On Thanksgiving Day, I went to the annual Christmas celebration with the Dino Lara and Jason Magbanua teams. We’ve been celebrating together for years now, and in the spirit of good food and extreme funny moments, it is our way of appreciating all the good stuff we’ve been blessed with.

I got transparent playing cards and that’s me in my cutesy Korean pose care of Ate Pang’s super cool polaroid camera.

I guess you’re wondering why we had our Christmas party already when it’s only November. December and January are the busiest months in the Philippine wedding industry. Wedding suppliers are booked almost every single day of those months. Surprising, huh?

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in the Philippines but I would like to give thanks anyway for all the wonderful things that happened. I’m thankful that I was blessed with the coolest clients that collaborated with me to come up with amazing website designs that we are both happy with. I am a few blinks away from launching a couple of websites I’m working on and I am swelling with pride because nothing beats the feeling of making a client happy with a design you believe in. The only form of validation we should seek is the smile on the faces of people we serve.

There’s so much to be thankful for. In gratitude we harvest positive energy, and that kind of energy benefits everybody, even small pets. Stay tuned for a tribute to Booni, the beloved bunny a.k.a. the best pet ever.

How would you spend Php 347,836,903.20 or 7 million dollars?

I have been asking myself that question since Saturday. Everybody was talking about it, and people were patiently braving those long lines just to place their pet numbers. One ticket is just Php 20, so I decided to join. I really didn’t have any numbers in mind so I just randomly chose 6 out of 49 numbers with the help of Booni the rabbit. My mom also joined so we were both grinning from ear to ear on Saturday night, with our hearts filled with hope.

It felt good to have a chance, no matter how slim, to be able to change your life in an instant and most importantly, the lives of other people. I thought about saving some for investments and that I will not have to worry about money for the rest of my life. I thought about securing my nephews and nieces’ education, renovating our humble church, organizing events that will encourage others to give back as well. Ah a lot of things! I even thought it would help me with projects for our little town because I want to become a mayor someday and really spark that change we’ve all been waiting for.

But of course, I didn’t even get one number right. I lost. My mom got one. It’s okay, I’m sure the two winners deserved it.

What I learned from joining the lottery is that it’s nice to join such thing every once in a while. I liked hoping and wishing for the wonderful opportunities winning the lottery could give. It gave me a clear grasp of the things I would love to do. Haha. Mayor Gia, for the win! :)

Tribute is a series of artworks designed in honor of people, websites, interesting things, etc. For our Volume 1, I’m dedicating it to the unofficial pets.

Sadly, one December afternoon, Combo came home sick and died. One orange cat followed and then Fat Face also got afflicted. They suffered from a mysterious epidemic and soon all of kittens died except for Baaku. In just one week, 7 kittens were wiped out. It was hard seeing them suffer, and it was even harder to accept that we will not see Combo and Fat Face ever again.

Baaku was quite sick for a while but she is slowly recuperating. We could tell she’s depressed but I guess all we could do now is to take care of her as much as we can. Hopefully, her playful nature will come back. I also hope that she lives long so I could take some more pictures of her since she is clearly destined to be a model.

I will always be thankful for the memories we shared with these kitties. And Reject, we’re sorry for calling you that name just because you were very anti-social and dark and thin. :P Thanks for making us smile in watching you toy around cockroaches, ew I know, but still fun to watch. And that time when dad found you guys huddled together sleeping with one an extra tail.. only to realize that it belonged to a poor mouse you played with. I think Booni also appreciates that you didn’t bug him much when he hung out in the garden.

I’m not quite sure about the grammar of The Killers’ “Human” song but it sure is catchy. It is also relevant to what I would like to share with you today.

On December 6, I was honored to be invited to a dance concert. Actually, it was my second time to watch. The Orange Dance Studio hosts several concerts from time to time to showcase what they are passionate about. The first time was magical and the second time confirmed further more that they are united through dance.

These dancing shoes.

I know I am no photography expert, but I like to think that if you can nod your head to the music and get into the rhythm, mix that with anticipation, then you can capture these golden moments. Of course, it helps to have a steady hand and speed-of-light clicking. I hope you will like these pictures.

Dance has always been a part of our lives. And even if we wouldn’t admit that we do silly dances sometimes, it is something that awakens our spirit as humans. We don’t have to be experts to enjoy it. It is accessible. It is free.

In a time when we’re almost in panic mode to prepare for the holidays, our best bet probably is to shake our booties to de-stress. :) Enjoy dancing, guys.

Every worthwhile accomplishment,
big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph:
a beginning, a struggle, and a victory.
- Mahatma Gandhi

According to the ever useful dictionary.com, a sacrifice is the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim. Wanna guess what I have sacrificed lately? World of Warcraft

We have a barber shop in WoW. I wish I had a screenshot of my new red, wavy hair.

I still vividly remember that day I had an epiphany, or to be perfectly honest, a disgustingly embarrassing revelation that I was wasting too much of my time in a fantasy world. It’s not the game’s fault, of course. WoW even flashes this message while loading: “Remember to take all things in moderation, even World of Warcraft.” Hats off to WoW - the graphics are magnificent and the game is no less than extraordinary. I truly love the game. But then, I really had to quit.

There was a bit of second-guessing days after I decided to stop playing. My former gamer friend teased me that I am only in hiatus and not really 100% over WoW. Maybe I will come back. Maybe not. I still ask myself from time to time if I will play again. I definitely miss my pet lion named Piolo and I miss the WoW holiday decorations. But right now, I want to invest my time and efforts in my goals. In letting go of WoW, I learned how to prioritize the more important things in life.

It’s one of those “small move, big impact” kind of decisions. It was a sacrifice I felt the most comfortable in. It brought a sense of direction and a brand new meaning to the word commitment. It’s been more than a month, and I cannot be anymore ecstatic about the opportunities that continuously arise for Passionistta. I am very proud to say I am leveling up in real life.