My seventh year in this company. Can you believe it?! Can I believe it?
To think, I have attempted many many times to move to other companies. Apparently, God has other plans and I must say much much better plans.

Ironically, yesterday was exhausting because of some irritating emails. The firefighting at work still comes every so often. I arrive today with another email that had the potential to ruin yet another day.

Until…. two dozens of lovely white and orange roses were delivered to my desk.

Awww.. I could have received a whole lot more nasty emails on my anniversary day and it wouldn’t matter. My day was made.

Thanks Mr C.

If my father were alive and watching the movie that I recently watched, he would say “Kid stuff..” If my father were alive, he would liken the lead protagonist to the late Filipino action star FPJ who never seem to get shot while killing all his enemies.

I know this because those were the exact same thoughts in my head as I watched the movie “Taken”. For someone who grew up watching primetime English television shows or old FPJ movies with her father, I know.

The movie Taken was pure Hollywood. Ergo, unrealistic, pro American. He creates a mess in France and managed to leave the country scot-free. I read somewhere that it went number one in the box office on the week that it premiered in the US. I think I know why. Two words.

Liam Neeson.

I am not too keen on watching violent, noisy action movies. Those movies were the kind I loved to watch maybe ten years ago. But not in recent years. I agreed with Mr C when he suggested the movie because I am one of those silent fans of the great actor that is Liam Neeson. I agreed to watch the movie because, well if Mr C can stand two hours of “He’s Not Just That Into You”, I thought I’d return the favour. But let me dare say that my chick movie is a whole lot more realistic than Taken! Don’t you think?!

But see, I am a fan of this Oscar winning actor. He is known as a dramatic actor so seeing him portray a role that carries a gun and kills anyone that gets in the way was worth my time and money. (unless there he has other movie where he did carry a gun…that i didnt watch) But I guess that is why it was a hit.

And he was a convincing retired government secret agent. He is commanding, menacing and ala-FPJ invincible. And of course that voice.. that deep sounding voice makes him scarier. And his relentless devotion to his daughter—he nailed that character. His acting skills came through for him.

And after saying all these, the movie’s realism (or the lack thereof) is something I am choosing to ignore.

Broken strings by James Morrison. I like the sound of this guy’s voice. I have his other CD to prove it. I preferred that he sang this song solo but it is actually a duet with Nelly Furtado. Still, a good song.

A family get together, a Cloud 9 experience, special pre valentine dinner, a wedding, a play, a chick flick, a debutante’s lavish party..

I looked at my calendar and realized how looong the month of Feb has been. But I am not complaining. How can you, when these events are spent with people that have kept your days free from the doldrums?

The first weekend of Feb was my two sisters’ birthday treat for the entire family. They brought us to a buffet lunch at glorietta—all 15 of us! I think my three teenage nephews enjoyed the buffet most, what with their insane appetite. Afterwards, we went out to a nearby garden and took lots of pictures. Because it was quite early, my sister decided bring us home and bought ice cream. We all ended up watching a movie, A Night at the Museum, which was a perfect family movie. (thank God I bought a copy at Music One!)

Then there was another weekend dinner spent in Antipolo at Cloud 9, a luxurious chocolatey treat @ heavenly choco, a pre-valentine dinner courtesy of three lovely and generous couples who not only bought us dinner but also gave us a peek into their married lives. It was such a sweet gesture.

Then there was the trip to tutuban mall in divisoria with my friend ellen. I also was finally able to go to 168 and bought three lovely decorative items made of iron. Maybe I will take a picture of these items so you will know why I am totally in love with them. I also went to the garden wedding of Mr. C’s friends, Ruther and Lea. Then, Valentine’s day!

Finally, together with my three sisters, I took the 90 minute bus trip to Angeles, Pampanga to attend my niece, Tina’s 18th party. Other than Tina’s dad, Kuya Ning, we also had a chance to talk with my other older cousins, my aunt and other distant relatives. I also had fun watching Tina and her two siblings, sing and dance with their friends – with matching custom changes! Tina looked gorgeous in all three (yes three!) gowns she wore that night.

So why am I posting these? Because, man, I have missed blogging about so many events that deserve a space here that I want to make sure I don’t forget how fun this month has been. And maybe, I will post some of the previous months’ events.

Ho hum….promises..promises..promises….

My thoughtful but ever practical Mr C explained to me matter-of-factly while we were on our way to Megamall to drop by a fair before going back to Greenbelt Onstage to watch the play, ILYB.

The available flowers are not worth the price tag.

He has gone to flower shops before and has bought me flowers but on valentines day, in order to buy the really good flowers that he used to buy, he had to shell out some more cash. And so he decided not to buy.

So, how should a girl, on valentine’s day react?

……………

Well?

I wonder how many single (not married women with kids) will feel if they didn’t get flowers on V day from their significant others. Would they rather get pale looking bouquet of roses than not getting anything at all?

I am not sure how many of the female populace would share my sentiment but.. goodness me! I totally agree with Mr C!!

First because, I trust him and believe that he not just saying that as an excuse to well…save a few bucks.. Why? Because he gave me something else and second, I have had years of not having flowers on valentine’s day believe me, so it was totally fine. Instead, Mr C gave me this box of Royce chocolate staff. It was just too die for yummmmmy! I wanted soo much not to give a portion to my sisters at home but good thing I was feeling errr.. selfless at the time.. so (sigh) yes I gave some to them. It melts in your mouth and I promise you, you just sort of need a few seconds of silence with eyes closed, to take in the rich flavor. Yummy yummy yummmmy..

