lenovo L1VE concert

in celebration of being the #1 pc vendor worldwide, lenovo (in cooperation with microsoft) threw in a concert for those who  purchased select lenovo products during their promo period last year. since i bought a flex 14 last december, i was able to get 2 vip tickets. i was planning on selling it pero matumal eh so i just went with a friend para di sayang! hahaha

we weren't able to catch the free shuttle at paseo center makati (yes, RWM offers free shuttle to members and membership is free! click here for more details), and we'd be running late if we took our chances at mcdo valero (loooong walk!) so we decided to hail a cab instead. from paseo center to resorts world manila, the fare cost  around 130 pesos. but since we took the skyway, we added 20 pesos. keri na diba? haha

with my colleague tina, thanks for coming!

the newport performing arts theater opened at 8pm so while waiting at the lobby, kate torralba entertained us with her awesome singing! i know right? kate torralba the stockings designer? i was surprised to hear that she has a musical prowess din pala! ayos!

designer, singer, musician kate torralba serenaded us with classics and audience requests!

it was really refreshing to hear her sing. her voice has some kindof norah jones quality to it, and her playing is really good as well. frustrated pianist here! and look at the piano, see something? think it's a grand piano? haha natuwa ako nung napansin ko how it's just an electric organ cased in a grand-piano housing. hahaha >XD

the entire concert was accompanied by the manila philharmonic orchestra so you could only imagine how epic that was. super duper bow.

pic spam below!

nina with her opening song

thanks to the LED stream haha

since the event was exclusive, it's quite acceptable there's not a full house. but the energy went really high specially when rico blanco went off stage to rock with the audience! sayang he didn't come our way, photo op sana. hahaha

lastly, the ukelele ensemble philippines also graced the concert with a number. it was really cool! and their pack is so diverse ah! kudos! hahaha >XD

overall it was great concert! rico blanco was crazy and grabe ampogi nya hahahaha instant crush! at kahit sobrang paos ako non keribels lang sa pagtili! >XD

thank you lenovo!

moved for the nth time! >XD

another blog! sorry guys (naks as if may nagbabasa), i'll try to settle at Yan Gabbles for as long as i can. hahaha >XD it's quite a pain having to move blogs you know, i have to import all my entries and comments, register the new blog to ad sites, to feedburner, to histats, i have to update my co.nr redirection and create a new one as well (btw yanbirog.co.nr will always redirect to my active blog), i also have to delete other blogsites to avoid redundancy, need to copy/enhance layout and go through the pain of manually transferring sidebar content (cos apparently, backing up your template doesn't preserve the html/javascript content. arg), and finally i have to create a WELCOME POST!!

so welcome to YAN GABBLES, i did my best to pick a title i would most probably stick to for at least 3 months HAHAHA, so there you go. feel free to read through whatever. hehe if you're nice you can leave no-hate comments, i love reading comments, hehe or if you have something to discuss privately, whatever, there's a CONTACT FORM somewhere in the sidebar, checkitout. >:)

hehehehe have a happy day!

hello 2014!

a collage of the fun times spent this 2013!

i'm soooo excited for this year! majorly because i'm finally leaving my job! haha! no i don't really hate it, i just don't feel worthy anymore, plus it's super far, so yeah there's that.

happy new year everyone! i know it's a pretty late greeting, actually this entry was sitting on my drafts for a while now, was supposed to post it on new year's eve but the connection wasn't so good (i wonder why? haha), so yeah. hehe

i know i've made a list of things that made 2013 notable for me, and might i say, it's a very very conservative list. looking through the pictures (i've imported to the pc) on my phone, here's a much longer list of highlights, some sad, but mostly happy! hehe



1. the Yearbook 2012 project was completed! and although distribution was a bit stressful, the team managed to pull it off with the help of others and also the admin, now only 5 yearbooks are left with us all tagged and ready to ship if only their owners would contact us. hehe i consider this as my proudest creative stint yet. :)

2. Red Cross Million Volunteer Run! i ran my first outdoor marathon! that 5k felt like forever! haha

3. i won my first movie screening contest from Nuffnang, which marked the beginning of more movie contests i won! malamang, eto yung taon kung kelan pinakamaraming beses akong nakapanood sa sinehan! haha

4. Jeckie's college graduation yahoo! >:3

5. mam grace's resignation. it was sad, cos i grew dependent on her a lot, but it's also a blessing cos i was given more to handle, more to learn, and more people to supervise. naks. and now i resign. HAHAHA lol.

6. pastor rutti's death. super sad. you know how's there's like a family doctor? he's like a family pastor for us. T_T

7. opportunity to illustrate! after all, #5 wasn't so bad cos in mam grace's new venture, i was invited to illustrate children's books! and although it hasn't really started yet, i'm sooo looking forward to it!

5. i enrolled in a gym, with a pool! so for awhile i was like so excited to end work so i could catch the pool before 8! then work got extra demeaning, causing me render more OTYs, therefore losing swim time. huhu

6. enchanted kingdom with jeckie! where he started to appreciate heights, finally! hahaha

7. won vikings gc! hihi

8. won a contest for most creative blog entry! we're 5 winners actually hehe but there were like hundreds who joined ok? hahaha

9. i bought a TV for my parents' anniv :D

10. my parent's silver anniversary celebration!

