At the Smart Bro Plug-It B Free Event...

Sucker that I am for all things UP, I went to the SMART Bro B Free event last Saturday with Thea and her nephew Mitch. Hahaha!

10,000 UAAP edition SMART Bro Plug-Its given for FREE! How cool is that, huh?

I wasn't really too keen on buying a Plug-It (students get it for free, alumni can buy for P895) because I have enough Internet time at the office, and if I do need to go online when I'm outside the office, I either use my phone or go to an Internet cafe.

But I did end up buying because the design was just too nice. Hehe! Besides at P895, it was dirt cheap for a modem, right?! Ironic, because I didn't have second thoughts about getting that Gap Manila shirt which was well expensive for a shirt, and then there I was having several thoughts whether to buy a gadget that would get me "connected" to the online world. Hahaha!

Well, we all have our priorities, right? With P70,000, for example, there will be those who'll buy a MacBook and there will be those who'll get the gorgeous Damier Graphite Keepall 55. Hahaha!

Going back to the event, I think it was a success, yeah? When we got to the Megatent in the afternoon, there were only a couple of hundred students hanging around. I'm assuming it's because the other 9,900 students went already in the morning just to get their free modems and headed home already to try out their new gadget. Hehehe!

I used the modem yesterday and I was happy with it. Much, much faster than my phone connection, and definitely much, much faster than the Internet connection my G4 detects when I'm at home. Hahaha!

Thousands of SMART Bro for free...

Because I'm lazy today, hehe! I'm reposting Maver's blog entry.

Attention all UAAP and NCAA students! Here's your chance to B connected by the country's No. 1 Broadband! Thousands of Smart Bro limited edition plug-its will B given away for FREE on a first come, first served basis, on Saturday, September 19th, 9:00 am, at Meralco Mega Tent!

These next-generation plug-its come with your school logo and a special micro-SD slot for your online backup needs. To get your access pass to this once in a lifetime event, log on to http://bfree.com.ph.

B there!!!

Right Round - Reagan Cornelio Choreo

We're doing Flo rida feat. Kesha's Right Round this week in Reagan's class.

This was recorded last Thursday. Unfortunately, I missed the class because of Kimmy Dora. Hehe!

Luckily, we're still doing this song this week.

Saya! Yay!

The quest for the GAP Manila shirt ends...

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I was able to get a Gap Manila shirt.

And this was definitely the highlight of my Sunday. Hehe!

No, the bigger highlight is that I'm back to feeling comfortable in a Medium-sized shirt. Hehehe!

I have Ela, girlfriend of good friend/college blockmate John, to thank big time for making this happen. She's one of the buyers for Gap here in Manila. I want her job. Haha!

A couple of weeks ago, I planned to get the shirt because it looked really nice and I was already picturing myself wearing it when I go to HCM very soon. Hehehe!

I called the Gap store in Glorietta to ask if they had stocks of the shirt, and the sales person said yes.

When I went to the Gap store the following day, I was crestfallen when the sales people told me that the last piece of the shirt has just be sold.

To make things more frustrating, they told me that the shirt was already sold out. Uhm, the Gap buyers didn't place a huge order on the shirt because they just wanted to "test" the sales of the shirt. Apparently, the pieces went flying out of the racks.

So I left the store a little sad, and just asked them to text me once the new shipment arrives some time in October.

I texted John to tell what happened. And he replied, "You should have told me you wanted it. I could've asked Ela to reserve for you. The menswear buyer is also my friend, you know?!"

I told him it was okay and I guess the shirt wasn't meant for me.

Then, while waiting for boarding time at the Iloilo airport yesterday morning, I got the text message from John saying, "Ela got you a shirt. You can drop by the BHS store to get it anytime."

And drop by the BHS store and get it was exactly what I did after I did my gym in the afternoon. Hehe!

Whooopppeee!

By the way, the photo of Mo Twister was lifted from Chuvaness.com's blog.

This bag is made from my "trash..."

Check this out.

