Reading My Neil Gaiman Books

I read four books this year, all of them by Neil Gaiman: American Gods, Anansi Boys, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Neverwhere.

My Neil Gaiman Books

American Gods is the first book I read. It's highly rated, with a 4.1 rating on Goodreads at the time of this writing, and it was even made into a series on Amazon Prime. The premise is very intriguing: gods from different mythologies walk amongst us here on earth and their power and immortality comes from the belief people have in them. But as more and more people in the world start to believe in technology, new gods are created and this stirs up a battle between the mythological gods and the new technological gods. I did have some difficulty reading it since there were a lot of characters introduced through flashbacks or different scenes that deviate from main storyline. I realized that I have difficulty with that writing style and it took me a while to finish it. That said, I fully understand why many people love this novel. It's inventive, the pace really picks up as the story comes to its powerful climax, and just when you think the story is done, you get hit with a very surprising and even chilling denouement.

American Gods

I next read Anansi Boys. While this isn't a sequel, there is a character here - Anansi - who is also in American Gods. I gotta say, I really love this book. I think a large part of that is because I really like the lead character, Fat Charlie Nancy, around whom the story revolves. There is something charming and captivating about his insecurity and his struggle and it was great to see his evolution as the story progressed. The antagonist (or one of them) also seemed almost benign before it is revealed just how diabolical he is. The discovery of Fat Charlie's history is surprising and there are a lot of really interesting twists and turns that kept me really engaged. I personally prefer Anansi Boys to American Gods, maybe because there are less characters and the storytelling is a bit more linear and straightforward, making it easier for me to follow.

Anansi Boys

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was unexpectedly heavy and haunting. We get introduced to Lettie Hempstock when she becomes friends with the narrator and it is this friendship of two "kids" that becomes the core of the story. While we never truly understand who Lettie is, we find out early enough that she and her family are far from ordinary. When a mortal threat presents itself to our lead characters, we don't exactly get worried for Lettie and her family but we do get worried for the narrator. His dread and fear are very palpable and I felt his despair. The climax is shocking and heartbreaking, and what is revealed after that adds even more layers of depth to the sadness and emotion I was already feeling. I was very affected by The Ocean at the End of the Lane and it really stayed with me after I read it, which is a sign of a great book. While it isn't a happy ending by any stretch of the imagination, it is powerful, moving, wildly imaginative, otherworldly, and very well-written. It's also a short book so you can finish it quite quickly.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The last book I read is Neverwhere. This was fantastical, whimsical, and absolutely fascinating, which are things I have come to expect in Gaiman's works. The story is practically a quest, with our lead characters searching for something and having to overcome many obstacles and challenges along the way. While it's not as heavy as The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it's pretty dark and grim in its own right. The situation that our lead character Richard Mayhew finds himself in early in the story is quite distressing and I truly felt his desolation. Also, the loss of a character early on was jarring and disturbing, to say the least. The villains are also pretty sinister and menacing. This book is fast-paced, action-packed, and riveting, with many twists and turns that lead towards an explosive climax. Despite the fact that I am a slow reader, I finished this novel quite quickly even if it's more than 400 pages long. 

Neverwhere

One bittersweet thing about all this is that three of these novels I read were inherited from my friend Karen who passed away a couple of years ago. In her will, she left her books to her friends. I still miss her but I find solace in the fact that I have now read some stories that she herself read and enjoyed when she was still with us.

I'm also happy that I was able to find enough time this year to read four books this year. Many of my friends who saw my social media posts suggested other Gaiman works but I will most likely go through other authors next year since I still have several other books at home. Hopefully, I can continue to find time read next year.

Random Stuff

I just got my New Zealand Badge! Since I started using my Fitbit, I have now walked a total distance of 1,593 kilometers, which is the entire length of New Zealand. This means my daily average is now 7.11 km. Awesome!

