multi tasking

Multi-tasking means everything to everyone these days. It seems like; a simple nine to five just won’t cut it anymore. People from my generation feed on multi-tasking; the only way we know how to survive is to maintain several different lifestyles. And although a balancing act is required for one to successfully maintain several different lives, it sure beats sitting in an office all day.

So here I am: Zhaun Claude Rosales Ortega, 23 years old, from Davao city; and I am a multi-tasker.

So what is it that I do? I am a partyphile. I go out to party every weekend, and make it a habit to drink (socially) on the weekdays. I have made partying a lifestyle; one that allows me to de-stress while having some fun with friends after work. Also, partying allows me to expand my network; allowing me to get to know people from all walks of life.

Because I have imbibed the whole “party lifestyle”, I did not want to land a regular job. In fact, the lifestyle I’ve chosen inspired me to try and make some money out of it. For this reason, and for my love of writing, I started my blog: Confessions of a Partyphile, that deals with the local party scene, throwing house parties, and all things festive, and fun. Because I did not want to limit my market to the internet-user, Confessions of a Partyphile is also published in a local Business Weekly. These two mediums allow me to express myself in writing.

Another way I choose to express myself is through talking and playing music on my radio program. Also entitled Confessions of a Partyphile, my three hour radio program (in a local radio station) dishes out three hours of the hottest party music with short breaks that allow me to give out cocktail recipes, event updates, and party tips.

Confessions of a Partyphile—the brand turned two last July. To celebrate that, I decided to throw a big anniversary party for all the hottest Davaoeno party animals; making me a first-time event organizer as well. I plan to make the anniversary party a yearly event to allow me to give back to my readers and listeners.

A bag line and a clothing line are in the near future of Confessions of a Partyphile, as I have also recently talked with local manufacturers who have decided to include me in the “designing process” for a limited edition Confessions of a Partyphile line. A concept for a local TV version of Confessions of a Partyphile is also in the works.

Aside from my blog, radio show, and newspaper column, I cash-in by hosting events in the city. Mall shows, band/show choir competitions, store openings, debuts, weddings, birthdays, and even dance-party events are some of the events I host. Aside from that, I maintain two online writing jobs which require me to submit articles (about herpes medications, cupcakes, treatment centers, and online pharmacies)daily. I am also a regular contributing writer for a local glossy called M Magazine; a publication dedicated to highlighting the beauty of Mindanao.

Another one of my passions is singing. I have an acoustic band, Walnut Avenue, that plays songs from many genres. We play strictly by invitation, as the band members’ busy schedules do not really allow us to play regular gigs. I have also been invited by a local rap duo to sing the chorus for their song “DC Strollin”, a track dedicated to showcasing the vibe and feel of Davao City.

To express my creative side I also write songs and create some henna tattoos. The most canvas are my own hands.

I am also a foodie that enjoys eating as much as cooking. I share all my foodscapades on my blog: pagkaon.blogspot.com. It features restaurants I have eaten in and some simple recipes (with step by step guides and photos). I am also a heavy tweeter, so staying online at all times is one of my priorities.

Being a marketing graduate from the Ateneo de Davao University also comes in handy as I am also an insurance agent which requires me to look for individual clients who would like to avail of our services. I am also an account executive for the local radio station I work for; a job that requires me to look for advertisers and sponsors. Sometimes, I also do some copywriting for local malls in the city.

When I want to de-stress, I go and travel the country. This year I have toured most of Mindanao, including Iligina, Zamboanga, Dipolog, Dapitan, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro City, and some neighboring cities as well. I have also started to explore Visayas and plan to explore it further.

Basically, that is who I am. A blogger, a radio show host, a columnist, an events organizer, an events host, a contributing writer, a web-content writer, a song writer, a henna tattoo artist, a copy writer, a vocalist, a band member, a foodie, a cook, a traveller, an insurance agent, a tweeter, an account executive, a partyphile, a multi-tasker.

Top Ten Gift Ideas for Partyphiles

10.) A dozen Beer Cupcakes or Red Wine Cupcakes from Johnny Cupcakes

9.) Personalized Shot Glasses. Simply buy ordinary shot glasses and decorate them yourself or take them to a custom-design shop and have your partyphile friend's initials printed on the shot glasses.

