End of the Year Round Up: Looking Back at 2014

My Beloved Wife Lei planned on preparing our favorite Graham cake and then going to my parents to welcome the new year. But these plans were foiled by the coming of our bundle of joy: Little Ahab.

(Sosurce: princesskaoru)

Lei had a hard time during labor. She struggled for more than 24 hours before our Ob/Gyne decided to do a Caesarean operation. Lei and our baby are fine. Our God kept them safe and healthy.

I couldn’t explain the happiness when I saw my child for the first time. My heart jumped when I heard his first cry. I will surely treasure that moment for the rest of my life.



2014 was an exceptional year for me and Lei because it is the year when we opened a new chapter of our life as husband and wife. We didn’t had a hard time adjusting but there were moments when my personality clashed with hers. Thank God that we overcame our differences and made everything work in our first months of marriage.

The change in my personal life affected my blogs negatively. 2014 is the year when I contracted the much dreaded Writer’s Block. I had to take a month off blogging just to recuperate and regain my “voice”.

I managed to publish plenty of posts despite all the changes that’s happening to me during 2014. I posted about our wedding preparations. I’m glad that many people found those posts helpful, especially the posts about the bridal gowns in Divisoria, wedding souvenirs at the shops along Tabora and Ylaya Streets, The Venue in SM Mall of Asia, wedding rings from Binondo Chinatown, and wedding celebrations at Max’s Restaurant.

I continued my yearly tradition of virtual Visita Iglesia. For this year’s Semana Santa; I posted about the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Caloocan, the chapel of Marines Barracks, Malate Church, Our Lady of the Airways Church in Pasay, St. Dominic Savio Church in Mandaluyong, Don Bosco Church in Makati, and Quiapo Church.

Finally, I posted about our honeymoon trip to Puerto Princesa. We truly enjoyed our first trip as husband and wife because of the pristine beach and clean seas of Palawan. That island is truly the last frontier of the Philippines. Aside from the beaches of Honda Bay, we also experienced a breathtaking trip to the world-famous Puerto Princesa Underground River.

We also didn’t miss the chance for a DIY city tour. We went to the Puerto Princesa Cathedral and the infamous Plaza Cuartel.

It is quite obvious that my blog posts are very few this year. Only three blog series peppered with other blog posts. I have plenty of delayed posts. I’m yet to finish posting about my trip around Thailand. I also have pending posts for my trip to Guimaras, Northern Samar, Cebu, Subic, and Davao. My latest trip to Kuala Lumpur was also added to the queue.

My New Year’s resolution for my blog is to finish all of my pending posts. I also hope to post more on my other blogs. I also wish that I will be able to balance my daily life and blogging. And of course, I hope (and pray) that my income from blogging increase and more opportunity will come to me.

So, expect more travel posts on this blog. I will take you to interesting places around the Philippines and beyond.

To all of the readers of BTES, especially my suki, I greet all of you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. May the Lord shower you and your family with great blessings.
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End of the Month Roundup – August 2014

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The month of August is finally over! This means that Pinoy radio and TV will be starting their countdowns to Christmas tomorrow. Before I get engulfed by the very early Christmas Season in the Philippines, let us look back to what happened in the blogs this month.

After many months of writing, I finally ended the Wedding Prep blog series. It was good to recall the fun and frustration during our wedding preparations. I learned a lot with this series and I hope that you learned a lot too. If you are one of the many soon-to-be-wed couples, I highly suggest that you read our wedding prep adventures. If you don’t have the time for the longish posts, then this summary of our wedding preparations is recommended for you.

Vows that are not Meant to be Broken

Our “I do” started our forever. It is not meant to broken (contrary to those who wish to legalize divorce here in the Philippines or those who toy with annulment (hello Kris Aquino)).

For those who are wondering, we exchanged our marriage vows in the Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Villamor, Pasay City.

A Once in a Lifetime Event with Family and Friends

Weddings are very big events for Filipinos. In fact, weddings mean eating (lots of it), drinking (lots of that too), party, and the never-ending selfies. Well, we did those too sans the drinking.

We had our wedding fiesta at the Golden Bay Fresh Seafood Restaurant. We had a good time because of the good food and good service. It was truly a once in a lifetime event for me and Lei.

For those who are looking for wedding reception venues, I suggest Golden Bay Restaurant. You should also check my list of some wedding reception venues around Metro Manila.

