July 2018 – GUREZU

Weekly Journal: New Haircut with Shower Bangs

Published on July 28, 2018July 15, 2019 by GurezuLeave a comment

July 23 Monday.

July 24, 2018 Tuesday.

As you can see. I haven’t written any for Monday. It’s because I slept immediately as soon as I lie on my bed. I remember thinking if I should write a blog or just a short addition to my short story. But as I contemplate, I fell asleep. Isn’t that the best sleep? The one with a kind of resistance on your part but sleep won and you didn’t even notice you fell into the deep snooze. I slept at around 10:30pm. For today, I am grateful that my urgent issue at work was finally resolved. I’ve been in a meeting almost the whole day. I talked with 3 different nationalities: Filipino, Indian and Swedish. I know I caught myself failing on my grammar or just can’t say anything that would make sense at all. I felt like I embarassed myself. However, when the issue was finally resolved, I got a funniest remark from one of the Filipinos. He said my English and accent depended on who I am talking to. They caught me specially having a different sophisticated accent when talking someone from Sweden. Hahaha that’s a really funny insight for me. At least its not that bad I guess. I mean the issue was resolved regardless. It means I have done enough communication.lol And because the issue was resolved, I was able to catch up on the Zumba Party organized by our building admin. I was late almost for one hour. I sneaked behind my friend Mommy J who was already from the start of the program. I secretly filmed her dance before I started to participate actively in the routine. Haha! Not too long after I arrived, it’s was break time already. My timing was great. The event has provided free coconut drink and banana.

After breaktime, we danced again for one hour more. I perspired and get tired a lot. And I was in for only half of the program. What more if I started from the beginning just like my friend. Haha! Before we went down, I asked my friend Mommy J to take a pic of me. Remembrance.

After getting my things, I ate my dinner and went home. As soon as I arrived at the dorm, the rain fell hard. What a relief that I’m already at home. Haha! I’m too lazy to use an umbrella. I did some writing duties before writing this. Wow today I felt accomplished today!

It’s 1 am already. Lol. Late again. Good luck tomorrow.

July 25, 2018, Wednesday

I got a problem. No one was available to be our subject for our next club’s photosession. That was sad. 😥 and I haven’t posted a new blog here. I’m too busy really. I wish I have the time in the world. The good thing about today was the free dinner at Uncle Cheffy’s. It was a send-off dinner to our HR who’s already leaving for greener pasture. As soon as I arrived, the beef steak dinner was served. I was supposed to NOT eat rice during dinner but when I realized, I have eaten everything on my plate. I have also eaten a lot of calamares. It happened so fast. And I was the person telling everyone I was not that hungry. Haha! Well the food is free so…

On my way back to dorm, I walk passed a salon. I remembered that i’ve been wanting to cut my hair short because I’m finding it very difficult to shampoo and comb my hair. More than half of my routine every morning is consumed by untangling my super thick and long hair. So I decided to inquire. I thought they would advise me to visit next time because its getting late. I thought its already 9:30pm. To my surprised, it’s only 8:30pm and they agreed to process my hair with Brazilian Blowdry treatment and haircut. All for P1500.00.

I showed them pictures of my peg hairstyle.

Haha! Do you recognize her? If you don’t, this came from a Japanese show in Netflix entitles Kakegurui. It’s about a school of cumpulsive gamblers. I don’t like the show that much but I really like the heroine. She’s so damn pretty with that sleek hair.

I also stressed that I want my bangs to be light. I’m bad in maintaining full bangs. So I like bangs that I can hide when I don’t feel like it. The hair stylist suggested that I should have shower bangs instead. Sounds promising so I said, ok Go!

Here’s the before pics. To be honest, my long hair was looking sleek and shiny tonight. Like wow, why now? When I am about to cut you? Why just look good and manageable now?

For a while I had second thoughts but I still decided to go for it because I want to make my life easier.

And after 2 hours, here’s the result!!

I feel lighter now.What a relief! I can say that I am satisfied with the result.

I gave P200.00 tip to the hairstylist for a job well done.

I wore the same color shirt of all the staffs here in the salon. I belong! I went home and now writing this! It’s already past 1 am. I am hopeless. Haha!

July 26, 2018, Thursday

What can I say about today? Well it’s full of food and meetings!

Team Lunch-out at Oppah Chicken!

For our breaktime in the afternoon, one of our officemates treated us for noodles, chicken and pizza.

There are still lot of chicken and pansit left for dinner. I am so full.

One fact about me, I love spicy food. And if the food aint spicy, I got to soaked the food with my special sauce I bought from a food bazaar in our building.

Introducing. Bad Boy Tikboy. INSANE IN THE BRAIN!

I’ll be sleeping at the office for tonight because I have an activity at dawn. You should know by now that I have a bad habit of sleeping late. So better sleep here in the office or else I’m screwed.