8.) Shotglass Checkerboard. Buy a checkerboard big enough to fit a shot glass per square. Buy shot glasses enough for playing checkers. Include instructions on how to play the game:

make some vodka-sprite and fill all the shot glasses with the cocktail. Then, either color half the cocktails with food coloring, or add some juice. use these shot glasses as your checker pieces. everytime you "eat" one of your opponent's checker pieces, s/he takes the "eaten" piece and drinks it.

7.) The iBartender is an iPhone application that costs 99 cents. it gives detailed instructions on how to make your favorite cocktails. if you can't pick a cocktail, it even picks one out for you.

6.) Jansport Cooler Party Pack Bag: This bag is waterproof, shock proof, can hold twelve cans of beer in a cooler compartment on the underside of the bag, has ipod controls on the straps, has a headphone port, and has built in speakers

5.) Reef Dram Sandals. These sandals are the first to feature a built-in flask right in the middle of the sole. It holds about 1.5 fluid ounces and makes the sandal extra comfy to wear. check out amazon.com to buy some

4.) Goldschlager. This alcoholic beverage is extra festive because it tastes like cinnamon and has gold leaves in it.

3.) The party paddle is literally a wooden paddle with circular recesses that can fit up to six shot glasses. This makes it possible to serve your drinks to six different people at the same time, with a simple stretch of your hand. check out partypaddle.com

2.) CK One SUmmer 2009. With hints of Rum, Lime, and Mint; this perfume actually smells like a Mojito.

1.) A gorgeous cocktail-making set complete with glasses, shakers, jiggers, stirrers, and strainers.

Drink of the Day: Electric Lemonade

Since we are celebrating nothing in particular today, i thought of giving out a recipe for something that is as common as apple pie... So here is a twist to your traditional lemonade, the electric Lemonade! :D

Grab a Collins glass and pour :

• 1/2 a ounce of blue curacao

then, fill the glass with ice.

Next, pour:

• 1 jigger (thats 1.5 ounces) of Vodka

Then fill it to the brim with Lemon-Lime flavored Soda

November 24 is NOTHING dAY

believe it or not, according to my source, there isn't a holiday to be celebrated today. so, feel free to create your own reason to celebrate and party!

Clubs Gone Wild

Clubbing and social drinking are some of the most wonderful joys of life. These acts remind us that life does not have to be a total bore, and that there is actually a pot of gold at the end of that eight-hour full-time job we would like to think of as a fun and happy rainbow.

Whether you are a corporate slave or a corporate-slave-in-the-making (read: a student), you would most definitely appreciate the fact that clubs exist to give you some relief after a week’s worth of hellish experiences. For the weary partyphile, a club is their version of that wonderfully refreshing waterhole in the middle of the desert on a hot summer day. Thus, clubbing is more than just a reason to get drunk; it is a way of letting one’s hair down—de-stressing after a long week. And as a bonus, it is the perfect place to expand a network.

Unfortunately, if you have stayed in the party scene for a long time, you find that it has gotten quite routinary. Admittedly, the party scene in this city is not all that exciting. Thus, I have rounded up some of the most unusual bars from around the world in the hopes that some moneyed millionaire form this city of Durians and Eagles finally invests in a bar that has more personality than Betsey Johnson.

1.) Eternity, The Coffin Bar: This bar in Truskavets, Ukraine is styled to look like a giant coffin on the outside. The interiors are quite interesting as well. All the walls ad ceilings are black and there are coffins scattered inside the bar. Their servers are dressed in a black polo and black slacks ensemble and serve beer and other simple cocktails. To lighten up the mood of the interiors, they have several funeral flowers inside.

2.) Danse le Noir: This bar literally leaves you in the dark. With branches in Barcelona, Paris, London, and Bangkok, this is the most popular dark bar. They make you leave your cellphones and other gadgets in lockers and have you order before you get inside the bar. Then, everybody holds on to their blind guides and start to drink and dine in a pitch black room. It is so dark that you would not be able to see anybody in the room, no matter how much glutathione they ingest. What is the whole point of the bar? The owner says, it makes you experience the food and the drinks better. I say, they just want to offer something different. And with four international branches, I think it is paying off.

3.) The Clinic Bar: This bar in Singapore looks like a clinic. With industrial looking interiors, wheel chairs for seating, hospital beds, and the most unforgiving of lightings: overhead fluorescent, this bar looks exactly like that place we go to whenever we want some Botox stuck under our skin.

