Noche Buena 2013

For Noche Buena, I decided to invite some friends over since it was just me and my friend, Cora, at the house. Oh yeah, Cora has been living with me for a while now. It's very Will and Grace of us.

My mom is in La Union and my dad is in Ilocos and I didn't want to brave the swarm of people travelling during the holidays.

Cora and I spent the whole afternoon cooking and preparing food. As usual, I went a little crazy and we ended up with too much food considering most of our guests came after midnight because they spent Noche Buena with their own families first.

Basically, these are the same people I spent New Years eve with last year and just like last year, we had so much fun. Wala kaming ginawa kundi kumain, magtawanan and para sa aming mga sunog-baga, magyosi.

I used to complain about the things missing in my life, but now I realize, I have all I could ask for.

Good food shared with good friends makes the perfect holiday party for me.

Sana next Christmas, ganito ulit kasaya.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Hello ladies, gentlemen, gentlemen who also like gentlemen, and everyone else in between. It's the most wonderful time of the year again! Socks are hung by the chimney (or stairs) with care and half of people are stinking drunk.

I would like to greet each and everyone of you who still read my blog, a very Merry Christmas!

Now, I know I'm not exactly religious or anything but I admit that I love the tradition that is Christmas. Plus, I love the gifts I receive every year :)

I've had some really crappy Christmases in the past but this year was amazing. It was the best, I would say. I'm very thankful of all the blessing and crap I received this year. I have a stable job (I'll be celebrating my 4th year with the company in a few months), I have amazing friends and some amazing family members who continue to love and support my every whim, I smoke a pack of cigs a day but I'm still healthy as a horse, I still have you, my readers who try to understand why I don't post as often as I used to, and I have an amazing boyfriend who loves me despite my gaping flaws.

I no longer ask for what's missing in my life. I have all I could ask for.

May your days be merry and bright. I bid all of you, a goodnight.

Love,

Adam, The Holiday Hoe :)

Macbook Pro Case

Dahil sa mahal ang Macbook at naprapraning ako every time na ginagamit ko, I decided to buy a case for it.

For things like this, I usually check Sulit.com.ph for suppliers since kuripot ako haha.

I found someone who sells plastic shells for Macbooks. I called the number on his ad and I asked him a few questions about the cases. He was very polite and accommodating, in fairness. He asked me the model number of my Macbook para sure daw na tamang case ang madala niya. We decided to meet on a Thursday.

Originally, I only wanted to buy the orange case but when I saw the blue one, I wanted it as well. Alam niyo naman ako, impulsive buyer haha. It looks pretty diba?

The price on his Sulit Ad is 780php and the case comes with a keyboard protector and dust plugs. Not bad narin ah. CLICK HERE TO CHECK HIS AD.

He sells Clear (Trasparent) and Matte (Semi-Transparent) cases for the Unibody Macbook White, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air. The available colors are: Red, Orange, Yellow, Aqua Blue, Royal Blue, Lavender, Black, Gray and Mint Green.

If you want to buy from him, you can reach him at 0922-3167-238.

Try niyong humingi ng discount, malay ninyo, magbigay :)

Oh and pag bibili kayo, sabihin niyo nakita niyo sa blog ko yung info. Malay ninyo, bigyan ako ng discount pag bumili ako ulit haha. Tulungan ha! Alam na!

Yun lang naman. Natuwa ako sa case. The quality is pretty good and it snap-fits into the macbook. The keyboard cover/protector serves it purpose plus it makes my keyboard look really purrty. At least ngayon, hindi na ako napaparanoid everytime ilapag ko somewhere yung Macbook. Ang mahal eh. Magalusan na ako, wag lang yung Macbook. Char!

Note: This is not a sponsored/paid post. I really liked the product kaya nagpost ako. Again, yun lang po :)

Early Christmas Gift: Macbook Pro

Santa came early this year in the form of my sometimes-but-not-always crazy mother.

The last time she bought me a laptop was for my birthday back in 2009. That laptop broke last year and having it repaired would cost an arm and leg. Even the people at HP told me that it would be cheaper to just buy a new laptop.

I was planning on buying a laptop this year but it took me a while to decide what brand. I was choosing between an Asus laptop, the Lenovo Yoga or a Macbook.

Eventually, I wanted a Macbook. It's freaking expensive so I asked my mom if she can buy me one as a gift. The conversation went something like this:

Ma: Why do you want a Macbook?
Me: I need it so I can work even when I'm away from my computer.
Ma: No. You need a laptop. You want a Macbook.
Me: Uhhh... yeah...

