Project: Lakbayan

My Lakbayan grade is C-! How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!Created by Eugene Villar.

This is so cool! Got this from Carlo's site.

I really promised myself to explore the key spots in the Philippines first before the rest of SE Asia. I'm dying to go to Mindanao!

The tourist

A few shots of my trip as a turista are in my Friendster account.

I went to Merlion Park (?), Clarke Quay and Bugis for some shopping and air ballon ride.

Ethnic immersion

I am emotionally and physically drained. I lost weight and an inch of my waistline. My skinny jeans are now loose they look like flares when I wear them. lol. Just a joke.

Well here are the photos from the first of my rockin-social-life week (hehehe). Went to Penguin Cafe, Malate after being prodded by BJ's sisters and brothers-in-law to treat them to a nice place somewhere - anywhere - for my despedida. I told them of the bar, but after uttering the words Pinoy ethnic music, they were a little taken aback. "Like, they have gongs and stuff?" asked one brother-in-law. Although I haven't seen the other bands perform yet, I thought of Kadangyan and said yes. Then silence screams in the car.

But ftw! We went there anyway.

Meet Butong Pakwan. My friend Ryan said they haven't performed in a while. Although their music makes you think of road trips on plains and hills, I'm not a total fan still.

Psychedelic chill. Thanks to Goodleaf. Great pure reggae tracks, but I was bummed for they played just a few songs.

I find the drummer cute anyways =)

Earthfish. Is it just me or the acoustic band doesn't belong in the event that evening? Not organic.

Unitiima. Not because one of the band's members is my friend, but man, they rocked the evening! Tama lang ang amats. lol. They should be the event's finale, and should have played more songs.

Lakbay Lahi. You can expect nothing but the best from this band. But where's Heidi? Naman!

I was tipsy after a couple of screwdrivers, but still managed to take a photo of each band that performed. We called it a night at 3am.

I will definitely miss this when I get to SG. It is music straight from our roots. So beautiful the melody will absorb you. Heaps =)

Started last Saturday

This is my rockin-social-life week. lol

Will dish the details once photos are available.



Lab u, Penguin Cafe ♥

I hate Visine Refresh

But I have no choice. They no longer market Visine Cool here in PH. Can't see them on any drugstores, and didn't bother asking the staff at all. I was browsing on stores for months for that eye drop, until I grew tired of looking and settled with the other.

Anyway,

I had lunch with my highschool friend Eva a while ago. We ate at Teriyaki Boy and it was my first time to eat there. Food is really really good! Oh well. It was actually their sauces that tickled my taste buds. Eva and I just had little chit-chats and very little window shop cheverloo after. And she said I'm getting skinny. Duh! It's been a week since I last hit the treadmill.

I'm gonna see her again next week. I'll just arrange a get-together with her and the rest of my HS buddies.

And YOU... You made my heart stomp on the ground.


Listening to: Saliva's Here With You

Remember, remember...

The fifth of... May.

Yes, my sister Daena will forever thank me for prodding her to go to Malate to see Kadangyan and Unitiima perform. Saying we had a blast is really an understatement!

Now this is where you scroll-down-scroll-down on heaps of photos. But there are captions as pit stops. Heh!

Checking the cam

Hahaha! I love this shot!
Rick, Daena, Katkat, Ryan

Sound chick

And then the groove started

For blocking my view!

And everyone were held in trance

Another shot I love! Nice photos, Dundee!
This is Dondon btw, the heartbreaker of San Juan

Unitiima's hotshot! Friend ko yan! So proud of him =)

Kadangyan's Bhava Mitra... hearts

And Govinda... jaya-jaya

We're doing peace signs in almost all our shots it's not funny anymore. It is annoying already, actually.

After their performance, we also headed to the Vurve-something. I didn't like the crowd there. Don't like to whole hardcore hip-hop thing. I'm a rockstar! lol

Whatevs.

Listening to: Seven Dust's Driven

Spidey 3 was just.... fine

I watched Spiderman 3 with BJ yesterday. We went to the mall around lunchtime and people were already lined up to the ticket booth. The entire theater were reserved just for Spidey! Wow.

I seriously thought the Labor Day holiday was not moved to April 30th (Monday) for a longer weekend (just like what the President used to do) here because of Spiderman. See:

> May 1 - Labor Day (non-working day)
> People got nothing to do, they go to the mall
> They see Spiderman, buy tickets
> Tickets = money
> MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!

It was all about business. MONEY.