But before sleeping. Let me share with you a photo of my officemate enjoying my Lolita Jumpskirt.

July 27, 2018 Friday

I felt so sleepy the whole day. I only had 3 hours sleep today for a work-related activity this morning. I went out of work at 5:30pm. But at the same time I was so hungry. One of the greatest conflict of life is to feel hungry and sleepy at the same time. I decided to eat in a not so crowded restaurant on my way home. I brought my camera with me so I decided to take pictures while I wait for my food.

To tell you the truth, I fell asleep while waiting. Maybe 2 minutes long. My camera was on the table. Thank God. If someone with a bad heart, he could stole my camera and run far away I before I could be aware of it. LOL.

Anyway I was satisfied with the food. I’ll reserve other pictures for a separate food blog.

Yes I know, I got a lot of backlogs already. I wish I have the time of the world 😥

After this, I excitedly book a grab ride to my dorm. Write a little for this. Then sleep. I’ll be sleeping at 9:30pm. This is EARLY!!! This is Happening at last!

Weekly Journal: Flightless Bird and Endless Raining

Published on July 22, 2018July 30, 2018 by Gurezu2 Comments

This entry covers July 18-July 22, 2018.

July 18, 2018 Wednesday

Huh? It’s Wednesday already? What happened to Monday and Tuesday? Haha! The passing time is really getting on my nerves!!!

I actually know what happened last two days. I woke up, get to work, go home and chat with my friends about the Chiong Murder Case. Tuesday was the same. The documentary “Give Up Tomorrow” really hit the sensibilities of the people in social media. I know there are a lot of things going on in our country: extra-judicial killings per se but I guess, people now realize that weight of being wrongly convicted. In the case of Paco, its already 21 years and its still counting. Who won’t be afraid. ? Having talked with people who believe he is innocent and guilty, having read the commentaries and Supreme Court files, I think I am ready to release my own verdict soon.

Here’s the documentary aka horror story. Try watching it and ask yourself. Is Paco really innocent? Does he deserve death penalty?

But for the mean time, what happened today was this

1. I WAS NOT FEELING WELL and I stayed in the dorm all day. I edited my pictures from Luljetta Hanging Gardens and my album in our Levitation Photography Session. This is the result of my edit for today.

Obviously, levitation photography is a technique that will make the subject look he’s floating on air. Our model in this picture was an officemate. He’s our videographer actually but can pass as a model as you can see! Haha! This photoshoot was done last month. Talk about procrastination! Ahahaha!

July 19, 2018, Thursday

Woah! It’s Thursday already? Seriously are you kidding me?

Nothing much has happened today. As usual I went to work. It was raining all day. We can see outside through the glass walls and damn there was 0 visibility. I was supposed to attend a photography seminar and yet again, I would not dare to deal the Edsa traffic because of the rain. And besides I got an issue to solve.

Yesterday I was absent right? Now my office mates are jokingly asking me what happened to my “job interview” yesterday. I told them I really did not feel well and I stayed in my room. So they concluded that I just had a Skype interview then hahah! They don’t really believe me haha!

My friends and I did not talk about Paco anymore. Yesterday we discussed that we should move on already. Whether or not the allegations are true, nothing will happen if the case would not be re-opened. Major tv station seems not to mind the chaos happening in social media. They used to catch the latest thing but they seem eerily silent about it. Hmmm.. Meanwhile the reviews for “Jacqueline Comes Home” finally arrived and all of them are saying its a trash movie. That it did not portray even the Chiong side accurately. But well, movie is really like that right?

I went home, ate my dinner then open my laptop to continue my levitation photography editing. I’ll be sharing the full set soon in another post. For now, I’ll be sharing a silhouette photo that I also took during the same session. I edited this in Adobe Lightroom using Rufosque preset.

It’s 2 am already. I’m still awake and awfully hungry. I’ll grab something to eat then hit the sack! I predict I’ll be having a hard time waking up tomorrow and regret that I did not sleep early. Hahahahah!

July 20, 2018 Friday

1. WOKE UP LATE. REGRETED SLEEPING LATE.

2.WORK

3.RAIN. FLOOD.

4. MATCHA GREEN TEA FRAPPE

5. EAT. GO HOME.

6. IT’S LATE AGAIN. 1:11 am. But the great thing is its Saturday tomorrow. I wonder how long my sleep for tonight.

July 21, 2018 Saturday

As expected, I woke up at around 1pm. This is way past breakfast and even late for lunch. But I deserve all this sleep. I don’t feel guilty. But still, I could warp my body clock a bit. Nothing beats waking up early and getting lot of shits done before lunch.

Suppose to be, today I have a reunion outing to attend. But because of the weather and bad flood, it was cancelled. Good thing because this weather is making me feeling lazy for adventures.

I decided to take the first meal of the day in a nearby cafe’.

