Dumaguete

The first time I visited Dumaguete was almost a decade ago when I attended the wedding anniversary of a friend. It was a very short trip - I think it was only from Friday to Sunday - and because my friends and I were asked to perform some songs during the church ceremony and at the reception, most of our time that weekend was spent rehearsing. As such, I didn't really get to go around the city as much as I wanted. I told myself then that I would return but I never got around to it. That is, until recently when I went on a business trip to Dumaguete.

Unfortunately for me, the schedule of my trip was not ideal. I had a weekend engagement prior to my trip so I needed to take the latest flight on Sunday. I then had an event on Friday night so I had to take the late afternoon flight from Dumaguete back to Manila. I would have wanted to spend an extra day or two before and/or after my business trip but there wasn't time to do it this trip. Still, I did get to experience the city a bit more this time around. This included a long walk along Rizal Boulevard, one of the main streets in Dumaguete which runs right next to the sea.

Rizal Boulevard

This lovely view of the sea, or Tañon Strait to be exact, gives Dumaguete a lot of its charm and appeal. Tañon Strait is the expanse of seascape between Dumaguete and Cebu and it is the largest marine protected area in the country.

Tañon Strait

I also got to revisit Silliman University, which is one of the oldest in the Philippines. It is consistently ranked among the top universities in the country. I wasn't able to take good pictures of the school since we could only visit it after work, during which time the sun was already about to set, but I did manage to take a couple of photos of the very beautiful Silliman Hall before sunset...

Silliman Hall in Silliman University

...and after.

Silliman University at night

Our co-worker John took us inside Silliman one night and brought us to Bossing's Tempura, which I think is kikiam fried in batter. It was actually quite good and addictive and if I wasn't going to have dinner that night, I would have ordered a lot more. There are five different sauces, ranging in spiciness for 1 (not spicy) to 5 (very spicy). I didn't want to cause any stomach problems so I only tried up to level 3. :)

Bossing's Tempura in Silliman

Speaking of dinner, while I was in Dumaguete, I got to eat in a lot of good restaurants that offered a variety of cuisines. I had a team dinner in Lab-as, where we feasted on very good Filipino food and a bounty of fresh seafood. I also had a Mexican meal in Mooon Cafe. My co-worker John also pointed out a lot of restaurants that he said were good. He also mentioned about some places where we can get good lechon. I guess Dumaguete is a really good place to go on a food trip. I didn't really take a lot of pictures of the restaurants we visited apart from Sans Rival (which I will write about separately) and Casablanca, which is just a stones throw away from Sans Rival along Rizal Boulevard. Casablanca serves European fare and while I was initially thinking of getting either the schnitzel or the cordon bleu, the waitress recommended the Hunter's Platter, which includes pork medallions, chicken, and sausage and is served with a side of potatoes. All this for only P360. Wow! I ended up ordering it and I gotta say, I absolutely loved it. (I reckon a similar dish in Manila will cost at least P600).

Hunter's Platter in Casablanca

If I had more time, I would have loved to explore Silliman University and the rest of the city center on foot. I would also love to visit Red Rock or Pulangbato Falls and maybe even nearby Siquijor. While I did miss a chance to see more of the natural wonders in the area, I did get to see some great views from the mountains of Negros.

There's really a lot that one can do in this beautiful city. If I get to go on another business trip here, I hope I can spend a few days during the weekend to experience more of Dumaguete.

FEU win UAAP Street Dance Competition

I wasn't able to watch the UAAP Street Dance Competition when it aired a few weeks ago but I found that FEU won the championship, ending the stranglehold that DLSU and UP had on this event (DSLU and UP had won three titles each, an even split of all six previous competitions held). In fact, when I saw the scores, FEU had more than a 6-point lead over DLSU in 2nd place which had less than 1-point lead over UP in 3rd place. I decided to search for the FEU performance and I gotta say, it's pretty awesome. Check out their championship-winning performance here:


video uploaded in youtube by Albert Fulgencio

Congratulations FEU Dance Company!

Quality time with friends

The great thing about my new job is that for the first time in more than half a decade, I am working normal hours again. By that, I mean an 8 to 5 or 9 to 6 shift, and not midshift or the European shift as I had grown accustomed to in my previous job. This new daily schedule has allowed me to hang out with my friends a lot more recently.

