Finally (A New Post And Then Some)

It's been a looong time since I last posted anything here and a lot has happened to my life in those past seventy (yes, 7-0) days of uhm, writing dormancy. As much as I want to fill you in about everything that happened, I'll save you the burden of a very, very, very long post and just write about two major, major (Raj, insert year here) life events which transpired recently. 

April 5, 2013

I was very blessed to have been given the chance to be the front act of The X Factor Philippines' TOP 6: LIVE IN RHAPSODY which was held in Metro Concert Bar, West Ave., Quezon City. Not only did I get to sing for an entirely new and bigger audience, I also got the chance to catch up and bond with my friends from TXFPH. Missed all of them so much and I'm really praying that I'd get to perform with them again in their coming shows. Check out my performance that night below!

(Video taken by my best bud, Bryan Katigbak.)

(A closer view of my performance. Posted by Johnny Legaspi.)

I know the above-mentioned event might be too grand and it somehow elicits the feel that nobody can top it. But something did. Something I've worked hard for for so many years. Something that my family, especially my mum, has been waiting and praying for to happen.

April 27, 2013

I finally graduated from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños with a degree in Biology, Major in Plant Biology! It was a very long and tough ride, but looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. My longer than usual stay in the University gave me the chance find my niche and to find all the missing pieces I've been trying to find. Hashtag cheesy. I just want to grab this opportunity to thank everyone who became a part of my college life. BLD Youth Ministry, UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co., UP ECOSS, and UP Entrepreneurs' Club. I've learned so much from being a member of all those amazing organizations! 

As you can imagine (and see), my family, especially my mum (Haven't I typed this before? LOL), was very ecstatic at the thought of me finally finishing my degree. They've always been supportive of everything I do and I love them for that. I may have given them a lot of stress, but they never gave up on me. A year ago, I was so sold on the idea of me moving to Manila and work there, but right now, I'm looking hard for a job near Elbi. I guess it really is hard to leave this place. I'm excited to go get a job and earn and help and give back to my family while staying with or close to them.

To end this post (finally), I'd like to thank my Ultimate Best Friend. I wouldn't have gotten this far without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Thank You, Lord, for the wonderful life filled with so many amazing opportunities. I may have stumbled a lot of times, but You're always there to pick me up, support me, and give me another chance. I may be one of your most stubborn son, but I'll always try my hardest to follow Your commandments and Your will, for I believe that there is no other way to live my life. Thank You, Lord! I love you! 

Exit: Chris Belison on The X Factor Philippines (ABS-CBN)

Pulled a Mac Arthur during my exit interview for The X Factor Philippines and I got bombarded with tweets, wall posts and messages about it. I guess it's about time I write about the amazing time I had during my TXF journey. Photo dump coming right up! Pardon the not-so-good quality of some of 'em.

First screening. December 8, 2011 in SM City San Pablo Activity Center.  Quede up at 7:00AM, got to sing at 1:00PM.

Performed "Breakeven" by The Script for the first screening aka the pre-audition. Watch/listen to my studio version of the song here.

Got called back for the Producers' Auditon on April 20, 2012 and I performed "Look At Me Now" and "One and Only". Click on the links to watch/listen to the studio versions of the songs.

Blessed to be called back again for the LIVE AUDITION in front of the celebrity judges (Sir Martin Nievera, Sir Gary Valenciano, Ma'am Pilita Corales and Charice) which was held in PAGCOR Grand Theatre last May 31, 2012.

Registration jitters. Ha ha!

Live audition pieces. British pop and a lil soul/RnB. Watch/listen to my studio versions of "Glad You Came" and "I'm Going Down".

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Was able to perform after more than 12 hours of waiting.

Performed "Glad You Came" by The Wanted and I can honestly say that that was one of the fun 2 minutes of my life! :)

Received very good feedback from the audience and most importantly from the judges. 4 YESes and it's all because of God and the talent He lent me! :) I, along with 171 acts from all over the Philippines went straight to BOOT CAMP!

Checked in at Remington Hotel for BOOT CAMP.

BOOT CAMP stage! 

Some of the talented boys I was with during BOOT CAMP.

