Bridget Reviews His 2008

Hello, my dear blogfriends!!! Yep yep yep! The year is ending in a few hours and I decided to make a full update to compensate for my mental impotence this year. My golly when I reviewed my entries, it started out as an almost-twice a week blogging and then it almost turned into a bi-annual thing! Ugh. I just have been very, very busy. Though my work does not require physical activities, how I wish that the brainstorming sessions, meetings, manual development, and conduct of trainings could also burn calories! If that’s possible, I would have lost 80 pounds. (sighs) So here it is, an update and a review of the year that was…

The Promotion from Private Dancer to Senior Prostitute

As you all know, I am involved with an NGO, the Phil. Business for Social Progress or PBSP. The year started with a promotion from program staff to core employee as Senior Training Officer that comes with lots of work sans discount card. As a senior staff, my work is spread out to ALL projects of our unit. So, I service all of the training needs of all projects: the design of trainings, kit/manual development, tasking, conduct of the training (which requires travels), debriefing, and re-design. This does not include the occasional brainstorming for proposals that need to be drafted and submitted for funding and brown bag sessions. Come to think of it, I am like your regular prostitute offering a full range of services from hand jobs to blow jobs, to the whole sing-and-dance production number…for the entire year…and I am quite tired…(wipes mouth)

Goin’ Bananas on Being a Private Dancer

Aside from being a regular prostitute servicing all of the needs of our unit, I also served as a private dancer for our project with World Bank-International Finance Corporation. This I did for the last half of the year. As a colleague said, I personally “head-speared” the implementation of the project which involved training and coaching of 4 farm enterprises located in Davao City and Davao del Norte. These are banana farms which we assisted for them to develop business plans in relation to their application for Rainforest Alliance certification. I am a psychology graduate and I handled a project that involved the business of banana farming. What the hell was my boss thinking? Oh wait. The banana is a phallic symbol. I am gay. Okay, case closed. (rolls in laughter)

Blogging for a Cause – My Cause (Hahahaha!)

I actually enjoyed the writing gigs we got this year. There was the attendance to the 1-day Kitchen Discovery Class with the Center for Culinary Arts which I enjoyed very much thanks to our dear dear friend and muse, Ruby. (Read here). I was excited because I looooove to cook and I did it in a chef’s kitchen! Not only that, I received a certificate, and get this…a free apron and chef’s hat!!!!

Aside from the CCA class, the Zen Zest scent collection was a regular thing for us thanks to PR diva, Claire Agbayani. I loved the Tim Yap line: “Something’s Gonna Happen Here” (linen spray) and “Nothing Happened Here” (room spray). Only a gay man can think of those titles. Hahahahaha! I also absolutely love the Vanilla Ice Cream scent from their Sugar Collection. My friends loved the scents from their Cocktail collection. Great as a gift item! So go and check out your Zen Zest kiosks to see their lines.

Ang sarap ng libre and I hope we get more in 2009! Hahahahahaha!

Furious Over the Evolution of the Sahal

Remember this entry and this entry where I wore a sahal? I remembered wearing it always in my trips, more for function rather than style. People who see me either laugh at me because I “look silly” or like an “Iraqi” or frisk me longer because I wear “terrorist gear.” But now? The sahal has become a fashion statement and almost everyone is wearing it! I remember the time when I was in my 3^rd year in college, a time where the long-haired Siakol and Arkasia bands were in the limelight, I decided to shave my head off for no reason. It became a major issue in the College of Arts and Sciences, I was called by the Dean asking me if I had problems at home, etc. Everyone stared at me like I was a freak or something. Then the Bench commercial came where Richard Gomez rode a horse wearing a white shirt over denims, sporting a shaved head. The week after, almost all guys went to school with shaved heads. Shet. A week after seeing lots of heads, I decided to grow my hair long. It makes me feel sad that people follow trends instead of making them. Bleeech!

Shooting All Over the Place

As much as I want it to be porn (hahahahaha!), it is about photography, you green-minded silly people!!!! Yep. After buying my Nikon D60, I spent 5 Sundays last August with the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation (FPPF), and I graduated from its Basic Photography class. Again, I thank Ruby for encouraging me to take this class. Very cheap at Php 3,500 yet very comprehensive with its roster of speakers of seasoned photographers. Those were the five, most satisfying Sundays of my life. (Gosh, I almost let out a soft moan saying that. Hahahahaha!) I take pictures now from a photographer’s point of view and not just taking snapshots. It’s like shooting with a purpose—very orgasmic. My pictures are being used in our projects. Although it is for free, at least it builds my portfolio.

