Curry, anyone?

Tried my hand at Chicken Curry this time, and it was EXCELLENT! :D (Sorry ha, mababa standards ko eh. :P)

Now that I've gotten my cooking groove back, what's next on the menu? Hmm... :P

Back to basics

Got a much-needed morale boost after meeting with the brotherhood again. :D Man, that was a long time coming.. As I recall, the last time I scheduled a meet, Wesley was still preoccupied with his "project", Ced didn't have a kid yet, and I haven't undergone pre-residency at CSMC yet.

As usual, we weren't complete, and we didn't have a camera handy again either. :P Despite this, it was loads of fun seeing the guys together again, and is a testament to the strong ties of friendship we forged as kids.

It's just amazing how good friends, despite not having seen each other for years, are able to just pick up where they left off when they last saw each other. :D

:|

Went to the baptism of my first-ever godchild yesterday. It was a real honor that my good buddy Ced chose me to be his kumpare. :D Oh, and it was great to see that his folks were happy to see me as well after so long. I guess childhood friends are the best, especially if their folks know you as well 

After the baptism, there was the usual picture taking with the ninongs/ninangs, etc.. I realized that I was having trouble smiling, not due to some motor defect, but I felt that I was devoid of happiness for some reason. I just wasn't that happy.. As I munched on the thought while waiting for the mass later on, I realized that I never felt so empty in my entire life.. I find it more difficult now to find happiness in the little things, which normally makes my life run a little smoother and makes things seem a bit more bearable. To put things in perspective, I remember something the then-incoming Chief Cardiology Fellow Dr. Angie Anacleto told me: "You used to be such a Jolly person, Bong.. Anong nangyari sayo?.." For the first time in so long, I was at a loss for words to explain how I felt..

A part of me wants to explain away by saying that I left my pleasant demeanor behind in Cardinal.. but it feels as though I've already been drained long before I even left..

Sigh..

Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old..

Got this from http://iwastetoomuchtimeatwork.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-dont-do-this-all-time.html

It was too good to pass up. :P

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Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old..

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know"

feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in'

examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

- I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this.

It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room.

Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?

Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

-It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself.

There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

Shoot-em-up

I just came from the "old school", having been given the opportunity to pick up the basketball again and just shoot at will. I was in no shape to run the floor so I politely declined when my friends asked me to join them. I was content to just hold the ball in my hands and squeeze in a few shots while the players were at the other end of the floor.

The TV commentators say that one way to get a shooter going is to get him to the line and make free throws, as the psychological edge of seeing your shots go in would presumably help them get back in rhythm. I guess that can apply to anyone else who has ever picked up a basketball. Whether its at practice or at an actual game situation, seeing your shots go in gives one a momentary high (ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating here, but it does feel good, right?). Despite not having touched a basketball for about a year, my free throws still fall for me, and I was able to make a pair of threes as well. :P

I went there not only for the hoops, but also to be in the company of friends and batchmates. Iba pa din yung kasama mong lumaki eh.. In the midst of our conversation, Jonas told me that "Pag nandito ka sa Xavier, makakalimutan mo lahat ng problema sa asawa, girlfriend, trabaho, etc. Talagang basketball lang.." (or something like that) You know what, I'm inclined to believe him. When you're there, you just PLAY, without a care in the world.. For those brief hours of release, the worries of the world do not bother you, as you immerse yourself in the purity of the sport..

Two statements ring true here today:

1) Basketball is Brotherhood

AND

2) There's no place like HOME

:D

The only games that matter

Now that our console here at home is "fully operational" once again, It became readily apparent that despite the impressive gallery of games me and the bro put together, only 2 games are of any real interest to me..

The Basketball game...

and the Guitar game...

ROCK ON!! =P