The Rise of Philippine EPC: When??

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I posted below article in my personal blog and deemed of reposting it here when I realized that I know of two wedding suppliers who did the other way around.

I know that Richie Ortega-Torres went to New York to study about fashion design. After a few experiences, she packed her bags and went back here, established a couple or two fashion-related businesses employing 50 or so people.

Roughly, i’ve gathered that Pat Pastelero also studied in New York, and later on went back here to apply and share what she has learned.

There’s a big possibility that they had others reasons of going back here; reasons that I wouldn’t know about. Still though, a number of things are certain:

  • the fashion/events styling /wedding industries benefited with their return
  • not only do they offer services that are world-class but that they also share their world-class knowledge
  • they helped in getting more people get employed with the shops they’ve opened.

I am not pointing fingers on this though because I myself don’t want to live here in Manila for the rest of my life. Of course, I want to be with my husband in Japan! But then, given this, maybe I shouldn’t expect that I’ll ever witness the “rise of Philippine EPC”. But then again, who knows? We have enough brains here still, in the current Philippine EPC industry. Who knows indeed? Because if they can do it, why can’t we?

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A contact in Twitter retweeted the article below in Arabian Oil and Gas website about the rise of South Korean contractors. True, our company has actually lost a couple or two projects to South Korean contractors where one (or two) was a project owned by our company’s long-time Client.

Sure, they pose a threat to other competitors, especially to our company (or at least my husband’s, since I have just already recently resigned). But then foremost in my thoughts is the question: When will Philippine EPC have its own rise?

Our engineers and professionals has been highly appraised worldwide. My husband even attended a lecture recently, held by an esteemed Japanese lecturer with international credentials under his belt, where that same lecturer has talked highly of the Filipino people having a lot of potential and being very capable.

And yet, “The Rise of Philippine EPC” is near impossible at the moment. Brain drain does the job. We gather enough experience here at home and when we have enough, our wanderlust, our longing to prove our mettle in the bigger field, our wanting to have better salaries, makes us want to pack our bags and be part of the working force of other countries.

I myself am guilty of this. And if truth be told, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working here in Manila – the city stresses me out (it’s not the same story with other cities though). But if each engineer or professional thinks in exactly the same way, give or take a few other reasons besides, then I do think we will not ever witness “the rise of Philippine EPC”. Not in our lifetime anyway.

http://www.arabianoilandgas.com/article-8505-the-rise-of-the-south-korean-contractor/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

2nd gown fitting

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My phone broke down sometime early January and so all my info as well as pictures and recordings in that phone is now irretrievable. Including pictures of me in my gown during my second fitting. 🙁 It’s just fine as well since Hubbie is really not supposed to see it before the wedding. I remember how Richie was very particular with it. See, Hubbie and I went to Richie’s studio together so that he can have his barong fitting at the same time that I can have my gown fitting. But Richie really did make sure that Atsushi will not even have a glance on the gown. Cute! 🙂

Hence, no pictures here. but the verdict? Two things I learned which so negates my previous assumptions:

  1. I thought rusching can highlight my tummy. But no. As Richie puts it, the rusching actually adds texture to the bodice which can then help hide what needs to be hidden.
  2. The rusching extends beyond the waistline and close to the hips. I thought this would make me shorter. But no. I actually have never seen myself as tall as I saw myself during the fitting. Apparently, extending the torso can add to the illusion of height.

Silk chiffon and tulle – dreamy. Love it.  😀

There’s one big hitch though. Horror of horrors –  I didn’t fit my gown!!! There was  some amount of pulling and tugging just so we can close the zipper almost halfway. But no can do. We had our second fitting a week after New Year. Considering our food consumption over the holidays, it was understandable why I didn’t fit my gown. Horrible.

Now though, I think i’m back to my old waistline. Can’t wait for our 3rd fitting this weekend!! 😀

Recuerdos de la Alhambra

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I’ve been planning to make a post about the meet-ups Hubbie and I had with our suppliers last early January. But I never really got around to it what with other stuff that needs to be done. And if i’d do so now, it’d be almost like stale news.

