My writing org Samahang Layb just had its orientation last Wednesday. My classes for that day usually end at 7PM so as usual, I figured I'd be late. Thankfully though, Diane was also running late so we hiked to the Main Lib together. We spotted two big groups and quickly dismissed both as other orgs. Since we moved our GA (meetings) to Wednesday, we've been sharing the Main Lib vicinity with around 2-5 orgs.

We were wrong, though, because we were greeted by one of the big groups. Apparently, we had more than 5 people as orientees! Sir Dumlao and Sir Om were both there, too. Sir Dumlao brought one of his former students (now an instructor in the Philippine High School for the Arts) and Shaunnah (an orgmate) brought a lot of her batchmates.

That night's orientation probably had the most number of orientees ever since the world began. Kidding. Ever since our batch, anyway.

Looks like Layb is in good hands! ;~;

Will post pictures soon!

Last Tuesday was FDCP's Weaving the Future finals night at the PAGCOR Grand Theater. I only got to attend because a friend, Ghen Alcantara, was one of the 10 finalists for the apparel division. We were all very excited when we heard that his entry made it to the finals! The contest was open to all aspiring designers nationwide, and you can only imagine the rigorous process of judging that his entry must have gone through. What made us even more excited were the press releases - there were a lot of articles on FDCP's ongoing event and most of them featured a bit on Ghen's entry.

The event started at around 7:30 (the invitation said 6PM) and we were quite thankful because since traffic was a bitch it took us longer to get there than we expected.

Anyway! All the entries were really good, also considering the fact that everything was made from indigenous materials. The accessories division came first, with 9 entries featuring quite innovative yet indigenous accessories. There were necklaces, bags and even shoes!

Click stylebible.ph's gallery for the entries in the accessories division.

After a while was the apparel division. Ghen's collection was among the first set to be presented and I'd say his presentation was fierce and engaging! His models wore sunnies and chewed gum spray cans on hand, with rock music playing in the background. It matched really well with his collection. =)

Here's stylebible.ph's gallery for the entries in the apparel division.

Before the winners were announced, FDCP presented Manila Wear together with Bench. The winners were Adante Leyesa and Roland Alzate for the accessories and apparel categories, respectively.

Check out The Philippine Star's article on the event

The event itself didn't take much time, though. We thought we'd be going home at 11. We were already done by 8:30. So, we figured it would be a good time to celebrate Ghen's successful participation. We didn't have any idea where to go since we're a bit underage to hang around PAGCOR so we just tagged along Wyre Underground's plans to party @ Bond.

I've never heard of the place, so I was a bit skeptical whether it was a good place to party or not, but we went nevertheless. We arrived a little early (10PM) and there weren't any people yet 'cause apparently the party starts at 12. So we hung around and smoked a little til we spotted a few celebrities among the people slowly flooding in. We saw Derek Ramsay, Fabio Ide, Jake Cuenca, Akihiro Sato and even some guys from the Philippine rugby team. Hot night turned hotter. (Still waiting for the pictures! Haha)

The school night didn't prevent us from going home at 3AM. That was no doubt the best night ever, and it wouldn't have been possible if not for Ghen. Thank you and congrats! =)


-o-
Here are a few other blogs on Weaving the Future:
Stylebible.ph
Rajo Laurel on Stylebible.ph Part 1 (Accessories)
Rajo Laurel on Stylebible.ph Part 2 (Apparel)

For four days and three nights, I was a only a tiara short of being a real princess while I was in Quezon, Quezon (AKA Isla Kim!). I was there for a writing camp by Samahang Layb called Gipawan 2011: Mga Tula at Kwentong-Bayan sa Puso ng Isla ng Alabat, spearheaded by our over-diligent org brod, Kim Sony (hence the Isla Kim coinage), with the Quezon Youth Volunteer Corps. =) If not for the super awesome, awesome people of Quezon, we wouldn’t have had the time of our lives during our stay. =)

Quezon-bound

Since the whole thing was supposed to start at 7 A.M. Thursday, we had to leave Los Baños at 8:30 A.M. the day before (Wednesday). Kim even got us picked up, complete with official drivers and all, courtesy of SK officials of Quezon! After more or less 4 hours, we arrived in Gumaca, Quezon where the port to the island of Alabat, Quezon was. We couldn’t help but spend a little because of the various thrift shops around the place. We met up with Kim and drove a little more to the pantalan and got on the boat to Quezon, Quezon.

I think I’m getting used to traveling by sea. This time was much cooler though ‘cause we got to spend the whole hour in the actual roof of the lantsa.


