After seeing the movie yesterday, we strolled around The Block for a bit.
I saw this store, and fell in love:
The Soap Factory, Etc just really drew me – nay, sucked me in! With such yummy colors and scents so delish, I’d have stayed to try each and every variant if I could. Their products are all hand made and all natural. The factory is in the shop itself, and you can sit and watch the staff as they make them!
Their space isn’t so big. It’s just this wall of shelves arrayed with their products, then the factory on the other side. There’s a private place at the end of the room. By the entrance, that’s where their POS system is, and there are jars (what do you call them?) for their small selection of massage oils.
I was short for cash so near the next payday (tonight, yay!) so I had to scrimp. I ended up going home with one slice each of the Geisha soap and Choco Cream (that’s what I remember their names are). You know I cannot resist chocolate, soap isn’t any different. 🙂 Each soap slice retails for 99 pesos, with a discount if you get a dozen. They have specialty soaps too that come in the form of your favorite desserts – cakes, donute, and yes, cupcakes too! They have about five product lines with one being Save Our Skin. I don’t have the details, but you can check out their site.
And you know what this is?
That’s the bag I used to take home my two slices. It’s a small reusable bag and they have bigger sizes too, and a few other colors, though I can only remember seeing pink and brown. A killer combination. Haha. Next time I go to The Block to buy soap, I’d be taking this bag with me. PLUS points for The Soap Factory. Now, I’ve saved the best photo for last. You saw the photo of the cashier and the display rack there right? The one that looks like what you’d see in cafes housing cakes and pastries? Well see what’s on the top shelf:
We finally saw the sequel to Laida Magtalas’ and Miggy Montenegro’s romance which started in the movie, A Very Special Love. I must admit, it probably did not top the first one, but it was still good. This movie is set six months after the initial romance, and Director Cathy Garcia said it best – it tells the story of how they are living out the fairy tale (doesn’t that just beg the question: are there really fairy tale endings?).
I missed some aspects of Laida’s character in the first movie though – there was no more reference to the belief in the goodness of each person, and no more sweet gestures like notes on coffee cups. She was so genuinely nice in Part I, why not continue that just for consistency? She didn’t have to just make coffee for the boss, she could have been portrayed to still be doing nice things for the others in her office, no? Here, her world was completely revolving around Miggy. He was no longer her direct boss, but she was more at his beck and call – to no fault of his really.
There was actually a change in Laida’s character, she didn’t only become somewhat of a fashionista, but she actually started to love differently. In the first movie, she was not really expecting anything in return. Here – she was expecting so much. Miggy was actually sweet, in his own special way and I’m sure she appreciated it. But because she was giving so much of herself, just as in any other situation, she was bound to crash and burn. I guess she had a very romanticized notion of love being about grand gestures and big sacrifices. We’ve got to accept though, that not everyone has the same capacity to love, and cannot make the exact sacrifices.
But, in fairness to Laida, if you get cancelled on so much and your relationship is reduced to phonecalls, text messages, and hatid-sundo moments, it can get quite tiring. Viewers can be more sympathetic to Miggy’s situation than Laida’s co-workers were because we can actually see his efforts to meet the commitments he’s made to her girl. I mean, it’s not like he was tormented every time he couldn’t make a date diba?
And I’ve got to say – I liked how Makoy’s character added some contrast and conflict in the movie but I didn’t see sparks for Rayver Cruz and Sarah Geronimo. Maybe it’s just that we’re so kilig with the Sarah-Lloydy tandem that we refuse to be dazzled by a third party, but I don’t think so. I can’t think of any other character who would have clicked in that role though. Jericho Rosales maybe?
Anyway, I enjoyed the movie even though we had not so pleasant neighbors behind us in the theater. It still is a hit!
We walked a bit around The Block after the movie and I found this wonderful shop and even took some pictures. Something to share tomorrow, so come back 🙂
I haven’t done this in a while, and since it’s the beginning of a new month, it’s fitting that I say thank you to my top EC droppers in February:
It is interesting to see how different the current list is to the EC thank you list I had several months ago. Please do help me show my appreciation for these bloggers by visiting them too 🙂 This here is a merry mix of orientations, reflective of my diverse interests too, if I may add. 🙂
Today, they started work on getting rid of about 6000 pigs infected by the Ebola Reston Virus in a farm in Pandi, Bulacan. They targeted to stun and then burn about 500 pigs today but only managed 300. It’s being done to prevent the spread of the virus to other pig farms in the region, but more importantly, to prevent human transmission. One farm worker has already tested positive for antibodies for the virus, indicating that he had contracted the virus some time ago. He is healthy though, which probably reinforces the message that the virus is not deadly to humans.
