A picture paints a thousand words

This is an incredibly inspirational story. About a month ago, college student Joyce Torrefranca saw a kid studying on a wooden bench outdoors, using light from the nearby McDonald's to study. Moved by what she saw, Joyce took a photo and shared it on her facebook page.

photo taken by Joyce Torrefranca; source:www.dailymail.co.uk

This picture then went viral, being shared thousands of times and was even featured in news websites abroad (such as on NY Daily news, Telegraph.co.uk, News.com.au, to name a few). The boy in this photo is Daniel Cabrera. His mother Christina works as a domestic helper to provide for him and his two siblings. His father passed away two years ago and his family live in the mini-grocery of Christina's employers after the shanty where they used to lived burned down five years ago. Even without this backstory, seeing that picture of an underprivileged kid make the most of his situation to try and study was so inspirational to many people that help started pouring in. Daniel and his family have since received donations of cash groceries, and school supplies. He was also awarded a scholarship. Wonderful news!

Hopefully, Daniel can get a solid education that will help make life better for him and his family in the future. I'm just happy that Joyce Torrefranco took this photo that helped move the world into action.

TBT: Universal Studios Japan

Back when there was still no Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I got to visit Universal Studios Japan.

I was assigned to a project in the Land of the Rising Sun back in early 2001 along with a few other Filipino colleagues. As luck would have it, Universal Studios Japan opened in Osaka on March 31 of that year. Since it wasn't that far from where we were, a few of us decided to check it out.

We visited the amusement park in late May but as it was still quite new, the queues to get into the attractions were quite long. As such, we weren't really able to try a lot of rides. We got on JAWS, Jurassic Park, and Terminator 2:3-D. We also got to watch the Universal Monsters Live Rock and Roll show. We also got to see some of the street shows that were going on.

Of the few attractions we got to try, my favorite was the Terminator 2:3-D, probably because it was the first time that I got to experience a 3-D ride where the images on screen really did look like they were coming out at you. I enjoyed it to so much that I bought a Terminator 2 mug as a souvenir, and more than a decade later, that mug is still with me. Another thing that stood out to me was that at each ride, there was a sign that indicated the approximate waiting time in line. I guess this is now commonplace in many amusement parks but that was the first time I experienced it, and the waiting times indicated were pretty accurate.

Digital photography wasn't as advanced then. I had a 3.3 megapixel camera that cost a fortune and I also had a128-Mb memory stick (yes, Mb, not Gb; amazing how technology over the last fourteen years has evolved). As such, I wasn't able to take a lot of photos. Nevertheless, I look at these crummy pics I took and they still somehow transport me to that really fun day that I spent with really good friends.

Another year, another early loss

Well this sucks. Rafael Nadal lost in the second round to Dustin Brown at Wimbledon. Brown was a qualifier in this tournament and the highest ranking he has achieved so far is #78. However, he has the game to trouble Nadal, with his big serve and strong forehand. Nadal hasn't been playing well this year and against Brown, he couldn't get his rhythm, mainly also because his opponent was playing incredibly tennis. Brown's level of play in their second round match kept Nadal off-balance and preventing the former #1 from finding his rhythm. As such, Brown sent Nadal packing with a score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

This is now the fourth year in a row that Rafa has lost early at Wimbledon:

2012: Nadal loses to Lukas Rosol in Round 2, 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6.
2013: Nadal loses to Steve Darcis in Round 1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (8-10), 4-6.
2014: Nadal loses to Nick Kyrgios, 6-7, 7-5, 6-7, 3-6.
2015: Nadal loses to Dustin Brown, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6.

Such a shame because Nadal won Wimbledon twice, in 2008 and again in 2010, and he reached the final on three other occasions (2006, 2007, and 2011). Each of his losses in the last four years have been to low-ranked players who seem to have played one of their best matches ever when they met Nadal. This is definitely proving to be Rafa's worst tennis year in more than a decade. The only upside to this is that he has practically no points to defend in the remainder of the year so hopefully he can play with no pressure and find some of his top form again.

