Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Insert Japan dose here! ^_^

Japanese special today...

Fashion

Check out the varying fashion styles from two of the most popular places in Tokyo. Although I must say, I'm not a fan of the yamamba girls in Shibuya. I don't mind the outfit but just her skin looks too manufactured.



Shibuya



Harajuku



For the ladies, check out Japanese influenced clothing from online store AsiaJam. And for both guys and gurls, hit up JapanSugoi for assorted Japanese culture in various parts of Tokyo.

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Rika Ishikawa

This girl is so kawaii (cute) and I've been loving her to bits for a while now. I used to call her hot, sexay, cute Japstar back then when I didn't know her name.

See her below in an English lesson segment (name is Rika chan, she's the one wearing the white top and jean shorts) on the popular TV show, Morning Musume. Shes sooooo kyoote!!




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Tokyo at nite

Now I love shots of a city's skyline especially at night time. Here are a couple of Tokyo in the late evening. It looks busy and cluttered but to me it looks so calm and peaceful.

This year Pogi will visit there. This year I hope, if there are no complications. :)



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Food

Now how could I make another post of Japan without including a feature on food? NEVER! :) food is as much a part of me as I am a part of it.

My favourite Japanese restaurant in Sydney would have to be Rengaya. I was introduced to this restaurant back when I was in highschool and it's been one of my favourite eating spots ever since.



And who would have thought I'd be working in North Sydney (where Rengaya is situated) and be situated within a few minutes walk of the restaurant? :) Is it fate? Can one meet destiny with food? Pogi obviously can. XD

Luckily, work also encourage client meetings at this restaurant, which I usually run up and volunteer for, but the only issue is that the restaurant is rather strict on reservation times. They once asked us to leave because the company we were with were getting rowdy in one of the "private rooms", and another because we exceeded the time we spent there. :/

Rengaya's specialises in yakiniku, (焼き肉 or 焼肉), meaning "grilled meat" in Japanese, which refers to simply grilling Japanese serving sized beef (my fav is wagyu). Not only is it fun to cook your own meat but the meat itself is de-freakin'-licious.

Wagyu beef is premium cow beef that has been nutured specifically for use in Japanese cuisines.

It looks like your typical beef cut but when it enters your mouth and goes through the process of mastacation it is scrumptious. It not only melts in your mouth but the flavour and texture is orgasmic.

I once took a bite whilst I was standing up and it made me weak at the knees. XD

There are plenty of other popular Japanese restaurants in Sydney such as Masuya (specialises in seafood) and Makoto (sushi), but Rengaya is the place for beef. Even some of my friends who have been to or came from Japan say that Rengaya's wagyu beef is better, if not, comes close to the standard in Japan.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Team building + Pogi zombie + Fashion + Sport + SNES

Whoa, what a long weekend that was. 4 hr drive down from Sydney. Over 500km in total. Heh. Sounds like something the host from The Amazing Race would say.

I'm sitting here at my desk at work with relief that I am at work and not running around chasing kids.

You heard it. Pogi was "Uncle Pogi" last weekend. Which I should take in offence considering I am 22, and that is rather young for an uncle. XD

Somehow I think this weekend was a way for parents to "offload" their kids to their work colleagues who did NOT have kids.

Work mate Gary let his kids drive me crazy, Clarissa who asked a zillion questions about anything and everything then ended it with
'Blistering barnacles!' or 'Thundering typhoons!', which is a Captain Haddock (Tintin - Herge) quote. How cute.


Sean kept me busy always wanting to play soccer (football), gridiron (American football) and tennis. Suddenly I regret bringing these toys for them. :p

Here is a pic of them playing with bubbles.


We stayed at a lodge right next to a private beach with a jetty. Completely furnished with plenty of room for everyone. It was a palais, tranquill and very relaxing. Paradise from busy Sydney. But I do miss the busy city life. I prefer being busy, because I like to feel occupied in accomplishing a task.

Here is a view from the rear deck of the home.




I was on cooking duty, the day after we arrived (Saturday morning), so that, means breakfast. Luckily we went grocery shopping the previous day and I bought a heap for breakfast.

Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a piccy of the food I prepared, but let me entice you with some food porn descriptions. XD

I made fluffy pancakes with warm maple syrup, crunchy french toast topped off with powdered sugar, fried hotdogs with fried eggs (runny egg yolk) and two different kinds of corned beef (request by Gary). It may seem a lot but I like variety at meals plus more is always good.

Please note: I did not once use any non-fat ingredients. ALL FAT BABY!!!

The others on cooking duty made bbq chicken, pasta, chicken wraps, beef curry (Malay style), and chicken garlic (Malay style) which were all very tasty.

Here is a pic of me and Dario (Flavio's eldest son) at Bateman's Bay when we stopped for groceries.


Piccy of the fog in Wollongong on the way down.

Stingray that I caught.

Don't worry, we plucked the hook out and let it go.

I'm a fan of fishing but not a fan of when crazie people, ala Richard, drives one. Here is the boat we used.


On my way home, avoiding the traffic in Nowra and Dunmore, I passed this.


It only applies to Prison Break (TV show) fans.

Hotties status: Sorry no hotties, because I was with work people, which means, pretty much everyone is married, or is coupled.

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Fashion

Dior Homme denim.

These are premium denim in the pieces of 19 cms Japanese style cuts, raw used denim, orange over dyes and new dust wash jeans, pretty much just distressed and washed denims.

But what Dior Homme specialise in is the fit. These are mainly straight rise but are incorrectly associated with Levi's anti-fit style.

Now I don't have a pair myself, aM@$!J# R%T#@JRJ @, but I will sure have one seeing how great they sit on
Hedi Slimane in the pic below.


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Titans whooped some ass last night again, against the Rippers, 63-33. wham!! Pogi killed it big with rebounds, assists and blocks. But only 1 basket, from 2 attempts.

I didn't have the energy but I wanted to play sport, especially after all the tennis I watched over the weekend, plus the NBL game of the week, Brisbane Bullets vs West Sydney Razorbacks.

Meanwhile, last night in tennis, Roger Federer (Switzerland) has one the Australian Open again for the 3rd time (I think?) running. Even though it was a win from straight sets over Fernando Gonzales (Chile), 7-6 6-4 6-4, it was a high quality match with power, finesse and entertainment.


Roger with his trophy.


The underdog Fernando Gonzales, whom my female friends have all fallen in love with since his spark in the limelight. They totally forgot Rafael Nadal. XD


And to poke fun at Roger, here he is in a rather unflattering picture.


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SNES console

I want one of these. I have 2 but need 1 more for another room.


*prays for the SNES*

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Happy Birthday Sis! + Australia Day + First pay check + Fashion

Well it's two days late in this post but I did celebrate it.......
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HAPPY Birthday Ate!!

Note: Ate means sister in a respectful context for Tagalog Filipinos. And she is 25 today. HARahr har h.

Here is a luvo pic I took in the bathroom just before we headed out for dindins....I've got my serious game face on with my fat nose. I have the same shirt but in a blue coloured style. I prefer this orange/brown one though.

We ate at Vietnamese restaurant, I had combination with rice and ginger and shallots sauce...topics for the dinner included me possibly moving out and buying an apartment. *prays for lotto* or I have to work my ass off. :/


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Australia Day - 26th January

Happy Australia day tomorrow!


Australia day is a day where we be become even more Australian (i.e. bbq parties, beaches, sport, alcohol and generally having a great time with family and friends). Alcohol (bad!!) brings people together. XD

I'll be spending mine with workmates for a team building weekend out at the 7 mile beach. I'm a mimbo (male bimbo) with directions so I can't describe it very well, I hope the pic below explains it well enough.



The company has rented a holiday house near the beach where we'll "gel" with eachother, share experiences, sit back, eat bbq'ed food and drink bottles of wine from the Hunter.

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First pay check

Does anyone remember the first thing they bought with their first ever pay check?

I remember I was in grade 10, had our mandatory work experience period, and I was working at QFCL (Qantas Flight Catering Ltd) as an office clerk. Even though we weren't supposed to be paid anything during that period, my kind boss, Mr Richard Durr, gave me $250 for my help in the week.

I was over the moon because it was the first real money that I earnt myself.

So what does a boy do with money they just recently become in possession of?

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SPEND IT!!

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I went shopping straight away and bought this at a City GPC store.....



It's a fitted Levi's Engineered jacket that look soooooo fiiiinnneee. I have a love for Levi's wear, because not only does the fit feel great, the wash is awesome, and it just looks so damn good.

