Not Liking Someone to the Verge of Homophobia

I love the gays. I have a lot of gay friends. And I love them. The thing is, same with girls and guys, I also choose which gay I get close to.

I'm an intovert. It might sound weird and funny and pathetic that I'm introverted, but I am... Comes with that is the fact that I sift through all the people I meet and choose who I really wanna be friends with.

Facebook is a problematic area for me. People who meet you and you interact with expect that after 5 conversations; or even 5 sentences directed to them -- that they can add you into their FB list. I've been cleaning up my contacts list time and again. Every office you work at, you're bound to add at least 20 people. At the end of the year -- or when I leave that office, I clean this up and just retain 20 - 50% of the people I added. The rest are just noise that I can probably remove from my life and go on and things won't change, no adverse effect.

You practically coerced me to friend you. So I did, if that's what it takes to keep you quiet. I don't wanna be reminded time and again that I haven't friended you yet; or worse, that your friend request to me is pending -- when the truth is I rejected it (BTW, I unfollowed you and hid your posts already, I'm actually contemplating unfriending you).

Being the introvert that I am, I am not always switched on. There's a bunch of people I switch on for. Unfortunately, you're not one of them. I don't like your humor. It is cheap and it degrades other people. There's prolly a bunch of people awed and amazed with how your humor is always at the expense of other people. Your witty retorts are not enough for my sarcasm. Your egocentric-narcissist-better-than-thou rants may be funny to about 70% of the human population, but I think I can come up with a quip funnier and more substantial than yours at half the time you conjured that last one up. I don't have time for small-talk, let alone leisurely okrayan, if you must. Aaaannnddd... I hate the music you play. It's so redundant, it's so comedy bar, so... trannytown, dragville. I have a lot of gay friends and they don't listen to stereotypical gay music, their brains are a little bigger perhaps than yours that they can listen to music that doesn't involve Whitney Houston or Dreamgirls.

Just to make this sting a little less, the problem is not you. I am a Type A, hedonist, narcissistic, no-nonsense, leftist, whiny, down-with-the-boys, anti-consumerism riot girl. And you are just about everything that annoys me. So please get out of my way as I have better things to do than to look at that flamboyant, know-it-all, right-wing, queen-supreme-wannabe, social climbing, poseur duckfaced mug of yours.

You're killing my zen. And around 10 other people's zen too.

Wedding Planning: The Reception Venue

Paco Park. The Park rental is around 8,000 for affairs from 6am to 6pm, and around 10,000 for affairs from 6pm to 6am.

Their office is at Rizal Park, along TM Kalaw cor. Taft Ave., Manila. It's a green building, it's called National Parks Development Committee/Council.

Their reservation books/calendar open every August. For example, for a wedding for December 2013, you can have it reserved as early as August 2012 (If you are like me who doesn't want to settle for a different date or venue just because someone else got the date/venue earlier than you). To reserve a date, you'll need to pay 20% of the total venue rental, the rest you can pay 1 month prior the wedding.

The person who will assist you is Ms. Cathy Guadalupe. You can reach her at 302-7079/408-7062, office hours is 8-12; 1-5.

Wedding Planning: The Caterer, the Mock up and the Menu

The caterer we chose is k by Cunanan (https://www.facebook.com/kbycunanancatering).
We had the mock up a few days ago. In the mock up, we finalized the food to be served, based on our food tasting. We also agreed on what needs to be done decor-wise. And of course, the costing.

Our final menu is:

Cocktail hour
Skewered cherry tomatoes, mozarella cubes and parsley
Hoisin chicken wrap
Smoked tanigue in crackers with horseradish

Beverage
Dalandan juice

***

Soup
Cheese and broccoli
Pumpkin soup

Salad
Insalata with stawberry vinegrette

Main course
Mixed seafood pasta
Red snapper with mango salsa and coconut sauce (for guests)
Honey nut prawns (for VIP(presedential+couple))
Barbecue beef ribs with pasley butter corn and baby potatoes
Chicken with leeks in teriyaki glaze
Carrot rice/steamed rice

Desserts
Lemon creme brulee
Mixed fruit compote
Mango panna cotta
Kiwi panna cotta
Picatostes de tsokolate
Strawberry and banana crepe

Beverage
Raspberry iced tea
Tarragon tea and brewed coffee

This is sort of what the table will look like:

Flower arrangements will be in blue hydrangeas, pink/peach roses and yellow chyrsanthemums on glass jars, bottles and logs.

The total package for 140 guests, 10 kids, and 6 crew meals cost us roughly PhP125,000.

