The JJ-JM Wedding @ Virgin Beach Resort

                            

March 24, 2012, my 7-year and 9 months (at that time) girlfriend tie the knot in one of the beautiful white sand beaches in Laiya, Batangas, Philippines.

Virgin Beach Resort is a quiet and cozy place to relax, enjoy the summer and get married! Well the last one may not be a decision that you should make hastily.

                                
                       
                                

There were banners & flyers posted along the way to help our guests pinpoint the location of our wedding. Like this one:

The mini chapel is located just inside the resort (it's like 20 steps from the nearest casitas) so it's a bit hassle free.

                                

It was a really great wedding for me because some of our friends from Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, Dubai, even my Dad from US who I haven't seen for 8 years came. It's really like a big reunion celebration that happened in a happy sunny summer season at the beach.

With my wife and her 6 Sisters

With my family

With her family

After the solemn ceremony, we had a 30 minute free time to relax before heading to the reception.

There are directions & a little booth to register before entering the reception.There are origamis of birds attached in the plants that my wife, her family and friends made.

                                    

                                           

The reception happened in the big dining hall inside the resort. Our event designer and a friend, Nico Orillano designed the reception. It was very elegant and customized. He is very good! The lights, the drapes, the lanterns, he went berserk. :) Thanks also to our event coordinator and a friend also, Kath Madula, the event would have been unsuccessful w/out her. When Nico & Kath work together they do amazing things.

The cake was pretty simple but cute, it is surrounded by cupcakes at the bottom and origamis as usual, did a good job aesthetically to the cake.

At the end of the reception, we flew 100 flying lanterns to the sky. It was magical.

Just remember, married life is not a destination, it's a journey that we all should enjoy.

                     

                                                      

For those who already, who are or who will get married, Best Wishes!


-         JJ             &             JM

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

I was never a fan of Korean dramas but when I tried to watch this series, I did not realized I'm getting hooked. The girl in this drama was very lovely, but of course my baby is prettier. :)

Moving forward, the story is about a Nine Tailed fox in a form of a beautiful woman, called a Gumiho, who was released in an Ancient painting by a delinquent and happy-go-lucky guy named Dae-Woong.

This 16-Episode (1 hour each) drama is very funny, sometimes very sad, there were a couple of episodes that got me teary-eyed lol.

Anyway I loved the plot, the funny scenes, hmm I'm actually thinking of watching some episodes again, like the episode with the big chicken lol, etc.

Please watch it. It's worth your while. ;D

For free quality episodes, please download from Piratebay.org.

Pinoy ITBL - GRB POW vs Darlings - Eliminations

Whew! after a 7 game losing streak since last year, our team won against the strongest team in our bracket, the Darlings, with a score of 80-75.

I'm starting to have hope that we could take the championship this year.

Citi League game - GRB vs Citi Warriors

I will never ever forget this game in my entire life. I actually missed a game winning three point shot at the buzzer.

Final Score: 63-61, won by Citi Warriors. September 10, 2011 @ 4:30 PM

That is our only chance to go to the finals. And I messed it up! Dammit!

After the shot I fell to the floor, my knees were shaking and I can't sleep that night.

If only I could take that shot again..

Piano Lessons by myself

3 weeks ago I thought of "why I don't I try learning Piano? we have a piano in our Unit and it's not being used"

So I bought a book, title is "Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course" and t'was good. I actually understood it quite easily, maybe because I was playing the violin for quite a while now.

So now I can play some songs with both the G Clef (Right) and the Treble Clef (Left).

I'll post them in youtube after I master it. :)

I wish I could be good enough to play "Romance" by Yuhki Kuramoto, Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

Goodluck to me! ^_^

Unit 3022 - Berkeley Condo @ Katipunan Ave

At last! The unit that we bought 2 years ago has already been turned over to us last June 2011. Berkeley is one of SMDCs High Rise Condos in the Philippines.

We bought this 1 bedroom at the 30th floor during Pre-Selling. It's funny because Jayjay and I are just strolling at SM Megamall in Ortigas when we saw the showroom, got curious and right then and there, we bought the unit. Hahaha! Anyway, here are some pictures. It's not yet furnished yet:







I'm excited to see what will it look like after Jayjay furnishes it. :)

Pulau ubin experience ~ Singapore

Saturday, Apr 30 2011, this is the day when we plan to go to Pulau ubin. Around 9-10 am Pattie (my friend) called me telling us to cancel our trip because of what she read in the reviews. If only Chrissa(our friend) had her passport with her, we would've gone to bali or malaysia instead. We were already booked in a resort that time ~ Celestial Resort.

