Manong Romulo

I've taken so many cabs in my life and I've had both good and bad experiences. Most of the bad experiences I remember well, but the good ones aren't really that significant since I'm already happy when the driver brings me to where I'm headed without complain.

It was Manong Rom who was dispatched to my house when I requested for a cab. The dispatcher also excitedly mentioned to me that the car was new. When I got in the cab Manong Rom shared to me that his cab was new and the first one in the set of the new fleet. He also said that he was awarded as the best driver for the year in 2007 and received other awards because he was not absent for 5 years and never had an accident. 

Manong Rom's also very talented. He said he was fluent in speaking Arabic (and gave samples) and also showcased to me all the foreign and local languages he knew how to speak. And I could just mumble that I understood "Bicol". He said that if I put my mind into it I would definitely, easily learn other languages. 

The trip to Manila from Paranaque was quite long and Manong Rom also managed to tell me a ghost story! And that I guess I'll share one of these days on Tales of the Moonless Sky.

Thanks Manong Rom for bringing me safely to my meeting.

The Bloggers Oktoberfest Party

About 450+ bloggers, blogger-friends, and our friends from SM and San Miguel trooped to Taste Asia at the Mall of Asia last night for the San Miguel-sponsored Oktoberfest 120 for Bloggers.

I was amazed with the many new faces that I saw in the party (andami ko nang di kilala!). Made me remember the first blog party I attended over a year ago. Everything starts with hello and you would definitely make a lot of new friends if you put some effort into it (case in point: don't just sit there, mingle!). Last night I saw a lot of new faces and new groups (or what some call "cliques") and of course the veterans.

San Miguel knows how to party! Everything was down pat, from food to the games (thanks Marcelle a.k.a. Faith for being the official bloggers party host!) to the band (Moonstar88!!!!!!!!). All you basically needed to do was have fun and I have a feeling most of the people who attended last night are still asleep with a hangover.

Thank you very much to San Miguel for being interested to do a party with bloggers and SM Hypermarket for the support given to bloggers.

CHEERS!

Here are some of the photos I took:



Posts:

An Apple a Day (Aileen)
Let's Go Sago (Jonel)
Azrael
Ronald Guanzon
Student Athlete (Galwin)
Rockersworld (Karla)

Think of Me! (Tom)
Think of Me and Laugh (Tom ulit)
Turfsite Manila (Bob)

Prudence and Madness (Doc Tess)

South Spiral (Galwin)

Food Tripz Unlimited (Mon & Anna)

Wawsabaw (secret daw name niya)

Halohalo.ph

Manila Freelancer (Melo)

Micamyx
Music Blogger (Ed)
The Typical Guy

Marcelle a.k.a. Mike Abundo

Poytee

Anna KatharinaMD.com

SM Hypermarket's post

Photos

Aileen's Photos
The EvilMartian's
Azrael's Photos

Melo's Photos

Ravenfox (Ian)
Poyt's Photos
Sharmskee
Let's Go Sago
Music Blogger
Juned's Photos

Please let me know if you have a post!

Game ba kayo for Halloween?

Bloggers Oktoberfest Updates

Due to insistent public demand you can check out the the party list here (if you got the confirmation message when you registered that's good to go too, pasensya na had to figure out how not to share people's email addys).

And the first 120 bloggers who registered will also get a thank-you goodie (thank God I registered!). But hey there's already food and drinks so the goodies is just icing on the cake. Do come on time too!

Registration will be closed end-of-day tomorrow (September 25, 2008) so the organizers can prepare for Friday's party.

Cheers!

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9/26 Update: Please be reminded that you have to come on time to get your goodie coupon. And if you don't show up we'll just give it to the others.

Aliens and Teaching

I was at the Enterprise Center waiting for a friend and was quite bored so I took a snap of the Makati skyline and was surprised with the result, check this out:

Photo taken with a Nokia N70.

See the three glowing lights beside the buildings. Aliens! I thought.

Aliens huh? The glowing thingies are just actually the reflection of the ceiling lights and NOT aliens. Will they even bother visiting the Philippines? Hmmm… I don’t even want to think about it coz aliens kinda freak me out.

Dot. Dot. Dot.

So I had my fourth class session today and I had my students do group work that involved bond paper and crayons. I thought that they should have a little fun while learning.

I actually almost joined the academe right after graduation, but I was lured to join the corporate world and I had to make a choice a week before classes started. So here I am today.

I always wanted to teach. I remember when I was a kid I would teach my yaya how to read (with matching blackboard!) and I’d get mad whenever she was lazy to do her writing homework (LOL). I eventually taught catechism in our parish and then backstopped for Miguel’s nursery teacher whenever she couldn’t make it to class (the kids called me Teacher Mommy back then).

