Old Traditions, New Standards

The year 2010 for me was a year full of unexpectedness. Getting to know a number of people and welcoming them as they become an integral part of my life, as others have bid farewell as they go into transformation and head another path.

A great number of valuable lessons of life have been learned through different methods from here and there. All these, I am grateful of despite the downside that I had to face. All lead however to a fruitful experience in which I was able start applying to the rest of my coming days.

A person who was included greatly into my life is my girlfriend, Ging.

Yiheeee! Lol But yeah, this 2010  would be way different without her. I would have made it through but as a different person.

Never Let Me Go: Review

Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go is a story revolving around three friends who have been together since they met in school in their childhood. It goes on following their lives to their adulthood. It is a very touching movie that dwells highly on the concept of living or being alive.

I have not read the book, though I highly look forward to, I can say that it is quite a story. With how the lives of people come together and create a beginning, fall apart and again reunite. As the plot unfolds, it will lead you to surprises that you won't see coming. It indeed has left me awed.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone as it is one great movie.

My Dog Tulip: A Review

Aside from my reading, I currently keep my self busy with watching movies and My Dog Tulip is just one of a few. I promise to try and not spoil anything if you haven't seen the movie. If you have you would know what I will be talking about.

Animated movies about dogs are easily spotted here and there, mostly targeting the younger generation as an audience. Not this movie. It takes a lot of patience and understanding with a whole lot of maturity to watch the movie. With scenes and languages found in the movie, it strongly suggest that one understands between the lines before running into any conclusion. However, it is easy to understand beyond that. The narrative flow is easy on the eyes and easy to follow. The animation is also quite amusing with how it was done.

It is under my list of those great movies to watch on a cold weather. With such a story of a man and his dog companion its uniqueness will bring warmth to you in a different way.Watching this movie is a definite must, especially if you are a dog lover.

Heart to Heart

Right when I came home from the North, Ging and I went out. Cheesy and corny it may be to you, we missed each other that much. I brought her pasalubong from Baguio such as the strawberries. She gave me this book as a present. It consists of poems inspired by paintings and/or vice-versa. I have looked through some of them and there are those pretty interesting ones and those really great ones. The paintings/illustrations are quite good too. A painting by Andy Warhol was translated into a poem and became one of my favorites in the collection. The way it was made gave me a laugh. I could also get ideas for my writing here.

Dinelli Gourmet: Baguio

Baguio's Dinelli, together with other stores, is located on Camp John Hay's 'Filling Station'. 

 They serve salads, sausages, bread and a lot more.

For beverages, they serve coffee but also sell wine and maybe other alcoholic drinks for their customers to
take home.

I had their frankfurter when I was there and it tasted great as well as it looks. It would be one of the places to remember and return to. It is worth it and I look forward into seeing another branch to taste their other products. It really had that american feel because of the size of the hot dog, though I think they have it bigger where they are, but it gave out more taste than one would expect.

You can visit their website to see and know more about them.http://dinelli.ph/

Strawberry Fields Forever

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The Strawberry fields are actually in La Trinidad, not in Baguio. It is a common mistake to believe so. The closeness of distance of the two places is what gives it off.

Above is what you are going to see outside the plantation. They aren't really planting strawberries exclusively but they include sorts of vegetables and possibly other fruits.

Villa La Maja: A Review

As promised, a review on that hotel we stayed in. 

 We were looking for places to stay in too late for other hotels were fully booked. Transient houses also had full rooms at this time of year therefore we were really desperate. When we found Villa La Maja and they informed us that they have open rooms for us we took it. It is only after reserving that we looked and researched more of the said hotel. The reviews returned as hilarious, to me, as they state that the place feels haunted and to avoid it because of that. Skeptic that I am I really laughed at it and urged we push through.

Dagupan!

Well actually we passed by Our Lady of Manaoag before heading to Dagupan. We visited the shrine there and offered some prayers.

We didn't know that they have remodeled the part where you would light a candle and added a fountain with Our Lady in the center. It looks and fits much better than it did before.

We then headed next to Dagupan. There we spent our lunch and slept over. Most of our relatives are there while some spent their vacation elsewhere. 

