My Visita Iglesia

In the spirit of the traditional Visita Iglesia, here are some photos I took of Manila Cathedral in October last year (2008) while waiting for some papers to clear at the Bureau of Immigration.

Although my camera was only a point and shoot Canon Ixus 90IS, I was trying to learn how to play with light at different settings. When I have enough experience and money, or when the recession is over, maybe I'll get a better camera! Here are some of my favorite shots:


I was sitting in front of the church, then I looked up to see the noontime sun. It was really hot that day so I went under an Ipil tree for shade and got the above shot...


I loved how the light from the stained glass was reflected on the newly polished floor. :D


And it being really bright outside, I got good even lighting on the stained glass window.


This sculpture was on the door of the cathedral. I actually never noticed it before. I liked the way the side lighting gave it more depth.



See some more of my Manila Cathedral photos HERE.

How to eat Balut

Really, there's only one thing that came to my mind when I found out Thursday's Theme was "egg", and that is...

BALUT

For the weak hearted, DO NOT PROCEED! :p ...

Balut is a Filipino delicacy (yes it's food!), a soft boiled duck egg with a semi-formed duck embryo. It is also widely regarded as an aphrodisiac.
Enjoy the rich taste of balut, the yellow part is soft and the darker part is crunchy! Why crunchy? Because it's the little unhatched baby duckling!

How to Eat Balut

Here's how to properly enjoy a balut:

1. Well, first you have to buy one from a street vendor who usually comes at night yelling, "Baluuuut!!! Baluuut!!!". He will give you one egg wrapped in old newspaper shaped liked an upturned sailor's hat, and a small plastic packet of salt.

2. The egg is kept warm in the vendor's cart, so it will be a bit warm to the touch. Hold it firmly at the smaller end of the egg and crack open the other side by lightly tapping it on a hard surface (you head will do!)

3. When you've created a small hole by removing some shell bits, you suck out the juice of the balut (complete with all the duckling's amniotic fluid!). Slurp! Very good!



4. Take off the rest of the shell to get to the "meat" of the balut. Chow down with conviction (and don't stop to think!) eating the yellow part with a bit of salt, and the crunchy baby duckling too.



5. Enjoy your balut! "Pampalakas ng tuhod!" (To make your knees strong!)


All photos are from a friend's recent birthday party, with san miguel beer and balut among other things!

Related article on Balut!
NBC's Fear Factor

Filipino Blog of the Week: Going for 3rd week in the top 3!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to quickly say a BIG Thank you to everyone who voted to make this blog the Filipino Blog of the Week:

Filipino Blog of the Week Winner for Week 153! (March 21 to 28)
and
Filipino Blog of the Week 3rd place for Week 154! (March 28 to April 4) - akalain mo yun?

Born on a Syzygy~ is again (yes again!) in the roster of nominees for Filipino Blog of the Week for Week 155 (April 4 to 11). If you want to show your support, please visit THIS SITE to tick the box next to reyjr on the sidebar, and then VOTE! You can vote EVERYDAY so please do!

Hello Baguio!

Liz and I, with Belle (Liz' twin sister) and her 3yo daughter Keisha went up to Baguio last March to spend a few days relaxing in the cool weather.

Baguio is a Road Trip

It was kind of a spur of the moment decision: Liz and I wanted to go out of town for our 6th anniversary as a couple and we also wanted to celebrate my birthday. And since there was an available staff house in Baguio (only P1000 per night!), we decided to drive up and stay for 3 days at the Summer Capital of the Philippines.

