Work.

My birthday bash.

Converting to open relationship.

Tagalog-ing as a must.

Love as a business.

Self-respect vs pride.

Food and friends.

Morning frustration.

But I can’t.

3 stitches on my face plus a broken right arm. How's that? T_T

I’m too sick to pour these thoughts to an article. Maybe after I finally recover from the recent vehicular accident I encountered. Way to go, though.

Mine wasn’t too different from the previous years at all. Same routines, only different people, different places, different whatever.

This must be something I'm posting next year! Chos!

1. New year at home. No new person. Only tanduay-ice added on the table.

2. Birthday celeb was incidentally a surprise as well. Imagine? Haha! Same thought of surprise, only different partner this time. Haha! But this year had my family included and that’s a plus.

3. Still working after the holidays, this time, in a new company. And I’m loving it there.

4. Birthday blast at home just last night. Wait. This must be the exception to the rule. I wasn’t able to go home last year.

5. School? Boring school. Wait again. Let this be the 2nd and the last exception. Hahaha!

6. Lovelife. And I want to dwell on this. Same level of affair but with a newer perspective on it this time. More open, cooler, calmer, and whatever. Whatever, this time! Haha! Hey hey! I’m a changed person on this aspect and I’m super embracing this attitude, moving forward. We’ll see if this works better  for me.

Anyway, if anybody sees me mall-ratting and notices I’m not using the escalator at all, it’s because I’m not comfortable with my shoes. Hahahaha!

Great days ahead of us, everyone!

But before I get to another blind curve, it surely feels good to have a retrospective look at the rear view mirror for the twists and turns I had on a 12-month drive.

1^st stop: The end of the callboy experience

My best team. Team Lyra. I miss youuuuu so much!

Some of the real friends I found in Suth. I know you all miss me. Haha!

I was reading my 2010 year-end post where I wrote,   ‘But I admit I need to leave the job soon to find what’s best for me.’ Indeed, I left before the last quarter of the month. But I am happiest with my then job. Graveyard. Vices. Good pay. Parties. Everything. It was even tough leaving the company because of the people I enjoyed working with. But I had to and I know I made the right choice.

2^nd stop: Back-to-school

Hello graduate school! I didn’t want to but I have to. I need to make the most out of my idle days. But I’m enjoying, except that statistics is still there and the feeling is still mutual, we both bore each other.

3^rd stop: On-the-spot trips

At Blue Jazz. Because we're just crazy like that!

We always get hyped on water, eh? Haha! Pools and beaches are the best escapes from the stressful work environment and the above pic is certainly one of the best.

4^th stop: New gang

Meet the porn stars, beybeh!

Did you notice I always introduce new set of friends every year-end post? Haha! Alas! I have new friends this year again. The best people to eat with, to watch movie with, to act diva with.

5^th stop: Big Joe

axe.

How do I say this with much subtlety?  Well I promised to name names and Axe, you are one of the many friends I have that I will always be thankful for. And I guess, most of the days this year, we were together. Boardmates. Thank you for being the best person to cry on, for laughing even at my worst jokes, for spoiling me with your recipes. For the record, I am happy with the new path you’re taking, your lovelife, your career and everything you’ve been enjoying lately. I can only hope for the best for you. Cheers!

6^th stop: The beejayentee drama

meet my co-histrionic friend.

sometimes we look semi-humans.

I’m making this the highlight of the year. Perhaps, everything changed because of this person. My friends say I’ve changed. Made me quit smoking, made me act weird, made me eat my pride, made me carbonara (HAHA!). Anyhoe, meet NT. And he brought drama drastically to my life. But he’s more than that. He is a bestfriend, an older sib and younger sib at the same time, a teacher, a disciplinarian, a hero and the best sleeping buddy. Haha! Thank you, NT, for bringing me to a new and different side of the world (Blah blah. Whatever they think of this line). I look forward to a new year of adventure with you.

7^th stop: I’m back to the real world

YES! Before the year ends, I am proud to say I am back to the corporate world. New challenge. New environment. Thank you, pag-ibig.

This has been a good year, I must say. I’ve had enough taste of good career, happy family, and interesting affairs (be it decent or otherwise. HAHA!). And I guess, this is the right time for me to express how grateful I am to everybody who became a part of my year’s journey. Thank you, friends and lovers. 

