Sleep all...sleep all day!!!

This is one of the best night-outs I've spent with the ever impulsive triumvirate of RAM (Rosey, Anj, and Marlon). It was really funny because everything happened out of Anj's text message that she could not accompany us to buy some illegal stuff in Quiapo last Sunday (you guessed it right...we were up to buying pirated DVDs!). I surely could not make time in the coming weeks to go there so I replied right away if it was okay that we'd we go scavenge the place early evening instead. As I expected, Anj responded with a very enthusiastic "YES!" so I immediately activated my messaging system to let Rosey and Joanne know about the change of plans gucci handbags.

Rosey, who just spent a very restful Saturday afternoon (I could describe it just by hearing her voice), confirmed that she was coming around 5:45 (The plan was to meet Anj at Times Plaza @ Taft Avenue around 6:30pm, so I was sure that if I was to wait for Rose at Glorietta 4, we'd arrive at Times few minutes past 7.) Joanne, as I expected, declined. Anyway, Rose and I met around 6:30 and headed to Manila. After about an hour or so of braving Manila's human traffic and pollution from Edsa to UN Avenue, we came to the place by 7:30 and hurriedly took a cab to the sleepless and "dark" world of Quiapo (hehe!).

Hidalgo Street was the place to be! I was so surprised by the number of really fine titles available, and at first I could not remember what to buy. I knew I had listed several items, but upon seeing all these stacks of documentaries, HBO series, short films, Oscar winning films, and God knows what 's selling like hot pandesal...I could not remember at least one from my list...(hirap pag short term memory talaga!) Anyway, since we did not have enough time to go stall hopping, I just picked out the good titles right then and there. These include: "Taxi," "The House of Flying Daggers," "The Aviator," "The Incredibles," a DVD combo of "Big Fish" and "Stuck on You," and a 3 in 1 all-Denzel movies "Man of Fire," "The Manchurian Candidate," and "Training Day" (which unfortunately could not be read by my player at home...the price of buying pirated copies...hehe!) I was so frustrated that I wasn't able to buy the complete "Godfather" series because I went there on a budget. Anj and Rose bought the some titles that I had, but added "Finding Neverland," "Shall We Dance," "The Flight of the Phoenix," and other just-released films in '05. It really was overwhelming because the copies were as good as the original ones at about one-tenths (or even less!) of its retail price. We even overheard a possibly first-time "black market" shopper mumble, "Nakakaaddict naman dito…" hehe!

Anyway, although it was a bit exhausting to experience the heat, filth and the stink, surprisingly I still enjoyed it. This maybe the first time that I have loved this place. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the Optical Media Board would not raid the place while we were there or else people would see us in a jaw-dropping sight – forming a police line up with the big time smugglers much to the delight of ex-Chairman Bong Revilla (who lately has articulated his disgruntlement with Edu Manzano’s performance in the bureau..making this fight against media piracy a hot issue.) We finished everything around 9pm. Anj suggested that we try the restaurant that serves really good lumpia, but it was already closed that time. Chowking was nearest to us, so there we had a scrumptious dinner (parang masarap lahat pag sobrang gutom talaga…hehe!).

Few minutes of hearty conversations led to another (juicy!)… yeah, this led us back to Quezon City for a Karaoke Night!!! First stop was Music 21, but the hall was, just like any other Saturday night, jam-packed to the lobby. So we swiftly headed out to IO KTV at the ABS-CBN Compound and got there around 11pm. The place was really new in the area, and this branch has better interiors than the one they have at Jupiter. We stayed for the next couple or so hours for some soul-shaking (naks!) RAM performance led by the SupaSTAH Angie D!!! =) I remember singing Stevie Wonder’s "Overjoyed" and just as I expected, ended up singing the last few "and though you don’t believe that they do..." in falsetto! Mwahaha! Of course, we all had our individual choice songs for the night. I had Elton John’s "Daniel" and Stephen Bishop’s "On And On," Rose had her Angela Bofill’s "Angel of the Night" and Natalie Cole’s "Insperable" among others, and of course, the SupaSTAH belted out Aretha Franklin’s "Chain of Fools" (that made Rose and I sing background vocals "Chain, Chain, Chain…"), Oleta Adam’s "Get Here" (been her piece since our Music 21 night out last December) and Elton John’s "Rocket Man." Likewise, we had our group rendition of some Apo Hiking Society Classics and the just-realized-we-should-sing-this-more-often "Open up your eyes, then you'll realize...Here I stand with my Everlasting Love." We were so happy that they had the Nick and Valerie version of "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" without the "Haaa…aaaahs" of Diana Ross. Hehe!

When we realized we got exhausted of nonstop singing and munching (we had delactable mix of tacos and salsa + some good serving of garlic and mushrooms) we called it a night. We left around 1:30 am. Rose and Anj took a cab together, and I took mine going home. Whew! This really was a full-packed night for the three of us. Another accomplishment by RAM. Oh, I remember, almost exactly one year ago, the three of us spent about four days together for our Cebu escapade on board the Superferry. We had as much fun last Saturday as we had a year ago. =) I'll upload some pics on my next post.