An Unusual Weekend

Last weekend was a busy time. I had to take care of my OWWA documents together with my cousin, and send money home.


As I was on my way to church from Orchard, I came across a Two Dollar Movie parade. Chicken Little, the Warcraft dude, a storm trooper, Storm Shadow, and Wolverine passed by the sidewalk.



One guy in a Transformers SG t-shirt asked me a survey question while pointing his cellphone camera at my face, "What do you think of a two-dollar movie?" I answered "It's good, what's the catch?". "No catch.", he replied. No, he didn't give me a two-dollar ticket (what was that all about?) Hey dude, if you're reading this, I'd like to know where you got your Transformers polo shirt, I'd like to get one myself. Click here to view more pictures.

Sunday night I had dinner aboard Doulos with my girlfriend's aunt Daisy, and with Kuya Manny's family. Kuya Manny and his family adopted me during my first stay in Singapore. I lived in their house for a month.



Click here to view more pictures.

Updates 09-04-08

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. During my last post Iloilo City was just recovering from a flash flood. In the month that followed we were anticipating four more storms but by God's grace the city was spared from calamity. In the following post, the descriptions appear after the photos.


My friend Neil celebrated his birthday on the 30th of June. We had dinner at Esca's.


We began cleaning out the new site for our church early in July. Because of the calamity, it was covered in mud.


We had plans drawn for the new church facility and construction began early in July as well.


The foundation was laid.

The restaurant we used to go a lot to was affected by the flood. They were flooded almost up to the level of the roof. But they were able to recover, and we were able to eat there again.


The church building construction progressed fast. It wasn't long before it was finished.


Before July ended I was able to bring a Eaves (a.k.a. "Twinkle" or "Twinx") to our midweek Bible study. She attends a Baptist church.


Later on Twinx and I we were able to bring Cay, my co-worker from the office -- surprisingly, she was an old classmate of Neil. Small world.

We had dinner together.

On August's first Sunday, two brothers from Dumaguete came to our church -- Micah and Noel. They were part of a debate team representing their school, Silliman University. The debate was held here in Iloilo City.


August 16, 2008. The day before our first Sunday in the new church facility. We had to get things set up and moved about. A lot of hands helped in our transfer.





On August 17, we moved to the new facility and had our Sunday service there. We had potluck lunch and fellowship time afterwards. Some of the youth were also music jamming. I joined in.


August 23, 2008. Twinx and I went out to see the sunset together. We then had dinner, dessert and coffee afterwards.


August 24, 2008. After Sunday service I had lunch with my parents at BBQ Park. That restaurant was partially wrecked to make way for a new road. The food is still delicious.


August 25, 2008. It was Monday, National Heroes' Day, a holiday. Twinx, myself, and a group of friends went to Sol Y Mar beach for a day of relaxation, food, and fellowship. That same Monday Twinx became my girlfriend.


August 26, 2008. The church lights are now functional since they were installed the day before. Now Bible studies can be done at night in the new facility.


August 27, 2008. We had our first midweek Bible study in the new church facility. Afterwards some of us went to Barrio Inasal for dinner.

I recently resigned from my work at Eversun Software Philippines Corporation to pursue another venture.



August 28-29, 2008. My last two days at Eversun. Just making memories of the friends I will leave behind. More of this in my multiply web site.



August 30. Twinx and I went to dinner at Esca's. We even took a picture together with the duo that performed that evening.



September 3 was barbecue night at the church facility as part of our midweek Bible study. The pork on stick and bread toasted on charcoal were good.

Christmas 2007

Christmas time, the season to be jolly, when people really make that effort to go the extra mile for another. Celebrating Christmas this year has been very animated for me. Seems like another season of 24. 12:00:01...12:00:02...12:00:03...12:00:04. Everything is rush, rush, rush. Of course I'm exagerrating. But it seems that as I grow older, I feel more of a sense of taking responsibility on how things run. That's when I get tired. Still, it was fun.

December 8, 2007
The following takes place between 7:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Matt, Ryan 1, Ryan 2, Ramises, Domels, RJ, Jollibee man.

Produced by DS

It was finally here, the Level 2 exam. The company president and I have been working on an incentive for programmers to prove their skills in order to increase their paygrade. The finale -- an 8-hour coding exam proctored by yours truly.

We called Jollibee and ordered lunch to be delivered to us. I made a mistake by ordering chicken for Matt who had a sore in his mouth. I said to bring change for 500 pesos. They missed that part. The Jollibee man didn't bring any change and had to go back and get some.

The exam went well, over-all.


04:20:01...04:20:02...04:20:03...04:20:04...


The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. (sound effect)
Cast: Pastor Mark, RJ, Chela, Pam, Leilah, other young people.
Produced by PM


The youth department at church did ask me to play the electric drums and lead some worship songs for their Christmas party. It started at 4:00 PM, so I had to be there around 5:00 P.M.

