Vjandep

Vjandep is perhaps the most popular brand to come out of Camiguin Island. There's a self-service canteen near the "lighthouse"...

and of course, the famous pastel, shown here with yours truly (mow-del daw). It's sooooo good!

photog amidst the pastries

sign at the production facility

they sell ice cream at the factory, too
(that's the price!)

Enigmata

Enigmata is the kind of place that only exists in backpackers' dreams...

This is how we do it: the setup

Day 1: Layout and hanging






10-frame fun

Day 2: Touching up the paintings and adjusting the lighting



Day 3: pre-opening shot

Cashew balls

Forgot the macro mode. But it still illustrates the point that you can make a product eye-catching with minimal cost.

Will tell you about our opening in a bit...

Tonight's the night

See you later!

Who what when where

Thanks to ClickTheCity.com, Malaya, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, ProjectManila.com, spot.ph and Starweek magazine.

Gone, baby, gone

Paras Beach Resort was our supposed jump-off point for White Island because they have life vests, which boats elsewhere did not have.


We could see the island (actually just a white sandbar) from the shore, but the the rain poured harder and the waves grew progressively larger until White Island disappeared from view. It's just not our lucky day.

Where to take a dip in Camiguin

Sto. Niño Cold Spring

It was drizzling when we went here, which explains why there is nobody in the water.

Ardent Hot Spring

This is probably the most popular place (I don't have the guts to take photos of bathers, but believe me, they're there).

Four of us from our party took to one of the warm, relaxing pools. Half an hour is not enough!

Soda Swimming Pool

A recent addition to the list of Camiguin attractions. But don't go looking for softdrinks here. From what I gather, the soda here does not refer to carbonated (fizzy) water but to the sodium carbonate naturally present in the (potable) water. It was totally deserted when we were there. Could have had it all to ourselves if we didn't have other places to see (I posted in reverse order).

Weekend haul

Because your paintings have to look good and so do you. :D

Cotton gloves with rubberized palms, P28
Handling canvases with care, priceless

Pentel size 16 flat brush, P97
Non-synthetic, for a change

Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Color in Burnt Sienna, 37 mL, P295
It's hard to find Grumbacher Pretested these days because Enriquez no longer carries it

e.l.f. Mineral Foundation SPF 15 in Fair, P399

Tried and tested

Fanny Serrano eyelash curler, P175
Fanny told me how proud he was to see his name on metal

Guiob Church Ruins

The ruins date back to the 16th century. Just stones, moss, trees, and a view of the beach.

Sunken Cemetery

view of the Sunken Cemetery from a distance

They say you won't see the graves anymore, but for divers, this must still be an eerie site to visit.

our travel companions


just don't


Coke vendo + sawali house = classic

Official trailer #2: Sherlock + A Single Man

Colin Firth and Julianne Moore in Tom Ford's directorial debut

Downey, Law and McAdams

But you have to concede that the women of Nine are still hotter.

What the world needs now...

Is this: the Charter for Compassion. Affirm the charter now.

Walkway to the Old Volcano and Stations of the Cross

There is no way to the summit of the Old Volcano, but the climb can still be fulfilling for pilgrims. We only went up to the second station because we were pressed for time. A group of foreigners seemed game to go all the way up.

Katibawasan Falls + a very windy point

Before you think this will decrease any itches, it's pronounced Katibwasan.


See our guide? She's standing to the right of the falls, wearing a black shirt and white pants.

Entrance includes use of the gym

Driving along the island's ring road, we stopped at a very windy area for the view.

First look: Camiguin

Inter-island gray

CDO-Camiguin-CDO via Paras Sea Cat

Waiting area at the port with makeshift altar

Boarding gate (what breed of dog would you like to sniff?)

Paras Sea Cat

refueling and the send-off party

New tools

I bought a few useful things from two stores in Galleria.


From Saizen: a 100mm scraper and rust dissolving jelly, P85 each.

