vanity is my favorite sin - the devil's advocate

You Are 50% Vain

You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence. Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you!

How Vain Are You?

nihon turipu apr 20: memoirs of a geisha

i was already panicky! not paniki mind you. may kaitiman ako pero pasado pa rin ako sa pagiging angel because of my angelic nature naks! naalala ko lang kasi ang isang story that went:

a black baby is given a pair of wings by a fairy. the baby asked, "does this mean i'm an angel?" to which the fairy laughed and said, "ambisyosa ka! paniki ka!"

hwek hwek hwek. anyways, before i chatter only nonsense here, let me go back to my japan account.

i was already panicky! it was already the 20th. i was 2 days away from going home. :( there were a gazillion things i still wanted to do! :( like:

1. go to koyasan and spend overnight in one of the buddhist temples, wake up at dawn and pray with the monks, and have vegetarian meals at a minimum whooping cost of 9,000 yen (lunok)
2. go to himeji castle, the biggest and most beautiful castle in japan (sigh)
3. go to odaiba, my favorite place in tokyo (sigh)
4. do some souvenir shopping (panic)
5. go back to nagaoka to say goodbye, beso-beso, and hug mae, danna, and rizza (sakit sa dibdib)
6. go back to kyoto and be a maiko or apprentice geisha for 2 hours for a minimum whooping cost of 6,500 yen (waaaahhhh)
7. go back to kyoto to visit fushimi inari

and the list can go on!

but i could only do one due to my limited time, depleting moolah, and reserved plans for the night and the remaining next day (ahem!). i really wanted to be a geisha. i was already prepared of withdrawing money from either my credit card or atm; but i thought against it because with the little time i had left, i wouldn't be able to enjoy my being a maiko for a day. balak ko talaga kasing maglakad sa daan at ibent ang aking mizuage. i was already imagining my sales pitch to handsome locals and foreigners:

sumimasen. mizuage o buy-shimasen ka? watashi no mizuage ha oishii desu. onegai shimasu! big discount if hansamuna hito ka!

hehehe. sa mga marunong mag nihongo jan, pasensya na. tagpi tagpi lang ang alam ko! :p

anyways, i decided of going to fushimi inari instead to trace the trail where sayuri of memoirs of the geisha ran. it was a good decision! grabeh!


the orange torii was everywhere in all sizes. this was where the child sayuri in the movie memoirs of a geisha ran through. i can't recall the exact scene, though. i tried to imitate the running of sayuri but everytime i finish setting up my camera on a tripod and go inside the torii, people would be appearing from everywhere. eh, mahiyain ako so i ended up with half baked acting. di puedeng maging artista si emman.

the place was very big that i spent almost 2 hours there roaming around. well, torii galore lang naman ang meron dun but i still found it mesmerizing.

after sa pag-career ko ng pagiging photographer and model at the same time from all the photo shoots, i surveyed the neighborhood restaurants to sample their local dishes. i passed by one restaurant to the next contemplating on having an unagi don (eel meal or ill meal if u don't like it hehehe) because i haven't eaten one yet. i ended up in a restaurant at the middle of the lined restaurants just because the very old lady who was there smiled at me. her unagi don was more expensive than the ones in the other restaurants i passed by; but my heart melted to the old lady's, somehow, imploring smile. there weren't any customers kasi sa restaurant nya. but good thing was, i wasn't disappointed with my first ever taste of eel. :)


from osaka then to fushimi inari, kyoto, i was then headed to tokyo. it was really a blessing that i had a japan railway pass. it allowed me to travel great distances in a few hours only via shinkansen or bullet train.

eto ang babaeng walang pahinga


dahil sa sobrang nasanay na sa lamig, nainitan na ko during lunch time. confi na ulit mag sleeveless si emman kaya ang mga haponeses ay nakatingin sa akin. i was actually walking like that in fushimi inari. ;)

when i arrived at tokyo at night, i met up with lily ann, lloyd, and tess at the tokyo tower.

and dinner with the friendships, tokyo edition: lily, lloyd, jay, tess, and grace. thanks guys for the hospitality and wonderful company. (singhot, hikbi)

after whole day of travelling and good night of dinner and chatter with the friendships, i went home to the open arms of a disco bar and partied all night until the wee hours of dawn with who else? abangan na lang sa apr 21 story! :p

the filipino name generator

dongky sent to the friendships mailing list this funny filipino name generator. he included in the email the "equivalent" filipino name of my name. :p

