Dinner with ICAP

ICAP wanted to treat us out to dinner and told us to pick out the place. Boss Danny wanted seafood so we suggested Claire dela Fuente's Grill and Seafood Restaurant at Seaside, which is along Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Blvd.

We were there around 6PM and discussion revolved first around the NBA finals ... which included bets (loser treats winner to dinner). Most of the girls were rooting for Celtics, making Stephen wonder why he's the only guy who's not rooting for Lakers.

Funny how a simple joke about Boss Jun's vacation moved the discussion to Philippine showbiz... Boss Jun and family went to Turkey and some other Mediterranean country/ies, so the joke was he visited Ylmaz Bektas - Philippine celebrity Ruffa Gutierrez's rich ex-husband who lives there. From Ruffa, the discussion shifted to Gretchen Barretto who's now banned from entering the RCBC building where ICAP has its Metro Manila office ... and why she's banned (the so-called elevator incident). Then we talked about other celebrities who have hooked up with rich guys like Gretchen has hooked up with a Cojuangco. That included the rumored gay relationships between rich guys and actors. Which inevitably shifted the talk to actors hiding their sexuality in the closet.

Milette had already eaten at the restaurant before and claimed that they play the video of "Something In Your Eyes" over and over again. That's the Carpenters song that Claire dela Fuente re-recorded for her latest album, with Richard Carpenter's blessing and cooperation.

We didn't believe Milette till the restaurant staff loaded the music video around 7PM. From that hour till we left sometime after 8PM, all you see on the screen are the 2 video versions of the same song ... played over and over and over again. Claire's version isn't bad, but when you hear a song played more than a dozen times - continuously, you'll find it annoying, which we did by the time we left the restaurant. At that point, we were not only making jokes about the effect of hearing the song countless times, but we were also making jokes on the hair products being displayed for sale in one corner (the same corner where you could buy Claire dela Fuente's CD) ... like the waiters' hair are all full and wavy, and you won't find a bald one because to hire a bald waiter won't sell hair products.

Despite having talked about a lot of things and ordering a lot of dishes, we finished surprisingly early ... we usually end dinners like this around 9PM. Hitched a ride back to the office with Boss Dan, then took the PNB shuttle to Buendia where I took the bus home.

Just in case you haven't seen or heard it yet ... am now presenting to you Claire dela Fuente's version of "Something In Your Eyes", and nope - I haven't figured out the difference between the original video and the director's cut: