Revisiting Batanes: New sights and experiences

While second Batanes trip allowed me to revisit a lot of familiar places, it also gave me an opportunity to see new places and have new experiences. One of these places was the Mahatao View Deck which we visited during our Saturday tour day.

This stone steps lead to a small secluded beach. As you can see from here, the water looks pristine and clear. There is a grotto at the top of the steps.

Also during the tour, we passed by an inlet which serves as a dock for boats during storms; the mountain protects the boats from strong winds and massive waves. My friend wanted to stop by to take photos in this area although the really good shots were taken from the road looking down into the inlet since you can see the beautiful blue water from that vantage point.

I also got the chance to have my photo taken with one of the many "Blow UR Horn" signs along the road.

We spent a good amount of time in the Basco municipal center and this allowed me to pay a visit to the Santo Domingo Church or Basco Cathedral (Simbahan ng Basco).

The church is named after Santo Domingo, the patron saint of Basco, and was founded by Fr. Baltazar Calderon and Fr. Bartolome Artiguez in 1783.

The day before our tour, my friends and I decided to rent some bikes which we rode to the Basco Lighthouse. I honestly don't recall the last time I was on a bike prior to this Batanes trip.

Finally, the main purpose of this trip was of course to attend the wedding of Marco and Cha. It was held at the Tukon Chapel near Fundacion Pacita.

Next post: things that have changed since I was there last.

Revisiting Batanes: Basco Highlights

As I mentioned in my previous post, my friend Marco and his wife Cha organized a tour for all the wedding guests. It was designed to give people a chance to see some of the highlights of Basco despite the limited time. First stop was the Valugan Boulder Beach. Not sure if this spot is always the first place to visit in every tour but this was also the first part of our itinerary in my previous Batanes trip.

Valugan Boulder Beach

We then headed to the Vayang Rolling Hills.

Vayang Rolling Hills

Even in my second visit, the views here remain awe-inspiring.

Incredible view from the Rolling Hills

Next stop was the Mahatao Lighthouse where I ran into my friend Meg who was also visiting Batanes at the same time. Visitors were not allowed to enter the lighthouse; I'm not sure if it was only for that day or if it is now off-limits.

Mahatao Lighthouse

We then proceeded to the Marlboro Hills which is known locally as Rakuh-A-Payaman.

Marlboro Hills or Rakuh-A-Payaman

Similar to my previous trip, after going up the hills and soaking in the amazing scenery, our tour group had lunch here.

Cliff at the Marlboro Hills

First stop in our afternoon itinerary was Alapad, which is where some scenes from the movie "Hihintayin kita sa Langit" were shot.

Alapad

We then headed to the Honesty Cafe where we spent some time purchasing some souvenirs and food items.

Honesty Cafe

A few folks crossed the road to visit the San Jose de Ivana Church (Simbahan ng Ivana).

San Jose de Ivana Church

We then made our way to the House of Dakay. There was a major change in this house since the last time I visited and I will write about that in one of my next posts about this trip.

Dakay House

Before the tour ended, we also visited the San Carlos Borromeo Church in Mahatao.

San Carlos Borromeo Church in Mahatao

We stopped over in the town proper to purchase souvenirs before going to the Basco Lighthouse, our dinner venue that evening. Thankfully it didn't rain since our tables were out in the open. It was a cool experience having a good meal while the sun was setting.

Basco Lighthouse

There were a couple other places we visited during the tour, but as those were places I visited for the first time, I will instead write about them in my next post where I talk about my new Batanes experiences.

Read more about:

• Valugan Boulder Beach, Vayang Rolling Hills, and Basco Lighthouse here
• Honesty Cafe and San Jose de Ivana Church here
• Marlboro Hills, Alapad, House of Dakay, and San Carlos Borromeo Church here

Revisiting Batanes

Two years after my first trip to Batanes, I got to go there again. My good friend Marco got married there and I figured it would be as good a time as any to see these beautiful islands again.

The wedding was held on a Sunday and a few of my friends and I arrived on Friday. Saturday was spent doing a full-day highlights tour of Basco with the other wedding guests (it was organized by Marco and his wife Cha). This allowed me to see some of same places I got to see before, such as the Vayang Rolling Hills.

I also got to see a few new places and experience a few new things, like the Simbahan ng Basco.

I will be writing more about this trip in my next few blog posts.

Filipino crew A Team wins Gold at HHI Worlds 2014

This is several days late already but I still want to congratulate Filipino megacrew A Team for winning the top prize at the Hip Hop International World Championships! Here is their winning performance:


video uploaded in youtube by OfficialHHI

A Team is composed of dancers from different schools, including St. Paul, Claret, UP, UST, Ateneo and La Salle among others.The UP Streetdance Club took bronze last year so it's great that another Filipino megacrew bring glory to the Philippines once again this year. Way to go, A Team!

Family time

I guess it's true what they say that life is a like a wheel; sometimes you're at the top and sometimes you're at the bottom. While I may posted a couple of terribly tragic family moments recently, there have been some bright rays of sunshine as well.

I got to see my cousin Fr. John when he was in Manila last month (before coming back home again for Doyle's interment). It was a last minute thing but somehow things fell into place, allowing us to meet up. When I realized that John was about to leave, I asked him if he still had free time. He said he could do lunch and thankfully he was doing some errands just 10 minutes from where I lived. To make things even better, my mom was also able to join us despite the very short notice.

Amidst the family sorrow, we still made time to celebrate the birthdays of my brother and my mom. My family had never been to UP Town Center so we decided to have dinner there for my brother's birthday. We initially planned to eat in Liberty New York Steak House but the only available seating was outside and it was a bit warm that evening. As such, we decided to have dinner in Marciano's. I've always liked Marciano's, although the menu in UP Town Center seems to be different from the one in Greenbelt 3. Either that, or it's changed since I ate there last. In any case, my family did enjoy our meal there. After dinner, we headed to Dulcelin where I got a full Mango Torte for my immediate family and a take-home slice for my grandmother. We also had some coffee and dessert there; we tried the Irish Cream Butter Cake and the Pecan Pie, both of which were very good.