It's a shoe bag made from a tarpaulin. But to me, it's not just any ordinary shoe bag. It's a shoe bag made from the tarpaulin I used for my Earth Hour campaign within the company last March.

It's my "trash" reborn as a useful product.

The item was made by a mother from GK Sooc last Saturday. She rushed to finish the item so that I can bring it back with me to Manila and somehow "model" it. Hehe.

GK Sooc is a Gawad Kalinga village the company adopted in Arevalo, Iloilo and the reason why I go to Iloilo every so often.

We recently started a tarp recycling project with some of the mothers in the community to assist them in having another source of income.

Uhm, I know I'm going to sound like I'm doing PR for the company, but I don't want to think about that anymore because I believe in the project and I really believe in the mothers who are part of the project. They really are a talented bunch, and they can really go places given the right exposure and opportunity. Of course, they also need the income.

It's been only a few months since the mothers started the project and right now, the clients are just some projects for the company but I really hope that the project would take off. I've seen them make pencil cases, tote bags, messenger bags, cosmetic kits. And boy, they're good.

Uhm, I'm thinking of getting my Christmas presents this year from them. That would make the product really meaningful, don't you think? Aside from helping save the environment, it's also one way of helping a family.

Do you remember there was this TVC before that said "Ang basurang itinapon mo, babalik din sa iyo."? Well, if the tarps that we use and dispose would be returned to me as a product as nice as this, I would gladly welcome back my trash.

If you want to get in touch with the GK Sooc mothers, shoot me a message so I can help you contact them.

The Faura people get-together...

Finally, the get-together with Len and Faura friends pushed through.

It was supposed to be last Friday, but because of the rain and crazy schedules of people we had to resched.

Thank heavens and Mr. Manalo that Monday was declared a holiday so that gave us an opportunity to see our dear friend who'll be leaving again for Oz in a week.

The get-together was arranged as early as Saturday. I messaged Ella to ask her about work-related stuff and that led to me messaging other blockmates to tell them about the hang out with Len.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon, there in that really nice restaurant Fely J's at Greenbelt 5, a bunch of people who crossed paths with each other back in 1996 spent several hours catching up.

Present were Lovelynn, Thea, John, Ella and hubby Raymund (also our batchmate from UP) and of course, our balikbayan friend Len. Rey later joined us. No shows were Leah and Christy.

Over fantastic Filipino lunch, we talked about almost everything - college days, relationships, kids (my gosh, kids!), our classmates. It was my longest late lunch I think - four hours. Hahaha! Good thing Fely J's wasn't that crowded in the late afternoon.

Btw, it was my first time to dine there and I must say the food's really, really good. I particularly liked the dilis rice, the spring rolls, the Thai chicken curry, and the tequila chocolate cake. Yum!

From Fely J's, we walked to nearby Chili's to continue with the chismax. We got a pitcher of strawberry mango margarita (which is really great) and carried on with the stories.

The group parted ways around 9PM. I'm not sure when the next get-together with people from Orcom block 11 of 1996 would be, but I hope it would be very soon.

Maybe another classmate from abroad will be in town. Hehehe!

Like a (Malate) virgin again...

Roy and I finally went to Bed together. Wait, that didn't sound right. Hahaha!

Of course, if you play for the team, you'd know that the Bed I was referring to is that club in Malate.

Despite the rains last Saturday, Roy and I met up and did the long overdue Malate gimik.

I just came from a baby shower and was home at 11PM. After finalizing plans with Roy, I was already in Malate a little past midnight.

Hmm, I can't remember the last time I was in Malate. I can't remember the last time I went to Bed.

I felt like I was a Malate virgin again. I have to say that I felt pretty excited as Roy and I walked the familiar streets of Nakpil and Ma. Orosa and made our way to Bed.

The excitement sort of died down as the Bed bouncers parted the curtains (?) that led to the dance floor/bar.

Unless I've been out of the scene that long or it was theme night and the theme was "small talk," I found it really odd that people were all just standing in little groups holding a drink in one hand while chatting with friends.