We played thinking games along the way, with Sir Dumlao teaching us the most interesting ones (The “Station” Game, something with Generals, and many more lol) which were more than enough to educate entertain us all.


Kim took us for a stroll around Quezon, Quezon, one of the three towns (Perez and Alabat) in the island of Alabat. My first impression of the place was that it seemed cozy and families looked very close-knit. Kim knew almost everyone who passed us by – as expected of Mr. Why not be a Mayor. I swear he would probably win if he runs for Mayor. Judging from the conversations we had with a few people in the neighborhood, Kim has achieved and done so much for the town of Quezon which explains his amazing popularity among the townsfolk.

We spent our first night (now why does that sound so sexual? lol) by the beach. Days before the trip Kim left us an impression that we were going to sleep IN THE SAND. Personally I was quite thankful because I wasn’t prepared for literally sleeping in the beach. Speaking of impressions, we were also under the impression that the beach house was just a few minutes away from Kim’s place, so we insisted on walking (Kim insisted on riding a tricycle) and it took us more or less an hour getting there.


Although our lack of better judgment wore us out, Kim’s mom’s cooking made everything a whole lot better. Imagine, Tita had to cook for more than a dozen people! That’s pretty amazing considering how delicious our food were. Thank you so much Tita Kim’s Mom. :) The food was really yummeh! :Q_


Ma’am Enette, the lovely principal of Quezon Central Institute, made us budin, an only-in-Quezon dessert made of Cassava with flan on top. It tasted like heaven, I swear.

Before completely forgetting the purpose of our visit, we talked about the schedule and agenda for the next day. I was nervous and excited because it’s been a while since I talked and taught something to an audience other than my age bracket. In school it was always either to instructors or to my classmates - which rarely happened, by the way. I hate reporting.

Anyway, I tried recalling my “adequate” teaching skills during my LTS1 and LTS2 days – AKA sophomore year (felt like a decade ago) – and realized that it was going to need more than an overnighter to build my confidence up. Oh man, why do I have to be this socially-challenged. I think my parents brought me well enough plus I have an awesome set of friends.. how does this happen when apparently I lack mingling skills?!

Anyway, everyone went for a dip that night and waited for the meteor shower that was supposedly going to happen at 12 midnight until 2 A.M. We saw a few falling stars and even saw the yellow-as-yolk moon rise! That was amazing. We happily dug our brains for the high tide and low tide conditions depending on the pull of the moon’s gravity.. or something. We couldn’t really figure out which answer was right, so we left it at that and went to bed.

Day 1: Hi, I’m your friendly facilitator ready to, er, facilitate things!


Thankfully, Day 1 didn’t cover my part of the lecture on Fiction (Maikling Kwento!) so my job for that day was to facilitate a small group discussion. Unfortunately, despite my attempt to perk up our intimate workshop, my groupmates simply lacked the interest to hop on the bandwagon of fun.

The first writing exercise was to come up with a character, preferably from their Basic Mass Integration (An activity that required the participants to interview residents of Quezon, Quezon. It was a springboard to help them write found stories) and other unique experiences in their respective locality. Everyone in my group had very interesting ideas but they weren’t used to sharing their work to everyone else and that was one wall I had trouble getting past.


After the unfortunate and futile attempts to liven things up, the day ended with my group still hesitant to volunteer their own work. A lot of good writers, though. Afterwards the Fiction group gathered round and came up with a better approach because, apparently, we all had the same obstacle of getting them to participate during the workshops. We decided to use ADIDS, the surefire formula we learned in LTS. Our dinner was at Kim’s Tita’s birthday celebration. There was karaoke and everything! We got invited for a couple of shots but we declined because we had to stay sober for the last activity of the day. Kuya was surprised that we declined the offer for drinks when some of us smoked. Well.


Instead of the original plan of a short swim near the pantalan with the kids, we tried to draw out stories from them instead. As usual, a lot of them were shy at first but they eventually got the hang of telling their own stories. Afterwards, we sent the kids to bed and then went night swimming. It was fun! Plus we got to hang out with the ever diligent volunteers.

Day 2: I got to write on the chalkboard!

D-Day. I was assigned to briefly lecture about Setting, Plot and Structure with Rose and Katê. I did not exceed expectations – I’m telling you, I was not born to be an instructor. This is why I chose to be a writing major! (I kid.)

The heat was nowhere close to encouraging. I wanted to bail, but even the lackluster demeanor of my audience told me to hang on and get on with it. I obviously survived thanks to Katê. I’d say a few brownie points to Cedrick and Patrick, too, for coming up with the most interesting ideas and enlivening our group discussions.


