The Quest for a Perfectly Authentic Philly Cheesesteak Among Others

I keep forgetting to upload this vid!
Rar.

This is one of me, my Jersey girl, Dana and a couple of her buddies on a massive food trip all over Philadelphia. We could have easily eaten ourselves to death that day...

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Catch-Up Mash-Up

Helloo fabulous readership!
Its been a long and busy three (?) weeks since I last posted something and I apologize. I know how awesomely fabulous my life is to everyone out there, so here I am. Not forgetting the little people, of course :>
Yeah, anyway, relevant things that occurred from last vlog post to now:
1. Boracay
2. Internship done!
3. I can't really imagine anything else majorly relevant that happened, but it seems like a lot happened. Uhm, well my Vietnam trip for Nov 30-Dec 4 was cancelled. Angels' Kitchen is receiving an award from the PDI and my mom has to be there for the awarding, so, that rocks for them but not so much for my pho-induced coma. Oh well, you win some... aaand yeah, literally, they won an award.

So, BORACAY! It was an awesome adventure with a lot of people I knew vaguely, and more people I didn't know at all. One person I knew really well, my friend who invited me, the birthday celebrant, Kevin T. YAY KEV! :)
It was a typical bunch of 2 dozen kids within the 21-23 age range having a good time at a beach resort, no biggie. Of course I had a fabulous time. Next time I'm going there with my BFFs, ooh, I can't wait!!
Unfortunately we had a flight-mishap on the way back. There was a storm that pushed the flights before us down, pushing our flight down. Random shit took place, we ended up going to another airport an hour+ away on a much crappier airline... so crappy I was seriously praying to every saint in heaven and prayed my worried self to an uneasy slumber. We got back okay though. Just saying, if this is at all relevant to people out there, do NOT fly Seair or ZestAir. Just don't.

On the national front,
4. Manny Pacquiao wins vs Miguel Cotto (his 7th title)
5. Efren Penaflorida wins CNN Hero of the Year
6. 57 people are massacred in the worst election-related killing in the Philippines

Lastly,
7. I'm thinking of having a High School Musical movie marathon. I also know I'd invite people but end up watching it all alone. Oh well, more Zefron for me.
8. Aishah's coming to visit in Jan!! WHEEEEE!!! :D

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Adventures in Manila Spirits/Asia-Oceanic Ultimate Clubs Championship

WOW.
I'm tired, sore, injured, swollen, sunburned and slightly hungover, but oh my god, I just had a most intense frisbee experience at Spirits/AOUCC.
Where, of where do I start?? There's so much to report, I really don't know where to begin! Maybe headings will work...

The team:
I got to play for the Iligan Red Horses, a provincial team from Iligan, Mindanao. Like I told my old teammates, it was def a challenge playing with a whole new team. For starters, they have a totally different playing style, which I won't go into so much detail here because, well the negatives might outweigh the positives :P
Throw in the language barrier... The Red Horses speak Bisaya, a dialect spoken widely in the mid and southern parts of the Philippines. They speak tagalog, which I speak too, but not when they're communicating on the field.
As for the people, they're all super nice and welcoming. Spirit-wise, they've got tons to learn... we almost got banned from the tournament because of their need to argue with calls. At one point, it was so embarrassing, I just had to walk away. I was extremely tempted to rip off my Iligan jersey and deny any affiliation with the RH, but alas, no such drama happened. Well, not from me anyway. In fairness, this is their first time at Spirits, and with AOUCC here as well, the spirit antenna got hyped up, but really, it doesn't matter where you play, ultimate is always accompanied with good spirit.
Don't get me wrong, I love the team, but I'm also really particular about spirit. Especially when it comes to ultimate. Hehe, that's what happens I guess when you're trained in Vancouver. I gotta say, I have to give mad props to one of the VUL teams I played with, Hand of Chal, for being the most spirited team I've yet to play with. I learned from the best, I guess! :)

The event:
Spirits/AOUCC was held in Alabang Country Club, some hour and a bit of a drive from where I live. Games started about 7.50, so waking up at 5.30/6am was kind of a drag. Luckily I got to hitch rides with friends of mine (thank you Lar, Danika and Jed!!), so the ride situation wasn't that bad.
I've been to an international tournament before, (the World Guts and Ultimate Championship 2008 in Van), but only as a volunteer. Haha, I remember lending my bike to a Mexican player and praying that he'd give it back!! I mean, what would he need a pink bike for anyway, right?
So yeah, I've never gone to a tournament as a player, and it was just crazy amazing and such an experience. First of all, it'd been a really long time since I played hard-core ulti, and wow, my body was shocked. The games themselves weren't too bad, its just playing four games in one day can take a toll on you.

