HOSHEHT, TRIP KUNG TRIP – The Genesis
I won a trip around the Philippines at my first presscon with Microsoft Philippines. It has been twenty-four hours since we first sorted out the details, and I’m still in shock and awe over it.
After announcing the success of the rousing feedback from the windows7ako facebook page, the presscon attendees were put into groups and challenged to put together a Philippine travel itinerary with a budget of P100,000 in about 45 minutes. I was grouped with friend and fellow writer, Pepper Laforteza, and Mirage writer, September (yes, her real name, remember). We put together a Philippine-wide trip from Old Manila to Mindanao, exploring over land, air, seas, and our stomachs.
The original itinerary was:
MANILA (1 day): Breakfast at Hizons, trip to National Museum, Carlos Celdran Intramuros Tour, Dinner in Binondo, then a bus to Baguio for a connecting bus ride to Sagada.
Sagada (4 days): Lodgings in Rock Inn, foodtrip around town, hiking, spelunking (including the epic 1 hour cave tour connecting the small cave with the big cave). Take bus to Baguio on last day, catch a flight to Cebu.
Cebu: (3 days): Airwalk at Crown Regency, more foodtripping on lechon and other delicacies, with a daytrip to Bohol. We take the superferry to Davao.
Davao (4 days) : Lodging at Pearl Farm, snorkeling around the resort, tour of Mr. Apo, etc.
When we were done, I worried that we might lose because it was a bit much. We had the longest itinerary (2 weeks) so we could max out P100,000, and we knew that it was more than enough to go around (rule of thumb: costs outside the capital are significantly lower) The other teams kept their travel itineraries to a particular region, which made them look a lot more organized.
Ours was adventurous, but is it too adventurous?
Then when the time came for the judges to announce the winners, Jojo kicked it off with, “Well the winners will have to take two weeks off—”
HOLY SHEHT.
WE WON OUR OWN CRAZY TRIP.
So it’s confirmed, from May 24 to June 6, 2010, Pepper, September, and I will be doing our crazy trip throughout the Philippines.
Stay tuned, we’re in for quite the ride! Thank you Microsoft and sponsors!
For the first of many pics chronicling this journey, this is a pic from my FIRST Microsoft event with BlueRep from back in 2005.
I wrote the show and ended up starring as Clippy the MSWord Helper. It was also my very first corporate event.
February Updates: A Netbook and Events
The No Excuses Netbook
Since the demise of Archangel, I’ve been in the market for a new laptop. I am a huge Mac fan, but the price is well out of my league for now. All I really needed was a machine to write with and give presentations on. After a few months of canvassing, I settled for the HP Mini 1000.
I got it barely-used from Zane who won it in a raffle. I settled for HP because of its keyboard. Since I’ll be using it for writing most of the time, I wasn’t keen on struggling with baby keys. I’ve tried two other netbooks before and found myself often frustrated with the keyboard size. I still need to get used to the HP Mini keyboard, but it isn’t as frustrating.
The HP1000 is the old model, hence limited battery (2 cel battery, allowing for 2-3 hours battery time) but it does the job just fine. Best of all, it fits in my daybag! I’ll be blogging a little bit more about the specs after I tinker with it for a little while longer.
February in Pictures
I faced a post-Ondoy raket rut last December, but February more than made up for that black hole. I took on a lot: 1 productions, 1 event, in addition to my regular teaching and writing load. It was actually manageable, though I had to lay off most of my social engagements. I was tired a lot, yes, but I knew that was part of the deal. Besides, The payoff’s worth it.
Aside from Romeo and Bernadette, I also helped stage manage the Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson concert. It’s amazing to hear Love Story Meets Livin La Vida by Coldplay live, and to meet and talk with some very talented musicians – and showmen! Thank you too to everyone for the amazing turn-out! Also, to my colleagues and friends at Pocketful of Kids for helping make it happen!
I also managed to sneak in a little time in the last week of Feb (the busiest week!) to attend a talk by Ronnie del Carmen, Story Supervisor and Art Director for Pixar Studios. Ronnie del Carmen is Filipino, and he got started by storyboarding for advertising. He used to work as an art director, while my Mom worked as associate creative director in the same team. Apparently, I used to crawl around their cubicles when I was a toddler.
Ronnie left for the states to work for Dreamworks, then moved to Pixar where he had a hand in movies such as Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Up. He sometimes come back to the Philippines to catch up with family, old friends, and give talks on the storymaking process for Pixar’s films. A little more on that in another entry, as soon as I get the transcript and DVD of the talk.
I have a month before another set of jobs come in. I intend to use the time to bond with my “Mini Mii” computer to catch up on writing and other creative projects. I love the work, and I made time for the work. But now’s the time to focus on my work.
I solemnly swear…
This is an attempt to update more often
My biggest problem with treating this blog as my professional portfolio is that I overthink it. Overthinking this means I have abandoned this, and locked myself away with a more diarrheal blog and indulged my already horrible masturbatory tendencies. I solemnly swear that I will at least attempt to update this once a week.
In the last month: Curly Hair and Weddings, oh my!
Let’s do this in pictures for a change.
