**clicker happy

Day 362 - Disney On Ice

2011-12-28T19:25:00.000+08:00

Hooray for discounted tickets! E and I were able to watch Disney On Ice at the Araneta Coliseum this year. Incidentally, it's my first time to go to Araneta Coliseum ever. IKR?!

We enjoyed the show, but I think that it's really for kids, being semi-interactive and all. But I do think that after this, Pluto is now my favorite Disney character. Not that I had one before.

Anyway, it was a nice, happy time, which I was glad to spend with E. :)

Day 361 - Christmas Around the World

2011-12-25T19:00:00.000+08:00

On Christmas Day, we took advantage of the 7-day-free-trial of a paid account of Skype and did a video conference with my sister and cousins, who are in different countries (NZ, HK) and city (Makati). There were time delays with the audio and video, but still I think it was fully awesome! :D

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Day 360 - A Fan! Finally!

2011-12-12T14:47:00.001+08:00

After some years (Yes, years. Plural.), I finally have enough money to buy myself a new electric fan. You see, a few years ago, the electric fan in my room broke, and my mom bought a new one, but instead of putting the new one in my room, she put it in my brother's room instead, and put the old fan in my brother's room into my room, claiming it was because the new fan she bought was black, and therefore did not go with my room's "blue theme". I didn't buy that reason, but of course, she defended herself by saying that it's my responsibility anyway to buy an electric fan for my own room because I'm the one who uses it. Conveniently, she doesn't mention at all why my brother doesn't need to buy his own electric fan. I only complain because the old fan that she put in my room was broken, too, and the only reason it worked was because our housekeeper is married to an electrician who repaired it. But because it's also an old fan, it breaks down every 4 months or so, and needs to be repaired again.

Anyway, yesterday it broke again and so I thought I should just buy a darn electric fan once and for all. Luckily, I finally have some money saved up, and so off I went to SM and bought myself this fan. And it's blue so it goes with my "blue themed room". So there.

P.S. Aside from food stuff and the blouse I bought last Saturday, which was necessary for the Christmas party I attended, this fan is the first thing I bought for myself with my salary from my new job. Hooray!

Day 359 - 2 Weeks Later

2011-12-04T01:06:00.001+08:00

After the Komikon, E and I with his friend M went to a store that sold various things from office furniture to old computers to mountain bikes to apparently, huge teddy bears. We found this sitting on one of the leather couches at the store and it was so cute I had to hug it. E took a photo of me, which is the picture on the left.

2 weeks later, the bear must've missed me, because it suddenly showed up on our doorstep. OK, not really, but that description's close enough to reality. The picture on the right is the bear sitting on my bed today. :P

Day 358 - Slide

2011-11-20T12:23:00.000+08:00

Yup. You guessed it. This is another requirement for our office's scavenger hunt -- a photo of the entire team on a slide, one in front of the other. It seemed ridiculous when we read about it on the list, but I think we look really cute here. And I'm so glad that the slide in the park in our village is this old-school metal slide, not the cartoony plastic ones that you see in other playgrounds nowadays (like in the photo of the other team. haha! how competitive am i?! :P).

Day 357 - Komikon 2011

2011-11-19T12:50:00.000+08:00

OK, that's obviously not the best picture in the world of the Komikon event this year, but I took this randomly, while in line to get Manix Abrera's autograph. And, isn't that testament to how much we had fun? We had so much fun, it completely slipped our mind to take pictures of the event. Yes? Maganda na ba ang palusot ko? ;)

Anyway, this is mostly to show what the Bayanihan Center, which is the venue for this year's Komikon, looks like. It's so very posh compared to the usual UP Bahay ng Alumni venue. I guess that means that things are looking up for local comics! Yehey!

Day 356 - At the Walk of Fame

2011-11-16T12:15:00.000+08:00

Yet another requirement for our office Scavenger Hunt, is a photo of 3 members on our team with the star of Francis Magalona at the Walk of Fame in Eastwood. So yes, we South people went all the way to Eastwood to take this photo. And it was raining. And the floor was slippery. But in the end, we won the game, and we had a nice time together so it was all good! :)

Day 355 - So Many Starbucks

2011-11-12T11:44:00.000+08:00

For a scavenger hunt event in the office, I needed a photo of myself in front of at least 10 different Starbucks branches. So today, when I met up with my friends A and K at Glorietta, I decided to take advantage of the fact that that small area has 4 different Starbucks branches -- Marks&Spencer, Glorietta 4 Cinemas, 6750 and Glorietta 5. Actually, there are more branches in Greenbelt, and I probably could've completed all 10 branches if I'd walked a bit along Ayala Avenue. But it was late, and there are more branches in more parts of Metro Manila anyway, so.

Thanks much to K for taking these pictures and understanding my cause! Hahaha!

On another note, 10 days to go!

Day 354 - 1110111211

2011-11-11T09:39:00.000+08:00

No, the title of this post isn't binary. (Hence the #2 in it.) It's just that way because the last 3 days seemed to have meshed into just one very long day for me.

It really started on Thursday night when E asked me to join their paintball game on Friday morning. I said yes and because my shift in my new office ends at 5am, as soon as I got home, I just took a shower, threw some extra clothes in a bag and headed for Quezon City, where the paintball venue, La Mesa Eco Park, was. I know, it's so far, but I've never tried paintball before and I did have nothing planned for 11-11-11. And okay, going to the north is not that bad, as long as you have a good reason to go there.

