Singapore-lalala

In a span of twelve years, Singapore has significantly changed into a vibrant, exciting metropolis. The last time I went there was in year 2000 with my parents as traveling companions. I was just a kid, and my only memories of my trip back then were the Merlion statue in Sentosa, Suntec City Mall and the stalls selling Cheongsam and Chinese goodies. This year (2012), I came with my mom, brother and sister, and it turned out to be really fun since we explored a lot of tourist attractions and known establishments like the Singapore Flyer, Suntec City Mall, Universal Studios, Novena ville, Ion Orchard, Ngee Ann City, 313@somerset, Funan Digital Mall, Chinatown, and Merlion Park.



The only tour package we purchased for our trip was the unique Singapore DUCKtours, where you embark on a combined City and Harbour tour adventure using a genuine Vietnamese war craft. It's a cool 60-minute adventure in land and water, where you get to do city sightseeing and grab rare opportunities for photos of the city skyline.

Since my siblings and I have always been adventurous when it comes to food, we tried out a lot of dining places serving oriental cuisine like Chinatown Seafood Restaurant, Din Tai Fung (although this is Taiwanese), Wee Nam Kee, and San Sui Sumiyaki & Bar. Usually, we only have blogs or local brochures and magazines for guide. But sometimes, we follow the bandwagon and just go see where the people are flocking. One time, we got curious why there was a long line in front of Ding Tea, so we bought milk tea for ourselves to find out what the rave is all about. :) The Wee Nam Kee lunch was actually part of our itinerary, although Thomson Road, where it is situated, really seemed out of the way for us. I first read about this dining place in chuvaness.com, but when I also heard that many of the people I know go here because the place is said to serve the best hainanese chicken, we just had to go there and find out for ourselves the truth of that statement. When we got there, Wee Nam Kee did not look in the classy in the least. It looked liked a local carinderia, but the food tasted amazing and the bill I paid was only around SGD 40 even though we ate so much (1/2 white chicken, 1/2 roasted chicken, cereal prawns, one cup of hainanese rice per head, and watercress).




The streets and buildings were also ornately decorated with the Chinese New Year only a days away. These are particularly prominent in Chinatown, one of Singapore's three ethnic enclaves. 5footwayinn, the lodging place we stayed in, is situated in Pagoda Street, so my family and I had easy access to the marketplace where they sell cheap colorful souvenirs.



But the real highlight of our trip to Singapore was the Universal Studios, although a day pass ticket costs SGD74. We didn't get to watch the Hollywood Dreams Parade or get to ride all the attractions, but we did get to ride TRANSFORMERS: THe Ultimate 3D Battle, and hop into Battlestar Galactica CYLON, one of the world's tallest dueling roller coasters. After being propelled over 14 storeys into the air, we thanked God that we were able to survive the nauseating ride, felt our stomachs rumble from hunger and ate at the Discovery Food Court. The other cool rides or shows worth mentioning are Shrek 4-D Adventure, Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, WaterWorld, Treasure Hunters, Lights, Camera, Action!, and Revenge of the Mummy. The last ride was so cool but brief that we actually rode this twice.



All in all, I think there are still a lot of places to explore in Singapore, but four days and three nights aren't enough to fit them all in our itinerary. There are still Little India, Clarke Quay, Bugis Street, Arab Street, Esplanade, Marina Bay Sands, the whole stretch of Orchard Road and a whole lot more, But maybe this can be done in another trip to the tiger country that is Singapore. :D

sweet tooth confession

I've died and gone to cupcake heaven. After so many weeks of engaging my higher cognitive functions to resist my insatiable craving for sweets, I finally yielded to the temptation and bought a box of Cupcakes by Sonja. This shop has only one branch, located in 1 C03 g/f Serendra, Fort Bonifacio Global City Taguig, Metro Manila, so you can just imagine the lengths I go through to be able to procure those downright sinful cupcakes. Sweets had always been my Achilles' heel, and Cupcakes by Sonja (yes, my taste is pretty specific) happen to be on top of the list. Well, maybe just next in line to Guylian Belgian Chocolate. "Elvis" is my personal favorite, but since the store didn't have them the day I purchased a box, I settled for other chocolate options, namely: Red Velvet Vixen, PB&J, Mocha Motion and Chocolate Overload. :) I highly recommend their products to people who have a high sugar threshold and have a penchant for oven-baked pastries. :)

The Little Mermaid

Atlantis Productions has yet again staged another outstanding musical, this time based on the classic fairy tale written by Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, and the all-time Disney fave, "The Little Mermaid".