Special Vacation after the Special Day

(Source: Puerto Princea City)

We reckoned that the best way to start our life together is by going to a special place. So, we go to one of the country’s last paradise: the island of Palawan. Our first night in Puerto Princesa City was great. We enjoyed the good food during our dinner date at Haim Chicken Inato.

Our dinner date is just the beginning of our adventure in Puerto Princesa City. I will be posting about our vacation in September. So expect to see beautiful places and good stories from Palawan. If you want to know more about this city, I suggest that you read the 7 interesting facts about Puerto Princesa.

The Baby Update

I couldn’t explain my happiness when I felt our baby move inside Lei’s belly. He/she “kicked” twice. Lei’s belly is getting bigger and bigger. Her nausea is gone (which is good) but she’s feeling other aches (which is not good) as her pregnancy progresses. I do hope that everything will be alright for Lei and the baby.

The Sad News: Persecution of Christians (and non-Muslims) in Iraq

(Source: Veooz)

I hope that you saw the news of gruesome activities of the self-proclaimed Islamic State somewhere in Iraq and Syria. These terrorists murdered hundreds of Christians and non-Muslim people like the Yazidis. There were even reports of captured women being sold off as sex slaves. Blood of Christians is being spilt in Iraq as I write this post.

What’s alarming is that wrong-minded Muslims are inspired by these acts of terror. A former Philippine president revealed that some Filipino Muslims went to Iraq to train as jihadists. Even the Buddhist temple of Borobodur were threatened to be bombed.

What can we do in the face of this evil? My answer: pray, donate to Christians in Iraq, and petition your government to stop jihadists from invading your country.

Earthquake Info: Marikina Fault Line in Alabang, Muntinlupa

I sometimes write about the West Valley Fault (a.k.a. Marikina Fault Line) to inform people. I believe that I could help save lives by the information that I share. So, for this month, I posted the map from PHIVOLCS that shows the location of Marikina Fault Line in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

I hope that I will be able to post more Marikina Fault Line maps next month.

I guess that’s all the updates for this month. May we have all have a happy September. And no, I will not say any Christmas greetings this early.
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End of the Month Roundup - July 2014

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(Source: Wikipedia)

“Et tu, Brute?” – these are the “dying words” of Julius Caesar as he was stabbed to death by his assassins.

“Et tu, Brute?” and with that July has ended. No, I am not saying that someone betrayed me or planning my death (but if we include the betrayal of President BS Aquino because of DAP then I can say “Et tu, Brute?” plenty of times).

July is that month when our baby (inside My Beloved Wife Lei’s womb) turned three months. I’m just waiting for another six months and then I will be seeing my firstborn. Good thing that Lei experienced fewer nausea spells but the sad part is that she caught a flu. She’s still coughing until now.

I admit that I’m struggling with Lei’s pregnancy and it its demands made me exhausted a few times. There were times that I lose my temper and this prompted me to post some tips on what to do when husbands lose their cool.

July is the first time me and Lei faced a storm together, as husband and wife. Typhoon Glenda ravaged many communities. We experienced blackouts but we were still fortunate because our electricity returned immediately after the typhoon passed near Metro Manila. Since I’m a blogaholic, I couldn’t resist taking a Youtube video of Typhoon Glenda’s wrath.

I continued posting about our wedding preparations in my personal-travel blog, Before the Eastern Sunset. I mostly posted about our search for wedding cakes in Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Goldilocks, Bakerite, Salazar Bakery, and Bakers’ Fair.

In the end, we ordered our wedding cake from Salazar Bakery.

Our search for wedding souvenirs brought us under the bridge near Quiapo Church and the arts and craft center of Divisoria.

I also posted about what we learned about Max’s Restaurant wedding celebrations.

In Ahab Reviews and Tips, I posted about our Condura refrigerator and the updated index of Marikina Fault Line maps.

The corruption in PNoy’s administration and their unconstitutional Development Acceleration Program (DAP) irritated me so much that I couldn’t help but make fun of it, especially PNoy’s call for yellow ribbon campaign.

August is upon us, which means that it’s just a month away before the “Ber” months and the start of the extended Christmas season in the Philippines.
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End of the Month Roundup – June 2014

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It is that day of the year again when we all have to say good bye to the first half of the year. Time is so fast that I didn’t notice that I’m already 5 months into our married life and I just saw the very first photo of my child. In just few winks we'll be celebrating our anniversary, the first birthday of our child, and many more happy moments.