Eventually I managed to convince her to get me one but she wanted me to split the price. I paid for 1/3 of it's price :D

We bought it at Power Mac in SM North Edsa. After playing around with it for 2 days, I understood why people prefer using Mac's. It was confusing at first but once I got the hang of it, I realised it was fairly easy to use. I told my mother that she should get one too. She said she doesn't need one yet.

Thank you for the awesome gift Ma. Love you :3

Internet Tethering

I have been a SmartBro WiMax user for a few years now and I rarely experience any problems with it. I think the fact that one of Smart's towers is close to where I live has something to do with that. Like any other "budget" connection, my speed varies depending on the time of the day.

When I got the unit back in 2010, my download speed reaches 150 kbps which isn't bad considering I only pay 1k per month. 

Now about a month ago, I experienced my first major issue with the service. 

I Dreamed A Dream at Bed

During the first week of December, we held a World AIDS Day concert at Bed Bar in Greenfield, Ortigas. Together with the concert, it was also our Christmas Party at LoveYourself, the group I volunteer in.

We sang songs as a group and there were solo performances. Of course, hindi ako nagpakabog. I had to sing a solo. To give you an idea why I sang this song, we had themes. Basically it were the different experiences that gay men go through. This involves falling in love, first heartbreak, family, being part of the community, etc.

I chose to sing a solo for 'first heartbreak' and the song I picked was I Dreamed A Dream from the hit musical, Les Miserables. What other song is there to sing for a theater nut like me, right?

Apologies for the quality of the video, I had to lower the resolution on my phone because I was running out of space.



O, wag masyadong okrayin ang performance ko ah. At that moment, all I could think of was, try to out-Fantine Anne Hathaway. Char!

What's In a Tag?

Last week, we had our LoveYourself General Assembly. Imagine a big hall full of gay men. It was hag heaven. There were team building activities and announcements and stuff. One particular activity that struck me had something to do with the bag tags in the photo.

The tags were on a podium and the podium was carried to the center of the hall. We were instructed to take the tag/s and give them to people who we feel had an impact on us. There were 3 colors and every color had a meaning.

APCOM Training in Bangkok and a Bit of Nightlife

The training in Bangkok was for 5 days. Now I am not exactly sure what I can post here, for security reasons, so in a nutshell this is what we did while we were in Training.

Basically, it was a training on Communications and Social Media and how we can use them to effectively help the MSM, LGBT and PLHIV community. We had speakers from UNAIDS, Being LGBT in Asia, Youth Voices Count, AIDS Positive Network, etc.

iResidence Hotel Bangkok

While in Bangkok, all of us delegates from outside of Thailand stayed at the iResidence Hotel in Bangkok. It's right across the street from the Chong Nonsi BTS station. I got to the hotel at around 2pm.

The lobby was not that spacious and it took them a while to have my room ready but I am to blame for that. While checking in, I asked the receptionist lady if she could put me in a room where I could smoke. Apparently, the room I was supposed to stay in did not have a "smoking area". I got to my room after about 40 minutes.

Bangkok: Getting There

I didn't post about this before but I was accepted into a training program that would be held in Bangkok. The training program was funded by the Robert Carr Civil Society Network Fund (RCNF). It would be a 5-day workshop conducted by the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) and it focuses on communications and social media. I applied for the program some time in July. A few weeks after that, I received an email from the Communications Officer of APCOM, inviting me for an interview.

A few days after the interview, I received an email congratulating me saying that I was accepted to the program. I was so happy, I almost lost my shit. I just couldn't believe it. Out of 150 applicants from all around Asia, I was one of the 15 people they chose. I was so happy that I was crying glitter and puking rainbows. 

The entire trip including accommodation would be paid for by APCOM through the RCNF, plus we would receive per diem. I had 3 weeks to get my affairs in order to ensure that I would be able to leave. This included having my mom send over my passport because I forgot to get it from her when we went to Hong Kong back in May and asking permission from my boss to be gone for an entire week. 

Happy Anniversary Gregory!

This post is a little late (3 weeks) but I would like to let you all know that Gregory and I celebrated our first year together. Back in March, I wrote about the anniversary of us meeting but this time, it was our officially-being-together anniversary.

I've told the story before and I've written about moments we had. Pati moments narin kung saan halos mapatid ako sa sarili kong hair. Ganun.

