maharlika tmc cartoons

The weekly Maharlika Toastmasters Club meeting turned into a toon fest as CC Edvil picked the theme "Cartoons" for his stint as Toastmaster of the Evening. It was not quite the usual Maharlika meeting since most of the members were not present but with four non-TM guests, the Maharlikans made the most out of the situation.
As usual, EdVil is in the top of his game as TME. He arrived very early to set up the venue. This is EdVil's trademark, that is to come early and make the best decorations inside Jade Vine. He had all sorts of cartoon characters decorated inside the restaurant.
A game of charades was chosen to open up the meeting in the Wake-Me-Up portion. The members and guests were grouped into four and took turns guessing the mystery cartoon character. This was soon followed by the Table Topics portion with VP for Education Mely Fernandez, CC/CL taking control. Mely had the novel idea of passing little bits of paper to the members and guests with them writing their favorite cartoon characters and their notable qualities.
Two advanced speeches were then delivered in the prepared speech portion. Both CC Mimosa and CC Owen got the taste of speaking their first advanced speeches in their respective manuals. Owen started with the first of five Entertaining Speeches while Mimi on her Goodwill speeches.
Pres. Ed acted as the General Evaluator while VP Mely and VP Bong as the individual evaluators. TM Cecil was the Table Topics evaluator and she is starting to get the knack for evaluating. TM Ariel's comeback was also anticipated as he delivered the Timer's Report.
All three female guests gave out high praises for the evening's meeting. They all showed interest in joining the club so let's hope and pray that they do join and have fresh faces and new ideas for the club.
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midyear review 08

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. " - Albert Schweitzer

The Rotaractors from Rotary District 3780 Quezon City, Philippines delivered their club's status report on the annual Mid-Year Review. Held at the Rotary Center in Roces Avenue, Quezon City, 12 clubs from the district headed by their respective club presidents gamely reported their activities for the past six months. The event was witnessed by Service to New Generations Chair Joe Baradi, District Rotaract Chair Lumen Pestanas, and of course, District Rotaract Representative Boyet Calalay. Lead hosts for the said affair were the Rotaract Clubs of Centennial QC North and Sta. Mesa West.

RAC Eastwood started with the reporting. The club is a newly-formed one but they have shown that they are capable of handling projects and activities for their community. After five club presidents have reported, the group took a break and then resumed the reporting. All had their Power Point presentations to go along with their written reports.

The District Governor himself, Gov. Danny Fausto, graced the Mid-Rev and delivered the inspirational speech. He encouraged the current leaders and presidents to take away their personal spotlights away from themselves for the next six months and instead shine them on their successors. Now is the time, he said, to look forward and leave a lasting legacy to their respective clubs and to the district. The focus is on the future, and what a strong foundation each leader must leave for the stability and reliability of all Rotaract Clubs in the District.

Awards were then given to the best presentations, exhibits, and the best clubs for the first half of Rotary Year 2007-2008. Pres. Tet and RAC Timog turned out to be runaway winners for the awards.

*OT:
Everybody used Power Point for their slideshows but I decided instead to do my report in Windows Movie Maker. It took a while to sort out the photos that I wanted to post but after a marathon session, I finally had my shots. I used the music "Always With Me, Always With You" by Joe Satriani and "Volare" by the Gipsy Kings for the background music. Lighting inside the Rotary Center was never a problem since the ceiling was very low and the walls were just as bright as the ceiling. Bounce flash all the time and tried the wireless capabilities of the SB-600 to the fullest.

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luna

My latest attempt at shooting the moon. I've been waiting for this moment for the past seven days and all I got were really bad shots of the moon from a few days before. It was either raining, or the night sky was filled with clouds. And when I got the chance, my lens would act up and refuse to focus on that great big disc in the sky. Fortunately last night, there was no cloud in sight over the night sky. I quickly grabbed my camera with the kit lens on after feeding the dogs. Here's my take on the moon.

jess' induction

For those who missed it, here's the gallery of Jess Bato's induction to the QC Haribon Lion's Club last Jan. 23, 2008. The Shangri-La restaurant in West Avenue was the selected venue for the event. It was an awkward experience for me, since I'm used to the Rotary way of meetings and inductions and the Lion's version was quite different. The crowd too, was different. Virgil Cabrera can attest to this.
The induction started pretty late. Our very own Mimi Maghanoy was just as surprised as we were when her name was called for the induction of new members. She had no clue that she was going to be inducted on that night.
Everybody partied after the induction, including us, the guests. We ate and drank to our heart's content but afterwards, the boys had other plans. Where we went? Well, it's just a shop around the corner of West Ave., nothing fancy.