Look, curly hair!
I have commitment issues, but Philip Kee is one of the few men I remain loyal to. I actually feel guilty when I entertain the thought of getting my hair done elsewhere. In the case of the curls, it was either that or I just get a boring old maintenance cut to my dull, fine hair. While my best friends and very critical styling advisers insisted against it, it was Philip who took the chance. I have no regrets. My hair actually has character now!
The curls were done in honor of the wedding of one of my other close friend’s, which I somehow agreed to plan for. It was an exhilarating experience, to say the least. Weddings in the Philippines are more about the families involved than the couple, and that formula makes for a double-edged sword. At the end of the day however, it’s all about the union between two people who have found each other. Best wishes, Joy Alano and Honey Chua!
Yes, I can do weddings. If you, or you know of anyone who would like an excellent team of wedding planners and stylists, I can round them up for you. Feel free to email me at myachi at gmail dot com.
In the meantime though, I recover. I also left my more regular job teaching Europeans over the phone, so am in the strange lull at the end of the year. I am on the lookout for new rakets and am slowly organizing my tutorial services to market properly, so here’s hoping that picks up.
On the writing front, I also also been blogging at the Materia Girl tumblr account for less serious, fandom-based musings while twittering haikus. I also have a few articles up at Vibal Publications’ Philippine Online Chronicles. Since I left my more regular job, I’m hoping to focus more on the writing. Let’s see how that turns out.
For the meantime, this is a start.
Uso pa ba ang Harana – are serenades still in style?
Yes they are, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
I’ve hinted at a very busy week coming up, and no kidding. This is one of the things I’ve been occupied with, aside from my teaching jobs. My hands are very full but I am thankful for the work, especially for something I’m very passionate about.
Don’t let the ad fool you into thinking this is going to be just another cultural event. The songs showcased in ‘Harana’ might have been done over a thousand times over, but Philippine Opera Company, in their thrust to take opera to the next level, gives it a whole new spin. Fans and familiars of Filipino music old and new will find something to hum along to, be it the tribal or folk songs, or the contemporary classics. As someone who is familiar with more than a song or two in their program, trust me when I say this is one of the best arrangements I’ve heard of them. I especially love the Muslim suite and their covers of Freddie Aguilar’s ‘Anak’ and Basil Valdez’s ‘Nais Ko’.
No blog entry can do them justice, they really have to been seen and heard to be believed.
For those wondering what part I have in all this, I’m their tech baby, pushing the usual buttons and/or chasing their lapels. It’s how I always (and very gladly) spend my summer vacation.
So for those in the Philippines, help support the local arts scene! Watch ‘Harana’! For those outside of the Philippines, you can catch them in Amsterdam from June 8-15.
HARANA runs from MAY 28-30, 2009, 8pm at the Carlos P. Romulo Theater in RCBC Tower, Makati. Ring up for tickets at 8928786 or Ticketworld at 8919999.
Pictures taken by Jojit Lorenzo, borrowed from Ana Feleo.
The Filipino Takeover with Food: Take 1 of 2
When Neil Gaiman first toured the Philippines, I gave him his first swig of calamansi juice. Seeing the effect it had on him and his fandom, I theorized that Filipinos will slowly but surely take over the world with food.
My next chance to prove this came in the form of the AyalaMall event, Top Chefs in Manila. Top Chef season 2 champion, Ilan Hall, and season 4 favorite Dale Talde gave cooking demos at different malls around Metro Manila and got a little R&R in Boracay.
I had missed their first two demos days due to schedule conflicts, and was about to accept the fact that I might not be able to see them in action. Then one of the organizer’s invited me to their send-off, so I knew I had to show up for at least one demo. I trekked all the way to Alabang Town Center to see them in action, and was not disappointed.
The cooking demo was set up ala Iron Chef more than Top Chef, with a theme ingredient that the chefs were free to work around. Dale Talde made a beef barbecue sauce out of soy sauce, rock candy, and dried mango and served it up with a hearty salad and a spin on the halo-halo. llan Hall made beef with local chili leaves and tamarind, served up with a salad and fried bay leaves for dessert.
I was able to ask them during the open forum if I could get a copy of their recipes, but they said that I’d have to wait until the cookbook of their tours come out.
The food smelled great, but since I was in the general admission area, I wasn’t able to taste it. Arg!
How were they? As if the mouth-watering testimony didn’t say enough? They were both easy to talk to, had a keen eye for ingredients, and Ilan is as playful in real life as he was on the show.
I was more disappointed in the audience that afternoon, but must be because of my age. I’m still young and have enough lungs to cheer the chefs on, and in my head they weren’t just chefs, they were reality TV stars. An “OHMYGODILAAAAAN” would be in order.
But being the twenty-something surrounded by the adult housewives and oldbies, I felt a little silly at whooping through key parts of the show. It didn’t help that I was next to Ye Olde Miss Live-DVD commentary for the Hearing Impaired.
“Yeah you are too young for that audience,” My Mum mused when I told her about it. “But you know? They need types like you.”
Funny enough, all that energy in the demo, didn’t quite come out when I attended their send-off…
To be continued!