My kumpare Raffa celebrated his birthday in Buca di Beppo on a Tuesday night. Despite it being a weeknight, all of us ex-colleagues who are still based in Manila were able to go. Interestingly enough, I just realized that while half of us were still working for the same company a year ago, we were now all working in different places. What a difference a year makes. Our venue proved to be a good one for us too since the food was pretty good. It was also quite heavy; we ordered two pasta dishes and two pizzas and there were 10 of us but somehow we weren't able to consume everything we ordered. I actually wouldn't mind eating here again. You can't really go wrong with good Italian (or American Italian) food.

My friend Myna also turned a year older this month and naturally, we celebrated her birthday by having game night. I arrived late in the evening due to a conflict and I had very little sleep the night before but I made sure to still go. I got to play Legendary again - two rounds in fact - but we lost both games. It was frustrating. I didn't realize it was so hard to beat the Mastermind in Legendary. In fact, all three times I've played it, we haven't been close to winning. I guess I need to play this game more times so I can finally experience beating the Mastermind, even if I don't score an individual win. I also got to play Dinosaur Island, a game that was only recently released via Kickstarter. It was fun to play and it kinda gave me a bit of a Dungeon Petz vibe (Dungeon Petz is one of my favorite games). I'm looking forward to playing this again.

I also spent a weekend in Pansol with my ex-teammates. When I met up with them for dinner late last year, we started discussing a possible out-of-town trip this summer. While initial plans included Subic, Tagaytay, and even Pagsanjan Falls, we ended up going to Pansol, which I guess is the cheapest and easiest option for us. Apart from catching up with people I used to see almost everyday, the other highlight was the steady stream of food that came out of the kitchen, thanks to Mykel and Nat.

Finally, my friend Mari returned to the Philippines after her US assignment so we decided to have dinner at Wangfu in Ayala the 30th. I suggested it because I wanted to enjoy their Salted Egg Prawns again (and I did). We spent the rest of the evening at Starbucks (although I surprisingly didn't order coffee; instead, I got ice cream from Emack & Bolio's right next to it). Mari had a second get-together that evening so we called it a night at around 11pm. There was talk of having another game night since Basil has a game that we still haven't played so hopefully we get to catch up again soon.

Playtaste by Gaming Library

Gaming Library recently celebrated its 7th anniversary. Along with this milestone, the owners also launched Playtaste, a new board gaming place housed in Spectre Manila. This is a more intimate version of DyceNDyne (which unfortunately closed a couple of years ago). Playtaste was created by Gaming Library, Spectre Manila, and Comic Odyssey and it carries some games for sale (not the full Gaming Library selection, but I'm guessing that if you order in advance, you can pick up your purchase here). There are also some open games that you can play while you are there.

Since DyceNDyne closed, I wanted to support this new board gaming community so I spent one Saturday evening here. Playtaste doesn't have proper meals in its menu but they do have finger food and drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. A lot of my board gaming mates are good friends with the Gaming Library owners, including Kat who was with me that afternoon/evening that I visited Playtaste. JM also joined us for a couple of hours. We were the only guests there that evening so we got to play games with some of the owners of Gaming Library. Cool!

Most of the afternoon and evening was spent playing new games. I say mostly because I started the afternoon playing Azul. My first Azul experience was not so great because the rules were being explained as we were going through game play so I ended up getting massive penalties for making wrong moves twice. This time around, I had a good idea of how to play, and would you know it? I actually won! With a pretty good score too. Cool!

Azul

We were then introduced to Rocky Road a la Mode, which is kind of like a cross between Splendor in terms of scoring and getting free resources (plus it has bonuses that resemble the nobles in Splendor) and Tokaido in terms of board movement (the player behind everyone else gets to move first). It's fun, relaxing, and quick and easy so we ended up playing it twice. I won the first game and ended up in a tie for 2nd in the second game.

Rocky Road a la Mode

We also played Unstable Unicorns, which I is kinda like Exploding Kittens in terms of game play. But unlike Exploding Kittens where players get knocked out of the game one by one, Unstable Unicorn gets played by everyone until someone plays his or her 7th unicorns (that player wins). You'd think this would be quite simple but as it turned out, it was taking quite a while so we reduced the target to 5 unicorns and even then we played for longer than we initially anticipated.