My Beloved Wife Lei's pregnancy is both exhausting and exciting. Right now she's thinking if she will be a stay-at-home mom or a working mom. I hope that we can prepare well whatever her decision may be. Of course we're praying to Mama Mary and other saints for their intercession.

I continued posting about our wedding preparations thhis month. I featured the wedding invitation cards and wedding gowns in Divisoria. I also posted about our search for hotels and also the place where we stayed the night before our wedding day, which is Copacabana Apartment Hotel.

I posted also posted about some Filipino wedding traditions that we encountered in our wedding adventure.

Wedding documents are overlooked during wedding preparation, so I posted about the importance of church wedding documents and how we got our NSO birth certificates and CENOMAR.

I hope that these posts will be helpful for soon-to-be-wed couples out there.

I also posted about two Korean restaurants: BonChon and Mr. Kimbob, and the puto and kutsinta from Rocha's. I even talked about my failed dinengdeng.

Facepalm Moment of the Month

Coloma mastered the art of blaming other people. Haha. Facepalm.

(Source: Showbiz Government)

Dear Coloma, we deserve to buy high quality rice because it is OUR MONEY! You try eating the bad quality rice so you'll know why we want good smelling rice. Kutusan kita d'yan eh.
 

June Funnies

Facebook is a great source of amusement. Here are my favourites:

The world in the eyes of a gamer

(Source: 9Gag)

And why you might think twice in buying DIY crucifixes.

(Source: Catholic Link)

Things I Learned (TIL)

What I like with the research part of my work is that I encounter interesting readings in the Internet. Here are some of the things that I learned:

1. Did you know that the first bishop of the Catholic Church in Mongolia is a Filipino priest? (Source: Wikipedia)

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2.  Over in Eye in the Sky, I read about Vietnam refugees living in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. I didn’t know that a dwindling Vietnamese community exists in that part of the Philippines.

3. Also in Palawan, I discovered that a town in that Philippine province was named after Sir James Brooke, the first white rajah of Sarawak. The connection between Brooke and Palawan is obscure. (Source: Wikipedia)

4. A centennial tunnel is located in the town of Aringay (La Union). This tunnel, built during the Spanish period, was meant to be a tunnel of a railway system that didn’t materialize. This tunnel was used by the Japanese as a camp during the Second World War.

(Source: La Union Province website)

5. I learned recently that some samurais became Christians, others became pirates, and others were employed as mercenaries by the Spaniards in a plot to invade China. (Source: List Verse)

6. An Operational Plan estimated that the Japanese have 170,000 soldiers in the Philippine prior

(Source: iBiblio)

7. And the best TIL is that I should avoid kebab as much as possible:

(Source: Shasha)

Yummy! They even posed for the camera.

And before I end, let me share an advice from Brod Pete.

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End of the Month Roundup - May 2014

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It seems that the end of May means the end of very hot weather. Storms occur almost daily. Rain is a welcome respite from deadly heat of sunny day but it bring soaked shoes and socks that I really hate.

Enough of gloomy June forecasts for now, let us reminisce the sunny May.

This May, me and My Beloved Wife Lei had a very important milestone in our married life. Two red lines confirmed that we now have a child. Our baby is already one month old during Lei's first check-up.

There's an idea in my head about a blog that chronicles my adventure a father and husband. That blog will serve as my journal and, hopefully, a reference for clueless fathers like me. The good news is that that blog just came alive, and Lei requested its inception. I named that blog “Fatherly Ish” and I do hope that you visit it and share your thoughts on being a father (and a mother for moms out there). You comments/advices will surely me in goal of being a good husband and father.

Oh, by the way, My Beloved Wife has now a “name”. She is Leilani of House Ahab. So don't be surprised if you see more “Lei” instead of “My Beloved Wife”.

Lei is already pregnat but my travel – personal blog is months delayed because I'm still posting about our wedding preparation. In fact, I suspended my posts about Thailand which I left more than a year ago. I have a lot of travel stories that are yet to see the light of day like my travel to Olongapo City, Northern Samar, and Cagayan de Oro; return trips to Cebu; and our husband-and-wife adventure in Palawan.

Gaaah! So much posts, so little time.

For this month, I posted about our search for wedding rings. I mentioned about that matapobre jeweller in Binondo Chinatown. In the end, we got our wedding rings from Suarez in SM MoA, where we also bought the hosts and wine as offertory during our wedding.

Equally important is our adventure in Dangwa, where we were surprised by a fixer. Good thing that we were not tricked and got a good florist.

