Tagaytay Wedding

The final wedding I attended in 2018 was that of my college friend, Kermin. She got married to Gerhard whom she met at work. They had known each other for many years now but it was only recently that sparks flew between them. Gerhard is from South Africa so the original plan was for them to get married there but they eventually decided to tie the knot in Tagaytay instead.

The wedding was held in Clear Water House which is right next to Charito by Bag of Beans. According to the invitation, the ceremony was supposed to start at 3:30pm but it started at around 4pm. Thankfully, it didn't start promptly because there was no available parking in Clear Water when I got there - I think maybe only 4-6 vehicles can park in the premises - so all other guests had to park in the nearby Cliff House.

It was raining during the wedding but even the uncooperative weather couldn't dampen the day's festivities. When Kermin made her way from her bridal car to the ceremony area, she needed to be escorted by someone with a huge umbrella but she was still radiant and had a broad smile on her face. Gerhard was also glowing.

The reception was set in the garden but there was a tent to prevent people from getting rained on. Thankfully, the rain stopped at some point during the ceremony so we managed to stay dry the rest of the night. Before the reception started though, a very inviting feast of snacks and drinks was served. I ended up having different varieties of cheese, olives, cold cuts, crackers, and even a really good vanilla cake.

The view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano should have been glorious from Clear Water House but it was quite foggy. However, as the weather cleared, we managed to get a glimpse of Taal.

The reception had a South African theme. The were lots of earth tones and the stage area was decorated with beautiful vines and leaves and the side tables looked like tree trunks.

The three-layer wedding cake was also very African. It was decorated with giraffe, leopard, and zebra print icing. At the top, instead of the usual bride and groom figurines, it had two giraffes with their necks intertwined. Sweet! :)

There were also little animal figurines on the tables. Ours had a giraffe, an elephant, and a rhino. Gerhard told us these figures were ideally for kids but we could take them home (our table had only one child). I ended up taking home the rhino and Anna took home the elephant.

The food was really good. As mentioned, we had a cocktail spread that was delicious and the food during dinner was superb. I wasn't able to eat too much though because I had to sing late in the program and I didn't want to be too full. It was too bad because I would have wanted to have seconds (and even thirds) so that I could enjoy more of the amazing food.

For my song number, I ended up performing Martin Nievera's version of The Promise. This was the first time I sang at a wedding in a really long time. I honestly can't recall the last time I sang at a wedding before this. I was actually really worried because I had tonsillitis and I didn't get to practice enough because I didn't want to hurt my throat before the actual performance. Personally, I thought that my voice lacked a bit of texture and my breath control wasn't at its best but people seemed to enjoy my performance. As it turns out, right after my song number was the same-day-edit video and right after that was the couple's final speech of thanks. It was almost as if my performance was part of the finale of the night LOL. Lala did tell me that my song number was worthy of a finale, which I felt was a huge compliment coming from someone who is a huge music fan and who closely follows a lot of amazing music artists.

Aside from this wedding being a milestone night for Kermin, it also doubled as the Christmas get-together of my college friends. The program ended between 9 and 10pm but most of us stayed very late. Several of our college friends were staying overnight in Tagaytay while I was driving back to Manila but I ended up staying until midnight, sharing stories with everyone and listening to all the wonderful anecdotes. When I was about to leave, Kermin thanked me for the song, saying it made her feel special, which in turn made me feel special. Kermin and Gerhard have plans to move abroad soon so we all need to catch up again before they leave.

Congratulations and Best Wishes, Kermin and Gerhard!

Christmas Get-togethers

December proved yet again to be an incredibly packed month, what with all the Christmas get-togethers and reunions filling up my calendar. It started in the first week of December, when my ex-colleagues from my first job - Jette, Chari, Bett and Pikes, and Mitch - met for dinner at Fat Fook in Megamall. Jette was also celebrating her birthday so she treated us to coffee and dessert at Cafe France. The next gathering was more than a week later, when I joined my last team from my previous job for dinner at TGI Friday's. We had a white elephant exchange gift and it was really great catching up with everyone, a lot of whom I hadn't seen in almost two years. A couple of days after that, I joined the management team of our center of expertise for dinner in Anna Mae's condo in Taguig. We also had a simpler white elephant exchange gift and I ended up with a box of fancy M&S chocolates. The day after, one of my boardgaming groups which we call FGTC met up for our final game night of the year. Shortly before Christmas, I had dinner at Providore with my friends from my second company. I had been to Providore before but only for coffee and dessert. I got to try their main courses for the first time and I have to say, the food here is really good. I ordered their Grilled Beef Belly and it was absolutely delicious. I would absolutely love to have it again. (I also got to try their mac and cheese since Sophia couldn't eat all of it and it was good too!)

