tax evasion

i had promised myself id do my taxes over the weekend. but no, already friday now and still no filled out forms in sight. tax evasion wins again. for all ye IRS officers out there, that's "procrastination" for ya so no worries, hold yer horses on sending the navy seals over. i will meet the deadline, promise.

instead of plugging away with all that fun squeezing out all possible refunds from uncle sam, been a total delinquent plugging away on other fun stuff. business as usual.

futbol-at-mccarren-park

inflated the old orange football and headed over to mccarren park to play some footie last sunday. was invited twice to join some pickup game but me being the wuss, declined. good to know though that i look footie-player material enough. either that or me looking like a mexican wearing an italian team soccer jacket gave me away. aside from the football, the morning runs round cooper and mccarren parks, the yoga classes, and bike rides all over have kept me in tiptop form. or at least, getting there. nothing is as exhilirating though as the bike rides down the williamsburg bridge after a few drinks in the city. nice nice. nothing like drunk training for the upcoming 5 boro bike tour and the 5K run in central park i have signed up for.

new neighborhood discovery: luncheonette

the bike has been a great eco-friendly friend. has allowed me to discover a whole lot more about the immediate neighborhood. newest and greatest of which is the luncheonette north of mcgoldrick park, run by B, my polish grandma if i ever had one. the service is really slow just like any grandma homecooking. but the food feels very personally done. nothing like that mcdonalds fast food crap. and the atmosphere is what makes the place, almost thought i was on a set in some hollywood studio actually. lotsacharacter but no attitude whatsoever. plus grandma B and grandpa something are a very entertaining duo to watch as they serve the greenpoint billyburg locals.

dinner with university prez

aside from meals with neighborhood locals, ive had meals with different groups as well. my manila university's president was in town so the alums based here hosted him over to a vietnamese dinner in the city. food was good but the prez's longwinded discussion of the poor this the poor that bored the shit out of me. nothing wrong with do-gooding but just not a fan of overlydone horn-tooting especially after an easy dinner. the dinner with the all-dutchie group was very much a pleasure though. 2 lowlanders were visiting so el4ra gathered the dutch troops for some pizza, salad and wine at cafe gigi's. me being the honorary dutchman was invited as well. barbara another honorary dutchie (she's from croatia originally) was even talking to me in dutch. well, ik mijn nederlandse still suckstje so i couldnt quite converse welltje. nevertheless, it was good to be surrounded by some dutch energy and humour. happy to know that ive acquired some of the sound-effect laden storytelling as i blahblahblahed my way through some stories. bit strange though coz somehow i could literally sense myself changing—tastes, values, manner with which i speak, philosophy, attitude, sensibilities—and with some amazing power i could somewhat "objectively" view philippine culture to a certain extent whenever i wanted to.

bukas palad concert on broadway

take for example the bukas palad concert which i had watched. for all ye unfamiliar with bookas paylad, its a singing group from the philippines specializing in church hymns. was great music but somehow after the first set, it had felt bit over-the-top god this and god that for me already. probably the effects of going through 16 years of catholic education and realizing that catholicism is not the only framework for spirituality and religion there is. or just maybe coz that im somehow in an indie folk & country phase of music taste right now. in any case, was great to be surrounded by familiar faces, most of whom friends'. and interesting to be laughing at filipino jokes and speaking english with a heavy pilipino rrr accent again.

schiller's liquor bar

after the hundred years of waiting for the whole group to pack up, headed down to the NYU area with jason V, former queens roommate, and his girlfriend mitch, to take them round a bit. hit a few tourist spots like washington square park and a few local places like pomme frites (enjoying some patat on the house). walked a million miles south only to realize that katz's deli (home to meg ryan's orgasmic when harry met sally scene) was closed. we ended up walking a bit further and eventually landed on the liquor bar. very nice lower east side place. reminded me of an amsterdam cafe from a trip not long ago. very cozy european atmosphere. only difference was that there wasnt much people there by the 2AM that we got it. it was a nice meal to cap off a night of walking round town with friends. great find as well. i shall be back.

angela with the office b*tches

in the office side of things, everything's going well. bit busier than id want to coz i couldnt seem to squeeze some blogging time anymore. or maybe thats coz i spend lunchtime with the asian mafia now instead of typing away on the computer. my office pet pinny the piñata is as inanimate as ever. cricket is still very much into her and mabel afraid of her. aside from watching director's reels for an upcoming tv spot and doing actual work, time has been spent maintaining our little newstand by morning/bar by afternoon and coming up with all sorts of pranks, biggest hit of which was plastering some broken monitors with fake surveilance camera snaps. good job. oh and also helping prepare for the surprise birthday party for lisa, self-proclaimed asian mafia founder and head. on a serious note though, apparently there's an office rumor spreading that jason pacheco is a great art director. good to know coz im probably going to need a big fat raise soon to pay for some tooth implant i'll be needing soon that my dental insurance won't cover. fart simpson.

now, it's almost 8 in the PM on this side of the world. need to wrap up and hop on the bike for a trek to c-town (more unglamorously known as chinatown). grabbing a few drinks to celebrate lisa the officemates birthday and enjoying that downhill ride at williamsburg bridge again.

bullshit in sign language

but first here's melissa teaching us some sign language. this one's dedicated to all the have-tos that put all the want-tos on hold.

great delinquent life ahead everyone. sige. see ya. ciao. doie.