Hot Air Balloon Festival

The moment I stepped out of the overpriced tricycle ride I was immediately greeted by a buffet of dust and a smothering of sunlight; in a matter of hours I have accumulated a weeks worth of dirt on me and a feeling of summer in the middle of February. Yep, it's the Clark I knew four years back. Six things stood out in my memory the first time I went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival of 2012 (also a leap year,) sun, dust, wind, planes, expensive food, and the horror of using a portable toilet with thousands of people, all still hold true this year. It's a pretty sight on the photos, but the reality is a little more stressful than the frame...having to pee alone is enough to haunt you for years...no pun intended there. 0_o

QLC Moment # 31

It was some time tonight when I was chatting with a friend when it occurred to me, the day has ended with not much done on the check list that I was supposed to be doing today. 

WHAT THE HELL HAVE I BEEN DOING FOR 14 HOURS!?!

I gave up on a supposed hike up Mt. Daraitan because I was suppose to be making some studies and stuff for the activities I have lined up next week (food shoot for a client, meeting with another client, bazaars, and go to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Pampanga.) I woke up at 7:30am today, heard the light drizzle of rain out the balcony, stared at the gloomy weather outside and went right back to sleep until 10am. Huhuhu! I couldn't help it, I miss the cuddle weather so much!

As for the rest of the day, I must have spent six hours aimlessly staring at the TV, watching little nothings and spent another five hours online scrolling the screen for other little nothings. Huhuhu! I mean, yeah, I did get a couple of things done like getting the laundry, feeding myself and doing two renders of the venue for the exhibit I'm working on...but that's besides the point of what I set out to do when I planned my day the night before. Oh, the makings of a future successful entrepreneur surely seem far fetched right now...but I'll sort things out, eventually.

As seen on the screenshot below, I said it myself:

"Mahirap maging artist na tamad T-T" 

("It's not easy being a lazy artist.") 

QLC Moment #22

A couple of days ago, I was able to catch up with one of my college friends, and before that I also met up with another close friend in high school. For the former, we went to a cafe to talk over dessert while the latter, we chatted in a pub with a glass of wine and tequila sunrise on the side. Despite the difference in atmosphere, both spoke of the same issues: life. 

I suppose we're at this stage wherein we continue to question ourselves:

What am I doing? Where do I go from here? How come I am at a point wherein I'm not sure if I'm on the right track? Am I doing it wrong?!?

While my friend who chose to drink alcohol was downright frustrated at life, the one who chose to eat a slice of cake is taking into account that maybe life is a little too bittersweet for her taste.

Our conversations went on for hours, and at the end of the night we felt the same, that we are not alone in this journey of ours...because we have people who can make us feel a little sense of relief, that ironically, we are all a little bit frustrated...a little bit bittersweet.

Morganfield's at Uptown BGC

After several failed attempts, we finally made it for dinner at Morganfield's. One dilemma why it took a while was because I always forget to check the map where Uptown is...now I know where it is and how it looks like. I like it. We got there after dining at Le Petit Souffle and having a huge cup of coffee at Costa...so we were kinda (still) hungry but our taste buds weren't up for too much flavor overload. 

To start with, Uptown mall is undone, to the degree wherein whole sections were closed so there's nothing to see except dine at the few restos that are already open and buy groceries at the crowd-free Rustan's Supermarket (seriously, we were only five customers inside.) The mall is really promising though, with its wood-inspired interiors and huge fountain upfront...not to mention the shops and restaurants queuing to open.

All of the Stars by Jackie Evancho

I just gotta share this before I get to bed. I must have looped this song over ten times now because it's that good. I mean, Ed Sheeran is something, but this once little soprano girl is now a young lady and her voice is better than ever.