Later that night, I was scolded by my Dad about the importance of money, how hard it is to earn money, why I should save, etc. This lasted for about 2-3 hrs, then the next day, the same lecture but instead for only 1 hr.

*sigh*

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Fashion

Imperial denim
im-'pir-E-&l, de-n&m

a range made in Melbourne, using japanese denim, the feature is in the construction which makes imperials a pioneer in the market, the entire piece is stitched back and the selvedge runs all the way to the waistband basically which boasts quality quality quality!! And sexay sexay sexay, RAWR! ;D

Piccies below:


Does denim turn you on?

These can be purchased here in Sydney at a store called another" (another inch).

13 Burton st, Darlinghurst. Add that to your favourites POIs on your GPS sat nav system.

Check out this kewl tee they also have! Urban TF? :p


Diesel.com

In a marketing stunt, Diesel has been "hacked" by two ladies who are demanding that Diesel allows them to become underwear models or they will "torture" their hostage (poor guy XD). The hackers/kidnappers/underwear models are also keeping a blog of their activities and are chatting online live right now.

God I wish I was that poor bloke. :)





Song of the moment: Nas - I Got Love

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Coffee bitch + Coffee porn + tennis + fashion

My bitch for the for the week, or just for today:

I like my coffee sweet, very sweet. Now I don't mind coffee makers making a fuss about it but a lady this morning did. Red mango in Greenwood plaza, I ask for a mocha chocolate grande with 6 sugars, and she exclaimed with much surprise:
'Six?' I said, 'yes, six'. I didn't mind her reconfirming but she said it loudly and made it sound sarcastic, which I did not appreciate.

Then she made the comment:
'Someone's gonna be hyper this morning.' To which I replied, 'I like my coffee sweet.' And I gave her my best evil eye.

Here's a shot of the size of the coffee, which is pretty large, hence the amount of sugar.



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Coffee porn

Baristas are bartenders who specialise in the coffee art or rosetta. And as you can see it looks very sexay, I say, porn-ish.

Presentation is everything for baristas and the different forms of art they design is just amazing. Check these out....cute aye?



How to:



Maybe one day I'll learn to make similar designs, but hell, I doubt I'll be bothered to do so, I always like someone else making the effort for me. :)

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It's Summer, no, not Summer from the O.C., althought I'd like it to be, but summer the season. The great thing about Summer and New Years in Australia is TENNIS!!

I am an avid tennis fan and been playing since grade 8. I've won several championships in my district over the time but now only play socially.

I love the Hopman cup and plan to watch it one day in Perth, and at the moment, the Aussie Open is on. How exciting. It is however taking a beating on my sleeping habits because the night games end past midnight, and I wake up around 5.30am-6am to prepare for work. But it is totally worth it, even if I do sleep and drool on the morning commute.

Watching tennis players with great skill such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova can only be appreciated with complete awe. Their dominance on the court is out of this world and the entertainment level sky rockets.

It has inspired me to return to my game, as I've been out of practice for over a year, due to injury.


Time to pull out my Babolat Roddick (he uses a different model now) racquet from the dusty shelves of my wardrobe. With my TMNT quit in the background. hehe


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Fashion

Monday work wear:

Top: Lilac Van Heusen long sleeve from DJs, navy/purple Van Heusen tie from DJs, black suit from RDX.

Bottom: black belt (karate!) Dickies from USA and black Julius Marlow shoes.


Is it just me or is my posture making me look like a fatty? :/

Tuesday work wear:

Top: RL longsleeve from USA.

Bottom: Esprit black with brown pinstripes slacks from DJs, black Dickies belt from USA. Missed the shoes in the shot but they're Florsheims.


Sunday, January 21, 2007

B'days + Clubbing + Bball

Yay for work on Fridays, because at my workplace it doesn't really mean much work. :)

Lunch time, work colleague Flavio was raving about this tightass lunchies place near work at a place called Station Hotel. $8 steaks! I had the sir loin with black pepper sauce and chips. Very yummy. Not bad for $8 but the catch is that they charge you like $3.50 for a drink, my small glass of lemonade was overpriced but no biggie.