My New Zealand Badge

What has helped me get my new badge so shortly after my previous one is all the walking I have been doing this Christmas season. For the last 3 weeks, I was clocking in anywhere between 52 km to 62 km per week. That's because of all the gift shopping, errands, and get-togethers I was attending. It was also on one of my gift-searching and gift-buying days that I got my Trail Shoe badge. This meant that I walked more than 30,000 steps in a day!

My Trail Shoe Badge

I walked so much that day that I actually covered a distance of more than 21 kilometers. That's the distance of a half marathon! As such, it's not surprising that I burned more than 4,000 calories that day. Needless to say, my legs and my feet really hurt after that hahaha.

My best one-day stats on Fitbit

All that walking deserves some good food too. My youngest nephew celebrated his birthday my family decided to throw him a party. We couldn't organize one for him the last two years because of the pandemic but we felt that it was safe enough to do it this year. My cousin Mark and his family were in the Philippines and they were able to join us so it was a bit of a mini family reunion as well.

My nephew's birthday celebration

I got to try Gan Hotpot in Alphaland Makati Place in the Malugay area. Normally, when I go to a hotpot or shabu shabu place with friends, I prepare my own dipping sauce or someone in our group does. This time, the wait staff shared their recommendations of the best sauce for what we ordered and it was quite good. It was the tail-end of the World Cup when I ate there so I had to take a photo of their World Cup-inspired decor.

Gan Hotpot

I also found myself in Estancia one day and I decided to try Hanamaruken Ramen for lunch since I had never eaten there before. It's not at the level of Mendokoro (then again, for me, nothing is), but what I loved about this place is that they had a meal set that included a bowl of ramen, gyoza, and fried rice. I can't remember how much it cost but I did feel it was a sweet deal.

Hanamaruken Ramen

Spotify recently shared analytics on the listening patterns of its users. I was surprised by my results. I was actually one of the top 3% of listeners of The Clash. I don't know if this is just in the Philippines or worldwide. I will be honest though. All those 139 minutes were spent listening to Rock the Casbah over and over again.

I'm in the top 3% listeners of The Clash on Spotify in 2022!

So it's not surprising that my Spotify profile is the Replayer. I stick to the songs I like by the artists I like.

My Spotify listener profile

And which artists did I listen to the most in 2022? It's a pretty eclectic combination: (1) The Clash, (2) Beyonce, (3) Kuh Ledesma, (4) Andrew Garfield, and (5) Florence + The Machine. The top 5 are all from different genres of music and Andrew Garfield makes it to my list because of how frequently I listened to music from Tick, Tick... Boom!

Artists I listened to the most in 2022

And since we're on the topic of entertainment, I finally got to watch a couple of movies I had been interested to see for a while: Pixar's Soul and Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon. I watched both one after the other on Christmas eve and I really enjoyed them. Hopefully, I can find more time to watch more films and shows on the many streaming platforms to which I'm subscribed.

A Hectic but Happy Holiday Season

Christmas is always a very busy time socially and this year was no exception. Not that I'm complaining though. I'm really happy that I got to spend time with many friends, some of whom I haven't seen in ages. Let's start with the most recent one. Yesterday, I joined some of my ex-colleagues for dinner at Locavore. My friend Ana told me that Cholo, who moved to Canada several years ago, was in town and some folks would be joining him for dinner. It turned out to be quite a fantastic evening. I got to catch up with Cholo, Ana, Earl, and Migs. We were also joined by Mark, JP, Nono, Cori, and Noy. I think the last time I saw most of them was when I was still working in my previous job! We all went through quite a lot together so it really was nice reconnecting with all these people with whom I have a lot of shared experience. The fact that we enjoyed my favorite Locavore dishes, specifically the Lechon and Oyster Sisig and the Sizzling Sinigang, made the evening even better.

Lechon and Oyster Sisig and Sizzling Sinigang from Locavore

Later that evening, I caught up with Marco and Cha. They were having dessert when I swung by although I didn't order anything anymore because I was still stuffed. It had been years since I last saw Cha so it was really good to see her with Marco. Since I was double-booked that evening and joined them late, we didn't get to spend a lot of time together. Still, the conversation was great as always.