I have paid the bill when a mysterious song began. I can’t grasp the lyrics but the melody is so sweet and romantic. I pictured myself suddenly in a middle of a night, slow-dancing with a tall man. It was not sark becausethe night was clear and there are fireflies flying and dancing around us. I must find that song!

I was about to record some bits of the song for later research when it faded away and replaced by a Katy Perry song. I approached the staff of the cafe’ and ask what was the song. He said he did not notice or aware what the song was before katy pery. And also the pkaylist was shuffled in spotify. We looked at rhe playlist so we could figured it out. I even hummed the tune to narrow down the choices. We played two songs before the mystery was sokved! I took a photo of the screen to take a note of the title. It was Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine. Hmm the title sounds interesting

I bid goodbye to that helpful staff.

After that I packed my things and booked a trip to Glorietta mall. I need to do some errands related to ny finance then have to do some shopping.

I am lucky that viral pianist grandpa was here at the mall.

I saw him in Facebook already because some appreciative audience uploaded his video and it went viral. Lolo is like a casual mall visitor. It happens that there is a piano display which is free for anyone to play with and he decided to take the sit. After that, he visits here more often. Lolo is not only good but full of energy in his performances. One could not help but sing. He’s so approachable and even accepts requests. Now, he enjoys playing this piano regularly and everyone can now support him by giving money in his small “Marks and Spencer” bag beside the piano. I won’t mind because he gives performances nothing short of spectacular.

Of course I can’t let this moment pass by without my own recording of this Amazing Granpa…and some of my singing too with bits of “yehey” and “wow”.

Can’t Help Falling In Love

Quando, Quando, Quando

I think I finished three songs before I moved on. I have to buy new bb cream, lipstick and some toiletries. I also in the mood for new clothes. I alot monthly budget for that.

This me in the fitting room with the blazer I ended up not buying.

I finished my shopping with a small time hang-out in Starbucks. It was not in my plan but the the rain was heavy and my mobile phone battery was almost drained. I charged it in Starbucks while I drink another cup of hot coffee. After that I booked a ride back to my original home.

My sister and mother were having dinner when I arrived. My sister immediately ransacked my shopping paper bag . They teased me because I bought new lipstick again!!! My sister opened it and applied the lippie immediately. She liked it.

While upstairs, my sister and I talked about random funny things we saw in the internet. I opened my laptop and researched about that mysterious song that captivated me today. I also made my sister listen to it. To my surprise, the song lyrics looks like it is not a love song at all. The lyrics doesn’t even make sense if you don’t spend time thinking deeper about it. It’s deep. One can have its own interpretation. Where it is a love song or not, it’s up to you.

Here’ s a lyric video. Another trivia, its part of the OST of Twilight movie series. I’m not a fan that’s why I don’t know.

I got an interesting interpretation of this song from songmeanings.com

IMO, there are dual, yet similar, themes running through this song: (1) an individual’s loss of innocence/idealism; and (2) the degradation/dissolution of the mythical “American” dream.

The first verse sets our protagonist as an innocent child (quick, wet, diving too deep) – newly born, baptized, full of energy/enthusiasm, carefree. We get a glimpse of what’s to come through the “blind” eyes of the adult world whom the child can already see seem focused on material things (“plastic toys”). The “cops” (his own adulthood) crash the party and he’s forced to grow up and give up his pure youthful enjoyment of life (cut his baby hair). Thus, he begins his quest to find his meaning/life in this adult American landscape. For me, it also brings to mind the end of the idealism of the peace/protest movement of the late 60’s…the system crushes the uprising…the hippies cut their hair…and wander off…going on to what?

Well, the second verse tells us exactly where our protagonist’s journey has landed him…a big fat safe spot with the adults of his youth. He’s achieved the “American Dream”, or has he? Now all talk and no action. He curses himself and the wrong/injustice he sees around him, yet he idly sits and watches these “poison rats” (the establishment, big business, corrupt government) slither by and destroy his ideal world. He bides his time in his magazines, finding pleasure in viewing some advertisement of folks fishing in some idyllic river. He is not out there himself, but even if he was, he would be merely pillaging/ruining/sacrificing a place of nature (“blood of christ mountain stream”).

It’s a really depressing song, but it’s certainly beautiful.

How about you? What could you interpret with this song? I would really love to know!

July 22, 2018. Sunday

I got a lot of things to say today. I think today was productive. But damn I was not able to sleep properly last night. I think I’m not used to sleeping in my original home anymore. I went back early to my dormitory because I badly needed sleep. It’s 9:54pm now as I write this. I want to write more but my body needed rest. By the way, I have done some editing and uploaded it in Facebook. Here are they.

