Dad's (still) Incredible

To the man who taught me how to live fully and give generously. 

To tuck my shirt in properly and always dress appropriately. 

To wear jeans and wear our family name with pride. 

To value family and love our parents whole-heartedly.

To stand our ground and fight for what we believe in.

To be stern and strict and have a soft heart.

To be human and still be incredible.

To the best Dad in the world, Happy Father's Day!

We're incredibly blessed to have you.

First day, Hi!

Two classes this semester. Two exciting subjects to teach, both with a lot of potential to do relevant and creative work. Another 4 months of waking up uber early for an uber early class.

It's the first day of school for the 1st semester, SY 2013-2014.

Bring it on!

FMM: Water world

On our way to the office from a pre-production meeting, the rain continued to pour, causing massive traffic everywhere we looked. From Magallanes to C5, cars were almost at a standstill.

While water was pouring outside, and we were all sleepy inside the van, this song suddenly played on the radio:



Water outside, water inside. How providential. Harhar.

No free ride

The past few years, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the MRT gave away free rides during Independence Day. It happened last year, in 2008, in 2009, and I remember writing about the  pleasant experience.

Yesterday was Independence day, and I took an MRT ride from Shangri-La Plaza to Cubao. I thought there would be free rides just like the previous years, but no. There were no surprise freebies from our train system this year.

It must be some cost-cutting initiative.

Gender bender

On our way back to the office from a client meeting, one of my colleagues asked me:

"Sir Lester, since you always look like a walking lookbook, can you give me tips on how to shop and dress up so I look unique?"

It was a question that caught me unaware, primarily because I think of myself as plain, boring and unadventurous in terms of fashion. So, I don't think I belong in a lookbook, unless there's a "before and after" segment, and I'd be the "before."

But since she asked the question, and I'm obviously into shopping, I decided to give her a piece of advice that she probably doesn't hear a lot:

"When you go shopping, shop outside your gender."

As expected, she asked me what I meant when I said: "shop outside your gender." So, I explained to her that if she wants to look unique, she shouldn't limit herself to shopping in the women's section. After all, you can find equally interesting items in the men's section.

Here's a case in point:

I bought Ate Bullet this printed pair of pants from Express. The cut was skinny, and the print was almost leopard-like, rendered in red and black.

The moment I saw it, I knew that a plain black top would be the perfect foil for the pants. Also, the top should feel very relaxed and loose, since the pants are already very slim and structured. It called for a "boyfriend top," so I thought, buy something for the boys.

So, I bought this men's undershirt from Body Glove. It was made of very soft cotton, and had a nice slouch to it. The v-neck was higher than usual, and it frames the face well.

To give it a bit of a girly vibe, I just folded the sleeves. That gave it the right length and clipped a bit of the masculinity off of the shirt.

Putting those two pieces together resulted in this very Alexa Chung look which was laid-back yet chic.

And it's a look that's achieved because of thinking outside the clothes box and not limiting your choices to the women's department. 

Pillow talk

One thing I learned about myself while living abroad is that I can be very, very finicky when it comes to pillows.

It took long for me to find a flat to eventually rent and move into (3 months), but it took longer to find a pillow that I was comfortable with (around 4 months.)

During the pillow searching process, I went everywhere from Ikea to Tempur to Dunlopillo. I tried pillows of different materials, from goose to foam to memory foam, even the different contour pillows. Almost all of them didn't work, though. In fact, by the end of the process, there were about 16 pillows scattered all over the house.

Eventually, I found the right pillow. And when I moved back to Manila, I brought that pillow with me to pair with my existing "Manila pillows."

Now, the "Manila pillows" - or the pillows I've always used at home - are more than a decade old. They're hard and heavy pillows made of very firm fiber. My head is used to it, that's why I haven't discarded them despite the fact that they're obviously very old. As the adage goes: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

But last week, one of my clients gave me a pair of pillows as gifts. They were Uratex fiber soft pillows.

Visually, they looked very appealing. They were pristinely white, and they were almost bursting. The texture was very smooth, and it was on the hard side.

The pillows sat in my room for a few days, mainly because I was already happy with the "Manila pillows" and wasn't actually looking for a new one. Eventually, I gave them a try, and boy, I'm glad that I did.

It had the right combination of softness and firmness. Soft enough that your head sinks once you rest it on the surface, but firm enough for it to stop at a certain point and support the weight of your neck. My head felt cocooned in the pillow, which made it very restful.

Of course, the torture test is whether it was comfortable enough for a full night's sleep without interruptions. And it passed it with flying colors. I slept soundly all through the night, which is a rarity when I'm using a new pillow.

Now, I can give my pair of old pillows a rest. Yes, they'll still be there on the bed since I like sleeping with a lot of pillows. But there's a new pillow in town, and I'm sure they'll get along fine with the old pillows.

Ring my Isabel

Four words:

Isabel Marant for H&M!



Let the countdown begin!

Not so fast with that "publish" button

Or else, you might end up with something like this:

If you look closely, you'll see some marginal instructions from either the writer or the editor. The problem is, they published it before the notes were removed.

Yet another case for more proofreaders for on-line publications.

Charo In Style

While doing my weekly browsing through InStyle.com, a feature on "Game of Thrones" caught my attention.

It's Charo Ronquillo!

After seeing so many of the usual Caucasian, Latin and Chinese models, it's refreshing to see a Filipina face on their pages.

FMM: Let's Duet again!

During our shoot yesterday, the "DJ" played this "duet set" where all we heard were duets for more than an hour. Most of those duets were songs from the 70s and 80s which delighted the entire cast and crew.

There was one song that played wherein everyone let out a collective sigh and did a slow clap right after. It was a combination of appreciation that was so appropriate for the song.



Yup, the Stacy Lattisaw and Johnny Gill duet hasn't lost its magic.