This year also marked our first paid gig! Yep. Ruby, Jher, and I were commissioned to take lomographs for the Quit Smoking Support Program (QuitsS) Lomowall. It was a great learning experience for us given that this is our first paid gig. Lots of headaches, blood, sweat, and tears. But it was very satisfying. (<- am I sexually deprived or what? Hahahahaha!) Here’s what we did, just click on the thumbnails. Good for events:

If you want us to do something like this for your events, feel free to contact me through email: jerome.daclison@gmail.com. Taking pictures have been our passion this past year. You can view my other photos in my multiply site.

A Girl Named Ruby

This year was a year with our dearest friend-slash-fag hag extraordinaire, Ruby.  We thank her for being our muse and our pig-out buddy.  We have discovered and re-discovered our love for food.  Classic is the Choco Peanut Butter Maltshake of Flapjacks. Ugh. The thought of it just makes me want to go to heaven.  There is a classic story of the Abduction of My Choco Peanut Butter Maltshake which we only share with the girl of our dreams, Ruby.  Hahahahaha!  She is sweet!  She maybe giving us tough love at times or being tough on the outside but she is really all mush inside.  We love her dearly. (smiles)

Married Away

As much as I want this to be about me (hmph), it is about my sister, Gilda. This year was bittersweet for us because we “gave away” my little sister to the man of her dreams.

She was whisked away to Chicago on April, got married in May, and had her reception on November. All of which, we witnessed through pictures. I cried seeing pictures of her civil wedding. (cried a tear) But the weird thing is, we always talk everyday thanks to technology! So when she came back last November where she stayed for 3 weeks to arrange her wedding here set on July 11, it felt weird because its like she never left. Thank God for technology. So, July 11 is THE day for her wedding in the Philippines. Fitting is in March and you know what that means: LOSE WEIGHT!!!!

Quatro Anos

The main event for 2008: Jher and I celebrated our 4^th year as a couple. We spent the entire day last November 16 in Tagaytay. He gave me a gift, lots of records! I was so thrilled! I bought a turntable and his gift was divine. Anyway, the Tagaytay get-away was a romantic dining feast. I let husband plan the entire day. (giggles) We went to Manos, a Greek resto just 300m left of the Tagaytay rotunda. It served authentic Greek food and we had a great time. We sat at a table by a nook with yellow walls and an old door. Oh it was sooooo romantic!

We walked to the dilapidated Lakeview Terrace where both of us took some photos.

Next stop was supposed to be a coffee shop. I forgot the name because Jher forgot to ask for exact directions. We ended up having coffee at Starbucks which was still romantic. Look at this pic. Di ba?:

We then went to the Halfway Zoo where we discovered that the entrance fee has become insanely high since we last went here! If it weren’t for being able to pet and feed the baby tiger and the white lion, I would have exploded. But not to ruin the day, we also discovered that there were spots good for a photo shoot. Bringing out the tripod, we did our version of a “pre-nup” shoot. Jher is conscious! Hahahaha!

To end the day, we had dinner at Taj. We saw a feature of this Indian resto in “Living it Up” and eversince, we told ourselves that we will have dinner here on our anniversary. Since Jher was the captain, the Halfway Zoo destination apparently was “strategic” since Taj is just 300m away—according to Jher. So we walked…and walked…and walked…and walked…and after 20mins and 3000 calories burned, we reached Taj. Hahahahahahaha. We were laughing the entire time. The dinner at Taj was absolutely divine and the place is fabulous. We were laughing because we knew all the music being played from the Bollywood movie, “Sawaar Gayi.” It was expensive but it was a perfect end for another perfect day with Husband.

Well, that’s what happened to me the entire year. Oh wait. I forgot. The entire year was also missing my blogfriends especially Toni of Wifely Steps, Duke of QRS Complex, Ade of Noisy, Noisy Man, Nalen of Manilenya, Karol of Kalories, Jennie of The Sassy Melbournite, Chase of The Queer Chef, Empress Maruja, the Las Tres Estrellas, Joseph the Fish Out of Water, Migz of Manila Gay Guy, Dylan of Radioactive Adobo (who is in absentia. hmph), JJ of Lucubrate, Bong of Out of My Mind (whom we saw at Cafe Mediterranean), Rudy of The Single Guy, Ajay of Writings on the Wall, Chong and Addie (I wish we could go out more often), and Dinna of Pinay New Yorker. Also, I love all those new friends who have been dropping by to read my blog entries.

See you next year for more of my adventures and misadventures.  Great big hugs to all of you!