CBTL

Eighteen drinks and here you go, The Coffee Bean and Teal Leaf 2012 Giving Journal.

Though I am not an ardent tambay of coffee shops, and I don’t have a peculiar aptitude of finishing a 350mL drink with whip cream while consuming a pack of a Marlboro Lights for more than two hours, me and my wife decided to complete the stamp shit something to received this planner cum diary from CBTL. We will give it to Ziann, who is getting interested into Origami and other paper arts. Another thing, they said it’s for a good cause so what the fuck?

I Don’t

really give a fuck about superstitions so yesterday was just an ordinary one beside getting my salary and carrying a 25 kilo laundry bag that I claimed from the shop and took home by myself.

If your pay check’s delayed and you stepped on a horse shit after leaving the ATM in frustration; if you burnt your nose when your Fortune got stuck in your upper lip because of the positive and negative charges of your cigarette and your saliva; and if you dropped and broke your iPad 2 after showing off inside your building’s elevator and you woke up at 5:49 pm knowing you got married to an elemental…

All of those are mere coinciding circumstances that just intervened between today and the day before yesterday.

In other words, adversities in life are never dictated by a specific date so stop over-reacting.

—–

Saturday the 14th.

This is my first quick mobile post for 2012 using WordPress for Android.

Standing. Smoking. Outside our house.

Makati City – Pilipinas

Anib:One

I got a chance to attend the Adikularia Haven‘s first anniversary last November 19 at Visayas Avenue – Quezon City. With a hundred plus attendees, it was THE biggest gathering of Metro Manila’s exotic pet adiks (mostly on inverts). The P250 fee was inclusive of 2 Tarantula slings, 2 Scorpion slings (plus additional species upon entry), unlimited food and beer and a chance to meet and greet the other hobbyists around.

A lot of raffle prizes were given away including some common and rare invert slings and female species. I repeat, A LOT. It was sulit. (What’s sulit mama?).

The food, as far as I can remember: rice, puto pao, Caldereta, Sisig, pancit, Shanghai rolls, chicken barbeque, siomai, papaitan, tokwa’t baboy, grilled Bangus, embotido, papaitan, and a 50kg Lechon! (Believe it or not, a horde of hungry people WASN’T ENOUGH to finish everything on the table. Wow.)

But it’s not all about our beloved pets, two winners were also drawn for an on-the-spot free tattoo by Venom Ink and the famous Dyani Lao.

There was also an award ceremony for the three very prominent people in the hobby today who I truly respect.

Best New Member

Breeder of the Year

Adikularia Member of the Year

Before midnight, an auction was held and those who bought items for cheap prices must have gotten home with big smiles on their faces.

——

Some other photos

I left the place slightly drunk about 3AM the next day and stayed at Jake’s place.

Congratulations to the Adikularia Haven admins for a successful event! Hope to see you soon.

Viva!

——

Photos taken from Jake Fajardo and Mark Wesley Fresco

Into The Y Galaxy

I don’t want to sound like I ate my words about not being a “gadget person” on my previous post but since my mother and Cez’ phones were malfunctioning and became a snag in our everyday communication, I thought of replacing their busted gizmos.

That’s why I brought home three Samsung Galaxy Y last Saturday. The third one’s mine and my old Samsung Champ was handed over to Ziann. I know she’s too young to own a phone, but what the fuck?

Samsung Galaxy Y is just right for me. In Tagalog, it is sakto. For its price, it’s worth it. This entry-level smart phone is not cheap-looking and has a facile interface. Running in Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) operating system is enough to send SMS, make decent calls, browse a little and download cool applications from Samsung Apps and the Android Market without much trouble.

The battery life is long if the screen’s brightness is set to low and the use of  live wallpapers is minimal (or avoided). Download speed is normal (depending of your service provider) and it already has YouTube, Google (GTalk, Gmail, Google Search), and Facebook installed in it.

The screen’s sensitivity has improved (because I came from using Samsung Champ). 2MP camera is kinda disappointing for most human beings and there’s a bit of paucity in the editing functions and controls, even in the photo gallery. The video quality is good for home use and for just having fun. There’s Lumix anyway, and yes, I’ve heard of PhotoShop, so again, what the fuck?

Charger, headset, installer CD, manual and 2GB SD Card included in the box.

This is not a paid product review in any way.

——

Getting something that’s just right for me and making others benefit too is something priceless. If I were so selfish, I could have bought this or this and be satisfied alone. There was a plight and a need and I was just envious so I got a new phone too and that’s it.

The fact of making my mother and my wife happy (and my daughter too)  took me into a convivial galaxy that made me feel different. I know it’s not that much and it’s hard to explain it, but I kinda felt better. It’s indeed more than sakto to whole-heartedly give without asking for something in return.

What-To-Buy-List-For-2011

Since it’s the fourth quarter of the year, it is the season to buy something (or some things) pricey for myself. It’s the time of the year to make my

What-To-Buy-List-For-2011.

