It's been tradition that every Christmas season, colorful lights are set up in the gardens of Ayala Triangle. These lights do not just blink per se, they twinkle in rhythm with the music played in the background.

It's as if the trees transformed into star lights. :D

 It's a nice treat for everyone -- families, people who just came from work, even pet dogs, gather around the gardens to witness the dancing of the lights.

People flock around the garden of lights.

The garden is literally bathed with colorful lights.

Here's one video of the lights in action, dancing to the tune of Winter Wonderland.



The light show happens every hour from 6pm to 9pm, although for this year it already ended on December 30. Til next Christmas! :D

As I was rummaging through the notebooks that I have, I stumbled upon this one page wherein I wrote little bits of thoughts, realizations, and lessons that I learned in the past. Amazingly it still applies to me today as if I am continually relearning these lessons. Um, not really sure if that is a positive or a negative thing. :|

• Share your music. Share your light. 

• I want to do something that I will be passionate about.

• Everyday is a new beginning.

• Don't microsleep if you are tired (cause your sleep will continue and you'll wake up in the morning... I think I wrote this during college days when I plan to review for an exam at night, and I end up waking up in broad daylight on exam day with nothing finished in my to-review list... ><)
 

• The dream has ended. Wake up and move on.

• In some situations, a signature can change everything. (Haha this is so true.)

• New world, new life.

• Do not deceive your own family in favor of people  that you don't really know.

• Patience is a virtue.

• Be consistent. Be vigilant.

• Always be on track. Avoid distractions. (I still need to learn the trick for this. :O )

• The heart knows where it belongs.

• Stay positive.

• Learn a new language. (Currently, I am learning Japanese and Korean. :))

• I will love you... until my dying day. Come what may.

• Make baby-steps towards your goals.

• Do what you want to do now. Life is short.

• "Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth." - Colossians 3:2

• Between heroes and thieves, who would you choose?

• I will keep on holding on, as long as I believe that it's still worth it. :)

• Life is short. Let's do our best everyday so that there would be no regrets.

• It's either you do it or you don't. You can't be shades of gray. It's just either black or white.

Sometimes your past self can teach lessons to your present self, right? xD

For the last several months, I was becoming addicted to one beauty product. FYI, I am not really a fan of makeup and skin care stuff (although I needed it). It's just that it's just a minor matter to me, if you know what I mean. However lately, I began to discover the importance of taking care of the skin.

I would like to thank (or should I say I blame?) a friend of mine who introduced me to this product called Skin Food. It was during our puyat days and overnight shifts in the workplace that made us conscious of how our skin was becoming dull.

Skin Food is actually a beauty line that originated way from South Korea. Since I am into kpop stuff and to some koreanovelas, that added to the product's appeal to me.

my current lineup of SK products

The products are claimed to be made of all-natural products. It's fascinating for me that Skin Food products are grouped according to the products it is made in, and the specific skin type that it is most appropriate to use for. Also, the products are named according to the fruits and vegetables that they were made out of.

For my skin, I was recommended to start with the Parsley & Mandarin Skin Line. It is most appropriate for troubled skin. I used the toner and emulsion for around 6 months and my skin really improved. I was satisfied with the results so I decided to continue using it after the first bottle was consumed. When I returned to the store, they noticed that I don't have that much breakouts anymore but there are still scars and pores visible. Because of that, they recommended me the Peach and Sake line next. I am using it for a few weeks now.

I am looking forward to the results that these products will give me. With the kind of work I have, which involves mountains of stress and days of sleepless and restless workshifts, I need to find a way to take care of myself. Of course aside from eating the right food for the inside, we should also learn to take care of the things outside.

I am planning to buy more in the future, but for now I want to see how 'effective' these products can be.

~0o.o0~

I was not paid to write about this by the way. I wrote on my own accord. :)

  Playing By Ear by katalinarosario

On my next piano post, I will put recordings of some music sheets that I studied. :D

When I learned that this was the theme of our Christmas party, I was thrilled. :)) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

Not many know this (even most of my colleagues)... I am the culprit of our Kpop-themed Christmas party. *evil laugh*


This started when my project manager started to like this Korean girl group SNSD (소녀시대, also called Girls Generation). During overnight sessions at work, while the team is doing bug fixes, our PM would always be there for supervision. Since he doesn't have anything to do, he would watch SNSD videos. Everyone knows that I'm into kpop. So I was like introducing him to some of the SNSD members that I'm familiar with. 


One time while we were eating at the client site, our PM brought up the subject of our company's Christmas party this year. The conversation trailed to the theme of the party. I exclaimed 'KPOP' and everything seemed to settle into place. They thought it's a great idea because it's the trend today (here in the Philippines) and many of my colleagues are into KPOP also (well at least into SNSD I guess). I even discovered that the president of our company (the president's a female) is a fan of Big Bang! How cool is that! Maybe that's why that theme was approved by the mancom when it was suggested during a meeting. :D

It's a song entitled "100 Years" by Five for Fighting. I best related to it because I was 15 and the song starts with the lines --

I'm fifteen for a moment
Caught in between ten and twenty
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are 

My youth is in bloom and I was so innocent during those times. xD I loved to daydream and I still had the simplest problems in life. 

I just realized that now I'm on the second part of the song --

I'm twenty two for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars

Time flies really fast. It's been SEVEN years. So many things had happened, but thankfully I still feel the same way when I hear the song.

I can't really translate into words that beautiful feeling when experiencing the simple joys of life. I believe everyone of us have gone through this. All I want to say is that I am happy I am alive. 

Yes, everyday is a new day, just like what the song says. I am so thankful for everything -- for my dear friends and family. I smile as I reminisce the good times that I've had in the past.

Thank you God for giving me this chance to live in this world. I did have wished otherwise in the past, but that was because I was not myself. 

I love this life. I don't know when it will end, but I'm definitely enjoying the journey. :')

Yes, they are STILL in Beta... and it's already December. :o

Sometimes you don't really have to follow what your mom tells you. ;)

• Minimize distractions -- (i.e. phone usage, talking to colleagues)
•  Learn to prioritize.
• Don't sleep too late at night (so that it won't be that hard to wake up early the next day).
• Avoid publishing things out of extreme emotion (may it be positive or negative).
• Motivate yourself.
• Make your goals feasible.
• Discipline!
• No excuses should be tolerated ANYMORE.
• Avoid drinking coffee, if possible.
• Keep track of your goals.
• The more I encounter difficulty, the more motivated I should be because it means I will be learning something new again.
• Avoid giving in to peer pressure.

I am still in the process of finding an EFFECTIVE way of making myself wake up early for work. 

Help me God. :O

I'm listening to ___. What should I drink?

• The Echo Nest (http://the.echonest.com)
  • List of terms/genres that describe an artist
  • Audio summaries of top tracks (are their songs slow or fast, etc)

• Last.fm (http://last.fm/api)
  • Artist and album images
  • Artist name spelling corrections
  • List of most-played tracks per artist
  
  Try it on your favorite artist! :)