Final Day of My First Lunar New Year Vacay

After a series of other people's pics about my holiday, here comes my very own pics in what could be my final entry using Jonard's laptop. Cue in Benjamin Button music and let's begin with the end of my vacation!

The final day saw me partying with college friends in the very early morning and spending the final morning of course with my beloved family.

Me touching Drei's head as if I can rotate it hehe.

That's me, behind Bob and Drei, packing up my portable hard disk as it is time to say goodbye to Pax's apartment who played host to me during the latter part of my UP Fair stint.

Ebe, Bob, & Me


Me & party rockstar Syd!

I fell asleep amidst my friends' singing! That was how tired I got during the final crazy days.


With mom a few hours after the party and a few hours before I fly back to Korea.



Watching my favorite filmmaker's vids: Dad's homemade vids!


Mom, me and Mae who witnessed me fall down from UP Oblation on her first UP visit!


I MISS EVERYONE NOW.

My First Lunar New Year Vacay As Seen By Others - 2nd Part

February 1. Day 9.

I would call February The Mountain Month in 3 Countries. Started the month in my only out of town trip and my first mountain hike in the Philippines during my vacay in Mount Pinatubo. Here are some of my pics courtesy of Mar and his friends, out travelmates in this trip:

"we arrived at capas a little later at 6 am. then at about 630, the adventure began via a 4x4 ride through the skyway. the bumpy, ashy, wet ride was about an hour long, but was worthwhile since the sight will simply take your breath away. the "skyway" also serves as the battlefield between the philippine army and the american soldiers during balikatan exercises"- Mar, who did a great job post processing the photos (that was me beside the driver)

"we reached the "jump-off" point just before 8 pm"- Mar in white cap, shown here with his friends (that was me under the nipa shade)

"and then the climb begins" - Mar who will go to Bali soon (that was me in red cap climbing ahead of the pack together with Joanna)

"the trek, i must say is pretty much straightforward, no dangerous cliffs of death to be afraid of. the hardest part of the climb was the beginning (since we're literally climbing down rocks and boulders, making our way through their narrow openings). aside from that, there was nothing more to worry about but the slippery river stones and dangerous clumsy falls into the pointed rocks/boulders along the trail." - Mar who will post more pics later (that was me who did the stone prayer tower)

The next day, I flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Malaysia. Mount Kinabalu happens to be the highest peak in South East Asia.

And now, I am back in the mountainous land area of South Korea.

THANKS MAR, FOR THE WORDS AND PICS!

HBD Margie and Other Filipino Indie Film Updates

I know it is the Oscars tomorrow and a Fil-Am named PJ Raval has good chances of bringing home one for his docu Trouble the Water, but this entry will focus on a few important Filipino indie film updates from artists I met in last year's PIFF starting with birthday girl Margie (Get well soon!):

L-R: Monster, Joe (happy trip!), Margie & Me.

I call it the "Up Dharma Down" movie
Akyat Baba, Paikot Ikot
Up Down, Round and Round

Monster wrote it. Joe is directing and Margie did a wonderful job at pitching it over at Berlin. It was one of the 3 films that was granted some financial support (at the current exchange rate, about 186, 250 pesos). Read more about it in Arkeo's site.


I name it the most important Pinoy film of 2008.
100.

I first saw Mount Pinatubo's crater in last year's PIFF in a lovely poster of this film. The film itself is so lovely it won in the Philippines, Korea, and recently this week in France. Quoting its directors Facebook stat:

"Chris Martinez

: 100 wins the PRIX EMILE GUIMET at the 15th Vesoul Festival of Asian Films in France!on Tuesday"

100 will once more compete next month in Osaka, Japan.

I think this will be an important Pinoy film for the year.
The Forgotten War.

Poster courtesy of film director Carlo Cruz.

Tonight in Arirang TV, the show Diplomacy Lounge will feature the Philippine Ambassador Luis Cruz to discuss the 60th annivesary of diplomatic ties between Korea and the Philippines. Incidentally, the Ambassador's son Carlo Cruz happen to direct the film about Filipino war vets who helped during the Korean war. The film's trailer will preem in Korean TV.

I wish to see the film's preem in Seoul come April.


AGAIN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGIE! YOU GET WELL SOON!

AND MORE POWER TO PINOY FILMS!~

My First Lunar Vacay As Seen Blogged By Ebe

Ebe is my college dorm roommate. I got to meet our close group at least twice (they can't get enough of me!!). Here's his recollection from his blog inserted with my pics:

February 9. Day 12.

Calzone

Jegs took a break from designing the process and instrumentation diagrams of ships from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula and took time to meet his real friends last night. Heehee.

Met up with Berns and Bob around 7PM at Capricciosa on Greenbelt 3.

mommy Berns

papa Bob

joyful Te Joy

We killed time waiting for Drei, Joy, and Pax by talking about each other's you know who's. Drei was the first to arrive narrating about his new officemates seducing him to play bastketball. Bwahaha! Joy with her beads followed, then Pax with his un-white shirt arrived around ... well.. when dinner was over heehee.

hospitable Pax, singer Bern, and financial adviser Tejoy

Didn't really eat that much because of the major gabbing but everythin' we ordered were DELISH!

Rustom Padilla in memoriam~

After two and a half hours, we transferred to a coffee place where Nathan (Endel's barkada from Misys and the infamous Odders) saw me along the way and we chatted before I said goodbye to my friends before going to my 10 PM work.

Ebe giddy after meeting Nathan and before taking the next pic...

Missing you: Jie, Rye, Nes, Bing, Tem, Don, Che

Ohh,. yeah, that 10 PM work... where I swapped my HD task for tonight with Ricky because I really wanted to delve on a program before I work alone 2-10PM on the 13th AND 14th of February.

