A Paskuhan Moment

I felt like I had to write about this. Its been days since the Paskuhan festivities in UST but it's time that I did write about this. 

Originally that day, I was gonna go home by myself, so when I left some friends that I've met, I texted a friend of mine from the Campus Ministry. She's actually quite old, a senior citizen but she's someone I grew close to at the ministry. So I texted her and as I was going near the gates at the Espana side of the campus, I got a text message from her saying that she was at the health service and that she could drop me at home by taxi. At first I was kinda embarassed about it but I went to the health service office. Much of the time at the Paskuhan celebrations, she was hanging out there since she knew some of the people there. I came and I met up with her. I found out that she lived somewhere in Manila and I live farther off in QC. Nonetheless, she didn't mind and took me home. At about that time, the festivities were over (actually, as I was leaving UST, I heard our school's hymn) and traffic was building up around the campus with the number of cars and people present. We arrived at my home past midnight.

I admit, nahiya nga ko sa offer niya. It was kinda embarassing and I even thought of giving money yet she insisted that I don't pay even part of it. It's know it's not wrong and I'm thankful to her for doing that to me that night. That was really kind and I should repay her one of these days. :)

Anyways... that's all and thanks for reading. Merry Christmas. :)

Making Changes

Before anything else, as we know, the Philippines was affected by Typhoon Ruby/Hagupit at this time more than a year after Yolanda/Haiyan. Many people had to go through the storms, especially in Visayas. It is good to pray for those who were affected by this calamity and whatever help we can give, let's give for them.

Now... After some time, I finally decided to change my blog's name. It will be known as "Mga Karanasan ng Isang Panganay" (Experiences of a First-born child), which is true since because not only am I blogging events already a part of my experience, I am the panganay between me and my brother. I won't post everything about my experiences though. I thought of another name before but I didn't go with it since someone already took it so it doesn't matter. I searched if there's blog with this name already, but since there's none, I may as well. :) So yeah, I'll be going under this name from now on... (unless of course I decide to change my name)

Now, with the name change, before you say anything, you'll notice in my previous posts that my pics have "ametromanilaguy.blogspot.com" on them. Don't worry about it, that's my old blog name. :)

Right now I'm enjoying my sembreak which will last until January next year, so I've got the holidays to enjoy. In the last few days though, in addition to the storm, I got under the weather with an irritated throat... Good thing that I'm getting better but because of everything, I wasn't able to go to the GMP in Intramuros last Sunday and wasn't able to go to church yesterday :(. Add to that, Paskuhan, which was supposed to be yesterday was moved to the 11th. Before the storm though, the last few weeks have been busy. Among them, my ninong who's been living in the US for a long time coming back here in our country with ninang and tita who went there and to Canada for a vacation.

Also, I'm now using a new laptop that my ninang got for me from the US. Getting used to it already, but I've got more to do with it and all. Thanks ninang. :)

Anyways, since it's the holiday's I've got a lot of things to do and want to do since this, for me and I'm sure many of us, is one of the busiest times of the year with many activities, like going to the mall or going around enjoying the Christmas ornaments all over. A week from now will be the start of the Simbang Gabi masses here in the Philippines and of course, once those are over, it's Christmas all over again. So yeah, pretty busy time. :)

And there, that's pretty much everything that I'll be saying. I've got a new blog name already but other than that, there's not much changes here, but that already major already. Time to start getting used to this change. Again, don't worry about seeing "ameteromanilaguy" since that used to be my blog's name until this moment. So that's all and thank you!:)

La Naval de Manila 2014 - The Procession

During the La Naval de Manila festivities, the highlight and finale of the event is the grand procession in the afternoon of the feast day. Here, thousands upon thousands of devotees accompany the miraculous image of Our Lady of  La Naval and many other saints as they go around the streets of Quezon City, remembering the miracles done by God through what we believe came from Mama Mary's help. Here devotees commemorate the miraculous victory of our forces against the far more powerful Dutch in the battles of 1646. It's called the "procession de las processiones" and, while it does not have the overwhelming factor as the Quiapo fiesta, or the extravagance of the Sinulog (which I've never been to, hehe) it has a more solemn and disciplined atmosphere. All roads lead to Sto. Domingo church, where it all takes place.