Grilled Beef Belly from Providore in SM Aura

I also had a handful of more intimate get-togethers. First, I got to hang out with Marco for the first time in months. His wife Cha joined and I hadn't seen here since their wedding a few years ago. I also got to meet their daughter Leica. I also had dinner with AJ and Tin, both of whom I was seeing for the first time since AJ's wedding a few months ago. I had lunch with Karen and Pia and I got to have a quick chat with Elle who was meeting with her friends for lunch in the same restaurant. I also had dinner with Zaza in Green Pastures, which was a good option since I had already been eating too much and too unhealthily this last month.

Finally, after Christmas, I met up with some friends in Eastwood Mall where we had dinner in Cyma. What's interesting is that in just a little more than a week, I ended up eating in Cyma twice (well, sort of). My dinner with AJ and Tin was in Souv in BGC, and when I got there, I realized it was Souv by Cyma. Somehow, I ended up ordering the same dish both times - Moussaka. However, in Cyma in Eastwood, I actually ordered Moussaka with a side of vegetarian moussaka. Talk about a moussaka overload LOL.

Moussaka from Cyma

Of course, there were a couple of office Christmas parties too. The first one was the full company Christmas party. Unfortunately, I was feelig a bit sick that night so I couldn't stay all the way through until the end. Too bad because we had an MTV-themed interdepartment contest and I wanted to see all the videos. The week after, we had our department Christmas party where I won a Cross pen during the raffle. Cool!

I did miss one get-together: a major reunion of my 2nd company. People from four decades showed up and I was really looking forward to it but I got really sick that day and I couldn't join. Too bad.

I gotta say that I feel quite tired from all the social gatherings this month. I'm even more tired from it than from work LOL. Still, it's a good kind of tired as I am tremendously thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Fraser Place

I recently spent an evening playing games and hanging out with a few friends in Fraser Place in Makati.

We wanted a room that was spacious and comfortable. I stayed in a two-bedroom unit in Fraser Place about five years ago and I know that it was pretty big so I decided to book a 2BR suite here.

Once I got into the room, I was really happy because it was indeed quite expansive. There are three types of two bedroom apartments here and I can't quite recall which one we got; it may have been the two-bedroom premier. All 2BR units range from 135sqm to 155sqm. Cool. Naturally, the master bedroom was also very spacious...

...as was the master bathroom. There are two sinks, a bathtub, a closet, and a shower area.

The highlight of the bathroom for me was the full body shower system. I think this may have been the first time I ever used a full body shower system and it was very soothing and relaxing yet invigorating at the same time.

The second bedroom is not as big as master but it is still spacious enough and it also has its own bathroom.

The location of Fraser Place - it is in Salcedo Village in Makati - is very good. My friends and I decided to have dinner in Gino's Brick Oven Pizza and coffee and dessert in Cartel, all within walking distance of Fraser Place. The next day, we had lunch at Tai Koo which is just about a block away. Note that the apartment has a fully furnished kitchen where you can cook your own food but we preferred to just eat out.

Fraser Place is a really good option for booking rooms for small to medium-sized groups. It is in a great location and the rooms are very spacious, well-furnished, and very cozy. I will definitely stay here again, maybe for more board gaming nights in the future.

Fraser Place Manila
https://manila.frasershospitality.com/en
Forbes Tower, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City 1200 Philippines
Tel: +632 818 1818
Fax: +632 818 2000
Email: sales.manila@frasershospitality.com

My Reusable Food Containers

To reduce the waste I produce, I have started using reusable food containers when buying take-out. I realized one day that I was generating so much trash because most of the time, the places I buy food from pack my order in one-time-use containers that are either plastic or cardboard/paper-based. It was then that I decided to start using the reusable plastic containers that I got from previous take-out purchases. Whenever I would order dinner near my place of residence, I would ask the place I was buying food from if they could just pack my order into my reusable plastic containers.

sinigang and rice for dinner in my plastic containers

I was initially thinking of using these plastic containers for lunch as well because I always get my midday meals from the food court in our office building and they always pack my food in plastic bags or plastic boxes. However, I'm not a fan of washing plastic containers because it is quite difficult to get rid of the oil and grease so having to wash plastic containers for both lunch and dinner didn't quite appeal to me. Thus, I decided to buy a couple of glass containers. Glass is so much easier to clean than plastic when it comes to oil and grease. I have now been using these reusable glass containers for all my meals - lunch and dinner.

