BLOG BREAK

I WON'T BE ABLE TO UPDATE THIS BLOG FOR NOW BECAUSE I'M BACK IN SCHOOL AND BUSY WITH MY WRITING PROJECTS. I'LL BE BLOGGING SOON. FEEL FREE TO BROWSE IN MY ARCHIVES. MUWAH!

V-DAY AT THE RUINS

I spent Valentines with two of my friends in college by having dinner at Cafe By the Ruins. I read one of the poems I've written a few months before during the Presence and Absence Poetry Reading Event sponsored by the Baguio Writers Group after dinner that night Then we went to Ayuyang and Nevada Square for a mini-drinking session that ended the following morning. The things that I noticed last day of hearts were the following:

1. Love was in the air. It was evident with couples (whether boy-girl, girl-girl or boy-boy) seen holding hands while walking along session road.
2. Although the flowers sold during this so-called "commercial holiday" were a bit higher than usual, Baguio lovers and singles still opted to buy their significant others (or their mothers) with bouquets of flowers.
3. Restaurants all over the city were full. Even our group was obliged to wait for customers to leave before we were ushered inside the restaurant since the cafe was already full when we arrived.
4. Burnham park was alive again. Special thanks to the Phantom of the Opera play starred by actor Chinggoy Alonso and a bunch of other atists staged right in the middle of Burnham lake. It was an awesome sight with a foreworks display in SM Baguio making the day even more special.
5. What I'm not impressed though was the traffic in Baguio that was so disappointing. And what's worse? The taxis in the city are starting to choose their customers. Are they following the trend of Manila taxis who's thinking more of earnings than serving their customers?

BAGUIO READERS: SHARE YOUR BAGUIO VALENTINES DAY EXPERIENCES THROUGH THE COMMENT SECTION OR THE CHAT BOX. LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED LAST V-DAY! BYE FOR NOW!

I'm Back this Friday 13th!

I have been out of this blog for about two months now because I have been in the Visayas for quite some time. By the time I arrived here in Baguio last week, tons of work need to be done. Hence, another excuse to postpone the posting of new entries on this blog. I'll be posting some of the things I did while I was on vacation as back post entries. Feel free to read my adventures in Cebu and Bacolod below.

2ND SINING PAMBANSA FESTIVAL

FACES OF THE 2ND SINING PAMBANSA FESTIVAL
BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
FEBRUARY 11-13, 2009, BAGUIO TEACHERS CAMP
BAGUIO CITY, PHILIPPINES

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RIZALDY COMANDA'S MULTIPLY

FASHIONISTA SEASON 5

FASHIONISTA SEASON 5
SM CITY BAGUIO
FEBRUARY 7, 2009

PHOTOS BY TIFFANY C. BANHI

Bacolaodiat Festival

After Cebu, I decided to go back to Bacolod to join my parents in celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival (New Year) with them. While juggling in between my writing of the manuscripts for my new project, I went out with mom and dad during the eve of Chinese New Year. We went to the Capitol Shopping Center which is also known as Bacolod's chinatown. There were lantern and streetdancing parades, tsinoy shows, street performers and carnival acts, and the ever famous chopstix alley where mom and dad and I went to eat Chinese cuisine right on the streets of Bacolod. And why Bacolaodiat? It's coined from Bacolod the name of the city and "Lao Diat" which means celebration in Fookien. Most of the Chinese in Bacolod speak Fookien than Mandarin.

CEBU! CEBU!

After the Sinulog Festival Grand Parade, I met-up with my sister and brother-in-law in Ayala Center Cebu. We also met-up with my cousin Remel and the family Dr. Gestopa of Mandaue to eat at The Banana Leaf in the new mall strip called The Terraces. Then, the following day, I joined my sister and brother-in-law in their pilgrimage to the Basilica Del Santo Nino and Nuestra Senora de Regla in nearby Lapu-Lapu City. We also took a sidetip to Tops, Taoist Temple, Mactan Shrine, Mactan Su-Tu-Kil, Taboan, Magellan's Cross and my sister's shoe shopping request in Carcar City where I get to taste the famous Chicharon of Carcar. It's P500/kilo and all that cholesterol tempted me to buy some. BTW, I also met a fellow Bacolodnon named Elmer Jun Hilario during my flight from Bacolod to Cebu. He's a great composer/ musician and I had a great chat with him in Cebu while I was there. He plays the harmonica, violin, guitar and keyboards. He lives just a few meters away from our house at the 3rd floor of my ninong Andy's building. His song Next to the Fire became number 1 for three weeks in Bacolod and reached number 6 nationwide. He plays twice a week at Bacolod's Grand Regal Hotel and at Offshore Bar in Araneta Strret. He's an IM student at La Salle Bacolod too. I also met him again at Bacolod's Chinatown during the Chinese New Year! His videos URL at Crown Regency Cebu's The Edge and his music video of his song Next to The fire is posted below.

