SG

Spent three days and two nights in Singapore for Laneway Festival and well, some leisure. It was my first international trip and it was pretty fun and worth it. Here are some photos I took using my brother’s digital camera. (I was supposed to bring the Nikon D90 but my luggage was getting too heavy that I decided to ditch it. It was cool, though, the digital camera still worked well for me.)

My first photo taken in Singapore. SG’s SMRT is a very convenient way of transport. It makes everything in Singapore twice as near! Was on my way to Tanah Merah exchange this time then on another train going to Lavender where our hostel, Drop Inn, is.

Finally, the highlight of my trip, Laneway! Here’s my left hand holding a Laneway programme under the scorching sun. Singapore’s weather is basically the same as the Philippines except that their sun sets at around 8pm. Makes you crazy to think that kinder students gets dismissed at 7pm! Haha. Here are more photos of our feet killing and energy inducing Laneway experience!

Shine and Erin, my co-Lomography girls!

Luis and Shine checking out the line-up, thinking of an artist(s) we could skip for food/rest/drinks/shade.

Shinji hamming it up for "Ate Austra" on the LCD.

Part of the crowd. There were probably hundreds of Filipinos in the fest!

Below are some photos of the Laneway artists that I saw. I don’t have photos of every artist because a.) I was too far b.) I was tired and lazy  c.) the camera was acting crappy or d.) I just wanted to watch and dance. Anyway, bands I enjoyed the most were Yuck, Girls, The Drums, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Toro Y Moi, Feist and M83!

The Drums!!! Watching them felt so surreal. Johnny's energy was infectious and they sounded really good live!

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Peggy Wang was so adorable! The crowd loves her!

Toro Y Moi. Fell in love with Chaz during that night! <3

Leslie Feist! It was a dream five years ago to see her live. Never thought it would happen!

And the show ender, M83. My only photo of them (forgiveness, it's an LCD screen cap) but that tells I really enjoyed! Their set was epic and made every single person there to stand up and dance!

Laneway ended at around 1am and man, were we tired! It was an awesome experience all in all and I would love to be a part of it again come 2013.

Got a cab (trivia: cabs charge you an additional 50% from your meter reading after midnight) with Shine and met Shinji and Erwin who were drinking outside Drop Inn. Had a few sips, some stories, several tweets, a shower and ta-da, bed! (P.S. The aircon was really cold.)

Here’s Day 2!

The morning after. Hello Sunshine, open lockers, and towels!

My Laneway strap. Too tough to remove I had to knock next door and borrow a scissor to be able to cut it.

On my to Bugis for lunch with Shine and Erwin. Look at my tired feet. Gross, I know.

Had some tofu and chicken at Bugis Junction and met a Filipina. It was pretty funny because we were looking around food in this stall and she suddenly said “Ano po?” with a very charming smile. We all just laughed and had some chit-chat. Didn’t get her name but she said that she’s from Fairview.

Post Singapore

Home from Singapore and back to work.

Well, back to my normal life, I suppose. Quite busy today until the weekend but I will compose a decent Singapore post in the coming days. For now, here’s a photo of my left hand holding a Laneway Singapore programme in the middle of the scorching sun.

P.S. Can’t get that awesome M83 set out of my mind. <3

In Behalf Of January

Since I am not able to post as much as I want in this blog, I have decided to work on this entry basically consisting of special events I’ve encountered this month.

January has been good to me and I guess that this month pretty much worked my way. There were a handful of stress, of course, but I suppose they’re all fine now. My heart has been still too so I’m happily in a calm track. Here are some January highlights I would like to share.

One number in my bucket list consists of having my photograph published in a ‘real publication.’ And yes, it happened big thanks to UNO Magazine! How? Denise Mallabo, UNO’s Managing Editor asked for my photos from the A Week in Metro Manila: Up Dharma Down screening and I gladly sent her some. I wasn’t really expecting to see them in the magazine but voila, here’s a photo of my work in the said publication. And my, they did publish it well!

My photographs of The Charmes and Up Dharma Down published in UNO Magazine. YAY!

If you’re crazy about concerts like me, then you probably have heard of the sudden gush of international acts coming in Asia during the first quarter of the year! Just so you know, there’s Laneway Singapore on Feb. 12,

Look at that beautiful line-up!

Toro Y Moi live in Manila on Feb. 15 and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart also coming on the 29th,

Foo Fighters in Singapore this March 2,

Death Cab for Cutie in Manila on March 5,

and TOE in Manila this coming March 20!

