this is my first pair, make that 2, of slip-ons. i find slip-ons a tad bit generic; i have an aversion to this kind of footwear. maybe it started when i was young, our house helps use to buy advan slip-ons that it stuck to my mind, NO SLIP-ONS. even the trendy ones with cool graphic patterns doesn’t appeal to me. but this pair by happy feet caught my eye, for obvious reasons. the one at the left side is in muted orange, perfect with my bunch of black and dark jeans. the yellow one is really an eye catcher, a bright canary. goes well with everything.

muted colors are perfect for men who wants to wear colors but is not that confident enough or dunno if they can get a way with it. this color hue is soft to the eye even in shade of outrageous colors (plum, cerulean, turquoise). a splash of color does magic to your outfit yet not attention grabbing nor a cause for sore eyes. color is your friend; knowing you basics witch palettes, matching, as well as contrasting, complimenting and clashing colors with breathe a new life to your style as well as your closet. bright colors usually draws attention so it should be worn with neutral or dark palettes; let the shoes stand on its own. a common misconception is that shoes should match your belt (for men) and bag (for women). news flash! it should compliment; matching is so 80’s. today’s fashion is about contrast, to standout without falling flat to fashion. my personal style is that contrast is basic, abundance of color and style. but not too much as if rainbow brite threw up on you.

here are some personal styling must that i can share to you.

1. don’t be afraid of colors, color is your friend. know your friend and foe, what colors works for you and your closet.
2. fit is key. know your body and how to hide your flaws and accent your features. experiment with different fits from skinny to voluminous, matching between these 2.
3. keep your closet in check, have your essentials first. basic black dress pants, white crisp shirt, decent black leather shoes and belt to match is a must. grow from there.
4. accessorize. accessories is not limited to necklaces, obi belts, earrings. a good hat, several belts in different basic colors, watch, shoes, eye glasses/shades, bags will give your outfit a fresh breath of air. scarf, and i repeat-scarf, should be worn in cold weathers not in the blistering manila heat.
5. there are no rules in fashion! as long as you feel good and it compliments your style, wear it. though i should warn you that there are a lot of eyes watching you.

onwards for fashion. shop, wear, pose, accessorize. repeat after me, there is no recession.

listening to:  
Show – Matchbox 20 : If Your Gone

happiness can be bought. buy yours now. hehe. hello endless nights of configuration.

listening to:
I Am… Sasha Fierce – Beyonce: Single Ladies [Put A Ring On It]

and those available men’s clutches are boring for my taste. the shape is unflattering bordering to blah and it’s too bulky to carry it under my arm. the color is always either black or brown and not the nice hue of brown. it’s dull and doesn’t add anything. accessories, bags included, should compliment what you are wearing and your personality. it is an extension of yourself, your clothes, your style. this actually takes back against style and will set you back years even decades fashion wise. this style reminds me of old men in cheap cologne and pomade.

thankfully designers have found a better alternative to your usual clutch. i give you…

the envelope clutch! it’s shaped like an envelope with the cover flap cleverly tucked. it’s incredibly flat, thus the envelope shape, and can fit your credit cards and bills. it’s small enough for you to hold in your hand and snugly fit under your arm. it doesn’t hold that much but if you are lugging that much stuff then i recommend a tote instead of a clutch. the color alone is something to drool over; vibrant, bright colors is what the spring/summer look is about-brightens your otherwise plain wardrobe. the shape is classic and will stand the fickle trend of today’s fashion. and the crocodile skin adds that touch of class that only exotics can bring. i know this is pushing the envelope too far for manila men’s fashion, but hey, what’s a nudge forward?

just a friendly advise, if you’re using brightly colored accessories, it is best to keep your clothes to plain neutral colors to serve as a canvas. but you can always spruce it up, it really depends on the look you are going and your confidence sporting it.

nothing but good ol’ shopping to revive you from your near death experience.

