Happy birthday, Jonrox!

Yesterday was the birthday of John, a friend from college. Since we knew his girlfriend is out of town, Tey and I told him we should meet up and have dinner for his birthday. Tey messaged Ella (and Raymund), but the newlyweds weren't available. If we postponed the dinner, Tey and I are the ones who wouldn't be available in the next few days. So we decided to meet up with John at Fig & Olive in Salcedo for drinks. It turns out that a couple of his friends also thought that the birthday boy should be out with friends celebrating on his birthday night. Woohoo! What's great about the dinner/drinks was that we didn't only get to celebrate the birthday of a friend, we also got to meet new people. Yay! Happy birthday, John! Great meeting Sheena, Mickey, Joy, and Gisele!

Why I had no weekend...

Here's the reason why I didn't have a weekend, why I wasn't able to go to Anawangin and Capones with the CS gang, and why I haven't had decent sleep for the past three days. Hehe! I say the first sentence with much love.

The Banglos Sculptors of Gen. Nakar, Quezon are having a weeklong exhibit at the Atrium activity area of SM the Block in North Edsa, and Michelle and I took care of the exhibit setup. Hehe! Hmm, since I've been organizing their exhibits for a couple of times now, does that give me the license to add "curator" to my growing list of "hyphens?" Hehehe!

The thing with mall exhibits is that you're only allowed to set up after mall hours. In this case, we were there at 10PM and left by 4AM. The reason it took that long was because we had to wait for the electricals guy to finish wiring the lights. The layout was pretty simple, but the wiring took up most of the time.

Anyway, if you haven't heard of these fantastic folks? They are fishermen/farmers turned sculptors, after just a ten-day training with renowned sculptor Rey Paz Contreras. I've been working with the guys on their exhibits for quite some time now but every time I see their pieces, I am just really left in awe. They are a proof that in each one of us is an artist.

If you find yourself in the North Edsa area, please visit the Banglos Sculptors exhibit. That will only be till Wednesday, Nov. 5. And if you've got extra moolah to burn, please support the livelihood project of the artist group by purchasing one of their fantastic pieces.

Welcoming the new Nokia N96...

Went to the Nokia N96 launch party early this week at the Silver City in Pasig. Tey had a bunch of tickets to give away, and so even if it was a bit too early to party for the week, I decided to go. Haha! I dragged John and colleague Faith to go as well. When we got to the venue, the party was already in full swing. I looked for Tey, and my first question was, "Where is the food?" Hehe! Didin't get to eat before going to the party and I was feeling really hungry.

Uhm, what I enjoyed the most was seeing Suki, who was with Richmond and friends from Lifestyle Asia. I haven't seen Suki for the longest time, so it was really great to see him. Highlights of the night included a fashion show where the models carried the new Nokia phone and a raffle of Nokia phones.

Good party.

Missed LOS at Gateway... Argh...

Look what was screening at Gateway Cineplex just recently. When I went to Gateway last Sunday to catch HSM 3 with Grace, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Love of Siam was one of the films featured for the festival. Wooohooo! I immediately told Carlo about it, and we agreed to watch the film later during the week.

Later during the week is tonight. And the reason that I'm blogging and not enjoying Love of Siam is because I read the schedule wrong. When I called Gateway this afternoon to check if there were still tickets, the lady said, "Sir, yesterday was the last day of showing for Love of Siam." What the?! Hmm, obviously I read the schedule incorrectly. Bop Angelo!!!

Hay, I was really looking forward to seeing the film on the big screen. Oh well.

Big day with the YWCA kiddies...

This afternoon was the real birthday celebration. Hehe!

For the past couple of birthdays, I've been spending my special day with kids from YWCA in Manila. It started when Xochi and I volunteered to prepare them for this cultural contest that Pahinungod was organizing. We didn't get to become the champion (second place though... hehe!) and when we had a victory get-together for the kids, it coincided with my birthday. Hehe! Since then, it's sort of been a tradition.

This year, I wasn't so sure if I was going to push through with the party for the kiddies because of the amount of work. But when I visited the DENR office last Monday, I saw a birthday party at a daycare center inside the compound. I took that as a sign, and as soon as I got back to the office, I made some phone calls and the date was set.