The game:
We had four games on the first day and three on the last. We won three on the first and one on the last. During game three on our first day, I got kneed in the face by my own teammate. Long story short, our team was on defense and I was going for a block. My teammate didn't think I could get that much air, so he ran for the disc too. BOOM! Collision. Knee to face. Apparently I was unconscious for a while and things def got a bit hazy because I didn't know what happened after that. There was blood in my mouth and a throbbing pain on my face and in my brain.
I sat the rest of the game out and don't actually remember any of it. I iced my face for about three hours. Very difficult to keep ice as ice in a tropical country. I'm just saying.
I really wanted to play the next game so I persevered with the ice that was melting with the heat of my face and the heat of the sun.
It was super hard to chew (knee hit right jaw/cheek area), so I could only eat spaghetti and soup that day. Oh, and liquids ;)

The parties:
There were parties from Thursday till Sunday, but I only got to go to the Saturday and Sunday ones. The Sat party was zombie themed, and it was nice to see people dressing up and being really game for a change! That's one thing about the Philippines, everyone's always out to just look good; and bu good, I mean superficially, fashionable good. May sound shallow, but its true. Anyway, it doesn't matter as much because mostly the foreign teams that dressed up. Oh, and me and Lar! :D
My pulsating brain from the collision earlier in the day? Much mellowed after a beer or two :)
Kudos to the band for playing pretty awesome covers from Aerosmith, The Beatles, The Killers, Bryan Adams, The Darkness, etc.
Did I forget to mention it was an open bar?
Yes, when you party in the Philippines, its a completely different story when it comes to drinks. Apparently that was a norm.
Well, color me plaid but back where I'm from that's absolutely godsend. Either way, things couldn't get too out of hand, since everyone pretty much had games the next day. I must mention the Japanese team though. They are super fun. You can't understand a thing they're saying but really, it doesn't matter so much, haha! They do the most random dance moves on the dance floor and everyone does it! Course they want you to do it too, so they take you within their literal dance circle and everyone does whatever move they came up with at the moment. Haha! Good times with the Japanese fellows.
The second party was basically free-flowing booze on the field after finals and during the awarding ceremony. Its basically a beer garden, but you can drink as much as you want (they had water dispensers of beer), and random concoctions that people would put together. It was pretty cool and reminded me a lot of happy days back at UBC. Walking around barefoot, however was not such a good idea. There was beer spilled in a lot of places, so that was a bit messy.
You mixed and mingled and drank. It was an all around good time. What makes it a better time, of course is the eye candy. I must say, Lar and I definitely had a good time scoping out the other teams ;)

The sunburn:
I have the ugliest tan EVER. I def have sock tan lines, shorts tan lines, and I burned my back (I wore the sleeveless jersey on the first day). How the hell am I going to Bora with this monstrosity of a tan??

Oh, and also if any of you know my mother, please do not tell her about the knee-to-face incident. I told her I was hit by a disc on the face. Which has happened before.
And the free-flowing booze. That stuff should be kept at a down-low, away from parental ears.

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Grim, Grinning Ghosts Come Out to Socialize

It's that time of year again! That's right, its Halloween, ladies and gents! A time-tested holiday where people get to dress up their ghouly-est, goriest outfits, or psychologically allowing themselves to express who they subconsciously, secretly (or not) desire to be. *hem*SLUTWHORESKANK*hem*


:)

Aaw, yknow I'm just playing. Its not everyday you have an excuse to dress like a slutwhore, so I say more power to those who use H'ween as their outlet! No sarcasm, really!

Anyway, as many will attest to, H'ween is a much bigger deal in North America than it is here in Asia. Well, the Philippines anyway. The question is, do I adapt to Manileno culture and simply take H'ween sitting down with just a pair of light-up horns? Hell, no! I'm going all-out, full on drag with this one!! Yes, its always been a dream of mine to go so glam that its drag.

There's a Hween party tomorrow with some friends of mine, and while its not officially Hween, its the adopted deadline for my costume. Oh, also I only figured out what I was going as yesterday. It was tough with the compromise of what I wanted to go as, what I could get my hands on, and what my wallet would allow. We'll see what I can pull off.

