’s 54 years older than I2. And that she’s my father’s first cousin. Oh boy, I wasn’t disappointed with going with my family to Manila, moreover, I felt delighted because I wasn’t able to see those freaking people I was supposed to meet. No regrets at all.

When we got there, we were told that we can get whatever we want from the buffet tables which when placed parallel on their ends, they would make a very long buffet table with so many choices to choose from and we can go back to the buffet tables and get sumptuous foods as many times as we want. There were Ebi Tempuras which is my favorite (but the sauce didn’t taste good. Tokyo Tokyo’s sauce is better), different kinds of sushis, pizzas, heaps of rice, cheese that tastes weird, Chinese noodles, crabs and other seafoods that I don’t know if they’re cooked and were displayed with so many ice around them, steaks that were freshly grilled, salads, breads that looked as hard as stone, and other foods that I can’t remember anymore. Oh, of course, there were desserts. There were chocolate fountains, fruits, cakes, ice creams (there was a Pistachio flavored ice cream but what I wanted was a Jasmine flavored ice cream which they didn’t have), crepes, gummy bears, and other mouthwatering and appetizing deserts that would make you diabetic if you would taste every single dessert that they have. I may not sound convincing that most of the foods were delicious, I even made negative comments, but then, it maybe just me, I’m not a food critique at all.

Here are some photos that I and my sister took on that day:

SofitelIce CreamSpiralMake me Some Ice, Baby!

We were not able to take as many photos of the buffet tables as we wanted because it was not comfortable taking photos while there were so many people getting their food from them.

And after we had our very delicious lunch, we went outside to the pool section of the hotel. No, we didn’t swim, it was just that the scenery was beautiful. Manila Bay was at sight but there were trash floating on the ocean. We were also able to see Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in the country, from far away. I thought we were going there, but I was wrong. On the other hand, we went to TriNoma and SM North Edsa after the party. I’ll talk more about our trips to these two malls on my next update, but for now, I leave you with my two photos.

I can’t believe this! I’m posting my photos here. Haha.

Crumpled MTV Star
MTV’s Next Star. I edited this in Adobe Photoshop CS2 to create that crumpled look. This also serves as my current wallpaper. But of course, I’m not MTV’s next star. Haha.

Over There!
Look, Point and Shoot! We had to shoot as many as 10 photos while I was on this pose to get the perfect shot. In the end, I chose the first photo my sister took. Now, I need to update my avatars.

Lol. Of course, it doesn’t mean that I said that I posted my photos, I would be publishing photos with my beaming smile. Well, my back would suffice for now. I have the right to protect my true identity. :) ‘Till next time guys!

  1. Oh, I’m not a gatecrasher, puhlease. []
  2. Actually, she was also born on the 28th but she decided to have her birthday party on the 29th. []

15 Comments

One Time, Big Time

Seriously, I didn’t plan anything for my 18th birthday today. I just let the day unfold in front of my eyes, and yes, I enjoyed my birthday.

Earlier this day, I went to hear mass. The priest’s homily was about protecting the sanctity of life. He talked about how euthanasia and abortion removes the dignity of a person. You see, today is the Feast of the Holy Inocents. Upon hearing the news that Jesus was born, King Herod gave orders to kill all males aged two years and below. So you see the conection of the gospel and the homily, eh? Hmm… this is where Niño (popularly known as Talamasca) got his name who also celebrates his birthday today!

*****

As my high school friends lurves anything that is “on the spot,” I only invited them this morning. Lol. Luckily, five of them turned up. Some of them were shocked because they know that I’m kuripot1. Lol. Well, maybe I’ll talk about that in another entry. We met at SM City Pampanga at around noon, but two of my friends can’t get as soon as possible there and my friends that were already with me were already hungry so we decided to eat. I treated them in Chef d’ Angelo. I love their jumbo-sized chickens and pizzas. Delicious! Haha.

We had a good time talking about our high school memories like Intramural,
a particular speech choir presentation2, how we hated our valedictorian (I won’t comment about this… haha), press-cons, and our school’s success in the recently concluded Sinukwan Festival.

By the time that we were done with our lunch, our other friends were not yet there so we decided to roam around the mall. And oh, according to a billboard seen here in Pampanga, it’s the longest mall in the country. Hmm… so it’s longer than Mall of Asia? Interesting. After a few minutes, the people that we were waiting for turned up at last.

We then went to Robinson Starmills to watch a flick. As it’s still the Metro Manila Film Festival today, there were no films from other countries. We decided to watch Sakal, Sakali, Saklolo of Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo. Compared to other Filipino movies, this movie is really good. Yes, I have written in one of my entries that most Filipino movies are corny, but this one is an exemption. This one is unique and it has its originality. Well, I won’t talk more about it because I don’t want to spoil it for you!

There are other things that I want to write here, but I think this is enough for now. To everyone who greeted me a Happy Birthday, thank you very much!

PS: I’ll be in Manila tomorrow and hopefully, Mall of Asia. But I need to get back here in Pampanga by 6PM because I want to attend one of my high school friend’s party. It’ll be an overnight party and they even own a resort… this is exciting!

  1. The nearest English translation of this word that I know is extremely thrifty []
  2. The piece was written in Tagalog by the way. []

9 Comments