Ortigas Art Festival 2025 at Greenhills Mall

I have officially entered the art phase of my life. I will write more about this later but this new stage includes me actually noticing and appreciating art displayed on walls of buildings, restaurants, and even other people's houses. I also tend to check out art exhibits when I pass by one. My interest in art has resulted in more art popping up in my social media feed. So when I saw some ads about the 8th Ortigas Art Festival at Greenills Mall, I decided to pay it a visit.

Ortigas Art Festival at Greenhills Mall

The festival runs from July 10 to 24 and it actually includes many different types of art: film, dance and music, fashion design, photography, and visual arts. I didn't get to see any of the performance arts but I did get to see the exhibits of visual arts and photography at Greenhills Mall.

Exhibit at the South Wing Atrium

Two different areas in the mall had art exhibits that featured visual arts and photography. In the exhibit at the East Wing Atrium, I got to see artworks from groups such as the Angono Art Collective and the Pasig Art Club. One of the paintings that I really loved was this piece called Armour of God by Manuel "Weng" Unidad.

Armour of  God by Manuel "Weng" Unidad

I also liked this watercolor painting created by Jun Montifar.

Bangka sa Tawiran by Jun Montifar

There were beautiful photographs were taken by Jeff Dytuco in Italy.

Photos of Italy taken by Jeff Dytuco

The other exhibit at the South Wing Atrium had lots of photographs of different sizes on display, including this beautiful shot taken by Ben Gutierrez and entitled "Serene Glow."

"Serene Glow" taken by Ben Gutierrez

This section also showcased art from many different galleries. This lively and vibrant piece from Fatima Baquiran is part of the Art Point Gallery display...

Painting by Fatima Baquiran carried by Art Point Gallery

...while this beautiful painting by Elmer Invento was part of the Jean & Jaz Gallerie display. 

"Sa Lilim ng Puno" by Elmer Invento carried by Jean & Jaz Gallerie

It was quite enriching to see such beautiful and interesting art pieces on display right smack in the middle of a busy mall. It also seems like the Ortigas Art Festival happens every year so I should check it out again next year.

Exhibit at the East Wing Atrium

Ortigas Art Festival
https://www.facebook.com/ortigasartfestival/

Jessica Sanchez Performs Beautiful Things on America's Got Talent

Jessica Sanchez is back in the mainstream, thanks to America's Got Talent where she got a Golden Buzzer for her incredible performance of Beautiful Things. Check it out in this video:

video uploaded in YouTube by America's Got Talent

I have been a fan of Jessica Sanchez since she joined American Idol season 11. There is something about her voice and her style that I absolutely love. I don't know if its her tone, her dynamics, her power (including her growls), or maybe all of that together and more but I just really love watching and listening to her perform. This AGT audition of hers just ticked all the boxes for me. I love how the song suits her voice and range perfectly, I love the fantastic runs she added to make it her own, I love the arrangement, and I love how emotional, soulful, and spiritual it was. I have listened to her audition a whole lot since I first heard it and I'm pretty sure I will continue to do so in the coming days (or even weeks?).

I don't know if Jessica will win AGT or if she will even have a big musical career after this. If not, based on what she said during the audition, she does seem to be in a very good place in her life. Good luck Jessica and I wish you all the best!

Reunions and Celebrations

This year continues to be filled with special reunions and celebrations. A few months ago, my college friend Mai came home to Manila and we got to meet up with her. Given where most people were coming from, Makati seemed liked the easiest place to meet so we agreed to have dinner at Grace Park in Rockwell. Our same college group actually had dinner at Grace Park last year when our other friends came home but one of us here in Manila missed that dinner and she said she hadn't eaten at Grace Park yet. And since Mai had also not been there before, we agreed to have dinner here. Mai went on safari to Tanzania shortly after I went to Kenya so we exchanged stories about our wonderful experiences. Another one of our college friends whom we hadn't hung out with in years also got to join us briefly. It really was a lovely evening filled with great conversation and spent with wonderful people whom I've known since college.