4.) Alcatraz ER: This bar in Tokyo, Japan is styled to look like one of the toughest prisons in the world: Alcatraz. I would not know why somebody would actually want to party inside a prison cell complete with hand cuffs and cell guards, but I find the fact that I can bang a metal rod against the prison cell rails (to call a waiter) quite exciting...but that’s just because I enjoy creating irrelevant noises (thus my radio show). Oh, and they serve food in stainless plates, bowls, and feeding bottles, and do not allow people to wear shoes inside the prison cells. Don’t ask me why; it is one of the greatest mysteries of my life.

5.) Vampire Café: This bar in Tokyo is the new safe haven for Vampires around the world. This is probably where the cast of Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and all the other cheap vampire rip-offs party. Vampire Café is drenched in red velvet, and is decorated with skulls, bats, candelabras, spiders, and as a bonus, a real Coffin! Plus, their waitresses are dressed in French Maid outfits, which is probably more sexy than creepy. Their expansive menu is just as creepy as their interiors, as they have been known to serve coffin-shaped cakes, and some blood based dishes.

6.) The Red Sea Star: This bar is the first underwater bar in the world. It is located in the middle of the Red Sea (wherever that is) and is decorated with jelly fish stools and star fish-shaped light fixtures. I guess it is quite a delight to get drunk while staring at some fishies swimming by. The good news is, you have the whole sea as your toilet bowl when you finally decide to throw up.

7.) Guacara Taina: In the Dominican Republic, this bar is sixty feet under the ground and has a capacity of three thousand people. It is minimally decorated with stalactites and has three stories of pure hard partying bliss.

8.) Baobob Tree Bar: The Baobob tree in South Africa is six thousand years old and is probably one of the oldest living things in the whole world. So, what does one do with an old tree? Well, South Africans deemed it would make a very good wine cellar and bar. People may enjoy al fresco drinking (probably to the stench of a nearby Safari), or choose to get drunk inside the tree. They also have darts, and some very tacky interiors that are composed of wood, wood, and more wood.

9.) Cova D’en Xoroi: This is a bar set in one of the cliffs in Spain. It has a view of some of the most breath-taking mountain sides and is at a very high altitude. The actual establishment is worked inside a tunnel-like structure right in the middle of a mountain.This bar seems to attract all the liquor-hungry tourists, making it one of the main tourist attractions for this particular Spanish district. Another bit of good news: they serve alcohol even in the morning, making this columnist want to leave Durian city and move to that bat-infested cavern.

10.) Skeleton Bar: Designed by the Academy Award Winning set designer HR Giger, this bar looks like the insides of a weird, mutated, alien whale. Decorated with ultra-modern fixtures that are set against strange walls that are filled with cement statues of baby heads that are stacked up on each other, and chairs that resemble some kind of octopus tentacles with several horns and a velveteen back; this takes the cake for the most unusual bar in the world. It is so unusual, it actually looks other-worldy.

Listen to Confessions of a Partyphile (the radio show) on 105.9 Mix FM every Wednesday nights, from six to nine in the evening. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph. Follow the columnist on twitter.com/zhauna

Happy Birthday!

Isaac Hanson (29)

Rachel McAdams (31)

Daisy Fuentes (43)

RuPaul (49)

Danny DeVito (65)

Drink of the Week: World Peace

Since we are celebrating World Peace Day, it is only befitting that I give you the recipe for the World Peace cocktail.

In a shaker, mix:

• 1.5 oz gin
• .5 oz lemon juice
• 2 drops blue curacao
• 2 drops almond syrup

Serve in a chilled martini glass

November 17 is World Peace Day

Today is World Peace Day! So gather all your peace-loving friends and celebrate the holiday with the best peace-keeper in the world: alcohol!

Jansport Founder Visits Davao

Growing up, we always wanted to be stylish and “in” with the trends. For those of you who were born in the 70’s, I’m quite sure that meant wearing bell bottom pants or shoulder pads. For my generation, however, being cool meant going to school with a nifty back pack. The usual suspect was a Jansport pack that was either red, blue, or green. To have a Jansport bag in a different color (or a different material, like those that were made out of nets) was a special treat, back in the day, and it was reserved only for those who truly wanted to stand out. In fact, it is funny how, up to this day when almost every college and high school student owns a Jansport bag; they still evoke that sense of being “different”. They now have more designs, more options (like a compartment for laptops or music players), more innovations, and more reasons to embrace the bag as part of one’s lifestyle; so the Jansport user is may stand out with his bag. Why?

