Well, the Braven BRV-1 wireless speaker is touted as a hardy little companion designed to play your music wherever you are. I have to tell you, getting this in the mail for review made me want to book a trip to the beach the very next day! It’s lightweight enough not to be a burden inside a backpack, and it looks so much like a pair of high-tech binoculars so it won’t stick out like a sore thumb among other travel essentials.

Braven BRV-01 Wireless HD Speaker

Slick packaging for this tough-as-mud piece of equipment.

The BRV-1 was a breeze to pair with my iPod Touch. All I needed to do was turn the unit on by a long press on the Power button, then a long press on the Play button so it could start searching for Bluetooth devices. Approve the connection on your music device, and it’s ready to go.

Power and Play buttons

volume control

There are also volume buttons on the side so you can turn it up or down without having to fiddle with your iPod. You can also pair the BRV-1 with a Bluetooth-enabled phone and use it as a speakerphone to answer calls.

It’s also not just a Bluetooth speaker. The rear compartment contains an audio-in jack for devices that don’t have Bluetooth capabilities, like the iPod Classic . There’s also a USB port which enables you to charge other devices from the BRV-1′s battery. Unfortunately it only has about 1400 mAh, which might be enough to give you a full charge on a BlackBerry 9360, but not on phones with higher-capacity batteries. Still, it could come in pretty useful in a wilderness survival situation, like running out of phone juice while camping.

rear compartment

Don’t forget to put the cap back on.

Its rugged appearance is not just a visual statement. The BRV-1 is able to take hardBu knocks to its body due to the rubberized exterior and panels. It’s splash-proof, so you could take it on a trip to the beach and not worry about getting ocean spray on it. Being splash-proof means you can rinse sand or grit off  – just make sure to screw the rear cap on tightly to keep water from damaging the inner workings. Unfortunately, it’s not made for submerging in water, which means we’re gonna have to wait to have music underwater for synchronized swimming. Tongue firmly in cheek here.

As for sound quality, it’s a small speaker so you need to stay close to hear it, especially in a noisy outdoor environment where the wind snatches away most intelligible sound. I also could barely hear the deep bass sounds of the house music I played to test the BRV-1. But who wants to lug a subwoofer around during a vacation?

I really wish I could keep this review unit! I’m going off to Boracay at the end of April and sure could use a portable speaker while sunbathing, something I won’t be afraid I might spill my Jonah’s fruitshake all over.

The BRV-1 retails at P7,450 at Quicksound. 

Uniqlo U-Shop U-Win

(The launch was held at Fully Booked in BGC as a nod to the opening of Uniqlo’s third store in the country at SM Aura Premium on May 17, 2013.)

the U-Shop U-Win virtual store game

The U-Shop, U-Win game app on the Uniqlo Philippines Facebook page allows participants to “shop” at a virtual Uniqlo store. Upon registration, you get a set amount of shopping points but can get more by clicking on links within the game. You then use these shopping points to “pay” for the items you’ve selected at the game app’s cashiers.

U-Shop U-Win game mechanics

You have a 1-in-4 chance of winning a minor prize at the cashier: P500 Uniqlo gift certificates, or Uniqlo AIRism and UT items. The consolation prize is additional shopping points which you can use the next time you “shop”.

No actual purchases involved in the U-Shop U-Win game

U-Shop U-Win consolation prize. Play again?

You can play the shopping game every four hours, and each time you play, you get a raffle entry to the major prize draw. The major prizes are: iPhone 5 phones, Canon cameras, a summer getaway package for two, and tablet phones. There are also special prizes, like an iPhone 5 for the #1 shopper, and P1,000 Uniqlo gift certificates for the top 25 shoppers.

The promo period is from March 22 to May 5, 2013.

I think it’s a fun little game that pleases my inner shopaholic; there are no actual purchases involved, so no harm done to my wallet. It might make you want to check out the two Uniqlo stores at SM Mall of Asia and SM North EDSA, though.

Chief Operating Officer Katsumi Kubota shows off the U-Shop U-Win game

When I began optimizing my other blog Kikay Runner for better placement in search engine results, I also checked on the RSS feed I provide via FeedBurner and noticed that a website was listed under “Uncommon Uses”. RSS feeds are commonly used to bring your blog posts directly into email clients, web-based feed aggregators, news filters, and more. An Uncommon Use could be “a neat little news filter somebody wrote, a blog somebody assembled from feeds, or even blog spam.”

