September 24, 2007

SATURDAY SAILING and SAN NICOLAS

September 22, 2007
Manila Yacht Club, Roxas Boulevard, Manila
One dark happy Saturday afternoon at the Manila Yacht Club with Team Challenge.The racing season of the Club runs from September through May each year.
Next Stop:San Nicholas, Bataan
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September 30, 2007
9:00 am - 4:00 pmMYC to San Nicholas Point Bataan and back.
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Commodore's Cup next weekend! ( October 7,2007)
Next month : (November 3-4) Punta Fuego

Happy Sailor Serg Arroyo

Rainbow and her booze


September 19, 2007

Monday Ukay Trip

I figured I would just browse around any top section I happened upon and eventually I would find a winner. My unexpected trip took my cousin Pam and I to Lucky Star at JP Rizal, where we searched every corner and shelf of the displays and zeroed in on a great plaid vintage top I’ve been eyeing since late August for P200, finally got it for P50.00.

The jackets’ got a little vinto flare, but is rather muted compared to the rest on the rack. There were hideous combinations of leather and cartoon printed top, more horrific than even the worst top my sister got me years back, and here all these years I thought nothing could top her "faded postman " top. (This was a faded, blue, tacky top she inherited from my aunt in the U.S, who should have done the world a favor and burned it with gusto instead of passing on to my sister. As a teenager it always reminded me of a big blue faded, shapeless flour sack bag top ( My HS teacher used to wear), though it never actually contained flour---mostly just old receipts, candies and used tissues that my sister tried to pass off as "just fine.") This Jacket I bought wasn't the Top I envisioned (ie: an exact supernatural twin of the Jacket I saw at Details and Cargo Magazine), but I thought it was a pretty good stand-in, especialy compared to the terrible options I had thus encountered. Lucky Star was the 3rd store I checked, so I thought it best to take this cute one and call my search fin. The brand name is, "Penguin ( tot winner!)," but long-gone are my days of insisting on a particular brand (except where shampoos are concerned, in which case, I'm deathly loyal to Clear., in case you were curious.) Most of the time I figure if something's got the goods, and the price is right, I'm on-board, regardless of brand.

September 18, 2007

CLICKING Manila

That's me caught on cam
PHOTO clickers : Paul Smith Manila's Elaine and Jo
Old China Bank building
Old street Manila
Binondo Church
Pre-war Manila Post office and Jones bridge
Paul Smith Manila's Carlo Rufino and Elaine


BINONDO - MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. ( shooting spree)
September 15, 2007

Me and some friends decided to take a trip to Binondo via the Pasig River ferry with our Cameras. It was such a spur of the moment thing for all of us. Everything was so fun that we ended up eating a lot from dumplings to Oyster omelet at sincerity, ukay at Escolta ( Regina building) and ended up buying myself a vintage gray cardi and Elaine a Japanese (Kawa-i) inspired cotton striped shift dress for P50.00

August 10, 2007

Painting for Carlo

Long overdue painting I promised my Friend Carlo Last August.
Playroom (Oil on Canvas)

PROVINCIAL food trip and why MANILA's so darn expensive

Manileños rant about pretty much everything – their housing costs, their schedules, the girl next door, the traffic, you name it. But when it comes to food, they do not back down. Best eating city in the country? Manila! No question about it. Do not even get them started.

What makes a city a truly great eating city is when it is home to food you just cannot get elsewhere.

Some people still go to places where everything tastes generic from eat all you can places for less than P100 to blah Italian pasta joints (like Sbarro - euw) Well, some places still make these foods right, but they are so few and far between that the city’s food critics pounce on them and next thing you know you are waiting in line 30 minutes for a tiny cupcake or box of Krispy kreme.

And while you can eat magnificently in Manila’s high-end restaurants, how much do these eateries have to do with the fabric of the city? Needing to know an unlisted reservations number to score a table at an elite restaurant does not make it great. Frankly, it makes it obnoxious.

When it comes to food, Bacolod makes Cebu City look one-dimensional, Pampanga pathetically limited and Manila horribly expensive. The best thing eating in the country is not the one with the highest number of expense account restaurants but the one with the highest-quality, most mind blowing variety, the one in which “ where should we go eat?” is not just a challenging question but a life’s pursuit.