Hearing for the first time

This is one of the most heartwarming videos I've seen. It's amazing to see these deaf people get to hear for the first time or have their hearing restored.


video uploaded in youtube by Tech Ticking

A night of firsts

I messaged my friends Joh and Raffa recently to ask for some help and in the course of our discussion, we realized that our set of friends hadn't seen each other in a really long time. Plans were quickly set and a few days later, I met up with both of them as well as with Mike, Alvin and Doray. Mike wanted to have ramen for dinner so we decided to eat at Ramen Nagi in SM Aura. Ramen Nagi has been around for a while now but it was only that night that I got to try it. I ordered the Original King (Butao) and it was pretty good. I definitely wouldn't mind having ramen here again.

For dessert, we headed to Magnum. Dining here is a bit complicated: to get a table, your group must order at least one plated meal per two people; you can't just order ice cream. Thankfully, I was in the mood for a plated dessert, as were a couple of other folks so we managed to get seated. Once again, it was my first time here. I ordered the Crepe Du Jour and I am so glad I did because it was so good!

Crepe Du Jour, photo courtesy of http://lifestyle.inquirer.net

Joh and Doray said however that Magnum will be closing on July 26. Not because it isn't doing well but because it was established as a pop-up restaurant and intended to be around for only about a year. Too bad. There is about a month left before it closes though so maybe I will visit this place again while I still can. (I heard the rest of the food here is pretty good too.)

Weekend in Pansol

Due to some recent organizational changes, I joined a new team at work a few months ago. To help make sure people in our new team felt integrated, many of us spent the weekend in Pansol. We were asked to be at the resort by noon so that the activities could start at 1PM but since some of our teammates work the graveyard shift, a lot of them took quick naps to recharge so the organizers decided to start the games a bit later. As I waited for the games to start and as most people were asleep, I started walking around the grounds when I saw a dartboard so I decided to play darts to while the time away. I played darts a scant few times in the past so I had never previously managed to hit the bullseye but with some time in my hands, I managed to hit the outer bullseye twice! (I couldn't hit the inner bullseye or triple 20 though, so the next time I have a chance, that will be my goal. :))

The games finally got under way in the early afternoon. From the totem creation and protection to the fear factor-style games where I ended up eating Jelliyum soaked in patis to the retrieval of white marbles at the bottom of the pool that became practically invisible once the water was no longer still, there were definitely a lot of opportunities to bond with people we didn't get to interact with before. Our team ended up in a tie for second place so it was decided to break the tie through a beer pong-inspired game where each team had to shoot a ping pong ball in all the cups of the opposing team. I was crap at that game (I manged to shoot the ball only twice) but thankfully, my teammate was an ace as she managed to shoot the ball in about 1/2 to 2/3 of all cups, allowing us to win and secure the overall second place. Cool!

The evening was spent singing karaoke, having fun in the pool, and playing a variety of card games such as pusoy dos (I actually got a seven-high straight flush and a queen-high straight flush that evening!), tong-its,  and slapjack. The highlight for me though was playing bridge. I used to play bridge a lot in college but not a lot since then. In fact, it must have been more than a decade since I last played this card game. It all came back quickly though and me and my partner managed to win all but two of the rounds, sometimes by the skin of our teeth LOL. To be fair, though, one of the guys was playing bridge for the first time that night so my partner and I did have an advantage. Nevertheless, it was still a lot of fun and makes me want to play bridge again.

It was close to 3AM when I hit the sack, although plenty of people were still singing the night away so I guess I must have been quite tired since I managed to sleep through that. :) I woke up at around 9AM to a tasty breakfast of chicken fried rice, luncheon meat and eggs before heading back to Manila. (Thankfully, there was almost no traffic up until Magallanes so the trip was pretty quick.) It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and I'm glad I was able to go.

Zendee sings Flashlight with Jessie J

Zendee Tenerefe came into the public eye first when a video of her singing went viral. That video led to her guesting on Ellen. Now, another one of her videos is getting some online activity as she sings "Flashlight" with Jessie J. Check it out:


video upload in youtube by Zendee Rose Tenerefe

"Flashlight" is from the soundtrack of Pitch Perfect 2 and the radio version was performed by Jessie J. This duet was made possible through the Sing! Karaoke! app of Smule. I think the way the app works is that it has Jessie J singing parts of the song and anyone can "duet" with her. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I liked how light and easy it sounded and I love how Zendee harmonized with Jessie J. This is really fun to listen to. Makes me interested to look for other similar duets online. :)