Apparently, they brought a new memeber, uhm... they don't have a name for the dog above as far as we know. We kept calling him a lot of names as we tried to decide which one to give. At the end not a single name was used and the pup remains unnamed.

That's the most of our vacation. The next day, we headed back to Villasis to grab some early lunch and sacks of rice. Right after, we headed home.

Baguio: Cold Shoulders

Day 1

Driving up to Baguio, the city of pines, we started early in the morning. Leaving Villasis at around 9 in the morning after attending Sunday mass. 

 We had lunch in Camp John Hay's Dencios. We were accompanied by our tita and cousin who were also visiting Baguio. As I remember we ordered Dencios' famous sisig, liempo and some greens which I don't recall (lol).

 Right after our lunch we headed to Villa La Maja where we booked for an overnight stay. I am going to make a review of that hotel later on. As a hint, it did not meet expectations.

 This was the rumored haunted house in Baguio. I wanted to go there but I figured we didn't have time. Also, no one believed me when I told them it was haunted. No one was really interested.

 We just passed by Session Road on our whole trip. We were going in circles and got lost. We went to the strawberry plantation which I'll expound on later. Most of that day we spent in the car looking for a place to go and take shelter from the rain.

Villasis Folks

So okay as I have said last night, all I needed was rest to tell you about our trip. We left for the north early morning of December 25th. Heading to Villasis, Pangasinan to celebrate the holiday with our De Guzman relatives.

De Guzman Family

Handaan

Tatang and Inang

The food they prepared was really great idek. I missed the province and our relatives.

We  also enjoyed ourselves playing Nintendo Wii  against each other.

Wii = srs bznz

Home From the North

Just arrived home from our Christmas vacation trip from up North. It has been three long nights and the family and I are tired. We really just want to rest tonight. It was really great but I would expound on that later on when I am feeling better to write.

Before I go rest for that, let me present to you Hidden Massage which we found in... oh wait it's hidden I shouldn't tell you.

Oh Silent Night

This year is so far the most 'quiet' of all Christmas celebrations. It carried a different air of that the past years. It might have been the weather or my growing into a different stage of life, I'm not yet sure. Quiet as it is, it still is quite merry.

My family and I went to hear mass in celebration to the birth of Jesus. The church was crowded and I was forced to sit outside. Despite that, I was still able to hear the readings, the gospel and father's homily. There were many famous faces there, idek. Such as the Ramoses, Reyver Cruz and his family and Mike Dizon of Sandwich. I should also tell you, the homily tonight of the father who celebrated the mass was quite meaningful to which he related life in such a different way.

We then headed home for our Noche Buena and gift opening.

 Yeah as you can see above we had so much food and a bottle of Novelino for everyone. We all got stuffed with the great meal our parents prepared. Nomnomnom!

Right after eating we started opening gifts. Look! I got a set of briefs and a new headset! Exactly what I need. lol

Of course, the yearly Christmas family picture!

We'll be leaving for the province in an hour or so and head to Baguio in the next day. So... I'll tell you about it when I get back. See ya!
Merry Christmas to you all!

Black Swan: A review

Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder and Benjamin Millepied, Black Swan is one of the most, if not the most, beautiful film about identity, personality and tragedy. It might send some unexpected goosebumps up the spines of other viewers as the visual direction is as great as the story is. There are going to be some unexpected scenes some might not believe the artists had to act out(it was revealed that they might have used alcohol for it). Some may compare Black Swan to ballet; it isn't for everyone. Despite that, one is not discouraged to watch it and must see which part of the audiences they belong to. I wouldn't spill anything about the movie, simply saying here that the movie is a must watch.

Mini-Update

With nothing much to do for the holidays, I might be spending my time reading books I should have read a long time ago. Picture related, I'm currently finishing Chuck Palahniuk's Rant. I find it very entertaining and mind blowing(I'm not sure if that's the right term but anyway...).

Oh btw, we might be going to Baguio! (keyword: might) I really wish it would push through.That would be a great place to spend the vacation.

Welp, that's all for now, I have books to read.

See ya!

MY CHRISTMAS WISH THIS YEAR: A NOKIA C7

'Tis the season of Christmas and finally the cool breeze of settles in the Philippine lands. Here and there, jolly laughters to be caught as memories for years to come as families, relatives and friends gather in unison in its celebration. Recorded later is the painting of the sky with a bang here and there, a company to the stars, some are caught with their hands cupping their ears as others are caught with their mouths gaped open. As the fireworks soon enough die down, every one rushes inside the house to opens their gift, saying thank you to one another upon the surprise of their gift.