Come 2012, I know better things await my way. I’m excited. That orgasmic feeling. Yes. Orgasmic.

Thank you, 2011! Welcome and give us a bang, 2012!

p.s.: This year gave me the first car accident experience. Just earlier, I accidentally bumped the back part of the car infront of me while maneuvering my way to the exit. Thank you, NT, for saving me from that trouble.

It wasn’t really the ideal trip. Not the trip that would make me say ‘I wanna go back to Cebu again and again.’ Shall I blame this to the tarot card reading I first did when I arrived there? Haha!

But I am over the not-so-good happenings. Instead, I am sharing to you the captured happy moments I had in Cebu.

This is the first out of town trip I had with my mum. But it wasn’t planned at all. She just booked the same flight as mine for the business trip she had to attend. She might have to do a lot of intervening with my laag but she is still the best. She gets along with my friends so much because my mum is the coolest!

Primarily, this is the reason for the weekend trip. Them. The mini reunion with my BT Loves, Joan, Gold and Rai. Thank you, Gold for the unlimited treat, Joan for giving us the best laughtrip and Rai for making yourself present despite your busy schedule. I miss you and I look forward to another meet-up this month. Gensan, beybeh!

My bestfriend, Ron. Thank you for the 1 night stay, for making me experience the bathtub in your CR, for introducing me to your loooves, for making yourself available during my entire stay. You’re the best!

This photo was taken at TOPS, the highest point in Cebu where you can have a glimpse of the city lights at night. This is not a good place, I swear, and I will never recommend this place to you, readers, if you get the chance to visit Cebu. But anyway, that’s NT. He was also with me during the trip with an over-over-extended patience for all the mishaps we encountered. As you said NT, ‘Thank you for the wonderful time we had. Not a perfect out of town trip but still wonderful.’ 

This picture is enough to make me say I still enjoyed the weekend trip. My mum, my 2 bestest friends Rai and Ron, and NT. Yeyy! Solb!

p.s. I lost my BB phone inside the taxi in Cebu. Mao lang. Kbye.

First, I got a call from a hopefully future employer saying they want to take a peek on this which obviously had me panicking. Second, a first-time reader left a seriously note-worthy comment on my then blogpost which had me laughing up to this writing.

The latter made me think, actually, that if I were ‘otherwise,’ will I be as cheesy as this? Or will I even write to celebrate the love I have? The answer is uncertain. My imagination limits me to think beyond what I enjoy as of the moment.

Moving forward, I’m blogging to post some important snapshots of what made my life a lot less boring lately.

TEQUILA SUNRISE, beybeh, during my partner's pre-birthday celebration! Gawd, this is sweet.

Tuna Pesto especially made by my partner. I actually tried the carbonara but wasn't able to take a pic of it. It tastes delicious as it appears. Good job, loves!

Of course, our 2nd monthsary. It was, hopefully, the last most 'quiet' (literally) monthsary moving forward. I made the wrong move, stressed and pissed my partner. If you were seated next to us in the coffee shop, you'd surely think we were complete strangers. No words were heard from us. But all izz well and I brought home that raspberry almond before the night ended. Thoughtful, eh? (p.s.: i promise i won't be late for a date again. )

That’s it for now. I’m bad at ending my stories.

Sorry.

- RandzNT

(Spare me. Don’t ask for any english translation of the above statement. This isn’t Miss U.)

Because when we talk, everything makes sense.

And that a listening ear and an open heart are what it takes to make someone move.

Sometimes, it pays to have someone who makes you feel there’s more to life than settling to what it actually offers you. I can do better once my turn knocks. I just need a push. And my friend just did it.

Today is our first monthsary. 3rd of October.  No. Today is actually the 4th. But we decided to pre-set our minds that today is the 3rd and it’s final, you said. Yes. We moved the date. We shuffled them. It’s true. Love can move dates, said a friend. For all the possible reasons you think, we only have one for doing this. We want to be together on this day.

I had to wait for my partner's arrival earlier after a week's vacay in bora and manila. Thus, making today the 3rd of october

I don’t think I need to write an entry about monthsaries. But I felt the need to blab something about today since everything went weird. Not the usual. Not the ideal. Unplanned. Now that’s the term there, unplanned.

Maybe we were too dependent with our come-what-may-what-abt-this-or-that attitude.

