Buhay Coke Party Ulit! (Announcement of Winners)

Naalala mo ba ito?



Or nainggit ka dahil absent ka last June?

Well...

Time to party again!

What: Buhay Coke Vlog Contest Announcement of Winners Party
When: August 8, 2008, Friday, 6:00 p.m. onwards
Where: Taste Asia at the Mall of Asia
Wassup?: Announcement of winners and just simply to parteeh the Taste Asia way!
How: Register here.

There's room for 500 people! So kindly spread the word too!

Healthy Shabu Shabu 101

Candy Hwang, owner of Healthy Shabu-Shabu explained during dinner that shabu-shabu has its beginnings from the time of Genghis Khan. It was war time and they wanted to be able to feed soldiers in a fast, economical and nutritious way. Fast forward to the present and here in Manila, Candy Hwang has set-up several branches of her "Healthy Shabu-Shabu" restaurant.

It was a different experience for me. I have to admit I almost never prepare my own food (unless it's just a sandwich) and it is quite rare to see me in front of a stove (I'd rather bake!), so seeing the hot pot and all the raw ingredients actually made me nervous. I was quite hungry as well and was worried that I might end up burning my food!

I did not have to worry after all since eating the shabu-shabu way isn't as hard as it looks. Here's my video blog about the experience:



Experience Healthy Shabu Shabu at any of its following branches: Powerplant Mall, The Podium, SM Mall of Asia, Robinsons Galleria, SM North The Block, Alabang Town Center, Robinsons Midtown and Shangri-la Plaza Mall. For inquiries please call (632) 627-3721 or 672-3290.

High School Live Oh My High School Life!

My high school life could be described with the following keywords (and some thoughts about it):

blue and white uniform (donated all of it during graduation)
tin-grin button pin (always had it pinned on my uniform)
C.A.T. (arggghhh! hated it!)
physics, geometry, biology (still a mystery to me!)
spaghetti (my daily grub)

I haven't seen most of my high school classmates though. I still hang-out though with my high school barkada, but haven't seen my other classmates for the longest time. The opportunity presented itself when my forever lab-partner called me up to remind me to show up for lunch since our student council president (and class president) was arriving from the US.

We were a small group, but it was definitely fun to see my classmates again. So many things do happen after high school and we couldn't help but kid each other with the question, "What happens to the student council president after high school?" Hehehe... that question was answered during lunch and if you're from 4A, sorry na lang amiga absent ka eh!

Here's the small group of Kulasas (and an import from college and SOs) who had lunch at Chi's Brick Oven Kitchen:


And here's a glimpse of the dessert we had:


See more of the sumptuous meal we had over at Lakwatsera Ako.

I Love OPM!

OPM stands for Original Pilipino Music and I have been pledging my undying love for it since I started this blog. Music actually seeded my friendship with Sweetie (yihee!). The first time I met him almost two years ago he was sharing his experiences about his website as a technopreneur. Who would've thought eh?

Anyway, we became really great friends when he invited me to attend Christian Bautista's album launch. It was really a surprise for me to finally meet someone who shared the same passion for Filipino music and well the rest is history. I've been tagging along in some of the album launches he's been attending (as PA! PA = personal angel hehehe) and I thought we'd gone full circle when we attended the launch of Christian Bautista's newest album, "Captured". Here he is singing the carrier single "The One Who Won My Heart".



I've been to a number of album launches, but I have to admit that I think I'll never stop being a fan and there are really a number of talented Filipino artists that deserve to be known and recognized, like Reuben Laurente.

Reuben Laurente used to be part of a popular group, but he eventually decided to go solo. He also recently launched a new album entitled, "Heart Blends". I've heard so many good things about him, but it was my first time to hear him sing when we attended the launch at Hardrock Cafe. We missed a couple of songs, but luckily reached the part where he was singing really popular songs like "All at Once", "Could it Be I'm Falling in Love", and "Out Here on My Own". He also did a duet with Anna Fegi and I thought that their rendition of "I Honestly Love You" was pure, crystal and unadulterated. (I bought a CD during the launch and I absolutely love all the songs in it! I'm glad we went back upstairs to purchase a copy.)

Too bad though, Reuben's leaving next week to be a `featured artist' in a cruise and his album does not have a distributor yet. I'll check though where you can get the CD and will update this post once I get more info.

Robotics!

This is a pubic service announcement for my alma mater.