Emmanuel Villaceran (M) - Manuel Allan Pangarap Callangan
Emmanuel Villaceran (F) - Evangeline Pilar Little Flower Quililan

tama bang may Male at Female version ang name ko???? wala bang girlalou? hehehe. medyo swak sa akin ang name ng Male kasi mahilig akong mangarap. at hindi rin nalalayo sa pagiging true ang Female version kasi may tinatago akong little flower! wehehehe.

hmmm, what if i change my name according to the name generator's suggestion? ma-try nga ang iba't ibang combinations. and makapili alin ang super duper swak sa personality ko. :D

Emman Villaceran (F) - Evangeline Pilar Little Flower Quililan
Emman Villaceran (M) - German Allan Pangarap Callangan
emms villaceran (F) - Estrella Pilar Little Flower Quililan
emms villaceran (M) - German Allan Pangarap Callangan
emmanuel pescador villaceran (F) - Evangeline Xalbadora Little Flower Quililan
emmanuel pescador villaceran (M) - Manuel Pedring Pangarap Callangan
emman pescador villaceran (F) - Evangeline Xalbadora Little Flower Quililan
emman pescador villaceran (M) - German Pedring Pangarap Callangan
emms pescador villaceran (F) - Estrella Xalbadora Little Flower Quililan
emms pescador villaceran (M) - German Pedring Pangarap Callangan

for sure ayokong maging pedring at pilar. mapili na nga ang evangeline xalbadora little flower quililan. just call me little flower for short. kasi makipot ako! har har har! :p

try it out at http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/6547/

nihon turipu apr 19: let there be peace and party afterwards!

at this point of my travel tale, i won't post the map of japan anymore to show where i went next because from this day until i went home, i only had to go back to a few places that i'd been to before.

like the previous day, emman was up at around 5 am. you can conclude by now that the place i was staying for two nights is a place that closes and shoos away their customers at 5 in the morning!

here's a blurred photo i took of an otherwise bustling hakata city had it been later than 5 am.


at past 7 am, i was headed back to hiroshima. i was there two days before but had to go back for two reasons: the a-bomb dome and the best okonomiyaki.

i got to the peace memorial park, where the a-bomb or atomic bomb dome still stands as the symbol of hiroshima city, at around 9 am. i only took pictures of the place, its structures and symbols with nary me in them because aside from being too exhausted from having less than 5 hours sleep and walking for 30 minutes from the train station to the park, it just didn't feel right to be posing ala-beauty queen flashing a fake smile and voluptuous body. :p i felt that the place which was nearly wiped out by the atomic bomb had to be "felt" and reflected on. yeah, i had some drama moments there.

being there also amazed me at how the japanese citizens are the number one tourists of their own country. it was early in the morning but there were groups of school children and groups of adults touring around, examining the surroundings, and seriously talking about what they see.


aside from the a-bomb dome, hiroshima is famed for its okonomiyaki. i already had a yoshinoya breakfast. despite being full, i still had to have a taste of the okonomiyaki which was cooked right in front of me! waaahhhh, i just had a mistake of saying yes when the cook asked me if i wanted soba or udon. i really thought that that was a basic ingredient to the dish. grrrr! it turned out to be an add-on. i ended up paying more and having a 3/4 of the original size leftover! but it was worth it! yummy!


after hiroshima, i went all the way back to osaka to meet my gracious and beauteous osaka host, lola kay, and three other gorgeous lasses, lola idel, lola rose, and lola anna mae. unfortunately, lola idel was sick and lola rose allowed herself to be enslaved by her boss in ways i cannot imagine! hehehe. so the three girls, moi, kay, and anna mae, had ramen in a ramen house with a cute guy whom we kept calling for water, soy sauce, more orders, and what nots! but he would send another guy instead to do our bidding! grrrr... and the fun part of our dinner was talking in japanese to the guy asking for their part time job! he was smitten right then and there by us ladies! :p

afterwards, us ladies went down to an empty bar and danced until past 11pm. and it was a thursday night! para kaming mga baliw sumasayaw sa dance floor na kaming tatlo lang! but it was fun beyond craziness! ;)


idel nikuyog unta ka! naka-harvat mi didto girl! :p

nihon turipu apr 18: going dutch

at 5 am i was already out in the streets of hakata. i had a glimpse of how southern japan's metropolis feels like at the break of dawn in springtime. it felt cold but not indifferent. it felt serene despite the concrete structures that surrounded me. or maybe it just felt wonderful to be fully awake at 5am, solitary in streets that are bustling during daytime.

