halfwhiteboy

It was an unproductive long weekend for me. Not that I regret sleeping everyday till afternoon, being a couch potato watching TV and all that, but I wish I was able to execute a major house cleaning, tend to my plants that already resemble a mini-jungle, fix the chaos that is my closet, read, and lots more. The way I see it, though, was that it wasn't that I was lazy or procrastinating; it was because those few days off of work were clearly not enough. That's it, plain and simple. My outfit today was a lazy choice, like it's mirroring my reluctance to greet the start of a new workweek. No tie, no jacket whatsoever; just a pastel-striped shirt and gray pinstripe pants. On the bright side, I actually love the pastel stripes of this shirt from Raoul. It's like they reflect some positive vibe that, I suppose, helped me through the day. The pants are Topman. For my leather, I picked brown today for my belt and shoes (from SM Department Store and Aldo, respectiv

Ever since the local authorities here have banned smoking in public places, it's become a little more difficult for smokers to find a spot where they could puff on a stick. It seems like everyday I'm seeing more and more "No smoking" signs on buildings, so you can't smoke in front of them even when it's a sidewalk. I heard there's a TRO but I'm not sure if it's in effect. Nevertheless, it seems that these building owners and administrators want to keep smokers away. All these inconveniences had me thinking of smokeless cigarettes , or electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, e-cigs, whatever you call them. An e-cig has three components: an atomizer, the heating element that vaporizes the liquid; a battery; and a cartridge, the mouthpiece that contains the flavoring. Depending on the type of e-cig, these components may all be separate comprising a three-piece kit, or with the atomizer built into the cartridge. There are also fully disposable

I'm excited about Angelina Jolie gracing the cover of Vanity Fair October 2011 issue! Say what you want about her but I'm a huge fan of hers. I think apart from being a great actress -- with a wide range of roles that she can play -- she has a very commanding presence. And of course I admire her even more for her charity and humanitarian efforts. She's been a UN goodwill ambassador for so long that you can't say she's still faking it after all these years. The issue has yet to hit local bookstores and magazine stands here but vanityfair.com has provided snippets that include Angie talking about her directorial debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey , to dismissing rumors of a secret wedding with Brad Pitt, that she's pregnant, and that she's adopting. In this photo from the website, we see Angie whispering to her daughter Zahara, with Shiloh (it's Shiloh, right?) in the background. Source: vanityfair.com I hope copies arrive here so

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A month after our little black kitty, Foreman , turned three, it was our big ball of fur's turn to celebrate. Kwittie Boy is now six. As with Foreman, we don't know Kwittie Boy's exact birthdate. All we know is that it's in August. So following what I did with the black cat for his birthday, I had my time with Kwittie Boy in front of our iMac. I also put on him the same stupid hat I used on Foreman. And he's obviously not pleased. Kwittie Boy was also given to us by a friend when he was a little over a year old. I was hesitant at first about taking him in, not having had a pet of my own ever. Save for the description that he was a white, "long-nosed Persian," I didn't really know what he looked like. Upon seeing him for the first time, though, I instantly fell in love. I mean, who wouldn't?

I was honored to be interviewed by fellow lookbooker Gufron Perdana for his blog FREAKMANNEQUIN just this afternoon. I was actually flattered when he asked me if it was okay. He sent me the questions via email and I sent him back my answers. Gufron is from Indonesia, by the way. Here's a snippet: To read the rest of the interview, go to  http://fmannequin.tumblr.com/post/9582320367/armel-m .