I also talked about our prenup photoshoot in UP Diliman. It was a very exhausting event but the result is very good and yeah, we looked like artistas.

Of course, food will never be gone in my blog. I posted about the yummy espasol that Lei brought home from Laguna.

And, yeah, I posted about my attempts to cook adobong atay ng manok and tinolang bangus.

In Ahab Reviews and Tips, I posted about the cakes for Jollibee party, PUPCET, BPIExpress Online advisory for MERALCO subscribers, our Hanabishi induction cooker, and PRC license renewal in SM Business Center.

In Ampalaya News, I posted about the sad incident for a One Direction fan, the court case against ABS-CBN's Legal Wife, and Miriam Santiago the merman.

I want say "thank you" to super-regular-visitors-and-commenters Suitapui, Tin K, Foong, Rogie Ylagan, Jonathan, Milton, and Arianne the Bookworm. Your comments always makes me smile because at least 9 people regularly visit this humble blog. Also welcome to this month's new visitor: Olivr.
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End of the Month Roundup - April 2014

(Source: YoYo Games)

And from the great depth of hiatus a Pinoy Blogger emerges!

There are so many things that happened to me these past months. One thing is when I tied the knot with My Beloved Wife. What followed is the period of adjustment to a married life. I’m glad to say that I’m returning, albeit slowly, to my old blogging habits.

Since April has the holiest season for Catholics, I made sure that I will not miss doing my blog tradition every Holy Week. I successfully published blog posts about 7 churches for my virtual Visita Iglesia. These are the churches that I “visited”:

1. Shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Grace Park, Caloocan City

2. Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Chapel in Philippine Marines Barrack, Fort Bonifacio

3. Malate Church in Manila

4. Our Lady of the Airways Church in Pasay City

5. Saint Dominic Savio Church in Mandaluyong City

6. Don Bosco Church in Makati City

7. Quiapo Church in Manila

The virtual Visita Iglesia is not only the activity that I did for the Holy Week. I experienced for the first time going to a church for the Siete Palabras.

I also posted about the yummy ginataang kalabasa cooked by My Beloved Wife and also our dinner at King Sisig.

Expect more posts from me in the month of May because I’m back. I’m finally back.
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End of the Month Roundup - November 2013

Hello there! It’s been a long time since my last post on this blog. Please pardon my absence because I am getting busier and busier, not because of the Christmas Season, but of the coming D-Day for me and my Beloved.

We are getting nervous and anxious for the things that are in store for us next year. Wedding, particularly the ceremony, is like a baptism of fire, a test of patience and strength of our love for each other.

We have been busy going to Dangwa and Divisoria looking for supplies and suppliers. We talked to our friend who is wedding coordinator. We talked to the manager of our reception venue. We talked and talked and planned and planned. It seems like there is no end to it.

It is physically and emotionally taxing but we found ways to have fun for the wedding prep. I am even thinking of blogging about our experiences. Maybe I will start talking more of our wedding prep next year, after the D-Day.

Yummy shrimps from the Red Shirts.

I’m finally done posting about our trip to Bangkok Chinatown. I ended this post series with food! I really dining with Foong in Double Dogs Tea Room and the street side seafood restaurant run by the Red Shirts.

November is also a shocking month, not only for me but also for the whole country. Many people were either killed or left homeless by Typhoon Yolanda. People from Eastern Visasyas, Panay Island, Northern Cebu, Northern Palawan and other areas in the Visayas region were severely affected. It is a tragedy of unimaginable degree.

Hearts around the world were moved by the plight of kababayans. Foreign countries and foreigners in their personal capacity sent help to Yolanda afflicted areas. Unfortunately, relief efforts being done were tainted by politics.

It is December now and many people are hoping that brighter days are coming. We can hope and pray for that our kababayans can rise once again like the phoenix rising from the ashes.

Merry Christmas Season to everyone!!!

End of the Month Roundup - October 2013

EMPTY – this is the best description that I can give to the month of October with regards to blogging. It seems like everything is winding up and I neglected a few things, including my blogs.

My Beloved and I are slowly speeding up our preparations for our wedding day. Actually, we are getting more and more anxious as the days pass by because there are still a lot of things to accomplish. We have this feeling that disaster is coming our way. Oh please Lord, we hope not.

Thankfully, the fun in preparing for our wedding is still there. One thing that we enjoyed this month is our pre-nuptial shoot in my alma mater, UP Diliman. Our photographer is good and we got some excellent photos that will surely grace our wedding album.

