Hilariously Lost

So Lee posted a photo on my wall yesterday (see below) and then I started laughing. All of a sudden I remembered getting lost in Brooklyn the other month! Of all places to get lost it really had to be in NYC!

I can't even get into details how it happened, let's just say from a 'hipster' neighborhood -- all of a sudden I was already surrounded by conservative Jewish people. Like with their tiny cap, long beard, black outfit. Just like how you see them on TV that's it! Oh and I don't think they appreciated the fact I was wearing a tiny tube dress.

So I went to one store and asked the lady how to get back to the town where I came from she started telling me to take the subway and ride two trains.

I thought to myself 'Why would I take the subway if I just walked all the way here?'

So I saw the next station and while I was climbing up the stairs I just had that instinct - I don't think this is the right way. I looked up and realized that I really did cross to the other side of Brooklyn Bridge! So I went back down and saw a police officer. I finally pulled out the tourist card and explained I was lost. She was a sweetheart! Actually I was lucky enough to find an officer who was hella animated and funny.

She was like 'Oh hunny! You don't take the subway! You take the bus back to Nassau!' So she walked me to the bus stop and she said that since I have the metro card already I can use that already and to ride bus no. 62. I shouldn't even think about jumping into another number. I suddenly heard the angels sing when I saw bus no. 62 approaching.

When I was about to get down the bus, I already saw my cousin and I knew she ready to give me a piece of her mind. When I came out - we both started laughing out really loud.

Seriously who gets lost by just walking and taking photos? Thank goodness I was in a country where everyone could understand English! What if I was in Europe? (Hahahahahahahaha! I'm ready)!

Proud to say I didn't cry but yeah there was a part that I panicked- sorta. :p Surprisingly, I didn't get lost when I was in downtown San Fo while I was exploring alone! :) Google map is my new best friend!

Double J

I owe this blog more than 10 entries already – but let meshare one of the highlights of my US trip which I can relate with a current event in our country. It’s not like this entry is really deep but I just want to speak my mind out now.

The moment I landed at Dallas, Texas and saw my good - the first thing I told her was “Let's go to the JFK Museum”. Surprisingly, after living there for 5 years, she’s never been there and I’m glad that I was able to share this experience with her.

So we put in our earphones and went on with our audiovisual tour – aside from my old World History books back in high school, I was ready to meet John Fitzgerald Kennedy again.

I remember getting goose bumps, almost crying and being at awe by his life. All I could think of that time was – “He was a good leader –he shared the same vision as his people”. I just didn't understand why he had to die so early and it was just so tragic that the he was right next to his wife when he got shot. I did not only see how the US mourned for his death – but the whole world. I also witnessed the power of media even when there was no internet back then.  I don't think apathy was never a problem back then.

I left a pretty long message in their guestbook – key message was “I hope that the Philippines will have a great leader like him someday.”

Then when I got home – the plane of Secretary Jesse Robredo crashed. While watching the news I was thinking – is this even possible?  I felt like this was just part of a movie.

I remember reading the article of Cathy Guballa-Babao and sobbing in my cubicle. Of course that’s when it really hit me that not only was Robredo a great leader but also a great father. He was the epitome of THEFAMILY MAN.

Of course – all these testimonials and features started coming out in media but what impressed me the most was his TSINELAS leadership.

For both leaders – it was all about SERVICE.

They both stood out because they were not defined by what they receive (the title, the power) but with what THEY GIVE.

Yes the nation is really sad but I think it gives us more hope that GOOD GOVERNANCE still exists if not in this country – most definitelyin this world.

Thank you JFK and Jesse for giving me the spark to stillbelieve.

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"

Surprise Me :)

It's been a crazy week here in the east coast but surprise me some more, New York.

I know you have something for me. :) hahahaha! Last 4 days!

On a high! On a high!

This post is like one week overdue already! But every time I remember what happened last Saturday I can't help but smile. I actually feel honored that I was with the boys in the same room when it all occured!

It was PauloNav's *ahem* 21st birthday and he gave me a prod pass to the 1st Philippine Popular Music Festival in PICC. Both of us have been so busy with work and I guess this was the perfect occasion to catch up and spend time with each other.