Anyway, the first part of the movie actually explains the first two installments. It was pretty dragging, then went really quick on the latter part. I'd say the movie was just ok. Nothing special, really.

A WHOLE lotta view on chocs

Haven't blogged for days... I was just busy. Until now, I'm busy. Just sneaking in to write a few words here.

Well, my weekend was spent with my family in Bataan. You know, the only thing I hate (well, I guess it is a love-hate thing) when I go there is my mom's preparing all my favorite foods -- some tomato-based ones and her oh-so-good adobo paired with rice boiled to perfection -- and she's ruining my diet. lol. Good thing my dad and I play badminton in the morning.

So there. My work today is about getting every think tank out there on the Net. I know such organizations but I just found out today that they're called think tanks. Interesting. And that chocolates and choco liquor has insect filth as one of their ingredients and that was like eeew. lol. I wish I didn't found out about that at all. No wonder they're crunchy. Hahaha! And I'm posting this to change your views too with chocolates. lol. Evil me....

I just have to find out WHY. But with all the work piled up on me today, I guess that other research would take a while. So chocs are on hold for now. Or forever. =(

From fab to flab =(

Mondays are almost always a bore. Nothing much (or nothing at all) to blog about.

Anyway, I am absolutely not making this up, ok? But really, I was mistaken as a mannequin in Greenhills shopping arcade last Sunday! I was just staring at some shirts when a woman from behind grabbed my arms. I looked at her and she was like, "Oh, I thought you're a mannequin! I was just about to move you away from the walkway" and kept on saying sorry and seemed embarrassed. The salesgirl near us was laughing, and I told her, "Duh, I'm not even slim enough to be like one!" But maybe the woman's a pickpocket-er, if there's such a term. You'll never know, right? Even inside shopping malls, you have to be extra careful with your belongings. But still, I'm flattered. Heh.

And then I was on my way to work this morning when the driver said to me, " You're getting fat. Did you just settled down?" I was shocked and just said, "I'm too young to get hitched! I'm only 24." But really, if you settle down, you get fat? Maybe, as some ladies get disoriented with their new role as a wife. But that doesn't happen to everyone.

Gee, I really really have to get back to working out! I don't have a decent exercise for three weeks already! Sad.

Earth music for Earth day

I was about to blog about this yesterday but my computer's having a slow Internet connection. Anyhoo, one thing I noticed for the past few days is everytime my sister and I fight, we talk the following day as if nothing happened. As if we never fought. Ever.

Not that I'm complaining. I'm just sayin'.

Anyhoo again...

Belated happy happy Earth Day!

Earth Day was actually yesterday. Just a heads up: It is an annual observance to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment. Thanks to Wikipedia.

Here in Manila, I think it was celebrated for the entire past week. BJ and I (and some more friends) went to Malate at Fluid Lounge last Friday to support my friend Ryan's event tagged Musikalikasan. We got a taste of contemporary world music from Lakbay Lahi and Unitiima.

World music got served and I'm totally loving it! I wanna dance when Lakbay Lahi performed actually. I was just shy ^-^ I even have a girl crush on their rower. lols

G-crush! What's her name, Ryan? Hehehe!

She's really simple, and really cute. But quite a snob eh? She's not looking at the audience. Or maybe she's trying to focus on their performance. She is playing three instruments (???) at the same time during their performance.

After the event, BJ and I thought of heading to Tomas Morato for the Earth Day Jam (my sister was there with her friends) for some rock 'n rollin' music. But my sister messaged me that she's already heading home. So we called it a night at 2. Bleh.

Now I wish to attend to an event where Lakbay Lahi and Kadangyan (loves!) are present. That would be heaps of fun.

Sister graduated

...yesterday

The entrance ticket says the ceremony will start at 5:30 am. Well, funk off! We (plus mom and David) left the apartment at 5:30. The ceremony started at 7.

The graduate and her stylist. I didn't have enough sleep... Slept at 11 pm (It was a warm evening, you'll get a hard time dozing off) and woke up at three to get her all dolled up for her g-day.

The ceremony ended at 12. Very much hungry then, so off we went to Mall of Asia.

(mom's photo pixelated to protect privacy)

David learned doing the peace sign from us, like it's a must everytime your photo is taken. He is SO Asian! Ayt!

Like I said, we were VERY hungry... so we settled for fast food (er, Jollibee -- hearts by David and every Pinoy kid in the world) for lunch. We took a little stroll and David went for a carousel ride. Mom told me to assist him in the ride, for it'll be awkward for my sister as she is in skirts. I have no choice. Whatever.

