Mark 4 - Fine Lines

Mark #4

Place: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Trinoma

Date: December 5 2009 - 11:25PM

Order: Large Swiss Mocha Latte and one Honey Bran Muffin

Before anything else, some shameless plugs for you guys to check out:

Guys, please check out our booth, Mashbox, at the 9th World Bazaar Festival located at the World Trade Center from December 4 to 16, 2009! From Beef Sundaes to fries and all else in between, you'll definitely get your fix right there! See you there, and prepare to enjoy awesome!

And also...

Please vote for Joan Ison in the Solo "Discover You" modeling contest! Thanks! =D (she's certainly 5-star material)

Link to her entry: http://www.solo.com.ph/postermaking/gallery/violet-vintage-vogue

That being said, my friends and I had a great time at Red Box, being able to sing and have fun (and all that jazz) before going to La Mesa (see, told you it was a popular spot =D) and eventually drink coffee at Coffee Bean. And to boot, I even tried out their Honey Bran Muffins, and I can say this much, it goes well with a hot Mocha drink.

But days before the fun and awesome day, I was a bit disturbed about something I've been seeing on the net for a while now, moreso on Facebook.

You see, having been exposed to journalism since as early as Grade School, I slowly gained a valuable understanding on what it means to be a journalist and how integral they are in allowing the people to be exposed to all sides of the story, which they have the right to know. And yes, I was one of the people who were truly disgusted with what happened with the whole Ampatuan ordeal. It is a shame that the worst mass murder of journalists had to take place in the Philippines of all places, and at this point, I really do not have to talk about all the details since you can check the news from almost any form of media, from newspapers to the world wide web. And yes, I also want to witness justice being served so that the families and friends of the victims would have some sense of closure.

But you know what did not feel right throughout the call for justice for the past number of days, in my opinion? It's the fact that pictures of the fallen bodies of the victims were actually posted online. Now, don't get me wrong. I do understand the rationale of posting these pictures and I do agree that it was a terrible act among terrible acts that no one can argue about. Yet was it really necessary to post these pictures at this point? Could you imagine how the relatives of the victims would feel if they saw the fallen bodies over the internet, which has already become a mega-paparazzi machine in its own right? And since we can virtually find anything on the internet these days, I would not be surprised if friends and relatives are to see these pictures and feel disrespected right then and there. What more if the children of the victims were to see it?

If you ask me, it is sufficient enough for news on television to show these pictures in a pixellated (censored) form. But to actually spread these pictures online, which can easily be spread in a matter of seconds? I believe there is a fine line in this case. Justice must be upheld, but in expressing our feelings of anger and sadness, we should be a little bit tactful and careful with how we do these things, like everything in life. And in this moment of grief, especially near Christmas, the last thing they, the family and friends of victims, need to see is a constant reminder of that shameless and blood-stained event that had befallen their loved ones, much less see these online.

Mark 3 - The Vegetarian Inuman

Mark #3

Place: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Trinoma

Date: November 29, 2009 - 11:02PM

Order: Large Caramel Macchiato

When it comes to all things impromptu, we're usually pretty good at handling these things with pin-point accuracy.

So it was no surprise that my friends, Charles and Mark, invited us to a huge sale / event held by HeyWhereYou.com as per below:

So we met with Ian, Charles, Mark, Chen, Obie, and the rest of our friends there and we checked out some of the stuff they were selling. And to say that they left empty handed, well, that'd be lying, and lying is wrong. Right, Mark's new shirt and Charles' new jacket? Haha!

For the record, The Bar is the best drinking buddy that ever came out in recent memory. Big bang for the buck, and tastes just as awesome. Especially their new apple vodka. But who knew that would eventually be the "appetizer" of sorts?

So we eventually made our way to La Mesa Grill after the event and had an impromptu gathering. ALL IN, GUYS!!

La Mesa Grill is certainly awesome in many respects. Why? There's a little story to that...

You see, one day, when me and my friends were in Trinoma after a great gimik, we decided to look for a good place to drink out. And beer towers have always been a bonus to any place we decide to drink at. Then that fateful moment came in, when we saw La Mesa Grill in Trinoma, near Pancake House in particular.

We first ordered a beer tower, which was the order of the night. And we also check out what we can order so we can also fill our stomachs at the same time. Our eyes saw this one interesting order that made us decide that La Mesa was the place to be:

TOFU SISIG. FOR ONLY PHP90.00. +PHP10.00 if you prefer to have egg on top of that sizzling tofu.

And damn, it was extremely good! We loved the tofu sisig so much that we kept on ordering and ordering more and more together with our constant refill of drinks. It was heaven in a plate, my friends! Tofu sisig and drinks make a complete package in of itself. And the best part, besides promoting a vegetarian alternative to pulutan in drinking sessions? Your wallet will thank you. You'll feel very good by the end of your session, bank on that. You'll thank me afterwards.

Let me repeat: Tofu Sisig + drinks at La Mesa Grill = MECCA. No wonder tables in La Mesa are constantly full and that people (including us) prefer to leave after closing hours.

And that's what we had, and some of our friends wanted some other orders like the TAHONG! Fantastic!

Unfortunately, due to their Sunday schedule and that the next day is Bonifacio day, La Mesa closed pretty early. So we had to look for another place to hang out.

Enter Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

(^ Looking good up there! But that's still my drink. Haha! =P)

When I say I'll use the sleeve on any drink as per the stipulation I set up in my first entry, I wholeheartedly mean it. You name the place, Coffee Bean, Starbucks, Figaro, Seattle's, or any other establishment you can think of locally and internationally, I'll use it.

It was a great night for all. Here's for more!