So I went and checked it out and found dozens of my posts from the RSS feed auto-reposted on another blog (what is called a “scraper site“). Worse, there were no links back to my blog and aside from the short footer appended by Feedburner to each post on the RSS feed, there was no attribution.

If there’s anything I could be thankful for, it’s that I had the foresight to offer only a summarized feed. Google penalizes websites with duplicate content, but sometimes it can’t distinguish between the original source and the copy (so both source and copy are punished by lower ranking in search results). Because I’d only put a portion of each blog post in the RSS feed, a large amount of my blog’s content remained unique. This means if people search on Google for a topic I’ve written about with my own spin, they’re still more likely to find my blog instead of the scraper site.

Aside from reporting the copyright infringement to Google so that the scraper site would not appear in search results, I also changed my RSS feed settings to be even more stringent. Instead of 400 characters in the summary I limited it to 200 characters, and worded the post footer more strongly by saying “If you see this on a website that is not KikayRunner.com, it may have been used without permission.”

Scraper sites have justified their actions in the past because of a notion that RSS feeds are free for syndication anywhere. The Creative Commons license also allows for copying with attribution (even without permission).

My words are precious to me; they’re an extension of how I express myself, so they’re an extension of me. So when another site reposts my blog posts without attribution, without my knowledge, without my permission, I feel violated.

I realized that I needed to retain more control of how my work is used online. People still have fair use rights when they want to quote me, but if they want to use my words for anything else (like creating an entirely new website!) they will need to get in touch with me.

Last February 14-18 I went to Kuala Lumpur to attend the Les Mills Ultimate Super Workshop at Sunway Resort Hotel. Anyone familiar with Kuala Lumpur knows that Sunway isn’t inside the city itself, so I booked a room at Sun Inns Hotel Lagoon for about P1,000/night. The Agoda.com listing said it was a 10-minute walk to Sunway Resort from there, so I figured it was convenient enough.

Using Google Maps

I would just commute into the city if I wanted to see the Petronas Towers or go shopping at the major malls there. I downloaded some apps to help me get around, like CityMaps2Go, TripAdvisor City Guides, the KL Trains app, and of course, Google Maps. These apps helped me get a general sense of where everything would be in relation to each other, but I knew things would be different once I was actually there.

If Tom Hanks’ “Castaway” had Wilson, I have Brooke’s Bear

(I take this little bear with me every far-flung place I go, in memory of my departed niece Brooke. She’s a piece of home.)

Before my flight from Manila took off, I discovered some of my co-workers and fellow Les Mills instructors on the same flight, so I wasn’t all alone anymore. The best part about this is when we landed in KLIA-LCCT (the low-cost carrier terminal), three of us who were booked around Sunway split the taxi fare, which is much cheaper than taking separate taxis.

Found some RPM instructor friends also going to the @lesmills KL workshop. At least I’m not alone at the airport anymore!

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 14, 2013

Discovered some fellow BODYBALANCE instructors also on the same flight! Hooray

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 14, 2013

impromptu company

wearing my comfy Mizuno BE shoes on the plane

I bought a TuneTalk simcard at the airport, expecting to have full BlackBerry service because it cost 30 ringgit or about 400 pesos. To my consternation, that 30 ringgit seemed to have been flushed down the drain because I didn’t get service AND there was zero value loaded onto the sim. Grrr!

Ah crap. This Blackberry SIM I bought here in Malaysia doesn’t have Foursquare, Whatsapp, or browsing activated. What a ripoff!

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 14, 2013

Apparently, TuneTalk’s “unlimited” BB service only included BB Messenger and Twitter. Frustrated, I checked into my hotel and just used the free WiFi to research on what local carrier had better BB service. I’d forgotten that the last time I was in KL, I had purchased a DiGi simcard.

Sun Inns Hotel Lagoon superior room w/ window

My hotel room was cozy enough; I’d gotten a two-bed superior room with a window, so I used the spare bed as a place to lay all my things out on since the room didn’t have a closet.

By then it was already around 8:30pm and I was starving! Since the Pyramid Mall was just around the corner, I walked over there to see where I could get something to eat.

I ended up at a McDonald’s.

McDonald’s. At least it’s chicken?