The other kids livened up a little not long after our well-prepared activities. ADIDS saves lives, I swear. They loved bulungan - where everyone gives everyone random answers to the questions who, what, when and where, and proceeds to ask everyone else with random questions (What makes the game outrageous is that the answers are totally unrelated to the questions) as well as the dugtungan game or continuing a scene, basically. It's amazing how kids can come up with really entertaining twists, haha.


Day 2 evening was really great, save for the part where we were supposed to hold the cultural night outside but it rained. Trust the weather to never cooperate! Dang you downpour, y u ruin our event?!


Unnecessary trolling aside, the Gipaw (it means a school of prancing fish, but in this case we use it to refer to the participants) from the poetry side were exceptional! They were really good. I’m honored to have encountered such talented kids! :’)

The event was ended by a lighting ceremony. Everyone involved formed a circle and thanked each and everyone’s participation. Some kids cried! I was moved because it must show how passionate they feel towards writing. :’)

Some of us wanted to celebrate after the cultural night but, of course, we’re not supposed to bring alcohol in the school. We hung out for a while and emptied some packs. When I got back after Kim Sony called me for a bit, the volunteers were sitting with Layb with alcohol on hand. I like those guys! They really know how to hang. We had good conversations with Pamee, Deon, Madam (I can’t remember his real name! Was it Kenneth?), Brian (I believe they called him Budoy, haha) and Ugto who was a bit shy. Kim Sony was busy printing out the certificates during that time and Kirt was helping him.

After a short session (no, it’s not what you think) we walked around the silent streets of Quezon in the wee hours of the night (actually it was around 2 in the morning) when Kim Sony and Pamee took us by the seawall. Quezon is probably the safest place on earth to take a stroll during the wee hours.

Day 3: We really wanted to stay =(

We had breakfast at the SK Chairman’s place. Thank you so much for being so welcoming and for letting Diane and I abuse our privilege! Their home was really very cozy! =)

While we were pondering our departure, Tita Kim’s Mom and Ma’am Enette asked if we wanted to stay. When we said that we couldn’t because we didn’t have enough clothes, they said they’d help us do our laundry! Such kind, lovely people. :’)

Eventually, we had to say our farewells. The participants from Alabat and Perez left ahead of us. “Keep writing,” advised the Ate’s (and a Kuya!) from Samahang Layb.

Oh and I almost forgot! We managed to recruit a sis in Quezon, hehe! Here’s our picture with him, with Kim’s Mom, Ma’am Enette and Krishna, Kim’s uber cute pamangkin:


Tita Kim’s Mom made niyubak especially for us! I hear it’s quite hard to make because it takes herculean effort to pound, haha. They also gave us suman made of bananas (Suman-saging? Or is it Saging na suman?) for pasalubong. Unfortunately the niyubak didn’t make it to Calamba, but my Mom enjoyed the Suman very much. Ma’am Enette also wanted to give us some Budin but it took time to get the ingredients. But it’s okay! Samahang Layb shall return. Thank you to everyone who treated us with overwhelming kindness during our stay! <3

Oh and we met a UPLB BACA graduate in Quezon (leftmost in picture below)! He majored in Theater. =) That was really cool, felt like meeting an old friend or smth haha!

Warning: When it comes to recollection entries, I like to write in excessive detail.


I went on a short field trip a few days ago for Basic Photography class. Initially it was supposed to be in Sagada (near Baguio, if I’m not mistaken) until most of the population in our lecture class voted for Puerto Galera instead. Although our Sagada plans got foiled (A friend of mine was already calling it a “business” trip, heh) off to Puerto Galera we went with high hopes and wary limbs. Mom warned me about the Mindoro open seas being shark-infested and how most deaths that occur Mindoro-bound are attributed to it, so you can only imagine how paranoid we were while on our way.

Chaperon-less

The class was told to assemble at 5 in the morning (oh, and did I mention that my friends and I went swimming the night before? It was my housemate’s birthday celebration from 10pm to 4am. Jeepneys were scarce during the wee hours on our way back to Los Baños, unfortunately. We didn’t have enough time to sleep or even eat breakfast. Thankfully, I had finished packing the day before so I didn’t forget anything even the last minute request for an old Nokia charger) and surprisingly, a lot of people came early. There were three vans in all: our professor arranged us coursemates to sit in the same van while he rode with DevCom peeps in the other van. Our van had McDo pancakes take-out for breakfast which we finished even before we crossed the Thank You, Come Again LB arch out of overwhelming excitement. Who wouldn’t be excited? We were on our way to Puerto Galera and we didn’t have a chaperone! Yay!

