Day Zero: Senior Breakfast, I Talk To Red Books

6/15/15, 10:07 PM PDT

(Note: I'm still getting used to the blog being back up again, so the first few days probably aren't gonna be too photo-dense)

So today, on my last day of compulsory, government-mandated school, we had our senior breakfast. For non-high schoolers or my readers in foreign countries, it's basically a breakfast with our entire high school class that's more or less an excuse to have the entire Class of 2015 do one last thing together before we go into the real world. The cold, cruel, frightening real world.

If it's anything like MTV portrays it to be, we're all screwed.
(via wikipedia.org)

I would say that it's surreal that today would be the last day of something I've been a part of for the past four years. I would say that it'll be strange to imagine not having to wake up at 5:45 AM every day, plow through six straight hours of school, pass out at home for a few hours, and start homework at 8 PM. And I would say that I'm gonna miss seeing a bunch of people on a regular basis.

But I skipped breakfast today and I was starving, so none of that was going through my mind. I was just thinking about the food. The delicious, delicious food. I didn't grab any pictures, but they had bacon, scrambled eggs, breakfast burrito stations, omelette-making stations, and some weird apple-cinnamon thing that looked gross but tasted delicious.

It sort of looked like this, except more syrupy and less appetizing.
(via guavarose.com)

And it was ALL YOU CAN EAT. Which meant my famished little stomach was very very happy.

They had a bunch of activities too. There was a photobooth (which of course, my friend group and I hit up).

It took me two pictures to realize that the camera wasn't
on the ceiling.

And a flipbook, which my friends also indulged in.

It's supposed to be an allegory to nature's inevitable triumph over mankind
or something.

There was also DDR, which we played, and karaoke, which we did not do because 90% of the time it was playing Nickelback and our requested song, Party in the USA, never came up. In hindsight, I think it was a good decision not to sing because if we did, we probably would have ruined the entire senior breakfast for everyone. Because everyone's eardrums would have been ruptured.

A cool thing they also had was this one dude promoting a movie called "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and it looks pretty damn good. I haven't really heard a synopsis or anything of the film, but based on the guy's mumbled spiel, the fact that it's a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury/Audience Award winner (which Whiplash was also a past winner of), and all of the free merchandise we got, I'd say I'm pretty hyped about it.

And I mean it when I say we got a lot of merchandise. We got posters...

More to decorate my room with.

Shirts...

I'll be wearing this during finals week in UCLA then.

And this dumb looking box.

Unfortunately, it does not contain embarrassing pictures of Spongebob
at the Christmas party.

But what was in this dumb looking box? A FREE SELFIE STICK! AWWW YEAH.

Or, as the kind women at the convent call it, the Vanity Pike.

Here we have the lovely, Berkely bound Kurtland Chua demonstrating its length.

A natural born Vanna White, huh?

Pretty glad I got this thing. I'm probably gonna use it as a ghetto crane for films and stuff, as soon as I find a way to either make my hands less shaky or stabilize the camera. I'll figure out a non-selfie use for it someday, promise.

Later today, the squad and I (with "squad" being defined as Angela, Kayla, Christina, Gwendolyn, Samantha, and Nick) went to the movies to go watch Insidious 3. I think the scariest part about that entire movie was the fact that I drove there. I suck so much at driving, I swear. I can't wait until robotic cars are the norm, I hate driving so much. In UCLA, as long as I have public buses, trolleys, a scooter, and my own two feet, I will be a happy, happy boy.

We also hit up the local Barnes and Noble, as is standard in our film-watching escapades. A few days ago, Christina found this ritual online that involved a red book and allowed us to communicate to ghosts or spirits or Mexican demons or something. But basically, the gist of the ritual was that you'd grab any red-colored book, ask a question, flip to a random page, and point to some text and whatever you pointed to would be the spirit's response.

So we did that at Barnes and Noble with an assortment of red books.

The first red book we tried got some pretty tepid results. The demon we contacted didn't really wake up on the right side of the bed, so it said we couldn't play and we went on our merry way. It was when we got to this cookbook where things got interesting: 

It's red. It's bound like a book. It checks out.
(via simonandschuster.com)

You know, for a cookbook, it had very feisty responses. It started with an innocent "Are you a boy or a girl?" Then, one thing led to another, and eventually I figured out what she (it was a she-demon, a shemon) was wearing, I figured out that she liked it when I pressed her covers, and I landed myself a date with a cookbook this Friday. Sorry Sam, but I've got a hot date with a hot, hot demon.

RFotD: In a ranking by U.S. News & World Report, the Paleo Diet ranked last in a list of 32 diets. The traits used to compare the diets were healthiness, weight loss, and ease of following.

2015: Orientation

Hello, hello, wonderful people! As the school year comes to a close, with graduation just around the corner (tomorrow, as of writing this!), I will once again be continuing this blog for you guys. For those of you that have stuck around for the past... six years? Seven? I'm not entirely sure, but anyway, for the veterans, you all already know what to expect. However, for the new people, I'll give you a bit of a rundown as to how this is gonna work.

