Si M.A., si Vondraye ug si ate Mark; A Review and a Blog about the play: Si Chris, Claire, ug Merci

with the Cast (missing Everild aka Carlos)
thank you Issa Layaog for the photo!

the Play is About to Start!

A Review and a Blog about the play: Si Chris, Claire, ug Merci

Si M.A., si Vondraye ug si ate Mark 

"The only excuse I'm going to accept is if you're dead or dying." 

-My Theatre Mentor

Sweating like a pig, I walked from IT Park to Crossroads Banilad around 3:45 in the afternoon for the 4pm show - Si Chris, Claire, ug Merci. I actually already arrived at 3 in the afternoon but realized I was an hour earlier. Yes, I was THAT excited for that play.

This is the 2nd time I'll be watching a play from Our House, a renowned and proud locally born Cebuano theatre group. Members of the said theatre group are also composed of Cebuanos with a fire inside everyone with the love of and for theatre. If you have watched them perform Love Confessions before, you'd know what I'm talking about. If not, here's your chance to really how Cebuanos, specifically Our House do it. 

Si Chris, Claire, ug Merci features Three Original One-Act Plays written by their own actor Josh Eballe and directed by one of their own actors too, Troy Tomarong. 

I was pretty excited to watch this on their first day, and as expected, they indeed delivered. I guess, not only me, but many people did find and loved their performance. 

Living the Values of Smart, Authentic, Passionate, Collaborative, Professional, and Disciplined, they indeed showcased everything.

Dinhi Nalang Ba Kutob Ang Tanan? (Hanggang Dito na Lang Ba ang Lahat? -Will Everything End Here?)

Play-ception; A play within a play. This is my first reaction when the lights turned on. This tells the story of Chris who wrote a script for a play he's directing as well.  Paul came to rehearse scenes and lines with him, but while rehearsing, it unfolded Chris' inner feelings; Chris' inner TRUE feelings. 

I like most what Paul told Chris - People talk about their problems and not write them on scripts for plays (something like that). Ouch. 

Ang Tulo ka Panagway ni Claire (Ang Tatlong Mukha ni Claire - Claire's Three Faces)

Persona-ception. A persona within a pesona. Claire having her two personalities - Carlos and Cassandra, is in a predicament of who to follow. Forgiveness is a big word, a big issue, and a big discussion. 

She maybe a successful lawyer, but behind closed doors, she's battling herself with Carlos and Cassandra. Ouch strike 2.

Pit Senyor, kay Merci Kini! (Pit Senyor, ito ay para kay Merci! - Pit Senyor, this is for Merci!)

Kilig-ception. You wanna know why? WATCH IT THEN!

Merci, a transwoman, living with her loving father, Tatay Ben, and Jomer who sincerely offers his love to Merci but too much affected by our society's intolerance towards LGBT. This may be a light story, but definitely, tells a story of most of our LGBT's in real life struggling in the eyes of the society.

My Review: The lights, the props, the symbolism used(rubics cube, earrings, alcohol bottle, Flower shop, demolished building) elevated the audience to further feel the emotions. Each play portrayed with their striking lines and scripts that made me close to tears because they did target human emotions and make people realize that these are really happening. I can't speak for others but watching the 3 plays made me think that I was watching alone and my life unfold in front of me and these people portraying and left me thinking... THAT's ME! THAT's MY LIFE! THAT's WHAT THE LIFE I WANT! 

I quite knew these people personally and they did justice in their portrayal of their characters, though I would recommend adlibs because their characters in real life would give more justice giving their own personal lines with the play. I didn't notice adlibs or if there were, good job to them then because I didn't notice it. 

They did justice on making it timely as these are really happening. People throwing their emotions on what they do, People successful on the outside, damaged on the inside, and of course, the LGBT love story. 

I've read some reviews and I myself feel "disappointed" because the script and storyline can still be lengthened, just like the usual TV shows that frustrate you that it ended so fast, you'd want them to have more. However, theatre is something that always tickles your mind, and kills you with suspense, plays with your emotions and like a warfare, you have to think fast, feel fast, and die fast.

I do recommend people to watch this play to give yourself and your inner self a slap of reality that everyone has their story to tell - this is theirs, or you may never know; this might be yours.

