Finally! Finally. Finally. Finally! I met Jan. After 3 or so years of posting with her on Fanforum, I got to talk to her, and hug her, and bask in all her fabulousness.

Yesterday, I met up with Teena and Abby at Starbucks, G4. The plan was to meet up there, take a cab to the airport, and meet up with Jan. Thanks to Abby's dad, which will now be known as Coolest Dad Ever, he volunteered to drive us to the airport.

When we got there, we found out that Jan's flight had arrived earlier than the ETA. We waited for some time, craned our necks to look at the people getting out, looked at the monitor repeatedly to confirm that indeed her flight arrived, looked for cute guys among the people getting out-- Okay, maybe that was just me. Still! No Jan! After some time, I got a text from her that somebody picked her up inside, and that they were on their way to their house in Quezon City. Bummer. Poor Abby, and her welcome banner, which by the way, was all Lafferty-ed up. Teena and I were resigned to the fact that we would just meet up with Jan on the 29th for her sister's debut, but not Abby. No. She asked Coolest Dad Ever if we could go to Jan's house. At first, Coolest Dad Ever was a bit apprehensive, but once he whipped out his map, and Teena contacted someone who knew the area, he obliged. Which, now, made him the Greatest Coolest Dad Ever.

The traffic was surprisingly quite forgiving, as we cruised along EDSA, and soon got to the area. Navigation-wise, we only made one wrong turn, but recovered immediately, and got on the right street. When we got off, we saw the right number of the house, but there was a "-A" appended to it. It kind of looked like a shop, so I thought maybe the actual house was in "-B" or something. So we started to walk, when we heard this scream, "Abbyyyyy-eeeeeeeeeeee!" And out of "-A" emerged Jan!

Hugs and beso's all around, a little bit of chikahan, and then! Mga pasalubong! Jan handed out the LOTR Return of the King Extended Edition DVD's to Abby and Teena. I then got my big-ass Lost poster, Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan. Dommeh! Dommeh Dom Dom.) flyer, and the LOTR themed Monopoly game. I had a minor scare when Jan couldn't remember where she packed my Trilogy Extended Edition. After a while, she remembered, and got it out of her hand carry. It was so beautiful. Glorious, even. Also, moist. ALL of the extended edition DVD's, bundled up in one case-- green, red, blue. Jan, you are a godsend! Also, remind me to pay you.

Jan, Teena and I went on to more chikahan, while Abby listened silently. I think she was still mesmerized by Jan's accent, just like the first time she met her. Bravo to Jan, though. Matatas kang managalog! You'll get more practice when you hang out with us. We'll teach you more slang and swear words. Heh.

So that's how I spent the day after Christmas. It was definitely much better than Christmas day wherein I ate breakfast. Slept. Ate lunch. Slept. Ate dinner. Watched television. Slept.

I almost forgot. Peetchoor, peetchoor:


Also, did I wish you all a Merry Christmas? Because if not, well, Happy Holidays! Or Hanukkah! Or Kwanzaa! Or Chrismukkah!

Christmas! Presents! Buying stuff! Dwindling finances!

Best gift ever? My sister got me an Adidas shoe bag. Just in time for the office Volleyball season. Also, Angels in America DVDs from Camille. Oh, you know where she got them.

Anyway.

Notice anything new? New layout. With the absence of blue! Or green! Progress. The layout is inspired by Angels in America, which I love so very much. More on that in a future entry.

I want you to try something. Go to Andie's blog. Go on. Click. Look at the background. Look at the black column area. Look at my blog. Switch windows. Alt + tab, Alt + tab. Heh.

Andie, honey. I totally did not realize that that was your color scheme. Hee. It has probably seeped into my subconscious while I was making my layout. But anyway. Pretty! Isn't it?

Sister: Kuya, nakita ko test paper mo dati.

Pao: [Sees Sister perusing old Calculus book.]

Sister (Who is a MATH WHIZ by the way): ANO GINAWA MO?!

Pao: Huh? Ah... [Looks at big red marks on test paper.] Ano ba grade ko dito? Oh, hee. 38...over 200.

Almost 2 years out of school now, and those Calculus tests still haunt me.

Also, you know what was the title of that old Calculus book? The Calculus. Seriously. The Calculus. Pretentious and condescending. Like if you fail a midterm you don't get the Calculus, and you're screwed for life.

Oh I.T. world, I was not prepared how bad the grammar in your documents can be. Horrendous. It makes me want to weep. Mainly because, I'm editing said horrendously bad grammar.

Dear God,

Please show Sideways here. Please? Please, please, please? Please?! Please!!! Or I may have to resort to scouring The Friendly Neighborhood DVD Stores. Again.

Pao

I was this close to finishing my review for Alexander to entertain the two's of three's of people who actually read this blog, but what does Blogger do? Eat up my post. I usually avoid the trouble by writing my entries on Notepad, but Blogger upgraded its editing tools with some newfangled functionality.

So, what will this entry be about aside from that mini-rant? Well, Broadway, that's what. Will it contain names and shows that you are not familiar with? Of course! All the better to open your eyes with. This will be just a little note to myself that I recently discovered that Raúl Esparza was one of the original cast members of Jonathan Larson's "Tick, Tick...Boom!". The soundtrack of which, I have played, overplayed, gotten tired of, and then rediscovered ten times over. Okay, maybe nine. Anyway, he's amazing. Listen to some of his recordings here. I recommend his version of Defying Gravity from "Wicked". At least I don't have to try to imitate Idina Menzel anymore when I sing it in my room...which I totally DON'T, by the way. Really, no.