I Fancy Me a Cup of Tea

This & That: A Faux Polaroid Collection April and Early...

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:01:27 +0800

This & That: A Faux Polaroid Collection

April and Early May

One of our cats caught on camera!
I had my hair cut short again.
Camotes summer outing with the family!
Dinner date with Mumu for our 22nd monthsary.
Midnight snack with the PhotoPlus team during one of our sessions.
Moalboal summer outing with Mumu’s team at work!
Mumu’s pizza treat for passing a certification exam.
Birthday of one of my Java bootcamp classmates.
Sugba2x night with the P+ team!
Payday dinner date with Mumu!
Celebration for the christening of my mom’s colleague’s nephew’s son. Whew!
My BlackBerry on the grass, duh?

Life Lessons Learned (05) “Life is what happens while you...

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:37:42 +0800

Life Lessons Learned (05)

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” -John Lennon

You never really know a feeling until you experience it.
You become too immature at one point in your life that it pushes you to change your attitude.
What people think about you affects you as much as you try to deny it.
Forgive-and-forget really happens.
Some things bother you so much that you’d like for it to just unhappen entirely.
The truth only hurts when it’s against your favor.
There will always be someone who will end up as the more selfish party.
Smart people play dumb just to see how you fare with them.
No secret gets kept forever aside from those that you never really told.
You couldn’t really compare yesterday and tomorrow. The first you know too well, the other not at all.

Life Lessons Learned is a blog series posted on Fridays for noting down the lessons I’ve learned in my years of existence. :)

Unposted Adventures of 2012

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:14:52 +0800

I haven’t been able to blog about these experiences last year because I’ve been inactive in the blogosphere for months. When I came back, I “rebranded” my blog. And if you’re wondering, I also have been missing for the past days because I got so occupied with work and business, which I was also enjoying so I’m not complainin’. ;) I’m just hoping to be back on track this month. So while I’m still out and about with what’s keeping me busy, here is a short recap of my unposted adventures of 2012.

Island Hopping - May 2012

My college barkada together with Mumu’s college barkada went island-hopping for summer (May 2012) last year. Our route: Sulpa Island —> Pandanon Island —> Caohagan Island —> Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary. We spent most of our time in Pandanon Island where we played frisbee and the snake game. And we were just swimming at every stop, not actually staying in the islands. :P

Trekking, Wet Caving, Waterfalls Rappeling, Wakeboarding - June 2012

Mumu and I went to Danasan Eco Adventure Park last June 2012 to celebrate our first anniversary. The place is pretty far (an hour from Danao City), and we only traveled on a motorcycle. So when we arrived at the place, we were exhausted, so we rested in the morning and started the activities in the afternoon. The adventures we signed up for were wet caving, waterfalls rappeling, and wakeboarding (there was also a bit of trekking from one place to another). Muscle aches happened the next day. Haha. :))

Paintball, Boodle Fight - October 2012

Paintball has been mentioned several times in our barkada conversations when we were still in college but we never really had the chance to push it through. But finally, last October 2012, we went to Weboss Extreme Grounds to realize our plans! I felt like I was in a real battlefield when we started, I didn’t even want to show myself just so nobody would be able to shoot me though I wanted to shoot someone so bad! Haha! Since we started the day ruggedly, we also had a “rugged” dinner at Captain A’s! It wasn’t my first time to have a boodle fight (we always have one after a Gawad Kalinga build), but it was my first at a restaurant. The other groups were formally eating with spoon and fork while we were standing and eating with our bare hands. Who’s the boss? XD

You can also check out my blog posts of our Mindanao Trip (day 1, day 2, day 3) and our trek to Osmeña Peak. It was a year of adventures, huh? Hoping to have more this year! :D

April Summer Outing: Camotes and Moalboal If you might ask,...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:15:00 +0800

April Summer Outing: Camotes and Moalboal

If you might ask, April is one of my favorite months of the year. I get to go to places outside the city to enjoy summer! In 2011, I had my first GK Bayani Challenge in Bantayan Island and then had an outing with my college barkada in Davao. In 2012, I had my second Bayani Challenge in Negros Oriental. This year (not counting my third Bayani Challenge in Bohol since it happened on March, hehe), I went to Camotes Islands and Moalboal! Let me just show you some photos. :D

April 13-14: Camotes

This was the summer getaway of my mom’s office with the families. We traveled to Camotes early in the morning. It took around 1.5 hours from Danao Port.
After we had lunch at my mom’s friend’s place, we went to Bukilat Cave where it wasn’t very dark because of the holes in the cave ceiling. There was also a pool of water inside the cave.
We went to Lake Danao Park next where my brother, Mumu, and I went kayaking and visited the little crocodiles at the Greenlake Park.
We then traveled to our next and last stop — Santiago Bay Garden and Resort. I spent most of my Saturday night in the pool and my Sunday morning at the beach.