But yes, one year na kami. Akalain niyo yun?

To celebrate our anniversary, we went to Baguio. Our anniversary fell on a Sunday so we spent the weekend up in the mountains. We went around the city, I got to see my friends again and the best part was, Gregory was with me. It was a great vacation.

No Rest For The Wicked

Mean.

It's a word that I have associated myself with for many years now. But of all words, why 'mean'? You see, I wasn't always like this. There was a time when I tried so hard to fit in. A time when I was nice to everyone around me so they'd like me so I would feel that I had a place in this cruel, cruel world.

But not everyone saw it that way. Even as a kid, I was outspoken. I would have no fear of expressing what was on my mind. I think it's because of that why others misunderstood my personality. Still, I tried to be nicer to people.

Mean, Evil, Mayabang, Arrogant, I have been called these and much more that I’ve lost count. I used to ask myself why. Why do they call me these words? Was I really like that? I knew that I was different. I wasn’t gifted with the same amount of patience or humility others have. Which is why when I dislike something, I would state it outright. I was foolish to think that people, at that time, were mature enough to understand na ganito talaga ako.

However, I was wrong. They took it against me. But I kept telling myself to be nice to them and one day they will realize that I am not the monster they've painted me to be.

The cycle kept repeating itself for a long time. One day I asked myself, what if they're right? What if I am evil? What if I’m really mean? That’s when it hit me. It could only be said so many times and coming from different people, there must have been some truth to it.

Foodie.ph (An Up and Coming Delivery Service in the Metro)

Hello my dear readers! As most of you know, I love food. My waistline and size XL shirts speak of how much I love food. Food delivery is my best friend when I feel the munchies which is why I am so happy to have discovered Foodie.ph, a 24/7 delivery service.

Last Friday I ordered from Foodie.ph because I had a scheduled trip at midnight and I didn’t have enough time to prepare dinner. I ordered at around 5:30pm and scheduled it to be delivered by 8:45. Oh yeah, that’s a nifty feature in the website, you could specify the time you want the food to arrive. A few minutes after placing my order, my phone rang and it was a customer service rep from the site. He was full of life and very friendly. Seriously. I’m sure my expat friends who constantly complain about the horrible customer service in this country would love this site.

Bulletproof

I was browsing the web when I came across an article that reminded me of something I did a few years ago. Now everyone is aware of my very colorful, sometimes sordid life. Which is why, I tend to do crazy shit every now and then.

A few years ago, I went through a phase. I will not mention what it was, all I can say is that it involved a lot of drama and tears.

When I managed to recover, somehow, I met up with someone and this someone was the reason why I had to go through that phase.

It was a brief meeting.

Less than 5 minutes if memory serves me right.

The moment I saw him, I knew what I was suppose to do. I had rehearsed everything in my head. What I would say, what I would do.

"I have something to give to you" I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

I handed him a very small box. Roughly, the size of a matchbox.

He opened it.

His eyes widened at what he saw.

"What the--"

"It's a bullet" I said, cutting him off.

"Why the hell are you giving me a bullet?!" he asked, all bewildered and shit.

"Keep it as a reminder. A reminder that I didn't use it on you when I had the chance."

The shocked look on his face was priceless.

I smiled at him.

Then I walked away.

I never heard from him ever again.

WD TV Live Review

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I bought a new Media Player/Streamer. Here's a little backstory why I bought a new one.

Two years ago, I bought a media player. The Verbatim MediaStudio HD DVR. It was a great media player and it still works perfectly up to this day. It did have one problem though, a problem that I didn't realize when I bought it. The damn thing can't play MP4 and MKV files which have become the standard format for compressed videos.

Birthday Splurge

Since it's my birth month and I just turned a quarter of a century old, I bought myself a few things during my birthday. A few weeks ago, I got my annual increase at work so I had extra money to spend/ use to pay for my card haha.

First was the Galaxy Note 2 which I bought 2 weeks before my birthday.

Then on the day of my birthday, I was at Megamall waiting for Gregory. He was at work and I was bored so I bought a few things I needed/wanted. I bought 2 books, Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger and Inferno by Dan Brown. I am a Dan Brown fan and I loved the Devil Wears Prada (book and movie) so I wanna read these books.

Birthday Gift: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Back in October, I posted about getting the Samsung Galaxy S3 through a plan upgrade on my phone line.

Well, goodbye S3, hello Note 2.

