Puto Bumbong in September

One thing that I miss from Christmas is puto bumbong. The only chance I get to have some is during the ber months and of course, the holidays, since it is associated with the season along with queso de bola, hamon and others. For those who aren't familiar, it's a purple steamed rice cake, cooked in bamboo tubes and served with grated coconut. Today, I had a craving for that and, although Christmas is still months away, I know there was this stall in front of our church that is already selling it so I there to buy some for 25 pesos. The one I just had today was good as always, texture was nice, good deal for 25 pesos. :)  It's been a while since I've had one of these.

Wow, September's coming to a close... October's a promising month and hopefully, things will get better from here on out. Thanks for dropping by! :D

The Long Weekend

It's been a busy long weekend. As we know, last Thursday and yesterday were both holidays; Ninoy Aquino Day and National Heroes Day respectively. So yeah, it was a long weekend, meaning it was chance to have a break for some of us, although some of us too might've been busy with something, maybe like work or school. In this post, I'll be sharing about some of the stuff I've been doing in the last few days.

Thursday - August 21

Didn't really do much on Ninoy Aquino Day. Uneventful really. :(

Friday - Aug 22

Fridays this semester are no school days for me, since I have no classes scheduled for this day. Yet last Friday, I went to my school (UST) because I had to go to the general assembly of school organization. Other than that, nothing much, aside from homeworks and reading this long novel for one of my classes. Weird novel... :/

Saturday - Aug 23

Busier than the day before. I had to go back to UST to attend the general assembly of another org I joined (Yeah, I joined two orgs. I won't attend every activity though since I've got other things to do). In addition to that, before going to UST, I went to SM North EDSA to attend some event. Didn't finish the org GA, so I asked permission to leave after the dinner portion and I went back to SM North after going to UST. Of course, I still did my homeworks and was nearly done with them at that point.

Sunday - Aug 24

Much busier. By this time, I finished much of the bulk of my homeworks and did my readings. In the afternoon, I went to Marikina and had an overnight stay there with my dad. During my stay, me and him rode bikes all over Marikina during the night. Good experience plus we ate at this pansiteria (forgot the name, it's near the market area, but a bit off) for dinner. For something that's 90 pesos, the pansit was a great deal since it was 1) a big serving (it could feed 2-3 guys) and 2) it tasted good. :)

Just sharing some of my pics I took:

Sunset at Marikina

Taken at the pansiteria where me and dad had dinner during the ride.

Monday - Aug 25

Of all the days, this was the busiest day without a doubt. In the morning, me and dad had another bike ride all over Marikina which we finished by noon. Man, though ride. We rode by the river (which was really muddy. Bikes and my shoes were a mess. :( Good thing I wore my rubber shoes :) ), through the "bayan", took the bike lanes all over the city, headed to Marist (my old school) and from there went home, but not without having lunch first at this Pares house next to Concepcion church. Didn't bring my camera this time though unlike the night ride.

Later naman in the afternoon, I went to Tagaytay with my dad, ninang (Dad's side) and cousins. Of all the out of town trips I went to, this was one of the shortest ever, if not the shortest. We only went to the Pink Sister's Convent and had dinner at this restaurant that had a great view of Taal volcano and the province of Batangas. While it was short, it was fun. :) I'll be focusing more on this in another post so look out for that.

Pink Sister's Convent, Tagaytay

Taal lake and Taal volcano

And today, classes were suspended in UST, adding another day to the 5-day long weekend. Oh well, more time to do my homeworks and/or other stuff. :) All in all, enjoyable except for a few mishaps that happened. :)

And man, September's upon us again. :)  It's almost the start of the ber months. :)

Rak of Aegis - Review

Warning: Some spoilers ahead!

The ticket

Yeah, you read the title right, it's not "Rock of Ages" (which I haven't even watched), but "Rak of Aegis", a musical play based on the songs of the popular Pinoy band Aegis. Something like "Mamma Mia" which used ABBA's songs (which I watched live during their world tour last 2012 at the CCP, though that's a different league altogether). Yesterday, I watched the play with my mom at the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Theatre, near E. Roudriguez, QC. Thought I was gonna go somewhere else when she told me we were going out on the day.