As you can see, my sister is the lousiest photog ever! She took five photos of us and believe it or not, this is the most decent shot. lol

After that, we took more photos and headed to our apartment. We got home at four and I caught up on some ZZZs.

Unexpected rain + Ryan's birthday treat

It is April, the middle of summer season here in the Philippines, but it rained heavily last night! I was shopping for groceries then. I stepped out of the store, and the street was already flooded! Grr.... I didn't bother bringing an umbrella at all. No one would expect a heavy rain in summer. Duh! So I waited for the rain to mellow out before boarding home.

Our weather is really funked up. It was pretty late at night then when I went to the grocer. I was hurrying to go home when the heavy rain came. How can you not curse that?

Anyway, I wanna greet my dear friend and colleague Ryan a belated happy birthday. His birthday was on April 5th, and it is Maundy Thursday, so we prodded him to treat us the day before.

These photos were taken last April 4th, when Ryan treated us for a dessert galore at Starbucks. Yum! =)

Starbucks has been our official hangout. If its walls could only talk, they have the juiciest buzz to tell the world about me and my friends.

Ryan's on the left, one of the few guys who can really pull off wearing a hot pink shirt. lol. And the other guy's Leslie. A hardcore blogger, I must say.

Leslie and Ary, the boy-next-door. Haha

Me and Ivy, Ryan's girlfriend. I don't look good here =(

The guy who took Ary's order must be really lonely (or perhaps gay). Google it if possible, or ask your Filipino friends what this word means. lol.

Kill the gay guy for tarnishing Ary's name!!! lol

Anyhoo, thanks Ryan for the delicious treats! =) Heaps of sweetness and joy for you today and for many years to come!

The long break ends today

I need a lot of catching up to do with my blog, and so is my work in the office. But heck, I'll blog first.

I spent the Holy Week with my family in Bataan, marathoned Heroes, played badminton with my dad and sister, eat lots of food (I gained a few pounds -- sad), and attended a mass on Easter Sunday. It was pretty boring, but I spent it with my family and that's all that matters.

Just a quick post for today. Gotta work!

Mall-hopped while not totally feeling OK

Ok. The images are taking forever to load into my site. I dunno why. My image host must have screwed up.

Well anyway, I wasn't feeling fine yesterday so I took extra nap time and yep, I didn't report for work. Then come lunchtime it was so hot in my room that I need to go somewhere - anywhere - to chill out. I decided to have my office shoes fixed at SM and have some lunch there. I ate at Jollibee and had some Gonuts Donuts too. Yum! =) I was feeling ok then so my next stop was Greenhills. It's been a while since I last stepped there and checked some stuffs. I bought a shirt there anyway. Then I headed to Quiapo to buy... well, DVDs. lol. I bought Heroes and some collection with 300 in it. Then it was almost six in the evening so I headed home.

Mall-hopping not pushed through

I've made a lot of blogs from tabulas to xanga to blogger to caliope that I dunno which among them should make my official blog. So confused.

Anyway, my family and I went to SM Pampanga yesterday. It was our first time to go there except my elder brother who has made it his default dating place from his plethora of girlfriends. We left our house at 10:30 in the morning and boy, it was so hot outside. Like it's gonna peel us alive. We got there at SM so hungry so we headed straight ahead to Pizza Hut. We ordered family-size pizza (of course), topped it with cheezy volcano crust (which I am totally loving), then had separate meals. My parents and brother had rice meals, while me and my sister had pasta. Our youngest boy -- David -- had a platter (chicken-garlic bread-fries combo). We were almost done eating when we saw Jollibee near the mall's lobby. There was an event for kids there and Jollibee showed up as their special guest.

Since it'll be David's first time to see Jollibee actually moving, my sister took him there to see it. I followed suit to have their photo taken. No photos to post here, though. Though not yet. I'm in my office, and it's a no-no to upload anything on my PC.

So there. My brother had three slices of pizza. Gee, so hungry. Anyway, after that we went to the kids' arcade arena of some sort where David played and had more of his photos taken. Then my mom, sister and I left the boys there for a while for some shopping. My mom bought a pair of pants and a blouse, so is my sister. It took us more than an hour to check the stores, that dad was so mad he messaged us on my phone threatening to leave us if we didn't get back to the arcade like right now. Sheesh. Boys.

We were also planning to hop off to Robinson's Pampanga but the guys were already tired (well, just my dad) they wanna go home. Pft.