I also did a capsule review of Marugame Noodles. I decided not to write a separate wordpress blog post for the mean time because my mobile photography was not so good. I did not do justice to a great-tasting food.

https://web.facebook.com/Gurezu/posts/1037039793115816

And I haven’t shared my the full output of my Levitation Photography edits. Here it is, uploaded since yesterday. I’ll be writing a separate blog post of my editing photography and editing process for this. Check it out soon! And please follow my Facebook page Gurezu Blog too!

That’s all for now. I’ll be sleeping before 10 pm for the first time in many moons. Is this the start of a new life from being night owl to morning person? Let’s see!!!

Bye for now Lovelies!!!

Gurezu 😉

Weekly Journal : Shutter Drag and Conspiracies

Published on July 17, 2018July 30, 2018 by Gurezu9 Comments

I decided to start journaling again because I think I am losing the ability to write. So every day I’ll add bits and bits here in my draft. Hope I can do this consistently.

July 10, 2018. Tuesday.

The meeting with foreigners at work that caused me a bit of anxiety and panic since last week was finally finished earlier. It went great! As usual, when I’m nervous, I covered it up with being talkative and cheerful. It works for me. It works also with past job interviews. I guess its not a downside after all.

Earlier, someone from the past reached out to me in social media. Being associated with that person was one of the lowest point of my life. But I’m glad it did not do much chaos in my life because I still had sense of righteousness back then. But I didn’t regret what happened. I just won’t want to waste my time and emotional energy again now I am in much better place. So I eventually ignored him. That’s the only right thing to do.

I think that’s all for today. I’m going to write about my friend’s short film about “Ang Byahe ni Marlon”. I am so ecstatic for my friend because the film won the best film in the recent “Istorya ng Pag-asa film festival”. Anyway I’ll reserve other info in other blog. Nightie!

June 11, 2018. Wednesday.

This is indeed a busy day at work. Gah!

There is a funny thing that was discussed at work. I told you yesterday that I met some of the foreigner colleagues from the another team I work with for the first time. Earlier we had a meeting again and this time, I met other Filipino members of their team. The foreigners were surprised to know that that was the first time I met the members who are just working at the same building, just few floors away from me. I’ve been talking with them thru skype almost everyday. We work very near with each other and yet, the first people I met personally from their team were the one’s who came from abroad ahahah. Isn’t that ironic?

Anyway after work, we had a photoshoot practice again with my manager. We are trying how to do the shutter drag effect. . It was really tiring but we did learn something on how to set up the lights to achieve it. By the way, since this is still a practice , we didn’t invite a model yet. I am the model for this practice shoot. I was not prepared. Haha .

Anyway I haven’t had a copy of the photos since we need to go home and we were hungry. I will get it tomorrow and post it here. So excited!

July 12, 2018. Thursday.

Busy day today. I was supposed to attend a stocks investment seminar but I was caught up with tasks at work. Anyway my friend finally released some pics from last nights photoshoot. But for the meantime, these are behind the scene photos.

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July 13, 2018, Friday

Gosh. Before I slept last night, I watched a documentary…and I ended up sleeping at 2am. It is entitled “Give up Tomorrow” . This is about a sensationalized case way back 1997 wherein Paco , a half Filipino, half-Spanish was misjudged and misconvicted as the documentary claimed. I got hooked and shocked. It showed how fucked up the judicial system here in the Philippines.When I woke up the next morning, it was the first thing I thought. Paco, by the way, is still serving in Spanish prison. He’s working as a chef at daytime but still sleeps in prison at night.

To tell you the truth, I am convinced that Paco is innocent. The docu is obviously in favor of Paco. But it includes real-life interviews of the judge, the police, the accuse and the witnesses so it was really hard not not be carried away and be suspicious that there was indeed conspiracy! Not only but a lot of people in social media are now expressing their feelings about this documentary.

But I’ll make it a point that I’ll hear other side because that would be unfair. But let’s leave that for now. My friend finally released my shutter drag photos! Yehey!

Photos by Mary Ann Guinto

Photo below: Gerard Dangca

Full album:

https://web.facebook.com/meannguinto/posts/10214268606660697

July 14, 2018. Saturday.

What transpired for today.

I attended Social Media Mastermind Seminar. I arrived one-hour late actually. What I learned? Hmm.. Well my main takeaway was this generation is now more on “stories”. And this generation prefers videos among others. People are more convinced if the presenter is moving and has good stories to tell

I ate at Marugame Udon finally at Glorietta. This Japanese restaurant always have long waiting line. It discourages me every time. But today, I realized I am not that hungry and I have energy to wait. Well, it turns out that even if there indeed long line, they serve really fast. And yes its delicious. What more? It’s not that expensive compared to another Japanese favorite food ramen. I’ll be writing a separate blog about it.