listening to:
All Saints – All Saints: If You Want To Party (I Found Lovin’)

since i am already in the topic of gym, i am happy to say that i have gained almost 20lbs, 18lbs to be exact. i now weigh 145lbs, targeting 150, thanks to my personal trainor. unlike most people, i have a different dilemma; i loose weight when i don’t go to the gym. yep, it’s kinda strange but going to the gym is the only reason why i don’t get blown away during typhoons and strong winds. like i said, i’m targeting 150lbs, i think that weight with my height of 5’7″ would be a perfect pair when i’m being asked about my weight and height. people notice me bulking up since i joined the gym. i was in hiatus for more than a year from the gym mostly because i travel for work and that i lost interest in taking care of myself, but 2008 is about me so i’m back. i’m quite happy with my proportions; legs and torso seems to be matched. i have to say since a lot of the gym nuts are johnny bravos-heavy on the torso, limp on the legs-or chicken legs. i’m so mean!

however, me bulking up posed a serious problem for me, and my viktors.

to date, i have 29 viktors. these are investments, clothes are always an investment. it is how you present yourself to the world and of course you always want to wrap yourself with the finest thai silk, mother of pearls, de beers diamonds and put your best foot forward. almost half of them are skinny jeans-really fitting, seam busting, 2nd skin like skinny jeans-that i can no longer wear. simply because it won’t fit me anymore. my legs grew 2 inches in diameter each, how i wish it grew vertically. it won’t fit me and goes only up to my thighs. it’s such a sappy, sappy day when i found out. happy that i gained weight but sad that my ultimate viktor vp#1 is now just in my closet. these jeans hanging on my rack are the only ones that i can wear, some of them after 10 minutes of pulling. looking fierce is such a fierce job.

if you are a vip viktor citizen, we are having a launching sale with the lord viktor line paired with selvedge japanese premium denim for LV#1. sale ends on may 5 so phone your denim specialist now! don’t forget to bring your viktor pasaporte.

listening to:
The Dutchess – Fergie: London Bridge

cherry red? patent red?

-oOo-

met with richard and jake after and headed to morato for dinner. amici opened a branch along morato. it’s the same amici in don bosco makati. they still have their signature gelato and pasta dishes. we ordered pesto linguine, chicken arabiata and quatro formaggio pizza. though the servings were good for two, we were able to finish it, all of it. talk about hunger. blame the workout, ever since i got back in the gym, my appetite doubled. strolling along morato after dinner, we were trying to figure out were to have dessert. we ended having coffee at starbucks over a warm, moist chocolate cake bought at fleur de lys. the ganache chocolate cake with strawberry really hit the spot, complementing the sour, bitter taste of african coffee. really, it was the longest cup of coffee conversation we ever had. it was fun though, coffee conversations for me is the best way you can know a person. and even though you’ve known them for quite a while, you’ll still discover little things that makes them even more amazing. richard was craving for mediterranean so we drove all over the metro to find prince kebab for a stuffing chyma, shawarma and lamb kebab. so stuffed. so full…

listening to:
Waiting For My Rocket To Come – Jason Mraz: No Stopping Us

the viktor denim bag (in the middle) was a gift from viktor jeans. it’s quite large and very handy for those days you just need to put everything in and forget about it, like laundry day. i use it for the gym during weekdays where i bring a ton of stuff to the gym. i go to the gym before going to the office during work days so i need to carry my work clothes and gym clothes and other stuff to the gym quite a handy bag if you ask me. i bought the black tote bag at carbon after passing at the store. it has been a while since i last visited their store at greenbelt 3 and that brand has always been a source of quality and stylish leather goods. i have been eyeing this bag for a while now but i find the price tag quite expensive for a local brand. but fuck it, why go cheap on a local brand? if i can drop us$1,200.00 for a canvass vuitton, why not on a good leather tote? it maybe a local brand but it’s as good as the luxury brand and it’s way cheaper, only us$350.00.