My mom's birthday came in two parts. On Saturday night, we had dinner in Lola Cafe + Bar. I discovered this restaurant the night I stayed in Cocoon Boutique Hotel and decided to start wandering around the Tomas Morato area. As I walked through Scout Lozano, I saw this restaurant and thought that it might be a good place to try. Indeed it was. I will probably write a bit more comprehensively about this restaurant in a separate post some time soon.

The next day, I decided to take my family to Yabu in Glorietta 5. We got there a bit early and as such, we didn't have to wait for a table. It was a very enjoyable meal, made even moreso by the fact that the miso soup, cabbage, rice, and fruits were all refillable.

Last but not least, I also joined the surprise party birthday of my uncle (this time, from my mom's side of the family) earlier this week. My nephew's birthday is coming up as well so I have to start planning that too. I'm just thankful that my family has also had some good moments recently to balance things out.

Nadal out of the US Open

Well this sucks. Rafael Nadal just withdrew from the US Open which starts next week. He sustained a wrist injury during practice a few weeks ago as he was getting ready for the North American hardcourt season and unfortunately, it hasn't healed yet.

Since Rafa is the US Open defending champion, he will be dropping a huge amount of points in a couple of weeks, which opens the door for Roger Federer to overtake him as the world #2 after this fourth Grand Slam event of the year. I guess the only good thing going for Rafa now is that he isn't defending any points in the last few months of the year. Hopefully he gets better soon so that he can slowly make his way back up and start winning again.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

A friend of mine told me a while back that The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a really good movie and that I should go see it. I didn't get a chance to watch it when it was still showing so I decided to get the DVD. I finally got to see it this week and I absolutely love it! 

This movie tells the story of a kid named Charlie who just started high school. He's quiet, shy, unsure of himself, and doesn't have any friends at the beginning. This changes when he strikes up a conversation with his shop classmate Patrick and his stepsister Sam. While you may think this is your typical high school coming-of-age story, it's a lot deeper and has a lot more substance and heart. If you're interested, you can check out the plot in the movie's wikipedia page.

This film resonates with me on so many levels. It has a lot of great themes, both overt and underlying. It talks about acceptance - of new people into your life with no questions asked, of people for who they are, and of yourself - and how difficult true acceptance is for a lot of people. It talks about forgiveness and how friends and family can weather even the most turbulent of storms. It talks about standing up for the people you love. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I also love the fact that Charlie's family is incredibly loving and supportive, a bit of a change compared to lot of other films about teenage angst and fitting in.

From a technical standpoint, it is also superb. The plot gradually builds towards a powerful climax and I love how a lot of hints are dropped all throughout the film to help lead the audience to the film's dramatic conclusion. The editing is done impressively well, making good use of flashbacks to help give us a glimpse into Charlie's mind. The script is brilliant, the soundtrack is cool, and the musical score is moving. Check out "Shard" that is played in one of the last scenes of the film. It's just so haunting:


video uploaded in youtube by Infinite

As well-made as this movie was and with all its compelling themes, it would not have been as great if not for the sensational performances of the cast. Emma Watson, who gained global popularity by playing Hermione in the Harry Potter films, takes on an American accent as she shows how it is possible to be both confident and edgy while also being insecure and lacking self-esteem. Ezra Miller has that perfect mix of smart, unaffected, and vulnerable that just makes audiences love him.

However, the performance that wowed me the most was Logan Lerman's portrayal of lead character Charlie. I only previously knew him from the Percy Jackson films so I wasn't expecting him to be this impressively good.  It is such a difficult role that requires a lot of nuance, subtlety, and understatement as there is a huge swell of emotion and anguish hidden just below the surface and Logan delivers all of this astoundingly well. I personally think that this is one of the best and most moving acting performances I've seen, especially considering that he was only about 20 or 21 when this film was shot.

I have now watched the full movie twice and I've replayed the last sequence of scenes multiple times over the last few days. Needless to say, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is now definitely one of my favorite films of all time

Random stuff

I was driving in Eastwood a couple of weekends ago when I see DLSU lady spiker Mika Reyes crossing the street with Ateneo basketball star Kiefer Ravena. Since I'm a Mika Reyes fan, I knew that she and Kiefer are seeing each other at the moment. It was pretty cool seeing Mika Reyes in person, albeit through my car windshield. I also have to say that I'm a fan of this Romeo-Juliet-esque romance, with two athletes from rival teams dating. Pretty cool. :)

*****

In line with my recent stupid mistakes, I stubbed my big toe pretty badly. I wish I could say it was because I hit it against a bed post or coffee table or something but I can't. What happened was that I was watching an FIVB volleyball game and saw a spectacular save. I don't know what possessed me to pretend that I was making a save like that but as I went to the restroom to wash my hands, I made a massive kicking motion, acting as if I was trying to save the ball with my leg. As I did, I slammed my foot, or more specifically my big toe, right into the door jamb of the restroom. It was really so tremendously stupid. I mean, who does that? Well, apparently I do. :)

*****

I've been hearing good things about Shrimp Bucket so while doing late morning errands in BGC, I decided to have an early lunch there. Unfortunately, I was there alone and I didn't want to eat a pound of shrimp by myself because I was worried about ingesting too much cholesterol LOL. so I ended up getting another shrimp dish. It was pretty good but I still want to go there again soon with other people so I can try the full pound.

*****

I was a major fan of the TV show The X-Files when it was still on TV back in the 90s. (Wow, I can't believe it's actually been that long ago!) I had the complete box set of this show, including the two X-Files films, in my cart in Amazon.com for the longest time when I decided to finally purchase it earlier this year. I got to watch a few episodes one night recently and it was a pretty good case of nostalgia. The pace is a bit slower than that of current shows (although I actually like that kind of pace) but the storytelling is still pretty solid and it is still borderline hair-raising and chill-inducing even if I already know what will happen. I have ten seasons worth of episodes so it will take me a while before I finally go through the entire show.