I guess I didn’t want to go on any food adventures my first night alone in an unfamiliar city. Sure, I knew some of my co-worker friends were close by, but because they were afraid of roaming charges, none of them wanted to use their phones to text and meet up! If I had a bad food reaction, I had no one to call on. So, yeah, McDonald’s.

Went to KL for a fitness convention, ended up in a McDonald’s. Errr, at least it’s chicken? @ Sunway Pyramid instagr.am/p/VtmtiPM-47/

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 14, 2013

Later that night I called my parents over FaceTime. I don’t normally feel homesick my first few days away, but it was good to see their faces and hear their voices.

Best. Invention. Ever.

Good morning! Up and at ‘em! Going to try to find breakfast.

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 15, 2013

For breakfast the next morning, I walked past the Pyramid Mall with its distinctive lion Sphinx head looking for food. I could have eaten at the mamak stall on the ground floor of the hotel, but again I was scared of unfamiliar food. There was a 24-hour KFC branch open amid a cluster of other establishments, so I got myself a blueberry pancake set. (Pancakes at KFC? That’s new for me!)

Pyramid Mall Sphinx

blueberry pancakes at KFC

After breakfast, the mall was already open, so I went in and did some window shopping. I didn’t manage to bring home any windows (ha ha), but I went to the Cold Storage supermarket and bought some fresh food: a sandwich for lunch and a bunch of bananas for the next few days. I also found a DiGi outlet and really attentive staff that helped me get a new simcard with full BlackBerry service.

Got a new simcard from DiGi. My temporary Malaysia number is 016-3690745.

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 15, 2013

it’s all about the bling-bling

Chinese junk ship at Sunway Pyramid

Sunway Pyramid’s ice skating rink

old guy looks like he came straight out of a kung-fu movie

sale! oh no

Oh. My. Captain!

DC Comics Shop

Superheroes + Shoes. I die.

Holika Holika reminds me of Majolica Majolica

Chinese shoe brand Li-Ning

“Italiannies”?

Sunway Resort & Spa: the venue for the LM Workshop

While wandering around the mall I inadvertently discovered how to get to the nearby water park which the area had become famous for. Sunway Lagoon is a destination for families and groups of friends; it looked like a bigger, more successful and outrageous Splash Island to me. Plaques on the viewing decks explained that the Sunway area had formerly been a tin mine which developers had rehabilitated into a resort destination.

Sunway Lagoon Resort

Sunway Lagoon Resort

By the afternoon I knew most of my fellow instructors and friends attending the weekend’s workshop were already in the area. Because I’d made my travel plans separately I didn’t know where exactly they were so I could meet up with them. Even though I was able to tweet them and track them on Foursquare, I ended up eating dinner by myself at The Chicken Rice Shop in the mall. (We have Chicken Rice Shop branches in the Philippines already so I found myself wondering if this was authentic cuisine. LOL)

Table for one. Posting this so my parents know I’m eating my veggies ???????? @ The Chicken Rice Shop instagr.am/p/Vv-jCHs-4f/

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 15, 2013

milk tea from Chicken Rice Shop

set meal from Chicken Rice Shop

I started to make plans for the next day’s excursion. I would be heading into KL city itself to shop and to meet up with some other friends who were there on a separate holiday trip. Instead of taking a taxi (expensive!), I took the U623 bus from Pyramid Mall to Kelana Jaya LRT station. Then, I took the train all the way to KLCC. I found out how to do this by googling and also by tweeting the bus line.

@myrapidkl thank you very much!

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 15, 2013

old and new bills and coins

Being a solo traveler has its perks. I don’t have to wait for anybody when I want to go somewhere, and I only need to be concerned about my own comfort. Sure the bus and train ride weren’t very plush (being chauffeured around is nice), but it was cheap so I could spend more on shopping and dining!

real-time bus schedule board

no, this was not the bus I took.

on the bus

At some point during my bus ride I thought I missed my stop, so I approached the driver and asked him what I should do. He just told me to take a seat and wait. Apparently, the endpoint for the bus trip was at the Kelana Jaya station anyway, so I didn’t need to worry.

the train

got a seat!

I left Sunway by 8:30am and took breakfast at Suria KLCC Mall when I arrived around 9am. The strong WiFi signal from a neighboring restaurant allowed me to browse Path, where I found that some of my instructor friends staying in the KLCC area were planning to take the train and bus to Sunway for their workshop sessions that day. I was able to meet up with them and give them directions before I headed off to do my own sightseeing.