Next To The Fire Video
Elmer's The Edge Experience

CEBU SINULOG

I was hesitant at first to go to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival because the weather was not cooperating earlier that week. It was raining and it was windy. I decided to go to Cebu in time for the Sinulog Grand Parade to cover and take some pictures. So all the way from Bacolod, I took the PAL Express flight direct to Cebu to catch up with the festivities there. Thankfully, with the help of some friends, I was ushered to the streets and given the ID to cover the parade. Then, the following day, I met up with my sister and brother-in-law in Ayala Mall to join them in their pilgrimage tour for the following days. I'll post it in the succeeding blog entry.

BACOLOD PARTIES 2 OF 2

Since my grade school years in Bacolod, they have been my friends. Visiting Bacolod without seeing and partying with them will be such a bore and a waste of time. And so, I decided to go extend my never-ending bar-hopping and clubbing with my grade school and high school friends. Gretchen, Keryll, BFF Jan, Rachel, James, Myzha, Badz and Chanel were there. We met at SM Bacolod, ate at Bob's Resto, chilled at MO2 and Lucky Break, partied the night away at ICE, then spent the rest of the remaining hours at my place in Dona Juliana. I also met up again with friends Badz, Lance and Jezelah at Kaffe Pietro in SM (while checking-out their Wi-Fi connection). Then before, I left Bacolod, I went to eat Japanese food at Kaisei with my grade school until now BFF Jan and his sister Jamie who's the current EIC of La Salle's campus publication called Spectrum. Oh, It's so much fun that I forgot to blog about it! Don't you think?

BACOLOD PARTIES 1 OF 2

Since I mentioned that I have been partying in Bacolod during my stay there, I admit to have been drunk almost every night because of the parties which my friends in Bacolod have been inviting me. Well this year, I met new friends like Jay, Yani and Joe aside from my party mates since 2005 Ian, XL,Andy and Ryan. I missed our friend Troy though, he's currently abroad working as an engineer. We used to call ourselves as the OIST! clan in Bacolod. We used to have parties in many clubs and bars when I was staying there before. Well, we went to almost all the bars and clubs in the City of Smiles like MO2, ICE, Club North, Mushu and in Metrodome. We also loaded ourselves with coffee from Cafe Bobs and stuffed ourselves in McDonald's in Lacson.
And of course the best of all the pictures of the original OIST Clan? Ian, Moi and Andy on our way to the Bars...

NEGROS ROADTRIP

Dad, Mom and I decided to go on a roadtrip to Magallon (my dad's hometown) to visit relatives and the farm, attend the internment of a family friend and check out my sister's business there. Since I have a really bad hangover because I have been out of the house almost every night partying, I slept most of the entire two-hour trip. I also felt ashamed to my dad because I was not able to drive for them. But I know, even if I have driven them for so many times, he isn't comfortable with me on the steering wheel. So, I opted to stay in the backseat instead. It's nice to feel like a kid once again. Being driven by your dad while your mom is beside him, it really brings back memories many years ago when all the family members were still present during our family roadtrips. While I was in the backseat, I was testing Globe Visibilty's signal while in the area by Facebooking in my laptop. It was disappointing to note however that the promise of broadband-speed internet by the telcommunication giant was just a marketing strategy. I know that the signal of Globe was strong in the area because text messages kept on coming but I guess the Globe Visibilty speed is still comparable to dial-up speed. Anyways, I had fun taking pictures of the Negros Occidental countryside and Mt. Kanlaon while on the way back to Bacolod the following day.