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Finally, some rest! I'm starting the long weekend a day earlier with My Bibe . So I'll have Friday through Tuesday next week free of work. (To my readers outside the Philippines, we have back-to-back holidays next week, Monday being National Heroes' Day and Tuesday marking the end of Ramadan.) I wore pink today, a vintage Dior that we've thrifted somewhere. A colleague even remarked that it's not something available today, that the fabric was different. Our conversation led to our moms who wore these really short dresses in the 70's, us marveling at how good the fabrics were back then. So I perfectly understand My Bibe 's obsession with vintage clothes. And man has she been getting a lot of them from ebay! Anyway, I put on these gray pinstripe pants from Topman to go with the shirt. I would have worn brown shoes by default but I opted instead for these black ones from Traffic because I wanted to wear a non-leather belt. I went with this striped red

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I'm so looking forward to the long weekend ahead. But in the meantime, it's work. Today I wore a green shirt from G2000, which I haven't worn in months. No fancy stuff; kept it simple with just black pants and black shoes from Aldo. No necktie or bow tie. I just didn't feel like it, I guess. I wore green socks, though, but I totally forgot about them hence, no photos. The shirt, however, has got some pleats in front. You can see these details and more photos after the jump.

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Before... And after...

Was having tummy problems this morning so I only reported for work after lunch. The outfit I prepared last night was for a cold, rainy day since apart from raining so hard last night, thunderstorms were to be expected today according to weather forecasts. Well, it did rain this morning but by noon, the sun was shining like it was summer. I didn't have time to pick something else and just went on with what I originally prepared. So my meant-to-be-for-a-rainy-day outfit consisted of this pink knit pullover from Celio, black pants from Bangkok, and my new black slip-ons from Traffic. Needless to say, I ditched the jacket I prepped. The black leather bag, which I had for some time now, is from yesstyle.com . It's really huge but I love it anyway. The sunnies, from Aldo, was a last-minute addition. More photos after the jump...

I finally got me my own razor blade necklace from Bosquejo Jewelry ! I first saw one on the fabulous Andre Judd over at lookbook.nu  a couple of weeks ago and was instantly captivated. Googling, I found out that they were sold at Anthology at the Powerplant Mall in Rockwell. They're designed by young Filipino entrepreneur Miguel Paolo Celestial. I've been too lazy to go to Rockwell, though, much to my regret because they've increased their prices only last Saturday! Grrr! But I had no choice; I wanted one and I was already there. The piece that I'm wearing here is Alecto from the line's "Furies" collection. It's made of stainless steel razor pendants, nuts and bolts, and nickel-coated beads and fasteners -- and damn, are they heavy! Because of my procrastination, however, what should have been 1,800 pesos ($42) cost me 350 ($8) more. That amount may sound low to some but for the average Filipino (including me!), it's a bit high already. O

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This was what I wore to the mall yesterday. My Bibe and I almost didnt' feel like going anymore because it was raining and we just wanted to stay in bed the whole day. It's "bed weather" as they say. But we had to because we needed to buy cat food and cat litter. These cats, we're not really their masters; they are. Despite the rain, it still felt humid so I wore my new Aztec tank from Topman. Paired it with Topman black jeans (hems folded) and Zara black sneaks. The beads are also from Topman. (Geez! That's a lot of Topman, I realized.) And after maybe three weeks in the repair shop, I finally got our car back last Saturday. It feels good to be driving again.

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It's been a long week and I can finally stretch and relax. Cliché as it may sound but thank God it's Friday! I thought I'd wear my Topman feather necklace today. I felt like I had to maximize my spending on it so here goes. It's colorful enough already and because I decided on wearing these mint green jeans from Zara, I had to keep my top simple to tone it down a notch. After all, some peeps here already think my silver sneaks (also from Zara) are already "wild" enough for them. But I don't think so. The top, by the way, is a hooded pullover from Urban Outfitters. The belt is from Celio.

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I still haven't received my Pottermore welcome email. I'm already dying to check out the site but at the same time nervous about the sorting process as I don't want to end up a Hufflepuff (sorry). I want to be in Slytherin on all accounts! At the moment I'm still waiting, wondering if they'd used "digital owls" to deliver my email. If so, then I suppose they sent the digital version of Errol to me. I was in a bit of a casual mode today with a knit pullover from Zara, chinos from The Ramp, and my favorite quirkily-shaped (well, slightly) lace-ups, also from Zara. To dress it all up, I simply threw a scarf around my neck.

