* Starbucks Planner 2013

Here's my second entry for 2013 for my blog and it's another personal entry. I finally got my Starbucks Planner for 2013 with the help of my girlfriend. I can say that I'm not a coffee person but every time that Starbucks is starting the promo for the planner, I am starting to dropby at Starbucks to get some drinks and collect stickers for the planner. This is my 5th Starbucks planner and I do not want the streak to end. My planner is really important for me especially for schedules and 'to do's' with my personal and work task.

* Welcome 2013

Happy New Year!

Here is my first entry for 2013. I was really busy with my regular job and my job as a photographer with UAAP last year that is why I wasn't able to manage by blog regularly. One of my New Year's resolution is to update my blog with all of the photos and events that I covered and attended just like before. I can say that my 2012 was really different compared with the previous years, I focused with my UAAP job and time with my family and girlfriend.

This year is really something to look forward to. First is I wanted to thank God for all the blessings and guidance that was given to me and my loved ones and for our incoming baby of my girlfriend *soon to be my wife*. I'm really really excited because this is our first child and at the same time I'm nervous with the incoming responsibilities. I know everything will be fine and all we need is to be strong and guidance from God.

As mentioned, I'll continue updating my blog for this year and looking forward for 2013.

* GEMSPI Family Day - Star City

This is my first time attending our company's family day, I'm with the company for 4 years now and I always skip the previous ones. This time GEMSPI's family day was held at Star City and since 95% of Star City is airconditioned I've decided to go and another reason is I'm with my girlfriend's family.

We arrived at Star City around 10am, Star City is exclusive for GEMSPI's employee from 10am-2pm that' why we are early to avoid the line as well. It was a fun experience with my girlfriend's niece, we took photos, ate a lot and enjoyed the rides.

* 4th Call Center Olympics

It's my 3rd time to join the Inter Call Center Olympics playing basketball for the company where I work (GEMSPI) It's my first time to attend an opening and I can say it was fun. I was happy that my gf accompanied me and she took a few photos of our game. GE's Men's Volleyball and Men's Basketball won it's first game during the opening.

 

* Tagaytay

It's been 2 years since I've been to Tagaytay hmm as far as I can remember was during our Team Building at Leslie's. This time I'm with my girlfriend's family. Last time I've been in the Tagaytay Picnic Grove was way back the high school days and I can say there's a lot of changes, additions and improvements with the place including the famous zip line. It was a fun day because I haven't been to a family gathering for a long time where you hang out, sharing of stories and having lunch together.

* Thank you Lord

Most of my blogs are about events that I have attended and this time it going to be a personal one. I just wanted to blog this because this really made me happy, I'm taking photos since 2008 and get into sports photography 2009 with my Kit Lens nikkor 18-55mm after checking reviews online and talking to other photographer I told myself that I need a sports lens which is a 70-200mm f/2.8, since the Nikkor brand is expensive I've decided to get a third party lens which is a Sigma brand at almost half the price less. So far this is the lens that I am using for all of the fashion and sports events that I am attending and I can say I'm happy with it. I don't have a chance taking photos of basketball games especially UAAP because they are strict about it especially if you don't have an ID/media pass. A friend of mine invited me to watch and take photos of volleyball games for the Shakey's V-League games which was way back 2009 and ever since I became a fan of the sport which is Volleyball and also the players as well. I got positive feedbacks with the photos that I took for both indoor and beach volley for SVL and UAAP.

Recently a friend of mine who plays for the Ateneo WVT recommended me to his friend who works at ABS-CBN and luckily they liked my photos and asked me to apply for the sports photographer position for them which i did. Got my schedule for the interview and I got the job. I'm very very thankful because this is what I really wanted and I thank God for the blessings in life. See you guys at the UAAP 74 Volleyball games and Football games :)

* Moonstar88 UBE 2011 at Tomatokick

It's been 2 years since the last time since the Moonstar88 group meet up and early this month at the Moonstar88 facebook page we have decided to set a get together again at Tomatokick at Maginhawa St. in Quezon City. It was nice to see friends, food trip, booze and stories about gigs and more.

* Team Dinner at Italianni's ATC

It's my 2nd team building with my new team and I can say I did enjoy it again, Our boss has decided to have a buffet dinner at Italianni's Alabang Town Center. Food was great and everyone had fun.

* Starbucks Planner 2010

Finally I was able to get my Starbucks planner and claimed it last night December 29, 2010 at Starbucks Northgate Cyberzone, I picked the silver one because the brown one is not available anymore. I checked the planner and I liked it, what I don't like about this year is the planner doesn't have a pen/pencil.

Everytime the year ends I always make sure that I keep my Starbucks planner because it is also like a diary and it's nice to know and look back at the previous months and my activities during those days.