Anyways, there were people lining up when we came since the play was to start at about 3 PM. We got in the theater at 2:30, and while waiting, I looked at the nice stage which looked like an estero, complete with a canal that actually was filled with water. The theater overall was quite small, it could seat I think 300 people at the most and it wasn't very comfortable, despite air conditioning (especially compared to the CCP main theater or UST's med audi or the open-air quadrangle of my high school). The play didn't start exactly at 3:00 though.

The play overall was nice. Again, spoiler alert, I'll be telling some (not all) of what happened. Basically the story is about the situation at this baranggay and the main character, a young woman who wants to become an internet sensation to be popular and to support her family, who are having financial problems. It also dealt with the issue of flood in their baranggay, the setting of the play as well as business woes and family problems on the part of its residents. In addition to those, it also dealt with being positive in spite of the problems and how the residents, towards the end were able to rise up against the challenges that they faced through creativity to say one thing. I wont be telling about it in depth but that basically is the story of the play.

For me, on a deeper level, the story is a reflection of some social problems affecting our country, especially on the issue of flooding, and the issue of unemployment and family problems. Yet in spite of this, the characters tried to find something to make them positive in spite of those issues. In addition, it portrays the attitude of many people, aspiring for a better life and popularity, especially at these trying times. I could say, this is a Filipino play because it is timely and shows some aspects of thee society, plus it supports OPM. :)

Personally though, it was nice, everyone watching it was laughing a lot with all the jokes and the acting, and some of the lines that sounded like they came from some teleseryes, as well as some pick-up lines. Best part for me however, ike most of those watching I'm sure, was the singing. Just amazing, parang concert, even if I'm not a fan of Aegis, though I do know some of their songs. Maybe I should check out more of their songs.

Also, a thought came after the play, on the way home. I found it nice to watch this play this month of August, because as we know, it is the Buwan ng Wika, or the month dedicated to our national language. So it's nice (and IMO at least, appropriate)  to watch  Filipino play during the Buwan ng Wika. Man, almost halfway through the month already... :| Ber months na in a few weeks...

Overall score: 8/10. Story and choreography aren't the best, dialogue is ok, aesthetics (stage, props and costumes) were great, venue wasn't so good (compared especially to bigger venues) but the singing's awesome. :) It's like you're watching a concert if it was the singing alone.

Cast of the play

PETA Theater, Near E. Roudriguez.

Lunchtime at H Cuisine

It's nice to eat in a good restaurant once in a while, especially when it's a place that you haven't tried before. Today, me and my mom went to H Cuisine near Tomas Morato. Originally, I was to decide where we'd eat since we were gonna have lunch after first visiting Sta. Clara along Katipunan. Though I had some places in mind and thought of something along the way (like near where we'd be going), in the end, I never decided so mom suggested the place especially since it was featured (daw) on Kris TV and mom's been there before, but I haven't yet until now. So after visiting Sta. Clara, we went there. It was this small restaurant behind Shakey's Tomas Morato. Good thing the place wasn't full when we came. 

On to the food, we ordered their angus beef belly (their signature dish) and their taco salad, along with rice and iced tea. Wow, the food was good, especially the beef. No wonder why they call it awesome since the meat was flavorful and tender, quite rich. One of the best things I've eaten in a while. The salad was lovely as well. Overall, it was a great lunch and nice to try out something different this time around. After that, we headed to TriNoma to do some shopping :)

Facebook page of the restaurant

Taco Salad

The most awesome Abgus beef belly. Really good.

The restaurant. Next to it is Rub (the red and white building), a restaurant where I have eaten at before.

PS: I don't watch Kris TV.

Philippine ToyCon 2014

Before we get to Toycon 2014, lemme share first about what I've been experiencing in cosplay events:

Since the first cosplay / pop culture / fandom / hobbbyist event I've attended which was September last year, I've been attending them a lot lately. Somewhat weird, yeah but it's fun nonetheless. So far I've attended 7 of these kind of events. Here they are...