So I've been keeping a daily log of my summer vacations ever since 6th grade. Emphasis on daily, as in I will (try to) post a new entry every single day. I know I didn't exactly get to do that last year but if it hadn't been for the incredible lack of internet access in the Philippines, I would definitely have kept up. ANYWAY, the posts will normally come out the morning after the day it happens (as in the post for August 11, 2015 will come out on the morning of August 12) so it could be the first thing you read in the morning, kinda like the newspaper except hopefully more interesting and without an obituaries section.

The posts will all be nonfiction, as in everything I write will be absolutely true. I don't make stuff up about my life (hell, I'll have pictures to prove it on the entries), but I will exaggerate to make things more interesting. The ultimate goal of this blog is to entertain you guys. If a few of my entries could draw a chuckle or a laugh out of you, then I have done my job well and I can remove the mark of shame bestowed upon me by my hunter-gatherer ancestors. All of my past entries from the past two years are still here, so feel free to look at them to get a feel as to how I'll be writing. Or you can wait a few days and find out firsthand, your call, coach.

Sounds good? Great. See you guys on Monday!

Day Seventy-One: Mall of Asia; I Play a Little Ditty

8/23/14, 8:03 AM PDT

Today, we visited the expansive (and more importantly, air conditioned) Mall of Asia. Even though it sounds like it should be the biggest mall in Asia (or at the very least, the Philippines), it actually currently sits at third place. But sitting at 406,000 square miles, third place doesn't make it a tiny mall.

Even though a good 50% of it is owned by SM.

So first thing my cousin Mico (who also went with us) and I did was hit up their arcade. There were a few rhythm games on there (no Jubeat though) and I got absolutely destroyed by them when I got too cocky and picked the hardest difficulties because I thought beginner was "too easy."



Oh, and I played Just Dance with Megan too, but thankfully, no picture evidence of that exists.

After blowing I think 200 pesos in arcade games, we went around to take a look at the sort of stuff we could buy in the mall. And since I'm not a super materialistic person, the stuff that caught my eye pretty much consisted entirely of edible things. Like these ADORABLE mochi donuts.

At 40 Pesos ($1) a pop, no way was I gonna buy one though.

And I have to say, the Philippines absolutely OUTDOES us when it comes to their donuts. LOOK AT THIS. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle donuts?

Let's hope they're not turtle filled or else I'll be throwing them in the Shredder.

And Jesus Christ, this pinnacle of human achievement.

I need this. I need this now.

They also had some weird looking fish on display.

"I don't know man, you sure these fish are fine? They look pretty blocked up..."

This guy seemed to enjoy his job as a stock photo model.

Nothing says "Real Italian Food" like an anonymous
white male making out with his fingers.

And there was also this thing.

Sorry for the blurriness.

Yeah, uhh... go ahead and rub that on your skin if you want, but I'll pass.

They also have a Ferris wheel here.

Well, I mean it's no London Eye, but it's not terrible...

Actually, I lied. They have two.

And it's pretty

goddamn

massive.

Yes, we rode in it. And yes, it was a pretty good view.

Too bad we couldn't appreciate it because the pods were HEAT TRAPS under the Philippine sun. Seriously, there was absolutely NO ventilation in there, save for a really crappy air conditioner that was perpetually stuck in the "LOW FAN" setting.

By the time we stepped off the glorified pressure cookers, we were drenched in so much sweat that we looked like we just ran a half-marathon in the Sahara Desert.

But let's not let the heat take away from the pretty cool view we did get. Or at least, my camera got. I couldn't see anything because even my eyes were sweating.

Yeah, it was also right next to the sea, which was cool.

Downtown Manila in the distance.

Towards the end of the night, everything got a LOT prettier because of the lights. Check out how nice the giant globe they have out front looks bathed in LED:

It probably would've looked nicer if they didn't use it as a glorified billboard.

Even their marching band had Tron-esque LED trim!

Unfortunately, no Olivia Wilde in sight.

As derezzing as it was for them to leave, it was still pretty cool.

Afterwards, we went to Mico's house, where I got to use the computer (finally!) and played the piano for a bit. After a good two hours or so, pretty much every adult save for my mom was drunk to HELL in that house, which was pretty funny. They all had the stereotypical drunken slur and they would laugh at EVERYTHING super hard. And even though the smell of alcohol wafted in the air like a crippled balloon, I was pretty happy too. Because drunk people make excellent tippers for lounge piano players such as myself. Look at how much I made.

I had to give 40% to my sister though. Broker fees.

Not to be outdone, Mico also managed to make bank through his awesome bass playing. So lesson learned, everyone, beer is the ultimate cash extortion tool for the bankrupt high schooler.





RFotD: I will never drink an alcoholic beverage. Ever.

SGAT: None really.

Day Seventy: Technological Taxis

8/22/14, 12:01 AM PDT

Today started off with me cleaning the house with my sister while my parents went off to do finance stuff or something at the bank. I did most of the work, like washing dishes, (badly) folding the laundry, and making the bed. My sister wanted to help out too, but I couldn't tell her to send the laundry basket to the roof to dry because she isn't strong enough to carry the heavy laundry, so she decided to sweep the floor.