Petronas Twin Towers

proof I was there. haha

kaya toast set from Coffee & Spice Company

I planned to take two trains from KLCC to get to Bukit Bintang where Sungei Wang Shopping Plaza is located. That’s what I had done on my past trip, but before they left for Sunway my friends told me about the free purple bus line which shuttled people around the main commercial centers, which included Bukit Bintang. Awesome!

free shuttle!

cat face at Sungei Wang Plaza

Sungei Wang wasn’t what I remembered it to be; back in 2011 the place was filled with small shops and boutiques selling clothes and shoes at bargain prices. This time around there were fewer selections, many of which I’d already seen in Singapore last year. There was a Cotton On store there though that sold items for 15 ringgit apiece (just under 200 pesos), so I bought a bunch of fun tops. The VINCCI store was also on sale, so I bought a new pair of shoes.

Cotton On top

VINCCI!

Whenever I go shopping, I end up putting on some of the stuff I just bought. Instant outfit change!

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 16, 2013

I then returned to Suria KLCC on the purple bus to meet up with my friend Judith, who had come to KL with a group of our mutual friends just on holiday. It just so happened our travel dates coincided. It was sooooo nice to spend an afternoon with people I know; I mean, after a day and a half being alone, I wanted to be anything but anti-social!

with Judith at a Starbucks

All that walking around left me thirsty, so I shelled out 4 ringgit for a bottled water at Dome before I computed in my head that it was a 60-peso bottle of water. Ouch!

expensive water

The forecast for the weekend predicted cloudy weather and rains for KL, so I had a folding umbrella in my bag at all times. Good thing too, because it started raining on the bus ride from Kelana Jaya station to Pyramid Mall.

rainy Sunway

I finally met up with some instructor friends for dinner. We went to Old Town Coffee where I attempted spicy food for the first time since my arrival. (On second thought I shouldn’t have, because each glass of water I consumed was priced at 80 sen. I had two glasses!) I also had one of the best, creamiest teh tarek I’d ever tasted.

Old Town White Coffee

teh tarek. slurp!

Waking up to Arabic music this morning reminds me I’m not back home Good morning!

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) February 16, 2013

Our workshop was the next day, and it was a tiring but fun-filled day of learning new routines for our group exercise classes and upskilling ourselves as instructors. You can read more about it in this blog entry. There we also reunited with instructors formerly from the Philippines who were now based in other countries in Asia.

dinner at Bubba Gump. wow, bagong-bago.

It was with a lot of pleasure I received the news I would be flying home with a group of my fellow instructors. Yes, I’m a loner type, but I get kind of sick of talking to myself on Twitter especially when I know I’ve got friends around. Also, hooray for shared cab fare!

Brooke’s Bear says Bye-Bye Malaysia

I still spent most of our departure day just packing my things and wandering around Pyramid Mall looking for interesting food to try out (I never got up the courage to try the mamak stall on the ground floor of my hotel).

Ah Cheng Laksa pan mee

curry flavor? tastes like barbecue.

It started raining pretty hard on our way to the airport; our taxi driver mistakenly took us to KLIA, which isn’t the same thing as the LCCT. We got back on the right track then, so it took only a bit longer to get to our airport, which was being buffeted by strong winds and rain coming in sideways. I was freezing by then so I hit up the MarryBrown (local version of McDonald’s) for a last cup of teh.

Nestle Teh Tarek from MarryBrown

rainy departure

So glad to go home.

Every time I travel out of the country, I see things I wish we had, like a more organized public transportation system, or more extensive rail lines, or less pollution. But I also see the good things we have that we usually take for granted, simple conveniences like free iced water at restaurants or cheaper food, or even just the presence of friends and family who are one call or text away.

When I got home that night, I feasted on sinigang na bangus in the company of my family. There’s no place like home.

Then the advanced instructor modules were introduced, and for long-time instructors like myself it brought us back to why we had started teaching in the first place: because of our passion for these programs that had brought about so much change for the better in our own lives.

We had our first official Les Mills metro workshop in the last quarter of 2012, which made us feel more connected to the whole network of Les Mills events in the region. So a large number of us decided to make the trip to Kuala Lumpur for the Ultimate Super Workshop happening on February 16-17, 2013. It would be the only official workshop held for the first quarter of the year (we have workshops quarterly) and it was an opportunity to represent the Philippines among the other Southeast Asian nations.