The 2008 Philippine Bar Exam Results are out!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

To all those who passed the Philippine Bar Exams!!!

with special Congratulations to my friend,
Ramirez, Shaina Anella B

Here is the link to the exam results c/o GMA News
~2008 Philippine Bar Exam Results~

The Top 1o are as follows:

1. Judy Lardizabal, San Sebastian College, 85.70%
2. Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, Mindanao State University, 85.65%
3. Oliver Baclay Jr., Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), 85.6%
4. Majesty Eve Jala, Ateneo de Manila, 85.50%
5. Ma. Elizabeth Liceralde, University of the Philippines (UP), 85.40%
6. Michael Macapagal, UP, 84.15%
7. Denise Dy and April Love Regis, ADMU, (tied at seventh place), 84.00%
8. Christine Joy Tan, ADMU, 83.80%
9. Shirley Velasquez, UP and Gian Jacob, San Beda (tied at ninth place), 83.75%
10. Vanessa Raymundo, San Beda Collage, 83.70%

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The banners for the new Harry Potter movie are now available online. Haha. I just saw on Click the City. Go get -em if ya want -em bloody banners!



I remember the first Harry Potter movie that came out, I had no clue what it was about. My girlfriend was explaining to me while we were watching. lol. You can probably say I'm one of those converts. I have since then read and enjoyed all the Harry Potter books and have all the movies so far on DVD. lol!

So 'ere's the 1 and a half (almost!) minute trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, coming out on July 16 in the Philippines...

Directions for Driving from Manila to Baguio City

Baguio City, Philippines is a well loved vacation destination for Filipinos and foreigners alike, with numerous touristy places to visit and a weather that's perfect for those who seek to get away from the heat and humidity of the city.

Here are directions for how to get to Baguio City from Manila...

Baguio via NLEX-SCTEx

 1. Take EDSA and go NORTHBOUND. You will pass by SM North EDSA on your right (now one of the biggest malls in the world!) and just go straight until you see the entrance to NLEX (National Luzon Expressway) on your right...

Sleep All Day

I got my new queen size mattress yesterday! Thanks to my dad for getting me one. Haha. I went from single bed to queen size bed! It's great!

This morning, I was stretching on my new bed, testing the expanse, reaching for the edges. It was so good I wanted to sleep all day. Haha. (And I was actually late for work because of it!) I'm excited to buy new bedsheets. :D

sleep all day - jason mraz

His after moan though cries oh no
Hes building up a shine but he take it slow
And he knows it time to make a change here and time to get away
And he knows its time for all the wrong reasons and time to end the pain
But he sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again
Why dont we?

She said what would your mother think and how would your father react oh lord
Would he take it all back what theyve done
No way he said take it, take it and dont break it with your own two hands
That was my old man and he said
If all is grounded you should go make a mountain out of it

Oh what a lovely day to have a slice of humble pie
Recalling of the while we used to drive and drive here and there
Going nowhere but for us, nowhere but for the two of us
And we knew it was time to take a chance here
And time to compromise our lives for awhile
And it was time for all the wrong reasons
But time is often on my side and I give it to you tonight
And we sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again

As time goes by we get a little bit tired waking and baked another marlboro mile wide
Its sending the boys on the run in the time in hot summer sun
To swim beneath or over outside as theyre reading between the lines
Then they remember the part in the hallmark card where they read about the dreams
And reaching for the stars to hold on a little bit closer to
And they knew it was time, time to take a chance here
Time to compromise our little lives for just a little while
And they knew it was time for all the wrong reasons
As time is often on my side and I give it to you, oh boy
And we sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again

She said what would your mother think and how would your father react oh lord
Would he take it all back what they've done
No way he said take it, take it and dont break it with your own two hands
That was my old man and he said
If all is grounded you should go make a mountain out of it

Born on a Syzygy~ is the Filipino Blog of the Week!!!

Filipino Blog of the Week Winner for Week 153

This has been a very stressful but uber awesome week for me at work.
And a great weekend-icing-on-my-cake is winning Filipino Blog of the Week! Uber Awesome indeed!

I was lagging behind on votes: at 2nd place (28 votes to the leading contender's 40 votes!) because when I posted it last week, I didn't realize you could vote once a day! So I was really surprised to find that I had won it! I won only by a margin of about 1.5 percentage points! Haha. That actually meant the judges and talk, author of The Composed Gentleman, gave me just enough points to win. Nevertheless, I wouldn't get 2nd place without your help! So THANK YOU for voting!

