Inviting You to be My International Blogger Friend (Please accept :D)

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are doing well! This year I would like to use internet and my blog to really connect into the world. I would love to travel to achieve that and as much as I wanted to, I have limited resources. But Internet is here so I had this idea to create International Blogger Friend Directory. The idea is to invite everyone in blogosphere and have at least one friend in each country so that means at least 195 blogger friends.

I want to diversify the blogs I follow. I am so curious to hear and learn more base on more personal perspective and not just on news/ wikis. I believe blogs reflects much of the writer’s soul and through this I am hoping to have meaningful interactions with people around the globe.

If you’re accepting my invitation, we could do at least one of the following:

  • Simply follow each other’s blog links and blog platforms.
  • Give me your three current favorite blog posts (own writing) and I would put my thoughts in the comment. Similarly, I would also send you my own fave blogs post in my blog and your would put your thoughts as well.
  • Do a blog collaboration (Suggestions below)
    • be my guest blogger
    • Exchange favorite book, tv series, movie , netflix and we’ll have an exchange of reviews.
    • Or we can read book or watch film we both never seen before and let’s have a review about it.
    • These are just my suggestions. We can talk and agree on topics šŸ˜‰
  • Send each other letters or postcards or stickers! (I would love to add this in my bullet journal)
  • Bond over music! Let’s sing a song as duet in Smule or WeSing.
  • Duet over Tiktok! Yes I have tiktok account (gurezu). It’s fun. It’s my guilty pleasure. Let’s duet!
  • Or others we can think of. We could even meet up and bond over coffee,books , movies etc if its possible.

I have actually forget this idea in a while but the invitation and list has been sitting around in my “About Me” page. Empty. Until one day, I received an email from Libera Tarts (https://liberatarts.com/) accepting my invitation. She is a British Filipino ESL teacher currently based in China. It took me awhile to think on what country I will list her. But decided to stick with the location where she is at the moment. At last the list is not empty anymore! By the way, we also agreed to have blog collaboration too. So excited that this is now rolling. Thanks Libera for accepting my invitation and listing me also in your list!

My list of countries as well as the International Blogger Friends Directory is on my About Me Page. The countries in the list are 195 starting from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. If you think I missed your county, let me know.

If you are already in the Philippines, I am also building another list which is ā€ BLOGGER FRIENDS PER PH REGIONā€ . I know most of circle here are in wordpress are in the Philippines. If I have more time, I’ll do inventory of my blogger friends so it won’t be empty anymore. ;D

But of course, you can build your own International Blogger Friends Directory too! Let’s help each other build our list! Who knows, at the end of this year we could have at least 195 blogger friends. The thought excites me.

I hope you take my invitation. Just let me know in the comments. Also if you are more active in Instagram or other blogging platforms, just let me know. This list would include bloggers in all platforms.

Have a good day! And remember that you are awesome. Don’t let others make you think otherwise!

Your Friend From the Philippines,

Gurezu ā¤

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Weekly Journal : Shutter Drag and Conspiracies

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.


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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 cameĀ  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.

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

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Photo below: Gerard Dangca

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Full album:

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

July 14, 2018. Saturday.

What transpired for today.

  1. 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
  1. 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 attendĀ  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.Ā  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”Ā  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 ofĀ  a Mass then worship then a practical talk. I’ll probably write more about it in the future.

How to Book a Luxury Bus (Joy Executive Coach Review)

We are not rich but sometimes its  not bad to indulge yourself  in a luxurious  lifestyle. It’s for the sake of new experience and excitement. That’s what we did when we traveled  from Manila to Baguio in our last family outing.  We booked a “Joy bus Executive” coach so somehow we could feel that VIP style kind of treatment on a long travel hours.

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First of all, this bus coach P750.00 each person (P720.00 + P30.00 booking fee). Ordinary Air-con bus like in Victory liner costs P455.00. Math says that by just adding P295.00, you can now experience this luxury bus. Is it worth it? A big resounding yes!

1. How to Book

a. Sign-up to https://iwantseats.com/. It is kind of straightforward so I would skip this one.

b. Once you already have an account, you can now book for the bus type you want. Log-in to https://iwantseats.com/ again. You will be welcomed with the following page.

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Fill-up the details then click “Show Trips” button. This will load the schedules in the right pane.

 

enterdeetsbook!

Now choose the schedule base on your liking. As you can see there are different kinds of bus types and prices. At that time, we chose EXECUTIVE2_2x1. We want it to be “PREMIER” but the available schedule for it are not convenient for that time. As you can see, PREMIER is the most expensive one. To what extent it is better from executive, we still don’t know.

Another thing, there is a type Executive(2X1 with CR) which is actually confusing since Executive2_2X1 also have CR. Regarding their difference, I haven’t explored that on the time I booked this.

c. This is where you will enter the name of the other passengers with you. Note that you will also be needing the right AGE of each passengers.

In my sample, I only booked for one so I’ll just press next.

 

 

Now you can  now choose where you will seat inside the bus.  First click your name then choose your desired position.

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Your name will appear in the desired seat box. I chose the seat beside the CR so that it would be easy for me to walk to it when I needed to. If you worry about the smell, worry not. There’s no hint of smell at all. Anyway we’ll deal more with that later.

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Click “Next” and you will be reviewing your itinerary. If everything is looking correct, just press NEXT.