Guest meals cost = PhP740
Kiddie and Crew meals = PhP350
Plus, there's a service charge and of course, the fucked up VAT

While the service might seem pricey for some, (we actually got the cheapest package from them) I say splurge on it since it is the only thing that the guests remembers, the food and the table setting. :) Plus, k by Cunanan doesn't just cater, they DESIGN the reception. From the flowers, the set up, the tables, the table numbers, the place cards, etc. They do it - IN STYLE!

If you're planning to take k by Cunanan as your caterer too, I suggest you make sure that Kar de Castro-Reyes deals with you. She's marvelous and so fierce! :) Kar's cellphone number is 09178199466. Their HQ is in Ayala Heights, QC (#15 Emilio Jacinto St., Ayala Heights).

Wedding Planning: The Engagement Photoshoot

This is a teaser coz I won't really show you all of the photos. They will be launched wedding day.

Save the Date :)

Location: UP Diliman Film Center
Photographers: Box Out Photo/Rein Jacela
Concept: by MOI

We got their Blue Box Package, it costs PhP25,000.

Inclusions: 2 professional photographers, 1 lights man, 1 guestbook, 1 wedding album (Plus, CINEMATIC photography skills).

Rein is a friend from TELUS, Box Out is a group he is with friends April and Louie. I KNOW Rein shoots good photos, so while getting MangoRed or JasonMagbanua is surely a dream, I don't wanna spend PhP100,000 for photos alone, when I know someone who can deliver the same effect minus the cost.

To contact Box Out, you may text April/Louie at 09228399183/09228225100.

Overdue on RH*

I said I don’t want to blog politics anymore. But I feel like this one is inevitable. I am merely speaking as a woman, an educated woman who cares for her body and the future of her soon-to-be-family, who is aware of the dangers of giving birth and how mothers die giving birth when it could’ve been avoided to start with, the peril of sexually transmitted diseases spreading, the degrading economic conditions and how poverty is at all time high. Yes you might judge me for my agnosticism, or my past and current political affiliations for my biases, and that I am a rebel without a cause bratting my way into this debate

I am not as articulate as I used to, I realized; I have not read 60-page readings on the subject at hand to back me up. However, I cannot quite create a coherent wordplay to express my disdain on the Catholic Church for spoon-feeding, if not brainwashing their followers into a state of sublime naïveté on the matter. Again, I am not an expert; I will not debate and challenge friars, fanatics and pompous asses. This is just my two cents, free-flowing.

The Bible did not fall from the heaven, inscribed by lightning, landed on earth to be our sole guide in everything. If anything, it is a history book, a literary piece, a constitution of sorts if you will; and just like any constitution, it may be subject to amendments once it’s proven to be untimely. Jesus, is anything, is an icon, a revolutionary. I am not an atheist, though. I do believe in some form of Higher Power or Supreme Being. But the dogma of Catholicism is too much. Believe me, I studied in a “Catholic School” and was even dubbed Best in Christian Living. But if there’s one thing that I understood well in the Old Book, it is that human beings have freewill and I am merely practicing it. That has been my principle. Freedom. Tolerance. Freewill. I am free to to know, to understand, to analyze, to challenge theories and create my own ones if I found those existing to be insufficient and incapable of satisfying all my questions. The world, the society we live in, the technology we posses exists because of people who ask, who challenge and are not satisfied with what is just being handed to them. I feel the deepest of contempt to the blind followers.

Sure, the natural family planning method worked back circa 15 AD to 1940s, when the earth still needed inhabitants. But now, people are fighting for the most basic resources to survive. I think earth doesn’t need more inhabitants, I’m definite we’re nearing the threshold of earth’s capacity population-wise. The people are suffering because of this: low quality education, high poverty rate, rotten health care and social welfare programs, mass hunger. Awareness is the key to responsibility. If the Church continues to instill the idea of ‘sex is taboo’, people will never learn.

Sex is good, it is primal. The result of which is an infant (Juno, 2007). But if the parents cannot provide a good life to the kid, if the parents cannot even provide nourishment to the baby because they have seven more that they also need to feed, if the children resort to begging in the streets, if the mother will have to die giving birth because of lack of options, leaving the father raising a kid by himself, if the children will have to literally fight for a chance to quality education and health care. Wouldn’t it be nicer if the couple had an option firsthand on how they’ll go about with their sexual affairs and were clear with the size of the family that they want? As such all the needs will be provided to these children. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about family, and that it should provide the children the proper building blocks of life, values and principles for the next generation who will inherit our country and our world.

The RH Bill is not about legalizing abortion. It must be seen and understood in it’s complexity, how it has the capacity to solve the grassroots problem that escalates into the economic crisis we’re experiencing. It is about giving better options, to provide better life that will produce better people that will create a better country and a better world.

I’ve heard this on the news, unsure of the verbatim, but in essence: Catholics are not to be bound by the RH Bill.