Roasted Bone Marrow from Grace Park

I also had another reunion more recently, with people I've known longer and with someone I hadn't seen in an even longer time. I actually can't recall the last time I saw my cousin Jessyca but she came to visit the Philippines recently and naturally, we had a family reunion while she was here. Tito Erwin and Tita Maritie hosted us at their home one Sunday night and my family and some of our cousins were able to make it. It was great catching up with Jessyca and learning how she's been and what she's doing now (she has a really cool and interesting job). While Tita Maritie prepared most of the food, including two kinds of paella that she cooked herself, I did order chicken pastel from CCME that I had delivered to their house. I don't know when Jessyca will visit the Philippines next but hopefully it isn't too long.

Paella and chicken pastel from our family dinner

Finally, I had dinner with my ex-teammates to celebrate my friend Irish's birthday. Our friend Michelle said that a lot of restaurants in Podium had credit card promos so we looked up the ones that did and finally agreed on Greyhound Cafe. We ended up ordering a few dishes, including Tom Yum Super Bowl (their version of one of my all-time favorite soups) and Pad Thai. I love the food here although it is a bit expensive, but with the 50% off promo with UnionBank credit cards, our dinner became a lot more affordable. Cool! (Thank you Irish for your birthday treat!)

Tom Yum Super Bowl and Pad Thai from Greyhound Cafe

I would like to end this blog post by going back to our family reunion and sharing a very special moment with Jessyca. At one point in the evening, she told me that I was very kind to her when we were kids. It was such an amazing thing to hear from such an incredible person, and even now, her words have continued to move me. Thank you, my dear cousin Jessyca!

Gourdo's Sale and My New Beddings

They say you're adulting when you enjoy buying stuff for your home haha. That's what I did and how I felt recently when I purchased a couple of sets of beddings at Gourdo's during their sale.

Duvet set: duvet cover and two pillowcases

Actually, I didn't really need these. What I really needed was a new duvet because the one I have seems to be in bad shape as its contents - down, I think - are starting to come out already. I felt that I needed to get a new one. So when I passed by Gourdo's at Podium Mall one day and saw that they were on sale, I decided to go in and look for a duvet.

They did have duvets but none of them were on sale. That said, I did find a set that included a duvet cover and two pillow cases that had a 50% discount. Cool. I then also saw another set that included a fitted shit, a flat sheet, and two pillow cases that was also at 50% off. Cool. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to get both of these sets (since I technically didn't need them) and which colors to get. I ended up going with a blue duvet cover and gray sheets since I thought that color combo could work. I also didn't have any beddings with those colors yet. Now I do haha.

Sheet set: fitted sheet, flat sheet, and two pillowcases

After all these purchases, what I do need now is a duvet haha. Maybe I will just get the one at Gourdo's, even if isn't on sale.

Reboot, Rebirth, Remake, and a possible (W)Rap-up

Over the last couple of months, I managed to see a few blockbusters at the cinema.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

I've always loved dinosaurs so I have watched almost all the Jurassic films multiple times (I still haven't seen Jurassic World Dominion). As such, it was a no-brainer for me to go see Jurassic World: Rebirth. This was pretty much a quest movie set in an island filled with extremely dangerous dinosaurs, including a couple of mutant ones. A few scenes in this film paid homage to the very first film Jurassic Park which was kinda cool. SPOILER ALERT: the film closes with scenes involving the mutant dinosaurs but I will say that I'm not the biggest fan of the Distortus Rex. As such, its threat on the protagonists during the climax didn't feel as thrilling. Still, I did find this movie enjoyable.

Superman

This film franchise has been rebooted quite a few times. I'm probably one of only a few people who liked every incarnation of it that was released before, from the Christopher Reeve films to Brandon Routh's Superman Returns to the more recent movies of Henry Cavill. Now that I've seen this latest film starring David Corenswet, I will say that I enjoyed it too. It was fun and light and I found myself getting emotionally invested in Superman and his journey. I liked seeing his allies fight with him, and I am guessing they may very well turn into the Justice League later on. That said, I did feel that Superman was a bit too "beatable" in this film, but I guess it is understandable given the powers of his enemies. Gotta give a shout-out to Nicholas Hoult for an exceptional performance as Lex Luthor.

