Goodbye?... NOT

Earlier, I was drinking my milk chocolate drink Swiss Miss when I realized that the presumed end of the world is going to happen in less than two hours. After a moment of silence, I realized that I don't give a fuck. I mean, who does? The Mayans? Please, they're about to be the biggest joke on earth.

I don't even know why I am acknowledging this madness. It's ridiculous. Honestly, not one person I know believes in this crap. I would have been more scared of dying back in the year 2000 because that year made more sense in line with these groundless predictions.

Gangnam Style. Please, pop culture does not have any connection whatsoever with the maelstrom of physical and chemical chaos on the grounds of astrological phenomena. I didn't know what I just said but that's that, you get the point.

Another thing, it has been the 21st in New Zealand for hours now and as far as I'm concerned, my cousins there are still alive. They just posted statuses on Facebook.

That's all I can say for now. If the world doesn't end later (which will be the scenario), I will be updating this post.

Merry Christmas.

PS. I have tons of pending blog posts. Like, there are a zillion unfinished drafts in my post list because I am an insatiable freak who keeps running out of fitting words for what I want to express. Wow.

[Update]
It's already 1:20AM. Still here, alive and kicking. Aside from the oddly strong winds outside, the earth did not budge. Although I still feel dizzy and dying from too much coughing, so I think the world ending today wouldn't be a huge problem for me. Oh well, I guess I better start making my life sensible again. Crap.

Yiruma's Impromptu

I finally got myself a copy of my ultimate favorite pianist Yiruma's latest album, Stay in Memory. I have been a huge fan of Yiruma for so many years, since Kiss the Rain and River Flows in You, which are some of my all-time favorites.

As usual, listening to his beautifully made pieces just puts me in a very soulful slow-motion dream. They just captivate the wholeness of me, especially my favorite ones.

Speaking of favorites, my favorite track in this album (which I cannot stop listening to) is the 5th one, Impromptu. I have no idea why the track is called as such but I'm guessing this one's special. Perhaps Yiruma made it in a snap, spot-on, and it turned out just prefect.

The first time I heard the track, my heart melted. The first few notes made me fall in love instantly. It's a magical piece. It puts this positively melancholic tender burst of happiness not only into my ears but through my entirety. Although I already tried, words cannot express how I feel towards this song.

This will of course go to my favorite Yiruma tracks playlist and the replay button will definitely die an unending death.

12.09.12

From what I can remember, the whole family of my mum's eldest brother were anticipating the taking of the BAR exam of their 2nd child and eldest daughter. Before the exam, I saw a video of her broadcasting herself of some sort and I could distinctly remember her saying that she was going to take the said exam.

Apparently, upping a video of you in any online streaming site before the exam was out of line (that was weird because the exam wasn't anything related to public participation or anything for that matter). Then we saw a huge sign of her name in front of the school saying "this student attempted to broadcast herself... therefore disqualifying her from taking the BAR exam." Her family was devastated. There was even this image of her being arrested by the cops. I thought they were narcs.

In the later part, I was at home and I found my PSP lying around. Since I wasn't able to play that in years, I tried downloading these PSP games from the internet (i.e Beats, some RPG games I forgot the names of). By the way, the monitor of my PC was not LCD yet, it was still CRT. Classic.

Suddenly, I was already in a convenience store owned by a cousin of mine, the daughter of my dad's first cousin. As far as I was concerned, she was a blogger. Although in my dream she was a cashier in her store which had RTWs, footwear, and of course, convenience store products, I had this assumption that she was making a blog post since she was in the computer, busy.

By the way, her store was located somewhere else other than the Philippines.

I was in one corner of her store, busy with my own computer thingamajig. There was a sliding window nearby and this guy, who I thought was one of our drivers, opened the window and said something to me. I was surprised he was there because well, I was in a place far away from where he could incidentally be. We did a special handshake or something.

A few moments later, my cousin and I were engaged in a fun conversation with a few guys inside their store when this awkwardly weird guy came inside. We fell in silence watching him and figured he was a criminal. He slowly went up to the store goods, took some and left without paying. I guess we were all agitated and scared to stop him, so we didn't. There were discontinued or prevented attempts, though. My cousin had two cash registers. The other one was in a seemingly unnoticeable area.

