The day we were asked..deal or no deal?

My celebrity batch mate Jon Santos invited me and several of our batchmates to be his "kapamilya" (members of his family) as he joins the US syndicated show Deal or No Deal hosted by Kris Aquino on ABS-CBN.

Everyone was excited because we will get a look at how a game show is put together and of course, we were excited that Jon will play and hopefully win. I was especially excited because it was going to be my TV debut. LOL!

So one afternoon in late October, we all gathered at our famous doctor batchmate's clinic Faces and Curves (http://facesandcurves.com/) and headed out to ABS-CBN. It was such a big production determining who rides with who and who will bring which car as there were like 20 of us including a couple of spouses and children! So we took a few seconds to take pictures. Of course I was in full purple glory for my tv debut. =)

So there we were at the ABS-CBN compound. While waiting for our turn to do the "taping", Jon treated the whole tribe to Starbucks. It gave us the chance to chat up a storm and catch up on each other's lives. We also spoke about what Jon's threshold of happiness would be if faced with the question of whether to deal or not to deal.


After a couple of hours, we were finally ushered inside the studio and into Jon's dressing room where we waited for another half hour. This TV business (and I guess the whole entertainment business) consists of a whole lot of waiting. =)


So while the celebrity contestant figured out his outfit and puts on make-up, we his cheering squad continued to chat and laugh and well, did some make-up retouching as well for what are those big lighted mirrors for?

And after a nerve-wracking 30 minute show where thankfully I did not have to give a number, the batch celebrated Jon's win with this photo in the main stage.

And Jon's generosity yielded our batch fund a good amount of money which we can use for our next charity activity. We capped the day with a sumptous dinner at Little Asia in Greenhills - yum!

Thank you Jon for another unforgettable experience. And thank you for your generosity!

You may still catch Jon together with Candy Pangilinan and John Lapuz at their "Spooftacular Showdown" at the Music Museum on November 28 and 29, 8pm.

Paping..

Happy Birthday Paping!

It's been two years since you left. I miss you and Maming.

I love you.

36 years old and gorgeous as ever...

You are the sunshine of my life

That's why I'll always be around

You are the apple of my eyes

Forever you'll stay in my heart

Happy Birthday Takuya!!!

so unoriginal..so cheesy..so trite..

so true.

The Purple World Has Expanded Again...

Hah! You guys think that because I was busy with my fangirl pursuits, I wouldn't have time to further enlarge my purple world? Wrong! While I was watching, screaming and buying fangirl souvenir items, I also did some purple shopping.



A trip to Japan will not be complete if I don't indulge in a few pens from Muji (http://www.mujionline.co.uk/index.asp?). In fact, it was my first purchase together with SMAP's latest album from Tobu Shopping Mall. I horde up on Muji pens wherever I find myself near one. I found more pens in this nice store along Ginza called Toy Park. I loved their shopping bag so I kept it for obviously purplish reasons.

The purple sweatshirt from Uniqlo (http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/) is just one of the few purple pieces that I got. Thanks to my travel buddy Vic, I was introduced (to the dismay of my debit card..) to this wonderful store called Uniqlo (read Yunikuro) which is everywhere in Tokyo and Yokohama. Their prices are totally reasonable even for Philippine standards. And yey, they have sizes for relatively (hehe..) big girls like me.

Now those nice Tombow pencils were a gift from Vic. I was actually mulling whether to buy them or not when she beat me to the cash register. Thank you and I love you Vic! Hahaha!

The purple Pringles (Tomato Mozarella) is new to our eyes so we were munching on this variation during the trip.



The craziest purchase I made was this gorgeous toy camera I found in Roponggi Hills. The Holga 120N Medium format plastic camera (http://www.freestylephoto.biz/holgawood_camera_formally_known_as_holga.php) is something that I could not resist. It was impulsive and crazy to buy something which will probably just earn a nice place in my shelves. But I absolutely love it and will play with it with my nephews and nieces. Hope I get the film installed right because I can't remember the last time I used one!

The goodies with the camera were not my purchases but wow did it expand the purple world some more! Thanks to my new friend who goes by the online name of Jasmine, I will never know that stuff like Grape Chocolate existed in this world.

And finally I got a Crocs Prima in grape (naturally) because I've always wanted to buy one and surprise of all surprises it was a couple of hundred pesos cheaper in Tokyo than Manila. Did not realize I don't have a pic but here's what it looks like - http://www.shoebuy.com/crocs-prima/190623/473396?cm_mmc=yahoo-feed-_-none-_-none-_-none.

Needless to say, the purple world is once again happy, happy, joy, joy!!

The Longest Hangover..

One month since I flew out of Manila and 24 days since I came back, my soul is still back there..in Japan. My longest travel hangover ever!!

Maybe because I had the ultimate fangirl experience of watching both SMAP and F4 in one trip..or that I've met fantastic people..or that I just love Japan period. It does not help that I now go to my Nihonggo classes every Saturday and study everyday. I would still catch myself staring into space and remembering everything.

After a busy couple of weeks, I finally downloaded photos I took with my mobile phone (which incidentally died on me yesterday). I can still remember the excitement I felt as we neared Tokyo Dome last September 30th. It was my first time to attend a Tokyo Dome concert and despite the rain, I was so happy to look around. I even wanted to ride the roller coaster if the weather was good (though it did not stop many folks. The coaster kept on operating despite the rain) but I chickened out. Next time...

I braved the rains and did my concert souvenir shopping. I was a good girl and did not bring my camera. I did not want to go through the hassle of leaving them and claiming later. It was a good decision because with 80,000 people trying to leave the dome at the same time after a concert, claiming something might take me forever.

I was overwhelmed with happiness after the SMAP concert that I forgot to take a quick photo with the stage behind me. Thank God I did not forget to snap a shot of me with my concert buddies - Minori, Minori's oneechan (sister) and Vic, whose face almost did not make it to the frame. Gomenasai Vic.

And of course my F4 concert experiences in Yokohama and Tokyo. Both times I was pretty much sitting by myself. I can still remember my excitement to find the arena. It was my first time in Yokohama and I did not get lost. And I cannot forget my 1st night arena seat which gave me a great view of everything especially the boys.

So obviously I can still blabber non-stop about the experience. I am definitely getting the SMAP concert dvd when it comes out on Dec. 17. I am hoping and hoping aloud (paging the folks who produced F4's Japan Tour!!!) that F4 will also come out with their own concert dvd.

Watching the concert dvds and reminiscing about my special trip will probably shut me up...or not?! =)