16 December 2016

There Are Storms That We Cannot Weather

My Grandmom and I watched the production of Les Miserables in Solaire Theatre last April 2016. I kid you not when I tell you that during the 15-minute interval between the 2 Parts of the show, a refined-looking woman (her Chanel 2.55 was dangling from her shoulder while her Rolex-clad left wrist was pointing at me. I have quick eyes on strangers talking to me hahahaha just kidding, she just really looked so elegant that I couldn’t help but give her the once-over)  approached me and complimented me on the top that I was wearing. Lala and I were queuing in line at the loo when she just started conversing with me. She said that she would want to get her daughter the exact same top. I was so touched and grateful that not only did I give her the website from where she can order it but I also offered her personal delivery, provided that she lives in Metro Manila. I was very much touched because you see, I was wearing a top from my friend and I’s clothing brand, ARKIPELAGO (Nothing makes me happier these days than hearing positive comments about our clothes hehehehehe)
 photo FullSizeRender 7_zpsz7gz9cts.jpg photo FullSizeRender_zps4pbpksq5.jpg
Top: ARKIPELAGO / Pants and Heels: Zara / Coat: from Malaysia / Bag: Goyard / Watch: Tag Heuer
Regarding the musical, perhaps it’s because there’s already a movie to which I can readily compare the production with (although I know that they are 2 separate mediums so as such, they should be evaluated using different parameters yet still), that I did not like the production at all. I couldn’t feel anything from Fantine nor Eponine’s deaths. Not even Gavroche could make me sympathize with their plight. Then again, it could be because I normally respond better to the villains, to those who do the atrociousness, to those who unmercifully do what they need to do to get what they want. Between Jean Valjean and Javert, I’m more Team Javert. Don’t misunderstand me though. I’ve absolutely loved the movie version so it’s not the story that bored me. It’s the rendition. I hated it more than I hated Daisy of The Great Gatsby and that’s saying a lot.

 photo FullSizeRender 1_zpsegkysayj.jpg photo FullSizeRender 9_zpswaiimvf2.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 2_zps6oaatzj7.jpg photo FullSizeRender 5_zpszsf8m4za.jpg
Now on to more important matters: THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!! I’m so excited for all the things my family has planned for this year. I haven’t seen my younger brother Gio for a year now due to his internship in the US but it seems that I’m about to see him in a few days yahoo!! Why is it that whenever it’s Christmas, aside from the pounds that add on to my usual weight and the excitement that envelopes me, it’s also the time of the year when I start questioning if I’ve done things in the past year that have brought me closer to the grand future that I wish for myself. And I guess it’s been a universal Christmas theme in my blog to ask the same questions year after year, only in different methods. Like HERE or HERE or HERE.

 photo FullSizeRender 4_zpss3kn3axs.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 6_zpso2bhfzee.jpg

Nonetheless, the Holiday Season will always be my favorite season, no matter how good, bad, or worse, nondescript the year turned out to be. And make no mistake, crises brought on by my tendencies to embrace shallowness eclipse all other crises, existential ones included. Hahahaha

 photo FullSizeRender 8_zpsythfuily.jpg

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

30 November 2016

Late Night Shenanigans

It'll be December by tomorrow and I can't help but get giddy just by thinking of what this year's Most Wonderful Time of the Year has in store for me!! 
 photo FullSizeRender 12_zpsmkg7dapq.jpg
Blazer and shoes: H&M | Inner top: Topshop | Shorts: Zara | Gloves: from night market in HK | Bag: Michael Kors

My birthday wish for 2016 was all about starting new things and seeing more of the world. How lucky I've been to have both of my wishes come true! I've started ARKIPELAGO with one of my trusted friends Tatiana and I've gone on numerous trips for the past 11 months (and I'm still about to go somewhere this December for the Holiday), at least numerous enough with what my approved absences allowed. Speaking of which, this post is somehow a bit of both. Last February, I went to Hong Kong with my fellow simple girls Tatiana and Abby, and Tats' boyfriend Ron. We coincided this trip with Tats' birthday as well as the pre-launching of ARKIPELAGO.
 photo FullSizeRender 6_zpseckursat.jpg photo FullSizeRender 9_zpsyphzn2pk.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 17_zps3mmm1wjt.jpg photo FullSizeRender 15_zpspwlpee1r.jpg

For our 1st night in HK, we had dinner in Budaoweng Hotpot Cuisine. Then we proceeded to Lan Kwai Fong to get everyone in the mood that dictated the rest of how the trip went: chill and up for anything. I'm a very easy person to travel with, honest! We're all quite chill persons to travel with for that matter so we decided to call ourselves The Simple Girls. Cause you know, we don't require to be fed in fancy restaurants all the time. We get by with food from a decent place and we definitely wouldn't mind buying off from the 10HKD-per-shot lady who's selling it along the street in between the bars in Lan Kwai Fong. Just the same, we wouldn't mind receiving drinks from friends of friends who turn out to be the actual owners of one of said bars. Or we're up for it even if we'd have to buy for ourselves the 120HKD-per-shot tequila just because we can't wait for the friend/owner to arrive. See, we're chill and up for anything right!

 photo FullSizeRender 14_zps7cimwp74.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 10_zpsnc9uutyr.jpg photo FullSizeRender 4_zpstvavumoc.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender_zps5bzthm55.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 19_zpsbg8kqvs4.jpg photo FullSizeRender 18_zpsuc2paafn.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 5_zpsprs83apt.jpg photo FullSizeRender 20_zpsqcxuiyyz.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 11_zpsk45fhgdi.jpg photo FullSizeRender 2_zpsb3yuqnvk.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 16_zpsumryo2bo.jpg photo FullSizeRender 1_zpsfokvsixu.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 8_zpswbmueb65.jpg photo FullSizeRender 7_zpssiyobsat.jpg

