My grueling experience yesterday is incomparable with what’s happening with our fellow Filipinos still waiting to be rescued right now. And I’m praying for my friends and family who are still stuck in their homes and on their roofs.

I know most of us lived through our worries yesterday by texting and calling our loved ones. What I have here is a very small part of the millions of text messages sent on September 26, 2009 that clogged even the biggest communication networks in the country. These messages don’t account the whole riot I (and my office mates) experienced. It’s actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Though my phone got soaking wet, fortunately it did not die on me. Here are the messages in my Sent Items texted to different contacts:

1:07 PM Ma tapos na kmi [sa meeting in front of Harrison Plaza]. Pwd pasundo? Coy

1:54 PM Grbe bha.

2:37 PM Stranded kami omg. Taft at roxas hanggang bewang

2:54 PM Stranded kami. Walanp mpuntahan

3:06 PM Yup. Nagtricycle na kmi papntang edsa [galing Harrison Plaza].

3:17 PM This is the worst ive seen manila. Epic

3:27 PM Imposible dumaan sa edsa. Counterflow. Naglalakad kmi papnta macapagal

3:33 PM Sobrang basang basa na kami.

4:01 PM Dito ako mcdo bclaran.

4:04 PM Never kayo dumaan ng edsa.

4:13 PM Nakasakay na kmi ng jip sa bclaran.

4:16 PM Wla nang mblhan [ng extra shirt]. No choice na.

4:19 PM Counter flow. Both side sinakop na ng galing bclaran. Ung parang experience natin dati sa sm molino checkpoint.

4:26 PM Binalot ko sa plastic [ang laptop]. Stuck pa rin kmi bclaran. Pero pauwi na.

4:37 PM Txt me agad kung lapit na kayo.

4:38 PM Onga. Pero di gumagalaw ung jip. Andito parin kmi tapat ng mcdo bclaran. Di kmi mkalabas.

4:41 PM Sa pasay rotonda. Wlang dumadaan dhl baha rin. Parang sinara nga e.

4:44 PM Di kc gumagalaw edsa dito sa may heritage. Gumagalaw roxas papuntang cavite.

4:46 PM Ok na pauwi na kmi. Andar na.

4:59 PM Grbe pati dito sa may uniwide ang lalim ng baha! Mga bus nagbabalikan ndi makadaan.

5:03 PM Ok na. Coastal na kami.

5:14 PM Frozen ang coastal road. hay ang trapik.

5:27 PM Parang walang pagasa dito. Ayaw nyo magcheck in na lang?

5:38 PM Yez. Anubang nasa news. Naglalakad na mga tao dito sa coastal road. F*%k.

5:40 PM Malapit sa baclaran. Mataas tubig sa cavite.

5:43 PM Lola magcheck in na tayo. Tigil lahat ng sasakyan sa coastal dahil sobrang lalim ng tubig sa zapote. Malayo pa ako sa toll gate. San tayo pwd kita.

5:49 PM Ok na. Umaandar na coastak.

5:51 PM Saan. Sa qc raw lampas kotse ang baha.

5:54 PM Grabe ang oa naman. Sbi ko sayo e. Worst in 10 years lol.

6:22 PM Stranded ako manila.

6:53 PM Omg. Still stuck.

7:19 PM Coastal rd. Naglalakad frm paranaque to cavite

7:21 PM Mga kadiwa, linalakad ko ngayun ang coastal road mula toll gate dahl sa trapik. Inapanalangin nyoko.

7:31 PM Pa, bka magcheck in na kmi sa sogo zapote

7:32 PM Lapit na aq talaba

8:29 PM Kaya b kmi sunduin?

8:32 PM Pasundo jolibi molino.

8:38 PM Ngayun na!

9:08 PM Kakarating ko lang. Grabe lampas bewang sa st. Dominic.

9:41 PM The worst day ive had ever. Hands down

Flippish Made Me Sing for the Philippine Blog Awards!

“Jingle” is a really fun song I wrote and composed in the wee nights of the morning. It basically symbolizes the diversity of the Philippine blogging community and the unity most of us are aiming for – hence this year’s PBA theme “One Blogging Nation”. The blogs or names in the song are there to generally represent their particular blogging niches – and they mesh well with the lines too.

Hope you guys enjoy this!

Guitar: Markku Seguerra
Direction: Kring Elenzano

The Countdown Begins
More than 3 weeks left ’til the Philippine Blog Awards 2009 awards night!

Starring:
Ram Orquiza
Coy Caballes
Mic Angel David
and
Khristel Sucaldito

Directed by Kring Elenzano of Flippish.com

The Philippine Blog Awards is back! And this year is looking extra special with more categories including Best Videocast. For two years, podcasts and video blogs are grouped into one batch. So it’s about time video bloggers get their very own niche on PBA.Nominate your blog or recommend your favorite videocasts: Recommend/Accomplish a Nomination form

Uhm. It’s not as morbid as it sounds. And we actually had a lot of fun! Here’s me being photographed by the famous Niccolo Cosme at last night’s Project Headshot Clinic at D Zone, Sherwood’s Place, Manila:

The first time you heard me sing was on my Season 1 vlog, “Sessions with Jet”. This time it will be a little different. I sang “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz live in front of a bunch people in a debut party I hosted last night. Singing to an audience is the best thing! It was not my best version but I sure enjoyed it (even if the crowd didn’t think so. )

I will definitely do this more often. Haha!