*****

For the first time in years, I am not taking any multivitamins. I'm not sure if that's a good thing but this decision was heavily influenced by someone on the TV show The Doctors saying that he's not a fan of taking vitamins regularly because he's not sure what it'll to do your liver long-term. Maybe I'll do a bit of research on this and ask some of my doctor friends one of these days and make a more informed decision then.

Commemorative P10 coin

The other day, I bought a cup of coffee and when I received my change, I noticed that one of the coins didn't look like a normal peso. I thought it was a Euro or a Thai Baht. I was about to return it but since I was curious to see what currency it was, I took a closer look. Thankfully, I did. Apparently, it was a P10 coin!

I did a quick check online to read up on it and apparently, this coin was released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Andres Bonifacio. These coins apparently have been in circulation since last December and yet is is only now that I actually saw one.

Thankfully, I checked online first and discovered it is commemorative. I thought BSP released new P10 coins already and I was almost going to use this one to pay for something. Knowing that this is a limited-edition coin now means I will now be keeping it in my currency collection. :)

Rest in Peace, Doyle

To say that this has been a trying time for my extended family is an understatement. Just two weeks after we experienced the loss of Tito Roy, my cousin Doyle passed away. It was quite difficult for us since it came as a shock; he was still in his 40s and in pretty good health.

My immediate family made it to the wake last Saturday. We all arrived separately but we did make it in time for the mass that my cousin, Fr. John, was celebrating. It was unfortunate that he was just in Manila a month ago and had to fly back home again. After the mass, several members of the family and Doyle's closest friends shared some words. It was bittersweet to hear them all share with everyone there what Doyle meant to them.

The funeral was held the next day. It was heartbreaking and seeing his family say their final goodbyes just made it even sadder. After the ceremony, we all started talking about how we need the ultimate 'pagpag' since recently, we have all been seeing each other under pretty dire circumstances. So right then and there, we made plans for a potluck family reunion. My cousin Rainier even joked that everyone have to stay on their maintenance meds to make sure we all see make it to the reunion. :) I am definitely looking forward to that.

Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables: Reducing Food Waste

This is an amazing program created by Intermarché to encourage people to purchase "ugly-looking" fruits and vegetables. They make use of a brilliant strategy that combines edgy marketing, reduced prices, and free product sampling to reduce food waste. The result? Well, just check out this video.


video uploaded in youtube by Marcel

Hopefully we end up having more programs in the world like this.

UP finally wins in UAAP men's basketball

The UP Men's basketball team finally snap their streak of 27 consecutive losses that dates back to season 75 (two seasons ago) by beating Adamson 77-64.

photo courtesy of Richard Esquerra from uaapsports.tv

Given how many losses in a row the team experienced, this is a pretty big win for them. Apparently UP will be doing an Ateneo by celebrating bonfire-style. Hopefully they can notch at least one more win this season. Congrats, UP!

Rest in Peace, Tito Roy

Another sad moment this year: my tito Roy passed away. His health had been deteriorating over the last few years but while he did start getting better recently, apparently it wasn't enough.

My cousins (his children) live abroad now and only arrived on Saturday. I wasn't able to go to the wake so I made sure I attended the final mass and cremation last Sunday morning. It was a sad affair not only because Tito Roy is now gone but also because my cousins have now lost both their parents. My grandmother was also there and I felt horrible that she has now lived past some of her children. Thankfully, she seemed to be handling it quite well. Despite the immense grief my family was going through, after the ceremony, we somehow found some composure and got to catch up with each other over lunch.

My other cousin, Maricel, said that our recent gatherings have been somewhat like the (old) mysteries of the rosary. Mama's 90th birthday and the 50th wedding anniversary of Tito Mario and Tita Florence were like the joyful mysteries. Tito Roy and Tita Ghie passing away were like the sorrowful mysteries. As such, she was saying that maybe the next time we all see each other, it will be glorious. Hopefully that does come true.

"Eternal rest grant unto Roy Pobre, O Lord
And let perpetual light shine upon him
May he rest in peace
Amen."

Car trouble

Recently, I was driving my car on a Sunday when all of a sudden, it just stopped. Thankfully, there were no cars right behind me; otherwise I could have been rear-ended. I was able to restart the car but I was a bit worried. This concern was compounded when it happened a few more times later that day. Damn!

As this was a very dangerous situation, I decided to have my car looked at immediately at the car shop. As it turned out, there was a major problem with my fuel pump and the recommendation was for me to replace it. You can imagine how flabbergasted I was when the quote they sent me was worth more than P130,000+!

I could not afford that and even if I could, it didn't feel like the smartest use of money. Thankfully, my mom was able to find a mechanic, Randy, who had done great work for her some of her colleagues and had gotten very good reviews from them. His quote was a fraction of the amount quoted by the car shop so I decided to avail of his services. As if the much lower price wasn't good enough, he actually also picked up my car and then brought it back to me once the repairs were done. Wow!!!

Randy initially told me it would take three days to repair my car but I was able to get it after only two. On top of that, the final price was only 60% of the initial price he quoted. My car is now running quite well again. Brilliant. Thank you, Randy!

Movie Watching Part 2

I had planned to open this blog post with a "Spoiler Alert" notice but after reading what I wrote, I realized this one doesn't have any spoilers. Just my overall impressions of the three other films I saw recently. :)

Chef

photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

This movie is my favorite of 2014 so far. However, I initially had no plans to see it. But when an office friend asked me if I planned to see it and another friend told me a couple of weeks later that she saw it and really enjoyed it, I took that as a sign. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. It's fun, feel-good, witty, and thoroughly enjoyable. The only "problem" is that your mouth continues to water as you watch the movie and it makes you want to go on a food trip and splurge on really expensive food right after. :) I am definitely getting the DVD of this once it is out.

