LivELY!!!

You know what happened recently to Ely Buendia, right? If not, Ely Buendia suffered a heart attack last January 7, 2007 while doing a gig in Laguna. With the goodness of the Lord, he is now safe and is feeling better.

Why write about this now? Well, Karen and I went to Eastwood City, Libis yesterday afternoon for a simple stroll and possibly watch Night at the Museum. I thought of going there instead of our usual Filinvest and ATC malling because Karen hasn't seen Eastwood City since applying for work at Citibank which was a long time ago. When we got there, Karen saw a poster of "LivELY: A Fundraising Concert for the Benefit of Ely Buendia." What a coincidence! Karen was just asking about it even before I suggested of going to Eastwood. :)

The event was organized by Magic 89.9 and the friends of Ely Buendia and was held at the Eastwood Central Plaza. The concert was made to raise money and help Ely Buendia pay for his hospital bills and medical expenses. Magic DJs Tetta News, Slick Rick, CJ, Maxspeed, Mighty Mike, Andi-9 and (mostly emceed by) Big Daddy Jake were there to support the cause together with some of the hottest artists in the Philippines. There were also some up-and-coming artists/bands who performed. All of them kept saying that Ely Buendia really had a big part in their lives and was their biggest influence in entering the music entertainment business.

We first ate our late lunch at Fazoli's because they had the best seat outside the Central Plaza tent. Karen wanted to sit closer to the stage to have a better view of the artists who will perform. Good thing that we were able to sit right in the center which was a nice spot to also take photos! The concert was free so anyone can actually come in. I think the only catch was that you would be asked to order from the resto or bar who owned the table you use and we got the tables of Heaven and Eggs. It was alright because their Pinoy Nachos were delicious! :)

All I can say is... THE EVENT ROCKED AND IT ROCKED HARD! What was supposed to be a normal stroll in the mall turned out to be a very nice photo op! Even though, there were people who were not able to perform probably because of prior engagements and some personal matters to attend to, you could still feel the love that the artists have for Ely Buendia. They helped out in soliciting donations by walking around with the donations boxes aside from the ones stationed around the plaza plus the T-Shirts they were selling for Php200. And because the concert was being aired live on Magic 89.9, Ely Buendia was listening and was able to express his gratitude to all the people who joined. He made a letter and was read in the middle of the concert. Another message which came in later mentioned that Ely Buendia would also be contributing a huge part of the funds to a charity of their choice.

(I'll post my photos next time because my camera's battery went out before the concert ended because I was not prepared for the event.)

Here are the photos! :)


True Faith


Julianne


Itchyworms


Kitchie Nadal


Francis Magalona


Chicosci


Paramita



Kamikazee ni Edgar and Parokya Ni Kazee (Kamikazee along with Parokya Ni Edgar)

Cheesy Lines

I know a lot of girls have heard different kinds of pick up lines but have they ever heard of these? And if you're a guy, if you thought that the pick up lines you used are cheesy... Wait til you read these. I collected some pick up lines (if you can call them that) which I find cheesy but creative that its funny when you hear them.

1. Can you recommend a good bank where I can make a deposit? CAUSE I'M PLANNING TO SAVE ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU.
2. Mukha ba akong switch? Hindi naman di ba? E BAKIT KA NA-TURN ON SA AKIN?
3. Sabi ng doctor malala na daw sakit ko at dalawa na lang daw options ko. Either ICU or YOU SEE ME.
4. Ibibili kita ng salbabida mo kasi... MALULUNOD KA SA PAGMAMAHAL KO.
5. Kung bola ka at ako ang basketball player, masho-shoot ba kita? Hindi kasi... LAGI KITA MAMI-MISS.
6. Sorry I forgot your name but CAN I CALL YOU MINE?
7. Wag ka aalis. Check ko muna gamit mo... NAPASAMA ATA PUSO KO.
8. (I think this is the best that I heard so far.Ü) Miss, trophy para sa'yo... PANALO KA EH!

It's up to you now how you will deliver them but sometimes I think these would actually work because they are too silly that they can make the person receiving these lines would laugh and find you funny.Ü If you choose to use them I wish you good luck!Ü

The Next Photo Op?

I hope I can have the time and the resources to go here. (Photo from http://www.philballoonfest.com)

Ruiz-Villanueva Nuptial

Yesterday, Karen and I went to Jboy, my close college friends' wedding held at the San Pablo Cathedral, San Pablo, Laguna. I woke at 8am to prepare breakfast (I don't know how to cook so I just heated pre-cooked meals.Ü) and woke up Karen by 9am. We left the house at 10:30am to pick up the priest in Better Living at around 11:30am. Although, we were close to Better Living, it took us a while to get to the priest because Jboy gave us the incorrect location of the priest. Good thing the people in the Seminar knew that Father Jun was in their Parish Church. It was long drive from Bicutan to San Pablo. About 2hrs or so and thank God there was very little traffic. I was also praying we wouldn't get lost because I have yet to go to San Pablo, Laguna. Don't get me wrong, I love road trips but in this case, I had with me an important person in Jaboy and Eden's wedding! I didn't want to be the one to ruin the important day in their lives! I even studied the map that Jboy emailed and checked Google Earth to see the road.

