VTR Experience

My kid isn't shy. She likes to sing and dance to an audience from the very beginning. The past few years friends and family members have been encouraging me to have my kid in a VTR "just to try".

I never felt there was a need as she has other avenues for her skills like ballet classes and swim classes, that's on top of school activities. For several years also, I worked within the confines of ABS-CBN and have seen auditions for PBB 1st edition take place, auditions for the revival of AngTV which has been axed soon after and this wasn't something I was excited on partaking in.

A few weeks back however, we go approached by 2 "talent scouts" at MoA and were invited to a VTR at Tri-Media Advertising at Palanan, Makati. Initially, I didn't commit but as soon as the scouts were out of earshot my kid kept asking me if she can be a model and be in a commercial. I said I will think about it. When we got home, I told his grandparents who immediately got excited. I explained I have no plans of driving all the way to Makati from the east side especially since I am not familiar with the neighborhood. My uncle and aunt happily volunteered to drive and accompany us. That was the clincher that made me say yes. My kid and her grandparents all getting excited.

The day came and after multiple confirmation via SMS we we're on our way. It wasn't hard to find however, there were nowhere to park in the vicinity. We even asked the building "office" where we can park and was told Tri-Media doesn't have an parking space in the building. So my kid and my aunt alighted while my uncle decided to drive back to a nearby Shakey's we saw earlier to spend the time there.

When we entered their office, it was filled with kids and parents/guardians to the brim. There was an AC on but with the amount of people, it just wasn't enough. However, I won't deny that 80% of the kids look excited and happy. The entire thing was over in 20mins and was thankful to leave so others can take our seats. It was pretty painless really except for the parking.

We were told they will contact us for an update. The following day I woke up to 6 messages ranging from I can call their office to having someone call me. When I replied was told the person is already in a meeting and we can just talk the following morning to which I agreed.

I was happily informed the following day that my daughter passed the VTR and for the next 15 minutes I listened to all the projects their other talents got and how much their TF were. I was informed to become their talent my daughter has to go through a workshop, This I already know based on other blogs I read. Yep, did my research before going there. So to make the long winding "sales talk" short, I asked if they would still consider my kid their talent if I decide to forego the workshop and was informed they will have to give my kid's slot away. To this I agreed immediately.

After the call I immediately called my aunt to give her the news. She mentioned the day before that some kids get into this not for fun but because of the money and their parents. I told her, her comments the day before makes sense now, after all, I was on the receiving end of a barrage of peso signs and TFs. Unfortunately, since the day I learned about the ponzi scheme I told myself that if someone "offers/gives" you work but you have to pay/buy or put some money out then just head out the door.

In this case (nope, not saying this is a ponzi scheme), if my kid is to be a talent but I have to pay up then that's a no deal for me. Heck, I'd spend the same amount of money and enroll her somewhere where I'm sure she'd get something out of. Even companies pay for the development of their employees and not the other way around. (Imagine heading to your boss' office saying, "Boss, pa six sigma training mo ko, ito bayad ko! :) LOL).

Also from my sleuthing I found out that after the workshop you'd just continue to shell out money but no assurance of a go see. You can read about this more from another blogger mommy here.

Anyway, as my aunt said, at least we know my daughter is not shy. And nope, by all means, if you feel your kid will have a great experience with TMA and their workshop then go and try it out. I just don't feel it's something I want for my kid.


Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Ace Waterspa Experience

I promised the little girl we'd go swimming once I find a new job. I invited a couple of people to Club Manila East but nothing came out of the plans. Not losing hope that I can still fulfill my promise to my toddler I asked my aunt if the pool at their village is open to public. When she said it's not well maintained and would advise me against going there she also suggested we head to Ace Waterspa and even offered to join us and have my uncle drive us to and from their Pasig branch. So off we go. I just packed a change of clothes and the little one's milk as well as a towel each.  Upon reaching their driveway, an usher/guard opened the car and assisted us. Nice touch. It IS a hotel after all. The lobby is quitr small BUT very welcoming and clean. The staff were attentive and courteous. Everyone greeted us with a smile as we went up to the changing/shower room.  This is by far the cleanest shower room I have encountered probably because of the indoor facilities. Goodbye putik moments. You have tk check in your shoes/slippers so I'd suggest to wear the inexpensive types "just in case" it gets lost or mixed up but I highly doubt that. On the way to the pool we were greeted by a cold wave of air. Not sure if it's from the airconditioned lobby or what. But being already wet it sure sent chills down my body. The little girl started shivering so had to force her to jump in the heated water.  The water is heated just right, the jets and whatnots are heaven sent. I didn't get to try everything because the little one doesn't like it and would rather "surf" through the flowing river. Yeah, such wild imagination. Nakatuntong lang sa float, surfing na daw. The kiddie pool was her fave. The water stops around her chest area and she can walk aroubd by herself. Such a happy 3 year old.  We decided to leave after 2 hours mainly because we're all hungry!!! We ate at S&R before heading there so we were surprised at how famished we were just after 2 hours of making lublob (not even swim ha). After cleaning up we went to the cafe/resto. I ordered the beef gyudon (if I remember it right). The taste was good BUT they put too much sauce on the rice that everything became salty. Sayang!  Anyway, overall we had a pretty good experience and I'd like to come back soon by ourselves. I just don't know where to park since we got dropped off and picked up on our last visit. I can always give them a call to inquire.

Review: HMH 100% Natural Day & Night Moisturizer

I'm going to do a double review this time because I have the same comments for both products. First, I have emptied 2 bottles of this line (1day and 1night) and I'm unto my 3rd bottle. I don't use them in tandem, meaning, one for night and one for day since I personally don't see the difference aka no sunscreen to differentiate day use. BUT reading through the formulation I was under the impression that the night formula is more for restoration with ingredients meant for the skin to be soaked longer on.  I love that both formulas are really light but not greasy. Normally, my experience with moisturizers is that it would either be heavy and greasy (think 80s Pond's cold cream days and your mom's soft skin in the morning) or its the matte finish but your skin ends up feeling tight and dry (I like tight but not dry, what's the point of using a moisturizer?). You'd experience neither here.  Both are mildly scented. I kept on thinking whether I prefer one over the other but I actually like both scents. Also, I don't mind using it on my neck when I wear perfume since its scent isn't strong enough to create a reaction THOUGH it could be that my perfume just goes well with this product. This, I can't verify with absolute truth as I've only tried it with my usual scents. The have a 50ml and 100ml bottle which gives the users options - small and portable or something that would last longer. I have bought the 100ml ones and from experience with daily use of 2-3 pumps, it would last me 5-6 months. Not bad for the price. I'd go and say, it's actually cheap. One caveat though is if you ordered this online you might get the older stocks with just a couple month's worth of shelf life. So my suggestions for first time users is buy the smaller bottle and guage how long you'd be able to empty it.  Regarding the bottle and the pump mechanism, all the ones I have recieved are in perfect condition. None broke or got cracked even with multiple accidents and collision with the floor. The packaging design in itself is very clean and straightforward that I feel confident with bringing the entire bottle with me on trips (yes, nakakahiya minsan magdala ng personal products when people are rummaging thru your bags).  Overall, for me at least, whether you choose the day or night moisturizer you get a good product for a good price. No extras in this packaging, just a simple moisturizer with no special tricks but good enough to say it deserves a place in my dresser. Here are my scores: Packaging - 5 out of 5 Scent - 5 out of 5 Price - 5 out of 5 Efficacy - 4 out of 5 (only because its all basic, would love some spf in the future) Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.

Review: Human Heart Nature Sunflower Beauty Oil

I have been using this for over a year now and have gone thru at least two large bottles and a small bottle. I wasn't too keen to try this since I hate the slimy feeling of using anything oil based on my skin. But alas, all the good reviews and my continued search for the perfect moisturizer pushed me to try this.
For quite sometime I have known I have skin asthma and have been keen to keep my skin moisturized as best as possible. After the usual OTC lotions which left me feeling like there's a plastic film on my skin I have tried HMH products. I thought it's time to take it a step further and use oil vs just plain moisturizer.
At first I only used the Sunflower Beauty oil to protect the usually scuffed areas like my elbows and knees. I noted that it doesn't feel greasy at all and does a good job of keeping my skin soft and supple. I then tried it on my feet and legs and it's the same effect.

