My Christmas

I took this photo from our yard...

 And decided to make a drawing out of it...

Merry Christmas!

The Clichés of Break Ups

The love you gave is not equal to the love you received.

Expectations are like poisons.

There will be lapses in the decisions made (which should not be acknowledged).

More time devoted staring into an empty space.

Old self slowly creeps back.

The endless what-ifs.

Alcohol-bingeing.

Too many FML moments.

Mt. Mantalingajan Photo Dump

What: Mt. Mantalinganjan Climb
When: Oct 29-31, 2011
Where: Puerto Princesa - Brgy. Ransang - Brgy. Rizal
Who: HAMOC members (Pat, Ro, Karlo), Sandugo (Greg) and Palaweños (Mayo and Jasper)
Why: We wanted challenges!

We reached the summit (2035MASL) after 1 day (we rested for the night) and 8 hours of trek.

Training Weekend Before Mt. Mantalingajan

A week before our climb to Mt. Mantalingajan in Palawan, our team dedicated one whole weekend for our last training climb. We decided to complete the Nasugbu Trilogy - Pico Traverse, Mt. Talimitam and Mt. Batulao. Here are a few selected photos from the climb.

 

The beak of Pico de Loro

Can't help but laugh at this photo. We were out of focus.

After the traverse in Pico, we had to walk this long road to the nearest house and rent a tricycle

The trek to Mt. Talamitam

And on Sunday, I did two circuits in Mt. Batulao 

We leave tomorrow for Palawan. Let's do this!

My Friend Marries Freedom

Arianne was my friend since grade school. Yesterday, she married her long time boyfriend, Kalayaan (Filipino word for freedom). I was one of the readers during the mass and got this cool photo of them making funny faces during the wedding.

My Kada!

These boys were doing the 'Dougie dance' while the wedding ceremony is taking place.

The wedding happened in the Parish inside University of the Santo Tomas ---where Arianne and Kalayaan studied college, met and became lovers.

Each guest received a potted artificial plant with picture of the couple.

My look for the wedding. I got the dress for only...Php 150! 

My Itinerary

1. Buy clothes for friend's wedding
2. Go to Batulao for training
3. Attend Kali and Arianne’s wedding
4. Train in Batulao (again)
5. Do Maktrav
6. Get diploma
7. Drink at Kambingan (with my good old friends from UPLB)
8. Visit San Lazaro for prescription for anti-malaria
9. Climb at Batulao (last and final training)
10. Fly to Palawan to conquer Mt. Mantalingajan

Yeah. This is life.

Smiles, Tears and Memories

My Lola took her last breath last Friday at around 10 in the evening.

I fondly remember the time when I gave you a haircut in the balcony since your hair was too long but your hip injury restricted you to go out of the house. It was fun experimenting what cut to do to your white hair.

And how funny when I was in high school, you say sexy stars are "parang nagtitindi ng p*kp*k nila" or when we, the grandchildren, talks back to you and you tell us "na parang kakainin mo ako ng buhay".

I’ll miss your honesty and cooking. I hope you find peace with Lolo in heaven.

My Photo Needs 'Hearts'

Hey!

I need a little help. Please 'Heart' my photo for Like Creativity Love Sony Photo Contest.

Go to this link, and click the 'Heart' button.

The more hearts I get, the bigger chance I win the prizes.

Thank you. :)

Bits-es in Boracay

Taking a bite of Boracay island's famous Chori burger.

The heart marks the spot.

The ride to Kalibo cost Php125 / person. This sticker served as the ID.

The boat ride

Drink-all-you-can cocktails at Obama Grill

Kao Pad (Bagoong Rice) for lunch at Smoke (strips of green mangoes are missing)

My favorite photo of Bits

The Craze

Dream within a dream.

Friday within a Friday.

Movie within a movie.

Works of Art Photo Dump

Since I'm too lazy to write and I'm a slave of the Internet:

Photos from World Bodypainting Festival.

Click here for more.

Jonathan Bréchignac drew this Muslim prayer carpet with just a Bic pencil.

More of him here.

Sketching Day 2

Completed the boy's face and the collar of his shirt. I realized now that I should not copy 100% the shading of the original drawing because that's impossible to do. Learning little by little what tone is appropriate in emphasizing shadow and light.

Sketching Day 1

In an attempt to pursue my artistic dream, I bought an exercise book on sketching, a drawing pencil and a sketch pad. Lesson 1 is Gradation.

Tried out different tones of shading and curve lines.

Applied what I learned on my sketch pad.

Started with exercise 1. (Photo refused to rotate)

The Other Side of Laguna

It was a road trip on a Sunday! Geared up, rode the motorcycle and off we went to what I call the 'other side of Laguna'. I grew up in Calamba, went to college in Los Baños but I never got the chance to explore the other towns of Laguna like Mabitac, Pakil, Paete and Pagsanjan. We passed by all these towns on our way to our first stop, the Taytay falls in Majayjay. (The sight was a nice reward after sitting on the motorcycle for three hours)

When we arrived at Taytay falls, the place was filled with families, couples and group of friends camping and swimming. We decided to look around for a spot to eat our packed lunch. We explored more and found this. It's like a clubhouse with interconnected multi-purpose rooms. The place is lovely but I felt bad that it seemed that the local goverment did not continue the maintenance of the building. (It was a big waste of time, money and effort)

It rained a bit (that's why I have sore throat now) but the rain didn't stop us from going to our next stop, the Exotik Restaurant in Kalayaan, Laguna. The restaurant serves Filipino dishes and of course, exotic cuisines. As soon as we sat down, the waiter offered us to try buwaya (alligator), pating (shark) and palaka (frog). We settled for ginataang palaka (frog cooked in coconut cream) to go.

We ended the day watching the football game of Azkals and Sri Lanka (Azkals won!) on TV and had the ginataang palaka for dinner. :)