Born This Way Ball (Manila, Philippines)

The house of Lady Gaga’s Born Ths Way Ball Tour

For a few hours last night, I felt like a high schooler screaming my lungs out, jumping like there’s no tomorrow, and fist pumping like hell.

That’s how I love Lady Gaga. Yes, Lady Gaga.

I may not look like much of her fan, but man you don’t know how a deal breaker she is for me. I love her songs, how she speaks her mind out, how she loves her fans, and yeah maybe her fashion too (like how she deviates the norms, stuff like that).

Purchased the first day of ticket sale. Spell “FAN”

Daddy & Nebraska & Jesus Christ & Hello Kitty

I went to last night show with my sister and Hello Kitty. Only just to have a Gaga inspired fashion. Thanks to my sister by the way, for the Gaga shirt.

Last night’s show was really awesome. She’s really a great performer. I love all the songs she sang, and how she performed it. Gaga’s belting on her songs was crazy! Whether she’s crawling, lying, sitting, standing – whatever position she’s doing, her voice is superb.

The stage was unbelievable too. At first I thought it was small, but when Lady Gaga came out and started doing her thing, I guess the stage size was just perfect for the show. The castle on the stage, the costumes, the dancers were all going well together. Everything’s cool.

I always love how Gaga appreciates and thanks her fans (aka her Little Monsters). Maybe that’s why may favorite part of the show was when she rode her motorcycle, played her piano, and sang Hair. I almost cried the same time she started crying and explaining how she was affected with all the protests, how she admitted that she is sometimes irresponsible on her actions, and how she just want everyone to come together, stop bullying, and do good to each other, and be free. I know she also cried in Tokyo ball, but man I just felt her emotions. Oh, how I love her (that’s not quite obvious from the start of this blog entry, right? Lol). By the way, Gaga singing Judas = Bad ass moment.

Stamped!

Gaga Merch at the BTW Ball tour

Anyway, generally the show was awesome. I hope the second show tonight will be as  crazy as last night or even crazier! Last night was one of the best days ever in my life. Gee, I’m such a fan. I know.

More love to everyone. Paws up, Little Monsters!

Padre Burgos, Quezon Province

Padre Burgos beach front during low tide.

Adventure weekend strikes again! This time, my friends and I went to Padre Burgos, Quezon.

Hilltop view. Still during low tide.

Padre burgos is an hour ride from Lucena Grand Terminal. From Manila, we took a bus going to Lucena. Manila to Lucena is supposedly 3-hour ride only, but due to multiple road constructions, our trip went on for 4 – 5 hours.

Cow smelling flowers.

Sunset. (Photo c/o my friend Marella)

Planning to go to Padre Burgos means planning to island hop. Travelers would enjoy the trip there if they intend to visit its nearby islands. Three islands we visited are Borawan, Kuwebang Lampas, and Dampalitan.

Borawan beach

Borawan rocks (Photo c/o my friend Marella)

Kuwebang Lampas

Dampalitan

Food fest! Lunch at Dampalitan

One thing I love on our trip aside from the place, was the people. People there are friendly and warm. They know how to provide good quality of service to tourists. Two thumbs up for standing by the Department of Tourism’s tagline : It’s more fun in the Philippines!

Meet our local friends. (Photo c/o my friend Casey)

My Padre Burgos buds

More adventures to come! Little break on the Lenten season, but next months will be full of great and priceless trips.

Soulmate by Natasha Bedingfield (cover)

It’s an arts and crafts day today for me. This time, I take on Natasha Bedingfield’s single Soulmate.

Sorry for the noisy stuff, low-cost production only. Haha! Feel free to leave a comment here or on my YouTube channel. Hit “like” if you enjoyed the whole thing (hit also “like” if you don’t). LOL.

This goes to all those who still haven’t found their soulmates. Yea! Thanks heaps! <3

Let’s Drive To Tagaytay, Yo!

Weekend adventure is awesomely cool! This time, C-O-O-L, literally.

My buddies and I went to visit Tagaytay, Philippines – a town known for cool climate, good food, and scenic view. Upon visiting the place, we did exactly these three things that’s making the place famous.