The reviews that we read tells us that the place is infested with human-sized mosquitoes, the resort does not have a swimming pool, the man made lake is very dirty, unfriendly resort personnel etc. I was really planning on cancelling our trip but later on we still decided to go.

We rode a ferry (@2.50 sgd 1-way) at Changi, then after 30 mins we got off at Pulau ubin island, a place in Singapore where you can see stray dogs running around, no hdbs anywhere, people usually call this the Old Singapore. Then we rented a van going to Celestial Resort.
We arrived and checked in at the resort and what we've read in the reviews were correct. The woman at the frontdesk was not very accomodating, the lake for me is dirty and I had mosquito bites already in my arms & legs. The rooms were big, place was clean although a bit run down.

Anyway, we rented a bike (@10 sgd each) then we went outside, racing. Maynard (a friend and an asshole, a real one) was left behind because he does not know how to ride a bike! ROFL! We left him like the good friends we are! haha. But we first taught him how to ride the bike before we left him. So we really are nice. I think so.



After our biking activity we had buffet dinner at Celestial then went to the fish spa. This was my first time and I thought I won't be able to dip my foot in the water. :)) Whenever you will put your feet into the water the little fishes will come swarming your feet and hell, it was very ticklish. Me and my friends wasted 30 mins of our time laughing & screaming before we finally got over that ticklish feeling. :)) Fish Spa was (@10 sgd per hour).

After that we gathered and drank our tequila bottles until we got tired and went on to bed to rest.

The next day we had free breakfast care of the resort, packed up the finally went home.

Well what can I say about Pulau ubin? It's not that great but it's not that bad also. Pulau ubin is not a place for swimming. It's more of like a place for biking and trekking. An all day tour should be enough. I don't recommend overnights. As you can tour this island in 1 day and the resort isn't that great.

Video Editing w/ Vegas as a Hobby

I may not look like it, but I actually do Video Editing as one of my hobbies. There's a few Video Editing Software that I tried already but what I liked & used the most is Sony Vegas 10. It's very easy to use, and there's a lot of things that you can do just make full use of your imagination.

I've done quite a number of videos already and my partner in those projects were my Girlfriend (Jayjay) and a close friend (Pattie)

Some of the videos that we made are for the Debut of her 3 Sisters and the Silver Wedding anniversary of their Lolo & Lola in the Clarito side.

Pattie and I made a Video Presentation during our Citibank GRB Team Christmas Party.

If you want you could watch here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czqavjYQsow

But the copy isn't that good. (Disclaimer hehe)

I feel like being alone today..

I don't know what's happening to me lately... I feel like being alone for now... I want time for myself...

Passion for Video Games

Many people may not know it but I'm actually a big fan of video games. To be honest, I've already finished quite a number of games since Family Computer era.

Some of the classics that I played was Sky Destroyer, Twinbee & Battle City. God I miss those!



Then the era of Sony's Playstation came in. Some of the games that I conquered in Playstation 1 were:


Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Chronicles
Legend of Legaia
Legend of Dragoon
Valkyrie Profile
Parasite Eve 1 & 2
Resident Evil 2 & 3
Alundra
Bravefencer Musashi
Suikoden 1 & 2
Silent Hill 1
Tales of Destiny
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
Dino Crisis 1 & 2
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Diablo I
Metal Gear Solid 1
Syphon Filter 1
Army Men Air Attack 1
Chrono Cross
Clocktower
Crash Bandicoot
Digimon World
Einhander
Rival Schools
Tales of Eternia
Tekken
Xenogears

I didn't get the chance to have a PS2 so the next console that I got was an Xbox Original. There aren't as many games in Xbox as there are in Playstation. Those few that I played were:



Need for Speed Underground
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Castlevania Curse of Darkness
Ninja Gaiden
Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas
Prince of Persia The Sands of Time
Project Zero