Or maybe my partner isn’t just the typical hello-babe-let’s-have-dinner-somewhere.

Or maybe I should stop being too dramatic about monthsaries. Eh?

Or maybe I swallowed something. Ahh, my tongue.

And/or maybe, it’s time to move on with the typical idea of monthsary what-have-yous.

I’m happy though regardless of what happened earlier. No dinner date. No movie for the both of us only (we were with friends earlier anyway). No sex longer quality time.

I saw you smile. You held my hand while driving. We talked a little. We laughed bigtime.

That made everything special. I am no longer the kid who longs for monthsary dinners. I’ve changed. I can make every 3rd of the month extra special by doing something unusual. Moving the date’s just the start.

I’m loved. I’m in-love. That’s what matters most.

And I swear, this ‘odd’ day will be remembered forever.

Thank you for the sweets. Sonja's chocolate overload (but deformed) cupcake is the best. Royce Chocolates are BESTEST!

-Woody Allen

I could vividly recall how I tried to keep every stick of cigarette from my college roommate’s eyes then. It gives me goosebumps every time I recall sneaking out from the house at 12 midnight to light a stick when everybody in the house is already sound asleep. Years back, my classmates during our senior year complain a lot at how I diffuse the smell of a lit cigar in an airconditioned room.

I smoked.  It started with 1 stick. The next day it’s 2. Then it’s 3. Until a pack of 20′s a day. It started with lights. Explored Gudang. Tried Dunhill Frost (and liked it so much). Sipped Capri. Puffed on a Black Bat’s smoke. Threw Black Devil’s cigarette butt. But everything lasted with Red.

As I write this, I want to press Ctrl + A, delete and then run to the nearest store to get one stick. But no. There are a number of times where I stood by my decision, proving I can do this even without having somebody else’s support. Many shot glasses passed by me without clipping a stick in between. I have had morning and evening coffee without its bestfriend, the smoke. And you’re anticipating it right, no smoke after sex.

But more than anything else, I want to share how this decision was made. I had 4 partners (too few, eh?), almost all not wanting me to smoke except for 1 who is a heavier smoker than me. I have had a number of attempts at putting an end to this guilty pleasure by convincing myself that I don’t like smoking at all. Unfortunately, I ended up not believing myself. Then came this God-knows-who someone. Yes, my partner. And after convincing me to stop smoking, I did. No further argument. No counter-attack. Simply making love work at its finest.

Ofpuffsandshots. There’s no point changing the name of this blog. This is still the blog that tells all about my guilty pleasures. The puffs. The shots. And more stories of being drunk, getting into fights, trying some weird posish.

p.s.: Woody Allen was right. When you don’t smoke, you don’t need to speed things up while on bed.

Anyway, this blog always includes some catching-up about me though I know nobody cares. But I’ll blurt things out and my whereabouts for the days between the previous post and this. No need to freak out, there are just three major things I want to share.

1. I resigned from my first job. Yes, after 1 year and 6 months as a callboy, I finally decided to look for a job that is in harmony with my career goals. Eh? So after resigning, I left Davao (after a 6-year stay) and moved back to my hometown, Poland. I turned my back from the city lights, the busy roads, the traffic, the freedom, the parties, the coffee shops, the malls and restaurants, the real lovely friends. Now, things have changed. Been saving for school next sem, been sleeping during normal hours, been eating my favorite food, been enjoying life minus noise.

2. I QUIT SMOKING! I remember my thesis adviser told me this when we were cramming for my analytical framework: Dong, kanang yosi, inom ug laag, i-enjoy jud na habang bata pa. Pero pag 25 na ka, undangi na na tanan kay di na maayo. And now I’m 22. Too early to quit but I am more than decided to do this! Lately, drinking coffee needs no stick. Meals don’t need sticks after. Doing number 2 doesn’t require a stick. Drinking is fine without stick. And, after sex is better without a stick. This is sacrifice. This is commitment.

3. I am in-love, to the nth. And I know you will read this one of these days. The box of chocolates. Suntok sa buwan. The detractors. And the upcoming 1-day Cebu tour which excites us both, not because of the activities that await us there, but because we certainly are uncertain about what’s gonna happen there. (ang giluod, hikog!)

There are many things to look forward to. No turning back this time. All eyes set to what the future has for me.