Anyway, after the paintball game (which our team won!), we had lunch at SM Fairview. And it was my first time to step into SM Fairview ever. I never thought I'd ever see that mall, but you never really know where life's going to take you. And I know, going to a different SM branch is hardly a significant event in someone's life but, ano ba, mababaw lang ako.

After lunch, E and his officemates still had to work so after a quick shower at C's house, which is only a 5-minute drive from their office (Thanks so much C!), we went to their office, where I took this photo of them working. They looked like this for the next many hours, only slightly changing when they had a meeting and when we all ate dinner. So this was more or less how they looked from 2PM til midnight.

And after midnight, we decided to just sleepover at C's (Thanks so much! Again!) because it was too late to head 40km to the south.

We left C's house at around 7am on 11-12-11 and I got back home around 9am and only really slept properly at 12nn. So, yeah. November 10, 11 and 12, was one long day for me. Enjoyable of course, but still really long.

Day 353 - Waiting for the Train

2011-11-07T13:57:00.000+08:00

Today I went to the North to meet with my best friend, only to take the train again to go back to the South and see a movie* at ATC.

Anyway, this is what I could see while waiting for the train to arrive. I took a photo because you hardly ever see this place look this way, with hardly any people in it. Only in really off-peak hours, and on holidays like today. Normally, it would be too crowded for you to be able to get your cellphone from your bag, let alone use it to take a photo.

*As for Tower Heist, it was surprisingly really good. I like Ben Stiller's comedy better when he's not being so ridiculous (as in, I did not like Zoolander nor Dodgeball at all). Or is it because heists in general are already quite entertaining? But it was definitely better than The Italian Job, so that's something. :)

Day 352 - Delivery for Dinner

2011-11-01T00:23:00.000+08:00

Last October 28th was my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary. But because life gets in the way of things, we weren't able to celebrate it then. Fortunately, today, only a few days later, is a holiday, and we all happened to be at home. So I had the idea of celebrating their anniversary today instead. But my brother, who is the sponsor for tonight's dinner ;) didn't feel like leaving the house, so we had dinner delivered instead.

This is from North Park Restaurant. Yang Chow Fried Rice, Honey Garlic Pork Spare Ribs, Beef with Broccoli Flower, Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu, and Honey Lemon Chicken. Yummy yummy yummy. It would've been yummier if the Salt and Pepper Squid was available, but I guess you can't have everything. Maybe next time. :)

Day 351 - Walking the Highway

2011-10-30T00:07:00.000+08:00

Of course, it's way more inconvenient to take the bus compared to driving your own car to places, but how else do you get photos like these?

Having your own car has its merits, in fact it's got a lot of merits. But I honestly don't mind public transportation at all. Especially when I'm with my friends, then it really doesn't matter if we have to walk along the highway in flip flops while carrying backpacks.

Day 350 - New

2011-10-25T21:24:00.000+08:00

Snapshot of my desk in my new office. Already a mess and it's only my second day. Oh well.
---

Also, only 15 more days to complete this 365 project. Does this mean I have to pick the photos I post here really well? I guess only time will tell.

Sorry about that cliché.

Day 349 - Teriyaki Boy Again

2011-10-20T01:30:00.000+08:00

I don't think we meant for it to happen. We certainly never established that Teriyaki Boy is our favorite restaurant, because it really isn't. But for some reason, it's the restaurant that we've eaten at the most. And at its different branches, too. Is it because we're both picky with food (and by we, I really mean just me) and Teriyaki Boy is one of those rare things that we agree on? (And it seems to have a branch everywhere we go.) Although, I did end up eating 3/4 of this Sesame Maguro order by myself. E ate most of the chicken teriyaki instead.

P.S. Fifth movie (since getting back from NZ) today! Too bad The Three Musketeers kinda sucked. I think it's because I still keep thinking that Orlando Bloom should be the hero. :P

Day 348 - Parking Festival

2011-10-18T01:23:00.000+08:00

So today I went to a pre-employment physical examination. Yup, you read that right. And yes, it means what you probably think it means.

Anyway, this is the parking lot at the back of Festival Mall. It's the view from Fukuya, my now 2nd favorite Japanese restaurant in the Philippines (only because I haven't really explored Little Tokyo all that much). The first one being Tempura, though that one's really mainstream.

Day 347 - Fourth on the Fifteenth

2011-10-15T01:14:00.000+08:00

It would've been better if this was the fifth movie that I saw since I got back from NZ so the title would the "Fifth on the Fifteenth", or if maybe I watched this movie yesterday so that it would be "Fourth on the Fourteenth", but what are you going to do? Things happened in this way.

Anyway, this is my movie ticket for Real Steel, which I watched today with my best friend E at my favorite mall in the world, Alabang Town Center. I already pasted it on my planner before I took a photo of it. It's an OK movie, if you're a kid. Predictable of course, but has some funny moments and at least it's better than the Transformers franchise. The stories are different, I'm only comparing because they've both got robots. Or wait, Transformers technically has aliens. Whatever, some sort of mecha.