Catch the final leg of "Si Chris, Claire, ug Merci" 

this weekend:

September 9 & 10 | 10AM, 1PM, 4PM, 7PM

Artist Hall, Benedicto College

A.S. Fortuna St., Mandaue, Cebu

Cassandra vs Carlos

poor Claire

Cassandra is my spirit animal!

everyone needs a Tatay Ben in our life

everyone needs a Jomer MORE in our life! 

I wish I was Merci!!!

Pak! Merci For the WIN!

"Tarung na Tubag sa Tarung na Pangutana"

the love of a Father to his Daughter

#LoveWins

Bow!

the Whole Cast!

with THE DIRECTOR Troy!

with the cast missing Carlos (Everild)

Selfie with IDOL RACHEL LAYA-OG!

Play Poster

Vondraye's Tuna Spread Recipe

Last Friday (Good Friday of the Holy Week) I brought tuna spread since we were advised that the office pantry will be closed. I don't want to gamble and work without feeding my dragons. I don't have enough time to prepare so I just mixed the ingredients in a whip.
I don't know if they really like it or they're just saying it... Nyahaha!!

Here goes the recipe:
I will be using my original recipe since this  one I did last (Good) Friday wasn't my original.

*1 big bottle of Sandwich Spread (I used the big bottle of Tuna Sandwich Spread costs around 190php as of April 2017)
 3 big cans of Tuna and 1 big can of spicy tuna (or if you want it to be more spicy, you can change the 1 can of spicy to 2)
1 small can of mushroom, sliced
1 small pack of pineapple tidbits (you have the option of buying the crushed, but I'd rather crush/finely chop them myself)
2 bulbs onion (I use 1 red and 1 white), finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 hardboiled eggs diced
Cheese, diced (it depends on you, if you're a cheese lover like me, use one bar of cheese by all means)
Carrots, finely chopped 


Drain Tuna and mash them up until they're coarse. 
Mix in mushroom and onions. 
Mix in salt and pepper. 
Then mix with the diced hard boiled eggs, cheese carrots, chopped pineapple and mayonaise.

Yes, my version is protein on protein on protein... 

Enjoy!

10 Websites To Boost Your Career

"The best things in life are free, the second best are very expensive."-Coco Chanel

So I say, why pay for mastery classes if you can get it for free? That’s why I’m sharing with you 10 websites where you can get free online courses to boost your career growth. Here are some websites to quench that thirst for learning, because if there’s something that we want to feed nonstop; it’s our brains.

These 10 websites may look just a number but these websites offer a door to thousands of windows to thousands and millions of courses that can open your mind and boost your career growth!


1. Hubspot Academy  

Wanna boost your career with inbound marketing and sales? This is the place. Hubspot academy will help your career in marketing and sales boost to the top as they are the worldwide leader on this matter.

They already gave out more than 50,000 certifications to their learners and you can add up to that number as they offer free online courses that specialize in marketing and sales. We have team members who already are Hubspot certified and have excelled and enhanced their marketing know-hows.

Whether you have a sales or marketing background, Hubspot will definitely help you with it!

2. Coursera

The website highlights the specializations and subjects available, highlighting Top Specializations, Popular Courses and Top Rated Courses, however, you still have the search box if you need specific course details whether it will be business, marketing or IT, they have courses available for you. This is no joke as they have 150 partners over 29 countries offering 2065 courses; that’s a lot of food for the brain!

On the go? Coursera is available on the App Store for Apple users and Google Play for Android, so whether you’re using a desktop, mobile phone or tablet, you can access them anytime anywhere.

Whether you’re a businessman wanting to learn about IT or on Social Science but wanting to learn about Management, or just want to further enhance what you already know and keep in the loop, this site can offer you such.

The best of all, what’s the proof of your course? You can get a certificate from them too!

3. Codecademy  

Looking into boost your career in coding? Codecademy literally gives you free coding course for FREE. One of Time’s 50 Best Websites will surely bring that uncertainty to serenity, and join other 25 million learners around the globe who already have their fair share of success from this site. Watch their video or read people’s testimonies upfront on the first page to know how their career skyrocketed with Code Academy.

They do have free learning for school or education and also one for business, and for a fee, you get more services from them too.

