what is up with my non-updating-ness?

last weekend, july 24-26: a little chunk of bMod headed for a weekend in Vegas. can we say HOT? and HUMID? but all-in-all a very laid back and chill experience. yes, Vegas CAN be relaxing. i felt bad for Mike because he was paying a grip for his friend that came along, so he couldn't get himself much to enjoy the trip. i tried to be the nice guy and surprise-bought him a beer from the bar. totally forgot he doesn't drink beer. fail on me. but i got to conquer the bachelorette hot dog at Serendipity. it was really good, especially with the bacon, nacho cheese, and chili. but i got owned after finishing it. had that full feeling that wouldn't go away. but still a good weekend. and we bumped into christian, jaypeg, d, gerald, and kat while there!


can't really grasp the size of it from this picture, but look for the knife and compare

within the week, i was doing graphical work for JayVee Studios.. and doing a lot of driving to pick up and deliver the graphic prints..

friday night, i randomly decided to meet up with rj, neil p, jasmine, texas, and hannah to go to geronaga's moving out party. it was quite random and very.. yeah. made it fun for what it's worth, but we didn't stay too long.

yesterday, i met up with gigz, his brother jay, his little cousin j-boy, kwaku, and cynthia for some coldstone ice cream. by the way, i like the cotton candy ice cream a lot, but the cotton candy taste only lasts for a little bit then starts to taste like vanilla (which i still like, so win-win). we headed back to gigz' house for a bit, then went to buffalo wild wings for dinner. car ride back to gigz' = wild karaoke session from jay. haha. got back to gigz' and literally chilled in the backyard for a couple hours talking about the most random things. i haven't laughed that much in a while, and what surprises me is that 1. i was with a group of people i don't normally hang out with, 2. no alcohol was needed to have a great night -- just good people and good conversation. "... there's CAKE?!" bahhahah

and hey look -- today, august 2nd, is Friendship Day. happy friendship day to all my friends! and if you're not my friend.. sucks to be you!

memorial day weekend = vegas;
memorial day weekend + vegas = traffic;
us = me (@byronface), rk, charmane (@CharmieE), jamie (@jaysarmie), maureen (@maureenrose), cesar (@ceezjr), andrew (@andrew_O) , eric, chloe, steve, aj (@itsAJ);
memorial day weekend + vegas + us = awesome;


saturday
leave diamond bar. TRAFFIC. arrive in Vegas. japenese buffet. FAIL on the wynn's cleaning crew who can't clean rooms in time for check-in making us wait 2 hours to get our room. arrive in room. NAP. bmv cake. DRINK. bump into KIM of CG happy bday! Lavo club. WATER SPLASH. cockblock! grand lux cafe.


sunday
wake up. pool bar. get ready. serendipity attempt. find out firefly will be closed tomorrow. firefly. filet mignon sliders. firefly fries. ham and cheese croquetas. FULL. bball game. DRINK. dance bance! bathroom rules. west wing bar. DRANKKKK. security.


monday
wake up. check out. serendipity attempt and SUCCESS! huge burger. saw long hot dogs. FRRROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE. forum shoppes. head home. 5+ hour traffic. random games and videos.

successful vegas trip!! another one in a month??

and man.. has it really been almost a whole year since my last time in Vegas? that is not acceptable.

dance bance.

this weekend was prelude in norcal. click for pics!

a good handful of bmod heads took a trip up from friday night to sunday night.

friday night drive up was pretty easy; aside for passing the Sylmar fire near Valencia.. that was crazy.. it had just started on the hill and fire trucks were barely getting out to extinguish it. low visibility on the freeway because of smoke and raining ash.. but after passing that; things were fine.

it wasn't until we were already settled up north at the Marriott Hotel when we found out that the fires had spread all throughout SoCal and hitting really close to home.. while our weekend was fun and memorable, that wildfire worry still stuck at the back of all of our heads..

saturday morning, we all get up and head out to the city. have lunch at fisherman's wharf complements of anthony's dad (thanks!!), and he also takes us across the golden gate bridge for the san fran newbs. our car had quite the moment with "defying gravity" played as we 'flew' across the bridge.

we then headed to prelude, getting lost in the process because of wrong address information, but my trusty gps, Bartholomew, showed us the light. the actual competition was alright... but i really like Tm's performance. they killed it hard.

