Tokiya's Birthday Photo

I was watching NHK when they featured a segment on how to display and highlight items for a "kawaii" photo. I decided to give it a try myself, although I don't think I was able to highlight any particular item in this shoot. (^^ゞ

I really like how this photo turned out though... it's really purple~ But why does it look grainy on my desktop but okay on instagram?

Anyway, I'm beginning to appreciate Tokiya as a character thanks to playing Shining Live. I hope this doesn't mean I'll be buying even more merchandise from UtaPri though, because Otoya already has my wallet hostage..! ヾ(￣o￣;) Not to mention a certain Quartet Night boy by the name of Kurosaki Ranmaru is slowly overtaking Otoya as my ultimate bias. Hoo boy.

Hello Again, 蝴蝶的夢~

I've been ignoring my blog in lieu of my manga drawings and other, more convenient forms of social media. However, posting photos on instagram is not doing much for my writing, and since I took up an editing job, I can't afford to let my English disappear on me..! (ó﹏ò｡)

So hello again, 蝴蝶的夢 (a butterfly's dream)~ ♥ Let's chat about many different topics once again! Talk to me about anything you might like~ Let's all get along~ (´∀` )

UCC Canned Coffee

A few months ago, when I was trying to beat a deadline (and succeeded), my mom bought me some UCC canned coffee to help me through those difficult times. It made me wish I bought these again a few days ago, maybe I wouldn’t have lost to my deadline if I had them.

I don’t remember which one tasted the best, but I remember the white can on the right wasn’t as rich as the others? I like milk coffee, but I prefer more coffee than milk.

I’m currently letting my body rest from all the caffeine, but this caffeine withdrawal is making me sleepy all the time! I think I should start running again… if only the weather would cooperate!

Seven Days of Gratitude: Day 7

Gotta get the last day off of this meme so we can all finally move on, yeah?

1. Tea. Whoever invented instant tea in a bag, thank you. As much as I hate drinking hot beverages in warm weather, I can’t deny how much tea can help in easing off my mood swings.
2. Piano. Also, whoever invented the piano, or any musical instrument for that matter, thank you as well. It’s a good way to get rid of all this negativity I have to face every single day.
3. Iwata Satoru. Nintendo president who recently passed away, thank you for giving me so much fun times in my childhood, and in the office place. Whoever thought Mario Cart with a bunch of nerdy adults would be so much fun? I hope you continue to bring happiness to those around you, wherever you may be.
4. Monty Oum. You will remain an inspiration to me and to many others. You were gone too soon. I wish you happiness wherever you may be.
5. Fly Swatters. Again, another genius invention. If not for you, I would have lost so much sleep over cockroaches in the house.
6. Stars. Because looking up at them makes me remember how small I am and how small my problems actually are.
7. Computers and the Internet. Without them, I’d probably go crazy by now.

Now then, the photo? Those are giant, different flavored Yakults. They have grape, orange, and apple. Yes, they are delicious, and no, I am not sharing. c:

Seven Days of Gratitude: Day 3

I had obviously forgotten all about this meme… I’m not exactly sure why, but it probably has something to do with me forgetting to visit this blog for quite a while now? Maybe?

Anyway, let’s get on with a little life update to match, shall we?

And again, that meme instruction is available here if you’d like to join in~

1. Strawberries. It’s weird how this little fruit can bring so much happiness into my life. It’s my mom’s favorite fruit, and she apparently had cravings for strawberries during each and every one of her pregnancies with us. Probably why everyone here loves strawberries so much?
2. Chocolate-covered berries. A few days ago, I was incredibly pissed at everything and was on an unstoppable rampage. My mom decided to feed me these chocolate-covered blueberries and acai berries, and I somehow got my sanity back. Lol?
3. Mangoes. I’ve been drinking mango shakes for that past few months. I never really appreciated this delicious fruit until recently. What is with me and my fruity cravings?
4. Avocados. My best friend can’t stand them, but here I am, trying to get another avocado seedling to grow. My sisters and I love eating it with condensed milk… sometimes, we’d make a thick shake out of it, and it’s like eating delicious ice cream!
5. Good Conversation. This coming from my sisters and nephew. It’s been an insane couple of days, and these conversations keep my feet on the ground.
6. Music. I can’t imagine drawing without music. Even without an mp3 player, I would be humming in my head while I draw something. It’s literally impossible for me to separate the two.
7. Pillows. Or maybe, more specifically, a warm bed, with fluffy pillows. Dreams are one of the best things in life, unless you dream about a-… wait, no, I don’t even want to recall that nightmare.

Let’s hope I don’t forget this tomorrow, yes? Oh, and the photo is a bunch of strawberry desserts I had in Baguio. I’ll talk about some of the food from the trip another time.