October is the month where I enjoyed another travel to the island of Mindanao. Me and an office mate visited Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City and the neighboring towns for some office works. The good thing is that this trip is not strictly work-related because I got the chance to roam CDO and see some beautiful spots in the area like this one:

Clear sea and blue sky at Balingoan, Misamis Oriental.

The sad thing is that many of my kababayans, especially those living in Bohol and Cebu, suffered because of the big earthquake that occurred in Bohol Island. Many structures, including the old churches (the cultural and spiritual jewels of Bohol) were destroyed. I believe that Boholanos are slowly returning their lives to normal. They still need our prayers and help, however, so I do hope that we continue in providing their spiritual and temporal needs.

PhilPost celebrated the 1st National Letter Writing Day on the 2nd week of October. I joined the celebration by showing off some stamps in my “collection”.

My adventures with Foong are not yet done. I already talked about Yaowarat Road in Bangkok Chinatown but I failed to follow up on the restaurants where we had eaten our merienda and dinner. I do hope to post about it this November.

During lulls in our wedding preparations and office works, I tried to return to my bookish self that I lost when I graduated from college. After finishing G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy and some of his Father Brown stories, I started reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

A friend gave a book as her gift for my Confirmation. The book is The Essentials of Catholic Spirituality by Fr. Joseph F. Classen. I will read this after I'm done with Sherlock Holmes.

I once again joined Filipinos for Life's blogging event. The topic for the month of October is Girl Power: Upholding the Dignity of Women, Shunning Feminism. My post is about my observations of men not offering their bus seats to women. I tried to connect such behavior to the destructive type of feminism that is prevalent in our society.

In Ahab Reviews and Tips, I recounted the time when I bought my fiancee's engagement ring.

We are now in the Halloween Season and I see many people wearing scary costumes for their Halloween parties. I even heard about kids doing “trick or treat” in upscale subdivisions. I still wonder how Halloween, which actually means Hallow’s Eve or the eve to All Holy (Saint) Day, became an occasion to celebrate monsters and evil spirits. Oh well, at least some people tries to combat this gory event with a more holy mode of Halloween celebration.

Happy All Saints’ Day and Halloween to everyone. May all of us strive to be holy like our Father who is HOLY.

End of the Month Roundup - September 2013

I enjoyed blogging about Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn. I enjoyed it so much that I took almost a month posting about it.

Wat Arun is the first popular Bangkok tourist spot that I visited. I learned much about the culture of the Thai people when I made my posts about it. One thing that I learned is that Thai Buddhists (or Buddhists in general) incorporates deities and beliefs of other religion to their belief. This is why I saw Chinese and Hindu deities during our adventures to Wat Arun.

The first “Ber” month is over but I noticed that the forced Christmassy spirit was toned down this year. Maybe the reason is that Filipinos realized that it is a bad idea to have a very long Christmas Season. Or maybe the people are very angry or worried about many things like the Pork Barrel Scam that still rages on, the war in Zamboanga, or the calamities in Olongapo City because of the rains and landslides.

Tatad vs Lacierda

Speaking of Pork Barrel Scam, I posted on Tome of a Layman the press statement of former Senator Francisco Tatad regarding the challenge of presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. I think that the Pnoy and his minions are having a hard time in explaining the irregularities that they committed when they met up with pork barrel scam “mastermind” Janet Lim Napoles in Malañang Palace.

I also posted my reflection for this Sunday's Gospel reading, which is about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. I said in that post that those who don't believe in the teachings of Moses and the Prophets will not believe in Jesus Christ.

The entrance exam for the Polytechnic University of the Philippines or PUPCET is finally open. I posted about it on my blog to help those who will be taking PUPCET. I also have other posts about PUPCET on Ahab Reviews and Tips that will be of great help to examinees like “Tips for PUPCET” and “Qualifications and Requirements for PUPCET”.

Oh, by the way, I now have a Facebook page! Please go to my page and “like” it. You can send me message or interact with me through that page. I really really urge you to like my Facebook page. Yes, really like my page now. ;-)

Aside from talking about travel, I also posted about the yummy breakfast that Foong (my travel companion to Wat Arun) and I partook. We ate some roasted duck from Prachak and the very yummy durian with sticky rice dessert.

I took so many photos during our visit to Wat Arun. I have some favorites, of course, so let me share some of it.

"Angry Lions"

These lions reminds me of the ones I saw in San Agustin Church.

