Although we encountered some Friday night traffic, it wasn’t long before we hit Pampanga.  We scouted the hotels for the perfect place to spend the night.  We finally landed on Sydney Hotel (Link: http://www.sydneyhotelcorporation.com/hotel.html).  After checking in, we headed out to have dinner.   This was already close to 9pm.

We found a small Greek restaurant whose name I now forget.  The food was good and price was not so bad.  They even have an Internet Surfing/Gaming section at one corner.  It was on this night that Poofa checked his email and found out that ABS-CBN had an offer.

February 10, 2007.  We woke up early but not early enough to catch the take-off of the balloons.  Good thing that there were some that got delayed and we were able to catch the launch.  It was a breakfast of Ruffles and Cola.  An hour later, we decided to get a real meal at one of the food stalls.

We bumped into Jonard and his girlfriend at the event and Tin, a blockmate from college and a few others.  We went around Clarkfield first before deciding to head back to Manila.  One stopover  was at go-kart area. 

Back in Manila, we decided to have dinner at Libis.  There was no particular restaurant in mind but we were passing through Libis so we might as well rest and have dinner first before heading home.  We were lucky because Philharmonic Orchestra had an event that evening in the Eastwood Plaza.  You need to order from one of the participating restaurants to be able to sit in the dining section and get serenaded by the Philharmonic.  The dining section was pretty lovely with the lights on trees and the white tents.

I love Philharmonic and the whole atmosphere brought me to express how I’ve been feeling.  A flashbulb sparked.  Ding ding ding!  I had an idea.

I specifically ordered chicken fingers for Bubba.  After ordering, I excused myself to go to the washroom only to make a beeline to the restaurant where we placed our orders.  I talked to the waiter who got our order and made a request.  He didn’t immediately say yes and actually had to bring out the chef for me to personally talk to.  Thank God the Chef agreed to a seemingly silly idea.

 I had the chicken fingers spell out YES.  Poofa and I have been going out for some months –more like he was courting me but he won’t admit to it to the term “court”.  Finally I was ready to make the commitment official.

They served our plates.  Poofa got hungry from the long drive, which made him grab the fork as soon as his plate touched the table.  I had to distract him by pointing out something behind him (a Tito, Vic and Joey tactic).  It worked for a split second and his attention was back to his plate.  I really had to intentionally grab his hand to prevent him from messing up the YES.  He was bewildered.  I started talking about something important but he was adamant to eat.  I pointed out his food and remarked how nice the presentation was.  He shrugged it off and went for it again.  I grabbed his hand AGAIN to stop him.  He thought I was playing a prank at him and starts to lightly reprimand me.  I restrained myself from laughing out loud or from smacking him in the head for being so oblivious.

With a sigh, I patiently told him again to admire how the dish was presented.  I remember at some point I had to tell him if it reads anything.  It took him quite some time and finally he grabs me and hugs me tight.

We looked at each other and our souls intertwined.  The connection silenced us, drenched with the tight bond we have shared over the past few months.  Those few months were blissful yet daunting.  Taking another breath, we started to laugh out loud.  Too loud in fact that the old couple sitting in front of us had to give us the EYE.  We were disturbing their Philharmonic mood.  We then giggled quietly.  Giggling on how funny the whole situation was.