4. EDX

EDX was founded by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology also known as MIT, so you know you’re getting high-quality learning. This massive open online course provides high-quality courses pairing up with world’s leading universities, nonprofits, and institutions with more than 90 global partners.

They are proud to say that they are established and led by colleges and universities, nonprofit, and open source of online courses.
From Language to Biology, boost your career in marketing, management skills, keep up to date your IT and Programming skills with EDX.
EDX provides a certificate of your achievement once you’ve finished the course. What’s more, they also offer specialized programs for a more advanced learning to further progress your career.

5. MIT Open Courseware 

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is one of the founding father of EDX and they too, have their own version of free web-based online courses for your career growth. They boast 200 million visitors with 2340 courses to choose from and you can be added to their statistics as they publish all their course materials online and make them widely available to everyone.

6. Udemy 

Udemy website may sound intimidating onset of the page because of the prices, but this site offers free courses that you can take as well. Just search via the search button and there are dozens of free online courses to choose from to boost your career.
Their site offers different categories from Level, Language, Features and Price and sort from most relevant, most reviewed, highest rated, newest, from the highest price to lowest and vice versa.

7. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania  

The Kutztown University of Pennsylvania – Small Business Development Center offers Online Learning programs to start off your career in entrepreneur, business, management, marketing and so on. They have a wide range of courses to choose from, and a long list of over 90 free on-demand online programs and they keep adding more.

More than the free online courses, they also offer consultation services, workshops, and business planning in case you have that extra funds that you can spend on.

8. Harvard University Online Learning 

Free.Online.Harvard.Courses. Yes, you read it right, I don’t know why you won’t visit this, it’s Harvard! FOR FREE! There’s a pool of free courses that you can access on their website that you can take mostly done online they also have paid online courses if you opt for a more in depth more specific learning. The search button is helpful to search and the filter section is also a big help narrowing down your search criteria.

9. Open 2 study 

Open 2 study lets you access courses on the Free courses page and what’s more is that they also provide free certificate of successful completion of it. What makes the site interesting is that once you’ve created your account either from scratch or using your social media- Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin, you can connect to people and it works like a classroom having classmates; make that, cyber classmates, or you can invite your friends to join too.
This website will help you with your career as they have a wide range of courses to choose from. You can search by Level of Study, Category, or Free Course in their Accredited Course tab.
This will definitely boost your career and further improve on your chosen field and give that career growth an edge.

10. inLearning of LinkedIn 

This is a bit tricky as they do provide free learning for a month, however, they need a credit card, the payment will take place after a month. I took as many learning as I can within a month and there were just too many interesting and helpful courses to take so I just took the most important. They will e-mail you and it is also helpful to keep a reminder to unsubscribe after 29 days so that they will not charge your credit card. It was indeed a hassle to monitor the date, but all the learnings were all worth it. What I love about this is that it automatically records your courses and attach it to your Linkedin profile. The courses have a video and transcript available for you to view.




You can choose from a wide range of courses to boost your career, even change careers from business to IT, adult learning to management, whatever career path you choose, they have a course for you. I know, because my team members did!

*Blog first appeared at GO-VA Company Website and my LinkedIn Account

Vondraye Attends Handstand101 by Jeff and Mech

1st Day Yoga Warm Up Session - Sleeping pigeon pose

Rome was not built overnight.

-French proverb (also by Jeff Dan Barrientos)


When I saw their advertisement over Facebook, I got so excited and as a yoga practitioner, mix that of the childhood frustration of being a ninja, this made giddy like a kid again. I’ve been practicing yoga for a long time and patience is one of those things I learned, most specially when I learned Wheel pose and Headstand which took me years (like 5++ years I think) to learn.

After five years of dedicated practice, however, the singer now has a different attitude: “He’s more patient, he understands that it’s a process and not a means to an end.” 

-Chad Dennis, Adam Levine’s yoga instructor, Men’s Health 10/28/13

I’m now ready to learn another yoga trick to add to my bucketlist and further enrich my yoga journey and with the help of Jeff and Mech and the whole staff of Asana Yoga Movement, I decided to join the Handstand 101 Workshop.