Had one more hour in my lunch period so we spent the remainder of it fragging (geek speak for killing) eachother in Unreal Tournament 2k3. I won ofcourse because of my awesome hand coordination. I love hearing Richard, another work colleague, cursing and slamming on his keyboard and mouse when I kill him. XD



Now Friday was when, as a family, we celebrated my sister's birthday, her's is actually on the 23rd (Michael Jordan's Bball jersey number, also LeBron's). I met them at my mom's Singapore Airlines office and then proceeded to go home, to change, then drive back out to eat at Sydney Madang's restaurant for a late dinner.

It's a Korean BBQ place. Other than it being a 40 degree day (celcius, slight exaggeration), and barbequeing, the entire dinner was great, I had my usual pork belly strips and pork meat, then tried their eel, I can't eat it. Everytime I think of eel, I think of the uglee, gross looking ones from the Little Mermaid.


Knowing that Eric's b'day is also on tonite at Verandah bar, I bid my family fare well and proceeded to meet Bao, fattyboomstick, at Verandah.

I changed into this for Friday nite:

Disclaimer: ignore my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles quilt, it's my childhood memories and Ninjas are kewl, therefore Ninja Turtles are ze best!

Top: white Dickies singlet from USA, white Puritan singlet from the Philippines, white Ralph Lauren Polo from USA,

Bottoms: black CK denims from Sydney, can't see it in the photo but under the jeans is a sky blue Samuel and Kevin belt from Singapore.


Shoes: And for my shoes, I chose my white canvas Umbro pair from Singapore. Later that night, I spilt some melted cheese on it. :/



Regulars: wooden feather token necklace with replaced leather necklace, silver necklace with tv show Charmed token, TAG watch and gold ring.

Saturday was another maniac crazie day, I drove to Centennial Park for Maria's (work colleague) b'day. She's Indonesian and she prepared a helluva lot of Indo food that I had no idea about. Now I'm not much of a chilli fan, so I needed help on identifying which dishes served were chilli/spicy or not. I'm a wuss. I still found their non-spicy food spicy. :/

I hope she likes the silver JAG earrings I got for her. Actually, I know she will like em. :)

Now taking from Seinfeld in the chocolate babka episode, at any "adult" social situation held at a meeting place, one should bring a food or drink item. How awesome to learn from Seinfeld. Don't hate! I learn a lot from Seinfeld, like Jujyfruits, Junior mints, etc.

I ended up bringing a passionfruit cheesecake from the Cheesecake shop. One of my classic favourite cheesecakes. Perfect combo of sweetness and cheeseness.

Later that night I failed to make it to Gibb's set at the Art House, due to a nap turning into a 12 hr sleep. :/ But from what I hear, he had a great set, props to Gibson. Now whether to go to Lupe Fiasco's this Tuesday? hhmmmmmz. Pretty cheap for $40-50 bux though.

Titan's this Sunday whooped some Filo ass once again! Titans toppled Fil-In with a 58-50 win, considering we started 8 points down because we were late. >_< And finally, part of my Sunday unwind, the newspaper! My favourite is to read the comics. Comics are for adults too!

Here's a good Garfield one. Enjoy!



From a convo with Bao tonite:

Bao: man i cant believe i hadnt seen u in so long
Bao: forgot how tall u was
Pogi: i forgot how fat you were.

>_<>

Monday, January 15, 2007

Lostie [-_-]

I lose things. Don't know why I'm cursed this way but I'm very prone to losing things.

Let me remember which memorable items I lost.....
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My dad's college ring - this was a pure gold college ring he received when he graduated back in the Philippines. I was wearing it at school and took it off temporarily in class because jewellery such as rings were prohibited. After class I checked my pockets and it was missing. Went back to the classroom and it was nowhere to be found. It was Thursday (our sport day). I've avoided the topic with my dad ever since and have yet to own up to it. :/

My wallet - gee, how many times have I lost this? 5 times during highschool? it was such a pain to cancel all my debit cards and reapply for my school ID, train pass, etc. Plus my coupon cards that got me free subs or slurpees. But this does not compare to the scolding I received from my parents. It was so severe that at one point, my parents would not let me take my wallet with me when I was out, on the rare occasion when they do, I had to keep it in my front pocket (how uncomfortable) than where I prefer it, my back pocket.