Ever since I've attended this event since my first one in 2007, it's become something of a tradition of mine every year to attend it and something I always look forward to, even if the feast is far off. This year's however was nerve wracking since it was raining hard in the afternoon and I left my place while it was still raining. I even had to go through a flood on the way to Sto. Domingo when I took a tricycle (since I took a jeep to Sienna and then rode a tricycle to Sto. Domingo). When I came to the church, it was still raining, but not as hard and by that time, the weather was going to clear up. That was about 4:30 and even by then, the procession hasn't began. It finally started at almost 5 when the image of San Lorenzo Ruiz came out of the church compound. As the procession went on, the rains stopped although it drizzled a bit when the image of Our Lady came out, but despite that, thankfully there were no more rains. It goes to show that there are miracles and blessings even in the midst of the storms. The image of Our Lady of La Naval was already out at around quarter to 6.

Processional

 Left: San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila   Right: Letran band accompanying San Vicente Liem de la Paz

Sta. Magdalena de Nagasaki, San Juan Macias and San Martin de Porres

 Left: Images of the saints   Right: San Vicente Ferrer

Sta. Catalina de Sena

San Pedro Martir

 Left: Sto. Domingo de Guzman  Right: St. Joseph, spouse of Mary

O Lumen ecclesiae...

Estandartes of the Mysteries of the Rosary which go before the image of Our  Lady of La Naval

Dominican friars

 Now, here's Our Lady of La Naval...

I followed the procession until it reached Banawe and from there, I headed to Quezon Ave. There, the first few carozzas were heading back to Sto. Domingo. It is at Quezon ave where one could see how big the crowd was. From there, I stayed mostly near the footbridge at Banawe and went around, while waiting for Our Lady. When Our Lady came, I followed until the image came back to Sto. Domingo Church.

Thousands attend along Quezon Ave. Taken at Banawe ave

Here comes Our Lady...

Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii, ora pro nobis...

La Gran Senora de Filipinas carrying her Son, Jesus...

Thousands of devotees fill Quezon ave for the procession

The Saints as they await for the Queen's return

Back at Sto. Domingo, the images of the saints already took their place to welcome Our Lady. Thousands of people also gathered at the church to welcome her. To prepare for the image's return, radio anchor Jun Banaag (aka: Dr. Love), one of the emcees led the people in shouting "Mabuhay, birhen ng La Naval!". When the image came, roars and cheers came from the massive crowd, cameras clicked and people waved towels. I headed inside the church through one of the side entrances. The huge church was beyond standing room only. The atmosphere was incredible. Where I was wasn't a great spot since I could only see a bit of the baldachino but at least, I can see the activities at the sanctuary and had the effort to take pics when Our Lady was enthroned. The Sto. Domingo Grand choir led the people in the singing with their angelic voices. Leading the crowd in the act of consecration was Boots Anson-Roa. After words of thanks from the shrine's rector and Dr. Love, the event closed with the singing of Our Lady's hymn, the Despedida a la Virgen (you can listen to it in Youtube here).

Our Lady of La Naval triumphantly enters the shrine...

Our Lady arrives amidst cheers

Mabuhay ang Birhen ng La Naval!

Our Lady being returned to the baldachino as the choir sings "O Beata Mater"

Our Lady enthroned once again. Viva la Virgen!

Bro. Jun Banaag emceeing the event

Boots Anson-Roa leads the act of consecration

After the Despedida and the celebrations.

Check out more of my photos here

And with that, La Naval de Manila 2014 is officially over. So many things have happened and thank you Lord and Mama Mary for all the blessings. Hopefully, at next year's feast, I'll be there again and again in the years to come. 'Till then...
Viva la Virgen! Salamat Maria! Praise to the Lord!

Madre amorosa, prenda de amor, Adios! Adios!

(last lines of the Despedida a la Virgen)

That Weird Feeling...

