Last night of the year

As per tradition, I will be spending New Year's Eve at my aunt's house in Quezon City, across ADMU.

This morning, I was reading the latest issue of STATUS magazine (the one with the David LaChapelle interview) and I was inspired to wear khaki after seeing a spread on the material. I decided to wear it for tonight's celebration, paired with something red, another tradition.

Shirt from Japan; polo shirt from Calvin Klein; khaki pants from Armani; shoes from Hong Kong; necklace is DIY, made from a keychain my brother gave me; sunglasses from a tiangge.

Enjoy your last day of the year!

Nous Sommes

French designers Kizda and Jeremy team up as Nous Sommes (French for we) to create pendants of celebrities in the music and fashion world. Made of old silver metal (in either silver or black), these pendants are shaped like singers Lady Gaga, Grace Jones, and Michael Jackson; director Spike Lee; fashion photographer Terry Richardson; fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld; and actress Marilyn Monroe (not included in picture).

These are available here for 170EUR a pop.

Picture found here.

Christmas Parties Pt. I

The other day, I had my Christmas party with the staff of the paper. It was supposed to be a huge event and we planned to rent this resort in Tagaytay for a low price because my associate editor knows some people. We also invited alumni members so it’ll be a Christmas party slash reunion. But the administration (unfortunately, we are under them) wouldn’t let us withdraw the money we wanted because we aren’t allowed to use our budget for parties. We ended up at Mall of Asia and none of the alumni went.

It was still fun because we had tons of games like the Ako Ay Tutubi (?), Pinoy Henyo, Pepsi 7Up, and this one game where we did this cheer while spreading our legs. The objective of the game was to spread your legs until ripping point and the last one standing wins. I won. Those years of yoga did me a lot of good.


(My pants aren’t really that tight. I was spreading my legs so much that it began to look like that.)

We also had awards and I got The Moody Divinity Award for “being divine and always moody due to unknown reasons and circumstances that we may never know.” To explain my divine post yesterday, the staff call me divine. I forgot how the story started but the joke stuck, and whenever I do something incredible, they attribute it to my “divinity.”

We then had an exchange gift program and I got Bianca, my associate editor.

We capped the night by having drinks at San Miguel by the Bay. It was such a wild night and I got totally drunk.

We finished at 4 AM.

The following day (yesterday), I had to go to our Quezon City house to have our Christmas party there. But since mother and my brother already went the day before, I had to commute. It was one of the most horrible commutes ever. There was barely any traffic but I had to wait for long periods of time to get cabs and buses. I was two hours late. The party was awesome because a lot of people came and I had several glasses of good wine. I had a great conversation with Kellyn and Kim, two family friends, about the merits of working abroad. Kellyn works in HSBC, Singapore while Kim is a pre-school teacher in Vietnam. The catering was good.

We had another exchange gift program and I got Auntie Liza, also a family friend.

Hung out with the kids as they tried Yuji’s (my brother) skateboard. None of them knew how to use it so they ended up jumping for the camera to look like they could. The second photo is of my brother, who could actually skateboard and is pretty good at it.

These are the Tin kids, three of the sweetest and most adorable children in the world. I only see them once or twice a year and it’s such a shame. They were disappointed when they found out I’m not coming back after the Las Piñas party tonight. I’m going to Batangas after Christmas to celebrate with my friends.

That's all.

Christmas Shopping

Yesterday I went out to complete my Christmas shopping. I was out with my sister last Friday to do them but we got to the mall late and we only had time to buy a few items. We capped the night at San Mig Pub where we had a couple of beers.

I needed to buy presents for my mom and two of my friends from UST so I went to SM to get something for my mom (I already had something in mind for my two friends at Alabang). She was the hardest to buy for because everything she owns has a designer label. I wanted to get her a bag for her toiletries because she travels a lot. I thought of getting her something from the department store because it would be silly to get her something a little more expensive when she carries Louis Vuitton. Trouble was, I wasn’t impressed with the selections so I ended up looking in Alabang. I stopped by Booksale before leaving and was blown away by the new store’s facade. It’s roomier and it’s even bigger than the Mall of Asia branch. I was looking for issues of foreign Vogue but I didn’t find any.

At Alabang, I couldn’t afford anything in Rustan’s but I did find a sophisticated-looking bag that could easily pass off as Mango from this store called Accessories. I’m not familiar with the brand but their original price tags have British pounds on them.