after the competition, we go on a quick run, and head back to the hotel.. which was the hotel all the non-norcal teams were staying.. mainly bmod tm and project d.. our hotel room was crazzzzy! tm's room was crazzzzy!! people were all over the place.. i'm surprised neither of our rooms were kicked out of the hotel, haha.. met a lot of dance heads.. and somehow my night winded down and ended in the outside staircase with jed, jun, shay, bam, and robbie..

drive back down was chill.. i slept half of the way, woke up at kettleman for in&out.. and we finally got home.. passing by what was left of the Sylmar fire (the same one we passed on the way up).. it was still not contained.. and in its path we saw the 400+ homes that it took.. it was a very sad sight to see.. eerie.. and literally looked like a warzone. highest of hopes go out to anyone and everyone who has been affected by the fires, especially gigz' extended family.

this weekend was a nice break for me.. for the past two weeks, i've been consumed with photoshoots.. and with that comes editing, uploading, and retouching.. scheduling the shoots around everyone elses schedules.. and for doing so, the team was very thoughtful enough to all pitch in money so i can have a free trip to norcal!! aren't they awesome!?! anyways, here are the results, and a few examples, from those photoshoots:


click for photoshoot pictures

no update for a while.. which is what happens when i have limited computer access!!

it is wednesday today.. which means it is about the 6th day without my beloved laptop.. it has definitely changed my daily routine.. my access to the Internet has drastically been reduced.. which is crazy weird.. because i pretty much live on the Internet.. haha. i shipped the notebook out on friday before leaving for World of Dance and HP received it yesterday morning.. and according to their website, i'll be getting it back on Oct. 7th. the bmod website updates have come to a stop because any attempt i make to use dreamweaver on this crappy desktop results in a long hang and a crashing computer. same thing when im simply trying to manage my flickr photos online. or when im converting videos to put on my ipod.. so yeah, definite change.. it's as if the Hatian from Heroes is living in my house and all my powers are taken away.

world of dance was awesome. the drive up there felt pretty long though.. we got there around 7 or 8pm i think? checked in.. then me gigz neil and danny headed out to hooters right next to our hotel for dinner while we waited for bert vince carissa jackie and some sheroes to get there.. and since it was pretty much too late to do anything else, we just went on a drink run and chilled in our room for the rest of the night. the radisson in dublin was the 'official' place to stay for all the WoD attendees.. so there were dancers all over the place. i was a goob and forgot my toiletries bag at home.. so i had to buy a toothbrush/toothpaste thing from a vending machine.. no one in my room wears contacts.. so i had no contact solution to borrow. found out that Sheroes were staying in the room above us so we went up there and i asked to borrow matt's contact case and some of serena's solution as they were having some kind of mini-meeting.. quite embarrassing.

the next morning, me gigz danny neil carissa and bert headed out to the city and had brunch at fisherman's wharf. headed to World of Dance right after. and ok.. i love going on road trips because our destination usually has weather that is better than anything pomona can offer.. but in Alameda (where WoD was), it was pretty darn hot and humid as if we were in pomona. but as far as the event goes, i enjoyed it much more than last year's WoD at the pomona fairplex. most likely because i was able to roam around and watch the event rather than work at the rooted table the whole night. although, i'd wish for larger venues for future WoD's.. a lot of people are left standing because the seats fill up so fast. loved the Sheroes set.. they totally killed their performance. choreo cookies won the event, and they deserved it. they took control of the audience and it was dead silent because of awe during their closer. that night, we lightly afterpartied (since we had a long drive home in the morning). alexis and matt came down to our room for a little, then some of us headed over to kaba modern's room (didn't get to meet the whole team though, only the Americas Best Dance Crew reps were there). headed back and everyone ended up sleeping for the night.

woke up in the morning, got ready, and checked out. our car stopped by a subway before we left dublin. which turned out to be the longest stop ever with the most complicated non-english speaking employees. drive home went a lot faster and smoother than the way up. i was trying to sleep as much as possible so i wouldn't die at practice that night. we got home safely, and thus ended a pretty fun trip to the bay.

