dream summer trip #1

my family isn't the adventurous type. di talaga namin peg mag-outing outing siguro dahil na rin sa my parents are both too busy on their work and they can't afford to be away from the metro for long. me and my sister are too maarte and kuripot na we'd rather go to the mall and make pasasa sa aircon instead of magbabad sa araw and get an ugly tan after. besides, we don't have beach bodies to flaunt so we never thought of going to the beach as rewarding and fun.

but i always tell myself na one day, makakapag-boracay din ako. and i want it during the cold season where there's not much people in the beach and off-peak para mura. i'm content with just me and sister! one day i promise to bring her there! >XD just the two of us para di hassle! it's gonna be loads of fun! >XD

so after all this isn't a dream summer trip but err a dream trip lang hahaha

design day!

powerpoint presentation template

oh i loooove this day. mainly because uhm, napasarap ako sa pag-design ng powerpoint presentation. looki looki! i'm kinda proud of this! one of the rare times i'm asked to do something creative (visually) at work. took a lot of time on my part, isingit lang daw sa trabaho pero seriously di ko kaya isingit lang yung gantong trabaho. hahaha dahil dyan, i'm sooo behind my programming task. argh

and also because of that, napapa-isip nanaman ako. haha >XD

TBB summer party!

with Trobang BB (aka college friends!)

May 18, 2013 @ Private Pool sa may Luzon, QC (www.privatepool.net)

this is so far my favorite summer outing of the year! well, mainly because i haven't really gotten around the beaches hehe since the sun hit it up high. good thing i found out about this private swimming which is cheap, near, and has a good set of amenities (unli pool + billiards + karaoke)! we really wanted to go to the beach kaso eto lang muna nakayanan namin given the time and budget haha >XD

sarap ng buhay!

nakakatuwa lang cos it's been a year (for some) since we graduated so kahit pano di na kuripot pagdating sa mga ganto! HAHA ang saya saya talaga! sana maulit muli and next time sa beach na talaga! >XD i had so much fuuun! i love my friends!

[reaction] the fault in our stars by john green

oh i've finally finished reading. first of all i had quite a number of expectations because

1) a lot of my facebook friends are reading it, attempting to read it, or showing an interest with it
2) it looks like a chick flick (the cover at least), which i assume is easier to read and will not take up much of my time, plus i love reading flicks and finally
3) it's turning into a movie, so i guess it must be something, eh?

after 200 pages i told you how i felt about it, how i was about to cry at what i could be reading in the future. in short, it was that compelling. BUT eventually i got bored, confused and i felt anxious about these dying kids pretending to be deep when in fact they're as selfish as any non-sick kid out there. lol

it annoyed me how i cannot distinguish hazel from augustus, even though they're not alike in terms of character, because they talk alike and use the same level of english, same construction, and same playful use of adjectives. it seemed like i was reading a monologue most of the time. it's like i'm just reading off of the author's head and not of their 2 independent thought clusters. it's hard to follow who's talking when i'm faced with just a series of open-close quotes with no he-said she-said. urgh. van houten also follows closely in this list of overly contrived characters. i mean, i get it, i get the difference between the characters but that's only because it is described there that hazel is a girl, gus is a boy and van houten is an old fat guy. i had a hard time creating a mental profile of the characters based on how they converse. i hope you get my point.

i like discovering characters not as they are described narratively but rather as the author puts words into their mouths. and on that part, i was pretty disappointed.

i also didn't like that they made out. as sick dying teenagers i thought they had a much deeper appreciation of love making. it felt unromantic when they did that. then again, that's just my cultural point of view kicking in.

hmm, i'd say that for an attempt to turn a usually superficial first-person teenage flick about dying kids into a profound life-examining death rant, i'd give john green two thumbs up. except that i find it too trying-hard for 2 teenagers to talk too much metaphorical sense. i admire the overall thought of the book though, the depth in which it mirrors life and death in the tongues of 2 non-adults is impressive. plus, it's a funny book considering how sensitive the topic is.

and finally, this isn't a negative review (err maybe?)... more of a reaction against my preferences in plot+style balance. in any case this won't hinder me from reading more of green's works. hehe >:D

halfway through The Fault in our Stars by John Green

i'm halfway! i'm halfway! this is probably the farthest i've gone reading ever since i started working, and that's almost a year ago already (btw, i'm nearing my 1st year anniv as a working girl!). i'm even afraid to share it too early cos i feel like this blog curses my reading sessions whenever i share about em, making me not finish the book at all. anyway, the illustration above is really cute, right? >XD credits to whoever made it!

a lot of people have been raving about this, so i thought i'd download an ebook. and so far, so great! i thought it was just another flick but on the first few pages i already wanted to cry. not because of what i read but because of what i could be reading soon... say, a hundred pages from now. i have a tendency to predict flicks, but they don't necessarily make me expect anything. it's just that what i've predicted makes me want to read further and further until i give justice to my premature tears. okay, that's actually an expectation haha.

i'm a fan of tragedy, what can i do? not that i want it to be tragic, but that's how i imagined it to end anyway. hehe

246 pages more! >XD

alternative earphones for Lenovo mobile

for those looking for alternative earphones for Lenovo mobile, i have great news for you! i've just found out that Nokia earphones are compatible with lenovo... including the mic and the fm component. well, at least for the particular model below...

