and it continues...

as if bumbershoot '07 wasn't already something i wanted to be at... check out the line up for september 3rd... the day i'll be on a plane back from europe....



if you're there, please please please take photos and give me a play by play of the day... *sigh*

and it begins... again...

so i'm going to greece (and more) this summer. good times to be had, you can count on it. but it seems that whenever i decide to do something fabulous, something that ups the coolness factor of vancouver happens...

so the first thing that i'll be sadly missing in vancouver is ne-yo coming in concert on august 12.


HOWEVER i am SO happy that i got to see him in seattle in june. he is an amazing performer. if you get the chance, watch him. you won't be disappointed. his show was short-ish but it was jam packed. plus he sang a prince song! that did it for me. so the crowd was a little too young to even know that he was singing a cover (he even suggested "all of you under the age of 25, that's prince. you should check him out.") but he did it really well.
i watched the show with 2 of my homeboys... and we had a great time. dancing alone, with each other, or with some white girls who really really tried to dance on beat. i'm not hating, they knew dancing with us would help them out ;o) i think we were very entertaining for the tech crew too. and then of course, there was the rick ross sighting. yeah i'll just say that i DID see him standing behind us... tho i'm pretty sure that guy just looked like rick ross.
good times, guys.

chekadis!

a new blog:
http://jamanother1.blogspot.com
(it's all about the good music out there.)

i danced with him!!!

as if the concert wasn't already awesome to begin with!! his opening act, emily king, was great. his voice sounded smooth as silk when he started to sing. the vancouver crowd gave the most impressive show of love i've seen since the puff daddy and the family concert in '97.

he sang all my favourite songs from his first and second album at this point... i can change, p.d.a., number one, to name a few... and then he sang a extra long version of "slow dance".

and of ALL the ladies in the crowd, he picked ME to dance with him!!

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIELLE

yes, you read correctly, I danced with john legend.
last night. on stage. at his last concert of his tour. it was awesome.

with all the peeps i knew at the concert, is there ONE of you who didn't take a video, but decided to take a still shot? oh pleeeease send it to me if you did!

i absolutely adore this man.

***UPDATE***
so i met this friend of a friend at her birthday dim sum last december and as we're introduced he says "yeah i know you, you're the girl who danced with john legend." to which i replied "oh, that was so long ago. you saw the video?" and to my surprise he said "no, i saw you in the pictures. i took pictures of it."...






A BAJILLION THANK YOUS!!!

i still adore this man.

celina!

she is the only person i know who could actually get a hold of this... it's the nike free 7.0 shoe that TRANSFORMS!!
*CHH CHH CHH CHH CHH* (that's the sound transformers make when they transform, right?)
man... japan is SO cool.

YES I STILL OWE YOU YOUR TRANSFORMER, KUYA!

je l'adore!

yes... i got my tickets!

:o)

wouldn't it be nice?

i woke up today thinking what a nice morning. it's the odd day where sunshine is the first thing that greets me as i open my eyes.

then i thought about the happenings in my life. there are a lot of good things (other than my family and my girlfriends)... music is sounding good these days, my job is satisfying, dragon boat is picking up, dancing still makes me happy...

and then there are the horribly retarded things happening in my life. stuff that's so frustrating that i can't do anything but bite my tongue at it because i HAVE to be the "bigger man" about it. yarrrgh... i dislike being frustrated.

however, i think i found something that would cheer me up.

if anyone knows where i can buy/train one of these, holler.

PHOTO COMPLIMENTS OF APRIL'S TRIP TO BELIZE... SO FUNNY!

svs two year anniversary performance!

... last friday, march 2, 2007...
so here we are... two years together!

i absolutely adore this group.

not only do we have the best choreographers, the best stylists, and the best fans...

this group of ladies is seriously one in a million.
(yes, i'm getting mushy!)


... but damn are we ever sexy!
check out our 2 year anni routine here!

retrospect: angelo's surprise b-day celebration

suffice it to say it was one of the coolest surprises i've ever been a part of. all involved made it such a blast. waaaay too many photos (compliments of ginny)... here's the most complete group shot we had.

i envisioned this shot. yes, i'm proud of it :o)

retrospect: new years eve '06

... yeah, so i was expecting to party hard, but i partied sedate... it didn't help that i got a bad case of pneumonia right before christmas, followed by a vicious strep throat. yeah, i totally dislike antibiotics. other friends got sick around then, but none with a repetoire like mines!
anyway, my point is that by nye, i went out to jac's place and kicked it old school with the girls (and respective boyfs, fiancés and hubbies). an evening of wii madness!

