Sunday, 20 January 2008

Manila Zoo

LOLZZORZZ. Zoo. Animals.
I'm home. *big grin* Pictures say a thousand words, and I'll let you, my dear reader, enjoy the animals I saw. Thanks Gayle for accompanying this little kid who likes animals.

Reptile Section









4 legged creatures






Them flying things










Around the zoo






And of course, some favorite shots.









That was one hell of a way to spend a day. =)
Jay is happy.

Jay~

Horse Ride + Samaritan

I've always been fascinated with the Philippine calesa, basically a small, horse-drawn carriage that operates in only certain places around the country. Last Friday, Gayle and I went to Gospel Church of Manila to attend a youth service, and fortunately enough, there was a man operating a horsie-ride to go there. It's quite a reasonably long ride, for 40 bucks. Plus it was way more comfortable than a side-car or a trike.





And on the way home, a nice thing happened.

Gayle uses the LRT, and I use the jeep home. On the way back, I was counting my exact money, 8 bucks, when I dropped 1 and I watched in horror as it rolled out of the jeep. Now I only have 7 bucks, and the minimum fare is 7.50. Now, talking to other people in the jeep makes people look at you like you're a criminal but I was desperate.. So I asked this girl next to me for a buck. Surprisingly, she gave me a coin. I felt so relieved when I paid. Now, she also said 'para' (means I wanna get off) at the same place that I go down at, and when I followed her down, people stared at me like I was gonna rob that girl. Anyway, I ran after her, and said "Miss, thanks for the coin".

When I see you again, unknown student, I will repay my debt. =)
Thanks for the coin.

Jay~

Thursday, 17 January 2008

B-Boy Returns

Well.. It's been almost 5 years since I stopped breakdancing. It's not that easy considering I hurt my back pretty badly one Monday in August, 2003. However, Nica and Aldz have been convincing me to try it out again, and just be more careful.. I guess I'll try to go back.. *smiles* Much thanks to Gayle and the Sirens for being supportive.. =)

Let's see.. This comeback started last week Tuesday, and I've gotten quite a lot of accomplishments. I have my shoulder stand still, one of my favorites. I've gotten the baby freeze pretty perfect so I kinda do the baby freeze to switch freeze, and Aldz is teaching me a baby freeze to switch freeze, to headstand, to Nike. The "to Nike" part is kinda hard.. =/ But I'll work on it. Headstand was learned in about 5 minutes. Thanks Nica. I still have very strong foundation moves like uprock, Brooklyn toprock, and floorwork (6 step is way easy).

What's the use of a comeback if I'm not gonna be doing anything new right? So I decided to pull myself together and go for gymnastics. The coach was a former Philippine Olympian (waaaaaayyy back) and he's a really good motivator. He knows about my injury, so we did lots of stretches and stuff. He was teaching handstands (perfect ones, not the 1 second stand + pose) and it was pretty cool. Holding it too long makes my cheeks all red and puffy though. =P The highlight of the day was when he taught back hands. A back hand is a back flip but your hands meet the floor first before your feet. It's hard I gotta say.. In the 2 hour session, I kinda learned it, but I still can't do it without a spotter. It's all fun though..

Thanks to Cha for going to the gymnastics class with me. =)
Thanks Dimples. =P

To-learn list by May, 2008:
Nike Pike
Switch Freeze to Headstand Invert
Windmills
Usher
Round-off
Backhand
Turtle Freeze
Air Chair

It's gonna be a long 5 months..

In the words of the British SAS..
Who Dares, Wins. That's a good motto.

Jay~

Tuesday, 15 January 2008

Pat's Debut

Patmig turned 18 last weekend, and as per Filipino tradition, she has a debut, a coming-of-age party for females here (if you can afford it and you are allowed to have one). Held at a really snazzy place - Cafe Ysabel - in Greenhills. Since Pat's in my ENGLCOM block last term, naturally enough, the ENGLCOM gang was there. *grins*

Theme was Gossip Girls: Glam. Poor guys (us males).


^ Clockwise from lower left: Ria, Me, Pat, Angela.


^ Janille and Danielle.


^ The girls with Pat.


^ The boys with Pat.


^ With the girls.


^ We're all from ENGLCOM.


^ With JJ and Janille.


^ We just had to do that.


^ The couple and I.


^ Yummy...


^ Make a wish!


^ Mirror cam-whores.


^ With Keisha and Janille.


^ With JJ.


