I'm not in the mood to type much at all. But let's see how much I really end up typing haha.

First, strange things. I got home from Tito Gilbert's and Tita Bebette's Happy Chinese New Year party at like 2, and didn't sleep until about 3. Nevertheless, I had made some [exciting] plans to meet up with Khoa again (ahhh! lol) to go see the movie Valentine's Day. Anyhow, I set my alarm clock for 7:30, because I was going to wash my hair and blow-dry it amazingly and look amazing for Valentine's Day.

Then, around 6:30 AM, I woke up... because my mom was talking in her sleep. It scared the hell out of me; it's never happened before! But she seriously woke me up, and I crept up to try to get my camera so I could record it, but then she stopped. And I was dead tired, so I just went back to sleep to wake up in like a half hour or whatnot.

But I didn't. I WOKE UP PAST 10 AM! It was horrible, and I almost had a heart attack, and I almost started crying. I didn't want anything to mess up this day with Khoa. I was angry at first, and of course, I blamed my parents for not waking me up. But then I remembered what Father Bill Halbing, the amazing priest who spoke at Our Lady of Angels about the power of love, said yesterday: "PATIENCE. PATIENCEPATIENCEPATIENCE."

And so, for the first time ever, my anger tantrum lasted for about five minutes -- now that I think about it, that's a record. My dad gave me a big V-day hug, and I told my parents about how I think my mom's talking in her sleep was actually God trying to wake me up in time -- hey, I actually believe that. It was pretty freaky, but also in just a wow way lol. So I sucked it up and didn't let my lateness bother me; I just said, "Screw my hair," and went straight to picking an outfit and doing my make-up, which both came out great. I called Khoa and said that I woke up late, and I was so deathly worried that he was going to end up waiting for about an hour. I hate it when shit like that happens DX.

So I ran out of the house and ran to the train -- AND I CAUGHT IT. I ran up the stairs and caught a downtown 2 right then and there. I was out of breath, but so happy. Thank you, God! -phew!-

And then I sat down, and started my usual prayer ritual. This may sound stupid to some people, but I'm tired of being "ashamed" of it for no reason -- I'm going to tell you all about it now. It started with the first time I went to go see Khoa by myself: I was anxiously nervous in all of my being! What if we didn't get along? What if I got caught? I would be dead if I got caught. I was too nervous to nap, too nervous to listen to music... so I prayed. Because I honestly believed that was the only thing that I could do in the moment that could make any difference in what was to come. It was strange -- on that first day when I was meeting up with Khoa, I prayed through my circle of five prayers all the way there. I dedicated some to me, some to him, and some to my best friends. And then on the way back, I only prayed thanks -- and the occasional, "Lord, please help me not get caught. x_x". Today, I did the same, but I was a little less anxious. And I can't explain myself fully -- it wasn't a "Oh, it worked once, it'll work again" feeling. It was just a feeling of... peace. Of trust. More like, "I trust in how You want this day to work out. I know you'll take care of me." I'm becoming more secure in my faith, and it's scary sometimes, but mostly, comforting. Especially after listening to Fr. Bill's Day of Recollection yesterday on "The Power of Love". I felt so inspired after that, but I'm not going to try to put it into words here.

Anyhow. So I sat down and looked next to me and noticed there was this disgusting waxy, wet stuff on the seat next to me! After I established that it wasn't going to drip in my direction, I then took it upon my power to protect people from sitting there, LOL. I pictured myself the Guardian of the Wet Seat. Seriously. I kept watch, and soon enough, an African (legit) guy came over and almost sat down without looking. I put my hand on his lower back and pushed him so he couldn't sit down, and he stood up straight again in surprise. I motioned to the seat and said, "It's wet," and he looked at me so gratefully and said, "Oh, thank you =.=;". I felt so... happy. lmao. I'm weird, I know. I've gotta learn how to just put myself out there lol. I'm not being ashamed of anything anymore.

So I continued to keep watch, just in case more people came over. But luckily, all the rest of them looked before sitting. Then I called Moleca to ask her if I should switch to the 5 to try to get to Times Square faster, and while I was on the phone with her, these nice people came on board spreading news about the awareness of the census. I took a paper from them to help them feel better about giving them out, lol.