Till then, ttfn! Tata for now!

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Nicole's First Shoot with the Probe Team

The Day
The day starts out relatively slow, with absolutely nothing to do around the office. So slow, that I ask my mom to come pick me up earlier. Lunchtime comes and things start to pick up. A production assistant, Jen comes back from one of her shoots and asks, are you doing anything this afternoon?
I wasn't so I say, no, why whats up?
Come with me to the shoot later! she says.
'Course I wasn't doing anything so I have no real excuse not to go, so I say yes! Plus, it was going to be my first real shoot... the previous re-enactment ones didnt count since there wasn't an actual profile there that had to be done.

The Ride There
We leave at 2:30 to make sure we catch the start of it at 4. I know absolutely nothing about what we're going to do and who we're going to see, other than that its in Tondo, the an older and relatively poorer part of Manila.
In the car, I'm pretty out of it, so I doze in and out of consciousness. On one of my conscious bouts, I ask Jen what we're going to do. She says Erap is going to announce his presidency and we're going to have to catch it. A'right, that sounds cool, I think and probably fall back into half-awakedness.
Halfway through the ride, I become more alert and ready to go. Yay for power naps!!
Anyway, we arrive in Tondo, luck out on a parking spot amid the massive number of bodies and cars in and around the area, and walk towards the Church of Sto. Nino. Erap's declaration was going to be held in the plaza right in front of it.

The Shoot
Its crowded, its hot, it smells like urine, fart and cigarette smoke. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're in a massive political gathering in Tondo. Everyone's really nice and lets us through (because we're media), and so there we were, me, Jen, Kuya Jony and Kuya Tenor, cameras out, waiting for something exciting to happen.
It doesnt happen. The exciting things we're waiting for, anyway. The first three hours are filled with various congressmen and congresswomen reading out a list of names of people who support Erap. They excitedly shout so-and-so's name, so-and-so stands up, waves, sits back down, and then they call another name. *Waves*, in this case, can be alternated with *walks on stage*.
Did I mention the torrential amount of people? By the thousands in a plaza built to accommodate hundreds. Sto. Nino help us!
FINALLY, Erap and his running mate, Makati mayor, Jejomar Binay, arrive and there's a media frenzy on stage. Lots of cheering and then booing from the crowd. Eventually, Jojo Binay and Erap make their declaration (with much ado). In traditional Filipino fashion, there are celebrities, and song numbers. God help us when a declaration of presidency and vice-presidency turn into karaoke night at The Gallery. Which, of course it did. Oh well, I am back in the Philippines. I guess we don't perpetuate the ktv-loving stereotype for nothing!
The gathering officially ends and we make a beeline for the exit, hoping not to get caught in the traffic that rush hour in Manila (SEAsia, in general) is infamously known for.

The Chase
Four hours standing in the crowded stink of sweat and heat couldn't have been fun for any of us, but our crew manages to make it back to the van in one piece. As we head out of Tondo, we're all pretty sure we've sealed our fates with being stuck in traffic for at least an hour before making it back to the office. About 15 minutes into the jam, we hear sirens and see Erap's posse drive by. Again, in Philippine fashion (y'know, ambulance-tailing and all that jazz), we dove right into the his procession, making sure our hazard lights were on, so we'd look like we were part of the posse.
Honestly, its amazing what being a big shot here in the Philippines can mean. Red lights? Pfft, they were going to turn green anyway! We ran about two red lights, and couldnt get past one, when the traffic enforcer decided to let the E-posse drive through the counter-flow part of the road. The lights, sirens, and speed was all too much! Everyone in the car was laughing, half in disbelief, half in relief that we wouldn't be spending an hour stuck in traffic.

The End
We reach the office at about a quarter to 9, and everyone's beat. I wait for my ride (my mobility has decreased by 50% since I moved back), and arrive home tired, hungry, stinky but slightly fulfilled. It wasn't the greatest first shoot, but hey, at least there's lots of room to go up from there.

