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. :)

Divisoria revisited... and a pre-Toycon 2014 post.

Busy Friday the 13th on my part. I don't believe that kind luck (before I used to) and I think it's just all in the head really, not the day so yeah, I guess we could just do away with all the belief of "malas". In fact, it might not be luck at all but rather how we react to things that happen I guess, especially if they're beyond our control.

Oh well, that's what I think of that. Anyways, after visiting my old school Marist. I went to dad's place and after staying there for a bit, we headed to Quiapo and Divisoria (again) to buy some things, such as trying to get me a school polo, or buy stuff for bikes that my dad has (one of them is mine actually). So yeah, we went to Quiapo first. We checked out some stuff, tried to check out a place that makes school uniforms, since I needed new ones, looked at DVDs and after that, we headed to Divisoria after walking to Sta. Cruz.

We took this jeep and we passed by this place near the Pasig River and near the once-famous Escolta street. Too bad I didn't have pics of that because it had a nice view of Intramuros, with the Manila Cathedral and Fort Santiago on the riverbanks. For some reason, the song "Mutya ng Pasig" was playing in my head. We came down in the middle of some place I had no idea about. I mean, it's a place I've never been to in Manila but dad told me it was the back of Divisoria. Oh well, we went and finally after getting through a few streets, finally, I saw a familiar sight thanks to a time I was there in Divisoria last October (although that was with ninang when we bought Christmas decors, among other things). Dunno exactly what it was but it was this destroyed building. From there we had to find a way to 168 Mall to get bike parts (and another Gundam for dad's collection). Good thing I was in my rubber shoes since the place was really muddy. :) Divisoria was like a labyrinth since it's so easy to get lost and we were again when we came to 168. Unlike the last time, where we came from Recto, we entered from another entrance (near the back of the Lucky Chinatown Mall. I had to look it up) and because of this, we got lost in that maze of shops :(. We were able to retrace our steps when we saw the toy store where my dad bought a Gundam last weekend and it was kinda easier all the way from there, except we had to find some parts from bike shops and one shop somewhere 'cuz it sold bike parts at cheaper prices daw. Add to this, it was almost the rush hour and my feet were killing me. I didn't like this experience and I was losing myself >_<. In the end, we didn't find this one shop and we bought parts from other shops (albeit at a higher price than what my dad wanted). It was tough to keep my composure back there but at least it was finally over. We parted ways at Recto and I went home by myself.
 
I guess with everything that happened, I should learn to keep my composure. It's tough really to have a calm mind especially in a place like Divisoria or when bad things happen, especially when the unexpected comes >_<. I mean, I went to Marikina just to accompany my tita to my old school then I went to dad's and we ended up on another trip to Divisoria. I guess this should be a learning experience for me. I don't wanna be negative so yeah...

A place I didn't know in in Manila

Back of Divisoria

Wonder what this was... I think it was a mall.

Rubber bands. I guess those are used to make those rubber bracelets I've been seeing.
edit: They're called loom bands pala... Now I wonder why they're popular...:/

Bags. What's with "Cars" and Lightning McQueen?

 

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongebob Squarepants!"

I have never watched Frozen.

Taken from a jeepney

While I was there, I took pics as you can all see and I thought that this should be a preparation for Toycon 2014. Since I mentioned that, I am attending Toycon 2014 at SM Megamall next weekend. I'd better keep my composure by then. Hopefully the weather would be good on those days and I'm thinking of ways on how thing's are gonna go...  I've already bought tickets for that event and I'll be going there with my brother. This will be the first time I'm going to an event like that with someone. But right now, I guess I have to live the moment first and once the day comes.... I'll see. :)

Visiting my old school

It's always good to go visit someplace you haven't been to in a while, especially if the place has a meaning to you, like for example, going somewhere you spent your childhood or a place where you had an unforgettable experience. Today, I had this privilege to visit the school where I spent my grade school years in: Marist School in Marikina. Reason why I went there was because I had to accompany a tita because she had this event at there. When we came, one of the guards recognized me (I guess he still remembers who I am after all the years I spent there). After accompanying her, I spent some time to go around the school grounds, remembering some moments I've had back then. Wow, a lot of things have changed since I got out of there and I couldn't help but notice them.

Where I spent my Grade school years...

It was a walk down the memory lane since I've had a lot of memories, both good and bad there from all the years I spent there as a grade school kid. Back in those days, while I did have some good moments, I remember times I got bullied back then. >_< Oh well, now that I'm older and all, I guess I have to learn from those days then and look forward to what's happening to me and live the moment. :) Even so, at least I've had some good moments and in a way back then, I was somewhat well known. :)

One of the buildings. Where I had my last year in grade school, Grade 6

Leading to the Grade school canteen and the gym and many classrooms. I remember times I walked in these halls.