April 20-21: Moalboal

This was the team building activity and summer getaway of Mumu’s team and I just went along (hehe). We only had one destination, and it’s Delgado’s Beach House. I can say I spent most of the weekend here soaked in the waters. And because the underwater world was pretty interesting, most of the pics we took were, umm, underwater. XD

That’s it for my two-weekend adventure, actually. I think my next visit to the beach will be on May. ;)

where did you get your awesome theme? :D

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:07:56 +0800

Hi! I bought it from themeforest.net and modified the appearance. :)

Life Lessons Learned (04) “Never be bullied into silence....

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:32:58 +0800

Life Lessons Learned (04)

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” -Harvey Fierstein

Apologizing doesn’t necessarily mean you are at fault. Sometimes, it means you care more about the relationship than your pride.
The world doesn’t stop and wait for us to move.
You should never make any decision when you’re angry or too happy.
It’s not all the time that you get a second chance.
Not everybody likes to make the most out of life, or that they have other means for it.
You’ll have to choose between things you like/love and realize which one you like/love better.
Everyday is a chance for change and a chance to change.
Running away from something doesn’t stop it from chasing you.
You’ll think that your best is not good enough for others and realize that you did not actually give it all.
What works well with you might not be as effective for others.

Life Lessons Learned is a blog series posted on Fridays for noting down the lessons I’ve learned in my years of existence. :)

Search Marketing (SEO/SEM)

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:24:12 +0800

The rise of the e-commerce technology has prompted a spring in new industries in relation to this budding genre of business scenery right in the center of Web Design Industry in Naperville IL. Before you even have to consider such methods of marketing, a mammoth of history and effort was done so that you may experience what it is to have information at your fingertips.

Search engines have been around for more than a decade now, being a little younger than the internet itself, it has garnered a host of attention from scientists, mathematician, undergraduate students and businessmen. With its worldwide proliferation and acceptance, search engines are essential to conduct and become a successful e-commerce business.

Search Engine Marketing is indeed important as a e-commerce solution that can increase presence over the world of well-connected networks. What are some modes that such a marketing tool is channeled?

1. Keyword Analysis

This is the process by which each content in your website is indexed and analyzed to see how easily recognizable the words are. The more people who use such keywords on their search the more likely that your website content shows up at the results page. Such method is called Search Engine Optimization which has gained a great part of the marketing campaign for its practicality and ease.

2. Website Saturation

Many search engine companies proposed ways as to how your website can be shown on the forefront of a user’s search results. Websites are ranked as to how much keywords it contains and as to how relevant it is to the user’s intentions. The more presence a website has the higher the rank it gets at the search results which can add up to its website traffic. This user traffic then can be translated sales, customer knowledge and even word-of-mouth advertising.

3. Clicks and Links

As an overall marketing campaign, e-commerce businesses take advantage of pay-per-click and sponsored links maneuvers to add traffic and online accessibility. When a customer or an online visitor decides to click such links, this is a potential source of brand awareness and information which then could generate transactions.

This & That: A Faux Polaroid Collection Early...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:03:00 +0800

This & That: A Faux Polaroid Collection

Early April

Mumu’s workstation. The first picture I took with my phone after installing a custom ROM on it.
My big round face. Problem? Hehe.
Blessing of Fire and Water last Black Saturday.
GK Cebu Volunteer Coordination Meeting with some of our French volunteers and a box of pizza!
Lechon baboy for lunch today. Yummm!
Mango float made by my brother.

