Owkheiz. This is my super dooper mega googolflex times two times two times two to the 99th power of the Almighty kili-kili of mine TESTIMONIAL of my supposedly most recent event I attended using my very own money FOR the first time at Trinoma (am I supposed to suffix ‘mall’ to it?) Yes, I had so many firsts on this event, I think attending it was one of the wisest decisions I ever had in my life, next to my career course change as a manga artist (what’ll happen to my job op in 24 Oras? Lol).
I might have forgotten some of the most important details of the tour. It’s been a while.
TO ATTEND OR NOT TO ATTEND
I wasn’t really serious about not sleeping for my decision-making if I should attend the Trinoma Blogger Food Tour or not, but pushing for it wasn’t that easy. For a poverty-ridden platypus like me, traveling from my remotely located Cavite State University to North EDSA, in fact, was a BIG hassle in my part because of the possible transpo and—ehem—extra-curricular expenses I might induce. You read it right. I travelled all the way from Indang, Cavite to Quezon City, right after my class in Advertising (which pissed me off because our prof was absent—goodbye 100 pesos!) My 2 kg laptop was there with me through thick (smoke and smog) and thin (budget). I already looked disastrous after reaching Pasay MRT station for like 4 and a half hours of worrying for my transpo. But I managed to withdraw a decent amount from my EON card. All in the name of free food.
I didn’t even sleep nor eat breakfast or lunch before the event. And I came all the way from my school. How’s that?
Not only that, I was also worrying for my Photo Journ project where we’re required to submit 5 different photos (one each type) so I thought the event would help me a lot. Talk about shamelessly taking photos of the passengers in the MRT coach I was riding. Hahaha.
I didn’t know exactly where Trinoma is. After landing on the tiled flooring of a certain “mall” in front of me, I thought I was somewhere else farther. So I asked one police officer about its whereabouts, only to humiliate myself that the floor I’m already standing on is Trinoma.
LA ENTRADA A LA GRANDIOSA TRINOMA
Stupid Spanish subheading above me. So I took my digicam out for some nice Kodak-ing (I have a Kodak digicam, efwayay) and my initial reaction was like—is this SM North Edsa? After a couple of steps towards the center of the mall, I saw a bunch of unrecognizable, expensive-sounding stores like from some Ayala conglomerate and… oh yeah, it’s Trinoma na nga talaga because I felt that perturbing ‘socialite ambience’.
So yeah, with my face covered with nothing but atmospheric Metro Manila dirt and excess oil, I strolled inside the mall to kill some time—two hours to be exact—even if I was as hungry as a bear that just came out of hibernation. I didn’t expect to come earlier because of the Black Nazarene feast and the atrocious traffic but yeah, it’s a miracle for me to come TWO HOURS EARLIER before the start of an event.
I went to the cinema lobby and saw nothing but students who skipped classes for Enteng Kabisote. Lol. I thought the venue wasn’t put up yet, though I saw a white enclosure 5 meters away from the cinema ticket booth. Thinking it was a different event because of the real estate tarpaulins all over the place (which I find intimidating), I decided to walk another round some more and then saw a pink Doc Tess-looking lady walking just beside the white enclosure. I also received an SMS from Shari and she thought I was with Kevin and the rest of the Metro Manila/Rizal gang, then replied that I was all alone with my heavy bag pack and a very hungry stomach. I roamed around the arcade center, got intimidated by some girls looking at my shirt as if my existence was a terrible mistake, watched a guy shoot hoops that broke records (see photo), and then decided to go back to the enclosure. Darn, a “Trinoma Blogger Food Tour” print out was finally Scotch-taped at the entrance to the white, real-estate ad spammed enclosure. There I found Karlo, JM, and Calvin (if I spelled it correctly) upon registration.
It took only a few seconds before Doc Tess arrived and thus, the Early Blog Birds Association was founded. Hahaha.
A few minutes later, the rest of the youngest, uber good-looking bloggers of the Philippines (that’s US by the way) arrived with… what the eff… they have blue stickers on their shirts
I initially registered myself in the Yellow category… or Green AAACK (source: above pic)! I almost forgot! Damn my forgetful brain… so yeah, another group I was in. After recognizing that I was off the pack with the guys who have blue stickers on all their shirts, I decided to come along and asked the volunteers to allow me to change groups.
I already fed myself up before the actual tour because we were served with chicken barbecue (that tasted deliciously like curried), pancit, puto and puto kucinta, and… and… lots of iced tea. In addition to that, the AVP of Trinoma was either very informative or entertainingly funny (I didn’t get the blueprint of how Trinoma appeared to be a triangle in bird’s eye view and the actors were just as worse as the Xmas holiday ads of GMA).
Unfortunately, the event didn’t start the way it should and the greatness of the male emcee’s voice didn’t help a bit. But the tour commenced anyway as we submitted ourselves to a Trinoma employee slash tour guide named to someone I can easily forget about for some reason. My enthusiasm was at its peak because we’re finally gonna eat FOOD! Finger food, warned the Trinoma tour emcees.
PAGKAIN! PAGKAIN! PAGKAIN!
Yeah right. I wasn’t that reserved on the commencement of the most awaited food tour. I WAS THERE FOR FREE FOOD TO BEGIN WITH (socializing with some Multipliers came in second, by the way. Lol). Nervous and equally excited, the tour guide left us for good. So yeah, we had to introduce ourselves to the restos who have "confirmed" participation in the tour. Golly, they were so MANY of them in our mini list, I had no idea how the hell I can fit every bite size of their free food inside my stomach.
And to our greatest surprise, the very first resto we came across cogged the series of unfortunate events. Madison Grill, though looking at their best upon our entrance, was all dazed and frantic when we started taking pics of their interiors. Well, that hinted me that there’s something wrong with the tour.
More UPDATES and DRAWINGS (hahaha, may drawing ako) LATER.