I will post about the rest of my HK trip last February in a couple of months. And I promise that I won't leave the blog without any post in December so, later 'gator!

 photo FullSizeRender 3_zpsqqimzgvj.jpg

23 November 2016

Give the Devil His Due

I think that as the world keeps on progressing, so do the gray areas between 2 opposing straight-laced sides grow. It’s fascinating to see mankind accept that things are changing and that the interpretations of once-thought of as absolute truth are becoming relative. Of course, let’s not discount the power of determined traditionalists who refuse to embrace anything that’s different from what was observed centuries ago. I digress. See, I have always had a questionable sense of who to put my trust in. I’ve always rooted for the villain whose character has been so well-written that I understand his motivations. I especially like characters who’s facing a moral dilemma that’s beyond the concept of whether it’s good or bad. 

 photo FullSizeRender 12_zpscej72dub.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 1_zpswcnklxiv.jpg
 photo IMG_7806_zpsfnfi16ox.jpg
Dress: from Korea | Sandals: Gap | G-embellished Bag: Aranaz | Watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Last June, we stayed in Samkara Resort in Quezon province. The place was idyllically situated in the middle of rice fields where farmers and their Carabaos plough the lands to prepare them for planting. The nationalistic theme of the resort begins the moment you step into their restaurant and see flags, bolos, and KKK-insignias litter the pathways. Then there’s the ice-cold mountain-water  which filled their pools. Everything about the place just invited relaxation and promised a nurturing stay.

 photo FullSizeRender 11_zpswk3ayecp.jpg photo FullSizeRender 5_zpsx6t1kopj.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender_zpsxuhwtflr.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 2_zpstnrngqnt.jpg photo FullSizeRender_zpsbfi8gtsa.jpg

I am in the phase of obsessing about American TV series. If before I only watch when I have the time, now I make time to watch. I’m still in awe with Breaking Bad, Narcos, and Stranger Things but the real deal which paved way for my American TV series marathon has to be Lucifer. I watched the entire 1st season in just one weekend and  since then, I’m hooked! Let me begin my word vomit with: I love Neil Gaiman. I love his books and highly recommended them to my brother who’s slowly trying to find the joy in reading (he’s failing at it but regardless, he bought certain books upon my recommendation). Gaiman has a knack in transforming ‘childish’ horrors into adult nightmares and creating sensible yet mysterious characters who eventually inhabit the reader’s consciousness, that I was sure anything that he has penned is bound to be great (fine, sometimes it’s only “good”). From his brain sprung the now endearing Lucifer.

 photo FullSizeRender 6_zpspsqcx2gz.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 2_zpsjgarmjid.jpg photo FullSizeRender 10_zpstigjefvq.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 9_zpsaykcn5dx.jpg
 photo Untitled_zpsycg5gxae.jpg

See, I had to screencap this quote including the date from whence I found it just to say that the 1st time I came across it, my interest was piqued. Truly, the question that it posits reverberates and somehow demands an intuitive Christian answer. But don’t get me wrong. I’m not an evil worshipper nor would I ever be passionate for anything related to religion (or the destruction thereof). It’s just that, if we take out the Christian aspect of our prejudice and look at the question from a hypothetical non-extraordinary way, we will all become the greatest breathing hypocrites.

 photo FullSizeRender 1_zpsqnzcxmnb.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 13_zps7rcmj2em.jpg

Aside from Lucifer’s good looks, endearing charm, and unmatched wit, I think that the best part about the TV series from Fox is that it posits more sensible questions in which the answers are lying on the treacherous gray areas between right and wrong. I get it that there’s such concept as faith but sometimes, it’s no longer logical to just trust in someone else when there’s no any concrete proof that will lead us to trust him. And really, how will we know if we’re doing the right thing? Is this what we’re supposed to do? Is this part of the Grand Plan? And what if it is? Will there be a reward at the end of all? Will there even be a point? Whenever Lucifer faces a problem and his vulnerable side resurfaces, he often blurts out the same questions we all ask at one point. Is it truly so bad to try to know more about what we don’t know? Or to try to do things differently from what is expected?

 photo FullSizeRender 4_zpslcekyffg.jpg
 photo FullSizeRender 7_zpscvweh1c0.jpg

It's just fitting to leave posts that are unresolved just like that: open and can be picked up from at any time in the future.

09 October 2016

High School Forever

Oh would you look at that! It seems that I owe myself a couple of posts since I have pretty much been quiet here since 2016 began. Let me post two successive entries (the first is this and the next one will be in a couple of days!)

 photo 12507172_10153884755199241_2017332395695303115_n_zpsrvg7k5no.jpg
 photo 12417705_10207745552372357_1075496911466825376_n_zpsbia7pj62.jpg

I figured, I've left the blog untouched since my last birthday post so why not continue with another birthday post! These photos were taken last 16 January when I held an overnight celebration with some of my favorites from High School.

 photo 946145_10153884753084241_2217413134938456322_n_zpsp3n2wdh2.jpg photo b 1_zpssmjiiphg.jpg
 photo b 2_zps3yx53kmf.jpg

6 years after graduating from High School and everyone's still as indecisive, impulsive, ignorant, shallow, and boisterous as when we left the halls of our beloved High School Alma Mater.


 photo image2 1_zpssin4ckwu.jpg photo image1 1_zpsgicymjsr.jpg
 photo 1960043_10207745540492060_8102578331339524679_n_zpsunyxiqc1.jpg photo d_zpsgcaewjfd.jpg
 photo b_zps8g8uyvsr.jpg
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...