We didn't have a dust pan, but Megan was pretty content with just pushing the dust around the floor, so I guess it all worked out.

She was practicing for this, pretty much.

OH, I finished Perks of Being a Wallflower today, and let me tell you what, it was an AMAZING book. It was something incredibly relatable for me, partly because it was a bildungsroman that dealt with finding one's identity, coping with family problems, making friends, relationships, etc. Definitely, if you're in high school or even in college, I recommend it. It's a pretty quick read, and you won't regret it.


Anyway, so we've had this house (or, rather, condominium) for around six years now. We use it every time we go to the Philippines, which is every two years. And yet, in those six years, I never knew that we had a little poolside convenience store. I didn't get any pictures of the outside of it, but I did get a picture of the most important thing they were selling.

So many flavors...

Later today, we packed our stuff because we were planning on going to a trip to Baguio. We caught a taxi to the bus station that were were gonna go to and we were DAMN lucky because we managed to hail the most technologically advanced taxi in the Philippines.

Seriously, this thing had BUILT-IN WIFI. And if you happened to forget your smartphone/laptop computer at home, no big deal because the backseat comes with A TABLET, FREE FOR YOU TO ACCESS.

The only downside was that the screen was covered in the grease of every
single person who has ever ridden in the taxi before me.

But hey, it's in-drive entertainment.

Their WiFi actually required a password, and I didn't really feel like asking the taxi driver for it, so I wasn't able to access it. But I did take a screenshot to prove that it did have WiFi.

What a time to be alive.

We eventually arrived at the bus station that would take us to Baguio.

Unfortunately, half the population of Manila had gotten there before us.

And this was only half of the bus station.

We didn't know this at the time, but today was actually the start of a national holiday that gave people a three-day weekend from work. And everyone and their mother had the idea to take the bus to Baguio today. So there were no available trips until 8 AM tomorrow. So we didn't go. Which kinda sucks.

But hey, I still have my Mogu Mogu. So everything's still okay.

God help us all if we lose all this.

RFotD: I still have to try mixing and matching Mogu Mogu flavors.

SGAT: None really.

Day of Immaturity: Incorrect Integration

8/21/14, 6:30 AM PDT

We didn't really know what to do today. We're planning on leaving for Baguio in a few days and we didn't really have any plans...

So we just went back to SM Aura. Where I got even more pictures of their beautiful, beautiful rooftop terrace.

Love the skyline.

Now comes with Selfie-Taking Girl™!

Yeah, every shot of this place looks amazing, I swear.

Inside of the actual mall is pretty cool too. I found an integral in one of those sheets of paper that they have near pens so you can sample them if they work.

Love the handwriting, anonymous math geek.

So of course, I solved it.

QED, bitch.

...Of course, I just now realized that I made a mistake by multiplying two by three instead of finding two to the third power. So here's the revised solution.

...Now QED. Riiiight?

Not to be outdone, Megan also showed off a little. Her drawing skills, not her math skills.

Autographed too. Someday, this will be worth millions.

Bought me two books too. "Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Impulse buys, for the most part, but I mean how could you resist when one of the books looks like this:

The prospect of a dead poodle was the only
reason why I bought this book.

OH, we ended up sticking around the mall pretty late today. We actually got to stay after it closed because my family got lost trying to look for a way out. And let me tell you, when malls are completely dark and empty, they are SUPER creepy. Here's the only decent picture I got:

If this doesn't scream "Silent Hill Hospital Level," I'm not sure what does.

But on the bright side, I did find this picture.

Sorry, Samantha.

RFotD: YES, I KNOW THIS IS UNBELIEVABLY LATE. I'M SORRY.

SGAT: None really.

Day Sixty-Eight: Life In a Spike Jonze Movie

8/20/14, 12:01 AM PDT

We left Boracay today. Before we hit the airport, I got to briefly visit this mini-mall they had. I only had five minutes to explore, so I didn't grab too many pictures.

Shops on shops, ad infinitum.

They had some weird multicolored prism here.

And a Hobbit House.

If it's any consolation for the lack of mini-mall pictures, here's a few more pictures of Boracay that I got.

"Looks like Karate Island" -Hardik

All we need is Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio and we're set.

Clouds.

We took a Cebu Pacific flight again. So of course, I won the coin purse again.

Pink. Huh.

Sister pointed out this sign when we landed in Manila.

They must not have looked very thoroughly then.

When we got back to our apartment, we had some time to kill, so we went to this fancy-pants new mall called "SM Aura" in Makati. And let me tell you, it is BEAUTIFUL. They had this amazing rooftop terrace that looked like it was straight of of the movie "Her."

Here's the comparison, for those of you who have never seen the movie (which you should, by the way, it's a FANTASTIC film).

As happy as a guy living right before The Matrix becomes real can be.

And here's SM Aura's rooftop terrace.

Eh?

Eh??

I think it's damn spot on. And even if it isn't, the view is fantastic.

They had some other cool things too, including this fountain that I really liked.

Like Jeff Bridges' house in Tron Legacy.

RFotD: I really like the movie Her.

SGAT: Nada.