Next was to mobilize the people, I knew I could rely on Tey and Magsaysay friends to join the activity so they were the first ones I got in touch with. Tey volunteered to take care of the drinks. Monet, another colleague from work, donated some goodies for the loot bags. Shy, Cathy and Lenly volunteered to notify people and to take care of the loot bags. Former Magsaysay colleague Weng volunteered her husband Berlin to perform for the kids. Haha! The kids loved Berlin's antics last year, and I was sure that they're all looking forward to it again this year. Sharon brought her nice camera and took wonderful photos (though I still ahve to see them. The ones above are from another camera.) My brother Raymond volunteered to buy the ingredients for the food, since I was in Banahaw. My Mom and Dad took care of preparing and packing the meals, while my other brother Andre went with me to YWCA to bring the food.

This is why I love and believe in volunteerism. Things get done when people volunteer. And when you combine it with friendship, (almost always) the mission will be successful.

Anyway, I'm happy, really happy, with how things turned out. The kids had fun. My friends looked like they had fun. And everybody left with a nice, sweet smile on their faces. That should be a good sign. I wish my other friends could have joined but I know that since this was all so last minute, not everyone could go.

Big, big, big THANKS to everyone!!!

Back to Banahaw and a visit to Ugu Bigyan...

I returned to Mt. Banahaw, but this time it was more for work.

Some employees from our sister company in Japan are in the country to join the tree planting, and it was my responsibility to document their short visit.

This second return I must say is much more adventurous. Needed to take a 20-30 minute hike from the dropoff point to get to the tree planting area. Thank god that I still have the energy for these activities, but really I should hit the gym again and get back into shape. Hay!

Anyway, it seemed like Sachiko, Shimojo, Yushi and Suzuki had a great time. On the way back to the barrio, it was raining so that added more fun. How many times did I slip?! Ouch! Hehe!

From Banahaw, we went to neighboring town Tiaong, Quezon and brought our Japanese friends to the home of artist Ugu Bigyan. You know how much Filipinos like to be hospitable and to show the beauty of this country, hence, the side trip to Ugu Bigyan's.

It was also my first time to go to the place, although I've heard and read about it. Wow! That was my first reaction, when I saw his home. It was really an artist's home because the architecture of the house - from the pillars to the smallest wall decor - was a conversation piece. Every piece of furniture and home accent seemed to fit with the entire concept of the home, whatever concept he was going for.

Ugu was there to personally welcome us, and like most of the real artists that I've met, he was very warm and nice. I was in heaven just going around his place and seeing all the works crafted from clay. I remember that I once wanted to take up pottery classes, so that I can make my own plates for my home. That would be really cool, right? There were so many fantastic pieces to be bought at his shop, and it was cheaper compared to Manila prices. Uhm, since I'm saving for another trip, all I bought were small doves that were attached to some kind of twig. It was nice. Could be placed as accent on a table.

The other enjoyable part of the trip was the Very Pinoy merienda prepared by Ugu himself. He cooked ginataan, pancit habhab and suman. For drinks, there was sago't gulaman. After the exhausting day in Banahaw, the trip to Ugu was very, very much welcomed. Haha!

We headed back to Manila by 430PM. I was back at the office before 8PM. Met up with Tey, AJ, Engel and Mich at Giligan's and then headed to OT for our Friday gimik.

Talk about one long day. Haha!

One more birthday surprise...

Today was pretty eventful.

In the morning, we had the press conference at PAGASA for the new PAGASA Infoboard service. Through the service, subscribers may now receive weather updates directly from PAGASA. All you have to do is text... hahaha... just read the newspapers.

In the afternoon, we had a meeting with some employees from our sister company in Japan. They were visiting the country to join a tree planting activity, and early this evening was their briefing and welcome dinner.

Moving on, yesterday I got another nice surprise in the evening. After office, I met up with my usual CS Wednesday group - Anj, Dawnie, Monette, and Archie plus Jacob and Arnold - at nearby Ponticello. Uhm, I've been trying to keep mum about my birthday, which is difficult to do when you have a million profiles on social networking sites. Hehe!

While I was chatting with Jacob about his stay in the country, I didn't know that the others were already preparing "something." They brought out a cake with a candle from out of nowhere. Hahaha!

What a nice, sweet surprise, huh? Thanks, guys. You're really good! Hehe! The cake also served as Jacob's despedida cake and Arnold's welcome cake. Haha! It was also Jacob's last night in Manila before going back to China, while for Arnold, it was his first CS meet.