the dr. marten wine red boots is a different story. listen up people, after starting the trend of skinny jeans, i can confidently say that the new fashion is skinny jeans and boots. you heard me, military boots with skinny jeans will rule not only the runway but the streets for those style savvy people. although skinny jeans is slowly becoming a thing of the past, it will always be in style as long as you have the legs and attitude to wear it. think punk rock, think london chic; big boots will be the new trend, trust me on this . so grab a boot at your nearest shoe shop, this will be huge i tell you. attitude, attitude, attitude.

listening to:
As I Am – Kristin Chenoweth: Taylor, the Latte Boy

on a  totally different note, i am killing and dragging myself to the gym. right after my u.s. trip, i hauled myself back to the gym a.k.a. gay church, to shape up. it has been a year and a half since i last visited the gym and boy have i got my work cut out for me. i rather propose web solutions and architect soa approaches of large corporations than lift dumbbells. well hello!?! they’re dumb! that makes me dumber for lifting them, don’t you agree? it took me 2 weeks before i became used to the gym, thanks for my personal trainer. i work out 3 days a week with my trainer, a wednesday yoga class and a sunday intense leg workout. my legs needs to catch up with my torso so i have a day just for my legs. everyone seems to notice my bulking up, for the last 3 months i gained 13lbs of lean muscle. my body fat is way down to 12%. my bmi (body mass index) is 22.2. i am a good conductor of electricity with an impedance of only 470 ohms, minimal resistance to current. with all these daily regimen, my feet are taking a beating. my rubber shoes is like 2 years old, though not worn for the last 18 months, needs replacement. so i got this.

i love my new sneakers! i bought it at nike in trinoma after my workout. it’s a nike free 3.0. honestly, i bought it because it looks so simple and stylish; black and white with gold details. black and gold is a potent combination for me. it’s very light weight and feels nothing when i wear it, almost being barefoot. supposedly the 3.0 is the advance in the nike free series. minimal support, more foot freedom, stronger feet. whatevs… bottom line, it’s sleek, i love it, it’s me. me wear shoes now, you watchy-watchy.

listening to:
Medusa – Annie Lennox: A Whiter Shade Of Pale

i call her hobby#1. my new nintendo ds lite. this also serves as my advance birthday gift for myself, so advance like a month advance. i don’t know this shade of red, it’s more like a metallic wine red finish that you see in cars but i call it kotse red with matte black. it comes with the ds-tt  cartridge contrary to the popular r4, so i need just to download the games to a micro sd card and voila! i can play it on my ds. free games on the internet, i think they are free though. i can play with other ds people via a local wireless connection or through the internet via wifi connection. yes, this little gadget packs a wifi connection. sweet!

i love this game! i play this with my officemates during breaks at the pantry since the kill-joy people at the office always hush us during game time. but we couldn’t help it when we shout and groan after successfully bombing each other. same typical bomberman however the ds version is capable of hosting up to 8 simultaneous players connected either local wireless connection or over the internet. neat huh? even neater is the fact that it has a download play (geek alert!) capability. simply means that only 1 ds needs the bomberman game, all other ds-s can sorta-kinda temporarily download a copy of the game from the host ds. we’re planning to host a bomberman tournament with other floors of the building. hehehe.

mario kart is another favorite game. this is not your ordinary racing game. still the objective is to get ahead of the pack to the finish line but this one has surprises along the way. you get to open a box with random items, could be a star, a shell, mushroom, a banana peel or even a fake box. you get to use it at any time you think you’ll need it the most. you may knock your opponents out of the track by bumping them on the sides or using your items to course them off track. like for example, a red shell is a homing shell you can use to throw to your opponent. the banana peel is something you can leave behind for others behind you to slip on. it will build your strategy as well on when and how to use each item you find. there’s an on-going war between the 11th flr people (SAP guys) and us 18th flr (web guys). need to polish those power slide so i can kick some serious SAP butts!

i’m being a kid again i know, but it’s so much fun that i don’t care. even if the kid beside me is playing the same game. at least i have the limited edition one, and the color alone is something only of discriminating taste could appreciate :-p .