Christmas with my board gaming friends happened earlier in the month. We got to try some really cool and interesting games that night, including 5-Minute Mystery which is quite possibly my favorite deduction game right now. It's very quick to play and it's cooperative in a way that gets everyone involved so it's a lot of fun! I also decided to bring a Chocolate Swiss Roll which I bought from Dylan Patisserie and I'm glad to say it was a hit. It was a good chiffon cake and it wasn't too sweet. It also looked quite fancy!

Chocolate Swiss Roll from Dylan Patisserie

I had written about my Pizzulu dinner earlier this month and that was also a Christmas get-together with ex-colleagues. After dinner, we moved to Starbucks for coffee and dessert. We also did a simple exchange gift. While we initially wanted to do a more elaborate white elephant set-up, we ended up just doing the basic pick-a-number-that-corresponds-to-a-gift arrangement. I got a bamboo-scented room spray from Mickee. Aside from the planned exchange gift, a few of us also brought some gifts for everyone else. I had yema with pili nuts for everyone, Pao gave everyone goodies from his family's bakeshop, Mon and Chelle gave everyone homemade ube, and Nat gave us black garlic from his garden. Cool! I really love this team and I'm happy we continue to see each other every year, whether virtually of face-to-face.

Another dinner with ex-colleagues happened earlier in the month at Grace Park in Rockwell. Pia booked a table in the semi-private area on the second floor. It was a night of wining and dining as we feasted on several dishes. We ordered a few appetizers to share and almost everyone had dessert but as if that wasn't enough, I ordered two dishes for myself: the Duck Ragu and the Seabass Acqua Pazza. I'm not particularly sure how I managed to eat everything haha.

Seabass Acqua Pazza from Grace Park

It wasn't all ex-colleagues that I met. I also joined Irish and Michelle for brunch at Tyler Cafe along Katipunan. Since we stayed there for a few hours, I started by ordering their incredible ricotta pancakes and later on, Irish and I shared a pizza from Gino's. Michelle had just graduated from her MBA class so she very generously treated us. I also attended a couple of company Christmas parties. Our company-wide Christmas party was actually held in late November and I stayed until the after-party, dancing like a crazed madman to 80's music being performed by a live band haha. About a week later, we had our department Christmas party. The theme? Denim. I didn't have a denim jacket but thankfully, I was able to borrow one from a friend. Since I don't normally wear this kind of outfit, I had to have my photo taken haha.

Denim-themed Christmas Party

I also had one virtual get-together with my high school friends. Lia lives in the US so during the pandemic, we started having an annual virtual party. Even if people are a lot more comfortable to meet up face-to-face now, we decided to continue doing this so that we would have an opportunity to spend time with Lia and her husband Ferdie. Iona recommended a Secret Santa website back in 2020 and we have continued to use it. I ended up getting a couple of shirts that I included in my wish list and I'm really happy with them. We will have a face-to-face dinner as well for those of us who are in Manila, but since some of us will be traveling during the holidays, we decided to just meet up in January for that.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It has become my annual tradition to bring food to my family on Christmas Eve that would last until Christmas dinner the next evening. This year, I decided to order from two places. From Dulcelin, I got the US Beef Belly Roast Beef, Lola's Chicken Relleno, Cannelloni, and Blackened Fish Fillet with Dirty Rice. Since Dulcelin doesn't have any vegetable dishes, I decided to order the Caesar Salad from Matchpoint Catering. (I also tossed in Matchpoint's Gambas and Scallops al Ajillo so we would have a shrimp dish because one of my nephews loves shrimp.)

For dessert, I wanted something really fancy that we would normally not order. Dulcelin has a lot of great desserts but we've tried many of them already so I wanted to get something that I wouldn't normally get. I kept seeing Serendipity Gourmet on social media so a few weeks ago, I messaged them to ask if they still had available pies for pick-up the day before Christmas and they did. I decided to order their Bellissimo Blueberry Mango Gourmet Pie. It looked really fancy and it has really great flavors. It was very expensive but it was a special occasion so I thought it would be worth it to splurge.