ang nasabi ko talaga: wow! ang aga ni emman! :)

when i got to hakata station, i also saw some disturbing scenes. the train station was littered with vagrants sleeping on boxes laid on cold floor. the exploratory nature in me actually had a crazy thought of trying it out myself in the coming night: sleeping on the floor at one of the nooks in the train station just to have a feel of it, to experience it; but seeing a police officer harass one of the homeless and the latter fighting back to get more sleep, i reprimanded myself for thinking of such silly thoughts. i should be feeling compassion for those people instead of feeling adventurous. well, that's contrast for you. japan, despite its affluence, cannot shelter everyone.

i stayed at mister donut for over an hour waiting for the train station to start operating. in 2 hours time, i was already aboard a rapid train going to huis ten bosch, the farthest i got to southward during my solo trip in japan.

since the south was the warmest part of japan at that time, i changed into something daring. hehehe. i wore a sleeveless shirt, my pajama-like trousers with leg warmers underneath, a pair of violet toe socks, and slippers. yeah, nabuang si emman for a while. when i got off a the huis ten bosch train station, ay naku, it was the coldest ever, as in EVER during my trip there. it was raining hard and i think huis ten bosch was on higher altitude. so emman changed again. this time full gear. i had layers of clothes! sleeveless shirt underneath a long sleeve shirt underneath a jacket underneath a trench coat! asa ka ana! :p


since it was raining, i bought an umbrella. when i set off towards the huis ten bosch park, ay naku, i knew that the rain and strong wind wouldn't deter me from exploring the whole place. the place was spectacular! it was a true dutch sight!

below is the huis ten bosch palace which is a replica of netherland's queen beatrix' palace. huis ten bosch, by the way, means house in the forest.

the goddess and her windmills.

gosh! the most expensive solo meal of my life! but it was all worth it: beef steak, strawberry white chocolate mousse, sparkling wine, and all!

an aerial view of huis ten bosch. how did i take it? i flew of course! :p nah, it was taken in the tallest building there which was a clock tower.

huis ten bosch wasn't just dutch structures and flowers. it was an amusement park at the same time. i went into a lot of museums including a teddy bear museum and a bell museum. there were also some virtual shows. the most unforgettable one was a galactic virtual show where the audience are participants themselves in the movie. before the show, we had our faces scanned. we were not allowed to smile or make any funny or weird faces. so emman, instead, made a maldita face by raising her left eyebrow.

movie time, i was looking what character i portrayed. and my ging gang gooly goodness gracious! my face appeared as one of the guardians/defenders/warriors of that galactic story! ang masakit ay lalaki ang role ko! waaaahhhh! at ang mas masakit pa, yung katabi kong hapon na lalaki ay babae sya sa movie! nakasaya sya! gosh! pero buti na lang leader kunyari ako nung tropa ng mga warriors! and in the end i saved the day! charing! :p yeah, being a guardian was better than those other roles na receiver or other ek-ek na puro chika lang ang ginawa during the entire movie, while my face was careening here and there in the screen aboard a motorcycle like vehicle that flies. i was pursuing the enemies and trying to save the entire galaxy! o diva! hehehe.

huis ten bosch is one place tourists shouldn't miss. you'll get a glimpse of europe. plus there are lots of fun things to do there. oh there was also an open zoo nearby where one could feed the animals roaming around. mga deers na naman! but there were other animals. i wasn't able to go because it was raining damn hard! at least i'll have reason to go back! teehee! :p

when i went back to hakata at night, i was dead tired that i slept right away in.... hmmm... wherever :p

ay ewan ko sayo!

minsan masyado na yata akong nagiging assuming. dahil may ginawa lang ako para sa iba, iniisip ko na gagawin din nila sa akin ang kagaya ng ginawa ko! hmph to him! and hmph to myself na rin for expecting too much!

pero tuloy pa rin ako! i'm sure i'll have a grand time with the others! phuket here i come once again!

ma-inggit ka na lang maging sino ka man! hmph! sumama ka dun sa kanya sa bangkok! grrr...

small world phenomenon: the emman connection

i'm enjoying recalling all the small world moments i've had since i started living in singapore. i have so many tales to tell. i remember even writing that singapore has become my island. recently, janz even told me that i can run for public office and win. well, we'll see. :p

there's just one experience i want to relay. being connected with me in one way or another has benefits of great magnitude! charing!

