She actually has a very detailed tutorial video on what her thinking process is on publishing on IG. In that video, she mentioned that she goes through every detail of each photo, even up to the level of rearranging them so that on her actual IG profile, adjacent photos complement each other in terms of colors and composition. 😮 #wow

This is the goal of Speed Magazine's workshop - to teach SNS users how to achieve their #feedgoals. Of course each of us has our own type of goal on what we want for our profile, and this workshop was to guide us to that.

Because I arrived late 😓, I was only able to catch the second speaker for the workshop - lifestyle photographer John Austria of @SinoPinas, who shared his experiences as a photographer, and also gave us tips on how to create our own #feedgoal.

My take aways from his talk are:

• Find your brand, and stick to it. If you are interested in posting about travel, then go for it. If you are into food photography, then very well indulge in it. Just be consistent on your content.
• It's okay to break some rules. Photography is an art. You don't have to follow rules all the time (i.e. rule of thirds).
• Vsco is a nice mobile app to edit your photos on your mobile. I always see this #vsco tag on Instagram - so this is what it's referring to. His go-to filters are A6, S2, and SE3.

There was an activity after the talk, wherein the audience were tasked to take photos around the venue focusing on portrait photography. We were at Coffee Project, and it was perfect because every area of the coffee shop was IG-worthy! We grouped and partnered up and took photos of our respective activity partner around the area. See all participants' entries here!

The best part of being invited to events like this? The take-home loot! 😁 (p.s. I used the VSCO app to edit this photo!)


It was such a fun experience! Thanks a lot to Speed Magazine for inviting me to this workshop!

I found myself in Seoul again, this time for the Autumn season. 💗

I made a leap of faith. I clicked the 'Book Now' button and purchased the tickets.

It was an exhilarating feeling - being brave enough to actually get those tickets.

After several minutes, the realization sank in - I will be travelling alone to Seoul. The idea of it made me excited and frightened at the same time. But I knew I would survive anyway, as this would already be my second time to visit the city. There were several months to prepare. However after a few hours of contemplating, I decided to see if there are friends who would be also travelling on those same dates. So I rounded up with friends to check. When I asked my thesis mates if they wanted to join me, they were thrilled! They then bought plane tickets as well on the same night I asked them about it. Talk about impulsive buying, right? 😁

One of our few photos together during the trip. 😁 #ThesisSeoulMates

I realized this was our first time to travel together, and it's already to an international destination! We've really leveled up! Usually the three of us would just meet up to eat out in malls, or sing at the karaoke, but now, we are travelling to Seoul! Even though we don't get to bond that much anymore these days (we work in different offices), with these two, it's always as if time didn't pass when we see each other again.

All of us were busy with work, so we didn't have time to actually meet to plan stuff for this travel. From arranging our visas to planning our itinerary, we did it all online. It was like we were in college again doing our thesis. We had our notes uploaded on Google Docs, collaborating on our travel checklist and itinerary.

Before we knew it, the day to finally travel to Seoul has arrived!

Even though this is my second time in Seoul, there were still a lot of firsts for me during this trip.

First time to experience Fall! 😄

As usual, this is going to be a series of posts (expect loooots of photos!). My first travel to Seoul was during Spring. Now, the season is Autumn! This time, I didn't visit any KPOP-related spot, because honestly I didn't have anything to explore anymore (our itinerary last year have already covered most places). I wanted my travel this time to be a relaxed one, just chilling around and enjoying the sights and sounds (and food!) of Seoul. 💗

A good friend recommended me this book, and I could just remember how enthusiastic he was telling me about this. He told me this book is making a buzz online. I got curious, so I know I had to read what this is all about. Apparently the book is set in a dystopian future where a virtual reality game called OASIS exists. Our protagonist, Wade Watts, is one of the thousands of online players of this game.


With just reading the first chapter of the book, the gamer in me became alive. Disclaimer: I am not a hardcore gamer, okay? I never got hooked on those RPGs that was released in recent years. The last one I religiously played was Pokemon Yellow Version (don't judge me 😑).

Speaking of Pokemon, the recent hype, Pokemon Go, had this "cheat" that will enable a player to get a Pikachu early in the game. I knew these cheats are always present in games. As early as playing Contra on the Family Computer, that Konami code was always used by me and my siblings so that the character will have extra lives on the start of the game. It was through this book that I discovered that there is a term for those "cheats" on games - these are what they call easter eggs. Game developers put these easter eggs on purpose for the players to discover during the game. It really adds fun to it, right? This is my greatest take away from this book.
 