3. The debate about Paco’s innocence are flaring up everywhere in social media. More and more people are watching the documentary Give-Up Tomorrow. This documentary is like watching a horror movie, only it happens or is still happening in real life

July 15, 2018. Sunday

Hiighlight of my day would be I was able to attend church at the “The Feast” with my sister. I was actually feeling lazy because of the rain. And I am so engrossed with reading the commentaries about the Chiong Murder Case. That one really hyped me. I could not deny it. There are more theories spreading. Now it involves drug syndicate and corruption. But anyway I’m happy that I still went to “The Feast” in spite of me being lazy. It really encouraged me that I am not alone this time. The talk for today was about dealing with depression which is very timely right? And I’m happy that the Feast understands that depression is a disease rather than just mere sadness.

Just like what JC Libiran said, when you have cold or cough for 2 to 3 days, it is still not serious. But it went on for weeks or months there must be something wrong! You need to consult a doctor. The same with depression. To feel sad and hopeless is normal, but if it went on for weeks or months , you don’t ignore it. You have to seek help too. I also like that they advised not to say “Kulang ka sa faith. Have faith in God” While this is a sincere advise, it won’t help a clinically depressed person that much. Depression is a medical condition and it needs medical consultation.

If you are not familiar with “The Faeast”, it is a catholic gathering every Sunday. A session comprises of a Mass then worship then a practical talk. I’ll probably write more about it in the future.

My Friend is Now a Film Director!(#SupportArtistFriends Series)

Published on July 13, 2018July 14, 2018 by Gurezu12 Comments

And an award-winning one on top of that. Her short film entitled “Ang Biyahe ni Marlon” recently bagged the Best Film Award in recently concluded “Istorya ng Pag-asa Film Festival“. This film festival was a joint project of Ayala and The Office of the Vice President and The Ayala Foundation.

Ang Biyahe ni Marlon tells a story of Marlon, an Uber driver who has Tourette Syndrome which is a neurological disorder that gives involuntary and repetitive movements to those who suffer it. Passengers giving him suspecting and judgmental stares is one of the challenges he faced as an Uber Driver. But this won’t stop him to work honorably for his family. This is the trailer of the short film.

WHERE CAN YOU WATCH IT? If you’re dropping by to the following cinemas to watch a movie this week, “Ang Byahe ni Marlon” would be among the trailers!

I have watched the film myself and all I could say is, this short film/documentary will touch your heart. It’s a little bit of a tearjerker actually. Five minutes of watching it will be worth your time. This is great for those who will bring their children because it teaches resilience and love.

Meanwhile, I haven’t introduced my friend yet who’s the director of the film. Her name is Florence Rosini!

I met her in college. We both joined as staffers of our official university newspaper. Since then I already admired her writings to the point of insecurity. Hahaha! She’s really good.

To tell you the truth we just meet sporadically after I graduated in college. Like we frequently plan to meet in different film festival events but most of them, never pushed through. We just get in touch thru social media. Florence, being a writer in GmaNewsTV before, led to something like this; my Facebook comment being broadcasted in television. Haha! This screenshot actually came from my officemate. I was shocked someone I know would even noticed this small airtime of fame lol.

The time we met again was actually by an accident. We both signed-up for Lovelife retreat and surprised to see each other there. But then again, we really didn’t get to really bond until the Camerahaus Photofestival event last May 26, 2018. She was planning to score a Lumix Camera for her filming venture. She is now pursuing film studies in UP Diliman.

This time we actually really meet at last!

I was really excited for her and willing to support. I remembered I also once dreamed to be engaged in film industry , like a director or a producer or a writer. But it so happens I have too many dreams aside from that. But right now, I’m just happy to support and know a friend actually knows her dream and living that dream. Go Florence!

I am so honored to be featured in the first ever v-blog using her new camera. In the future, she will produce more films with this camera and I am so giddy thinking about that.

Aside from being a film director, Florence is also into blogging and v-logging. She chronicles her film adventures, writing on-set , film festival attendance and sometimes, foodie adventures. She also has a travel agency. Please follow her at:

Blog: https://florencerosini.com/

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/kimedes009

To Florence,

Congratulations to you besh! I know you have told me before the struggles of being a writer in this country ( and now you have more stories to tell about being director this time) but I’m proud that you just keep on with your dreams. Your winning film is just a start of a milestone after milestone and I’m so excited on what you can do more in the future! I am just here to support you always to the best that I can. And let’s do collaborations in the future 😉

——————-

PS: To all my friends who have watched “Ang Byahe ni Marlon” in the selected cinemas, please let us know your thoughts in social media and use the hashtag #AngBiyaheNiMarlon. We will definitely appreciate your support. Once again, I’m posting the details of the screenings. BE INSPIRED and watch films at the cinemas below.

Another PS: This is the first blog entry of #SupportArtistFriends blog series. I aim to promote not only my artist friends but also to endorsed to everyone to support their artist friends by actually buying their product , listening their ideas and celebrate their victories instead of asking their services for free. ( Below photo and words not mine)

Journal: Hello Second Half of the Year!

Published on July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 by Gurezu17 Comments

July 1, 2018

Linggo.