once, a friend of alvin, my hunk of a housemate, was lost in singapore. not really lost as to direction but lost in a sense that she did not know what to do.

she was at a place where she was scared to be although it wasn't really scary at all; but being new and alone in singapore for the first time, it's understandable. her only contact was alvin's house number. our house number. she didn't have any other numbers of her other friends.

she called up our house and was a bit panicky already with her situation. she needed someone to fetch her from where she was. hindi sa pag-bubuhat ng sarili kong silya but it was a good thing i was in the house when she called up. alvin's mobile was unreachable. sue, stan, and johnny didn't know her. hermes' and chrismael's numbers were unreachable as well. and i didn't have the numbers of her other friends.

well, emman thought. it's time to pull out the friendster connection list! hehehe. i recalled being introduced to one of my friend from nsp, cha's friend, juvy, whom i met one time with joan, the friend of alvin and who also happens to be a friend of the friend of alvin who was lost! ang daming friend! hehehe. so i got joan's number through juvy whose number i got from cha! friendster.com! :p and so she was fetch by her friends after i was able to call up joan!

emman saved the day! it pays to be connected with emman! wehehehe. :p

if you need something may it require to be done in africa, new zealand, tahiti or wherever, just call me! my fees are.... priceless!!! :p

small world phenomenon: better than ezra

i loved two songs from better than ezra: desperately wanting and good. but this post is not about those songs or about the band. this is about my newfound hunk and handsome of a friend going by the monicker of ezra! naks! magiging feeling na yun if mabasa nya to! kaka-add ko pa lang naman sa kanya sa multiply! :p hehehe

ez, huminahon ka. it's not all about you, promise. it's all about how the world has conspired for us to get together in the most extraordinarily small world way! :p charing! this post is, rather, about the thing that is better than ezra. it's the small world phenomenon that connects us.

i met ezra during my flight back to singapore january of this year. he was one of the flight attendants of cebu pacific. he looked very familiar. i didn't mind him, though, despite his good looks (charing! ayan guapo ka na ha. gibaligya jud taka ser) because i contented myself with thoughts that he was probably a schoolmate in college. besides i was to engrossed with some other being in my mind at that time. then out of nowhere he came up to me and said "emmanuel villaceran?". aba! full name basis ito!

i was surprised. and he narrated a litany of things that connect us! what amazed me was he knows a lot of things about me and i didn't even know what his name was! hehehe. (sorry ez, i really had a bad memory). he said we were schoolmates in high school. he went to our house once since his mother was of the same province as my father. and the shocking thing was his ex-girlfriend was the daughter of my mother's friend in the states. and that he knew that i met his ex-girlfriend in 2005! gosh! stalker ba ito? hehehe.

anyways, i thought it would end there. but i was wrong.

yesterday, my new officemate janz who used to work in nsp told me that israel sent his regards to me. he said israel is staying at the house where he is staying since his housemate is israel's friend.

yes. israel is ezra!

earlier ezra called me up to meet with him. he said he was bringing along the friend whom he's staying with, janz' housemate. tantantararan! when i met him, his friend lutchie looked familiar! she's the one whom i saw regularly near our place in cebu! ang liit na ng mundo ko talaga!

all throughout our dinner i found out that ezra is not just my schoolmate in high school but he used to be my classmate in elementary!!!! gosh! hindi ko talaga maalala ser! sowee... hehehe... he even described that i was a silent boy/girl/gay back then! kaya naging best in deportment! hehehe. he even remembered where i was sitting and who was sitting in front of me! gosh! nakakatakot na! stalker na talaga ito! hahaha... joke lang.... bilib lang ako sa memory ni ezra! and i felt envious that my classmates in elementary had a mini reunion at his house recently!

ang tanda ko na talaga. i don't recall any of them anymore including ez. hehehe.... sorry ser... sana i made it up with the mega dinner na napilitan kang kainin! hehehe. :p

it was a fun night! and looking forward to see you again! ;)

it's raining money in japan

the japanese people never fail to amaze me (like how i never fail to amaze them hehehe). read on:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070729/lf_afp/lifestylejapancharitymysteryoffbeat_070729023457

i'm amazed at how someone has been giving away his money. and i'm even more amazed at how the benefactors are reacting!

if this was happening in the philippines... well, i really can't imagine either! the japanese will be amazed at us! hehehe :p

hay sana umulan ng pera para maging mayaman na lang ako!