listening to:
Elliott Yamin – Elliott Yamin: Movin’ On

just stepping out of the elevator, the guard called my attention and pointed to the delivery guy. this is not about the guy but what he has with him for me, a dozen of red, red rose buds. not 1 or 3, but a bunch, a dozen. i felt a rush that i only get after finally getting my reserved gucci alligator tote bag at the flagship store in new york. and this one didn’t cost me a dime. i signed the receiving copy and rushed to my desk. everyone was staring at me, me with my bouquet of roses. i couldn’t care less, i have red roses, it sucks to be them :-p . i settled down, open my bin, open my laptop, check mails while i am so dying to checkout the card to find out from who. i acted as if it doesn’t matter but hell it does! so after my usual routine i attended to the flowers, my flowers. true enough, the card says nothing. as in nothing. though i have a gut feel who, married guy. i sent him a message before i retired for the night and got an early greeting that morning waking up. he’s sorry because we aren’t able to go out, his wife decided to visit him and will be in manila until the 20th. i think this is his i’m sorry.

so for those sorry losers out there without any rose (hehe, lemme rub it in just a little), here’s one for you. @}-,-’–

ito pala yung text nya: “Love is just a word until you meet someone and gives it a proper meaning. Love becomes alive in the person we chose to give out hearts to.” ayaw nyang aminin but i think sya nagpadala ng flowers.

and so i scour the land for that hsdpa phone. after 24 hours of research and ogling on display windows of mobile phone stores, non-stop asking the sales assistants i finally decided what phone to buy.

i got the black one of course to match my black p1i. although the w910i is a walkman phone, it boasts of an HSDPA 2100MHz connectivity which is a major requirement for the new phone i am to buy. i’m planning to use it as a modem for my globe visibility which operates at that protocol. enough geek talk, it’s cool, slim, it has 2gb of memory for your music and it can give me high speed internet and that’s the bottom line.

-oOo-

i’m planning to spend the holy week in hongkong, kowloon side. it’s all plans as of now but most probably it will push through. richard will be in hongkong at that time thus saving me the trouble of booking a hotel which will be at peak by that week. i think it’s a good place to spend the holy week. everyone in manila will be in boracay and puerto galera that it’s not an option for someone like me who’s claustrophobic. and i want to break my tradition of just staying at home in the company of oh so many books. i need something new in my life, and might as well start with an age old tradition. hopefully this would cascade new things happening to me. crossing fingers here…

listening to:
Songs from Ally McBeal – Vonda Shepard: It’s In His Kiss

i recently purchased/gifted myself a sonyericsson p1. i figured with  my new role, i need to a business phone that’s email on the go as well. i’m happy with with the phone, i can ready my office mail as well as my gmail account. the phone is feature rich that is right to the alley of what i’m looking for. however i  have a predicament. by specs, the phone is only UMTS capable. i put the sim of my globe visibility in this phone. although it connects seamlessly to the internet and i can still use it as a phone modem,  the full hspda speed would be utilize as i would want it.

for me to get the hspda speed, i need to buy this, the k850i. so far, it’s the only sonyericsson phone that is 3.5g (hspda) capable. it boasts of a 5 megapixel camera but i don’t need it. i rarely take pictures and i have a good digital camera to do that. oh yes, i can use the usb modem that globe gave me, but i rather not. the damn thing is not something i am fond of and it’s sticking like a sore thumb when i plug it in in my laptop. something that i am so offended seeing. and the fact that someone offered to buy it, the usb modem. see, a colleague lost her visibility and she’s still in contract with globe. she knows that i am not using my modem as i have used the sim card with my p1.

so if i do decide to but this one, i’ll use my personal line with this phone and the visibility with p1 so i can google and mail all i want without paying extra. but if i need to use it as a modem, i need to swap it so i can use the hspda speed. that turns me off. the mail client of k850i is no where near that of the p1. the thing that bugs me the most is that why sonyericsson decided to have the hspda connectivity tied to a camera phone and have their business phones still in the old ages of umts. really, i don’t get it.

am selling my not so old and not so used n80 internet edition. if you’re interested, shoot me an email. it’s bought from an authorized nokia retailer and still have the receipt, the box, cds, everything. and it’s black!

listening to:
Trip The Light Fantastic – Sophie Ellis Bextor: love Is Here

my new lego watch!

just like your classic lego, it’s detachable and sorta build your own watch. the links (watch strap) is fully detachable that you can actually style it the way you want. it’s so cute and child like that i fell in love as soon as i saw it. the action figure is of course detachable and the watch is waterproof. but who cares, it’s so cute and that’s all matters.