After finishing my Christmas shopping, I got myself a “Be@rbrick” (note the quotation marks because I doubt the authenticity of these so-called Be@rbricks). They’re adorable and I might start collecting them, authentic or not. I got this one because it kind of looks like Karl Lagerfeld, the Creative Director of Chanel.

I also got one for my brother that has PSP written on its face and the trademark symbols on its shirt. By the way, that’s not my gift for him. I got him a bottle of cologne because he’s a growing boy and he’s terribly conscious of everything.

I wanted to get the Coco Chanel Be@rbrick and have found one on eBay except it costs half a million pesos. True story, guys.

After a solitary dinner at Tater’s and tea at Serenitea, I headed home. I was excited because my ankle boots were chafing and I wanted to try this new way of wrapping gifts, inspired by Carina. She used packaging paper and twine and it looked amazing. Trouble was, I bought manila paper instead of packaging paper because you had to buy them by the roll and the twine I bought was too thick. So now I’ve wrapped the gifts and they look awkward and they don’t have ribbons. I might buy some fancy-looking (and thin) twine on Wednesday because I’m going to Mall of Asia to celebrate Christmas with the staff of the paper.

Here are my gifts!

All in all, Christmas shopping was an expensive experience but I totally liked it because I felt like an adult.

I’m 21.

That’s all.

Inspiration

So mother came back last Saturday after a one month vacation/business trip to Japan. I was excited for her return because it’s almost Christmas and I asked her to buy me a copy of Vogue Nippon. I’m becoming addicted to fashion magazines and have started collecting them, including foreign ones.

She bought me three issues, from November ‘10 to January ‘11. The magazines are terribly heavy (mother almost had to pay for excess baggage) but incredibly awesome, thanks in part to Anna dello Russo, Vogue Nippon’s Fashion Director-at-Large and Creative Consultant. I couldn’t understand a thing but the editorials were amazing. I just wished they featured local models like what Vogue Korea does. Speaking of international editions of Vogue, I ordered a copy of the December ‘10 issue of French Vogue, the one where Tom Ford guest edits. Oh, for the January ‘11 issue of Vogue Nippon (the one with Gisele on the cover), they gave away a Pucci mirror.

Mother also got me other stuff like underwear from Uniqlo, green tea flavored marshmallows and candy (which tasted divine), a bag from Harrod’s (is there Harrod’s in Tokyo?), and some local magazines.

The following day, I had another treat as a box arrived from my grandmother in California and she got me the complete collection of the Harry Potter series. I’ve been meaning to buy the boxed set but my grandmother was a dear. She found them at a garage sale and I love how they look “loved,” a fancy term for worn. This is my fifth copy of The Sorcerer’s Stone and my second copy of books two to five. I lost all of them.

That afternoon, we went to the World Bazaar Festival in World Trade Center. There were so many people and I hated it. I’m not good with crowds so I wasn’t able to appreciate the wares.

I have a cynical view of tiangges (they sell the same things everywhere) but I did find two adorable stuff: a Hogwarts bag and ankle boots from Brazil (?) that cost P800. The shoes look small in the picture but they’re actually a size 9, which come to think of it, is small for a man’s foot.

Mother must have felt my irritation because she insisted we leave for Mall of Asia, which was surprisingly empty for a Sunday. There I went on an impromptu mission: to go to all seven bookstores/magazine stores (Fully Booked, NBS, Powerbooks, Books For Less, Filbar’s, Booksale, and this little store across Starbucks) to look for other fashion magazines and/or copies of any foreign Vogue. I ended up with two issues of Interview (appropriate because I got a copy of The Andy Warhol Diaries edited by Pat Hackett two weeks ago) and the latest issue of STATUS with David LaChapelle, my favorite photographer.

I also got this Pop Art sticker of Jose Rizal from Team Manila.

On Thursday, I was out with the folks at my ninang’s place for a Christmas party. It was for my ninang and the girls who at one point worked at her modeling agency. She got me a copy of The Teen Vogue Handbook, which her son’s stylist girlfriend picked. According to my ninang, the girl became an established stylist because of the book. She used to work in Singapore but Summit Media got her to work for Candy magazine.