Still though, i’m gonna share our meet up with Dino Lara in Seattle’s Best in Greenbelt last January 6. I already met Dino before when I booked him and he got me teary-eyed with his plans for our photoshoot. So I really wanted Hubbie to meet Dino before our wedding. It being early January, almost like the middle of their December-January super peak schedule, I know Dino is terribly terribly busy. Still though, he cleared an hour of his schedule to meet up with us. Note: A week after our meetup, Dino posted a shoutout in his FB apologizing to couples whom he wasn’t able to meet up because of his crazy schedule; saying thanks for booking him still. And with that, I loved Dino even more. haha.

We are very thankful as well for Jason who only had 2 free days on January (yes only 2 days without a shoot on a 31-day month!!) and yet he also made himself available for an hour of meetup. Thankful as well for Richie who met us for 2 mornings on a month that’s hectic for her. And for Erika and EJ for having a long chat with us. Really, December and January is a crazy month for weddings.

Anyways, back to Dino. We talked about photography details, differences of one photographer to another, his plans on our call time for the photoshoot because we want to have daylight shots, etc etc. Being reflective ourselves, Hubbie and I really like Dino because even with only an hour of chatting, we can already surmise that he’s quite a philosophical and reflective person.

At some point of our conversation, I told Dino that Hubbie was really good with the guitar and that Jason mentioned that Dino is into guitars now. And so from then on the two men with me talked about guitars and songs.

Dino said he dreams of the day that he can finally play Recuerdos de la Alhambra. And you know what? Hubbie already played it to me before, and beautifully at that! I think it was one of those pieces that he played to me wherein I asked him if he played a CD instead of playing the guitar himself. haha.

Please do check out this video to see how beautiful (and difficult!) it is.

And of course I was very proud of Hubbie at that time! ^_^ (As I always am). If not for the sad notes, I would have requested Hubbie to play this on our reception. But no can do ne because it’s sad.

Please, allow me to gloat since it’s our wedsite anyways. hehe. So proud of Hubbie. 😀

vows

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Wedding Essentials’ (WE) January ~ June 2011 issue comes with an article by Charlene Fernandez-Bobis that talks about how to write your word bouquets aka vows on your wedding. It even advised to just let the tears fall as you draft your vows because for sure, writing and thinking about your vows can really make you cry.

And I sure couldn’t agree more. Just thinking of the song for the bridal march already makes me cry. What more on drafting the vows!?

The article comes with a couple of sample bouquets. I read both samples to Hubbie and goodness there’s no stopping the tears. I particularly like the latter half of the first sample which goes like:

“….And so I will be the husband you’ve always wanted, and the best father for our child, who will grow up knowing and seeing that I love you. I am a better person because of you, and I live everyday knowing that you are the reason why I was born into this world.”

I read this twice to Hubbie and both times I cried. Heck I’m even teary-eyed now just typing this here. I gotta learn to put some rein on these emotions for me to at least utter an intelligible vow come wedding day. This really makes me admire Lea Salonga even more. She was still able to sing beautifully even during a very emotional moment. Man how can she do it? And yes, I also cry whenever I view this video lately. haha. Goodluck ne?

And oh. By the way. I grew up knowing and seeing that my father loves my mother.

Congratulations, Hamakawa-san and Akika-san!!

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You couldn’t get as close to a fairy tale wedding as having your wedding day on a lovely snowy day (well, except if you’re having the actual ceremony with the snow falling on you haha).

And yes, I do believe that it was such a lovely occasion what with the snow falling outside. As Hubbie describes it, it was such a cold day outside the New Grand Hotel in Yokohama but such a heartwarming moment inside as they witnessed the formal ceremony of Hamakawa-san’s and Akika-san’s wedding.

Congratulations and Best wishes, Hamakawa-san and Akika-san!!

I should have been there. It could have been our first important event to attend to as husband and wife. But alas, my visa is still not in. It was still good though to see my name (with surname in Kanji! hehe) on the seating arrangement.