Day 346 - Four = Four

2011-10-07T02:01:00.000+08:00

For some reason, it didn't occur to us to just hand the camera to someone else so that we could get one picture with all four of us in it. No, the idea we came up with was to pass the camera around so that we'd have four photos, which are basically the same, except that they are taken by each of the four of us. Is that strange? I can't really tell because my best friends and I have always been this way. Hehehe!

Day 345 - After Dinner Alcohol

2011-10-02T01:54:00.000+08:00

3rd consecutive day to go out since I got back! Hindi naman halata na na-miss ko ang friends ko? :P Although this time, we also met up because the girl on the left of this photo D, was in Singapore for the last year and a half and she wanted to see us all again now that she's back in the Philippines. And because these are my friends from high school, our meetup was @ Alabang. Hooray for geographically convenient friends! :D It's why we didn't mind drinking alcohol on this occasion -- our houses are so near this place!

Day 344 - Strawberry Shortcake

2011-10-01T01:43:00.000+08:00

We were supposed to watch Rakenrol today, but the storm prevented us from going to the very remote mall where it was playing. So my friend K and I consoled ourselves with this strawberry shortcake from Bigby's at Megamall. Lucky it tasted really yummy.

Day 343 - MM Merienda

2011-09-30T01:29:00.000+08:00

The first things I did when I got back home, in order of importance:

1) Ate chicken joy @ Jollibee!
2) Watched the season premiere of Gossip Girl
3) Met up with my friends @ Starbucks!

Hehehe! Just kidding. I missed everything equally. No, really! :P

Anyway, these are the girls from where I used to work. I miss them so much because not only do I no longer work in the same office as them, but I was also not in the same country for the last 5 months. I'm really happy that we still make time to see each other even when we're no longer officemates. Actually, two other people in this photo don't work for the same company anymore, too. So, I think based on that, I can say that we've all become real friends. :)

Day 342 - Sheep Souvenir

2011-09-27T01:16:00.000+08:00

You'd think that on my 4th time in New Zealand, I would no longer find these sheep souvenirs interesting, but I still do! Because look! It's so cute! And it was on sale!

Anyway, I put him on the trolley while we were on our stopover at Singapore so he could see the Changi Airport, which in my opinion is the best airport in the world.

Fat sheep!!!

Day 341 - Last Meal Out

2011-09-26T00:54:00.000+08:00

Today is my last day in New Zealand. IKR?! I can't believe I've been here for 5 months. But tomorrow I'll be going home. I'm excited because I've missed home so much, but I will also miss a lot of things here, including this meal: French toast with bananas and bacon + coffee. So of course, this is what I ordered at the cafe where we had our 2nd to the last meal in New Zealand.

There are a lot of cafes in Wellington, but I chose Cafe Mamba at Plimmer Steps for today because my sister and I found the food there really delicious. As did my dad and aunt whom I went with today. The only problem was the service was slow, but you can't really blame them for that because there's literally only one guy working -- he was manning the counter and he cooked our meals, too.

And with that, I bid New Zealand adieu. :(

Day 340 - Queens Drive, Lower Hutt

2011-09-25T00:48:00.000+08:00

I cannot at all remember why I took this photo. Maybe I was looking at photos stored in my camera and took this by mistake. Either way, it's the only photo I took for today so by default, it's today's photo of the day.

Day 339 - Mahal Mo, Mahal Ko, Mahal Nating Lahat

2011-09-24T00:40:00.000+08:00

Natawa lang ako kasi parang malabong conversation between two people 'yung mga title ng kanta. Try mo basahin nang sunud-sunod tapos imagine mo na taking turns sa pagsabi ng each line 'yung dalawang tao. :P

And yes, nagdala ng Magic Sing w/ Tagalog chips sa New Zealand 'yung isang friend ni Ate dahil ganun kami ka-deprived sa videoke. Hehehe!

Day 338 - Bridal Bouquet

2011-09-23T00:28:00.000+08:00

Wedding day today!

I wasn't able to take a lot of photos because, as the maid of honor, I had a lot of other things to do. And well, we did hire a professional photographer to take photos. But I managed to take a few (less than 10), and at least one of them turned out quite decent. I think.

This is my sister's bridal bouquet. She originally wanted callalilies, but the florist said they were unavailable. No matter. I think those yellow tulips look really beautiful. :)

Congratulations to Z&E! :D

If you'd like to see the photos taken by the official photographer for this event, you can find them here: Driving off into the sunset by Adrian De La Fuente

Day 337 - Kissilhouette

2011-09-22T00:16:00.000+08:00

Somehow the sun was too bright or my camera's too lowtech or I'm that bad a photographer that this shot didn't turn out right. We tried it again where the light's on their faces instead of behind it but the background for that shot wasn't so great. So I made this black and white and will just leave the rest to your imagination.

BTW, this is my sister's friend K with her fiance J and we were at the Petone beach (I don't know what that place is called exactly). Also: Yes, very cheesy and corny title for this post. Sorry about that.

Day 336 - LOTR Tour

2011-09-21T21:45:00.000+08:00

Obviously (from this photo), today we went on the Lord of the Rings tour in Wellington. I've been on it before but the rest of my family hasn't. I think they enjoyed it. :)

Day 335 - Paraparaumu Beach

2011-09-20T21:33:00.000+08:00

This is Paraparaumu Beach. It's about an hour drive away from Lower Hutt, I think. There weren't any people when we went, probably because it's not summer. We have been here during summer though, and on those times, we went crabbing. But today it was too cold to catch crabs, not that we planned on doing that.

