Trekking All The Way to Pinatubo

So we just did Pinatubo and it did us right back with the rain and the cold and my brain all rattled up and misplaced with the 4x4 ride up the volcano.

Got up at an ungodly hour of 2am so we could make it for the 3am call time. Wtf? But it turned out to be a good idea (pat on the back, Russell!) since I can be such a slowpoke when I'm not comfortable. We reached the summit and the surreal crater lake at 930am and had 3 hours of staring at it and dipping my screaming pink-pedicured footsies in the surprisingly warm water.

Traveled on the 4x4 with Kai, Russell and Chinese AIM student Dan, Manong driver and Manong helper, who had the greatest seat in front of the truck.

No man's land

You can tell who the most experienced climber is. Me!!!

The road to redemption looks just like this.

A great no-no in travel photography. I just ruined the view, sorry.

All's Fair

I was at the Hell's Kitchen street fair last Sunday and they had closed 46-55th Streets along 9th Ave. and lined them up with stalls of food, ugly clothes and fake jewelry.  I was sorely tempted to buy French crepes again but the problem with street fairs is that there's not much seats to sit at. 

I had $7 in cash so I had to content myself with a $3 beef empanada, which was not even as big as my fist, and $1 Thai vegetable spring roll that was all Phyllo dough.  Both were not even close to being mediocre but who am I to complain?  I had $7 to burn.  Big spender. 

These two cuties made my day, though. 

In Living Color

I just saw Catch Me If You Can on Broadway.  Getting free tickets from work is awesome but it was like watching Mamma Mia all over again.  I was by myself, laughing and enjoying it but wishing my mom was with me.  She likes all these cultural stuff and my dad just tags along most of the time.  I got my ticket really late, 30 minutes before the 7pm show, and I couldn't even call Neruda or Alexandra to see it with me.

I've seen the movie starring Leo di Caprio and Tom Hanks so I knew the story.  Aaron Tveit, the guy who played Frank Abagnale, Jr. on Broadway, is one hot beefcake.  I'm sorry but Leo doesn't excite me.

I liked this musical.  It's because part of the story is about the  prestige of   flying decades ago and how he tricked people into thinking he's a commercial pilot.  It's the idea that you can be who you want to be.  It's because the last musical that I saw (American Idiot) got me so turned off with the dark, sex, drugs and rock & roll theme that I'm just so ecstatic to see beautiful people dancing angst-free onstage.

The Mama Monster with her Babies

It was Good Friday and the Monster Ball concert was about to take place in Ugly Town Newark, New Jersey.  The Prudential Center was littered with young girls wearing neon tutus, teenagers wearing skirts that covered their belly buttons and grandmamas wearing what they would've worn had Lady Gaga been popular 60 million years ago.

I definitely saw why gays love Gaga.  She supports a charity aiming to help homeless gay youth who were turned out of their homes precisely because they declared themselves gay.  Dozens of her fans kept throwing stuffed toys onstage as presents.

This was me trying to capture the Mother Monster performing onstage but the adrenaline rush of dancing to her music was overwhelming.  At least we could still hear the music, right?