All these foreign artists coming at our shores and in neighboring country Singapore makes me crazy! I know I can’t really afford going to all of these but I won’t let myself miss! I’ll be going to Laneway Singapore and TOE in Manila for my fair share of international acts. I really don’t mind missing Toro Y Moi and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart here since they’ll be in Laneway SG, too. I don’t mind missing DCFC either because I’m not a big fan (hehe), but missing Foo Fighters? That breaks my heart! I was actually planning to cancel my Laneway Singapore trip for the Foo Fighters but geez, re-booking your flight is double the price of your actual plane ticket. So I’m hoping that these guys will visit Asia again soon. Dave Grohl – *sigh*

Speaking of Laneway, all is set now! I’m just waiting for my passport to arrive and I’m done! I’ve paid my hostel charges and Laneway ticket already so see you Singapore in the next two weeks!

Another highlight: went to Terno Inferno last Saturday not only to watch awesome Terno bands but also to fulfill a mission! Well, fine, I sound stupid because it was more of a connivance. Haha. As you know, 3/4 of Up Dharma Down celebrated their birthday this month and because Carlos (UDD’s guitarist) and I are such sweet specks of the universe, we’ve decided to surprise Armi, Ean, and Pol with cupcakes during their 3:30am set in Inferno.

Here are some photos from the night (thanks, Jason and Jon!) plus I linked the surprise’s video and the whole story as told in my Tumblr account.

With ze girls! Kris, Armi and Bel.

So I guess those are the highlights of my January. Work has still been great and my family’s doing well so I’m currently at ease. I’ve also started working on my illustrations and music so I hope I’ll be able to put some in public once I’ve fully worked out on them.

Here’s to more awesome months! Cheers!

‘For Life’ List

Or an online reminder of things I love doing and why I should not forget working on them.

1. Reading: I think you should know that I have poor eyesight because when I was in grade school, I would read wherever I am. Name it: a moving automobile, at the dark, and even inside the bathroom.  But now, reading has been a luxury for me. I haven’t started reading a book this 2012 and that is definitely strange. I still read newspapers, magazines, and online articles but a book, resting on your hand, is the real thing.

2. Illustrating: I haven’t done a decent illustration in years and I mean YEARS. Yes, I doodle on random sheets of paper and various pages of books but that doesn’t really count. It’s not even practice! Last night, I worked at my desk and drew what for me is illustration. I stayed there for three hours and man, did it feel good! I plan to work on my sketches as much as I can starting today. And oh, I made the effort to buy art materials (pencils, erasers, brushes, watercolor and a new sketchpad) earlier so yay for progress!

3. Writing songs & composing music: I haven’t wrote music for quite a while maybe because feelings are bland right now. I’m the kind of person who would write songs and make melodies when I’m feeling something extreme like sadness, anger or happiness. I haven’t had much of that in the past few months and I realized that I really don’t need those to be able to write songs and compose music. Also, my piano has been silent and my guitars have been sitting beside my office desk for almost a month now that I think I should let them do their job. I would really love to contribute songs for Mount Analogue, too. (Hi guys, I miss you!)

That’s all I can list down right now. There are other things I would really like to do on a regular basis like writing poems, watching films, taking photographs but time is pretty much of a bitch. I have work, family and friends to be with, and chores to accomplish so personal leisure is kind of hard to achieve. But I will find time and when I’m able to do so, I’ll make the most out of it!

P.S.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I love tikoy!

Until Our Blood Dries Out

You know when people say that a man and a woman’s friendship cannot last unless they’re not in love? And that for a fact is impossible? Well, I think that’s bullshit.

I’ve been best friends with the same guy for 11 years. 11 years – heck of a long time. I remember when I met this awkward boy in 5th grade… I was the cutest tomboy then and he was sorta the “crush ng bayan”. Didn’t really think we’d click until he started crushing on this classmate of ours and needed some advice. From there to daily lunch breaks and afternoon dragonfly sessions (we’d catch them from our school’s backyard and eventually let them go), to trike rides together on our way home (we live at the same village), and to sharing of secrets (we keep until today), we became the best of friends.

Our friendship grew as we grew together. It’s the best guy friendship a girl could ever have, the right amount of sweetness and bitterness all rolled to one. This guy would look after me and make me feel secured and sometimes he’d let me do the craziest things in life yet remind me of my limits. People ask me if I’ve ever developed a liking for this man and I answer a straight no because that is the truth. He’s a brother to me and he will be the god father of my children. That’s how we roll.

And to this man, I’m grateful for another year you’re celebrating in your life today. Without you, I just won’t be able to survive the toughest times of my life and won’t be having the best laughs ever.

Years back.

To King, a happy happy birthday! I know we’d celebrate more parties and more sentimental moments together! Thank you and cheers to more years of friendship!