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I spread the love like I spread that tuna

very briefly, i will retell what i have been doing since my last entry and now.
its no secret that the philippines has been pounded by typhoons, leaving hundreds dead, and millions of pesos worth in damages.

so, the day of my last entry was a saturday-- when all the rain came pouring down. the next day, we all find out just exactly how much damage Ondoy (typhoon's name; international name Ketsana) wrought. during the end of mass, Father mentioned volunteering and donating goods for the victims of Ondoy. so, off i go to LSGH (LaSalle Greenhills)--not a traitor! sabi ng pari e!
anyway, i spent about 3-4 hours helping out and half the time i was thinking how i could run this place better with my right hand tied behing my back. no offense.

it was just a giant mess of a mess of bodies and goods and little bodies running between everyone's legs and tripping more bodies. noone but a few handful knew exactly what we were all doing, there were people just looking around for things to do. able, young men looked on while me and a fellow female volunteer lugged sacks of rice across the room. after a, guys what are you doing? wala? pwede tulungan niyo kami sa mga sako na 'to? (nothing? can you help us with these sacks of rice?). its not their fault. they had no idea what was going on.

by the latter half of my first adventure, i tried to breathe some hakuna matata in me and just wing it. i left dirty, tired and a tad frustrated. i was looking for that high you get when you help an old lady cross the street, but it didn't come. i was later invited by my friend cara to ASMPH (Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health) the next day to do some relief work and was completely blown out of my mind with the organization demonstrated by volunteers.

there was a diagram!! A DIAGRAM!! and a map showing you where to go. un-frikin-believable!! we were able to do what was done in LSGH with half the manpower and half the time. i didnt get to go with the dispatch team, but im sure it would have blown my mind twice over and i wouldnt be able to type this blog out, given all my brain cells were blasted away by the amazing amazingness.

there, i just had to say it. i sure as hell hope crazy people come after me after reading this and crucify me for burning my first experience on a stake like that. of course everything was well meant-- not once did i attack the intentions behind the relief efforts. and hey, my intentions are simply to do double the good in the same amount of time and with the same amount of manpower.

after, it was much more low-key efforts, making sandwiches at my friend, clarisse's place to donate to red cross. spreading the love the way i spread that tuna.

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Stranded

There's a typhoon raging outside, it hasn't stopped raining all day, and I'm stranded at home with my folks because all the main streets are flooded.
UGH.

I forgot what it was like with days like these.
Ho hum, I'm so idle that I've turned to scrapbooking again-- my ultimate go-to hobby when times are duller than the ax that attempted to behead Nearly Headless Nick.
I'm so very tempted to take a nap. Its only 1.18pm and I've exhausted all my scrapbooking reserve energy. Like I always (or at least, often) say, there's only so much cutting, pasting and double-sided taping one can take.

Oh, did I mention I was sick too? Blasted tropical weather. My runny nose could give South African hermaphrodite, Caster Semenya a run for her/his money. Ooh, bad joke. Sorry. My idle brain has melted into mush and can no longer filter politically incorrect bad jokes.

PS I took that nap.

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Letters of Olde

Thankfully, its not everyday that you get to clean out ye cabinets of olde, but in this circumstance, it was an ultimate pleasure.

While going through piles and piles of old projects, notebooks, knick-knacks and the like, I happened to stumble upon some old letters from my friends Heidi and Stacey. Both letters were at max 5 sentences long and sent from the Philippines some 11 years ago (they were sent around March of '98). Remember, this was the time when people still used letters to get messages across continents, and the internet and email was some new-fangled invention kids weren't allowed to play with. We were all about 10-11 years old.

Anyway, the supremely awesome thing that sent me into LOLs for a good long minute was something Stacey wrote in her letter. Remember how people would make silly acronyms way back when like FF: Friends Forever, ARM: Always Remember Me, and JAPAN: Just Always Pray At Night, or put positive adjectives with the first letters of your name to describe you (LISA: Lovable, Interesting, Sexy, Adorable). So here comes 10 year old Stacey, with nothing but good intentions I'm sure, making one of those things with my name, NICOLE.
N - Nice
I - Intelligent
C - Casual
O - Offensive
L - Long
E - Exquisite

I do not know who cannot laugh out loud after reading that.
Stacey, if you're reading this, I love you even more!! I'm not really sure whether the 10 year old her knew what 'exquisite' meant, but apparently the 11 year old me was both offensive and long :)

I also found old emails from Mae sent to my dad's email add since I didn't have one yet... about things he wasn't supposed to read about, Rep, and Survivor. From 2002, hurrah!

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The Checking List (checklist)

Hullo tiny readership!