Elevate 9: Lift One Another Up!
The UP PEP SQUAD Concert 2009
March 17, 2009 5:30PM
The UP Theater
Diliman, Quezon City
Tickets @ 100Pesos!

With special guests, Gary Granada, Grace Nono, The UP Kontragapi, The UP Singing Ambassadors, and many more!

My brother, Jet is one of the PEP drummers so all-out support for him!

Leave comments with your contact number if you wanna buy tickets. Almost sold-out!

MENSA PHILIPPINES CELEBRATES MENSA DAY (MD2.22) ON FEB. 22 AT FULLY BOOKED BONIFACIO HIGH STREET

Mensa Philippines – the Philippine chapter of the international organization for people with high IQs – will be holding a whole day event filled with fun and learning activities for the public. With the theme “Celebrate Learning, Celebrate Life”, Mensa Day or “MD2.22” is a major undertaking of the organization featuring fora, seminars and games for kids and adults alike.

Mensa Day will be held at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street on February 22, 2009 (Sunday). Activities include: talks by the country’s top entrepreneurs from GoNegosyo on entrepreneurship 101, youth entrepreneurship, technopreneurship, and social entrepreneurship by Illac Diaz; how to manage your career in turbulent times by Viventis Search Asia’s Executive Director Yu Ming Chin; a learning camp for children 0 to 6 years old, hosted by Gymboree; professional blogging advice from the country’s top bloggers Winston Almendras (BatangYagit.com), Coy Caballes (ThisIsCoy.net), and Fritz Tentativa (fritzified.com); Bikram Yoga by Al Galang.

Prospective members may also take the Mensa IQ Challenge during Mensa Day. Scoring in the top two percentile is the only requirement for joining Mensa. Those interested in taking this test should prepare a testing fee of P500 (P300 for students with ID) and a valid photo ID. Seats are limited, so interested parties are advised to reserve a slot online at www.mensaphilippines.org.

Capping the Mensa Day event will be performances by independent band The Haneps and by songwriter and musician Kitchie Nadal towards the evening.
More details and updates about MD2.22, including the schedule of activities, are available at www.mensaphilippines.org. People who pre-register, high school students and children with valid ID and Mensa IQ Challenge takers get in free. Admission starts at PhP100.

Mensa has over 200 active members in the Philippines, and 100,000 members in over 80 countries worldwide. Actress/Olympian archer Geena Davis, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov are some of the more prominent Mensa members.

For reference:
Dimpy Jazmines
Director for Publicity, Mensa Philippines
Contact nos.: 0917-5268641 / 449-4612 / 497-1636
Email: cmjazmines@bayan.com.ph

The Wildest UP Fair I’ve Seen in Years

The University of the Philippines Diliman Fair Week has always been a staple must-go event every second week of February. Each year, every day has a delectable menu of bands – old and new that doesn’t fail to satisfy the appetite of concert-goers. Present are also different booths, attractions and rides which make the whole UP Fair experience awesome. But behind the fun music and games, violence is also a mainstay in these events. People usually don’t mind. Until last night.

I shall officially call these kind of posts as part of the Singlehood Chronicles Series. If you remember by this time last year, I was in the same predicament. Only this year, I’m not too Bitter Ocampo about it. Rather than gloating and whining, last Saturday I actually did something about the situation. Although it wasn’t really part of any of my plans, Speed Dating is a welcome new hobby distraction while looking for that *ehem* special someone. So what is Speed Dating? Check out this awesome feature by ABS-CBN’s Probe featuring awesome Arete events organizer Poyt, event host/”chix” Kring, camery shy rockstar Fritz, “spontaneous lover” BillyCoy and yours truly:

Just last night, I got into this heated discussion with friends about the reasons why people go to speed dates. A friend said – people who know what they want and know how to get it should not be part of these “superficial” activities. First dates are bad enough since we know that we only get to see their best foot forward but 3 minutes? That’s just the tip of a large, cold, scary iceberg.

But I disagree. Forget about meeting the ONE. Am I the only person who thinks I have to meet as much people as I can? It’s not really about what I might be missing out but it’s more on what I can learn from these new acquaintances – you get to discover certain aspects of who you are, how you wanna grow and what you really want. Everyone is different. And each person will touch affect you in a different way.

But if I’m lucky enough to actually meet her – that person who’s not necessarily the perfect match but the right one, like what one of my close friends said, “Huwag mo nang pakawalan.”

Arete Events
Galileo Enoteca Italian Restaurant and Deli, Makati
Graphic tees from Solo
Freeway
Stylebible

Awesome photography by http://certainkindofhue.multiply.com/