And a couple minutes later, when we were already underground, I ended up accidentally dropping my lipgloss stick into the waxy stuff. EW. But, then I used the census paper to clean the shit off my lipbalm... and realized that I was being told to put the census paper I got on the seat. Ingenious, God, ingenious, lol. After that, everybody looked there before sitting lol, and I could stop worrying about it.

I don't want to sound too, I don't know, preach-y or something, but everything today worked out in little tiny ways like that; see, I had wanted to put something over the seat, but I had absolutely nothing on me except what was in my pockets -- until I got the census paper, lol. It was really strange. Some of you might be really skeptical, but I believe it. Because after i prayed for 20 minutes straight, some of them asking God to somehow help me get there faster (or at least make it seem faster, because I was getting anxious about how slow everything seemed to me), the train dispatch then came on and said that there would be no local stops between 96th Street and 42nd Street-Times Square.

Absolutely insane. :D. I seriously thanked God for that; you really don't understand. He cut off about a half hour on my travel time! I was thoroughly grateful.

I also got out at the exact right exit, which never happens. I can't navigate well in the city much, and that was just a miracle in itself lmaoo. And so I called Khoa, and he said he was at the theater. I couldn't tell if he was really pissed about me being late or if he was just bored or if he was just indifferent; that gave me a pang of nervousness.

I power-walked to the Theater, but once I was inside, I couldn't find him! He wasn't outside, and he wasn't inside... until I walked around the counter. I saw him leavning against the far wall dressed in some spiffy black city clothes. I approved.

I gave him the biggest smile and the biggest hug -- both of which were returned.

Can I just mention something? It was GREAT not having ANY awkwardness, whatsoever. We were just so glad to see each other! We got on line to buy tickets, and then I wondered if he was going to insist on paying again, lol. But I noticed a change -- he was no longer opposed to me paying. I mentioned it a couple of time, and he was a lot more indifferent about it than he was last time. Honestly? I think he's running out of his traveling savings; I think that now he's looking for a job and for ways to save. I let him cover the bill for the tickets, because it was about $24 and I had only $30 on me, but I swore that I would cover something else later on in the day. (I eventually ended up covering for lunch anyhow.)

We talked and talked nonstop about everything and anything lol. It was comfortable small-talk; no awkward silences. It was that state where there could be silence, but it wouldn't be awkward. We went to Theater 2 and went to get seated, because I was expecting the theater to be full. But it turns out, it was only pleasantly filled, because they showed Valentine's Day every half hour.

We walked 3/4 of the way up and moved to the middle seats... ignoring the couple making out behind us. Now that was awkward.

I left to go to the restroom, and then came back right before the first trailer. Okay. Now, the movie itself was really great. Despite it being a corny-ass movie, it was exactly what I was in the mood to watch anyway. I'm a really loud reaction person, so I was hoping that my laughing, gasping, and mumbling to myself weren't bothering him, lmfao, but I don't think they were. Now, the only thing was that there were some REALLY awkward scenes. I just can't seem to remember any of them now, lol. One must have had to do with the friendship that eventually became something more -- that was kind of awkward. At least for me sitting next to him lol.

Just to menion, lol: this was nothing like Casey. There was no arm-rubbing, hand-touching, or anything. He didn't make any moves to lean in, and I personally didn't feel compelled to. Honestly... I just think we're really great friends, lol. At least, we ride the friend vibe really well. For now.

After the movie, we talked about how he had a meet-up with a guy from Vimeo later on in the day. I didn't want to "keep him from any amazing opportunities," as I told him, lol. He was waiting to get contacted about where to meet up around 4 PM, so we still had plenty of time.

He brought me to this Italian place around the corner from Times Square somewhere that had the perfect vibe -- it was, like, a classy pizzeria. It had Italian entrees, but also the look of a little cozy, sit-down, brick oven pizza, take-out restaurant place. He ordered some kind of pasta, and I ordered what ended up being THE most delicious panini I have ever eaten. It was absolutely amazing, lol.