Well, back to the book - the setting of Ready Player One is actually close to the future I imagine. In that world, people are isolated from socialization in real life, and are just locked most of the time in their rooms, living in the online virtual world of OASIS. It's sad and frightening at the same time. It's hard to admit, but this is already happening now. The level of engagement into the virtual/online world is just not as bad yet compared to what's described in the story.

Lots of references were made on 80s pop culture, and I couldn't relate that much honestly. Although, somehow I understand how this book has become a hype, to specific audiences, those that could relate to the games, music, and movies that were mentioned in the book. It might have felt very nostalgic, I could just imagine.

I didn't get hooked immediately with the book. I was already half-way when I stopped reading it for a while. I started to read Coraline first, then resumed reading the book after. The story became more interesting when the hunt for Halliday's Easter Egg had progress - how Parzival was able to crack the clue of where the first key was, and when his avatar's name got displayed as first place on the scoreboard on Halliday's site. It was a signal that the race to win the game had began.

It's kind of refreshing to actually realize that Cline was able to contain the very detailed world of OASIS in a single book. You know how things are these days, books of this kind usually come as a series. There's a disadvantage with a single book of course - the story gets finished immediately. I still wanted to know more about what will happen to Art3mis and Parzival. 😁

It's been a long while since I felt this kind of excitement with reading a book. I was actually always looking forward to being home so that I could continue reading! Even if I was already very sleepy, I was still looking at the book, trying to decipher the words on the page. There was an instance that I literally fell asleep while reading. 😅

The book will be having it's movie version next year, 2017. It will be directed by Stephen Spielberg! This will be huge, I'm telling you! I just cannot contain my excitement for this!


Thanks to my friend for literally handing me this book, because I know this title would go unnoticed if I see it among those displayed in the bookstore. That's why they say - don't judge a book by its cover.

This book was one of those titles I just randomly pulled out of the shelves of a bookstore. For this one, I'm quite glad I did it.

*read with caution, as this post contains spoilers!*


It was not a hard decision actually, because Coraline is written by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. I'm drawn to dark creepy stuff, and Gaiman's literature perfectly captures my taste. A quick Google search tells me that this book was published in 2002 (why didn't I hear of this before?) and this is his first book for children. I've already read his other children's title The Graveyard Book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I had high expectations for this book. 😃

Praises from other authors were written in the first few pages, most of them saying that Coraline is thrilling and a spine-chilling story. It so happened that I only had time to read the book every night before bedtime. I thought this might be a bad idea (as the story might make me spawn nightmares), but well I still went for it.

I was in for a dreamy eerie ride.

Like the plot of the Narnia books, Coraline gave off that same feeling of thrill for an out-of-this-world adventure. Curiosity as a child sometimes leads us to wander off to some places, and it happens that for our heroine, it's a place she's in danger and needs to get out immediately.

But the danger was not imminent - she had her choice to accept it, and that's what really gets me. That "other mother" treated Coraline the sweetest way possible, presenting her the offer to be her child. She just had one condition - Coraline has to stay in that other world forever.

After reading the book, I wanted to tell Gaiman - really, this story is for kids? 😨 As an adult, I see this book as a bit disturbing, in so many different ways. But of course for children, I guess, they would also comprehend the book in a totally different way.

I'll have to commend Coraline - she was an extraordinarily brave girl. If I got to be in her position, I don't know what might have happened to me. I might have been hypnotized by the other mother the minute she saw me on the other world, and I won't be able to get back to my own world. 😅

I really like Gaiman's writing style, especially those subtle points teasing the audience that the protagonist is in danger, and that this "sweet" person has other dark motives in mind. It makes the readers uneasy, making them hooked on what would happen next in the story. Also, just when you thought Coraline was already safe back on the other side of the door, something further haunts her. That part really just gave me the creeps.

If ever this story makes it to a big screen adaptation, I hope Tim Burton directs it.
(UPDATE: OMG, wish granted! The film was shown in 2009! 😃)

Really, just be careful on what you wish for. 😊

I'm so happy that it's becoming a trend today that all those 90s bands are coming to the country for a concert. One of these groups that I got the chance to see live is The Calling, who performed at the Mall of Asia Arena on November 11. This is their first time to perform in the Philippines.