^ With Christian and another dude. I don't know him actually.. =(


^ That's not very kind. =(


^ We all went home with one! =)

Happy Birthday Pat!

Jay~

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Schedule for 3rd Term SY 2007-2008

Wow.. What a hectic term this time out. Students have voted in favor of the 4-day school day, which means that on Fridays, there are no classes. Effectively a three day weekend. Sounds good..? Not quite. It just meant that now, our classes are crammed into four days only. It's grueling, as now, I have some classes ending 10 minutes before 6pm. It's crazy. Luckily for me, my subjects are pretty interesting this term.

English for Research
Philosophy
Physics
Personal Effectiveness
Spanish
Sociology
Theology


All pretty deep and geeky. It's kinda worrying that I'm not worrying about such worrisome subjects, but maybe that just means I'm geeky (and hopefully, deep too). No post about goal grades. As per Jason, I'll be working my butt off this term and try again for that ever-elusive Dean's List.

Blog post update:
When I got a 1.0 for Critical Thinking last term because I did not opt to buy out my grade, I talked to a classmate from that class and she told me that everyone else did. The grade she got? 4.0. That's almost perfect (or perfect).

Jason is annoyed. *grr*

Back on topic:
Looks like a good term. I'll probably gain weight too. It's a full academic load, and no sport. Boring Jay.

Jay~

Tuesday, 8 January 2008

07012008

Calendar starts: January 7, 2008.

When SCSM meets UHS.
When Street meets Jazz.

*big smile*

Jay~

Saturday, 5 January 2008

Shaina's Birthday Party

It's Shaina's birthday and we had a party for her at her place at United Nations Avenue. I came late, and after getting lost and getting picked up by Joyce and Michelle (thanks!), I was kinda forced to play Twister. I know I know.. I should not play it. But oh well, it's Shaina's birthday and apparently Twister's an entertaining game.. And I'm the entertainer.

Oh no.


^ Girlies in Joyce's car.


^ With Shaina and Evelyn.


^ With Aileen and Michelle.

Evil, evil Twister.







Faces of agony, torture, despair, and exhaustion.
(Not meant for ages 12 and below)








Ah then it was my turn. Oh no..






Ah the food was awesome.. *smiles*


^ Hand not included.


^ Thanks to Aileen for the two wonderful gift certificates for my favorite fast-food restaurant. That was super thoughtful of you!


^ LOL. Pick a finger please. =P

Well, I lost in Twister, so there was punishment. Either butt-spell Happy Birthday Shaina, or dance 'Crank That'. The choice is pretty obvious for me. *sigh* I get forced to dance AFTER Twister?? On video?? Hardly fair! But oh well, for fun's sake.



Happy birthday again Shaina!
Thanks Joyce, for picking me up with Michelle. LOL.
Thanks to Marshee for sending me home. =)

Jay~

Tuesday, 1 January 2008

Hi There Oh-Eight

Wow.. 2007 is gone. Dead and buried. So many things have happened in the past year. I've had so many memorable memories both in Malaysia and here in the Philippines. There are obviously more to come, but for this first post of 2008, so many memories need to be mentioned, in no particular order.

(The following format was used by Nikki in one of her posts. Hope you don't mind me copying it sis).

- Saturday afternoon practices for Sunday service, and we would all play ball afterwards, in the church court or in Boat Club.

- Long walks around Boat Club and the beach.

- Meeting you guys from Mondays to Thursdays and teaching you English, when you're all good but your parents all have so much faith in me.

- Making me dip my toes in the ocean when you know full well how uncomfortable I am with large bodies of water.

- Having you meet us in KLIA and the walks around Concorde Inn.

- Lunch excursions to 2020 (where we gorge on cheap food), Pujut 2 (best kolok mee ever), and Nagaliar (best nasi lemak hands down).

- Bringing you out on your birthday for a really crappy movie (I'm so sorry about that) and a really great conversation at Coffeebean.

- Graduating from Prime where I saw 8 generations of students graduate.

- All the sleep-overs where I would sleep on that pull-out bed under yours, and jamming in your room with nothing but your acoustic guitar and my voice which can only sing in G, D, and E. LOL.

- All the cheese omelets your mum made and contributed to my weight gain. *grins*

- Spending so much time at your house playing with the kids and getting stuffed with all the wonderful food you cook (how can I ever live without tasting your curry!) and with all the life lessons you impart on me in a matter-of-fact way.