I pity the farm owners, surely they are losing so much of their livelihood because of this outbreak. I wonder if the government will be able to help them out in some way?
All this talk about Ebola found in pork is not stopping Alfred from eating a lot of pork, or so his mom says. Hehe. They had invited me for lunch, and so from work I took the MRT (something I hadn’t done on my own in a long time) from Quezon Avenue, all the way to the last station at Taft. Alfred met me at the station and we walked over to their house where a hefty lunch was waiting. I had a bit of a chat with Alfred’s mom before we left.
I have slept a total of two hours since last night. Haha. I figured I’d sleep at night for a change, so I’d probably turn in some time after midnight. I only have one day off then it’s back to work Monday night. Not something I was forced to do, mind you. I had asked for this so I could take another night off on Saturday, to see the Eraserheads concert. Yes, you read that right, I am finally going to see them at what possibly would be their last big gig! Alfred let me persuade him to it and I bought the tickets online this afternoon.
I’ve been singing along to their songs from grade school all the way through college. The last time I probably saw them perform was at a UP Fair, but I’m not so sure anymore. In highschool, Pare Ko was the first ever song my kuya taught me to play on the guitar (I’m sure I’ve mentioned that at least once in this blog before).
When the Eheads tribute album came out a few years after they disbanded, I got my hands on that too! When I missed the first reunion concert in August, I was super disappointed. Last week, I was frustrated that I had no one who would go with me to the final set. Today, I am so happy because I know that I will be going. And I know I will have fun. Even if I dread the transportation nightmare we probably will encounter after the show, I am not letting that ruin the evening. Haha. 🙂
You know, sometimes when I think about concerts, I remember the ones I went to with my friends at UP. Concert tickets that don’t cost an arm and a leg. There was always something interesting to see. And sometimes I think about not being a part of organizations who sponsored such concerts, not having experienced helping put one together, you know? I don’t regret it really, I just sometimes think about what experiences like that give you. I’ve always found it exhilarating to organize trainings, specially back when we were doing it in our YP office at the ECPAT office’s aquarium, and then later when I was working at Asia ACTs. There’s just something about figuring out the logistics, getting in touch with people, mobilizing participants, making sure you’ll have everything you need. Finding venues, haggling over prices, heck, even budgeting and tallying the accounts after the event! Sounds crazy, but I miss doing stuff like that too.
Sometimes when I am reminded of my University days, I also think about the many twists of fate that have happened since. I took up a BA in Psychology. At some point it was intended as a pre-law course, until I realized I did not want to stay up to read all the materials they are required to finish in a day. Then I also thought about pursuing a career in Psychology or maybe special education. The idea of combining my passion then as a child rights advocate and what I was studying was very exciting. I had imagined being involved in healing and reintegrating child victim/survivors of commercial sexual exploitation. I had seen myself helping out in educating (or even just entertaining) children with special abilities. I thought about being part of case conferences for a child living with cerebral palsy or a survivor of abuse. Because really, whether they have a developmental condition, or they lived in vulnerable/difficult circumstances, these children deserve extra special care.
But you know what, remiscing about these things is just that – a nice trip down memory lane. Even if my life is a lot different from what I thought it would be like back then, there are no regrets. So okay, maybe I really wish I had taken business courses, or maybe computer graphics/web design classes. Haha. But even those I could take now, so there. I had lived a full life, and I’m going through some stuff now that do make me think if I’m still in the right career, still I don’t ever regret having done this you know? It may mean that I have some serious thinking to do and then make a choice – to hunker down and commit to love my job and give it my all, or to drop it and find something I can be more passionate about for the long term. I can’t drop this and do something that I’m gonna get tired of again in the next three years. Ugh. But where has this post taken me to? Talk about big time rambling…
