can you spell A-W-E-S-O-M-E ?

It was early, around 730 pm when I arrived at the Carlos P. Romulo auditorium.
I had the idea that the spelling bee would be filled with dialogue and kind of get boring, but I was wrong.
The stage was arranged in a sparse style, chairs in front, and a banner that spelled out "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" .
This review is not meant to be very detailed as you can read better reviews in my previous blog post about it. So I assume my dear readers already have a background about it.
I will just comment on the production night.
Sounds= ok and clearly heard
Lights= cool, it focused on stage on the performers, as well as when the actors had to go down stage after they lost their turn.
Participation of the audience= There were three guest spellers that evening, two were lucky bloggers who won through the website, the other is the statuesque, and hot Angel Aquino. All three gamely joined in the spelling, and rode along with the antics as they were pulled, danced around and played around by the actors. It was funny because when there was the time the guest speller had spelled a difficult word right, the examiner had to deliberately give a hard word to be easily misspelled.
Each speller who lost their turn got a fruit juice drink as a token. For the guests, especially the non celebs, they got their 15 minutes (and more) of fame for that evening. ONe of them, wore exceptionally high, 3 inch purple heels.And was dolled up for the evening.
I like the clever way each guest speller was described on the spot.
The quips and the descriptions of the words to be spelled were totally hilarious and bursting to the seams with inanity, puns and amusement.
The way spelling bees are conducted is, each contestant goes to the front, is given the word to spell, then they can ask about the word origin, and have the word used in a sentence. Afterwards, they have to spell the word. Each speller in the show had their own eccentricities and peculiar ways to get the words spelled correctly.One wrote in on her arm, another spelled it with his foot, then another spelled it as if possessed and robot-like.
All in all, the show ended ten pm, and started promptly at 8pm, no intermissions, no problem, and lots of fun!
It will have its run still on the suceeding weekend before it flies to Singapore:
JUL 10 8pm, contact Johnsy Reyes at 09175342326 ;Ken Espinosa: 09164939311
Jul 11 2pm : BEL Pacheco-09156216512
JUL 11 8pm: PHEONA baranda: 09064372869
JUL 12 3pm: Theody DEmaisip-09209326067 ; Oliver San Juan: 09218030360
JUL 12 8pm Mae Castro: 0906-3414559

MANG INASAL- Ayala Ave. food review

I have always been faithful in my conquests.

chicken inasal is ONE of them.

Now, I venture on my Friday lunch out towards the Mang Inasal resto at the white Romanesque-style building along Ayala beside RSC where the Hyundai office is. Located on the second floor, M.I. shares the floor with Karate Kid, Binalot and other eateries.

It mainly caters to the working denizens along Ayala, and so the lunch hour was packed, with queues everywhere.

My goal was to redeem one of my free meals from a popular credit card company, and I was prepared to be inconvenience. Going to a fast food restaurant isn't a breeze during the noon time, so I endured a waiting in line time of ten minutes, before I flashed my charge slip and ordered camote fries and beef sinigang ( it isn't obvious I am hungry no?)

Thumbs up for :
1. The order taking was quick.
2. Each diner was given a number on a long bbq stick, so waiters can quickly give orders to diners as needed.
3. Food was piping hot, and meets the expectation of saucy, juicy chicken barbeque.
4. A tall pitcher of H2O satisfied diners' thirst.
5. Unlimited Rice!
6. The takeout of my camote fries was wrapped in foil and quickly served.

thumbs down:
1. food servers looked harried and toxic.
2. Witnessed a food server slam the stock room door at her colleague for unknown reasons and it was unpleasant.
3. One food server almost slipped as she stepped on an oil slick.
4. Orders were queued long and many diners were unhappy.
5. There was inadequate food delivery as my order was not complete when my number was carried off.
6. There was lack of coordination of the servers and the dispatcher, making for long delays.
7. Only one cleaner cleared tables, and three food servers going around, one griller also for many diners.
8. Only one cashier taking all the orders.

Overall, if you are willing to wait, the inasal is really worth waiting for, but the service is wanting for improvement.

Improvements can be done by all servers exercising extra courtesy and meeting customer needs on time.

Food wise, I comment on the sinigang, it tastes good, there were a total of 3 bite sized beef cubes in the sour broth. The chicken was again, sweet and tangy in its bbq sauce, while the meat was tender and addicting to eat . Dipping the white meat in a combination of calamansi, soy sauce, vinegar and chili drops made the experience quite satisfying though one has to truly wash hands afterwards.

I rate this restaurant, on a scale of 1to 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, it merits a 2, because it took me an hour to finish my meal there and in the lunch hour, services and attention has to be improved to better customer repeat visits.