You know, there's that weird feeling that comes after attending something big. In my case, yesterday, I attended Cosplay Mania with my brother (gonna post about that eventually) and really it was a fun event, probably one of the best events of it's kind that I have attended (can't say if it's the best so far...).

Now, that the event's over, I have this strange feeling. I dunno how to describe it but all I can say is that it's weird. Something like tired, happy but at the same time sad. This is always my feeling after attending something as euphoric as yesterday. Even until today, I feel a bit tired, but that's gonna change as time passes by...

For some reason, it also felt surreal. No doubt events like that are out of the ordinary, since as they say, minsan lang to mangyari. I mean, the feeling is like; did that really happen? Nandun ba ko? Things like that, it felt like you were in a dream or something but oddly, you know that you were there. Kaya nga, out of the ordinary, eh. Of course, souvenirs and photos all the more prove that it did happen and that I was there. Now that things are back to normal (for now that is...), it just feels weird... :/ But it's not necessarily something negative. :)

It goes to show that life must go on... There are more things out there other than parties, concerts, conventions and all... :)

Kahapon sa SMX...

Going to MOA on a Rainy Night

Wow... Really was not expecting this kind of scenario...

Kanina, after attending a novena at UST, I went off to SM Mall of Asia for Cosplay Mania and to buy tickets for the next day. However, I noticed that it was raining hard outside the church and after the mass, the main entrance was flooded, making us take the exit from the seminary. It's been like this in the last few days. Us here in Metro Manila know, flash floods happened, submerging the streets and causing heavy traffic. As much as we don't want these things to happen, we can't do anything about it since they're beyond our control. Unfortunately, much of what happened to me really went out of hand.

Anyways, I took the LRT from Bambang to EDSA and on the way, I noticed that some streets were flooded. After getting off the station, it was again raining hard and all the jeeps were full, so I had to walk pa near Heritage Hotel before I finally got a jeepney to MOA. When I came to SMX, it was cold. My toes went numb (I was wearing slippers since my shoes got really wet DX). Even though I was at a cosplay event, this is perhaps the first time I went to an event like that and I'm not happy, since, well, after getting wet in the rain and all... I was able to get two tickets for the next day, one for myself and for my brother (Yeah, I'm not going here alone, like at Toycon). After buying and getting out of SMX, it was raining real hard, harder than when I came plus it was windy. Seemed like my feet could not take it anymore, being wet and all. The traffic on the way back to the LRT was horrible. The first few meters, it didn't move for what seemed like a long time. When I came back to the LRT, as if everything wasn't bad enough, it closes since I came back there past 9, after closing hours, leaving me no choice but to take the MRT instead. I thought that I can't take more of it, since I'm far from home, I'm wet and could get sick, I'm hungry and etc... After riding the MRT, from there on out, things got better since nothing really bad happened for there on... I finally got home past 10.

It was a terrible ordeal yeah, but at least I got home, finally... after all that... It was a lot worse than I thought.. :(

Well, from all this, we could learn that we should make better decisions (now that I think about it, maybe what I did was bad... but no use regretting) and sometimes when we face difficulties, we do not know what to do anymore, especially when things go haywire and get more difficult. And of course, we don't have control over everything.

Sometimes, in life, we often face situations like these or worse. Again, there will be moments that we cannot control. Sometimes, we may get annoyed or even offended by others, plans can get ruined and everything seems bleak. In times like these, we (myself included) often react negatively and it's difficult to be positive. For sure, these are difficult moments, yet in all these, it's best thing to do is know how to respond right, find a way if possible and have faith. Sometimes, though, we have to let go of something, especially when it's unimportant. For sure, I could learn from tonight's mishaps the most since I'm the one who went through them.

Manila International Book Fair 2014 - After the Storm

Part 2 of my post on the Manila International Book Fair 2014. Since a lot happened, I decided to divide my posts on the event. Check part one of my coverage here.

Now, on to the Manila International Book Fair 2014...