I think I was around high school when the band was at the peak of their popularity. All their greatest hits (Stigmatized, Adrienne, Wherever You Will Go, Our Lives) were part of my life going through adolescence (and you know how complicated that can be, with all the hormones and emotions involved).

I just love them. And I cannot believe I was going to finally see them live.

Me and my sister got the cheapest tickets available for that concert. When we arrived at the venue, we immediately noticed that there were not much of a crowd around - no people were rushing to the arena with us compared to other concerts we went to previously. Entering inside the arena, the MOA staff told us that we don't need to go up to the Gen Ad section. All tickets were upgraded to Lower Box. When we got to the LB section, we realized why. There were not much people in the arena, and it's only an hour to go before the show starts.
Somehow, I knew it would turn out like this. The band is not that popular today (only 90s kids would recognize them, and maybe a few from the younger crowd who got to discover them on streaming sites). It lowered my spirits a bit, to be honest.

Oh well, the show still must go on. There were two local band frontacts for that night - Bonifacio Republic, and another band that I didn't catch the name. I liked more the latter band, just because they performed an awesome guitar cover of the Game of Thrones opening theme. :p

The show's front acts

peeps at the tech booth #howtobeyoupo

We were around the same distance from the stage as we were during the Switchfoot concert. I saw most people from the Lower Box station were starting to move down also.

After a few minutes, the band finally came up on stage!



We were so near the stage that I am able to see Alex Band's facial expressions, as well as the rest of the band. It really felt surreal.

The mountain-climbing group in our office (the same people I went together up Mt. Batulao and Pico De Loro) had this mission to climb the famous Mt. Pulag within the month. Since Pulag is a bit challenging compared with those that we've already tried (it will be an overnight hike + we'll need to survive low temperature and high altitude sickness), it is advised that we do some warm up climb so that it would get easier when we go for Pulag. 

Coincidentally, my college boardmates wanted to do some mountain climbing, and they chose to climb Mt. Manabu. Because I was getting addicted to climbing mountains, I agreed to go along with them (this enthusiasm would backlash on me soon; more about that on my next mountain-climbing posts).

cross at the summit of Mt. Manabu (cross looks bent because this is a panorama shot)

our guide holding the seedlings and looking for the perfect spot to dig on the ground (take note of that deadly knife!)

I've grown to love going to concerts through the years. Actually, this blog is a witness on how this casual hobby became a passion that I want to pursue more seriously from now on.

From once concert to another. ♥（ﾉ´∀`）

I believe concerts is where I'm happiest.

Music is my life. My most favorite tracks accompanied me in the lowest times of my life. Music calmed me down whenever I woke up because of a nightmare in the middle of the night. Music was there when I was happy, when I was sad, or just whenever I needed to relax and be lost in thoughts (especially during long road trips! #emomode).

Imagine my most favorite songs being performed live on stage by the very people who created it.
Imagine a whole massive crowd who share that same passion as me with the music and the artist on stage. Imagine them all singing all their heart out together with the artist on stage. That is heaven right there. 

It so happened that whenever I go to concerts, I was always the one holding the camera. I didn't have good camera back then, and I was satisfied capturing the stage with all the glimmering lights dancing to the songs. When I got a better point-and-shoot camera, things changed. I got fascinated more and more with music photography.

It became a habit. A concert will never be complete without photos and videos.

It came to a time that I realized this has become a passion. I realized this is something that I enjoy doing, and I want to continue doing it some more! This dream actually came true. Several months later, I was contacted by a KPOP fansite admin because she saw the photos I took in the 2NE1 concert I attended to. I was then recruited to cover KPOP concerts (which involved taking photos!) for that site. During my course as a staff, I was able to cover 3 KPOP concerts held here in Manila!

I covered Best of Best in PH, Epik High, and VIXX concerts for KondaKorea.

I knew I had to put this passion to the next level, so when I saw Kris Rocha's music photography workshop earlier this year (she's one of the concert photographers I follow), I signed up right away. With her guidance, I was able to learn the tricks and trades of the music photography industry.

The first concert where I applied what I learned in that workshop is the one with Japanese rock band ONE OK ROCK. I compared the set of photos I took from this concert, and I already saw the difference from my past concert photos.