Gonna watch Spelling Bee tonight,RCBC plaza 8pm

While browsing throught the morning papers at the office lounge, I was astounded to see that there it is, PUTNAM COUNTY spelling bee is tonight at RCBC!
I dialed the number and reserved two tickets for me and my date, we initially just wanted to dinner at QC, but since it's her birthday and she let me just plan what to do, this would be a great thing to do. Besides, I think this is the first time I am gonna watch a musical with her as of late.
Pricey and tickets ah..I won't disclose it but front seats it is.
I hope I can get chosen as guest speller....(crosses fingers)

Will post a review of the musical later....
DARN I did not anticipate I will be watching and I wanna get pics with the actors like i used to do reviews..but ill find a way..heheh..

Can you spell A-N-T-I-C-I-P-A-T-I-O-N?


For more information about spelling bee , check this out:
site of spelling bee producer:
http://www.atlantisproductionsinc.com/
site of reviews of spelling bee philippine production:
http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2009/04/spelling-bee-review.html
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=450175&publicationSubCategoryId=70


plugging for spelling bee from a musical lover:
The last show of the first run of Spelling Bee is tonight. There will be a re-run starting July 3:

July 3, 2009 (Friday)
8 PM, RCBC Plaza , Makati
Minnie Fong Show for Charity
Spelling Bee Updated Seat Plan
For Inquiries and reservations email minnie.fong@gmail.com or call her +63917-8676332.

I usually watch either the opening or the ending show. Please let Minnie know if you're an OAP friend.


July 4, 2009, Saturday,
8pm, RCBC Plaza , Makati
Geoffrey Yu Show
For Inquiries and reservations email yu.geoffrey@gmail.com or call him +63920-9287573


July 5, 2009 (Sunday)

3 PM, RCBC Plaza, Makati
Jessica Manalo Show
For inquiries and reservations e-mail jessicaxii@hotmail.com or call her +63918-9004995



Ticket Prices:
P 500 (Balcony)
P 700 (Loge Sides)
P 900 (Loge Center)
P 1,100 (Orchestra Sides)
P 1,300 (Orchestra Center)

Top 10 List of Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009

It's a yearly writing project by Ms Janette Toral of Influential Blogger.

These are blogs that started anytime from May 1, 2008 to the present. They are gradually gaining a considerable amount of readership and influence. They also blog for various reasons such as expression of thoughts, sharing of knowledge and insights, events reporting or coverage, and some for profit.

I present to you my top ten nominees!

1. Zorlone by Doc Z
2. The Struggling Blogger by Roy
3. Father Blogger by Angel
4. Writing to Exhale by Jan
5. Tales from the Mom Side by Dee
6. Dear Bloggery by Snow
7. Home Buddies by Fehdz
8. Dare to Speak Out by Silver
9. Lifelots by Irene
10. Jed Chan by Jed

For more information about this contest, please visit Ms. Janette Toral's page.

This event will not be possible without thanking our sponsors:

Absolute Traders, My Brute Cheats, Business Summaries, Fitness Advantage Club, Events and Corporate Video, Events at Work, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Red Mobile, and Blog4Reviews.com.

Reflection from Henri Nouwen

I have asked that question and posed this theory, that if I can live for myself, I would, because I am ultimately the master of my life.
Yet my statement has backfired when I made decisions which did not work very well and almost wrecked my life.
I then went to the Word today and read this passage by catholic theologian Henri Nouwen, he said that unless a person "has totally withdrawn from the world, our life will be a window for other people."
He also said that "[one person's faithfulness [is another person's] hope."
I was challenged in my belief, I thought for a long time, that as long as I don't harm anyone as I do my thing, I'll be fine, and if others find it a problem, who cares?
But in reality, I am deceived, my words and actions, no matter how small it seems, does make a ripple.
If I become sour in my face when I react to an officemates' remark, it is my right to express, but it creates a dent in my personality and character. And though my trap is shut, the other person has already read my expression quite well. If I don't say something good, encouraging , comforting and uplifting to someone who needs it, because I was preoccupied, it might not be a sin, and I have every right to ignore the other person, but it doesnt give credence to Christian compassion and sensitivity.
My very existence in church, in work and at home, how I move, how I eat, drink and rest, already says a lot to the people I am with, positive and negative.
Now, as I reflected, I realized, I am so guilty of many inappropriate actions and words carelessly thrown out, and if people look into my windows, do they see good breeding, a good family name, and a Christian, or is it "he is just like the rest of the hypocrites I see..."

Jesus preached about the be-attitudes and one of them is "Blessed are those who hunder and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

I have become complacent and assume, since I am a nice guy, I am ok with everybody, and if someone opposes it, then s___ them. I am not really so nice after all, because I tend to do what I insist, and how I feel I show it even to someone I am supposed to love and care about a lot.

I have been a dirty window and a showcase of shame a lot of times.

the reflection ends saying "those who live for peace and righteousness, while they may not achieve a better world, at least live as windows of the fact that such a world ought to be."