Then I woke up.

Do the Opposite

I just had a long superfluous chat with my friends earlier about things happening as young adults, if you know what I mean. When I checked the fridge for something to scoff up before bedtime, this random thought popped into my mind.

I found a Double Overload (Double Dutch & Rocky Road) ice cream in the freezer. That was one of my favorite sorbet flavors. I knew that eating that ninety-nine was a mistake because I had a cough. As far as I was taught, eating or drinking cold stuff when your throat is not in a good condition will just make it worse.

While I was consuming the ice cream, ironic things were running through my mind. First, it reminded me of people in the past that I have heard saying you have to fight the things which your physique considers to be enemies. Like for instance, you have allergies with nuts. In order to fight off the allergy, all you have to do is to eat as much nuts as you can until your body allows itself to become immune to it.

Perhaps I was just thinking that because I was being rational about eating ice cream whilst having a bad throat. Also, I think that that was a terrible comparison since fighting off allergies and making a minor illness worse are two immensely different situations.

On that note, I realized that despite the logical philosophy of making yourself immune from things that aren't necessarily in agreement with your nature, what I should do is just to prevent it. I should do the opposite. I shouldn't make it worse. I think that'll be much better.

But towards that conclusion of my realization, I found myself having the last scoop of the ice cream.

Instaloco

Yes, Instagram. But for the record, I rarely post food. It's mostly about my poor face. If you are tolerant towards pathetic vanity, follow me. Hahaha! If you want to see my profile on your computer, follow this link. If you have Instagram on your iPhone, Android, or any other mobile OS that entertains the app, follow me: juliusrenz89.

In a world today where genuine photography skills are sacrificed or undermined because of the world's most famous mobile-only photo social networking platform Instagram, I wouldn't mind being in it. However, I myself am a photography enthusiast (the real thing, by the way) and I am kinda eyebrows-raised towards people who think they have a shot on art just because they have filtered low quality photos on Instagram. But whatever, not my life.

I also put up my own photography account. The username is juliofotografia. I hope you can follow that as well because it's new. There, I upload photos that I have by far took since I started photography a few years ago up until today (only the ones I consider good shots).

iTunes 11 Fail

I knew there was a reason behind why I kept ignoring the iTunes update notification. My gut was subconsciously telling me that the new version would suck. Fine, the interface is great but that's useless if you can't use the software conveniently.

I am very upset about my iTunes right now. Why? Simply because it doesn't let me search media on my device via the search bar (which supposedly is its major purpose). It only searches the library and the iTunes store, NOT your own device. Rather stupid, ain't it?

Dear Apple, have you really thought this update through? I'm beginning to believe that you only want to show the world you are able to release frequent updates that's why you have this but sadly, the efficiency of your services are being taken for granted. Love, a concerned, annoyed, and extremely disappointed consumer.

See, every time I use my computer to play songs on my Apple devices, I always use the search bar to get to the song that I want to play. Now, not being able to do that would be fine if all my devices only had a few songs in them (which would be dumb, really). But no, like for instance my iPod Classic where I put ALL of my songs from all eternity, that thing has over 6,000 songs in it. How the fuck am I supposed to easily browse through all of those if I can't just type a keyword? Tell me a good solution for that Apple and I'll let this slip.

I desperately hope you realize this huge mistake and release a new version soon acknowledging this failure. Fortunately, this is free so it's highly impractical for me to go to the extent of suing you, coincidentally giving Samsung a favor. Oh yes, I mentioned your archenemy. By the way, it's Korean. I love Koreans.

You can argue with me all day bickering about your point but I'm afraid that's gonna be stalemate because there is no way in hell I'm gonna get my ass beat up by your shitty excuses.

Earth calling to the brilliant Apple software developers who just proved themselves to be dumbasses by this time (no offense). If you, by any meager chance be able to read this post, I would really appreciate it if you'd do something about this. I wouldn't have done this if your products were cheap. Thank you.

PS. I still have my iTunes 10 point something installer. I'm gonna uninstall this current crap and have that installed again. I strongly hope it works because if not, I will have you know that my rage for you will worsen.