Birthday 2013

So I'm finally 25 years old. Medyo tumatanders na. Like I do every year, I threw a party with my close friends and officemates.

Disneyland Hong Kong

One of the reasons why I convinced my mom to go to Hong Kong was because I wanted to go to Disneyland again. I swear, if they opened a Disneyland here in the Philippines (hopefully somewhere near like Clark), I would be there 5-6 times a year. 

It is the happiest place on Earth after all.

Madame Tussauds Hong Kong

During our HK trip, Mudra and I went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Last time we were here, we weren't able to visit this place. I don't know why. I'm not even sure if this place was open by that time. It was my first time inside a wax museum and the wax figures looked disturbingly real. 

All the pictures are in my Facebook account, I'll just post a few here kasi ayokong mang-flood ng images

Hong Kong

So my mom and I went on vacation during the first week of May but since it takes me forever to update my blog, it's only now that I get to post about it.

Since January, my mom and I have been talking about where we'll go for vacation. Initially, she wanted to go on this cruise around several Asian countries. The thing is, the schedule of the trip conflicted with my work schedule because my boss was going to Canada for vacation the same time as the cruise and since one of us has to stay put, I told my mom I can't go.

I convinced my mom to go to Hong Kong instead because there were more things to do there and I missed Disneyland.

She booked a 5-day trip for the first week of May. Our flight was at 7AM at Clark airport. We arrived in Hong Kong at around 9AM.

I just love the Hong Kong International Airport. It's so sosyal. It's leaps and bounds ahead of our own airport.

Dreams and Reality

The night that Ellaine and Bongga were at the house was memorable. It was the first time that the three of us got together after a VERY LONG TIME. I was happy because I love these two and it sucks that I don't get to see them as often as I used to.

While waiting for dinner, Ellaine and I were at the dirty kitchen talking. I have no idea where Bongga was. She was probably inside playing on her iPod Touch.

The topic moved from work, to personal, to love.

Date Night: Racks Mall of Asia

Our last date night, Gregory and I went to Racks in MOA.

Originally, our plan was to eat at Yakimix because I wanted to EAT. As in really eat. When we got to Yakimix, which by the way was beside Racks, there was this long-ass line and we were number 18 on the list.

I wasn't having any of it since we were both hungry. He mentioned that he wanted Racks. I was debating between Racks and Vikings.

We ended up at Racks.

Gay Culture

I have a lot of gay friends but only a few that I’m actually close to. I have friends who are closeted, in denial, out and proud. I also have friends who call themselves ‘bisexual’ but have never been with a woman nor do they seem to have any plans of being with one.

You might be wondering what my point is. You see, and this is not limited to my friends which is something that I wanna stress out, the gays I've met over the years aren't very well versed with gay culture and history. With the gays that I've met through common friends, socialized with, worked with, performed with, even dated, there are only a handful of them who are aware of our history. This actually saddens me.

Behind the glitz and glam and fabulousness of being gay, we have our own history. People who did their part so we could live freely, people who went through a lot to help lessen the discrimination and prejudice that befalls our society.

We have our gay icons, celebrities and performers who used the power and influence they have to open the minds of those who have it closed shut. These people helped usher the LGBT community into the future and though there is still hatred and prejudice in this world, the level of acceptance and understanding grows by the day.

I, however, have noticed that some of the younger gays don’t seem to have this sense of pride. Based on what I've observed, for some being gay means dressing well, religiously going to the gym as if it were church, knowing anything and everything about fashion, cruising guys at the mall or the gym, etc.

There is so much more to being gay than that.

I personally know some people who have no idea who is Patti LuPone.

Or Bernadette Peters.

Or Judy Garland.

And I’ve been asked by several people if Cher is a transsexual woman.

Pride month is celebrated  around the world.

And for some, this is what they think the Pride Parade is all about.

But do they know that this person is one the reasons why we have the Pride Parade.

For those of you who don’t know, this is Marsha P. Johnson. He was a drag queen who threw the first rock at the police who were harassing several gay men inside a bar which ignited the Stonewall Riot in New York. The Pride Parade was celebrated after that to commemorate the first time that the LGBT community fought back against their oppressors. This is also why drag queens are important attendees during Pride Fest. It was a drag queen who sparked the proverbial fire.

This is the rainbow flag used by the LGBT community.

But this was the original rainbow flag and every color had a meaning.

Pink was for sexuality, Red for life, Orange for healing, Yellow for sunlight, Green for nature, Turquoise for magic/art, Indigo for serenity/harmony and Violet for spirit.