We talked and talked and talked. We must have spent an hour in that place. But this wasn't the kind of talking I had with Casey; this was a lot better, a lot less awkward, and a lot more... comfortable. Just full out, "We get along great, let's do things" kind of comfortable ^^. I also got to find out all about his new situation, about where he's living in the city and what he's looking forward to in the future, and it was just all really great.

Sidenote: I felt pretty. I hadn't done my hair, but I liked my outfit and my make-up, and I was just feeling confident and not self-conscious. I did notice, though, that when he talked, he didn't meet my eyes much. But he did occasionally, and those times just made me smile, lol. I kept thinking to myself, "I'm going to get him looking in my eyes all the time before we're through D:<" haha. Good stuff, though. He has a look in his face sometimes that I can't explain. I get a "I'm happy to be here with you ^__^" feeling from it, and that just makes me smile so much lol.

When we were done eating, I suggested we try to find Bryant Park. I knew time wouldn't really allow it, but I still had the notion to go ice skating with him, lol. He suggested a direction and I followed skeptically -- and lo and behold, he was right. I thought it was an epic miracle, LOL, that the guy that used to call me all the time for directions new where Bryant Park was! Hahahaa

I didn't know, but since it was Fashion Week, Bryant Park turned into one huuuuge epic tent, presumably with a runway inside. Must have been epic inside! After we walked around the park in the circle and decided that we couldn't get in in any way, lmaoo, we went to this store called Penguin -- well, it sells the clothing brand Penguin, but I'm not exactly sure what the place is called, hahaa. He looked around for some discounted items to buy, and I got a full reinforcement of his taste: Khoa is SO metrosexual, LOL. No wonder he is constantly getting mistaken for a gay guy everywhere he goes!

After we ended up leaving empty-handed, we started walking in the direction of what I presumed to be Urban Outfitters. He kept saying that he was trying to find one of the branches, and I just followed indifferently as we talked. He was walking quite fast, and I had to keep up with him -- but (lol, another "other-person" reference) it didn't feel like how it is when I walk with Phil. When I walk with Phil, I feel somewhat inferior, like he's trying to leave me behind. With Khoa, it just seemed natural, like that was how he walked lol. Besides, he constantly kept looking back to make sure I was still there. With Phil, it's almost like he couldn't care less if I got lost, LOL.

So I was right behind Khoa, power-walking so that I wouldn't lose him. And all of a sudden -- and I was almost unsure that I had followed him correctly -- he walked straight through the doors of one of the Manhattan buildings. At first I was like, "Wait a second. Did I miss the Urban Outfitters sign? O_O" And then I double-checked that the guy I was really following was Khoa... and it was. So I was thoroughly confused for a bit when he power-walked straight into the elevator. I followed anway.

I was confused out of my mind, so I was about to ask him what was going on, but there was a couple in the tiny elevator with us, standing behind us, and all I hear is, "... we'll continue this later... ;x". I almost couldn't keep myself from laughing!

As I thought to myself about what the hell was going on and where this elevator was going, I came to the conclusion that maybe he was going to show me OMGPOP headquarters or something, or maybe the Vimeo office, because during lunch, he had told me about his interviews and about how the companies existed in normal buildings and that you wouldn't know where they really were unless you knew the street address, lol. It was a very logical conclusion.

And then the couple then got off at the top floor, the 25th, which was the button they had pressed... but Khoa didn't make a notion to get off.

Instead, he walked over to the button pad, which was where I was standing, and then pressed a button: R.

Immediately after he pressed it, I was still thinking of a really cool top-secret floor where the OMGPOP organization would be.

It didn't occur to me that R stood for roof.

The doors opened and I gasped. I skipped out of the elevator all happily, and he laughed at me. "Oh my God, we're on a roof!?!?!" I said. It was ridiculous! I felt so exhilarated in that moment, lol.

I hopped out and looked at the buildings all around. The Empire State Building was right. there. In full view. It was great :]. The place itself had a bunch of park benches in the middle, and a wiiiide view all around. It was windy as hell, but I have NEVER been on a rooftop before, and I was just so excited, lol.