Because these bags were more than just a functional sack that held our school essentials like books, notebooks, cellphones, and our daily baon. They were there to make a statement. When I was in High School, my “essentials” were a piece of paper, a pen, and some cologne. That did not stop me from bringing my (almost empty) Jansport to school everyday, because, again, it was more for the “statement”, than for the functionality. A Jansport bag, like the latest “it” gadget, told people that I was trendy, and I was “up with the times”. Now, to my surprise, I still use that same pack up to this day (after 10 long years), whenever I travel. And although the pack holds much more than a piece of paper, a pen, and cologne, these days; it still holds up the way it did when I first brought it to school. That is the Jansport promise. They have a lifetime guarantee. That is probably how long I will be using my Jansport. So do not be surprised to see me fifty years down the road with a Jansport bag filled with either an oxygen tank or my trusty arinola. Because it seems like, with a Jansport bag, the relationship is always somewhat of a love affair; never ending, and always exciting.

Being the huge Jansport fan that I was, I got pretty excited to learn that one of the Co-Founders of Jansport, Mr. Skip Yowell, would be visiting our lovely Durian City for a Campus Tour. He dropped by the Ateneo de Davao University to give the students a little background on the brand, talk about his life and how he reached the top of the corporate ladder without sacrificing the hippie principles of “having fun while working”, “doing what you love”, and “taking your job, not yourself, seriously”; encourage them to go outdoors and take the road less-travelled; give away some really cool freebies (including planners, speakers, bobble heads, the book he penned, lanyards, USB drive, etc) for good measure; and of course, talk about beer, in true Skip Yowell fashion.

The AdDU visit was the second leg of a four-school tour around the Philippines which included De La Salle University (Manila), San Carlos University (Cebu), and Ateneo de Manila University dubbed “Skip in Class”. This campus tour gave a face to Jansport and further buffed up the image of Jansport bags as fun, fearless, and unbelievably sturdy. Skip Yowell, is the obvious choice to talk about his bags as he has used them in many occasions, in many countries, in many types of conditions (including one particularly difficult climb to the top of the world, otherwise known as Mt. Everest) ever since he founded the company with his cousin Murray and Murray’s then future-wife, Jan during the early seventies.

Today, Jansport is the leading back pack company, providing millions and millions of students, outdoor adventurers, space-age hippies, yuppies, and even one travel-hungry partyphile , with a functional, durable bag that speaks of one’s style, and works for one’s passions.

Catch Confessions of a Partyphile, the radio show, on 105.9 Mix FM or www.mixfm1059.com every Wednesdays from 6 to 9 in the PM. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile log on to http://party.i.ph or follow him on twitter.com/zhaun

Drink of the Day: Baby Aspirin

Here is one of the easiest cocktails ever. It is called the Baby Aspirin. Here is how you make it:

In a mixer, combine:

• 1/2 oz Vodka
• 1/2 oz Triple sec
• Splash of orange juice

Shake the mixture for a couple of seconds, and strain it over a shot glass.

Drink uP!

Travel Tips

10 Eat what the locals eat. Food is one of the better ways to enjoy a culture. Do not trade the convenience of fast-food and take-out for the experience of real authentic food from a different culture.

9 To save money, take overnight bus rides so you could actually sleep in a bus, rather than in a hotel room. Then, leave your luggage at some mall’s baggage counter and get them back at around noon. Check in a hotel. You will have saved yourself a day’s worth of hotel accommodations.

8 Do not look rich. If you look rich, you can not haggle as much, people would refer you to more swanky places, and public utility drivers would ask for higher fares.

7 If you are riding a bus, always ride on the driver's side, in the middle part of the bus. It is less prone to accidents.

6 Always travel with an even number of people. Most buses have only four seats per row, most hotels have rooms for 2 or 4 people. Travelling with an odd number of people will just make one of your travelling buddies feel left out.

5 When packing, fold your clothes the way you normally would and roll them up. Arrange them inside your luggage. This prevents your clothes from getting wrinkled as they only get stacked on each other, no matter what position your luggage takes.

4 Toiletries can get really bulky in your bag. Transfer your shampoo, lotion, and other liquids into smaller containers. Slice your bath soap just enough for how many days you would be vacationing. If you are moving from one place to another, make sure you have one slice per place so you could leave behind wet soap. Wrap all your toiletries in Ziploc bags. If you want to, save yourself from all the trouble and buy your toiletries wherever you will be vacationing.

3 Eat before you travel. The prices of food at travel hubs (like airports, piers, bus terminals) are always jacked up. Plus, the selection is not really. It has also been reported that people who have travel sickness and travel on an empty stomach are most likely to feel sick while travelling.