1. Best of Anime 2013 (Sept 15, 2013) - My first event which coincided with the Manila International Book Fair. Held at SMX - Mall of Asia
2. Cosplay Mania 2013 (Oct 5, 2013) - Sort of... I was there only for like 30 mins 'cuz I went to SMX-MOA after school and just wanted to check it out before I left the place. Plus it was nighttime.
3. Oh No Manga Octo-Con (Oct 20, 2013) - My first event at SM Megamall.
4. Christmas Toycon 2013 (Dec 15, 2013) - Again, sort of... I didn't get a ticket but I was with the cosplayers. My pics of the cosplayers here. First event I attended after I started blogging.
5. Ozine Fest: Anime Figure Special (Dec 29, 2013) - Similar scenario to the last one before this 'cuz I (again) didn't buy a ticket. I had posts on this but I deleted it... Last event of 2013
6. Otaku Expo (Jan 12, 2014) - First event for this year (here's my coverage of it)
7. and the last; Ozine Fest 2014 @ SMX-Mall of Asia (Apr 25, 2014) - My coverage of this event: main post / cosplay pics

Taken during the Manila International Bookfair - BOA convention. Sept 2013

And after attending all these events, I've gained some experience on attending these and I've learned some things, both good and bad, especially in the world of entertainment, fandom and pop culture. I also got to meet other people as well. So these events have been eye-openers for me. Of course, they're fun events yeah and a great place to go to if you want to pass the time. Admittedly things there can get too far (well, if you know what I mean) and that ain't good :(. They've also been times of the unexpected, since they've had things that I didn't see coming o_o. Tiring as well since they take a lot out me, especially Ozine Fest 2014 where my poor feet were hurt at the end of the day. I'd like to share this too; on my part once I get into the moment, I don't know when to stop and leave, since it seems like there's a lot more that I could've done. So the experience could seem bitin, but worth it in the end :D (usually if not always). Those said, I'm still going to these events, but I've got to take care of myself when I do... :/  Dapat happy, hope for the best at manalig sa Diyos :)

Anyways... on to my coverage of the 13th Philippine Toycon 2014.

Wow, probably of all the conventions that I have attended so far, ToyCon 2014 (Official name: The 13th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention) has got to be the most stressful one, yet it was a fun experience. Reason why it was is because this is the first time I went to a convention where I wasn't alone. I was accompanying my younger brother this time. He really wanted to go to one and finally, this would be his first. Last weekend, I bought tickets at SM North for the event and after that, it was really about waiting for this event. We went to day 3 of the convention because of our schedules.

Fast forward to the day 3 of the con and talk about bad timing. Earlier in the morning, I had a bad stomachache, possibly due to the buffet I had the night before where I went to attend the birthday of a lola. Good thing I took some medications which lessened it and made me feel better the whole day, so yeah it was short lived. :)

After going to church, I went home and immediately after having lunch, me and my brother went to SM Megamall to attend this event which I've been waiting for quite a while. It rained when we came to the place and my brother had lunch first and during that time, I went around a bit and saw some cosplayers. I thought of wanting to go to the chapel on the top floor as well (It was the chapel's feast day also), but I didn't and after my brother had lunch, we headed to the con, passing by the atrium where the church was. There were a lot of people on the top floor and once we got to the con, we were able to enter easily. It pays, I guess to get tickets early. I might try this again in the future. 

Goodness, once we got in, it was chaos (I dunno what else to describe it). It was quite a task to navigate the con, especially to avoid some stuff. My brother and I kept looking at the merchandise being sold. I took pictures and we went to the exhibit area. My brother wasn't interested in the place so yeah, we went out after like a few minutes there, after taking some pics. An unexpected thing that came up was that my brother wanted to take pictures during the con.

1st cosplay pic of the day.

Snack booths

 From the exhibit:

Cosplay group Justice PH. There were more members in this cosplay group. 2nd cosplay pic.

3rd cosplay pic of the day.

