I'm home

since three days ago and I had a great time because I was able to achieve half of my to-do list for the trip which is quite impressive if you knew me.

So, I had the Baconator the morning I got to Manila. It was meh. I didn't like the patties and the buns. I kind of felt robbed by Wendy's. Great job at the advertising, though. All I can say is that I make a meaner burger that would make you want to do suicidal shit like marry me or something. Ha!

We stayed over at Kenji's place in Wack Wack Tower in Tiger City Mandaluyong. (I love saying that! Tiger City!) It was Tobal, Jan Sunday, the entire QCC and I who were in the same flight at 5:55am. We have not slept the night before so we inevitably crashed when we got to the swanky air-conditioned condo unit. (Super thanks, Kenj!)

23rd floor. We were fly.

When we woke up at around noon-ish, Dianne arrived, we got ready, Keida picked us up and brought us to Asia Pacific College, where he teaches Advanced Photography. They were having their college days and we got to hang a bit in there. I loved their cafeteria! There was a band playing inside and we got to meet some of Keida's students, and we got to roam around the halls.

Giant hotdog float with mustard jizz iz funny.

Fast forward to about an hour later, we met Jon Earl AKA Ears With Feet AKA the long time internet friend I  have never met when I've met almost every long time internet friend I've ever had.

I forgot to check if his ears did have feet. Damn.

Sorry, I am super awkward. Unless you crack jokes and ask me questions, I black out and do not know what to say. Meeting someone for the first time is overwhelming especially when that someone is important. But I'm glad we got to silently hang and they brought us to this place called The Collective in Makati. It's supposed to be this counterpart of Cubao X where there are creative shops and stuff. Here are some photos.

Vinyl On Vinyl. It's an art space and a store.

A cozy vegetarian food place. Great Miso soup.

A sweet collection of spectacles in a hip shop called Hysteric.

It was nice. Saw Mango Red shoot a pre-nup in there and I was in awe. They are like the best in the thing they do. I wanted to ask to have my picture taken with them but welp, I pussied out again. Sorry.

It's theeeeeeeem! *gushes*

After the hang, Keida drove us to the Terror show where we reunited with the "CCHC" people haha. IDK why I find this label funny but anyway, Cheryl (my Lavi) arrived and we got to take a photo with Scott Vogel and got my humble KOTF postcard signed by him. That was a happy moment indeed!

It's taped on my bedroom wall now! :)

It was an awesome show even though the place wasn't big enough and the sound system was a bit off, the energy everyone gave off emanated in the room and turned it into a piece of hardcore heaven.

This happened! I was there! Great photo by Mel Lacson Dolorico

Tobal and I stayed 3 more days after the show. There were times he wanted to just stay in and give up on the idea of walking around. I'm glad I convinced him to get up and walk with me to Megamall, ride the MRT, hang at Cubao X with the Lavies, go to MOA and meet Moshi before our flight home and stuff.

Some people wouldn't think it ideal either, braving the heat and the people and all that shit but I love it. Okay, I hated the heat but I loved the concrete jungle. The dirt, the buses, the MRT, the giant billboards, the confusion, the uncertainty, all things opposite of super chill Cebu City.

I may sound like such a weirdo but, Manila, I love you. I'll be back. Somehow.

TRAVELOGUE

I want to make tiny films about my travel to Manila tomorrow. I don't know if I can pull off a voice-over but I'm most optimistic about a soundtrack! YES! A playlist! Should I decide on the songs now or should I come up with the songs while I'm there? Or maybe I should pick the songs when I'm home and I'm editing the videos. Hahaha. Tiny projects make me go giddy.