P.S. Only 1 month (of course, it still depends on how many more days I skip taking photos) to go before the end of my 365 project. I'm kind of sad. What am I going to blog about after this?!

Day 334 - Road Trip 2

2011-09-19T21:24:00.000+08:00

We went on another road trip, this time going to Cape Palliser at the end of New Zealand's north island. We had to rent a people mover this time because my brother and his girlfriend are also now already in NZ so we can't fit in normal cars anymore. Anyway, look at that view. I think going on road trips in NZ are the best kind of trips you can take when in NZ.

Day 333 - Strawberry Cheesecake

2011-09-18T21:12:00.000+08:00

And because there was so much food on fiesta night, we didn't get to eat my birthday cake, which my Aunt B baked, until today. I'm happy she put strawberries on this cheesecake because I'm not really fond of blueberries. Anyway, it was yummy.

Day 332 - Birthday / Fiesta

2011-09-17T21:03:00.000+08:00

I'd like to say that all this food is for my birthday celebration, but I do share my birthday with several other occasions. In this case, the Penafrancia Fiesta of Bicol Province, where most of my parents' friends who live in New Zealand are from. Not that I'm complaining. It's lots of food on my birthday! I couldn't be happier.

Day 331 - NZ KTV

2011-09-16T20:57:00.000+08:00

We went to what I think is the only KTV place in Wellington, Taste of Korea, for my sister's "hen party". That's in quotation marks because my sister's not really into hen parties. We kind of just really wanted to sing our hearts out. We did go to a bar and had so many drinks after this, but that's another story. ;)

Day 330 - Entertaining Guests

2011-09-15T20:48:00.000+08:00

We went to one of my aunts' house to watch the opening of the Rugby World Cup, which they'd recorded from TV. While we were waiting for my aunt to set up, her 11-year-old daughter J played the piano.

Day 329 - Clock at the Old Bank

2011-09-14T20:43:00.000+08:00

Today we went around the Wellington CBD with my aunt. It's her first time in New Zealand so we went to the touristy places, like my favorite, the Old Bank Shopping Arcade. I love the atmosphere in it and this clock opens up every hour to show some dioramas about Wellington's history.

Day 328 - Place Card

2011-09-13T20:37:00.000+08:00

I made several designs for the place cards that we're to use at my sister's wedding, and this one is the winner. Thanks to my aunt's suggestion. I think it looks really pretty. :)

Day 327 - Firework

2011-09-10T20:32:00.000+08:00

We watched the fireworks for the Petone Carnival from a clearing on one of the nearby hills. I don't have a technologically advanced camera and I didn't bring a tripod for the occasion, but I think this shot turned out pretty good. Even if you can clearly see what movement my hand made when I took the shot. :P

Day 326 - Road Trip

2011-09-08T23:14:00.000+08:00

Amazing views as we drove back to Lower Hutt from Taupo. I was lucky to sit in the front seat of our rented car. Lucky because I got to take photos like these. But not that lucky because I had to be navigator, too. Low spatial intelligence me. I don't know how we ever got home without getting too lost. Hehehe!

Day 325 - You Can Park Anywhere

2011-09-07T23:06:00.000+08:00

Outside the Rotorua Museum, there was ample parking. But only because you can park anywhere. :P

Day 324 - Unique Photo Opportunity

2011-09-06T22:58:00.000+08:00

That's me! And the many different kinds of sheep there are. I went closer to them because I didn't want to miss the "unique photo opportunity", which I kept reading about in all the advertisements for the sheep show at Agrodome. They're not wrong. It was a fun show to watch and the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere! ;)

Day 323 - Off the Beaten Path

2011-09-05T22:43:00.000+08:00

At one point, my mom mentioned that her favorite parts of our trip was when we went to the places that weren't tourist areas. One such place is this one, which we only found because we got lost. I honestly don't know what part of Rotorua this is, but we got there at sunset and it looked amazing.

Day 322 - PRAWNS

2011-09-04T22:37:00.000+08:00

As the cliche goes, a visit to Taupo wouldn't be complete without passing by the Huka Prawn Farm Restaurant. Unless you're allergic to prawns, like my poor brother. But he didn't go with us on this trip anyway so we were free to order as much prawns as we liked, which is a whole lot. Yumyumyum!

Day 321 - Looking at the Lake

2011-09-03T22:27:00.000+08:00

My aunt looks out at Lake Taupo, for obvious reasons.

We stopped by the side of the road to take photos and lucky I got one that's so emotive. Of course, in reality we were being noisy talking about nonsense things. :P

Day 320 - Spring Starts September

2011-09-02T22:23:00.000+08:00

These flowers were on the island in the middle of the road going to the mall in Lower Hutt. My dad and I were walking and we just had to take a photo. Spring's begun! Flowers all around have bloomed. :)

Day 319 - Shoe Disaster Area

2011-08-27T23:41:00.000+08:00

Today is the 2nd day of celebration for the Penafrancia Fiesta, which means, lots of people in one place. Which I guess also means, lots of shoes near your front door. Can you tell how many people are in the house just by counting the pairs of footwear here?

Day 318 - Berries for Brunch

2011-08-26T19:33:00.000+08:00

Got coupons to the Riverbank Cafe & Bistro from the newspaper and so decided to use it for brunch today. I'm a sucker for coupons. And yummy yummy pancakes with berries.