Our category (Boys under the age 25) was assigned to perform the Basil Valdez classic "Tuwing Umuulan" a capella. Received a "Great job!" from Sir Martin Nievera for this one :)

Unfortunately, I was one of the 106 acts which got sent home the first day. Of course, I was devastated at first but the amount of things I've learned, the friends I've gained, and just the ultimate blessing of being one of the TOP 35 BOYS or one of the 172 ACTS OUT OF THE 20,000 who auditioned made me feel happy again. The announcement that I was eliminated broke me, but once I got my thoughts back in place, I began rebuilding myself and I'm now in the process of working even harder just to achieve what I want. It's like I finally know what I want to do for the rest of my life. Those few minutes I've spent on that stage, in front of the camera, in front of thousands of people, in front of the 4 judges, were just "previews" of what I could be doing if I work hard enough and if I'll be given the right break/opportunities. 

I know this entry's quite long already but I'd like to take this chance to express my gratitude to everyone who supported me with my The X Factor Philippines adventure! Thank you all especially for your prayers! Special thanks to my family, especially my MUM, for letting me do this. For sacrificing money and time for the screenings and for the live auditions. To all my friends and organizations (BLD Youth Ministry, UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co., UP Entrepreneurs' Club, UP ECOSS) in UPLB, thank you all for your unwavering support! Wouldn't have done this without all the things I've learned from the times I've spent with y'all. 

Last but definitely not the least, I'd like to thank the Lord God, Almighty for this wonderful experience. For the talents and skills you've lent me. For making my family change their minds about this thing. For always guiding me. For always being my inspiration. For always keeping my hopes up but still keeping my feet on the ground. For Your never ending affirmations. Most especially, thank You for Your love. Lord, I'm not really the best servant or follower and yet You still bless me with these amazing things. For that, I'm really grateful. I love You, Lord. And I'm always praying that in everything that I do, may YOU always be GLORIFIED.

My TXF journey might have ended already, but this is just the start of my journey towards the realization and actual fulfillment of my dream. You'll see me around :)

"Basta, babalik ako. Babalik ako."

CHRIS BELISON's exit interview for The X Factor Philippines.

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Justice Must Be Served: Given Grace, Rochel and Ray

I've been vocal about the situation our community's been handling these past few days and most of the time, the things I've said have been brought about my surged up angst towards our city's lack of proper governance which undeniably contributed to the recent incidents. It was just earlier today that I felt weak and I truly felt sorry for what has been happening around. See, Ray Peñaranda, who was stabbed to his death on the wee hours of lat Sunday, is actually my classmate in one of my courses this semester. I also often see him with his orgmates whenever both our organizations come as sponsors to events. I remember him most because I saw him quite a few number of times hearing Mass in St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish. Same thing with Rochel Geronda, the high school student who was raped and murdered. I literally saw her grow up. She's one of the sampaguita kids who're always in Vega or in St. Therese and we've been buying sampaguita leis from her and her two other friends since we were just in high school. I may not know Given Grace Cebanicopersonally and I may not be as close to Ray and Rochel as the other people, but I feel really terrible and sorry for what had happened to them. Good kids whose lives were taken by men who for a moment forgot about goodness and love. 

I can only pray for the victims' souls and for their families. I can only pray for those responsible for these crimes to man up and take full responsibility of what they had done. I can only pray for the safety of everyone. I can only pray that now, more than ever, we remember that love and goodness remain in our hearts. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims. 

I leave you guys with a video my good friend Matt made. These are footages from the Indignation Rally that was held yesterday.

May justice be served for Given Grace, Rochel and Ray.

Prayers For Elbi.

I've been living in Los Baños my whole life and I believe it's one of the safest and peaceful places that anyone can live in. The people are friendly and though there isn't a sense of tight security, you still get the feeling that nothing bad can ever happen to you here. Well, that was then. Gone are the days when anyone, especially UPLB students, can walk the streets without anything bad happening to them.

October 2011: Given Grace Cebanico

February 2012: Rochelle Geronda and Ray Bernard Peñaranda

Given Grace and Rochelle were both rape-slay victims while Ray was stabbed in his chest after he was robbed. 

Let us all take a moment to pray for the eternal repose of their souls. May they find peace in God's loving arms. Let us also pray for their families and friends. And in a very special way, let us pray for Los Baños; for its citizens, for its safety, for its governance. 

Two Weeks.

Been swamped with a lot of things these past few weeks I had to take a break from blogging. Not in my writing mood still, but here are a few photos from events I went to these past couple of weeks.

