My waking hours seem to grow shorter and shorter... Which is why I end up writing TODAY about YESTERDAY's events.

You'd think I'd get a break after getting home quite late from Friday evening. But since I have to meet up with my gaming group at 9:30 am, I have to wake up early despite the message that my body is telling me. I was suppose to meet Mars at Chowking in Robinson's Galleria at 9:30 am. Apparently, he wasn't at Chowking. He was at McDonalds, which is beside Chowking. >.<

Of course you see the strain in the gaming group when barely half the players are present. Only four out of the seven PCs (Player Characters) were there: me, Ronil, Timothy, and Wesley (he should be there... we're staying at his place). Russel is still abroad, hopefully buying me the books I asked him to buy in addition to conducting his business. Dennis has car trouble and told Mars that he'll try to catch up, which when translated to Filipino lingo is "I really want to come but I can't". Miggs, on the other hand, is through a depression so much so that he directly tells Mars about it and stops with all the Filipino subtleties. Of course I figured out that he lost his motivation for gaming since for the past few games, he hasn't been attending despite saying that he'll catch up (as I said, when it comes to talking to Filipinos, you have to read between the lines).

I got a number of text messages that day, which is actually a bad thing since Wesley's place is a deadzone when it comes to mobile phone signals. I had to place my phone on top of Wesley's piano and type my messages from that place, since that's the only area in the room where the phone has one bar worth of signal.

At 1:30 pm, I got a message from Mitz and Ellaine saying that they were already at Megamall. How early, considering that I was supposed to meet OAV at 5:00 pm.

Of course at 4:00 pm, I'm stuck at Wesley's house since it's raining and no one has a car. At quarter to five, since we're still at the garage waiting for the rain to let up, Wesley offers to drive us to Virramall where we can get a bus ride. Of course when we finally get to Virramall, the rain lightens up. I rush to the house to get some Pics I owe Mitz and run to hell to Megamall...

...Only to find out that aside from Mitz and Ellaine, the rest of the people still weren't there. Some were caught in traffic, some because of the rain, and a couple didn't show up. The bulk of the group was consolidated at around 6:30 pm and we had trouble choosing places to eat. While I may be the one treating out, I'm not exactly the person that goes out to eat. Don't really expect me to choose where to eat. I live that up to the people I'm treating out. The event went something like this:

Charles: I let you decide. Anyone have complaints against a certain kind of food? I don't like Chinese.

Ria: No Japanese for me.

Vincent: No pasta.

Gem: I'm vegetarian.

The rest: Anything suits us fine.

I decided to lead them to Sbarro but the place was filled like hell (yes, I think hell is crowded, since according to most religions, anyone that doesn't believe in their religion goes to hell). Vincent and Mitz offers to go to DADS but when we got there, I saw the prices. I do not have the budget to feed a dozen people are such a restaurant. Pizza Hut and French Baker were full so we decided to head to the Podium. We were supposed to pick up Sheila when we find out that Sheila couldn't come as she's eating out dinner with her parents (well, I also have the idea that Sheila doesn't like to be with me, talk to me, etc... but that's my ultra-paranoid intuition telling me that).

At the Podium, the same restaurant problem occurs. I might have afforded Burgoo's but I didn't want to risk it. Ended up eating at Kitaro which was something I could surely afford since 1) I had a 10% discount card, 2) they don't have service charge, and 3) in the worst case scenario, I could call up my "aunt" (translation: family friend) who owns the franchise. ^^

Paul comes in time just as we were ordering so I had to treat out ten people all in all. Interesting orders were the bottomless GREEN Ice Tea Vincent and Mark ordered, the rice toppings Ria had since she didn't like the regular Japanese menu, Mixed Tempura (which consists of eggplant Tempura, Kamote Tempura, etc...) for Gem to suit her vegetarian appetite, and a sudden craving for Miso soup for the rest. Had to leave at 9:30 pm since I didn't want to walk all the way from the Podium to Annapolis just so I could get home at a late hour (I would have done so any other time but I'm afraid my leg muscles are still aching so I didn't want to strain them, especially considering all the walking I've been doing the entire day, not to mention lack of sleep). On my way home to the village gate near La Salle Greenhills, I ran into Mars and Ronil who had just came from watching Reign of Fire at Robinsons Galleria.

I got home at 10 pm, which means I just missed Mutant X. It was an episode I was looking forward to, since the commercial was showcasing an actual "supervillain" compared to the "normal" adventures that were showcased in the past few episodes. I find out from Chanty's blog that Ateneo won against DLSU in the UAAP basketball game.

Of course this morning at Sunday School, I find out that not only did Ateneo win against DLSU, but they won with such a huge lead (double digits). And DLSU was playing with its full roster. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Dominic shared that on the DLSU side, when Ateneo won, they suddenly clamored that they're still #1 in the ranking. In Psychology, there's a term you call for things like that. Rationalizing? I forgot. Whatever.

I'm not exactly the type of person that gets excited about basketball games, much less the UAAP. Ateneo's win leads me to a few conclusions: 1) the DLSU team lost on purpose because they can, 2) the DLSU team got too confident, 3) the Ateneo team finally played at full efficiency, 4) the DLSU team wanted to see Ateneo's tactics, or 5) the DLSU team lost on purpose so that Ateneo won't have to fight them first in the finals. Of course this victory leads me to some concerns over the Ateneo team: 1) Ateneo might become too confident in the finals, 2) Ateneo might not strive as hard training for the finals, 3) Ateneo might have won a battle but not the war (I mean Ateneo would still proceed to the finals had they lost this game... winning this one puts DLSU on its toes), and 4) DLSU might work extra hard so that they can beat Ateneo in the finals.

Of course it would just be funny if neither Ateneo nor DLSU won in the finals since those are the two teams the media have been ancitipating (I mean they even released a VCD of the game between Ateneo and DLSU last year). Personally, I wouldn't mind DLSU winning (after all, it's just a game... I find it hard how some people take things too personally), but winning for the past few years consecutively is so... stagnant. It wouldn't be bad if DLSU won three consecutive years, then perhaps UST won the next, and then DLSU reclaimed the title or something, but several straight wins is just so... bland. Of course I'm not suggesting that they do what America did to the Chicago Bulls: redistributing the players to various teams. I mean the DLSU team is good, but not that good. Personally, I think the Ateneo team can beat them, but perhaps not as consistent as DLSU would beat them. I'd just be happy if this year, some other team like UST would win the finals. Then again, Ateneo winning doesn't hurt either. =)

Yes, this is a really long post. Enough of sports, which is a subject I'm not really that interested in. I wish I could have invited Lea to yesterday's celebration but I didn't bother, mainly because I think she's still mad at me. I emailed her last month and she didn't reply. She hasn't contacted me since July 8 when she told me she's angry at me. Oh well. At least I'm getting better at "reading between the lines". (Hmmmm, I hope Vern is just busy and not mad at me for my 9-11 post or something I said, which is why she hasn't emailed me in the past few days. Again, that's just me in my ultra-paranoid state.)

Five more weeks to go before the semester ends. Finally, I'll get some "free time". Meanwhile, I'm broke and I still have a number of people to treat out. (*pokes Daimira* oi, I still have to treat you out... congrats!) ^^ I will perform a miracle and somehow fulfill all my obligations. ^^