Superb musical performances were given by a stellar cast. Rachel Ann Go is Ariel, Erik Santos is Prince Eric, Calvin Millado is King Triton, Jinky Llamanzares is Ursula, and OJ Mariano is Sebastian, to name a few. I personally liked and marvelled at the kawaii voice of Lee Viloria, who played the role of Flounder. Hell, I couldn't even decipher if Flounder is really just a kid or just someone with an incredibly young voice! Rachel Ann Go is a perfect choice for Princess Ariel, in the same way that Erik Santos is perfect for his role as Prince Eric. Powerful and beautiful voices for memorable and well-beloved songs like "Part of Your World." Even Ursula's singing voice was pretty impressive, and up to now, I can still hear her belting out "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in my head.

I really enjoyed the show, especially the punchlines ("I have no backbone."), the costumes which were designed by Erik Pineda (I love the jellyfishes), the dancing, the singing, and the beautiful orchestral music directed by Ceejay Javier. I also kept laughing at the frenzied movements of the puppets when they were making portrayals of underwater activity like the rescue of the prince from drowning. The movements were kind of bizarre in a really funny way because the characters looked epileptic and unnatural. Haha. But I think the traditional Asian and Western form of puppetry employed in the show was selected precisely for that purpose -entertainment.:)

Since cameras are prohibited inside the theater, we were only able to have our photos taken with the promotional posters. I wish I could have taken a pic of the colorful vibrant set, but I didn't dare break the rules. This is me and Ate Iva outside the Meralco Theater. (Nov 17,10pm):D

Looking back at my 25th year. With a :-)

My birthday is an occasion that I always look forward to with the same barely restrained excitement I feel for the yuletide season. Always the type to be caught in the holiday hoopla, I make it a habit to plan in advance the kind of celebration that is to ensue and the people I want to celebrate it with. Most of the time, I try to keep it a low key event (like a quiet dinner in a good restaurant or a trip to the spa), involving only my family, my bestfriend, my childhood barkada, my roommates, and the family who watches after my brother and me (Nanay Dadang, Tito Frank and the rest of the Brizuela family). It's also a time when I am wont to observe silence and just thank God for everything, because even with all the trials and tribulations, the notion of God's perpetual kindness to me has always been a predominant and unchallenged thought in my head.

So you probably get it when I say that come November, my mood develops a counter of its own, turning all negative or positive vibes into reset automatically and putting me inexplicably in a very pleasant and agreeable disposition. Around this time, I also sit down to ruminate on the progress of my life. Things like whether I've achieved the goals I wanted to attain, reached a plateau or a rapid growth in my career, or simply experienced something I've never done or felt before. This year was, in retrospect, one of the most eventful period of my life. As a friend so eloquently puts it, my life has been in a standstill for so long, that I am overwhelmed by the sudden deluge of events.

To be honest, for the first time in many years, I felt how it is for someone to unintentionally wreak emotional havoc into your life. I really had my heart broken. It was an experience that taught me many things, from the kind of friends to trust and the kind of thoughts to keep to yourself. I fell into a long phase of depression, where everyday I felt like I silently carried a heavy burden in my chest. Grief, remorse, resentment...I couldn't tell. The cycle of pain was poignant and asphyxiating and I thought I couldn't ever escape the confines of my mind since I have always been the thinking sort. Thank God, I had my my parents, Nanay, and Kuya's to advise me and help me when I couldn't veer away from the bottomless pit of my dark brooding emotions. As a form of distraction, I applied for ASCPi certification, studied intensely for three months, and successfully passed it with flying colors. This was the start of my recovery and is considered one of the highlights of my year. I realized my mental prowess still hasn't degenerated even with all the despondence and even after four years have passed since I graduated from college. I haven't lost my touch in studying. :)