In Zamboanga, surprising food is in almost every corner of the city. Here you find a disproportionate abundance of the “best” of each specialty from a Muslim piangang (Chicken cooked in Coconut milk) to Rendang ( spicy beef curry in Coconut milk), Spanish Asado beef to Curacha ( a local Chavacano name given to this sea crab species that is uniquely found in the waters around Zamboanga, and no where else in the world. It is popularly described as a highbred crustacean, with crossbreed characteristics of a large sea crab and the big spiny lobster).
The neighborhood of immigrants who are cooking better than they did at home. It is difficult to even count the number of immigrant groups in the city. They speak in different dialects from Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Chavacano, Tausug , Chinese and even Bahasa and each brought its own cuisine and launched restaurants featuring it. It is not so much that Zamboanga has a few outstanding restaurants; it is that for whole culinary categories it wins hands down.
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My Painting (Morita Y Vintas oil on canvas) December 2006

on retail and vintage bikes


If only mom allowed me to leave for the US for my easter 3 week design and pattern making scholarship at PSD,NY Last year, everything’s sweeter now.

Anywaay – I’m still keeping the FAITH!

I daydream about working as boutique owner at a place like Barcelona or probably Soho. It's the kind of job I think I could be really good at, though I'm sure the pay is crap, but I still daydream, it sure is a goal-attainable dream. (At least, not with my overpriced tiny pad.)

I don’t want to drive a car, I don’t like cars (weird huh) I am contended being a passenger, yeah – just a passenger. I have simple dreams. I just want to own a Bike, a vintage bike. I dream of going to work in shorts, spadrils and a well tailored dress shirt.

I'm starting to think that sadness is like a bad infection that can take root and turn lots of things to rot around you. It seems to be hanging on some peoples life right now, like a spot on the floor that can't be scrubbed out. I am definitely not the type.

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DOODLES FROM MY MOLESKINE

















Doodles from my Moleskine journal. ( August 02,2007)

August 06, 2007

WHAT: (suits) BEN SHERMAN


Looking for a suit without dropping a grand? Try Brit-based label BEN SHERMAN, whose line has grabbed the attention of the metros’ modern man. Rakish prep details like an orange tie-dyed lining and colored felt sewn underneath the collar make these suits stage appropriate, but they are subtle enough to still work at work. A basic black two-button suit cut from lightweight wool, gray pin striped three-button suit, and a herringbone blazer-which looks totally fun!

You won’t need three month worth of paycheck to purchase one. Ben Sherman is Located at the third floor of Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong.
R. Bucoy II

July 16, 2007

Antelope dreams (I kiss cellulite goodbye)


There are plenty of times I wish I were a twig, an Antelope or a mere lizard, just for the sake of making my relatives happy and achieving that wonderful goal, etc. I've seriously thought to myself on occassion, "Please, Let me be lanky again so I have an excuse to feel like an Antelope!" I haven't lucked out, yet, and this sucks even more so when I find that my size 34 roomy pants are now.....not so roomy. I've got these khaki cords I love that I bought because they felt super a few years ago. They fit just right, and looked a little dandy because I didn't have enough of a belly roll to keep myself from looking like a total neck. So, imagine my horror when I pulled them out to wear last month and found that they fit absolutely funny. No pooling, no belt needed---flab aplenty to hold them in place.


sigh


You know those butt-kicking moments that actually re-invigorate you sometimes? The running shorts moment will stand out for me as one of those catalysts that got me back into the running after a 3-month off-the-wagon-falling. For whatever reason, when I started getting sick, I suddenly stopped going to the gym ( I had to). I had been running regularly 2-3 times a week, and stopped dead cold. I have not been able to really pinpoint the reason, but I remember mulling over a couple of possible causes, among them the absolutely ridiculous idea that somehow the intensity of my stretching would rip my muscles ( Laughs ). Dumb, but it worked as a great excuse to lounge around.


This week, I got up and forced myself back into running, and back into work-out clothes that are unsettlingly tighter than they once were about 6 months back. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm actualy motivated, because I loathe the entire experience the whole time I'm sweating and bobbling about. It's the feeling afterward that gets me soaring---the big payoff. As much as it sucks in the doing, I feel so incredible when I'm finished---damn near on top of the world. But, last night I felt like the bionic man, finally doing something I haven't done in years: I HOPPED, I mean hopped way higher than like way back. I regularly jogged and hopped to stretch until I almost dislocated my knee. Yup, things have healed quite nicely by now, and I decided to give it a try along Salcedo Village park last night. I made it almost an entire mile! I HATED every minute of it, but I'm really psyched about it because jogging has always been the only thing that ever kept my weight down. I've never been really fat, but it kept me at a reasonable size that, now in retrospect at several sizes bigger, seems like the golden ring. So, regardless of what people think, regardless of whether or not I think-hope-worry that I'm Mark Ruffalo thin, I really want to stick with this.