[12.20.12 Update]
The Apple software developers have read my post (I think) and in the recent iTunes version release, they acknowledged this downfall. I can now search my devices' contents using the search bar (although not entirely - the albums list does not narrow down to what I search for, but that's fine I think I'll be able to deal with that for now).

Thank you.

Gong Chaaaaa

I have yet again discovered something I love - Gong Cha Milk Tea, particularly Winter Melon. Well, I actually wouldn't have discovered this if not for my cousin who introduced it to me and who knew I would love it.

Before anything else, let me just say that I am not a huge fan of teas. It's not my cup of tea. Hahaha! Get the joke? You get it.

Anyways, yeah, I don't drink tea nor coffee. I have no idea why. Well for coffees, I basically don't like the taste they leave in the mouth. That's discomforting for me especially if I can't brush my teeth right after drinking. As for teas, I don't know. Maybe I just wasn't used to drinking them.

Anyways, while my cousin and I were in this fairly huge mall, she suddenly suggested I try this certain milk tea in Gong Cha. I agreed primarily because she said I was gonna love it and it was milk. I love milk.

When we reached the place, my cousin didn't let me go inside the store just yet. She insisted on buying for me and that it was supposed to be a surprise. I then waited and sat by an empty table outside the store looking very much like an educated homeless. When she got the order, she finally let me in and gave me a very tall drink. The top part was like frappe and beneath it was colored liquid. Apparently, before really indulging to it, there's a process of savoring this unnecessarily costly milk tea. The instructions are all over their store glass walls so you can't miss it.

It's really good. In my opinion, at least. I loved it probably because it was melon. I love almost everything melon flavored. I can't get enough of melon drinks. I love fresh melon juice, Pokka melon milk, melon shakes like Zagu, and a whole other bunch of melon-ness.

They have other great beverages which I most probably won't order in the future because I'll be stuck having Winter Melon. Every chance counts.

PS. Gong Cha did not pay me for writing this post. Lol. I wish they did, though.

Ribena

I could still recall the intense delight I felt the first time I tasted this drink. It was an orgasmic whirl of extreme tastiness. In fact, I forgot my name at that very moment.

Ribena is a British brand of fruit-based uncarbonated softdrink. Strange as it may seem, I have never come across this drink in the Philippines. I had my first Ribena drink while I was in Hong Kong when my cousin introduced it to me who encountered it first in Malaysia. She said I'd die. I did.

My cousin told me that they don't sell these in the Philippines. However, sometime ago, I have read an article somewhere that the Ribena products in the Singapore market are from Malaysia and the Philippines. But obviously, I haven't seen any.

I didn't grow up being used to blackcurrant flavors so I'm guessing that's the reason I loved it so much. Meanwhile, I accidentally bought a ridiculously expensive juice drink in a fancy bottle at Starbucks that I forgot what the name was, and if I am not mistaken, that was also blackcurrant flavored because I liked it despite the apparent blandness.

My Second Ink 10.23.12

It's almost been a year since I got my first tattoo and right after then, I have always wanted more. This is a ridiculous thought but I don't think I will ever stop getting these body arts unless half my entire bag of bones is already covered with it. Cocky.

Having good tattoos is a luxury mainly because it can be very costly. And with good, I mean getting it in a quality tattoo parlor, with professional tattoo artists, and which are certified by the government health department to be clean and safe. With these two small tattoos alone, I have already spent about five thousand pesos. How much more if I decide covering my whole back?

When I was younger, I always felt bleak towards the idea of having tattoos. I was literally scared of them, let alone people who have massive amounts printed all over their bodies. I always said to myself that I won't be putting dirt to my good skin. But as I grew up, I realized how it meant to different individuals being inked. People do change.

Despite the fact that I crave getting needle carved, I was not entirely reminded to have another tattoo until I realized I was in Galleria where Gene Testa Tattoo was located. I actually went there to have a date with a close friend when suddenly, amid our random chat and out of an unplanned spur, "Come with me, I'm getting another tattoo," I calmly said. Then just a few floors away, we went there, me being unsure of what was happening.