Day 317 - Lechon Sandwiches!

2011-08-24T19:29:00.000+08:00

My dad and I had lunch with my sister in the city today. And look at what we ate! Lechon sandwiches! :D They're not actually called that, but that's exactly what they are. And here I thought all cafe sandwiches in New Zealand were healthy. :P

Day 316 - Sunny Day = Travel Outside the City Day

2011-08-23T19:20:00.000+08:00

Finally, a sunny day! And so we got the chance to go to the Putangirua Pinnacles, which my sister's soon-to-be father-in-law had been telling us about since my dad got here.

This is what the bush that we walked on our way to the Pinnacles looked like. Although we got tired from the walk, it was a nice day. :) The sun is your friend here in New Zealand.

Day 315 - Pancit Mountain

2011-08-20T23:15:00.000+08:00

Today, my dad and I attended the first day of the Penafrancia Fiesta being celebrated by some friends here in NZ. As there were about 40 people attending, the pancit prepared by the hosts looked like this. I regret that I wasn't able to take an "after" photo, because this bowl had become empty by the end of the night.

Day 314 - All Whites

2011-08-16T14:36:00.001+08:00

So I found out from visiting the museum yesterday that the NZ National Football team is nicknamed the All Whites. I'm assuming because the rugby team is called All Blacks. Kinda funny.

In this case, the title is all whites because well, would you look at that view? The snow made everything look so pretty. :)

Day 313 - Train Station

2011-08-15T13:49:00.007+08:00

Today my dad and I went to Wellington CBD to have lunch with my sister. We took the train from Petone station. We had to wait in the station a while, and it started to snow. The lady behind the ticket counter was so distracted by the snow, she had a hard time giving me information about the train. :P

I made the photo black and white for a dramatic effect. I think it kind of works, yes?

Day 312 - Snow!

2011-08-14T13:45:00.003+08:00

It's the first time to snow in Wellington in 40 years! Naturally, we had to go outside to see it up close. But it is still too cold, so my sister Z used an umbrella for protection.

Day 311 - Papa's Here!

2011-08-10T13:26:00.001+08:00

My dad arrived in Wellington a few days ago, and for breakfast today, we went to a cafe I had a coupon for, Arabica in Petone. Hooray for coupons in the newspaper!

In this photo, he's about to eat fish cakes. And that's a cup of cappuccino in the corner.

Day 310 - Vanilla Bean Cafe

2011-08-06T13:18:00.002+08:00

The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, they say. And what a reward this was. :)

Whenever we eat at a new cafe, I always order french toast or pancakes, because you know, I wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for something I'm not going to like eating. But I thought ordering pancakes or french toast again was too boring, so I ordered this banana bread with lemon mascarpone, fruits and pistachio nuts. And, it's really really delicious. It's too bad the cafe we ordered this from is a bit out of the way. But maybe from now on, I'll be more creative with the food that I order.

Day 309 - Lying on the Grass

2011-08-04T00:19:00.012+08:00

I was going to take a photo of myself lying on the grass in the Wellington Botanical Garden. But found the view of the sky more interesting.

Day 308 - Breakfast at Benedict's

2011-07-30T14:29:00.000+08:00

Benedict's is a restaurant/post office near my sister's house. Today we had breakfast there and I ordered these banana pancakes. Yummy yummy yummy. :)

Day 307 - Calligraphy

2011-07-26T14:20:00.005+08:00

Today I bought this calligraphy pen and ink from an art store in Wellington. I'm so happy to have a real calligraphy pen. :) I hope I'll get really good at writing with it.

Day 306 - The Coldest Day

2011-07-25T14:15:00.000+08:00

Apparently, 6-degrees is a new record for Wellington, New Zealand. I still don't know whether I'm lucky to be here during this historic moment, or unlucky because you know, 6-degrees is just a difficult temperature to feel. :P

This is the clock/calendar/thermometer in the living room of my sister's house, in case you wanted to know.

Day 305 - I declare my earphones officially dead

2011-07-19T14:08:00.004+08:00

Good thing they came with the mp3 player or I would've been really sad. Also, I guess I'm lucky to have brought spare earphones. Why did I bring spare earphones? Because I'm paranoid that things like this will happen. And look! It actually did happen.

Day 304 - Fiction / Non-Fiction

2011-07-02T15:31:00.006+08:00

I took a photo of the wall at Whitcoulls, New Zealand's "National Bookstore" while waiting for Z&E as they were buying lottery tickets. We had just come from the supermarket, and you can see part of the cart in this photo.

Day 303 - Another Cup of Coffee

2011-07-01T15:27:00.007+08:00

First day of July and I don't remember where or why I got this cup of coffee. I do remember that it was delicious. :)

Day 302 - Places to Wait

2011-06-28T15:01:00.022+08:00

Today I went to the Japanese Embassy in Wellington for what, I suppose is their version of Eiga Sai, where they show one Japanese movie every last Tuesday and Thursday of each month. The movie I saw was Swing Girls, and it started at 6:30pm. It ended around 8:30pm, which meant that I missed the last bus I needed to take. My sister and her fiance E were nice enough to pick me up, and I sat on this bench as I waited for them. BTW, it was only around 9pm, but the area was already a ghost town. My sister tells me that's really normal.