Jeff and Mech on their promo photo 

Jeff is one of the prominent handstanders in Cebu, having background in yoga, calisthenics, parkour and gymnastics. *catches breath* Yes, from all of these, I guess I don’t need to add more to convince you that he has the knowledge to help you with learning handstand. I knew him from his yoga sessions from Gold’s Gym JCentre every Saturday morning at 10am and became my favorite class ever since.

Mech is Jeff’s yin; the perfect partner for this 4week workshop gracing her beauty and sharing her experience teaching Vinyasa, yoga therapy, powerflow and Ashtanga because every after session. You REALLY need that yoga therapy. I tell you…

Yin and Yang, but both adept in their fields and just like a true blue yoga teachers and masters, they're able to share their energy, wisdom, knowledge and smiles with us. 

Let’s now talk about their schedule:

Week 1 – Learning the fundamentals – breathing, alignment and mental preparation

Week 2 – Safety Techniques, enter and exit from a handstand

Week 3 - Working together in finding your center of gravity, after all it’s about balance!

Week 4 – Handstand play! Applying what you’ve learned and explore handstand shapes and transition to other poses.

It doesn't end with weekend Saturday classes, I was surprised when they created a group for us in Facebook and Messenger for “assignments.” I was like stunned that these people are serious about us learning Handstand, they even check on you if you’re done or not with the daily exercise which makes it even more amazing! This is my first time to experience getting checked up on daily exercises! I really appreciate the fact that they don’t just want you to learn about the basics, but really want you to progress and improve on your handstand.

Don’t fret as they aren’t like any Miss Minchin nor any of those Military/CAT/COCC/ROTC instructors. We do get Sunday restdays too and I’m utterly amazed how during Saturday afternoon classes, they manage to teach all of us and don’t miss a bat making sure that they are there to correct all of us. They don’t have favoritism, they don’t focus on one, but they make sure everyone learns and they are there to correct. There were times, multiple times we needed help (because I’m big and heavy and can I say sorry?), but they were there to help us AND others at the same time. 

Sample teaser of an Exercise Assignment

Expect a To Do List at home and don’t worry if you’re visual (like me) since they also send videos for you to follow and these aren’t downloaded videos, these are videos they shot themselves, you'd know they are serious when it comes to teaching you! Problem with your alignment? Chum and other staff helps out and they also have a bunch of pictures so you can see your alignment, progress and picture perfect shot for your Social Media as they literally shoot the WHOLE duration of the class, and after class, it's not like "Okay, goodbye..." You can stay and "play" around with the teachers with some tricks.

It’s been a week and they still don’t forget their students as they still check up on us if we’ve done the exercises EVERYDAY. 

In conclusion, I recommend the Workshop with 5/5 stars (they shouldn’t be calling this a workshop but parenting!) because they don’t end the help in those 4 weeks, more than the training, they extend their hands from workshop to Facebook contacts teaching, training to friendship which I value the most.

p.s. I'm an introvert so I'm really not comfortable talking to other people but they did manage me to open up and whoala! I got instant friends! 

We  call ourselves 3M - Maria, Mia Michelle and Mark

Last Day Partner in Crime- Ryan

You can reserve your slot by sending an SMS at (0995-459-8235), or flex those hands on your keyboards and e-mail them at asanayogamovement@gmail.com or visiting their webpage at http://www.asanayogamovement.com/ or thru 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsanaYogaMovement/ and check the event details at the 

Facebook events page :https://www.facebook.com/events/1398975346806468/?ti=cl . 

Day 1 discussion - Jeff and Mech

Day 3 Practical Exercise with my 3M Group!

Teacher Jeff multi tasking teaching everyone and ME!

Preparing....

Ryan and his Handstand Graduation Photo!!! Proud Partner!

With the Core Group!!! 

Certificate, Sticker, Yogamat and my Yoga Towel!

Yoga Warm UP! Day 4!

Sample Warm Up Exercise Day 4!

Partner Practical Exercise Day4!

Partner Practical Exercise Day4!

Practical Exercise with Ryan!

Practical Exercises Day 4!

Progress!!! Day 4

Graduation Photo!

Graduation Photo of Batch 1

Trying to do a Graduation theme photo

After Class bonding massage with Mech!

Post Class / Graduation Photoshoot

Post Class / Graduation Photoshoot

Post Class / Graduation Photoshoot

*Some photos taken from Asana Yoga + Movement FB page and Chum Basubas