I am not a “gadget person” if you really know me but then I thought of buying an iPhone. Be it 3GS, 4, or 4S.

Why?

Last week, as I was dipping into some articles about the late Steve Jobs, I somehow came across with this shit.

A myriad of promising possibilities that I can do with it splashed in my head one by one. Imagine playing in a live gig using just a MIDI controller connected to an iPhone and getting the patches from Sample Tank. Wow. A minimal yet kick-ass set-up indeed. It’s my fuckin’ mug of beer.

It’s also convenient to have a sole contraption that I can use to make calls, send SMS, play games, and gig around. Oh, I also need a replacement for the late Korgy

(my Korg sound module) that I sold to the keyboardist of a local 90’s band last month.

I am not a fan of Apple products though my wife and daughter own and had owned some i merchandise and they love it.

Personally, when it comes to music player, I’d rather pick ANY Creative MP3 device than an iPod because the former sounds more digitally “natural” and not the other way around. If you know what I mean.

On the other hand, the edge of Apple, beside its excellent marketing approach, is its cool (and err… cute) Apps like these:

(Classic)

(Music Apps, anyone?)

And most of all, Apple continues to progress and revolutionize things to make our lives somehow easier. They create products that make us modern and unique.

I digressed.

Yesterday, I just found out that almost everyone around me’s getting an iPhone.

Well, if that’s the case, then why the fuck should I?

The chances of being in the office’s iClub is scary. And trust me, it will eventually become boring.

So then, in an instant, I adamantly dropped iPhone from my list.

I’ll just stick with my humble laptop and MIDI controller set-up. Yeah, I don’t need Sample Tank because I have a lot of awesome softsynths that I, beyond doubt, enjoy using. My Roland and Yamaha synthesizers are still on my rig and I still have my hardy Samsung phone.

Sometimes we just forget who we are and what we really want because of the impulse matters that we bump into everyday.

——

Boyetus: I don’t need an iPhone. I will buy another expensive Tarantula instead.

Officemate: Why?! Are you sure? You’ll just look at it and feed it. How can you be happy with an insect?

——

At the same time,  it’s hard for people to understand and deeply penetrate my passion. In a way, yeah, it’s nice to own some piece of technology that’s in right now and be impressed (and/or impress people) once or twice. But knowing myself, the fact of having a new eight-legged theraphosid will be more than enough to amuse me every time I’ll feed it, every time it will molt, and every time I will just simply stare at it.

So my What-To-Buy-List-For-2011 will include

1. This beautiful monster…

But in a more realistic manner, I might possibly have this:

HA! BUT IT STILL WON’T STOP ME FROM BUYING:

2. Something for our house.

3. Something to accompany No.2.

4. Something Android. iPhone my ass, bitches.

5. Something that’s more of a “Wish”:

This or this or this  or this from

——

Oh, God of Money, shower me with your grace.

Messed Up MIDI On The Floor

A few days ago, I tried connecting two synthesizers, a MIDI controller, a sound module to a laptop and a portable DVD player (what the…?). It didn’t make sense at all and the connections just ended up a mess.

But because of that, I came across with a beautiful idea of making a solo project using those gear. Now I’m writing songs and almost done finding guest musicians for it.  Isn’t it great?

Hoshokin moratta!

報奨金もらった！！！！！

Our Japanese client finally gave our team the reward that we earned for the first quarter of 2011. We achieved it by getting high percentage A Grade data and low percentage NG from January to March. The six of us received a lot of certificates and a lot of thousand Yen.

Making ringtones is still a serious business in a way. I hope we can nail it again this quarter. Thank you so much Xing!

Now I want a new bag and a Tarantula and a pair of sneakers and a Joey De Leon shirt.

Sariaya Quezon

A couple of weeks ago, me and my family (extensions and friends included) went to Sariaya Quezon for a weekend get away in a resort that my tito’s wife owns. I hope I got that right and yes, they have a site.

There are three things that I liked about the place:

1. The typical yet beautiful beach of fine and soft sand.

2. The cold and clear water with mild to moderate waves.

3. And the venue’s nice amenities and activity areas that will keep the guests away from boredom.

But of course, who needs to be a spry beast if you can be just an idle pig chillin’ out with nature? Everything there was so conducive for having a tranquil time off from the conventional afflictions in Manila.

There was also a cool spot where you can find a lot of Hermit crabs, and moon jellyfishes (Aurelia aurita) that my relatives caught and then released again in the sea (by my mother). Though we didn’t manage to bring those little creatures home (they wouldn’t survive anyway), the pictures and the fun that we had were more than enough souvenirs. We got free sunburns too.

For two days, the everyday air and noise pollution of EDSA-Guadalupe were substituted by the ocean’s cool breeze and the relaxing sound of its tides.

Listening to MP3s and SMFs while drinking Pepsi in front of my PC was replaced by the gang’s songs while drinking beer around a bonfire.