We were all alone too. If it had been anyone else It could have been romantic -- and trust me, don't think the thought hadn't crossed my mind, because it has. But he wasn't giving any hints for anything other than platonic, so I gladly went along with that -- it just seemed so... natural to, anyway. So I went from one edge of the roof to the other, leaning over the ledge and peering down, and at one point, the sun burst out of from behind all the skyscraper shadows for a couple of minutes, but it was constantly moving and so was soon blocked again. But the ray of light made me realize that it was already sunset! The sky started getting beautiful as the world started getting dark... ahhh, at least I know a good place to bring any future special someone back ^__^. Thanks to Khoa and his city secrets, lol <3.

I'm going to zoom through quickly now because it's late, and there are Facebook things that can back up what I'm saying now lol. I wanted to take a better picture of us, because I NEVER get good pictures of us -- so I attempted a ChrisIvy-status thing... and hung the camera down from a branch of one of the trees LOL. It actually turned out really well :].

I also made a video, which will be uploaded to Facebook soon :]. In it, you'll see Khoa pull of another one of his daredevil moves [that he's so inclined to do] and climb up on the ledge, stand up straight, and walk like he was tightoping 25 stories up. That idiot DX. <3. I care too much!

Then Khoa got his call from the guy he was supposed to meet up with, so we then went back downstairs to get me to the train so I could go home. We went back to Times Square, and he walked me down and even swiped me in with his Unlimited.

Our goodbye was too brief. It was a meaningful, tight hug, and I mentioned some slight passing remark about how I didn't have his present [the letters] because I didn't have to write them, and that I wanted to surprise him somehow [by mailing them]. He just gave me a "Mhmmm xP" kind of look lol. Murr! And then I was off into the bustling underground crowd.

Ahh, too brief ;__;.

On the ride home, I constantly kept thanking God for all the blessings that he gave me that day, which all amounted to an amazing Valentine's Day. In between those thoughts, I was thinking about everything that had happened. The thought popped into my head that I should have pecked him on the cheek when we were saying goodbye and said, "Happy Valentine's Day" or something. Gah, I'm so cold-hearted sometimes and don't think of those extra things that one can do for others. It would have just been a little Valentine's kiss, like those cute ones little girls give boys -- you know, just so that he could have felt like he wasn't completely alone. Well no, he wasn't alone. We were just two singles being alone together, haha. ^^. Now that I think about it, I don't mind not doing it either -- might have complicated things? lol. Well, the vibe just wasn't right at the moment haha.

This concludes all of Khoa Day. I've seriously come to the conclusion that Khoa and I MUST hang out more! I see such great potential here, whether it be a higher relationship or not. We just click instantly and get along really really well ^^.

After Khoa (I'll do a quick run-through of this) was a V-Day dinner with my parents. I got home EXACTLY at curfew, which had been set for 6 PM, and they picked me up straight from the train station, lol. We ended up eating at a small Asian restaurant on Central Avenue, and it was nice! We were all in a good mood. Then on the way home, we all got into a little fight about how my mom wanted to spend money again to hold some graduation party for me. -__-. I argued logically and calmly with her, while my dad and mom ended up getting really emotional, lol. It was strange... usualy I'm the emotional one o_O. But heree, I kept my cool for once, and suddenly, everything, to me, seemed to lose it's unnecessary graveness. I was more aware instead of being blinded by emotion, and was able to converse peaceably instead of making my heart race over vile thoughts about my parents. It seriously was quite strange, but as Father Bill said yesterday, "To forgive someone completely means never bringing up their past sins again." God, is that hard for me.

Thank you, Father Bill. You helped me a lot yesterday, and I really hope today contains only the very very first manifestations of a new self. I have yet to see. But I am already seeing the tiny blessings of this life. The miracles that happen every. single. day. Exactly as you said. " .... Ah, this is such a better way of looking at life!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So. Ahhh. Turns out I wasn't alone this Valentine's Day. =w=.

Good. Freaking. Stuff. ^_________^