How to Train Your Dragon

This was a (partially) live-action remake of the animated film that came out in 2010. I say partially because, well, the dragons in this movie are obviously not live haha. The original film is one of my favorite animated movies of all time so I really wanted to see this movie and thankfully, I caught it while it was still showing at the cinemas. What I like about good live action films is that it is nice to see a lot more expression on the faces of the actors, making me feel more connected to them. This is a very good remake and I'm glad it did well at the box office.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

It's funny that I am writing about this film last because it is actually the first one I got to see this year. It's an awesome, thrilling, heartstopping rollercoaster of a movie that is really fun and entertaining to watch. Similar to some of the more recent films in this franchise, the interesting thing is that you know that what's happening is impossible but you don't really care haha. For instance, they only had about 20 minutes left to accomplish their mission but there is no way all of what we saw on screen could actually happen in just 20 minutes. I guess that's why it's called Mission: Impossible haha so I just easily apply suspension of disbelief and enjoy it fully haha. Unlike past movies from this franchise, this latest one involves a lot of flashbacks and even callbacks to characters - one in particular - that we had seen in the past. It made me think, is this really the last one that we will see, at least with the current cast? I did a search online and there is no clear confirmation. If this is indeed the last one, then the franchise ended with a massive bang.

Trellis Night!

Trellis has been around for decades and was the venue of many dinner and drinking sessions back in my younger years. Recently, it found its way into the global spotlight after being featured on Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. So when my college friend Kermin celebrated a milestone birthday, it was a bit of a no-brainer for her to pick Trellis as the venue.

Trellis

Our dinner was scheduled on a weeknight because Kermin and her family were going on a trip immediately after. The challenge was that because of the Netflix feature, crowds have started surging back to Trellis in droves, making it difficult to secure a table and parking. In fact, they no longer accept reservations (they still honor reservations made earlier, before they adopted this recent no-reservation rule). Thankfully, a couple of us were able to arrive early that evening, ensuring that our relatively large group that included Kermin's family and friends could be accommodated.

Naturally, we had to have sisig. Lots of it.

The famous Trellis sisig

Another one of our favorites back in college was the Lechon Kawali served with kangkong in oyster sauce.

Lechon Kawali served with kangkong in oyster sauce

We also ordered several other dishes, including Mango K.B.S. (Kamatis, bagoong, & sibuyas), Pinakbet, and Chicharooms (or crispy mushrooms). It's amazing that the quality of the food has remained consistent over the decades, because everything we ordered tasted like how they did back in college. Awesome!

Vegetable and mushroom dishes

Another highlight for me that evening was that we were served by Kuya Jessie. He told us that he has been with Trellis for 35 years already. That's incredible loyalty! As such, it isn't surprising that we get to see him serve sisig to Phil and Erwan on on Somebody Feed Phil. Of course, I had to have my photo taken with him. He was wonderfully kind and genuine and his service to us that evening, which included helping us put up "Happy birthday" signs in our area of the restaurant, was topnotch.

Photo op with Kuya Jessie, who served sisig to Phil and Erwan in Somebody Feed Phil

Once everyone had eaten their fill of sisig and lechon kawali, we brought out a cake and sang Happy Birthday to Kermin. (Trellis doesn't have cake on their menu but they allowed us to bring our own.)

Happy birthday cake

It was a fun and beautifully nostalgic night, where I got to spend quality time with my friends as we celebrated the milestone birthday of one of us over great food that brought back so many memories of college and our younger years. And after all this time, Trellis still has arguably Metro Manila's best and most iconic sisig dish.

Trellis
https://www.facebook.com/p/Trellis-Restaurant-100064085225668/
https://www.instagram.com/trellis1980
40 Matalino St cor Kalayaan Ave., Brgy. Central, Quezon City, Philippines
(02)89241057

Family is Love

Walt Disney said “Life is beautiful. It’s about giving. It’s about family.” Thankfully, this is true for me. A couple of months ago, for Mother's Day. I got my mom dried and preserved flowers for the first time. I wasn't sure about this choice so I asked some friends and one of them said she actually appreciates dried and preserved flowers a lot more than normal flowers because they last significantly longer. They are real flowers and they do look beautiful so I decided to get my mom a bouquet. A couple of months later and they are still on display at home. Cool!

Dried and preserved flowers for Mother's Day

For Father's Day, I got my brother this special Chocolate and Berry Velvet Crunch special edition cake from Butternut Manila. It's a moist chocolate cake filled with hazelnut cream, strawberry compote, and walnut praline. I love it when bakeries and cake shops have limited edition cakes for special occasions.