Bicol Express, string beans, and rice for lunch in my glass container

What's really cool is that many restaurants in my area agree to pack my take-out order in my reusable containers. The vendors at the food court in my office building also know me already and they are very used to serving my lunch order this way. Because of this, I have greatly reduced the waste that I generate. While there is still a lot more I can do to reduce my carbon footprint, I am quite happy that over the years, I have been able to take small steps in the right direction.

Petron are PSL All-Filipino Champions again

Congratulations to the Petron Blaze Spikers for winning the 2018 Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino title!

PSL AFC Back to Back Champions! PETRON BLAZE SPIKERS @ChooksToGoPH @Petron_Corp #PSLCoronationNight #PSLAFC #PSLCGS #PSLonEPSN5 pic.twitter.com/mDIDoOBRcJ

— Philippine SuperLiga Volleyball (@SuperLigaPH) December 20, 2018

Petron managed to defend the All-Filipino title which they won last year. Both times, they beat their chief rival, F2 Logistics. Petron were close to achieving an undefeated season, winning all their matches during the elimination round as well as their semifinal against Cignal and the first game in their best-of-three final against F2 Logistics. F2 of course would not go down without a fight, coming back strong after dropping the first set to beat Petron in 4 sets to force Game 3. In the end, Petron managed to win three very tights in Game 3 to take home the title.

What's interesting is that Petron and F2 have clearly ascended to the top of the PSL, splitting the last 5 trophies between them. The other teams are starting to find their groove though, especially Generika Ayala Life Savers who put up a brave campaign and finished third in the league, with three of their players receiving individual awards. I am very interested to see what happens in the next conference.

Wedding Ninong Again

I am now officially a two-time wedding ninong. My ex-teammate Marge got married to her now-husband JB earlier this month and she asked me to be one of her principal sponsors. I was honored to have been asked to be her wedding ninong.

The ceremony was held at the Nuestra Senora de Gracia Church in the Guadalupe area. Guests were asked to refrain from taking photos during the wedding; I think there is an ongoing movement now where guests are asked not to take photos since the attempt of guests to take good shots sometimes (or maybe often) prevents the official photographers from taking photos from the best possible angles. While I did avoid taking photos for the most part, I did take one during the ceremony. I took this next photo right after the bridal march and before the priest began speaking. Since I was seated at the aisle in the second row, I had a pretty good view and I managed to take this shot without obstructing the view of the official photographers.

The reception was held a short distance away, at The Loft in Manansala in Rockwell. The program included some heartwarming speeches from Marge's dad, JB's dad and family, and from one of the principal sponsors. There were also a couple of performances. After entering the reception area, the secondary sponsors danced and JB also had a dance medley number with the male members of the entourage. I do have to say that the hands-down best performance came from Marge, who serenaded JB with a love song that she sang very beautifully.

The wedding had an official hashtag and I decided to take and share some photos so that Marge and JB could look back at some of the photos that their guests took. As it turned out, I ended up getting a special award for the best photo uploaded using the official wedding hashtag. I managed to capture a wonderful moment between Marge and JB during their first dance and it was deemed the winner. Cool!

my winning photo

Another good thing about this wedding was that I also has an opportunity to catch up with a few of our other ex-colleagues. I also hadn't seen Marge since she left our previous company so it was nice getting to see her again.

Congratulations and Best Wishes, Marge and JB!

Of Drained Car Batteries and Ride Sharing Challenges

I was on my way to a board game night and I was picking up a cake at Kitchen's Best in Pasong Tamo Extension when I realized my car wouldn't start.  I figured the battery must have been dead. To make matters worse, my phone was almost dead. Thankfully, I was parked in a relatively convenient area where I could wait and my friend Jovan was with me. She helped me call Motolite via their hotline +632 350 6686. While I never had challenges with Motolite in the past since they would deliver my battery quite quickly, often within 30-45 minutes, I did have a bit of a challenge this time around since it took about an hour and a half for their service personnel to reach us. Which is very surprising since there is a Motolite along Pasong Tamo. The guy said he saw someone in distress on the road and decided to help which is why he ended up being pretty late. In any case, my car trouble was resolved and my car was able to run smoothly after.