Filipino mode muna tayo. or Tanglish. I want to be my journal as raw as possible. Na-miss ko na maging diarist. Iyong araw-araw na nagsusulat talaga sa diary. Na-miss ko maging spontaneous sa pagsusulat. Iyong hindi ako nag-eedit masyado sa mga sasabihin ko. Ganun. Kaya ito, mag da diary ulit ako. I plan to publish my diary/journal once every week.

So Sunday ngayon. Simula ng buwan ng July. It’s official. Tapos na ang kalahati ng taon. Kumusta na kaya? Dinadalaw na naman ako ng anxieties ko. Bakit ba kasi ang bilis ng oras? Nakakapikon na e. haha!

Anyway nakatoka ako mag-serve as photographer sa The Feast ngayon, the happiest place on earth. Catholic Mass gathering ito. Karamihan ng mga tao pinagkakamalan itong Born-Again Christian Church dahil sa paraan ng pag-worhip. Iyong maingay, masigla, parang may concert lagi. Nakatoka ako sa 3:45 PM session. As usual, kukunan ko si Father, Si Bro. Alvin pero ang pinaka-favorite kong kunan ay mga taong buong puso nagwo-worship na tulad nito.

Saka iyong mga lovers na magkasamang nakikinig sa salita ng Diyos. Hawak kamay na nag pe-praise and worship. #RelationshipGoals ko ‘yan e.

Higit sa lahat, gusto ko iyong mga tumatawa. Sniper ako lalo na kapag nagjo-joke na si Bro. Alvin Barcelona. Kailangan alerto ako sa mga stolen shots ng mga tumatawa.

Ang topic namin sa The Feast ngayon ay News Feed: How to Really Connect. E di ba, ang mga tao ngayon slave na ng social media. Connected na halos lahat sa virtual world pero sa personal, super disconnected na. Baligtad di ba? Sapul sa akin ito e.

Ang gist ng talk e. Social Media is NOT EVIL. It is how we use it. It’s okay to use Social Media as long as we don’t sacrifice the things that is already there. Like relationships. Kung tutuusin daw, ganiyan din nangyari nung nauso ang T.V. People demonized it but at the end, its still up to us. Papa-alipin ka ba?

Pagkatapos kong mag-serve sa The Feast sa PICC, dumaan ako sa Harbor Square. Nagugutom ako. Kailangan ko bumili ng pagkain para itake-out dahil pipila ako para manood sa Virgin Labfest sa Cultural Center of the Philippines. Ito lang ata ang stage performance na afford ko e. Hindi ko kayang manood ng mga broadway. Namamahalan ako e. Ito P400.00 lang, 3 nag-gandahang play na. Since napadaan na ako, hindi ko na maiwasang kumuha ng litrato. Sunset na kasi at ang ganda ng langit. Matitiis ko ba e hawak ko na ang kamera?

Itong Harbor Square, favorite tambayan ito ng mga photographer na nagpa-praktis ng long exposure. Pumunta ka rito ng Linggo, hindi mawawala mga ganitong eksena, photographer na may dalang tri-pod.

Bumili ako ng paborito kong Yello Cab MyMix. Iisa lang lagi combination ko. Charlie Chan + Hotchixx + kahit anong pizza. Constant iyong unang dalawa. Inubos ko iyan habang nasa pila ako ng CCP Box Office. Kasehodang nakaupo ako sa sahig! Chance tickets lang ito. So may chance na wala. Uuwi akong luhaan. Nangyari na sa akin iyon sa mga nagdaang Virgin Labfest.

Pero sinuwerte ako 😉

Ito na ang masasabi ko sa aking mga pinanood. Presenting, my capsule reviews!

A. Labor Room: Kwento ng mga babaing nag le-labor, nakunan at overuse nurse and doctor. Nakakatawa ang atake nito pero sinasalamin nito ang kalunos-lunos na kalagayan ng mga hospital ngayon. Napasaya ako at the same time, natakot na ako manganak sa Pilipinas. Bigyan ko ito ng ★★★★

B. Tulad ng Dati: Nakalaya na si Kuya at nagre-union na sila ng kapatid. Hindi ko siya feel noong una. Parang ang awkward ng usapan nila at paligoy-ligoy. Iyon pala may dahilan kung bakit ang awkward nila. Although hindi ako nagulat sa twist, nakakaloka pa rin ang ending. Isa na lang masasabi ko, fearless!
Bigyan ko to ng ★★★.

