Miss March

As we are in the last hours of the first quarter of 2009, I look back at the first full month this year that I stayed in Korea with a few pics of women taken this month:

March 1. HBD! HBD! HBD!

L-R: Celebrants Tyne, Ate Dina & Gina with sexy Aimee.

more pics here

March 14. HBD Reuben!

A few of the Samsung ladies including Jemma & Michelle in black & gray, respectively.

more pics here.

March 21. Race to Mang Mountain

Teammates Tyne & Lena joined me at the summit. Mahangin sa labas!

more pics in a later post

March 28. HBD Alyssa & Aries!

My Goddaughter Yanah with her dad Ian, mom Darrel and soon to be mom Lormie in Alyssa's party.

March 29. Only You location shoot.

Angel Locsin takes the title Miss March. Not only is she pretty but kind as well. :)

Here's to marching forward a new month: my birthday month, a new age, new internet subscription, first time in Jinhae Cherry blossoms festival, a new team in the company which is causing so much trouble with the Korean engineers, a new Filipino film, and more new surprises!

Kiddie Greets!

Kristine Tada, my niece, is graduating today from elementary school.

Alyssa Bestudio, my friend's eldest, is celebrating her birthday today, just one of my many birthday party invites today.

I WISH BOTH GIRLS A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE WHEN THEY GROW UP TO BE GOOD LADIES!~

That Famous Manila Sunset!

January 26, 2009.

Yoo Sun, Noli and me were lucky enought to witness an event that occurs 66 times in a century: an annular eclipse while sipping mojitoes and watching the sun set in Manila Bay. This happens to be my historic first Manila sunset.

See more of the annular eclipsed viewed from other nations in National Geographic.

Cheers!

After sipping our flavored mojitoes, we moved back to Yoo Sun's hotel to pick up her luggages as it is her last day in Manila.

Mojito mint matches Noli's shirt!

Even Yoo Sun's trolley matches Noli's shirt!

I saw my ex-roommate in Geoje island, Michael Paul Go, here before taking this pic. Chinese sighting during Chinese New Year!

Meycauayan College Batch 95!

We turned out to be The Engineer and The Artist-Driver.

Me and certified Manila Girl Yoo Sun. I haven't seen her since then :(

She's getting a tan in Bora right now.

Finale dinner at Jollibee good!.

I WALKED THE STREETS OF ITAEWON

I'VE TRIED THE RIDES IN EVERLAND

TAKE ME BACK, IN YOUR ARMS,

MANILA!

Crazy Friday the 13th!

The first Friday the 13th of the year proved to be a really crazy one.

After meeting my family in Gateway, I was not able to meet my Titas in FDCP, but instead met my model friend I have not seen for a long time.

On my way back to the UP Fair, my phones ran out of battery and I had to reroute the taxi to Pax's place so I can charge and contact my niece and other friends I am meeting at the Fair.

After my most expensive cab ride, I saw the people I need to meet in the Fair, except for Rianne, who was not able to go inside because:

1) there were no more tickets

2) the orcs are crazily throwing stones and banging the concert walls!

Here are my pics that night:

Me and orgmate Fred.

The current crop of PSME-UPSU members, our college organization sold flowers for the night. The one with the most flowers is Imay, who helped me secure a backstage pass to do photography for the Feb 10 show.

Carlo and Ezer Goes to HK!

December 16, 2008. We had dinner with Carlo and Ezer before they depart for HK and Manila for their Christmas holidays. It is also Glenn's final days in Korea. We miss you Glenn!

Me, Glenn, Lena and Ezer at Fresco Italian Restaurant. Carlo took the pic.

Black & White: Lena and bespectacled me

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday To Me!

It is still over a month before my birthday. But I gotta start planning NOW! For the first time, I am celebrating it in advance over at Korean capital Seoul. So friends, let the planning begin!

Last year, as always, I celebrated with my friends in our island. I hosted a charity BINGO game wherein I did not collect my friends' pledges because there was not much to collect anyway. Hmm, did they know that time that the recession has started?

Anyway, here are the pics from my failed but fun attempt at charity hosting:

Venue: Yangjia-am Park, 15 minutes upfront my apartment.

It's another potluck party!

Bro bought and brought the cake! Months later, I would abandon his birthday party! My bad. Good thing it looks like that isn't his last in Korea.

My "charitable" friends.

Welcome-back-Che is celebrating her birthday ahead of mine, next month too. May and her son Gideon in front of her.

BINGO fun begins!

And they won:

Gerry gets a thousand dollars! Wife Kate who I met here for the first time is surely delighted.

Lena gets 10,000! Won, that is.