Crazy me booked a flight on the 14th of February because I’d been told the workshop was from 15-17. Only later did I find out the workshop proper for my programs BODYBALANCE and BODYJAM would be on the 17th. That’s why I had so many free days to spend by my lonesome in KL. Wawa naman.

Sunway Resort & Spa: the venue for the LM Workshop

Look at all the program DVDs!

Anyway, workshop day commenced at the Sunway Resort and Spa Grand Lagoon Ballroom, and BODYBALANCE was first up. On the roster of trainers who would lead us through the master class was Kylie Gates, who is also a presenter on the DVD of this particular release, BODYBALANCE 60.

BODYBALANCE

What can I tell you about BODYBALANCE 60? The release teaser states, “Big, beautiful songs combine with simple moves to create something magical in this yoga-inspired class.” Well, the music is more R&B and pop than past releases, which means instructors and participants alike can more readily connect with the music and the feel. There’s extra challenge in the balance track, but of course it’s all doable as you can expect from a BODYBALANCE class.

BODYBALANCE 60 Tracklist

before the master class

So that was at 8:30am, and since I wasn’t attending the BODYPUMP or BODYSTEP classes following it, I had breakfast with my fellow Pinoys before going back in to see the 30-minute GRIT and CXWORX classes. We’re not planning to add those to the programs we currently offer at the gym, but it’s always great to see what else Les Mills is up to.

BODYPUMP

BODYSTEP

BODYCOMBAT

(I couldn’t find any photos of BODYATTACK.)

It wasn’t just Pinoys from the clubs in the Philippines that attended the workshop. We’ve had so many of us move to other Southeast Asian countries to teach the Les Mills programs they love, so that weekend a large number of them also came. What a reunion!

We’re all completely nuts.

The next class I joined was SH’BAM. It’s the 11th release of this 45-minute “bubbly and playful workout which sees you wiggling your hips and singing along to the music as you increase your fitness.”

wearing Mizuno for SH’BAM

Arnold is also a SH’BAM trainer, so even though I normally don’t attend this program, I did here and enjoyed myself despite the totally cheesy “Gangnam Style” track.

SH’BAM 11 Tracklist

SH’BAM

BODYJAM was the last class of the day. We’d only barely done four weeks of BODYJAM 63, and here was the 64th release already. It’s lung-busting, heart-pumping dance party action which I’m still trying to get my head and body around.

BODYJAM 64 Tracklist

BODYJAM

The trainers and presenters also took the opportunity to raise funds for the medical expenses of one of their fellow trainers Renato Cordeiro Mecca. He was in a serious motorcycle accident which broke his back and left him immobile. I may not know him personally, but I know what it’s like not to be able to move and teach the programs you love. :’( They’re currently trying to raise funds to fly him home to his native Brazil, and my heart goes out to him.

With 700 registered participants for the entire workshop, I’m sure the Sunway Resort Hotel was shaking and quaking with every foot stomp and landing. We saw so many super-fit and inspirational trainers and instructors there; I think nobody was there with the gym mindset of “Just gotta get a workout in.” I mean, obviously the presenters were there for about 4 to 6 hours (most of them had multiple programs to teach). It was their passion and love for sharing these programs with us that carried them through.

I guess what I’ve learned from the workshop is that as a Les Mills instructor I’m not just another brick in the wall; we’re the frontliners whom participants see as representative of the programs we teach. So you can’t just go through the motions in your class; each class is important to the participants who show up to take part in it. I think that’s what I’m taking with me from the workshop into my classes. I’m not teaching my classes for myself; I’m there to take my participants on a journey where they not only get fit, but also enjoy the experience of getting there for its own sake.

One Tribe!

Thanks Ben Sim for allowing use of his photos!

Met Gala 2013 at the Metropolitan Museum

One of my school’s favorite haunts was the old Ayala Museum, which had a permanent exhibit about Philippine history (loved the dioramas!). During my university Spanish class our professor required us to visit the Metropolitan Museum, which had an exhibit on Spanish artifacts found in the Philippines.

At the Met Gala 2013, I encountered a different Metropolitan Museum. It was the launch of their new exhibit on contemporary Filipino art. Thanks to Nuffnang for extending Cristalle Belo’s invitation to us bloggers.

I arrived and was greeted by mimes at the door. A few minutes later, a performance art showcase commenced with costumed men and women prowling the halls dancing and showing different emotions. Against a wall several canvases leaned awaiting the expert hand of an artist who would execute a painting on the spot.