Rat Pack – Mr. Bojangles

knew a man Bojangles and he’d dance for you
In worn out shoes
With silver hair, a ragged shirt, and baggy pants
The old soft shoe
He jumped so high, jumped so high
Then he lightly touched downI met him in a cell in New Orleans I was
down and out
He looked to me to be the eyes of age
as he spoke right out
He talked of life, talked of life, he laughed
clicked his heels and stepped He said his name “Bojangles” and he danced a lick
across the cell
He grabbed his pants and spread his stance,
Oh he jumped so high and then he clicked his heels
He let go a laugh, let go a laugh
and shook back his clothes all around

[rockyou id=62044087&w=426&h=426]

fyi, i have all of these albums; i don’t do pirated copy nor download via p2p (limewire). i believe in fair enterprise so i don’t buy pirated and knock-off goods. just a matter of preference and belief.

update: ok, i admit i do limewire. but only to sample if i like the sound, then i buy the legal stuff.

… As I began the laborious process of recording the names, addresses and amounts, I couldn’t help noticing the memo line on one of the checks. “For my son, Adam.” The check was for $20. My throat clenched up. The next check: “I miss my Ronnie.” $10. A couple of checks later: “For my grandson, Michael.” $25. I turned on the radio and tried to become more mechanical in my movements. Name, address, amount. Name, address, amount. But I kept finding my eyes returning to the memo line. I couldn’t stop myself. “In the name of Ben Johnson, our son.” “Daniel Berg. 1965-1995.” And on and on.

I only got about 50 of the 200 or so checks recorded, when I came across this notation: “Mama misses you so much.” $10. I slammed the register shut, put the checks on top, and walked back the accountant’s office. I pushed the door open and said, “Jon, um…listen, I’m sorry but I can’t finish this right now. I’ll get to it in the morning, cool?” Jon looked over the top of his glasses at my red, watery eyes and gave me a slow, understanding nod, “Yeah, sure Joe.” I turned to walk out and he added, “Why do you think I said I’d do the cash?”…

i am overwhelmed with emotions after reading the article. such acceptance and love. i truly believe love transcends all boundaries. it doesn’t recognized gender, color, accent. i also feel sad for the people that have lost their lives fighting AIDS. it’s a terrible, terrible disease. not that it doesn’t have a a cure yet, but because of the social stigma the comes along with it. specially here in the philippines that is predominantly catholic. finding a cure for this disease have a long way to go. but, what we can do now is to support them. them who are being judged before knowing who they are. them who are social outcast because they are not understood. them who are dealing with HIV/AIDS.
photo taken from the wikipedia.

it’s a good thing that i’ve invited behbi along, you see he knows a guy with the film festival staff that we were able to get in for free. this film festival is not cheap. french and german film festival charges only PhP30.00 and it’s showing at the greenbelt 3 theater. but this one, they charge PhP101.00, no way cheap-o. i really wanted to catch pandanggo, while behbi was set on watching metlogs. we both watched it, both free hehehehe. sneaky bastards…

pandanggo is collage of 3 stories, all intertwined by dance. i won’t get into the details of the stories other than they really don’t continue one another. i don’t know if it was the intention of the filmmakers (there were 3 directors), some effort to be artsy, but i do like some of the scenes, specially that of the 3rd story. the dance interpretation was, should i say mind boggling. it’s not your usual variety show, well choreographed kicks and turns. the passion was intense and raw that you’ll get into the actor’s emotional state. i thought the movie was a documentary of philippine dances, i was disappointed to find otherwise. but however the 3rd plot pulled it for me. i love the lines and shadows. the woman at sea dancing in the bamboo raft, the woman possessed and being treated by the common arbularyo. behbi was awed, like open mouthed awe. it’s a wtf (what-the-f*ck) movie for him. we left the cinema for an early dinner…

