the perils of

Yesterday was Shiny Teeth and Me , a dental health seminar thing organized by my Super Thesis Group (AKA two thesis groups combined). The texts about the bomb threat didn't do much to alter our plans for that day, since our seminar was held in 15th Avenue School, somewhere near Gateway. Ehhh I'm too lazy to run through the details of what happened but here are a couple of pictures. Pancit malabon contributed a lot to my thesis (AKA it seems to really please the barangay workers) so I bought a bilao for the seminar.  Corn baby. Kindred spirit.  "What the hell is this stuff"  It's rare finding kids who aren't camera-shy.  She and the other boy (pictured above) were excitedly pointing at  some construction workers on cranes before I snapped this shot.  Straightening up after the event. The team.   For some reason, Anton wrote this on his hand and started showing it to peopl...

Last night I went to the launching of Manila Noir , an anthology of stories told against the backdrop of (yup you guessed it) a dark and sinister Metro Manila. The book is the result of a collaboration between various Filipino writers, the most easily recognized one probably being the likes of Lourd de Veyra. And it was edited by  the  Jessica Hagedorn. Jessica Hagedorn isn't one of my favorite authors of all time, but when I received word that she would be coming to Ateneo, I just had to be there to have my three-year-old copy of Gangster of Love signed. I had read the book to fulfill a requirement for Lit class under Max Pulan, and I loved it. It was all sorts of twisted and funny, and after reading it I was certain of one thing: Jessica Hagedorn is one weird chick. Anyway, at the end of the talk I was lucky enough to go home with a freshly-autographed old copy of  Gangster as well as a pre-autographed and newly bought Manila Noir. National Bookstore was selling c...

I don't really have anything to write about, but I just feel like I should say something because I don't want my most recent post to be about something that happened more than a month ago. So what's been happening in my life? Well, for starters... Leyte happened. I went on a five-day immersion with a bunch of other Health Sci batchmates. I don't really want to talk about what happened there. And I probably never will post online about it. So, yeah. Sorry. On a lighter note, Rap and I are now two years old. Well, two years and a month, to be exact. We celebrated at A Veneto Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant along Visayas Ave. It's a really fancy name for such a normal-looking store. The food was A+ though. We got some pizza and a sinfully cheesy lasagna, pictured above.  Delizioso! The pictures above were taken on a day where 140 farmers from Casiguran came to Ateneo for a forum or something. The night before, the organizers noticed that a few of...

Screw your fancy shmancy Boracay trips! For my summer vacation I went to Initao. That's right. Initao . Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. You're just not cool enough for this beach. Yes, this beach. See that shabby-looking tower over there? It holds up the other end of a zip line cord. You actually get to zipline right into the sea. (Tip: Don't wear slippers.) Speaking of slippers... Gigantic slippers randomly turn up on the shore. Now for some more pictures: Does your cozy Boracay resort sell SOUVINERs? Didn't think so. Okay. Enough about Initao. I bet you're drooling already, like my nephew Zac: And speaking of babies, here's my brother Jiggy: Now look at my awesome Various Branches. Now for some more Jiggy. And Caitlin. And a bunch of other stuff: (^ We didn't actually go on a Secret Adventure. We just stopped here for lunch. But I hear this is a nice place to zip line [I...

A few days ago, a friend told me that one of my favorite bands, Foster the People, would be dropping by SM North EDSA for a meet-and-greet. So after this morning's Epidemiology class I asked Rap, who also sort of liked the band, if he wanted to go. Thankfully he said yes. Because of traffic and parking concerns, we both didn't want him to drive all the way there. So we decided to take public transportation, i.e. take the LRT2 from Katipunan, get off at Cubao, and then take the MRT from Cuabo to North EDSA. I had only ever taken the MRT twice in my life, and from both experiences I knew that it wasn't a pleasant ride. The lines for getting tickets are long, and the people in the train are usually smelly. This afternoon, the ride wasn't such a pleasant experience either, and so I shall spare you the details. I'll tell you this though: I usually enjoy commuting. It lets me see a side of Manila I don't usually see. But when I got home after the day's trip, ...

I know I haven't been posting as often as I did when I was a freshman. I guess it's because I've actually made some friends now, and am less of a self-absorbed loser. (Yeah, right.) . . . Interesting Thing #1 SPONTANEOUS SHOOTING Last Wednesday, I tagged along with Vito, Diane, Rap, and Andy for an impromptu filming of a top-secret project (you'll know what it is soon). We had to wait until 6 at night to shoot, because we wanted some darkness. I brought my camera so that I could practice using it (I still haven't gotten the hang of it after a year). Here are some pictures (unedited because I'm too lazy). Rap with a Blizzard (and an ice cream sandwich for me). He looks so dangerous. Night classes JSEC at night A little part of Katipunan (taken from the back of Vito's pickup). A behind-the-scenes of the actual filming It was a pretty cool experience, even if the shoot ended a little early. I'm still a really bad phot...