A Jurassic World kind of day

I watched Jurassic World last Sunday with my mom and my nephew. Which means I was a contributor to this movie's record-breaking opening. It is now has the biggest US opening (it's $208.8 million US gross edges out the Avengers' $207.4 million), the biggest gross outside the US (it's $315.3 million gross outside the US overtakes the $314 million of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2), and it has the biggest global opening with $524.1 million. This marks the first time a film grossed more than $500 million internationally in a single weekend. Wow! I guess this shouldn't be all that surprising. When Jurassic Park came out back in 1993, it became the highest grossing film worldwide until it was dethroned by Titanic four years later.

My nephew told me last Friday that he wanted to watch Jurassic World, and he in fact wanted to watch that night but I told him I couldn't take him then. Instead, I could take him on Sunday. My mom had an errand to do that day and I agreed to do driver-duty for her so we decided to bring my nephew along so that we could head to the mall after her errand and watch the movie together. The last film I watched with my mom was Maleficent a year ago so I was happy that I was able to take her to see Jurassic World (now that I think about it, I watched Maleficent with my mom and my nephew as well).

We got to Shangri-La Mall at around 6PM and thankfully, there were still seats for the 7:10 PM showing. That gave us enough time to have a decent meal before our movie. I decided to take bring them to Duck & Buvette for dinner. I had eaten here a couple of times before and I thought that my family would enjoy the food here. And true enough, they did. My mom also really enjoyed the coffee she ordered. As we were finishing our meal, we thought it would be good to eat here again with the rest of our family. (I guess I should plan for that. :))

*** Semi-spoiler alert. Stop reading if you don't want to find out details about the movie. ***

Jurassic World is definitely a lot of fun. There is a whole lot of dinosaur action that will keep audiences entertained, the effects are awesome, and watching it makes you want to visit a theme park afterwards (even one with no live dinosaurs LOL). I also love how it even pokes fun at itself, with lead star Chris Pratt calling out co-star Bryce Dallas Howard's cheap shoes (I think he said cheap shoes), ensuring that people would notice how she managed to run throughout the latter half of the movie in heels that never broke. :) I did find the ending slightly over the top but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable movie. As an article said online, there is a universal fascination in dinosaurs that transcends culture. I am curious to see how much Jurassic World eventually earns. Can it beat the record recently taken by Furious 7 with the fastest time to earn $1 billion globally? With it's massive opening, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

The 28th SEA Games

The 2015 Southeast Asian Games were held in Singapore from June 5 to 16. It concluded earlier today, with the Philippines placing 6th out of 11 countries with 29 golds, 36 silvers and 66 bronze medals.

Check out the final medal tally for the 28th SEA Games. Congratulations all and well done! #SEAGames2015 pic.twitter.com/DOeU39OUKm

— 28th SEA Games  (@seagames2015) June 16, 2015

Some of the notable results:

• The GILAS Cadets beat Indonesia to win Gold in Men's Basketball. This means that the Philippines has now won every basketball event at the games since 1991. It also means that the country has lost once once since the SEA games started in 1977. (We lost to Malaysia in 1989.) Talk about dominance!
• Josie Gabuco won her 4th gold medal in boxing. She has now won one gold medal in each of the last SEA Games (2009, 2011, 2013, and now 2015). Way to go, Josie!
• Eric Shauwn Cray was our only multiple medalist in the games, winning gold medals in the 100m and 400m hurdles. He broke the SEA Games record at the 400m hurdles and his win there allowed him to defend the gold medal he won in 2013.
• Other athletes who defended the gold medals they won in 2013: Mario Fernadez (boxing), Dennis Orcollo (10-ball pool), Kiyomi Watanabe (judo), and the Poomsae Taekwondo men's team.

Congratulations to all the athletes who competed!

Nadal wins on grass!

After a disappointing European clay season, at least by his lofty standards, Rafa Nadal has returned to his winning ways on, of all surfaces, a grass court! Nadal took home the title in Stuttgart, beating Viktor Troicki  7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final. I did not see this coming but it is a very pleasant and welcome surprise.