I was thoroughly enjoying immersing myself in concerts. It came to the point where my FB homepage was all about concerts! To avoid irking my non-concert-ish friends, I decided to create a dedicated Twitter and an Instagram account to further pursue my concerts passion! Through these accounts, I now have the freedom to spazz whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted! (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ

for promoting concerts, following artists, and spazzing about them!

for all photos that I've taken from concerts

Music N Lens Twitter | Instagram

What a great time to be alive.

Who would have thought that the idea of catching Pokémon in the real world would come to life one day, or - the possibility of actually continuing Sakura Kinomoto's adventures with her magical cards after the phenomenal closure of the manga series (and the anime) decades ago? Well, my childhood friends are back, now with more adventure and fun times to offer this time. :D

Pokémon Go

Most people my age would, more or less, have fond childhood memories of Pokémon. May it be about watching the anime or playing the Nintendo game, these cute creatures (duh who doesn't recognize Pikachu?) have a special place in our hearts. Just imagine when the trailer for the augmented reality version of this monster-collecting universe came out on April Fool's day of 2015! The whole world got really hyped about it.


It's about time the game franchise went beyond the confines of the Game Boy™! The game features showed in this trailer are just beyond a Pokémon Trainer's wildest dreams! The whole world (well the whole gaming world at the least) looked forward into the release of the game the year after, and the craze that followed is the biggest one I've seen in years.

US Beta Release. The game was officially released in some parts of the US first, and everyone was crazy about it. I live in the Philippines, and unfortunately for us, the game became officially available only after a few months if its US release. I was really keeping track of updates from Niantic (the game developer) on when they'd finally release it here. I was getting my updates via Reddit and it was so thrilling to learn that everyone was enjoying the game very much. From middle-aged adults to young kids, everyone was out in the streets with their phones searching for those virtual monsters.

Philippine Release (at last)! In the morning of August 6, everyone in the country was pleasantly surprised, as the Pokémon Go app became officially available for download! As expected, everyone was so hyped as well. It doesn't help that the place where I work is a gym in the game, and has several PokéStops nearby. Good thing I still was able to control myself and work productively (hehe hi Boss!). Along the lobbies of the building, groups of people were seen huddled together with their phones playing the game in the first few weeks since the release. It felt like paradise. It was a beautiful dream of any Pokémon fan. :D All the players shared that happy nostalgic feeling while playing the game.

Although the main goal of the game is to complete the Pokédex with all 250 specie, the extra benefits that players got from this game are:

• getting physical exercise - You have to walk most of the time when playing the game.
• exploring places around - I've read a lot from player accounts that they were able to discover new establishments that they've never noticed before.
• making new friends - Especially for the younger crowd, this game had been an instrument for them to mingle and interact with other players in the real world!

Unfortunately as of this writing (around 2 months after the release), the popularity of this game has significantly dropped due to the fact that the mobile app falls short of the players' expectations. In my case, I got stuck at Level 12 (lol). There were not much to do in the game aside from continuing to catch every Pokémon that appears your way, and battling players in gyms. It just became too monotonous for me. I didn't actually battle much in gyms because I was totally at loss on what strategy to pull off when battling certain types of Pokémon. When I first tried placing my Pokémon into battle, I just literally stared on my screen as I saw the HP of my Pokémon go down to 0 in a matter of seconds. It turns out the "proper way" of doing battles is to just continue tapping on the screen while you and your enemy Pokémon attack each other. What the hell happened with being able to select the moves/attacks of your Pokémon? How will I be able to strategize my moves? 

This augmented-reality game turned out to be way different from the one shown in the trailer, and it lacked a lot of elements that were present in the Game Boy game. Maybe if there were significant updates in the future, I might go back and try the game again.

Pokémon Go Google Play | App Store

Cardcaptor Sakura

You have no idea how much this anime has been part of my life when I was younger. I remember Cardcaptor Sakura aired at 4PM on weekdays on local TV, and I would look forward to watching it everyday. I would always daydream that I can have the same powers as Sakura and that the cards can be mine too.

credits: CLAMP

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc MangaFox


It felt surreal to see Pokémon and Cardcaptor Sakura having comebacks this year. I am sure all people of my generation (who are working adults now) are having major nostalgia on these, bringing lots and lots of happy childhood memories. :D

"It's a celebration of how far we've come." - Matty Healy (The 1975 frontman)

Indie band The 1975 really has come a long way, and proof of this is the fact that they are the featured artist for the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge finale show. And this is not just any other kind of performance, because for this stage, the band was accompanied by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (a f*cking legit orchestra! *mindblown*)!



