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Milk and Cheetos Diet

In a world where a lot of people are dying to lose weight, here I am dwelling in my quandary of how to gain weight. I think I've tried everything from vitamins, to weight gaining drinks, to working out at the gym. Still, the heaviest I've been is 115 pounds.

A few weeks a back, my friend Cheetah Girl (let's protect her identity) also vented out her weight problem, but hers was the opposite of mine. She has been gaining weight uncontrollably and the culprit is her diet of Cheetos and milk! According to her, she drinks 8 glasses of milk a day, and if I remember it right, she consumes 3 bags of Cheetos (the puffy variant, I think) a week. Hehehe!

I just had this crazy idea of trying this kind of diet out. Of course I would have to add these elements to my regular eating habit. I've started drinking milk and so far, so good! I feel good. But I'm afraid I am lactose intolerant. I'll try reaching the 8-glasses-a-day mark. So when do the Cheetos come in?

On second thought, maybe I should just spend more time working out.

Make-Up by Benelyn Javier

Last Saturday was supposed to be an out-of-town weekend with friends, but something came up the night before. Instead, I was reunited with a college friend, Benelyn (or Bene for short, or B for shorter), who is a budding make-up artist. She recently finished a cosmetology course and is now practicing her craft. 

She invited me to take photos of her work, and of her at work. Oh yes, it's another event photography. She's good! Despite the challenge of working in low light, she was able to pull it off!

Good job, Bene!

Here's a sample of her work:

If you need her services, I can give you her contact details.  :)

The rest of the set can be found here.

Bow,

Incredible Filipino Inmates

Filipinos really know how to amaze the world! 

I've already seen the video of Cebu inmates doing their own version of Jai Ho. And now they're back with a Michael Jackson tribute. I first saw the Thriller video on Steve Piacenza's Facebook and the We Are The World video on Alex Deve's blog. Apparently, both of them liked the videos.

It feels good to know that at times, people from other countries find Filipinos incredible.

Now, back to my Spanish homework.  Hehehehe!

Chris Tiu Meet-and-Greet

As a photography enthusiast, I am not really adept at covering events. I am more comfortable taking shots of still objects, capturing scenic views and doing portraiture. Ironically, I've been shooting quite a number of events lately from family affairs to feeding programs, and now, a basketball star's meet-and-greet.

Here it is, my friends. It's the Chris Tiu meet-and-greet-slash-one-day basketball clinic. Just a backgrounder, the winners of a Fanatxt promo were given the opportunity to meet Chris Tiu in person and he taught them basketball basics. Again, I would like to extend a big thank you to Frances for inviting me to do this.

I've learned a lot photography-wise. First, I learned to respect paparazzi and sports photographers even more! To begin with, it is a major workout to lug around camera equipment needed for the job. One of the lenses I used looked like it was ready to shoot ... to kill. Hehehehe! Plus, it is an extreme challenge to capture decent stills of fast moving people. I also found it difficult to take pictures because of the low-light condition. Honestly, I was expecting gym lights to be favorable, but it turns out they weren't. Since I'm not a professional, I had to experiment with the aperture and shutter speed to produce the right exposure. But in the end, I think I did more work with PhotoShop! Hahahaha!

What I really enjoyed about this is I got to feel what it's like to be one of the press. It's pretty cool! If I'm not mistaken, I was the only "professional-looking" person taking photos. The others were understandably video taping the event. I was the official photographer for the day, and it was a BIG responsibility. I hope I did it satisfactorily.

I know you didn't click on this page to read about my experience. You're just here for the pictures, right? Hehehe! So, let me just give you the rest of the set. But first, allow me to share my souvenir photo with Chris Tiu:

Click here here to view the complete set.

I might as well plug:

Bow,

Back to School ... Sort Of.

June marks the start of the academic year in the Philippines. And coincidentally, my Spanish classes will start this Thursday, June 25. I'm very excited for this. I've always wanted to learn languages and to start with Spanish in particular. In fact, about two years ago I went to Salamanca, Spain for cultural immersion and mainly to learn the language at Enforex. However, two weeks is just too short. But now, I'm just so happy to be able to pick up where I left off with my Spanish skills. I'm looking forward to the day when I will be able to converse fluently with other Spanish speakers and to read Spanish literature.