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Since yesterday my colleague, Jen , has been wearing the hat of my photographer. Unlike my existing all-female trio (Jas, Aple and Joanne), all of whom were approached by me, Jen volunteered. Well, it's more like she's "practicing" on me, as we'd like to call it in jest. But you know what, my daily shoot is pretty straightforward: I'm nearly always against a blank wall in the office, and close to the glass panels for some lighting. Outdoor shots are a rarity. In fact, my camera settings sometimes remain unchanged for a couple of days if the weather is consistent. But I'm happy I have someone new. Moving on with today's outfit, I realized I haven't worn a tie in a while. So today's the day. It's just one of my cheap SM Department Store finds, but good enough to top off today's outfit. Hey, it's value for money, and it goes well with my very old crumpled Martin Box shirt from Prima Linea and Memo brown dress pants. I u

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I'm obviously having fun with this striped shirt from Topman. It's actually a T-shirt but with some sort of cowl neck to play with. I know it's too casual for a Tuesday, so I dressed it up with a Topman blazer and some black pants, then black shoes (Traffic) and a black leather wristwatch (Aldo) to complete the look.

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I'm so brown today. The shirt's from Celio. I don't think I would have gotten it had it not been for the blue detailing. I love such simple touches that instantly spice up any item. And because I didn't want to cover up the vertical blue line in front, I threw the necktie and put on a bow tie instead. Maybe I got carried away with all this blue that I also wore blue socks. I didn't know what pants to wear, though. I initially thought of blue but none of what I had seemed quite right. I tried some brown but it didn't work either. So I ended up with black. I'd appreciate suggestions, however, some that I could use the next time around.

This is an unplanned post. My Bibe and I simply went to Greenbelt earlier this afternoon and I decided on a whim to just post something. This was me before we left, wearing a deep V-neck tee (that I can't wear to the office) from Topman, jeans from Penshoppe, and my rainbow espadrilles I got from OTOP along SLEX. And then this was me after our little trip to the mall:

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I checked an article on The GQ Eye  that features some shoes at the recently-held Compass trade show in New York. Here are my three favorites that I wish I could own. Okay, maybe at least one pair. Florsheim by Duckie Brown. I love the purple color with the brown sole. I hope our local Florsheim stores will carry this piece. Soon! Wolverine 1883. I love the gray color and the fold down fabric liner. Prajaa. It's a new brand, and I love the espadrille-like soles a lot. You can check out the full article here .

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This morning I had a taste of what it feels like to wear shades indoors. Well, here's the story. We started shooting with me wearing a polo from Paul Smith, jeans from Penshoppe, a belt from Polo Ralph Lauren, and high-cut sneaks from Zara. I also wore a bracelet from H&M. So this was me before silliness came into play:

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My Bibe and I have been together for 73 months already today! We have no real plans right now, especially since she's so tired at work. We probably would just celebrate over the weekend. Today I opted for something a bit more casual. The cardigan's from Topman, which I had with me for a long time now. Despite its age, I'm still in love with it as ever. Maybe it's the red color. Anyway, I kept it simple with just a Bench v-neck white shirt underneath, a pair of gray pants, and brown leather lace-ups from Zara. But oh, there's one of my Billy Berg socks again from Urban Outfitters. You'll see it in one of the succeeding photos.

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I've been a very good (half-white) boy these past few weeks. Good in the sense that I had no new purchases whatsoever. Well, it pays to avoid malls totally. I know Zara is still on sale but I've tried really hard to not think of it and just keep myself busy with other stuff instead. I've been quite successful so far although I don't know till when I can contain myself. I wore suspenders today sans any bow tie, which, I think would've been cute. But I just didn't feel like wearing one. I had to drag myself to work after all. Both shirt and shoes are from Tyler while the pants are from Topman. The suspenders are H&M.

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