Karl one of his bandmates sent an entry to Philpop and he was really fortunate to be one of the finalists. Their performance that night would be his last 'hurrah' since he will be going to Singapore to take his MBA. When we were backstage eating, I could feel how nervous he was. I knew he wanted to win so bad.

When they went up on stage to perform the song (with Mark Bautista) - I got surprised that tears just started coming out. The lyrics were beautifully written and with its melody - it totally enhanced the meaning of the song. 'Bawat Hakbang' is a track that anyone can relate to. I knew at that moment they were gonna win. If not the grand prize at least 1st runner up or 2nd runner up.

When all the other contestants were called backstage for the awarding-- wow talk about a small room full of tension! I just started praying that Karl would win.... After announcing the 2nd and 1st runner up, I was still hoping and I knew the boys were too.

God is good all the time :)

Karl Villuga won the Grand Prize of the 1st Philippine Popular Music Featival with the song 'Bawat Hakbang' interpreted by Mark Bautista and the Akafellas. :)

What an awesome birthday gift to Paulo and despidida to Karl (bitter-sweet though). July 14, 2012 is my favorite day of 2012 so far.

I was really blessed to witness all of this! God answers prayers all the time as long as you put your whole heart into it.

Believe it or not - you guys might think I'm overacting but this actually got me in a good mood the entire week. What happened to Karl was really inspiring and I loved it because he never gave up. There should be more people like him in this world - talented yet humble. And the boys displayed the true meaning of brotherhood and friendship because of all the support they gave for this contest. I'm really blessed that I have friends like them in my life.

Once again, God is good all the time. I could not think of a better way to end this entry - let's just say I had this a huge smile on my face from the first letter I typed and until now it's still there! Just watch the video below so that you'll understand why they won! :)

Their finaale performance.

My Inday Moment with Mark Bautista!

Congratulations Karl! So proud of you!

One of my favorite couples - Daryl and RJ!

Happy Birthday Paulo! I love you forever and ever and ever!

The boys before going up on stage. Pogggiiiii!

The envelope - TAKE IT! TAKE IT!

Vis-a-vis

So my dad and I finally decided to apply for a US tourist visa - I was scared at first because I got denied for my UK visa last year.

So after 2 weeks of preparing our documents and scheduling our appointment - the office was kind enough to grant me a leave. I was really nervous because you often hear horror stories from friends on people who get denied even of they can afford a trip to the US.

No gadgets allowed - not even your yosi and lighter! What will I do while waiting for my turn?

So my dad had this brilliant idea - every time someone would come out of the room - we will have to guess if the US consul granted them a visa or not. First guy that came out had long hair and a scruffy look. My dad 'denied , they prob said shave first'. Next was a family with adorable twins. My dad ' Approved. They're all happy and excited to go to Disneyland'. I wanted to do a face palm right then and there. If we don't get our visas it was probably because of karma.

We were already by the third window - I was praying that an American dude would interview us since they're the most lenient. I saw a middle-aged American girl who looked really strict. Afraid. The girl before us got denied. My dad and I looked at each other.

So first question to my dad 'May I know the purpose of this trip?' He replied ' To attend the wedding of the daughter of my only sister '. My bubble thought : ' Wow! Straight English si daddy! You could have just said to attend my niece's wedding'.

Consul asked more questions about our current jobs. Then she looks at my dad and asked 'so where's your wife?'

Silence.

My dad just looks at her and starts tapping on the table 'my wife? My wife? My wife is at home!'

I couldn't take it I started laughing out loud and the American girl started laughing with us. She said 'isn't she joining you in this trip?' and I had to explain that my mom already has an existing valid visa.

Scary middle aged American woman looks at both of us and then says 'okay? I'll be sending your visas in a week'.

Aprub! Oh Bong Vilchez! You are the best! You can know how to make anyone laugh! :)

Happy Birthday, Daddyo! Love you!