It's true that I did not have a PS2 but I did get a chance to play NBA Live 2008 against my friends. My team at that time was always San Antonio Spurs and we actually had a draft of players for each team and I hate being always the last to pick a player. It sucks. We have Team Standings, bets and at times we just played for honor. :))

Up Next: I got a PSP! Here are some of my favorites in PSP:



Final Fantasy Dissidia
Crisis Core
Silent Hill Origins & Shattered Memories
Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions
Star Ocean First Departure & Second Evolution
Tales of the World Radiant Mythology
Monster Hunter Freedom United & Portable 3
Killzone Liberation
God of War Chains of Olympus
Dante's Inferno
Virtua Tennis 3 & 4
Bomberman
Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce
Bravestory - New Traveler
Yggdra Union
Jeanne
Patapon
Monster Kingdom Jewel Summoner
Twisted Metal
Tekken 6
Dissidia

Then I bought a PS3 to kill time here in Singapore. Here are the games I chose to play in exchange for my sleep. :))



Final Fantasy XIII
Star Ocean the Last Hope
Demon Souls
Atelier Rorona the Alchemist of Arland
Valkyria Chronicles 1
Castlevania Lords of Shadow
Resident Evil 5

I forgot to mention the PC games that I played:

Plants vs Zombies! :))
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth
Red Alert: Yuri's Revenge
Counterstrike
Left 4 Dead 1 & 2
02Jam
Pirateking Online
Cabal Online
Warcraft III/Dota
Battle Realms
Diablo II
Starcraft I
Wedding Dash
Supermarket Mania
Restaurant City
Cityville
Farmville
Neopets
Dragon Ball Online
Duke Nukem
Grandia II
Mortal Kombat I

Whew! that was a long list. Who would've thought I wasted that many hours of my life. Well it's like reading a book for me and I learned a lot of things. :))

Quitting

Other than free tasting in malls, cutting classes to play Counterstrike, copying wrong answers during exams, I like to do a lot of things, things that at first, I thought would be my forte..

I once enrolled in Aikido and I thought I was the best at first but then came other people who were actually better, stronger, faster and I found myself quitting..

There was a time when jj (my gf) and I enrolled in Dancing classes. At first we were actually excited, we bought shoes, we even performed in the Recital but then I saw many kids and people same age as mine who were actually better.. not better, they are actually the best.. and I found myself quitting again..

I remembered when I was in High School I joined CAT to become an officer but then after all the push ups, sit ups, duck walks and squats for 5 months, I quit again..

Until now I still don't know where to focus, that I still want to do everything... Sometimes I feel like being a wedding musician with my violin.. other times I feel like training to be the best in Badminton and Table Tennis and join tournaments... but then with what I'm seeing in youtube and in Tampines stadium, there are so many people above me.. there are so many people who are better if not the best.. I feel like quitting again...

But no! I'm not quitting again.. I wanted to do these things because I like doing them. Not because I want to surpass everyone else but because I like them. I'm not quitting again..

It's fun to play with the strings of the violin, it's fun to smash the shuttlecock, it's hard to hit the pingpong ball, it's hard to be a pointguard, it's fun to look for free tastes in malls, it's hard to copy someone's answer, but it's harder to copy if what you're copying is wrong haha, it's hard to strategize in Chess, it's cool to be a biker, a swimmer, a dota player, a writer, a lover, a blogger, a programmer, a listener, a video editor, and most of all, it's not cool to be a quitter.

When everyone is smiling at you ;)

Be it the Pinevale gardener, the Pinevale guard, a chinese neighbor walking her dog, the bus driver, even the kind old Indian woman on the bus who keeps on talking to me even though I can't understand her and my earphones are plugged into my ears, the auntie who keeps our pantry clean, my colleagues, etc.

How I wish everyday would be like this. What a great day.

Smile can take your stress away. :)

Naruto! Just another fan's point of view. So fun to watch!

I've watched & followed this Anime Series for quite a while now.. hmm. since College? I barely remember. Hehe. Anyway, I admit that these series ate up a huge amount of time in my life :))



Those Akatsuki Ninjas are so cool they even have unique and cool powers too. Now I'm talking like a kid! :))



Not only the Akatsuki but the Tailed Beasts also known as Jinchuriki are also fun to watch. What a creative mind the writer of this Anime has. Unbelievable.



I advise that you watch this Anime if you want to kill some time. Great one!