 February 2, 2012

Moonleaf Tea Shop with Dream Team after BASAGAN Auditions (taken with Instagram)

Headed straight to Java Ave right after for UP Photos' TALENTADOS 2012 (taken with Instagram)

Clockwise from left to right: Abie, Tin, Bea, Chris, Riji, Red, Yona, Krist and TJ

February 3-5, 2012

YE 1 SPSD Youth Facilitators with the Sponsoring Class, Couple Coordinators and Father Thor

Spent last weekend serving as a facilitator for the first Youth Encounter weekend under the San Pablo South District of the Bukas-Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community. It was fun and spiritually fulfilling! Never mind the physical stress and what nots! Praise God for a very successful YE weekend! See more photos here.

February 9-10, 2012

Went to UP Junior Executives' Society's REVERIE in IC's and danced the night away with some friends from UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co. and UP Entrepreneurs' Club. Congratulations, UPJES for the party! Left the party around 3:30AM and we decided to grab something to eat in Bugel's. "Unexpected" libre from me because I had no change left for jeepney fare! Ha ha!

With Abie, Yron, Fortune, TJ, Ades and RN (Taken with Instagram)

Just include lab work and classes and long training hours in between those events posted and there you have the past two weeks of yours truly. I'm pretty sure this coming week will be more eventful! UPLB Feb Fair 2012 is this week! See y'all there!

Dancing January Away.

January's leaving in a couple of days and I believe it's been a great month for the UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co. The Dream Team managed to deliver performances for 5 events in a span of two weeks and our Competing Team bagged the CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY last night in BODY WARS 2012! Here are some photos and a video of stuff that happened just yesterday.

UP SAGES' PAEStigan - The 2nd Inter-Luzon PAES Quiz Contest

Dream Team in UP SAGES' PaEStigan Quiz Contest held in EE Audi.

Girls reppin' hard!

Gandingan 2012: The 6th UPLB Isko's Iska's Broadcast Choice Awards by the UP Community Broadcaster's Society.

UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co. with Wyre Underground of UPLB, UPLB Filipiniana Dance Troupe and UPLB Sandayaw.

Dream Kids. Ha ha.

Wacky Fail. LOL

GANDINGAN was FUN! We really enjoyed the company of the other groups and we really enjoyed our performance! We're happy the entire auditorium liked it! Our collaboration with the UPLB Filipiniana Dance Troupe was very well-applauded! I'll post the video here as soon as it finishes uploading in YouTube.

EDIT: Here's the video! They recorded it using my Apple iPhone 4! Watch in HD! :)

The icing on yesterday's events is definitely our Competing Team bagging the CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY in San Beda Mendiola's BODYWARS 2012! Here's a video of their winning piece. I'll update this as soon as an official video from the organizers come out because this one's audio is quite screwed up.  

It's been a long time since the group managed to grab top spot and we're definitely gonna work hard this year to improve more! This is only the beginning! Thank You, Lord for all the blessings! :)

Oh, and one more thing. It feels really good that my mum got to watch me perform again. Been a long time! Ha ha!

UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co.
Official Web Site
Facebook 
Facebook Fan Page

Make The Cut: UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co.'s EXTENDED AUDITIONS

Missed our auditions last December? Here's your chance to make the cut! Start 2012 by rockin' our auditions! See you there! 

P.S: Y'all have til 11:59PM TONIGHT to join my first-ever blog give-away! Click here to join! Advanced Happy New Year! :)

United We Dance: A Dance Workshop For A Cause

Believe it or not, even after 7 years (and still going) of dancing with the UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co., United We Dance, which was held just this afternoon, is my first-ever dance class. Ha ha! This hip-hop class was organized by Oyen Baraquio (United 101) and Erik Javier (UPLB Street Jazz Dance Co., Urban Elite, The Crew) to raise funds and gather goods that will be sent to the victims of the typhoon Sendong. The workshop started a little past 5:00PM and it feels great to be back on the dance floor again! It feels extra special though because while we were all enjoying the class, we know that for that good hour or two, we'd be able to help our brothers and sisters from CDO and Iligan City even in our own little way.

I missed being inside a dance studio!

These were some of the stuff that we brought.

Here's my cousin Gio, Kev and one other guy from 101. Happy birthday, Insan!

Kuya Erik with Kit, another cousin of mine. Ha ha!

UPLB Street Jazz represent! With Fortune, Kev and Kuya Erik.

I struggled with catching my breath because my lungs weren't in their dancing condition yet but I'm glad I somehow didn't have trouble catching up with the choreography. Ha ha! I really have to run everyday so I'd be able to regain stamina again. Challenge accepted!