C. Ensayo. Kailangan magpraktis ng dalawang senior citizens para sa kanilang performance. Kaso may kissing scene ang script. Ito ang pinaka-light sa tatlong plays. And batikan ang mga aktor. Si Bembol Roco lang naman ang isa sa kanila. Napaka-cute at nakakatawa ng play na ito. Ito yung play na magtuturo sayo na kahit matanda ka na, pwede ka pa kiligin ulit at lumandi! Bigyan ko to ng ★★★★

Ang highlight ko sa mga napanood ko ay nakakita na naman ako ng dalawang aktor na naghahalikan. Kasama iyon sa storya talaga. No hold barred ang mga shows dito. One time nga, about sa panahon ng Hapon ang play, talagang hubo’t hubad ang isang aktor. Buong play! Talagang magaganda ang mga istorya ng mga play dahil piling-pili ang mga script at napapanahon. Alam niyo ba, dalawang beses na ako nagpasa ng script para sa festival na ito. Kaso hindi napili e. Hindi ko na alam kung kailan na ulit ako makakapagpasa. Isa ito sa frustration ng buhay ko. Ang saya lang kasi, kapag napili ang script mo, magkakaroon siya ng direktor at mga aktor na magbibigay buhay sa kuwento mo. Astig di ba? Iiyak ako kapag nangyari ito. May mga napipili rin kasing script dito na nagta -trabaho halimbawa sa IT industry. At mahilig lang din talaga magsulat. Hay, kailan kaya ako papalarin?

Pero hindi lahat ng storya dito, sobrang malalalim at FEARLESS. Meron din pa-cute lang. Iyong patatawanin ka ng sobra. Katulad nung play ni Bembol Roco gaya nga ng naikwento ko sa review. Yes! Bembol Roco lang naman, one of the finest actors sa bansa. Pangalawang beses ko na siyang napanood dito ng live. At grabe, magaling talaga siya. Napatawa niya ako ng bongga.

Nahiya ako magpapicture hehe.

Medyo malungkot lang ako kasi kadalasan kasama ko bff ko na si Mitchi saka si Santi sa panonood ng mga ganito. Kaso nasa ibang bansa si Mitchi. Si Santi naman e hindi puwedeng bumiyahe dahil maselan ang kaniyang kalagayan ngayon. Gayunpaman, sanay naman ako mag-isa hahaha! Mejo nag mukmok lang ako ng 5 minutes.

Ayun, pagkatapos umuwi na ako ng bahay. Grabe 11:00 PM na ako nakauwi. Nag-empake na ako ng gamit kasi ba-byahe pa ako sa dormitory. Lunes na naman kasi bukas. Grabe pagod ko. Dala ko kasi laptop ko saka camera buong araw. Pagkauwi, bagsak na ako sa kama.

Bye world!

Ayun, balak ko sana from July 1-7 ang post na ito kaso ang haba na pala. HIndi ko na alam gosh! Ang sarap magsulat ng ganito, chill lang. Walang paki sa sentence construction. Till next journal entry blog!!!

PS: Hanggang July 15 ang Virgin Labfest sa CCP! Nood na! FOr schedules and guides, check niyo itong link na ito mga beshies.

Another PS! If you want to attend “The Feast”, reach out to me. Promise masaya talaga doon. 😉

No-sweat Sea of Clouds of Treasure Mountain

Published on July 2, 2018January 2, 2020 by Gurezu20 Comments

The moment I saw Treasure Mountain in Facebook, I know I have to go there someday. It promises an easy pass to “sea of clouds”. You don’t have to climb a mountain so to speak. Not that I am not fond of climbing mountains. Sometimes you just want to relax, take things easy. You want to take selfies in the mountainside without looking haggard and sweaty. (This is great for pre-nup shoot actually. I saw this in their page.) Manila habitants would also rejoice since it can only takes 3 hours to get here. More importantly, this is for the people who are incapable of climbing mountains for health reasons. In my case, I brought my mother here. I can never bring her to rigorous hiking. But thank goodness , there is treasure mountain.

Allow me to manage your expectation first. There is NO GUARANTEE you’ll see sea of clouds. It depends on the mood of the nature. But on the morning of June 24, 2018, we got super lucky.

Treasure Mountain is located at Sitio May Sawa Brgy. Cuyambay, 1980 Tanay, Rizal. I will categorize the ways to go here in three modes.

A. Chillax Mode. There is less commuting efforts and there is definitely no hike involved. Straight to the mountain beshies.

Go to Tanay Public Market with this 3 options.

From Starmall in front of Megamall, ride a jeep or FX (UV express) going to Tanay Market
From MRT Cubao, ride an FX or Jeepney going to Tanay Market.
From LRT Santolan, ride FX going to Tanay Market.

2. From Tanay Public Market, ride a tricycle straight to Treasure Mountain. This will cost P500.00. I think that could accommodate four persons already, as long as you fit in one tricycle. I got our trike near Puregold, somewhere around Public Market.

B. Adventurer Mode. I called it this way because it takes a lot of commuting and it gives you an opportunity to have 20-minutes trek to sea of clouds.