By the way, if you speak Spanish and you are willing to help me practice, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will highly appreciate it. It doesn't really matter where you are in the world. You may contact me through e-mail (contact@quingdom.com), Skype (quingdom), YM (cityporcupine), Facebook, Twitter (follow me!), oh well just check out the "other accounts" section on the left of this blog.  Hehehehe! Internet is fun!

Thank you.

Bow,

Time Flies

It's been more than a week since I last posted an entry! I just can't believe how time flies so fast. If you're wondering what keeps an unemployed blogger like from the blogosphere, you would have to blame The Sims 3! I can't enjoy it to the fullest, though. First, the game has a lot of bugs like the story progression that can't be turned off. And also, I need more RAM.

Just want to share that yesterday, I went to The Zone in Makati for a Fanatxt event. I was requested by one of my good friends, Frances, to take some pictures of a one-day basketball clinic with Chris Tiu. I was supposed to post the pictures, but it is just very unfortunate that the memory card got corrupted. Don't worry, I was able to transfer the pictures to Frances's computer (which we think made the card susceptible to virus). I'm just waiting for the CD copy.

In the meantime, let me share with you yet another video:

Amazing, aren't they?! I wish I can sing like that!

Bow,

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video

As I am struggling with setting up our router again, it's a good thing I come across sources of laughter every now and then. For this hilarious video, I got the link from a local celebrity's Twitter! Hahahaha! Guess who! Anyway, I didn't quite get the title at first. I was wondering why it's a "literal video." Got it when I finally saw the video! Hahaha! Your turn to have fun!

By the way, special shout out to Jessica: Maybe you can get ideas from this video in preparation for the singing contest. This is one of your killer songs, right? Hahahaha!

This Week's To-Do's

Good morning everyone!

They say things are more likely to materialize when put into writing. Since I'm trying to save on paper, I deem it appropriate to just post it here. It serves as an update for you guys, too!

Here are the things I'm hoping to accomplish this week:

Inquire about Spanish classes at Instituto Cervantes, Manila. This one I'm actually doing today. Right after I post this I'll have my coffee, breakfast and then I'm set to leave.

Do the Clean House. I know it's been more than two months since I planned to clean my room up and put everything in order. It really has to be done this week. Hopefully, I'll have a post this weekend.

Find things that seem to be lost. In the process of cleaning, I'm hoping to find some of my things that are seemingly lost. So sad.

Make a review of The Sims 3. It's nothing official. Just wanted to squeeze out some creative writing juice from this highly addictive game!

That's about it. Now, time for my coffee.

Bow,

Emily and Angelo's Birthday Celebration

Emily turned 9 and Angelo, 7. Both their birthdays on June 6! The double celebration was relatively simple. We wanted to try out a new restaurant and so we had lunch at Bagoong Club. Yummy Filipino food! For dessert, I recommend the pastillas de leche cheesecake.

After lunch, we went straight to Ark Avilon Zoo. I love animals! And I had a great time seeing them and "experiencing" them. Hehehehe!
 

See what I mean? Hehehehe! Sweet!
 

Fish-feeding frenzy!
 

Just me and a budgie!
 Oh, in the background that's my sister Ate Sheryl with her daughter Julia on the right; my brother-in-law Gerald and his son Antonio on the left.
 

Ark Avilon Zoo sells pets too! I want the ornamental chickens and the hedgehog! I was able to touch the hedgehog and it was like touching skin with protruding toothpicks! Yikes!

Afterwards, we brought the kids to Fun Ranch. I, together with my sisters and their husbands, was eating the whole time! Can't get enough of fries and hotdogs.

Looking at the pictures reminds me I have to get a haircut and I'm getting slimmer!

Happy Birthday, Emily and Angelo!

This is the only picture we have of them with the cake.

Bow,

Introducing, Shy and Bess.

Just want to share videos of my sister Ate Shy (guitar) and her friend Bess (vocals) performing some songs during their visit to Manila. They just left going back to the States yesterday morning.

Here they are singing "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts.

Playing a beautiful Tagalog praise song "Pinupuri."

Take care, Ate Shy and Bess!