Step Up All In

photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

This is the fifth film in the Step Up franchise but somehow it's the first one I got to see in the cinema. I guess I have Step Up Revolution to thank for this. That fourth outing is my favorite of the series and it urged me to go see this one. Dance fan that I am, I did enjoy the movie. I especially liked how they showed how difficult it is to earn a living as a professional dancer. My main issue with the casting is that I don't think the lead female dancer, Briana Evigan, was good enough to be in that role. IMO, compared to the other incredible dancers in the movie, her skills paled in comparison. Nevertheless, while critics may not rate this movie well, it was good fun. awesome dancing that included some pretty tight group choreography sequences.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

photo courtesy of imdb

Before anything else, I have to say that the CGI in this film is just truly astounding. The emotion on the apes was excellently depicted and the rendering and degree of detail is absolutely incredible. From a plot standpoint, what I found really interesting about this movie is that it uses its non-human lead characters i.e. CGI apes to provide the audience with a terrifying glimpse into the dark and ugly side of human nature. It's interesting to see how distrust can form due to different biases and life experiences and how this distrust can split people apart and turn allies into enemies. It is quite heavy to watch because of its theme but that's also what makes this movie great. I didn't see the Rise of the Planet of the Apes but you don't t need to see the first installment to understand what's going on in this one.

I'm still in two minds as to whether I want to see Transformers: Age of Extinction since a lot of folks said it was really dragging but if I can find some time in the next week, maybe I will go see it anyway.

Movie Watching Part 1

For the first few months of the year, I didn't really get to watch a lot of movies. Once I managed to catch Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, both of which sort of kicked off the summer blockbuster season, I somehow found a way to make time to see a handful of films in the last couple of months. I did miss out on a few movies, specifically X-Men: Days of Future Past and 22 Jump Street. Nevertheless, here's a quick run-through of some of the movies I did get to see.

*** Spoiler alert ***
While I don't delve too deeply in the details of each plot, I do share a few spoilers so if you don't want to know anything about these films, stop reading now.

How to Train your dragon 2

photo courtesy of imdb

I was, and still am, a huge fan of the first film so I made it a point to see this one. The animation is amazing although the story of part 2 was not as solid as the first. However, the brilliant climax, which had me cheering wildly on the inside as I watched it, is worth the price of admission. :)

Godzilla

photo courtesy of www.godzilla-movies.com

I heard a lot of not-so-positive reviews but I decided to still see it and make up my own mind. I can see why other folks wouldn't be all that entertained, but I actually enjoyed it. Maybe because I had low expectations and was just after good monster fight sequences and great effects. :) I wasn't too happy about Godzilla's look though; he seemed a bit too fat or bulky, like he was on steroids. I also was a bit let down by how quickly he dispatched of one of the M.U.T.O's. I will say thought that the main theme is pretty kick-ass. I left the movie with that theme running in my head and every so often I would go listen to it on youtube. Check it out in this link.

Maleficent

photo courtesy of imdb

Before seeing the film, I already got a bit of a spoiler that it would show Maleficent's backstory. Similar to the musical "Wicked", this movie would show that she wasn't as evil as she was depicted in the 1959 Disney film "Sleeping Beauty". I wasn't so pleased with that idea because Maleficent is quite possibly my all-time favorite Disney villain and I wanted her to have always chosen to be evil. I think I somehow started to think of this movie like it was an alternate reality and so I started to enjoy it a lot more. The fact that Angelina Jolie put in such a superb performance made Maleficent even more compelling to watch.

A few more movies to come in my next post.

Beatboxing at its best

Check out this video of Dave Crowe captivating passersby with his beatboxing. It is absolutely mind-blowing!


video uploaded in youtube by TheBeatBoxingTV

If you're a fan of beatboxing, check out that youtube channel or their facebook page. Lots of pretty impressive stuff on there.

Unfortunate Air Travel Disasters

Statistically, flying is the safest way to travel. So it is both shocking and terribly sad that we've had quite a few very unfortunate airline incidents recently.

We all know about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 back in March. The world still hadn't gotten over this when another Malaysia Airlines flight, this time MH17, became the center of a major international incident. News reports seem to indicate that this flight was struck by a missile last July 17. I thought this was the kind of thing you only saw in the movies; I never thought I would see something like this happen in real life.

As if these weren't enough, two more plane crashes followed. Domestic TransAsia Airways Flight GE 222 crashed in Taiwan on July 23. A day later (July 24), another plane, Air Algerie flight AH5017, crashed in Mali's Gossi region.

Hopefully this is the last horrific incident involving planes that we hear in a long while. In the meantime, let's all spare a thought and share a prayer for the victims of these very unfortunate disasters.

The Wonderful World of Sports

Congratulations Germany for winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time. I don't think there was a runaway favorite in the final, with both teams having a legitimate chance of winning. However, recent history has shown that the team that scored the most goals during the World Cup leading up to the final would end up winning; it was no exception this year. Germany now become the first ever European team to win on South American soil.

photo from fifa.com , courtesy of Getty images

It was an amazing World Cup with a brilliant mix of expected results and massive shockers. There were a lot of upsets - defending champion Spain failed to make it past the group stage, along with Italy and England. As scintillating shockers go, however, none would have been as big as Germany's 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the semifinals. (There are a while lot of amazing stats but rather than list them all here, you can just take a look at this link from Sky Sports.)