St. Marcellin Champagnat. Founder of the Marist Brothers who administrate the school

Swimming pool. I was once a member of the school's varsity swimming team then.

New gym. Built after I left the place. One of the many new additions to the school.

Marist Oval. Where the our sportsfests and school fairs were held.

Taken from one of the school's highest points. One could see parts of QC from there.

Hope the students are living by these...

Marist School Chapel

Interior and sanctuary of the chapel. A very modern, artistic and beautiful church.

Stained Glass windows, Marist Chapel depicting scenes from the Old Testament

More windows depicting the Ascension and Pentecost

A snack bar located right in front of the school. Not sure if they still do this but I remembered them selling trading cards back in the day and I bought a lot of them. :)

After going around the school, I went to my dad's place but before going, I stopped first at Conception Parish, which was my parish church back when I was living in Marikina. Reason why I stopped there because I was told by dad to take a tricycle there from Marist. Although this was our parish, I went to a chapel nearer our place to attend Mass (though it was under this parish community then. Now it's under a newer parish community). After that, I walked a bit and took a jeep to dad's place. But I ate in a 7-11 before going to dad's. After staying in dad's place for a while, I left with him and we headed to Quaipo and Divisoria (again). Be posting on that tomorrow or some other time.

What used to be Concepcion Market is now replaced by a McDonald's.

Immaculate Conception Parish, Bayan-bayanan ave., Marikina. I gotta like the fact that it looks like an old church, though it isn't. It's also one of the most beautiful churches in Marikina.

"By Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the World"

Interior of Concepcion Church. It's been renovated many times and is under another one. Originally, the altar before was much simpler and featured the life sized crucifix in the previous photo before this golden sanctuary was added. I don't know when that was though.

Ave Maria

Luyong Restaurant, J.P. Rizal, Marikina. There's a nice goto place across it.

A jeepney I took a picture of. The Marikina and Rizal provice area has these really nice Jeepneys. Many far better than this one.

Seeing Eat Bulaga's Juan for All, All For Juan today =D

What could've been a rather hot, boring Summer afternoon became better because I was able to see Eat Bulaga's Juan for All, All for Juan up close and personal, not to mention seeing the "dabarkads" as well. Although it wasn't our barangay, still... :)

It was lunchtime and I tuned in on the TV to see the popular show "Eat Bulaga" and the show started with the "All for Juan, Juan for All" segment. For the unfamiliar, this segment features a barangay somewhere in the country which will be visited by the show's co-hosts Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola and Paolo Ballesteros (though sometimes other dabarkads substitute) and what they do is they give the residents of the place a chance to win instant prizes, such as cash and in addition, the segment also tries to instill a sense of "bayanihan" and discipline to the people and of course, give people an opportunity to be seen on TV. Personally, it's one of my fave segments of the show because the hosts' antics and jokes are funny, gives hope, teaches people (in a way) and it's an eye-opener too.

It just so happened that today, the lucky barangay was San Antonio, Quezon City which was just next to ours'. It was so near I just couldn't miss this opportunity to see this in person, so right after having lunch, I headed there and when I saw umbrellas in the distance, I knew that that was it, I even had to ask someone there if that's it. When I came, they were in the middle of their segment and there was Jose and Paolo (didn't see Wally then, though I did later). Many, if not some of the fans were screaming and cameras clicked. But moments later, technical problems started to happen on the set. I went around and captured scenes. Security was tight and it was a bit chaotic there. Whenever Jose, Wally or Paolo came out, the fans were trying to reach out to them, some were having fangirl moments and others took pictures of them. I left the place before they started their "sugod bahay" part.

Here are some photos I took.

Jose and Paolo.

Fan signs

Paolo Ballesteros and fans

Wally and Paolo.

Jose Manalo. (pic is blurred >_<)

The street where it pretty much took place

In the end, what I can I say? It was nice being there, despite problems and the heat. Congrats to their barangay for being the one visited for the day. Hopefully ours' or another one nearby can be visited sometime... :) (although, our barangay doesn't really need to be visited though, considering our residents' status ^_^,)

edit: I kinda decided on this... I thought about it and decided to lessen my watching of "Eat Bulaga". I have my reasons why. I might watch some parts of it or take a look at times. At least, I got to see some of the dabarkads. :D

Another edit: Uh.... Rather than lessen, I might as well, not watch EB because of personal reasons. I might come back to it, dunno but yeah. That said, I guess I'll turn to some other noontime show, then?