It was weird. I was half-expecting something similar to an opening scene of Queer as Folk and the set was Babylon. Instead, I was greeted by what almost looked like a product launch (mainly because people were just standing and chatting). Hahaha!

Things changed quickly though and pretty soon, people started moving to the music of the DJ. In a couple of minutes, the place was packed. Roy and I found ourselves a good spot (or maybe a good view?).

The vodka Sprite did great opening remarks for my party mood. A pitcher of Blue Frog made it even better.

I wasn't sure if it was because I haven't been there for the longest time or if it was because I was having so much fun that I didn't notice the hours pass by. One moment, I was just checking out this cute chinito and then, it was already past 5AM.

Uhm, it was a pretty interesting evening/early morning. I bumped into some friends I haven't seen for a long time GA and then Ian. And then I saw one of the guys who goes to the same gym that I go to. And then there are some thoughts on how things were several years ago and how things are now. Don't kill me but I'm a big fan of post-event/experience processing. I got it from the years and years of doing volunteer work. Hehehe!

But I think I'm going to spare myself the "emo" thoughts and just remember that night as a night that I got to reconnect again to the "brotherhood" (So butch! Hahaha!) and assure myself that I still haven't gone the straight path. Hahaha! As if. How could I when I can't kick Prada and LV out of my system?! Hahaha!

Anyway, wondering when the next trip to Malate would be.

Here comes the new Pahinungod baby...

Saturday turned out to be quite exciting.

I stayed home the entire day because of the rain. That was actually good because I got to rest and recover from the late nights the previous week.

In the afternoon, I was supposed to meet up with a friend from work for Up, and then I remembered that I promised to attend a baby shower for former officemate/Pahinungod friend Karen.

So the movie was canceled, and instead I headed to the house of a friend in Manila where the shower was going to be held.

I'm not sure if baby showers are similar to bridal showers (where only female friends are invited). I was the only guy in the group. Hehehe! But it didn't really matter since you know. Haha!

Games were played. Yum takeout food was served. A bottle of wine was opened. We even watched a horror flick Alone, while waiting for Karen to arrive, and surprisingly I enjoyed it. I'm not a big fan of scary movies since my imagination runs wild after, but I really found Alone interesting perhaps because of the unexpected twist.

Anyway, it was a very small gathering, but the fun and laughter was definitely gigantic.

After the party, Joi and I drove Yang to Eastwood. Vina and Caye went to Weng who was preparing for the bar exams. I thought I would be home early, but I reached my house after Eastwood by 11PM already.

Well, I did get home early. 6AM.

From my home, I rested a bit and then headed to Malate despite the rain.

But that's another blog post.

Mama, I'll come visit you every day...

As I near my big 3-0, I am slightly contemplating whether I should already consider moving out and renting an el cheapo place near the office.

How do I tell my parents that I'm moving out? Is there

I'm quite sure though that it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

For one, I'm more of a border rather than a resident of our own home. Ever since I was a kid and up until I was in college, I've always been on out of town trips doing volunteer work or for summer camps.

When I started working, the less frequent I stayed at home since I was often on field work in some unknown place in the country.

And then there was that time when I was in a sort of semi-living with someone arrangement, and I was only home during weekends. Haha!

With my present job, there are days when I really, really wish my home was super near to the office because I either finish ultra late at work or I need to be at the office ultra early. The commute to and from my house is driving me nuts sometimes.

Hay, a colleague from another department mentioned that there's an extra room in the place he's renting. Rent is not that bad, and is just one short ride away to work. So I told him I'd go see the place soon.

Uhm, thinking about moving out is a bit scary for me too because I've been so used to the feel of my room. Despite the organized chaos of the stuff in my room, I still enjoy being there. Whereas moving out would mean adjusting to the new place. Not to mention that renting is somewhat similar to money down the drain. Haha!

Hay, we'll see, we'll see. I still have to do a little thinking and number crunching.

This whole thing kind of reminds me of this movie Mambo Italiano, which I loved. Haha! Except that I don't have a "roommate."