Rafa was in trouble in the first few rounds of the tournament but he still managed to make it through. In the latter round, he seemed to find his footing on the slick surface as he upended both Gael Monfils (in the semifinals) and Viktor Troicki in straight sets. This is Rafa's first grasscourt title since winning Wimbledon in 2010 (five years ago! I can't believe it's been that long). He only reached the 4th round of Wimbledon last year. Hopefully, Rafa can do better at Wimbledon this year, move back up the rankings, and finish the year strong.

Manila wedding

Deryk was my co-lead in our corporate social responsibility (CSR) organization at work until he pursued other opportunities.We still get to see each other every so often along with the other people we worked woth very closely as part of the core organizing team of our CSR initiative. As such, when we were invited to his wedding which was held last weekend, a lot of us made sure to go.

The church ceremony was held at San Agustin Church in Intramuros at 1PM. It was, for the most part, beautiful. The wedding vows allowed us to learn about the love story of Deryk and his wife Gle and the amazing journey they took together over the years. However, the challenge of having a wedding in San Agustin church is that so many people get married here that the ceremonies tend to feel rushed. I remember a friend of mine getting married here and she initially wanted me to be the lector but she was told by San Agustin that they don't allow other people to act as the lector because they really have to move things along. We definitely felt that during the wedding as the lector seemed to be in rapid fire mode. Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful celebration and Deryk ang Gle both looked very happy.

The Manila Hotel served as the venue for their wedding reception dinner which was held at 7pm. Since there was a lot of time between the church ceremony and the reception, a few of us - Zaza, Denise, Leianne, and Kristel - decided to hang out in Robinson's Ermita. We had a late lunch in Jack's Loft and then we started to go around the mall. We checked out Japan Home and a few folks bought some items there. I still can't believe that practically everything in the store costs less than P100! They even have a frying pan priced at P88. Wow! This is a perfect place to get Christmas gifts and I think I will visit this place as we get closer to the Yuletide season. :) As we were walking along the mall, we passed by the Robinson's department store and I saw many foldable fans. Zaza mentioned she wanted to buy a new fan so when I pointed the selection of fans to her, we ended up going into the department store where practically everyone else purchased something (except me LOL). At that time, it was already past 5PM so we decided to head to Manila Hotel so that we would have time to get cleaned up. As we waited for the reception to start, we spent more time sharing stories while chilling at the beautiful hotel lobby.

We were among the first few people who entered the ballroom at 7PM and as we stepped in, we were all in awe. The ballroom looked stunningly beautiful! It had sort of a fairytale-woodland-in-winter feel. Strands of crystal were elegantly draped from the the ceiling, the presidential table was decorated with a plethora of candles that gave the venue a more romantic feel especially whenever the lights were turned down, and the table arrangements and centerpieces were exquisite. All five of us were so wowed by the ballroom that we just kept going around and taking pictures. (The photos just don't do the reception area justice.)

The attention to detail was also remarkable. I noticed that the tables had four different types of decorations: there were two kinds of tall arrangements made of tastefully decorated twigs and branches...

and there were two kinds of snow globe-looking centerpieces.

I noticed that the shorter "snow globes" were featured on the tables closer to the center of the room and the taller ones were on tables that were further away. I realized that the room was set up in this way because if all tables featured the tall centerpieces, then people who were further away would have their line of sight blocked. Smart!

The reception served as a bit of a reunion for a lot of us from our CSR organization since it had been months since we last got to see each other. Aside from the 4 people I spent the afternoon with, I got to spend the rest of the evening with Melody, Enrique, and Lou and his wife Leda. We were all seated at the same table and I would like to think we were very good wedding guests as we were all very actively engaged, often being some of the first to applaud each important moment and frequently starting the clinking of glasses so that Deryk and Gle would kiss. By the end of the evening, it took a while for us to make our way to Deryk and Gle to with them well and have our photo taken again with them since so many people were in line to say goodbye. We even joked that it was like we were in a meet-and-greet with some very famous celebrities. :) This was definitely a very memorable wedding and I'm happy that I got to witness Deryk tie the knot while spending the day with great friends.

Happy Independence Day, Philippines!