Life Lessons Learned (03) “Do not dwell in the past, do...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:01:01 +0800

Life Lessons Learned (03)

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” -Buddha

Worrying will lead you to nowhere.
Nothing is certain in life because there will always be change.
Procrastinating will only pile up your tasks. It always feels good to be able to accomplish something at the time you meant it to be done.
Things don’t always go as planned.
Happiness is contagious. Sadness is, too.
It’s okay not to know about some things, even though people will look down on you for it.
You’ll have to figure things out for yourself.
You’ll have to break the rules sometimes.
There’s more to life than the internet and other technologies.
Focusing on something makes doing it faster.

Life Lessons Learned is a blog series posted on Fridays for noting down the lessons I’ve learned in my years of existence. :)

Bayani Challenge 2013 Experience

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:22:00 +0800

A few weeks before the big event last March 23-27, I’ve decided to join the Bayani Challenge 2013 in Bohol. But for this year, I didn’t go there as a participant — I was with the service team.

I was appointed Social Media Coordinator for the event at Antequera, Bohol, but because the network signal there wasn’t entirely reliable, I missed to post some [personal] updates, so I’ll just post them here through lots of pictures. ;)

Our after-event reward came a day after the closing. We went animal sightseeing at Bohol Python and Wildlife Park in Baclayon and Zoocolate Thrills in Loboc. :D

That’s it! For next year’s Bayani Challenge, check this out:

Because together, we are stronger!

Java Bootcamp Graduation After 4 weeks of Java SE training and 2...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 18:19:17 +0800

Java Bootcamp Graduation

After 4 weeks of Java SE training and 2 weeks of Java EE training, my batch finally graduated last March 22! It was a total of 6 weeks of brain-squeezing discussions and activities. Well, it was worth it, though I didn’t understand certain topics. Haha! :P

We had free lunch that day! And we had a little graduation activity in the afternoon. :)

FYI, our whole training was a video conference ‘coz our instructor is from Manila. Here’s a pic of us with him on the background (haha):

When we were done, my batchmates and I went to IT Park to have dinner at Kul Kitchen and watch a horror movie at Hello Hans Movie House. I forgot to take pictures though ‘coz we were all so talkative and noisy. Haha. We chose to watch The Cat, a Korean horror film. And the room was then filled with screams! And laughter because we were all so silly. Hahaha. It was a fun night. Sa uulitin? :P

See you on Monday, batchmates! ;)

Life Lessons Learned (02) “All life is an experiment. The...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:59:00 +0800

Life Lessons Learned (02)

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Music and fragrance hold a lot of memories.
Sleep clears the head like nothing else can.
Some people just don’t value your time.
There’s not just one but a lot of turning points in your life.
You can’t forever stay angry at people you love.
Giving back and actually being selfless gives you so much satisfaction.
It feels a whole lot better to let people know how you feel than to keep it to yourself.
Expecting too much from people will only lead to disappointment, unless it’s someone who really delivers.
It’s only difficult at the beginning.
The world doesn’t revolve around you.

Life Lessons Learned is a blog series posted on Fridays for noting down the lessons I’ve learned in my years of existence. :)

My Reverse Bucket List I read about a reverse bucket list from...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0800

My Reverse Bucket List

I read about a reverse bucket list from Ate Kisty just recently and thought, why not make my own? It’s a nice way of making yourself proud and at the same time thankful for all the blessings and achievements. Here’s my list (what I can think of, so far):

Performing (mostly singing) in front of an audience (done a couple of times since I could remember).
Graduating with flying colors from nursery (haha), high school, and college.
Being *unofficially* named as “Best in Math” during high school.
Going on adventures (whitewater rafting, wakeboarding, paintball, zipline/zipsplash, horseback riding, caving, wall climbing, rappeling, trekking, etc.).
Buying gadgets with my own money.
Becoming a programmer (I didn’t take up a computer course in college), though still a newbie.
Becoming the president of an organization (and an officer in a few others).
Learning how to play the guitar (but I’m really rusty already; should’ve bought alvarez guitars at guitar center for inspiration).
Winning contests and raffle draws.
Volunteering for charity (mostly for Gawad Kalinga).

I can only list 10 things for now. The items that I’ve mentioned above are sort of general anyway, so they cover a whole lot of other things. Maybe I can be more specific next time. ;)

The Tea Challenge In my I Fancy Me a Cup of Tea blog post...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:37:00 +0800

The Tea Challenge

In my I Fancy Me a Cup of Tea blog post before, I mentioned this block of text:

I’m not really a tea lover — I’m a coffee addict at heart. But I wanted to try and make drinking tea a habit ‘coz even though I find the taste challenging to swallow, I know it’s something better for me. Sadly, it didn’t stick. Hehe. But I’m willing to try again.