These are random things, trivial things. But these are part of our history, our culture.

We should at least be aware that they exist.

By the way dear readers, I am in no way bashing anyone nor am I generalizing that all gays are not aware of gay culture. This is meant for those who don’t know our history and would probably want a crash course.

In the tone of Miranda Priestly, I bid you all with a, ‘That’s all.’

Reunited!

Last week, Elaine and Bongga went to the house for a small get-together. It was great because we haven't seen each other in months.

Although, I did see Bongga the week before when I showed up at her house.

I was surprised when I saw her. As in shocked. Long hair na siya. She no longer sports the anime hair. She looks so lady-like now. Looks lang. She hasn't changed. Still the same Bongga that I love to bits.

Elaine arrived at my house first. Isa ring long hair ulit.  She came bearing gifts. A bucket of fried chicken from KFC :)

Bongga was still at the office so susunod nalang daw siya.

When Elaine arrived, nagumpisa na ang kwentuhan. Naglabas siya agad ng kanyang mga hinanaing tungkol sa kanyang boyfriend. Ang sabi ko sa kanya, pagdating ni Bongga eh magpupustahan kami kung ilang days, weeks or months pa sila magtatagal.

Nagtxt si Bongga at sinabing nasa village na daw siya so sinundo ko siya sa gate. Pagdating namin sa bahay, kumain muna kami dahil pare-pareho kaming gutom. Umpisa ulit ng kwentuhan. Buhay nila sa kanilang mga bagong trabaho, at buhay ko sa office.

Pagkatapos kumain, pumunta kami sa dirty kitchen ng aking bahay para dun magyosi. Sabi ko kay Elaine, magkwento na siya tungkol sa boyfriend niya. Ang loka loka naman nagkwento.

Tuminging bigla sa akin si Bongga.

"Ilang linggo ang pusta mo?" tanong niya.

Tumawa si Elaine at sinabi na kanina ko pa daw sinasabi na magpupustahan kami ni Bongga pagdating niya.

"Oo nga!" sagot ko.

"Napakabait niyong mga kaibigan ah!" sabi ni Elaine.

They left the house at around 1:30AM.

We actually had one more person over but I don't know if I'm allowed to put it here so wag muna. Baka may magalit eh.

I had so much fun with them. I remember when we were all still at the office. Smoking and gossiping haha.

Now Elaine works at Teleperformance and Bongga works at VXI. I, on the other hand, am still with the same company.

When people don't see each other for a long time, sometimes there's this awkwardness or animosity among them. We didn't have that. We picked up where we left off. It's as if we just saw each other days before. Bongga and Elaine are some of the VERY FEW that I can call friends.

We haven't seen each other for a long time. We got reunited... and boy did it feel so good :)

Ocean Park

A few weeks ago, Gregory and I had one lazy weekend so we decided to go out. Not knowing where to go, I suggested we go to Manila Ocean Park since I haven't been there in a long time.

We got there at around 4PM. The line wasn't that bad. We wanted to watch the sea lion show which was starting in an hour so decided to walk around first to kill time.

The sea lion show started at around 5 and there a lot of people. We got pretty good seats.

I enjoyed this show. The seals were really entertaining.

The Musical Fountain Show was at 7:15 so we walked around Ocean Park. I smoked every now and then of course.

Here are the Jelly Fish. Nothing earth-shattering.

After spending time with the Jelly Fish and walking around, we finally went to the Musical Fountain. We were in line for about 20 minutes. Ang daming tao.

Then it started.

I actually took about 80 pictures of the show but I don't think posting 80 pictures in one post would be a good idea.

The Musical Fountain ended at around 8pm so we went straight to the Oceanarium which by the way, is my favorite place in Manila Ocean Park.

I'm so happy. Can you tell? :)

I walked around finding Dory (Ha!) but I couldn't see her anywhere so I had to settle for Nemo.

Outside the tunnel. I've always wanted to dive into this tank and just swim the fishes. Although the presence of sharks and manatees bigger than me kinda scares me a bit.

Oh and since we were at the souvenir shop while we were roaming, we bought matching shirts. I kinda wanted this shirt. I find it fabulous. I don't have good taste in clothes, I know.

We ended up buying this shirt. Syempre ako lang ang nasa picture.

It was a fun day. Gregory and I always go to malls or cinemas when we go out so doing something different and on a whim was fun.

I told him that I wanna go to Enchanted Kingdom next time.