First stop: Bag of Beans. We decided to eat our breakfast on this lovely, nature-inspired place. With ganden-ly feel, delicious food, and excellent service of the staff, the entire dining experience in Bag of Beans is a must for all the Tagaytay travelers.

Define heavenly breakfast. Yum!

Coffee art

One of the nice pieces of the restaurant.

Next stop: Caleruega. So we feel like we need to get some calming vibes from this cool town, therefore a church with a refreshing concept of beauty is a place to be. Caleruega is a garden with a church, with a retreat house, and with a beautiful view. Beat that! Say all-in-one.

Caleruega facade

Caleruega church

A very Filipino version of the stations of the cross

My Tagaytay buddies. Yey!

Another food stop: Bulalo feast! A trip to Tagaytay is not complete without tasting their famous Bulalo (or beef marow stew). With a cold climate, the warmth of this famous soup is such a treat. Woohoo!

Tagaytay bulalo

Last but not the least stop: Palace In The Sky. I’m not really sure why this place was called it’s name. All I know is staying here for sunset and looking for a great place to see the almost-entirety of Tagaytay, is perfect!

Tagaytay sunset

There! Had lots of fun with this weekend adventure. Hoping for more weekend adventures to come. Hopefully I’ll have another one before the month ends. Till next time!

CamSur Yourselves! Caramoan & CWC

Another adventure weekend, and it was F-U-N!

Last weekend, my friends and I went to Camarines Sur (aka CamSur), Philippines – Home of Caramoan Islands and the famous wakeboarding park, Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC).

We left Manila Friday night and arrived Caramoan proper at around lunch time. To get to the island, we rode the bus (which we rented since the trip is actually an educational tour) and got off at Sabang Port, took a 2-hour boat ride going to Caramoan proper, left our things in the Inn we reserved, took a top-down (a tricycle-like-vehicle. Sosyal!) ride going to the local port and rode another boat for island hopping. I know it sounds tiring, but hey it’s worth the effort. The islands are perfect.

The next day, we are supposed to leave for more islands to visit. Unfortunately, the tide is high and it’s quite dangerous to risk the security of the students who are travelling with us, so we decided to buy some souvenirs instead, and leave for the CWC trip to try awesome wakeboarding, baby!

The whole trip was fun, challenging and exhausting. But again, I’ll repeat: It was worth all the adventure and the effort. Furthermore, it’s nice to meet new friends! It’s more fun in the Philippines! <3

PS: To the person who randomly and unnecessarily asked my age and said that smoking takes away 30 mins. of one’s life: I didn’t ever dream of living a long life, so I don’t care about your trivia. Life’s too short to spend it with boring stuff. Life’s a matter of making decisions and taking responsibility on it. Try to enjoy each day! Love lots! <3

Mango Camp, Zambales

A couple of lies and adventure. That’s what last weekend was about.

Palma Hall. Meeting place in UPD

I went to Cabangan, Zambales and spent quality time with my friends, myself, and some of my friend’s students. Yes, I joined my friend’s class field trip in Mango Camp.

Mango Camp (Cabangan, Zambales)

The whole trip was fun. Basically, most of the activities on the trip was something fresh to me. I tried riding an ATV, obstacle run, airsoft target shooting, and (believe it or not) sumo wrestling. We planned to try wall climbing and paint ball, however we were so drunk the first night we were not able to wake up early. Bummer.

Windmill

ATV

Obstacle course

Sumo!!!

Airsoft

The beach

After doing the camp activities the first day, My friends and I were able to spend little time by the beach the second day. It feels liberating. Yes, I am using the word liberating because I can’t think of any other word to describe how happy and free I felt with the waves, sea, sun, and sand. That moment gave me happiness that lasted a while. Nice.

Going home

I really hope to go out again soon. Somehow, it’s making me forget how hard some things are going on for me. Hopefully, I’ll be going to another beautiful place two weeks from now. Cross fingers!

New Year’s Eve, Welcome 2012

2011 already left, and it’s time to say hello to 2012 (when’s the end-of-the-world thing anyway?).