Mr C tells me that Royce is the better known brand than Sachi. That was the chocolate that we tried when we went to Heavenly Chocolates, a small restaurant in Roces Avenue, Quezon City. It carries Sachi Nama Chocolates brand which is similar to the Royce Nama chocolates that Mr. C gave me.

Which is the better tasting brand?

Buy me one of each and I will find out for you.

**This entry should have been posted on Feb15**

First it was the characters’ names – a play on a classic Jane Austen novel. Second, it was a musical .. a musical comedic love story.. Third, it was a nice play to watch on the day of hearts. So Valentine’s day, Mr C brought me to Repertory Philippines’ latest offering – I Love You Because….

The play is set in NYC and revolves around two brothers, Jeff and Austin Benet and best friends Marcy Fitzwilliams and Diana Bingley… familiar names huh?

It tells of how one person’s desire to win a lost love can lead to realizations and discoveries about himself. It tells of how two different people, an intelligent woman with a simple minded man or a highly organized greeting card writer with a spontaneous flaky photographer — can create the perfect romance.

The music lover that I am, of course I had my favourite picks in the repertoire. I liked the song – Oh what a difference… I had to take a mental note of its most important line – “oh what a difference a little indifference makes..” hmmm…

The other one that really made me laugh was the Actuary song where Diana formed a permutation of how long you can recover from a broken relationship. Each factor is plugged into the formula – like how long you were together, or who broke up with whom or how many relationships you had prior to the latest. She will even put in a bitterness factor.. The lady who played Diana was brilliant in this number!

Marcy’s ‘Not now” which she sang to Austin was beautiful too. I have to say that Marcy, played by Caisa Borromeo was the stand out. It is quite obvious that hers was a trained voice. That is not to say that the others didn’t do well. You just wouldn’t be able to ignore Caisa. I also loved the third guy in the play, who played the miscellaneous parts, Onyl Torres. I loved his Chinese take out guy part!

Of course, there is the final song — I love you because… which tells us I love you anyway isn’t enough… I liked the line that says… “I love you because you are not the guy I dreamed of.” It brought home the message that loving someone means letting go of some fairy tale ideas of a prince charming and of romance. It reminded me that loving someone means knowing your partner’s faults but realizing you wouldn’t have him/her any other way. Hmmm.. So “wouldn’t have him any other way” is like a line from some chic flick. Let me paraphrase that for those whose who squirmed… Loving someone means knowing your partner’s faults but realizing that you are willing to compromise, willing to overlook some things and willing to focus on what you have special together. There! Sounds better..

The play still has a few more weekends left at Onstage Greenbelt 1..so if you are into this, go check it out.

A little girl comes crying to her mother when a little boy said awful things to her. What did mommy say?

Honey, he said those things to you because he likes you and he just doesn’t want to let you know..

The little girl’s confused look was perfect. I had to laugh.

Just a few minutes into the movie and I knew my recent trip to the movie house to watch He Is Just Not That Into You would be fun.

I am inclined to agree that even at a young age, girls are sometimes brainwashed into thinking that when a guy hurts you or behaves like a umm ..jerk, it could mean likes you but just doesn’t want you find out. Oh woman, what have they done to your psyche?

I loved the following scenes where women from different cultures around the world would talk about men and you realize that we all have that universal dilemma – we have no idea when to stop hoping that he is Mr Right when all signals point to him as Mr Wrong. I find it both comforting and ..disturbing.

The movie is based on the best selling book of Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo which hopes to help women see the light in the dating game. It wants to help single women and men see things as they are, not how they want them to be.

Women just like to weave stories conveniently picked out from the little events and often innocent gestures of men, to come up with convincing conclusions. We play on assumptions – that is, we assume things based on another string of assumptions!

I also became aware that yeah–we always want to protect the feelings of a friend instead of giving her a much needed thump on the head for a reality check. I wonder why we do that? Why are we not wired to tell it like it is. Even the most brutally frank girl friend would still hesitate to tell her friend “Girl, wake up. He doesn’t like you that much!” Being hopeful is one thing but having illusions is another. We always think that a guy who has a bad “track record” will suddenly be a changed man because of you. Ahhh how romantic but .. We usually think (especially us Pinays) a series of dates will soon translate to a romantic love affair.

But we can’t help it, can we? We always want to hope that we are the exception, not the rule. That with us, it will be different.

The movie has the right mix of laughter, romance, unrequited love and believe it or not, unpredictability. For a chick flick that is rare! I couldn’t guess which characters would get the “happy” ending.

Undoubtedly, I enjoyed the subplot played out by the characters of Gigi and Alex the most. From their scenes, you’d get the basic message that the movie wants to send out – that if a guy is into you, he will make it known. That a guy’s sweet words may just be …sweet words. That he may just want to hang out, spend time, talk. That he may just want to know you for “knowing’s” sake.

Until then, best for women to loosen up, not to put too much into whatever a guy is doing and saying because you have no idea if he is doing and saying those things to someone else! But of course, we’d like to think that.. we are the exception, right?

It further cements what had been told to me many, many times by loving, well meaning male friends of mine.. That if a guy likes you… I mean really likes you, he will do all he can to see you, call you and ask you out. He will not be vague about it. He will be brave. He will ask you out just because…. In the meantime, best to leave behind what one very dear male friend once told me — “the cinderella syndrome.”

So is he or isn’t he? You will never know until (if he will..!) he lets you know..