We got to the Cathedral at around 1:45pm, enough spare time to have lunch!Ü Father Jun treated us to Spaghetti and several very interesting stories at Pizzu Hut Bistro. After lunch, we went back to the Church where the people were already piling up. Eventhough I belonged with the entourage, one of the Groomsmen to be exact, I still took advantage of this to take photos of their wedding. I also wanted to see if I can manage being one of unofficial photographers to Ryan's wedding. I have to admit that I had trouble taking photos with the new lens because of the low light condition inside the Cathedral not to mention that I was still getting used to the heavy lens and the small body of the 350D. What I really want to say here is... I NEED A BETTER FLASH!!!

Here are some of the photos I took. Please feel free to comment on them. :)


San Pablo Cathedral, San Pablo, Laguna


Inside the Cathedral


The Altar


Eden



The Couple Listening to Father Jun's Homily




Look of Love


You may kiss the bride :)






At The Reception




Good to see the Fafas (Boybak, Rikbak and Melbak) again!

Sigma 70-300mm APO DG MACRO

At last! I was able to upgrade my DSLR and bought a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG MACRO lens! I plan to use it for Ryan's wedding and luckily, I have 2 weddings to attend prior to his because Randy and I get to be his unofficial photographers. I was quite hesitant to buy it at first when I went to JT Photoworld Thursday last week but I also wanted to practice using the lens so that I can be more comfortable using it. After checking it out Thursday morning to see if the lens they had at Chino Roces was good or not, I went home first to see the result on a bigger screen. I initially thought that the lens they had there was not sharp because the pictures I took we soft. Then I thought that they could just be camera shake because the shutterspeed that I had when I took them was way below the lens' length. Before going to the CC2 Leadership Team GA held at Red Box, Greenbelt 3, I went to JT Photoworld to have a second look at the lens and eventually bought the darn thing! I could not resist the temptation of using it during the GA! :D So far so good! Been getting good shots with it. It was great to be with my bosses and my colleagues having fun outside the office so I was quite relaxed when I took their photos. I also took several shots the morning after as soon as I got home from work to see if I can take good hand held photos. Here are some of the photos I took using the lens and I have to say that I am really pleased with it. Note: These shots are RAW (unedited) except for some Red eye reduction/elimination. :)


CC2 Leadership Team GA


Test Shot at Home

World Pyro Olympics

Two weeks ago, Karen and I went to the World Pyro Olypics at the Esplanade near the SM Mall of Asia. Selle, Barry and I already planned on going to this event almost 6 months before this and I have to say that all the pain and suffering Karen and I went through was worth it! We were able to see the fireworks displays of the USA, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, China and the exibition fireworks by the Philippines. Although, we were only able to enjoy the displays two weekends ago because the China and Philippines fireworks display was overshadowed by the people who wanted to watch them. We were able to watch the show at the Lvl6 parking lot of MOA. It was a good vantage point for taking photos but the experience we had on the last day of the competition was totally horrible. We left the house an hour earlier than we did, which was 4 hours before the start of the show. Much to our dismay, we encountered the worst traffic going to MOA not to mention the rude (JOLOGS!!!)people who made the parking lot a picnic area and literally camped there probably the day before the show. They laid there behind their parked cars and occupied a lot of space which could already be used by 10 people to see the fireworks. Karen was also not feeling so good last Saturday so I did not argue with them (JOLOGS!!!) anymore and just gave up on taking pictures. Had it not for the other plans we had for that day, I would have already left MOA and watched the fireworks somewhere else rather than be with those (JOLOGS!!!) people. I'm sorry but calling them JOLOGS is an insult for the real jologs because the people who were at the parking lot last Saturday that day were far worse! Can you feel the how pissed off I was??? Aaarrrggghhh!!!


Tropang Tupe (missing Barry and Kathy
Anyway, enough of the negativity... After the fireworks display and what felt like days waiting to leave the parking lot of MOA, Tropang Tupperware namely, Barry, Kathy, Resty, Selle, Allan, CJ, Karen and I went to Tagaytay. I brought then near the communications tower. I was surprised when we got there because there were a lot of people at that time which was about 3AM in the morning. We just talked there while we were almost freezing because of the cold strong winds. Here are some of the photos we had when we were there.




ANG SAYA-SAYA
After the photoshoot, we headed to Leslie's for a much awaited breakfast of Bulalo! A classic Tropang Tupperware way to end a get together... LOTS OF FAT FOOD!Ü



Check out the "utak"!
Some of the photos from the USA Fireworks display.










I hope to upload the others soon! :D