Just to explain a bit, votes account for 55% of your score, 35% from pre-appointed judges, and 10% from blog owner, talk.

By the way, I'm up for votes again this week. If you have time, please go on over to The Composed Gentleman and give me a VOTE! And yep, you can VOTE ONCE A DAY!

Theme Thursday: Mineral

My thoughts about a mineral
do not come up with several
Quite opposite! A general
feeling like a struggle...

My freshman year I was "Opal"
Which now I learned isn't a mineral!
because opal has no crystal-
-line structure..thats for real!

(Hm...I need to shave my stubble)

Hold on this is not normal...
can't find words ending A-L!
A challenge to my mental
capacity! Be gentle.
At least I didn't use "rectal"
In this my rhyme so playful

I fumble and I foible
I diddle and I babble
just to make a single
post on my Theme-a Thursday.

oops.




Vote for me to be filipino blog of the week!! (yes you can vote daily!)

Vote for me to be the Filipino Blog of the Week!

I got a pleasant surprise when I checked my blog today! In the comments section of my Theme Thursday: Vegetable post...

"Hi, Your blog is nominated for the Filipino Blog of the Week award (week 153). You may visit the site and vote. Please find the poll at the sidebar."

Please VOTE for me on this famous Filipino blogsite:>> click > The Composed Gentleman
The poll is on the sidebar. Just tick the box "reyjr" and Vote!

Haha. Thanks in advance. :p

Forbes' The World's Billionaires 2009

On my birthday (hehe) Forbes' published this year's list of wealthiest people in the world: The World's Billionaires. You can find the full article on the Forbes' website.

According to the article, there are less Billionaires this year than in 2008, largely because of the economic recession. For 2009, there are only 793 billionaires. From Wiki, the current estimated population of the world is 6.76 billion, which makes the billionaires oh, about 0.00000012% of the population. Haha.

The Top 3 are still #1 Bill Gates (up from #3 last year), #2 Warren Buffet (down from #1 last year), and Mexican telecon titan #3 Carlos Slim Helú (down from #2).


Without further delay, here the list of Billionaires, top 10 only...

#1 William Gates III $40 billion Microsoft/U.S.
#2 Warren Buffet $37 billion Investments/U.S.
#3 Carlos Slim Helú $35 billion Telecom/Mexico
#4 Lawrence Ellison $22.5 billion Oracle/U.S.
#5 Ingvar Kamprad $22 billion Ikea/Sweden
#6 Karl Albrecht $21.5 billion Supermarkets/Germany
#7 Mukesh Ambani $19.5 billion Petrochemicals/India
#8 Lakshmi Mittal $19.3 billion Steel/India
#9 Theo Albrecht $18.8 billion Supermarkets/Germany
#10 Amancio Ortega $18.3 billion Fashion/Spain

Other notable Billionaires, the Waltons (owners of the Walmart franchise) are at numbers 11 to 14 (yes, they are billionaires - EACH ONE of them). New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is at #17. Filipinos Henry Sy and Lucio Tan still make the list at #234 and #522 respectively. Celebrity Billionaire George Lucas and Steven Spielberg tie with others at #205, and of course, Oprah Winfrey is at #234.

See the FULL LIST HERE.

Theme Thursday: Vegetable

Quickie post!

Did you know that the term VEGETABLE is not a botanical term, but only a culinary term?

Did you know that a tomato is NOT a vegetable but a FRUIT! Well, a BERRY to be precise. It is referred to as a vegetable in culinary terms, but it's really a fruit (like a coconut is not a nut but a fruit!)

And the tomato is NOT the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (such as zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

VEGETABLE backwards is ELBATEGEV. - random!

From the letters in VEGETABLE, you can form the following 5-or-more lettered words: table, beget, beetle, bagel, gable... add some more!