Spent all of Saturday shopping with Xarra at the mall and at the Circle tiangge.

We were getting pretty claustrophic in the mall. Getting there on a Saturday afternoon was bad enough, attempting to shop a few days before christmas was just bloody hell worse.

I hate crowds and I hate the mall. I bought a pair of soft nude mary jane's that ended up being my high point at the mall. They were really cheap and will hopefully last long. I don't normally pick up my footwear in the department store sale rack, but this one looked sturdy enough.

We were at the mall a total of three hours before we both got headaches and just decided to head off to City Hall to do the rest of Xarra's christmas shopping.

I think that was where most of the adventure was.

First we went down City Hall. This meant that we had to cross the six lane traffic of the Eleptical Road. Xarra kept insisting that we were on a pedestrian lane, but that doesn't really help when you are facing 60mph of non-stop traffic.

But we got across and felt like kissing the ground. I felt like someone should have tajen a video of us just getting across the surge of fast traffic. It is unbelievable.

Anyway, it took me quite a while to realize that we were in Quezon Memorial Circle. The last time i'd been there I was around eleven. It was around christmas time too and I left sullen and miserable because the stall that sold the Nike trainers that I wanted was no longer there. I ended up buying a pair of roller blades at the mall (which turned out to be a lot more fun)

Looking around, I felt as if i'd just dropped out of a wormhole and this was an alternate dimension. It's been a long time since i've been to a park and all the "park" activity was getting to me. I wanted to just head off to the shops but nostalgia got the best of me so I convinced Xarra to stop for a photo op.

I spent a couple of shots on us and on the Quezon City Monument before stealing a couple of shots of a bunch of people playing parlor games. I think it was their team building seminar. It's always amusing to watch grown-ups make an ass out of themselves in parlor games.

Then it was off to the shops, then eating out at Tropical Hut.

That was another high.

Even though we'd eaten at Thai in A Box (which should really be Thai in a Block, with those block shaped dishes) my energy levels were already down from having to contend with the mall crowd. Besides, Tropical was my grandfathers favorite burger place, and eating there makes me feel closer to him somehow.

I treated Xarra out to dinner and had even more discussions about the rest of our lives. She's burned out at Smart. Having done here job (even though it was only a month) I personally know what a crappy day CSR's can have.

We didn't dwell on the topic though. We spent more time kidding around and catching up on each others lives between bites. She got spaghetti and rootbeer while I had a Rancher Ranchero burger and turned traitor for a while by getting a Pepsi Twist.

The burger itself sucked--burger buns, a pickle, a lettuce leaf, a sliver of mayo and a patty--but the patty was juicy and great. Now i'm thinking that I should come back to a Tropical branch just to get another taste of their burgers. I used to eat at Tropical with my grandparents as a kid, but just like everything that you've done a thousand times, the burgers had lost it's appeal and was just plain boring.

I kept thinking about my grandfather all throughout the meal, how he would have loved this. All the places that he's eaten, but he still loves the Tropical Hut cheeseburger the most.

I miss him.