I've been looking for a very wide palette knife (they also have those, but you're better off at National *wink*). A scraper seemed the perfect option, but the branded ones at True Value are too expensive. The scrapers at Saizen come in various sizes. This is the widest one I found.

The rust dissolving jelly isn't what I expected it to be. It's more like a thicker version of Glo metal polish. Be careful not to get it in contact with your skin. I got a slight rash even when I was barely touching the stuff.


From Beabi, funnel and dropper, P20 each. This month-old store is reminiscent of Anonymous, with its white plastic containers for different purposes, and plain bags and organizers. They also have a branch at GB5. Looking at their items, you will remember all the plastic bottles you've ever thrown away. I suddenly wanted to take my old contact lens holders and use them to store paint (which I did when I got home). Recycle, people!

I got these to make transferring turpentine and linseed oil simple and spill-free. I've only tried the dropper and it works quite well.

Looking up

Another one of those the-sky-is-so-blue days.

Cagayan de Oro snapshots

There was no time to do anything, except eat dinner and breakfast, and snap a few shots.

Pearlmont Inn

Kyla's Bistro, Rosario Strip

Limketkai Center

Spruce will doodle!

You know you're in a small city when...

Coming into Cagayan de Oro from the airport, the van passed by Xavier University. That reminded me of S, a CoMundus alumna who was in London a year before me. I had never met her, but she was my contact on Facebook, so I knew how she looked like (from the photos) and that she taught at XU. I did not have her mobile number, so I thought, nevermind.

That evening at Limketkai Center, I saw a familiar face. I waved at her. S recognized me. We exchanged numbers and planned to have dinner two nights later, on my return to the city.

The night of our planned meeting, I had just come from an awful boat trip, where I got very sick. Though I wasn't up for a night on the town, I dragged myself to dinner.

Værsgo.


How about that?

D said the same thing happened to him in Guam. He had planned to meet two of his friends who lived there, but something went wrong with his Internet connection and they weren't able to schedule a meeting. He ran into both of them at the mall.

It's a small world after all.

Some souls

moon framed by leaves

It was the first time we got a parking slot right outside the cemetery on Aglipay Street. It seems everyone had visited their dearly departed the day before. Somehow all the remains of babies were transferred away from the small alley leading up to my late grandfather's "apartment". That's a good thing, since it was rather hard to navigate the already narrow path with all the tiny tombs scattered in the way.

While praying I noticed that while most of the neighbors were buried in the 70s and 80s, the latest occupant of the six-storey apartment only moved in in 2004. I felt sorry for those whose families did not have even a concrete or painted plaque with their birthdates and date of death, only a badly scrawled name in cement. The living can be forgotten just as easily.

I noted that in that small alley, I saw the first names of the artists I'll be exhibiting with--quite notable, given the rarity of Proceso and Melquiades these days. You'd think I'd find a namesake first.

Dropping by to intercede for distant relatives, it was clear that the cemetery had living occupants. There was a rooster caged under a bench. One of our deceased relatives "hosted" a man who collected newspapers and bottles. Maybe we should be thankful that someone keeps the place somewhat neat.

raindrops on the car window

Manila Memorial in Parañaque was a different story. Crazy traffic. Heavy rain. Searching for our dead in the dark with LED flashlights. From a distance, we saw what were probably the Aquino graves. Truly a couple who live on after death.

And it's still film festival season

Don't let anyone tell you it's over. Far from it. Bring on the popcorn.

Australian Film Festival

Brazilian Film Festival

Animahenasyon Pinoy Animation Festival

MAPS

Please come and join us on the opening reception of our exhibit, MAPS, on Friday, November 20, 7pm at Galerie Joaquin.

map to MAPS

We drink blood + Halloween break

"Pa, do you want to drink blood?" I asked my dad while grocery shopping, pointing out this Tipco juice carton. He reached for it and put it in the cart.


It tastes quite like regular orange juice. It's made from blood orange juice concentrate. I'm still a Tipco fan, though. I wish we had a local company like that.


Will be on break. Back by 3rd November. Leaving with you the stuff nightmares are made of.