retrospect: timebomb christmas party '06

there were too many good shots to post from this party and it's already march, so deal with it. i put up my 2 faves. take my word for it... we had a hella good time.

merry christmas, beeyotches!

this pic is christmas card perfect!

birthday party day dim sum madness!!

the gang with whom we kicked off our party day. we look sedate (it's cuz we just finished eating) but we're the craziest dim sum crowd in all of vancouver!

so so tired!

this is how my last week has looked like:

saturday: christmas house party
sunday: christmas house party
wednesday: staff christmas party at stamp's landing (my staff is hilarious)
thursday: dance performance at the wild coyote (we're on a poster!)
friday: christmas sweater party (most definitely will post pics)
saturday: all day birthday party marathon (good times!)
sunday: morning: santa brunch, evening: christmas dinner party
tonight: christmas dinner party

surprisingly, i'm still functioning!
some will say "no wonder you're so tired!" but i'm not complaining... this has been the most i have partied in a span of a week since i was 19! i forgot how much fun it was!! ;o)

more photos to follow soon.

watch out for the multo!!

so last friday, i heard about a movie that i was entered in the vancouver asian film festival. it's called ang pamana - the inheritance. of course, since it was about filipino culture and written and directed by a canadian filipino, it sparked my interest. had i KNOWN it was about filipino folklore, i would have really reconsidered. that stuff scares the poop outta me!! seriously. but it was really good. it is not your average filipino horror movie (ie. bad ghost makeup, obvious wires)... it was totally created for first generation north american filipinos (however i heard a bunch of titos and titas in the audience who loved it too) and for all them crazy asian horror film buffs. i can't believe i was so lucky to happen upon this movie, and even luckier to get to watch it (it was almost sold out by the time i bought tickets!). apparently they've only released it in the hawaii and vancouver international film festivals. the next time it'll play in theatres would be in the philippines, releasing in mid november. if it's good out there, they'll get to release it out here in canada and the u.s.
i'm so proud that there's something in the filipino culture that can totally match the scary japanese, chinese, korean, and thai horror movies i've seen. it's so filipino to scare people... it's almost a given that the folklore would be a hit!

we're number... 3!

yes, we won bronze at the taiwanese festival (it was on the labour day long weekend). what a great accomplishment for our ridiculously good looking team. and just last weekend, we won first at the kelowna festival... in the platinum b final! amazing how our team had the magic chemistry this year to take us to and past our expectations. this is just a little catch up blog to holler at my successful team. thanks for all the work and dedication. now it's time for a few short months rest before we get at it again!!

belgium at last!!

so after a long long flight out to london, then a shorter one to brussels, we finally got to belgium. i had about an hour and a half total of sleep on the planes... because of that girl who would NOT stop talking to me who was sitting beside me!! her tv didn't work so i offered for her to lean over a bit to watch mine as i tried to sleep (i wasn't gonna change seats... i had the aisle!)... but she was a laugher. and she was watching sit coms. i tried to drug her (i offered her a gravol so she could sleep better and she accepted!) but it didn't work. she wouldn't just let the drug take her over. man. so needless to say i was sleepy. but once we got to and settled in edegem, it all got better...

my first host family had a farm. the first night i was there, we ate some croque-monsieurs (grilled cheese and ham sandwiches), drank some carbonated water and went to the farm. it was SO fun. i just ran around with my little host sister. the following days were filled with performing. i don't have many pics (cuz i'd be dancing) but instead i'll blog the highlights of the tour. besides, cristina did an awesome job blogging it all ;o)

you can also just check out edegem's official folklorefestival site. click on foto's, then the pic of the lady in the purple dress, then click on the philippine flag. enjoy!

"nee nee" pointing to pumpkins at their farm.

and it begins...

hahaha!!! if you're filipino, you don't need an explanation. (for those not familiar with tagalog, "bastos" means "vulgar, indescent, uncouth"). too funny.

meet you at the pita house!

this is where we ate for a good portion of edegem. it was so yummy... but i think this was the last day of sun in edegem. it started to get cold promptly after we finished, and then the rain came. and i think if i'm correct, it was just the 3rd day there.

gong envy?...

the indonesians' gong stand. that thing was huge. it's pretty, but our makeshift bamboo one is so much more "real"... ;op

double trouble!

the beginning of la noche

us just beginning to have fun in europe... you'll see as the blogs progress, celina and i end up having a great time in europe. we should do it again, huh?... ;o)

this is at the party we had to perpetuate "culture and friendship" among the main groups of the festival... panama, russia, sicily, and pilipinas!!