Eventually I started using the oil for my toddler since I stopped using it (it's a whole different story and has nothing to do with the product). I read it helps lighten the skin and since my daughter had a lot of nasty scars from scratching bug bites I thought it wouldn't hurt to let her try it. I wasn't afraid to use it on her because of how pure the HMH products are. So at age 2 I started smothering my toddler's legs with the Sunflower Beauty oil every night. I saw great improvements in her darkened scars and overall skin in the legs. I have kept using it before she sleeps to help the oil soak more since she's not running around too much and I will continue to use this for her.

(Photo of my almost empty bottle)

Overall, this is one of my favorite product from HMH. Heck, it's one of my favorite product ever. Period.
BTW, I used to use this to lock in my normal moisturizer. Meaning after bath I'd slather myself with a body lotion THEN I'd layer this on. Works best during cold weather when you need some extra protection on your skin.

So here's my review for HMH Sunflower Beauty Oil:

Packaging: 4 out of 5 (only because I wish there's a bigger bottle hehe)

Price: 5 out of 5

Smell: 5 out 5 (I don't think they used any scent additive but it's almost without any scent by itself)

Effectiveness in lightening scars: 3 out of 5 (takes time because it's just helping ones skin heal naturally vs for example some chemical peels)

I am now a Virtual Assistant

I have been looking for a new job for quite sometime now and when I couldn't get hired for the ones I liked and applied for I thought I try one of the "offers" a LinkedIn contact gave me. It was for a work from home job which would require me to review website search results. Doing my due diligence I found out this was a legit company (which I won't name because this post is not about them) who pays its work from home employees in the Philippines around $3/hour. While doing the research I came across another possible job. The world of virtual assistants. I was wary at first. Of course, there are scams everywhere and since you're working from home how do you ensure payment? So I went about reading a couple of blogs and reviews.  I stumbled upon OnlineJobs.ph which is very similar, from my POV to oDesk or eLance. I signed up last Tuesday, made sure my profile is complete with photos, a copy of my resume linked to dropbox, online tests results etc. By Thursday I got a message from a possible employer. We chatted a couple of minutes on Skype and voila, I was hired as a VA manager for 400usd/mo. He has around 30+ VAs working for him and 3 managers overseeing everyone. I was hired as the 4th manager. Based on my conversations with the group, some guys have been working for him full time for the past 2 yrs so I'm not afraid of getting scammed at this point. To add, from Thursday until today (Monday) I had 2 other job offers from the website. I am not saying this is a lucrative 100% done deal job or site but if you want to work from home, save money and time from commuting and you have a very reliable internet connection you might want to try this out. **Note: I am not connected to any of the websites mentioned above other than as a user. I am not guaranteeing any jobs or positions from any of websites above. This is a personal review based only on my own experience.

Beware of Misrepresentation

So someone reached out to me via LinkedIn. His name is Toby Tangsoc. His profile seems legit with companies listed under (fr my POV) the agri business sector. Of course I was surprised but I gave him my number still.

He called earlier and said they're looking for professionals who can help them with a new business arm of their pharma company they're starting (or something in that line of thought) and would like to meet me on Monday at Starbucks Tektite.

Before dropping the line I asked what company he's referring to and said Pharmanex. I said I could ask around because my uncle used to work for a big pharma as well and he proceeded to explain he'd tell me more on our meeting.

So AFTER the call I googled his name and I was right with my gut feel. It is NOT a job opportunity but rather a direct selling opportunity.

Last year a Vincent Siy gave me the same spiel. A "business opportunity" for several US clients who are expanding in the PH is what he told me. I came to Megamall all the way from Marikina to meet him at Starbucks only to be convinced that I can SELL NuSkin products. I'm not saying direct selling is a scam. Heck, my mom was an 80s tupperware girl and Avon lady but my question is, why not just say they're looking for people interested to market NuSkin?

