Yes, he's the little brother

Happy 11th birthday to you Luis! :)

so many things to do, so little time

Man, it's been almost a month since I last posted something sensible on this blog. These past few months have been the most hectic ones since those dreaded papers back in college. Work has been so hectic that whenever I get home, I end up turning my laptop on then continue working. Sucks right? haha...

Technology is just so amazing that there work can be done precisely anywhere. No excuses. It works both ways. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and lock yourself inside your room so you can focus on the tasks at hand, which cuts you off from the people inside your house. Your family and all your other duties in life. On the other side of things, you can be twice as efficient because work doesn't necessarily require you to be present at your desk at the office.

You might ask, how about my career in the academe? It definitely took some time before I actually got the hang of it. The schedules. The lessons. The reviews. The checking of papers. The computing of grades.The harsh reality that not all of your students may not pass your subject. The rush for deadlines. Heck, I just got past the middle of the trimester! haha. Nevertheless, I am definitely happy and honored to be in the academe.

Stressful? Yeah. Fulfilling? Definitely. Am I just trying to convince myself? Maybe. HAHA. But we'll see. Still have a long way to go. :)

Career wise, I'm pretty sure I'm in the industry I want to be in. More than just advertising, it's marketing at its finest. Besides, I still do get to use my skills as a stat major. Not as thorough as I envisioned it to be but heck, not everyone really went down that ideal path. :) The people I work with are definitely a joy to be with.

Work hasn't been good to me lately as I've spent more than half of my time for work. Even on weekends and holidays! I've got to admit, I haven't been spending much time with my family, my barkadas, even my bestfriends. But hey, I guess that's the biggest trade-off of being in the type of company that I am in. I chose to be in this situation. So I have to make the most of out it :)

But seriously, do I blame work for making my life this way? Nah, I'm still young and pretty capable of adjusting to this fast-paced life. It took me six months to review my career goals and I'm pretty excited about what's next for me. I really am looking forward for the things God has prepared for me. :)

AM+DG

a statement

Watched my first uaap game this season. Luckily, it was another ateneo-lasalle battle. Supposedly it was going to be so competitive like their game in the first round. I wanted something like that to happen. Apparently, as I've expected, it was a blowout. I even remember telling my brother Luis before the game, "tatambakan ng ateneo ang lasalle. wait and see."

And I predicted it right. Ateneo led by double digits right from the first quarter. It felt like last year, when Ateneo was so invincible that a blowout was in mind going into any game. This year, seeing a big blowout against La Salle definitely showed a lot of promise for this year's Hail Mary team. :) Cheered my lungs out as always. :)

Now even if I bleed blue, I need to start being objective when it comes to Ateneo-Lasalle games. Hehe. I'll be affiliated with the other side soon. :P

on turning 22 :)

I have to admit, my parents leaving abroad right before my birthday made me feel a bit down. I'm not mad at them or anything. Maybe I just really got used to them laying things out for me on my birthday these past few years. Well I guess it comes with the fact that I already am working and they really don't need to worry about things like these anymore. Nevertheless, before bringing my mom to the airport, I hinted to her that I wanted to meet up with my friends that night. Apparently my brother luis was sick and needed some monitoring. My mom then told me to make my friends come over instead. Poof, instant dinner celebration at home :)

Well it was the usual dinner tambay on my birthday. I guess except for the rockband and the drinks+kwentuhan with Tina, Casey and Ian after everyone went home, my birthday was pretty typical. HAHA.

the oh-so-delicious gelato cake thanks to Ms. Fatima Han!

my college barkada - been celebrating with them for the past 3 years :)

(missing in action - Mikko and Mic)

my best friends Jin and John - been celebrating with them ever since I was a kid. kidding!

(missing in action because she's in Hong Kong - Marjee)

As always, I had a blast on my birthday. After all, I'm not all too particular about doing something extreme on my birthday. As long as I'm with my peeps, I'd be happy.

