Sigh...

gotta love it.

non-permanence

Monday, October 11, 2004

I'm back! I just spent a weekend from the home away from home. Nope. This isn't going to be one of those posts.. this is gonna be plain thoughts and rambling. I had so much fun this weekend. I couldn't believe it. Stepping into the Aranton house and smelling Tita's pancit blew me over the moon. It was so great stopping by Hartford to meet people. I really couldn't wait for that kinda scenario.. you know, sitting in the dorm and just chillin' with different kinds of people..hangin there felt like Save the Last Dance meet MTV. And then of course, was the long drive to Jersey.. we arrived at about 2:00 am, I thought I couldn't eat another bite but Tita's pancit was just this huge temptation.. and watching TFC (haha..Jasmine Trias is in the Philippines!) was just something we couldn't pass up.

Woke up the next day to catch Kuya in his party clothes the next morning..he arrived daw ng mga 6:30 so I just let him sleep for awhile. Garden State Mall still looked the same. But it's great shopping in Jersey knowing at the back of your mind that it's still way more expensive in Boston. (Never never NEVER go shopping here!) By the way, I DIDN'T buy anything... I just need to give spending a rest after the whole shopping month of August. Anyway, had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (I didn't know the Tequila Pasta tasted so good! And I sooo missed the Chicken BBQ Chop Salad) and went driving round New York City.

The Pier was just breathtaking. Literally. (What is with that word this weekend??) The lights of the city painted with the lights of the bridge by the river (Yeah.. I'm almost sure it was a river). Timesquare at night was timesquare at night. No matter how many times you've seen it lit on TV it's always BRIGHTER and BIGGER. MTV, TRL, and the ball.. yeah it was all there. Driving to that part of the city is no different from being in a brightly lit room in broad daylight. That's how bright it was, driving past it felt like the sun setting in a really enourmous pace. WOW. Nope, we didn't go clubbing. Maan, EXIT's line rode down two blocks! The 30 dollar entrance + the long line = 3 floors of your choice! Hip hop / Rnb, SALSA and Techno. MAAAAAN oh maaan. Yeah I could tell it was worth it, but we're just not up to doing the long line tonight.

The after house party got us lost round Jersey! It's so funny that no matter where you are in the world, a house party is always the same. Had the BEST Rum coke I'd ever had and met some pretty interesting folks. I still know shit about Poker, which they were playing that night (is it the same as Pusoy Dos? What's with the two cards and what's it have to do with the card laid by the dealer?) Oh well! I'll just stay on the lazy boy where I belong.. gotta have one of those someday! Free massages are hard to come by.

The highlight of this weekend of course.. is attending my first Baptist mass. Had to wake up mad early the next day ( I approximately had 4 hours of sleep!) to attend mass with the Arantons. It was exhilirating.. mostly singing praise songs and listening to some preachin'. Everyone knows everyone.. it was like a retreat. I can't believe they get to do it every Sunday. It makes you want to do more for the community, more for your family... generosity was at its peak. I've never enjoyed going to mass until then. I'm not saying I'm going to convert, but their religion highlights what the Catholic Church keeps on preaching they want people to be involved in. Community closeness, reaching out... it was great.

My friends usually talk about this creepy Christian thing. How everyone keeps calling each other sister and brother and the whole "Alive alive" experience. But there was none of that here. They welcomed everyone with open arms. No qualms. No pressure. They're just glad you're there and hoped you had a good time and learned something.

And I did learn a lot. I think it somehow highlighted my weekend.

A coupla hours away from Boston wasn't bad. It somehow opened my eyes to the fact that despite what I'm given, the world still has a lot to offer.

mades [ 6:07 PM ] 1 happy lost cabbages