*Photo - Red is just the cover/box of the planner, Gray planner is inside :)

* GEMSPI 2010 Annual Town Hall at Marriott Hotel

It's my third time to attend the GEMSPI Annual Town Hall (Christmas Party) and this time I was asked to be one of the official photographers for the event.

The party was held at Marriott Hotel Manila near NAIA Terminal, registration starts 4pm and after the registration giveaways was given to employees. Photo booths are also available for employees who wanted to have souvenirs for the event.

The theme this year was "Latino Nights" to be honest I don't know who suggested that theme but the party is more on dancing. In the past parties there is the Fashion Walk off where selected employees from GE would walk off the stage but this year they removed it and replaced it with "Represent" which is a dance competition event per Portfolio. Another event is also the yearly GEMSPI Idol which is of course a singing contest and this year Sir Ricardo from the Spanish/OVN Portfolio got the votes after singing a very nice Frank Sinatra song.

Food was okay, Beef, Pasta, Fish, Chicken but what I liked is the desserts. The cheesecakes that was served during the party was awesome. Fast service was also provided by the waiters.

* Baguio Trip 2010

Since I do travel and enjoys it, I wanted to do it and experience it with my family. I'm already planning and thinking about this way back but because of our schedules and of course budget I wasn't able to do my plans. Finally I told myself that December (2010) would be the best month for us to go. Around November I already filed my vacation leave for our Baguio trip which is our first family bonding outside the Metro. We left Manila Thursday morning around 12:30am and arrived around 6am at Baguio riding a Victory Liner bus.

It was really cold when we arrive at Baguio and one of our concerns is the hotel reservation. Since it's morning we have decided to walk around and we saw this unique Barrio Fiesta with statues of known persons like former presidents (GMA, FVR and Cory) so we didn't waste our time and took photos there with the statues.

Former President GMA :)

Next was we visit Baguio Cathedral, we prayed for a while. We felt hungry and decided to have breakfast at Zola Cafe located at Session Road, food are great and I've noticed that there's a lot of people drinking beer during that time and they are all working in the nearby call centers. Food was great but it's a Smoking area so that's what's bothering, another good thing is Zola has free WIFI access as well. My Mom and my brother (next to me) stayed at Zola for a bit while me and my youngest brother looked for a hotel. Most of the hotels are full and would cost us 4k-5k for an overnight stay for the family so I decided to check the hotel where I stayed in during the last time I visited Baguio, the hotel's name is Belfrant I guess and it's near University of Baguio and is a little bit far from SM and tourist spots. The room are okay and cost for staying is around 2.3k which is not bad plus free breakfast, so I called my Mom and told her we could stay in that hotel so we went back to Zola picked our stuff and walked to the said hotel but on our way to Bellfrant we saw this hotel at Session Road named "Prime Hotel" and we have decided to check it out and it's better than the one that we found accessible, quality and price wise plus the view was awesome because Session Road can be viewed in the balcony of our room. Good thing about Prime Hotel is we can stay right away and not wait for the check in time which is usually 12nn - 2pm so we are able to rest for a few hours and sleep.

Our first spot for the day was "The Mansion" next was "Wright Park" where there's a lot of vendors of sweet Orange from Sagada.

Mansion

Wright Park

after Wright Park we went to Minesview Park and checked out the view, foods and pasalubongs. We are able to have a photo with a Saint Bernard dog and of course it's not free. I missed the "Inihaw na Pusit" that were sold in Minesview. Our day ended having dinner at SM Baguio and it was so cold during that time. We also checked the night market near our hotel where the items are very cheap.

Day 2 (12.17.10)

We woke up early in the morning and had our breakfast, I can say that the food in the hotel is not that good but anyways our first destination is the Lourdes Grotto. As always it was a very tiring to go up but the view is worth it.

Next stop was Burnham Park where I took photos and we rented a boat. There's a lot of people in park and ukay ukay as well. After the boat ride we went to SM Baguio to have lunch.

Next destination is PMA. We had a lot of photos here and a lot of walking, We saw the new Cadettes who are running around the academy, the old tanks, helicopters and jet planes as well. There's a lot of pine trees and the Academy was really big and it's open for the public.

PMA

Around 5pm we went back to the hotel to eat then rest. Woke up around 8pm and went to SM to shop then had dinner. SM is on sale so there's a lot of people then dropped by to Starbucks and I completed my stickers but didn't redeemed my planner during that time. Went back to the hotel and I took a long exposure shot in the balcony of our hotel room which is the famous road in Baguio "Session Road".