Chocolate and Berry Velvet Crunch from Butternut Manila

Finally, I got my family a new TV. The audio of our old TV at home wasn't working properly anymore and while we could have tried to maybe connect external speakers to it so it would be cheaper, I felt that plugging in and turning on too many things - TV, Chromecast, speakers - would be too much of a hassle. Getting a new TV would just be simpler because the newer ones either have all the apps you need or allow  you to download them, meaning no need for Chromecast. I got a 50" Samsung TV because it was on sale, with an almost 30% discount, making it the almost the same price as many of the other smaller TVs. Now, my family can enjoy watching TV and streaming services much more easily in our living room at home. Plus, we've never had a TV this big before. Cool!

Our new Samsung TV

 

San Sebastian Church

For the first time in my life, I finally got to visit San Sebastian Church. And I'm very happy I did.

More formally known as the Minor Basilica of San Sebastian, it is renowned for being the only steel church in the Philippines. In 2011, it was declared as a National Cultural Treasure. It was built in 1891 so it has been standing tall in Recto for much longer than I've been born but it's in a part of Manila that I never really go to so I never had the chance to visit. But thanks to my nephew and his graduation, I now have.

I didn't have a lot of time to fully appreciate San Sebastian Church when I was there but I did take a few photos. Hopefully, this won't be the last time I get to visit this national cultural treasure. (I need to make sure it isn't.)

Read more about San Sebastian Church:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebastian_Church_(Manila)
https://www.rcam.org/sansebastianchurch/about-us/

My Nephew's Graduation

Congratulations to my nephew on his college graduation! He started college during the pandemic, which was definitly not easy. Not only did he have to attend classes virtually as a college freshman, he also had to shift to another course because his original choice, for which he was accepted, was not offered during the quarantine. So seeing him now with his diploma in hand after a challenging university journey fills me and the rest of our family with so much pride.

We had a celebration lunch at XI by Cafe Guilt. I had eaten here before but it was the first time for my family. Because this was a big occasion, we had to have steak. I ordered the 1.2kg Tomahawk which was prepared with olive oil and rosemary.

Tomahawk

My favorite dish that we ordered was the Lamb Bourguignon, which is a lamb shank that is slow-cooked for 24 hours with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, red wine, and lavender tea. This was sensationally good! It was packed with incredible, complex flavors that all worked so well with each other. I definitely want to enjoy this dish again!

Lamb Bourguignon

The Bagnet and Bringhe paella was also incredibly good. It came with very crispy bagnet (or pork belly) served over paella that was cooked with coconut cream, turmeric, and tamarind sauce.

Bagnet and Bringhe paella

We also had the Asian Seabass, which is served with German potato salad and charred lemon.

Asian Seabass

We ordered several more appetizers and dishes. To wrap up our meal, we had the San Sebastian cheesecake, which we felt was quite appropriate to have since my nephew just graduated from San Sebastian.

San Sebastian cheesecake

Our waiter figured out we were celebrating a special occasion and asked me what it was so I told him my nephew was celebrating his birthday. As the end of our meal, he then came out with some complimentary ice cream that was served with truffle oil. Not a common flavor combination so it was really cool for us to get to try it.

Complimentary ice cream served with truffle oil

We had a fantastic meal at XI by Cafe Guilt, which was a truly perfect way to celebrate this important milestone. Congratulations again to my nephew and I wish him all the best in this next chapter of his life!

Mystery Manila Night

I spent an awesome evening at Century City Mall with my friends to try our luck at two Mystery Manila rooms: Sinister Sensorium and Mutants' Mission. It's been a while since my last visit to Mystery Manila so it was great to experience it again.

The first room we tried was Sinister Sensorium. It is really unique because all the participants need to "lose" one sense - either sight, hearing, or speaking (well, speaking isn't a sense but that's how it's described). It was such a cool challenge because you had to figure out how to communicate with each other when one person can't speak, another can't hear, and one person can't see and everyone is locked in their own area. I "lost" my sight but I was really happy I was able to figure out the puzzle box just through feel. My friends and I needed to a few hints to get out but thankfully, we did.

The Mutants' Mission was a lot tougher. This X-Men-themed room was really cool, with the entrance to the room looking like the entrance to Cerebro. At some point, I was certain that one part of the room was the key to help us get out but I couldn't quite figure out how exactly to make it work (I won't say what part of the room it is so I won't spoil you). I also got confused by so many different elements in the room. In the end, we exceeded the hint allotment (I think we are allowed up to three but we asked for, and were given, four) but we did eventually figure it out and get out.

