Snippets: Post Birthday Celebration

Taken last August 27, 2017. Today marks the first month of my final year of being in my twenties; next year I will no longer be able to say that "I'm twenty something." This year I had a pre-celebration with two of my high school barkadas and my brother, simply because I really miss people; and a post-celebration with new friends I met just over a year ago, because I felt like I at least needed to celebrate my last year as a twen-ager (I claim that word─I thought of it just now.) I am yet to celebrate with another set of friends to be able to say I celebrated my birthday. On the day of my birthday itself, it was a solo occasion as I attended the 6am mass alone, and spent the day toiling on several workloads, that I was no longer in the mood to celebrate at the end of it.

I wasn't in the zone that day, so I was not able to cook as tasty as I wanted it to for some reason. I felt something off with the taste. I was so stressed that time, I assume. There was so much struggle to cope up with, but my brother kept on bugging me to celebrate. SO, FINE! 

I cooked five dishes and baked dessert that day. A supposed lunch, we ended up eating at 5pm...because I told them to arrive late because the food will also be cooked late. My friends helped make some of the dishes, but our food theme was Korean-international-fusion, hence there were some Korean dishes, as well as non-Korean ones. My brother made the pretend-Sicilian salad, a friend grilled the porterhouse steaks, while I cooked the beef stir-fry thing, fettuccine pasta ragu using the porterhouse meat as the sauce base, samgyupsal, japchae, some kind of Korean stew using the Ifugao-smoked-pork etag as my meat base, and a tray of orange-essence-infused brownies. Our drinks were a combination of flavored soju, red wine, tequila, and rosé. We finished eight bottles that night.

It was a good day to celebrate, even if I was tired at the end of it. 

I actually posted this same photo on my Instagram with the caption, "Sometimes I think people celebrate birthdays to feed hungry friends." Yes, I thought of that quote, so I also claim it. 

Snippets: Arashiyama's Bamboo Grove at Kyoto, Japan

Taken last September 6, 2017 at Arashiyama's infamous Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan. The trip was actually one major cause of my absence from ever updating the blog for the month of August. Other than the fact that it was my birthday month, having to work long hours five days a week and juggling pending activities, I was the one organizing our first official family trip to Japan. I've never been to Japan, and I never been out of the country with my whole family before; having to put two and two together stressed me out so much that I never had enough free time from the end of July up through mid-September.

But at the end of the day, nothing compares to the feeling of making a long-time dream happen. I worked hard for this, and I cannot clearly describe the feeling of finally being able to stand on the very spot where I used to only see in pictures, aspiring and wondering whether I can ever make it happen. More than just appreciating the actual beauty of the place, it's that sense of surreal elation that got me saying to myself, "Wow, I'm here." 

The bamboo grove isn't exactly extensive, it's just long enough to look good in pictures, but does not stretch as far as the eyes could see. But walking through it gets you in a meditative state, wherein you feel nature touching you to your soul. Even at a supposed hot day, passing through in between the bamboo path gave out a cool breeze that wafted at my skin like a perfectly blended air to soothe down my tired limbs. This is one for the books, and as I've mentioned in my Instagram post that day, it was "An exceptionally tiring yet amazing day."