Itchy Feet

I can’t believe that I did not post anything for the month of April. Well, I’d like to be consistent and pick-up from my last entry. After my ten day adventure, here’s what I’ve learned in a nutshell. It was supposed to be 5 lessons – I decided to stick to three instead.

Sometimes having no plan is the best plan of all.

In my past trips I’ve always been the type to make sure that we stick to the itinerary. As someone who works in an events agency for the past 5 years – time is gold, money is ticking. When you get to a place you’ve never been – I say just feel the vibe of the town or city and then you’ll figure out what you want to do. You don’t have to force yourself to step out of the hotel every night or every day– sometimes the best moments even happen inside your own hotel!  I’m just amazed where I ended up going and doing for those things for 10 days without having blueprint with me!

Eat like a king!

We all know for a fact that food has a huge impact in every travel. We all do tend to save up and limit ourselves for a certain budget when we fly out. For the first time – I was just like – maaaan! Forget the budget, forget the shopping part – ordering their local delicacy gives me a taste of their culture. I have two references to share:

1. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love- before she ended her trip in Italy, when she saw herself on the mirror and felt alive again.  Cliché but I exactly felt that.

2. Chef Laudico – In one of my encounters with him a couple of years ago, he was sharing with me that the reason why Thailand, France, Spain have a certain distinct dish. It is because of their history. Coming from a monarchy type of government, the people would “cook” for the king.  They made sure that what they would serve would be the best as if it was for their royal highness.  I’d want to think since I was a tourist in their land – they were serving me the most awesome food – ergo I was the King. (I know this is a weird argument but just go along with it)

If you want to paint the town red – paint a rainbow instead.

I cannot enumerate all the funny crazy anecdotes that all happened in this trip but I know it’s going to take me a long time to get over them. One day I felt like I was part of the movie “Almost Famous”, the next I was prob doing a documentary for “Discovery Channel” with all the tours –sharing my insights, and then I had my “How I Met Your Mother” episode which would always make me laugh every time I replay it in my head – oh and let’s not forget – I felt like I was part of Romantic Comedy Flick and I was indeed the leading lady. <3 

I came back without any savings at all but I never felt so rich because of my experiences.

I would love to do this again – be anonymous in a foreign land, meet new friends but most of all- know myself more.

I choose to be back in my orange cubicle – why? To start saving for my next destination.  I hope and I pray that it will be in a new continent. :)

Ready...Set...Go!

I'm soo egg-zited! I just can't fight it!

After working on 6 presentations, attending a gazillion meetings, managing several events ... I'm finally going to have my 10 day vacation!

Here's the itinerary-- I'm gonna watch a concert in Bandung, Indonesia ; have drinks in Singapore; pray in the temples of Angkor--WHUT, Cambodia and have dinner in Vietnam. Four countries in one week!

I'm scared and excited at the same time! I just have a really good feeling about this trip - I don't know why but I hope I'll be able to surprise you on my next couple of posts!

Thank you Lord for this awesome opportunity! :)

Just Say "Hi!"

Last Sunday, my friends and I conquered Mt. Pinatubo – that was an awesome experience. We definitely rocked it. It felt good that we were the first group to leave the first point and the first ones to arrive in the crater. Before the hard-core trek, we had to ride the 4x4 jeepneys – how badass is that right?

On our way back during the afternoon, we noticed a lot of locals and aetas walking. It was just instinct for me to wave and smile at them. It felt really good when they would smile and wave back. Yeah, I felt like I was a celebrity in a float. Hahaha!

I was thinking in my head – wala lang, maybe I can brighten their day. They were practically traveling under the sun in the middle of nowhere. Might as well spark it up for them, right?

Good ‘ol reliable tumblr, I came across this short story today at work. Talk about timing.

Here it goes:

My drama teacher once said, “the world would be a much better place if everyone just said ‘hi’ to each other.”

When he walks through the halls, he’ll say hi to kids he doesn’t even know, and they’ll look at him like he’s crazy.

But I want to live by this.

I’m going to smile at and greet anyone I see.

Who knows, it might make their day.


I guess it’s a habit that anyone and everyone can do. Let’s spread the protons. A smile can definitely go a long way.