Last night was celebarted with stupid looks, food, cocktails and few fireworks. It may be my saddest day ever, but yeah, I still managed to take some snaps. Taking pictures = defense mechanism. Here, let me share some snaps. Enjoy!

My favorite pet and me.

Home-made Paella (c/o my mom)

Food!

Still part of the year end celeb.

More lights

And another light

Bokeh

Margaritas! Chugged a lot of cocktails.

Street Fireworks

The fountain

It's the start of the new year!

More fireworks

Welcome 2012!

Baguio City 2011

Lower Session Road

Two weeks ago, I went to a place I call home. This is the place where all started, and a place where I found my real self. Welcome back to Baguio City, Philippines.

Lantern Preps

School Party Fireworks

During my trip to the city, I visited some place that were very memorable to me. It’s nice to look back on good memories, but after all you will feel the emptiness of the places. Whatever it is, with my friends being there, I enjoyed my short vacation in Baguio. Let me share some snaps and the great places I visited.

Zola Restaurant. Place of good food and drinks

Chillin' at Volante. Coffee, Pasta and Pizza

Volante Lights

KaffeeKlatsch. More coffee! Plus great acoustic music.

KaffeeKlatsch Lights

The amazing acoustic band.

Christmas spirit at Klatsch

The Mario Maurer Encounter

It’s really nice to write a blog entry every now and then. It’s a good way to de-stress after a long week. Let me share one of the priceless event of my life. Okay, that might sound overrated, but yeah, really, one of those priceless times.

Thank you Mario Maurer for making my December happy just by seeing you live at the airport. And I would also like to thank you as well for saying Hi from afar. From your beloved die hard fan, Pau. That’s me!

See you again in the Philippines, soon!

A Letter To Myself

Forgive me for posting this kind of content on my blog. I know it’s “emo-ish” but I just need this.

Dear self after 5 years,

I hope you are doing good now – Successful career, warm love of family, and a fixed self. You’ve come a long way from being a simple high school kid to a person who has a better understanding in life. Life sucks if you would let it suck you, but it’s not that easy not to get yourself sucked – That’s a proven fact of life.

I’ve known you too well. No one or nothing can ever hurt you than being hurt by someone you really love. Being hurt by them highlights the fact that a big part of you could only depend on yourself, may that be in terms of happiness, love, hardships and disappointment. Despite of it all, I always admire your courage to love, regardless of boundaries and uncertainty. You love someone, spend years together but always comes down to an end. It happened twice, and I understand it’s a big downer but feeling loved is the best thing one could ever have.

Remember the time you realized that the person you’re with is the same person you stalked one afternoon after your class? That person is not even enrolled yet on your school, but then after a few months you just happened to know you are already dating. That was just amazing. Somehow you thought that it was fate that brought you together, and sticking on that idea made you believe that this relationship is something that should happen. And yes it happened, but also ended.

One night while I am trying to sleep after the day’s work, I realized that this room I am into is the same place you spent your best and worst days together with the one you love. I remember you both spending the afternoon together watching movies, or plainly talking about gossips on people you both know or on celebrities. Then I decided to pan on my right. I saw a picture of the two of you smiling while riding a bicycle in the city where you found each other. You looked both very happy. Then I panned on my left. It was a yellow wall – your love’s favorite color. Then I decided to go down to the living room to spend the night and sleep.

Upon waking up, I am staring on this mid-sized mirror while brushing my teeth. It reminded me of another thing again. I smiled, put my head down, and walked out. Too many memories, and it worries me of you.

I know you kept a lot of good memories together, but I hope you have started putting all those memories in a temporary safe case part of your brain, and trashed all the bad ones. I hope you also have tried placing them all in that area, cherish them and keep the keys safe, so that whatever happens, may it be a severe loss of memory or whatever, you have some happy thoughts to remember and prove that you live a real life and that you experienced to love and be loved.

In five long years, two years would be better, I really hope you have made yourself fixed – No pretensions, no denials, no arcade games to cover all these things up, just happiness.

Love,
Pau (2011 )