Everyone dozed off pretty quickly because not a soul in our van had proper sleep the night before: Kathy, Katê, Krish and I went swimming, no sleep; Rem didn’t sleep on purpose fearing he might miss the early assembly and the van, and for the rest, I’m quite certain that they had drinking sessions. It must have taken us an hour to get to Batangas Port (except I can’t really tell if there was heavy traffic because I slept the whole ride away) and probably 30 minutes ‘til we left for Puerto Galera in that big-ass bangka. I don’t really know what it’s called – Babet called it a </span>Lantsa.

Anyway, that lantsa’s capacity could probably take in 130-145 persons. While our group was boarding, this lady called out to one of the guys in charge of the boat and said, “Manong, 130 persons lang ‘to diba? Hindi ba sobra na tayo?” We could tell that she was getting paranoid because she even took pictures with her camera phone. Actually, we got a bit paranoid too especially when we saw a sticker that said that the boat shouldn’t take in more than 130. When the crew were fixing up for “departure”, they gave out life vests to random passengers. I didn’t get one. My paranoid level must have turned times three.

We tried to brush our worries off by enjoying the scenery (though the boat crew pulled the curtains down to keep us from getting drenched along the way) and as expected, everyone immediately whipped out their dSLR’s and clicked away.

We arrived in Puerto Galera after, I think, 2 hours? We were only three-fourths of our way there, though. We had to travel for half an hour to get to our assigned lodging. I forgot the place but I remember that they had a footprint logo similar to Hang Ten. Other than little things that went haywire, overall, the place was great. There were two three-floor buildings with three airconditioned rooms each, a billiard section, a pool and mini jacuzzis plus a mini bar and restaurant. Considering how much we paid for the whole trip I think renting the place must’ve been quite cheap and it was really worth it. They also have their own souvenir shop (AKA t-shirt store, heh) selling really cheap items.

Upon arrival, we settled in and were told to spend as much time as we want roaming the nearby cafeterias/restaurants. Our prof, a veteran in island where and where-nots (I’m thinking it must be his 100th time in Puerto Galera) led us to the by-the-shore bar and restos where most of the class ate their fill. The food was good and the serving worth every penny.

Afterwards off the class went to visit the other islands in Mindoro (I don’t know if those islands are still part of Puerto Galera though) aboard a smaller boat this time. Again, our group came last and without a chaperon (by this point instead of getting the hang of the freedom warmheartedly given to us we started to doubt if it was really a good thing) we roamed the glorious open sea. Our boat slowed down near an island after a while which left me wondering if this was where we were going to be left to die. Before total uneasiness kicked in, we decided to call our professor (who, by the way, was aboard another boat and was already half-naked and ready to dive in when we spotted their boat) and asked if he had any intention of letting us in on the agenda for that afternoon. Apparently we were going snorkeling, and despite some hesitation our whole group joined in. Everyone was advised to pair up, alight a separate bangka and snorkel around the nearby island. I had so much fun I didn’t even bother ranting about how tan I got or how scary the sea snakes were. That was my first time snorkeling and I didn’t know that the goggles magnified things that much the sea creatures appeared so near that everytime I saw a sea snake I wanted to jump back to our bangka. After snorkeling we talked to our bangkero for a bit - Kuya Joseph gave us pandesal to feed the fish while we talked. We asked if there were other activities that we could avail while we were there. Kuya Joseph said that we could visit the underwater caves among a lot of other activities (I forgot the rest haha) but apart from the pricey adventure we couldn’t divert from our class itinerary. So we joined our group again and headed back to our lodging.

The ride back was the scariest. The waves were so much bigger and it rained harder. Besides the excessive care for our cameras and other equipment, everyone in my group hoped and prayed that we make it alive because we still have to graduate! We promised the great gods of the sea that we will study our asses off if we make it out alive. Our driver assured us that nothing will happen despite the what-seems-to-be-life-threatening weather conditions in the open sea, and even teased us that his son (Yep, the guy brought his son along, probably around 8-10 years old) had more courage than all 11 of us combined. He was right, of course. His son just stood calmly while we covered our cameras, closed our eyes and prayed loudly. Fortunately, our group was the earliest to leave so we were the first to arrive at our next stop. We thankfully waited, almost kissing the island sand while we watched the other boats battle with huge waves in the sea. I swear, the waves were big enough to devour more than a dozen people!