And that was all just on the ground floor. As I entered the exhibit proper on the second floor, down below self-proclaimed party meistervTim Yap enjoined the gala attendees to gather for cocktails. I continued to walk through the sections of the exhibit.

Vicente Manansala — “Two Beggars”

performance art archival footage

artwork on old newspaper

Ian Carlo Jaucian — “On Focusing, Spacetime, and Parallax”

Agnes Arellano — “Triple Goddess”

Lyra Garcellano — “Yearbook 3″

Francisco Coching — “Cover of Pilipino Komiks”

Mark Justiniani — “Okupado”

Overall it was a visual feast w/ various “flavors” to try. I sped through the exhibit because of limited time but it might be much nicer to walk through it slower (and with a companion), discussing and savoring every bit.

Let’s dance!

I used to post a lot about Les Mills group fitness classes here, but haven’t in the last few years. This is strange because they’re a huge part of what I do weekly and a huge part of who I am, too. I know thousands of people worldwide attend Les Mills programs in order to get fit and stay fit, and they’re passionate about it.

So I’m going to come out and say I LOVE MY JOB! I love being part of a life-changing experience for my participants — the calm serenity and strength of BODYBALANCE or the madness and euphoria of BODYJAM. I love that by delivering these two group fitness programs in their essence, I’m able to help my participants get the most from their time at the gym. Everyone knows the saying mens sana in corpore sano — a sound mind in a sound body. When someone takes care of their body, the benefits translate to other aspects of their lives. The mature find functional fitness, so they are able to fend for themselves even in their age. Parents have more energy and can give more attention to their children. Yuppies feel empowered and able, so they can make the most of their prime years. Etcetera, etcetera.

These two programs have also contributed to my personal development and I don’t think I’d be who I am without them. And in my effort to become a better instructor, last year I invested in the Advanced Instructor Modules for BODYBALANCE and BODYJAM. They’re meant to help us go deeper into what each program really is and how to give our participants a great experience more consistently.

BODYBALANCE AIM1 w/ trainer Riyo Fukunaga

BODYJAM AIM1 w/ trainer Arnold Warren

This year I’m taking a big step. I’m going to Kuala Lumpur to attend my first international Les Mills Quarterly Workshop! Workshops are where instructors like myself experience the new choreography and music for the first time. It’s where we also see our trainers (who are kind of like our fitness rockstars) in action so that we can learn from their example.

If you think of group fitness programs as coffee shops, Les Mills is like Starbucks: you go anywhere in the world and the experience and taste are the same. Although the instructor may vary, you get the same high-quality music and choreography (that’s been vetted by movement experts) within a scientifically-designed class structure meant to build your cardiovascular and muscular fitness effectively and efficiently. Workshops and the quarterly instructor’s DVDs are a way to standardize our individual performance to meet that expectation.

In a few weeks I’ll be reporting back from KL on what you can expect next quarter from the Les Mills programs. I’m so excited!

Initial Report: As of 7:40 PM reported hold up incident inside SM Megamall Dept. Store #mmda

— Official MMDA (@MMDA) January 26, 2013

Soon, my timeline was abuzz with retweets from supposed eyewitnesses about what was happening: that shots had been fired, people had stampeded, and shops had shut their roll-up doors for security. No one was allowed in or out of the mall.

Tweeps inside #megamall boutique stores: STAY INSIDE. It’s safer. Wag makigulo sa stampede sa labas.

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) January 26, 2013

Then I started seeing tweets about a hostage situation, but something felt off. It was like listening to a story becoming more elaborate the more it was told.

O kanina holdup lang. Tapos putukan. Ngayon hostage-taking? Careful about hearsay. Verify first before reporting. #Megamall

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) January 26, 2013

By that time we had tuned in to AM radio to see if they had gotten ahold of more concrete details. I was wary about trusting too much to Twitter because you never know if your source saw it with their own eyes or is relaying a story someone had in turn told to them.

Then DZMM tweeted that their reporter had interviewed someone who told him a woman told him the hold-up had happened at a jewelry store and the perpetrators were wearing cosplay costumes. Yes, you read that right: the reporter reported hearsay!

@dzmmteleradyo hearsay is not the same as an eyewitness account! @momblogger

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) January 26, 2013

This hearsay started spreading as fact, and opinion turned ugly against cosplayers. There was really a cosplay event happening at the mall on the day, but I believed that had the perpetrators been in costume, they weren’t really participants at the event but had just taken advantage of it.

