I have entered the wizarding world again recently (started from book 1 again, and as of writing I am at book 4), and boy what an adventure it has been! It still is a joy reading the story of Harry Potter. I've attempted to do a reread back in 2013 although I stopped, but out of nowhere, I suddenly had the urge to read the HP series again.

I found myself this weekend renewing my hunger to learn new pieces on the piano. I happened to encounter to awesome app called Musescore. Then I found the piece on the Discover section. I always wanted to learn playing this one. It is an easy piece, and an iconic and legendary song.

1. Build your connections; widen your network. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to people. It's always helpful to have contacts in every department in the company - people you know you can trust to work well with. Of course, it is a give-and-take relationship. Connections will help you build your reputation, thus contributing to your success.
2. Work with all your heart. Give it your all. Don't turn over work that is done half-heartedly. In case your best was still not enough, ask for feedback and redo the work until you reach the quality of output that is needed.
3. Surround yourself with positive people. It's helpful to have positive reinforcement around you, helping you make a more favorable outlook in any situation in life.
4. Pray. We can't do all the work ourselves. We would always need a guide. Pray for the best outcome.

Hanbok Rental in Korea is immensely popular among tourists. It's a cultural experience that any tourist should try! It's an exhilarating feeling to see yourself dressed in a very unique costume. 💗
There are establishments that allow hanbok fitting wherein you choose one that you'd like and then take a photo in a studio as remembrance. But what if I tell you there are also others out there that would allow you to actually go out and walk around Seoul wearing a hanbok? It's the best way to capture photos of you and your friends in Korea! (plus you are granted free entrance to the palaces if you are in a hanbok costume! 🎎) One popular one that gives exactly this kind of hanbok rental service is Oneday Hanbok. For our third day in Seoul, we've set to try this out for ourselves!





With our bellies filled with great Korean food, we headed to Oneday Hanbok's office to get our outfit! Again, only Mel agreed to accompany me to wear a hanbok (thank you Mel!!!). Rey had his own pictorial ideas. 😆

1. Talk to the staff at the reception and tell them your reservation details (reserving in advance is not required, but this is recommended to ensure you get to book a slot at your preferred time).
2. Hand over your passport and a ₩50,000 deposit for each handbok rented (which is refundable when you return your hanbok).
3. A staff will assist you in choosing your hanbok. You are only allowed to try 2 hanbok outfits, then you must choose which one you want to wear. The staff will help you wear the hanbok properly.
4. Once you have chosen your hanbok, head to the accessories area to choose which one you'd like to get. There are hair accessories and bags available there.
5. Go back to the staff so they could take note of the accessories you got.
6. You're now free to go and roam around Seoul wearing your chosen Hanbok!

Lots of colorful bag accessories to go with your hanbok! 😍

Busy dressing up!

Our destination for the day was Gyeongbokgung Palace (we're going to meet Rey there). Our only means of transportation is the subway (yes, I rode the train wearing a hanbok 😝). Since I was wearing a jacket (and with all the bags I was carrying lol), it was not that obvious that I was wearing a costume underneath. Mel was a bit embarrassed with all of these, but for me who cares!? No one knows me here, and I guess locals have seen a number of foreigners doing this so it's not that uncommon.


On my next post, I'll show you how our visit in the palace went! (very excited to publish the photos!!)

~o~

This is a sponsored post.

Oneday Hanbok | Official Website | Facebook

[SEPTEMBER 2016]
You might already have heard of this place: Danjugan Island. It's not labeled as a resort but as a sanctuary, and we well understood this when we got there.




Dave Albao, the island manager of the island, first-handedly entertained our group during our stay in the island.

Our group with Dave (second from left) (📷: Ino S.)

Curiously gawking at the turtle nest as Dave explained how he found the eggs. (📷: Krishan T.)

Me prepping for our educational snorkeling! (📷: Ino S.)

During the sunset, Dave guided us to another part of the island (can't remember anymore which part it was 😭). But the one thing that stuck to my mind was the scenery there -- there were lots of plastic bottles along the shore. It was part of Dave's habit to go here regularly to collect the bottles. You won't believe where all these trash were coming from. These bottles come all the way from the South China Sea! True enough when I looked at the bottles, it all had Chinese characters on it. It was kinda sad to know we humans leave behind so much trash, and that it can travel far and wide (even crossing an ocean!). 😔


Spending the night in Danjugan island gave us an authentic experience of nature. Sadly in these modern times, people are always online, busy with their phones and gadgets. Through that one night we spent on the island, we unplugged. There was no phone signal and limited electricity at night so we just bonded and talked endless stories throughout the night.


One unforgettable moment was the magic of seeing fireflies come out of the trees. It felt so surreal I thought I was just dreaming. Together with the stars twinkling in the sky, these fireflies subtly lit up the place while we were all chatting away by the shore. I will never forget that night.


Visiting Danjugan is such an astounding experience. You'll not just enjoy the place, but you will learn to respect nature and care more about the other creatures living in the ecosystem. I hope Danjugan island, and all the other natural treasures that we have, will be preserved so the natural life there can live and thrive.

~o~

Danjugan Island is being managed by The Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation, Inc.

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For the last few weeks, I've been feeling "under the weather". I know for a fact that this grey cloud has always been with me, but lately it's having an extra effect on me (it didn't help that it already started to rain). I thought being with this cloud 24/7 would make me already immuned of its effects, but I guess it's not really the case. However life is still good to me, as during those low points of my life, I was shown and taught on what living is all about and which things really mattered.