Fire in Quezon City

I woke up to sirens around 5am and saw this inferno outside my window… It’s about 7am now and the only thing I can see is smoke, so I’m hoping the fire’s finally out. I guess the rain helped too.

We heard a bunch of explosions, so it may have been a chemical or paint factory? I’m not brave enough to go outside to find out.

I hope everyone is ok!

Seven Days of Gratitude: Day 1

I got tagged by Honey Den on Facebook, so I thought I might as well post this here since it’s a good way to remind myself that there’s always something to be thankful for.

If you have the free time, please do this. It can be a pretty therapeutic activity. Reminds you how lucky you are and how beautiful life is.

The challenge is to post 7 things you are thankful for in 7 days. Tagging 7 people each day, a total of 49 people in the process. Hope you have a great time remembering things you are grateful of.

1. Very Little Floods. Although there was a lot of heavy rain and flooding today, our house managed to stay fairly dry. There was a bit of flood water in the kitchen and some parts of the house, but we weren’t flooded in for very long.
2. Electricity and Water. We lost power for a few hours earlier today, but it’s great that everything seems to be back to normal now. Before, we didn’t have power for nearly 2 days, and that meant no showers or flush water!
3. Galette’s Strawberry and Pistachio Cream Cake(?) (in photo). This delicious piece of dessert has become somewhat of a tradition for us. During Holy Week, we usually head to Sofitel for some afternoon snacks. This is my mo’s and sister’s favorite dessert.
4. Drawing. No matter how much I struggle with deadlines, drawing relaxes me and makes me very happy (even though it makes me really sleepy too!).
5. The Morning After (radio show). I work late. A lot. This radio program keeps me company during those times. I like getting greeted by Alven on air, even if there’s hardly anyone else awake to hear it.
6. The Morning Rush (radio show). This comes right after TMA, but I’m usually too tired to listen to it, so I usually grab the podcast. But this one morning in September, I got greeted, and Chico even said that being a Pinoy Manga Artist was cool.
7. Cold Weather. Air-conditioning and me don’t mix very well, so I sleep with a fan under any weather. So, right after a storm, when there’s no more rain, the cold air gives me a restful sleep and many sweet dreams.

I’ll tag a few people, but probably not all 49… Please try this exercise! It feels amazing~ and I want to go on and on and on~~

A Visit from a Great Blue

Work has been insane as of late, and I barely get to go outside… The only time I step out of the house is when I need to give dinner to the doggies and some crackers for our parrots.

One evening in late July, I got shocked when a insect flew over the light above our doorway. Since I only saw the shadow, I panicked because I thought it was a flying cockroach and hurried to head inside.

A few shaky moments later, I took a peek through our screen door and saw this little guy:

It’s rare to see a dragonfly flying outside when it’s already evening. Then again, it’s rare to see a dragonfly outside our house at all! It was a nice shade of blue, with blue tipped wings, so I thought I’d take a quick photo before it left.

One site says that the Chinese associate dragonflies with prosperity, harmony, and good luck. Another site says that it’s a symbol of instability and feebleness.

Maybe different parts of China have different takes to it. To me, this dragonfly reminded me of my elementary school days when my friends caught dragonflies and asked me to make paper boxes for them… It gave me a much needed smile on my face when I needed it most.

Same Mascot?

I thought this was kinda strange, so I took a photo of it…

The one on the right is your typical, Royal Tru-Orange litro that you can buy practically anywhere in the Philippines. The one on the left is a bottle of Fanta orange a friend of mine gave me as a gift from his trip to Japan (this was long before I stopped drinking soda last January, so I use the Fanta bottle as a water bottle nowadays).

Is she supposed to be some kind of game mascot? The two girls look very similar, except for the skirt. I’m pretty sure Fanta and Royal are two different companies, aren’t they?

Just a little curious, that’s all…

Toy Hunting – Fai D. Flowright

My brother and my nephew occasionally go to Greenhills on Sunday mornings for the most random reasons. I like tagging along, since my nephew loves to hunt for toys, especially around the shops where collectors can rent a space and sell whatever it is that they want to be rid of… Sometimes, you can get lucky and find that one item that completes your collection. Other times, you find something you didn’t know you wanted in the first place.

This time around, I’d say this was a lucky find.

I managed to find Fai D. Flowright from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE for only PHP100 (approximately 2.29 USD). I’m not sure if that’s a good value or not, but I really love this figure! For a gashapon, it’s quite detailed, and his staff and eyes are glossy~ He stands very well on his own too! I had no trouble balancing him on my bed for this photo.

To be honest though, I haven’t even seen any of the episodes from Tsubasa… but I am an avid fan of xxxHolic, so I read a few chapters of Tsubasa on the side. Fai seems like a lovely character, and I adore how he teases the serious Kurogane without fear! But I’m detecting a sad story behind his cheerful appearance.