I'm not sure if I heard her sing on TV before, but I'm pretty sure I've seen her performance being shared online years ago and it's one of those amazing things you see but forgot along the years. It was right around New Year when my niece who also sings, Jeryn, reintroduced me to her between our music session. She was sharing her covers on Soundcloud, and I was suggesting some indie artists that I personally like as means to broaden her scope on music since she's only sixteen. It wasn't until tonight when I saw a link on YouTube recommending Jackie Evancho's Safe & Sound cover, but I somehow managed to stumble All of the Stars and it raised the hairs on my arms again. So yeah, listen away. 

As for my niece, I'll plug her Soundcloud cover of Love Yourself right here: 

Love Yourself Cover - Jeryn Castillo

Snippets: Calea's Cakes

Taken January 5, 2016...this is the first official photo I took this year, a pleasant surprise on the first Tuesday of the year. My mom is a St. Anne devotee, and has always told me that most of the delightful surprises she experiences happen on a Tuesday since it is said that when you pray for the intercession of St. Anne, a blessing in disguise can unexpectedly happen on a Tuesday. Now, I'm not saying that I prayed to eat cake in Calea, it's just that year after year they have this tradition of closing down the cafe for several days after the New Year and I never get to eat my slice of cake before heading back to Manila because I usually leave on January 5, right after my grandmother's birthday. It breaks my heart, really. This year though, I moved it on the 6th because I always get stressed out with the preparations on the 4th because my lola lives with us, and having to wake up at the break of dawn to catch a flight after hosting a lunch-to-dinner party the day prior is dreadful. 

With January 5 finally free, I got to visit another lola, a cousin of my father's mother who I love having conversations with, especially hearing stories from the past and gossips that goes on around the city. My parents, my brother and I went to her house, but one of her secretaries told us that we should turn around to Balay Quince because she was waiting for us in Calea. We were all smiles with the news for cake-reasons. One thing that's always at the back of my mind whenever I'm in Bacolod is to eat a slice of Coffee Crunch cake (as seen on the photo...the one up front) since it's one of my favorite cakes evaaaah! It's really light and spongy, not too sweet with a thick whipped buttercream frosting and pieces of chewy honeycomb topping. Urgh. I love it. Getting a chance to eat my favorite slice of cake for free was the pleasant surprise I got that Tuesday afternoon. Yes, it's time I learn to find delight in simple joys, like a slice of cake, in order to make little things be more special...in turn make my day a little less ordinary. So yeah, true enough she was there sitting in wait, monitoring the work of the men who were cutting the unruly branches off the front yard of the establishment. We chatted for a bit, I gave her my gift while she handed over her pabaon and we left before dinner. It made me realize...I should start booking my return flights to Manila after the holidays on the 6th now instead of Jan 5. 

The other two cakes on the photo is the Window Cathedral or Broken Glass cake...a rather rare dessert to find in cafes just like the elusive Black Sambo. It's basically made up of different fruit flavors of jello cut into cubes and is remolded with a milk and cream based gelatin. The other slice is their Imported Chocolate Cake, a really yummeh-gooey chocolate cake that I'm guessing is made out of Ghirardelli chocolate. It also has an addicting caramel custard center that perfectly blends with the rest of the cake.

2015 Roundup

I wrote two things on my planner for my 2015 Bucket List—TWO very easy things: 1. Find a job, and 2. Get my SSS ID. OMG! Did I fail miserably! I mean, seriously, one year had passed, like 365 days since I wrote it but nada! Well, at least the find-a-job part was my choice to delay because every time I decided to start job-hunting something came up and I felt like the Universe was telling me “not yet” so I happily comply—at least I hope my interpretation is correct. As for the SSS ID part—holy crap! I completely forgot I ever wrote it!

My 2015 revolved around a couple of things: bazaars, accessory-making, travel, sleep, procrastination, food, TV, online surfing, hanging with friends, much down time and me-time. 2015 is what I would call the year of non-responsibility and live-with-what-you-got year. This is the supposed year that I had been dreaming of for the past four years now, wherein I survive and live without a job…in other words, be an unemployed-yet-not-so-miserable adult. Although I did survive on my savings, not having a stable income has been proven (by me) difficult…especially with my habitual spending attitude.