Photo by Calvin Lo

SSDD (Same Sh*t Different Day)

as the plans turn into compromise
the promises all turn to lies
the spite builds up
and it can't get through
passive me agressive you


It's like a good relationship gone bad. When you know it's not healthy anymore, it's time to move on.

Leap Year Wedding

I can't help but feel fortunate that I was able to witness one of the most beautiful weddings ever. This was my first destination wedding and it's true what they say - you'll definitely get a hangover!

I loved all the details - from the colors, the whole beach theme, the surprise poses when the bride was walking down the aisle, the exchange of vows in pure Filipino and of course - the Jason Magbanua AVP .

The one that made it on top of the list is their love story. They were able to last for 8 years with a long distance relationship. I believe that if you want to make it last-- it will.

I think I'll do another entry on this ( the one not written from my iPod touch ) as for now just enjoy a couple of my instagram photos.

Congratulations Reese & Carlo! Cheers to the new chapter of your lives together! :)

Jeremiah

I couldn't summarize the series of unfortunate events into a blog post but I found one image to make me forget about them. Thank you, Papa G.

Account Executives

The moment I saw this artwork online – I couldn’t help but laugh. Allow me to dissect each photo and explain my take on it.

First shot – people think it’s all glamorous. It’s not. I can enumerate a lot of times where I would run in heels from the sound booth to the backstage and then back to the client. Packing items in the middle of the event, setting up and printing press releases 20 mins before media arrives. But hey, after we pulled through an event or any implementation – we like getting that pat on the back. We feel like a star.

Second Photo. The reason why I voluntarily took a Communication Course in college because I wanted to deal with less numbers as much as possible. I was thinking the whole time – I won’t need to deal with them in the future anyway. WRONG. When I started out in this company, I never really bothered changing the costing before sending to client. Now, I’ve come to realize if you put in value to what you do and especially the man-hours of your co-workers – I can call the shots on the cost – with the help of my supervisors and directors of course.

Shot number three: Like a boss. WHUT? No. Not exactly a boss, more of the gatekeepers. We are not simply order takers. I still have to give inputs in whatever deck we present and we still gather all info from the support teams – filter or add stuff. We’re supposedly the leaders for our respective projects.

If client thinks we go overtime like crazy. Go ahead. It’s true. We go overtime because we want to give them their money’s worth and shower them awesome presentations/ideas. Enough said.

As for the last shot - It’s true we’re always doing PowerPoint presentations for a client – for our industry since we’re in PR, another 50% of our time we’re in front of Microsoft excel. It got me thinking – is that how people around us really see us? I think it’s only because it’s the program always open in our laptops anyway.
I asked one of the directors – how did you last doing client servicing? There must be a secret to it. And his reply? You just need to have the passion of meeting people.

On March 7, it will be my 5th year in this industry. I think we all know why already.

Good days, bad days… in the end – it’s all worth it. I love my job. :)

Linsanity

You know it’s Linsanity, when people who never even cared about the NBA would stay up till the wee hours of the morning watching youtube videos and reading articles about Jeremy Lin.

I’m sure a lot of people already wrote a gazillion articles about him – his winning streak, graduating from an Ivy League school and his enormous faith on God. I am a fan because I just love the whole idea that this ordinary dude came out of nowhere and the opportunity just presented itself and he grabbed it. No – he didn’t just grab it - he made the most out of it. (And he still is!)

I’m sure a lot of people were shocked and disappointed about the loss of Knicks over the Hornets last Saturday but hey – that’s the way life goes. You win some, you lose some. While watching Lin during the press conference, he took the blame and pointed out his shortcomings. Not a lot of people have this characteristic – to admit their own fault, to be humble when defeat strikes you.

I thought to myself after watching that press conference – babawi yan.
I woke up this morning and the first thing I looked up was the Dallas-Knicks game. Vindicated.

Of course – I’m gonna try to squeeze in myself to the picture. Haha! It has been a rough couple of weeks at work, my presentation got shut down and it sucks big time especially when you’ve been getting praises for the past couple of weeks from your previous decks.