Anyway, Vincent gave me the entire speech. They have developed a surefire way to get people interested. Yes. They did. I got interested. An average Filipino though don't have 15k to spare to buy their package to resell.

Case in point is my 21yo brother who attended their seminar over 5yrs ago and paid 5k for an anti acne package which he never got to sell. Why? Who would buy a 5k anti acne product from a 21 yo who has acne himself? To whom would he sell it to when his "contacts" are students living off on an allowance or parents toiling hard to send their kids off to school. If my daughter comes to me and tells me her friend is selling her a 5k anti acne package of course I'd say NO WAY!

So my take is…Mr Vincent Siy and Mr Toby Tangsoc, please conduct your business is a professional manner. I am a Sr Manager myself and I won't ask a person so come and travel 1.5hrs to see me without telling the person exactly what s/he's getting into. If its a job, then make sure it's a job. If it's a seminar about direct selling then say so.

God bless! Wag papaloko.

Review: Globe Tattoo

I've been a subscriber of Globe handyphone for the past 6 or 7 years. It's been wonderful really.

Two years ago I subscribe to their much hyped about Globe Tattoo stick. I just moved into my new house and PLDT or any other wired company wasn't offering their services here due to the small number of homeowners. Fine.

Globe Tattoo worked wonders for the first year and then the service started to slow down on the onset of the second year. By June 2012 it was soooooo slooooooow at times I am reminded of the dial up days when speed would be a consisted 20kbps. Yes it was that slow. It went downhill from then. By August, September and October I was losing services for hours. Not just slow but no connection at all. I started to bombard the Globe hotline but all I heard was "we're sorry" and "system's maintenance". 

Time and time again I would also call to ask for rebates on the days when I didn't have service. For the month of October alone, there were approximately 7-10 nights when service are gone between 12mn til 6am. I started to use Smart's prepaid stick by then out of desperation. 

I work from home several nights a week and I'm sure Globe wouldn't help if I lose my job. In that span of time I also never receive the rebate. Why so? They would just ask you call back when the bill's out. My bill are enrolled in auto payment. So F*CK! 

My question is, why do the subscribers need to call back when 1) Globe themselves know the schedule of the outage and maintenance or whatever upgrade which would inhibit their subscribers from using their services and 2) the subscriber already called to report the problem and they already acknowledge it was their shortcoming for not being able to provide the service? So why Globe? Why?

The 2 year lock in period expired last October 2012. I was ready to cancel my services but then the connection started to improve. I was getting at least 300-500kbps speed, which isn't really bad compared to 20kbps. I thought, let's wait and see. Maybe I don't need to cancel after all. Maybe they're finally done with their upgrades.

By mid- November their services maintained the 300-500kbps speed during night time that I decided to renew my contract for another 2 years.

Lo and behold, by December 2012 I'm back to ZERO service. NOT A SINGLE BLEEP of kbps can be seen at times. It's still on-going until now. I've tired of reporting issues. I've tired of asking for rebates. I'm just waiting for when their services would finally improve.

If and when they don't after Feb 2013, the said date when their upgrades will be completed as per the mail they sent me, then I think I'd file a complaint with NTC which I did years ago when I still had the Globe wireless landline (that's an entirely different story though).

So Globe, our relationship started out wonderful but the past half year sucked big time. Gussy up and show some love!

Price for Service: 4 out of 5 (there are still cheaper alternatives but they're about average overall)

Service: 2 out of 5 (irregular to useless the past half a year)

Customer Service and Support: 2 out of 5 (also useless)

Ease of reporting issues: 1 out 5 (no contact agents at night, you do chat over your phone which gets disconnected a lot, they'd ask you to cal multiple times and no callbacks even when you request for one)

Disclaimer: Please note I am not in any way connected with this brand, the online store or the delivery partner of the store and I have not received any form of payment for this review. I am a regular consumer and bought these products and services for my own personal use.