Ride a van or jeepney going to Cogeo Gate 2 or Padilla
Ride a jeepney bound to Sampaloc, Tanay
Get-off at Sitio Maysawa, waiting shed or the jump-off to the Maysawa Circuit
Trek for 45 minutes or take a tricycle to Treasure Mountain

C. Detour Mode. We did this one unexpectedly.

We came from Antipolo because we visited Luljetta Hanging Garden first. The original plan is from there, we will travel to Treasure Mountain and stay overnight. I even reserved a room. But there was quite a heavy rainfall. Aside from that, all jeepneys going to Tanay were all full. Tricycle from Antipolo woudn’t even agree to bring us even in Tanay Market because it was too far. I was highly discouraged and actually decided to go home already. We stopped by in a restaurant in Morong to have dinner. We had a chitchat with the crew there and they suggested we stay in a low-cost apartelle nearby to rest then just travel at 2 am. We decided to take this advice.

This is Hanson’s Apartelle in Teresa, Antipolo and it have crazy low rates. Great for the people who went on Antipolo tour. Or people who want to have shorter travel time for their tour in Tanay, Rizal.

We took the 6 hours Aircon room. This is for two people only. We just added P100.00 for extra person. So all-in-all we spent P550.00 pesos. Not bad right?

This is the room. There’s no much facility here. No wifi, no extra outlet, the t.v was old. I But who would I to complain? It is expensive and a truly decent room to stay for a short time. The CR is okay too. It is clean.

At 2:30 am, we took a jeepney going to Tanay. We dropped-off Puregold near Tanay Public Market and immediately got a trike going straight to Treasure Mountain. Even though it was still dark, we already saw a LOT of sea of clouds along the way. I was so happy.

REGISTRATION

I am quite disappointed with this one. We arrived at around 4:30 am. But we were greeted with an empty registration area. (Well except dogs were there.) I read that the day tour starts at 4 am so I expect that it would open at this time. Time is of the essence for me. Sea of clouds may disappear And I need to set-up in a good spot for photos. Also we were also there for the sunrise. I think the staff arrived at 5 am.

Entrance fee is only P 150.00 each person for DAY TOUR.

But there’s no time for bad vibes. Sea of Clouds is waiting for us and we have to hurry!

I intentionally brought this skirt for awra purposes haha!

Nang umakyat si Inang Kapatagan sa Kabundukan…

The Sea of clouds rose up from where stood. There was a moment of zero visibility here. If this is water, we were drowned for sure. But this is clouds and we are happy to drown. Now, it’s great for coffee drinking session.

FOODS and DRINKS

After taking so much photos, it’s time to get hungry and satisfy our coffee cravings because of cold temperature. Treasure mountain has a small restaurant which is open from 6 am to 9pm.

These are the rates of the food here. It’s quite pricey for silog meals but reasonable since we’re on top of a mountain. Coffee by the way is P20.00 per cup.

Another resto option that I haven’t tried is The Lounge at Treasure Mountain.

These are some of the dramatic photos I took

Thanks to my sister for assisting me for these shots taken during sunrise.

RATES SUMMARY base on Treasure Mountain fb page as of October 5, 2017:

Entrance Fee

Day(4am to 3pm): P150.00
Over- night(4pm to 1pm): P200.00

Overnight

Tent Pitching: P300.00
Tent Rental: P500.00 / tent for a capacity of 2 persons, P800.00 / tent for a capacity of 4 persons
Sleeping mat rental: P200.00
Room Lodging: P500.00 minimum of 2 persons and maximum of 5 guests. Sleeping mat inclusive.

Side-Trip

Bosay Falls : P500.00 for tour guide, maximum of 5 guests

Cars are welcome to go directly here but be warned that there are parts of the road that has still no pavement year. This will be on the driver’s discretion.

They have decent CR too. Quite muddy and dark but understandable since this is on top of a mountain.

Going back to Tanay Public Market is easy too. There’s a tricycle terminal just walking distance away from Treasure Mountain.

That’s all for now. I have a lot of videos here that I have not processed yet. Overall, this is a beautiful place for relaxation and mountainside photo-ops. It’s inexpensive and require no long travel time from Manila. The cons are late opening of Registration area and very slow-response in their fb page. My reservation for a room took about 4 days to be processed. But still, I will definitely come back here because I haven’t roamed the area. I have missed beautiful spots for more photo-ops. And I haven’t done the original plan of Astrophotography practice here.

For inquiries, here’s the link Treasure Mountain Fb Page.

Bye Beshies for now!

I’ll leave you with this GIF.

And this BTS photo taken by mother that I’m really fond of.

And a MORAL LESSON!

RAIN is not always a bad thing. After the rain, there will be rainbows. And also SEA of CLOUDS! (Wew that was deep -_- ….)

Kidding aside, if we gave up because of the heavy rain, we would have not seen this breathtaking view. That translate to real life as well. So don’t give up with life struggles. Always looks for detour to get what you want.