Session Road

Day 13 (12.18.10)

We wake up early because it's our last day in Baguio and we are going home after lunch. We went to the famous strawberry farm and bought some pasalubongs and of course strawberries. Got back in our hotel around 10:30 rest and fixed our stuff then checked out by 12 noon. We had lunch at Chowking then went to the Victory Liner terminal. We are able to ride the bus around 2:30pm and arrived in Cubao around 8pm.

* Team Anj Year End Party

It's already December and of course Christmas is all in the mind of everyone. Our team (at work) recently decided to do an early Christmas team party at our friend's house at BF Paranaque. It was celebrated early because our boss is going to India with other supervisors from the company. Everyone is assigned to bring food and mine was pork barbecue.

Another nice about the party is most of my team mates just like me is into Korean music (K-pop) so we agreed to buy this shirt at Giordano with "Annyeong Haseyo" printed in the front of the shirt.

The party was suppose to start by 8:30am because my boss is leaving by 12pm, some of my team mates had a shift before the party so most of them are still sleepless. When I arrived everyone is preparing the food and gifts for the monito/monita are already ready as well. The first activity was the exchange gift, my gift are blank DVD's and I'm glad my team mate liked it. I got a Paolo Coehelo book and I was happy about it. After the exchange gift is a dance performance by the girls in our group (Spice Girls) then of course eating the food and last would be the games and drinking session.

Everyone had fun and some left early because they still have work at night.

* Project Gain

After reaching my maximum weight of 158lbs last June (I was close to 160lbs) and thanks to Nitro-tech Hardcore, I got sick around July which is Pharyngitis and I had a hard time eating food and drinking liquid for a week and the result is weight loss. I also lost my appetite so I dropped down to 140lbs and that really sucks.

Recently I told myself that I have to gain weight again so just like what I did before I bought my favorite supplement which is Nitro-tech Hardcore and same flavor which is Chocolate, drink it 3x a day, getting enough sleep and rest, eating a lot and of course heavy workout in the gym. For 4 days I gained a solid 5 lbs and now I'm back to 146lbs. My program started Monday (11/22/2010) and I'm looking forward for more improvements in the weeks to come. Will be keeping you posted :)

* Arra Castro's Farewell Party

Vince, me, Arra, Robin and Mark

Arra Castro (FHM Girls Next Door/Model) invited us for a dinner at Shakey's E. Rodriguez in Quezon City for her farewell party, she's going to Wynn Hotel in Macau, China to work. She said she's going back probably next year so for sure her fans, friends and supporters would be missing her.

By the way Arra Castro is the winner of the FHM Girls Next Door 2007, she is also a commercial model and appeared in different ads and commercials. A very nice and friendly person, we met her at a car show event way back 2007 at SMX (Motolite booth), she also appeared in the pages of UNO magazine way back.

* Muay Thai [day 2]

After a month finally I was able to go back to the Muay Thai gym and train. It was a friday and also my off. My agenda for the day was to train (Muay Thai) and lift weights but I failed to do the weight lifting part because I got tired with the Muay Thai training.

I arrived arround 1pm at Strikers Muay Thai Gym (San Pedro, Laguna) and saw Ken (trainer) and also familiar practicioners. People in the gym are really nice and they do share their techniques and gave some tips about Muay Thai. Since I just had lunch I decided to rest first, after a few minutes a Hybrid Yawyan practicioner from Quezon City arrived and wanted learn some Muay Thai combos for his incoming match this December. What I did was just watch for the moment. Master Ray arrived and I just recently learned that he is a former member of the Philippine Team, National and International Muay Thai tournament winner and also fought in the URCC (1-1 record) and he is also a Pastor. He was a nice guy and motivates everyone who trains in the gym, he also teaches Muay Thai in different gym and Elorde Boxing gym in Starmall Alabang. After a few minutes a group arrived who also trains in the gym regularly, two kids around 15-17 years old will train on that day. They are Christians and they do have like a Martial Arts club in their church and they did train and do some sparring sessions.

Sparring sessions continued and I just watched because and took videos since I was just new with Muay Thai, for now just Jabs and Straight punch is all I know and I can't wait to learn more (elbows, kicks and knees). It's just a light sparring session using 30-50% of the fighter's strength. I was kinda nervous with this part because I know you will get hurt but according to Master Ray sparring sessions is the best way to overcome fear with fighting. Sparring sessions ended around 4pm and now it's my turn to train. First is the warm up ,jumping on the rubber tires, shadow boxing, punching bags and the one on one session with the trainer 3 rounds and 5 minutes each where we practice on combos and the basic fundamentals of jabs and straight punch. I can say it was not easy and I'm gasping for air, my arms are too tired that I can't raise them anymore. i was adviced to do shadow boxing at home and to run to improve my cardio.