Sun up and still smiling


It's good to be fully recovered in my more liberal State, but there is a lingering ooze of memory that only time will help me shake. My mind and heart together keep pressing me to DO something to stop this back log...to somehow change things...and I'm starting to think that simply watching TV is not the solution.

I'm totally inspired by this pic, take a look at the their stuff (Casa Amarillo) - totally fun, think sanfro indie district. I'm so into colors now - I am totally smiling and its five am, should'nt I be in bed?
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For the unabashedly eccentric, or those who like conversation pieces, Astrud Crisologo provides the best one-of-a-kind "folk art" products.


Finds: maleta in vintage fabrics, handicrafts and accessories from Sri Lanka, Tibetan furniture


Contact: Casa Amarillo for appointments, call Astrud Crisologo at tel. no. 807-1937 or e-mail casaamarillo@mydestiny.net


(Photo Credit : Flashpack / Cecile Zamora, CA credit : Rey Ilagan )

Stop me - I eat Leather!







(Currently bag-high) pretty destructive, Why Rameeboi's back on track, hello world - goodbye fever! The smell of leather, fabric and paint - totally made me smile, strange? I think so too.

- Fast FORWARD-


I rarely get booboos anymore, and my temping leave of absence since April was a big part of keeping my sanity. But now....I'm fighting back the googley, giggly tide in a hard, clawing sort of way, trying to convince myself that, really, I DON'T want to ride that politicaly involved career pathing. Time to get out of my comfort zone (and a big fat nose-dive in temps would also be great right about now.)

For a very brief, expensive period of time, I tried buying separate groceries for myself: A big salad and egg tarts from Lord Stowe, toiletries, Apple cider that made me not wanna drink it, cinnamon pudding , total waste!But, making dinner became a complete drag under my system - I could not even turn on the gas stove! What if it explodes infront of me?

Somehow, I have found myself eating kraft cheeze macaroni, and kiddie spaghettios and dimsum for four years eversince I started living on my own . And, suffering for it, too, in the form of weight gain, energy depletion and general body-hating fat feelings. Basic suckage all around, and always hearing that cliche from the health class cartoons: Garbage in, Garbage out! I've definitely had my share of Garbage days and hate the way it makes me feel.

DARWIN AND FREUD


November 03, 2001 ( 3:27 am)

We go home to our Abode
privacy exposed, primary imposed
in our habitat of old
we unleash ourselves
from the deepest recesses
of our collective consciousness
unto our self-made cages
we realize that
we are products of evolution
primal urges take prudence
over other worldly concerns
in his own original form
he partake in this banquet
for a feast of two
in my cage of yours
the communion is due

I feel like a wasted crayon ( still coughing)

I've been doodling with paint since gradeschool. It started out as a mandatory thing that I loathed my instructor for making me paint something I really did'nt like. The stuff I painted was truly Horrible. Emotional and totally strange, but I did it - and realized I loved it.The more I painted , the better I got (I think) so I enjoyed it even more. Over time, it became a stress reliever (aside from retail therapy). When things were pretty down in the dumps, I write. It's not hard for me. It doesn't take much time at all. I'm not a big De Quiros thinker-type, I just write what comes spewing out my enlarged head.
I'm in a drought now. I have had them before - when things are just beyond terribly unpleasant and the " I do not feel like doing anything" kind of phase. Or, when things are just so great and I'm here, lazy, and totally don't feel compelled to write. Thankfully, right now I'm stuck in the latter stage and haven't written anything like who knows when because I'm too dimly content to work.
I tried to work on something fun last week, just to force myself into it, but it went something like this:blank canvas

totally blank

I mean, the thoughts were there, but I couldn't get them to form anything interesting or creative. Instead, I just forced myself up and tossed my sketchbook back on my bedside table. I've never believed in forcing yourself to write or paint. Creative outlets and some good combustion, and when I just "write to write" it comes out like uhh, and then I feel bad and think I have no talent.
What good is that?
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Shopping cures depression
(James, I am totally trying to get myself pumped - I need my creativity back after being sick for like three weeks. Totally excited and starting to collect stuff that I could work on for your book project.)

Current Inspiration


Habitat at Rada


Plants' independent lifestyle section - for no reason, I can rummage the area for hours.


Markina shoe EXPO - Pablo, Pretty Far flung etc.