- Going to the futsal center with all of you and checking if we brought enough money and seeing who has the latest boots.

- Going back to St. Co for one last time and taking a hell of a lot of pictures, which my friends here say makes it look like a resort school because of the many trees in the compound.

- MSN conversations with you, where you always make me laugh and get all sarcastic in a funny way. It really sucks you're in Australia.

- Having so many first with you here in Manila.

- Meeting you and asking to borrow your notes, and while waiting for the photocopy you tell me about your crew and asked if I'd like to meet them. Now I have you guys in Skittlez all because of that.

- Our laugh-trip adventures in your car where we just laugh with/at/because of each other, and I can never resist releasing venomous gas while the AC is on. *laughs*

- Deep conversations about life over a plateful of street food at my apartment with you.

- Going over your house and spending afternoons downloading materials for A-Levels.

- Your spaghetti (which I like) and your potato salad (oh God, not again). =P

- Watching DVDs in your pad and we'd all laugh at how scared two certain guys were at such not-scary scenes.

- Stressful four days of learning an entire choreography with all of you.

- Laughing as you had a hard time fitting all your 6'5 frame in my tiny bathroom. LOL.

- Looking in amazement as all of you dance insane choreography like it was nothing.. And still humble and accepting enough to take one such as me into the group.

- The first time you guys brought me to Warehouse 135 (where we never went again) and fell in love with Jaipur (which became our 2nd home).

- Gone with me to Harrison's where you managed to get my phone way cheaper from charming the sales guy. LOL.

- Going out with you guys for a night of fun when all of us were just brothers in DT, and have never met each other before.

- Sneaked me in your high school multiple times so that I can practice with your crew.

- Went to your house how many times for no better reason than to save your butt, because you never get scolded if you're with your friends, and that your dad has an awful memory about our escapades. *grins*

- Had fallouts and fights, but in the end we all still pulled through and delivered in Dagupan.

- All of you lining up the halls in Andrew Hall and SJ Walk saluting me and calling out 'Commander'. *blushes*

- Going to your house before A-Levels and cramming my head with facts about stuff that will probably not make me a millionaire.

- Racing around empty Miri roads in the Civic. We used to do it with your Mazda, until you lost the brakes while going down Tanjung Lobang and effectively ended our outings with that car. Ahaha..

- 11pm cravings which are solved by going out with you two to Pelita and getting some Penang kueh tiaw.

- Picking up your brother at 5pm, where we will spend the next hour cursing your Pajero for its broken AC, stuck windows, crunching gears, messy backseats, stinky seats, moving mirrors, and God knows what else is wrong with that clunker.

- Going to the Jazz Festival with all of you, and dancing the night away to some awesome music. I remember when you couldn't stop fawning over the sax player from the Cuban band. Hahaha.. And you took a picture of his butt.

- When you're not too busy, we would go out for breakfast at Grand Palace, or maybe dinner at Dynasty, Tanjung Seafood, or Taman Selera, where you would get allergies from eating too much butter prawns. *laughs*

- Our garage sale where we sold/gave away everything in preparation to move out. I miss that big bed I used to have.

- Crying my eyes out as I leave our baby with your friend, and probably never seeing her wag her tail again, or run around the back lawn chasing me and dirtying my clothes, or her barking when people walk at the back of the house. *sniffs* I miss you baby. I miss your annoying look at me when you don't want to go home just yet, but I need to go to school and you topple your water so that I will go back out and ruffle your thick creamy fur.

- Watching you look so busy in your desk, but in fact, pwning everyone in Zuma in the college, and I never got to beat your scores. *scoffs* I don't know how you can mark my Math and pwn me in Zuma at the same time.

- You laughing at me while I get all sweaty and scared (did I go pale?) when you wanted to ride the Ranger at Global Fun, and in the end it was me who enjoyed it, while you were screaming your butt off.

- In the ferris wheel with you, watching a lesbian couple make out. Darn. That was a little too much for me actually.

- You mean-ass buggers telling me 'baog' means 'busog'. Darn. So embarrassing!

- All of you laughing when you see the smile on my face when I see Jollibee. What's wrong with it??

- Going to Genting and freezing in the cable car while you two were hugging. Meh.


Ah.. 2007. Goodbye. I will miss you, but I have so many more things to look forward to! Hmm.. I should make resolutions. But that's for another day's post. =)

Cheers everyone. Happy New Year.

Jay~