My Samsung Digimax camera - after meeting up with friends to Krispy Kremes in Orange Grove, I left it at the tables outside, headed off and drove for 30 secs, noticed it was missing, drove back and it was gone. @R(AR #R*#Q $(QR$ #QDJAED SA#@$! #@*. That camera had photos of when my cousin Mark was here, visiting from Canada, all was lost. :( Some bastard/bitch thief out there has my camera and photos of my friends and family, who in particular I feel terrible about.

My Diadora tennis sweater - my beloved, lucky tennis sweater. This was the first item that I lost whilst overseas. I was in Bellingham with family at a camp site. Was freezing cold that night and drank a bit so I wasn't alert. I scuffled to the shared men's shower area and proceeded to get ready. As soon as I was done I walked out, only to realise a few hours later, after we've left the camp site, and inconveniencing my cousins in the car, that I'm missing my sweater. I retraced my steps and we thought it'd be in the showers. The camp site dude would not let us enter the site anymore, so they asked one of their staff to check the men's showers, no dice, no sweater, no tennis luck. I won one championship, and came runners up once in SDTA (Southern Districts Tennis Association) with that sweater. What a shame. I loved that sweater.

Hate Pogi yet for being retarded? >_< Titans (our basketball team) had their first game since the holiday break last night.

We lost 38-60 to a team called Tribal, unfortunately we were undermanned with only 5 players in total, the others were unavailable, injured or overseas.

My knee (considering I have torn my ligament and cartilage) surprisingly held up, but without regular exercise I was panting the whole game, felt like I was going to throw up. Pogi needs to exercise more the lazy fatty. But I made several some really kewl Rukawa (Slam Dunk!) styled plays, dribbled into the key and made a fadeaway, then made a killer half court assist, grabbed some rebounds from taller opposition players and broke some ankles including to get to the basket.

Below is an old pic of me in my bball uniform with my game face on, har har har, and my attempted short Korean/Taiwanese hair cut. :) luvo?


Oh and a shout out to Maria!! Happy Birthday bub! We had great fun at Skygarden, hope you like your pressie, lemme borrow!

Also Happy Birthdays to Henz and Nina as well. We don't get old, only older. XD

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Happy New Year! + I'm back

Happy New Year! ^_^

What a way to bring in the NY, I saw short glimpses of the
fireworks in Sydney online. I spent mine in Manila and it was crazytown. Non stop fireworks/firecrackers, partying, drinking, eating, and no sleeping! There was no break at all on NYs day, I couldn't even catch a short nap. >_<

Two words: Shopping and food.

Here is food, and further below is shopping....



That is all I did in Asia. That is all where my monies went to. Now Pogi is poor and has to work his butt off to make up for the Amex bill. :/

I also was able to "field test" the newest mall in Manila, the
Mall of Asia. Third largest shopping mall in the World. Yes, third!! It is fate for Pogi. ^_*


disclaimer: 600 stores, 150 restaurants, never enough time to get through each store.

It honestly took me 3 days to go through the whole mall, this includes drinks and food breaks, getting lost, watching the events, girl scouting and regular rest periods. Thanks to my driver, I didn't have to travel back to the car and drop of my shopping bags.

I spent other days either shopping at Glorietta, Mega Mall and Greenbelt. Greenbelt is very nice, and is my second stay there. It is the Rocks equivalent for us here in Sydney, nice cafes, nice restaurants, and boutique shopping.

I had my hair dyed there as well. :) And also spent 3 days (not consecutively!) at a day spa. Massages, clensing masks, rejuvination baths, exfoliating scurbs, the works. My skin is glowing. har har har. But not for long, because the pollution in Manila is just as bad as it's always been. :/

This was outside the mall in the bus area, a JEEPNEY!! Which is a mode of transport that is very popular in the Philippines but is dangerous because it's crowded (pick pocketers and hold uppers).



Overall the trip was awesome, it's been a long time since I spent Xmas and NYE in a different city, let alone a different country.

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Featuring this post is
Beyonce!

Here she is pictured in a label of jeans she designed with her mom, called House of Dereon.


p.s. Nice butt!

The denim range which is limited to females (pfft) features personally designed samples by Beyonce herself, that express her personality.

Doubt you could easily find them here in Sydney but as I always say, "buy your clothes overseas, so less people with have them here in Sydney." ^_*