Meeting up with friends and my first Serenitea

It was initially planned as game night but ended up being dinner and a visit to the newest addition to the gang. Joh rounded everyone up for dinner in Kebab Factory in Burgos Circle. Pia had just returned to Manila after being assigned in the US for a couple of years and we used her return to the country as an excuse to meet up (not that we needed an excuse). Pia hitched a ride with me, but I had several escalations at work and the Friday night traffic was made even more horrible by the rains so we ended up being unfashionably late. Thankfully, Joh and Raffa were very understanding and the fact that they had ordered for everyone meant that I had food on the table once I was seated.

Me-ann was also supposed to join us but an emergency came up so the only other person we were waiting for was Mike, was came from that wine-tasting and buffet thing at the Marriott (I was thinking about getting a discount voucher for that but decided against it, and given my issues that night that resulted in me leaving the office quite late on a Friday night, I was happy about my decision to skip it). So by around 9pm or so, all five of us - me, Pia, Joh, Raffa, and Mike - were there. We wrapped up dinner shortly - Pia very generously took the bill (thanks Pia!) and we checked with Peegee and Randee whether it was okay for us to pay them a visit. Randee had just given birth to a baby boy named Pio and some of us had not seen Pio yet. They said it was okay so we all headed to their place where we spent a couple of hours catching up and seeing the baby. By midnight, we felt that it was time to let the family rest so we bid each other a good evening and split up.

The other notable thing is that I had my first Serenitea. We were already in Burgos Circle for dinner and both Joh and Raffa were fans of this place, so we decided to pass by quickly to get some drinks. I had never been there before and I was lost with all the options available, so Joh picked a drink for me - Hokkaido 50% with pearl (or something like that LOL). It was pretty good and refreshing so I can understand why a lot of people are big fans of this place. I'm still a coffee person myself, but I guess if I want to change things up every now and then, I wouldn't mind paying Serenitea another visit.