i'm sure we showed our wild and friendly side more than we needed to. hehehe... and yet we're so professional!

these great paper finger was mostly used for queueing the waiters for some krieg or carbonated iced tea. but we tried to find other uses for it throughout the night.

having a good time at la noche!

here's our table at the la noche dinner/dance. everyone's laughing at randy... ta ma na!! i'm happy i don't have his and my "interpretive dance" duet in picture form... however, i KNOW the video is somewhere. and probably some stills... *sigh* i took that night for the team!!! next time randy wants to represent filipinos that way, someone else can bite the bullet! as i said when i posted from belgium: i had bruises!!

rural in the park

itik-itik girls... and cristina. we look like gang members or something... there's the rondalla boys on the side, alexa represents the sayaw gang (celina's holding my hat, so technically i'm repppin too!), and the pandango gang is layin low with baby in the background... *LOL*

waiting for our turn... while the rain stops for a bit.

on our way back from dancing in the rain. how perfect was it that we were performing the "rural" repetoire. even though it was a close distance, the trek in zapatillas or kung fu shoes really sucked when we encountered mud! despite the bad weather, we did it up money! we're just awesome.

the picnic in the rain... psych! it was in a gym!

a better pic of "nee nee" and i... ;o)

my first homestay mom and little sister (i called her "nee nee" cuz she always said "no"... even to photos!). but this family was very very sweet to me. i had a great time eating with them and spending time with them (oh i miss them!). i felt very much like a part of their family. this was the last time i'd get to be with them because they were leaving for vacation so i was sent to another homestay for the remainder of the tour.

typical after performance snack

we ate belgian waffles in any way we could! as you can see, melissa and vincent are showing off their delicious belgian icecream sundays!.. ooh how i crave european dairy products!

group day trip to antwerpen

i just loved belgium's ads. you'll see later on how many signs i actually took pictures of as the blogs progress. celina had to pose beside this poster cuz she has that exact same dress... for itik-itik!! *LOL*

so the story of antwerpen is that a guy fought a giant and cut off his hand (ant- "hand"; -werpen "throwing"). it was thrown in the scheldt river... but for some reason, the hand is found on meir street, a huge shopping street in antwerpen. i thought it was pretty neat. this is a rare shot of it with no birds or children on it.

an ad for the superman movie on a pole. i thought it was fun.

homestay number 2

this fine couple was my second homestay (grand)parents. they were SO sweet. they spoke french with me and they even took me on a lakad to antwerpen! we took the bus and tram right into the central station, then walked around the seedy diamond district on our way to a brasserie to have a drink! then they took me to the other side of the big scheldt river to see antwerpen from the other side! they're so nice. and don't you just love their kitchen? it's like half the size of my living room! everything is SO narrow there... and yet it all works out! maybe vancouver can learn a few things about living in confined spaces from begium!!

i swear, all the houses look like this in belgium. this was my bedroom view from my second homestay family. rhoel and patrick actually were staying in the house with the greenish car in front. this place was just about a 5 minute walk to the theatre.

our last performance *sniff*

celina and geri (and melissa in the back) pose in our changeroom. we had the most elaborately stuffed changeroom ever. as you can imagine, this lockeroom sized room was packed with about 24 of us at any given time with our costumes, instruments and props. and we made it work! now if only i could've learned to stay out of cristina's way... ;op

backstage when we perform, all you see is costumes...

... and more costumes. everyone has serious quickchange action... we're talkin layers of stuff sometimes! and then you see...

... and celina and my quickchange corner. yeah, we don't complain. we don't have it bad at all.

a few of us with the philippine consulate of belgium. he (and the other 6 filipinos we met in belgium) were very nice people. they came to all the performances they could make and they told more filipinos to come out! pilipinas! pilipinas!

if drumline was about filipinos

"G1 and G2 don't polish the gangsas... that's for G3 and up!"

closing ceremony

wave that flag edric!

so we just keep clapping?... then what?... more clapping?...

this is randy at our big grand finale... and i don't need to say it again, but i will: we ROCKED. i don't have ANY performance pics of us, but when i do get them, i will post them. we had a really great time in edegem, and i was feeling melancholic that we were going to leave. this little ceremony happened after our last performance. it was awesome to see the all the other groups on stage with us as well. (it sorta felt like it was supposed to be like an olympic closing ceremony). the next morning, we were off to dendermonde for one final european performance.