What: DLSU ROBOTICS CAMP
Inclusive Dates: August 2, 9 and 16 (Saturdays)
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Venue: Room G401 Gokongwei Building, DLSU, Taft, Manila

Categories:
Level 1 - Elementary Grades 5 to 7 students
Level 2 - High School students
Level 3 - College students and hobbyists

Other details and to register please visit the CEC website.

The Big Three-Oh!

One of the things a lot of women fear is getting old! When I was a kid I always teased my Ate that she was olddd! Our age difference is 16 years, so when I was 4 she was already 20, in college and I would always tease her, "Ate you're old!!!" And I guess because of that I dreaded the time that I would be in my 20's. And sad to say that whole decade for me just seemed to be oddly disastrous.

When I was about to turn 30 I welcomed it with open arms. I even had an all-pink party to celebrate it. To me turning 30 signified a whole new chapter in my life. I firmly believed that the tide was going to change and everything was just going to be better. And I was right! I thought it wasn't possible to have the best of both worlds. I always thought that I was lucky with work, but unlucky with love. But with much prayer and faith everything just eventually evened out.

So I can honestly say I'm very happy to be in my 30s already! But!!!

But with all the joy came a lot of realizations and I had to do a lot of adjustments.

1. Metabolism - I used to be able to gulp down a Big Mac + large fries + McSpaghetti + large Coke every single day of the week WITHOUT gaining weight. Now that seems just to be a legend. I was barely a hundred pounds when I celebrated my 30th birthday, but now... but now the automatic 10 pounds they said you gain from where I work now has permanently resided in my thunder legs and now I have love handles!

2. Agility - So I'm not really malikot nor athletic, but I used to be able to move around faster, go malling for hours, but I am no Energizer Bunny anymore. I have to rest in between boutique hopping and I used to be able to hop from one province to another easily. I just can't be up and running like I used to. Sad fez.

3. The Youthful Look - When I was in my late 20s I was always mistaken to be a college student! And I guess as the years passed and I took on more responsibility at work my look turned into "so you're 28 na?" Well at least it's still a few years younger than my age now, but I have just simply aged! Noooo!!!

4. Fashion - I was never really daring with what I wear. Make it standard, plain and simple and I'll wear it (think t-shirt and jeans). I also need my best friend to remind myself to fix myself up. There are things though that don't fit (by look) anymore when you are in your 30s. But I still like Mickey Mouse and other cartoon character stuff so I don't really care.

5. Gimmicks - Unlike in my 20s when I just couldn't seem to plant my feet in just one place, now I prefer to stay home. The yellow-urine-like liquid doesn't attract me anymore and I prefer quiet dinners, coffee over going to rowdy, jampacked places. Actually, the couch + me-laptop + a DVD movie is more appealing now.

But I have to be honest, at some point I guess I allowed myself to just wither away. Everything was running smoothly in my life and I felt I didn't need to push any farther. BUT! I got a huge scolding from my best friend (that's the story behind this video) and that got me up and about. I went through retail therapy (a.k.a. shopping) and kinarir ko ang pag-Ponds! And the past two weeks I could help but smile (and be kilig) over these comments -

A college department head, "You are obviously an alumna of this school, you're so kikay!"

A taxi driver after asking me what I was going to do at MOA, "O ma'am! Akala ko maglalakwatsa lang kayo, kala ko college ka pa!"

My cousin who's just a year older, "Bruha ka! Bakit ikaw ganyan pa rin itsura mo eh ako nanay na nanay na!"

Sweetie, "Di kita nakilala. I thought you were someone else!" and then he gave me a bouquet of flowers. I felt like a beauty queen!

And my all-time favorite -

A high school principal, "Alumna from high school 19xx? Oh I thought you just graduated last year!"

There's hope for me after all!

A Fishy, Fishy Day at the Manila Oceanarium

Read more about it at Lakwatsera Ako.

Lazer Tag

I could barely get out of bed this morning because I felt like dismantling. I played 2 games of lazer tag last night at LazerXtreme at Market Market. I missed the play set-up by Benj a few weeks ago, but I told myself I was going to try it out.



Yesterday morning I brought the kids to LazerXtreme to play lazer tag. We missed celebrating Miguel's birthday so I thought it would be fun to get the kids hungry by playing lazer tag and then have a hefty lunch at our all-time-favorite Max's Restaurant. They didn't have an idea what I put them up to, but after the first game they were all excited to share their experience inside the "field".

I didn't join the kids coz I was scheduled for an evening run since Kuya Andrew's here from Davao. Most of those who said will join eh nang-indyan (should I name them here??? hehe)! Anyway we decided to still play even though it was just Sweetie, Drew, Juned and me.