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Terms And Condition. We aint got time for that. Just lie that you have read the terms and condition then proceed with the payment.

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Now it’s time to Pay. As you can see there are five mode of payments. We chose BDO.

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After payment, email the deposit slip to payments@iwantseats.com.ph. Actually the instruction is already in the payment instruction of the website. But just for the format of the email, you can use this as reference. Anyway its important you mention the Reservation No in the subject.

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Sample reply from Joy bus. At last, the booking is successful! The vouchers should be attached with this email.

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As you can see in their email and website, contact numbers are the ff.

T: 09951967436 / 09988686131
(during office Hours  9:30 am -7:00 pm)

THE DAY OF THE TRIP.

  1. Arrive 30 minutes earlier than your booked time. If not, they will mark you as late and will sell your slot to chance passengers. You’ll never like the hassle.
  2. All passengers MUST have valid id’s. EACH ONE of THEM!
  3. PRINT FORM of the vouchers.
  4. We actually booked from the PASAY branch that time. Location was through the alley beside MCDONALD and  MRT Edsa TAFT station. Search for the JOY Bus office. It’s easy to spot with their signage. Now you can submit the ID’s and vouchers for inspection. Then they will let you know once you can finally go inside the bus.

AND HERE IT IS!

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  1. Comfort Room: I think the distinctive feature of this bus is the CR. Since there’s already CR, expect that this bus will not have any stopover thus faster arrival time. However, you must ensure you have all the food and drinks you need along the way.

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I have to commend the CR. It might look small in the outside, but inside it has a sink, mirror, tissue  and soap. It also works like an airport CR. When you flush the toilet, it will open a black hole and all your waste will fall into oblivion. You won’t have to worry about faulty flush mechanism.

And like I said earlier, there’s no need to worry about smell.  It’s convenient to sit beside the CR because it difficult to walk when the bus is moving. Also, there would be  lights-out when you travel so it would be harder  when your seat is far away.

2. SEAT: Yes it’s comfy. Guaranteed. Plus, each seats has big spaces from the front and behind seats. So you can stretch and adjust the angle of your seat to your liking. If you’re lucky and no one was behind you, you can make it almost like a bed.

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3. Aside from that they provide blankets, Hansel cookies and mineral water.

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Just random pictures while the light is still on. We took-off around 1:30 am. The bus is not jampacked at that time.

 

This is the semi–darkness. Most of the trip, it will be all darkness so there’s no time for more pictures. And anyway, what you wanted to do is sleep anyway.

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I believe I took the photo of the bus but I couldn’t find it. So I just searched from Google. Here is what it looks like. (Photo from flickr)

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All in all, it was a pretty cool experience. Comfort is worth the price. I totally recommend it. Now I wonder what Premier bus looks like. I think the only complain I have is it took a long time before our valid ID’s were returned by the stewardess.  They must have validated our identities a lot.  But  this one is tolerable and quite subjective.

To this time I heard there’s a new bus to Bicol with bed racks. And the most intriguing is the bus with karaoke, kitchen and bedrooms. I have more things to looks forward to and try next time.

How about you? When was the last time you indulge yourself in a luxurious lifestyle?

Photos of the Day and Midnight Thoughts

 

(Ordinary Day at my house. Pasok po kayo. Nakakatamad lumabas e. Chill lang ako. Kape-kape)

* I feel bad that I was not able to blog for almost two weeks now. I was working on my write-up about my latest Mountain Climbing escapade but it’s impossible to finish it today. And I don’t know why that I felt like I really need to blog no matter what so here it is. I decided to have a photo of the day and midnight thoughts special in attempt to create spontaneity with this blog and hopefully finish the 30-Day Blog challenge. Which apparently I lost alreasy since I stop. But still, i want to revive a winning streak of another 10 days contious day blog. I hope this time I can make it.

-About the photos of the day, it was one of my cosplay shoots last year fron anime’ Butlers. I honestly don’t know the anime’ . I was there because I just love photoshoots and dressing up. So I’m happy to fill in characters for cosplay group photoshoots. We rented a luxury house somewhere in Alabang for this. If I retrieve the photos, I would love to write a full blog about this. Credits also to Photographer whose name I don’t remember anymore. (EDIT: I just notice the photo has watermark. Photographer’s name is Denise Daryl FloranteĀ )

-It’s March already. Imagine?!! Time flies really fast. It felt like it was just yesterday when we celebrated New Year. This really scares me.

How about you? What do you feel about the time passing? Do you feel anxious too like me?

Watch my Spoken Word Performance Entitled “Gusto kong Magmahal (I want to Love)” on YouTube

Tomorrow is February already! The Love Month! The Single-Awareness Month! OMG! Even the moon is red tonight.

So to welcome this month, I hereby share my spoken word “Gusto Kong Magmahal (I want to Love)” which I performed last year at DCUP cafe’.From the title itself, it’s about my yearning to love somebody in spite of the pain it would bring. Because who doesn’t want to love? Countless movies, poems, series, novels has been written about it and yet we never get tired of it. I believe that to love is the human’s innate highest goal.

Along with this I am sharing the manuscript of the poem for your reading pleasure. Let me know you thoughts after watching my performance. I hope you enjoy!

That’s it for the Day 4 of my 30-Day Blogging Marathon Challenge. See you tomorrow!