Day 301 - Chocolate and Cream Cheese

2011-06-26T14:54:00.005+08:00

So we loved the cream cheese icing of the red velvet cupcakes so much, but the red velvet cupcake itself is too difficult to make. So my sister made normal chocolate cake instead, and just put the cream cheese icing on it. The idea to put candy sprinkles on it was mine. Because I just love candy sprinkles. They're delicious, and they're very pretty.

Day 300 - Something You Don't See Everyday

2011-06-25T14:43:00.013+08:00

Pandas and this mascot in Civic Square in Wellington CBD. There was an event promoting tourism in China and I guess that means pandas walking around. It was all very nice, there were food booths selling dumplings and everything.

Day 299 - Dairy

2011-06-21T14:38:00.012+08:00

I don't know why, but they call convenient stores "Dairy" here. Anyway, this is the one across the bus stop nearest my sister's house. Although I wait for the bus often, I've only been inside it once. I bought a cookie. :)

Day 298 - Photo Subject

2011-06-18T14:26:00.022+08:00

One of the best uses for pets, I have found, is that they are neutral topics of conversation, or that no one will think too much about your being anti-social when you're playing with them, and that they're the easiest to convince to be a subject for your photos. I don't mean that they're easy to take a photo of, but at least when you take photos of them sleeping and post it on the internet, you're not a bad person for doing so, and they're not going to complain about it. ;)

So this is Gianni, my sister's parents-in-law's dog. He's very nice and easy to take care of. He's trained and everything. Also, very cute, as you can see.

Day 297 - Laptop on Loan

2011-06-17T14:04:00.002+08:00

Because I am poor, I have to borrow my sister's fiance E's laptop while I'm here. Lucky for me, he's got laptops coming out of his ears, so lending me this one for a few months doesn't interrupt his computer needs. At least, I hope not. Points if you can tell what movie is currently playing (not many points though because it's kind of obvious).

P.S. I think the red wall background is quite good for photo shoots. Maybe.

Day 296 - Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-06-11T13:58:00.002+08:00

My favorite cupcakes! Ordinarily, I'd go to Sonja's Cupcakes at Serendra for them, but since that's not an option at the moment (and those cupcakes are too expensive anyway), my sister was kind enough to find a recipe on the internet and make them. They were kind of hard to make, but really really yummy. I want more!

Day 295 - Old Bank Arcade

2011-06-09T13:53:00.002+08:00

One of the reasons why I'm not too fond of SM Malls is because they're so boring. White walls and shops without character. This Old Bank Arcade in Wellington City is really something. Tell me you don't like shopping in a place like this. Even when you're not buying anything, at least you're seeing something pretty. Look at that ceiling decoration. :)

Day 294 - Creamy Garlic Potatoes

2011-06-06T19:36:00.001+08:00

Look! It's a dish I made by myself! Well, more or less. My sister Z and her fiance E helped with the oil and the cheese and the milk and the oven. So all I really did was cut up potatoes and put them in a tray. But that's already more than I usually do in the kitchen so, yay me! Sort of.

This dish is called Creamy Garlic Potatoes. I first found out about it when we had it at The Coffee Farm House during a teambuilding event with my former officemates. It tasted so good, we didn't want to finish eating. Seriously, we stayed for like 2 hours in the dining hall. Of course, this thing that we did didn't taste exactly the same as that dish, but it was still really good. :)

Day 293 - D.I.Y. Invitations

2011-06-05T19:28:00.002+08:00

Why pay when you can do it yourself, or better, get someone to do it for you for free? Right? It's enjoyable for me to layout words and cut up paper anyway. :)

Day 292 - Roll Down the Hill

2011-06-04T19:14:00.004+08:00

In the school I went to for elementary and high school education, there was a small hill near the library. When I was in kindergarten (or actually until I got to Grade 6, and probably until high school if only I was allowed), my friends and I used to go there all the time to play. Sometimes, when we were in our P.E. uniform (and therefore not in a skirt), we would roll down, not caring about the grass that would stain our uniform, or even, the pain.

When I saw the hill again recently, it looked very small. Way smaller than how I remembered it. I guess when you're a kid things really are bigger. And also, they'd built a cement pathway down the middle of the hill and put a "Butterfly Park" on it so it actually did get smaller. Pffft. "Progress" sucks.

Anyway, this is the hill in Staglands, a park in New Zealand where deer could roam free and children can play with them. It's a very big hill. And I wish the hill in the school I went to was as big. Then again, at the time I went to school there, it felt like it was this big.

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P.S. It has been more than a year now since I first started this project, but obviously, I didn't take one photo for each day, otherwise I would've been finished before today. No matter. 365 is just a number. Technically, there are 365 and 1/4 days in a year anyway, and whoever said that the 365 days for this project needed to be consecutive and within just 1 year? :P LOL. Me and my excuses.

Day 291 - Private Cinema

2011-05-31T13:19:00.002+08:00

Because it was the middle of the day and a Tuesday, the Deluxe Cinema in Lower Hutt looked like this. I watched Thor all by myself, like I had a private cinema. Too bad I still had to pay for it, but my ticket was discounted anyway so it was still really a fun (albeit slightly creepy) experience. :)

Day 290 - My Favorite Breakfast

2011-05-29T13:14:00.003+08:00

Today we had breakfast at Brooklyn, my sister's favorite cafe in Wellington Central. I ordered my favorite breakfast -- french toast with bananas and bacon, and coffee :) Mmmmm.