And I’m trying again today!

The current situation (or until last Friday): I drink a cup of coffee every morning at work to go with my toast. I love coffee, though my heart ends up palpitating afterwards. XD

The challenge: Replace coffee with a cup of tea for 30 days (but I prefer to drink it in the afternoon ‘coz it makes me hungry). :P

I’m actually starting to appreciate the taste already (I guess implementing a tea theme everywhere is a good motivation). Will I be able to make it through this challenge (without wearing a yoga strap)? This might become a habit soon. Let’s see! ;)

{ Cup of Tea image source }

Omgggg thanks for the followback! I totally love your blog!

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:51:00 +0800

Wow, thank you so much! I really appreciate this! <3

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 3 (Mahayag) (Day 1: Cagayan de Oro and...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:47:14 +0800

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 3 (Mahayag)

(Day 1: Cagayan de Oro and Iligan)
(Day 2: Tangub and Tukuran)

In the morning of the last day of our Mindanao trip, we packed up our things and prepared for our last destination — Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur. We traveled to Eriberta Spring Resort and by the time we got there, it was almost lunchtime. We took a short dip before eating, and boy was the water so cold! Like, really cold (we even soaked our soft drink bottles in the spring)!

We resumed after eating lunch, and since I’m really fond of the waters (though I’m not an expert swimmer), I didn’t mind the temperature anymore (but my body was still shaking). I’m sure the others didn’t mind, too.

As you may already know, I’m a small girl, and the water was not my level so I had to either hold on to the edges or keep on swimming to keep myself afloat, as opposed to the others who could just stand up and still have their head above the water. Haha! We took a lot of photos underwater because we just had to utilize my waterproof camera! Then there’s a video of a friend swimming. :)

After a few hours of swimming, diving, and picture taking, we finally wrapped up our adventure and traveled to Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental where we had dinner, bought some pasalubong, and boarded a boat back to Cebu. We were home by morning the next day. :)

Though our vacation only lasted 3 days, it was a really fun and amazing experience! And to think, we didn’t cash out that much for the whole trip. It really helped that we didn’t have to pay for our accommodation for 2 nights. :)

We’re yet to plan on our next adventure. Exciting! Even just the thought of it thrills me! :D

Here’s a quote to live by:

“Spend money on experiences instead of material objects.”

Life Lessons Learned (01) “In three words I can sum up...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:09:00 +0800

Life Lessons Learned (01)

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” -Robert Frost

The things you learn when you are younger (like, kid young) are the ones that stick to you the most.
You can still live a wonderful life with just a single parent, but you’ll always be wondering what it would be like to have the other parent around.
The best childhood moments are the ones you spend out in the open.
People will always try to bring you down.
Sometimes, all you need is a good cry.. alone.
If you think highly of yourself, you will always look down on other people.
Good books, movies, and TV shows are great influencers/inspirations.
Trying to change people is futile. They change in their own time (or don’t, at all).
You can’t please everybody. Some might even find you annoying.
You will always regret saying hurtful words when you are angry. It’s best to keep silent and cool down before talking.

Life Lessons Learned is a blog series posted on Fridays for noting down the lessons I’ve learned in my years of existence. :)

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 2 (Tangub and Tukuran) (Day 1: Cagayan...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0800

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 2 (Tangub and Tukuran)

(Day 1: Cagayan de Oro and Iligan)

On the second day of our Mindanao trip, we were up very early in the morning because we had to travel for hours from Iligan to Tangub City, Misamis Occidental. We arrived at the Hoyohoy Highland Stone Chapel Adventure Park at around 9am.

We were 850 meters above sea level, so you could expect a temperature drop and some fog there. It was kind of a gloomy day, so ziplining wasn’t particularly practical at that time. But we weren’t told a bad news, so we just suited up while waiting for the crew’s signal to proceed.

Since we had an unpredictable weather, instead of ziplining solo, we were asked to go in pairs.

Then off we went with the first zip of 1,250 meters! The second zip followed with 1,100 meters to conquer.

The video only shows the first zip. The second zip is just similar to it. Upon approaching the endpoint, I had to release my camera and hold on tight to the harness as instructed, thus the misorientation on the last part of the video.