The quick-changing traffic and street lights in Buendia cor. Makati Avenue were altered by a beautiful blanket of stars.

And Big Mac with large fries was filled in by rice and grilled tilapia on a banana leaf.

It was a great weekend and I wish I had a slr camera with me.

sunset

Ziann @ lowtide

...leave nothing but footprints... and your name

the kids

the kids pt.2

Ziann chillin' @ the sari-sari store

fresh Halo-halo

"Ala eh, I don't get this sign."

Of Birthday and Stolen Bag Over The Swing of Chicken Pox

As written in the previous post, Ziann’s birthday was a humble lunch treat at Tramway Garden Buffet.

Boyetus, Ziann, Kenzeth

ONLY immediate family members on both my and Cez’ side were mustered to battle the venue’s buffet table because Ziann herself didn’t a want big and fancy party. A little get together for a simple girl’s 7^th natal day was the idea, though I don’t know if that was a good one.

The almost crowded restaurant’s crew members were having a full plate that time as well as the costumers (literally) and after some “rounds” of huddling with the people over the newly refilled food trays and pigging out, I smoked outside with my father.

There was like a dozen of people left in our extended table including my mother and in-laws. I don’t know if they were just too occupied to heed everything and everyone but when I went back in, I couldn’t find my bag.

It was stolen.

Yeah, I must admit that an adept thief (or thieves) got me. How could that son-of-a-bitch took my satchel under the board without even being noticed by the group?

Luckily, my bag only had chargers (for gadgets), my tattered umbrella, some ID’s, and my kikoy kit. All the valuables were in the other bag and my wallet was in my pocket so the money was safe.

I did report the incident to the gerent and she said they would inspect the video in their CCTV camera (I wonder if it is working).

Well, that’s the most (or least) that they can do now. I know the management won’t be held responsible for my loss. A lot of  “DO NOT LEAVE YOUR THINGS UNATTENDED” signs were posted around.

On the other hand, the utmost that I can do now is

nothing.

Crying over spilled milk is not my cup of coffee and I am not expecting that my things will be recovered. I’ve already acquired some stuff to compensate the lost ones and I wonder if the robber would use my toothbrush.

It was a big lesson learned and I bought a new (smaller) bag the other day.

For Ziann, it’s funny (and cool) that the actual highlight of the day was after the event when I took her and my nephew, Kenzeth, to the playground at the end of Blumentritt Ext. (in Sampaloc). Ziann told me that she waited a whole week for that swing and see-saw.

Kenzeth and Ziann

A very naive girl indeed. She wasn’t even expecting for gifts though I gave her an iPod Touch as a present.

By the end of the day, we found out that she had caught chicken pox.

She had to stay in our house in Guadalupe for a week (to rest) because the school wouldn’t let her in. Bulutong is contagious.

We had seven days of  DVD marathon, Text Twist-ing, Cut the Rope-ing, Final Achievement Test review, English tutorial, food-tripping, and some bonding moments.  It was great.

Tramway Garden Buffet

We celebrated my daughter’s 7^th birthday last February 12 at Tramway Garden Buffet. It is located at 65 Timog Avenue, Quezon City. Since I made a reservation, staying in the waiting area was out of the question.

If you are in a tight budget for a blow-out or for just a conventional eat-out, Tramway Garden Buffet might be the answer. They offer an All-You-Can-Eat (Eat-All-You-Can) buffet with a myriad of dishes (Chinese, Filipino, Japanese) to choose from.

Today the prices per person are:

* Regular days (Monday – Saturday)

Adult – PHP205

Children below 4ft. – PHP138

* Sunday (Special Lunch Buffet)

Adult – PHP338

Children below 4ft.– I forgot

There’s nothing exceptional with the menu so don’t expect much. BUT it doesn’t mean that the food sucks. Everything was just fine and normal as far as I could describe it. I like the Sweet and Sour Pork and the dumplings. There were also roasted chicken, pancit, steamed fish, shellfishes, to name a few.

Sodas in can (Coke products) are available at PHP38/can and the Iced Tea is PHP30. The distilled water is self-service. No table charge.

They DON’T give extra utensils beside the pair of spoon and fork provided when you first take your seat. No bringing of food from the outside. No sharing. Left-overs will be charged PHP6/10 grams (regular days) and PHP10/10 grams (Sundays).

The place is always jam-packed as they say so don’t anticipate for a peaceful ambience. But you can always avail for a function room for a little tranquility at PHP450. Just book yourself way ahead of time. The men’s comfort room was not that comforting and the free parking outside was a battlefield. If you wish to dine there, be early or at least make a reservation. The place is just somewhere between Sct. Torillo and the former Ozone Disco.

For inquiries, you can call them at (02) 415-2005.

Of course, this is just a pseudo-review and my intention is to only make a decent post. This restaurant has been written and talked about for quite some time. Try Googling it or better try the place to experience it yourself.