My reply: Filipinos are not bound by Catholicism neither. We are all only bound by our own decisions based on freewill.

But then again, that’s just me. An opinion, not an absolute truth. After all, no one controls the monopoly of truth… or wisdom. Unless you're a tyrannical fascist with the worst case of Megalomania.


* I wrote this last October 4, 2010.

Food Tasting: k by Cunanan

Headed to Ayala Heights (QC) with Mike, Mama, Mommy and Xavier for the food tasting and coordinating last August 26, 2011.

Kar Reyes from k by Cunanan entertained us when we did the reservation/ book last February at Megamall in a Bridal Fair. To be able to book your date, you must pay the reservation fee which is PhP10,000 :)I just emailed Kar to coordinate when the initial food tasting will be. A final mock up food tasting will take place about 3 or 2 months before the wedding, so we agreed to set it around November or December 2011.

The package we got from Cunanan is for PhP740 per head (+10% service charge and +12% VAT), which is roughly around  PhP135,000 for our 150 guestlist.

The package includes:

• 3 hors d' oeuvres
• 2 soup choices
• Salad
• Pasta
• Fish (seafood upgrade)
• Chicken
• Pork or beef
• Rice (carrot and steamed)
• 5 Desserts
• Bottomless raspberry iced tea

Plus, linens, dinnerware, silverware, glassware, tiffany chairs for ALL guests, cocktail tables for cocktail hour, floral and votive centerpieces for ALL tables, platform with backdrop and sofa for photo op with the couple, table numbers/names, place cards and menu cards for the presidential tables and bottle of wine for the toast.We opted out of the cake - as they charge extra 10k for it - and I know I can get a cheaper deal somewhere else.

For the rate we're paying I think it's pretty dope :) (Keep on reading, you'll see the outcome of our wedding in the end. And please do leave a comment)

Ayala Heights in QC

My mama and husband's mommy

Husband's nephew Xavier

I wasn't able to take a photo of the hors d'oeuvres. They sampled us with Crackers with smoked tanigue and horseradish. Weren't able to take a photo of the 2 soup samples - Brocolli and Cheese; and Roasted Corn.

Insalata caprese, orange, walnuts, strawberry vinaigrette

To see our final menu, click THIS link.

Honey Nut Prawns

If you wanna see how our reception ended up looking like, click HERE.

Japanese rolled chicken, cheese and leeks, teriyaki glaze

If you wanna see how the food looked like in our guests' plates, see it HERE.

Mixed seafood pasta, chopped fresh tomatoes, pesto drizzle

For our post-wedding mileage, click HERE.

Roast beef ribs, mashed potato cakes

To see pretty much anything Wedding related, click THIS.

Picatostes with tsokolate and Strawberry Panna Cotta

We were a little disappointed because we could've used more options with the menu, but they said these were their "best-sellers". We're thinking of requesting a different set of menu for the final mock up just to have a comparison.

But it was nice. Fine dining for 5 - free ;p


While the service might seem pricey for some, (we actually got the cheapest package from them) I say splurge on it since it is the only thing that the guests remembers, the food and the table setting. :) Plus, k by Cunanan doesn't just cater, they DESIGN the reception. From the flowers, the set up, the tables, the table numbers, the place cards, etc. They do it - IN STYLE!

If you're planning to take k by Cunanan as your caterer too, I suggest you make sure that Kar de Castro-Reyes deals with you. She's marvelous and so fierce! :) Kar's cellphone number is 09178199466. Their HQ is in Ayala Heights, QC (#15 Emilio Jacinto St., Ayala Heights).

BPY

 BPY. The shades that I like and will be used are boxed/ highlighted.

Blue 

Pink

Yellow

Writing

I am writing something. I'd probably publish this here in my blog as the "About Us" section. Right now, it's still in the works.

Coron Love

Straight from the company's team building activity in Nasugbu, headed straight to the NAIA Terminal 3 to catch a morning flight to Busuanga. Upon landing in Coron, was picked up by our shuttle c/o DIY Coron, dropped off our bags at the Coron Village Lodge and immediately headed to the pier.

Our island tour went through the Siete Pecados - snorkeling site; Kayangan Lake - a lake amidst an islet; Twin Lagoon - 2 lagoons connected through a little hole in the island rocks; Skeleton Wreck - a Japanese-era sunken ship wreck; and Banol Beach - white sand beach with still indigent residents.

The Siete Pecados is a great snorkel site with lots of corals and fishes. We ate our packed lunch in the boat before snorkeling. I enjoyed my time going around the island and got too tired. I didn't notice that I lost an earring though - probably when I was adjusting my snorkel mask.