2 Wear flip-flops or slip-ons on the plane as they make you take your shoes off during those security checks before you enter the boarding lounge. People know about this but often forget to wear shoes that are easier to remove and wear.

1 Usually, your ears really hurt when you’re in a plane because of all the mucus in your sinuses. To prevent this take some decongestant before your flight; and if you have allergic rhinitis, take some anti-allergy medication as well.

November is Travel Month

It is still TRAVELLING MONTH! So pack your bags, go on a road trip to somewhere unexpected, and prove tat you can party wherever you are!

High Note, Low Note

As all partyphiles know, music is one of the most important parts of any party. It sets the tone of the party, it dictates if people are supposed to let loose, or if they are supposed to sit upright in a wrought iron chair until they die of boredom. Music, they say, is the language of love. For us partyphiles, however, it is the second best social lubricant to alcohol. And because I want to help you pick out some of the best party tracks this side of Partylandia, here is my review of some tracks that are currently hitting the airwaves and the dance floors.

1.) Happiness by Alexis Jordan. This track gets the award for being the single most LSS worthy song in this (short) list. It is sung by another talent show alumna but is far less commercial than those that are spewed out by main stream reality television shows. This catchy pop track is laid on top of a gorgeously refreshing house beat. And although it is a little too pop for most hardcore house music lovers; it is catchy enough to make them forget that it is, after all, from an eighteen year old girl who probably hasn’t had the privilege of partying yet. I am proud to say that I am the first radio show host EVER to play this track, and I find that it gets many requests on my show. Plus, it has been making the rounds in all the dance floors around Davao City and neighbouring cities, without even hitting it big on mainstream radio, or music television channels. That is definitely a treat for us partyphiles as the song has not made its way to mainstream consciousness. That way, we could sing along to this catchy song filled with clichés, without having to look un-cool. I give this gorgeously giddy track five out of five stars.

2.) Only Girl (In the World) by Rihanna. This track is like a breath of fresh air from among little miss Barbadian Beauty’s (Rihanna’s) roster of mostly somber songs of late. She promises that along with this single, her brand new album, and her new fiery hot hair, is a sound that is both celebratory and joyful. So she says goodbye to all the drama and darkness that surrounded her post-Chris Brown life and says “hello” to a reincarnation of sound. The good news is, her “new” music is still heavy with techno and house inflections, making it dance floor friendly. Still, I would not be surprised if Ri-ri actually release half a dozen house mixes of this track because it feels like it could go deeper into the gorgeous forays of house music. I give this track four and a half stars out of five.

3.) Dirty Picture by Taio Cruz and Ke$ha. I feel like this was a total waste of a really good back beat and percussions (although none of them seemed like “real” percussions, nonetheless, it sounded great). I find that Taio Cruz and Miss White Trash, Ke$ha just made the song fail miserably. For me, their voices did not compliment each other, so they decided to run both voices under auto tine machines. This did not save the track at all. In fact, it made it annoying, and quite generic in the “auto tune generation”. Also, the lyric, the phrasing, the whole point of the song is anything but brilliant. The chorus seems like an endless loop of “taking dirty pictures” which makes my ears vomit. This track gets two out of five stars, because after all, the beat is still quite tolerable.

4.) Fourth of July by Kelis. This track is as smooth as honey is when it drips down your throat. Kelis’ voice somehow sounds silky, smooth, and creamy against this staccato beat that fades into a piano-heavy refrain which then moves into a crescendo chorus. The track is interesting to the ear, and has a really nice feel to it. Now, I would not know how fourth of July feels like, but if it is anything like this bubbly, dreamy, and gorgeously snappy track, then a flight to the United States around that time should be in the itinerary next year. I give this well-balanced track a five out of five stars.

Catch these songs on Confessions of a Partyphile, the radio show, on 105.9 Mix FM every Wednesday evenings, from six to nine in the evening. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile log on to http://party.i.ph or follow the columnist at twitter.com/zhaun

Drink of the Week: Screw Driver

Since it is our official "travel day", i decided to give you a recipe for a cocktail that you can mix up ANYWHERE in the world. It is that convenient. :D

Here is how you make the screw driver:

In ay glass, combine:

• six parts orange juice (whether freshly squeezed, from a bottle, or powdered)
• two parts vodka

If orange wedges are available, you may use that as a garnish

Wonderful Wanderlust Day

Nov 3 is wonderful wanderlust day, so pack your bags, book a flight, and fly to your next destination!