11. i got chickenpox for the first time. boo

12. designed stuff for The Storytelling Project's Run for Reading event! >XD

13. 2nd year anniversary with jeckie! <3 <3 <3

14. i got in to Mary Kay and sold makeup for a while hahaha because of this i learned to do my own makeup. now i always wear makeup, specially after my chickenpox left me with hideous scars on the face huhu

15. i bought a study desk. wala lang, biggest purchase ever, as in literally. hahaha

16. i ran my first 10k on a treadmil!

17. signed up and ran for nike we run manila! a 10k running event i completed in almost 2 hours haha after that day, my left leg started acting up again (past past past injury huhu). so for now i can't run. T__T and also because of that complication, i missed milo marathon huhu. sayang 500 haha

18. moved to victory nova :)

19. got into a cell group :)

20. got water baptized for the first time!

21. tried juice diet and looooved it, if only it wasn't so expensive. haha

22. applied for HP. passed and got an offer, but had to decline cos they can't wait for my availability. i cried so much over it but eventually i had to accept that it's not really for me. anyway, it's nice to know i made the cut at least. :)

23. received my christmas bonus for the first time in FULL! cos last 2012, being new regulars our bonuses were prorated. hihi much rich! so money! sadly, they're all goooone before the year ended hahaha

24. because i bought a leg massager and a laptop! enough said! haha

25. applied at Pointwest and got in! haha

26. RESIGNED! whew!

that's pretty much 2013 for me, thanks to all the pictures i took for helping me make this list! >XD looking forward to a more eventful and positive 2014! :)

how to get POLICE CLEARANCE at QC City Hall

based on my experience earlier :)

what to bring:

1. photocopy of a valid ID
2. ballpen
3. 250 pesos (100 for order of payment and 150 for police clearance/id processing)
4. wet wipes (for fingerprints or just pay 5 pesos)

procedure:

1. get an 'order of payment' for police clearance

apparently the term 'order of payment' applies to a lot of documents so if you're gonna ask around make sure you ask specifically for the police clearance order of payment, otherwise the guards will lead you to an 'order of payment' booth outside the city treasurer's office.

so where exactly in the city hall complex should you get that? you should go to the police clearance station (sorry i didn't really get the name of the place, no labels) across the philippine red cross building which is near Gate 5 (Kalayaan Ave.) so if you're from commonwealth area like me, you can opt to ride a jeepney to kalayaan and alight at Gate 5. you can also ride a bus and alight at East Ave. Gate 3, and from that gate, walk aaaaaaaall the way to the end (which is Gate 5) to reach the police clearance station.

submit a photocopy of your valid ID to window 1 (where the staff is either playing candy crush or texting) and get an application form. fill it out, submit to window 2 and finally get your 'order of payment'. when you ask where to go next, they'll point their pens to a note stuck on their cubicle which says something like "pay at city treasurer's office, behind landbank".

2. pay 100 pesos at the city treasurer's office

okay, i emphasized 'behind landbank' because apparently, IT'S NOT BEHIND LANDBANK. i've circled the city treasurer's office enough to realize that i was being led to the wrong places. okay so you have to pay at the CTO and that's the building where landbank is, but you don't have to walk to the back okay? there will be a big sign there with the words ' POLICE CLEARANCE' so get inside and pay at one of the windows. it's also the building with booths outside catering to CEDULA requests where a lot of people are usually lined up. :)

after paying and getting your receipt you will be directed back to the police clearance station for the taking of your fingerprints.

3. surrender your receipt at window 2, then have your fingerprints taken

the kuya who is taking fingerprints is usually sitting just outside the window. just show him your form and have him dirty up all of your ten fingers. for convenience, you can just buy wet wipes from that same kuya for 5 pesos, but if you're tipid pwede namang hindi. tissue and alcohol will do. hehe

4. get inside the guarded door and pay 150 pesos clearance processing

sorry di ko madescribe haha the people there will lead you anyway, but it's the door with the guard before window 1. when inside, pay 150 pesos then head further in for data encoding and biometrics. after having your picture taken and your fingerprints scanned... you'll be led outside at the waiting area.

5. let the wait begin!

in my case it didn't take 10 minutes for me to get my police clearance after step 4, considering there are probably 20-30 people already waiting outside before me. hehe the entire process was pretty fast, no long queues and all. btw i came at the city hall at around 2:30 pm already and i was expecting the process would eat up the entire afternoon but thankfully i was out at 3:30 pm! yehey!

so that was my experience. how's yours? >XD

surprise delivery from BPI!

something came in the mail today from BPI! surprise surprise! an Olay Total Effects one-time special gift! i totally wasn't expecting this even if i knew i joined the promo cos for some reason the access number wasn't replying to my registration haha and since it came i'd like to share the promo to you as well!. here's a promo from BPI: Olay-EPS promo

just use your BPI atm card to purchase any item, amounting to at least 500 pesos single-receipt, via EPS (express payment system) at any merchant from november 15, 2013 until january 31, 2014. register your transaction details by sending:

IM REG BPIOLAY <card number>/<mailing address>/<transaction date mmddyyyy>/<amount>
to 2256

after confirmation, you'll be receiving the special gift with 15 days. :) i registered last Dec 17 and received the gift now, exactly 2 weeks in fairness, even without receiving an sms confirmation. hahaha

in the kit: (1) Olay Total Effects intense moisture face and body bar &
(1) Olay Total Effects day cream normal spf 15

so what are you waiting for? promo runs until january 31! head on here for more details

i'd just like to note that i learned about the promo from their mobile app, there's a promo menu there you could check for current promos! if you're a BPI card holder i suggest you get their extremely useful mobile app! >XD

i take this as a happy holidays from BPI! thank you! :)