I gotta say, these two Mystery Manila rooms were a lot more challenging than the rooms I had tried previously. There's a certain way of thinking that you need to have when you try to find your way out. It does make we really want to try more of their mysteries in the future.

 

New Board Game

I have a new board game - Intarsia. In one of our board game nights, my friend Cla said that she wanted us to try this game. I thought it was both interesting and really nice to look at, what with the interestingly shaped wooden pieces that kind of lock together. I asked Cla if she was selling this game and she said that she could just sell me the copy we played. She also sold it to me at a really good price. How could I say no? As such, I now have a new board game, my first new one in a long time.

Intarsia Board Game

I promised myself not to get new games until I can reduce my "shelf of shame." The shelf of shame is the term somewhat popular in board gaming circles and it refers to the set of board games that a person owns that he or she has not played yet. Thankfully, I managed to reduce my shelf of shame a bit recently when my friends and I played my copy of Ecos. I actually really like this game although I don't know if it's because I seem to do quite well. The first time I played it (using Cla's copy), I won relatively convincingly. The second time I played it, I ended up in second place. It can be played by up to 6 players so it's a good choice for us when there are 6 of us playing and we don't want to break up into two different tables during game night.

Ecos Board Game

Hopefully, I get to reduce my shelf of shame a bit more before the year ends. My goal is to finally play two games I have that I have been wanting to play for a while - Altiplano and Yokohama. 

Alas Pilipinas Women Win Silver at the 2025 AVC Women's Nation's Cup!

Congratulations to the Alas Pilipinas women's volleyball team for winning silver at the AVC Women's Nation's Cup. This is the best ever finish by a Philippine women's team at this 64-year old event. Amazing! They built on what was achieved last year - when the Philippines won bronze - and took it a step further in 2025. Most of the players from last year where still in this year's roster, with the notable addition of some incredible talents such as Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon, and Shaina Nitura. This is also the first time the Philippines won a silver medal at an internaional volleyball since the 1997 SEA Games.

NEW HEIGHTS UNLOCKED 🥈

In a defining moment for Philippine volleyball, Alas Pilipinas soared to their highest finish yet—a historic silver medal in the 2025 #AVCNationsCup—after a fierce, hard-fought duel against defending champions Vietnam.#AlasPilipinas #AVCNationsCup pic.twitter.com/DoB5WEtve1

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) June 14, 2025

The Alas team also had multiple individual awardees. One of them was Angel Canino who won Best Outside Hitter. This is such a spectacular result on so many levels. This is Angel's second international individual award in two years. Last year, she also won but as an opposite hitter. It's utterly impressive to think that she has won two international awards for two different positions in two years. Way to go, Angel!

AN ANGELIC FORCE 🇵🇭

With wings of grace and offensive power, Angel Canino of Alas Pilipinas claims the Best Outside Spiker award at the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup.#AlasPilipinas #AVCNationsCup pic.twitter.com/5CSkFwFWOi

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) June 14, 2025

Jia De Guzman was also awarded best setter for the second year in a row. She really has cemented herself as one of the, if not the, best setters in the country. Not just right now but maybe in history. She truly is JiAmazing!

NEW HEIGHTS UNLOCKED 🥈

In a defining moment for Philippine volleyball, Alas Pilipinas soared to their highest finish yet—a historic silver medal in the 2025 #AVCNationsCup—after a fierce, hard-fought duel against defending champions Vietnam.#AlasPilipinas #AVCNationsCup pic.twitter.com/DoB5WEtve1

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) June 14, 2025

I am also really happy that Dell Palomata was awarded best middle blocker. This was her first international individual award but she really did hold her own against some of the best attackers in the continent.

BEST IN THE MI-DELL 🇵🇭

Dell Palomata secures the Best Middle Blocker award after her towering performance for Alas Pilipinas in the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Nations Cup.#AlasPilipinas #AVCNationsCup pic.twitter.com/PvRK6xlguG

— One Sports (@OneSportsPHL) June 14, 2025

This may be the first time in recent history that three members of the Philippine women's volleyball team won individual awards at the same international event. Congratulations Angel, Jia, and Dell!