Maligayang Araw ng Kasarinlan, Pilipinas! :)

Today marks the 117th year of Philippine independence. As has been the case in the last four years (or at least as far as I have noticed), Google celebrates Philippine Independence Day:

You can check out the previous times that Philippine Independence was featured on the google page: 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Wildflour and Farmacy night

To kick off the long weekend, my college friends and I decided to meet up in Wildflour in BGC for dinner earlier tonight. Our friend Weng was in town, albeit under unfortunate circumstances, so we decided to do something positive and happy while she was still in Manila. I was actually about an hour late for dinner because I had to close out a lot of issues at work before the long weekend. When I arrived, Weng, Letllet, Gosh, and Kermin were already there and the food that everyone ordered had already been served, allowing me to dive in immediately. Which was good because I was famished. I ended up overeating but it was so easy to do because the food was good and I was very hungry. Lala soon joined us and ordered more food - which I still shared with her LOL - and later on, Jed joined us.

After dinner, we moved to Farmacy, which I think is also owned by Wildflour, to have some ice cream. I had never been to Farmacy before and it's a bit interesting because it's supposed to be an ice cream and soda fountain place but they also serve craft beers. We were all still quite full so instead of everyone getting individual ice cream orders, we just decided to get a few items and share them. Everyone seemed to love the Banutter sundae (vanilla, banana, peanut butter ice cream with caramel sauce, candied peanuts and whipped cream) but while it was really good, I somehow still preferred the simple but classic flavors of the Rocky Road Sundae.

I had planned on leaving at around 11PM and I had in fact already started saying goodbye but just as I was about to leave, Gosh told me that I should try to play Quiz App since he felt I would enjoy it. Quiz App is a trivia game where you compete with someone else in the world to see who can score more points on a variety of categories. Points are awarded not only for correct answers but also how quickly you respond. We started off with the Pixar category. We didn't do well there since there were questions like which movie did this person write or who created the musical score for which movie. Gosh played the Game of Thrones category which he easily won. We then moved to Star Wars which I requested and I would have won had I not made the stupid mistake of selecting Jim Henson too quickly as the voice of Yoda (when I knew in fact it was Frank Oz ugh) so we lost by small margin.

It was at that point where we moved to the "Name the movie star" category and here we won practically every round we played. The only time we lost was when Weng made the mistake of pressing Jeff Bridges too quickly when the person in the photo was actually Jeff Daniels. Our success in this category allowed us to move quickly to level 6. Cool! This also meant that I ended up staying about 30 minutes longer than I had intended hahaha. But that was okay. Everyone was telling me I should get that app but I probably won't as I may end up losing so much time playing it. :) It was close to midnight when I left but hopefully we all get to hang out again soon. A couple of people are turning a year older soon so we may have a party to celebrate their birthdays.

Way Back Wednesday: "Ikaw pa rin" by Ted Ito

"Ikaw pa rin" came out in the early 1990s and became an instant hit and cult classic. Performed by Japanese Ted Ito, it is a Filipino version of the Japanese song "Saigo no Iiwake" by Hideaki Tokunaga. Thankfully, we now have youtube that allows us to have Way Back Wednesday moments by listening to music that we don't really get to hear on the radio anymore.


uploaded in youtube by TheGoddess461

W is for Win

Williams. Wawrinka. Winners. Wow.

What a French Open that was. Serena Williams and Stanislas Wawrinka won the women's and men's singles titles at Roland Garros. With both players having initials S.W. , it would have been a tad cooler if they both won Wimbledon (which is also called SW19 because of its area code) hehe but their wins were both pretty incredible for different reasons.

Stan Wawrinka became the oldest man in 25 years to win the French Open, his second Grand Slam title after winning in Australia last year. He is now in a tie with Andy Murray (who also has two) and anyone who achieves this feat in the era of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic has definitely achieved something special. By winning last Sunday, Wawrinka also snapped Novak Djokovic's 28-match winning streak and prevented Novak from completing a career grand slam.

Serena, on the other hand, is now halfway towards completing a calendar grand slam. This is actually the first time in her career that she is this close to achieving a feat that only 5 people in history have achieved, primarily because each time she has won the Australian Open in the past, she lost immediately at the French. That she is this close to achieving what is deemed to be the most prized achievement in tennis at the age of 34 speaks volumes of just how unparalleled Serena's talent is. Her win last Saturday means that she has now won 20 majors, only 2 behind Steffi Graf and 4 behind Margaret Court. With no one looking like they can consistently challenge her, I wouldn't be surprised if Williams passes Court's record of 24 within the next 2-3 years. Another record she shares with Court - she has now won at least three of each Grand Slam title (Steffi holds the record with four of each).