It’s in my blood. My Dad taught in Ateneo de Naga while he was waiting for the results of the board exam. My Kuya taught in DLSU too and my Ate now teaches too in the US. My Mom sometimes teaches crafts to kids and as an outreach for livelihood projects in the parish. I have a grandmother who used to be a high school principal in Davao. So, you get the picture.

And I guess no matter where you go and no matter how busy you get when you say you want to teach… just DO IT. I do hope tough that my students would eventually pick up something from me that they’d manage to use when they graduate.

Are You Green or Blue?

It is funny how the rivalry between the two best universities in our country has landed in the news of foreign newspapers. Not only that, in the past few months my friends abroad have been talking about our local schools as well and they've been getting mixed feedback. It came to a point I had to step-in and say that it really depends on who you speak with. Gave me a bit of headache though. LOL.

We are a mixed breed in our household. My Dad's a true-blue Atenean while all of us kids are La Sallians. My Dad is a staunch supporter of Ateneo and you can't take him away from the TV when he watches basketball games - after all he was a basketball player for Ateneo and his shooting record is-yet-to-be-beaten to this day. So you can just imagine what a rowdy household we are whenever there are games. (Gwapo ng Dad ko noh?).

In the past few years my Ate and Kuya would burn phone lines just to tease my Dad whenever Ateneo lost. I got the brunt of it whenever La Salle lost. I have not been personally following the games this year and had to ask my students to explain to me what's happening. I was pretty pleased that the games are Ateneo vs. La Salle. My Dad though hasn't been on my case that bad now because of Sweetie (he's Atenean), he said, "I knew you'd eventually find your way back." (Translation: You are in good hands with an Atenean). LOL.

BUT when it comes to basketball... I'm still very much GREEN. Animo La Salle!

Here's the Plurk conversation about this post.

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Don't forget:

1. Philippine Blog Awards, September 21, 2008, 5:00 p.m. at the One Esplanade.
2. Oktoberfest 120 Na! An Oktoberfest just for bloggers! September 26, 2008, 7:00 p.m. at Taste Asia. Register here.
3. Get a chance to win a Delifrance Tray Couture coupon. Join here.

And some plugging for my other blogs:

1. Google News Philippines, You Got Tech
2. Cebu Food Vlog, Lakwatsera Ako

Oktoberfest 120 Na! (Oktoberfest for Bloggers!)

Ho-ho-ho! Christmas is just around the corner, BUT before November there's the Oktober-fest here in our country (even bigger than Halloween eh?). This phenomenon has been going on for several years already and it's been getting bigger and better each year.

This year, San Miguel has decided to make it bigger, better and longer! 120 days to be exact and this was kicked off a few weeks ago with the Third Eye Blind.

Anyway, I got an SMS the other night and San Miguel would like to invite all bloggers for a special Oktoberfest party just for bloggers. Here are the party details:

What: Oktoberfest 120 Na!
When: September 26, 2008, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Taste Asia, Mall of Asia (beside SM Hypermarket)
Why: Parteeh!

Of course, kindly REGISTER HERE TO JOIN. Kindly spread the word around!

I Heart Bugoy

A few months ago I blogged that I wasn’t watching TV anymore and that I was just getting most of my entertainment online, but since I wanted to be “offline” in the evenings so I could do other things I found myself watching TV again. One of the shows that I managed to watch from start to finish was Pinoy Dream Academy (okay, okay and some telenovelas Jerome).

I managed to watch PDA season 1 as well and at the beginning of PDA season 2 I thought that the PDA scholars from season 1 had more oomph and talent, but I had taken a liking for Bugoy early on. I just had that gut feel that he was really going to do well and hopefully become THE Dream Winner.

Much to my disappointment though that he only finished second. But as Sweetie said in his post, "Text votes really don't measure who's best. They measure how many people can vote for the scholars. It doesn't even equate to a one is to one ratio. One person could vote for 1,000 times for a single scholar as long as that person had the load to pay for each SMS message." 

Yes! I agree with Bugoy when he said, “Kahit di ako nanalo sa puso ko ako pa rin ang Dream Big Winner!”

From being a farmer’s son to working as a sanitation worker in a school in Bicol, Bugoy has definitely come a long way. One other reason why I was rooting for him is because he is Bicolano! And Bicolanos rock! (I’m sure my dear US and Australia born Bicolano friends are nodding their head now). Bicol, after all, seems to have been a forgotten region because it’s poor and it’s gone through one disaster after another.

BUT!

Bicol has much talent too! Well known stars such as Elizabeth Oropesa, the greatest president we never had, Raul Roco, and known xxx Francisco Garchitorena etc. hailed from Bicol. And now we have Bugoy!

Congratulations Bugoy! Uragon ka! (And I mean it in the Bicolano-lambing way). Hope to meet you someday (so I can add you up in my wall of the famous).



You might want to check out the PDA Season 2 Scholars Sing Cayabyab (I absolutely love Bugoy's song).