Bellissimo Blueberry Mango Gourmet Pie from Serendipity Gourmet

We also got to do a couple of things for the first time in years: (1) we physically went to church to hear mass and (2) we had Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. Over the pandemic, my aunt and her family would visit us during Christmas. But since my grandmother has been going out  a lot more recently, my aunt and uncle thought that maybe we could all have dinner at their house this time around. So we did.

It was a really good Christmas celebration with family. Hopefully you all had a great time too!

RIP tWitch

Very sad news. Stephen Boss, more popularly known as tWitch, passed away.

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A post shared by Allison Holker (@allisonholker)

I used to watch So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) back when it was shown on one of the channels on Skycable and tWitch was one of my favorites. He placed second in Season 4 where he performed one of his most memorable routines on the show with Katee. He returned to the show three years later as an all-star in season 7. It was here that he put in a performance that quite possibly made him a bit of a household name. He and Alex did a hip-hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon D'umo that went viral. Check it out here:

video uploaded in YouTube by roman0102

This dance was such a hit that Ellen wanted to perform it, which she did with Twitch in the Season 7 finale. A few years later, he became the resident DJ of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he remained until the show ended in 2022.

I also love the fact that tWitch ended up marrying Allison Holker, who may possibly be my all-time favorite contestant on the show. His proposal to Allison is on YouTube. It moved me the first time I saw it and now that I watch it again, it moves me but in a different way now.

Sadly, he took his own life. I have known for a while now that people who struggle with mental health issues sometimes look to be the happiest people we know and his untimely passing reminds us of this sad and painful truth.

Rest in Peace, Stephen "tWitch" Boss.

Pizzulu

I found out about Pizzulu during the pandemic since ads for this Italian restaurant kept popping up on social media. It looked interesting and a friend of mine who had tried it said he enjoyed the food so this place was definitely in my radar. When my ex-colleagues and I decided to meet up for an early Christmas get-together and people wanted to have dinner in BGC, I suggested Pizzulu and everyone agreed.

Pizzulu BGC

Most of us were eating here for the first time so we picked a few recommended dishes. I didn't really care what other items we ordered as long as we got truffle pasta. Pizzulu had a couple of truffle dishes and we chose the Black Truffle Casarecce Pasta, which is Barilla casarecce pasta with truffle cream sauce, shiitake mushrooms, and parsley (P1,275 for the platter, P850 to share, P425 solo). I loved it!

Black Truffle Casarecce Pasta

We also ordered the Ragu Bucatini Pasta which is bucatini pasta with premium grass-fed beef, tomato ragu sauce, and parsley (P1,197 for the platter, P798 to share, P399 solo).

Ragu Bucatini Pasta

Dinner at an Italian restaurant for a group our size wouldn't be complete without pizza and the ones we got were pretty good. The Shrimp & Roasted Garlic Pizza (P675) has garlic cream, Italian mozzarella, peeled shrimps, shrimp oil, roasted garlic cloves, and parsley.

Shrimp & Roasted Garlic Pizza

The Spinach & Artichoke Pizza (P699) has Pizzulu's original spinach cream, Italian mozzarella, goat cheese, and artichokes.

Spinach & Artichoke Pizza

I gotta say, I really enjoyed the food here. The only watch-out is that due to the size of the restaurant and the volume of customers, they strictly follow two seating schedules for dinner, one from 6pm to 8pm and another from 8pm to 10pm. We reserved the first seating and as it got closer to 8pm, we were politely told that our seating was almost over. As such, I highly recommend making a reservation if you plan to eat here. Hopefully, I can visit this place again in the near future.

Pizzulu BGC
https://pizzulu.com/pages/pizzulu-bgc-restaurant
Address: G/F Eight Forbes Town Road, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City 1630
Number: 0917-127-2548

Hidilyn Diaz: World Champion!

Congratulations, Hidilyn Diaz, for winning three gold medals at the 2022 IWF World Weightlifting Championships! Amazing!!!