It’s these kinds of finds that make me want to go back to Greenhills whenever I can, but I need a new display cabinet if I want to keep hunting for new toys… Maybe one with tinted glass so that I won’t have to worry about them in my very sunny room. Hm…

Zhu Kitchen’s Taho

Most of you probably know how much I love taho~! I’ve blogged about this delicious snack in the past, but I may have found one of the best versions I’ve ever come across~

Zhu Kitchen opened at Z Mall which is quite close to us, so my family and I have been their frequent visitor~ Sometimes we would have dinner there, but usually, we’d stop by for this tasty treat. Their taho is one of the smoothest ones out there and the arnibal is not that sweet, so it’s easy to get addicted and ask for second servings!

I should remember to take Misaki-taichou there the next time she’s in Manila… We might finish the whole order by ourselves, haha!

Maleficent = Manananggal?

Maleficent movie was great and all but…

Am I the only one who thought this floor sticker looked like a manananggal?

For those not familiar with Philippine mythology:

The manananggal is a mythical creature of the Philippines, an evil, man-eating and blood-sucking monster or witch. It is described as hideous, scary, often depicted as female, and capable of severing its upper torso and sprouting huge bat-like wings to fly into the night in search of its victims.

It is said that they mostly prey on sleeping, pregnant women, using an elongated proboscis-like tongue to suck the hearts of fetuses, or the blood of someone who is sleeping. The severed lower torso is left standing, and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt or smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin itself and will die by sunrise.

- Wikipedia

I think I read too much Trese.

My “Amnesia” Boys

Last Sunday, my brother invited me to go to Greenhills with him and his family. I had an agenda to try my luck in finding a complete set of the gashapon series of Amnesia from any of the specialty stores there, but was disappointed to find that no one had carried them.

Misaki-taichou mentioned that there was still one gashapon machine of Amnesia somewhere. When I saw the machine, it only had less than a dozen toys left. I debated whether or not I should take the chance, but felt I would regret it if I didn’t try.

6 attempts later, I somehow managed to get the last 4 characters that I was missing. I don’t know why I felt the urge to collect this since I’ve never even seen the anime nor have I played the game, but heck, here they are! The entire gashapon set of Amnesia!

I’ve already had Ikki before my trip to Greenhills and I got Shin at my very last attempt. I thought I wouldn’t be able to get him since he was at the top of the pile (the gashapon balls they used for this machine was colored so you can predict who you might get when there’s hardly any toys left), but I somehow got lucky at the very end!

I’m also lucky I already had Ikki since there were no white balls left in the machine! Thank you, my other brother who pestered me to go to the toy store with him last January!

Green-haired Ukyo was the one that I wanted most. Maybe because of his long hair or split personality, but I got a double of him somewhere in my third or fourth attempt. I don’t really mind, but I might decide to sell him.

Kent was the second to the last which made me nervous because I didn’t really see any blue balls in the machine. I don’t like this particular figure that I got because there’s some damage to his right eye, but it’s better than not having him at all! Given the chance, I might buy him again if I get to go to Greenhills another time.

I got double of Toma too, which I will definitely sell. Maybe in Indieket or Komikon? Haven’t really decided yet, but I’ll leave him and Ukyo’s double unopened for now.

Overall I’m quite pleased that I didn’t need to try more than seven times to complete this. But, I can’t ignore the fact that this left me completely broke.

Time to work more on my manga pages so I can have some money!

Precious Moments’ Disney Figures

I think I remember why I don’t post these photos anymore… Most of them are pretty blurry! But it would be a shame not to post them here. I’ll try to adjust them to the best of my abilities! Huff huff!

I saw these adorable Precious Moments figures while walking around Disneyland in California. Belle from Beauty and the Beast costs $65, while Ariel from The Little Mermaid is $60. It made me pout to know Ariel is cheaper than Belle, but at the same time, it would be much easier to save for, I suppose?

Dichie (my second older sister) is the one who actually collects Precious Moments stuff, but I might make an exception for this. I think Dichie did buy an Ariel already… I’ll have to remember to ask her about it.

Night Butterfly

One night after a busy day in Hong Kong, my officemates and I went to a local convenience store to grab some snacks before returning to our hotel.

While they were busy deciding what to eat, I noticed a little brown butterfly entering the store. It looked confused for a while until it finally settled on one of the waters on display.

I somehow managed to take a snapshot of it before it flew away again. Do butterflies normally fly around at night? I thought they liked sleeping in!

I’m surprised I didn’t post this photo before. Actually, I found a lot of photos from my old camera phone in my laptop. I think it’s about time I post them somewhere.

iHop!

For my birthday this year, I took my family out to iHop in Taguig. We’ve been there a few times before, and my mom really likes it there! I have to admit though, I went a little over budget on this feast, but I guess I only turn 30 once in a lifetime!