For the first time, I had also gone traveling to a different country with my childhood friends. The trip to HK and Macau wouldn't have been fun if it were not for the thoroughly enjoyable company of my barkada. Shopping, eating,visiting tourist spots, engaging in intellectual conversations. I suddenly remembered what life used to be like when things were really simple and my parents and sister were still here in the Philippines, and what it used to be like when I was still living a rather sheltered life in an all-girls school with my BFFs. Now, we are all thrown with the responsibilities of adulthood and are now leading different lives, but our barkada is still intact. A blessing.

This year, I had also taken up reading to an entirely different level. I've completely given up television and have spent every waking moment either finishing a novel, blogging, or working in the lab. I've always had a voracious appetite for reading, but this year the hunger seemed difficult to satiate. You could say that it was the only thing I did everyday to dispel the boredom and compensate for my sudden disinterest in socializing with people. My mom will get angry if she knew just how much of my salary went to book buying. It was at the same time a therapy I badly needed and a hobby that gave me pleasure.

Anyway, the point here is: so many lessons instilled in a span of one year, and along with them, a gamut of emotions. I am grateful for all the things that have occurred and I am sure they all happened for a reason. :) Just for this, I think I deserve a treat for my self. I'm going to award myself with a box of cupcakes by Sonja and Mira Grant's Newsflesh trilogy...:)

Shuji Kida Hair Salon

I got curious what a Japanese haircut looks like on me, so I tried having my hair trimmed by Japanese stylist, Shigeki Ogaki of Shuji Kida Hair Salon. Although it pains me to part with my 2.5K, I have to admit, it was well worth my money and the long trip from home. Shigeki-san seemed to take into account the shape of my face (oval) and hair texture all the time. It was pretty impressive, hearing his strong stance on my choice of hairstyle and seeing him cut the strands in a seemingly random but painstakingly meticulous fashion. My unruly hair (I don't know if it counts as voluminous) has become manageable in terms of thickness, and I think this is the "thinnest" I've ever seen of my hair. He recommended the use of wax everyday to maintain the hair body -a tip I am grateful for since no hair stylist had ever gone the extra mile to tell me how I should take care of my hair on a daily basis. I wonder if I'd ever get to meet Shuji Kida himself, or even his apprentice, Kaori Yokoi.


With Mr. Shigeki Ogaki of Shuji Kida Hair Salon (after my haircut)

Before, the only salon in my vocabulary associated with Asian Hair styling is Tony and Jackey (Korean). I only learned of the existence of Shuji Kida in the promotional coupons of Belle de Jour powerplanner. A fortunate discovery, since I think highly of Japanese hairstyles and dote on Japanese fashion. I didn't know Shuji Kida Salon was one of the top 10 Hair Salons in Manila or that they are famous for their long A-list of clients like Hollywood celebrities and moguls. When I looked it up in google, it seems that a lot of people are raving about it in blogs, including some of my high school classmates. To my relief, the Shuji Kida branch is just a block away from the Greenhills Shopping Center and is located at corner Madison.

If you're interested in experiencing the glamour of Hollywood styling, you can call for an appointment at: 726-9928 or 0917-8405213 and 0922-8699989. Their place is located at City Center Bldg. 228 Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills, Sn. Juan, M.M.