After that, my brother signed in to this gaming tournament (run by website Reimaru Files) and competed there, and while that was happening, I went all over the place. I also got to see renowned cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfao. This is the first time I've seen her in person and second time this year I've seen a celebrity (last ones being Jose, Wally and Paolo of Eat Bulaga). I kept checking that tournament out to see if my brother's there and when I came back there the last time, it was too late because he wasn't there as his round's finished and I didn't realize that and he went to the nearby snack booths. My bad then >_< After that, we retreated from the con at around 4 PM and went to Gong Cha to take a break and have milk tea. I had to make libre to him there.

One of the many cosplay groups

Naruto cosplay group. One of the many cosplay groups that day.

 The cosplayer with the scythe gave me a cosplay card. 
She told me she cosplayed as Undertaker Girl Version from Kuroshitsuji (thank you for informing me). Here's her Facebook page

Admittedly, these two had very impressive costumes

Busts

Nice artworks.

Cosplay queen Alodia Gosiengfao. This is the first time I have seen her personally and is the only pic I have of her. I may not be a fan but it's good naman to see a celebrity. :)

Then we went back to the con and we decided to split up. I gave him my watch to check the time and we agreed to meet at that place where he had the tournament at 6:30 PM (he can take care of himself and he's responsible enough). I dunno what he did but he said he played games but I went all over, taking pictures of the cosplayers and checked out merchandise. It seemed like there's a cosplayer for every 5 people that time and the crowd was huge like in any event of this kind, almost standing room only-like. From about 4:30-6PM, the crowd was already at it's peak.  Grabeh talaga mga trip nun, lalo na some of the cosplay groups. Oh well, at least happy naman, haha. :) (I guess...? :] ). But I'll also admit, kahit iilan lang sila, nakakainis minsan ang mga ibang trip >_< (no offense, really. Di ko na sasabihin ano yung mga yon :| ). Some of the cosplayers were familiar faces since I have seen them in past conventions. Something noticeable also was that there weren't much Attack on Titan cosplayers this time (Said that 'cuz I saw alot of them in past cons. I'm not a fan, I only saw bits of it but I'm aware of it). It gave me an opportunity to see parts of the Megamall's new wing as well. I went back to the designated place where I'd meet my brother and I had to call him and he said he was at the entrance. I had to call him a lot, almost like I was wasting my cellphone load. Oh well, at least we saw each other at the entrance and after that, we went around one more time before going to TriNoma to do some stuff and then go home.

Isa sa mga iba't ibang eksena sa con...

This is one of the best cosplayers during the con IMO

Another one of the best I've seen during the con

One good thing in cons is that you get to meet many different people. Iba iba ang mga pananaw, iba-iba ang mga trip, iba ang mga anong gimmick... Quoting Francis Magalona, it is a kaleidoscope world.

Again, like at past cons, the feeling in the end was kinda "bitin". I wanted to do more but it was satisfying in the end and actually, my brother wanted to go home earlier than I thought. If I went alone, I would've went home later than when we left. I should've kept my composure more too. Oh well, at least it's over and I gotta say really, the experience, although stressful, tough, and tiring was fun, worth it in the end and my brother did have fun too after attending his first con. It might be a while though before my brother would attend another con. Even if some incidents happened on our part and didn't go our way, things went well and we had a good time, which mattered. :)

It's kinda sad since I've read that this would be the last Toycon at Megamall, but good thing we were there, especially this is the first time I went to Toycon mismo. With the overall attendance, the many things to do there, the gimmicks and the experience, no wonder why it's called one of the biggest and longest running pop culture events in the country. :) 

Well, that ends another event. Hope to look forward to the next but let's just live the day and dapat laging happy! :D

"Di mo mapapansin ang oras ay tumatakbo

Di mararamdaman ang pagod ay maliligtan,

Tayo'y magsayawan, sumabay sa takbo ng tugtugan..." 

- excerpts from "Magsayawan" by VST & Company

PS: This is my first post on another laptop. It isn't mine like the last one I used but it's my mom's and she's letting me use it. It's kinda tough to use but better than nothing! (I guess... :P) And oh yeah, more photos to be uploaded in future posts so stay tuned. :)

edit: few edits were done to the post since it was posted