Their breakfast selection is pretty amazing! You can requested to have your waffles toasted extra crispy, and have the eggs anyway you want. And don’t let their looks fool you, those bacons are quite crispy!

I was a little disappointed with the country fried steak though. I may be a bit biased, but I think I’ve had better. It’s not bad per say, but it may need a tad more seasoning next time.

Surprisingly, this is my favorite – broccoli and cheese omelet. Talk about eating healthy! But seriously, it’s absolutely heavenly! The broccoli was crisp but not hard, and tasted so fresh! I didn’t know something so simple could taste so good!

This is only a forth of the entire order though, haha! We were too excited to take photos before eating it!

And this would be the deal breaker. Splash Berry is made with orange juice, frozen strawberries, and sprite.

Looks like I broke my New Year’s resolution again. But it’s was kinda worth it! I really love orange juice, and this combination is pretty awesome!

It was a great birthday celebration, despite the soda guilty pleasure. I also found it strange that, even though there were four different syrups to choose from, I always went for the old-fashioned maple syrup with my waffles.

Married to Music ♥

I manage to score this lovely musical notes ring when I went to 999 Mall last Sunday~

Now my parents should have no qualms about me not getting married… I am now engaged to music, if not married to it! Haha! Or is it that I’m married to one of the Uta Princes? Hm~

More Photos from WOW Toy Museum

I got to visit my uncle last week, and he’s opened up another section of his house to showcase more of his collection! Good thing I got my camera phone ready!

This little one is so tiny! Like, the little girl is about the size of your fingernail kind of tiny! You won’t see her in the museum though, since this was in uncle’s workshop. I think he’s still restoring it, but my goodness, so something so small, it sure is detailed!

Uncle received a cosplay outfit of Meer Campbell from Gundam SEED Destiny, so he displayed it it along with the actual figures near the entrance of the museum. You guys know how much I love Gundam SEED, even if I don’t like this character very much, I still love the figures!

I think I may have taken a photo of Tsukamoto Tenma from School Rumble last time, but Uncle moved it to the front of the display case. Now my photo of her is much clearer than before!

And now for a bunch of other characters that I have no idea who they are or where you’re from as long as you love me!

I think they may be from a series of warships or Japanese weapons or something moe like that.

I have more photos but they’re no longer of the anime kind. I’ll post them another time!

Saboten – Japanese Tonkatsu

On my brother’s birthday last year, he treated us to this restaurant somewhere in Eastwood. I thought the name sounded funny, but hey, when there’s free food, who’s to complain?

My first impression was that of “Mind Blown” variety. The interior was absolutely breath-taking! I rarely take photos of the interior of the restaurant, but the way they added different patterns to the walls and ceiling made me wish I had thought of that for my room!

Normally, in any of my food posts, I never talk about the salad. I’m not much of a veggie eater, I prefer the meaty proteins, but this? That dressing they have is pure genius, ok? I’m not sure if it’s sesame vinaigrette or a really well-seasoned thousand island dressing, but that is one amazing salad! Simple, clean, and very addicting! I ate two bowls of salad, and that is just weird.

And now the main event! Saboten is said to be known for their tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets) and wow, was I ever surprised! The meat may be thick, but it was super tender and the breading is also absolute heaven! Why, you ask? Because the breading is crunchy but soft at the same time!

You know how some fried food tend to have hard breading that scratch the roof of your mouth? This is nothing like that, yet it’s still crispy! You gotta try it!

Oh, and they give you your own sesame seeds to crush up and add to your own tonkatsu sauce too, which I found really amusing… not to mention delicious! And their ebi furai (fried shrimp)uses the same breading as their tonkatsu so it’s just as good! (Or maybe the tonkatsu is still better?)

Overall very delicious, albeit a bit on the pricey range, but hey, according to a friend of ours, this place can compete with the many tonkatsu places in Japan. When you put it that way, a trip to Japan would be more expensive than eating here, so I say, it’s money well spent!

恭喜發財! Happy Lunar New Year!

I had forgotten about these firework photos that I took last January 1. I guess now would be the perfect time to show them in time with Lunar New Year, right?

These were taken in different locations with my camera phone. My brother needed to run a few errands so late at night, and we got to see several fireworks going off every few minutes. The sky was filled with so many colorful lights that evening!

The shot on the left was an “accidental” blur shot, but it turned out prety good, don’t you think?

The last two shots were the only ones that we actually did ourselves. The one on the left is a fountain, and the one on the right is a flying lantern my nephew bought. Flying lanterns are amazing, but I’m afraid of them because I keep thinking someone’s house might burn down because of it. It flies pretty high though, so I doubt that that actually happened.

Happy New Year, guys! Here’s to more amazing years to come!