Thank you to everyone who remembered. Thank you Facebook for reminding everyone of my birthday and making me feel special. Dati kasi sa text ka mag-aabang ng greeting, ngayon sa facebook na lang. HAHA.

Now seriously, I'm just so thankful that I've been so blessed all my life. Heck, I have the best parents ever. Brothers to look out for. The best friends in the world. The best college friends in the world. A home to live in. Diplomas from the blue school which I'm ever so supportive of. A diploma and an award from the premier state university. A job in a multinational advertising agency. The best set of officemates. A boss who wants us to learn and become experts. A possible stint at teaching. And several more opportunities to grow.

Having the time of my life at 22. Just priceless. :)

i'm baaaack!

i can't believe it! it's been about three weeks since i last posted a blog. it's been quite a while my friends and here i am to share what i've been up to. let's just say work has been so hectic these past two weeks and it just so happens that i've been devoting time also for other ventures in life. :)

after weeks and weeks of preparation and meetings, my bestfriends and i have finally set-up this small business. well it all started when marj, jin and i were out to watch a movie. while waiting for the movie, we went around eastwood and talked about the idea of setting up some business to earn some extra income. all because of one sentiment: taghirap na talaga these days. HAHA! and all of a sudden, an invitation to a bazaar came and poof! napakilos kami kagad! :P

series of weekend meetings and preparations

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from packaging, costings, financing, logistics, marketing and production, we did all that in about a month! :) a lot of credit does have to go to marjee. without her, there's nothing to sell at all. :) her genius inside the kitchen definitely keeps everything else running. :)

and so, in behalf of SugarStop, I'd like to thank all our friends, friends of friends and our families for supporting this endeavor. :)

our loyal customers

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thank you to everyone who helped out in setting up and guarding the booth. as well as those who helped us in selling our products. :) we would have not done it without you guys. :) special mention to Camina Maipid, Josh Aguas, Mike Magsaysay, Teresa Ng and even Ryan Cancio. :)

the stressful experience of manning the booth

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amidst all the stress and blues of doing business, it feels great to become business partners with your bestfriends. well it works both ways as there are pros and cons in this type of set-up but i really feel that this project of ours still has a long way to go. :) cheers guys! can't deny that i'm having the time of my life with you guys! :)

while waiting for the truck to arrive

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Looking forward to making this endeavor reach its full potential :)

trip trip lang

I call these people my passwords. HAHA. you guys know why? well let's just say whenever I tell my parents who I'm with, and eventually tell them that I'm at the very least with one of these people, they won't bug me any more about coming home right away. :) cheers to having long-time friends! :D

Photos c/o Marjee Mendoza's cam. :P

Fathers' Day

Kahit pa inamin ko nang mama's boy ako, that fact doesn't really undermine my relationship with my dad. Again, being in a family with 4 boys as children, you can't deny the fact that my dad definite had his way with us. You see, my dad is a jack-of-all-trades type of guy. Well we build him up that way. He doesn't have a bunch of degrees to brag about but he has a wide range of experiences and definitely, we get our leadership skills from him. As such, us 4 children learn a lot of things from him.

We actually call him our Coach, as if all of us boys were in a basketball team. He's always there when you need him. He even drove me to the airport last week at 4am in the morning! :) His looks might be deceiving but he's already turning 52! :) He even plays NBA 2k10 with us competitively. And when I say competitively, hindi lang siya nakakasabay, he dominates the games and beats us a lot!

More than everything, I definitely feel the way he's proud of all four of us, plus my mom! That's why I always brag about him often :P

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY DAD!

on me!

Last Thursday, I treated my family to dinner as a celebration of my first month as part of the corporate world. Right after work, I met up with them at Amici Tomas Morato for dinner. :) I already did something like this last year. This time, it felt a lot different. The essence of the first-pay treat/offering was definitely FOR REAL. :)

Really felt great to show gratitude to my family. I owe a lot from these people, especially my parents.

There goes another 'amazing how things change so fast' moment. :P Cheers!