Finally Over!

Our week-long training officially ended last Friday. This is the reason why I haven't been able to check out blogs as much. (Ngayon ko lang nabasa ang funny entry ni Tin at ngayon ko lang napanood ang Cinemalaya videos ni Zee!) But before moving on, let me just share how tiring it was. I couldn't be more happier that the week is officially over!


Our training starts at 8 in the morning till 1pm but I have to be at the office by 6am so I can still check if there are requests or concerns that the quality assistants might have. The training is very data heavy that all of us (our group at least) have troubles fending off sleep.

The last day was dedicated entirely for the exam. Since we start at 8, we figured we'd be done by 11am, at the latest...but we were wrong. The exam took about 5 hours and we all finished at roughly around the same time. It was taxing and we were all spent.

For all the required difficulty of the exam, our trainer and friend, Peter, ordered pizza for the entire class so we had something to munch on.

After shift, we headed to Cloud9 where we had our team building last week for some documents that our company needs. Peter then treated us out to Don Hen on our way home. Thanks thanks!

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway

Found this interesting movie. I just don't know if it's scheduled for international release. Read more about it here!

A little bit of nostalgia, coffee, and other random things

We were at Salcedo Park last night. I was pleasantly surprised when my friend took me there because I didn't know that such a sanctuary existed in the middle of Makati. Makati is all too confusing for me. Glorietta, Greenbelt and the Sykes sites are the only places that I get to explore in the financial capital of the Metro.

Because of the lenten season, there were not a lot of vehicles passing through and it added to the serenity of the place. The weather also participated as our stay was accentuated by a cool night breeze. As one chinese passerby commented "it's like being in Singapore" while pointing to his surroundings. I also took a look around and apart from being surrounded by high rise residential condominums and tall trees, the crowd in the park was a mix of different races. Apart from us, only a handful were Filipino.

By the way, I also saw two celebrities walking their cute little puppy. My friend was trying to recall who they were when I gladly volunteered their names, "Si Calvin Millado yan at si Dale Villar". As it turns out, I was wrong. Parehas na mali. It was Jeffrey Hidalgo and William Thio. I was confused. For the longest time, I thought Calvin and Jeffrey were one and the same. Hahaha. Don't ask me to explain why I didn't factor in the fact that they have different names.

Afterwards, we headed over to Petron Belair to have coffee at Gloria Jeans. Because of their quirky menu, it remains to be one of my favorite coffee places. Nevermind if I always feel that there's always an ingredient missing in any of their coffee concoctions. One time, I ordered their chocolate strawberry drink. When I got my order, the strawberry flavor was very weak, it feels as if it has been washed down with water. Last night, I ordered their Very Vanilla drink and not a hint of vanilla did I taste. Oh well.

On the way back, we passed by Somerset Salcedo, owned by Ascott Group. The very same company where I had my panel interview in Singapore. The logo invoked a lot of memories that made me want to go back. Nostalgia. My friends have been telling me to go to Hong Kong if I intend to have a vacation but I'm not looking to be all touristy. Apart from Park Lane and Tsim Sa Tsui, I'm completely at a loss if I go to Hong Kong. I want the feel of something familiar. I guess I'll decide after the 5th run of Zsazsa. Hoping for it's success so I can decide on the affirmative. Glenn and Em-J! Lets!

Return to Oz

One of my all time favorite movies when I was a kid was "Return to Oz". I must've watched it more than a dozen times. I also bought the illustrated book of the movie as well as several coloring books. Thinking about it now, I am surprised as to how vividly I still recall most of the scenes in the movie particularly the one where the princess that Dorothy meets takes her to a hall where different heads are displayed and I remember everytime I'd watch it, I'd wish for the princess to pick a less menacing head.

My introduction to it's predecessor came much much later. In fact, I didn't know that The Wizard of Oz even existed. We were staying at my aunt's house when my parents decided to watch it. I fell asleep halfway through the film. I didn't like it because I was disappointed that the Tin Man was a person in make-up as are the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow. The yellow brick road was not made of real bricks and Oz did not look as spectacular as I remember it.

The book's pages tattered and torn, the betamax no longer in fashion, I soon outgrew Oz. Then came Wicked.

I downloaded the entire soundtrack after falling in love with Defying Gravity which I chanced upon in Tuxq's playlist. This sudden interest was brought about by Hogi saying that she has a video of the musical and upon finding out online that rights to mount the show is not yet available.

I have been searching for a copy of Wicked (novel) for two weeks now to no avail. I saw one at Bibliarch last Saturday, unfortunately, it has already been reserved. I also wanted to revisit "The Wizard of Oz" so when I saw the remastered 2-disc DVD at AstroPlus, I immediately grabbed it. (side-note: after the longest time, I finally saw Romy and Michelle on video so I also bought it along with a remastered version of Cats). Return to Oz was not available, however, so I'm patiently downloading it in my PC. Too bad that there's not a lot of seeders so it's taking a lot longer than usual.