"Standing Ground"

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"Red Sky, Golden Stars"

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"Demon Pillars"

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"Up to Mount Meru"

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"I am Atlas"

My posts about our trip to Wat Arun is finished but it doesn't mean that my adventures with Foong is over. Next month, I'll be talking about our trip to Bangkok Chinatown. So please stay tuned.

Before this month ends, I want to say “thank you” to the regular commenters of this blog for the month of September.

End of the Month Roundup - August 2013

We are now at the brink of the Ber months, which means that we are at the dawn of the longest Christmas Season in the Philippines. Radio DJs and morning shows will start the countdown to Christmas tomorrow. Christmas songs and jingles will invade the airwaves very early.

If September is the start of Philippine Christmas Season then August is the month of doom and gloom for the our country. It is the month when Metro Manila and nearby provinces sunk, once again, by the habagat rains.

I am one of those who experienced the horrible rainy days. I almost wade through the flood just to go home. But I'm fortunate that I don't have to get wet by the filthy flood waters of Manila. My predicament was insignificant compared to my kababayans who had their houses and properties sunk. Some even died because of the floods.

Another horrible event is the sinking of a passenger ferry off the island of Cebu. Many people died because of the incident while other lost their loved ones.

Another gloomy event is the revelation that our congressmen, senators and even the President used taxpayers' money, our money, for their personal gain. Yes, folks, our leaders made the government their milking cow.

(Source: Cebu Daily News)

Janet Lim-Napoles' fake NGOs and corrupt practices of some of our legislators are just tip of the iceberg. The Philippine government is corrupt to the core and the revelations are sickening as the issue progresses.

Common citizens, like me, feel so helpless with all the horrible things that are happening. Many are angry and want to beat our politicians to death. As for me, I just tried to inject fun to this issues through my satire blog.

I continued posting about my trip around Thailand and also about our wedding preparation adventures. I posted about two places of worship that I visited in Thailand: the Catholic church in Rangsit and the UFO-shaped Buddhist temple.

Aliens came to abduct me.

The Our Lady Mother of God Parish Church in Rangsit served is my second home in Thailand. It became my refuge whenever I miss home.

I posted about two beautiful places during our wedding preparation adventures. One features old warplanes while the other one is an ancient church in the heart of Intramuros.

In my serious blog, I posted about what I felt after watching an anime series. I admitted that I'm very affected by this anime even though it is a comedy.

Finally, in Ahab Reviewsand Tips I posted mostly about the useful things that you can do with BPI Express Online.

That's all that I have for August. Now let's get ready to deal with the Ber months. I do hope that all of you will be happy as the Christmas Season gets near.

By the way, I'll be talking about my adventures around Bangkok with a Malaysian friend. I promise that you will enjoy my posts next month so please stay tuned.

End of the Month Roundup - July 2013

I’m glad that I finished posting about my short but enjoyable trip to Koh Samet Island in Rayong Province of Thailand. One big bulk of Thailand travel series down and more to go.

As I had said previously, I truly enjoyed our short stay in Koh Samet Island. Good place and good company collided to give me a good time.

I posted a lot about Koh Samet Island and I believe that anyone who wants to know about this “wonder island” will find my posts very useful So, for those who want to read everything that I wrote about this island should read this tag: Koh Samet Island.

I took a lot photos, as usual, and some of them I consider good.

One photo that I like is this blurry image of the sky lantern:
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This photo reminds me of abstract paintings.

The photo of my footprint looks good too.

But the best photo that I took on Koh Samet Island will be that of the sunset during our first day on the island.

Well, photos of sunsets are quite hard to beat no?

I posted on my other blogs as well. For the month of July, I posted some useful articles about BPI Express Online. One is about transferring funds from one BPI account to another, and the other is about enrolling new accounts in BPI Express Online.

I also posted in my “satire” blog, Ampalaya News, where I featured Pia Cayetano’s backless (ewwww) SONA attire, the awarding of best fiction writer to Noynoy and the Human Ban Ordinance of Erap and Isko.

Isko and Erap declaring that human beings are no longer allowed in Manila.

In my serious blog, Tome of a Layman, I posted my commentary about the immodest fashion trends for little girls’ clothing. The post is my entry for Filipinos for Life July 2013 blogging event, which is about the deadly fruits of Sexual Revolution.

Some of you might have noticed that I’m starting to post about our wedding preparations. For this month, I posted about SM MoA’s The Venue and my reaction to high wedding expenses. It is quite shocking.

Expect to see more blog posts of our wedding preparations as we go nearer to our BIG DAY.