I'm really glad that Kuya Oyen and Kuya Erik did this. It shows that they don't only have big hearts for dancing, but big hearts filled with compassion for others. God bless you, both, and all of United 101 and all those who attended the class!

LAMBingan Friday At Chubby Habbi's Mediterranean Grill.

Because of time and financial constraints, I was not able to visit Chubby Habbi's Mediterranean Grill ever since I made my first visit during its soft opening. Fortunately, I was able to visit last Friday when UPLB's Christmas vacation kicked in. Another "fortunately", their Lamb Kebab (which has been getting a lot of raves on Facebook and Twitter) was available that day.

It's great to see how much their menu has "grown"! Lots of offerings now!

Got fascinated with little Christmas trees set on each table.

Hummus, Pita and Iced Tea while waiting for the Lamb.

100g Lamb Kebab 

Chubby Habbi's only offers Lamb Kebabs on Fridays, 12 noon onwards, until supplies lasts. They usually serve lamb which weigh 150g above. The piece I got was the smallest from their fresh supply. Not a big deal since it was priced lower and because the order of hummus and pita already had me filled. This was only my second time to eat lamb. The first time was in a grill in Baguio where I had a lamb burger which tasted kinda like the regular beef/pork burger. I was really excited to try the lamb kebab since this'd be the first time that I'd actually taste lamb, with only salt and pepper added before it was grilled.

The verdict? It was more than I expected. I had it cooked "well-done" but it maintained the juiciness! The meat's a little sweeter than beef and it's texture ain't gamey at all. What I liked most about it is its fat. Oh no, I know. Its fat's texture greatly differs from beef and pork. It was more like a piece of tendon, actually. I believe the good ratio of meat to fat of the lamb actually helped in maintaining the moisture content of the meat. The grilled lamb smothered in Chubby Habbi's garlic sauce brings it totally to a new level! An order of their butter rice is definitely not enough!

Chubby Habbi's Lamb Kebab is a bit pricey but for a piece of fresh lamb cooked to perfection, served with buttered rice, grilled vegetables and garlic sauce, I'm sure you'll be more than willing to splurge on this, especially since it's only available during Fridays.

Do check out Chubby Habbi's Mediteranean Grill on Facebook and check out the Chubby Habbi himself, Caio Cadiz, in this Twitter handle.

Chubby Habbi's Mediterranean Grill

Lot 9 Ruby Street, Los Baños Subdivision, Batong Malake

4030 Los Baños, Laguna

Operating Hours: 11:00AM - 9:30PM Monday to Saturday

Mi Bonitos Lunch With Magulo Friends. LOL

Please don't mind the title, especially the "Magulo Friends". No chance I'll elaborate on that here. Ha ha!

We decided to grab lunch in Mi Bonitos earlier today. See, Mi Bonitos has been around since 2004 and I (together with my family) have been coming back ever since. This has always been on my top 3 go-to places in Los Baños and you can take my word for it, the prices of their offerings are really worth it. Really getting the bang for the buck, if I may say so. 

Pardon the photos since I was too lazy too lugg around my camera. These were taken with Ning's and my iPhone 4.

The Menu

Nachos

Buffalo Wings

Ning and Bryan

Aisa and Ten-ten

"Hey, what's up? This is Chris." LOL

Blueberry Pancake ala Mode

Banana Split

Nothing bad can really be said about Mi Bonitos' food, really. Even the place is really good. I believe having the entire place enclosed and "air-conditioned" gives the customers a more comfortable venue for enjoying their food and their company. Oh, and they also have free WiFi! 

Do check out Mi Bonitos' Facebook page for more information and y'all can follow them on this Twitter handle.

Mi Bonitos Restaurant
Oregano St. cor Lopez Avenue, Demarses Subdivision
4030 Los Baños, Laguna
Operating Hours: 10:00AM - 10:00PM Monday to Sunday

United We Dance: A Fund-Raising Dance Workshop For The Victims Of Typhoon Sendong.

Do drop by if you can! If you wish to bring in stuff for donation, y'all can also drop them off in JP Shapers Studio starting 5:00PM! It's time to bring back a little bit of "merry" to the Christmas of our brothers and sisters from CDO and Iligan! Here's a map for those who're not familiar with the location of the studio.

I would like to commend Kuya Oyen and the whole United 101 and Kuya Erik Javier for this inspiring project! God bless you all! :)