I ended the evening playing GKR: Heavy Hitters, a game which was recently released on Kickstarter. (I think it is not yet available for sale anywhere else.) To quote my friend Cla who saw the picture I took of this game, it looks like Scythe on steroids LOL. And I guess it does. :) Heavy Hitters is a direct conflict game and I don't usually do well in these kinds of games since combat tends to stress me out LOL. I tried to compensate by making the first move and attacking someone but this early aggression backfired and I ended up losing quite badly. Still, it was very interesting to play. I do think it is better for four players than for three. Its name - Heavy Hitters - is also quite appropriate because it is quite a massive and heavy game. :) It makes me wonder how much it will cost the moment it becomes publicly available.

GKR: Heavy Hitters

Kat and I already discussed when our next visit to Playtaste will be. I'm hoping that I get to play with some of the Gaming Library owners again since it is always great to play with people who absolutely love and enjoy board and tabletop gaming

Playtaste
https://www.facebook.com/playtastegl/
https://www.gaminglib.com/
2nd Floor 916 Luna Mencias, Brgy. Addition HillsMandaluyong, Philippines
For table reservations, call (02) 725 3066
Operating hours: Sunday to Thursday - 1 to 10PM, Friday to Saturday - 11AM to 12MN

From Now On from The Greatest Showman

In my previous post, I talked about how much I love the music and the production numbers of The Greatest Showman. None moreso than From Now On which comes out close to the end of the film. If you don't want to be spoiled, you might want to skip watching this video but if you've seen the film and want to see it again or you are looking for a reason to watch the film, check this out.


video uploaded in youtube by Stark Productions

Not only is the dancing perfectly on point and tremendously well-executed, it is performed with such life and energy and passion. It's like the entire cast erupted in unbridled joy. I enjoyed watching all the earlier production numbers in The Greatest Showman but it was this scene that I immediately wanted to see again. And again. And again. (And now, thanks to this video, I have. :))

Movie Watching 2018

It took a while before I finally found myself at the movie theater this year but when I did, I ended up watching one film after another in quick succession. In fact, I watched three movies in a span of three days. Thankfully, everything I saw was really good.

The Greatest Showman

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Showman

I watched this film because of word-of-mouth. I didn't really know about it until I kept seeing my friends heap praised upon it on social media. Thankfully I did see it because I thoroughly enjoyed it. While it is supposed to be based on the life if P.T. Barnum, a lot of liberties were taken and it is not historically accurate. I will also say that the story is quite light and the character development was a bit thin. So why did I love this movie? It's the music and the production numbers. Not only are the songs catchy, some of them are downright anthemic. Never Again has been covered so many times by singers who want to showcase their vocal talent. This is Me was nominated for Best Song at the Oscars for its inspirational message of strength and courage and accepting and being proud of for who you are. Rewrite the Stars has such a pop appeal that I've heard it many times on the radio already. My personal favorite though is not one of the common favorites among people. From Now On is sung close to the end and is about forgiveness and redemption, and it has a gospel feel to it that makes your heart soar. While the music alone would have been enough, the production that accompanies each song just take the experience to the next level. The soundtrack has been playing in my head since I watched the film and I desperately want to find a karaoke bar where I can sing songs from the movie. :)

The Post

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Post_(film)

As a Meryl Streep fan, there was no way I was going to miss The Post. The fact that she was nominated for her 21st acting Oscar for her performance in this film made me want to see it even more. While it seemed like a bit of a cerebral political drama during the first half, it became almost edge-of-your-seat suspenseful as it started building up towards what I felt was one of the most critical moments of the film. I won't spoil you by telling you what it is, but I have to say that Meryl absolutely sells that scene. This movie gave me the same vibe I got watching Frost/Nixon many years ago. I guess I'm not the only one who loved it since it was also nominated for Best Picture at The Oscars. While the film is set in the mid-1960s, it highlights the criticality of freedom of the press, which is just as relevant today as it was back then. The line "The free press was to serve the governed, not the governors" resonated with me a lot and I wish more people understand this concept and fight to uphold to it.

The Shape of Water

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shape_of_Water

Because it was Oscar season this month, it was natural for many Oscar nominees to be shown at the movie theaters. The Shape of Water had been reaping a lot of awards and the sea creature element made me very curious to see it. As expected, this film, which took home a few Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo Del Toro, was a well-crafted and beautiful piece of storytelling. I will spoil you a bit here and say that it is a love story (although I guess you can kind of figure that out from the movie poster) that is strange and thrilling and suspenseful and romantic. The lead actress, Sally Hawkins, puts in a scintillating performance and really makes you feel for and relate to her character, despite the very unusual and unique circumstances in which she finds herself. I will say though that while I found this film to be tremendously good and satisfying to watch, it's not something I would have thought would take home an Oscar Best Picture trophy. Still, it is definitely worth seeing and I do recommend it.