After checking out the Marian exhibit at the mall, I returned to SMX for the book fair. The number of books and people was overwhelming. The place was congested, siksikan talaga. The book fair covered the entire hall on the ground floor. There, you could see many books from different exhibitors, including two of the biggest bookstores in the country, National Bookstore and Fully Booked (they I think were the biggest exhibitors). Leading publishers in the country also came in. It's almost not an exaggeration to say that one could see books about almost everything under the sun. There's religious books, bibles, textbooks, theoretical books, comics, mangas, novels... name it, chances are it's there. Most of the time I've wandered around, taking pics, looking at some stores and going out of the hall and in again. There's also a stage area for performances at one of the far ends of the massive hall.

Go USTe! (^o^)/

Events stage

Lines build up

Selfies... the trend's still going strong...

One of the less congested areas

Crowd at around 3 PM. Pretty much the crowd was at it's peak from that time onwards

Good that people are reading...

Book signing outside the halls.

 Left: Book signings at the MIBF.  Right: Cosplayers among the people.

Books, books everywhere...

In addition to the MIBF, there was also the Best of Anime 2014, which happened in the upper floor. This was my first ever cosplay event because I attended last year's. This year though, I didn't attend and the tickets for that were at the hefty price of 300 pesos. Yes, that expensive. Though I wasn't there, I was able to see the cosplayers gracing this event (and the bookfair. Some cosplayers entered the book fair too). I had to take pics of them when they came down the escalator and when they stayed near the entrances of the book fair. Good to see them as always. They brought more color to the place with their costumes and their talent. Not only the cosplayers, even from downstairs outside the hall, I could hear the performances taking place at BOA. 

BOA upstairs. By the way, those without tickets to that can't go up due to some new policies for the events.

One booth that I went to often was the Komikon booth. The main reason why is that it has something to do with my thesis project. I made about two visits here, first, I canvassed and checked out some of their titles, especially those that could help me in my thesis, plus I talked about it with the guys in charge of the booth. After that, I left it to think about what to buy. When I returned, I checked out some of their titles again and bought a few of 'em. I even had them signed since one of the artists was there. Hopefully though, they could help me for my thesis project. Good luck to me on that. :)
Also, I've been going to the religious stores. I was thinking of buying something, but in the end, I didn't. I might buy something from those stores some other time at one of their branches (like at St. Pauls to say one place).

Aside from books, there were more attractions all over the place. At the REX bookstore, they featured the world's smallest book. There were also booths that featured gadgets and robots. The event was even attended by famous personalities, other than just authors. Two big names I saw were Marian Rivera and Juluis Babao.

The Bookfair was also an opportunity for me to meet up with my classmates. I was able to meet some of them. Good to see them there. :) During the event, I looked for  my other classmates that probably attended. I guess I didn't see 'em. :(

Around 4 PM I left SMX to have merienda somewhere but later on, I decided against it.

Here's some more pics:

@ the Komikon store

Robots on display. This booth was near the stage.

The smallest book in the world on display at the Rex store.

Marian Rivera's in this pic...

Religious sisters were a common sight at the book fair.

News anchor Julius Babao

At the religious stores. Note the standfie of Pope Francis.

I left SMX at about 6:30 PM. At a jeepney I took on the way to the LRT, SM MOA had a fireworks display. It was tough to see it from the jeep and only saw some parts of it. Nonetheless, it was good to see it as I was leaving the place.

In the end, it was a really tiring experience. Though tiring, it was undoubtedly a fun event after the storms and at least I was able to do some things I had to do. The experience was worth it, though there more things I could've done (...maybe). Next time though to avoid that feeling of wishing I could've done this or that, I gotta learn to make the best out of everything. It felt strange after the event's over. There's always that weird feeling that comes after a big event like the MIBF... :/
Also, I'd like to say that the event was a pre-bday celebration. Last Wednesday, I celebrated my Bday and I thank God for all the blessings that He has given me. I do hope that I will realize more of them and may He help me in everything that I do in the days and years to come. I also hope to be more responsible for my actions and be able to go through everything that I face in life.

And that's that. Thanks for checking! :D \(^o^)/