Balut The Slapsoil Wanderer

And so that was Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over And a  new one just begun And so that was Christmas I hope you had fun The near and the dear one The old and the young. A very merry Christmas And a happy new year I hope it was a good one without any fear… Thanks to this John Lennon song for giving me the perfect set of words on how I wanted to wish or ask everyone during this holiday.  "How was your Christmas?" It also perfectly put into words what I am thinking as of this moment  that the year is about to end and the holiday cheers will soon fade away. I hope everyone out there had a good holiday!  Happy New Year everybody! Cheers! New Year’s Eve in Manila Philippines!  And oh just a thought… 349 days more and it will be Christmas once again.  Another reason to say CHEERS!

I hope that this will not be my final post for 2013 because I have lot of pending stories (random and rants) that I have yet to share.  Though I know it’s kind of  impossible for me to post all of them because there’s just three more days to go and 2013 will be gone. Anyway, I just can’t help but share my so happy moments on my yesterday’s meet up with good old friends. Kids party at a venue that I love with a good old friend and gym buddy. First part of the day is meeting with my former gym buddy Baby whom I started to build friendship way back some ten years or more.  Her granddaughter is celebrating 7th birthday at Gerry’s Grill in Blue Wave Mall.   You see, I can afford to miss personal invitations and parties for myself but when it comes to kids party invitation for my daughter, I am really trying to find time for such invites.  I don’t want her missing the privileged of being invited and her chance for enjoyment and socialization for her young life. More so this time it i

As I step in Café Cesario at the Cebu-Mactan International Airport to have a quick breakfast before our flight back after a weekend trip, something caught my attention. This! In spite of my hunger, sleepy/heavy head caused by trying to catch an early morning flight, I can’t help but pause from my quick breakfast, stood up from my table and examine this piece that is hanging above the central ceiling of the café. Obviously it's a Christmas decoration but what caught my attention is how and what material it is made of.  It is made from disposable plastic cups and its craftsmanship really took my breath away.  My camera did not even give justice to this awesome piece but just the same I want to share it with you and so do with this quotation that I chanced upon… “And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans—and all that lives and move

Happy 2nd Anniversary to this blog! This year’s celebration will be very simple. No countdown, no wishes, no surprises and the likes. But of course there’s a BIG THANK YOU for all of you who supported this blog in any way. Thank you my readers, followers, fellow bloggers, sponsors, advertisers, affiliates and to everybody!  You are all the reason why this blog is continuously succeeding. Cheers to more years of celebration!  THANK YOU!

“Bangon Visayas” It’s good to see that our brothers from the Visayas are now moving on from the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda.  Slowly… but at least they’re moving on.  Thanks to the kind hearted fellow Filipinos who instantly united into an unplanned  “bayanihan”.  Much thanks also to all the foreign countries who automatically sent in their aid and assistance.   My prayers now is that the collected funds and relief goods be handled in the most honest and righteous manner and that it will be used solely for the typhoon victims. To those who has evil plans and who will mismanage the funds and the relief goods for the Yolanda victims,  I wish that Typhoon Yolanda come back to just selectively whip you all into oblivion (forgive me). May the odds be ever in your favor champ! Congratulations and thank you also to Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao for that great come back fight against Brandon Rios.  Once again you made us Filipinos proud!  I may not like or agree with Pacqui

This is by far the longest period that I did not post an update for this blog. I was supposed to publish a post on the first day of  November but the subject is quite sad.  It talks about death.  I delayed the posting of that draft. I then revised the said draft.  I successfully added more sense to it plus a bit of happiness (and celebration) on this post that first drafted as “sad”.  Then came typhoon Yolanda (International Codename: Haiyan) – with the unbelievable and heartbreaking devastation it brought to my “kababayan” particularly in the Eastern Visayas.  I followed every news update about typhoon Yolanda’s aftermath in spite that sometimes it is unbearable to watch.  Each time that I watched, heard or read about it there’s an instant urge to write something on how could I be of help even in my own little way.   But each time I tried to draft I also became instantly wordless.  Frustratingly wordless. Perhaps this is the same feeling that the concerned people who wanted to