That Brazil semifinal loss wasn't the only shellacking that happened in a major sporting event in the last several days though. In the women's final at Wimbledon last July 5, Petra Kvitova won her second trophy by being in the zone and dismantling Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0. After the minor blip in the first set when Kvitova lost focus and got broken while serving for the set at 5-2, she didn't drop another game. It was the most comprehensive Wimbledon rout since Steffi Graf beat Monica Seles in the 1992 final with the loss of only 3 games as well. I normally prefer watching competitive matches when I am not strongly rooting for one player but sometimes it's great to see someone at the top of their game, with winners just continually flying off their racquet. It was an absolute tennis master class!

photo from the www.telegraph.co.uk, courtesy of Getty images

Petra must also be Novak Djokovic's lucky charm. The first time she won Wimbledon in 2011, Novak also won. The two are now both two-time Wimbledon champions. However, unlike Petra, Novak was taken to the absolute limit by Roger Federer who had great chances to win the title, including when he held breakpoint in the fifth set. Alas, it was not to be as Novak saved that point and Roger eventually folded when he served to stay in the match at 4-5. (Of course, it can be argued that this really was Novak's match to win since he served for the match in the fourth set and even held match point then before possibly succumbing to nerves.) This meant that Novak is now the #1 player in the world again, supplanting Rafa Nadal (too bad). It also prevented Roger from claiming a men's record 8th Wimbledon title and his 18th Grand Slam title overall.

photo from www.news.com.au, courtesy of AFP

So a big congratulations to Germany, Petra, and Novak for their amazing recent sporting successes (all on grass, I might add. :))

Disappearing act

My normally crazy schedule has just gotten that much more hectic recently, with so much stuff going on at work. As such, I haven't really been able to post much in my blog in the last few weeks. Despite the crazy schedule, however, I am happy that I have still managed to spend a lot of time with my family and friends.

Apparently, the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Makati is closing soon - in September I think - so my family decided to have lunch in Tin Hau a few Saturdays ago. We had lunch in Tin Hau last year to celebrate my grandmother's birthday and everyone loved the food, especially the Peking Duck two ways. We actually over-ordered, as usual, but that was fine since we just took home the rest of the food. I somehow find it sad that Mandarin is closing soon. It's been a fixture in Makati for as long as I can remember so it will kind of feel strange not to see it anymore.

I also had dinner recently at NBA Cafe in SM Aura with my college friends recently. Our friend Jed was in town and wanted to meet up. I have to say that my experience wasn't all that great. The layout of the place is a bit strange and we ended up being seated in sort of like the hallway section between two larger sections of the restaurant which meant that it was really difficult to get the attention of the waiters. That we were behind a large pillar didn't help. The food was good but a tad overpriced and the expensive softdrinks didn't have free refills. While we enjoyed the company amidst the not-so-great dining experience, we all found it incredibly rude when they turned the lights off in our section! Can you believe that? I'm guessing it was because the restaurant was already closed but if that was the case, they should have just informed us that they were closed already. Ugh. Given my not-so-great experience here, I doubt if I will visit again. I will say though that the decor is actually quite good, especially if you are an NBA fan. Particulary eye-catching is this wall of NBA team jerseys:

I also had dinner recently with my friends Zaza and Doms, both of whom I worked with very closely in our Corporate Social Responsibility organization at work. We had dinner in Saboten before going to Cold Stone for dessert. As if that wasn't enough, we headed to Chelsea for some coffee before calling it a night.

Seems like BGC is a popular place for me and my friends to meet up because my friend Me-Ann organized her despedida in Melo's in Burgos Circle (she was heading abroad for a long-term international assignment). It was my first time to eat here and I realized that the food here is extremely expensive (the cheapest item in the main course item was already more than P800 if I recall correctly).

As if that wasn't enough time spent in BGC, I went there one more time to attend the first birthday of the son of my friends Kog and Ina. The party was held in Active Fun. They live in Singapore but they decided to come to Manila so they could celebrate this big milestone with their family without their family having to all fly to Singapore.

Of course, it hasn't been all about Taguig. :) When my friend Anna was in town, she wanted the gang to meet up in the QC area. I suggested UP Town Center since I had been there only once before and there were a lot of dining options there. We had dinner in Kos Greek Ouzeri before having dessert and coffee in Dulcelin.

Just weeks after I saw Eliza and Marie for the first time in a while, we met up again. Still in the Ortigas area but this time in Brotzeit in Shangri-La Mall. Eliza had some really interesting stories she wanted to update us with since our very interesting discussions just weeks before. :) The food here is expensive but pretty good. We all ordered different sausages that were partnered with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut and we shared the dessert sampler.

Finally and most recently, I met up with my friends Jane, Sabrina and David in Rockwell to have dinner at Celadon. Sabrina suggested this Thai restaurant and since I had never eaten there, I thought it would be good to try it. The food was good although I think the Tom Yum Kung was a bit thin (although I am guessing it way have been watered down a bit because we asked for it to just be mildly spicy; my companions weren't too keen on very spicy food.) Eating here made me remember Sukho Thai, probably the first Thai restaurant I ever tried in my life. Too bad this resto has since closed down.

While work has been very heavy recently, I am planning to take some time off soon. Hopefully I can get to recharge and spend even more time with family and friends then.

Farewell

My dear friend Liza passed away last week. :-(

I found out when our friend Acky shared the unfortunate news with me last Monday. She tried calling me but since I could not take her call, she texted me instead. I was shocked and in disbelief, so much so that I had to ask if she was sure about the news. She said that unfortunately it was confirmed. Getting what has so far been the saddest news of the year was an incredibly sad way to start the week. I couldn't focus nor get any work done for most of that day.

I went to the wake a few days after she passed away but I was unable to go to the funeral. I will continue to pray for Liza and her family that she left behind. While I am deeply saddened by this, I will always remember the many wonderful moments I got to spend with her when she was still with us.

Rest in peace, Liza.


video uploaded in youtube by Sergio Montanari

My stupid mistake #2

Our department at work headed to Island Cove recently for our team building event. I decided to bring my car instead of riding in the bus because we needed a vehicle to bring our props and drinks to the event. I also wanted the freedom of being able to leave whenever I wanted to and not waiting for everyone else (last year, someone woke up massively late and we had to wait for him for quite a while). I asked some of my teammates if any of them wanted to join me and a few of them did.