Despite reading several blog posts about the game I still didn't really know what to expect. I felt like I stepped in a ship on Star Wars when we entered the cool sliding door. Since three of us were noobs we went through a short briefing session where the guide explained how the game was played. After that we entered another room where the lighted vests were located. We got our vests, wore it and had a photo taken.

There were so many other players in the first game and I unfortunately became the bait! Argghhh!!! I found out too late that I was holding the phasor the wrong way and that prevented me from tagging. Gah! But my game improved a lot in the second game. We played free-for-all, meaning we had no teammates and you could just tag anyone. It was a crazy game and I had a hard time hiding since my light was pink! I ended up second (out of 4) and secret ko na lang how I got that score hehehe.


I definitely had a grand time and despite all the muscle pains I'm experiencing now I'll definitely go and play again!

LazerXtreme
4th floor, Activity Center wing of Market! Market!
Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines.
Telephone: +63(919) 4652654 or +63(2) 8566467
E-mail: info@lazerXtreme.com.ph

Caught by the High School Principal!

I haven't been to my high school alma mater for more than a decade now (whoops! buking ang age ko!) and I guess I just never had a reason to visit. The last time I visited was when I got my yearbook.

I was quite excited to visit when I got an invitation. I was so atat I arrived 30 minutes before my appointment and asked permission to go and explore the campus first before settling down for the meeting. I wanted to bonk my head for wearing heeled shoes since I couldn't move around the place as fast as I could. I just had a chance to go check out the high school department and wasn't able to peek at the new buildings at the grade school area.

While walking around I couldn't help but remember the mundane things I used to do back when I was a kid.

The field where we would hang out after eating, marched during CAT, held field dances and where I usually got dizzy whenever we had Misa ng Bayan.


The hall where we held carpentry and electricity class. My alma mater's an all-girls school so you can just imagine how many times we blew up the fuse box because of our lamp projects. I was also in this area when the 90s big earthquake happened.


The stairs where I slipped several times. It's also near the prayer room which I visited every morning before class. And that door at the bottom of the stairs was my homeroom when I was a junior in high school.


Both grade school and high school memories came flooding back when I passed by the hall where my grade 4 classroom was. I couldn't help but look for the lunch counter where I ate with my high school friends everyday (and I still hang-out with them actually). Each step I took on the stairs (where I slipped several times) brought back a lot of happy memories and memories of feeling anxious due to Physics, Geometry and my-all-time-not-favorite Filipino-Balarila class. I even felt like I was wearing my uniform once again (I'm sure it wouldn't fit me now because I'm so huge already).

The classrooms were closed. Back in high school we only had aircons in AVRs, so I felt like the place was deserted. When I started walking towards the high school principal's office I automatically straightened my back, patted my hair down and walked the way we were taught ("carry your shoes girls! don't drag it!"). I saw a nun walking towards me and I felt a bit sheepish. I was loitering around and I thought I was going to get a scolding, but then she smiled, said hello and asked if I was looking for an office. I realized too that high school was already half my life ago and that I am my own person now. So I smiled back and introduced myself as an alumna wandering around. I was glad to meet the Sister Mikey, the current high school principal.
I'm sure my teachers from grade school and high school would be surprised on how I turned out. I was a shy, gawky kid with braces (ala Betty Lafea? LOL!), who'd go tongue-tied during speech classes and I never really raised my hand to recite (and here I am forcing my kid to do it ha-ha-ha). Well I'm still the same, just a bit crazier! I realize though that if it wasn't for my third grade teacher who scolded me a lot about my English compositions I don't think I would've pushed hard to learn how to write better. Or if not for my super bait and matyagang speech class teacher I wouldn't have that teenie-bit of self-confidence to believe that I could actually do speaking engagements "when I grow up".

LOL. So much drama, but ya-know I'm sure it's what you'll feel too if you have not gone to your high school alma mater for more than a decade.

Have you visited your high school recently?

The Zen of Malling

A few years ago when I went to see my doctor he asked me what kind of exercise I do. I said in a sheepish, little voice, "Malling." He didn't quite get what I said since he's Singaporean and well I didn't speak up so he asked again and then I said in a louder voice, "Malling."

And then he said, "Very good." I was quite pleased with myself coz he agreed that the exercise I was doing was good for me. Who would've thought? was my balloon thought. We were half-way through my check-up when he asked again what exercise I did and then he paused when I said, "Malling" and he said, "Malling? Malling? What's that?" It was my Kuya who explained that I normally just walked around the mall to go window shopping on weekends as my exercise.

