Yebah! It’s that time of the year when this b-tch unveils to everyone, or at least the readers, who were naughty and nice. It’s the same time of the year when apples flood the city and experience a shortage in lemons. Did I hoard them? Maybe.
Time flew by too fast blurring my vision of what happened this 2014 or maybe I was out of my hometown more days than I was in it. Thus, I missed out on the events that transpired within the metropolis, interesting or otherwise.
Should I be thanking this new feature of everyone’s favorite social networking site, an unexpected present that popped up on my wall that compiled the year’s photos in a slide show? Sorry, but no. It included the TBT shots, most of it, in mine, making it a compilation from 2006.
Instead I browsed through my 2014 photo files, some made it to print and some did not, and refreshed my memory as to who deserves the apples and the lemons. Here is my list of Most Interesting in 2014.
Apples awardees.
Best body (and mind) training: Yoga. It must be the year’s most popular “exercise.” Though yoga has been taught in the city for more than a decade now, the discipline had a sudden surge of practitioners recently. Luckily, Davao has enough trained teachers to accommodate the growing numbers.
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| Namaste. 2014, there was a sudden surge of yoga practitioners in Davao. |
Just like what my “mentor” said to me, “Whatever reason than got it into yoga will always be good.” Whether its exercise for you or a lifestyle, yoga’s benefits will unfold as you get deeper into the practice—and this is what makes yoga very addicting. To all yogis & yoginis, take an apple, please.
Best dessert (and food sold on line): Paleo Palate. Together with the heightened health awareness, healthy food gained a following. Finding its niche in the arena of physical training, the Paleo Palate menu excludes gluten, grain, dairy and refined sugar from the ingredients.
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| Paleo Palate found a niche & emerged a winner in the on line food biz. These Dark Chocolate Moist Brownies with Crunchy Cacao Nibs are delicious & healthy. (Photo from Paleo Palate’s Facebook page) |
So how does the dessert taste like minus the ingredients we all got used to? Delicious! In fact, I fell in love with it. The ingredients made the desserts denser, thus heavier in weight, richer tasting and flavorful. I was instantly sold to the idea after tasting the Banana Bread in Almond and Coconut Flour and the Dark Chocolate Moist Brownies with Crunchy Cacao Nibs. I am looking forward to sampling the rest on the healthy list. There must be an apple on it. If not yet, it deserves some from the b-tch. Take one for every dish created Paleo Palate.
Most interesting personality: Kat Dalisay. Her Manic Nightnings Production brought life back to the local party scene even with the curfew ordinance (and a few more) looming over the city’s nightscape (the trick is to kick off before sundown). Not only did she resuscitate it, but made it larger in scale. She got embroiled in an “incident”. She shed tears before the city council as she defended herself. She was shut down, her permit revoked.
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| Most interesting woman- Kat Dalisay. Bouncing back in the party scene that put Davao in the country’s party map. (Photo from Kat Dalisay’s Facebook page) |
But good things never die. “Of course, it’s overwhelming. I’m happy that all turned out well, “ said Kat Dalisay when asked about how she felt after getting back her permit. She bounced back into the scene with vengeance and hosted the next entry… (Take an apple for each tear shed and an apple per party, please.)
The event of the year: Carte Blanche 2014, the second of Manic Nignthning’s grand serving after a successful debut in 2013. With its signature “slew of DJs” to spin varying dance music genres for hours, the recent party proved to be more fun, bigger with 12, 398 partyphiles attending from last year’s 10,033, and a more polished version of its predecessor.
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| Party of the year: Carte Blanche 2014. Bigger & record breaking, better & more polished. (Photo from Rudedofo.blogspot.com) |
The Electric Music Carnival, if it continues its success, can turn into a major Davao festival and the first privately-run at that. Nothing is impossible. And speaking of that, how about injecting fashion, much like the Coachella?
Congratulations and enjoy the five apples.
Party of the year: the 50th anniversary of Hijos de Davao. Just when I thought the Dabawenyo annual ball is dressing down, I was proven wrong, thank God. The golden anniversary of the social group turned civic organization drew in a record number of guests, all dressed elegantly.
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| The golden year of Hijos de Davao was well attended & elegantly picture perfect. |
It was a picture perfect gathering where everyone, not only the participants of the Rigodon de Honor, was in formal or evening wear. It was reminiscent of the early years of the soiree when everyone adhered to the formal dress code with propriety.
One apple for the foundation, but it’s dipped in gold. I hope this part of the tradition sticks (back) because this is where I can choose the individuals for the next entry….
Best dressed: Cherilyn Uy. In the few incidents I bumped into Cherilyn, I saw a well-dressed woman. Catching her posts in the social media site, she’s consistently tastefully dressed (and accessorized) to whatever the occasion is— from lounging with her kids to traveling, from touring to dining. Her day and evening looks are good materials for the pages of a fashion glossy. My exclusive Royal B-tch apples can only come from one source—me, and I’m handing you ten.
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| Best dressed: Cherilyn Uy. From day to evening, her looks are fashion magazine worthy (photos from Che Uy’s Facebook page) |
Lemons awardees.
Nightmare on top. There was no better time for this “twin club at the top” to execute a PR nightmare than on Halloween night. Please spare me from the excuse that the guy you hired was a new grad and starting in the biz. No HR process? Bad judgment call? Can’t afford a good or seasoned man for the job? Flawed corporate system (if there is any)? Which one is it? Let’s break it down again and find out.
Invitation at 7PM. Invited group arrived at 9:30, left to fend for themselves—with a waiter insistent on paying as we order—until PR guy arrived (nagpapahinga at magbibihis pa, I was told) at close to midnight. Appears and asked “Eto na ba ang media?” (ok, a PR man who doesn’t know the media he invited) and disappears like a choosy specter.
Wanting to enjoy Halloween with friends, we stayed. One media guy in our group who’s chummy with one owner was offered to order what he wanted and assigned was a waiter for him. Somehow, his (and his companion’s) drinks were charged to the next table because “kauban sila sa table,” this according to another media guy who was at this table with his friends. (I hope the very sweet bottle of sparkling wine offered by an owner wasn’t included in that bill because none of the all-male group would ever order that drink).
So, were you able to pinpoint the faults in this “tier’s” stars? I did, it’s from the top to the bottom level where communication is absent. Remember, the very short life of any club can only be extended depending on how good PR is. There will always be a good and better club that’ll pop up in the scene soon, and I am speaking from experience. For this PR nightmare, you get a perfect score of 10 lemons.
Shocking PR practices. There are still those city dwellers who invite and expect to be written, going as far as texting to ask if their story has been published, worse, asks for the date, and worst, asks if they can be given a copy, if the story came out at all. You’re not in the boondocks, practice tact, please. Start with sucking on a lemon with finesse.
Of course, this breed is not yet extinct—“Hello, can you write about us?” They appear out of nowhere. Worse, you don’t even know them or just met them casually. Hello, can you suck on this lemon?
If your story is print worthy, worry not for it can earn a space on a page even without your loot bag. If not carefully thought of, the contents can be damaging to the high-end image your establishment projects. Outdated items, useless stuff that don’t represent your product line or a gift certificate that can’t even buy the cheapest item in your store will not earn you pogi points. My loot bag for you is well thought—a lemon. Enjoy!
For more lifestyle & travel stories, visit http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/ and http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/
Published in the SunStar Davao newspaper on December 28, 2014.
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