had an awesome time in san francisco this weekend for the fourth of july slash charmane's birthday bash. attendees: me eric chloe cesar andrew shelly rk charmane jamie maureen. with specials guest visits by linden, jamiie?, and leanne. i had no idea i'd be doing that much walking though! click the individual pictures to enlarge, or CLICK HERE for the entire album.


day 1: crossing the bay bridge as we near our hotel in the heart of SF. beautiful fog yes?
eric, chloe, and i left my house around 8:30pm on thursday.. the ride up was actually not bad at all.. haterade-fueled talks on the way up, haha.. we got to our hotel, the grand hyatt, in the middle of the city by 3am. we literally just got into the room, and slept till the morning.



day 2: the guys in front of the golden gate bridge
the next morning, we had all purchased the wonderful open-top double-decker bus tour of the city. it's only $28 to have full hop-on hop-off access to the tourbus at any sightseeing spot for two consecutive days! pretty much the cheapest taxi ever! took a tour of san francisco. hop'd off at the golden gate bridge sightseeing spot and took pics there. got back on, and eric and i suffered the bridge's wrath. it's COLD up top of the bus going over the bridge. i had to cover my eyes the entire time because the wind was sure to blow my contacts right out. we made another stop at those ancient column looking things.. where sean connery met his daughter in The Rock. hit up Ghirardelli Square and had lunch at Lori's Diner. got back on the tourbus for more sightseeing. got back to the hotel and got our drank on as we set out for fisherman's wharf to make our reservation at the Neptune's restaurant on the pier. really good dinner. and it was time for the 4th of july fireworks over the bay. we all got out and 'watched.' i forgot san francisco is fog hell.. and we literally just watched the sky change colors for 10 minutes and heard explosions.. haha. and that marked the end of day 2.



day 3: longest walking day EVER. in front of coit tower after conquering the crazy hike.
get up and eat. get ready for a day out in the city. take the tourbus to the painted sisters; the 6-house sextuplets. we walk uphill to haight street. which is NOT walking distance. we shop for a little bit at haight and have lunch there. the next nearest sightseeing spot/tourbus pickup is at the de Young museum. so we make our way there. which is NOT walking distance. we are quite tired and everyone passes out on the tourbus, not interested in the sights at all, ahhaha.


christopher columbus looking out to sea. patriotic much?
we get dropped off at ghirardelli square and we hit up a bar there. patron shots all over the place. irish carbombs. 151. cactus coolers. yes. we were refueling for our next big walk; which was going to be quite harder than the ones we just did. we trekked up the hills of SF to lombard street, the "crookedest street" in sf. with 8 turns within a block's distance. beautiful view of the street from the bottom. and from lombard street, you can see the coit tower in the very far horizon. being so late in the day, the tourbus was already over. so walking was our only choice. and that is surely NOT walking distance. we trekked even more. downhill for a little bit.. but uphill for most. legs, knees, and shins were dying. we got to coit and rested a bit at the entrance. then got in and took some more pictures with the tower and the christopher columbus statue. from coit, you can see our hotel, which was our next destination. and it seemed about as far as our previous walk.. downhill for a bit then a tiny incline as we near our hotel. we get back to our room. and surprisingly we're not dead! cicero was supposed to be at this trip; but considering his knee injury.. i think he made the right decision to not go.. these walks would damage it to no return..

we give linden a call and he meets us at our hotel. kuya and ading reunited! it was good seeing him. i tend to only see him about once ever 1.5 years.. we all get our drank on and head out to osha thai food. i was expecting a "hole in the wall" like everyone described, but it was VERY good food. i would say better than mixbowl/coconut bay. and while small, it's not a hole in the wall at all.. we then hit up element lounge and club out for a little bit. strongest tokyo teas ever. drank more than i should have. me rk and linden stayed when everyone left, then we jetted and got jack in the box on the way back to the hotel. we eat.. then linden has to leave to pack for his vegas trip the next day.



day 4: return home.. not many interesting pictures from our last day.. except for this pointless pic of a field..
after a quick breakfast, we head out to go shopping around our hotel. H&M, urban outfitters, forever 21 mens, etc. we hit up the food emporium at the westfield mall, turns out to be the best mall food ive ever had. we head back to the hotel, where me eric and chloe must part with everyone and head back since we weren't flying with them. but it turns out we got home before they even boarded their delayed flight. hah!