So, TERROR. Tomorrow. And also, I'm gonna meet some faraway friends. I'm gonna see Manila again. I'm beginning to believe there is an unseen force that makes me travel there every year. Sometimes, without that much effort (around 90% of my travels were paid for by someone else - without asking for it). I don't know, it's just a little bit odd, but really good nonetheless! :)

I'm going to be there for 4 days with my friend, Tobal. All the others are going straight back home the day after the show. So it's just the two of us, three days to roam around the metro. My plans are:
1. Eat at Wendy's.
2. Find cheap stuff to bring the fam bam.
3. Go to Forever21 and just look around. (broke)
4. Eat at Wendy's.
5. Look for fake Supreme stuff. (haha)
6. Eat at Tokyo Tokyo.
7. Do a photowalk.
8. Meet new people and quit being shy all the time.
9. Pray for a miracle that will bring me to Ocean Park's OCEANARIUM.
and (drumrolls!!!)

10. Get this mini-poster signed by all Terror members.

I'm crossing my fingers. There's a wild party in my tummy right now. I'm praying for safe travel and an awesome good time!

Now, to continue packing. I never thought I could achieve traveling light with just a backpack and a small sling bag but I did! Here we go! ♥

SELF-PORTRAITURE: Ferbuary 2011

Right after dinner with my Ma and Pa. I still got a bit of makeup on. I'm a huge fan of makeup, although not as obsessed as other people. I got a box full of it, mostly hand-me-downs. I rarely buy my own shit. I'm one of them people who aren't blessed with great looks and I didn't really care much when I was younger but as I got older, I've gotten a lot more interested in making myself look better. I think it's alright.

The day is near when

I am finally going to be able to say that my hair falls down my waist.

Every time I feel the ends of my hair touch the back of my arm a little above my elbow, I can't help but smile.

Oh my gosh. I've never had hair this long since I was a kid so it's just surreal.

Oh my gosh.

I know it's too early in the year to swear something but I think I'm not going to cut my hair in 2011.

I don't know! AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHH!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

One of the biggest reasons why I love technology so much!!!

It can do pretty much a lot of stuff. Haha!
I love my sis' little kids. ♥

Passion eat!

My new gastronomical blog is up and running!

Go ahead and visit, follow, or bookmark it if you have a knack for cooking or if you just want to gawk at yummy food photos the way you do dirty pictures for fun and excitement. Haha!

click below!

Do-It-Yourself Eats


Thanks!♥

It's about time!

Well, as you can see, I'm back in blogger. After almost 8 months of nothing in here (but a lot in real life), I'm truly happy to be here again. It had been quite a good year so far and I have a feeling it will work out wonderfully throughout the end of 2009. There were some down times and minor ruckuses but it's so much better than haplessly being stillborn in life right?

Let me put all that this blog has missed in a nutshell:

January : Sinulog + SRA Anniversary + One of my best buds Mirza visited Cebu and I've met the good guys of DFP.
February: Cooked a lot in school and Partied a lot with my best buds, Mimie and Kiko.
March : Was bartender for a day (!!!) and made a rock and fashion show happen. And was in the news for the first time in my life. lol
April : Flew to Manila for this and this and this!
May : It was my birthday of course! :)
June : Back to school... but before that, my favorite getaway. Saw a great band live and met a bunch of awesome people. :)
July : Cried watching the TWINKLE DUDU reunion show.

And now, it's August. So what's new?
I'm pretty much addicted to Twitter and Facebook but I know all things will wane its selves. lol
I am still in school but not as busy as before. This will be my last year (hopefully and supposedly, whichever comes first!) one more term and I'll be ready for summer internship. Hooray. I'm teary-eyed. I never thought I'd be able to get this far to finishing something but I've done it. Almost there.
And yes, I have the most amazing pet cats in the world. I love them.
And I look forward to seeing my sister and her family (especially the kids!) in December. They are going to stay here for almost a month, Christmas to Sinulog 2010 so I foresee a solid vacay mode on for me. She's booked us to stay at a resort in Bantayan Island which is majestic. It's going to be our family's first time there together.

I am stoked.

I'll post more real soon. It's good to be back.

I missed you! ♥

My first attempt at recording.