Another thousand dollars for HK-bound Jonard! Enjoy your vacay! While it lasts. :)

Lena wins again! This time a classy The North Face mouse pad.

And the biggest winner of them all is Kuya Jun! Prize undisclosed for security purposes.

And oh yeah it's my birthday. So I have to light up my cake. Thnaks again bro!

And just like in Bollywood, we just erupted into a song and dance number!

Francis M's Final Set

Today is a historic Saturday. I watched Oscar nominee for best film Frost/Nixon in a private cinema screening, watching the Oscar show just now, and afterwards seeing NIxon over youtube and JFK from Gina's file.

In Philippine music, this is also a historic weekend.

Yesterday in noontime variety show Eat Bulaga, bosing Vic Sotto announced the news that Philippine King of Rap Francis "Kiko" Magalona passed away.

He was supposed to sing Superproxy in The Final Set concert of The Eraserheads, another Filipino music icon. Kiko and The Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia are good friends who share not just the passion for music but the tenacity of surviving each own's medical problem. The two are working together with other artists and call themselves The Sickos and had 3 days of recording material for a CD which is expected to be a massive hit soon.

Kiko's music will live on...

I have not met or watched Kiko but I have had two occassions of crossing paths with his beloved family:

summer of 1997 - I was on my first airplane flight on my way to Cebu and Kiko's family were together with us in the plane. I remember his wife Pia and their group winning most of the Cebu Pacific show me game prizes.

summer of tutorial in Loyola Student Center (LSC, forgot the year) - this was when Bob became my roommate in the university dorm but I was mostly staying at LSC where I was teaching Math to Kiko's junior Frank. That time, Frank's sister Maxine is already in Ateneo. Now Frank is studying Fine Arts in UP Diliman, and is expected to be an important artist in the near future having done vocal track mixing and camera works on the side.

My sincerest condolences to the Magalona family.

February 10, 2009

It's Day 18 of my first ever lunar new year and Day (or night) 1 in UP Fair. I got backstage pass to do photography for the show courtesy of my college organization PSME-UPSU which is a co-sponsor for the Eraserheads night of the Fair (their individual bands all played!) and EMC^2 which is the major sponsor, but I learned about my free acess a couple of days after the show. The email was sent one day before this night and I was out for my POEA exit clearance and my university friends.

One big ANYWAY.

Anyway, I would not have enjoyed the Fair with Tesh, Chai and her workmates had I done my photography stint. But I must admit that chance would have given me a certain kind of high, literally as I would be upstage.

I had instead another literal kind of high:

Flow from Ateneo is Chai's workmate. Together we climbed UP Mountaineer's wall.

Those on the left are actually my feet!

I was trying to direct Flow where to place arms and legs.

February 11, 2009

It's Day 19 of my first ever lunar new year vacay.

After moving my stuff from Chai to Pax's place and before watching Walang Sugat and the UP Fair with Micka, I met my sis, cousins, and nephew at Trinoma, which is just a mere 10 minutes away from Pax's place!

Here's my family less my sister who was in a dinner meeting at Pancake House:

After listening to UdD's Bipolar CD, I made it early to Trinoma and ate suman and ripe mango at Lamesa while waiting for my family.

Grace upfront is a first timer in this mall. Marie at the back is another cousin.

The 3 of us represents the first 3 towns of Bulacan next to Metro Manila. I am from Meycauayan City, Marie is from Marilao, and Grace is from fireworks capital Bocaue. These are also the 2nd, 3rd and 4th exits in the North Luzon Express Superhighway (the first one is Malinta exit in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila)

I grew up growing up with them and other cousins as we move from one Aunt to another. I only got Aunts in my father's side.

February 12, 2009

It's Day 20 of my first ever lunar new year vacay and this is my Day (or night) 3 of entering the UP Fair and Day (or night) 2 of meeting my dormitory friends, including Nestor who I haven't seen in years!

Here's a few of our pics:

Shopping with the Davids less Tito Mon.

Tejoy bought that bag in the Fair. Naglilihi siguro

Congrats Bob! Pax in the background. I was watching out for Nestor's sms.

Bob carrying concert-goer Sydney, me, and Dominic.

Untag-me-Drei, Bili-mo-ko Tejoy, and me. That's the stage where OPM bands like UdD among others would later play that night.

Bob Balilla at 6:15pm March 2

... ang mga boys ni Mama Sang Jojie.

How's your lovelife? Dominic and his Bible at the background.

My nightly vice at the Fair. I got to shoot every night except for the crazy Friday the 13th night. The orcs were threatening this area of the Fair that night!