Someone in costume is NOT NECESSARILY a cosplayer. They just took advantage of the cosplay event being held. #Megamall

— Noelle De Guzman (@noelledeg) January 26, 2013

After an hour of us breathlessly awaiting more news, finally SM Megamall and the mayor of Mandaluyong released statements.

There was no hostage-taking.

Abalos: Tapos na po. Wala pong hostage-taking. Everything is under control.

— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) January 26, 2013

Only two shots had been fired, not five and not repeatedly as tweets had reported.

Laurel (EPD): Only two shots were fired in Megamall, not five as some claim. Suspects used a pipe wrench, not a hammer as initially reported

— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) January 26, 2013

Got clarification fr @smsupermalls, what sounded like gunshots were the sound of the roll up being banged by the tenants closing the stores

— RJ Ledesma (@rjled) January 26, 2013

The suspects were in plain clothes, not costumes. (Nakuryente ang DZMM dun.)

Laurel (EPD): We’re looking at 4-5 suspects in SM Megamall robbery incident. The suspects were wearing ordinary clothes, not in costumes

— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) January 26, 2013

And the suspects had gotten away in the first two minutes during the initial panic and confusion. They’re still at large.

#Megamall trended, but the hashtag perpetuated a lot of the initial wrong reporting. It wasn’t just a Twitter problem, either: Philstar.com reported it too (and still hasn’t retracted the article). The next morning I found myself still reading reactions from people especially about what the suspects were wearing and whether there had been a hostage situation.

Yes, Twitter and Facebook provided a lot of real-time updates at a time when people were desperate for more information. It’s also during those times when it’s most important to discern what is factual and what is not. The nature of the internet and social media being what it is, wrong information sticks around longer (due to search engine caching of uncorrected articles and tweets). Because I’ve been an internet user for a long time, I’ve learned to turn a critical eye toward “news” I see spreading on social media. However, there are thousands of Filipinos who are new to this and don’t know how to fact-check for themselves.

I think it’s important for people to start educating themselves on how to use social media properly so they aren’t swept up and carried away by every trending topic.

improv workshop activity

After the workshop period ended, we each went our ways. My batchmates went on to make (bigger) names for themselves:

• Abby Asistio, musician and alopecia awareness advocate
• Gee Canlas, speed-talking TV host and Amazing Race PH contestant
• Miko Pepito, spoken word artist
• JB de Leon, professional photographer
• Teddy Corpuz, musician of Rocksteddy and co-host of It’s Showtime
• Roxanne Barcelo, actress

To tell you the truth I felt out of my depth in that workshop. Everyone there had a “blue ocean”; for instance, Abby could sing and rap, and now that she’s open about her alopecia it to set her apart. Gee could talk a mile a minute, which attracted attention from TV networks that cast her as a host.

What was I good at? What did I have that nobody else had? Looking back now, I didn’t turn out the way I thought I would in 2009. But I think I’ve found my blue ocean, and it’s online. It’s not going to be without difficulty that I make my own mark; I’m not the first female running blogger, nor the most famous. But I do have my own unique skills that no one else has. I’m hoping that makes the difference for me this year.

So I went cold-turkey. And that’s where this belated Christmas basket from Lipton Philippines comes in.

Thanks for the Christmas basket!

I go through phases of what kinds of drinks I prefer. I had this whole orange juice phase, and I’ve just gotten past the coffee phase. The cycle’s coming back to tea, and as I write this entry I’m brewing up a cup of Lipton Yellow Label. What I like about tea is that since you steep it yourself, you can make as mild or as strong a cup of tea as you want. (I enjoy mine not too strong, with milk and sweetener.)

Lipton’s Christmas basket came with some tea recipes concocted by Chef Dianne dela Cruz. So right now, I’m making not just a regular cup of black tea. I’m making Chef Dianne’s Nagoya Milk Tea! She recommends this served cold, but I’m in the mood for something warm especially on this rainy day. Let me share my modified recipe with you:

• 1 teabag Lipton Yellow Label Tea
• 2 tbsps fresh milk
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• 2 packets sweetener

Steep tea, then discard teabag. Add milk, sweetener, and vanilla essence. Stir well and enjoy while hot!

Rainy day cuppa, anyone?