Segunda Mano shops at Kamuning


Yellow door and Baul at Saguijo


Avenida Rizal


Kauffman ( KARMA)

June 30, 2007

Lobby ( Pages from my universities literary folio )




"Very observant-notices everything him and describes them funnily. But a very artistic person."
Portia

June 14, 2007

Corporate Social Responsibility


HSBC Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR) - Many advocates would distinguish CSR from charitable donations and "good works" (i.e., philanthropy, e.g., Habitat for Humanity or Ronald McDonald House). Corporations have often, in the past, spent money on community projects, the endowment of scholarships, and the establishment of foundations. They have also often encouraged their employees to volunteer to take part in community work and thereby create goodwill in the community, which will directly enhance the reputation of the company and strengthen its brand. CSR goes beyond charity and requires that a responsible company take into full account its impact on all stakeholders and on the environment when making decisions. This requires the company to balance the needs of all stakeholders with its need to make a profit and reward shareholders adequately(Wikipedia).



June 9,2007 – Wawa and Ipo Dam, Norzagaray,Bulacan

Wawa and Ipo dam is a surreal place. Trail of fire trees tower alone sinuous line of wild bougainvilleas and dainty colored wooden houses built beside roadside mango plantations. Old planters’ bungalows nestle behind acacia trees with their bright canary flowers and orchids grow beside lined palm trees in the gardens. The network of pathways and sheer scale of the bamboo work terracing that created the infrastructure for the locals and visitors to marvel – there is mile upon mile of lovingly tented land, traversing near – vertical ridges and meandering up emerald-green valleys.


The walking routes are idyllic and suited to all ages and levels of endurance and endeavors. Despite its’ location, the landscape does evolve; vast abandoned wooden houses with neglected fields that wild flowers have carpeted soon have given away the growing vegetables. The trails wind through dense, shady groves of mango, bamboo and mahogany that slowly open up to reveal vistas of Ipo and Wawa Dam; an undulating sea of grassy hues, emerald man made lake, the waves rippling to the horizon like a giant green flood.

June 11, 2007

eye still shut pass eight

There’s so much to do on a Monday that I choose not to do. I’d usually spend hours lounging at a coffee outlet satisfying my caffeine addiction.

I’ve been pretty good with my finances lately. I’m still not on the verge of starving myself and trying to look like a pogo stick. The only time I immersed myself with food was yesterday night at Wendy's.

I still couldn’t believe it, I feel so harassed and it's the first day of the week. Over the past couple of days I’ve been craving to pamper myself like what I’ve been doing few months back. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been depriving myself from being one with the universe, too busy trying to do things I had planned. Too serious with everything, too concerned with doing the right thing that I have forgotten to think about myself. I would sometimes dream of work, imagine your pen and notepads dancing like leprechauns doing the river dance.

I feel like cocooning myself in bed for five hours till I’m the mood to get up and do my usual routine.

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the strip made me laugh bigtime!

feeling completely numb - I'm such a complete invertebrate, I swear!

Big birdy and some paperplanes showed up earlier this morning, way too early, I might add, which was just annoying. They tend to cop-out at the last minute and I promised myself that I am dropping by Makati Medical Center for a short check-up.

Pained-up


I felt so crampy and awful that I sacked out in the back seat hoping that I would feel a little better by the time I got there. I had totally lost my appetite, though, and just couldn't bear to eat, which is definitely not a good thing.

I got myself a sandwich but it did not help me much. In my nauseous state, looked completely hideous. I got totally grossed out by the greasy hunk of meat and pouted a little because I was so tired of being asked to eat and having forks shoved in my face. Disgusted....I feel guilty on top of feeling like crap.It was difficult to look ok, when I kept cringing with crampiness, but also because my mind was a thousand thoughts away. I kept starting off into space thinking over this cycle and wondering why big birdy's turning purple. Am I ok?

I have spent good energies keeping up with my health, forbidding myself to freak out and be affected by negativity.

On Serc around Four,stunned. strangled. silent. I looked terribly pale. Could it be something else?

Pinch. Pinching. Lots of pinching........

anyway

Seriously. I nearly jumped right off the table when the doctor said that my blood pressure went up to 140/90. I was so freaked out by the level of wide-open exposure in front of three complete strangers, along with the physical handicap of having a hoo-hah full of metal, that I restrained myself out of sheer shock.

Me :What have I done wrong?
Doctor : What Have you been doing lately?
Me: I've been doing a lot of tralalalas after work just to keep myself busy, Sunday school twice a month, I jog after work for an hour thrice a week.
Doctor: Got'ya! take a breather Ram. You're not Superman, you're not even fat, no need to starve yourself .
Me: Not fat?!! No kaya!!! Bolah Doc!! I'm such a complete invertebrate, I swear.