Play the drums, lead worship with the guitar. I was able to do that by God's grace.

I met a friend I haven't seen in a while -- Melford. It was good to seen him again.

Then I had to run. I still need to pick up my jeep from the shop. I had it cleaned and groomed since I was selling it.

05:59:57...05:59:58...05:59:59...06:00:00...

The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: RJ, Art, jeepney drivers
Produced by Art

Ok, I've been waiting in front of U.P. and still no jeep can take me to the shop. I had to take a ride to SM City and just walk from there. The walk was about 100 meters to get to the shop.

As I looked at my jeep..WOW! It looks good. The chassis has been cleaned and painted, and the engine has been washed. There was even leftover paint to improve the front part. God is awesome!

(My face doesn't appear on camera)

I went back to the church to prepare for the next day's Sunday service.

06:59:57...06:59:58...06:59:59...07:00:00...


The following takes place between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: RJ, Pastor Mark, worship team
Produced by RJ

I went back to the church to prepare for our Sunday service for the next day. Being a worship leader, practice was very important to a music team.

We had some of the youth jam with us as well. It was fun playing music with new faces. It all just seemed fresh.

07:59:57...07:59:58...07:59:59...08:00:00...

(Maybe my face can appear on camera now)



December 16, 2007

The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 04:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Calvary Chapel of Iloilo plus guests
Produced by PM and RJ

Ok, my first time to actually teach on a Sunday service is here. We had to move the service to the nearby gym to accommodate plenty of people.



I played the electric drums for the worship team. We formed a special group just for that Sunday. After all, it was a Christmas service.



I was able to teach the Sunday message on Matthew 1. I entitled it "God With Us". I never realized what it was like to teach behind a pulpit until I experienced it for myself. Pastor Mark urged the people to receive the gift of salvation through faith in Christ. God is good. He moved through that service and people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.



We had lunch after the service and also some Christmas presentations. Some of us stayed to clean up afterwards. Then we prayed together and blessed the Lord.

I went to SM City afterwards.

03:59:57...03:59:58...03:59:59...04:00:00...

(Camera shows me driving the jeep)


December 22, 2007

The following takes place between 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: JK, May, former ROTC buddies, guests
Produced by: JK and May

Jerome, my long-time friend, gets married to his girlfriend of almost ten years. I was able to come to their wedding and it was a wonderful celebration to be able to share in their joy. I was also able to attend the reception, but I wasn't able to stay through the end of it since I still had to go to our company's Christmas party.

04:59:57...04:59:58...04:59:59...05:00:00...


The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: ESS
Produced by: M2

I made it pretty early to the Christmas party. Registration was still open. The party hasn't started, and there was time to chit-chat, prepare the sound system, and get the program ready. Whoops, we forgot to record the song for our dance number. God is gracious, and we were able to find a copy of the song from the sound guy. I tried to breakdance on this one. I hope someone made a video of that so at least I can see if my moves looked good. I won a pair of sunglasses in one of the raffle draws. This kind really hugs your face and sticks. The following photo has been edited.



For the gift-giving, I received a pen with a laser light and a flash light. Now this reminds me of a light saber. Thanks to Russel.



Many of my co-workers went out for a night in the city. I didn't go but instead I went straight home.
09:59:57...09:59:58...09:59:59...10:00:00...


December 25, 2007

The following takes place between 12:00 A.M. and 1:00 A.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Family
Produced by: Dadi-lo




Christmas eve is here. The time of the year all of us Tagalogs are waiting for. We celebrate the traditional Noche Buena where we have dinner at 12:00 A.M.



At our house, I read the Scripture in Luke 2, where it talks about the shepherds seeing the angels announce the birth of Christ. We sang Christmas songs and had dinner together as a family.



We also opened gifts afterwards. I got some pretty neat stuff this Christmas.




The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Family
Produced by: Dadi-lo

This is Christmas day and we celebrate it with our extended family every year. It was also a birthday celebration for my niece since she was born on December 21. She already had a party in Manila, but we wanted to celebrate it here as well.


I woke up late, and I realized that the dogs have no more dog food left. I went to the store to buy some. The jeepney service was unusually slow since it's Christmas day. I missed my niece's blowing of the candle but it's a good thing we had it on video.

We had lunch together with my relatives and we opened more gifts. My aunt gave me baby stuff by wrapping mistake. It was hilarious.



My niece is quite a dancer. We had a fun time as a family.

Get Organized

I had to meet my team mates at work to get things more organized as we do our projects and tasks. Things work well when there's organization. You know what? The Bible says that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. God loves order. So do I.

Brownout at the Office

Brownout. That means there's no electrical power for a temporary period of time. Here at the office, electricity is very important. We are Internet professionals and we can't work without electricity and DSL. So we make use of the time by getting to know each other better.