Wimbledon is just a couple of weeks away and it will be interesting to see who will win on the men's side and if anyone can stop Serena. Predictions, anyone?

Fall of the King

It was bound to happen at some point and unfortunately, it had to happen now. Rafa Nadal, the king of clay, has been unceremoniously dumped out of the French Open quarterfinals by his nemesis, world #1 Novak Djokovic. This has definitely been Nadal's most trying year in the last decade and this loss may very well drop Nadal out of the top ten.

Nadal fans - myself included - will have to wait to see if he can still add to his massive French Open title haul and claim a tenth trophy.

More movie watching

Spy

photo from www.traileraddict.com

Spy is so hilarious and fufilled that it is now one of my favorite films of 2015 so far. I wasn't expecting that and in fact I wasn't planning to watch this movie. I wanted to see Tomorrowland but when I missed the last full show so I checked the reviews of Spy and saw that has such a high rating on rotten tomatoes (currently 96%) that I decided to see it instead. Thankfully I did. Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Jason Statham, and Rose Byrne all portray their well-written characters really well, as do their scene-stealing supporting co-stars Miranda Hart (Nancy) and Peter Serafinowicz (Aldo). There are so many laugh-out-loud moments and awesome action scenes but it also still has a lot of heart. I definitely recommend this movie.

Pitch Perfect 2

photo from en.wikipedia.org

One of two sequels I saw in the last few weeks, Pitch Perfect 2 is funny and entertaining, what with all the incredible a cappella performances. Their main competition - Das Sound Machine - was absolutely awesome and the first time they perform on stage was an absolute wow-moment. I do think that there were too many things going on in the early to middle part of the film that I felt weren't really bring the story forward but things started to come together midway for me and I started to enjoy it a lot more. I do think The first Pitch Perfect was better but this is still worth watching. Don't come in late when you watch this movie because if you miss the first couple of minutes, you will the key event that triggers the entire sequence of events. I also heard there is an end-credits scene which I missed so you may want to stay all the way until the end.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

photo from en.wikipedia.org

I was bound to enjoy this movie because it's a superhero film and I'm a sucker for superhero films. I think I may like this a bit better than the first one, probably because the Marvel films have already established an ongoing storyline so this sequel can be more focused on action and not spend too much time on establishing the characters. That said, Avengers: Age of Ultron does put forward a few new characters that make the overall storytelling of the Marvel movie universe a bit more interesting and it also build more interest in future installments. I'm still not really a fan of the fact that the Avengers movies are Iron Man-centric and there were a couple of twists and turns that I didn't particularly like. Nevertheless, Avengers: Age of Ultron is filled with amazing effects, fast-paced action sequences, and edgy fight scenes that make it a good movie to see.

Two nights of karaoke

This must be how it is for me now. I don't have trips to videoke bars often but when I do, these trips come in bunches. Take this weekend, for instance. I had a planned to trip to Centerstage on Saturday night with some friends whom I hadn't seen each other in months. Then a few days ago, I got an invite for a friend's birthday on Friday night. As it turns out, the venue was in the VIP room of a bar and this room had a karaoke set-up. :) It took a while for people to start singing, which meant that I started singing before anyone else LOL. I guess it was also because it was like a mini-reunion, with people catching up with each other after not really getting to hang out as a group in a while. Towards the end of the night, the energy was really high and we were all starting to feel like rock stars so I ambitiously attempted "I'll remember you" by Skid Row which is notoriously tough to sing. I managed to make it through the song but it left my throat hoarse which didn't make life easy for me the next day. :)

For the second karaoke night, I figured would be late so I told everyone that my reservation was at 8pm when I actually booked the room at 9. I did arrive at 8 and almost everyone was late so I decided to walk down the street to have dinner and I stumbled upon H Cuisine. I tried their "Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly" and it was really good. As more people started to come, I told them where I was and five people ended up joining me there. It was kinda cool because everyone's tardiness allowed me to discover a new place that serves pretty good food. In any case, that good meal was just a prelude to the main event which was karaoke. As my voice was pretty hoarse, I stayed away from really high songs for the most part, although a friend of mine picked Sam Smith's "Stay with me" and asked me to sing with him since it is really high. Strangely though, every one seemed tired that Saturday night that at some point, everyone started to look really sleepy. I was hungry once we left Centerstage but everyone was ready to go home so I just had a quick meal in David's Tea House before heading home. Apparently, I was also really tired because I fell asleep almost as soon as I got home and I ended up oversleeping. :) It was a really long and exhausting week and my weekend was full too so I guess I deserved the extra hours of sleep.