I’ve been seeing a lot of bloggers posting about their bucket list and wish list.  I have my own list too but I ‘m not sharing it yet because I am looking for a perfect time to post it. But, I have another wish list that have been kept in my trunk.  I am sharing this not only because Halloween is trending but because this wish list is real.  Who knows, some of you maybe interested in helping me out to make these wishes come true (wink*wink*). Here is my 10 Halloween-Related Wish List: Attend a Halloween Costume Party in a real scary costume . No cute costume please!  A zombie will do. I will not talk to anybody during the entire party.  I will just be lurking around while giving everybody a creepy look. Go Trick or Treat as Addams Family. "Trick or Treat" was not popular in the province where I grew up so I did not had the chance to experience the fun.  Maybe I could do it this time as “Morticia” and be sweetly addressed by Gomez Addams as “Cara Mia”.  And oh, we are a

Lately I am seeing a lot of horror and mystery movies being shown on cable channels one of which is the "Twilight" series.  Oh it's Halloween that's why! Though I don't consider the "Twilight" movie series as a horror movies series.  For me it's more of a love story rather than horror.   Anyway let me share my personal review about   the last installment of the Twilight movie which I originally posted last November 2012 to my other blog "The Lucky Blog".  *** I’m glad Aro backed out or I’ll never forgive him for snapping the head of Carlisle Cullen – the vampire character I love most in this saga (next is Emmett).  I might ended up as a Volturi hunter.  Whoops! I’m definitely been carried by the vampire hype. Ok before we go further, let me mention that I will not be using review scores here like 8 out of 10 or something like that.  My movie reviews will all be based on what goes on my (un)opinionated movie-lover brain and heart. 

1. Pick one post from your blog drafts, finalize it and then publish.  It’s already mid-October and you only have one post showing on your October 2013 archive.  What’s with the draft queue? 2. In relation to Number 1, finish all series of posts on your blog specially about "Churches" . Let the world see those beautiful structures that you had the privilege of documenting.  And you are not alone in feeling heart broken on the collapse of the historical churches in Cebu and Bohol. San Geronimo (St. Jerome) Parish Church in Morong Rizal or the Church of Morong is one among the beautiful churches I visited in 2010.    Its frontispiece and the belfry is built between 1850 to 1853.  This is just one among my collection of churches photographs that I’m supposed to publish on this blog.  The current earthquake in Cebu and Bohol that caused damage to historical churches reminds me of my collection and the plan to publish them. 3. Rest.  You have fever and flu (again) beca

HAPPY TEACHER’s DAY Happy Teacher’s Day to all you noble people in the teaching profession! Special greetings to my fellow bloggers who are in the academe.  They are Jonathan (Metaphorically Speaking), Yccos (Saturday Thoughts), Anthony ( on blogging hiatus ), Rona (Rona’s Review) - Happy Teacher’s Day guys and also to other teachers in the blogosphere that I failed to mention! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! To dear blogger friend Mak of Christian Song Lyrics who celebrated his birthday sometime in September. Happy Birthday Mak and thank you for always being supportive to all my blogs. To (one of) my favorite blogger and person, Super Mario of the blogosphere Mar of Unplog who is celebrating his birthday this month of October (1st October if I’m not mistaken).  Happy Birthday to you my (self-proclaimed/LOL) favorite. I wish both of you all the wonderful blessings in life and I wish to maintain friendship with both of you beyond the blogosphere. CONGRATULATIONS My dear Phil

In spite of the heavy downpour all day long that Sunday, the 34th MIBF is still jam packed with crowd during it’s last day until closing time.  I supposed due to its loyal crowd such as my family plus it coincides with a weekend payday sale at the nearby SM Mall of Asia plus the UAAP cheer dance competition which is happening also at the nearby MOA Arena. Name a book store and publishing company – you’ll surely find them at the fair. Book signing from local authors, writers and illustrators has always been a major part of the annual MIBF.  We spotted journalist, poet and musician Lourd de Veyra trying to be incognito from the crowd while DJ and writer “Papa Jack” is having a book signing on the same publication where he will be doing book signing too. The queue to Bo Sanchez book signing is as usual among one of the longest. Aside from signing my daughter’s book, illustrator Dom Agsaway made a quick drawing of my daughter’s face on the same page where he signed. Almost

I have a generation gap with my older siblings, particularly with my oldest brother and sister (Kuya and Ate).  Being born the youngest from the brood of eight, my exposure in music is influenced by the different genre where my other siblings belong. Let me start with, "When I was little" (lol but seriously), my father has this business of buying imported stuff from American people in Subic Base back in the days that it wasn’t yet a free port.  He used to bring home a lot of imported stuff, from food,  kitchen utensils, furniture to appliances.  We smell like Americans I tell yah. LOL!  Calling my father “Hey Jo!” up front was the ultimate dream joke for me and my siblings.  But it remained just a dream joke.  My father, in spite of being exposed to the western people is the typical conservative Filipino father.  He is super strict and disciplinarian.  Kissing his hand (Mano Po) was the “must do” when he comes home from work.  One day, my father brought home a stereo that