Double RAWR!

UN-BE-LIE-VA-BLE. Hehe. (",)

Feb 14-15. The Final 2 Days.

Syd

I worked from 2-10 PM yesterday and on the dot left the office at 10:20 PM. Within the shift, I was thinking whether to hang out with JR, Noel, and Bobet on this new comedy bar near ABS CBN with Sweet Lapus doing the best acts OR,.. or to have fun with Jegs, Drei, Berns, Bob, Joy, and Sydney for Jeg's despedida on Pax's apartment at QC.

I found out Jegs postponed his family dinner at Bulacan just to hang out with us so I decided to spend the time with the 111 berks.

Too much food for 8 single souls on Valentines Day!

Wasn't really able to bring anything but the pizza from Aveneto and San Mig were overflowing when I arrived at the place. The Spicy Tuna Carbonara cooked by Joy was really good as well!! I never really liked bland carbonaras.

Thanks Bern for the Pampangeno's touch of Carbonara!

Thanks Kebab for the smoothie ice cream!

We spent singing (and screaming ) on Pax's karaoke until 4AM.

How do I get to alone? (on Valentines Day)

It was kind of surprising no one shouted "HOY!! MAGPATULOG KAYU!!!" or something! (",)

But the truth remain you're...

Syd made sure she entertained all of us and she did a good job.

Syd is always ready to party!

At just 5 years old, she was being the life of our little party.

Mamma mia, can I please stay longer?

There was also that stuffed toy we threw and kicked and hugged and kicked mercilessly for fun.

Syd's screams beat our microphone!

Poor spider stuffed toy... Tsk tsk! (",)Hopefully we got to teach the kid to be cruel to spiders only.

Thanks Tita Bing for making it to our party!

We never had fun with something that came from Phylum Arthropoda until that came!

Bob slept at our apartment and we swapped games and vids.

Bob with Tejoy displaying her boobs. ㅋㅋㅋ

That was one fun Valentine sendoff party!


Thanks Pax for welcoming us in your apartment!

TILL NEXT VACAY, GUYS!

My First Lunar New Year Vacay As Seen By Others

A few pics of my recent holidays posted online by friends...

January 25. Day 2.


"Next day -- met up with Jegs and his school friend Noli, a talented artist, for some morning chow... at Chow King in Harrison Plaza" - Yoo Sun, our special guest from Korea


"After some shopping and chilling out with Jegs & Noli, we spent the rest of the day at Wensha Spa for some relaxation and pampering. Aaaaugh..... Life in Manila only gets better!"
-Yoo Sun with her halo halo inspired nails


"After meeting up with Jed, we have some delicious Banana split at Magnolia ice cream parlor. Ummmm... yummy!" - Yoo Sun who had her mango fix with this ice cream

" ... while watching some fire works in celebration of the luna New Year. (and that was the last time we saw Jed's phone..!)" - Yoo Sun who returned Jed's phone since he lost his phone (I know it's confusing!)

"Talking about our hard day...." - Yoo Sun, who a day after will witness how Manila police loves Noli's driving skills

"Stopped over at the Bay side bar for some San Miguel. Jegs courteously trying to block off some of that pitchy & intolerably loud band playing live at that time." -Yoo Sun, certified San Miguelholic

January 26. Day 3.

"This lovely resturant overlooking the Bay view is actually called "Cafe Adriatico" serving authentic Filipino dishes.... and they also serve great Mojito which we had during the sunset!" -Yoo Sun who knows her Mojitoes well


"I like this picture. Bet they didn't know I took it." - Yoo Sun who could capture moments well. She was right. We did not know she took it. Now we're glad~


"Jed is showing us the hand-stitched cuff of his new baron which we picked up from Malabon the other day." -Yoo Sun who really enjoyed Malabon's pancit.



"One last San Miguel feast from Trader's Hotel lounge with some Sisig that went well together." - Yoo Sun who could give Alfa a run for her money at lounge singing~

"I couldn't have asked for anyone better that Jegs & Noli as my escort, driver, caretaker... the list goes on. They were my perfect companions and will always be part of my unforgettable memories of this trip." -Yoo Sun who had a short yet sweet Manila visit

January 29. Day 6.


"Great People, Good Food at Tokyo Bubble Tea, SM North The Block" - Tesha in red who I toured around Korea last year together with visiting cousin Angel in white (Chai is in blue)

Thanks to Tesh and Yoo Sun for the lovely words and pics! More pics and stories from me hopefully soon!~

Live Blogging The 51st Grammys!

10:38 am

I woke up an hour and a half late for the show because of yesterday's reunion activities: swimming and watching a gag show (Vice Ganda is so funny you should see him/her live once in your life before you die~putasha)

Back to the Grammys. Caught part of the performance of the American Boy.

Robert Plant & Allison Kraus won Record of the Year (beating Coldplay and Leona Lewis).

Adele won Best New Artist.

Wish I could still catch the other great live perfs

August 30, 2008: The Eraserheads Reunion Concert

Five months ago, the greatest Filipino band had their reunion concert at The Fort Global City, a place I just saw for the first time last Saturday when I met with my UP Math Club friends as Allan is returning to Singapore tomorrow night. Happy trip pre and thanks for the dinner!

Now, as I am packing up for my KK trip, I am watching/listening to The Reunion Concert. Now I'm thinking this is the reason why I did not to bother watching all the youtube and multiply video posts. I did see some photos to check out my friends and other people who watched the show. I do not want the crappy audio and video from the internet. I waited for the DVD. This is the most that I could do not beeing able to be in RP for the show.

Allow me to continue packing and post this survey: WHAT WERE YOU DOING ON THE DAY OR NIGHT OF THE ERASERHEADS REUNION CONCERT?