Then yesterday, I was with my classmates from NSTP and we went to Cavite for a Christmas party for some families we adopted. I brought bags of candy and gave them out to random kids and it was such a nice feeling giving to those in need. The guy and girl looking at the camera are two of my groupmates, who were kind enough to adopt me.

That's all.

Bargain #2

I had my community service this morning (finally, Christmas break!) and I decided to drop by this ukay near my house. I’ve been seeing it for several months now but I only had the guts to check it out now because I thought it was a relief goods center because there were so many clothes and it was inside the court of a village park.

I found this summer jacket from Maldita Man and I got it for P200. What’s amazing is that it still has its tag (original price is P1,699). The zipper’s broken and it’s going to cost me P150 to repair, but what the hey. P350 is nothing compared to P1,699.

If you’re from the south, the ukay is in the park of Philam Village. They sell bags, jackets, shirts, and jeans and some of them still have their tags and are still sealed. Brands include Penshoppe, Oxygen, Esprit, etc.
I’m not sure where they get their clothes and I didn’t want to ask because they might be a syndicate and they might cut my fingers off if I “snoop” too much.

They’re staying there until the end of the month so you better go there ASAP.

Bargain #1

Okay, that post on my new Maldita Man jacket reminded me of two bags I bought a couple of weeks back at another ukay. That one is one of my favorite haunts because they have good finds at dirt-cheap prices. When they’re on sale, dress shirts come at P10 a pop so I end up buying dozens.

A Comme des Garçons backpack I got for P200:

A weekend bag from Hardy Amies I got for P250:

'Cause you gotta have faith

I got to talking to a good friend about faith. I invited him over for dinner earlier this week because we haven’t seen each other in a while. Over pasta, I told him of my most recent conquest which ended in failure. He consoled me and I told him I’d bounce back, saying I’m not the type of guy who dwells on mistakes. I’m cutthroat with everything and I pride myself for being “professional.” It backfired this time but I’m saving that for another entry.

“True,” he said. “Plus you won’t have a hard time finding dates because you’re always out.”

I suppose that’s true. I have a lot of friends and I meet many more because of my involvement in school and the amount of time I spend online and in parties. I’m generally a friendly person so my amiability is sometimes misconstrued for outright flirtation. I get into a lot of trouble because of that. Sometimes it gets me dates.

“I bet you were dating other guys while you were dating him,” he said.

I laughed and said no. I may be a “flirt” but when I meet someone I like, I’m loyal. Dating is like a commitment to me. What he said struck me as funny because he wasn’t exactly the poster child for fidelity. He had a girlfriend but he was seeing someone else at the side. He proceeded to tell me about them and I wondered, why do people have affairs?

I’ve met both girls and they’re lovely. His first (and legal) girlfriend is a licensed counselor at a university in Manila and is beautiful, successful, and financially stable. I’ve known her before they got together and she’s great. His second girlfriend is his co-worker, who is just as charming. I’ve met her on several occasions and she’s funny and easygoing.

Why cheat? His girlfriend is a mature and intelligent woman who has it all. Is it a need to conquer new grounds? Is it a natural instinct to find someone more beautiful, more intelligent? We’ve heard of celebrity bombshells who were dumped by their partners. Hello, Jennifer Aniston?

I think it’s a desire for us to have the best all the time. Once we tire of something, we look for something more exciting. In a sense, we are just like kids. We always want what we don’t have.

My friend and I met again for drinks days later with some of our other friends. Earlier that day, he was with his second girlfriend and the first kept texting us asking of his whereabouts. That’s why I don’t like having affairs: I don’t have the time and the energy to entertain two or more guys. He got into a huge argument and we decided to drive to Tagaytay to cool off.

On the way (we got into a little accident but I’m also saving that for another entry), he told us about his first girlfriend. She wasn’t there emotionally and they fought all the time and she could be tactless. I didn’t mind because I didn’t want to interfere with their relationship but he was fed up.

And then I realized why we have affairs. It’s not because there’s a higher mountain to climb or an even more beautiful city to explore (although that could be the case), but because there’s something missing in our relationship which we try to get from other people. I mentally googled my friend’s second girlfriend: she was caring, she knew how to listen, and she was sensitive to his needs. No wonder.

The problem is, we can’t get everything we want from one partner. But I guess it’s just a question of finding the right one who can give us the most of what we want and to just forget the rest and accept our partner’s imperfections.