Life, Day by Day

The 2013 Masskara Festival is under new management!  This is the 33rd year of the festival and the new organizer is the Kasadya Bacolod Foundation, Inc . led by its chairman and MassKara Festival Director Mr. Rhoderick Samonte, who according to news feeds, has said that they are working with a minimum budget but, they will try their best to make this year’s festival distinct from past festivals.  For one, they are returning the Trini Lopez Medley , which was used first in 1988. Admittedly the latino medley is very upbeat and rhythmic, but the original music created for last year's Masskara had a distinct local beat and is Bacolod's own. And so, I think the 2012 music should have been retained, given some improvement and remixed.  Listen to both versions which I uploaded below and let me know what you think.

Today, August 18 is the first death anniversary of Secretary Jesus "Jesse" Manalastas Robredo, one of the Philippines' promising leaders. A few days after that fatal accident last year, I wrote about how the death of a good leader can set a country back, especially when that leader is someone like Jesse. There are only a few good men in politics today, the type that can lead, manage and carry out good governance. We just had elections last May and once again, the results were a big disappointment to people like me who had hoped that there would be new faces in the Senate, Congress and local government who would bring about dynamic changes for the country.

I hate pink.  I would never consciously wear pink except if I really have to.  The very first time I did was during my high school prom and only because I was a junior and pink was our assigned color (blue was for the seniors).  The second and third times were the occasions when I was a wedding sponsor.  I avoided this color like the plague, mainly because I thought that being fair skinned, I did not look pretty in pink. Besides that, I associated the color with sweet and girly things, both of which did not appeal to me.  And so, you can just imagine who, what and why my world suddenly turned all shades of pink! photo retrieved from http://www.squidoo.com/celebrationofpink

I am not a big fan of conducting business online, because basically I like to do things on a personal level and I am not a risk taker.  That is until I discovered ZALORA , Asia's biggest online fashion store. I have seen their ads on Facebook but it was only when I got two Zalora Insta-Prize coupons from BPI that I finally took notice. My curiosity got the better of me and before I knew it, I was browsing through the website which was easy to navigate with good descriptions and images of their products.  The choices were varied and surprisingly the prices were very affordable.  Best of all they had several payment options which includes COD, my preferred mode of payment for online shopping.  Last July 18, I placed my first order of a Typify Corneby Genuine Leather Satchel (from P1,999.00 to P1, 699.00, after using my discount code) and three days later, the bag arrived through LBC. The bag was everything I needed - classy design, made of soft, genuine leather with well made in

Is there such a thing as a perfect sound?  That is a question Prof. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser and his team of engineers sought to answer when he founded  Labor W or “Laboratorium Wennebostel” in 1945.  Now known as SENNHEISER , a private German company specializing in audio electronics, the company's Asia Regional Office in Singapore was formed in 1992 to oversee the entire Asian market and coordinate activities with distributors in Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines , Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the islands of Maldives and Mauritius.   And now, they are in Metro Bacolod, the first time they have opened a store outside Manila.

My grandmother and her sisters had it, my mother has it and now, I have it .   "IT" is Osteoarthritis...a common joint degenerative disease that has been handed down to the women and to a lesser extent, also to the men from my mother's side of the family.   It's not as if I have not been forewarned.  I've had occasional knee aches and pains for the last 25 years which had not really gotten worse until maybe 5 years ago, but even then, the pain would be bearable and go away in a day or two.  Then a month ago I attended this seminar in MetroManila where from the airport I got caught in traffic for almost four hours.  Added to that, I was sitting for long hours during the next three days.  Limited mobility, overweight, no exercise and a history of crackling knees is a recipe for disaster...well, okay so I am exaggerating a bit, but hey, I am just a few more years short of retirement age and painful joints run in the family.   I knew it was something that I should n

If you are looking for a different kind of dining experience, then Blackbeard's Seafood Island is the place for you. The restaurant which recently opened at The District, Ayala North Point in Talisay City is known for it's "boodle style" of serving food.  For those unfamiliar with this style of eating, Boodle originated from the military (Boodle Fight) where "long tables are prepared and food are on top of the banana leaves. Viands and rice ready to eat using your bare hands, jugs of water are prepared on the side to wash hands before the “eating combat”. With the signal to start the boodle fight, everyone aims for his/her position".  Of course, at Blackbeard's Seafood Island, the boodle which was the brainchild of Chef Chang Magdaluyo , part-owner and resident chef is done with a lot more finesse and style.  Take a look at the different boodle feasts in their menu list: