Bowling with Jan

I can't buh-lieve it's my last day at work. I've worked for my company for almost 9 years and it's quite difficult to accept the fact that I will no longer see or talk or work with the peeps here in Virginia.

Submitted my time report and status report before having lunch at CiCi's. Alwyn has been asking us to eat here for the longest time. They have buffet pizza and pasta.

Alwyn handed out some BOGO leaflet from Telos. Ogz & I shared the deal. It set us back 10 bucks.

I got two slices of pizza (one pepperoni and one that has ground beef for toppings) and macaroni soup. The food is just otay. Nuthin' fancy. Ogz was looking for buffalo wings 'cause they advertise that online. In reality, it's not included in their buffet. After lunch, Ogz & I proceeded to our back to close our accounts and exchange our coins.

Went back to the office and began saying goodbye to our friends and co-workers. I got teary-eyed when I was hugging Linda, Kristie, Leslie and Bonnie =o(

We checked Jon in his office but he ain't there so we thought of a message to write on his whiteboard. I picked up a marker and that's the time Ogz noticed a black Lexus car about to park. It was JC.

He thought of having a couple of drinks with us before saying goodbye. We went to Sweetwater Tavern. Before I ordered my drink, the bartender asked for my ID. Showed him my driver's license from Manila. He looked at it, then at me, then back to the ID again. It was taking longer than usual. Uh-oh, that's not a good sign. He handed me back my ID.

Jon and Ogz both got their drinks. I saw the bartender talking to a guy in polo shirt. I assumed he's the manager. And they looked at me. Uh-oh, not a good sign!

The "manager" asked for my ID again. He did what the bartender did not too long ago. Jon mentioned that he's worked with me for the past 8 years. He gave the bartender a nod and I got my drink finally. Whew! Before going home, we took a short trip to Costco. I bought mommy some multi-vitamins.

Around 7:30-ish, I got a text message from Jan. We're going bowling tonight. We took our car and headed down to Leesburg. We called Anbby and asked if he's already done with this shopping. Turned out that he's already finished. So we picked him up and went straight to the bowling place.

We rented shoes and were told to occupy Lane 6. I got a 9 but found it was loose. When I was about to return it, I heard Jan calling my name. Turned out that he got an 8.5 and needed a bigger pair. So we switched ;oP Days ago, Anbby made a "Losers Pay" deal with Ogz. And for our first game, Ogz beat Anbby by 10 points. Anbby reasoned out that his knees are bad. Of course, we didn't buy his crap. Teehee... He stopped playing after the first game ;oP For my first, I got 94. Not bad for someone who hasn't played in a long time. Second game, I got strike on the first throw. Too bad, it went downhill after that.

'twas already 9:30 and Jan asked if we still wanted to play. Told him that we don't have more money. He said not to worry about it.

The place will have cosmic bowling at 10 so we had to speed it up. When it was time to pay, Jan shouldered everything. Awww!

After our game, we looked for a place to eat. While cruising along Leesburg, we decided to try Kobe, a Japanese resto. They close at 11 so we still have 30 minoots to enjoy dinner.

We tried their grill where the chef will cook the food in front of you (Hibachi), complete with theatrical moves and humor. My friend, Vicky, brought us to a similar one in Greenville, SC, a year ago.

The chef started heating the oil. We're sitting pretty close to the burner so I was a bit concerned about the flames. He started cooking fried rice, noodles, veggies (he did the onion volcano) and then our choice of meat. I got steak and shrimps. He also set aside 3 pieces of shrimps. I wonder why. Before he let us enjoy our dinner, he went back to his shrimps and chopped them into bite-sized pieces. Here comes the audience participation part. With opened mouth, the client must catch the shrimp like a dog catching scraps from his master.

When it was my turn, I panicked. I don't trust my powers to catch it. Instead, I used my hands (cheating). The chef chose Jan to be the fast-round catcher. He tossed shrimp tidbits one after another. I think Jan only caught one ;oP

Dinner was very entertaining.

Then it was time to go home. Anbby sat behind the wheel and adjusted the steering wheel. Big mistake! For some reason, it won't lock anymore to his desired angle. He tugged at the lever but still no luck. Jan tried it too but we're still stuck at the parking lot.

We called our friends in Ashburn. Alwyn and Onaks helped us out by Googling some possible techniques. Nada. Alwyn even mimicked the intonation of a call-center agent. That was funny.

Jan took charge and drove us to Ashburn. He said that it wasn't that hard to drive. We bid goodbye and thanked our good friend. 'twas already past midnight.

I called Avis and asked for help. They informed me that they would call me again tomorrow 'cause they still need to contact the airport branch where we leased the car from. Oh well, at least, we could still drive the van.

Spent the night drinking some more with our Ashburn friends.