Cebu to Singapore

This post is actually a year late since my trip to Singapore happened in 2008. I decided to still post though to capture my Singapore moments in pictures and writing.

I was sent to Singapore on business. As our main office is in Cebu, I had to take the Manila – Cebu flight, stay overnight in our hotel and in the morning, meet my colleague at Mactan International Airport so we can take our Silk Air flight to Singapore.

The waiting at the airport

The waiting at the lounge wasn’t that long as the plane was on time. I was also kept entertained as the lounge had free Wi-Fi so I spent most of my free time surfing the worldwide web.

The Airline

We were told by our travel agent that there are no direct flights from Cebu to Singapore via Singapore Airlines so we had to take Silk Air. Silk Air is actually a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. As its regional wing, Silk Air primarily caters to the Southeast Asia, South Asia and China markets.

The Silk Air Experience

I like the fact that the flight was on time since majority of my experience with local airlines (Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific) involve delays.

Another positive experience was the food. The chicken I had was delicious and I appreciated the fact that they served fruits for dessert.

The downside was that the airline was small and a little cramped and its in-flight entertainment’s pretty much boring. I thus resolved to reading its magazine and later, when the go-signal was given, turning on my laptop and playing Bookworm since Jid, my companion, opted to sleep.

As for the service, the flight attendants were all attentive and nice. It was by far my best trip aboard an airline.

Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream

I first discovered Bloom in 2007 while I was on my quest for an easy-to-apply, no-frills blush-on and I must say I scored a good find in Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream as it is not just for the cheeks. It can also be applied on the eyes and lips.

What I like about it

Aside from it being a multi-purpose beauty essential, another reason why I bought it is the fact that it is so easy to apply. Since it is a cream, applying it does not require any brushes as one’s fingers will do. It also glides effortlessly on my cheeks.

I have also tried using it in conjunction with other cosmetics and I found it effective as a layer-on beauty product. I have this really red Maybelline lipstick that does not really complement my complexion so I only used it once. That is, until I found out that layering Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream over it will tone down the red tint and make the final resulting color appear very polished. I have since used the colour cream either to tone down the shades of some of my dark-colored lipsticks or add more punch to the neutral ones.

And oh, Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream also comes with a light scent that I like.

This year’s pick

The past two years, I have been using the Rosie shade, which is a sunset-sky pink. This year, I shifted to trying out Sun Kissed, which is a soft, dusty pink and like its predecessor, I absolutely love it. On days when all I want is just a hint of color on my cheeks and lips, I just apply Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream in Sun Kissed and I am good to go.

Bloom in the Philippines

The last time I bought Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream, which was a couple of months back, it cost Php695. It is available in Beauty Bar stores in the Philippines.

For more details about Bloom products, visit its official website at www.bloomcosmetics.com

The Rainbow

It’s been so long since I saw a rainbow. The last time was maybe when I was still a high school student in my province and that’s like a decade ago. The past nine years, when I was still in Manila, I used to wonder why I had never seen any rainbow there. Maybe all the smog (smoke and fog) in Manila’s atmosphere obscured any sight of it.

Imagine my glee then when today, as I was doing my rounds in the hotel that I work for, I saw the rainbow - beautiful in its arch and colors. The scene was made even more beautiful by the fact that its backdrop was the famous saltwater lagoon of Plantation Bay Resort and Spa. Too bad I only had my camera phone at that time thus in the pictures that I took, the rainbow's not clearly defined.

I love rainbows. For me, it’s not just an aesthetic gift. It is also a reminder that like nature’s way of having the rainbow after the rain, we as well can look forward to something beautiful after we have triumphed over life’s trials.

My PNRC First Aid and Basic Life Support Training

I hate the sight of blood. I cringe each time I see accidents on TV. I even refrain from watching the news during the New Year as I know it will feature people losing their limbs over pyrotechnic accidents. I was thus not particularly ecstatic when my company sent me to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) Lapu-Lapu Cordova Chapter for my First Aid and Basic Life Support training.

I had no medical background thus I felt at a loss during our first day as the instructor discussed about what medial, inferior, proximal etc. meant. I felt even more at loss because among all my classmates, I was probably the most inexperienced (more than half of the class were caregivers, two of my colleagues were nurses, one works for our Recreations Department and was just there to renew his certificates and another worked in an ambulance for 10 years). To make up for it, I thus made it a point to read our handbook every day and to do online research.

The training was tough. Every day, we had a quiz and I was just glad my efforts paid off as I passed all the quizzes. I even got 100% on our second quiz. But what really drained me were the physical exercises. The carries, bandaging, splinting and basic life support (read: cardiopulmonary rescue or CPR) were grueling activities that not only entailed physical strength but mastery of the step-by-step process and / or the practice of ergonomics.

Bandaging / Splinting
My greatest challenge in this was folding the triangular bandage properly (the one where I had to make the point and the base meet) as everyone except me knew how to do it. After some time, I got the hang of it and I then got to learning various bandaging techniques. I learned that the bandage to be applied depends on where the injury is located and how severe it is.

As for the splinting part, our instructor just demonstrated the proper way of putting splints and pointers on what and what not to do in splinting.

Carries / Drags / Assists
These were activities that really exhausted me because it was tiring to carry someone, especially if s/he is heavy. Funny. At some point, a colleague of mine volunteered to be the victim but he was met with protests. Most of us said he was too heavy thus no one wanted to pair with him. Our instructor overheard us and chastised us, saying that in accidents, we couldn’t very well choose our victim. We jokingly responded that in real situation, we won’t be picky but since this was just an exercise, we could do with only those that we can easily carry. LOL.

Basic Life Support
The demonstration from our instruction fascinated me. I watched in awe as he performed chest compressions, CPR and rescue breathing on the dummy. I knew that afterwards, we were supposed to do it ourselves and honestly, I was fine with doing the first two but was very hesitant about the latter. I mean, come on, who wanted to perform “mouth-to-mouth” on a dummy that’s obviously been used hundreds of times?! I was so hesitant I thought of asking for an exemption but it was the thought that this could save a life that made me tough it out and just meet the challenge head-on. That and the fact that we’d use gauze over the mouth so it’s not really as if I would perform “mouth-to-mouth” to it.

Thankfully, I was able to learn how to do it properly as I passed the exercises on doing basic life support on an infant, a child and an adult. But boy, was it the most challenging among all our activities as the counting alone (1, 1002, 1003, 1001 breathe / 1, 1002, 1003, 1002 breathe…) could easily make one lose track of everything. And to think we had to count until 1024 for adults (and a count of 40 on children / infants!), huh!

The Simulation
Aside from the quizzes and actual exercises, our learning was put to the test when at the end of our course, a simulation was made. Our instructor chose 3 victims among the class who supposedly were victims of an explosion and asked the rest of us to help them out. It was tough as this time, we have to assess the situation and their injuries ourselves (unlike before when the instructor would just say the injury is on the leg or the burn is located on the chest etc). Good thing we passed this final test.


All in all, it was a really fun and fruitful experience I’d gladly take again when my certificates expire.