I don't mind waking up early when I know the breakfast will be good. And, maybe I can eat the same stuff for lunch or dinner, but it's just not the same. Do you know what I mean?

Day 289 - His and Hers Laptops

2011-05-27T14:26:00.002+08:00

My sister Z and her fiance E, both engrossed in their laptops. This happens a lot. :P

Day 288 - Chocolate Crinkles 2

2011-05-24T16:21:00.002+08:00

I went to a nearby park today. I brought some chocolate crinkles, crackers, and iced coffee that I bought from a convenient store. I sat at a picnic table that seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. I was alone. And I ate the cookies alone. I think it's a strange experience for people who aren't used to being alone.

Day 287 - Chocolate Crinkles

2011-05-23T16:02:00.002+08:00

My sister and I made these cookies yesterday. The ones my aunt makes taste better (in my opinion), but these were yummy, too. Homemade baked stuff is the best. :)

Day 286 - Messy "Desk"

2011-05-20T13:52:00.002+08:00

I may be in a different place, and I may not have a real desk, but I'm messy just the same.

Day 285 - Japan / New Zealand

2011-05-17T13:45:00.003+08:00

The full moon over the mountains always make me think of Japan. But this is Lower Hutt. I guess watching anime can screw with your brain :P

Day 284 - Waiting for the Bus

2011-05-16T21:36:00.000+08:00

My sister and E decided to have dinner at the city today, so I went and took the bus to get there. While waiting, I took this photo. Because that sky is awesome. :)

Day 283 - Walking on the Waterfront

2011-05-15T21:31:00.000+08:00

We went to a wedding show today, which was located at a convention center near the waterfront, so we got a nice view on the walk back to the car. That's my sister on the photo, looking a little annoyed at me, like usual. Te Papa Museum is in the background.

Day 282 - Park / Fairy Land

2011-05-14T21:28:00.001+08:00

Today my sister showed me where the public library was and that there was a park behind it. The leaves were all orange because it's almost winter and doesn't it just look like a magical place? :)

Day 281 - Purple and Pink

2011-05-12T21:25:00.000+08:00

Purple and pink skies around 6PM today. This is another view from another window in the living room of my sister's house.

Day 280 - Out of Post-Its

2011-05-11T21:14:00.000+08:00

How to make sure a message is read: Write it in big letters on a white board.

Or maybe my sister was just out of post-its. :P

Day 279 - Professor McGonagall

2011-05-10T21:07:00.003+08:00

The neighbor's fat, fluffy cat was in our backyard today, looking directly at me through the window. My sister says that it had always wanted to go to their backyard, but never used to because of the dog. But now that the dog is in E's parent's new house, said cat is free to roam around.

It doesn't look very friendly so I didn't dare go near it. My friend said it was probably Professor McGonagall. It certainly is a stern-looking cat, so maybe she's right. :)

And if you don't get the Harry Potter reference, please go read that amazing book. Thank you!

Day 278 - Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:37:00.002+08:00

For Mother's Day, E cooked roast pork, so that his mother wouldn't have to cook dinner. Here he is slicing up the meat. Doesn't it look delicious? My sister Z thinks so, hence her smile in this photo.

Day 277 - Assembly

2011-05-07T12:19:00.002+08:00

After lunch with my sister's friend A, we went furniture shopping. My sister and E finally found a wooden coat rack that they'd been looking for for a long time. Apparently, only one store in the entirety of Wellington has it (maybe this is an exagerration, but my sister did say that they've looked everywhere else). Anyway, this is my sister and her fiance E, assembling said coat rack in the living room.

Day 276 - Almost All-You-Can-Eat

2011-05-06T12:06:00.004+08:00

My aunt ordered so much food at the Chinese restaurant Amazing 5 during dinner today that it almost felt like we were at a buffet.

This is my plate, with steamed fish, crispy chicken, lemon chicken, and garlic pork. All yummy. :) Thanks to my aunt, who treated us. Free dinners are the best. :D

Day 275 - Pancakes and Mushrooms

2011-05-05T23:19:00.003+08:00

Breakfast with my favorite sister! :D

Afterwards, we went shopping, did the groceries and even went to the gym together. Hehe! Happy bonding time! It's because I have to catch up on the last 5 years apart within the next 5 months! LOL.

Day 274 - I can see it, too!

2011-05-04T22:08:00.001+08:00

So, I dare you to look at that view from the same window I'm looking at it and not want to take its photo. :P

For those of you who don't know, this is the view from my sister's house, which she also has taken pictures of before, so actually I've already seen it a lot of times, but I still think it's beautiful. It's the kind of view that you think you could only see in resorts and stuff, but here in New Zealand, it's the view of a residential area! Awesome!

Day 273 - Dispose or $400 Minimum Fine

2011-05-02T21:28:00.001+08:00

Because I don't have $400, which is the fine that New Zealand will charge you if you bring in food to the country, I tried to finish eating my half a hokkaido dome before going through Immigration at the Auckland airport.

Sadly, I was not successful and had to throw a third of it away :( I was however, successful at taking a photo of myself eating bread, by using only the timer function of my camera. I set it on the bench across the room. There wasn't anyone around so I knew I could take a photo like this. I think it turned out okay.