Shortly after that, I needed to attend an event in Makati while coming from Ortigas. I didn't have my car with me that day due to color coding so I tried getting a ride via Grab. Unfortunately, I couldn't book a Grab Car. I had about 1 1/2 hours until my event so I figured I could try Grab Share instead since I still had time and Ortigas wasn't that far from Makati. Thankfully, I was able to book a Grab Share quite quickly. The problem is that the person who was in the same ride with me was heading to Bonifacio Global City. While I understand that Makati isn't that far from BGC distance-wise, the traffic during rush hour is really bad. In the end, I was in transit for almost 2 hours and I ended up being late for the event. Thankfully, it didn't start on time. I really don't know what the Grab Share algorithm is and how they put passengers together but based on that experience, I might not try it again unless I am absolutely desperate and there is no other option.

Reading Glasses

While playing board games last year (or maybe even the year before), I realized that I was having a lot of difficulty reading the fine print on cards, especially when the lighting wasn't very good. In fact, sometimes I would have too much difficulty that I would use my phone camera to zoom in on what I wanted to read. I noticed this same problem sometimes in restaurants while checking out the menu. I didn't have trouble reading words or focusing on objects from a distance. I figured at this point that I might need reading glasses.

It took a while, though, before I finally went to an ophthalmologist to have my eyes checked. I told them that I think I need reading glasses. They had me read some very fine print - I couldn't - before asking me to re-read but this time with lenses. For the first time in a while, I got to see the fine print with amazing clarity. I was given a prescription for reading glasses which I kept with me but I never really got around to buying. That is, until recently. Since the year is almost over, my annual medical benefit was about to expire so I decided to get my prescription reading glasses while I could still reimburse them.

Here is my new look (at least while reading LOL).

I tried several frames and I realized that the glasses that I think look best on me are not as narrow as this. However, I was told that reading glasses need to be thin, and in fact they should be even thinner than the ones I now have. However, I couldn't find any frame I liked that was more narrow so I settled for this for now. Hopefully I won't need to get a higher grade any time soon.

Internet Woes

I switched internet providers this month. I originally had Bayan DSL, which I got almost a decade ago because it was the only internet provider at the time that you could get without needing a landline. My internet provider officially became Globe when Globe bought Bayantel about three years ago. I have now terminated my Globe/Bayan internet and I switched to Sky Broadband.

So why the switch? It all started early last month when my internet stopped working on a Monday morning. When I got home after work, it was still not working so I called Globe to report the problem. They told me they would have someone visit me on Saturday to check my router. When the guy arrived, he told me that there was a problem with the Bayan data cabinet and all other Bayan subscribers in my area had the same problem. They said that work was already being done to restore my internet service.

A few days later, I still didn't have internet at home. This time, I messaged Globe Telecom on messenger. I was told that the restoration of my service may take some time because of the need to provide extended cables from the cabinet to my area. After a couple of days, my internet was still down so I call Globe this time and ask when my service will be restored. They still couldn't give me a target date.

It was at this point that I realized that the problem may have been because Globe was switching all their subscribers who were still on the Bayan circuit to the Globe circuit. I guess I can understand why they were doing this but (1) why would this migration result in a few weeks of downtime and (2) why did they not inform me of this earlier on?

After 18 days of waiting and having no internet, I decide to finally terminate my Globe/Bayan internet account. The hassle I have to face now is falling in line at a Globe Center to make my final payment since I can't pay online anymore since my account has been terminated.

So why did I switch to Sky Broadband? I was actually initially leaning towards Converge because I have friends who use it and say their internet is very fast. However, when I called Converge, they said my area wasn't covered yet. I didn't want to switch to Smart/PLDT because I keep reading about horror stories that people have with the Smart/PLDT service. I went with Sky Broadband because I have Skycable at home and I knew it would be simple enough to set-up Sky Broadband if you already have Sky Cable. My family also use Sky Broadband and they so far haven't had too many bad experiences with their internet service.

Hopefully, my internet stays okay and I don't run into any problems with it, at least not in the near future.