Our event started at around 10AM and since it was still early, we couldn't check into our rooms yet. After lunch, a couple of my teammates needed to get their stuff from my car. It was at that point that I remembered a story my college friend told me that he knew someone who once left a CD on the dashboard of their car in the middle of the day and the immense heat caused the CD to warp. I don't know if that story is true or not but one of my favorite CDs was still in my player. We get to my car and as my friends took their stuff, I put the key in the ignition so I could turn the player on and pull out my CD. Thankfully, it was still okay. I stuff the disc in the case and put it inside the glove compartment so it wouldn't be in direct heat. Since my remote control lock wasn't working properly - battery issues maybe? - I lock my car from the inside and lift the door handle as I slam my door shut. Of course, it was at this point that I realized that my car key was still in the ignition! OMG!!!

The good news was that at least my engine wasn't running. The bad news was that my stuff, the stuff of my other teammate, our props for the evening program, and our drinks were all in my car. I asked resort security if any of them could help me unlock my car but after checking it out, they said they couldn't. It was already 2pm at that point and I realized that the most feasible option was for me to go back to Manila and get my spare key. As if things weren't challenging enough, my house key was also locked inside my car. Ugh!!!

I didn't want to hassle anyone else by asking them to do driver duty for me and I also didn't want to borrow someone else's car. So I took a baby bus from Island Cove to SM Bacoor and there I look for a taxi willing to drive me to Manila and back. Thankfully, my mom brought my spare house key with her and her office isn't so far from where I live. So I told my taxi driver to head to my mom's office first so I could pick up my spare house key before heading home to get my spare car key.

It was 4:30pm when I finally got back to Island Cove with my spare key; thankfully the traffic wasn't so bad. However, as the ignition in my car was kept on for a few hours, I was worried that my battery had already been discharged. True enough, later that night when I finally got our props and drinks out of my car, I checked if the engine would start and it didn't. Damn. I decided to worry about that the next morning since I didn't need to drive that night anyway.

I asked help again from resort security the next day, but this time to help jumpstart my car. It took a while for them to get jumper cables. We used the resort shuttle to help recharge my car battery and when I finally got my engine to start, my teammates and I hurriedly headed back home. Of course, we made sure that there would be someone driving back to Manila after us so that they could help us just in case my car ended up stalling along the road (thankfully, it didn't). I now make sure that I use my key to lock the door from the outside to make sure that I don't inadvertently lock it inside my car again. Of course, the best way to get everything sorted out is to have my car remote fixed. Hopefully I can get that sorted out soon.

My stupid mistake

Last week, I missed the first birthday party of my friend's son because I was so extraordinarily tired during the work week leading up to it that I ended up sleeping through my alarms. This weekend, the daughter of my other friends was celebrating her 7th birthday so I was intent on making sure I wouldn't oversleep for a second consecutive weekend.

Thankfully, I woke up early enough on Saturday and as such, I had time to get cleaned up, buy a gift, and have lunch. However, I got a text from my mom asking me if I could join the family for a late lunch. I figured that, since I had already gotten the gift, I could join them and just be a bit late for the children's party. After all, our family lunch was only around 15 minutes away from the party venue.

So that's exactly what I did. I ended up being with my family for about an hour before I said goodbye. I put the gift in my car and headed straight for the party. By that time I was already about an hour late but I thought it still wouldn't be too bad. Once I got to the venue, I was surprised that there was a lot of available parking. Well guess what? It turns out I wasn't an hour late. I was actually 23 hours early! OMG! I'm not sure how I got the date mixed up in my head but I was absolutely certain the party was on Saturday when it apparently was on Sunday. Great. And to think I made sure not to stuff myself during my late lunch because I thought I would be eating again during the party.

I told the parking guard that I indeed got there a day early and drove off quite embarrassed. I may not have slept through my alarms but I clearly didn't pay careful attention to the invite I got. Hahahaha. Thankfully the party venue wasn't so far away from where I already was and the traffic wasn't so bad. I can at least laugh about it now. Oh and yes, I did successfully make it to the party earlier today. :)

Crying For No Reason by Katy B

I saw this video being played on BeTV I think and I've been hooked ever since. Check out English singer and songwriter Katy B's song "Crying for no reason":


video uploaded in youtube by KATYBVEVO

Ever since I discovered it, there hasn't been a day when I didn't listen to it. The great thing about Katy B is that she sounds just as great live as she does in the recording. Check out this stripped version of the same song which she performed live. Amazing!

My nephew's graduation

You know you're getting old when none of your nephews are in grade school anymore. :) It was a first for me since the graduation of my youngest nephew was held on a Sunday but that was actually better because it meant we didn't have to take time out from work and we didn't have to go through heavy traffic.

I asked my nephew where he wanted to eat for his graduation celebration and he said he wanted TWG. The closest one to where we were was in Shangri-La Mall so we headed there after the ceremony to have a very late lunch (or a very early dinner). Unfortunately, the dish that my nephew loves - a pasta dish with pesto sauce I think - was no longer in the menu. He ended up trying a salmon dish instead (which he enjoyed) and partnered it with a side of truffle fries.The food in TWG is quite expensive actually but everything we ordered was quite good (I really liked my Sauté of Beef).

After our meal, there was still some time for us to go around the mall before the Sunday mass at the mall. We went to Datablitz since my older nephew wanted to check out gaming headphones (he had been saving money to buy one) and I ended up getting my other nephew Minecraft for XBOX as a graduation gift. We headed home after mass and since most of us were still not very hungry after our late afternoon meal, we didn't head out for dinner anymore. Another great day spent with the people I love.

Google celebrates Philippine Independence Day again

Last year, I wrote about Google featuring the Philippine Independence Day on their main page. They did it again today. This time, the theme is bayanihan.

Thanks, Google! :) And Happy Independence Day to Filipinos all over the world!