It's weird to hear your own singing voice for the first time but it's growing on me.



Tools:
Logitech Mic
My broken 10-year-old guitar
Windows Audio Recorder
Windows Movie Maker

Special thanks to Flickr for the photos.

Writer.

Last Friday, right after I turned in my exam paper, my teacher (who is also our H.R.M. and Tourism department's Chairman) asked me if I'm graduating this year. I said no and that I expect to graduate next year, at least if everything stays smooth-sailing. I asked him why and he told me that he had been planning to come up with a magazine for our department and he'll be getting me as a writer.

I said yes.

I've had some people ask me to write but it's definitely my first time to be asked by a teacher or an authority to write for something as important as a school publication. Voluntarily contributing is one thing but being tasked is a whole new level. I felt glorious. I also thought to myself 'yes, finally.' I wanted to do a Tom Cruise at that moment but there was no couch. Truth is, I've been feeling quite low the past few weeks and this was, as far as I can remember, the best pick-me-up I've ever had.

I've been writing since I knew how. Although I admit that right now, I love reading more than writing. One reason could be because I feel inadequate and that I need to learn more. Plus, I am my worst critic. Thank God for computers, can you imagine how much paper I'd be wasting for revisions? But I figured, I wouldn't be able to enhance and improve myself unless I practice (ergo, this blog among other things). More practice will ensue for me if that magazine will realize materially. I can't wait.

I will totally spill all the details for sure. Celebrate with me when it happens?

Eleni

This is Eleni Mancao Demirci. She was born on August 21, 2008 at 6:15 am in the great land of chocolate, Switzerland.

The daughter of my sister Fritzie Marie and her husband Dimitro, she is my niece and it's a shame how it took me almost a month to post a baby shoutout!

Of Filipino/Greek/Turkish blood, she's going to be a total babe later in life which is something I can relate to. LOL

Yes.

Babies.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about babies.

Babies are super duper cute. They're cute when they do old people stuff too like barf and shot in their tiny pants! I love it.

Back in the day, I never liked babies. I don't hate them either, it's just I don't really care much when I see some. But I really hated it when they cried. It was a huge pet peeve. I even swore to never have one, yeah, once I told myself never have babies! They're too much.

When I was 9 and the youngest, I waited (though not expecting) a little sib to come along in the family. That was something I never told my family. I was this old person in a young body. I didn't like being treated like a kid. I didn't play with kids. I didn't like kids at all. I thought my older brother and sister are both immature. I enjoyed Thirtysomething and Beverly Hills 90210 (at 9 years old) and they enjoyed Miami Vice very very much (nothing wrong with it noh?). We all liked Baywatch.

Then it happened before I turned 10. My little sister from the big white stork. I don't have pictures to prove it but from what I remember, she was way too cute. I sneaked to my parents' bedroom every now and then where we aren't always allowed coz we were a rowdy bunch of kids me and my older sibs.

Finally! A little baby to keep my parents' and yayas' attention away! haha. I thought that was really cool. When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to be a grownup and be talked to and treated that way (my family was super fond of babytalk and smothering).

So I liked my little baby sib until she turned human.
A walking (almost), talking (almost), throwing, puking, tantruming human!

I never liked babies.
Then a few months before my 21st birthday my big sis had one. His name was Ariestony (in our family he had a handful of nicknames).


(Tony a few months old. Spot Johnson's baby oil. lol)

Now, he's four and adorable and far away.
(My big sis got married. They are now living in Switzerland)


(Tony blowing 4 candles! He is all grown up now. *sobs*)

BABIES ARE AWESOME!

I don't know yet if I want to have one. But I am really liking babies. It's one of the biggest surprises of my life. It's like hating fish all your life and finding yourself addicted to it years later. Haha. Weird example but it sort of makes sense, don't you think?

More adorable babies that I know in the next post.
And more reasons why I used to not like babies.
And and more reasons why I do now!

Yes!