WORLD CHAMPION 👑

Hidilyn Diaz rules the SNATCH (93kg), CLEAN & JERK (114kg) and TOTAL (207kg) in the women’s 55kg division, sweeping all three golds at the Weightlifting World Championships!

📹: International Weightlifting Federation pic.twitter.com/Xmaelv0tLA

— INQUIRER Sports (@INQUIRERSports) December 8, 2022

She lifted 93 kg in the snatch competition, beating the 90 kg achieved by silver medalist Ana Gabriela Lopez of Mexico. For the clean and jerk, she cleared 114 kg, exceeding the 110kg of silver medalist Rosalba Morales from Colombia. Her combined total of 203 kg got her a third top podium finish. Hidilyn has now won gold medals at the Olympics, the World Championships, the Asian Games, and the SEA Games. Wow! Her sensational world-class achievements continue to make Filipinos everywhere proud. 

Unfortunately, the 55 kg weight class in women's weightlifting has been dropped from the Paris Olympics in 2024. She is now training for the heavier 59 kg weight class. Whatever happens there, she has already shown the entire world what a supreme athlete she is.

Congratulations, Hidilyn, and thank you for being such an inspiration to Filipinos all over the world.

[Throwback] El Nido, Palawan

I had been hearing about how beautiful El Nido was and that it has fantastic (albeit pricey) resorts that are perfect when you want to get away from the world and regain your equilibrium. So when I had the opportunity to stay in Lagen for a few days many years ago, I decided to take it.

Lagen Resort in El Nido, Palawan

I shared my plans with some friends and one of them, Mitch, decided to join me. She took her family with her. I also had a Belgian friend and colleague, Jef, who was in town at the time and he also decided to join us.

I went a bit (a lot?) fancy with my accommodations and I got the Water Cottage, which is built on stilts over the sea. The room is spacious and very comfortable, with a balcony that provides an amazing view of the ocean.

Water Cottage

This trip turned out to be a mix of relaxation and outdoor activities, all of which were included in the package. One of the more interesting things I did was to walk through the forest, from one side of the island to the other.

Hiking through the forest, from one side of the island to the other

Once we got there, we found a couple of kayaks were waiting for us. We got on the kayaks and paddled all the way around the island and back to the resort facilities. That was such a memorable experience!

Kayaking around Lagen Island

We also did some island-hopping where we got to see some fantastic lagoons.

We were also taken to the Lagen Wall, which got its name because it was featured in an episode of the Amazing Race.

The Lagen Wall was featured in the Amazing Race

The evenings were a lot more chill. Mitch and her family would normally retire to their room after we had dinner so during the evenings, Jef and I would hang out in the recreation room, watching DVDs (although I can't recall what movies we watched). All our meals were included in the package but I don't think drinks were, so we didn't really drink a lot during the evenings.

photo of the resort in the evening, taken by my friend Jef

We only stayed there for 3 days and 2 nights but it was thoroughly enjoyable and I'm happy I got to go there with my friends. Writing about this trip to El Nido and the one I took to Busuanga (which I wrote about in my previous post) reminds me how much I love Palawan. It's been about two decades since I was last there so I think I should plan another visit there soon.

[Throwback] Busuanga, Palawan

Back in 2004, a friend of mine invited me to join his friends on a trip to Busuanga in Palawan. At that point, I hadn't been to Palawan yet but I had always wanted to go. Naturally, I accepted his invite. We stayed at Maricaban Bay, which I believe was like a sister resort of Club Paradise. (I can't seem to find Maricaban Bay Resort online anymore but I think it rebranded and changed its name to El Rio Y Mar.)

Maricaban Bay Resort in Busuanga

It was a memorable trip for many reasons. First, the snorkeling and island-hopping. Part of our stay there included getting to spend a day at Club Paradise. Apparently, the snorkeling around that resort is fantastic. We started out by snorkeling on one side of the island. It was relatively deep and our guide pointed out a sea turtle at the sea floor. Cool! We continued swimming until we got to a section filled with a wide variety of fish and incredible corals. Before we knew it, we had gotten to the other side of the island.