Nadal wins historic French Open #9

Rafael Nadal is still the King of Clay! He claimed his unprecedented ninth French Open title after defeating Novak Djokovic in the final. Way to go, Rafa!

photo courtesy of Clive Brunskill (Getty Images), link to photo provided by Tennis.si.com

While Nadal had already thrust himself firmly into the record books with many of his prior achievements, this French Open is hugely important for so many reasons:

• No other man has won this many titles in a single Grand Slam event. Next to Rafa's 9 are six people (two in the open era) who have won 7. When taking into account the women records, Rafa now matches Martina Navratilova's 9 titles at Wimbledon and is 2 shy of Margaret Court's 11 titles at the Australian Open.
• Also, no other man has won 9 titles in a single event. Guillermo Vilas won 8 titles in Buenos Aires (and of course Nadal himself won both Monte Carlo and Barcelona 8 times as well).
• Nadal is the first man to win five consecutive French Open titles. He also won four in a row, from 2005 to 2008.
• He now matches Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles, going up to 2nd in the overall record. Roger Federer is the only man to have more majors, with 17.
• His win-loss record at Roland Garros is an unbelievable 66-1. His only loss came at the hands of Robin Soderling back in 2009.
• Rafa has now won at least one Grand Slam event each year for 10 consecutive years (2005 to 2014). This is a men's record.
• Winning the French Open title also allows Rafa to stay at #1. While Novak is very close to him now, Rafa has almost no points to defend in Wimbledon. A good showing there will allow him to remain #1 until at least until the US Open.

And to think that I almost didn't watch this match! Prior to the French Open, Novak beat Rafa four times in a row, most recently in the Rome final which was also played on clay. I was also worried about my unlucky streak this year with athletes and teams that I solidly root for. When I quickly looked at the score after getting home, I saw that Rafa had lost the first set very easily at 6-1. I almost headed out to watch a movie. Thankfully, I stayed to watch the match as I got to witness Nadal make history.

Congratulations Rafa!!!

Milestone

Well, well, well. After being a regular customer of online deal sites such as Deal Grocer, Cashcashpinoy, Living Social Ensogo, Groupon Beeconomic, and Metrodeal over the last few years, I have now purchased my 400th voucher. Crazy! In my defense though, I have successfully used most of the deals I bought and I have carefully selected the ones I get. Given that I don't cook at home, most of what I purchase are restaurant vouchers so I reckon I must have saved a decent fortune already LOL. (Of course, I'm sure I would save an even greater fortune if I cook; maybe I should get that sorted out soon.)

Dinner at Lucca

One of my friends, Eliza, recently celebrated her birthday and as I sent her my birthday greetings, we realized that it had been a really long time since we last saw each other. In fact, our group of friends all hadn't seen each other in a while. It was at that point that we decided we needed to organize dinner.

Since we all live in different parts of the city, we decided Ortigas would be the best place to meet up. Apparently, there's a relatively new section in Megamall - Fashion Hall - that has some new places to eat, including the legendary Michelan-star rated Hong Kong restaurant Tim Ho Wan. We didn't eat there, though. Instead, we had dinner at Lucca Bakery. The food here is quite affordable and most of us enjoyed what we got although Eliza's open-face omelet was more like a frittata.

There were only four of us, including Fred and Marie, but as we had not seen each other in a while, there was a whole lot of catching up to do and everyone had many stories to share. We ended up hanging out for more than three hours and if the place hadn't closed for the evening, we probably would still be there now. :) It was a great evening spent with great friends and hopefully, we get to keep our promise to see each other much more frequently than we have in the last couple of years.

The Enchanted River in Surigao del Sur

Wow, this place is absolutely stunning! Now I have to add this to the list of places in the Philippines I want to visit. Of course, I will need to do a bit more research about this Enchanted River in Surigao del Sur.


video uploaded in youtube by Michael Yap

A night at Relik and Center Stage

Last Friday, I met up with my friends from our band club at work. We decided to go to Relik so we could participate in their weekend open mic night. My friend Calai and I both got a turn. She performed Beyonce's Love on Top while I took a shot at U2's Beautiful Day. Towards the end of the set, my friends RJ, Julie, Jef and Ric all performed together as a band, giving the house musicians a bit of a break before they came back on stage and closed the second set.

Of course, it is to be expected that once we had all gotten our performance juices flowing, we wanted more. So we made our way to Center Stage to cap off the evening with some karaoke. It was close to 3AM when we got there giving us just a bit more than an hour before the place would close. Still, we managed to stuff in quite a lot of songs even in that short period of time. Personal highlight of the evening was me singing Say something by A Great Big World with Julie (although of course with Julie singing harmony, we ended up doing the version that features Christina Aguilera). I really do love this song. Hopefully I get to perform live at some point.

We all had such a fun time that the plan now is to do this more often. How much more often still remains to be seen given we are all very busy and our schedules don't always match. However, since a couple of us in the group didn't get to sing in Relik's open mic night, I am guessing we will want to go there again soon so they get a bit of airtime themselves.

Wedding at Paco Park Church

My cousin Troy tied the knot a couple of weeks ago in St. Pancratius Chapel in Paco Park. My entire family was there to celebrate this momentous occasion with him.

I had been to Paco Park a couple of times before but it was only on this third visit that I got a chance to take photos and really appreciate the beauty and historical significance of the park.

The dome-shaped chapel features beautiful Romanesque architecture.

The interior of the chapel itself is very simple with its white ceiling and walls. Its size makes it ideal for intimate weddings, although in our case the chapel was packed.

Paco Park is where Jose Rizal was interred after he was executed in Bagumbayan. There is even a marker in the park along with a bust of Rizal to commemorate this event in our history but I unfortunately didn't see these. What I did see was the Gomburza memorial. It was only on this visit that I found out that the remains of the three martyred priests, Mariano Gomes, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (collectively known as Gomburza) are buried here.