Yey! Here comes that time of the year once again that we are all feeling excited for our annual book bonding - The Manila International Book Fair! What is more amazing is that it’s now on its 34th year! September 11 – 15, 2013 ● 10AM – 8PM SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex Pasay City, Philippines To have an idea on how fun it is to be at the MIBF event you may want to check our annual book bonding adventures from this posts: Manila International Book Fair (MIBF): Our Annual Book Binding The Crazy Things We Did at the 33rd MIBF (2012) And if you wish to know the detailed schedule of events of this year’s MIBF you can click on this link. See you all there!

Happy 1st of September everyone! Today I started downloading my favorite collection of Christmas songs and add them back on my playlist.  I am playing the Ray Conniff selection while editing this post. Please don't be confused with the content/title of this post.  Today, 1st of September is technically 113 days more before Christmas . The following content is a re-post from my former blog "The Lucky Blog" originally titled as "95 Days Before Christmas"... ~ It kind of surprised me big time when I heard from today’s morning news that it is just 95 more days before Christmas!  I can’t help but utter the over used but oh so true phrase “time flies so fast”!  And it flies more faster when you are so caught up with the daily rushes of life that you missed to savor the moment when the most anticipated season of the year is fast approaching. For those who’s been following my blog posts, it is so obvious that for almost two months now, I am having one helluv

This random post is brought to you by my disorganized thoughts. It’s been days now that I can’t decide on which among my drafts should i post. Top on the list is of course my rant post about my internet/phone provider and another rant about the PDAF issue. But these posts/topics and the reason why I cannot post them are all intertwined together. I sort of blaming these intertwined reasons why I am having a disorganized thoughts. First on why I’m not posting my rant about my net/phone provider.  As of the current plight that my dear country is experiencing, the typhoon and flooding coinciding with the “heat” on the PDAF issue my concern is just a minuscule one so I shut up (until further annoyance).  As of this writing my net service is working but my phone is out of order for (effin-sorry) eight days now.  That is excluding the four days that I first complained about.  Breath… keep calm… You see I created this blog to induce positiveness in people’s lives which is really a one-he

Thanks to my genius provider I was out of internet and phone for four straight days.  Work and everything related piled up.  I am currently cramming to finish everything the soonest while I’m trying my best to shake out all the negativity and being pissed off! A regular post is coming soon and I have the feeling that it will be in the form of an ugly rant! My apologies to my blogger friends also for not passing by your blogs.  I will visit you all as soon as my online life is back to normal schedule.  Meanwhile, you are all free to blame my internet/phone provider.

Eight days after August and I’m still lost with it.   But the good thing is that it started well and fine for me.  Before my August gets too exciting let me take a quick look back how I ended July. Starting a new adventure as the month ended As July came to an end I started on a new adventure.  This adventure is officially called “job” but I prefer to call it that way.  So you won’t see me online as much as I was for the last three months.  But of course blogging is still on top of my priorities. Ending July with a Run. I shared the story about the Media Launch that I attended for this year’s (37th) Milo Marathon. I was one among the 40,000 runners who joined the Manila Eliminations leg.  Just like with my other runs I usually bring along with me a camera all though out the run so I can document the event and my own run.  The difference this time is that a media badge is also hanging in my neck. And after finishing my 10K run I still yet to attend the press conference afterwar

So July ended without saying goodbye just like what its elder siblings did.  More so, a younger sibling by the name of August showed up on my door without knocking!  Why these months always do this? Ha ha kidding! Before August can drag me to another spinning roller coaster ride then leave me dizzy the way July did, let me share some fun events that I missed to share last June. Spontaneous summer escapade Sometime in June before the summer ends and the rainy days started we stole a day from it and had a spontaneous summer getaway.  A sort “Huling hirit sa tag-init” (last summer escapade) before the kids start school and also an advance celebration of our wedding anniversary. We headed to one summer destination. I will not disclose the name of the place for now because I am hoping to share a full story sometime along the blogging way. But I’ll share some teaser photos (LOL) of the place.  The kids wanted to swim in a pool and yet wanted to feel the sand as well so we went to a