AVC Nations Cup - Best Outside Hitter, Best Middle Blocker and Best Setter - Mga 🇵🇭ALAS PILIPINAS! 💪 pic.twitter.com/2jCMwVHb7d

— AlasPilipinasVolley (@AlasPilipinasVB) June 14, 2025

Hopefully the powers that be can keep this team intact for the most part and strengthen their skills as individuals and as a team. With their recent progress and ability to play against some strong team in Asia, they really do have such great potential. Congratulations Alas Pilipinas Women's team!

HERstory makers! We are so proud of you, 🇵🇭ALAS PILIPINAS! Palaging lalaban para sa BAYAN! #ALASPILIPINAS #labanpilipinas pic.twitter.com/iC7fadNGIf

— AlasPilipinasVolley (@AlasPilipinasVB) June 14, 2025

 

Retail Therapy

I found myself in SM Megamall recently, after a particularly stressful day at work. And as it turned out, I ended up doing some retail therapy.

To be fair, while I purchased three items of clothing, two of them weren't unplanned. A short while ago, I passed by the Perry Ellis store on the third floor and when I was there, I saw a cream-colored shirt that I really liked.  It was actually the exact same shirt that I wanted to buy when I visited the Perry Ellis store in Shangri-La mall months ago. I was told back then that they didn't have my size in any of their stores. So when I saw that same shirt in Megamall, I asked if they had my size and they said they did. I tried it on and it fit well (and I liked how it looked). I also saw an orange polo shirt and since my only other orange polo shirt was starting to get a bit too tight due to my weight gain, I thought that maybe I should get this one as well. As a bonus, both shirts were on sale, with about a 30% discount I think. However, since I really didn't need any new shirts, I decided not to purchase them on that first visit. A week or so later, I was still thinking about those shirts so I figured that if they were still available and still on sale, then I would get them. They were, so I bought them haha. I guess they were really meant for me!

The unplanned purchase was a pair of jeans that I got from American Eagle. The thing is, I discovered shortly before the pandemic that American Eagle jeans fit me quite well. So when I passed by their store and saw that they were on sale, with some items being up to 70% off, I decided to head in. I saw a pair of jeans that were the right size that were now "only" P900. Whoa! I quickly tried them, decided they fit me well enough, and immediately bought them.

Thankfully, this version of retail therapy wasn't too negative since I have not experienced any buyer's remorse. In fact, I am really pleased with what I bought. That said, my closet is way too full now so it's time for me to start letting go of some older clothes, especially ones that I don't really wear anymore.

All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC

I spent an afternoon at the All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC and as a boardgamer, it was truly awesome! This event was the first of its kind in the Philippines and was designed to replicate board game conventions abroad. It was organized by the Quezon City government and Gaming Library. A few of my board gaming friends decided to go on the first day so I filed a vacation leave to join them.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gaming Library (@gaminglib)

It was a great experience on so many levels. Guests could borrow board games that we could play on any of the tables on the first floor of the M.I.C.E. Convention Center at the Quezon City Hall. (I got to play a few games that afternoon and my friends and I even made a new friend who played some games with us. Cool!) More tables were set up on the second floor that guests could also use to play games that they brought themselves. Coaches were present and scattered all over the venue to teach people how to play. Games were also available for purchase.

All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC

I spent most of the afternoon there and I was able to play a few games with my friends: Ding, Cascadia, and the LEGO-based game Monkey Palace. We also made a new friend who played some of these games with us. I also loved that there were standees of the beasts of King of Tokyo at the lobby (I actually own this game haha). Naturally, I had to have my photo taken.

Space Penguin from King of Tokyo

Another really great thing about this event was that a few game designers were there. One of them was David Gordon, the designer of Monkey Palace which we played that afternoon. As we were setting up the game, David Gordon passed by and he even sat down and interacted with us for a while. He even clarified one of the rules for us. Wow! But as if that wasn't enough, when I was taking a group photo with everyone along with the game, David saw us and joined us in the photo. It was super cool! And David is such a nice guy, it was such a wonderful experience getting to meet and interact with him.

Monkey Palace

The turn-out at this event was pretty massive, even on the workdays where you would expect not a lot of people to show up. I guess, similar to what I did, a lot of people took time off of work haha. In fact, I actually saw a colleague there and he also took a leave just like me haha. All aBoard Expo 25 sa QC was such a success that the QC government and Gaming Library have all but confirmed that this event will be held again next year, and the plan is to make it even bigger than it was this year. I can't wait!