nokia WH-102 HS-125 stereo headset

this is because they share the same OMTP standard lol i dunno what i'm talking about haha so just refer to the picture below.

credits to EpsilonTheGreat from lenovo mobile forums

anyway! the nokia WH-102 HS-125 costs 500 pesos (original). tried and tested with a Lenovo P700i... and i might say, sound quality is good! even the mic and fm are working fine! i'd say this is much better than the original lenovo earphones haha

Fairmont Hotel Makati: our gym + pool experience

i think i mentioned before na while i was looking for good gym + pool facis around makati, one of the places i called was Fairmont. during that time, exclusive to guests pa lang ung gym + pool nila but they mentioned that they're opening it up for membership soon.

at yun nga, one day they called me na open na raw sila and is offering me a free trial! yeheyy! so ako naman, kahit na during that time eh member na ko sa golds, go parin ng go para ma-checkitout ko rin yung place and malay nyo magustuhan ko hehe

so one sunday i brought my sister with me to makati! nga pala, raffles fairmont hotel is just beside landmark and across greenbelt 3. and their fitness center is located at the 4th floor. >:)

terai and i preparing to swim!

the first thing we did was swim! in fairness ang liit ng swimming pool nila but i love the water cos it doesn't reek strongly of chlorine like most pools. in fact mejo salty pa nga ung tubig hahaha.

the pool in different angles, mejo makulimlim hehe:

it's really small and what disappointed me pa is that ang babaw lang nya hahaha i guess the deepest is 5ft na hehe. nevertheless terai and i enjoyed our swim! as usual walang tao, di rin naman ganun karami guest ng fairmont at kung meron man, foreigner! haha

kung sa ambience eh ang masasabi ko lang eh maganda! maganda talaga! i mean, yeahhh. hahaha 

after swimming, gym naman! their lifeguard slash trainer accompanied us to the gym area for our free trial. at dun na nagsimula ang kalbaryo namin. haha i thought the free trial meant we're free to just try the place as we wish, yung pala kasama pa itong workout session na sobrang na-ubos energy ko! 

kuya bernny was the one who "trained" us for an hour. cardio muna, then squats, then weights, and weights, more weights and situps. mamatay matay na kami ng kapatid ko seryoso. di naman stressful, pero if you know us you'd probably realize how it's so hard for us to workout HAHAHA sobrang phyisically fit lang namin. nakakahiya na. hahaha

pictures! 

terai cardio-ing haha

free weights area

ang sosyal na bottled water

after workout. glad it's over haha

the truth is, we enjoyed it! kuya bernny's training method just goes to show na pag inaraw araw mo yung routines nya, papayat ka sigurado. but that's probably the same for any PT right? at madami akong natutunan sa kanya!

learnings from kuya bernny:

lesson 1: sabi nya, when a person loses weight, here's the order of "noticeability" haha kumbaga, pag pumayat ka eto yung unang lumiliit (in order!):

1. face

2. arms

3. thighs

4. belly

at! pag tumaba ka naman, unang lumalaki ang: belly, followed by thighs, arms then face. baliktad naman ngayon. kewl.

lesson 2: if you want to lose weight, you have to grow muscles because they burn fats.

lesson 3: para masaya, focus on the 3 biggest muscle areas in your body. the thighs, the flabs (i mean abs), and the back. 

lesson 4: a common misconception with women is that they should limit lifting weights when trying to lose weight para di mag mukhang body builder. sabi ni kuya, wala naman kaming testosterone so we're not going to buff up like those hardcore body builders. sa isip ko naman, di ba may testosterone parin ang babae? onti nga lang hehe. anyway, point is, lifting weights is important! haha

thank you kuya, because of you naging makabuluhan ang paghihirap namin!

summing it up, from a prospective member's point of view, eto mga masasabi ko sa fairmont:

PROS:

- the place is beautiful, the gym is big and has a lot of space

- the equipment are all new. in fact, halos TechnoGym lahat (same w/ fitness first pero mukang higher model na). sosyal!

- the showers are big and clean

- towels are provided

- the lockers are hightech na rin. no need for padlocks, parang vault type ganito o:

ang elibs na locker!

- the staff are all nice and friendly!

CONS:

- there are no installed shampoo/conditioner/bath gel dispensers in the showers so lalabas ka pa just to reach the tray of bath essentials. hassle kaya yon haha although i know they'll work it out somehow! hehe

- no enough space to dress up. malaki yung room pero malayo yung lockers sa area where you can put your bags down and dress comfortably.

- the pool is small and shallow

- no hair dryer! big deal to sakin seriously hahaha

- and finally, it's super duper mahal. nasa 90k ang annual fee keri nyo ba yon? ako hindi eh. luho na yung ganyang rate sakin. daig ang annual rate ng Makati Shang! haha

anyway, it wouldn't hurt to give it a try! i'll give them 8.5 out of 10 stars! >:D thank you so much for the experience fairmont! >:D

for more details you may reach their fitness club at the following contact numbers:

Raffles Fairmont Makati

Willow Stream Fitness Club

tel: (+632) 555 9777

fax: (+632) 555 9799