Author: laurennly

Of dolphins and treetops

One would be left with no choice but to gasp in awe with the things we saw last weekend during our trip to Subic in Ocean Adventure. It’s actually the first ever open water park in Southeast Asia. I was really proud that the Philippines was able to put up such an establishment. My family has been to Subic countless times ever since we were young, but we never got around to trying the place out which we now think to ourselves as an incredible mistake for taking so long to go to. I can’t believe that we even have something like this here. I thought my Sea World tour back in San Francisco would take another eternity to reexperience. I’m lucky I was wrong.

See them jump and flip in this video.

My sister had the chance to get up close with the dolphin. His name was Zac. As much as I was jealous of her for having been the only one to get to do this, I knew my parents had good reason which was the insane amount of bucks we had to pay just to have 30 minutes to swim with it. I still enjoyed watching her play with and give commands. Not a lot of 9 year old kids get to do that kind of thing. Well, at least I didn’t! Hahaha! I remember our summer trip last year in Bohol when we saw dozens of dolphins jumping and swimming beside our boat as the sun was rising for the day. It was a shame I didn’t have a blog back then but those were the times I really felt that life was wonderful. I had to stop myself from diving into the ocean to get a closer glimpse of the dolphins at that time. I would love to be a Marine Biologist someday.

Here are some of her pictures playing with the Dolphin. 🙂  Continue reading “Of dolphins and treetops” →

The Way I Love Choreography

This was one of the choreographies I made for a gig back in the year with INSIGNIA, a dance crew I am part of based in Ateneo. We bagged a lot of gigs during the time and this was during March for MACA’s year-ender party PYREXIA at Club Phi. It was a great party. We’d like to thank the organizers of PYREXIA for having us and for taking care of us really well. One of the most fulfilling gigs I’ve had.

I have always loved freestyle for giving me immediate carte blanche on the expression of my feelings and emotions but there’s nothing like the feeling of pulling off a certain move in choreography that takes you straight to home. The dichotomy between freestyle and choreography has always been there but it shouldn’t get one to diss on the other and pick which is the better art form. Freestyle and choreography should be treated as two separate things and each has something uniquely different to bring to the table. One thing they have in common though is that they both make you think out of the box which is what I’ve always loved about dance. Choreography is just a highly gratifying way to compose all one’s thoughts and weave them into one symbolic thread. This is my version of girl swagger.

Song: The Way You Love Me

Artist: Keri Hilson

Pay more attention to the beats than the lyrics, HAHA! Enjoy! 🙂

Dancers: 

Lauren Yap

Lianne Ting

Claribel Co

Lisa Pastelero

In Hoc Signo Vinces

No Bullshh

My cousins and I went out on a dinner date last Saturday. Back when we were kids, this was the kind of thing I always imagined us to be doing once we got older… hanging out together, sleeping over, going on roadtrips, etc. We swore to be unfazed once the possibility came up that we can actually do things on our own and not have to worry about parental control nipping on our tails. We can do all those things now anytime we want.

Ate at Joey Pepperoni, The Fort.

Do you see my shirt??? :> POREOTICS ❤ Learn how I met them here.  Continue reading “No Bullshh” →

Bieber Fever: The Concert & Afterparty

I knew I would write about this the second I had my hands on a computer despite the creeping backlog of events that have yet to be given their own space. Last night however was just too epic for me to let each minute pass without writing about it. There were two things that happened last night: Justin Bieber’s concert and the Afterparty. Both of which were amazing and have led me to the conclusion that the night was one of the best nights of my life.

All I can say about JB’s concert was that it was worth it. It was everything I imagined despite the crowd and the heat. The lights, the songs, POREOTICS 🙂 and JB’s performances were really great. They had us singing along the whole time  for us cousins and Tibs. I’m sad I can’t say the same thing for some of the crowd though. In any case, I really enjoyed the concert. I think about all the days of listening to Justin Bieber in the car while going to places and how it led to this eventful night. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and I’m glad I got to experience it with my cousins and Tibs. 🙂 Sulit na sulit. It was two hours filled with Bieber’s original songs, other renditions, dance freestyles and singing numbers from Legaci (Justin’s back-up singers which were an all-Filipino group). Everyone was standing on their chairs, listening to Bieber’s voice while mists of water sprinkle on us, it was quite a concert experience.

The kid beliebers!  Continue reading “Bieber Fever: The Concert & Afterparty” →

Hongkong Kangkong

“Ate Laur! You blend in!”  Those were the first comical words ever to be breathed in Hongkong air by my cousin, Paula as we landed in the airport. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I looked around and I did. And my encounter with a Chinese woman talking to me in Mandarin did no help but to confirm the observation. Her friend gave me a once-over once I helplessly (and painfully) told them I didn’t know how to speak Chinese. The gobsmacked expression on the friend’s face came so much as a shock as she tried to understand why a Chinese-looking girl could not, for the life of her being, speak Chinese. I wish I could tell the woman to relieve her from her horror or at least, frustration that I’ve been trying for the past 13 years.

We flew straight to the ‘city of lights’ after my graduation and I swear, there was not a moment to lose in that place. Graduation hasn’t even sunk in at that time. Everyone and everything was just so busy, not to mention in a hurry. I remember being scoffed at one night by a man Continue reading “Hongkong Kangkong” →