Beach at Club Paradise

As if that wasn't enough, on another day, we were taken to a small island. We were told to just swim out from the shore so we did. Just maybe fifty meters away from the beach, the water seemed to be about 30 meters deep already (or more). The sun was up and the skies were clear, which meant we could see all the way to the bottom of the sea. And I gotta say, that snorkeling experience was quite possibly the best I have ever had. There must have been thousands of fishes swimming about in that area! The variety was absolutely astounding. And we're not talking about minuscule fish here, we're talking about good-sized, vibrantly-colored fishes! It was like an incredible kaleidoscope under the sea! We would most likely have continued snorkeling there and enjoying the visual feast underwater if not for what seemed to be a very territorial triggerfish that kept swimming ominously close to us and darting about in a seemingly menacing fashion. At some point, we all got worried that it might just bite us so we swam back to shore. But that snorkeling experience (as well as the one we had at Club Paradise) continues to live in my head rent-free to this day.

The snorkeling around this small island was the best I've ever experienced!

We also got to visit Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary. While there, we got to see a few African animals such as giraffes and zebras out in the wild. We also got to see some local fauna such as the Philippine mousedeer, the Palawan bearcat, and wild boars.

Feeding a giraffe in Calauit

Our food during that trip was also pretty good. As far as I recall, all our meals were part of our package, including the lunch we had at Club Paradise and the amazing beach picnic buffet that was prepared for us during our island-hopping day.

Gorgeous Busuanga sunset

I went to Palawan two more times shortly after that. I wrote about my trip to Coron back in 2006 and I will write about my visit to El Nido in my next post.

Rediscovering Paul Boulangerie

Several years ago, I tried Paul Boulangerie for the first time and I enjoyed it. In fact, I got to visit Paul a few more times after that. However, after those first few visits, I didn't get to go back. That is, until this year. I was looking for a place to have brunch when I passed by Paul. It had been such a long time since I last ate there that I decided to get a table. I ordered the Potato Pancake Mushroom (P450), a warm potato pancake with freshly sauteed mushrooms, garlic, onion, parmesan cheese, and parsley. It's served with a small side salad. As soon as I put the first forkful into my mouth, I instantly loved it!

Potato Pancake Mushroom

That visit a few months ago reminded me that, while Paul is not cheap, I really do like the food here. And they have a pretty extensive menu with many items that appeal to me. I decided then to try and visit this place more frequently, especially if I wanna splurge and treat myself to a good meal. Shortly after that visit, I found myself dining at Paul again a few weeks later. This time, I ordered the Crepe with Chicken and Mushrooms (P375). It's a crepe with freshly sauteed mushrooms with chicken breast cubes, emmental cheese, and bechamel. This was really, really good! I also loved the Provencale tomato that it was served with.

Crepe with Chicken and Mushrooms

My third visit came shortly after that. This time, I ordered the Omelet Complete (P450). a 3-egg omelet with farmer's ham, sauteed mushrooms, potatoes, and emmental cheese. It is served once again with the Provencale tomato that I love and a side salad. I decided to get some dessert to go with my omelet and I chose the Crepe with Chocolate and Chantilly, a thin French pancake with Paul's chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Omelet Complete and Crepet with Chocolate and Chantilly

At that point, almost everything I had ordered had been something that people would normally have for breakfast or brunch. On my fourth trip, I decided to get a main course. Christmas is coming up and I had worked long and hard this year so I decided to go a bit over-the-top and get the Beef Bourguignon (675), which is slow-cooked braised beef in red wine sauce. I partnered it with French Onion Soup (P400).

Beef Bourguignon and French Onion Soup

Aside from having great food, Paul also serves good coffee. There are still so many items on their menu that I want to try. I figure the reason why I stopped going to Paul was because it's quite expensive. However, I worked really hard (and I'd also like to think really smart) this year so I thought it would be fitting to reward myself with several good meals as the year comes to a close. I really do love Paul Boulangerie so I will surely visit this place again.

