I truly believe that each and every one of us has gone through that "Boy band-lovin' (appreciatin', at least) PHASE"! But dear, we do love LFO! yea? Like really REALLY love LFO and their utterly nonsensical lyrics. Cherry Pez, cold crush, and rock star boogie, ANYONE??? Hahahah!

"Everybody" by Backstreet Boys




"Summer Girls" by LFO





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I like Kevin Bacon but I hate Footloose!

Since I’ve ran out of zany topics and trash-talks, I’m gonna share with you my experiences abroad (which I hope are quite interesting). First off is my quick trip to Dutch East Indies -- Indonesia! In an archipelago named Riau, lays the majestic island of Batam. It was a crazy morning I had just from the nauseous ferry trip and so when my 'rents and I arrived at Batam Center Ferry Terminal, it was such a relief to spot a peaceful town filled with lovely people.

Our first stop was Waterfront City where you can do lots of fun stuff like parasailing, bungee jumping, jet skiing, and more. I’m not really sure where exactly or what’s the name of the place but I did some go-karting too which was a lot of fun!

After that, we had lunch in a seafood restaurant built on wood and bamboo overlooking the sea view of north eastern coast of Batam. The food, however, I didn’t really enjoy that much. All I saw were pots and dishes of orangey soup and vegetables! No offense but I’m not exactly a fan of spicy chows. The only things I enjoyed there were the magnificent seascape and the delightful coconut juice. Hahah!

Then, we headed to a village called Kampong where we were entertained by the villagers with their amusing performance of the traditional Kuda Lumping Dance. It was absolutely wonderful.

A good trip never ends without a visit to the shopping district and so we went to Nagoya – the center of business and commerce in Batam. This unique town (with a Japanese name) has the biggest malls on the island. I got the chance to toddle around Ramayana Shopping Center and Mega Mall Batam Center. Although the shopping malls there are nothing compared to the ones here in the Philippines, I did enjoy just walking around, enjoying the people’s culture, and talking to different people. The Indonesians are just incredibly nice and awesome people, I dare say. Actually, there was an incident where I was approached by some store employees and asked me if I was an actress or something. That was deucedly hilarious! Also, I learned a lot from Indonesian artists. I happened to pass by an art gallery where I met an extraordinary painter who introduced to me a new style of painting. He paints and designs various crafts with images of palms, dolphins, and shells – all of which are breathtaking. It was because of his influence that I began painting aquatic images and the like. His skill and style had that enormous impact on my creations until today.

After a few hours of shopping, our tour guide led us to the great Balerang Bridge where, for some weird reason, I took most of the pictures. The bridge was so highly elevated that people actually go there to jump off when they're heartbroken bungee jump.

No doubt, Batam is a wonderful place for a getaway! I had one of the grandest times of my life there. However, next time I’ll head off to Jakarta for a more incredible nightlife experience. Hahah!

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Explore. Dream. Discover.

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Explore. Dream. Discover.

We were having this little tête-à-tête while my other friends were at the surfboard section and that’s when I felt uncomfortable. His questions began to alarm me. I excused myself and came over to join my friends. Two of them signed up on the shop’s logbook for them to be updated about the surfboards. So I just stood there, with all of my buds in front of the cashier, waiting to leave any second. Out of the blue, the sales guy walked in front of us and pointed at me saying, “That girl wearing black (which is obviously me) seems like a skilled surfer…” followed by a kinda-hard-to-decline request: “Why don’t you sign up?” I told them that I’m not much of a surfer so I’m not really sure if I’m interested. With that, he jumped beside me and gave me these skateboard blah-blah event fliers and offered me his mobile number just in case I wanted a heads-up. I did not buy it though. He was very insistent but then resorted with the just-give-us-your-number trick (could you be any more obvious?) and I went along with it and wrote down my name (which he repeated as I write) and mobile number. I felt awkward and I knew what he was really up to but I was too damn nice to let it happen. That clever guy! Haha. So anyway, now he’s sending me messages (so unprofessional, eh?) but I’m not replying. Now, who wins?

*A goofy character in the MTV reality series Laguna Beach

xoxo

D

with friends (L-R) Orie, Shiz, DJ Natsuki, Amanda

trying to figure out the turntable at Jigen-ya

"Eigo de ii desu ka? Amerika kara kimashita..." (Is English okay? I am from America...)