From Ponti, we went to Music21 for a little (okay, a LOT of) videoke. Woohoo! And Filipinos that we truly are, we spent hours and hours singing our hearts out. It was great hearing everyone sing. Even Jacob joined the singing. It's a good thing that Music21 has a repertoire of Chinese songs in the videoke machines. Around midnight, Faye joined us. So did Karla (yay!) and Felix (who recently arrived from Germany).

Anj and I left by 1AM. Augh! I wish I could have stayed a little longer, but like what I wrote earlier, Thursday was packed with events and I needed the sleep and the energy. The sleep I didn't get so much because I had to be early at the office, but the energy was up there thanks to the really wonderful CS people.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, again!

And then the clock struck 12...

Today I turn a year older. Whoopppeee! To be honest, I have no issues with getting old(er). In fact, I welcome it very much because I have this thinking that with age comes greater wisdom and authority. Hahaha!!! And more responsibility. Augh! Haha!

Speaking of responsibility, I welcomed my 29th at the office. Needed to finish a simple AVP about the company's tree planting program, and I wanted to finish it asap so that my birthday wouldn't be that "toxic." Not! Hehe!

There was a very, very nice surprise though. As the clock neared 12, I was bugging colleague Engel who went home already to bring beer to the office, just so we (Reena, Nova, me and him) could say hello 29 with a round of drinks. Eeep!

He did a very good act in saying that he'll just bring breakfast for me, instead. Around midnight, Reena came in the room and started turning off some lights saying that we should conserve energy, especially since we're pushing for environment-friendly measures. Haha! Gullible person that I am, I bought her reason. Hehe!

While still working on the AVP with the editor guy, Reena, Engel and Nova came in bringing a birthday cake while singing Happy Birthday. There was also some beer. Woohooo! It was really a nice, nice surprise.

After blowing the candles and making my wish, we all had a slice of cake (Polly's!!! Yum!) and drank some beer. Hehe! I finished work around before 2AM and I was home by 3AM.

Today was pretty okay. I'm still not feeling the celebration mood, although I'm looking forward to meeting some CS Manila people tonight. The real birthday celebration would happen on Saturday afternoon with the YWCA kids. Woohoo!

Hello 29!

Runner 2275...

Yesterday morning, I had my first taste of a race. To support officemate Rhyz who was organizing the contingent from the company, I signed up for the Botak Paabilisan run at the Fort. Hehe!

So by 5AM, I met up with Rhyz and Kuya Manny at the office and from there, we headed to the Fort to meet the other runners.

By 6AM, Rhyz, Luz and I were already running side by side. Since none of us trained for this, I did a run-walk-run. Haha! At one point, I felt that my legs were about to go into cramps so I really had to stop to catch my breath and walk slowly.

The good thing is I finished the whole thing.

I think I'm going to sign up for another race. Hehe!

Martelino-Evangelista nuptials...

Yesterday was the church wedding of two friends from college - Ella and Gino.
Around this time last year, Ella surprised us all with a text message saying that she and Gino were off to Paris to tie the knot. While we didn't get to be part of that really special occasion, I'm really happy that the two decided to do a church wedding as well so that friends and family may celebrate with them.

What's nice about these special moments is that friends who rarely see each other get to hang out and relive the old days. Haha! For Ella's wedding, Tey and I got to hang out with John.

Facebook is really to be thanked for this. A couple of days before the wedding, I asked Ella who else she wanted to invite. She mentioned she couldn't get in touch with John, so after putting the phone down, I checked John's last log in on his Friendster account and also checked if he had a Facebook account.

He did. I left him a message and the following day, I already got a text message from him. I really love the Internet!!! Hahaha!

Anyway, going back to the wedding. It was a bit non-traditional. The two wanted to do away with the usual stuff, and although their parents seemed to have been alarmed by this decision, everyone was happy upon seeing the two together.

The wedding was held at Aquinas Church in San Juan, where Gino spent his elementary and high school days. Reception was at beautiful Cafe Ysabel. Food was also really good. I enjoyed everything. Hehehe!

The nice thing about working for a TV network is that entertainment is never a problem. Most of Ella's guests were seasoned TV people. The only difference is that some appeared in front of the camera, while others were behind it. So throughout the entire evening, there was much singing, dancing, laughter and plugging of TV shows. Hehehe!

Although we wanted to stay til the party ended, we couldn't. I had to get home early because of a very early Sunday morning commitment. Haha!

Congratulations, Ella and Gino!!! We love you super!