a J-filled weekend

My super long overdue blog that's supposed to be published sometime March is now here. I guess I slack off too much with something (and maybe someone?) else. These three parts are dedicated to my best friend J.
13 February 2pm
Earlier that week, I've been having my own call center established,only with J as my caller because of the excitement he can't contain for his forthcoming trip. My sister Tea, on the other hand, have been requesting for me to cook spaghetti for her and her husband's birthday dinner.
I just finished taking the pot of sauce off the stove and packed it carefully together with the noodles. J kept calling every minute but I didn't bother picking up because I was busy preparing food and packing some overnight clothes. I gave instructions to the househelp to carefully load the sauce when the car arrives to pick it up. And I was off to a wonderful weekend with J...
3pm
I waved at J from the cab. It took forever to get to the bus terminal because of the Chinese New year parade. And there he was, in his tight fitting pants, sneakers, sunglasses and duffel bags. He craned his neck to see if it was me and he waved back excitedly flashing his million-dollar smile. He loaded the bags at the back of the vehicle and hurriedly ran to the car door where I was at, he hugged me warmly and handed me my favorite Krispy Kremes. We took Military Cut-Off road because it was the fastest route going to Starwood Hotel. I let J sink in the cold weather and I can tell, he was just too happy to be here, in the moment.
By the time we unloaded his bags and settled in his cozy room, we gathered our pocketbooks and key and left for late lunch at Sizzling Plate a few minutes after.
We had noodle soup, Iced tea,sizzling porkchops, java rice and their house specialty for dessert which was Sans rival.. He was a tiny bit disappointed because he liked buttery silvanas better than the wafer-like sweet that he finished in probably, a few seconds.
After lunch, we lazed around the hotel room as we were getting ready for SLU Glee Club's Valentine Day Concert that included my brother as a tenor.

6pm
The concert turned out to be spectacular! me and J loved it! Their playlist was well-planned and well-applauded. The mini orchestra, the theme of the concert and the audience participation all contributed to a great show. I am, to this day, beaming with pride for my brother W who was part of this stellar cast and allowed me and J to be a part of it. The show lasted two hours and we decided to head to CityLight for pre-dinner cocktails. We were in the middle of drinks, cheesesticks and fries when we suddenly felt sleepy, we realized we got off the graveyard shift the night before that and we were fast approaching twenty four hours without sleep. I looked at J, he was smiling wearily but for whatever strength was left of it, he really wanted to hangout at Nevada Square and check out the al fresco club scene. Me? I was just after a shawarma craving.

8pm and Freezing
A few beers, shawarmas and grilled streetfood later,I was ready to fold. it was unusually freezing out and I encouraged J to go bar hop a bit while I was contented looking at my cold beer forming beads of sweat at the side of the bottle. Then a sharp white pain down my back hit because of the cold, so that was a major signal that I had to call it a night. At least for myself. I called J to bid goodnight and told him to just enjoy himself and get to know the crowd with Shakey.
As much as I would like to crawl to bed and hide beneath the warm sheets, I smelled like beer and smoke and it's just disgusting that my strawberry-scented hair was mixed with the scent of nicotine. Ugh! I took a quick shower and nestled comfortably in bed, it was time to say goodnight to a fabulous Saturday (to be continued)

..then there was Valentines (2/3 parts)
I woke up sleepily with J smiling at me like sunshine. I grunted. I was definitely not a morning person. It would take a crane to lift the corners of my mouth to form a smile everytime I wake up.We got dressed after freshening up and settled for Breakfast at Tea House, one of my favorite restaurants in the city. He loved the Lechon Binagoongan, while I was struggling to finish the hefty serving of vegetables and fried chicken on my plate. I was just happy to be transferring half of those crunchy greens onto J's plate. For dessert, we settled for Chona's delight, it was a sweet taro version of the Missisippi Mud Pie classic, only this came in plastic bowls good for two or three.
I said our goodbyes that morning and told him we were having lunch at Central Park with my folks. This Valentines Day is a little more special than the previous Valentines that I have had. It'll be the first time that my parents would get to meet my best friend and share this day with them altogether. It was a brief lunch of Roasted Duck, Dumplings, Yang Chow Fried Rice, Chicken Feet,Sweet and Sour Lapu Lapu and Milk Tea. My parents were on their way to celebrate Valentines day together with their friends. Me and J waited for Anton, the driver because were touring Baguio. I was also excited because I really don't get to stop and see Baguio for what tourists sight-see for. I'm only a happy camper with the cold weather and nothing else. It was also a welcoming relief from the busy city to see the countryside.
2pm
So we went to La Trinidad to check the strawberry fields so J could enjoy his liesure time with strawberry-picking. I kept insisting that the strawberries the side vendors were selling were much bigger, ripe and juicy , but he was after the experience, so I let him take his sweet time, bask in the foggy atmosphere, with Anton acting as a photographer to document it. We took loads of strawberries home. The sweet scent wafted inside the car and my mouth watered almost intantly, so I took one out of J's take-out box and took a bite. Wow! Heaven!
The next stop was Mines View where Anton and J went to the viewdeck to take some pictures of some amazing view and Sebastian, a Saint Bernard pure bred, it was the resident dog that tourists take a photo-op of. I was hanging out lazily in the car waiting for them to finish when he appeared out of nowhere giddy, holding a japanese corn on a stick motioning me to take it. He hurriedly left to make a beeline on the stores lined up across the park that sold, almost hundreds of souvenirs made of silver, trinkets, sweaters, jars filled of sugary things and wooden toys. We passed by the Good Shepherd Convent to buy jars of sweet taro, and cookies so J could bring them to Manila. While waiting for Anton to bring the car around, we took pictures at their viewdeck, the air is amazing up the hill,time feels slow just hanging out and lazing around.
Our last stop was Camp John Hay I wanted to take J to Starbucks but along the way, he just wanted to take pictures near the tree cove, bushes, at the Butterfly Farm and anything he can lay his eyes on. I let him do whatever he wants on this trip, since it's his. And mine,of course.

We were tired from a long day so we took an afternoon nap at his hotel and as the night fell, we scrambled to Forest House. I was a little worried because we had no reservations and it was Valentines Day. But luckily, we got a table after a few minutes at the veranda. It was a little cold but we enjoyed the view of the mountains that was covered with thousands of lights from the little homes sprawled across the city. He ordered spareribs while i was in the mood for Hungarian sausage and fries. Our orders came but I was a little disappointed with my order. It was just a sausage placed on a plate. They forgot to put the fries on the side. J kept trying to hide his laughter but we did enjoy the night despite the mishaps. I took him back to the hotel but I noticed he was a little sad. Much as I wanted to be with him, I needed to spend the last minutes of Valentines with my family too. It was a conversation that he had with his significant other, M that ticked me. M just yelled at him for all the wrong things but unreasonable at that. I am just seeping with anger at M for doing that to my bestfriend. But given any circumstance, J was strong, too strong in fact, he could handle all of it.
The next day it was goodbye, we just bought some last minute stuff like raisin bread from the cottage near Country Club and he was off. I cried a little, because who knows when i'm gonna see him again. I hugged him tight wondering where our next adventure might be..