Day 272 - From My Window Seat

2011-05-01T20:54:00.003+08:00

I'm not much for astronomy or Science in general, but I'm assuming that's the moon, Venus, and some huge star. Also, because the light on the horizon is technically the beginning of some kind of sunrise, I guess this photo would be more apt for both May 1 and 2, because I was literally in the middle of the timeline. But, who cares about technicality in art? :)

Were you able to guess that I was in an airplane when I took this photo? BTW, taking pictures during mild turbulence? NOT EASY. This is one out of about a million that I took that were blurry. So if you still think the quality of this isn't great... Well, I didn't want to appreciate the moment less by only taking photos of it. I stopped taking photos and stared in awe, too, like the non-photographer that I am.

Day 271 - Mini-Reunion

2011-04-30T20:44:00.003+08:00

Oh how busy our lives have become. We can't even get complete attendance, let alone go on a summer outing. :( Actually, we have Christmas parties in March and birthday celebrations 3 months after ones birthday, too. I don't know why everyone else in our lives is more prioritized, but maybe it's because we know that we'll always be there for each other no matter what? I'm being too sentimental.

This is me and 2 of my college friends, X and G. The cute little boy is X's son (my godson!) A. He's turning 5 this August.

Anyway, we all ate lunch @ Tempura in ATC today (one of my favorite restuarants, despite their betrayal) and had some Serenitea. Happy day with my happy friends. I wish we lived closer to each other (X lives in Laguna, G in Makati, and our other friends who aren't in this photo--M, G2 and R live in Makati, Manila, and Singapore (!)) and had more free time.

Day 270 - The Outside World

2011-04-27T18:21:00.004+08:00

I'm usually cooped up in my room whenever I'm home. Even when I was a kid, I didn't like going outside too much, even if there happens to be a park in front of our house.

Because it's summer vacation in the Philippines right now, it's too humid to stay inside the house. And the sun was no longer very hot when I took this photo at 6PM, and there's a basketball game going on in the newly covered basketball court. So there are lots of people. I feel like an outsider looking at them from behind the gate of our house, although they are the real outsiders because I'm technically the one inside (our house, that is).

Day 269 - Ayala Center

2011-04-26T18:15:00.003+08:00

I went to Makati for a dentist appointment today and walked to Ayala Center before going home. I passed by this sign on Ayala Avenue. It's pretty cute and I guess it helps the foreigners (who we all know are Ayala's target market) find the mall, not that that's difficult, considering it's the biggest mall there is in Makati.

The background is the too crowded with cars Ayala Avenue and one of the oldest (but still posh) hotels in the country, The Manila Peninsula.

Day 268 - Leaving

2011-04-24T18:06:00.002+08:00

We took my sister and her fiance to the airport today so they could go back to New Zealand. This is my sister with her usual facial expression :P It's most probably due to the heat.

Day 267 - Stay at Home and Play with the Dog Day

2011-04-22T17:51:00.002+08:00

It's a religious holiday today in the Philippines (Good Friday) so all the shops and everything else are closed. People either stay at home, go to church, or go on holiday at some resort. We stayed at home and played with the dog. This is my sister's fiance with the family dog Brigham.

Day 266 - Requisite Group Shot

2011-04-21T17:41:00.000+08:00

So, I don't know how it is for other cultures and why it's like this in the Philippines, but nearly all gatherings, formal or otherwise, and it doesn't matter how long/short the duration of the event is, end in taking a group photo.

My cousin said that we should all go out again before my sister left for New Zealand, and during said "night out" (we just had coffee in Seattle's Best Coffee at Bonifacio High Street), she also suggested that we should go and check out our other cousin's new house, which they'd moved into only yesterday.

After giving us some sort of a tour of the house, we all went back to the living room and took this photo. I don't think it's strange at all because I'm so used to it, but I think maybe people from other countries (like my sister's fiance) found it weird.

Day 265 - Old Library Card

2011-04-20T17:53:00.003+08:00

I cleaned parts of my closet today and had flashbacks to my childhood for every other shirt or toy or piece of paper that I saw. This is one of the pieces of paper, or cardboard I guess. I can't believe my library card from 2nd grade is still alive after all these years. Also, my hair has not tamed after all these years either.

P.S. Today is Day 265! 100 days to go and this 365 Project is over. I said last June that this project will only be until May 2011, but apparently, I've missed enough days to fill an entire month that although it's April, I'll need 100 more days to complete the 365. Well, it still counts as one entire year of pictures even if the dates aren't exact, right?

Day 264 - View from the Top

2011-04-19T17:51:00.002+08:00

I got to visit my mom's office in Makati today. They have a view of the Ayala Triangle from their meeting room. Amazing.

Day 263 - Chick Lit and Man Lit

2011-04-18T17:43:00.003+08:00

A friend asked me to recommend some books. She said she wasn't into any particular genre and wanted to read different kinds of books, so I recommended these two, which are at the different sides of the fiction spectrum as far as I can tell. One is Chick Lit fluff, and the other is Sci-Fi Suspense Mystery.

I want to say that I enjoyed both of them equally, but actually I think The Shopaholic Series is a little annoying. But I accept the fact that there are some people who like those kinds of stories, so I don't discriminate against them when recommending.