and thus ends a fun trip up north. i wasn't expecting it to be like this.. i wasn't overly excited since i've been there so many times; but since we took the major tourist approach, it was quite awesome. i had a great time.. and now my wallet is sad.. again, CLICK HERE for the entire album.

what an eventful week.

for some odd reason, i always look at auditions weeks as a week where i get to chill and relax since i'm not dancing as much.. but i always forget how much stress and hectic-ness i put myself through every single time auditions come around. but it's always nice seeing interested people wanting to join the family and the skill levels that come with it. we've taken in four new members as well as two new scholarship/trainee members. interested to see how things turn out on the stage with them; because they fit just fine with the team already evident from our first meeting/mixer/social. pictures here.

yesterday, bert carissa vince and i accompanied wes, bert's kuya aka dj konnex, to roscoe's chicken and waffles. i haven't had it in forever and it was nice to have a 1/4 chix (all dark meat) with 2 waffles and a side of fries. when we all parted ways, we met back up at the shop and the five of us (add arvin) took a very random trip to the San Manuel casino. arvin carissa and i dont gamble much so we were having a nice time sitting at an empty poker table talking about... stuff.. and bumming the free sodas. headed home shortly after bert and vince came up in hold'em. got home at the crack of dawn.

a few hours later, today, i woke up and vince and i met up at bert's to take a very random trip down to san diego for some guamanian/chamorro food. got to the islander grill and had my first guam experience with cihcken kelanguin and red rice. considering how anti i am with anything other than american and italian food, i thoroughly enjoyed the dish. and the lady who took our order looks like she could be jun quemado's sister.

headed out to 5 & a dime afterwards, met some of the staff and even mr. 5 & a dime himself, jay dread. seems like a fun slash chill crowd. a lot of them were saying how hot it was.. when it was just a mere 85 degrees at the most there.. haha. i loved it. but alas, it was a short trip since bert had to get back by 6pm, so we had to head out. played gigz' password game on the way back and had to make it work with just three people. kept us awake for a good hour. random and pointless pictures of the car ride here.

i was welcome'd home by a smack in the face of hot weather and humidity. i was tired considering i barely had any sleep last night; so i decided to take a nap.. but since my bed is a loft bed, heat likes to rise up to where i sleep; so i ended up passing out and taking a nap on my hot but not as hot floor. jhetto status. new team's first practice tomorrow woot.

vegas trips never cease to be awesome. new crowd for me too, majority 21+ bmod: me jean froi kj gigz hannah chris jackie mel chele kc and rommel who met us up there.

highlights:

• firefly
• fat tuesdays
• club
• rio buffet
• palace pool
• more fat tuesdays
• psycho moment
• club
• the cal. cheap games. gigz gambles and drinks!
• main street buffet
• laker game
• bellagio water show
• 'password' game on the ride back leaving vegas at 1am!

good trip.

but seriously.. boo to hot weather!

this trip was blissfulness. i had a blast and i'm sad to say that it is already over..

trip details.
royal caribbean's "monarch of the seas"
3-night 1-stop at Ensenada, Mexico
create your own excursion
friday-depart, saturday-@sea, sunday-ensenada, monday-return


THE life..friday.
board. explore. dinner. lounge w/ unlimited drinks. clubbing.


formal dinner nightsaturday.
lunch (with dolphins!). more exploring. shuffleboard. pool bar. ping pong. basketball. wine tasting. formal dinner. photoshoot. clubbing (on a tilting dance floor cuz the ship was on rough waters!! haha). the crowd was going crazy!


ATV'ing on sand dunes at the beach!sunday.
arrive at ensenada. ATVs !!! on sand dunes and around the streets of mexico. santo tomas winery. awesome port wine. chilling at the winery. board boat again. sing/dance show. mini-exploration. dinner. shopping. (whack) comedy show.


the trip has ended.. :(monday.
breakfast. pack up. and depart the ship. sadness!!! but we get a quick bite to eat at philly's best when we get to shelly's house.

all in all, the trip was better than i remember cruises to be. and that's hard to top. it's probably the fact that i went with friends instead of family. the food is exceptionally good. in great company and each day full of awesome moments. i literally felt -away- for a bit.

check out my pictures HERE or if you just want to see all the food we ate, click HERE :D