I believe The 1975 is just the perfect band to be accompanied by an orchestra for a show. With the kind of songs they produce, the music is such a match made in heaven! This show became an opportunity for them to play live some of their instrumental tracks from their sophomore album.

The band has been teasing fans about this special show for several weeks. They've been expressing how they are very much looking forward to it. During the rehearsals, they said they've been moved to tears on how wonderful their music sounded with the orchestra. Richard Davis, the orchestra conductor, did a great job in creating the orchestra version score. The identity of the songs were still present, they were just further embellished by the wonderful melody of the orchestra instruments. It was just amazing. Just like what Matty said, it sounded so magical, like a fairytale.

The show was available for streaming (both audio and video) worldwide. I used the BBC iPlayer for the audio, and the BBC Media player for the video (yes I was using two phones!). I knew our internet connection is not that fast, so audio streaming was my best option for a seamless experience of the show. The video part is just a bonus, so that I could see a sneak peek of what was happening on stage.

I was actually anxious that fans would scream too much for the duration of the show, but good thing they didn't. I guess they were briefed on proper orchestra show decorum. :D




Even before the show started, #The1975LiveLounge was already trending worldwide on Twitter! #proudfan

It was really an amazing show, something that would be memorable, both for the band and for the fans. Thanks again The 1975 for making me happy. :D

If you missed the live show, you may still stream it via the BBC iPlayer up until the end of the month.

I have been a Smart subscriber since 2014. Now I have already reached the period wherein I can avail of a new handset as part of the network's retention plan promos. I already sent them my application earlier this year, however I was only able to personally visit the Smart store last week to follow up about it. I didn't receive updates from that Smart store for several months about the status of my application. I have forgotten about it actually. I was only able to remember it when my sister told me she needs a new phone (she has a line with Smart also). I told her I'd just give her this new unit that I will be receiving.

When I went to the Smart store, the staff there told me that the unit I requested was already there. However I won't be able to get it because they need to return it now to the warehouse because there's only a limited period that they can hold the unit. They would just be sourcing a new one for me. With that, they'll need to re-encode my application, in other words my application would need to fall in line again. It would take at least two weeks to get the new unit again.

That process seemed off to me. I reached out to @SMARTCares about this concern. Within minutes, I received a reply from their account asking for more information. I sent all of the details via DM. After exchanging several messages, they replied they'll contact the Smart store concerned.

The next day, I received a text message from the Smart store telling me I can now claim the unit. w(°ｏ°)w I replied that I'll try to drop by their store that day. However, I had to do overtime at work so I informed them I won't be able to get the unit that day but will try to get it within the week. The next day, I received a text again from them telling me they would need to return the unit to the warehouse so I need to claim it within the day. So even though I still had some tasks to do, I did not do overtime that day and went to the Smart store.

It was obvious to me I had been the "topic of the day" of all the staff  at that Smart store because the moment I entered, a staff (the one I initially talked to) told me to wait for a while and that she'll just get the unit ready. She then went to the back of the store and I heard her shout my name to the other staff there telling them that I was already there. Then they began talking about me. (I badly wanted to shout "I can hear you f*ckers" 凸(｀△´＋）) Good thing the staff, who approached me after, was nice. He was able to smoothly process my transaction. After a few minutes, I walked away with my new unit from the store with a satisfied smile. :D

This is all thanks to the person who handled my case via the @SMARTCares twitter handle. Checking on the account's timeline, I saw that there are replies to different people with concerns every few seconds! I realized it was very easy then for my case to just be buried down the hundreds of tags they receive each day. But it didn't. And mind you, the replies via that account are not templates with words that seemed to be copied-and-pasted. The replies are very professional, even to trolls. To give back to the wonderful customer service I have received, I responded to all the surveys they sent my way.

It was my first time to raise a concern through a customer service account via SNS, so I thought maybe this is the norm today? I tweeted my concern to a customer service SNS account of a local bank (clue: it says @talktothem) because I cannot connect to a rep via their trunkline. Unfortunately, I did not receive any reply. So I guess not everyone has great customer service online then. :p

Update: I tried following up again via that Twitter account, and guess what, this time they noticed me! My request was addressed after less than a week. So I guess SNS customer service is not that bad after all! :)

~o~

All details here are based on true events, not a sponsored ad or whatsoever. I am just a satisfied customer telling the world about my experience.