The man who can “packapanch” can also sing—sort of.
I survived BodyTite, Part 1
You may have heard of BodyTite from the Belo procedure endorsed by Ruffa Gutierrez. You can read about it here.
I had BodyTite on my arms yesterday and tonight I am typing and have no pain.
The only thing I have are sanitary pads taped to my elbows and underarms. I feel a little swollen but overall doing really well.
I’ve always had a thing about my arms, I guess because I grew up seeing my grandma’s arms (she was German-American with red hair and blue eyes), bless her (she is on the right).
So even when I was skinny I was just aware that I had big arms, and frankly, scared it could only get bigger.
1999
2001 with my newborn (body went downhill from there)
2005 (with Ben)
2009 (self-portrait with cropped arms, but you can see the girth)
A lot of people tell me, “but you’re so skinny” or they never knew I had big arms. I do. I’m just really good at deception dressing, hence the 3/4 sleeve tees, blazers, cardigans and giant sweaters. But underneath all that, is what my friend Jude calls my “dolman” arms.
How many times have I vowed to exercise my arms. I have two or three pairs of dumbbells at home but they are hardly used. So having skinny arms (like Ruffa, who was born with it) would always be a dream for me.
So one day I was texting Dr. Vicki Belo about a relative of mine who did lipotomy with another doctor that I stopped going to for reasons that shall not be blogged. I was amazed that it worked because her upper arms were bigger than mine. My relative did say it was more painful than childbirth and did not recommend it to me, knowing my threshold for pain.
Dr. Belo then talked to me about BodyTite, which is a new technology/skin tightening procedure combined with liposuction.
So yes it is invasive, and yes there was blood. Lots of it.
Before I decided to do BodyTite I tweeted Ruffa about. Privately she messaged me to go ahead and do it.
I went to see Dr. Belo at her Greenhills clinic. I could no longer avoid because she made sure somebody followed up my appointment.
I had a short list of questions, the first one was, “Will I die?” Because I do not want to die because of vanity.
She told me all about the difference between lipo now and lipo before, how technology has advanced through the years made things safe, less invasive, etc. And of course she explained the whole process, what to expect and all that.
The thing is, there is Vicki Belo, the socialite you see in parties, magazines and talk to in casual situations—and then there is Dr. Vicki Belo in a white doctor’s jacket who sounds like she knows exactly what she’s doing.
I left with a long list of medical tests I had to accomplish before being cleared for the procedure.
(to be continued)
Which one were you?
This was me
What were you?
Hello, you won!
These people won the promo and I don’t know how to message them apparently.
So I hope they message me.
Vassy Milliscent Yap won the Cambridge Satchel
Denies Paul Nucum won Php 6,000 worth of National Bookstore GCs
and JohannChristine Taday Silva won Php 6,000 worth of Adidas GCs.
Thanks for voting for Kerin and Niña who are currently at No. 1 spot!
Please continue to vote for the here.
What you should know about online voting
Hi Cecile,
In case this is new to you, we recently found out that there is such a thing as “vote exchange” and a “voting mafia” on Facebook.
We ran two contests during the past months and experienced this.
During our the recent Father’s Day contest, we saw some entries that were earning 100+ votes in half a day so we became very suspicious.
Upon investigating, we saw votes from people with Middle Eastern- or Chinese-sounding names, locked profiles—most of which had only under 10 friends.
One contestant had 280+ likes while 80% of the votes were not on his Friends list.
The voting ‘mafia’ had names that started with Ab or Ac, i.e. AbAnna Gonzalez. Or some would have Pinoy pictures with Caucasian names.
It was tedious but we went through the likes of each entry (we had about 35). If we saw ‘likes’ that were suspicious, we disqualified them (internally from our list).
Just before we announced the finalists, we deleted the fraudulent entries and banned them from our page.
It’s not difficult to “detect” fraudsters. As the promo organizer, it is easy to just turn a blind eye because our main objective was to reach as many people as we can. But when you think about the people who really campaigned to garner votes, you just want to do the right thing.
This link explains everything:
http://www.contestmob.com/blog/how-to-identify-cheaters-who-use-facebook-vote-exchange/
(Name withheld for privacy)
To see is to believe
NAIA-1 to undergo renovation
By Rudy Santos (The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines—Airport authorities disclosed that the 28-year-old Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 (NAIA-1) would be renovated in August after an architectural and engineering firm was picked to conduct an assessment of the project.
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Jose Honrado said P-Square, an engineering and consulting firm, was selected to start the month-long study worth about P9.4 million.
He said the firm would conduct various tests to know the load-bearing capacity of the building before any improvement could be done, as well as do an analysis to determine which part of the building is already unsafe.
NAIA-1 is being refurbished to keep up with the demand as it has already exceeded its capacity of 10 million passengers a year several years ago.
Most of the estimated 28 foreign airlines that operate at the NAIA-1 had expressed their intention to stay at the old terminal and almost all are reluctant to transfer to the NAIA Terminal 3 until all legal problems are settled.
Cebu Pacific, AirphilExpress and All Nippon Airways are the three airlines operating at the NAIA-3.
Although the planned structural tests had been announced earlier this year, the process was fast-tracked after the styrofoam insulation of the ceiling on the ground level, as well as some plaster concrete pieces from the façade, fell off last May. These were attributed to deterioration due to fatigue or effects of previous earthquakes.
Structural tests would start in August and are expected to be completed in January 2012.
The MIAA would later announce a bidding to determine which architectural firm would conduct the renovation of NAIA-1.
“We want the public to know that the MIAA is upgrading not only the toilets, water supply and carpeting, but is also determined to upgrade the NAIA-1 to international standard,” said airport senior assistant general manager Antonio Bautista.
He pointed out that the NAIA-1 arrival area has been completely refurbished, with its walls and ceiling sporting a new look after these were clad with a metal finish to cover the old style “washout.”
Bautista added the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines is assisting the MIAA to come up with a new NAIA-1 that would be attuned to the needs of travelers.
The project would cost about P500 million or more.
“The MIAA has the money to fund the airport’s renovation,” he said, adding that the board of directors would have the final say with the concurrence of Honrado.
Critics of the old terminal have pointed out that nearby airports look modern because of their glass and steel facade, which gives them an airy, spacious and traveler-friendly look with amenities for sleeping.
On the other hand, NAIA-1 looks stodgy and cramped and still sports the washout finish fashionable in the 1980s.
This is the grayish brown color that people see when they look at NAIA-1’s façade since its builders covered the concrete with washout brown pebbles during construction.
Bautista said that architects would surely keep that in mind when remodeling NAIA-1 and would probably wrap the premier airport in gleaming faux stainless steel or similar-looking material to make it look modern and tasteful.
“We will spare no expense to give the NAIA-1 a modern look that Filipinos could be proud of and make it user friendly with various amenities for the satisfaction of users,” Bautista added.
Source