metlogs, like in the excerpts at cinema one, made no attempt to be indie; it will not make you think. but it does strike a chord in one’s being. it’s gay oriented but not your typical bold movies, warm bodies gyrating to the sound of ‘total eclipse of the heart’. it’s a story of 3 teens who were trying it out in the big, bad world of manila and their ‘mother’ who took them under his grace. metrosexual jologs is documentary attempt of how teens are today. their lifestyle, aspirations, relationships and attempt at love. i was impressed that at the attempt of keeping the story light, it became funny and realistic. there were no attempt to be preachy or trying hard to be artsy. it’s an in-your-face account of the lives of the 3 main characters. one is trying to fit-in with a snob, socialite-wannabe group, another is a dance instructor who fell in love with his matronic patron and the other one, a tired kid who tries to meet his dreams. the film shows how they struggle with their inner demons and that of the city. but like what the movie said, daanin mo sa porma. the movie tries to be shallow, but really, it’s not. it will make you think and feel and aspire. it did for me. though editting was a total crap…

First and foremost is its WYSIWYG feature. I am for the WYSIWYG because it really helps the developer get a feel on how the page would be rendered after. But JSC’s solution to use absolute positioning can be somewhat limiting and disadvantageous. I am no expert in HTML but I believe that an absolute positioned element in an HTML would not be part or will not dynamically change during resizing-no wrap-around and might very well overlap in cases of static label/element and a database driven label. JSP files rendered can be a little bit whacked-off in the ordering. Since it implements absolute positioning, the ordering of the elements in the JSP file does not follow the screen layout. In the JSP, the elements are arranged in the order of how you inserted it in the page. An example is inserting 2 buttons, with ids button1 and button2 inserted in that order. You decide that you want button2 to appear above button1 and dragged it in the design view to make it so. In the JSP page, button1 will be the first element follow by button2 despite that button2 appears above button1. Unless you will be using JSC again, you might be confused reading the JSP file in a text editor when compared to the rendered page.

JSC also limits architects and developers. With its wizard like approach in creating components, a lot of work is abstracted from the developer. This is good in theory but bad in practice. It has abstracted much of the work that it gives little tweaking for the architecture-JSC have implemented the architecture for you-to implement enhancements and design implementation. With this, implementation of business requirements might be more complex rather than straight forward. If you are planning to align/extend the JSF framework to add and/or implement business requirement, JSC is not capable of plugging-in your new architecture, because it has its own.

 The solution to integrate the page elements with business services is a very controversial move. The IDE, having been developed by Sun Micro System, Sun mind you, breaks the paradigm of MVC. This translates that JSP files have business calls-not future proof, or would I say, WHAT THE F*CK?!?!? This would be very challenging to maintain much so in migrating to a new business implementation. A lot of effort would be needed to update each page to use the new business implementation. As oppose to implementing a DataBean that decouples business calls from the JSP page and implement it on the backing bean (command class). Although effort would still be needed to update the backing beans to the new business implementation, it would not be as difficult compared to page-to-page update. JSC has this capability/approach to create application, session and request scope data beans and make the proxy calls to the business services but giving the developer an easier, quicker alternative (though not entirely the ‘right’ approach) would be tantamount to rework and is not really the selling point of the IDE.

JSC is a good tool to create web application that requires little to no change to the JSF framework.

Here’s an article regarding the Java Studio Creator. It was written last 2004 but still holds true when it comes to the positioning and features of JSC.

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "i love you"
Birds singin’ in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me

Say nighty-night and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you’ll miss me
While I’m alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me

Stars fading but I linger on dear
Still craving your kiss
I’m longin’ to linger till dawn dear
Just saying this

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me

–instrumental break—

Stars shining up above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "i love you"
Birds singin’ in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me

Yes, dream a little dream of me