tapas, pizza & wedding cake

sunday, here now enjoying some alone time, recovering from the past days' string of parties and get-togethers. the 3 parties were great—each one with a different set of friends and each having its own distinct fun-ness.

ivy & dirk enjoying a loud conversation

loud and lively @ xunta — thursday night was spent with a group of dutchies, filipinos, a croatian and a canadian—most of whom having only met there. we enjoyed servings of tapas, sangria and live flamenco music and dancing. the tapas bar had a tendency to be a little bit too loud but the energy was electrifying. the conversations were as equally lively though, if not a notch higher. must admit it's great having some lowlanders back in town again, their distinct humour and energy is definitely good to have especially in bars. it's funny though how dirk's (pronounced derrick in americanized dutch) first attempt at a joke was a great failure—he tried ordering for a room (an apartment) from the waiter and the waiter was "huh?!?!?, i don't get it." such funny kids. was a great night. it's good having random friends and acquaintances together, sharing some nice booze (although barbara the croatian hates sangria and only drinks vodka) and sharing their distinct cultural characteristics only to realize we're all the same anyway, especially when buzzed. good job jason for spilling a nice glass of sangria on julia's pants. way to break the ice. good job on the great improvement of your dutch speaking skills too. wat moet je?!?

the fine young ladies at the pizza party

double birthday bash @ john's pizzeria —
had a nice lunch pizza and pasta party yesterday with a group of filipinos (and an american). it was jonah and jamie's birthday the past week so they invited friends over midtown to celebrate. it was good to see familiar (some new) faces again. the stories centered on holiday adventures in the philippines, career/studies next steps, and the varying degrees each one is a friend of a friend of a friend, boyfriend-girlfriend relation included. it was a nice fun young group. the food was good too. not the healthiest in the world but i guess we all need to eat unhealthy once in a while. a bowling party is already in the works for this coming thursday night. not sure though if it's going to push through finally coz this bowling thing has already been rescheduled a 100 times before (well, you know how it goes with filipinos).

claire and johnny's wedding

friends' semi-traditional chinese wedding at east buffet — was all the way in flushing last night to attend claire's wedding. claire is a friend from nyu, one of coen's old taiwanese roommates. didn't know exactly what to expect, it being the first wedding im attending here in new york and it being a chinese one as well. the ceremony wasn't fully traditional chinese/taiwanese after all. they had an ethical culture ceremony and it worked for me (what form of religion/philosophy ethical culture is exactly i know not fully). none of the tediously long church trimmings but a few basic readings and messages from family and friends. nice, short and sweet. what was traditional about the celebration though was the amount of food. we had a 10-course meal that ranged from sea cucumbers to crabs to pigeon (ok let's call that squab since pigeons are more like winged rats here in new york). the open bar was great too. although im not too sure if my mixing of beer, wine, champagne was that good of an idea. well, it definitely loosened up the bones and game-ness for dancing that's for sure. was good to see some old taiwanese friends again. quite impressed with how much they've matured. no more spongebob squarepants conversations. that's good.

felt great to see claire happy actually. very nice girl and i think johnny's a perfect nice fit for her (definitely much better than that delaware playboy from that time not long ago). of course it helps that johnny's an oncologist and would probably have more than enough to provide for claire's online shopping sprees. but anyway, was great to see 2 very giving people tie the knot. (was the night's "official" photographer actually since claire wasn't able to hire a professional one in time and i was the only friend they had that has a "professional-looking" camera. enjoyed the role actually and was pleasantly surprised with the unexpected present from the couple after—2 not-so-crisp-yet-who's-counting-anyway hundred dollar bills. nice nice. now i have the money to buy them a nice present. ha...)

well, enough quality alone time. i believe i'm now fully recovered and ready for some action again. let me see if i can drag those dutchies to some coffee or even maybe a nice touristy afternoon around the city. daaaaaag!!!!