A Little Night Music

Last Sunday (Oct 31), Tanya, Sherwin, Tita Joy and I went to the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza to watch "A Little Night Music," a witty and hilarious musical inspired by Ingmar Bergman's film, Smiles of a Summer Night. The setting is a country house in Sweden around the year 1900, where secret dalliances and pent-up emotions can be witnessed brewing among three households (the Armfeldts, the Egermans and the Malcolms). Philippine actress Dawn Zulueta plays the role of Desiree Armfeldt, the character responsible for setting the whole plot into motion when she appears again in Frederik Egerman's life (Noel Buencamino) and unwittingly wreaks havoc into his 11-month marriage. Of course, this action is bound to make many people unhappy, namely Anne Egerman (Cris Villonco), Frederik's 18-year-old trophy wife, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm (Jake Macapagal), the married dragoon Desiree is currently seeing, and Countess Charlotte Malcolm (Jenny Zamora), the Count's painfully loyal wife. The story conflict may seem serious (adultery and all that), but the lines are so funny that they are bound to make you laugh in tears. The hiding, the scheming and the conniving liaisons all entail…It seems as if cheaters have real laughable predicaments in their desire to not be caught. :D Every actor and actress in the show fit their role perfectly, and I still remain in awe to this day at the fact that Cris Villonco can really pull off that naive and perky 18-year-old vibe. Felix Garcia did an amazing job too in portraying Henrik Egerman, that pious son of Frederick whose long-simmering passion for Anne causes him to "sin" over and over.
However, the real triumph of the show, I think, (apart from the great script), is the music by Stephen Sondheim. Great lyrics, great musical composition. For this show, Ceejay Javier served as the musical director, while Bobby Garcia took care of the show direction. We would not have been able to muster enough courage to ask for a picture with them, if not for the help of Sara Maria Gonzales and Gerry Gonzales, MSO (Manila Symphony Orchestra) members who played the violin and the cello in the show, respectively. :D Also, thanks to them, we were able to have a picture with some of the cast, namely Dawn Zulueta, Felix Garcia, and Noel Buencamino.



That day, I had a real blooper moment. After we had asked Director Bobby Garcia to pose for a photo with us, I reckon studying the image in my camera, and myself remarking: "Uy, ang galing o. May sumingit sa picture natin na kamukhang kamukha ni Lea Salonga!" And then Tita Joy (Tanya's mom) smiled at me and said that that person really is Lea Salonga, since she was there in the audience, watching as a guest. Wow…I mean, when I watched her play Grizabella in the broadway musical, CATS, I never even had the luck of seeing her up-close or taking a stolen shot of her after the show. The closest view I had of her was from the balcony 1 of CCP. It's such a surprise that she suddenly appears in the same photo as me, without me having to squeeze myself past a mob of fans all dying to take her picture. I'm a lucky, lucky girl to be able to be near my idol. ♥

I won a premium invite!

With my luck, it's only to be expected that I missed Rajo Laurel's show for Wharton. I can't believe that I won a premium invite for the show just by registering in Rajo's blog! And I can't believe that of all the week that I had to choose not to open my email and facebook, it's the time that they announce the 30 lucky winners. For days, it's been in my inbox, and some people had been pestering me through mail to give the slot to them if I wasn't interested. I would have given anything to go to the show (including asking my co-worker for a swap in duty/shift) but I had the ill fortune of being lazy for once and not keeping tabs on my email. It never crossed my mind that I'd win. After all, I'd always had this losing streak when it comes to raffles, and occasionally slot machines in casinos. Tragic…

Scared out of my mind

I just had to eat my comfort food -White Hat yoghurt- to calm my racing nerves. For half a day, I was literally gripped with fear and paranoia. I couldn’t find my parents’ gold and blue ATM cards (which they entrusted in my care to pay for house bills while they’re out of the country). I rummaged around in my closet in Cityland Vitocruz and in my closet at home in Rizal, looking in every nook and cranny and commuting in haste to reach the two remotely far places. I was so gobsmacked from the unreality of it all. My mind couldn’t keep up with the idea of losing an incredibly large amount of money due to recklessness. My thoughts could only run around the lines of “Even if I slave away for a lifetime, I couldn’t possibly repay a debt that huge with a med. tech.'s paycheck!”. Thank God, God was listening intently to my prayers and he let the lost items turn up to my great relief. The cards were hiding in a small recess in the vault of my parents' room and in the top drawer of my cabinet in the condo. I have never felt so relieved in my entire life. To incur a debt out of sheer stupidity? Not gonna happen twice.