I've safely arrived back home and have done the necessary 'things you do when you first get to a new country for not a vacation'. Just like what I do with new interns. Kinda funny :)
- New cell number, check
- New bank account/credit card, check
- Went shopping for the essential new toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc.), check
- Procure NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) Clearance, check
-- this is to be eligible to work in the Philippines. Yknow, to prove you're not a criminal, and don't have a record or anything.
- Unpacked, half check
- New job, working on it...

And then there are the things you do when you arrive back home. International students should be familiar with this.
- Dentist appointment, check
- Doctor's appointment, check
- Visit grandparents, check (this case, in this case, it was a visit to the Temple, given my grandfather passed last summer)
- Spend time with family, check

Things completely bearable, other than the heat, and I haven't contacted any of my friends yet. Still waiting for my new cell number to be activated. I dunno, things are... nice.

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So Far, So Good... Not.

Mkay, its pretty obvious by now that I haven't been uploading any new videos, for at least a month. Pooh.
This post serves as a warning (this is starting to sound familiar...) against the hope that any new vids are going to be posted soon. Aaw, boohoo I'm all torn up too. Really, I am. Goodbye creative outlet.
The reason for this is mainly the fact that I'm going to be crazy ridiculously busy the next few weeks with moving and all. As well as crazy busy the past few ones with moving and all.

What can be expected is an update on what'll be going on, in print, since I can't provide moving pictures (maybe stationary ones, yeah!). Here's a preview on what you'll all see in the following weeks:
- Nicole moves back to the Philippines
- Nicole goes to work
- Nicole tries to find new friends
- Nicole gets into silly misadventures
- Nicole gets frustrated with her parents and being an only child again
- Nicole reconnects with old friends
- Nicole readjusts to the Phil vs. Van culture
- Nicole tries to ignore the family drama
- Nicole misses all things Van

That's all for now, folks! Nic over and out.

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NYC! Just got here this morning! Three bucks, two bags, one me.

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Last Respects

Former Philippine President, Corazon Aquino lost her battle against colon cancer on August 1, 2009.

Millions of Filipinos paid their last respects to Tita Cory during her wake, unfortunately I am not physically able to do so. This entry therefore acts as a tribute to Cory Aquino, and all that she's done for her country, her family and for women everywhere. I have no eloquent words that could possibly rival those of the speakers at her service, just my last respects.

Corazon C. Aquino
President of the Republic of the Philippines 1986-1992

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Obviously, I didn't make up the term Vlog.

DUH.

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Nicole, Kev and Viv's Excellent Hawaiian Adventure!

Four and a half minutes of Hawaii fun!
We only got four (and a half) minutes to save the world!

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What's in a Vlog?

What's in a Vlog? That which we call a blog by any other name would smell as sweet.

Vlog.

Truly, I wish I could come up with some witty euphemism to describe what a Vlog is.
Unfortunately, urbandictionary.com is a banned website on the British Airways internet terminals, where I happily amuse myself to minutes on end, banging on the keyboard with my own gentle musings. Thus (Prof Crawford always hated using "thus", therefore I shall use "therefore"), therefore my own clumsy explanations will have to do.

First, heed this warning. I may have made up the term Vlog (which I will no longer capitalize).
Nevertheless, while I consider myself a generally clever person, I do take it upon my awesome self to instill some humility once in a while. That being said, I may not be as clever as I would have hoped, thus, I mean therefore, some much clever-er person might have come up with the term vlog much earlier than I (Mae doesn't like using "I" as part of the predicate [rightly so], so after this sentence, I shall revert back to "me").

VLOG.
Video + blog = Vlog.

It doesn't get simpler than that. So without further ado, ladies and gents, I introduce you to NicVlog.

Nicole + video blog = NicVlog.
I just insulted your intelligence. HAHAAA! Sorry.

NicVlog
A collection of an assimilation of a primarily montage of videos collected, shot and compiled by yours truly. Most of the time. Credit where credit is due, I cite my sources, thankyouverymuch. Though I'll let you in on a secret... sometimes there won't be a video, like now. So its just NicBlog. Which doesn't sound even half as cool, but whatever.

Obviously, I can't upload any videos (not that I have any new ones) banging on the British Airways internet kiosk. This entry merely serves as a self-righteous, highly arrogant and obnoxiously pompous introduction. After all, I did mostly PoliSci and IR classes back in the day and they most certainly rubbed off somewhat on me (iloveyouguys, reallyido, butyouknowitstrue).

One more hour till my plane boards. Gbye New York, hello Vancouver!!

THE END.

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