Note:
I confined myself the entire morning at Makati Medical Center hoping to recover fast. Got out around 1:30 pm.

THANK YOU: Edroy Lim, Gayette Tipton, Rosanna Ricafort, Joy Po, Melissa Tipoe, Tim Ang, Anne Centeno, Carlo Rufino, Paolo and Dette Pantoja, Gerene San Diego, James Lo, Pupu, Mom - Thank you again guys, was pretty touched. I totally got my apetite back. Still recovering though.

Between Anorexia and Cheese


I would love to be outside, if only to feel my nose turn red while my eyes squint in the sunlight. But I'm inside, typing away at an anonymous, souless machine, in a room devoid of the heat. It saddens me to think that there are only so many of these precious days left, that soon the roads will be flooded and waking up two hours before work will seem like rising from the grip of death. I would like to reclaim my days and spend them wandering through my thoughts, aimlessly, like an intrigued child. I see nothing above the concrete slab in the window, and it is just enough to taunt me.

I’m just hungry.

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Perfect meal to break my Fast. Grams’ Baked Cheese Macaroni and Chili Dog. I finally got my Apetite back.

June 04, 2007

Global Resourcing mission values

As a follow up activity of the roadshow, Communications, Learning and development and Chief of Fun came up with activities to highlight the importance of Rob Muth's visit.

A total of 22 original entries made it on the deadline and were displayed at the office lobby for all to see.

Teamwork


by Raul Ramon Lopez-Vito Bucoy II

" Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." (Psalm KJV)

The picture depicts people of different groups and different characteristics with a communal relationship towards one goal, one mind and one purpose. True unity, love for what we are doing abd respect for others will lead us to greater heights as a whole cause no one has ever climbed the ladder of success alone. In every work, there is plenty of room for achievement but a self-sufficient spirit overlooks the contribution of others can ruin it. It is amazing what can be accomplished when you don't care who get's the credits.

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Yeah, I won haha

June 03, 2007

The mellow sound of birds chirping.


I believe that being subversive doesn't necessarily mean being against everything. What is interesting is finding a fresh way of thinking within the system.

On being alone

Doing things on your own is good. Independence, confidence and self esteem are all benefits of doing things by yourself. It can even be bad for your mental health if you don't. If we are frightened of loneliness that we can't be by ourselves, then we are not very well developed. The capacity to be alone and the ability to spend time with oneself is part of the human experience.

You don't, of course, have to be single to be on your own. We may be lonely sometimes, but we may also unnecessarily define ourselves negatively as lonely because we take on board other peoples' perceptions of us as " poor thing". I rediscover what I like about myself when I am alone. Like when I am in a restaurant, my mind can freewheel without focusing on day-to-day responsibilities. It gives me the chance to reflect on my life in a positive way. I always take a journal with me to the table and jot things down about where I want to be in two years' time. I don't have time to do that at work as I'm too busy drowning myself in front of the computer.

It's nice to share things by yourself far out weight the disadvantages.

rewind
( May 2005 - reminiscing )

I had stupidly become immerse to fear. Having spent two months internship at ABS - CBN to pass my communications class ( Television scriptwriting and journalism ) and graduate. For the first time, I yearned for the mundane. For years, my life had been anything but. There was a time when I had to sleep at work for three days with a pre-packed bag beside the newsroom couch at MGB ( Magandang Gabi Bayan) video tapes, a recorder, a handy steno and a flashlight.

Standing right in front a dead kid after being stabbed 24 times by his dad at Philtranco bus station, bullets, witnessing some of the most brutal human rights violations on earth and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's great to get out alive to tell the story, worse was the emotional toll. My own energy was being drained by everything I witnessed.

Present
11:43 pm
I have problems sleeping just about every night. I just finished reading five magazines I purchased early today, looking at myself in the mirror at the moment, I hate my racoon-like eye bags.

April 27, 2007

PS silver body bag FREEBIE


SALE, SALE, SALE!!!! From Carlo Rufino..... hey bro, will drop by PS maybe later

March 13, 2007

escucha prinyada

oil on canvas (9 X 12 )
took me a while to work on this, freaking stressed out with work and all...


January 11, 2007

Sets for my Art Exhibit this August

Escondido 9X12 Acrylic on Canvas

Escondido, Senora and Vinta, all Acrylic on Canvas

Vinta, Acrylic on Canvas ( long overdue gift for my Girl)