When the tattoo artist asked me what I was getting, I didn't actually know what to say (that's a good enthusiast right there, doesn't have a clue what to get on session time). However, back when I got my first one which was Korean, I immediately thought of having Japanese the next time. So I did. This one was a lot more painful than my first primarily because it had fills and for crying out loud, the tattoo artist gave it a second coating. The skin where it is situated has become a mild keloid. I love it.

The funny thing was, I actually wanted it to be three Kanji symbols - Love, Money, and Happiness. These three words were the result of a random out-of-boredom game posted on Facebook. Arranged in a crossword-like style, the first three words that one will see are the three things they want in life. Those three words were the ones I got. It actually made sense for me perhaps because it's true that I want and need those three things to stay in my life. But unfortunately, I decided on getting the Love one for the meantime because my mom, who loves me very dearly, might not recognize me anymore.

Another funny thing was, the day after was Big Bang's concert and I had a fresh tattoo. I have no idea how I was able to deal with that. I guess I was distracted enough by the sheer excitement.

Apparently, Gaara from Naruto and I share the same tattoo, only that his is red and located on the forehead. I was like, "Shit, you're right" when a friend pointed that out to me.

As soon as I get the unnecessary funds, my whole body will hold a tattoo festival. Teehee.

The Thai Billionaire

This is again one of those interesting moments when I discover amusingly surprising things. See, I was browsing through random movie titles from 2011 when this movie called "Top Secret" caught my attention. I noticed that it was a Thai film and since I got a little curious, I did a quick research about it.

When I read the synopsis and found out that it was based on a true story, I immediately knew what it was about.

Very much like our own Filipino billionaire Henry Sy, Top Ittipat also struggled in life and sought ways to make things better for him and his family. At a young age, he ventured into small businesses selling snack foods. At age 19, he obtained his financial success by selling seaweed snacks which became a top-seller in Thailand. Now, Top is a 26-year-old billionaire.

Going back to my surprised self, coincidentally, my all-time favorite snack is the very seaweed snack that this young Thai businessman created.

When I encountered this junk food in some supermarket in some mall in Manila, I thought it was Japanese-made since Kanji were written all over it and it was made of seaweed which Japanese people are so fond of including in just about anything. You get the logic.

But then I thought, "Tao Kae Noi" doesn't sound Japanese at all. Then when I read the text at the back, Product of Thailand. I was like, "Oh heeey. Western Digital external hard drives are yours and now this? Oh heeey."

I bought one to try thinking it'll be good since I myself have always loved seaweeds in Japanese rice rolls, ramen, among other things. Alas, I was not mistaken. From then on, if I had the chance to, I always bought as many as my poor wallet allowed. My friends know this. It's not cheap at all, by the way.

My Lion King, The Musical Experience

When Laila, one of my bestfriends and I went to Singapore for vacation, we had the chance to watch a real live musical of The Lion King. Even before we got into the country, ate Jaren, Laila's cousin already told us that we will be watching it. I almost died of joy.

The Lion King was one of my best childhood movies, if not the most memorable. Even as a child, I was deeply moved by the film. Having able to watch it live was an amazing experience.

Held at one of the theaters of the internationally acclaimed Singapore landmark and tourist destination Marina Bay Sands, we had to, at least dress appropriately. All kinds of races from around the world were there and everything was just so posh at the event venue, nothing like any production the Philippines can ever afford at this time. Hehe.

At the start of the musical, I was already wonderstruck. I found myself running out of small breaths mainly because I was extremely overwhelmed. I then kept my cool as I tried to keep up with the breathtaking moment. Towards the end of the musical introduction, I caught myself letting go small amount of tears. I couldn't help but tell ate Jaren how thankful I was for the opportunity.

Every other unnecessary feeling I had at that moment voluntarily shut down to keep my focus as I savored the majestic moment. I almost did not wink the entire show just to be able to convince myself that everything was perfectly absorbed.

Before this, I also got to watch a Lion King musical in Disneyland but that was more of a fun and child-oriented kind of show. The production and performance were also world-class but it was a part of the park amusement so it was brief and less given importance. Unlike this one in Singapore which was kind of an independent production that's why it was a lot longer and way better.

When the show ended, I felt contentment and happiness fusing together inside my guts. I realized that even I was a musical or a theatrical play fan, some productions like this one can really make you feel entirely different from what you've already experienced or from what you're already expecting.