My doctor burst out laughing and then promptly scolded me. LOL.

Is there such a thing as being "zen" in a mall? My good friend Juned keeps reminding me to relax and just "be zen" since he knows I've been quite stressed lately. So yesterday I brought the kids (Miguel and 2 nephews) to the Mall of Asia. Miguel was scheduled for a lesson at the Lego Mindstorms Robotics Center while his cousins didn't want to go with their Mom and sisters to Glorietta. So I was in-charge of three boys yesterday.

When we arrived I was curious why there were a number of policemen, security guards, a medical team and a lot of people lined up outside of the Adidas store. After seeing a couple of posters we found out that Gilbert Arenas, a NBA player, was going to visit the Adidas store. I shuffled the boys away from the store since there were a LOT of people and I was quite scared that I might lose one of them to the crowd. Anyway, after lunch we got to about a foot away from him and I caught him on video! Here it is -



The boys thought that the experience was "Really cool Tita!" I was quite pleased with myself after that compliment. After that I left them at the SM Science Discovery Center. I had about 3 hours to myself and I actually didn't know what to do. So I went malling. I walked and zipped in and out of different stores. I've been so used to having someone with me whenever I go to the mall and the experience of just going wherever I wanted to go without anyone in tow was quite refreshing.

At some point, of course, my feet got tired. So I debated with myself whether I was going to go to the spa or get a magazine and hang-out at Kopi Roti. I did neither since Time Zone was just in front of me and the Simpsons pinball machine was beckoning me to play a couple of games. I indulged myself and was quite pleased about my game. My feet were still killing me after the game. I decided already on heading towards Booksale, but then the tram stopped right in front of me. So I jumped in and for the next 15 minutes I just enjoyed observing people walking around the mall. I think the other people in the tram found me quite weird since I was busy taking photos and I guess I looked pretty happy with what I was doing.

That 15-minute tram ride actually relaxed me a lot. After I got off the tram, I got a magazine at Booksale and parked myself at Kopi Roti. I bidded my time at the coffee shop before I went back to pick-up the boys. I had nothing to worry about anyway since they had a grand time at the center.

I should window-shop more often then. (And stay offline on weekends). LOL.

Monster Mom

I was looking forward to watching a funny movie yesterday afternoon. So I had the brainiest idea of suggesting to Sweetie that we watch "Monster Mom". The trailer showed on TV indicated that it was going to be a typical fun and entertaining movie.

I was wrong. And good thing Sweetie still loves me!

I did not count on experiencing almost 2 hours worth of shouting, screaming, and cursing. I waited for a resolution. A point where the lead was supposed to realize that her behavior was causing her family and community distress. That never came and it seems that the message of the movie was, "I'm a monster-b**ch, take it or leave it". Do we really want to encourage people to become bungangera?

I thank God that my Mom is no Monster Mom! When we went out of the movie house our ears were ringing and it took awhile before the pain subsided. And what I'm saying is not exaggerated! If you want wax to clear out of your ears on its own, watch the movie.

And the last few paragraphs above are probably the meanest words I've churned out in this blog. I'm sorry, but the only pambawi I could say is, "The movie was directed well (I love JJR movies!) and the artists played their part appropriately". I hope the producer (if ever he gets to read this post) takes my comment constructively.

Which also brings me to the realization that sometimes we bloggers could get so spoiled and bratty. We churn out criticisms, comments and what-not like a machine gun. We think that the world exists for us. Condescending indeed.

Humility, after all, is a virtue.

Happy Sunday everyone, hope you hear mass.

Beauty at Taste Asia (the Pond's Party)

Ask me about beauty stuff and you'll surely get me stressed out. LOL. I've never been to the derma in my whole life and I think I fear going to one more than going to the dentist. I just wash my face before I sleep, drink lots of water and I honestly just put on moisturizer whenever I go out. And our friends from Pond's were promptly shocked when I said this.

I was quite happy that Pond's offered to host a party for bloggers. It definitely shows that big brands are already willing to experiment with doing more online stuff (so let's help them guys ha). Pond's is quite a niche market and geared more towards women and I was quite surprised that a lot of girl bloggers actually turned up at the party last night.

I was enthralled with how they managed to transform Taste Asia. From orange it became very pink! And despite the rains a lot of people still turned up and a number of newbie bloggers from far, far away also came.