Retiring my Quarantine Stories Series

I started my Quarantine Stories blog posts during the early months of the pandemic and when the Metro Manila was still under Enhanced Community Quarantine. I've kept at it since we are technically still in the midst of a pandemic and I don't think there was ever any official declaration that Philippines is not under an alert level anymore. However, I do acknowledge that while Covid continues to be a threat, life has started to be somewhat (a lot?) like it was before the pandemic. In fact, masks are no longer required in the country, except in health facilities and when using public transportation. (That said, while I've seen many people walking around without masks, majority still do.) As such, this will be my last post that has Quarantine Stories in the blog post title.

I got a new Fitbit badge: Italy! I have now walked a total of 1,184 kilometers - the entire length of Italy - which also means that I am averaging 6.93 kilometers per day. It has gone down since my last badge but walking almost 7km a day is still pretty incredible.

My Fitbit Italy Badge

I also had a craving for sopas recently since it was raining and it had been a while since I last enjoyed this dish. I tried searching online for places where I could order it and I discovered Merienda by Pan De Manila. Soon after my initial craving, I visited Merienda in Santolan Town Plaza to order a tub of sopas that was good for about 5-6 people. At P650, I think it's pretty good value. I ended up enjoying sopas for a few days.

Shortly after having brunch with my friends at Denny's in Eastwood, I met up with them again, but this time with Jeof at his home in Las Pinas. He said he was bummed out that he wasn't able to join our brunch so he invited us to his house for his birthday. He told us to bring some games. Migs and Diann couldn't stay so they just had lunch before heading to their prior appointment in Makati but Case, Cara, and I hung out with Jeof until the late evening. I brought my Splendor and we played a couple of rounds of it before we played Cluedo. I really do enjoy playing Cluedo; the last time I played it was also with them (and it was also Case's copy).

Speaking of board games, I got to play with my friends Cla, Kat, and Drew recently. While we wanted a few more people to join us, most of our other friends were unavailable. I taught them Rococo, which they enjoyed (Kat and Drew had played it before but Cla played it for the first time). We also played 7 Wonders. It has been ages since I last played this game and I still absolutely love it. I'm glad Kat asked me to bring my copy because she really wanted to play it.

My Rococo Board Game (photo taken by Cla)

On the downside, I got sick. I was initially worried that it was Covid because I had many of the symptoms but thankfully, I tested negative. My doctor told me I had an upper respiratory tract infection. Interestingly enough, I was in worse shape from this illness than I was when I got Covid earlier in the year. To make things worse, I also chipped the crown of one of my teeth. I now need to try and visit a dentist to have it repaired. However, with the Christmas season coming up, I am not sure if I can schedule a dental appointment anytime soon. Thankfully, my tooth doesn't really hurt.

Disney+!

I'm so happy Disney+ is now in the Philippines!

I've actually been quite bummed for a while now because Disney+ wasn't available here. Since Star Wars and Marvel are now part of Disney, there are so many movies and series that I want to see to which I don't have access. I became even more frustrated when Disney bought Fox because all the Fox channels disappeared from Sky Cable and many of the shows I watch were on Fox.

As such, when the news broke about Disney+ being available in the Philippines, I became really excited. After checking the packages, I immediately told my family not to subscribe anymore because I was going to the get the premium subscription and share it with them (premium allows installation in up to 7 devices and 4 simultaneous users). A friend shared a GCash promo, offering a 22% discount for payments made before the official launch on November 17 so I naturally snatched it up.

A great surprise was that Disney+ actually became available on Nov 16, a day before their supposed launch date. Once my friend told me it was available, I installed it in my phone and in my Smart TV. The first thing I watched? Return of the Jedi haha. I really am a Star Wars fan!

I had many things to do at home over the last few days so I couldn't watch stuff I hadn't seen yet. Instead, I decided to play films I had seen before: Aladdin, the Emperor's New Groove, Incredibles 2, and Cars. I did find enough time to see Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which was fun to watch. I'm also really happy that one of my favorite TV shows, 9-1-1, is on. Yahoo! I can now catch up on the seasons that weren't shown in the Philippines in the last couple of years.