The Mating

One easy afternoon sometime ago, I decided to have a quick look around our backyard garden. Usually, these are the times when I encounter great subjects for stills so I was hoping for one.

Then to my surprise, I found these little creatures getting comfortable by an oak log among the green vines and whatnot. As far as my quick research was concerned, these are called Eastern Boxelder Bugs. They don't do any real harm other than they're a nuisance and can be annoying if they invade your home. But they haven't gotten to that extent for me yet.

While I was trying to take my shots, I was very careful not to disturb their activity. I rarely encounter mating insects which are fixed in one place so this was a vital shot for me. I took a couple and this was one of my best.

11.23.12

The setting was my elementary school. In the early part, during day time, there were classes being held and one of them had a very aggressive teacher madly teaching her pupils. I wasn't sure if they were pupils or students. There were some kind of activities held at the school grounds.

I was with my friends and we were by the flagpole, doing whatever. I then saw my college professor, Mr. Talde. Surprised, I walked up to him and had a small talk about how it was after college. Even in my dreams, he enjoyed brief chats like those. He also mentioned something about phones. In that talk, Mr. Talde did something that I cannot mention in this post, if you know what I mean.

Towards the evening, the school rooms turned into transient rent rooms. I remember a group of people which were checked in room 105. Unfortunately, they were having a hard time falling asleep there because the room was reportedly "haunted." I even gave the room a peek and indeed, it gave me the creeps albeit nothing strange was seen. They then transferred to a different room and it was the one we used when we were in 6th grade.

In an entirely different dream of mine later on, my house was being attacked by a burglar. But it was no ordinary burglary. The criminal was dressed in a Batman costume, but a very poorly made one, suggesting that it was made by a non-professional costume maker. The perpetrator kept running around the house, apparently avoiding being caught. I wasn't even aware which household items he was able to snag.

Just moments before I woke up, evil kids were around my house and they were attacking us from the outside. I got really mad so I got my airsoft gun and shot them like I was some expert assassin. After the kids realized they were no match for me, they left. However, to my discontent, I went outside and tried shooting them more.

Then I woke up.

Cibo Series: Kimchi

Kimchi is the national food of Korea. Before I even got into K-Pop or be interested about Korea, I have already encountered Kimchi. I think that was in my early teens while I was in Manila and I saw my cousin eating some then I was like, "What the heck is that?"

At first, this dish and I had a rough start because come on, it's cold vegetable and the flavor was entirely new to me. But as a leafy vegetable lover, I have grown to love Kimchi because it is made of radish, cabbages, and other similar things. I also am a spicy food enthusiast that's why the flavor and I eventually became friends.

I have seen many Korean films and soaps that feature how Kimchi is made, among other stuff that it is useful for. You can really see how Koreans give great importance to it not only as a national dish but also as pride of their nation.

11.20.12

There were images of the inside of an unfinished and a seemingly abandoned building. There was somebody staying in one corner of the room I was in. He looked homeless. I was there, trying to explore the building. It was barely half-finished. The walls were still hollow blocks, thick cables for foundation were still all over the place, some protruding from concrete supports and the floor was grey sand. In fact, everything was grey.

In the later part, I was with my close friends in the mall. They had blonde-ish hair but they looked like wigs and mine stayed as it was. The next scene was all of us sitting in resto-bar while chatting and enjoying some finger food. Oddly enough, their blonde hair were gone and how they all looked turned normal again. This area of the mall was like a bar chain and was, if I recall correctly, Persian inspired. The middle part of the building was styled like other typical malls which has space and other floors can be seen by the edges. The roof was glass, I think different kinds of stained glass. After the chat and the bill came, I had to pay about Php4,500. Then I found out they ordered lots of beer without my consent. I sent them a text saying thanks but in a sarcastic manner.

I think the mall and the unfinished building were a merged structure.

During the last part, I was with my bestfriend Laila in a condo room and we were high up the stories as we can see the fireworks being shown by an amusement park, I think it was Universal Studios. I took shots of the fireworks and they were amazing, as in reality I cannot take good pictures of it. I was also making fun of Laila's iPhone casing which was Hello Kitty and nicely shaped like one, too.

Then I woke up.