Just kidding!

Remembering, on Facebook

Before I hibernate for a few days, I thought I had to share this with you.

When I found out that you could tell Facebook about departed users, I knew I had to do it. A college friend passed away last year and though we weren't close, it bothered me that there was quite a bit of information that you could see on his Facebook page. I filled out the form, which I was able to accomplish as most of the required information was available on his profile page. Facebook emailed me to confirm. I don't know how they verify the information, but I hope they did.

Now, instead of seeing all of my friend's actions and information tab, all I can see are wall posts and the usual sidebar with friends and basic info.

Yorick Wilks brings up points about only contacts being able to add tributes and having Facebook executors. We'll see how this works out, in time.

Once-a-fruit masquerading as fruit

My merienda sometime ago was a fruity assortment: a real kiwi from New Zealand, a banana pastry from Japan and a dried mango chewy bar from Robinsons Supermarket (arguably a small country in itself).

I'm all for fresh fruit, but thinking about what the kiwifruit took to reach me makes feel guilty about greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to the P71 price for a pack of three pieces packaged in a rigid plastic container. A banana-shaped pastry, somebody's pasalubong, with banana puree inside tastes great. So does a dried mango cut into a rectangular shape, a supermarket promo giveaway. But neither will ever be as healthy as the original.

*sigh* Let's just have unprocessed local fruit.

Steeg

A very long day: home-SM North EDSA-Cavite-Antipolo-Ortigas-home. But I love long roadtrips for the conversations. Priceless.

Uploading the exhibit invitation soon.

Thought of the (end of the work)day

You know how it feels, running around like a headless chicken. But I'd rather be a headless chicken than a cooped-up one in a henhouse of hundreds. In fact, I quite like running around... :)

Totally unrelated: three kinds of syrup for your waffles. We live for stuff like these.

Starstruck again

I still get starstruck when I see actors I admire offscreen--the first few times, at least. I've outgrown Nonie but not Neil Ryan and Rome.

INT. NIGHT. Cinemanila 2009 at Market! Market. Just before the screening of Dinig Sana Kita, which was shown in the last month Toronto International Film Festival.

I didn't see Zoe, only her dad. I remembered hearing that she missed a test because of the screening at CCP, but maybe she's been to so many screenings already. Some usherettes had their photos taken with Rome, so I didn't feel like a stalker. I walked up to him, signed "hi" (couldn't think of anything else to "say" given my limited sign language vocabulary) and asked if he could understand me. He nodded. He had earphones on (which he immediately took off), so I guessed he could still hear. Dinig nga niya ako, hehehe. He took my camera and shot this.

I look young, yay!

I hope Rome gets another film role and meets his dad someday.

SEACHANGE + Youth Engagement Summit 2009

If you're a Southeast Asian youth leader between 18 and 35, sign up for SEACHANGE and get the chance to go to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the Youth Engagement Summit 2009 on November 16 to 17.

The Youth Engagement Summit, also known as 'YES' brings together leading Global Change Icons, luminaries such as founder of LiveAid Sir Bob Geldof, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Facebook's Director of Market Development Randi Zuckerberg, Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, World Bank's former MD Dr.Mamphela Ramphele, the Man known as the Ultimate survivor Nando Parrado, noted former presenter for CNN and CNBC Lorraine Hahn and many more.

This movement is apolitical, non-religious and as one youth put it eloquently aprotocol!

Maki festival

On maki as the ultimate food...
Nakababatang kapatid na lalaki: Ang galing nito. May kanin, may ulam...
Tatay: May dessert pa.

Food shot fail: light dinner for four

Rrred interiors

Keep still!

Serious thought

Tempura Japanese Grill, Mall of Asia

Misinterpretations

We were following this truck as we took as U-turn near Heritage on C-5.

First interpretation: They're a junk shop run by Visayans collecting bottles.
Second interpretation: They're bad spellers who prefer alcohol to women.
Third interpretation: They reverse talkers who prefer lesbians to straight women.