Black Panther

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_(film)

Of all the films I watched so far this year, Black Panther is the only one that came out in 2018 (the other three came out in 2017 and in fact, all other three were nominated for Oscars). I think it is incredible to see a black superhero in a leading role. The fact that he is joined by a black cast in a film that celebrates black culture and pays homage to Africa makes it even more groundbreaking. While I can attempt to write about the value of this film, I will instead direct you to this article by Time on how Black Panther marks a major milestone. Apart from its cultural significance, it is also a really good superhero movie with fantastic action sequences, good storytelling, and well-written and well-developed characters that you can't help but root for. Here's a bit of trivia: Black Panther is currently the highest ranked Marvel movie on Rotten Tomatoes in terms of critics score.

Aircon Woes Again

Well this sucks. Less than a year after I had problems with my previous aircon, I started having issues with my new one. A few days ago, I noticed that there was water dripping from the dropped ceiling behind my aircon. It was a very light and intermittent drip so I thought I could wait a few days until the next Saturday for it to be looked at. The problem was that one night, right before I was about to sleep. the dripping got significantly heavier, almost like water from a faucet. It dripped for just a few seconds but enough water came out to fill a mug. I had our on-shift engineer inspect my aircon and ceiling and he said that there is most likely a leak in the drain causing water to collect inside my ceiling. I got really worried that my ceiling would collapse, and my aircon along with it.

I decided I couldn't wait a few more days for my scheduled repair. I asked our engineering department to help me influence the aircon repair service to find time to repair my unit. I also called them myself. After a few calls and some begging on my part, they were able to send a couple of people to check the problem. The problem is that the only way to find out what was going on was to cut big holes in the ceiling. They confirmed that my aircon was not properly attached to the drain, resulting in a leak. Thankfully, they were able to do the repair later that afternoon.

The sucky thing about this is that I lost a day of work, had to pay for the aircon repair service, and I now have to pay for the restoration of my ceiling. I guess I will just try to focus on the positive and that it could have been a lot worse; at least my ceiling didn't collapse. And I got to help people earn a living.

Dawn Macandili honored as Ms. Volleyball 2017

Ms. Everywhere is Ms. Volleyball!

MS. VOLLEYBALL at the PSA Awards: Dawn Macandili pic.twitter.com/N8OWhv5qQz

— The Score (@TheScorePH) February 27, 2018

Congratulations to Dawn Macandili for being awarded Miss Volleyball 2017 by the Philippine Sportswriters Association. Dawn continues to set records as she once again becomes the first libero to receive this honor which has traditionally been given to scoring players.

DAWN MACANDILI:

From Batangas’ Potential Star
To De La Salle Zobel recruit
To Juniors’ Best Libero
To Gohing’s heir apparent
To UAAP’s Best Receiver
To UAAP’s Best Digger
To UAAP’s Best Libero
To Asia’s Finest Libero

From Miss Everywhere
To Miss Volleyball 2017 pic.twitter.com/GGM0JXpX8U

— Dawn ➳ Macandili (@MissEverywhere_) March 4, 2018

Of course, this award is very well-deserved. Macandili was part of the DLSU team that won the UAAP Women's Volleyball trophy, and she also took home the Best Receiver award. She was also awarded Best Libero at the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix, where she helped F2 Logistics win the championship.

Have you heard of Dawn Macandili? A libero for Philippine national women's VB team, she's the 2nd Best Libero during the 2017 Asian Women's Champ. She was also the first libero in the PH to receive an MVP plum during the 2016 PSL All-Filipino Conference. #RisingVolleyballStar pic.twitter.com/J3Q8mjkmLf

— Asian Volleyball (@avcvolley) January 19, 2018

For me, though, it was Macandili's international exposure that was the highlight of her 2018. She joined the Philippine National Team at the SEA Games where the Philippines placed fourth. She also joined the  at the AVC Asian Senior Women's Championship, an event where the Philippines competed against Thailand, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. Despite playing in a league that included some of the best players in the world, Dawn received the 2nd best libero award in that event. Amazing!

Congratulations, Dawn! You definitely deserve to be called Ms. Volleyball 2017.