I’ve always been a big fan of ‘second chances’. I guess this is a way to get my feet back on the ground and head on the clouds. I thought to myself – I know I’m going to kick-ass on my next presentation. I just have to focus and go through the ropes again.

I mean if the Knicks/Jeremy Lin won the game last Saturday then I think the victory today would have lost its essence or there would be no added market value. Let’s face it. We all look for the drama. There has got to be a conflict or else no lesson will be learned. That’s why there are challenges because they will push us to become better. (Well we all saw that his TOs lessened in today’s game, right?)

I don’t want to sound like a poser proclaiming to everyone that I’m a huge basketball fan because obviously I’m not. I’m just really happy that there’s someone out there who is actually a good example in a very competitive sport. There are still God-fearing and talented men in the globe.

Before I end this entry, I’d like to share a quote I read in one of his interviews. If everyone had this mindset, I believe that anyone can excel in whatever field they’re in.

“There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now,” Lin said. “To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that’s not how I want to do things anymore. I’m thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory? It’s a fight. But it’s one I’m going to keep fighting.”

I may be part of the whole Lin-sanity bandwagon but it’s only because he’s definitely a
Lin-spiration.

The Reset Button

“So what’s your New Year’s Resolution?” a friend asked me a month ago. I laughed and replied, “I don’t know, I actually have no idea”.

I stopped making resolutions for more than a decade ago – thinking of course I’m never going to fulfil them anyway. So what’s the point? All I wanted to do is to (I know this is going to sound cliché’) live life to the fullest. Have no regrets. Keep on doing whatever makes me happy at that moment. I’d want to elaborate on my definition of that but right now I’m not so proud with the things I’ve done for the past couple of months.

With all the series of events that’s been going on, I think I’ve reached my limit. I fell off track. I couldn’t stand anymore so I decided to kneel and say a prayer.
I met up with my cousin last night and we decided to update each other on what’s been going on with our lives. I’m not depressed or anything, it’s not like something terrible really happened or someone died – but I knew deep inside I wasn’t happy anymore.

“Char, you just have to press the reset button,” says my cousin.

In order to press this reset button, and if I want all the programs to work faster in this computer (a metaphor for my life). I knew I had to come up with resolutions. I don’t want it to be a lot so I’ve narrowed them into three only.

1. Read more & blog more. I get too caught up with my social calendar and my work schedules that every time I go home, I just grab that opportunity to sleep. If I want to widen my vocabulary and come up with better press releases and client presentations, I have to do this. So expect more blog entries this year– will come up with more hilarious anecdotes and write-ups. I know because of this I’ll be able to be save more money rather than spending it 140 peso local beer in crazy clubs or bars.

2. More time for myself. Giving a lot of your time to other people can be tiring. It’s not that I’ve decided to be selfish but I feel like I owe this to myself. I’ve never even tried travelling alone yet because I enjoy too much the company of my friends. I am grateful though that I’ve finally learned the art of eating alone and it is fun. I like it because I get to think more and sort out my priorities.

3. Complain less. Easier said than done, right? Okay let’s change my strategy - count more of my blessings. A couple of years ago in my Starbucks planner, I would always write down the three nice things that happened to me on that day or the three things I was grateful for during that day. I want to start that habit again. This will remind me (and maybe you) that at the end of the day – good always trumps the bad. It’s so obvious because we see it in movies, books and newspapers but obviously we tend to forget them. No more rants on twitter and on facebook. I’ve got to try to harder.

I wanted to come up with a longer list but let’s start with three. If I’ll be able to fulfil all of them in the next three months then maybe I can share with you the other things too.

I was going through Pinterest the other day and I bound into a post which I love! All I could say was – “This is so me.” I felt like this post was done for me. (Selfish!). Aside from the fact that the skirt is color green (my favourite!) – everything written there are the things I dream of doing. Who knows maybe if I stick to the resolutions I said above – I’ll be able to achieve this.




Even if it will be March in a couple of weeks – I guess it’s never too late come up with resolutions or to press the reset button. I believe that it’s never too late to become a better person.