There was a number of games! And the star of the night was Poyt! Here's the debut of her singing career -



Also get a chance to win an iPhone! Join the Pond's beauty blog contest. More details at the SM Hypermarket blog. (I wonder if I can join? I actually tried out the cream they gave out last night! Teehee).

We capped the event by having cozy fun at Starbucks.

Some more reads/photos `bout the party. Let me know if you have one too!

An Apple a Day
Rock ko toh! Photos
Ronald Guanzon
Something Sweet & More
Phaelun
Travel Tayo
Halo-halo Pinoy
Ken Pun
Rockerfem
Ken Pun Photos
An Apple a Day Photos
Abbie unReal
Xeemomma
Brinknotes
AJ's Flickr
Tiohem
Tom's Library
Fritzified
Fritz the Paparazzi
Poyt's Photos
Mistervader
Schnuppi
The Life of a Breadwinner
La Bubbly Chica
I'm Roanne
All the Vanity
Brown Pinay
JayDJ's Photos
A Doll's Mask Unmasked
Christa Uy's Photos

Introducing Pinoyvloggers.com

I've shared before that I had been wanting to learn how to edit videos and after doing some experiments and getting the push and support from friends I created YouGotTech.com. Eventually I started to experiment doing video blogs for my travel experiences and have since done a number of other studies.

I also organized a small workshop for vloggers (and wanna-be vloggers) with Buddy Gancenia and attended the CBTL workshop on video blogging. It was really helpful since they gave a lot of techniques and ideas on how to create videos. What's great though about video blogging is you're quite free to do stuff on your own since at the end of the day it's the number of views you get on your video that would dictate if your work is relevant, entertaining or boring.

For me though it's just about having fun and learning new things.

So one day I got curious and checked if the domain PinoyVloggers.com was available. It was! So I got it without knowing what I was going to do with it. It was my good friend, Andrew, who brought up the idea of creating a community site for Filipino video bloggers and we've been collaborating the past few weeks about it. If you're a video blogger (whether you have a blog with videos or just a video channel) then you might want to join us, but if you just love watching videos then maybe you can come over and see what Filipino video bloggers are up to.

PinoyVloggers.com!

Many exciting activities for Filipino video bloggers are happening! If you're a vlogger or maybe want to become one then maybe you can join these contests to jump start your vlogging career -

1. Buhay Coke

2. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

3. Google has one too! Check out this video -



I'd like to issue a challenge though to the following video bloggers and wanna-be video bloggers to join these contests!

Cokskiblue, Poyt, Juned, Marcelle, Micamyx, Noemi, Jeric, Ria, Winston, Jehz, Azrael, Fritz and

Youtube Pinoy superstars -

Komikero, Trebornoican, Jaywalkur, Mhelpogi and MoymoyPalaboy.

Ano na? Dali! Mag-vlog ka na! I'm sure it's the next big thing!

My Choice for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008

I've been having a difficult time choosing my Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008, I'm just about half-way coz I just realized that some of my other choices did not meet the cut-off. So I'll probably update this post as soon as I find others I'd want to include in this writing project.

1. You Got Tech - this is a shameless inclusion! LOL. But I know that this project is something that would help non-techies become techie too.

2. Food Blog for Hungry Bachelors - I've been enthralled with the posts the guys have been making! Reading it was easier though and more friendly when they had it on Blogger.

3. Conrad Miguel - I met him when I was at the Davao F.A.T. last March and I must say that this kid is going to go a long way just like Winston.

4. Bloggers Da Who - it's a fun read, though I hope the blogger can post consistently :)

5. Manila Foodistas - great reviews and posts about dining in Manila.

6. Eye in the Sky - the posts make me feel like I'm traveling too.

Update:

After careful review I have finally managed to complete my list. Here it is:

7. Fritzified - a witty blogger and a mobile phone photography-fanatic, check out his Plurks too!

8. General Santos.com - is the "idiot's guide to GenSan". There's really much to discover about the 7,100+ islands in our country and I'd definitely love to go back to GenSan.

9. Davao Deli - I have been very vocal about how I love Davao and their food! Blogie provides great write-ups about Davao's yummy food nooks.

10. Blasted Brains of Billy Coy - I was gunning to include a blog written in Filipino but he did not make the cut-off date so I looked for another blog written in Filipino that's easy to read. Billy Coy's quite entertaining and very Pinoy!

Update!

Since Billy Coy's disqualified, I'm replacing him with Migs Mobile - everything and anything mobile! Migs is one blogger who's really passionate about this blog coz he really does a lot of research for his posts =)