There are so many things I want to see, including Star Wars series like The Mandalorian and Andor, Disney shows like Raya and the Last Dragon and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, and Pixar movies like Soul and Onward, among many others. There's no rush to see everything, though. I'm just really happy Disney+ is finally here.

My Lazada 11.11 Haul: Kiehl's

My big purchase this 11.11: Kiehl's!

My entire stash of Kiehl's products, including all freebies

It started when I noticed some pretty deep lines under my eyes recently. I had been using a facial cream somewhat regularly since the start of the year and while it helped address my dryness, I still developed these lines. I started researching about products that could help with this problem and I discovered the Powerful-Strength Dark Circle Reducing Vitamin C Eye Serum of Kiehl's. I looked up how to use it and saw this YouTube video that recommended using the eye serum with a couple of other Kiehl's products, specifically the Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate and the Super Multi-Corrective Anti-Aging Cream.

My order was packed in this nice Kiehl's box

I then searched for these on Lazada and saw that (1) they were available, (2) there were promos for the products I wanted that granted a lot of freebies, and (3) Kiehl's had a special 11.11 promo that provided an additional 28 items for free for the first thirty customers who purchased a certain (large) amount worth of products on November 11. Wow!

While I initially planned on purchasing just a few items, the special promo felt too good to pass up. I then decided to stock up on the products that I was interested in and to buy a few more items that I would give as Christmas gifts to help me reach the target value. I saved everything in my cart and once midnight struck, I placed my order, hoping I would be one of the first thirty customers to get the massive set of freebies. Thankfully, I was!

Freebie for the first 30 customers: a Kiehl's advent calendar

The freebies turned out to be a Kiehl's advent calendar that included 24 different products, along with 4 extra items. The advent calendar itself was really nice and I kept the packaging because it would be nice to place under a Christmas tree for decorative purposes.

The advent calendar contains 24 random Kiehl's products stored in cool, Christmas-themed boxes

I still have some facial cream and so as not to waste anything, I decided to fully consume what I already have before using my new Kiehl's products. I expect to use up my current facial cream by the end of the year so I guess my New Year's resolution will be to adopt a new skincare routine.

Megalovania (from the Undertale Video Game)

I discovered this song by Toby Fox while going down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos one night haha. The moment I heard it, I instantly liked it. It's very catchy! I'm not even familiar with the Undertale video game but I've already added Megalovania to my Spotify playlist and have been listening to it a lot. Check it out:

video uploaded in YouTube by Game Guard

Antipodean

I passed by Antipodean a few (many?) times in the past and each time I did, I always thought it looked interesting. On one recent Saturday morning, I wanted to have brunch and I thought this would be a good place to try. When I'm hungry, I tend to order big breakfasts in places that serve some version of it and my first visit here was no exception. I ordered the Big Breakfast (P499), which comes with a choice between bacon and sausage (and if you choose sausage, you also need to decide if you want pork, beef, or chicken), breaded mushrooms, scrambled eggs, hash brown, toast, and a side salad. I particularly enjoyed the scrambled eggs which were quite silky and creamy.

Big Breakfast

I enjoyed my first trip here so soon after that, I paid it another visit. In my subsequent visit, I ordered the Eggs Benedict with Bacon Deluxe (P549). It's like a grilled bacon and cheese sandwich with poached eggs on top. This was also really good!

Eggs Benedict with Bacon Deluxe

The interior is charming and cozy. The restaurant is covered but open-air so it doesn't have air conditioners (or at least none that I noticed). However, there are fans all around and both times I was there, it felt cool and comfortable. Their menu is very extensive, with a truckload of options from a variety of cuisines.

The menu is written on the wall

There are so many more dishes that I would love to try here. I will surely visit this place again in the future.

Antipodean in Legazpi Village, Makati

Antipodean

https://antipodeancoffee.com/index.php/cafes/antipodean-philippines

Legazpi Street corner Gil Street, Legazpi Village, Makati