Then went to another island and hiked uphill towards the Kayangan Lake. There was a spot atop the hill where the view is nice, you can see the pituresque islets and sea in Coron - a staple photo op-spot and a little cave nearby too. The lake is my favorite part of Coron,30% Saltwater and 70% Freshwater; the lake is so cool and so clear. It was fun going around the lake with my flippers on.

Then went back our boat and headed to the Twin Lagoon. If to describe it technically, the Twin Lagoon looks like a Venn Diagram with a Set A and B, and the intersection between the two sets is small hole in the rocks that gets submerged in water if it high tide already.

We then went to the Skeleton wreck, there weren't mich pictures of it though because the ship wreck scares the crap out of me. It's a massive, sunken ship that's submerged in the middle of the sea. Only the tip of the ship can be seen through snorkel masks, but scuba divers can go deep into the rest of the sunken ship. I am scared of the ship because I feel like it is way to deep and that it can somehow suck me inside the sunken ship - which is crazy because those sort of stuff happens only in the movies.

Last stop was the Banol Beach, there weren't people in the beach when we went there. The sand was so white and so fine. Native tribes of Coron called Tagbanua - if I'm not mistaken owns the island where Banol Beach is at. According to our boatmen, the government granted the island to the Tagbanua tribe, not to be sold to anyone or any company. There was a little store managed by the Tagbanuans within the beach, price of chips and sodaa was 200% of its normal city price. Because it is a monopoly and you can understand since that island was way far from the commercialized part of Coron.

Our tour coordinator, Judith, provided us with suman and orange soda for merienda.

Took a trike back to our lodge, bathed, walked around a bit in the nearby spots, then ended the night with Sinigang na Baboy, Sizzling Tuna and rice for dinner. Pineapple juice for Mike and Strawberry Daquiri for me.

***

4AM wake up call, and traveled 1 and half hours to Salvacion, Busuanga - Mike and I rode a Toyota Revo driven by Kuya Danny Toledo. We had our breakfast in homey lodge and resto in Salvacion. From there, it took another 30 minutes to get to the small deck where the boats going to Calauit are docked. The boatride was another 15 minutes. Came into the entrance of the Calauit Safari and registered, had a 5-minute ride in the safari truck to the actual safari.

At the safari, we came face to face with giraffes, zebras, deers, crocodiles, procupines, musangs, wild boars, monkeys and turtles. Our tourguide was an old man, if I remember correctly, his name was Boy Cruz - probably between his 50s to 60s, upon asking him, we learned that he actually is a resident of Pateros - a small town next to Taguig. We fed the giraffes and had photo-ops with everything that we saw there. The wild boar part wasn't too enjoyable because he stunk. Good thing we came there at the morning, when the animals are roaming a lot across the land. The tourguide said that it is their feeding time and they're out grazing at that time. The later batch of visitors won't be as satisfied as us though since the animals hide before noontime.

The Calauit safari is an island of some 300,00 hectares which Pres. Ferdinand Marcos allocated funds with to make a safari within the Philippines. The animals came from Africa. As per the safari staff, after People Power of 1986, the Aquino Government stopped funding for the safari and even held the staff's wages. Since then, the government hasn't given enough funding to the safari despite the fact that it has the potential to become an ultimate tourist destination. Upon speaking with the Safari caretakers, the provincial government take long before giving them their salaries - up to 4 months, our driver further ellaborated that the safari staff even go through meetings only with coffee, so he always bring them pan de sal on Monday mornings when the meetings take place. I really hope that I can do something about it though, because the Calauit Safari is closest thing that the Philippines has to an African safari.

We went back to the lodge in Salvacion to have our lunch of Inihaw na Pusit and Tinolang Manok. We drove about 45 minutes to Concepcion Falls and an hour and half to the Maquinit Hotsprings. The hotspring temperature was measured at 38 - 40 degrees Celsius. Despite the hot and humid weather, we still stopped by.

Went back to the lodge which is around 15 minutes from the hotspring, slept for a bit, had dinner at Kawayanan Grill near the lodge - where the Banana shake is heavenly, had Fish Fillet and Ginataang Pague (stingray),

We walked to the town plaza, where they had a tennis court and watched a bit. Got too tired, walked to our lodge then finally slept.

***

Woke up early and drank Milo only then went to the public market which is roughly about 10 minutes by trike from our lodge to buy dried fish pasalubongs, then to Coron Harvest to buy kasuy. Took a bath, then had our last breakfast the Coron Village Lodge resto where they served longganisa, danggit, omelette and garlic rice. The lodge resto was so cool, the owner probably was a big traveler, they've got souvenirs from all over the world.

Our shuttle picked us up and brought us back to the airport. Then went back home to Manila.

Receipts

From Nay-Yea

From Nay-Yea

Caterer down. Reception Venue to go. Geez. :)