Mama's 40th day

My grandmother "Mama" passed away more than a month ago and our family got together right around Mother's Day to commemorate the 40th day of her passing away. We started the evening by celebrating mass in Mama's honor. The timing was interesting because it was also Mother's Day weekend so the mass felt even more meaningful to us.

Afterwards, we headed to the house of my uncle where we had dinner. My cousin Rainier is a really good cook and he also brought his famed spare ribs which I got to try for the first time and they were really good! (And I'm not just saying that because he's my cousin.) His immediate family are really into food because his brother (and my other cousin) Mark recently opened a restaurant which was mobbed on its soft opening. Part of our dinner conversation was the fact that their family are looking at opening another restaurant that will feature family favorites. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

After dinner, my uncle's house turned into a makeshift tiannge as my other cousin Carina brought out a huge bag of overruns. A lot of us started looking through the clothes. I ended up getting five long-sleeved shirts because the shirts she had fit me pretty well, unlike a lot of clothes now which are often tight around my midsection (everything now is slim fit hahaha).

The party was far from over by the time I left late in the evening but I couldn't stay too long since I also had a despedida to go to that night. Nevertheless, I'm happy that while we all still grieve for the loss of Mama, we are all able to celebrate her life together. Mama may not have been physically present that evening, but she was definitely with us in spirit.

El Gamma Penumbra wins Asia's Got Talent

Congratulations to El Gamma Penumbra for winning Asia's Got Talent!

Asia, your first ever #GrandFinals winner is...#ElGammaPenumbra! SHOW THEM SOME LOVE FANS!! <3 <3 #AsiasGotTalent pic.twitter.com/ndXPZSYphO

— Asia's Got Talent (@asiasgottalent) May 14, 2015

I posted about them a few years back for their "Piliin mo ang Pilipinas" video which I thought was pretty impressive. They were also a finalist in season 3 of Pilipinas Got Talent back in 2011.

The finals of Asia's Got Talent featured 9 acts from different countries across the continent, including the Philippines, Japan, China, Mongolia, Thailand, and Singapore/Australia. Only the Philippines had multiple representation, with four acts: El Gamma Penumbra, Gerphil Flores, Gwyneth Dorado, and Junior New System. Since there were so many Filipino acts in the final, I actually thought none of our four contenders would end up with the title. Thankfully, that didn't happen as El Gamma Penumbra took the top prize of US$100,000 and a chance to perform at the Marina Bay Sands. They are the only act to have scored two golden buzzers: their first came during the auditions sending them straight through to the semfinals and the second one came in the semifinals sending them straight through to the finals. Check out her final performance, a moving tribute to mother nature and a reminder that we must take care of our environment (I hadn't made my mind up who I wanted to support but when I saw this video, I started rooting for El Gamma Penumbra):


video uploaded in youtube by Asia's Got Talent

Second honors went to Khusugtun, a musical ensemble group from Mongolia (I actually really like this group too since they really highlight their culture so I'm happy they placed second). Gerphil Flores whom I posted about a few weeks ago came in third. (Side note: it's interesting to see that El Gamma Penumbra won Asia's Got Talent and they were only a finalist in Pilipinas Got Talent season 3. Gerphil Flores joined the first season of Pilipinas Got Talent and only made it as far as the semifinals.) I will say though that I am very disappointed that Gao and Liu were in the bottom 3 of the 9 finalists. Given their incredible skill, I was almost certain they would be in the top 3-4 at least. Here's their performance in the finals. Gao was apparently injured here but you can't tell. Such a shame they didn't place better than they did.

Congratulations once again to El Gamma Penumbra! That was a well-deserved win.