back to the 80's

President Ed's turn to be Toastmaster of the Evening and he picked the "80's" as his favorite era so that's the theme for the week's meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. Everyone, except those born on the last years of the 80s, had a nostalgic time at the meeting. There was Garfield, a Rubik's cube, Choc-nut, Boggle, and the blaring synthesized music in the background. Guests from El Presidente and Metro Manila Toastmasters clubs were also welcomed in the meeting.
The wake-me-up portion was a welcome twist to the meeting as the members were arranged into two groups and answered simple trivia questions about the 80s. After that, the educational portion began starting with the Table Topics and it was headed by David. Only one prepared speaker was around at the time and it was Atty. Jing.
The club was fortunate that night since the TME and the GE were both humorous speaking champions in the persons of Pres. Ed and Division A Governor Ellen Amar. Fe Alvarez arrived during the evaluation portion but she was still allowed to deliver her 6th speech.
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pretty in pink

Weekly meeting of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. Area 12 Governor Odessa Andal's turn to be Toastmaster of the Evening and her selected theme is "Pretty in Pink". She requested everyone to be in pink or shades of it. Confusion over the night's theme was obvious since other members didn't wear pink. All the while, they thought that the theme was "Ballroom dancing".
It was a fun meeting though. The club held the International Speech contest where five members participated. Eventually, VP for Education Mely Fernandez emerged as the winner and will represent the club in the upcoming Area 11 and 12 contest. VP-PR Edvil placed second while Sgt-at-arms Erika was third.
Afterwards, Ed, Bong, Des, Marah, and Jing followed Harbor Toastmasters President Marj Olorvida at the Music 21 KTV in Malate for some after-meeting videoke challenge.
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rock and roll

First meeting of the year for the Maharlika Toastmasters Club. I was assigned as TME and I thought of using the theme "Rock n Roll" to start the new year with a very loud bang. I managed to arrive early at the Jade Vine Resto for early preparations and set-up of the place. But as Murphy's Law has it, the things that could go wrong eventually did. My laptop refused to play the videos I downloaded from the web and wanted to show my fellow Maharlikans what real rock and roll looks like. No prepared speakers during that meeting so a video presentation was picked instead. Then the barely perceivable audio from the Cebu discon acted up. Listening to the prepared speeches almost became a burden for some.

IMO, the meeting was a success though. We had four non-TM guests and got positive feedback from the meeting. I hope I started the year right for my club!

global fun carnival

My shoot at the global fun carnival behind mall of asia. I asked God for a bright and clear day for the shoot but unfortunately, He wanted to give us a shower so shooting at this outdoor park proved to be a challenge.

First challenge: keeping my camera dry. Forgot the ziplock bag at home so I had to use my golf umbrella. No assistant that day so i just wedged the umbrella between my back and my camera backpack. Next challenge: shooting the fast moving rides up close. this proved to be an easier challenge since the 70-210D legacy lens liked the fast movers. Just picked the focus point and fired away.

Another challenge: walking over the smooth pebbles on a very wet day. I thought that the pavement inside GFC would be covered in concrete but I was wrong. I wore the wrong kind of shoes!

All in all though, it was a fun and thrilling experience. I just hope that next year, the GFC would have more rides.

red hot siling labuyo

Taken from my papa's spice garden. Fiery hot chili peppers! Many of you may be wondering how the flowers of a chili pepper looks like - so wonder no more, I took a shot here. Taken with the 18-135 mm Nikkor kit lens, slight overcast.

badminton, bowling, and booze

Hello all! Here's a gallery of the Maharlika Toastmasters Club's latest activity before the regular meetings begin. First, Pres. Ed, Marah and her beau Rain, Owen, Jing, and Edvil, and of course myself went to play badminton at the Star Smash court in Timog. It was my first time playing such a game in a regulation court and it was a lot of fun (and quite painful afterwards!) The lighting inside the court was sufficient enough for playing but not enough for really fast shooting without speedlights. I had to limit the use of the speedlight so as not to distract the players so I ended up with some dark shots and some blurry ones when I tried opening the aperture even more.

Next leg of the road trip was the Napoli restaurant, also in Timog Avenue. The gang of 7 was reduced to 6 as Jing had to rush back to his place for a family reunion. After dinner, we all decided to play bowling at Playdium in Araneta Ave., still in QC. IP Div. B Governor Mari Carandang followed the Maharlikans to play bowl.

After the strenous activities on the court and on the bowling lanes, the group then decided to have a night cap at the Forest Grill, again in Timog. Edvil and Owen had to bail. All in all, it was a fun-filled activity day for the Maharlikans. Unusually, Pres. Ed stayed with us through the entire afternoon and evening - such a rarity that most members haven't witnessed! =) Hope we could have more activities like that again soon!-

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happy new year!

First post for the new year! Hope this year will be good for all of us. New hope, new dreams, and new perspectives.