nihon turipu apr 17: dear deers

finally, i get to continue it. :D sowee mga fans! hehehe...

early morning of april 17, i was dreaming of him. ngak, wrong entry! i think i woke up at around 9 on that day. i remember leaving around 10 in the morning to head to osaka station for my three day solo tour at hiroshima and hakata.

it was a 2 and a half plus hours by shinkansen from osaka to hiroshima. i was placed in a "silent car" part of the shinkansen. no announcement could be heard in that car so i had to be alert everytime the train stopped at a station. i was seated next to a not so bad looking nihon-jin. hehehe. i was sooooo hungry but i didn't eat because when i tried to open my plastic bag of karaage and rice, i had to desist. i was making too much noise! everybody was sleeping. i had to remember i was in a silent car. aside from making the plastic noise, the smell of the fried chicken was too "loud" in itself! poor me i had to eat the remaining tortilla chips that my ever beloved japanese ex-boss gave me as baon.

since i went too late to hiroshima, i skipped going to the a-bomb site and headed instead to miyajima island, one of the famed three most scenic spots in japan. the torii in the ocean made this island famous.

when i set foot on the island, huwow, i was mega happy despite my grumbling and complaining stomach. (i still hadn't eaten breakfast and lunch during the trip save for the tortilla chips) deers where everywhere. they were roaming around eating everything in their path! i saw some signs warning us to keep watch of our belongings as the deers eat paper, plastics, and clothes! and trulili, i saw a group of them dear deers snatching from a lady her paper bag. after they got it, all deers got their share of good food! hehehe.

and don't ever think that i didn't have my own exciting deer encounters. remember, i was hungry. i went to sit on a bench in front of the sea. i made sure no deer was in 50 meters proximity. after seeing that the deers were quite far, i began to unpack my food excited to bite and chew and swallow while looking at the sea in that lovely spring sea breeze. after two bites or so at my chicken, a deer was running towards me and my plastic bag! waaaahhhh!!! he bit my map! grrrr... i had to stuff all my food into the plastic bag (take note: not into the food container anymore) along with my drinks and tissue! i ran away. the deer actually followed me a few steps!

and i thought they were endearing! next i found me another bench. just when i opened my plastic bag, two deers had their ears pointing at my direction along with their eyes and noses! ahhh, i had to leave. i was walking around trying to find where there were no deers! but my ging gang gooly goodness gracious, they were everywhere like pokpoks in the streets of geylang singapore! i was becoming agitated by then. i trekked a hill going to somewhere (i forgot... hehehe... cable car perhaps). while going up i still noticed some deers feeding on grass in very steep slopes. and then i found a haven! a solitary open cottage with no one around. and no deers! finally! i settled there and was undisturbed halfway through my meal when all of a sudden a deer was coming towards my direction.

my gaaaaaadddddd!!! i screamed at the deer, lubayan nyo ako!!!! this time, i didn't run away. i stood my ground. or rather, i sat my high chair! hehehe. the deer was intent on approaching me. but thanks to having read "the life of pi", i learned how to control the animal. i looked at it straight in the eye. without batting an eyelash i continued eating. everytime the deer averted its eyes, i followed his gaze. the deer started to make some deer noises through its nose. i started to growl like an offspring of a polar bear and monkey. why polar bear and monkey? my confidence was as large and beautiful as the polar bear while my sound was as funny as a monkey. oh oh ah ah grrrr. it went on for about 3 minutes until the deer relented, turned back, and walked away defeated, and hungry perhaps. i was successful! yipeee!!! i was an official animal tamer! :p

after my sweet victory against one big menacing deer and after finishing my meal, i traipsed the island from its high of highs to its low of lows. :)

the five storey pagoda.

looking towards the famed itsukushima shrine.


and getting friendly with a deer. :p

after miyajima island, i boarded the shinkansen going to hakata. weeeee... i was finally going to kyushu! i've heard so many good things about it including handsome and accommodating guys! ahem! hehehe. this is where my ultimate challenge in finding accommodation took place. i couldn't find one!

i stayed at starbucks for an hour asking questions about cheap accommodations. it was nearing 12 midnight. i was already intent of staying there for the whole night but i was so dead tired that i needed sleep. waaahhh. good thing i had my notes about hattenbas in kyushu. hihihi. that was an exciting day. and night! :p

and i thought i would never be able to give a lengthy account of this day. pasalamat ako kay deer at may naikuento pa rin ako! hehehe. :p

till next time! mwah!