We were supposed to swim and test the waters at that island but the previous experience simply left a bad impression. Except for photography purposes, of course. So almost three hours were spent simply photographing the outstanding scenery. Besides the infinity of the sea, a great view of the horizon and the idea of being in a unpopulated island were oddly calming. To think that we had to submit 62 shots for our lab exercises, that was a time well spent for relaxation. That definitely downplayed all the excitement – we had to remember that we went to that trip to shoot for our lab exercises. Everyone brought along their exercise sheets. Haha. School, always ruining the fun.

We headed back right after, immediately hitting the showers upon arrival. Saltwater didn’t feel so good after getting drenched so much in it. I took to Karen, Kathy, Katê and Jhanz’ room after showering and hung around (more like slept) til dinner time. We ate out, of course, because the menu in the lodging was simply too expensive. We assumed it was foreigner-priced (Earlier that day some souvenir vendors approached us, telling us that they were selling us stuff at a local price. Apparently prices go up if you’re a foreigner. Heh) so we ate at a cafeteria. Lutong bahay FTW!

That night we celebrated Babet’s birthday. We bought drinks and had some in our lodging because we wanted it to be more intimate between friends instead of eating out in the bar/restos by the beach. We had the place to ourselves (a really good drinking spot by the pool) because the rest of the class ate out. We had more rounds than expected and stayed up til 4 AM. At around 3 AM the others arrived tipsy and the sober ones ushered their friends to their respective rooms. Our prof who had just arrived from partying with them stayed by the pool while his roommates fixed their room. We invited him for some drinks but he sadly declined, lol. Another plan, foiled! We were kinda looking forward to seeing our prof get wasted. Haha!

We woke up really early the next day and explored the island via land this time. We visited two separate falls. One was by the highway and the other one was quite far – we had to cross seven rivers to get there. We had lunch near one of the falls. We enjoyed plenty of food (Inihaw na Liempo and Chicken!!) and took funny specimen shots.

I remember the other tourists smoking a weird brand of cigs that looked Thai to me. It smelled like Herbala, too. /end irrelevant sharing

Again, we headed back wet, but this time drenched in rain. Oh and we dropped by a bridge, panicked for a second while a percentage of the class scared the acrophobic ones and ended our pre-planned itinerary before sunset. Unfortunately after we had dinner at the beach (Poi dancers were great, but it would have been better if I got a decent shot no thanks to my non-reliable W30) our previous drinking spot had already been occupied so we gathered round the videoke a.k.a. the WiFi area. Because of the 11PM law regarding singing in videokes (if you didn’t know yet, there IS a LAW stating that videokes can only be used until 11PM) we played drinking games to amuse ourselves whilst the dull environment. Since few of our non-coursemates classmates were there, updating their Tumblrs and Facebooking, we got them to join us for a couple of shots. We wanted to bond with the rest of our class but social practice dictates that it would be more comfortable for everyone if we didn’t. So we enjoyed the rest of the night by ourselves, drinking it away with Aqua songs playing in the background.



We hate to leave but

It was our day of departure back to reality called our academic life, so we busied our morning by shooting the last of the sunrise in the open sea horizon and buying souvenirs for folks back home. Kathy and I remembered that we promised our housemate a bag from Puerto Galera so we bought a Starbucks-styled tote from the souvenir shop in our lodging. We also bought a couple of t-shirts (can’t not buy T-shirts!) with I <3 Puerto Galera prints.

After the lantsa ride back to Batangas Port, we waited for our van back to Los Baños. Our prof, who rode with the other van, left as soon as their van arrived and left our group behind waiting for our own van. We were the only group left and we stood there trying to amuse ourselves with category games. Our van finally arrived after an hour an a half and a few complaints to our prof. We wanted to drop by SM Lipa or some mall, but apparently we weren’t allowed to steer off the route to LB, so we ate at a gasoline station instead. I would’ve preferred eating goto instead of eating at Chowking all the freaking time, though.

We arrived in LB late Monday afternoon. If it were a regular week I would’ve stayed in my dorm room and slept til Tuesday morning, but since I had too much laundry and excessive baggage I had to go home. Ironically, Puerto Galera wore me out. Some time in my real room actually helped a bit.

After checking my memory card, I realized that of all my 500 shots the only usable ones were fewer than 30. That was extremely disappointing. To think that I didn’t get to enjoy the trip to the fullest because I had to consider the exercises and finding out that I didn’t take enough good shots was simply disheartening, lol.

Hopefully we visit Puerto Galera again, so I get to post more decent, fun pictures next time! Anyway if you wanna take a look at my shots during the trip you can visit my Tumblr. =)

-o-

I'm never hosting images in Multiply again. Why, multiply? Why must you put unnecessary watermarks?!