This has got to be one of my favorite days in our trip in Taiwan because I got to do a lot of sight-seeing for today. Because we really didn't have a fixed itinerary for this particular trip, we had some days we literally didn't have an idea what to do next. Day 5 is one of those days. We impromptu checked out some tours that our hotel offered, and we found one tour to this popular tourist spot named Sun Moon Lake, which is actually located south of Taipei. Because we really didn't have anything to do, we went for it, and I guess that's what made this trip a lot more exciting!

Here are some of the shows I'm looking forward for the month of June!

This is not a drill. The 1975 is back! Two years after their last album's release, they finally announce updates for their next album! On June 1, they released a new track entitled Give Yourself A Try.


I was bracing myself for something out of this world again (maybe because of how I felt listening to Love Me for the first time) but listening to the intro gave me a feeling that I would actually love this song.

And then Matty's vocals come in-

You learn a couple things when you get to my age
Like friends don't lie and it all tastes the same in the dark
When your vinyl and your coffee collection is a sign of the times
You're getting spiritually enlightened at 29

Songs can have different effects to people, and each has their own interpretation of its message. Listening to this first verse for the first time, some lyrics hit hard. It doesn't help that I am at the same age as Matty, huh. As much as how I connected with If I Believe You from their previous album, that last line was timely for me. I think I'll be able to discuss that further in a future post.

Won't you give yourself a try? This is a question Matty repeatedly asks throughout the chorus. For me, it's a question I have been avoiding for the longest time, because I am afraid of change. I am scared of the unknown. But deep inside, I know I won't be really satisfied if I don't at least give it a try (clue: this is related to one of my goals for this quarter). Thanks Matty for reminding me of my dreams in this life.


Experiencing pain is essential to appreciating the good times in life. I do agree with that. And yes, going outside and showing up is good for your social relationships (just like what was stated on that one book I read). There have been several instances wherein I was really not in the mood to go out and join an out-of-town getaway. I was always tempted to come up with an excuse to stay at home. In some instances I actually did that, and there were some that I dragged my body out of bed and prepared to get out. And 100% of the time, I was glad I went. Although I still have those moments, I try to remind myself that being outside and socializing is way better than spending my whole day online browsing stuff on Reddit/Youtube/Instagram/Tumblr. 👍


Although I don't relate to these lines literally, it conveys another meaning for me. What would I actually tell my younger self? For now I still can't put all of it into words, but I know I will feel apologetic telling all of it.

I really really loved the song. I am, not at all, unfazed by that guitar, as most fans had pointed out. I'm not a fan of the music video, but knowing the band, it was not a surprise to see them in a video like that.

Based on their BBC Radio One interview, the album, titled A Brief Inquiry to Online Relationships, is still not 100% finished at the moment. They will be dropping 2 albums (omg!) - ABITOR will be on October, and another, which Matty mentioned will be called Notes on a Conditional Form, will be out May next year.



I am very excited to hear new music from the band! For sure they will be touring around the world again. I've already seen them twice, but I promised myself I'll splurge for the best tickets next time they drop by in Manila for a show again!

I know this is one of those long-overdue travel posts that I have on the blog, so I am really giving my best into writing them all here. This trip happened 2 years ago, and I will recall (the best way I can) all the things that happened during this trip. It was all my sister's idea to do this. I only tagged along. Current president Rodrigo Duterte was freshly elected to office during that time so I was interested to actually visit the city that he initially managed as a mayor.


We just stayed for the rest of the day in the resort and just chilled and relaxed.

They had a small pool at the resort.

Day 2: Tour Around Samal
I did an early morning walk around the resort and just took a photo of the view around the vicinity.



We hired a tour guide to take us around the Samal island. Since there were two of us, there were two motorcycles that drove us around. We went to a bat cave (there were so many of them!!! 🦇🦇🦇) and the Japanese Cave House. Part of the tour in the cave house was to go through the tunnel, which stretches deep underground. I attempted to enter, but I got too claustrophobic I backed out after moving down a few meters. 😂


Day 3: Snorkeling Around the Island 
With the same tour guide, we went to one of the snorkeling spots in the island.

Our tour guide provided our boat transfers. Beforehand, we gave him some money that he used to buy food in the wet market. While we were snorkeling in the island, he, and some of the local kids he tagged along, were preparing food for us.



Honestly I wasn't able to utilize this snorkeling activity because I couldn't go far from our boat. So after a quick swim, we returned to the shore where we ate our lunch with our tour guide.



Day 4: Eagles, Horses and Bicycles
Next day activities involved a tour to the zoo. 😂We went to the Philippine Eagle Center, and perfect timing it was because there was no entrance fee that day (I think they were celebrating Philippine Eagle day, or some kind of holiday).

It was my first time to see such huge eagles, but honestly I wasn't really interested seeing them in captivity. It just breaks my heart. 💔

Next stop was a visit to Eden Nature Park where we did sky cycling!





After that, we went to this restaurant overseeing a view of Davao City. If you check below, the mountains (with minimum lights) is the Samal island.

walking around the park!

And then we checked-in to this other resort just near the airport (ahh I forgot the name already) which actually had a nicer pool. There were lots of people doing night swimming when we arrived so we decided to just plunge early the next day.