The Gomburza memorial

It was a really unique wedding too. My cousin and his wife decided to do away - at least partially - with a lot of the formality of a typical wedding. They did this by wearing sneakers. The asked the rest of the entourage, including my brother who was one of the secondary sponsors, to do the same. The motif was red and black so the primary sponsors, including my mom who was a ninang, were asked to wear black or red, or a combination of both.

The reception was held a short distance away. Troy's new mother-in-law runs a catering company and they provided the food and everything was really good! Probably the most interesting part of the program was the money dance. I had only been to one other wedding that featured this Filipino wedding tradition. Troy and his wife Joanna danced while guests pinned money to their clothes as a wedding gift.

It was a truly wonderful day spent with family. The fact that I got to learn a bit more about Philippine history made it even better. Congratulations and best wishes, Troy and Joanna! :)

Of birthdays, baby showers, despedidas, and cupcakes

My college friend Jed and his wife Odette invited me and the rest of our college gang to dinner for a triple celebration. The evening served both as Odette's advanced birthday celebration and also her baby shower. The third part of the celebration was a despedida since both of them were actually traveling to the US the day after.

The thing is, I didn't know about the despedida part. Since I didn't have time to get a baby shower gift, I thought I would get Odette a box of Royal Touch cupcakes for her birthday instead. When I found out over dinner that they were leaving the next day, I felt like a bit of a dunce for getting perishable food items that they would not have time to consume before their trip. So I told Jed that I got them cupcakes and I even reminded him via text after I had gone home to make sure that they wouldn't go to waste. The next day, I got a text from Jed saying he and Odette thought the cupcakes were really good and they asked me where I bought them. Cool! It seems they enjoyed my gift. So what I thought was a wrong move turned out okay in the end. :)

The dinner was really good and the evening was made even more fun by a mini-program that included a series of baby shower games that we played. I was also really pleased to hang out with the gang since I missed our last get-together because it coincided with a friend's wedding.

*****

A few days later, I ended up having dinner with some of my ex-colleagues. It was supposed to be a baby shower as well for our friend Dorothy but a last minute conflict came up so she and her husband Alvin weren't able to join us. Since we had all cleared out our evening already, we decided to proceed with dinner in Mesclun. I hadn't eaten there before and I thought the food was good although my truffle pasta was a bit overpriced for the portion size (I got the larger to-share option but it really felt like it was just a serving for one). As it turns out, two of our friends were going on international assignment so it was sort of an unofficial despedida for them too. We did plan when the official farewell party would be. Can't say I'm too happy about it given the fact that so many of our friends had already left the country for work abroad but that's the way life goes.

Academy of Villains

Saw this video and I was really blown away. Academy of Villains won 1st place in the Vibe Dance Competition.


video uploaded in youtube by geraldnonadoez

Lots of people are highlighting the last "Bring me to life" part but personally, while that segment was thoroughly entertaining, it was really the main dance that impressed me. I thought the choreography, including the blocking and formations, was just absolutely brilliant.

Not my year

Kinda self-centered to make this about me seeing that this is really about the athletes and sports teams I support LOL. But it kinda sucks for me as a sports fan when the people or teams I'm rooting for keep losing. Often after being in such a great position to win.

Take Rafael Nadal for instance. He lost the Australian Open final after being largely tipped to win his 14th major. What followed after that was a series of unfortunate losses, including once against David Ferrer, a player he used to beat routinely. In the Rome final, he won the first set against Novak Djokovic before I got home and turned the TV on. Of course Nadal then had to lose the match once I tuned in. Ugh. The French Open just kicked off last Sunday and unlike past years, I'm not so confident what the result is going to be.

It's not just in tennis either. Liverpool were, for the first time, in an immensely good position to win the English Premier League for the first time in decades. With only three matches left in the season, they were ahead of Manchester City by 3 points. Then they lost to Chelsea and drew against Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, Mancity swept their remaining matches. In the end, Liverpool ended up having to settle for second place. Damn! So close and yet so far!

But that's probably not the worst of it. I wrote about my disappointment a few months back when the DLSU Lady Spikers lost in the UAAP volleyball tournament to Ateneo. That they actually had championship point before losing the match and then eventually the championship made the loss even worse. Now what could be worse than losing after you've had championship point? Having it happen again! In the final of the Philippine National Games against the Air Force, DLSU had championship point again in the fourth set. Air Force saved it, won the set, then cruised to an easy win in the decider.

I almost don't want to watch any games of my team or player now for fear of me jinxing them. The strange thing is that I'm completely NOT superstitious except when it comes to sports LOL. Talk about being illogical. Hopefully things can start changing in the remainder of the year for my favorite athletes.

Dulce sings "I dreamed a dream"

Not sure what I was looking for on youtube when I stumbled across this video. Dulce is one of the Philippines' premier vocalists and she has won a lot of awards, locally and internationally. This performance of "I dreamed a dream" from Les Misérables is apparently from The Music of Boublil and Schonberg in Concert held in Manila back in 1995.


video uploaded in youtube by Asian Guy in TO

We've had a ton of "divas" in the country but Dulce still stands out for me with her unbelievably rich voice and effortless and unmatched power. I'm really happy I stumbled across this.

Suits

No, not the TV show. I'm talking about actual suits. I have one but it's not a really good one. I got it off the rack before and I didn't really know what I should be looking for, how it should fit, what color to get and so on. When a friend of mine shared with me this guide to matching suits and dress shoes, I thought I'd share it here as well.

photo courtsey of Business Insider

I'm not sure if this applies to the Philippines where people don't wear suits a lot. It says that the recommended first suit you should get is a charcoal, navy, or gray suit but most Pinoys I know get a black one first. In any case, I've been thinking about getting a new suit so I will most likely use this as a reference guide.

Also interesting is what kind of shoes to match with which suit. As I am not really familiar with the what an Oxford shoe is and how it differs from a Derby, I had to search online to figure it out. Here's a pretty interesting summary. Despite this, I'm still not sure I can pull off wearing a suit and matching it with shoes that are not black. But who knows, maybe one of these days I will give it a go and see what it looks like. :)