Come the morning of Christmas day, everyone checks to see their social networks to see their faces tagged; wide eyed, gaped mouth, crying tears of joy, sleeping on the couch etc. Every one laughs as they point and comment on every picture taken. Later, they will find the video recorded on the eve of that morning. There they will too find how they spent the night. Remembering such great times over and over again until the whole year turns to a full cycle and once again they create new memories.

This is what I would do with my Nokia C7 if I owned one. With its high end features I am certain that doing so will allow me to capture moments in high quality with a simple click and even as they move and then later to easily share them to all my loved ones. With its sleek design in my hand to take care of it with all the memory spent on holidays such as Christmas is captured and shared. To those away I could easily send messages to keep them up to date as we celebrate. This is all why I wish for one Nokia C7 this Christmas. 

I've just finished reading it and I honestly don't know how to start this with anything. It is definitely a good read with how the story was put together. The originality in Chbosky's craft into this writing this book is quite creative, I have not come upon a book written the way it was.

How the story was put together itself is amazing and will surely get you into reading thinking about "what happens next" as you flip through one page to the next.

I must say that Stephen Chbosky really knows how to put words into our mouths. I mean this in a thankful way, to have read the book, that there are things we don't know are and now because of the book I already do. This is one of the books that I wish I had read when I was younger, it would feel right and fitting and more relatable than now, it felt late and I felt old. I'm still glad to have been opened to this door where I found the poem Absolutely Nothing by Osoanon Nimuss, songs from Charlie's mixtape to Patrick with songs such as Asleep and Vapour Trail, these are the things that made Charlie feel infinite in his connection towards other people. I have seen the words put together and tossed around a lot of times already and it is only now that I understand what it is and perhaps I have yet to experience it.

I am glad that The Perks Of Being A Wallflower was the book I picked when I wanted to read all a sudden again. It definitely will put me back into that part of my world, reading, I missed it so much and I have so much to read.

Unwell Friday

Not feeling so well today. Woke up this morning around 11am-ish already. I am not sure why I am feeling sickly but I am quite blaming the changes in weather. I enjoy the cold though but it came all of a sudden. I hope I won't get too sick, I still have Calculus to worry about next week ugh. Good thing for dalandan to keep me company with it's citric juices.

Making A List, Checking It Twice

Every one who experienced childhood would have written a list of greedy Christmas wishes written in paper or in mind. Despite not getting all of it or any of it true, it does not stop the pleasure of simply making one for the simple pleasure of having something to look after. So, here is my 20 year old self, and my Christmas wishlist.

1. To begin with, is the probably the simplest and easiest to grab. Chuck Taylors. I really enjoy and feel comfortable wearing them. I don't have a specific design in mind but I prefer high cuts than low cuts.

2. Next is something I am really itching to have is a new phone. Not just any phone, a smartphone and not just any smart phone but an HTC Desire. It is one of those with the best specs that is out in the market.

3. What you see above is just Canon's concept camera. It is not exactly what I want to point out but I want an SLR. I just wanted to share that Canon has something coming up that looks like that. I'm willing to wait till it releases.

4. I really am going to edges here now Alienware is on the list. I'm wishing anyway right?

5. Lastly, cold hard cash. What more do I need to say?

Yummiest Bars In Town

Since this blog has lately been more on food let me take the opportunity to introduce Pinky's Goodies. We have been having their 'bars' lately here at home and they are really good. My dad has been bringing some with him as pasalubong to his officemates every time he comes home from a project. My favorite among their various products such as Butterscotch and Food For The Gods would probably be the Mango Butterscotch. We just bought some the other day and I am looking forward into getting my hands into a couple or more of them later.

The branch we visited is along El Grande and this time they gave us free cookies, for being regular customers or for buying a lot that day I think. Anyway, you can visit them by driving along El Grande if you are around BF or check their website to check for an outlet closest to you. They also have a list of their products their if you are interested but I suggest you go to the closest outlet just so you won't have to wait too long to taste them.