It was a nice Muay Thai session and I learned a lot, I got my own hand wraps and now I'm planning to buy my own gloves and punching bag. Till next session :)

* 10-10-10 Happy Birthday :)

Another year has passed and now I'm a year older. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up and get older for me to be able to do some things that adults can only do and now looks like it's the opposite that I don't want to get older and stay at the age of 23-25 haha.

Anyways in the past year since my last birthday many things had happened. I matured as a person and learned from my past mistakes and now I'm a better person than before. I am very thankful to the Lord with all the blessings that I received and achievements that I had.

I was overwhelmed with the greetings that I got personally, through fone and specially online. I got 200+ wall post from my friends not only in the Philippines but around the world. It was nice the some of them are people who appreciates my photos. I just stayed at home during my birthday, it was sad because we wasn't able to go out (family) just like last year for some reasons, we just ordered pizza and pasta for dinner and I'm happy that my family enjoyed my treat. My brother attended the Run for Pasig 10.10.10 and gaved me this bracelet that would be given to you once you completed the track and it was really nice, my girlfriend sent me 2 voice message in my mobile which I consider one of the most precious gift that I received and something that I would keep and cherish. It was a sweet personal message for my birthday and a birthday song that she sang herself. I never expected those from her and it really made my day. I'm not used getting gifts anymore since I grew up because of financial difficulties before so when I started working, I'm the one who just buy a gift for myself.

For this year I do have a lot of goals to accomplish and I'll do myself to finish all of my goals. I'm really thankful for God for giving me another year and for all of the blessings, for making me a better and a stronger person. Looking forward for next year and hope it would be the same like this year a simple but happy birthday :)

* Muay Thai 101

It's been months that I am planning to try "Muay Thai" or the "Art of Eight Limbs", Eight limbs becauseof the usage punches, kicks, elbows and knees. This self defense originated from Thailand 400 eyars ago, some calls it Thai Boxing.

There is a Muay Thai gym near in our place and some of my friends in the gym have tried it as well and they said that it was not easy. I got curious and asked a friend of mine to also try it and he obliged. Meet Ken a Muay Thai practitioner for more than 2 years but he started with boxing then shifted to Muay Thai. He first taught us the proper stretchings. Next is the background and history of Muay Thai then we proceeded to the proper "Muay Thai Stance" and it's purpose, I can say that it's really not easy and hopefully I'll get used to it. Next we proceeded to the movements while in Muay Thai Stance (sidewards, forward and backwards) and finally we proceeded to the basic punches (jabs and straight), I thought that punching was just swinging your arms with full force, it looks very easy when your watching it in the UFC but really it's not. Sir Ken put hand wraps in our hands and we put some gloves. tried the jabs and straights in the punching bags. It was a fun experience but sincewe are newbies it felt awkward being watched by the other practitioners. Looking forward for the next session and hopefully looking forward to learn more and get better.

* Happy 60th Birthday Dad

It's been years since the last time I saw my dad. It was a short notice that he is going here in Manila with my step brother to celebrate his special day. So after work I went to Paco, Manila where our mini reunion and his birthday will be celebrated. I was happy to see my dad, my brother and my other relatives. Wishing you dad more good health and more blessings to come.

* Nitro-Tech Hardcore Pro Series

My Gold's gym card :)

Supplements I've used

A friend of mine suggested for me to try the latest Nitro-Tech product which is Nitro-Tech Hardcore Pro Series, I've tried Weider's Megamass 2000 and 4000 and also Met-RX Size Up but I can say this one worked for me. There's is a privilege in the office where we can enroll at Gold Gym with of course a big discount so me and some friends took advantage of it and at the same time I bought the product. I've heard good feedbacks from the web and from my friends. I bought mine at Cash and Carry mall 4lb for 3000 pesos and mall price is around 5k-6k. The taste is good (Chocolate Flavor) compare to Met-Rx Size Up and it melts easily, best to combine with milk. For my first 7 days I gained 5lbs and after 2 more weeks another 7lbs of course with heavy workout program, complete sleep, vitamins and I eat more compared before. The 4lbs has a free shirt as well that has a Muscle-Tech logo in front of the shirr size "L" and it's too big for me (for now). For one month use I gained 12lbs from 145lbs to 157lbs which is really not bad. Will definitely be using and recommending this product.

From 125lbs - 157lbs

For more infor about the product visit supplementkingdom.com

* When things get complicated :)

I just recently changed my relationship status at facebook from "Single" to "It's Complicated". Errr but facebook shows with my friends that I changed it to "In a relationship" and "It's Complicated" haha. I can say I am happy right now and it's funny after reading the comments of my friends :)