Anyway, since Mumu and I went last, our friends were waiting for us down in one area before going back to the starting point where we left some of our things. But of course, we didn’t walk. Four of us rode on the buggy (ATV), and six of us rode on individual horses. I was with the latter. :)

It wasn’t my first time getting on a horse (I had a pic taken on one last 2010 in Baguio), but it was my first time riding on it. It was weird at first because I felt like I was going to fall, but I got the hang of it after a few minutes. We didn’t do it alone, though. We each had a guide who walked with the horse. When we got back to the top, we were each given a certificate! :D

We went down to the city to have lunch and enjoy their Christmas decorations (trivia: Tangub City is the Christmas symbols capital of the Philippines).

After a while, we traveled to Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur where Mumu lives. :)

Since it was Mumu’s birthday the next day, his family prepared some yummy food for dinner. Then it was videoke night! ♫

There’s no pressure to wake up early the next day, so we stayed up late and just stopped the fun when we felt like we can’t keep our eyes open anymore. :P

(Day 3: Mahayag)

Bayani Challenge 2013 Unity Dance Ten days to go until the...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:22:00 +0800

Bayani Challenge 2013 Unity Dance

Ten days to go until the Bayani Challenge 2013! Are you excited? ‘Coz I am! It’s gonna be my 3rd time to join this week-long event (I’m gonna be in Bohol), and with that goes my 3rd unity dance! The steps are pretty simple and easy to follow. If you’re joining the event, be sure to master this as we will be dancing it everyday (and maybe find rectangular sleeping bags to use in camping)! :D

If you haven’t registered yet, go ahead and visit the BC 2013 registration site. ;)

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 1 (Cagayan de Oro and Iligan) This is a...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:44:00 +0800

Mindanao Trip 2012 - Day 1 (Cagayan de Oro and Iligan)

This is a very late post already but our weekend vacation in Mindanao last year was just too good not to be blogged about! So here’s a documentation of what happened on the first day. :)

On the night of November 29, 2012, I, Mumu, and 8 friends boarded a boat for Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental. When we arrived there the next day, we had our breakfast at Jollibee across Xavier University, then we were fetched by the men from the The Red Rafts (the whitewater rafting company we chose).

I was full of excitement during the ride to the venue, and I’m pretty sure all the others were, too! We had a stopover at a cave where we took some pictures and proceeded to the venue. When we got to the place and were on our suits, I almost wanted to skip the orientation, but it was an essential part of the adventure, so I was listening intently to the instructor. There were several other groups, with adults and kids alike.

When the orientation was finally done, we rode on the raft and started the 4-hour ride! :D Since we were 10 in our group, we were divided into 2 smaller groups and were assigned a guide for each raft.

On our way, our guide would tell us stories about how the river was during the Typhoon Sendong. But sad facts aside (hehe), we were also instructed on how to overcome the rapids with different levels of difficulty. Of all the videos taken by The Red Rafts crew, here’s my favorite:

The moment I fell down the raft, my adventure was complete (good thing I wasn’t taken to one of the inpatient treatment centers out there)! Haha! Maneuvering through the rapids really gave me the adrenaline rush (and the high five always came afterwards). But lazy floating was also nice because it gave me time to appreciate the surroundings (the greens, the waters, the rocks). We were also given time to take a dip and enjoy the cold water.

We also did some exhibitions like standing up in the raft while going through the rapids, doing the Titanic move, etc. And we jumped off a boulder!

After 4 hours of rafting, though I didn’t want to stop, my stomach was already telling me that the Jollibee meal I ate during breakfast was.. wait, what meal? XD

We were all too happy to have been able to eat lunch after an exhausting but adventurous ride. After lunch, we traveled to our next destination — Iligan City, Lanao del Norte. We originally planned to go to Maria Cristina Falls but we were time-constrained, so we just dropped by the residence of one of our friends before going to a resort.

I guess I can call this day water-ful because as if the whitewater rafting wasn’t enough, we still went to Holiday Pool, Timoga to take a swim!

The water was really cold so I mostly stayed in one place. I also watched the boys playing cards (because I didn’t know how to play their game, hehe).

After maybe a few hours, we went back to our friend’s residence and stayed the night. :)

(Day 2: Tangub and Tukuran)
(Day 3: Mahayag)

{ Some photos by The Red Rafts }